​Book Review: Og-Grim-Dog: The Three-Headed Ogre (Me Three #1) by Jamie Edmundson
 
This humorous fantasy was a quick, easy-going read which poked fun at fantasy tropes, cast a jovial eye over some of the more annoying aspects of modern life and had a number of tongue-in-cheek fantasy book community jokes.  

​Book Review: Songs of Insurrection (The Dragon Songs Saga #1) by J.C. Kang

This Asian-inspired epic fantasy was an excellent read. I was hooked by the prologue! A dragon trapped in the body of a human, thought to have been lulled to sleep by magical music – and I was like “give me more!!!” I have the feeling he’ll be a BIG part of the story in later books (this is book one of four). 

​Book Review: Year One (Chronicles of The One #1) by Nora Roberts

I’ve had this dystopian/urban fantasy mash up on my Kindle for a while now and am so happy I decided to take the plunge and move it up to the top of my TBR because I really enjoyed it.

Published in 2017, it’s all about a global pandemic with a deadly sickness call the Doom that spreads like wildfire. I have to admit – reading the early chapters during the midst of the current pandemic gave me some extreme anxiety and I nearly put this book down! 

​Book Review: Paternus: War of Gods (Paternus Trilogy #3) by Dyrk Ashton
 
This is the final conclusion to the urban fantasy Paternus trilogy and – wow!- it blew my mind in the best possible way. After loving book one (read my review here) and book two (read my review and interview with the author here), I couldn’t wait for the finale and I knew it would be EPIC – it certainly didn’t disappoint. 

​Book Review: A Kiss of Shadows (Merry Gentry #1) by Laurell K. Hamilton
 
This erotically charged urban fantasy was tons of saucy faerie fun! The story is told from the point of view of Meredith (Merry) Gentry, a faerie princess-in-hiding and is packed with action, intrigue and lots of steamy moments.

Book Review: A Wizard’s Forge (The Woern Saga #1) by A.M. Justice
 
This science fiction fantasy mash-up blends both genres, but errs more on the fantasy side (IMO!). It’s a sweeping tale of survival and revenge that spans many years. Told from the point of view of Victoria, it follows her as she is forced to continually evolve in order to survive. ​

Book Review: Leafensong First Telling (Leafensong #1) by J.R. Hooge
 
This is a fantasy in the sense that it’s about a tribe of talking squirrels, but it isn’t a fantasy in the sense of a medieval setting, swords and magic. I’m also not sure if this is aimed at children, teens, or young adult, but it’s definitely a sweet and compelling story with some stunning illustrations throughout.

At school I was a huge fan of English, and I went on to do an English Literature and Language degree at university. One of the things we did was read a novel or poem and then work out the themes, the deeper meaning and what we thought the author really meant (which they probably didn’t mean at all but, you know, we had to write something halfway intelligent in our essays!).
 
So, in the spirit of a number of English lessons I vividly remember where we dissected Lord of the Flies by William Golding until there was absolutely nothing left of the story, here I ‘go deep’ on seven themes in my second novel. ​

I read a lot, about 50 books per year. Now we’re staying at home until this pandemic passes, I’ve got more time to read – WOOOOO.
 
I mostly talk about speculative fiction on this blog, and predominantly the fantasy genre, however I have an eclectic taste in books and read all sorts. So, this is my stay-at-home for the next few weeks reading list.
 
Hopefully it’ll give you some ideas as to what to read next or for books to add to your reading list. Or, it might inspire you to think about and note down the next ten books you plan to read just to pass some time. ​

Book Review: Shadows of Faerie by Martin Owton
 
This urban fantasy caught my eye because it’s set in Southampton and the New Forest – where I live! It’s rare to find fantasy set in the New Forest (or any books for that matter…) so I jumped at the chance to read this one. ​

Book Review: Onslaught of Madness (The Madness Wars #1) by Jesse Teller
 
Wow. What a story. Intense, dark and brooding. Grittiness turned up to the max. This is the second novel I’ve read from Jesse Teller (read my review of the first, Song, here) and he definitely has a style that skilfully sucks the reader into his intricately imagined world and shows them no mercy once they’re there. ​

In my second epic fantasy novel, Violya (In the Heart of the Mountains #2), we learn more about the nation of Troglo and the Trogrs, or cave creatures. The Trogrs are desperate, as for years their fertility has been in trouble, with a slow decline in the birth of females and then a drop off altogether, with only male babies being conceived and born.
 
This concept of fertility evolving or failing is an interesting one to think about – what would we do? What would happen if suddenly the fertility rate dropped off, or only male or female babies were being born, or if only a select few were fertile? For the survival of the race, would we force fertile people to procreate? Would we have to find other animals or alien lifeforms close to humans to attempt to breed with? Would we turn to cloning ourselves to keep the race going? Desperate times call for desperate measures… how far would we go? ​