February TBR

Oddly I actually kept to my TBR that I set for January, and really only strayed from once. But, I mean who wouldn't stray when they have a book like Infinity Son sitting on the shelf. So I figured let's see if I can two for two and set another TBR for February. I'm hoping trying to keep to smaller option will keep from falling into the end of Winter Reading Slump. Where all I want do is binge Iron Chef and brood about the fact I miss the sun.

All four books are Backlist Books, two are BINGO Books, and the Institute was given to be through the Goodreads Giveaway. I've heard good things about all these books, but I'm really exited for the Jackson Ford book. I've heard it's great! And, I know I'm not emotionally prepared for what's about to happen in A Little Hatred.

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.

A black-market-media smuggler and scholarship student at the prestigious New Columbia Preparatory Academy, Pru is lucky to live in the Barricade Coalition where she is free to study, read, watch, and listen to whatever she wants. But between essays and exams, she chooses to spend her breaks sweet-talking border patrol with her best friend, Anabel, in order to sell banned media to the less fortunate citizens of the United Continental Confederacy, Inc.

When a drop-off goes awry, Pru narrowly escapes UCC enforcers to find that her rescuer is, of all things, a sentient cybernetic dragon. On the one hand, Pru is lucky not to be in prison, or worse. On the other, the dragon seems to have imprinted on her permanently, which means she has no choice but to be its pilot.

Drawn into a revolution she has no real interest in leading, Pru, Anabel, and friends Alex and Cat become key players in a brewing conflict with the UCC as the corporate government develops advanced weaponry more terrifying and grotesque than Pru could have ever imagined.

Why I'm Waiting: Because this sounds amazing! Full stop.

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

Kira Fujikawa has always been a girl on the fringe. Bullied by her peers and ignored by her parents, the only place Kira’s ever felt at home is at her grandfather’s Shinto shrine, where she trains to be a priestess.

But Kira’s life is shattered on the night her family’s shrine is attacked by a vicious band of yokai demons. With the help of Shiro—the shrine’s gorgeous half-fox, half-boy kitsune—Kira discovers that her shrine harbors an ancient artifact of great power . . . one the yokai and their demon lord, Shuten-doji, will use to bring down an everlasting darkness upon the world.

Unable to face the Shuten-doji and his minions on her own, Kira enlists the aid of seven ruthless shinigami—or death gods—to help stop the brutal destruction of humankind. But some of the death gods aren’t everything they initially seemed, nor as loyal to Kira’s cause as they first appeared.

With war drawing nearer by the day, Kira realizes that if this unlikely band of heroes is going to survive, they’re going to have to learn to work together, confront their demons, and rise as one to face an army of unimaginable evil.

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sundays

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!

Esther is a stowaway. She’s hidden herself away in the Librarian’s book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her—a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda. The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing.

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.

Winter blankets the land, and more than just hope has died. Prevented from invading the Fhrey homeland by the tower of Avempartha, the western army seeks a way across the Nidwalden River before the fane obtains the secret of dragons. As time runs out for both humanity and the mystic Suri, the only chance for the living rests with the dead. Having made their fateful choice, can a handful of misfits do the impossible, or are they forever lost to an inescapable grave? Do gods truly exist? Is it possible to know the future? And what lies beyond the veil of death? In the tradition of Virgil’s Aeneid, Dante’s Divine Comedy, and Milton’s Paradise Lost, the most epic of tales transcend the world of the living. It’s time to see what lies in Elan’s Age of Death.

Why I'm Waiting: Michael J Sullivan is one of my favorite writers, and I really liked the first book in the series. So I'm excited to see another book hitting shelves in 2020.

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sundays

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!

Hidden deep in the mountains of Colorado lies the Inn at Havenfall, a sanctuary that connects ancient worlds--each with their own magic--together. For generations, the inn has protected all who seek refuge within its walls, and any who disrupt the peace can never return.

