December is one of my favourite months: It’s the month of Christmas! It is also one of the best times of the year for reading. The nights are long, dark and cold, so perfect for wrapping yourself up and settling down to a long reading session with a nice cup of tea. The holidays – I’m a teacher – mean that I have a bit more time than usual to read, once the madness of Christmas shopping is over and done with.
Anyway, with that said, here are the books I am hoping to get through this month!
Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri
The Amrithi are outcasts; nomads descended of desert spirits, they are coveted and persecuted throughout the Empire for the power in their blood. Mehr is the illegitimate daughter of an imperial governor and an exiled Amrithi mother she can barely remember, but whose face and magic she has inherited.
When Mehr’s power comes to the attention of the Emperor’s most feared mystics, she must use every ounce of will, subtlety, and power she possesses to resist their cruel agenda.
Should she fail, the gods themselves may awaken seeking vengeance…
I’m currently about halfway through Tasha Suri’s debut novel, inspired by Mughal India, and so far, I am loving it! Fingers crossed the rest of the rest of the book is just as good!
The Way Past Winter by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Mila and her sisters live with their brother Oskar in a small forest cabin in the snow. One night, a fur-clad stranger arrives seeking shelter for himself and his men. But by the next morning, they’ve gone – taking Oskar with them. Fearful for his safety, Mila and her sisters set out to bring Oskar back – even it means going north, crossing frozen wild-lands to find a way past an eternal winter.
This book seems so wintery that December just has to be the perfect time to read it! English summer’s are a bit grey and drizzly though, so hopefully it is not like an English winter. It’s also reasonably short, so will give me the best chance of finishing all these books. Maybe. That’s not cheating right?
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an unexpected journey `there and back again’. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon…
Rereading this book is a bit of a tradition for me during the Christmas holidays. This classic fantasy-adventure has been a favourite of mine since
The Grey Bastards by Johnathan French
Jackal is proud to be a Grey Bastard, member of a sworn brotherhood of half-orcs. Unloved and unwanted in civilized society, the Bastards eke out a hard life in the desolate no-man’s-land called the Lots, protecting frail and noble human civilisation from invading bands of vicious full-blooded orcs.
But as Jackal is soon to learn, his pride may be misplaced. Because a dark secret lies at the heart of the Bastards’ existence – one that reveals a horrifying truth behind humanity’s tenuous peace with the orcs, and exposes a grave danger on the horizon.
On the heels of the ultimate betrayal, Jackal must scramble to stop a devastating invasion – even as he wonders where his true loyalties lie.
I’ve been sitting on this one for a while, and not entirely sure that I will get it read this month. I’ve added it to December’s TBR to be ambitious though! I’ll get around to it in January if not this month. 100%.
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So there you have it, what I am hoping to get read this month!
Don’t forget to follow my progress on Goodreads and @JShelton89 on Twitter, where you’ll also find links to the rest of my blog.
What are you going to try and get read this month? Let me know!
Jack
Book Reviews | Jack's Bedtime Reading 