May 31, 2019

Challenges Wrap-up: MAY

CHALLENGE 1: 2019 New Release Challenge

#murderfunding by Gretchen McNeil (8/6/19)--Review to come at a later date
Heart of the Lion by Alyssa Rose Ivy (4/25/19)
The Missing Season by Gillian French (5/21/19)
Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa (6/18/19)--Review to come at a later date
The Burning Shadow by Jennifer L. Armentrout (10/8/19)--Review to come at a later date


Doing pretty good! I believe my first goal was to read 15 new releases, and when I topped that I decided just to up it to 30 to tap out the level I was in. Doing good so far!


CHALLENGE 2: The Backlist Reader Challenge 2019

Blind Tiger by Rachel Vincent (2/13/17)
99 Lies by Rachel Vincent (6/26/18)


Better than last month, that's for sure! Lol. Trying to sneak more backlist titles in as I make random requests and auto-downloads from Netgalley and Edelweiss. I've got a one-click problem! LOL!


CHALLENGE 3: 2019 Discussion Challenge




Challenge 4: 2019 Series Ender Reading Challenge

99 Lies by Rachel Vincent (100 Hours Duology)
The Beyond by Chloe Neill (The Veil)


Well, I tapped out my level. I haven't decided how many more I want to add to it for level 2. I'm not sure I will do 10, I could, but I don't like over-predicting and then failing by year end because of life changes. But I will be sure to add to it soon.









Book Blogger Hop

This meme is hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addict!
 
 
This week's question is: Do you read books over 400 pages? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews
 
 
 
MY ANSWER: Yes. Of course! I don't ever not read a book based on page length, be it too long or too little if it's a book that interests me. 400 seems to be the average for most of my reads these days +/- a few pages.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

May 30, 2019

Random Thursday

We're about halfway through the chapter on Words, so let's see what new word meanings Doug Lennox will teach us with The Little Book of Answers.


(image borrowed from UT News)
"Boycott" means to ostracize an oppressor and the term originated in Ireland in the late 19th century. Captain Charles Boycott started punishing tenant farmers in County Mayo when they fell behind in rent by tossing them out of their homes. Eventually the tenants reused to take in the harvest and brought about the downfall of Boycott and making the land useless to its owner.


I'm kind of surprised they honored the jerk by using his name for this act. But still interesting!


(image borrowed from Wikitionary)
When European settlers came to America, they brought their money and coins with them. Back then, coins were made from precious metal that were accepted everywhere at face value. The Spanish peso was divided into eight silver coins when the English called bits or pieces of eight; two bits was one-quarter of the Spanish dollar. When they started printing and minting money in they still used the expression "two bits" to mean one-quarter of a dollar despite the dollar's coinage being divided by ten.


(image borrowed from Beef-It's What's For Dinner)
A select roast of beef earned the name sirloin from King James I of England. Legend says that in 1617 during dinner and after some wine, King James stood and laid his sword across the entree and declared, "Gentlemen, as fond as I am of all you, yet I have a still greater favorite--the loin of a good beef. Therefore, good beef roast, I knight thee Sir Loin and proclaim that a double loin be known as a baron!"


Now I wonder if that's true or not! Lol!



(image borrowed from Wikipedia)
"Eavesdropping" is something that came about in the medieval times. Back then, houses didn't have gutters to carry off rainwater, instead they used "eaves" which are the lower, wide projecting edges of a sloping roof. The eaves protected the walls from damage from the rain dropping from the roof. Were someone to stand under one of these during a rain shower they could hear everything that was being said inside and thus were "eavesdropping."


That's kind of funny!







May 29, 2019

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine



From New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong comes a brand new psychological thriller about the lengths one woman will go to in order to save a child.

“Few crimes are reported as quickly as a snatched kid.”

That’s what the officer tells single mother Aubrey Finch after she reports a kidnapping. So why hasn’t anyone reported the little boy missing? Aubrey knows what she saw: a boy being taken against his will from the park. It doesn’t matter that the mother can’t be found. It doesn’t matter if no one reported it. Aubrey knows he’s missing.

Instead, people question her sanity. Aubrey hears the whispers. She’s a former stay-at-home mom who doesn’t have primary custody of her daughter, so there must be something wrong with her, right? Others may not understand her decision to walk away from her safe life at home, but years of hiding her past – even from the people she loves – were taking their toll, and Aubrey knows she can’t be the mother or wife she envisions until she learns to leave her secrets behind.

When the police refuse to believe her, she realizes that rescuing the boy is up to her alone. But after all the secrets, how far is she willing to go? Even to protect a child.


Always excited for another Kelley Armstrong book! Though I think I am behind on some...


PUBLISHER: Minotaur Books
GENRE: Mystery
RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2019 






 

May 28, 2019

The Pancake Book Tag

I saw this fun tag over at Paper Fury and couldn't pass it up because I love a good book tag! Lol! It was originally created by Becky at Blogs of a Bookaholic! I also borrowed all the images from Becky because they were cute and absolutely perfect!





Obviously I have to go with one of the Caraval books! I mean they are all absolutely perfect for this topic but I chose Legendary because I adore Tella too much not to!


  

 I swear I didn't mean to chose this again! Lol! But seriously the first character to come to mind was Tella! Her wit and temperament was part of why I loved this girl!





