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I've been taking part in this challenge for a few years now. I didn't quite make it to 75 books last year. And I'm still trying to decide what to read next after finishing last year on a high with T.A. White's Firebird Chronicles.
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January
1. Fireborne book 1 in the series by Rosaria Munda. (432 pages)
I saw this recommended in one of the groups I belong to on Insta and boy, was it good! I loved it! I couldn't find it as an e-book so I took the risk of purchasing the paperback. It was such a good story - and I've now bought the other two books in the series. It's a story that questions morality, and hubris, and what people will do when they believe they are born to rule, and answerable to no-one. This story is set 10 years after a revolution that disposed the ruling dragonlords and supposedly instilled a merit system - which turns out to be just as class-based as the last system. Lee - son of a dragonlord - was saved by a soldier who only saw a child and dropped him off in an orphanage. Annie was also in the orphanage because her family had been murdered by a dragonlord - as it turns out, by Lee's (formerly Leo) father. Now commoners and females can be dragonriders - but they have to foreswear family and material possessions. I'm looking forward to reading the next book which I think will focus on the members of the dragonlords' families that escaped the massacre. From Lee's interactions with his cousin Julia, they still hold to the idea that they are born to rule and superior to anyone not of dragonlord blood.
2. The Song of the Marked Book 1 of Shadows and Crowns by S.M. Gaither. I enjoyed this book - but I wouldn't say I loved it. However, I'm invested enough in the story to give the next book a go. It seemed a bit more YA than I was expecting. I specifically was trying to get away from that, but never mind. It was pretty easy to read though - but I did notice a few mistakes which is unusual in penguin books. I normally only see that in books by independent authors.(I ended up abandoning the second book - it just wasn't holding my attention)
3. Heir of Shadows Book 1 of Daizlei Academy by Kel Carpenter. This was okay - but it annoyed me what Selena got away with as a 16 year old. She also went on and on about protecting her sisters - who I suspect are not her sisters - but I'd have to read another one to find out and I don't think I can do that.
4. Dead Wrong Book 4 of the Crossroads Queen series by Annabel Chase. I love this series. I was hanging out for this book and it didn't disappoint. Her books always have a great mix of humor, romance (slow burn) and action. Great book. I think there might be only one m ore in this series.
5. Darkness Dawns Book 1 of The Immortal Guardians by Dianne Duvall. These books are enjoyable. This book is about Roland Warbrook, An Immortal who is rescued by Sarah - a mortal. As it turns out she is a Gifted One which means she can be transformed into an immortal so she can be with Roland for eternity. They are fighting a vampire army raised by Bastien (who, it turns out is not a vampire but an immortal) who is hunting Roland thinking he killed Bastien's sister two hundred years ago. I really enjoyed this book.
6. Night Reigns Book 2 of The Immortal Guardians by Dianne Duvall. This is Marcus and Ami's story. Marcus is an immortal, and Ami is an extraterrestrial from the planet Lasara. She came in peace and was instead captured and tortured (Lasaran's have amazing regenerative capabilities) until Seth (leader of the immortals) and David (his second) rescued her. She is assigned as Marcus's second and they become really close. She helped him defeat 34 vampires in a single attack - a fact that is referred to often as others think of her as a bit of a celebrity for it. She doesn't need to be transformed because Lasaran's are also long-lived.
7. Phantom Shadows Book 3 of The Immortal Guardians by Dianne Duvall. This is Bastien's story. He's not accepted by the rest of the immortal guardians, not just because he hunted Roland, and hurt Sarah in the process (though she has forgiven him), but because he also killed the Scottish Immortal - Ewen - nearly two hundred years ago. Not that he bothers to explain how that came about - it was self-defence. Ewen never gave him a chance to explain about the woman he draining - she was not a good person. But Dr Melanie Lipton sees through him and sees that he's actually a good man. She knows she's a gifted one - she has pre-cognition - and tells him that she wants to be transformed eventually, but when she is nearly killed by a vampire, she is transformed, and Sebastien gets Roland to do it so Melanie can be strong like Sarah. Because Roland is something like 937 years old compared to Sebastien's 200. I hadn't read this one before an I really enjoyed it.
