This holiday-themed tag comes from the book blog And On She Reads. In the spirit of not choosing the same books every single time, I'm going to focus on all of the books I've read in the past year or so. Enjoy!
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On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: a partridge in a pear tree.
The partridge stood alone in the pear tree. What is your favorite standalone?
I greatly enjoyed Margaret Rogerson's Sorcery of Thorns. I love the ideas of books that are living, breathing things; of demons in subservience to magicians; the entire magic system of the book; and of course, Nathaniel Thorn.
On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: two turtledoves.
Love is in the air! Who is your one true pairing?
My one true pairing comes from Aiden Thomas's Cemetery Boys -- long live Yadriel and Julian! I love every time the two interact with each other and my favorite scenes were when they went on the joyride in the "borrowed" car. I'm getting butterflies and warm fuzzies just thinking about these two together.
On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: three French hens.
In the spirit of threes, what is the best trilogy you have read?
By far the Cursebreaker series by Brigid Kemmerer would be my choice for favorite trilogy I read this year. The trilogy consist of A Curse So Dark and Lonely, A Heart So Fierce and Broken, and A Vow So Bold and Deadly, and narrowed down to its simplest premise, it's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast...but trust me, SO MUCH MORE than that!
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: four calling birds.
Since series usually consist of four or more books, what is your favorite series?
While the world probably considers this a trilogy, I'm going to refer to Holly Black's The Folk of the Air as a series because technically it's five different books. You've got The Cruel Prince, The Lost Sisters, The Wicked King, The Queen of Nothing, and How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories. This is my favorite series in that I ate the whole thing up in seconds and was greatly emotionally invested in it.
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: five golden rings.
One ring to rule them all! Who is your favorite villain/antagonist?
Mordred from the Camelot Rising trilogy by Kiersten White (though as of writing this, I've only read the first two books and just bought the third, so if his personality does a 180 in the last book I'll be shocked). Mordred isn't a villain in the series, but he's definitely an antagonist in that he is an obstacle, and a delicious distraction...
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: six geese a-laying.
Creation is a beautiful thing. What is your favorite world/worldbuilding?
There was a lot of good worldbuilding this year, but one that stood out to me as unique was in The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett. I really liked the frozen kingdom of snow with a literal, watery kingdom underneath it. I also liked the setup with the royals/all the political juiciness and courtship rituals that exist in the world.
On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: seven swans a-swimming.
Who needs seven swans when all it takes is one good animal sidekick? Who's your favorite animal sidekick?
I don't want to cite the same book from before in this list, but the only animal sidekick I can think of is someone who isn't an animal the whole time, and that is Silas from Sorcery of Thorns. He's a demon, who, not in his humanlike servant form, takes on the appearance of a white cat.
On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: eight maids a-milking.
Milk is so 18th century. Which book or series takes beverages/food to a whole new level?
Liselle Sanbury's Blood Like Magic makes the food from Trinidad sound mouthwatering. I'm unfamiliar with most of the food people eat there, but the lead character Voya loves cooking and that means we're given glorious descriptions of food in the book!
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: nine ladies dancing.
Dancing is just one skill of a Lady! Who is your favorite kickass female lead?
I like Karou from Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone.
On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: ten lords a-leaping.
How about your favorite leading lad?
I like Jest from Marissa Meyer's Heartless.
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: eleven pipers piping.
What is your favorite book or bookish thing with musical influence? (It can be about music, reference music a lot, etc.)
Into the Heartless Wood has tree sirens in it -- forest maiden monsters who sing beautifully to kill people!
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: twelve drummers drumming.
Drum roll please...what is your favorite read of this year?
It looks like it's going to be Sorcery of Thorns. I just kept coming back to this book whenever I was thinking of answers to questions. I enjoyed this book as a reader, but also, it really shaped me as a writer in terms of what I want to write, and the kind of writing I want to do. I admire this book a lot.
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Tag yourself! Make your own blog or share some of your thoughts in the comments. Happy reading, and happy holidays!
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