Random Thursday

It's time to start a new chapter in Doug Lennox's The Little Book of Answers! This chapter should be a lot of fun as it pertains to holidays!

(image borrowed from Good Food)

New Year's came about originally as a festival in ancient Babylon, which is now modern day Iraq. The celebration took place in spring during the planting season as there wasn't a calendar in place yet. The Babylonian fest was elaborate and lasted for eleven days that included lots of food and lots of alcohol in tribute the god of fertility and agriculture. The celebration of the new year was both a thanksgiving and a plea for a successful harvest.

(image borrowed from Gretchen Rubin)

New Year's resolutions has quite the history! It first appeared in medieval times during the last feast of Christmas when the knights of the realm would place their hands on a peacock and vow to continue living up to their pledge of chivalry. The resolution to live a better life came from the Babylonians who would promise the gods that they would return all borrowed farm and cooking tools and pay off debts.

Interesting. I honestly thought it was more modern than that!

(image borrowed from Wikipedia)

It's German folklore that dictates that if the groundhog comes out when it's sunny, he will be scared by his shadow and go back underground, therefore, crops shouldn't be planted right away for there will still be six more weeks of winter. Reality says that the groundhog comes out of his hole hungry and ready to mate. But sometimes, he might be sleepy and his senses will be dulled and he'll decide to go right back to sleep. He is apparently 28% accurate when it comes to forecasting, much like the actual weatherman, apparently!

That is new information to me! I mean, I never quite understood how the groundhog could "predict" the weather based on his shadow! I mean, he sees sunlight and a shadow...therefore winter will hang around for six more weeks...makes no sense to me!

(image borrowed from History.com)

In 270 AD, Bishop Valentine would secretly marry people despite the Roman emperor, Claudius II outlawing marriage. He believed that single men made better soldiers. Valentine felt otherwise. He was later caught and sentenced to death, but legend says that he fell in love with jailer's blind daughter and miraculously healed her, gifting her with sight. He left her a goodbye note that was signed, "From Your Valentine."

I knew that Valentine was executed and February 14th was apparently the date, I think. I guess I never really knew the extent of what he did to earn that execution, but wow!

(image borrowed from Catholic Online)

Ireland wanted to honor their patron saint, but when the church officials gathered to determine what day it should be they realized they knew very little about the saint's life. They were able to narrow down his birthday to either March 8th or March 9th. Not being able to agree on which date it was, they simply added the dates together to get March 17th and that's how St. Patrick got his "day."

Thank goodness they were debating between something like the 21st or the 22nd! Lol. But still, very interesting!

Let's Discuss: King of Scars

Last week the famed King of Scars released and I feel like it's a book nearly everyone was excited for and all dove into. I bought myself a copy...or two, by mistake, LOL, and yet I won't be reading it right away, not only because I am still trying to get caught up on my review books but for another reason entirely.

Why I'm Not Reading King of Scars Just Yet

I love Leigh's books! Don't get me wrong! Big time fan! Yet lately, when it's been said that certain series will be duologies, I find myself wanting to binge read them instead of reading book 1 waiting a year and forgetting the events of book 1 and then reading book 2! I'm not a fast reader compared to most bloggers! Lol. I take a few days to get through a book, even ones that I am loving and are perfect in pacing and everything. I just can't read that fast.

I waited to read the Six of Crows duology back to back and omg, that was the best thing I ever could have done! After seeing that cliffhanger, I would've been driven insane during that year wait!

So while I am dying to pick it up and read those beloved 500+ pages, I am going to wait until next year at least and binge read it back to back. 

It's truly the best thing for my sanity and I have to think of my sanity first! ;)

So for those of you who have read it...was it amazing? Anyone else going to try waiting until next year to binge it? Or even just re-read King of Scars next year before its eventual sequel?

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted here, at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine. If you're continuing with WOW, feel free to link those up as well! Find out more here.

In this powerful and exciting fantasy set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Others series, humans and the shape-shifting Others will see whether they can live side by side...without destroying one another.

There are ghost towns in the world—places where the humans were annihilated in retaliation for the slaughter of the shape-shifting Others.

One of those places is Bennett, a town at the northern end of the Elder Hills—a town surrounded by the wild country. Now efforts are being made to resettle Bennett as a community where humans and Others live and work together. A young female police officer has been hired as the deputy to a Wolfgard sheriff. A deadly type of Other wants to run a human-style saloon. And a couple with four foster children—one of whom is a blood prophet—hope to find acceptance.

But as they reopen the stores and the professional offices and start to make lives for themselves, the town of Bennett attracts the attention of other humans looking for profit. And the arrival of the Blackstone Clan, outlaws and gamblers all, will uncover secrets…or bury them.  

