Feb 28, 2022

Challenges Monthly Wrap-up: February

CHALLENGE 1: 2022 Discussion Challenge


Memory Lane--My Favorite Birthday Party
Groundhog's Day
Blind Date with a Book
Reading Pace
I Should Have Read That Book Tag
Book Longing
Superpowers

 

I'm at 11/35, off to a good start for sure!



CHALLENGE 2: 2022 Series Enders Reading Challenge

Sadly still at zero for this one, but I'm gearing up to get one series completed...except I can't link it up until May!



CHALLENGE 3: The Backlist Reader Challenge 2022

You're a Vampire: That Sucks! by "Count" Domenick Dicce (10/13/15)


Only 1 TBR book read this month sadly, I was reading review books and some pretty long ones too!

3/20 books read



CHALLENGE 4: 2022 New Release Reading Challenge


Court by Tracy Wolff (2/1/22)
Book of Night by Holly Black (5/3/22)--Review to come at a later date


These were both pretty long books! Hence why my February looks so sad overall, lol! I'm at 6/20 books for this challenge!












ARC Review--Crowbones by Anne Bishop

 

In this engrossing and gripping fantasy set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Others series, an inn owner and her friends must find a killer—before it’s too late.…

Crowbones will gitcha if you don’t watch out!

Deep in the territory controlled by the Others—shape-shifters, vampires, and even deadlier paranormal beings—Vicki DeVine has made a new life for herself running The Jumble, a rustic resort. When she decides to host a gathering of friends and guests for Trickster Night, at first everything is going well between the humans and the Others.

But then someone arrives dressed as Crowbones, the Crowgard bogeyman. When the impostor is killed along with a shape-shifting Crow, and the deaths are clearly connected, everyone fears that the real Crowbones may have come to The Jumble—and that could mean serious trouble.

To “encourage” humans to help them find some answers, the Elders and Elementals close all the roads, locking in suspects and victims alike. Now Vicki, human police chief Grimshaw, vampire lawyer Ilya Sanguinati, and the rest of their friends have to figure out who is manipulating events designed to pit humans against Others—and who may have put Vicki DeVine in the crosshairs of a powerful hunter.

 

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

 

Anne Bishop makes is back in the world of The Others with her latest release Crowbones! After a two year hiatus we get to see what's happening once more with Vicki DeVine in one of the other neighborhoods. What starts as a nice busy holiday quickly turns into a murder mystery and the Elders are not pleased and no one will be leaving The Jumble until the killer is caught.

I'll admit that diving back into this world was a little rough, especially since I recalled the second book focused on other characters besides Vicki, so getting back to her portion of the story was even rougher. But luckily, there were enough momentary recaps that made getting settled into the here and now a bit easier.

Vicki has a nice crowd at The Jumble when people come in to celebrate what once was Halloween. The Others were still intrigued with the idea of "trick-or-treating" so it's much the same holiday as we all know. Until a human guest dressed as Crowbones--the equivalent of the Crowgard bogeyman--and shakes things up. If that wasn't enough, said human is soon found murdered. This wouldn't really mean anything to the Others until not soon after, a Crowgard is found dead. It is then that the Elders get involved and put up a block of sorts that forbids humans from leaving, and should they try...well, they won't like what happens next.

Now Vicki and her guests are forced to stay in The Jumble until the murderer is caught. But since basically no one is allowed to leave or come into town without in turn becoming a "prisoner" as well, they are pretty much isolated. You can tell when Bishop was writing this since we've all been in our own versions of isolation and not being able to leave home. You go to the store for a few supplies, but even those become in short supply, like toilet paper. It's amazing really, how quickly real life events cane be put into books these days!

We soon turn the story into your basic whodunit murder mystery. We once again get multiple points of view from Vicki, Julian, Ilya, and Grimshaw, plus a few other mystery people, an occasional Them, and some that aren't labeled at all which are quickly revealed to be the murder. It definitely presents quite the puzzle as there are so many suspects in town what with the influx of guests at The Jumble.

