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Check out what I read for Reedsy Discovery in November 2022! I found a five-star and a four-star read this month, each from amazing fantasy authors:
Looking for more featured fantasy books? -Follow me on Bookbub, Goodreads, or Reedsy Discovery to see every book review I post.
-Check out these cool book finds for fall! -Sign up for my newsletter here to receive frequent updates on book finds, giveaways, my writing news, and receive a free book as a thank-you for joining my writer/reader community. **Authors, if you would like to submit your book to me for a review via Reedsy Discovery, please click here to learn more.**
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I reviewed three books for Reedsy this week... here's how they scored:
Today I am super excited to share the complete list of my 5-star reads from 2021! As a Reedsy Discovery Reviewer, I get many requests for reviews all year long. Many of my 5-star reads this year came from Reedsy Discovery! Others I found through "Bookstagram" or recommendations from other authors, or I edited them pre-release for the authors and then read the completed versions. From Middle-Grade Fantasy to Adult Dark Fantasy, I have a wide variety of books to choose from, so maybe you can find some for your TBR list, too! Without further ado, here are my 5-star reads from 2021 (in order of date reviewed):
So there you have it: all of my 5-star reads from 2021!
I will continue to post 5-star reads throughout 2022, as well. -Want to keep up with my reviews? Follow me on Twitter HERE, Goodreads HERE, or Instagram HERE. -Want more lists about featured books and authors? Sign up for my newsletter HERE for updates through the year. -Are you an author who wants me to review your book? Check out my Inquiries page HERE for details. -Are you a Reedsy Discovery reader? Follow my Reedsy Discovery profile HERE to see all of my reviews through the year. With the fall upon us (bringing loads of new fall releases to read), I want to share the list of books I gave 5-star reviews to: summer 2021. Anyone who knows me from a reviewing standpoint knows that I don't hand out many 5-star reviews. A book really has to go above and beyond, blowing me away, to break out of the "Loved It" (4-star) and into "Must-Read" (5-star). I am known for being blatantly honest with my reviews, and I will link my review to each book below in case you'd like to read it in full. Many of these books I found courtesy of Reedsy Discovery, although some were reads from fellow authors in my Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter writing community.
I am always looking to expand my TBR list!
Which 5-star reads did you have this summer? -Want to read all my reviews? Follow me on Reedsy Discovery HERE or Goodreads HERE -Interested in seeing what readers are saying about my books? Check out my blog HERE, my Goodreads page HERE or my Amazon author page HERE -Are you an author who would like me to review your sci-fi or fantasy novel? Submit it for consideration on Reedsy Discovery HERE.* *Please note that Reedsy Discovery only permits reviewers to "accept" 3 books in our queue at any given time. If you submit your book while my queue is full, it may be sent to other fantasy reviewers on Reedsy for review. I cannot guarantee a review of every book submitted to me, but I will try my best. (Reedsy reviewers are not paid for our honest reviews.) Each cover shown above is from Amazon.com and is not the property of Katherine D. Graham; Katherine does not claim any rights over the books or their covers, and is not being paid to promote these books.  Today is launch day for a new Reedsy review: Bard by Dan Watt. I received a free ARC (advanced reader copy) of Bard courtesy of the author and Reedsy in exchange for an honest review. It was a unique story, definitely deserving of Reedsy's "Worth-Reading" 3-star rating (but with a couple areas that made it hard to give it a four or five. -Q.: Why did I pick up Bard? -A: The idea of a young man fated to find and be with one lover (thanks to a love gem gifted to him in his youth) and that same young man being a bard traveling the world having adventures stood out to me right away. Without further ado, here is my Reedsy review: Bard by Dan Watt.: Cornered and assaulted by ghouls, a mysterious maiden is rescued by a young boy named Bran, and she gifts him with a mysterious gem before vanishing without a trace. Bran is a simple but hard-working young man, whose destiny holds epic implications. Sent to train as a Bard as his now-blacksmith father once did, Bran finds himself swept up in a world he never knew existed outside the humble village he has survived in his entire life. Bard, an epic tale of grand adventure, follows the young bard's journey from Bard-in-training with his friends to the deepest, darkest secrets of foreign royalty in the East. Along the way friends and made and lost, the lines between black and white are muddied to grey. Bran must battles between passion and hate as he travels through foreign lands and survives dangerous foes in search of the love who granted him the gem he cannot remove and that prohibits him from being with any other. Watt's use of vivid imagery truly brings this story to life for readers. The world is inhabited by every kind of fantasy creature from elves and dwarves to harpies and goblins, and Watt does an amazing job challenging some of the stereotypes of each race while also maintaining the classic strengths in each that fantasy readers will love. The deep darkness of the human heart is mirrored in corrupt immortal emperors and kings, while hope and love are still potent within the hearts of the characters we meet. The present-tense narration in Bard was a little difficult to read and stay connected to over such a long book and there are some minor inconsistencies/unclear points in the plot regarding certain changes and decisions that Bran makes as well as the outcome of his friends, but it is definitely worth powering through the narrative style for this unique and unpredictable story. Younger readers (as the synopsis advises this can be read by older teens) should be aware that Bard is definitely a dark fantasy. Trigger warnings include scenes and depictions of physical and sexual assault, murder, mentions of incest, graphic deaths/war, graphic injuries/deaths of children, explicit sex scenes, and gore. Being a very original take on the good vs evil and fated-lovers tropes, this fantasy adventure would be a great read for lovers of the Game of Thrones series and Lord of the Rings trilogy. Want to read another YA Dark Fantasy adventure novel? Check out my November 2020 featured indie author Clare Kae and her book Daughter of Dreams and Dread HERE. |
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