February Wrap Up

Another wrap up already! Apologies for the lack of posting on the blog – it’s been a bit of a busy month with readathons and starting a few new things, so unfortunately, the blog has taken a bit of back seat. Having said that, February has been a pretty good month (which is kinda surprising when I think about it).

January Wrap Up

How am I writing my first wrap up of 2023 already?! While January has been quite a month, I’m still incredibly surprised at how quickly it has gone by. It also means that A Page Full is a year old (well, it turned 1 on the 27th January and I completely forgot!) I might do a little AMA to celebrate or something, so keep an eye out!

An ARC roundup – too many ARCs and not enough time (part 2)

Welcome back to An ARC roundup – part 2! In my last post, I managed to get through a few of my outstanding ARCs and my plan is to finish my roundup in this one. Again, thank you to Netgalley and the respective publishers for the advanced reader copies and all opinions are my own.

The Stars Undying – Emery Robin

I’ll be honest and say that this one took a couple of attempts for me to get into, but once I did and the story began to develop, I was pulled in and really enjoyed this. I loved the reimagining of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar in spaces and I enjoyed the slow burn political drama. There isn’t much in the way of big actions in this – instead, this is a novel that takes its time to build up the world and characters. While moments sometimes felt a bit philosophical and deep, the didn’t bother me too much – I felt that they provided more insight into the characters, rather than detracting from the story.

This is one I think I will be re-reading and I feel like there will be more to uncover second time round. I’m also really hoping there is a sequel to this – if this follows Cleopatra’s life (in a way), I’m intrigued to see what happens next with Marc Anthony’s (or at least the character inspired by Marc Anthony) influence.

The Bandit Queens – Parini Shroff

This is one I’d seen on Twitter and after reading the premise, I though I’d give it a go. The Bandit Queens is a little out of my comfort zone in terms of genre. I will also say that this is a novel that does get dark in places and I would highly recommend checking out the content warnings before picking it up.

This is one that has lingered. Shroff doesn’t shy away from discussing the hardships the women face in their village, as well as exploring the implications that caste, religion and patriarchal values (among other things) have on the women. It’s a lot to pack into a slim novel, but I feel like it is handled well, even if it sometimes feels like there is isn’t enough time to discuss everything in depth. Another thing that I think is done really well is the friendships between the women and how they develop over the course of the novel.

A Restless Truth – Freya Marske

Sequel to A Marvellous Light (which I really enjoyed), A Restless Truth was one I hadn’t expected to come out so soon after the first book. This is another one that took a couple of attempts to get into, but again, once I did, I really enjoyed this.

I loved how the focus shifted to Maude in this one and you really get a chance to learn more about Robin’s little sister. I really enjoyed how Maude came into her own over the course of the novel and how she leans into her own charm and power. A Restless Truth also moves the story along quite nicely as well – there’s a little more lore and history in this and providing a little bit more context to the overarching storyline (sorry for being super vague – trying not spoil!) All in all, this was a really enjoyable entry in the series and I’m very much looking forward to seeing how the series ends.

So that’s it for the vast majority of my arcs! I’ve really enjoyed reading quite a nice mix of stuff and reading a number of new to me authors. I will say though that these will be the last of the arcs I will be requesting for quite a while – I forgot how much pressure I put on myself to read and review everything, so time for a breather!

An ARC roundup – too many ARCs and not enough time!

At some point last year, I made the decision to sign up to Netgalley again, on the basis that I wouldn’t go overboard and request too many. Well, as you can see by the title of this post, I did go slightly overboard and requested a few! As I’ve been struggling to keep on top of reviews lately, I thought I’d do a bit of a round up and a series of mini reviews. There may be a part 2 to this, depending on how many I get through here.

**Thank you to Netgalley and the respective publishers for the advance reader copies. All opinions are my own**

Ocean’s Echo – Everina Maxwell

I read this one back in September 2022 and I have to say, I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed Winter’s Orbit. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed Ocean’s Echo – Maxwell’s characters are so well written and her writing is just as wonderful as it was in Winter’s Orbit. However, I did find the plot of Ocean’s Echo a little bit confusing in places, particularly towards the end. I did read this one fairly quickly though (I wanted to find out what happened next!), so a re-read might be in order…

Tread of Angels – Rebecca Roanhorse

I’ve enjoyed a lot of Rebecca Roanhorse’s work in the past and Tread of Angels was no exception. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this one was a novella (no complaints from me though!) As a novella, this worked really well – the pacing was right for most of the story, although I felt that it was a tiny bit rushed towards the end. I did really enjoy the concepts behind this I and liked the take on Heaven vs. Hell / angel vs. fallen angel idea.

