Jan 31, 2024

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.

 

The highly anticipated conclusion to the international bestselling Starcrossed saga.  This Greek mythology series is ideal for fans of Alexandra Bracken and Chloe Gong.  T he dice have always been loaded against her.  Helen was always fated to start a war. Even after defeating the Olympians and taking up the mantle as the most powerful of all the Scions, Helen still wasn’t able to save her father. Bereft and betrayed by Lucas, Helen falls into a downward spiral… but the Fates aren’t done with her yet.   Star-crossed in love, she was destined for destruction.  The cycle was never meant to be broken. Helen learns that her final purpose is to be the spark that sets the whole world on fire. To prevent this from happening, she must do the impossible, and defeat the Moirae. If she fails, she risks ending up like Oedipus, meeting her fate on the road she has taken to escape it.   Will love be the key that finally trumps fate?

 

 

 

I am behind in this series once again! I'm now 2 books behind, Josie is really belting these out now!

 

TITLE: Endless
AUTHOR: Josephine Angelini

PUBLISHER: Sungrazer Publishing
GENRE: YA Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024

 

 

Luck is its own kind of magic, in this first book in an electrifying new contemporary fantasy series from the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Hollows novels.

Petra Grady has known since adolescence that she has no talent for magic—and that’s never going to change. But as a sweeper first-class, she’s parlayed her rare ability to handle dross—the damaging, magical waste generated by her more talented kin’s spellwork—into a decent life working at the mages’ university.

Except Grady’s relatively predictable life is about to be upended. When the oblivious, sexy, and oh-so-out-of-reach Benedict Strom needs someone with her abilities for a research project studying dross and how to render it harmless, she’s stuck working on his team—whether she wants to or not.

Only Benedict doesn’t understand the characteristics of dross like Grady does. After an unthinkable accident, she and Benedict are forced to go on the run to seek out the one person who might be able to help: an outcast exiled ten years ago for the crime of using dross to cast spells. Now Grady must decide whether to stick with the magical status quo or embrace her own hidden talents . . . and risk shattering their entire world.

 

Super excited for a new series by Kim! I admit I still need to read the current Hollows book (as of writing this post in advance...and likely still!) but always excited for new worlds from favorite authors!

 

TITLE: Three Kinds of Lucky
AUTHOR: Kim Harrison

PUBLISHER: ACE
GENRE: Contemporary Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024

 
 

 

 

 

 


Jan 30, 2024

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.

 

 

"'Oh, I'm not the one getting off the ship to get her, Your Highness.' He smiles viciously. 'You are.'" p 403

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TITLE: Destroy the Day
AUTHOR: Brigid Kemmerer

PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury YA
GENRE: YA Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: January 23, 2024



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 10 New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2023


*in no particular order



10. AVA REID--sadly this was a miss for me. I'm always excited for Owl Crate's September pick, but this was an utter disappointment.
9. AMY GOLDSMITH--
this one was wonderful! Spooky, mysterious, and just a hint of supernatural!
8. AMY CHRISTINE PARKER--
another hit and super spooky!



7. SABRINA BLACKBURRY--a hit! I picked this one up because the cover was sooo pretty and I loved it! The author is semi-local too!
6. SARAH BETH DURST--
I've seen this author around for years but this title finally caught my eye! It was a hit too!
5. REBECCA YARROS--
yeah, I jumped on that train too! Definitely a hit!



4. HANNAH WHITTEN--this one was somewhere in between hit or miss. I liked it, but some of the flowerly language made it hard to understand what was happening sometimes.
3. MICHELLE JABES CORPORA--
sadly this one was a miss. It just wasn't the spooky story I had hoped for.
2. TESSA BAILEY--
another in between one. I know the author is more famous for her contemporary romances, but I discovered this older series of her that involved vampires and I liked it, but it needed a little more depth. Still fun though!