8. The Lasaran Book one of the Aldebarian Alliance by Dianne Duvall. This is an off-shoot of the Immortal Guardians books. Ami's brother Taelon finds out where Ami went and travels to earth to find her. Unfortunately he is also captured and tortured for around 3 years. Lisa is human, and abducted and held in the same place Taelon is when they discover she is psychic. She wakes up from an enforced 7-month coma to find herself pregnant with Taelon's baby - and alien baby. When Seth and the immortal guardians attack to rescue their people and children who have been taken - they take the opportunity to escape. When they're hiding trying to figure out how they're going to find Ami, they elude Roland and Marcus - but just as they're leaving he sees Ami in Roland's thoughts (which I thought was odd - I would've expected her to be in Marcus's thoughts). Eventually they find someone whose mind Taelon reads and find where Ami is. They find Ami - Lisa has the baby, and Seth heals Taelon so he can contact his ship. They also have ten gifted women who have agreed to go to Lasara in the hope of finding someone to bond with. And to guard them are 5 female immortal guardians - Eliana, Simone, Dani, Rachel and Michaela. The gifted ones are: Ava, Natalie, Mia, Michelle, Sam, Emily, Allison, Charlie, Liz and Madeline. Taelon and Lisa and baby Abby are rescued by Janwar - the Akselian Pirate that helped him initially find that ami had gone to Earth. Eliana and the other immortals were busy helping everyone into escape pods.
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February
9. The Segonian Book two of The Aldebarian Alliance by Dianne Duvall. This is Eliana's story. She was left floating in a space suit - rather than in an escape pod - when the Kandovar was destroyed. Dagon - Commander of the Segonian warship the Ranasurapicks up Eliana after locating her weeks before - expecting her to be dead. She had put herself into stasis to survive. Eliana charms Dagon and the crew and everyone loves her. She helps them battle some more Gathendians and rescues Ava - one of the Gifted ones entrusted to their care. Ava has bonded with one of the Purvelli males she was held prisoner with - Jak'ri. And Eliana and Dagon bond and become lifemates. They are funnier than they seemed in the Immortal Guardians series - but still fierce warriors. The third book - The Purvelli - happens concurrent with this one - so I've decided to move on the next chronologically - The Akseli.
10. The Akseli Book four of The Aldebarian Alliance by Dianne Duvall. I love this book as much as The Segonian. Simone is similar in nature to Eliana - though a much older immortal - 700 to Eliana's 400. Janwar and his crew on the Tangata come across Simone when they are tracking a Gathendian Warship they believe is responsible for the attack on the Kandovar She has single-handedly killed or disabled all onboard in retaliation. She joins them in the hunt for more of the Earth women and they find and attack a secret Gathendian base where they find Allie - and Kova - one of Janwar's crew - rescues Liz from a Gathendian ship making it's way to that base. So now - including Lisa - 6 have been rescued and 10 are still missing. The book ends with a call saying someone has made contact with Rachel...so that makes 3 of the immortal guardians found.
11. The Renegade Akseli Cyborg Book 5 of The Aldebarian Alliance by Dianne Duvall. Another great book. Full of action and humour and romance. Rachel is funny and just as likeable as the other immortal guardians. She's telekinetic and telepathic, but when her pod lands on what is supposed to be an inhospitable planet - to lure the Gathendians after her - it turns out it's a tropical paradise, but it's also home to the last of the Akseli Cyborgs - betrayed by the Akseli Chancellor - same as Janwar and Krigara. Janwar urges them to rescue Rachel but the leader of the Cyborgs doesn't want to risk his world being discovered. In the end - after lots of shenanigans - Rachel goes with them on a mission to rescue some more cyborgs they've discovered have been in the hands of the Gathendians for years. Her goal is to cut of the ehad of the snake - assassinate the Gathendian Emperor - which she does. Now all we have left to do is find the remaining Earthlings and find more for these alien men to fall in love with. Love this series.
