And just like that another reading year has come to an end!

I’m pleased with how my reading went in 2024, there was a fair amount of rereading again this year but I’m actually not going to stress too much about rereading anymore because it really does make me happy and reading is reading. Planning on doing a yearly wrap-up post in the next few weeks but for now the basics are below!

December was a very busy social month so I didn’t read a huge amount but I was happy to take it easy. I was also in a bit of a Sapphic mood after following a new account on Bookstagram (sterling_sapphic_reads) who has some really fun recommendations. I read a few novellas she recommended and they were all worth a read.

Heat and Run: A Steamy F/F/F Omegaverse Novella by Adriana Herrera – 3⭐

Look, sometimes you just want a little smut!

It’s been a while since I felt the want on me and then I saw this pop up on Threads and was feeling a little slumpy so decided to give it a go and it was great fun! 

Three ladies getting it on at Christmas! What’s not to like? 

Could do with a little edit and I sometimes wasn’t sure who was where but that’s the nature of the smut I think! 😀 

Adriana Herrera getting flagged as a new ‘when you want smut’ author. I like when I find those!

Her Night With Santa by Adriana Herrera – 3⭐

In a little smut binge and Adriana Herrara is a new discovery and I like her! 

Santa is a lady and comes home after the Christmas run to find a lady enjoying her bed. Shenanigans follow. I really liked the epilogue as well. This was cute and steamy! 

Might save the rest of these until closer to Christmas as they are speedy in one sitting reading that is always needed during the holidays!

Cackle by Rachel Harrison – 1.5⭐

So…

I really didn’t like this. 

I’m sure it wasn’t meant to be as deep I took it but I was just overall disappointed how witches were portrayed. Like it was feminist and kind of misogynistic all at the same time. No idea how it managed it but it was!

Annie was utterly insufferable and I found it so hard to root for her. Sophie was also kind of a pill but was much easier to get on with compared to Annie. 

The fuck politeness mentality was something I can totally get behind but these two were absolutely awful. Not paying for goods and services and ignoring greetings because ‘you don’t feel like responding’! There is a social contract within everyday life that everyone, not just women, live by and of course you don’t have to signup to take part in that contract but when you behave the way Sophie and Annie behave you’re just an asshole. 

This book leaned so heavily into witchy stereotypes and it really bothered me. Sophie turning into a crone and both women being so unlikable made me think that the idea that this book is about women owning their power is just an illusion. In the end it felt like women who bucked traditional ways of living, like marrying or having children, are awful and treat people terribly and that women who choose those things are weak. Instead of empowering it felt judgmental and very trite!

Kings and Monsters by Clio Evans – 4⭐

A really good addition to this series, Grim and Ryan were a great couple and this managed to be smutty and emotional. Can’t wait to read Val’s story, are her mates the Twins? We shall see!

Santa’s Favorite by Madeleine Taylor – 3.5⭐

I was looking for a Sunday afternoon filler book, I saw this recommended on bookstagram and it did did the job nicely. Lovely quick read and managed to be sexy and a little emotional. Not sure I needed the blackmail drama in the middle, kind of took away from a great scene, but it was sorted swiftly so wasn’t too much of an issue!

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal – 5⭐

This was such a clever and engaging read. Set in an alternate history in the 1950’s it managed to feel science fictiony and historical all at the same time. It also did an amazing job at conveying the misogyny and racism of the time. The world is ending but goddess forbid we allow women or black people help in saving it. What I found to be the most depressing thing of all while reading this is that we are living in a world, a 2024 world, where there a hell of a lot of people who would like to go back to a time where women and any people of colour have no say in how the world (the US in particular) is run. It’s what stuck with me the most while reading this. 

It was also depressing, that like a certain past pandemic, in The Calculating Stars, there was a cataclysmic event and science was saying what was going to happen and there were still people saying it was fear mongering. The fact that this was written in 2018 is a real testament to authors awareness of just how uneducated people are, then again, the author was writing about people in the 1950’s when information wasn’t so readily, and not the 2020’s. I really have no idea what the excuse is in the modern world. I suspect fear is the main one. The ongoing destruction of the education system by conservatives is the other. You keep the people stupid they’ll be less likely to rise up. Blows my mind the amount of idiots that fall for it. 

Overall this was just a great book, full of interesting and complex characters, I can’t believe we are going to Mars! I’m really looking forward to reading the rest of this series. Book 4 is expected in March 2025 so I’d like to space the rest out so thinking one a month!

The Fake Wedding Project by Pippa Grant – 2.5⭐

I really wanted to like this but both families were so insufferable that I just couldn’t get on with it. I mean the point is that they be feuding and therefore awful but they were so toxic and the poster families for No Contact. Amanda’s grandmother in particular was so terrible, that her coming back to run the bakery shouldn’t have been an issue because Granny should have been cut out of her life long ago. I just spent the entire book judging and hating all these awful people. Dane and Amanda were cute together though.

Back in the Saddle (Avenging Angels #2) – 4⭐ by Kristen Ashley

I was a fan of Eric from back in Stella’s Rock Chick book so I was very excited to get him in his very own book and he is was delightful! 

Jesse was fabulous and I really liked her while Black & White aesthetic. I do find the whole ‘Charlie’s Angels’ thing a bit far fetched but it just takes a little suspension of reality to enjoy it. I mean it’s kind of what you need to do with KA!

One of the things I enjoyed the most about Eric was the fact that he didn’t go all in on the macho shit with Jesse and trusted her to be able to take care of herself and her posse. Once Jesse and Eric got together there was also no miscommunications and they just had to deal with drug dealers and the like. I think Eric’s maturity might have something to do with his age, it was very refreshing! 

All told this was fun. It also introduced Javi and I think I’m already in love with him, even though it’s possible her is a macho asshole who will try to get Harlow to give up being an Angel which will make me mad but I also think it could be fun to see easygoing Harlow get her claws!

Thrust into the Light: A dark paranormal reverse harem by S.B Hopkins – 2.5⭐

So this has a lot of potential. Farlen’s story is SUPER dark and I really appreciated that even though this is a reverse harem, she wasn’t ‘cured’ by magic peen, instead this really goes into her need for healing and how those around her go about with helping that. I’m looking forward to seeing her get her HEA, goddess knows she deserves it!

Unfortunately the editing let this book down, this is a debut and self published so editing issues are to be expected but they did take me out of the story an awful lot which was a pity. 

I honestly think that should this have a good edit and be republished it could be great.

Update: I tried to read them second book but it was even worse and I just couldn’t do it.

For You (The Burg #1) – 5⭐, At Peace (The Burg #2) – 5⭐, Golden Trail (The Burg #3) – 5⭐, The Promise (The Burg #5) – 4.5⭐ & Hold On (The Burg #6) – 5⭐by Kristen Ashley

Felt the need to do a Burg reread to get me through the Christmas period. I had to skip Games of the Heart because I really dislike Mike.