I was so happy to get an ARC of this book through BookishFirst, and firstly, thank you for it in exchange for my honest opinion.
The concept of using her dogs as a timeline for a memoir was beyond ingenious and I loved it! Though I did like it, there were a few times where the dogs really couldn't be tied to the time period of her life, still, I really enjoyed hearing about each of the dogs.
One thing that was a little confusing was the diverging from the timeline, it hopped and skipped about before returning and that could be a bit dizzying.
The stories were entertaining and had me chuckling, the love between her and those she writes about is clear and the memoir was a really fun read. I wouldn't hesitate to read her previous memoirs....more
Barron’s writing style is so engaging in her MG debut every single chapter was exciting in its own right and every single chapter that we finished, the spawn begged me to keep going.
The godlings was such a great take and I think that the way the mythology was meshed in was a great take of world-building, and I love that the setting was Chicago!
Maya and her friends Frankie and Eli made up a great trio, they were uncomplicated in their friendship, if one of them was in trouble, they helped, that was it, and I thought that was beautiful in a way, something that’s so important to show kids; help should be freely given especially to your friends anyway. Not to mention they were helping to save Maya’s dad so that not only meant adventures into the possible unknown but a quest worthy of any hero.
We worried for Maya and her friends and family, we were thrilled with the Dark and all that was in it, the darkbringers, the differences in their world and ours and of course the Lord of Shadows who made an excellent and complicated antagonist.
The ending was super satisfying and still set us up to be quite impatient for book two! Spawn and I just adored this book from start to finish, great character development, world-building, magic system, lore/mythology, and pacing!
5/5 huge cups of coffee from spawn and I both, thank you so much to the publishers for an ARC of this in exchange for our honest review (spawn and I both in this case)....more
This sequel picks right up from where Kingdom of Souls left off. The battle ended, and the war is still raging though war always comes with a price. Arrah is trying to save Sukar from his wounds, some at her own hand. Essnai is supporting Arrah, while Rudjek is at the mercy of his father’s politics and doing everything in his own power to protect Arrah. (To be fair though Rudjek really is too strong and stubborn to be at anyone’s ‘mercy’)
The book is seriously an emotional roller coaster though and Barron once more smashed my soul as she did in the last book. If you want to know why...you’ll have to read and find out or if you’ve read it just guess. Or I can spell out spoilers with my tears. Half jk.
This amazing sequel is coming out in less than two weeks so please keep it in mind for your TBR! It does not disappoint and it was just as amazing as the first book. Thanks so much to Rena Barron, NetGalley and Harper Voyager UK for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion....more
Volke’s perseverance was really fun to read, and Stovall gives him a vibrant narrative voice. In fact, I appreciated the light-hearted flow of Stovall’s writing style in general and we’re given a pretty fun cast of characters to help the story on its way.
Volk has a foster sister of sorts, Illia, and they travel to the mainland from their island with two more of their fellow islanders; Atty and Zaxis.
Once on the mainland, they’ll have to find a guild, have a master train them, and hopefully, one day become masters themselves.
Illia and Volke have unusual/rare Eldrin [the name of mystical creatures bonded to arcanists] and in Volke’s case, having a Knightmare could mean double the work as the Knightmare has been bonded before.
I will definitely be looking into the rest of the series and plan on keeping my eye on everything Stovall writes from now on. This could be a great read for older MG and younger YA readers as well. Thank you to WriteReads Tour and Stovall for an eARC in exchange for my honest review. 3.5 cups of coffee from me!...more
Ariel doesn't seem to catch a break, and it almost makes me chuckle, this girl needs a spa day. Harbinger picks up right where Hallow left off, and I appreciate that as it was an intense ending.
Now that Ariel has no choice but to accept what she is, that she's got a destiny, well, it's time for her to figure out the best way to do it...her way.
She's working with Rafe and the angels who remain in the place that Uriel ruled. There are so many obstacles in her way though, the angels only see her as a human, the other army is better, bigger, and probably stronger, and well....her sister is definitely having an experience with her trip to Uras.
First step for Ariel is getting an army, and she knows there's only one other place left to look after Uras, and I so loved that she went back to this place which I won't say because of spoilers.
As always, I demand more Sam, and I demand to know what happened to Tabby.
I liked that Ariel is having to come to terms with her destiny and that she's still foul-mouthed, spontaneous and stubborn.
I probably liked this one the least out of the three, but, that doesn't take away the fact that I did enjoy it and that I am ready to read the final book when it comes out. This was a set up for what is sure to be a really intense fourth and final book!
Thanks to Olga and Fraser's Fun House for an eARC of this in exchange for my honest review as part of the tour.