Excited to get back to this series! I put in a request to review it and now just must continue to wait patiently for it...luckily I'm swamped with so many other review books the wait isn't too bad! Lol!

TITLE: Wild Country

AUTHOR: Anne Bishop

PUBLISHER: Ace Books
GENRE: Urban Fantasy

RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2019 

 

ARC Review--Spectacle by Jodie Lynn Zdrok

A YA murder mystery in which a young reporter must use her supernatural visions to help track down a killer targeting the young women of Paris.

Paris, 1887.

Sixteen-year-old Nathalie Baudin writes the daily morgue column for Le Petit Journal. Her job is to summarize each day's new arrivals, a task she finds both fascinating and routine. That is, until the day she has a vision of the newest body, a young woman, being murdered--from the perspective of the murderer himself.

When the body of another woman is retrieved from the Seine days later, Paris begins to buzz with rumors that this victim may not be the last. Nathalie's search for answers sends her down a long, twisty road involving her mentally ill aunt, a brilliant but deluded scientist, and eventually into the Parisian Catacombs. As the killer continues to haunt the streets of Paris, it becomes clear that Nathalie's strange new ability may make her the only one who can discover the killer's identity--and she'll have to do it before she becomes a target herself.

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

Spectacle is Jodie Lynn Zdrok’s debut and is a chilling mystery set in 1887 where there’s a long string of murders happening over the course of days. Sound familiar? The story has a very Jack the Ripper atmosphere to it and I kept thinking it has to be his story before he moved onto London, though as the pages continued, I found out that there was a much larger story happening.

Nathalie is a reporter who reports on the murderers and deaths that happen around town. It’s almost the obituaries, but not quite since a few of the victims that turn up are unidentified and yet she still reports on how things happened. It’s when she gazes upon the body of the first murdered young woman she sees something very terrifying. She witnesses how the girl was murdered as if she were the murderer herself, watching the scene in reverse. It’s very puzzling and troubling as she has no clue what this strange new ability is.

I am sad to say that this book wasn’t quite for me. 2019 is not my year apparently as 4/5 books haven’t been at all what I had hoped for. One was even a DNF. What didn’t work for me here was some of the pacing. I was anticipating the mystery to be drawn out and that was the problem, the problem was more how long it took to get from Point A to Point B. Nathalie has a lot of sidetrack memories to get through as they relate to whatever is happening. Sometimes I could see the odd connection, other times, I didn’t and the memories dragged on for a good long time. That sadly was the downfall for me in this one. There was too much wordiness almost throughout the storytelling part.

I still thought this was an interesting story though. Murder mysteries usually are for me. And then Nathalie’s gift also takes on a story of its own and that’s where a large portion of the story focuses on as well. But the pacing, the pacing killed me. It wasn’t until the halfway point that she finally “clicks” with the inspector, Christophe, who she exchanged one or two minor conversations with regarding the bodies. There was just too much downtime between Nathalie having her vision and then wanting to step away from the whole murder scene. I can understand that feeling in reality, but for a story, I had hoped that she would eventually overcome her fears faster than she did.

The mystery of the story was by far its strongest part! I was really getting into it and was surprised by the turn of events about 2/3 of the way through. I admit that I did a lot of skim reading because the pacing just wasn’t doing it for me and I wanted to find out what happened and all the whodunits. The outcomes were puzzling and that’s not due to my skimming. But at the same time it was a believable answer and all. We’re left with just a bit of a cliffhanger, but one that was being hinted at throughout the story.

As far as romance goes, this story was lacking. Yes there was the possible connection between Nathalie and Christophe, but just as soon as you think it, a roadblock comes between them, naturally. I suspect further encounters with one another will be happening in future books. But sadly this was a book without all the feels in that area and I am shocked that I missed those feels. 10 years ago I probably wouldn’t have cared. What has happened to me?! Lol.

All in all, this was an okay read. I was really intrigued by its premise and super excited to read it, but sadly, I found myself not immersed within the world. The pacing is what did me in yet again. While strong characters and enticing plot are very important for me with a story, the pacing is just as important and must be executed in a matter that works. Sadly, for me, it didn’t work. This won’t be a series I will be continuing, cliffhanger or not.


Overall rating 2/5 stars—friendly reminder that this just means an OKAY READ! ;)


Spectacle releases February 12, 2019

 

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.

"I had downloaded the ebook on my iPad, but it wasn't the same as holding a paper copy.

It was never the same." Kindle loc. 13%*

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










TITLE: Storm and Fury
AUTHOR: Jennifer L. Armentrout
PUBLISHER: Inkyard Press
GENRE: Paranormal YA
RELEASE DATE: June 11, 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: Upcoming Releases I’m On the Fence About    

*in no particular order

10. IN THE WOODS by Carrie Jones & Seven E. Wedel--this one sounds intriguing! I love a good eerie mystery, yet I feel some unknown hesitation...which will be a common theme with most of these books!

