Mail Drop!

Happy Sunday! I wanted to write up a quick post about some recent BookMail I received yesterday!

OwlHallowPress was gracious enough to send me an ARC of Anna Undreaming by Thomas Welsh.

Expected to be released on March 20th, 2018

Anna is a student surviving the city, and she lives by a simple credo, “Never play their game; their game is always rigged.” For every man she has ever known, it’s a saying that has served her well.

Especially when Anna becomes lost to the dark heart of the city. She finds herself hunted by Dreamers—artists, both good and evil, who construct new worlds—within a complex community that threatens to undermine reality itself. When Anna learns that she’s an Undreamer with powers she cannot yet comprehend, she must travel through their strange and treacherous creations to discover that there’s as much beauty in life as there is darkness. As her existence spirals into wonder and danger, Anna must look deep within herself and face the horrors of her own past, to save her old world as well as her new one.

Then OHP surprised me with a second book. I had no idea they were going to send me this book but I am so happy they did. I can’t wait to read it.

Published November 17th, 2017

Daughter4254 used to think life in a community where art, music and names are outlawed would suffocate her creative spirit. Now that she’s rotting in a prison cell, she’s not sure her dying mother made the right choice when she entrusted her with the secrets of rebellion. Prison has given her plenty of time to relive every mistake and lose all hope.

Then she meets Thomas, a fellow inmate, who tells her stories of the mythical mountain colonies where people have names and the arts thrive. Together they plot an escape, knowing if they fail, they will die. Or worse, their consciousness will be taken by the MindWipe, leaving their bodies free for the government to use. When nothing goes as planned, Daughter4254 must choose between using her mother’s secret to better the world she hates, or following Thomas to the quiet life of freedom she has always craved.

Don’t they both sound great! I am adding them to my TBR list for February! Give both of these awesome authors a follow over on their Instagram accounts and show them some love!

Thomas Welsh @calmdowntom_com

Leigh Statham @leighstatham

Owl Hollow Press

I won an IG giveaway!

I am so flipping excited! My amazing friend, Cassandra Caprio or as some of you may know her as @TheBookishCrypt over on Instagram. She was holding an amazing giveaway over on her account last week and she picked my name!!

I first heard of this book from some Booktubers and when I heard what the books was like, Game of Thrones meets Blade Runner with inspiration of Norse Mythology. Ummmm…..yes please. I have a soft spot for anything that has to do with any type of mythology, Norse, Greek, Egyptian, etc.

For those of you who’s haven’t heard about this novel here is the synopsis:

When the fate of the world is at stake

Loyalties will be tested

As one of Odin’s Valkyries, Malin’s greatest responsibility is to slay immortals and return them to the underworld. But when she unearths a secret that could unravel the balance of all she knows, Malin along with her best friend and her ex-girlfriend must decide where their loyalties lie. And if helping the blue-eyed boy Asher enact his revenge is worth the risk―to the world and her heart.

Thank you so much Cassandra, Macmillan Publishing for sending it to me, and Amanda Hocking for writing this gorgeous book. I can not wait to devour this book and write up my review!

Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things Review’

Published August 31,2015

510 pages

I received this book for review back in the beginning of 2016 and I was so excited to read it. Life seemed to have a different plan for me that year and all of my reading stopped. Now that my son is 1 and more independent I am able to get back to another love of mine, reading. Starting my YA year off is Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things by Martina McAtee.

Synopsis

Seventeen-year-old Ember Denning has made an art of isolating herself. She prefers the dead. She spends her days skipping school in old cemeteries and her nights hiding from her alcoholic father at the funeral home where she works. When her father dies, Ember learns her whole life has been a lie. Standing in the cemetery that’s been her sanctuary, she’s threatened by the most beautiful boy she’s ever seen and rescued by two people who claim to be her family. They say she’s special and that she has a supernatural gift like them. They just don’t know exactly what it is.

They take her to a small Florida town where Ember’s life takes a turn for the weird. She’s living with her reaper cousins, an orphaned werewolf pack, a faery and a human genius. Ember’s powers are growing stronger, morphing into something bigger than anything anybody anticipated. She has questions but nobody has answers. Nobody knows what she is. They only know her mysterious, magical gift is trying to kill them and that beautiful, dangerous boy from the cemetery may be the only thing standing between her and death.

