And so begins another year of writing and reading!

This is my first monthly writing update for 2017 and my five writing resolutions are going well.

I reviewed a self-published book, Blue Moon by Pat Spence, and received some lovely bookmarks as a thank you.

I read another book, His Bloody Project, which I found in my Christmas stocking last month. The Booker Prize nominated novel by Graeme Macrae Burnet is 19th century true crime about a triple murder in Scotland. Very gripping, surprisingly funny and thought-provokingly inconclusive!

It was not a very productive month for writing. Excuses include catching a stomach bug from my baby, catching a cold from my baby, writing two ILM essays and spending five nights in Amsterdam on a work trip.

That said, I did present two chapters of Nephos 3 to the Birmingham Writers’ Group and received mostly positive comments. I wrote a lot in my notebook but, alas, scribbles don’t count until they have been typed up. Rules is rules.

I also applied for Room 204 nice and early. There was no video requirement this year, although you can still watch my video application from last year. This writing resolution is now fully ticked off my list. I only had to apply for Room 204 to fulfil the resolution – not necessarily get accepted – although of course I would love to be chosen. This prestigious writing programme could be a game-changer.

Offline, I attended the inaugural Blogger Brekkie at Foyles bookshop in Grand Central. I spoke to lots of lovely book bloggers over pain au chocolate and ladles of tea. There were familiar faces such as Nordie and Heide Goody but I was also introduced to Mel’s Bookland Adventures, A Brummie Home and Abroad and award-winning food blog Full To The Brum.

Foyles even asked us to write book recommendations for their shelves, which was great fun.

I also re-edited the paperbacks for Breadcrumbs and The Curse of Besti Bori, so they are now 100% free of errors. I think. There has never been a better time to grab a copy.

And I wrote a book review policy for my website. All in all, a good start to 2017!

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This is the debut novel from author Pat Spence and the first part in the now-completed Blue Crystal trilogy.

Blue Moon is highly readable and enjoyable young adult fiction, which will certainly appeal to fans of Stephanie Meyer.

There are many parallels with Twilight: a plain girl falls in love with a good-looking boy; the boy belongs to a wealthy, supernatural family; everyone in the family has a different special ability; and the family's secret existence is protected by an ancient, ruthless order.

Being compared to a multi-million dollar franchise is no bad thing, especially when there hasn't been a Twilight novel since 2008. Any Twi-Hards in search of new young adult fiction need look no further.

But there are differences too. This is a British novel for starters, which is proof that American writers don't have the monopoly on popular teen fiction.

What's more, the mysterious Theo de Lucis and his wealthy family are not vampires. This was a happy surprise and an interesting twist for this genre. The truth about their immortality is far more original. Spence invents her own mythology, rather than following the rules of a well-worn archetype, which helps Blue Moon stand out in the crowded young adult market.

The characters are well-drawn, especially the varied household of the de Lucis family. The shape-shifting servants, Aquila and Pantera, are particularly menacing and feature in some exciting action scenes. Meanwhile, Seth and Tash, the best friends of protagonist Emily, provide plenty of entertaining bickering and ensure the story stays grounded.

Blue Moon is addictive YA fiction with plenty of fresh ideas and a welcome British backdrop. As the title suggests, novels like this only come along once in a blue moon.

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I have decided to set myself some New Year's Resolutions to keep my writing and reading on track in 2017.

Hopefully I will feel more incentive to complete them by declaring all five resolutions publicly on the blogosphere! Here we go.

1. Read and review one self-published book each month - I believe independent writers should help other writers. Finding time to read an independent writer's work and honouring them with a well-written review is a noble gesture, one which I did three times in December. Better yet, it could lead to my work being reviewed in return.

2. Read another novel for pleasure each month - I only read 13 books in 2016, which was one of my lowlights. Writers are made better at their craft by reading, so I need to up my page-turning game.

3. Finish Nephos 3 - I have over 80,000 words of my new Nephos novel burning a hole in my Dropbox. I need to write three times that before I am close to finishing the novel. This is the year when I need to make that happen. Two books doesn't feel like a series, which is why this third entry is so important. I will then feel less guilty about taking a break from Nephos and pursuing other projects...

4. Finish Breadcrumbs 2 - This is a little optimistic because I will prioritise Nephos 3, but it would be great to release my second short story collection in 2017. I have enough for half a collection, so I will need to write some original short stories and possibly a novella to bulk out the spine.

5. Enter Room 204 - Once again, I will enter Writing West Midlands' writer development programme known as Room 204. I wasn't chosen last year, despite my lovely application video, but I will try again because it could lead to some fantastic opportunities.

Meet me back here at the end of 2017 to see if the above were achieved!

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