Content Warning: Gory and quite bloody, a bit of 'torture' and violence abound!
I won’t lie, this is not a masterpiece of writing, but, it was enjoyable and the world that Carsac builds is incredible, the technology was so effortlessly put in, and I loved the Empire and Star People, the nonhumans, everything was crafted with such detail.
I love seeing where we started with Sci-fi and how far we’ve come, so reading this was really a sort of study into the history of sci-fi in a way and for that and the worldbuilding alone, I would round it up to three stars.
Why didn’t it get higher? Well, Tankar was not enjoyable compared to the rest of the book’s aspects that I thoroughly liked. He was young, haughty and his stubborn pride was hard to read, but, it was also in line with his personality that Carsac gave him.
Being a 1960s space opera also meant this was the golden age of women throwing themselves at men, I’ll admit, the women were all very capable in Carsac’s book, but the fawning over the man is definitely probably going to be unbearable for a lot of people. I found it pretty amusing, and I remembered the era this was written in, so, I think it may not have bothered me as much.
The writing style was not as fluid as I would have liked but I have no idea if that’s the translation or Carsac, so I’ve kind of left off on commenting on that very much.
Thank you to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours and Flame Tree Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion as part of the blog tour....more
Such a fantastic tale! I'm a huge Cinderella fan, and the retellings always tend to be so creative, but this is one of my top two favorites yet!
BayronSuch a fantastic tale! I'm a huge Cinderella fan, and the retellings always tend to be so creative, but this is one of my top two favorites yet!
Bayron gives you the whimsy and magic of the Disney version while also giving you the darkness of the original Grimms tale. She stays true to both while creating something entirely her own.
It's almost a historical dystopian somehow! Cinderella has been gone 200 years but the tale of her magical night at the ball and marrying the Prince guides Lille on how they live their lives, the women in particular. They are required to attend the ball and present themselves to their King and suitors, to be claimed. They have three years, three chances, and no one knows what happens after they're forced to forfeit/after their parents forfeit them.
Sophia doesn't want to go to the ball, she doesn't want a husband or to live Cinderella's fairytale, she wants to be with her best friend Erin, the same girl who is her first and current love. But this isn't possible in Lille.
The story is well-paced, and it takes time to build up toward Sophia's shining moment, she's made choices and follows through with each one. I loved her interactions with Constance and found that Amina was my overall favorite character because Bayron just wrote her so BRILLIANTLY.
I'm gushing, I know, but I adored this book and can't wait for it's UK release. 4/5 cups of coffee from me, thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion....more
I don't think I have adequate or even coherent words to say just how much I adored this book.
750 pages that somehow feels like maybe 400, perfect pacing, perfect conclusion, and Chakraborty broke and mended my heart multiple times.
This book was perfection for me and I thank the publishers and Netgalley for the eARC I read in exchange for my honest, but very fangirl-ish, review....more
This was a great story of rebellion, magic, and the people caught in between it all.
I would say that Ren was really such an awesome MC I loved her and she definitely made me chuckle while Kellen was my second favourite character.
While I did enjoy this read, I would say that it's not anything we haven't seen before, and I don't mean with the tropes because I personally enjoy most tropes. Instead, it was the fact that rebellions and heists are quite popular at the moment.
Luckily Ren made this story stand out for me, where others have failed to stick in my memory.
I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys sassy characters, magic, and a really quick and fun paced read.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion....more
Nothing like a novella packed with introspection, fantasy, and world-building. Seriously, colour me impressed. Tarzian writes this novella as an introduction/prequel to his Shadow Twins books, and after reading this, I’ve already added the first book of that to my tbr.
Tarzian’s style is extremely lyrical and atmospheric. The world is full of this entrenching darkness from what troubles befoul it from the creators and magic, the characters are complex and vivid as well. These are things that take time to build up and yet Tarzian does it in 140 pages.
The depth to it is really what caught my attention, but it is also a matrix story within a matrix story within a…well you get the picture. So, I was almost lost in the thread of it all, but I enjoyed it.
It’s a great framework to set up a series and I can’t wait to read the first book!
If you’re looking for a setup for a new adult fantasy series with a dark and lyrical quality, I recommend this novella. It may be small but its content is epic.
Thank you to Storytellers on Tour and Luke Tarzian for a copy of this in exchange for my honest opinion as part of this tour! Don’t forget to check out the rest of the tour, the awesome giveaway, and the excerpt of this novella, all of which you can find below!...more
There are books that come about, they quietly slip under your skin and change your world. No explosion of fireworks, no earth-shattering break out of the cage epicness, just a feeling that you’ve been changed.