As Ember’s talents are revealed, so are the secrets her father hid and those in power who would seek to destroy her. What’s worse, saving Ember has put her cousins in danger and turned her friends’ lives upside down. Ember must learn to embrace her magic or risk losing the family she’s pieced together. (www.martinamcatee.com)

My Thoughts

That synopsis was what grabbed my attention first! Holy cow doesn’t that sound like an amazing ride and such a colorful mix of different paranormal races! I have to admit one of the reasons I didn’t pick it up was because of the size of the book. It’s a little over 500 pages but once I read the first chapter I knew it was going to fly by. Since I do have kids and business to run it took me longer than I planned to read it, a week to completion. That’s ok though.

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So let’s chat about what I loved about this first novel. The characters, the setting, and the pace of this book was so engaging and rich. I grew to know all of these different people and I feel like I am already apart of the pack myself. I laughed throughout the book and even cried at the loss of a loved one. The main setting is their town of Belle Haven and it’s a town that is guarded against the outside world. It is run by the supernatural community and I love that. The shops and school are all creatures of this world. So cool!

There is action, suspense, and even romance through out this book. Oh my gosh😍the angst is done so well and kept me turning the pages quickly. There is also a LGBT element to this book and I have yet to read a book with diversity in it. So that was a very pleasant surprise and made it that much more enjoyable because it felt real. The author, in my opinion, wrote those parts well. Like I said before the only thing that was challenging was that it does have over 500 pages. I did fly through it when I got a moment to sit down and read it.

I am so pumped and ready for book 2. Thank you so much Martina for sending me your books and I hope you all enjoyed my review! Head over to her website and take a look around!

Valentine’s Book Haul

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Yes I am a day late for this but I was having the best Valentine’s Day ever. I actually had some money to finally go out and buy my man gifts this year. He was so surprised with what I got him. He now has 4 new Marvel and DC tshirts, a Deadpool Funko Pop, and some Reesee’s heart chocolates. I wanted to pick the perfect movie for us to watch as well, so I bought Arrival on Blu-ray. If you all haven’t seen that movie, GO WATCH IT NOW! It is a slow moving movie but OMG it was amazing. Hubby surprised me with my very first Shari’s Berrys order of HUGE chocolate covered strawberries and a very sweet card. Best Valentine’s Day I’ve ever had.

I also was able to buy myself some books for the holiday as well. I signed up for Books A Millionaire’s discount card and went back after I received my $100 worth of coupons. So I packed up the baby and we headed out. There are so many books that I want that I literally walked around in circles trying to pick the best ones.

They were having a 20% off sale for V-Day plus I had a $10 gift card and my membership card. So I broke out my calculator and searched the shelves. I bought a total of 5 books! Now they also were having a buy 2 get 1 free sale on a lot of genres. They had the first 3 books in the the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks, PERFECT!

 

Look at those covers!! I have another of his trilogies from a friend of mine but haven’t read them yet. I heard of this series from Reagan over on Booktube @PeruseProject. It is one of her favorite high fantasy reads and I trust her opinion very highly when it comes to fantasy.

I think that Fantasy is probably my new favorite genre. I’ve always liked it and also terrified about how chunky they can be but I love them.

http://gph.is/1kHT7h0

So with that in mind I also picked up the last book in the Falling Kingdom series and also the second book in the Throne of Glass Series.

 

I have only read up to book 3 in F.K. and haven’t even finished Assassin’s Blade yet.

 

I know right!! Hold your horses I’m gonna get to them. I have to wait for the time when hubby and I can both sit and listen to the TofG audio books together.

Anyways there is my Valentine’s Day presents and don’t forget to check out Reagan’s Book Tube channel she is one of my favorites!!!

Rebel Spring Review

Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes

Published Dec 3rd, 2013

By Razorbill

Audio book on Hoopla App

Narrated by Fred Berman

Synopsis

The road to power… is paved with blood and magic.

Cleo is now a prisoner in her own palace, forced to be an ambassador for Mytica as the evil King Gaius lies to her people.
Magnus stands to eventually inherit the new kingdom but is still obsessed with his feelings for his adopted sister, Lucia.
Lucia is haunted by the outcome of the breathtaking display of magic that allowed her father to capture the kingdoms.
Jonas watched at the palace gates a troop of rebels behind him, waiting for him to tell them how he plans to overtake King Gaius.