For Maddie Morrow, summers at the inn are more than a chance to experience this magic first-hand. Havenfall is an escape from reality, where her mother sits on death row accused of murdering Maddie's brother. It's where Maddie fell in love with handsome Fiorden soldier Brekken. And it's where one day she hopes to inherit the role of Innkeeper from her beloved uncle.

But this summer, the impossible happens--a dead body is found, shattering everything the inn stands for. With Brekken missing, her uncle gravely injured, and a dangerous creature on the loose, Maddie suddenly finds herself responsible for the safety of everyone in Havenfall. She'll do anything to uncover the truth, even if it means working together with an alluring new staffer Taya, who seems to know more than she's letting on. As dark secrets are revealed about the inn itself, one thing becomes clear to Maddie--no one can be trusted, and no one is safe . . .

HAPPY READING!!

Infinity Son - Book Mail

I have been waiting months for this books. MONTHS! And, of course this is the week that winter finally strikes with the ice and the snow. So I was a little worried that I wasn't really sure if my copy of Infinity Son was going to make it here this week. But, to my surprise I had a package sitting in our HUB. It made this week of wading through the snow to my bus worth it. Cause it's so pretty and shiny

This is definitely going to be my next read as soon as I finish Magic for Liars. I'm so excited to crack this open! 

HAPPY READING!!

Book Haul

So, I was really trying to not buy books this months, because I'm in the middle of a Tackle TBR event where I'm trying to read through what I already have on hand. However, the book store next to one of the shops I work on was having a sale. Which means that plan went out the window fairly quickly and my wallet took a hit. But, with the weather we've been having at least now I know I won't get bored if the snow knocks out our power. I like to be prepared!

Three new books for my collection. All three have been on my TBR for at least a year, and all three are BINGO books this year. I know A Little Hatred is going to break me, but I do love this universe and cannot wait to fall back in love with certain characters. Maybe watch a few I hate die, horrid deaths. So I'm excited for all three. In fact since I'm sticking so well to my January TBR I'm going to give one a go in February! These three will definitely be top of the list.

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.

You are alone in the woods, seen only by the unblinking yellow moon. Your hands are empty. You are nearly naked.

And the wolf is angry.

Since her grandmother became her caretaker when she was four years old, Bisou Martel has lived a quiet life in a little house in Seattle. She’s kept mostly to herself. She’s been good. But then comes the night of homecoming, when she finds herself running for her life over roots and between trees, a fury of claws and teeth behind her. A wolf attacks. Bisou fights back. A new moon rises. And with it, questions. About the blood in Bisou’s past and on her hands as she stumbles home. About broken boys and vicious wolves. About girls lost in the woods—frightened, but not alone.

Why I'm Waiting: Red Riding Hood isn't a story I see many modern re-tellings of. So my interested has been piqued.

HAPPY READING!!

New Release Tuesday

Growing up in New York, brothers Emil and Brighton always idolized the Spell Walkers—a vigilante group sworn to rid the world of specters. While the Spell Walkers and other celestials are born with powers, specters take them, violently stealing the essence of endangered magical creatures.

Brighton wishes he had a power so he could join the fray. Emil just wants the fighting to stop. The cycle of violence has taken a toll, making it harder for anyone with a power to live peacefully and openly. In this climate of fear, a gang of specters has been growing bolder by the day.

Then, in a brawl after a protest, Emil manifests a power of his own—one that puts him right at the heart of the conflict and sets him up to be the heroic Spell Walker Brighton always wanted to be.

Brotherhood, love, and loyalty will be put to the test, and no one will escape the fight unscathed. 

HAPPY READING!!

Bout of Books 27 Wrap Up

Another Bout of Books come and gone! Work was chaos, but I managed to squeeze out decent amounts of time to read. Mostly thanks to the fact I take the bus to and from work. But, also because I have a pretty rad boss who helped me cut out a least a full day off.

Bout 27 Stats:

Books Read: 1

Pages Read: 496

Currently Reading: Magic for Liars

Not a bad week for me! A book a week keeps me well in my Reading Goal for 2020. This has set up some pretty good habits for the year: getting up a little earlier, shutting off the TV at a better hour. So I'll take that one book read and run with it!  Until May when Bout 28 is back again!