1. SUZANNE YOUNG--another author I was familiar with but don't think I read anything, but I might have some odd years ago. But I am calling this my first book by her as I positively LOVED it!











Jan 29, 2024

15th Blogoversary Post!

(image borrowed from DC Therapist Connect)

Whoa! I've been blogging for FIFTEEN YEARS! I honestly never thought I would be going this long! But even with the changes in the blogging world I've seen over the last several years, I still can't quite bring myself to leave it. Many friends I've made through the course of time have left the blogging world behind. It can be stressful for some people and I get that. Life changes and we soon get other obligations or other interests and just don't have the time to devote to blogging.

Since I'm still a reader through and though I still like writing my reviews for books! I feel like my blog has become somewhat of a book journal over the years where I catalog everything I've read from the good to the bad, but mainly good! 

What I've always stressed to when I see my friends needing a break or just quitting in general is that blogging should always be fun! No matter what! If it becomes too strenuous or you feel like you have an additional job, than yes, take a break. Quit if you need to. Reading should never feel like an unwanted obligation where you feel like "ugh, I need to get this book done by X date since the publisher sent it to me." Reading itself should always be fun! If you're not feeling a book. DNF it. I used to hate DNFing books as I felt like I had to see a book through. But since my TBR pile has grown tremendously since I started blogging and I know I will likely leave this world with several books still left unread, DNFing is no longer a problem. So if you're not feeling a book, even one a publisher sent. DNF it. Don't force yourself to finish something you're not enjoying. Write the review that says why you had to unfortunately DNF it. 

That being said, of course, if you're just not feeling the book in the moment, just set it aside and come back to it when you are! I've never been much of a mood reader, so I can't speak much on the subject of picking the "right" book to read. My TBR pile is pretty much compiled with books I want to read! Of course I do occasionally get a bit burnt out on genres...mainly just fantasy. I've been reading a LOT of fantasy lately and though I do have another one slated to be read next, it's because the author is coming to St. Louis next month and I need to see if I like the series enough to go it. So alas, I had to not follow my own advice! Lol. Though I am sneaking in one thriller/mystery read in as you can see since it was sent to me for review and I want to read it anyway! Lol. It was just good timing, but I still think after this upcoming fantasy read in my queue I will need to pick up another paranormal or thriller or something for a bit. Really my burnout just needs a break for a book or two and then I am usually good to get back. See, I can't even do burnouts that well! Lol.

Sadly this year, I am going to have to postpone my giveaway. January got away from me with expenses what with Stephanie Garber's next book kind of springing up sooner than expected. Lol. And as you know I am a HUGE fan of hers, so more than 1 copy was preordered. Which led to earlier than anticipated charges to my credit card! Lol! I'm hoping to maybe do a little giveaway next month since 15 years is a pretty big milestone!

So if you've read it this far, THANK YOU! Thank you to everyone who still visits and comments on my blog! I truly cherish every comment I get! And I guess it's showing my old school ways, but if I happen to not being following your blog and you follow mine, just let me know in comments that you're an "old follower" as I tend to do in my comments with meme days! You can be an "old follower" as soon as yesterday or you can even say "new follower" and I always follow back! But I guess with my old school ways when it came to finding new blogs, I always let blog owners know that I am new or old and follow them and in return I received the same feedback in some of the earlier years! Lol. Yeah, it's weird. But if you haven't quite noticed yet, I'm weird. Lol.

So yes, I promise a giveaway will come! Likely next month...probably on the 29th since we have a leap year, a bit aggravated at the timing since this means my birthday will fall on a Monday instead of the Sunday I had hoped for! But hopefully I'll have some vacation time still racked up and can take off anyway! Lol.

See you lovely people soon!







ARC Review--Bride by Ali Hazelwood

A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love, Theoretically and The Love Hypothesis.

Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again...

Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was….

Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she's ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.

