I’d hate to be accused of being one of those people who runs themselves ragged during the holiday season, spending so much time preparing to have fun that they never relax and actually have fun. Luckily for me and my fun-loving self, I happen to be extraordinarily good at avoiding all my responsibilities for an hour or so at a time. I’m virtually an expert at sitting down in front of the fire with the cats and the dogs to read a bit of a book and let the stress of the day pass me by.

But it is the holidays, and I do have a million things to do and all kinds of fun I’d like to have, so I am a little bit choosy about the kind of book I’ll pick up. Now is not the time to finally read Middlemarch. I’m not even going to consider reading the second Stormlight Archive book right now, and if you hear Philippa Gregory has a new book out, don’t tell me about it until after the new year. However, if a novella (or three) revolving around characters with superpowers, witches, goddesses, fairies – even the Krampus, and the city they can live in as “normal” people were to happen to be on sale for the holiday season… well, that would be basically perfect for me.

Would I recommend it? These books may not be for everyone, but I can’t imagine a better mid-holiday break for myself! Now I’m just hoping Santa brings me an Amazon gift card so I can read One Way Fare too!

I can’t forget to mention that Barb Taub, being that kind of a lovely lady, will be donating all her royalties this holiday season from these books, as well as her first (One Way Fare), to the No Kill Animal Advocacy Center and DogsTrust.

I encourage you to head over to Barb Taub’s site and read about her books, sale and donation plans.

Find it all here: http://barbtaub.com/2014/12/12/ho-ho-ho-my-new-book-release-special-sale-pricing-and-a-benefit-for-homeless-pets/

I’ve done absolutely nothing but read.

My house is messy, my kids are bored, my husband has been ignored, I’m slightly sleep deprived and we have minimal food in the fridge.

I can’t sit down and write a real review -I have two days of neglect to make up for!

Would I recommend it?  I couldn’t recommend the last book of a trilogy, it just wouldn’t be right. You have to start with the first one, A Discovery of Witches, and go from there.  The only additional thing I will say after reading all three is that the vampire warning still holds true and that I liked each book better than the one before.

It’s over a 1,000 pages.

It’s “Part One.”

This isn’t a book, it’s a commitment!

I didn’t even start to understand this new complex world until I was around page 400.

But, the characters are engaging, the world is detailed, and the story is complex without overreaching. By the time I was near the end, you know, the last 200 pages or so, I couldn’t put it down.

Would I recommend it? I’m not going to steer my anti-fantasy friends toward this one. It’s likely too huge and overwhelming to be a cross genre favorite. But, if you are someone (cough, cough, my husband, cough, cough) who is avoiding Brandon Sanderson because of the whole Wheel of Time business, please stop, go find this book, and read it.

If you are still waffling click over to read “The Way of Kings” – The Way To Write Epic Fantasy. Not only is it an excellent (and much longer) review than mine, it’s what inspired me to pick up the book in the first place!