Cover Runway Sunday

   

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes the cover initially catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday I'm going to post some of my favorite covers of books coming soon!

In Song of the Lioness, Book 1: Alanna, the first of four volumes adapting #1 New York Times bestseller Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness quartet, we meet Alanna of Trebond, a young noblewoman from the kingdom of Tortall. However, Alanna isn't like other girls from noble families—what she really wants is to become a knight and earn her shield, something women definitely aren't allowed to do.

But Alanna will not be deterred, and she arrives in the capital disguised as a boy to begin training as a page, the first step toward becoming a knight. Despite the tough conditions and grueling work, Alanna's skills and stubbornness win her friends amongst the nobility and the denizens of the lower city. But not everyone wishes her well . . .

Filled with magic and mayhem, adventure and action, swords and spells, book one in the Song of the Lioness quartet is the ultimate introduction to Alanna and Tamora Pierce's legendary Tortall universe.

HAPPY READING!!

2024 Favorite Reads

 

There's barely a week left in 2024 and while I'm still reading, and enjoying what I'm reading, it's definitely time to look back at some of my favorite reads of this year. Somehow, I've managed to read well for 80 pages this year. Yes, I understand that I read books on the smaller end, but that's still impressive for me when most days I have the attention span of a teaspoon. Maybe I'm just in my era where I want to curl up somewhere comfortable, unbothered, and read. The last few weeks the only time I've really turned on the TV is to put on some sort of Lo-Fi station to read to. Unless I'm working on the blog or doing house chores, I haven't had the desire to be talked out via the TV.  But I digress, back to the books.

My favorite library discovery was Ripped From The Headlines! by Harold Schecter. He is one of my favorite true crime authors, so when I saw he had a book that combined true crime and movies, I was sold. My only issue with this book was that the audio felt rushed, and I had to backtrack several times to avoid missing facts in almost every chapter. However, I would love to have a physical copy of in my collection; it was a lot of fun!

This was also the year several of my favorite authors threw down books, to the point it was hard to keep up. Because some of them I haven't even gotten to yet. It's one of those so many books, too little time to read, situations. However, I did find time for J.W. Ocker's new book Cult Following because I knew it was going to be amazing. It, in fact, did not disappoint. J.H. Markert released a new book, Sleep Tight, which I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy. It's still twisting my brain sideways, but in that way, I kind of want to read it again because I feel like I missed something. Which is about the run of things when I read Markert's work. I get so focused on one aspect that I know there's something I missed that will scar me more on the second read. Lastly, Therese Oneill published a new book this year! Which by the way, I was not calm about. I adored her first three books, I adored this, and it was immediately snatched up by Aunt after I finished it!

Not let's talk favorite books that Kindle Unlimited threw my way. I don't think I've ever devoured a series quite like I devoured the Judge Dee series. In fact, nothing would give me more joy to find out we were getting another one in 2025. This is a novella series I'll never get tired of, it's so much fun, and I love the covers. I have very rarely dipped my toe into the romance genre of any kind, it's generally not for me, but this romantasy genre has kind of sucked me, and it all started with Tavia Lark and this Prince and Assassin series. Again, the first half of this series was in my trance and I read one book right after the other. One of my goals for 2025 is to read the last three books in the series. Like I said, bad attention span, and I just now realized I never finished this series. 

To keep on the slight romance train, on the recommendation of my best friend, who never let me down, I picked up Dowry of Blood. Again, something a little out of the realm of things I read, but I fell in love with this. This was one of those books that always caught my eye, but because it wasn't my wheel of the house of things I read, I sort of never picked it up. But, I'm grateful she had me read this because I loved it so much. Just the prose of the writing style blew me away, it was just beautifully written. 

