Book Haul

I went on a little adventure this week to Friday Harbor, and no trip there is complete without a stop to Serendipity the Used Book Store. It's my favorite place on the entire island. It's in an old house and it's floor to ceiling books. The kind of place where you have to move a stack of books to see another stack, and you never know what's going to stored into the filing boxes. I could spend a whole day in there and barely scratch the service of their inventory. In fact they say the have over 50,000 books in their store.

I only had about an hour to dig through everything, but I still managed to find some treasures. In fact all three books are on my TBR. If I would have had longer, who knows the number of books I might have come home with. But, I'm really excited about these three I did get. Though my TBR pile looks like some sort of book JENGA game. All it's going to take is one curious cat for it to come tumbling down. I really need to read a couple of books from the pile..

HAPPY READING!!

Nordic Tales - Review

Genre: Folktales, Short Stories

Format: Hardback

Pages: 157

I need to start out by saying thank you to Chronicle Books for giving me a copy of this book to review. What follows it my honest review of Nordic Tales.

First off we have to talk about how gorgeous this book is. The front cover is even textured, the title and border are raised off the cover. It comes with a ribbon bookmark which both me, and the cats, love, but totally different reasons. Each new story had an illustrated page that was beautifully done. This isn't a book I'll keep on my personal shelves, instead I need to find a way to show it off in the main part of my home. Even the inside cover has a cute little design of long boats, dragons, and whatnot. It's all around adorable

The stories themselves are really good. Like in most books that have a collection of short stories, I found I liked some more than others. There are three sections inside Nordic Tales: Transformation, Wit, and Journeys, and each story is set around those three things. My favorite tale was in Transformation with little mouse and the horse. I also really liked that there weren't any princesses in tower. Yeah, there were girls who were tricked and in trouble, but the found their way out, not waiting for some prince to ride up. They solved their issues. Which is different from most of Western folktales and fairy tales.

I also really liked that before each story there was a little heading to let you know where the story originated from. Something that wasn't really necessary to enjoy each story, but was fun to know as you went along since these stories were collected from several different countries.

A few places the translation was little rough and I had to go back and re-read to make sure I read what I thought I read. Which might have been more a of me problem and than anything else but it didn't really pull away from any of the stories themselves. 

Personally, I think Nordic Tales is the perfect bedtime book. I could see myself reading this to my little brother before bed many moons ago if I'd had it. Between the sword fights and talking animals it's easy to hide the lesson to be learned with each stories. It's honestly I actually read the book myself.  A couple of stories each night to unwind from everything. They are a lot of fun and not something I normally pick up to read.

In fact I think I only had one real issue with the book. The font so small. The book itself is pretty hefty as a hardback due it's shape. So with the font so small it made it hard for me to settle the book where I could read the stories without going cross-eyed. Which could account for why I only read a couple of stories at a time. 

End of the day I'm really glad Chronicle Books gave me a chance to read this book, it was super cute.

Buy, Borrow, or Skip: If you have kids I say buy it. It's a fun book to curl up and read together. If you don't have kids, buy it. Because it's a fun book to curl up and read.

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 what 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.

Maine, 1846. Gideon Stone is desperate to escape the ghosts that haunt him in Massachusetts after his wife's death, so he moves to Pale Harbor, Maine, where there is a vacancy for a new minister. Gideon and his late wife had always dreamed of building their own church, and Pale Harbor is the perfect opportunity.

But not all is as it seems in the sleepy town of Pale Harbor. Strange, unsettling things have been happening, and the townspeople know that only one person can be responsible: Sophronia Carver, a widow who lives with a spinster maid in the decaying Castle Carver on the edge of town. Sophronia is a recluse, rumored to be a witch who killed her husband.

When Gideon meets her, he knows the charming, beautiful woman cannot be guilty of anything. Together, Gideon and Sophronia realize that the mysterious events have one thing in common: they all contain an element from the wildly popular stories of Mr. Edgar Allan Poe. And when the events escalate to murder, Gideon and Sophronia must find the real killer, before it's too late for them both.

Why I'm Waiting: This is my second Hester Fox book on my TBR. This one has a lot of elements I love in books: murder mystery, ghosts, and a promise of a bit of Poe. So I'm excited for this one as well.

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

Eight self-drive cars set on a collision course. Who lives, who dies? You decide.

