Challenges Monthly Wrap-up: December

CHALLENGE 1: 2024 Series Enders Reading Challenge

The Study of Fire by Maria V. Snyder (Valek's Adventures)
Wisteria by Adalyn Grace (Belladonna)

I did wayyyy better than I expected this year! I originally aimed to finish 5 series and I ended up finishing 20!! 

AND I'm already starting my new year off by trying to finish another one before a signing in February! Lol.

CHALLENGE 2: 2024 Discussion Challenge

Fool Me Once...
The Firsts of 2024
Holidays & The Reader

I did pretty good here too! I think my original goal was 25, I seemed to have forgotten to note a specific number within the range category but it's no matter as I wrote 54 discussions!

CHALLENGE 3: 2024 Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge

Cold Hearted by Serena Valentino (7/6/21)
Foxglove by Adalyn Grace (8/22/23)
Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray (8/25/15)

I surprised myself with how many TBR books I read this year! I originally aimed for 20, then 25, and then I read 52!! That's not even including the new releases I read for my yearly count!

Review--Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

 

The longing of dreams draws the dead, and this city holds many dreams.

After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O’Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. With her uncanny ability to read people’s secrets, she’s become a media darling, earning the title “America’s Sweetheart Seer.” Everyone’s in love with the city’s newest It Girl…everyone except the other Diviners.

Piano-playing Henry DuBois and Chinatown resident Ling Chan are two Diviners struggling to keep their powers a secret—for they can walk in dreams. And while Evie is living the high life, victims of a mysterious sleeping sickness are turning up across New York City.

As Henry searches for a lost love and Ling strives to succeed in a world that shuns her, a malevolent force infects their dreams. And at the edges of it all lurks a man in a stovepipe hat who has plans that extend farther than anyone can guess…As the sickness spreads, can the Diviners descend into the dreamworld to save the city?

In this heart-stopping sequel to The Diviners, Printz Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Libba Bray takes readers deeper into the mystical underbelly of New York City.

I finally, finally picked up Libba Bray's Lair of Dreams! It's been ages since I read The Diviners, but after a few summary recaps I felt like I got the gist of the story and was able to get a sense of what happened previously. I forgotten how rich in history and storytelling this series was! It's a whirlwind of characters, multiple plots, but it all eventually connects seamlessly together!

There's something strange happening in New York, it's happening slowly, but there are cases of people who are not waking up after going to bed the night before. They are dreaming and something in their dreams is keeping them there. Henry is a dream walker and on one of his "trips" he meets Ling, who is also a dream walker, but he has never met another one before, so he is intrigued. Ling seems to have a better handle on her abilities, so he wants her help to find his boyfriend, Louis. The dreamscape that they transverse can be accessed by all who dream, so he thinks with her help he can locate Louis.

Then we have Evie being a radio star and bonafide Diviner, and she's becoming radio famous quickly. There's still drama going on between her and Jericho as she didn't want to pursue anything with him while her best friend is in love with him. Then we get Sam coming to Evie wanting her help in reading an item that belonged to his mother as he is determined to find her.

I won't lie, there's a lot going on in this book and we have maybe 8 different third person point of views going on, but yet, I will say, it's not that confusing. These characters pretty much all interact with one another in some way. Ling is the newbie to the group and doesn't officially meet everyone until later, but at 600+ pages one can pretty much expect a heavy plot going on. That Bray is able to do this in a way that is not overwhelming or confusing helps greatly as everything that is going on separately for one character connects to the bigger picture!

There is mystery, there is romance, there is some comedic relief, and there are plenty of secrets. There were some perspectives of shady characters looking for the Diviners, but as to what their plans are, it is too soon to say. Bray also lays a lot of ground work to what is heading towards her grand finale! Granted I still have 2 books of the series to go, but I am see a lot of foreshadowing going on and I am deeply intrigued to see where it will all lead.

If you enjoy intricate storytelling with multiple points of view, this is a series you will want to check out! I love that though it's a historical fiction kind of story with the occasional name drop, it's also still very heavily a paranormal read! Not only do these characters have unique powers, but there's also ghosts! Spooky scary ghosts and I should also forewarn you to not read this too late at night because it can get pretty eerie! Lol. I'm prone to nightmares on occasion if I read or see something too spooky before bed, hence the warning!