Lastly, I have to give it up to NetGalley this year because I approved some amazing books this year. In fact, I only DNFed two of the books I was approved for. Travels of Terror was one of the top books I was approved for. It's not just filled with the creepy places you should visit, but it also talks about places to eat, where to stay, what to avoid, and hidden gems you should stop and shop. This was one I will be adding to my physical collection and be using when I travel. I'm thinking of going to Salem in 2025, and this book had some most go places that are on my list.

These are only eight of eighty-odd books I read this year, I'm sure I could have written my own book on the books that loved this year. But, these are the ones that still live rent-free in my soul, that I want to read again, that threw me for a loop, or brought a new love for a genre that I avoided for so long. It's been an interesting reading year, with a rough start at the beginning of the month. But, now that we're closing out the year, I managed to read some pretty awesome books. I have some amazing ones still sitting on my TBR waiting to be picked up in 2025!

HAPPY READING!!

Candy Cain Kills - Review

Author: Brian McAuley

Genre: Horror

Format: Paperwork

Pages: 140

One of the taglines for this book says it's an adult Goosebumps book, and that's a pretty good description of it. I would say it also has a mix of slasher movies in there with the way people day left and right in this one, but I do see the Goosebumps vibes it's talking about. This story has a level of cheese, though I'm not mad at it. 

This book came to me thanks to the lovely ladies over at Night Worms. It was part of the December book box last year. I saved it to read this year over the holidays, and it was without a doubt worth the wait. I knew this was going to be a wild ride between the cover and the title. What I didn't realize was how unhinged this was going to be, and it was completely unhinged. Honestly, I think the absolute craziness of this plot is what keeps you reading because you have to know what's going to happen next.

The plot itself is a pretty well-used plot that McAuley stretches to its full potential. I love that he chose this book with multiple points of view because it always the reader to start piecing together the story as everything unfolds. It also allowed the readers to get to know the characters without adding to the bulk of the book and weighing it down. I was rooting for Austing and Fiona throughout the whole book, I wanted them both to survive because, at the end of the day, they were good kids stuck in between their parent's bad marriages. 

Between the bad marriage stress and learning the backstory of Candy Cain, oh, and everyone dying, it sets the book up nicely for the plot twist. Which I will admit I did not see coming because I was too big trying to will Austin and Fiona to get out of the house safely. There is a small twist halfway through the book I kind of called it because the introduction of the character seemed a little coincidental. At least I caught that one.

Overall this book moved at such a quick pace it was hard to put down to do things like: sleep, eat, and go to work. It's also one that if you read in public your face will do things because some of these deaths are gross, lie GROSS. One of them definitely had my face doing things because while it was cool was super nasty. Still, I'm glad I waited to read this because it was a really good Christmas horror read. And the ending was so good. It sets up the sequel so well, and by waiting now I can jump into the second book without waiting!

HAPPY READING!!

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous at Breaking the Spine.

There’s power in a book…

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.

Why I'm Waiting: Grady Hendrix is one of my favorite authors, and I can't wait to read his next book!

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

Relive the magic of Disney/Pixar Brave in this vibrant full-color graphic novel adaptation of the movie!

Merida is a skilled archer and the impetuous daughter of King Fergus and Queen Elinor. Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the lords of the land, unleashing chaos and fury in the kingdom. But when she turns to an eccentric, old wise woman for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish…

   HAPPY READING!!

2025 Most Anticipated Reads pt 1

 

The new year is a little over two weeks away, and I cannot decide if I'm ready for a new year. On the one hand, this year hasn't exactly felt like it's flown by, but a couple of months definitely felt shorter than they should have been. Either way, it feels a little early to be thinking about the books I'm excited to be released in 2025. Maybe that's because I had to re-do my shelves this Fall and now I'm very aware of the number of unread books I own. Only to turn around and already about probably two, maybe even three, dozen more to my Goodreads list. It's a good thing there isn't an exploration date on ready books. I have enough anxiety with adult stuff, I don't need extra in my reading list. 