9. THE CERULEAN by Amy Ewing--this sounds interesting, but I was thrown off her first series. Though I have a copy of this and I totally plan to read it at some point!

8. IN ANOTHER LIFE by C.C. Hunter--I loved C.C.'s paranormal reads! This one is contemporary of sorts, but has something of a mystery going on. Really on the fence with it, but also kinda curious!

7. THE DEVOURING GRAY by Christine Lynn Herman--likely going to give this one a try, but still feel some hesitation. Likely because it's one of those hyped books that has me intrigued and yet hesitant!

6. MISSING, PRESUMED DEAD by Emma Berquist--I love a good ghost story, yet when you want to thrown in a living person falling in love with a ghost, well that makes me hesitant. Even one of my most beloved series went that route and it still left me feeling uneasy, I mean there's usually only one way for a ghost and a live human being to "be together."

5. THE KINGDOM by Jess Rothenberg--this one sounds intriguing but androids/robots/animatronics as a main character always has me somewhat hesitant--the word of the day! LOL.

4. NO EXIT by Taylor Adams--this sounds like a creepy mystery! Though I feel hesitant for some reason. I can't quite explain it, perhaps it's the fear that I already have too much on my TBR pile and do I really need to add one that's totally new to me in all sense of the word?

3. LAST OF HER NAME by Jessica Khoury--I would love to read an Anastasia story, but what has me hesitant with this one is the space setting! I don't always do well with space books!

2. THE HUMMINGBIRD DAGGER by Cindy Anstey--this one sounds mysterious but I feel like I am building up improbably expectations. This might be one I wait for reviews to come in to help with the decision making!

1. THE GRACE YEAR by Kim Liggett--I really enjoyed Kim's first book and have 2 others I need to read still. I want to give this one a chance, but at the same time I am feeling like it's not going to be the creepy horror story I am hoping for.

ARC Review--The Blood Spell by C.J. Redwine

Blue de la Cour has her life planned: hide the magic in her blood and continue trying to turn metal into gold so she can help her city’s homeless. But when her father is murdered and a cruel but powerful woman claims custody of Blue and her property, one wrong move could expose her—and doom her once and for all. The only one who can help? The boy she’s loathed since childhood: Prince Kellan.

Kellan Renard, crown prince of Balavata, is walking a thin line between political success and devastating violence. Newly returned from boarding school, he must find a bride among the kingdom’s head families and announce his betrothal—but escalating tension among the families makes the search nearly impossible. He’s surprised to discover that the one person who makes him feel like he can breathe is Blue, the girl who once ruined all his best adventures.

When mysterious forces lead to disappearances throughout Balavata, Blue and Kellan must work together to find the truth. What they discover will lead them to the darkest reaches of the kingdom, and to the most painful moments of their pasts. When romance is forbidden and evil is rising, can Blue save those she loves, even if it costs her everything?

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

I’ve always been fond of the original Grimm Brothers’ Cinderella, and I happily discovered that the latest installment in C.J. Redwine’s Ravenspire series, The Blood Spell, was Cinderella inspired. Cinderella was one of the more gruesome Grimm tales, so I was kind of excited to read this one, though I wasn’t expecting it to be as gory as the brothers first made it! It was actually a really good retelling of the favored tale! I quite enjoyed its differences and similarities.

Blue is an alchemist who has recently been trying to find a way to turn rocks or other metals into gold. It’s not exactly legal, but she’s hoping to use the money to help better her town. She’s been noticing a string of orphans have been disappearing lately and it’s making her worried. Then there’s the fact that on the outskirts of town, there’s a wraith imprisoned in a nearby forest making life just a little bit unsettled. There’s a history there that soon gets revealed over time.

Then there’s Kellan, yes, the very same Kellan we saw in the beginning of The Traitor Prince, who is returning home having graduated from school. I suspect that the events of this book take place at the same time as The Traitor Prince based on hints and other things we saw happening. Kellan is coming home to take his rightful place on the throne to be king. And his first task is to choose a bride from among the head families. But Kellan just isn’t ready for that particular responsibility.

You can probably start to guess where things are headed by this point! Although Kellan and Blue were something of childhood friends, they argued more than got along with one another and that trend has extended to their teenage years as well. So it’s not exactly a fall-in-love at first sight kind of gig! I love that their romance was slow to build and the way they eventually came together was heartbreakingly sweet.

It’s not long before tragedy strikes and Blue finds her life changing dramatically around her, remember your Cinderella story folks because big changes soon happen to Blue that leave her in the hands of Dinah, a powerful woman on the council who is basically a dear friend of the queen. But Dinah has her own ambitions and plans and they just so happen to involve Blue. Dinah will stop at nothing until she gets what she wants.

