Halfway Gone

[calissa]

I’m generally a glass half full kind of person. The year might be half over already, but I find myself looking ahead with excitement. There’s a lot to look forward to. The first anniversary of this blog is coming up in August. I have some exciting guest posts lined up as part of the Brewing Community series (the talented Stephanie Gunn will be joining me on Friday to get that started). Conflux 11 will be happening in October. And my birthday is coming up–which will hopefully mean more books and tea!

However, looking ahead doesn’t preclude also noting where I am and savouring what has been.

Reading Challenges

At the beginning of the year, I signed up for two year-long reading challenges. The first of these was the ubiquitous Goodreads reading challenge. I committed to reading 52 books–a fairly low bar. Here’s how I’m doing:

So far, so good! I look set to exceed the target, though not by as much as I’d hoped.

The second challenge I signed up for was the 2015 Australian Women Writers Challenge. I signed up for the Miles level, which was to read at least six books and review four. I have managed to read and review seven books so far, so I have definitely met this challenge. I’ll be continuing to monitor it so that I can get a feel for what might constitute a more difficult challenge for next year.

Favourite Reads

Quantity is one thing, but what about quality? My favourite books of the year so far, in no particular order:

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. Okay, so this is a graphic novel series rather than a single book, but I’m counting it as one anyway. What’s not to love about science fantasy space opera? I adore the characters and every single volume makes me laugh. The last one wobbled a little for me, but I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Kaleidoscope edited by Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios. This anthology of young adult speculative fiction features stories with a diverse array of protagonists. There were a few stories that didn’t appeal to me much, but on the whole I think it has deserved all the awards it has won.

Unbound and Free by Becca Lusher. I might be a little bit biased here, but Becca really does write some amazing stuff. Considered historical fantasy, Unbound and Free leans more towards fantasy than history–which suits me fine. Demero is a sweet boy and I really enjoyed reading about how he came to become one of the immortal Aekhartain. I’m reminded that I’ve left the next book in the series, Dark Rebel, languishing on Mt TBR for entirely too long.

Graced by Amanda Pillar. On the surface, this looked like clear-cut paranormal romance but turned into something entirely unexpected and lovely. There were some nice worldbuilding elements and a diversity of characters that I hope gets built on further in a sequel. It’s not without its problems but I appreciated the way it added some depth to the sub-genre.

The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles. A historical fantasy romance that was just pure fun. Again, it was the characters that drew me in, but the Victorian occult vibe was completely on the mark. I have been very restrained in not immediately devouring the rest of the series.

All in all, it has been a good year so far. How has 2015 been treating you?

 

Mirrored from Earl Grey Editing.

Comments

[moonvoice]

Ohhhh so much awesomeness!!! Also, I don't know if you know, but Game Theory, The Court of Five Thrones, Deeper into the Woods and a couple of other things are all listed on Goodreads if you want to add them! :D

As for me, I've been reading a tremendous amount of m/m, but most of it hasn't actually been tremendous in terms of how it's felt reading it. Partly it's that I have a big backlog I'm moving through so it's rarely my favourite genre at any one time, but also...I'm just finding the particular kind of hurt/comfort I enjoy reading often lacking. I'll need to go through and separate some out of what I've looked at, because there have definitely been some highlights, including a story about a hawk and bear shifter called Control by Mary Calmes and Cardeno C. (Both have issues as writers, but I actually found it all came together really awesomely in this book, and reading about a neurotic hawk vs. a stable loving bear shifter who is terrified of shifting into his bear form because of how brutal and violent he can be...pretty awesome).

Also, Glitterland by Alexis Hall was incredible. Super subversive (you'll see what I mean if you ever read it), very attentive to characterisation, and an awesome take on contemporary romance. One of the MCs is a guy who is basically... camp, offputting english accent often spelled phonetically (janarwotimean??), 'orange' from spray tan and into modelling and fashion and initially is written off by even the other MC as being...ahhh, superificial and stupid. He ends up being intelligent, the guy's equal, very grounded in himself and stable, and a really good guy, and it was actually brilliant reading this sort of deliberate unpacking of a whole heap of UK stereotypes by a caring author who is also capable of rendering a hot sex scene or two. She's not consistent across the board, but For Real is a BDSM take of hers that I also thought was brilliant hot as shit (also subversive, in that the Dom is a 21 year old who is really just learning the ropes and doesn't have a 'dungeon' and has to learn what he's doing, and his partner is older and a very experienced sub who sort of helps him out...and yet the relationship works really well - the power dynamic between those two is hot, a decent amount of service topping too, which I've always liked).

So there have definitely been some gems. Glitterland primarily stands out because I just fell in love hard with the characters. Not to mention that the other MC has bipolar, and it's treated attentively and with care and gentleness and realism. Just...a whole lot of awesomeness coming together there. :D

[calissa]

Eee! I did not know! I've gone and added tCoFT, but need to actually read the others. I might need to tackle them once you've finished with tCoFT. I look forward to being able to read them in one hit.

Thanks for sharing what you've been getting into. These sound like some great titles and I'm definitely going to add them to my wish list (and cry because I really need to read faster).