After a bloody siege, Auranos has been defeated, its young queen orphaned and dethroned. The three kingdoms—Auranos, Limeros, and Paelsia—are now unwillingly united as one country called Mytica. But the allure of ancient, dangerous magic beckons still, and with it the chance to rule not just Mytica, but the whole world over…

At the heart of the fray are four brave young people grappling for that magic and the power it promises. For Cleo, the magic would enable her to reclaim her royal seat. In Jonas’s hands, it frees his nation, and in Lucia’s, it fulfills the ancient prophecy of her destiny. And if the magic were Magnus’s, he would finally prove his worth in the eyes of his cruel and scheming father, King Gaius, who rules Mytica with a punishing hand.

When Gaius begins to build a road into the Forbidden Mountains to physically link all of Mytica, he sparks a long-smoking fire in the hearts of the people that will forever change the face of this land. For Gaius’s road is paved with blood, and its construction will have cosmic consequences.

My Thoughts

Yep that sums it up pretty well!

This second installment of the Falling Kingdoms series was a roller coaster ride. So many ups and downs, twists and turns. I really am enjoying them on audio book but there is only the first two on my Hoopla app. That’s ok though because I have the next two sitting on my shelf.

There are a lot of people that didn’t like this second book and I can see where they are coming from. It does seem to drag a little bit more than the first but I loved it. The character developments are chugging right along and the plot just keeps getting juicier. We are introduced to new characters in this book, my favorite being Lysandra. She joins the rebel cause after her village is attacked by the king’s guards.

Jonas is still on his mission to find Aron and kill him. Now he is the leader of the rebels fighting against the building of the King’s Road because they are using his people to build it. Lucia has been in a coma since she used her magic to blow up the castle door. Now her father is going to use her magic to make him even more unstoppable. I like her character a lot. She was very innocent and just a princess in the first book but now that her powers have grown exponentially she is becoming more of a badass. She just needs to find a way to control them better and Cleo maybe the key.

Cleo and Magnus are still my favorite two characters and the things that they both face in this book are crazy, especially Cleo. She is such a great character and I root for her with every page. For someone who is only 16 and now the rightful queen in her own country, to have to face the things that she does is just so amazing and very brave. Magnus is still dealing with his inner demons but his shell seems to be breaking down a little.

So many plot twists happen that this is usually how my brain feels after reading them.

Morgan Rhodes is an amazing writer and I love the way she is able to capture you from the first page. I am going to continue this series!

2016- A Book Year in Review

Hey everyone I wanted to put up a post on this last day of 2016. Man, what a year! We have lost so many celebrities and others along the way. Most important to me was my own Nana and now it seems my grandfather will be finding her soon. The only really great thing to happen to me this year was the birth of our 3rd child and only boy, Killian. He is such a happy baby and I am so in love with him. He is now 6 weeks old and I can not believe how fast time is flying by. Here is some of his best faces of 2016:

Isn’t he just the sweetest???

Enough gushing about him just for a min. I wanted to tell show you guys the books that I have read this year. It wasn’t my original goal of 100 books but I did manage to read some.

*FYI pregnancy and babies can kill your reading habit*

I was able to read 21 books or 5,206 pages.

I enjoyed each and everyone of these books and I thank all of the authors and publishers that have sent me books to review. I still have a ton left to read and review.

Have you read any of these? Let me know what you thought of them!!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year!

Follow me on IG, Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads!!

 

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Books I’ve Recently Added To My To Be Read List Lately

I have decided to try and join in on the fun of Top Ten Tuesday meme from The Broke and the Bookish.

This weeks meme is 10 books I’ve recently added to by TBR list lately. I put up my November TBR yesterday but I do have some other books that are on my list.

  

   

 

Thanks for stopping by!!

 

November TBR

Hey guys I am back with my November TBR. I am only going to put 4 books on this list because my little man is due any day. I didn’t want to go crazy with the stack. So I decided to go with a theme that I know I will enjoy reading…ready…

 

 

 

I love a good fairy tale retelling especially if it is one of my favorite stories. So I went down to my local library and picked up 3 books by the same author because I knew that’s what she writes. Also Bekah Awesomebooknut on Youtube suggested these books in several of her videos especially the first book. If you haven’t seen her videos where have you been. She is one of my favorite booktubers to watch and I believe I have seen every one of them. Bekah is also very sweet and is an awesome mom so I can relate better with her than some of the others. Ok enough fangirling….on to the books.