I belatedly discovered that a list of characters and places and other such terms were located at the back of the story. Which might have been more helpful to me in my reading as the week I read this was quite busy and getting back into the story after a few hours away was always a bit difficult. The glossary would've been very helpful had I known it was there. Sadly since it had been over two years since I read from this series, I forgot that these were usually included as well.

The pacing to this one was right on the line of decent! It's not overly fast, but it's not terribly slow either. What with the change in point of view every chapter, you were able to stay on top of things around town. There was always a date given too, so we pretty much go through about a week in all and so much happens in that week with the murder and investigating.

I think because I was unable to binge read the book, the going back and forth made the whodunit a complete and total surprise to me! The woes of having to work full-time instead of  reading full-time, lol! Despite that, I did still enjoy the story and was always eager to get back into things. I loved how Vicki has become such a part of the shifters she now lives with. Much like Meg did in her own series. I was also just thrilled that Meg makes a small appearance via phone call in this one! It's always fun to see past favorite characters make an appearance in the new series!

All in all, Crowbones was quite the mystery! I found it to be quite engaging and the mystery elements were spot on! The whodunit took me completely by surprise, but I feel like the groundwork leading to the reveal was there. I just missed it due to my reading span! I hope Bishop continues to write in this world as it is one I enjoy seeing the paranormal entities engaging with the humans in a very different kind of society. This is a series fans of paranormal books will enjoy what with the wide cast of characters and enticing storylines!

 

Overall Rating 4/5 stars

 

Crowbones releases March 8, 2022

 

 

 


 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's a fun meme where we gather to share what we've read last week and our reading plans for this week.

 

Last Week I Read:


Book of Night by Holly Black (ARC)--Review to come at a later date

 

 

Currently Reading:

Shadow of Light by Molly E. Lee



What I Plan to Read Next:

Spark of Ash by Molly E. Lee (ARC)



Other Posts of Interest:

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays
Can't Wait Wednesday
Random Thursday
Book Blogger Hop
Stacking the Shelves

 

 

 


 

Feb 27, 2022

Stacking the Shelves

 

Stacking the Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, and of course ebooks! The meme is now hosted by Reading Reality.

 

It was an agonizing week. I had to dog-sit while working from home on Monday since everyone was off and our dog is not a good "patient" when his "parents" are away. So I feel like I've had a headache all week long. He's an older dog and very stubborn, he just barks nonstop when he's not happy and let's just say he was not a happy camper last week! Work got a little crazy on me too what with certain things not going right and I had to work a bit overtime to get my larger portion straightened out. I was on the right track on Friday and hopefully I can get the rest of my team to help get things finished since I took care of the things I had to do. Hopefully, this week won't be too terrible. Fingers crossed! 

As far as books go, it wasn't too bad of a week either! I got far more than I expected!


Here's what I got:

This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi--SIGNED!
House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas--B&N edition
Second Star to the Left by Megan Van Dyke
House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas--tour edition
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkowski--Illumicrate edition!
The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkowski--I'm planning to take nicer pics for the photo challenge next month!
The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkowski




And that was it for me this week! What all did you get?





Feb 25, 2022

Book Blogger Hop

 

 

This meme is hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addict!

 

 

This week's question is: Do you acknowledge publication days for books you have read with a blog or social media post? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews)



MY ANSWER: I guess I don't. I never really thought about including publication date and whatnot when I am writing a review. It just never occurred to me to include it. I do always link the title to its Goodreads page though so readers can get all that information. So then maybe I do in a way? Lol.







Feb 24, 2022

Random Thursday

 

Today is the final day I have fun Disney Daily Calendar facts to share! This calendar didn't do too bad with their blatantly wrong facts. Mostly it was just having an ill-timed quote with what was being shown in the picture.


(image borrowed from Folio Society)

Did you know that Dodie Smith, the writer behind The One Hundred and One Dalmatians actually had a dalmatian that had 15 puppies? She got the idea for Cruella's obsession when Dodie's friend commented that the fur of Dodie's dogs would make a beautiful coat!


Yikes!



(image borrowed from YouTube)

Did you know that Frozen II was the most watched trailer of any animated movie ever? It was viewed over 116 million times in the first 24 hours it was available!


And I was one of those 116 million! Lol!