Yes, this is part one of three, I've broken it down in months because some books haven't been announced yet (or don't get a huge lead time for pre-orders as others), and I didn't want to miss something about allowing for the whole year. So these are eight of the books I'm really excited to read that are being released between January and April of 2025. Two of which are by two of my favorite authors, Tanya Huff and Alex Grecian. Huff wrote probably the only paranormal romance series (the Vicki Nelson series) I've read from start to finish and didn't give up way through. Mostly because Henry Fitzroy is without a doubt one of the loves of life. No, I will not be taking questions about that at this time. As for Grecian, he wrote one of my favorite murder mystery series (The Scotland Yard Murder Squad series) that I still need to go back and re-read because it was so good! 

So those two are at the top of my list of things I need to own, right now would be great, but I guess I can wait until their published, if I must. Everything tickled my fancy in other ways from content (Story of Murder) to weird non-fiction (PsudeoScience), to an absolute baller of a book that combines one of my favorite shows growing up and cozy murder mysteries (Murder by Cheesecake). 

Next year is gearing up to be a great year in books being released from a wide variety of genres and for a lot of people. Even a new Hunger Games book is hitting shelves in 2025! So while I cannot wait to get these books on my shelf, and eventually in my hands, I also cannot wait to see what the rest of the year has in store. Because of the fact I'm getting another Tanya Huff release and Alex Grecian and a Golden Girls cozy murder mystery, all in the first few months. I'm not sure my nerdy little soul is ready.

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sunday

   

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes, the cover initially catches our eye, drawing us to give a book a closer look. It's the first thing we see, our first impression. Every Sunday, I'll post some of my favorite book covers. Coming soon!

Not all is as it seems in the small village of Ascension, Massachusetts. A mother wasting away from cancer is suddenly up and about. A boy trampled by a milk cart walks away from the accident. A hanged man can still speak, broken neck and all.The dead are not dying.When Rabbit and Sadie Grace accompany their friend Rose to Ascension to help take care of her ailing cousin, they immediately notice that their new house, Bethany Hall, is occupied by dozens of ghosts. And there’s something in the attic that neither want to investigate.New England in the 1880s is notoriously unwelcoming to the weird, and the villagers are wary of their visitors. As the three women attempt to find out what’s happening in the town, they must be careful not to be found out. But a much larger—and dangerous—force is galloping straight for them…

HAPPY READING!!

Night Worms Unboxing

December Theme: Winter Frightmare

It's here, my first present I can actually open! Not only is it book mail, but it's Night Worm book mail. Who knows what kind of warm, toasty, brevage will be inside, or what kind of treasures will be in that goody bag. It could be a new magnet for my fridge or a new sticker for my to-go coffee mug! Either way, it's going to be exciting. Doubly so since I'm super excited for both of the books this month. I just really like getting mail, book, or snail mail, both are awesome!

Okay, okay, okay, we need to have a talk about things we do not under any circumstance need to make scarier. Moose is very top of the list, I've seen those things in person, and no thank you. They are huge and the noise they make is just, nope. So thank you Lindy Ryan for adding, walking on their hind feet to something that is already nightmare fuel in the dark. This book is going to freak me out. Right up there with the mushroom-addled bunnies.

I cannot wait to try this coffee on Christmas morning, the house is going to smell amazing. Sugar cookies are the top tier for me. Also, I cannot wait to slap that ghost sticker on my coffee mug. It's so cute! I also adore the Home for the Holidays sticker, I just have no idea where I'm going to put it. I'm out of sticker space, and shelf space. 

Despite my complaints, Cold Snap is high on my Winter TBR!

HAPPY READING!!

Mini Reviews

Okay, I think we all know why I picked this one up. This was absolutely brilliantly funny. I have never read anything by Sunyi Dean, but now I'm going to need to after this one.  This is just twenty pages long, but the narrator had me laughing out loud from the very start of this story. In fact, I think it's the perfect way for this story to be told. Because I will say for the first few pages I was so confused as to what was happening. Based on the title I was like wait, wait a minute, but then it flipped the script and I was all about it. It's absolutely wonderful storytelling, and I'm so glad I stumbled across this through my Libby App. 