 

I received a digital copy of this book through Netgalley and I have already started it. It is a retelling of The Phantom of the Opera. This book does not come out until Jan 10, 2017.

Goodreads

Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl’s journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.

I loved Graceling and Beauty and the Beast is my all time favorite fairy tale. I started reading this book as soon as I got back in my car from the library. This is the first book in the Cruel Beauty Universe.

Goodreads

Inspired by the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, Crimson Bound is an exhilarating tale of darkness, love, and redemption.

 I am absolutely in love with this cover!!

Goodreads

This is the one that captured my eye at the library. Omgosh these covers!!! I didn’t want to read the synopsis of this one but on the back all I saw was the name Juliet and I had to get it because it is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet!!!!

Goodreads

I hope you enjoyed my little TBR pile for the month. I know when the baby gets here I am not going to want to do anything but snuggle him.

Don’t forget to check out Bekah’s YouTube page and also her blog. Links down below!!!

Bekah The Awesome Book Nut

Youtube 

Blog

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Goodreads

 

New Cover Reveal!!

Hey guys! I want to show you guys this amazing new cover from a dear friend of mine. This is the second book to her series. There are no words to express how beautiful this book is. Just look…..

I mean come on!!! I love the light on the water and the snake skin on the spine!!!

Here is the synopsis:

For Zara Moss life was an escape.

 But breaking an ancient Aztec tradition and denying the Underworld god, Mictlan, the very life he is owed is forbidden . . . and punishment will be two-fold.

 With no rules left to follow, and the Celestial gods unquestioning Mictlan’s ability to conjure history’s worst human massacre, Executioners find a way to deliver the key to his success—Zara—to Mictlan. The Castillo family has saved Zara once but this time she must save herself beyond the neon shore.

 As she faces her undead future she discovers that her guard, Tototl, is doing something Mictlan wouldn’t approve of. And that she, too, has the choice to choose her own fate—should she be brave enough to follow.

 Yet, in the midst of the bloody games of Tlatchi, a ghastly menagerie, and deadly layers of the Underworld, true friendship thrives with the most unlikely pair of friends.

 

Thank you Dela for sharing your work with me and I can not wait to read it!!

About the Author

Dela is the debut author of THE 52ND saga, a multicultural paranormal for young adults. Before tracing the minds of Aztec gods, Dela worked as a paralegal and could be found snowboarding at Brianhead, Utah. She currently lives in Las Vegas with her husband, three kids, and exceptionally fat Chihuahua.

Her website is http://www.delaauthor.com

Amazon ~ Goodreads

 

I’m 13 years old and I changed the world~ Book Review

Synopsis

Mom still won’t let me cut my hair. I still share a bedroom with Grandpa. And my cell phone is still stuck in the Stone Age.

But I’ve got a serious problem now. Big Mike has cancer, and I’ve got to step in and do what science hasn’t yet done. I’ve got to find a cure.

That’s right–I’m 13 years old, and I’m about to change the world.

My Thoughts

I received this book for an honest review from the author. This is D.K. Brantley’s second book and I was honored he asked me again to review his work.

This book follows Adam helping Big Mike through his cancer treatments. From the first book to the second these characters have grown so much. Now dealing with this more grownup situation I liked how they were both mature about the whole thing. I also liked how the students in the school were able to rally together to help also.

It is a short book and I was able to read it all in one sitting but it did pull on some heart strings. I couldn’t imagine having a child of mine go through something like this.

I was also asked to tell you about a boy that the author knows that is facing this terrible disease right now. His name is Dylan Duncan and he is a 7th grader in Cleveland, TN.

Dylan was diagnosed in May of this year with Osteosarcoma. His mother, Becky Duncan, has since taken a leave from work to care for Dylan, which has led to an immediate stop and drastic drop in family income.

Daniel Brantley has decided that now through the end of 2016, all his books proceeds will go to the Duncan family. The book is now available on Amazon for $6.99 or if you would just like to donate to the cause here is the GoFundMe page that you can do so.

Donations for Dylan Duncan

Amazon

Thank you!