As for the romance, it's sparse, but sprinkled through out. Evie has a fake dating game going on, then there's Jericho pining for Evie even though she turned him down, and Theta has her beau who also has his own secrets. Seriously you guys, this series is just wrapped up in secrets and mysteries and of course magic! I cannot wait to read the rest of it!

Overall Rating 4/5 stars

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.

"And then the thing stepped out. It appeared to have been a man once. Now it was something else entirely, something not human: pasty skin as cracked as dry earth ad blighted red patches and sores, hair thinned to spindly tuffs. Opaque blue soulless eyes stared from its chalky, skeletal face. The glare of the flashlight caught the razor-sharp edges of small, yellowed teeth inside a rotted mouth that hung partially open." 301

TITLE: Lair of Dreams
AUTHOR: Libba Bray
PUBLISHER: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
GENRE: YA Historical Paranormal
RELEASE DATE: August 25, 2015

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 Best Books I Read in 2024

*in no particular order

10. HUNTERLAND by Dana Claire--a fun paranormal read that feels like Supernatural if Dean were a teenager forced to go to a regular high school!
9. KISS OF THE SELKIE by Tessonja Odette--an enchanting retelling of The Little Mermaid, albeit with a completely different kind of ending!
8. KNOWN TO THE VICTIM by K.L. Armstrong--a thriller that will keep you guessing by one of my favorite authors!

7. THE SHADOWS RULE ALL by Abigail Owen--the finale I'd been waiting ages for! Too many release date changes but it was all worth it in the end!
6. THE ASHES & THE STAR-CURSED KING by Carissa Broadbent--definitely my favorite of the first duology, I guess because we resolution to the cliffhanger ending of that first book! Lol.
5. THE RETURN by Rachel Harrison--a creeptacular eerie mystery that will leave you guessing until the very end and oh what a twist it was!

4. A DAWN OF ONYX by Kate Golden--another amazing fantasy series that I just started and hopefully will finish sometime next year! I still need to read book 2!
3. AGAINST THE DARKNESS by Kendare Blake--another grand finale to the Buffiverse! I've had to say goodbye so many times to this world it seems. Lol. But I loved how Kendare wrote it!
2. SWEET NIGHTMARE by Tracy Wolff--another amazing paranormal read by Tracy! Positively loved this one and cannot wait for book 2!

1. SPECTACULAR by Stephanie Garber--surprising to no one I am sure! Lol! Naturally I loved this novella to pieces! It was so much fun to read!

Let's Discuss: Holidays & The Reader

 

Time for one last discussion post this year as my yearly roundup post might not come until the 1st! We'll see! Anyway, I thought about this topic as it was happening to me myself, so here we go!

Holidays & The Reader

I was realizing how hard the holidays make it for me to just chill out and read. Or even to come up with other blog posts to write. There's so much going on with family and such. Good food, good times, all that. And it is all a great time. Sadly my mom has been fighting a bad flu bug since before Christmas and is still a little under the weather. My niece, who was our flu bug originator was still a little sick too and not as off the walls as she usually is. But she's on the mend, so hopefully my mom is next!

But anyway, I found it sooo hard to just step away for awhile and read my book for a bit. I did some reading at the end of the night but even that didn't last too long as I grew tired, but then still struggled to fall asleep. I guess I should've read then too, but I was exhausted, I just had a hard time falling asleep and it was too late to take a sleep aid as I didn't want to oversleep.

Then I guess since it's the holidays the blogging world gets even quieter than it usually is. So then I run out of inspiration or ideas to come up with fun "other" posts to have on my blog. This last idea came in as I was writing my Monday wrap-up and basically my struggle to think of any good posts to write. So yes, I am writing a post about the struggle of writing a post during the holiday season! Lol.

Do you find it hard to write or read during the holidays? Is it because you're busy with family and friends or some other factor? I feel like too many things tug at my attention that it's hard to get creative when I don't always have a free minute. My minutes were dedicated to reading this time around! Lol. 

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:

Wisteria by Adalyn Grace (4.5 stars)

Currently Reading:

Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

What I Plan to Read Next:

Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray

Other Posts of Interest:

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays
Can't Wait Wednesday
Merry Christmas
Books from the Backlog #115
Book Blogger Hop #338
Stacking the Shelves--The Christmas Edition

Stacking the Shelves--The Christmas Edition

 

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.

