Monthly Musings: March 2016

This is a where I look back at what I read (or tried to read) during the past month. I also plan on highlighting my experiences in any book club reads I from the month as well. I will always start with any books I would label as a surprise find/under-read books so if anyone missed my reviews for them, and don’t make it to the end of this post, they’ll be easy to find.

Highlighted Reads from March

Review Summary – March

• [1 Mar] Graft by Matt Hill ★★★
• [7 Mar] The Last Mortal Bond by Brian Staveley ★★★★½
• [14 Mar] The Immortals by Jordanna Max Brodsky ★★★★
• [15 Mar] Arkwright by Allen Steele ★★★★½
• [21 Mar] The Lyre Thief by Jennifer Fallon ★★★★½
• [24 Mar] Ink and Bone by ★★★★½
• [25 Mar] The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell ★★★★½
• [28 Mar] The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp ★★★★

What I Read – March

• The Lyre Thief by Jennifer Fallon – I really enjoyed this. I had never heard of Fallon before, was surprised to hear she has other books set in this world. I may need to go back and read them. This one had all my fantasy favorites: assassins, thieves, undesirable arranged marriages, scandalous secrets, switched identities, bandits, magic…Oh and dragons.
• The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell – My final Bingo square filled! I have to confess, I am not big on Arthurian legends/fantasy, but I really enjoyed this book. Complex characters and motives, no caricatures like can be common in legends.
• The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp – This horror story was wonderfully creepy and kinda funny. Its told as the draft of a book on the supernatural, but the author died mysteriously while writing it. He is irreverent and openly mocks the supernatural, but things start to get weird, and theres some great twists that come about while trying to figure out what really happened.
• City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett – I have to confess, I got off to a slow start with this one for some reason. But I came around and did enjoy it. Just not sure I seem to love it to quite the extent as most people I know that have read it. Ah well. Can’t complain, it is a really good book.
  Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton – This was a fun, lighter read. Western fantasy with a sharp-shooting female protagonist. Had a stronger romance element to it than most of the books I read, but it was enjoyable.
• The Fireman by Joe Hill – I saved the best for last here. I absolutely loved this book! It is dark, has amazing characters, and is about so much more than just a virus that makes people burn.

March 2016 Backlist Burndown

This month my Backlist book also doubled as my final Bingo square for r/fantasy (Arthurian). It was highly recommended, and I can see why. Was definitely a good book.

Here’s what other people read and burned off their backlist this month! It makes me happy to see other people joining in with this, so thanks to all of you! 🙂 Anyone else that posted a backlist review this month, feel free to link up! Hope to see another great set of books for April.

Looking Forward to APRIL 2016

Ah, I don’t know. I have to confess I am having trouble deciding what I want to read today, much less in the next month right now. But here’s some guesses: