Ah, this is just feeling so good, I am almost 100% back to my reading self. This is the second month that has gone fabulously well for reading, I’d say even more so than November! And I find that’s pretty surprising with Christmas and all the busy things that come along with that. Then again, I’m not as busy as others, and Christmas for my family involves a lot of doing what you want to do. Alright so December may of been better with how much reading I achieved, however it probably was not as good for the quality of books I read. There has been a few really good ones, and also a few standout bad ones.

My first read of the month was possibly my biggest disappoint in reading this month, possibly even the year; and that book is Hunted by Meagan Spooner. A beauty and the beast retelling set in medieval Russia, this just sounds like something that should be so absolutely up my alley! I picked it up during the Minimoji thinking that I would be able to fly through it, but it just dragged. Ive done a full review of it but it just was not what I was imagining and hoping that it would be.

I have the best Nan in the world, who let me have a book early before Christmas as I just could not wait to get my hands on it, and unsurprisingly I flew it and loved every second. Although it wasn’t quite as good as the Diabolic, The Empress by SJ Kincaid, was just absolutely fabulous! I have fallen head over heels for his whole series, and it pains me to have to wait a year for the next book; I need it now, this series just has me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I 100% recommend this series to everyone!

Cloaked in Shadow by Ben Alderson is not the normal sort of book that I would buy let alone pre-order, but I have followed Ben on YouTube for a while now, and I felt that I would buy his book in support if for no other reason. I hate to have to say, it proved why I don’t normally read these sort of books. The romance was just way to prominent for me; it didn’t faze me that it was a gay romance, I would of felt the same if it was a heterosexual romance. I just prefer the romance in fantasy books to be a lot more subtle and in the background. That being said, I’ll definitely be continuing the series as I just love the idea of an elf world.

I went on a bit of a graphic novel binge; I just love them, being able to absorb myself into a story for an hour or two and get the whole thing, I just love it. Saga Volume 2 did not disappoint, I really do need to invest in the rest of them as I currently only own volume 2, boo! Then I picked up Deathnote Black edition volume 5 again, I’d started this a few months ago, but I flew through the rest of it in one night. I just adore this series as well. Ive been holding off watching the Netflix series until I’ve finished the graphic novels. Volume 6 in on my shelves ready.

Generally I have a habit of avoiding really hyped books as I find that I am often just disappointed by them. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff was one of those hyped books that I held of reading for a long time. But as I have the first two in the series, I thought Id bite the bullet. Well it definitely didn’t disappoint, it was just so unique; full of twists and turns, it was so unexpected. I almost regret not reading it sooner, but at least this way I don’t have as long to wait for the third book. I may have to pick the second one up in the very near future!

Philippa Gregory is one of my all time favourite authors, but I had the bad luck of her latest novel The Last Tudor was released right in the middle of my reading slump. But finally, I have finished it, and it was beautiful as always. I cant say that it is my favourite of her novels, but it certainly did not disappoint. I’m left again longing to know what she’ll be bringing out next as I seem to love all of her adult novels!

I ended up in a right Philippa Gregory mood, so I picked up Fools Gold which is the third in her Order of Darkness series. Still I do not know why I keep picking these up, I just keep being disappointed by these books, yet I still have to know what happens next.

As its Christmas, I just had to read the Grinch, its just a Christmas tradition for me now. Got to love this short little book, will always leave you in such a good mood after just half an hour! An easy 5 star read!

This next one leaves me pretty sad, as I just do not want this manga series to end; and yet it was just amazing! I will have to head to the library in the new year to find a new graphic novel series. Deathnote black edition volume six was such a fabulous conclusion to this series that I have just completely adored. Another easy 5 star read, but I’m now just so lost with not knowing which graphic novel to pick up next. Please do send me any recommendations that you have.

Christmas! I got super spoilt, and got many, many books for Christmas; so it only felt right to pick one up straight away, and what else could it of been but the Alison Weir Quick Read, Traitors of the Tower. As can be expected, I did actually manage to read this all in one night, and was actually so interesting. Traitors in the Tower is a little non-fiction book about the 7 people that were executed within the grounds of the Tower of London. Although I had heard of a few of the people talk about, it informed me more on the consequences of their death and a couple I hadn’t even heard of at all. If you are interested in medieval England then I would definitely say this is worth the quick read.

So my idea of picking up the Complete Winnie the Pooh to read in one night, did not work as I had hoped. It took me several days to get through it, but I still absolutely adored it; how can you not adore a book that it just the whole of your childhood. There is just something about Christmas this year that has had me wanting to reread all the books of my childhood, but now with the shear amount of books that I got for Christmas I think its now time to start working my way through those.

December has ended up being one fabulous reading month, admittedly there was some children’s books and graphic novels, but still 12 books was amazing! So frustrating that I still didn’t manage to complete my goodreads goal, but I really can not blame December. I’m hoping that I can continue this on in the new year!