Well it was another week! With Christmas and a few vacation days, work was just a blink of the week! They let us off early Monday, and then we had Tuesday and Wednesday off, so I used vacation days for the rest of the week. The holiday was very nice. But even after the holiday I am still left with shipping woes. I will likely be calling one store about a gift that is STILL sitting in GA. I had asked to cancel it Monday and get a refund because it was supposed to be a gift! I ordered it on the 14th for crying out loud, I met the store's "order before this date for Xmas delivery" and yet it is STILL sitting at the very first UPS drop off! I mean come on. They kept wanting to "look into the issue" and I was like you were supposed to do that over the weekend when I first called! But apparently they did not. So they said they'd issue the refund, but would still "look into it" and the refund would be issued in 2-3 days and then take another 3-5 to post. So I figure if I don't see it in my account on the 6th I'll be calling again! And if that wasn't enough I am STILL waiting on my December 17th book release order! It is STILL sitting at the same USPS location that has had it since the 18th I think it was? Just sitting there. It arrived, but still waiting to receive it. Had to wait until after the holiday to talk to someone on that and they're sending a replacement. Hopefully it doesn't go through that same PO, but I don't know. Unless they actually use UPS and not UPS Sure Post or whatever they call it when they hand it over to USPS. Supposedly that will come by the end of next week. So something tells me it's the same shipping speed/method as they originally sent it and I swear if it gets delayed at the same PO I am going to be livid! This is the same PO that still has my UK Spectacular mind you. I am getting highly suspicious that a book thief works there as NONE of my other packages get held up like my books do. I feel like there's something to that and I am not being overly paranoid.

But onto my haul which is mainly my Christmas haul and the few books I picked up at the B&N sale--which seriously, when did they decide to do this 1/3 business instead of 1/2 off? I don't know how many times I had to pull out my calculator to determine if said books were good deals or not. And the worst part was...all of the books I wanted to pick up weren't even in the store. Mainly my 12/17 book...nowhere to be found and another December release, I think it was the 10th? But I was like seriously?! You don't bother putting new releases out in the store just because the author isn't at the level of SJM or Yarros? Really?

Sorry for the ranting. It's been a month, what can I say? Also another book took some serious hunting to find as I looked everywhere, then I asked for help who checked all the same spots and then had to get another person to check the back. So yeah. It's been a month that's for sure!

Chasing Eternity by Alyson Noel--keeper copy
It Will Only Hurt for a Moment by Delilah S. Dawson--this one was one of the half off ones online, but I was able to pick it up at a store for the half off price! So that was a win!
Batman Resurrection by John Jackson Miller--so while I'm not a huge comic book buff, I will say I love Batman! I remember watching the Michael Keaton movies first and they are still among my favorites! So this sequel to the first movie that takes place before the second movie definitely caught my eye, so I decided to buy it at the sale! THIS is the one that took an army to find!

Then my Fairy Loot book came in, once again, unannounced. I do not know what is happening with FL's emails lately as I never get any notifications about shipping or confirmations of orders anymore and it's driving me insane! The December YA pick was a little lackluster. First off, the title was not one I knew of and the subject matter is getting a little overdone. I hate when publishers print to trends, throwing all these books with the same subject matter gets tiring. I guess because I also only like the subject manner to some extent. It's not my passion genre, so yeah. Plus the cover changes and what not to this were also meh. As well as the naked hardcover. Starting to think I am not a fan of this particular cover style.

Then I also got Rosie Thorns' Spectacular endpages epilogue stickers! When I saw her post that she created two endpages desgins for the book, I was intrigued! That the publisher only did one is expected I suppose but I was psyched that she created these sticker add ons that I can put over the existing ones!

Pretty sure I'll use a B&N edition that both she and Stephanie signed to add to the specialness. Just got to wait for when I feel like I have a steady hand! Lol.

Then a surprise package from Macmillan showed up at my door this week and I immediately got excited!

A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall (ARC)
fuzzy socks
a star ornament
a navy scarf
a dragonfly pin
Hot Hands warmer

THANK YOU Flatiron Books!

Then a few of my bookish Christmas gifts were:

My sister got me a candle that has a Caraval fragrance 
mini Caraval books

She also got me this light up sign for my shelves!