HAPPY READING!!

Cover Runway Sundays

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!

Men have gone missing before.

The village of Krume is plagued by a haunted wood and a hungry witch. It’s been that way for as long as Hans and Greta can remember, though they have never seen the witch themselves; no one has.

When men start to disappear once again in the cover of night - their bloody hearts turning up on doorsteps - the village falls into frenzied madness.

Hans and Greta, two outcast orphans, find themselves facing accusations of witchcraft and are met with an ultimatum: burn at the stake, or leave the village forever.

With nowhere else to go, they abandon their only home.

As they venture into the strange forest, their path is fraught with horrific creatures, wild and vivid hallucinations, and a mysterious man tied to the witch's past.

The Shrike is watching, just beyond the deep darkness of the woods. 

HAPPY READING!!

Dread Nation - Review

Series: Dread Nation #1

Genre: Historical Fiction / Horror

Format: Hardback

Pages: 455

I knew I was going to enjoy Dread Nation because it has all the elements that I look for in a story. The cover was being fantastic was the cherry on top. What I didn't know, however, was just how far I would fall into this book. Sometimes when I read a book by a new author it takes me a few chapters to get a feel for their writing style. That was not the case with Justina Ireland's writing style. I jumped right into the first day and devoured a good chunk before sleep forced me stop.

Never once did I have a hard time picking this book back up when being forced to put it down. I though the story had great pacing throughout the plot. Things never slowed halt because chapter had little moments of information, tidbits of things about the past of this version of history, or a small look into Jane's past. Something to keep my attention and hurl me into the next chapter. Huge kudos to Justina Ireland on how seamlessly those flashbacks appeared. I didn't feel like the pulled away from the story at all, because they were Jane's memory of things and not just a information drop.

Along the lines of pacing, I thought the plot developed wonderfully as well. The first part of the story introducing us the key players of the game, and each little mystery leading to a bigger conclusion. Each moment sort of leading to something bigger, some grand purpose. Hints of things that Jane was capable of, and how the undead might be evolving. I was captive from start to finish.

I also really enjoyed how Justina Ireland played with our history of the "Gilded Age". How things changed once the shamblers, or zombies as well all them, started rising. But, how things stayed the same at the same time. I liked that didn't pull her punches as she wrote about horrid things in our history, didn't gloss over them. There were a few chapters where I was uncomfortable, and had a time turning the page. But, I should have felt this way. No one should have gone through what any of these people went through. The Rising may have changed the course of the Civil War, but didn't change the fact that people are cruel.

Which is what I liked most about this book. They are fighting zombies, shamblers, that is the new threat to our world. However, the biggest threat, the biggest villain, is still human nature. Something Justina Ireland painted wonderfully in this story.

Just like she did with her characters, who are felt whole and well thought out. Even side characters had backstories, pain they waded through. Though, Jane was my favorite at first. I kept wanting to shake some sense into her. But, that was the point, she was naive and made mistakes that lead them to Summerland. She grew on me as the story progressed. As he learned from her mistakes, as he grew to care about Katherine. Whois the perfect yin to Jane's yang and really didn't enjoy their friendship. My favorite part about Justina Ireland's characters is how much you hate the villains. I honestly was sad none of them got eaten by shamblers. I'm also sad Jackson doesn't either, he is hands down my least favorite character. He's that character that always seems to slide out of trouble at the last possible second.  And, he knows how slick he is too. So it's worse.

However, the saving grace of Summerland is Mr. Gideon. I really enjoyed him. He's a man out of time with the way he thinks and sees the world around him. The reason I like him is, despite knowing who he is, I still have so many questions. Starting with how did he become such a good shot. Followed by what did he do to get sent to Summerland besides the obvious political difference between him and his father.   I'm also not amused we do not know his fate at the end of the book.