When someone hacks into the systems of eight self-drive cars, their passengers are set on a fatal collision course.

The passengers are: a TV star, a pregnant young woman, a disabled war hero, an abused wife fleeing her husband, an illegal immigrant, a husband and wife - and parents of two - who are travelling in separate vehicles and a suicidal man. Now the public have to judge who should survive but are the passengers all that they first seem?

HAPPY READING!!

Bout of Books 26 Wrap Up

As of midnight that was that. Bout of Books 26 is officially in the books. I managed to finish four books, and I'm a good way into The Rose and the Thorn. Sadly I didn't start my audio for Obsidio. Maybe this weekend. I also put a good sized dent in my Goodreads Challenge, and I'm feeling good going into September. I'm now one square away from a BINGO on two fronts! Should be able to get at least once before end of the year. So all around a really good week!!

Bout 26 Stats:

Pages Read: 714

Books Read: 4

Hours Listened: 0

Bout of Books will be back in January of 2020. Just in time for me to crack open whatever books I get over the Christmas Holidays. Hopefully everyone had an amazing week with Bout off Books 26, and made even a single dent in their TBR!

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sunday

They say don't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes it's the cover that originally 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! Some are by authors I already enjoy, some are the reason I gave the book a longer look. Either way they're all going to find their way here!

Once upon a time, a princess slept in a magical tower cloaked in thorns and roses.

When she woke, she found no Prince Charming, only a surfeit of hair and grotesquely long fingernails--which was, honestly, better than some creep who acted without consent. She cut off her long braids and used them to escape. But she kept the beard because it made a great disguise.

This is not a story about finding true love's kiss--it's a story about finding yourself. On a pirate ship. Where you belong.

But these are no ordinary pirates aboard The Puffy Peach, serving under Filthy Lucre, the one-eyed parrot pirate captain. First there's Vic, a swole and misogynistic centaur on a mission to expunge himself of the magic that causes him to conjure tea and dainty cupcakes in response to stress. Then there's Tempest, who's determined to become the first dryad lawyer--preferably before she takes her ultimate form as a man-eating tree. They're joined by Alobartalus, an awkward and unelfly elf who longs to meet his hero, the Sn'archivist who is said to take dictation directly from the gods of Pell. Throw in some mystery meat and a dastardly capitalist plot, and you've got one Pell of an adventure on the high seas!

HAPPY READING!!

The Crown Tower - Review

Author: Michael J. Sullivan

Genre:  Fantasy

Format: Paperback

Pages: 384

Royce Melborn is the love of my life.

The Crown Tower is a book I've picked up and read a handful of times, because I enjoy it so much. In fact I'm a sucker for any of Michael J Sullivan's writing. Thanks to our ReRead box on BINGO had a good reason to not only read it again, but finally work my way through the series.

My favorite things about The Crown Tower is all the characters. While Royce is my favorite of the entire cast, there isn't one that really rubbed me the wrong way. There are a few that I hate, but that's because they're terrible people. There a few I who annoy me slightly, Arcadius. There is a special hell for vague wizard characters that know too much and say too little. But, as a whole I really do enjoy the entire ensemble. Especially Gwen. Yes, she has a stereotypical role for a female fantasy character as a prostitute. However, she's a fierce freaking women. She fights not only for herself, but all of the ladies who leave with her, and she builds Medford House mostly out because she was told she'd fail. Throughout the pages she grows into a stronger character by standing her ground and not letting people push her around. In fact all three of main characters grow throughout the story. Hadrian gets to show Royce not everyone in the world will leave him for dead, and Royce smacks Hadrian over the head with reality ever twenty pages are so.

But the characters aren't the only great part of this story. I do love the story-line itself. It's not just about how Hadrian and Royce meet, The Crown Tower is clearly gearing the readers up for a bigger plot in later books. Since I'm reading these in chronological order, I can only make guesses as to what that is. But, seeing this is my third pass as this book, I'm catching onto things that the first two times I hadn't notice. Little things that are said in passing from Arcadius, little moments I didn't key into until my third pass at the story.

