Skip to main content

Featured

The Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean

Each generation, a competition is held to find the next empress of Honoku. The rules are simple. Survive the palace's enchanted seasonal rooms. Conquer Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Marry the prince. All are eligible to compete--all except yokai, supernatural monsters and spirits whom the human emperor is determined to enslave and destroy. Mari has spent a lifetime training to become empress. Winning should be easy. And it would be, if she weren't hiding a dangerous secret. Mari is a yokai with the ability to transform into a terrifying monster. If discovered, her life will be forfeit. As she struggles to keep her true identity hidden, Mari's fate collides with that of Taro, the prince who has no desire to inherit the imperial throne, and Akira, a half-human, half-yokai outcast. Torn between duty and love, loyalty and betrayal, vengeance and forgiveness, the choices of Mari, Taro, and Akira will decide the fate of Honoku in this beautifully written, edge-of-your-seat YA...

Early December Reviews (2024)

Greetings

Welcome to the Books That Burn Fortnightly Roundup! Releasing every two weeks (one week early for Patrons).

News and Events

I track upcoming book releases by authors we've previously covered on a shareable google calendar.

Notable December Releases:

  • Something Extraordinary by Alexis Hall

  • Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao

  • Velveteen vs. The Early Adventures by Seanan McGuire

Signal Boost

Here’s this fortnight’s highlighted organization:

Unite Against Book Bans

With more than 200 partner organizations and tens of thousands of individual supporters, Unite Against Book Bans connects, equips, and mobilizes the public to advocate in their communities for the right to read and to defeat attempts at every level of government to censor reading material.

Recent Reviews

A NECESSARY CHAOS by Brent Lambert is Fantasy, with queer character(s), marketed as Adult. Vade and Althus a spies on opposite sides, faking a romance that turns real when they're both ordered to kill the other. Told in Third Person with Dual POVs.

CONSECRATED GROUND by Virginia Black, book 1 of Joan of Crows is Fantasy, with queer character(s), marketed as Adult. Joan returns home to attend her father's funeral, but finds the town beset by vampires and the coven unable to stand up to them. Told in Third Person with Dual POVs.

Reviews forthcoming for Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall and Books And Bone by Veo Corva.

Rereads and Older Reviews

I’m re-reading The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles so that I can read the connected novella Jackdaw.

Current Reads

The anthology Being Ace has a bunch of stories by asexual authors about ace characters.

Songs and Playlists

Sometimes I make book playlists, either chronological or character-vibes. You can find all of those here.

This fortnight’s featured playlist is: Reeve of Veils

In Case You Missed It

This time last year I read The Lamb Will Slaughter The Lion by Margaret Killjoy.

Pluggables and Podcast News

As for the podcast, hopefully you're enjoying our most recent episode. If you'd like to receive episodes early, as well as bonus content, please consider supporting us on Patreon. Patrons receive this newsletter one week early, as well as a list of upcoming podcast episodes and even more planned reviews.

Patrons at any level receive the booklist with our planned episodes for up to three months at a time.

Thanks for reading, the next roundup will be in two weeks!

-Robin

Co-host of Books That Burn

-----

Want this newsletter delivered directly to your inbox? Subscribe via Buttondown. 

Comments