This is not a normal read for me. In fact, this was so far from the realm of things I read, that I thought it was going to sit on my Kindle and collect dust until I finally either gave it a chance or sent it back to KU. Yet here we are because the book I was reading before this was stressing me out, and I was like I'm on a mini vacation I want to read something silly and fun. So I cracked this opening not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. Because I, one of the slowest readers I know, read about two-thirds of this in one night. I laid on a bean bag until the early hours of the morning in my parent's living room and didn't stop reading until I fell asleep on my Kindle. The only thing that kept me from finishing this was the fact I got the world's worst cold the day I flew home which knocked on my butt for about three days. Is there a plot to this book, if you squint and look slightly to the left, yeah there's something kind of like a plot there. Does it matter? Nope. I adore Evan and Kuya and how simple this book is, and I mean that with all the respect. This is a happy ending, everything works out in the end, don't stress about the horrible brother because somehow that'll sort itself out later. This is a stress-free book. This is a read-it-curled-up and giggle-to-yourself kind of book. This is I've already downloaded the second volume of this and as soon as I finish my NetGalley book I'll be starting that one, kind of book. Is this kind of romance, smut, usually for me, nope, and this book goes from zero to sixty super fast. But, I found I didn't mind the smut. It was there, but Evan is adorable and I adored him. And how weird this fantasy world was, and how it makes zero sense, but that was half the fun. This book is fun okay and cute and everything my overwork brain needed. So yeah, if you need fun that you don't need to think about, but want to enjoy.  This book is right here. Look no further. 

HAPPY READING!!

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally, they are books that have yet to be released but don't have to be. It is based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous at Breaking the Spine.

Noah Fairchild has been losing his formerly polite Southern parents to far-right cable news for years, so when his mother leaves him a voicemail warning him that the “Great Reawakening” is here, he assumes it’s related to one of the many conspiracy theories she believes in. But when his own phone calls go unanswered, Noah makes the long drive from Brooklyn to Richmond, Virginia. There, he discovers his childhood home in shambles, a fridge full of spoiled food, and his parents locked in a terrifying trance-like state in front of the TV. Panicked, Noah attempts to snap them out of it and get medical help.

Then Noah’s mother brutally attacks him.

But Noah isn’t the only person to be attacked by a loved one. Families across the country are tearing each other apart-–literally-–as people succumb to a form of possession that gets worse the more time they spend watching particular channels, using certain apps, or visiting certain websites. In Noah’s Richmond-based family, only he and his young nephew Marcus are unaffected. Together, they must race back to the safe haven of Brooklyn–-but can they make it before they fall prey to the violent hordes?

This ambitious, searing novel from "one of horror's modern masters" holds a mirror to our divided nation, and will shake readers to the core.

Why I'm Waiting: Clay McLeod Chapman is one of my favorite horror authors, and I'm always excited when he releases a new book!

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

 

Madeline Brimley left small town Georgia many years ago to go to college and pursue her dreams on the stage. Her dramatic escapades are many but success has eluded her, leaving her at loose ends. But then she gets word that not only has her beloved, eccentric Aunt Rose passed, but she's left Madeline her equally eccentric bookstore housed in an old Victorian mansion in the small college town of Enigma. But when she arrives in her beat-up Fiat to claim The Old Juniper Bookstore, and restart her life, Madeline is faced with unexpected challenges. The gazebo in the back yard is set ablaze and a late night caller threatens to burn the whole store down if she doesn't leave immediately.

But Madeline Brimley, not one to be intimidated, ignores the threats and soldiers on. Until there's another fire and a murder in the store itself. Now with a cloud of suspicion falling over her, it's up to Madeline to untangle the skein of secrets and find the killer before she herself is the next victim.

HAPPY READING!!