Then my mom got me this cute little mini bookshelf box thing with tons of tiny books! I remembered seeing this when I was shopping for my Secret Santa. Apparently it is to help reduce stress or something, but when I see people shake it up and dislodge the books it gets me highly anxious and stressed out. Not sure how Amazon can bring this up in "gifts for book lovers." But still, I don't have to shake it up and there are a ton of books in it that you can't even fit them all on the shelves.

Then I had picked this out at a local artsy shop! It's a cute little bookworm plaque with a standee to display him on! I also had picked out a Christmas and Halloween sign, but they weren't bookish per se! This will the everyday plaque once I find my home and can display my shelves properly!

Then in my post Christmas shopping, or it might have been right before the holiday, I saw this in a Books a Million email, but when I clicked on the link it told me "page cannot be displayed" or something to the fact that no item can be displayed. Which in a surge of anger I turn to Google and found it on B&N's site for cheaper and it was the same size and everything else AND I got free shipping! AND the PO didn't hold it. Guess they could tell the weight that it wasn't a book, as B&N's name was all over the box!

It's a book charcuterie board! It's not super big but since I'll be entertaining for one it's the perfect size! Lol.

And that was it for me this week! Maybe in the new year I'll finally get that December 17th book. Only time will tell. Stay tuned for next week's mail woes.

What all did you get this week?

Book Blogger Hop #338

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

This week's question is: Do you have any reading goals for the new year? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

MY ANSWER: At the time of writing this, I have not officially signed up for any challenges yet. Although I will sign myself up for the Goodreads challenge and set myself at 50 books which has been my usual goal these last few years since I have a job where I can actually do things and be an asset! Lol. I then will usually try to find a TBR related challenge and go for about 20-25 TBR books in that goal of 50. I was actually doing really well this year and read TBR books every month...except in October, I didn't manage to read any as I was doing my Caraval re-read before Spectacular then I read two 2024 books and ran out of time!

I always feel a wee bit guilty setting such a low goal, but I will admit I do it freely every year! I don't want to stress myself out with the higher goals I used to manage when I wasn't really working. So I set the goals for a decent number and that way I can easily meet it and sometimes surpass it pretty well, then I get to feel like an over achiever! Lol.

Although when I see the other readers with 200+ books read, I'm back to feeling pitiful with my 50+ that's under 100. Lol. But it's still more than anyone else in my family and real life reads in a year, so it's all good!

 

Books from the Backlog #115

Books from the Backlog is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your bookshelf unread.  If you are anything like me, you might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in your stacks. This meme is hosted by Carole's Random Life in Books!

Asleep for a hundred years, awoken by a kiss. Aurora’s life was supposed to be a fairytale.

But since discovering that loyalty to the crown and loyalty to her country are two very different things, Aurora knows she can only dream of happily ever after. Once the enchanted princess, savior of her people, she is now branded a traitor.

Aurora is determined to free her home from the king’s tyrannical rule, even if it means traveling across the sea to the kingdom of the handsome and devious Prince Finnegan—someone who seems to know far more about her magic than he should. However, Finnegan’s kingdom has perils of its own, and any help he gives Aurora will come at a price.

As Aurora and Finnegan work together to harness her power—something so fiery and dangerous that is as likely to destroy those close to Aurora as it is to save them—she begins to unravel the mysteries surrounding the curse that was placed on her over a century before…and uncover the truth about the destiny she was always meant to fulfill.

Brimming with captivating fantasy and life-threatening danger, the sequel to A Wicked Thing takes Sleeping Beauty on an adventure unlike any she’s ever had before.

I added Rhiannon Thomas' Kingdom of Ashes to my TBR in February of 2016! This was another instance of "I'm going to wait to read this duology once I have both books in hand!" And did I? Well, since I'm featuring this here, you already know the answer! Lol. 2016...let's see, I attended my last RT the year before I believe it disbanded either this year or the next...it wasn't long after NOLA I feel like. But that's where I always got my big ol stack of books that I added to the big ol stack of books I bought or received as gifts. So yeah...things just kept piling up and this series got buried like they all do. Hopefully I can read it eventually. I have been trying to request less these days and focus on my TBR but sometimes it's hard to avoid that automatic download! Lol.