12. Chosen Book 5 of The Grey Gates by Vanessa Nelson. Another great book by this author and the last one in this series. I really like her books and I like Max and Bryce a lot. Max has to stop the demons who stole the Arkus Codex - which involves going into the underworld again. When Bryce and his warriors insist on going with her she is terrified that they'll die like the warriors who accompanied her last time. But this time she has light magic, as the daughter of The Lady of Light. In true Max fashion, she finds a way to defeat the Dark Lord while keeping Bryce and the other warriors safe. An ingenious solution. And I love the ending - Bryce joining her in the Marshall's Service. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if they all had left the Order and joined the Marshalls.
13. Star Child Awakening - Book one of The Zenkoti Fables by Petra Landon. I quite enjoyed this book - the first by this author that I've read. Novi is a young woman born and raised on the mining world of Idriko. When she hears that a stranger is asking questions about her dead mother, she follows and ends up as an unintentional stowaway on a ship captained by the legendary Rim World Renegade leader, Ryfkin Soren. It's a great romp - and I enjoyed getting to know Novi and the crew. A startling discovery at the end of the book - when the Synth leader describes why they are called Synths - that they don't register on scanners and are shadows. Novi has always known this about herself and has a locket she activates that allows her to register - but she didn't know that made her a Synth. I'm looking forward to the next book in this series. My one bug bear with the writing style - apart from the typos and odd words used - was the author's tendency to always say the name of the person they were talking to - which no-one does and I found distracting. In the end I just started ignoring it and skipping over that.
14. The Mercenary by Petra Landon - Book one of The Araloka Chronicles. Another one from this new (to me) author. I enjoyed this one too - though there was a lot of repetition of earlier events that was a little annoying. I liked Saakshi - she was sweet and strong and resilient. Zoran was honorable - a Hadari'Kor mercenary who comes to her aid, and to protect her he sparks an alliance with The Alliance and the Budheya rebels to change the face of the war on the sector. It's a standalone story which I enjoyed.
15. Magic Strikes - Kate Daniels book 3 by Ilona Andrews. I had an urge to read this series again - but decided to start at book three. This is one of my all-time favourite series. I've read it quite a lot, but it's now been years since I read it, and with two weddings coming up my stress levels were over the top and I needed a familiar story to lose myself in. I love this book. Kate is still trying to avoid the fact that she has feelings for Curran - and thinks
he is just interested because she's saying no. This is the one where they are fighting in the arena to save a girl Derek fell for - and he ends up nearly dead, horrifically injured, and changed forever. When she is taken be the Rakshashas at the end of the tournament, Curran leads a rescue party - on a floating palace!!
16. Magic Bleeds- Kate Daniels book 4 by Ilona Andrews. Ooh this is a good one. This is when Kate's Aunt Erra comes to town spreading plague and disease with her human golems. The fight at the end is epic. I feel for Kate - she gets so close to killing Erra twice - before someone intervenes, Could have saved the big fight at the end and Curran's coma - during which Kate had to face 11 challenges to the death. No wonder Curran feels so betrayed by the Pack when he wakes up.
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March
17. Magic Slays - Kate Daniels book 5 by Ilona Andrews. This is the one where the Lighthouse Keepers unleash a weapon on Atlanta that destroys magic. They wipe out a whole town and the guy who built it still believes he's in the right. The Russian vohlvs take him into custody, but the whole magical community - Pack, the People, witches and volhvs all come together to fight. Daniel, the wolf alpha dies in this fight - which causes ongoing problems for Kate from his widow.