 

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

 

Ali Hazelwood's paranormal debut Bride was what I like to call a soft paranormal read!There's great political intrigue, warring factions between the vampires, werewolves, and humans, an arranged marriage, romance, and some attempted murder to spice things up! I obviously had never read one of Hazelwood's novels before but since she was dipping a toe into the paranormal pool, I decided why not?

The beginning sets us up for the world we are dealing with. There are three territories and each one is ruled either by the vampires, werewolves, or humans. Each territory is given a child of another territory to have as sort of living hostage, so to speak.While these groups are not currently at war, they were once and peace remains tremulous between them. Having a vampire child in the human territory is merely a sign of continue peace. It's a weird kind of setup but Hazelwood explains it better than I am so that it makes sense enough to just roll with it.

Misery, because yes, that is her actual name, was a vampire child who was sent to live with humans for ten years. Misery has never really know her own family, other than that when she and her twin brother were born, her birth killed their mother. So you get an idea of the tension that runs between her family. Hazelwood also writes a different kind of vampire, while she sticks to some of the more common rules, she does take creative leave to make her own and I always enjoy this aspect of vampire books. No two vampires are ever the same!

The story really takes off when Misery finds herself being sent to the werewolf territory, but not as the child hostage, this time she's going to be the bride of the Alpha werewolf, Lowe. The wedding was far from the type to bring about emotions as it's purely a marriage of politics. Misery just has to stay one year with her new husband and then she can return home...if she wishes to, as in that her home is actually among the humans where she has her best friend Serena.

This factor is actually something that drives Misery to agree to the marriage in the first place, as we soon learn that Serena has gone missing and Misery is determined to find out what happened to her friend who was writing an article. Among Serena's notes was one name and you can probably figure out whose name that is!

I will admit that things were weird between Misery and Lowe. There's tension for sure, as we strictly get Misery's point of view in this one, with a chapter header that gives insight to Lowe's thoughts. Both of these two have their secrets and will do anything to protect the ones that they love most. It's not too long before the sparks begin to fly and things really heat up, but of course, it's not a fast track to happily ever after after that. There are still a ton of issues they need to work out emotionally, plus the fact that there is something nefarious afoot.

What I enjoyed about this one was how it had a nice blend of quirky and edgy! I've read a ton of paranormal novels and I've loved them all! But there's always something really nice about diving into a paranormal world that is not completely dark and gloom. I suppose that's why I am drawn to the Urban Fantasy genre. I love the edginess, but coming into a paranormal romance with a shade of quirky is like a breath of fresh air! I still get that delightful paranormally goodness but with a plot that is a little lighter. 

The pacing was a bit of an up and down affair. At times I felt like it was moving along nicely with some mystery seeds being laid out then it would dip back down into too much normalcy for my taste, but it would pick back up again with other quirks of being a paranormal book. It was never slow enough that I found myself needing to skim. If anything I needed to read fast just so that I could get to that ending that I knew was coming! Lol.

The mystery is naturally resolved, issues are worked through and all ends happily! Although, there was a bit in the epilogue that has my head spinning! I was just about to close the chapter on reading Hazelwood again when I noticed a teeny tiny window for the possibility of more! Time will tell! 

All in all, Bride was a quirky kind of paranormal romance! It was sweet, it was cute, it was mysterious, and it had lots of heat! It made for quite the entertaining read. I definitely won't shy away from Hazelwood's name should she choose to write another in this genre!


Overall Rating 4/5 stars


Bride releases February 6, 2024







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:

Destroy the Day by Brigid Kemmerer (4.5 stars)--Finished in the final hour of Friday night before I went to see her Saturday afternoon! Score!



Review That Was Posted:

The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland (ARC) (4 stars)



Currently Reading:

No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall



What I Plan to Read Next:

The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen



Other Posts of Interest:

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays
Can't Wait Wednesday
Let's Discuss--Name Challenge
Books from the Backlog #67
Book Blogger Hop #290
Stacking the Shelves