 Also, I forgot how much happens in a little over three hundred pages. The plot moves pretty quick once you get to the gist of things, but nothing goes to plan.  Which seems to sort of be how things always tend to shift with Hadrian and Royce. But, for as quickly as things move it's easy to follow along. Even when chapters jump between the guys, to Gwen, then back to the guys. It's easy to flip back and forth and until the two story-lines come together. Which, yeah okay, the whole way Gwen saves them is a little on this side of trope, I'll admit to that much. But, it's a little detail of thing in a book I'm enjoying. There are clearly other books, so both of them clearly survive. Plus Gwen uses her powers for good, and a little bit of evil. 

Though I fully believe Stane deserves what's coming too him. 

The world building in The Crown Tower is also very solid. It's nothing new from most fantasy novels, but Michael J Sullivan does and amazing job of describing the world around our characters. It's easy to see the muck of Wayward, and the ever changing landscape as Hadrian travels to the college.

All-in-all it's a solid fantasy novels that enjoy reading. It's fun, Royce is the saltiest little assassin, and Hadrian... He just needs a hug or something. I don't know. But, it's a solid book that recommend to anyone that loves wants to read lighter, more slightly upbeat fantasy novel.

Buy, Borrow, or Skip: Buy, it's one of those books that fun to go back to. 

HAPPY READING!! 

Mini Reviews

I loved this! So I kind new what to expect going into this story-line wise. I've lost count how many times I've read A Study in Scarlet. Though, looking back I probably should have realized something sooner, but there were just enough parallels that I didn't start questioning things until closer to the end. If you haven't read any of The Call of Cthulhu there's a handful of references that wont' make sense. I however loved the small little nods here and there besides the big obvious pieces. I also really loved the artwork, it fit the story really well. Also, there are these little ads between chapters that I loved. A little nod to the Penny Dreadful characters of the time: Springheel Jack, Dracula, ect. And, that twist at the end. So should have seen that coming. Really wish this was an ongoing series! 5 Stars!

Okay, so I'm not real sure what I just read. I mean I liked it, but what in the hell... The October Faction is just the right kind of weird for me, and I do enjoy when we just get hurled into a story and have struggle to find footing. Which is what happened here. It took a few pages for me to untangle the whole story, but once I found my feet I devoured this volume. The artwork is a little on the dark side, so there a few panels I was glad I was sitting by the lamp so I could see all the details. But, honestly considering story, I like that the artwork is darker. I also really like the artwork has a lot of hard angels and characters are a little disproportionate. So much happened in a little over a hundred pages that I'm not entirely certain what's going on. Or, even really why it's happening. But, I'm interested to see what's about to happen, and growing fond of a couple of characters. So I've put the second volume on order. 4 Stars!  

HAPPY READING!!

Book Haul

So, long story short I'm way behind on my Goodreads Challenge. In fact, I'm nine books behind schedule and August only has one week left in it. One whole week! With that in mind I went through my Graphic Novel shelf Goodreads to find some quick reads to shorten that gap down a bit. There is no better week to bust through that gap than during Bout of Books 26. In that search I found two Graphic Novels that I'd put off because my old library didn't have them, but since shelving them I have moved to a different library system. And what do you know?! They not only had them, but the arrived yesterday! Not only that, but tomorrow is one only full day off from work. Sometimes the gods smile down on you.

A Study of Emerald is a marriage between Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraft's Cthulhu. Plus it was written by Neil Gaiman. I see nothing wrong with any of these things. As for The October Faction... Honestly I have no idea what I'm getting myself into. But, it's giving some Addam's Family vibes mixed with Supernatural, which means I'm all in for that. It's also the first volume in a series. So if I like it as much as I think I will, I'll have a few more to help with nine book problem.

Points, if you see what I did there.

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 what 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.

Someone is murdering the Merry Men - and if Marian doesn't stop them, her children will be the next to die.

It's been a mostly quiet life since Robin Hood denounced Marian, his pregnant wife, and his former life and retreated to a monastery to repent his sins . . . although no one knows what he did that was so heinous he would leave behind Sherwood Forest and those he loved most.

But when friends from their outlaw days start dying, Father Tuck, now the Abbott of St. Mary's, suspects a curse and begs Marian to use her magic to break it. A grieving Marian bargains for protection for her children before she sets out with a soldier who's lost his faith, a trickster Fey lord and a sullen Robin Hood, angry at being drawn back into the real world.

Marian soon finds herself enmeshed in a maze of betrayals, tangled relationships and a vicious struggle for the Fey throne . . . and if she can't find and stop the spell-caster, no protection in Sherwood Forest will be enough to save her children.