18. Magic Rises - Kate Daniels book 6 by Ilona Andrews. This is the story I was ultimately waiting to read. I love and hate this book in equal measure. Poor Kate. Kate and Curran and a delegation from the Pack head to Europe to secure panacea in an effort to prevent any more of the pack's children from going loup. It's a ploy by Hugh d'Ambray to lure Kate away from the pack. On the way there, Curran discovers there's a contract on Kate's life (not that we find that out till the end) and so he pretends - quite convincingly - that he's interested in the spoiled little wolf princess whose father is alpha of the second biggest pack in the USA. He does some terrible things - unforgivable really - and finally Kate tells him where to go and goes off with a small group of allies to investigate what she knows to be a trap - just not the why of it. When she falls through a hole and is presumed dead, Aunt B has to return and tell Curran - who loses his shit. Meanwhile Kate saves herself, and is then rescued by the Shepherd. I personally think she forgave Curran too easily. But anyway - they end up having to fight their way out of the keep, and Aunt B dies to give them a chance to get away. I cried a lot in that scene - even knowing it was coming.
19. Magic Breaks - Kate Daniels book 7 by Ilona Andrews. As Roland’s long shadow looms ever nearer, Kate is called to attend the Conclave, a gathering of the leaders from the various supernatural factions in Atlanta. When one of the Masters of the Dead is found murdered there, apparently at the hands of a shapeshifter, Kate is given only twenty-four hours to hunt down the killer. And this time, if she fails, she’ll find herself embroiled in a war which could destroy everything she holds dear… This is a great story. Hugh d'Ambray teleports her away to Mishmar - Roland's legendary prison where vampires roam free. It takes Curran and his band of volunteers a long time to find her - and she has nearly succumbed to starvation by then. Two of their party are captured by Roland and Kate must go before him to claim them. He wants to test her and see if she is his daughter. To appease him, Kate and Curran step down from the leadership of the pack - but Kate knows - he'll be coming for her and her people soon.
20. Magic Shifts - Kate Daniels book 8 by Ilona Andrews. Kate and Curran are now living in the suburbs, and Curran doesn't know what to do with himself. I loved it when Christopher came to visit and that's how Kate found out that Barabus and Christopher had split from the pack too. George comes to them for help because Eduardo is missing and her father - who thinks she should marry a bear - not a bison - won't help her find him and Jim, the new Beast Lord won't interfere in clan politics. They discover that Eduardo is descended from ancient djinn, and he has been held in a cage, being starved to death. Kate and Curran are also in the throes of taking over the mercenary guild - Curran loves to makes things work - it'll be great for him, When Kate fights a giant attacking the guild - she suffers a series of strokes and Doolittle isn't sure she'll survive. It breaks my heart when she begs Curran to take her home to die. But when she claimed Atlanta as her own - the magic in the land helped heal her - it's the only reason she didn't die. At the end, George and Eduardo get married and Kate and Curran finally set a date for their wedding. But Kate has seen in a dream that Roland will take her son - so she's scared to get married and have a baby with Curran.
21. Night Broken - Mercy Thompson Book 8 by Patricia Briggs. I love this book! I hate Christy and I hate the way the pack treats Mercy - but I love that Honey realises she actually likes Mercy. Mercy says something truly prophetic to Jesse - that Christy is not a bad person, she's just too busy looking after herself to be able to look after anyone else. And Adam points out that Mercy is the opposite - so busy looking after everyone else that she forgets to look after herself. Christy knew her stalker was supernatural and never told anyone. But she never takes responsibility for her own actions and blames Adam. I love that Mercy defends him when no-one else does because Christy is a manipulative bitch who always seems to find a way to make herself the victim and everyone buys into it. This book is sad in that Mercy sends Adam and Warren and others off to kill Guayota - the Canary Islands Volcano God - know he's unlikely to survive, and then has to throw herself in the fray when he comes to where she is instead. I still don't like Aurielle. It's similar to what Kate Daniels thinks - how much do you have to sacrifice for the pack to gain their loyalty. Obviously it's never enough.