Sharks in the Time of Saviours did that for me, in fact, it affected me so much that I had to take a while to gather my thoughts before I could write a review.
The emotions I felt while reading this were so varied and yet all of them ‘heavy-hitting’ each making its mark on me from joy to relief, to sorrow.
This is a deep look at the life of a Native Hawaiian family with their faith tested in the land and each other.
This is a gorgeous work, it’s truly a masterpiece for 2020 and is one of my ‘keep an eye out for’ novels as I think it could really make its mark on the book world.
Thanks so much to Canongate for an ARC of this in exchange for my honest opinion....more
Content/Trigger Warnings: Rape, physical abuse, buried alive, violent deaths/murder. Scenes of detailed gore and dismemberment, blood, and other varioContent/Trigger Warnings: Rape, physical abuse, buried alive, violent deaths/murder. Scenes of detailed gore and dismemberment, blood, and other various creepy crawly things.
I want to think more about this before giving an in-depth review, but for now, I'll give my initial thoughts.
Grady made the women pretty hilarious and also showing that just because they were housewives did not mean they were idle and bored.
Patricia is our MC, and she was a nurse before marrying her husband, she has a moment where she wishes things were just slightly more interesting, like the books they read in their 'non-bookclub' but as they say... 'be careful what you wish for.'
Her family life suddenly pulling at the seams as she tries to figure out what's wrong in their neighbourhood. No one believes her but when she does stumble onto something, it ends almost in disaster.
In this book, victims of a past event were white children that were blamed on a black man who was horrifically buried alive and left to die, and when current events seem too much like the past, the victims are children of Six Mile Road. Unfortunately, they are racially profiled, it's the children of colour disappearing, Patricia tries to help find out what happens, but, she finds her white saviour routine falls flat with horrible consequences.
I do like that she and others were called out for wanting to play the saviour while running at the sign of trouble, and only returning when their own might be at risk. I thought this was a good call out we don't see enough in books/media and Mrs. Greene was the best character of the book for me because of this.
I don't have the knowledge though to comment more on what I've stated above though and so I stop before I spew ignorance.
I enjoyed the creepiness and the gore, it was an intense read that was maybe a bit too long but worth every page. It made my skin crawl and left me wanting to read more by Grady.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for a copy of this in exchange for my honest opinion....more
I am a HUGE fan of Kat Ross’s Gaslamp Gothic books, so when the chance came to try out her new series, I almost literally jumped at the chance.
This is a freakin’ amazing Western steampunk fantasy full of adventure.
Ruth Cortez may be young but she’s determined and does things by the book. This time, her duty takes her elsewhere and Cortez leaves home to go hunt down a convict.
Except, the convict may not be what he seems and neither are his crimes.
Ross does such a great job with world-building in this, and I am dying to know more about the phantoms and to see more of the world as we saw only a slice in this first book.
The romance is there, it’s hinted at but it’s not the main focus. The main focus of this is catching bad guys and figuring out how to stop him before he can ‘bid’ the phantoms to destroy everything in their path.
All her characters are fleshed out as beautiful as always, even Ross’s secondary characters are full of life and personality and though I love Cortez, I have a sincere soft spot for Doc, her gun phantom.
Thank you SO much to Acorn Publishing and Xpresso Tours for an eARC in exchange for my honest review as part of this tour!...more
Australia set urban fantasy that combines all the lore and myths of the world as one would expect in diaspora and a character who signs Auslan?
YES PLEAustralia set urban fantasy that combines all the lore and myths of the world as one would expect in diaspora and a character who signs Auslan?
YES PLEASE.
I did not know I needed this book in my life until I got it as book mail.
I loved the supernatural creatures and beings, the descriptions of this hidden world within ours and I adored Sadie. She was such a little cinnamon roll, albeit with teeth lol. [Texas was also adorable lol]
All the secondary characters were completely fabulous as well! I loved all of them and cannot wait to read more of this world to know more characters. There were witches, ghosts, banshees, wombat shifters, werewolves, demons, it was a plethora of amazingness.
I also loved that all of these supernatural beings were in one land. Lewis uses the diaspora of Australia to her advantage and it is a well-blended and diverse world because of this.
So
Pros: -Loved the Writing Style -Loved the characters -Corruption in the government -Diaspora of supernatural beings -Amazing library run by a demon -Auslan sign language getting Rep! -Love story -On the run and hiding scenes are amazing -Well-paced
Cons: -Love story felt a little rushed, but at the same time it didn’t feel unnatural so I wouldn’t say it was a huge issue. -Ending is unsatisfactory, GIMME THE NEXT BOOK.
*Thank you to Piaktus for a copy of this which I’ve read in exchange for my honest review!*...more
Haley Renee
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