Quarterly Reading Recommendations

This is my final Quarterly Reading Recommendation post for 2021.  I will be listing my top 5 favourite books I read during the last 3 months before I start compiling my lists and picking out my top ten overall of 2021 which I will post in a few days! If you want to check out my third quarterly reading recommendations click HERE!

My recommendations for October – November – December are:

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

One by One by Ruth Ware

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

These Witches Don’t Burn Review

Hannah’s a witch, but not the kind you’re thinking of. She’s the real deal, an Elemental with the power to control fire, earth, water, and air. But even though she lives in Salem, Massachusetts, her magic is a secret she has to keep to herself. Hannah will have to test the limits of her power if she’s going to save her coven and get the girl, especially when the attacks on Salem’s witches become deadlier by the day.

Hannah’s character was definitely interesting to read from. She’s still very much coming to terms with her break up with Veronica and I feel like her feelings and reactions to her were very realistic and in line with her age. She definitely goes through a lot emotionally throughout the course of the storyline and that definitely made me feel more sympathetic and connected to her. But overall I didn’t find her to be particularly likeable.

Veronica I didn’t like at all. I thought she was just playing with Hannah’s emotions all throughout the story and just kept dismissing her feelings and trying to force her to take her back. Maybe if this was a dual perspective and we see things from Veronica’s point of view I might have developed more of a connection to her but I was just mostly indifferent to her.

I would of loved if we delved more into the training in regards to Hannah’s abilities. She said various times in the plot that they have weekly training sessions with their high priestess which we don’t get to see that I would of loved to read and see. In general we don’t get to see quite as much magic as what I would of liked. I was just expecting it to be more focused on the witchcraft and not so much on the mystery behind the blood witch.

Overall I was definitely surprised with the direction the story went. I appreciated how we see Hannah just be a normal teenager even though there is so much going on in her life that she has to keep secret from everyone else in her life other than Veronica. I didn’t see any of the twists coming and there was an underlying feeling of urgency woven throughout the plot that kept me wanting to read more. The pacing was just very fast and it was just one thing after another that was happening which in the end I enjoyed however I would of liked to be shown more about the witches and their abilities rather than told.

⭐️3/5 stars A solid witchy, entertaining story!

Series I completed in 2021

These are all the series that I have either read all the books this year or read the last book in the series that was published this year! I haven’t included any series that have unreleased books still, I will just add them onto future lists!

The Devouring Gray Duology by Christine Lynn Herman

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The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty

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Empirium Series by Claire Legrand

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An Ember in the Ashes Series by Sabaa Tahir

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Shattered Realms Series by Cinda Williams Chima

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Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin

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Cursebreakers Series by Brigid Kemmerer

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Fable Duology by Adrienne Young

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All the Stars and Teeth Duology by Adalyn Grace

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The Aurora Cycle by Jay Kristoff & Amie Kaufman

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The Mirror Visitor Quartet by Christelle Dabos

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Disappointing Books of 2021

This is five books I read this year that disappointed me for one reason or another. These aren’t necessarily books I hated, I just might have been underwhelmed by them or they didn’t live up to the hype.

My most disappointing books are:

Aurora’s End by Jay Kristoff & Amie Kaufman

This ending wasn’t as impactful and as fulfilling as what I was expecting

Witchshadow by Susan Dennard

The story just veered far from where I thought it headed..

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

This book was really hyped and it took me a long time to get into it

The Storm of Echoes by Christelle Dabos

I was confused and underwhelmed throughout this book

The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence

Another book I was highly anticipating and it fell a little flat