 

Review--Wisteria by Adalyn Grace

 

#1 New York Times bestselling author Adalyn Grace delivers a sensational conclusion to the deathly and decadent Belladonna trilogy, with dramatic twists and a seductive new romance that will set readers' hearts ablaze.

Blythe Hawthorn has never let anyone tell her what to do—not society, not her overprotective father, and certainly not the man she’s bound herself to, no matter how rude and insufferable he is. In fact, she’s determined to be a thorn in his side for the rest of her days, even as he ensures that her new life in his palace is anything but a fairytale. But as Blythe discovers a new side to herself that links her to his past, she’ll have to ask herself if she’s willing to let an unexpected spark ignite…and if she’s willing to discover the truth about her past.

Having just finished Foxglove, I was eager to start Adalyn Grace's Wisteria as we knew right away this would be Blythe's book and I was deeply curious to know more about Blythe and how she knowingly tied herself to Aris/Fate in order to save her cousin, Signa from such a "punishment." This story was gave off a very heavy The Beauty and the Beast tone in that we find two people to be in forced proximity. But unlike the Beast who is looking to break a curse with True Love, Aris is looking for his reincarnated wife. He believed that was Signa...but we learned otherwise at the end of Foxglove!

Unbeknownst to our characters, Blythe is actually Aris' wife reincarnated, she just doesn't have her memory of that life and for whatever reason Aris does not recognize her yet (more her inner soul or being as clearly she won't look the same every time!). Blythe intends to make Aris' life the most unenjoyable experience she can manage as these two constantly butt heads and they were doing this before their marriage as well. I think that's why I found them so enjoyable. They pretty much hated one another, but yet...ever so slowly, we start to see things change. A look here, a touch there, a secret smile...it was adorable!

It's very shortly after their marriage ceremony that Blythe tells Aris her father is coming for a visit and due to the story she wove for her father to make him believe she's in a happy and prosperous marriage, she needs Aris' help or everything will come crumbling down. Aris has quote the array of magical powers and can create a "fake" world, if you will, and in this sense, he must create a fake kingdom that is good enough to make Blythe's father believe she is well and happy. And it's in these moments that we start to see those changes between these two start to change.

Throughout the story, Blythe gets the occasional dream where she feels like she's another person and since we know things that she does not yet, we know these are memories of sort. Ones in which she was Aris' wife and was happy. They kind of have an eerie feel as the castle she stays in definitely has that old spooky vibe going on.

Of course, it's still not all sunshine and roses, for soon Blythe has an encounter with yet another mysterious visitor. One who has mistaken her for Signa it seems. She is told that if she does not undo what was done, Blythe will pay the price. Which then presents another set of challenges as Blythe has no idea what this mysterious woman is talking about.

We do get appearances from Signa and Death who are still very much in the picture, but now they are sort of in the background, much as Blythe once was. For the majority of the book, we only get Blythe's point of view, but near the end we start to get Aris' point of view which was definitely an eye-opening experience!

There was a certain chemistry between Blythe and Aris that made for entertaining encounters! The two go from loathing to lusting to love and it was just the right kind of experience for these two! I loved Blythe's sassy character and how she was not afraid to say whatever she wanted or to do whatever she wanted regardless of what society dictated as "proper" for a woman of her standing. It was just delightful!

The ending definitely threw me through a twist! I wasn't sure what to expect, but since I hear Adalyn is going to give us a holiday novella next year, I was starting to wonder just what kind of ending we'd get here, but I was pleased to find that this was a very satisfactory ending! And when you think about it, you kind of know which direction Adalyn was heading in after all that build up so I will just leave it that!

While Wisteria may close the door to the Belladonna world, it's not completely goodbye as we know a novella is incoming but I feel like even with a bonus novella on the horizon, things ended in a way that all can be satisfied with where things were left. As for the B&N bonus content, that was decent as well. I wouldn't call it life changing or game changing as it was simply a memory from Aris' past wife that Blythe was seeing through a dream like state. So it was interesting, but not one that makes you think why on earth couldn't it have been added to the story. 

Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

I hope everyone celebrating today has a wonderful and magical holiday with their friends and family or whoever you celebrate today with! I hope the day is filled with good food, cheer, and good company (and maybe that book you wanted, lol!)!

And if this isn't your holiday, I hope your day is filled with all of the above or is just a nice and wonderful day in general (and hopefully off of work at least!)!