January Reviews (2025)
Greetings
Yes, the subject says January, this is releasing in April, it’s not an error.
Welcome to the Books That Burn Review Roundup! Releasing… whenever I realize it’s been too long. A lot has been happening and I didn’t mean to neglect this (one week early for Patrons).
Over the next few newsletters I’ll catch up on the reviews I’ve released so far in 2025, then the schedule should be more regular going forward now that I’m getting back to normal.
It is difficult to emphasize enough how much development time Links That Burn has taken, but it’s turning into something very cool and (hopefully) useful. The site is available in English and German, with RSS feeds available for those and other languages. Now that the spreadsheet is working, it takes much less time to maintain, but the early development steps were a solid two months of my life with March as a recovery month.
News and Events
I track upcoming book releases by authors we've previously covered on a shareable google calendar.
Notable January Releases:
Don't Sleep with the Dead by Nghi Vo
Chaos King by Kacen Callender
Signal Boost
BBNYA is still looking for book bloggers and authors to participate for 2025. Details below:
BBNYA is an annual Indie book award hosted and judged completely by book bloggers from all over the world!
Our goal is to give under-appreciated, lesser known Indie authors a chance to make themselves known without being overshadowed by the big names, but also show the world the power of book bloggers!
Recent Reviews
ANGELS BEFORE MAN by Rafael Nicolás, book 1 of Angels Before Man is Fantasy/Mythology/Romance, with queer character(s), marketed as Adult. Lucifer struggles with shame, identity, and timidity, with little more than the desire to worship his creator... But this God is a jealous one, and maybe paradise is not paradise. Told in Third Person with Dual POVs.
ALL THE PAINTED STARS by Emma Denny, book 2 of 14th Century Oxfordshire is Romance/Historical, with queer character(s), marketed as Adult. Lily Barden disguises herself as a knight to compete for Jo's hand at the tournament. Told in Third Person with Dual POVs.
YOURS CELESTIALLY by Al Hess is Romance/Sci-Fi, with queer character(s), marketed as Adult. Sasha has been brought back to life, but he can't shake the connection he formed with Limbo's AI, Metatron. Told in First Person with Dual POVs.
Current Reads
I just finished MONSTERS WITHIN by AK Faulkner, as well as CHILDREN OF CHAOS by Trudie Skies. Soon I’ll start reading the next books in their respective series.
In Case You Missed It
In January last year I read The Voice Upstairs by Laura E. Weymouth.
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