(image borrowed from MickeyBlog)

Angela Lansbury sang the title track to Beauty and the Beast as a test, the filmmakers were so moved that they knew another take wasn't needed. It was just that perfect. Lansbury recorded her dialogue for this movie in between filming her hit show, Murder, She Wrote.



(image borrowed from TV Tropes)

For Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, animators invented a multiplane camera that shot through multiple layers of painted glass in order to have elements move independently of each other. It helped to add depth and gave more control over the images.


As I write this post, my printer/scanner combo decided it doesn't like my laptop anymore and refused to recognize it so I couldn't give you the proper image and google was no help either. So this image doesn't really reflect what my calendar was trying to say.



And sadly because my scanner is refusing to cooperate and I have no idea where I stashed the software to reinstall everything I can't share the last picture I have which is a total blooper in color schemes. Sigh.







Feb 23, 2022

Can't Wait 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.

 

For fans of Caraval and The Night Circus, this decadent and darkly enchanting YA fantasy, set against the backdrop of a Belle Époque-inspired hotel, follows seventeen-year-old Jani as she uncovers the deeply disturbing secrets of the legendary Hotel Magnifique.

All her life, Jani has dreamed of Elsewhere. Just barely scraping by with her job at a tannery, she’s resigned to a dreary life in the port town of Durc, caring for her younger sister Zosa. That is, until the Hotel Magnifique comes to town.

The hotel is legendary not only for its whimsical enchantments, but also for its ability to travel—appearing in a different destination every morning. While Jani and Zosa can’t afford the exorbitant costs of a guest’s stay, they can interview to join the staff, and are soon whisked away on the greatest adventure of their lives. But once inside, Jani quickly discovers their contracts are unbreakable and that beneath the marvelous glamour, the hotel is hiding dangerous secrets.

With the vexingly handsome doorman Bel as her only ally, Jani embarks on a mission to unravel the mystery of the magic at the heart of the hotel and free Zosa—and the other staff—from the cruelty of the ruthless maître d’hôtel. To succeed, she’ll have to risk everything she loves, but failure would mean a fate far worse than never returning home.

 

What a gorgeous cover! This one sounds so intriguing! I'll also admit it doesn't hurt that it says for "fans of Caraval!" Pretty much sold! Lol.

 

TITLE: Hotel Magnifique
AUTHOR: Emily J. Tayor

PUBLISHER: Razorbill
GENRE: YA Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: April 5, 2022

 

 


 

Feb 22, 2022

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.

 

Sadly still reading the same book from last week. Things have just been chaotic and while I am liking this one, it's not all what I expected it to be. Hence the slower pace I'm dealing with.

 

"Writing in blood, thick and clotted, covered the walls. In some places caught with hair. The words continued high up on the walls, where a human hand couldn't reach." p 243*


*Quote comes from the ARC, therefore it and its page number are not final.

 

 

 

 

 

 

TITLE: Book of Night
AUTHOR: Holly Black

PUBLISHER: Tor Books
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: May 3, 2022



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: Top Ten Dynamic Duos (submitted by Elley @ Elley the Book Otter)

 

*in no particular order

 

10. AUDREY ROSE & THOMAS--this is my only row of somewhat romantic couples for duos! Though these two did start as partners before becoming romantic!
9. KATY & DAEMON--they definitely weren't romantic either in the beginning, they had that back and forth bantering thing that I just loved!
8. EVANGELINE & JACKS--they too have that almost but not quite romantic thing going on that I am loving!


7. CHARLEY & COOKIE--these two are a riot together!
6. MJ & GILLEY--another pair of besties that make me laugh!
5. ROSE & LISSA--they definitely have a good friendship with its ups and downs, but they're there for each other when it counts.




4. RACHEL & JENKS--another great set of friends!
3. ASH & PUCK--I honestly loved their frenemies relationship! It was just so entertaining!
2. ARI & JANCO--another set of friends that I just loved! They have a very brotherly relationship with their teasing of each other!


1. SCARLETT & TELLA--naturally, I saved these sisters for the #1 spot! They too have a very good relationship and I loved seeing it continue in the new series!