Though it's been years since I've read either of these two, I can honestly say they would be my comfort reads! They were the books I devoured over and over while I waited for more paranormal books to be published!





So far, this series can pretty much be used to answer all of these questions! Lol! But though I've moved onto other books, because the TBR pile ain't getting any smaller, I can say that I am still suffering a book hangover from Finale!




I'll go with my current-at-the-time-of-writing-this read and say The Burning Shadow! Not only are we continuing Evie and Luc's story, but we still glimpses of Daemon!! And Dawson too! Lol! It's very nostalgic almost seeing those guys again!




Speaking of Daemon, lol!! He was definitely a prickly sort in the beginning of Obsidian and I wasn't really a fan of his until the end of the book, but even then I was only slowly growing partial to him because let's face it, he was a douche in the beginning! He totally deserved spaghetti on his head!! Lol! And what would this answer be without another Caraval answer and use Dante in his role from Legendary! Because yeah, he was kind of prickly at first too!





I remember this one kept me on my toes! It definitely wasn't your average retelling of The Little Mermaid, though it is more origin story of the Sea Witch leading into The Little Mermaid!





I can honestly say I never gave much thought to thinking a relationship between Juliette and Warner would amount to anything swoonworthy. I mean, he didn't start things out so great. But with where we are at in the series now, that totally changes the game! I love these two together!



Although let it be noted I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER!!


I feel like I will always hate Malone! He's your old school villain who's villainous all the way without a shred of redemption to him whatsoever! I hated that dude soooo bad!!!





I mean, not only do we have six main characters, but they are all pretty different. They all led different lives and whatnot and I feel like they're just a very diverse group! 




There you have it! If you feel like joining it, consider yourself tagged!!
















Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Purple Princess of The Purple Booker.


Here are the rules:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a page

3. Pick out 2 lines that are SPOILER FREE
4. Name the title, author, etc.



"'Touch it,' he persisted. 'Just a little. You know you want to, Peaches.'" Kindle loc. 5%*


*Quote comes from the eARC, therefore it and its location are not final.












TITLE: The Burning Shadow 
AUTHOR: Jennifer L. Armentrout
PUBLISHER: Tor Teen
GENRE: YA Paranormal
RELEASE DATE: October 8, 2019



Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.



This week's topic is: Favorite Books Released In the Last Ten Years (one book for each year) (submitted by Anne @ Head Full of Books)



*in ascending order


10. WICKED: RESURRECTION by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie (2009)--I waited SIX years for this book to exist! I read the original Wicked as they released wayyy back in the day and it was first time I learned the HORRIFYING truth that a publisher WILL CANCEL a series RIGHT AT THE FINALE FOR NO REASON OTHER THAN LOW SALES!! But it's also the first example that a series can be "resurrected" and given a finale if the Fates choose to be oh so kind. They have not been kind in 10 years obviously! *side eyes*
9. 13 TO LIFE by Shannon Delany (2010)--the book that I only saw/heard about while at my first RT and I fell in LOVE with that cover! The obsession began and I had to wait an agonizing month and a half to get my greedy hands on it! Lol!
8. OBSIDIAN by Jennifer L. Armentrout (2011)--book bloggers unite! We finally made it into print! In some format at least! Lol.
 
 
7. FIRST GRAVE ON THE RIGHT by Darynda Jones (2012)--while I didn't necessarily read this one in its release year, I think I read it when the second book was in trade paperback. My copies go book 1: mass market, book 2: trade paperback, book 3-13: hardcover! So I was only a smidge late to the wonder that is Charley! Definitely a favorite series now!
6. THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE CURSED by Page Morgan (2013)--a series with GARGOYLES! GAR-FREAKING-GOYLES!!! I'm not sure when my obsession with gargoyles started, possibly back at the 90s cartoon show but I was thrilled to see them in print! This was a fun trilogy!
5. POISON PRINCESS by Kresley Cole (2014)--I remember reading this as a kindle book originally, but then I bought the real book, because obviously! Lol. It was a read that had its ups and downs and back then I was more likely to give the second book a try if I was even somewhat into book 1, which was a good thing because by book 2 I was HOOKED!
 
 
4. SURVIVE THE NIGHT by Danielle Vega (2015)--I can't believe this one's almost 4 years old already! I loved this one! It was super creepy, super weird, and right up my alley! I think this is the one that truly hooked me on Danielle's books!
3. CRYSTAL STORM by Morgan Rhodes (2016)--this one was soooo good! Granted each book in this series only got better and better! But this one! OMG! And that ending!!! It KILLLLLLLED me!! Waiting for the final book was torture! Especially since it didn't release during my birthday week as the past 5 books had!
2. CARAVAL by Stephanie Garber (2017)--this should surprise no one! The idea of this book had me thinking loosely of The Forbidden Game by L.J. Smith, which also had a guy named Julian in it! Though the games were VERY different, I was still enchanted by the story!


1. LEGENDARY by Stephanie Garber (2018)--again, not a surprise! I thought I enjoyed Scarlett's story, but I was in no way prepared to adore Tella's!! I can honestly say that she's probably my favorite of the sisters! Younger sisters unite!!



BONUS PICK!

2019...so far:

FINALE by Stephanie Garber (2019)--if this one surprises you at this point...well, surprise! Lol!