What to read as year closes 

The final weeks of 2024 are rapidly approaching and this is a great time to stock up on books for the Christmas holiday.

The Songbird and the Heart of Stone by Carissa Broadbent is coming to bookstores on November 19. As the third book in a series, the story won’t make much sense to you. Mische, the protagonist, thought things could not get any worse when she became a vampire. But then she was sentenced to death for murdering a vampire prince.

The book finds Mische on a journey to the underworld to resurrect the god of death. I’ll be frank. Nothing about that synopsis appeals to me. Goodreads categorizes the novel as ‘New Adult.’ I don’t know what that is. The story sounds more like YA, and the title is annoyingly long.

Clearly, I am not the target audience, but the cover art is gorgeous. Yes, I judge books by their covers. Like The Songbird and the Heart of Stone, The Half King by Melissa Landers (November 19) is Romantasy (Fantasy Romance), a subgenre that has gained immense popularity in recent months.

The plot centers on the royal house Mortara whose kings are afflicted with a terrible curse. They only exist during the day. Once night falls, they fade into the shadows. Kian Hannibal Mortara has no hope.

The last of his line, Kian will disappear forever on his 21st birthday, unless Cerise Solon can save him. Acolytes like Cerise use their gifts as seers to serve the goddess and the kingdom. But Cerise has no magical gifts to speak of, and yet Kian has captured her heart, so the seer won’t stop until she saves the King from his fate.

The Half King sounds intriguing, and early reviews seem to agree (3.68 stars on Goodreads), praising the novel’s fast-paced story and well-crafted character dynamics. We Shall Be Monsters by Alyssa Wees (November 12) takes us even deeper into Romantasy waters. The novel piqued my interest because of the title.

We Shall Be Monsters. What does that even mean? The plot follows Virginia and Gemma, a mother and daughter living near a gateway to Fairyland concealed by a patch of wood. Virginia ignored her mother’s warning and ventured into the woods. She paid a high price.

Now her daughter, Gemma, is on the verge of crossing the same line. Unless Virginia acts quickly, she will lose Gemma’s father to a beastly curse. At 320 pages, this book is tiny. The page count fits the novel’s fairy taleesque vibe. So far, it has 4.01 stars on GoodReads, which is encouraging.

Red Sonja: Consumed by Gail Simone (November 19) attempts to re-imagine Red Sonja for modern audiences. Red Sonja has been around since 1973. If you are anything like me, you probably associate the character with Conan the Barbarian.

Both characters are cut from the same cloth. Every review I’ve seen of this book describes Sonja as a brash, violent, attractive, selfish, one-dimensional female character, which explains the lackluster rating (3.16 stars).

But those complaints don’t differ that drastically from what we saw in earlier Red Sonja stories. The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong (November 5) is a cozy mystery fantasy. It has a beautiful cover. Also, the older I get, the more appealing cozy fantasy becomes.

Tao, the protagonist, spends her days travelling to various villages and telling visitors their fortunes. However, her predictions are the unimportant kind (who the barmaid will kiss, when the cow will go into labour, etc).

Tao’s fortunes take a turn when an ex-mercenary on a mission to find a lost child recruits her. And that will do for now. Happy reading.

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