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April
22. Fire Touched - Mercy Thompson Book 9 by Patricia Briggs. This is a great story. Joel is now part of the pack and the pack are called to help the local police with a troll on the Cable bridge. The Fae had sent the troll after Zee and Tad when they escaped, and it was causing mayhem. Naturally Mercy and the Pack win, but it's a hard fought battle. With Zee and Tad is Aiden - a human boy who had been trapped in Underhill - the traditional home of the Fae for centuries - for all that he looks 10 years old. They give him sanctuary and it starts a series of confrontations with the Fae. Eventually Mercy, Aiden and Adam go into Underhill to retrieve an artifact for them to seal a deal with the Fae so they can save face and venture back out into the world. The saddest part of the book for me was when the Walking Stick chose to sacrifice itself to save Mercy from the Widow Queen's death curse. But Aiden definitely cemented his place in the pack.
23. Silence Fallen - Mercy Thompson Book 10 by Patricia Briggs. This is one of my favourite books of the series. Mercy is on a mission for eggs and chocolate chips to make cookies for the pack when her car is rammed and she is seriously injured. She wakes up in Bonarata's seethe in Milan - not that she knows where she is, and she escapes and ends up in Prague. Meanwhile, Adam has gathered a party including Marsilia, Stefan and Elizaveta. In the end you wonder who was actually pulling the strings as Coyote definitely was involved in getting Mercy there because he wanted her to deal with the golem in the Jewish Quarter. It's a great book - and I loved that at the end we find out that Matt Smith (not the Doctor) was actually Bran, and that he had risked a lot to come for Mercy. Who saved herself as always. We also found out that Zack was actually the son of the Alpha of the Vltava pack in Prague, and that being a submissive wolf - and the Alpha's son - had not been good for him and the Bran had kind of kidnapped him. It was a great book. I loved how Adam just held her when he found her in the basement of Mary's seethe. I also loved that it healed an old wound in Mercy, to know how much Bran had risked to come for her - even incognito.
24. Storm Cursed - Mercy Thompson Book 11 by Patricia Briggs. This is another good book - but it's hard to re-read because I know that in the next book Mercy and Adam's relationship has changed heaps because of the events in this book. Nevertheless, it's a really story of black witches, betrayal (by Elizaveta) and what should have been confirmation - finally - for Adam, that Mercy doesn't see him as a monster. That she loves ALL of him. Probably my favourite little quirk in the book was discovering how Sherwood's kitten survived the death of every other living thing in that house - because Mercy was riding his spirit at the time (because Coyote wanted to show her what the witches were), and Mercy is immune to death magic because she commands the dead.
25. Smoke Bitten - Mercy Thompson Book 12 by Patricia Briggs. This book is hard to read, It's good - but seeing Mercy's confusion and pain because Adam is shutting her out is so sad, because they've always had such a strong relationship. I think when Adam believed that Mercy had gone behind his back about Jessie's college plans was the last straw, and I'd have done the same as Mercy when her neighbours died, and gone myself without Adam - which would have been unthinkable before the witches. It takes Mercy blowing up at him in his monster form when he would have committed suicide to start Adam on the right track, though that's proven false when Fiona attacks them in Mercy's garage and Adam's monster would have killed Mercy if she didn't have a metal collar on at the time. She has to banish Elizaveta from Adam's other place before she can start to bring him back to her.
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May
26. Soul Taken - Mercy Thompson Book 13 by Patricia Briggs.
27. Choosing Theo by Victoria Aveline
28. Concealed Book 1 of The Taellaneth by Vanessa Nelson
29.Dark Horse Book 1 of the Class 5 series by Michelle Diener
30. Dark Deeds Book 2 of the Class 5 series by Michelle Diener
31. Dark Minds Book 3 of the Class 5 series by Michelle Diener
32. Astray Book 1 of The Adventures of a Xeno-Archeologist by Jenny Schwartz.
33. Revealed Book 2 of The Taellaneth by Vanessa Nelson.
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June
34. Sweep of the Blade Book 4 of the Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews
35. Doubt Book 2 of The Adventures of a Xeno-Archeologist by Jenny Schwartz
36. Defender of Walls - Book 1 of the Kingdom of Walls by Tanya Bird