Why I'm Waiting: I do enjoy a good Robin Hood story. While I'm not a fan usually a Maid Marian fan, I'm interested.

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

Bayr of Saylok, bastard son of a powerful and jealous chieftain, is haunted by the curse once leveled by his dying mother. Bartered, abandoned, and rarely loved, she plagued the land with her words: From this day forward, there will be no daughters in Saylok.

Raised among the Keepers at Temple Hill, Bayr is gifted with inhuman strength. But he’s also blessed with an all-too-human heart that beats with one purpose: to protect Alba, the first girl child born in nearly two decades and the salvation for a country at risk.

Now the fate of Saylok lies with Alba and Bayr, whose bond grows deeper with every whisper of coming chaos. Charged with battling the enemies of their people, both within and without, Bayr is fueled further by the love of a girl who has defied the scourge of Saylok.

What Bayr and Alba don’t know is that they each threaten the king, a greedy man who built his throne on lies, murder, and betrayal. There is only one way to defend their land from the corruption that has overtaken it. By breaking the curse, they could defeat the king…but they could also destroy themselves.

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sunday

They say don't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes it's the cover that originally 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! Some are by authors I already enjoy, some are the reason I gave the book a longer look. Either way they're all going to find their way here!

Mal wins an old map in a card game. Ancient and written in impenetrable symbols, the former owner insists it's worthless. Yet River Tam can read it, and says it leads to one of the Arks, legendary ships that brought humans from Earth-that-was to the 'Verse. The salvage potential alone is staggering. But the closer they get to the ancient ship, the more agitated River becomes. She says something is waiting inside, something powerful, and very angry...

HAPPY READING!!

Mini Reviews

Holy crap! I forgot how much second hand stress there was at the end of this book. In fact I forgot most of what happened as a whole at the end of this book. I remembered the key elements, but the last little bit with Jackson and everyone totally slipped my mind. Now for my re-read I went with the audio book. Because the cast does an amazing job telling the stories. I'm glad I decided to do a re-read of Illuminae and Gemina before jumping into Obisidio for two reason: so much happens in the first two books I'm glad I got a refresher and I was remembered how much I love the series. So despite how badly I know it'll hurt, I'm ready to finally finish this series. I just hope Nik is okay at the end, because it a precious bean that should be protected at all costs. 5 Stars!

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 what 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.

The chimneys of industry rise over Adua and the world seethes with new opportunities. But old scores run deep as ever.

On the blood-soaked borders of Angland, Leo dan Brock struggles to win fame on the battlefield, and defeat the marauding armies of Stour Nightfall. He hopes for help from the crown. But King Jezal's son, the feckless Prince Orso, is a man who specializes in disappointments.

Savine dan Glokta - socialite, investor, and daughter of the most feared man in the Union - plans to claw her way to the top of the slag-heap of society by any means necessary. But the slums boil over with a rage that all the money in the world cannot control.

The age of the machine dawns, but the age of magic refuses to die. With the help of the mad hillwoman Isern-i-Phail, Rikke struggles to control the blessing, or the curse, of the Long Eye. Glimpsing the future is one thing, but with the guiding hand of the First of the Magi still pulling the strings, changing it will be quite another...

Why I'm Waiting: Because I loved the First Law series, despite how it ended for certain characters. At least this time I'm going into the series knowing everyone I love will die.

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

Trolls haunt the snowy forests, and terrifying monsters roam the open sea.

A young woman journeys to the end of the world, and a boy proves he knows no fear.

This collection of 16 traditional tales transports readers to the enchanting world of Nordic folklore. Translated and transcribed by folklorists in the 19th century, and presented here unabridged, the stories are by turns magical, hilarious, cozy, and chilling. They offer a fascinating view into Nordic culture and a comforting wintertime read. Ulla Thynell's glowing contemporary illustrations accompany each tale, conjuring dragons, princesses, and the northern lights. This special gift edition features an embossed, textured case and a ribbon marker.

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sunday

They say don't judge a book by its cover, but we all know we do it. Sometimes it's the cover that originally 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! Some are by authors I already enjoy, some are the reason I gave the book a longer look. Either way they're all going to find their way here!

When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother's house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be?

Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there’s more—Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather’s journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants…until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself.

Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors—because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they’re looking for you. And if she doesn’t face them head on, she might not survive to tell the tale.

HAPPY READING!!