What a year 2022 was! All of my wrap up posts are now officially up so if you want to see my year as a whole, check it out! December was an alright month reading-wise. I did move into my very first home so I was very pre-occupied with other things!

• I read 10 books this month
• Genre: 6 fantasy and 4 mysteries
• Gender of authors: 4 women, 4 men and 1 various
• Race of authors: 5 white authors, 3 asian authors and 1 various
• Age range: 6 adult, 3 YA and 1 children’s
• Format: 5 paperback, 3 hardback and 2 ebook

Portrait of a Murderer – Anne Meredith (DNF)

This was such a shame as I bought this book back in Dec 2021 and waited a whole year to read it! To be honest, I don’t have any criticism of the book itself, it just took a direction I didn’t expect nor did I care for. While I expect it to be a traditional murder mystery it was more of a character study of the murderer itself. Which for me, it was not what I was looking for.

Babel – R.F. Kuang (DNF)

This one actually broke my heart. I had been following the process of this book and its publication from the minute Kuang announced it. Unfortunately, I didn’t love it. I have a more detailed account of my reasons for DNFing on my wrap up posts.

The Christmas Murder Game – Alexandra Benedict (2.5 stars)

This book was about a woman who goes back to her childhood home to play the “titular” game and learn about her mothers mysterious death. This book was fine. It filled the Christmas themed gap I had which was great and I really enjoyed the main character but the story was predictable.

Marple – Various Authors (3.5 stars)

This was a really enjoyable short story collection all involving the incredible amateur detective Miss Marple created by Agatha Christie. Here are my individual ratings. My favourite story was A Deadly Wedding Day by Dreda Say Mitchell.

• Evil in Small Places – 3
• The Second Murder at the Vicarage – 2.5
• Miss Marple Takes Manhattan – 3.5
• The Unravelling – 4
• Miss Marple’s Christmas – 4
• The Open Mind – 4
• The Jade Empress – 5
• A Deadly Wedding Day – 5
• Murder at the Villa Rosa – 2
• The Murdering Sort – 3
• The Mystery of the Acid Soil – 4
• The Disappearance – 3.5

Blue Exorcist Vol. 1 – Kazue Kato (3.5 stars)

This story follows Run who finds out that his dad is Satan himself and he goes on a mission to become a Exorcist and defeat his father. I watched the anime years and years ago and was always disappointed that I never watched the second season but now I can just read the entire series!!! I felt this was a solid first volume setting up the characters and all the important plot points.

Kai and the Monkey King – Joe Todd-Stanton (4 stars)

This was a great story with beautiful art design, plot and characters. I want to own everything Joe Todd-Stanton creates!

Murder at the Theatre Royale – Ada Moncrieff (4 stars)

This is a Christmas historical murder mystery set at a theatre. I requested this on Netgalley on a whim as I really wanted to read some Christmas themed mysteries and I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. The writing was really easy-reading, the main character was really engaging and the mystery worked so well for me. I ended up finishing this on a bus journey home and nearly missed my stop as I was so engrossed by it.

The Lost Metal – Brandon Sanderson (4 stars)

The final book in the Wax and Wayne quartet. This was also my first proper foray into understanding the Cosmere etc. I enjoyed this story, I felt everything was wrapped up nicely and I enjoyed learning about the Cosmere. That being said it did not pack a punch the way The Hero of Ages did and I knew how things would go for a lot of the characters we meet. So while I enjoyed it, it was not my favourite in the series.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Vol. 3&4 – Kanehito Yamada (4.5/4 stars)

What a perfect way to end the year. Volume 3 was my favourite so far. I love the characters, I love the world, I love exploring Frieren’s backstory. I need to read every single one of these volumes.