I’ve enjoyed a lot of Rebecca Roanhorse’s work in the past and Tread of Angels was no exception. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this one was a novella (no complaints from me though!)

As a novella, this worked well – the pacing was right for most of the story, although I felt that it was a tiny bit rushed towards the end. I did really enjoy the concepts behind this I and liked the take on Heaven vs. Hell / angel vs. fallen angel idea (although I wish that some of it could have been explored in a little bit more depth – with it being a novella, there wasn’t much in the way of world building, which was a shame, as the concept was really interesting).

Frontier – Grace Curtis

This one had an interesting premise, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite work for me. It took me a while to get into the story and I found it to be quite episodic. It felt like a TV series, where each chapter was an episode and only towards the end did it all come together. While some might prefer that, I found it quite difficult to stay engaged. I will say that this did pick up towards the end I did find myself getting a little bit more invested in the story.

I’ll leave it there for part 1, but keep an eye out for part 2! There are still plenty more to review 🙂

An Unexpected Hiatus (of sorts)

It’s been a while hasn’t it? First things first, a happy new year to you all! I hope your holiday season was wonderful and relaxing. I can’t believe we’re into 2023 already and what was supposed to be a month away from the blog turned into 3. All I can say is that a lot has happened in the last few months and I’m still trying to get it all organised in my head.

I honestly didn’t mean to take so much time away from the blog. The Fantasy Fellowship readathon dominated my October and while I enjoyed taking part, even reading the 8 books I did manage to get through took a bit of a toll. I’d sort of come out of a reading slump by that point, but the readathon very nearly sent me back into one. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed what I did manage to read, but there were some big books on that list! It also meant that I didn’t have much motivation for blogging, despite the pile of arcs I’ve accumulated and need to review.

In the middle of all that, I’ve had a couple of really big changes recently, which has meant that I haven’t really been in the best headspace to anything apart from read (all I wanted to do was curl up and escape into a good book). It’s frankly been a bit rubbish, but there wasn’t an a lot I could do apart from from ride it out and slowly return to my version of normal (I’m nearly there, thankfully!)

In a way, the hiatus hasn’t been a bad thing – I made it to 100 books at the end of 2022 and I’ve quite liked not having to worry about writing posts and keeping on top of things for the blog. Having said that, I do also feel incredibly guilty that I haven’t been posting much. I’m hoping to rectify that over the next few weeks and then I should hopefully be back to my usual, irregular posting schedule!

In other news, I have started a Bookstagram account! I’ve been spending quite a bit of time over there recently, so if you’re on Instagram, let me know! I’m @apagefull there too 🙂

I’ll be returning to posting reviews etc. over the next few weeks, including reviews of all the arcs I read towards the end of last year. I hope your January is a good one!

Book Tour: Of Water and Dance by Leslie Griffin

Once again, I am both delighted and nervous to be joining my second book tour! Thank you to Escapist Tours for the opportunity to read and review Leslie Griffin’s Of Water and Dance.

September Wrap Up

Okay, where did September go? Seriously, how are we into October and spooky season already?? It’s strange to think that we’re entering the last part of the year already and I don’t know about anyone else, but it feels like it should still be summer!

This is probably going to be a shorter wrap up post than normal, as September hasn’t exactly been a great month, but more on that later.

Fantasy Fellowship: Battle of the Five Worlds Readathon

This month, I decided to join the Fantasy Fellowship Discord server. I had been on the lookout for a new one to join and it looks like I joined at the right time. Fantasy Fellowship are hosting their Battle of the Five Worlds readathon in October and I thought I would do a post outlining my TBR for it (it’s mostly set in stone…)

The Oleander Sword – Tasha Suri

**Thank you to Orbit and Netgalley for providing an advanced reader copy. This does not affect my review in any way**

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you already know I’m a big fan of Tasha Suri’s work. Sequel to 2021’s The Jasmine Throne and the second volume in The Burning Kingdoms trilogy, The Oleander Sword was probably one of my most anticipated books of 2022.

August Wrap Up

And so we enter the last days of summer and look towards autumn and winter. 2022 is really flying by and I swear these posts come round far quicker than I would like! August has been a bit of a weird month, but then again, I feel like this year has just been all over the place.