In fact I think that be the one thing I'm most upset about, and I don't want to wait until February to find out! There is stress there. So much stress!

One last thing I want to give props to Justina Ireland before I wrap this review up. Thank for their not being a romance in this book. Yes there is a history with Jackson, and yes Jane and Mr. Gideon made eyes at each other. But! There was no real romance. Jane was forced to save herself time and time again without the help of a man. Or with the want of one really I feel. Jane stepped to save the day when she was needed to, and had the courage to run when she needed to. But, it was nice to see the dance between her and Mr. Gideon. To see another side of Jane, to know she might have smoother edges we just couldn't quite see.

All-in-all a wonderful book I highly recommend. Because it is so much more than a zombie book. It's a look into a time, not so long ago, where we did horrid things to each other. A look on despite literal monsters roaming around, humans are still the worst of them all. It's beautifully written, and I cannot what to see what is in store of Deathless Divide the next book in the series. 

HAPPY READING!!

Reverie - Review

Series: Stand Alone

Genre: Young Adult

Format: Hardback

Pages: 419

So I knew this book was going to be a little weird with people's daydreams coming to life and evil sorceress Drag Queens. I knew that, and I was so ready for the ridiculousness of it all. This was going to fun way to start my year. What I hadn't expected was for Reverie to smack right in the feelings. Watching Kane go through this whole event and found so much more than strength, but family. It was as beautiful as it was hilarious.

But, best of all there was balance. It was all camp and jokes, and it wasn't all trauma and darkness. Both lived together in a way that it only really can in teenagers I think. The drama is very much what you'd find in any high school halls, or the movies and TV the make about them. But, the message of a found family is a new on that is only being seen in platforms these days.

Even though, Kane has a caring family. He also has the bond with the Others that goes a little beyond that, and it was a beautiful thing to see them find their feet again.

Reverie is told from Kane's point-of-view. So pieces of the book get a little confusing because the poor boy has lost his memories of the entire summer. He know who he is, who his family is, but there is a whole chunk of he can't remember. Not to mention a burned down factory and a car accident explaining how it happened.

Kinda...

The characters themselves are solid. Reverie  is one of those books where I liked Kane fine, but I lived for the side characters. Ursula and Dean are precious beans, and both gave my heart palpitations throughout the story. Both of them are to be protected at all costs. Elliot and Adeline grew on my. Neither started out as my favorite people, but in the end I wanted to slap them both a little less. Oh, and our villain. She was a dream and I loved her. She was everything I loved about the old school Disney villains, but more. The best character of all is hands down Ms. Daisy, who was the best girl throughout the book.

I honestly can't so much for world since Reverie is set in Connecticut. It's one of the many States I haven't ventured to yet. However, Ryan La Sala paints a wonderful picture of a small Connecticut town.  The best bit is the reveries as the start to pop into our world. Each one the Others come across was down wonderfully. From the writing to the details. I didn't feel lost as we slipped from the real world to a dream world, and they were wonderfully down.

And the little nerd me so was excited to one based of my favorite Indiana Jones movie.

Most of all I enjoyed the ending. While happy endings aren't always my favorite, this one felt like the best way for all of this to end. I was very satisfied with it, and the growth of all the characters. Especially Kane who kind need a swift kick at the start of this book. My favorite bit the kind of open ending we got. That there might be more danger on the horizon with our villains sisters. Maybe another book.

Maybe...

Also, it's a little thing, but I really enjoyed this and it'll be kind spoiler filled. Thank you for how you write Dean and Kane. Just thank you. They have a normal relationship with mistakes and fights, and Dean dealing with Kane screwing him over. But, the fought for each other and it was great to see them as normal. Getting to feel normal in this small town. One more time, it was a normal relationship, as it should be. So thank you!

Really, all my problems with this book was how hard it was too put down. Normally I read a couple books at a time, but not with Reverie. I wasn't in the mood to read anything else. I needed to devour this one and see how it all ended. Now it's over, and I have to deal with that...

HAPPY READING!!