What I’ve come to love about this series so far, besides the fact that we’re constantly getting a favorite fairy tale retold, is that the story is told from the heroine, the hero, and the villain’s point of view! All three key characters get to tell their part of the story and I find this to be an ingenious way to do things! While I have yet to sympathize for any of these villains, I do think it’s interesting to get their point of view and see what’s driving them!

C.J. does incredibly well at keeping the favored parts and elements of the Cinderella story woven into The Blood Spell! I truly love these iconic and memorable moments continuing to play a part in the story. I love that it can be different and familiar at the same time! C.J. really knows her fairy tales that’s for sure! Although, a few bits felt a little more like the Disney version versus the Grimm’s tale, mostly with a sort of fairy godmother figure since in the original tale it was more the magic of a tree. But magic is magic in the end! Lol.

I’m most excited to see what tale will be told next! The bane of reading an early copy is the longer wait for the next book. I just finished binge reading the series to date and I’ve found that there’s never really a clue as to what’s next. But one thing remains consistent and that’s seeing familiar faces in each and every tale! I cannot wait for the next installment of this series and fingers crossed that there will be more! I simply cannot get enough of this series!

 
Overall Rating 5/5 stars


The Blood Spell releases February 12, 2019 

It's Monday! What are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. 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:

The Vampire's Accidental Wife by Kristen Painter (4.5 stars)

Sherwood by Meagan Spooner (ARC)--Review to come at a later date

Review That Was Posted:

Stolen Time by Danielle Rollins (ARC) (3.5 stars)

About to Start Reading:

Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout (ARC)

What I Hope to Start this Week:

Bloodleaf by Crystal Smith (ARC)

Other Posts of Interest:

2019 Series Enders Reading Challenge 

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays 

10th Blogoversary Extravaganza!!! 

Waiting on Wednesday 

Let's Discuss: Finding Harry Potter 

Random Thursday 

Book Blogger Hop 

Challenges Wrap-up: January 

Stacking the Shelves 

 

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 Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality.


What a week! We had quite the cold snap midweek, nearly all the schools were closed, except where my sister works! It was below freezing, though compared to other states nearby we got off easy as it was only the low negatives! I had a phone interview that went pretty well, I've an in-person one Tuesday and this is a position at the company I've been DYING to get into ever since I started job hunting after I finished school! So keep your fingers crossed for me!!


This week I bought:

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer--KEEPER COPY!

Moonlight Scandals by Jennifer L. Armentrout--KEEPER COPY!

The Lonely Dead by April Henry--SIGNED!

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo--SIGNED! I somehow ended up ordering two of these! No idea how that happened because I even double checked my GCR account to make sure I hadn't ordered one! I wonder if I ordered it on the old site and therefore there was no record. But I didn't even have an email saved like I usually do! Oh well!

Then for review...and this one TOTALLY surprised me and made my DAY Friday:

Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout (ARC)

THANK YOU Inkyard Press!!!

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

Challenges Wrap-up: January

CHALLENGE 1: 2019 New Release Challenge

The Cold is in Her Bones by Peternelle van Arsdale (1/22/19)

Moonlight Scandals by Jennifer L. Armentrout (1/29/19)

Imprison the Sky by A.C. Gaughen (1/22/19)

Spectacle by Jodie Lynn Zdrok (2/12/19)--Review to come next week!

Stolen Time by Danielle Rollins (2/5/19)

Warrior of the Wild by Tricia Levenseller (2/26/19)--Review to come at a later date

Sherwood by Meagan Spooner (3/19/19)--Review to come at a later date

7 down, 8 to go!

CHALLENGE 2: The Backlist Reader Challenge 2019

The Vampire's Accidental Wife by Kristen Painter (5/8/17)

1 down, 14 to go! 

CHALLENGE 3: 2019 Discussion Challenge

2019 Reading Goals

Book Blogger Confessions Book Tag

New Year's Resolutions Book Tag

Would You Rather?

Would You Rather? Round 2

Unpopular Opinions Book Tag

How I Found Harry Potter

 

 

7 down, 23 to go! 

CHALLENGE 4: 2019 Series Ender Reading Challenge

None this time

3 is the goal! (Mainly because there are backseries that needed to be started AND finished!)

 

Book Blogger Hop

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

 

 

This week's question is: Audio books vs Ebook? If the world stopped printing books which would you prefer between the two? (submitted by Angelica @ Paperback Princess)

MY ANSWER: First, I'd spend a week crying in agony over the loss of physical books. Best to make it two weeks.

Then looking at the question logically, I guess I would go with ebooks. The main reason being because I wouldn't be able to focus properly with an audiobook. While I am still not overly fond with ebooks I'd still prefer that to an audio because I could at least still see the words and really read at my own pace.