I thought I’d do a tag in May and what better than Meet the Blogger tag! I wasn’t tagged but got from Lou’s Book Stuff, check her out here.

Rules

Nominated bloggers can nominate up to ten other bloggers.

Use the same questions from the tag.

Here we go……

Who is your all-time favourite book character?

I think mine is a romance book character, Joker from Ride Steady by Kristen Ashley. I love him!

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If you were stranded on a desert island, which book would you take with you? (Survival books do not count!)
I’m cheating here and choosing a series! Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas.

What’s your most unpopular book opinion?
I cant get on with dark academia. I’ve tried and I’ve tried but it’s not for me!

What’s your weirdest bookish habit?
I must know how many pages are in a book. I don’t mind if there are 150 pages or 950 but i have to know!!!!!

What character would you bring to a family event as your fake partner?
Oh gawd, maybe Rhysand. He would certainly shake things up. Especially if his wings popped out!!!

What made you decide to start a book blog?
I started out on a FB page in 2012 for just romance books and branched out to WordPress because I wanted to crow about my other preferred genre, YA Fantasy! I still have my FB blog but to be honest I’m totally disheartened with it as I pour hours into it and, because of the algorithm, no one hardly sees my posts so am thinking about giving it up.

What about reading and books do you love the most?
The feeling of reading a fab story, of being totally invested in a story in a different world. Can’t beat that feeling!

What is your field of study/desired profession/current profession?
Currently I am a project manager for an insurance company but if I could do it all again  I would like to go into graphic design.

What are some book recommendations that became your favourites/obsessions?
From Blood and Ash series has become a huge obsession for me!

What is the book you shove down everyone’s throat?
No doubt, House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. Can’t tell you how much I love it and that it’s like a breath of fresh air.

Just a short one to say….

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SIX YEARS ON WORDPRESS!

Happy Blogiversary to me!!

For the first 2 years I was only posting content from PR companies and I realised I wanted to make the blog my own voice so changed it up to (sort of!) what you see today!

I love seeing your posts, replying to comments and have made some fab online friends!

Here’s to 6 more years and I am thankful for each and every one of you!

Hi everyone!

There are so many fab books being released in June but I really, really need to curb how many books I am buying because I am running out of space to put them!

Then I thought I’d just buy the e-book which is fine for space but then my tbr is creaking at the seams!

So I am going to try and be so good and make sure I utilise my wishlist more than I do now!

Anyway, I’ve narrowed all the books that are being released in June down to 2 that I must have!!!!

Broken Web by Lori M Lee

Daughter of Sparta by Claire M Andrews

What books are you looking forward to releasing in June?

(Please don’t make me add more to my tbr!!!!!!)

Title: Fake

Series: West Hollywood #1

Author: Kylie Scott

He walks the red carpet. She’s more familiar with vacuuming one.

When a scandal tarnishes the reputation of hot as hell A-lister, Patrick Walsh, he needs a reputation rescue, pronto.

Enter waitress Norah Peers–a nobody who’s average with a capital A. She’s available, dependable, and has sworn off men for the rest of her natural born life. In other words: the perfect match for a no-strings fake romance.

For the right amount of money, she can avoid waitressing and play the part of his dependable down-to-earth girlfriend. What she can’t avoid–dammit–is the growing steam between them.

But being hounded by the paparazzi and having your life dissected on social media is a panic attack in the making. And while Patrick might be a charming rogue on screen, in real life he’s a six-foot-two confusing, gorgeous, brooding grump, who keeps her at a distance . . . but also makes her feel like this bond between them might be more than just an act.

Being dumped on cue should be no big deal. Except being fake with Patrick is the realist relationship Norah has ever had. What’s a girl to do, but flip the script, and ask for a rematch made in Hollywood?

‘He walks the red carpet. She’s more familiar with vacuuming one.’

I mean how could I resist that?!

There was a lot of things I loved in this book. Let me list because who doesn’t love a list?!

Norah loved her: ‘I need a whole team to fix how I look? I laughed, because, awkward. “Things are really that dire?,
Loved Gran,
Loved the photographer in the bushes,
Loved Mei,
Loved Jack,
Loved Cole (who I bet we’ll see next!),
Even loved Angie in her own way!

But I especially loved Patrick. Ole Paddy was one brooding, moody hunk o love!

This was a whirlwind of hilariousness and I loved every second!

Title: The Bear and the Nightingale

Series: The Winternight Trilogy #1

Author: Katherine Arden

At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn’t mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.

After Vasilisa’s mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa’s new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.

And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa’s stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.

As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed—this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse’s most frightening tales.

I was entranced! I loved it so much!

I tried to listen to the audio of this book but just couldn’t get on with it, but when I was reading this I realised why. This book needs to be read! My eyes needed to see those beautiful words and take them all in.

This is Russian folklore and a fairytale come true in the shape of demons and spirits. It was spellbinding.

Vasilisa is the hero of our story and she is just the most fascinating character I’ve read about. We see her from childhood to almost womanhood, the way she is, her thoughts, her gifts, her being. She was just utterly so well written I could cry.

Morozko is her saviour in many ways, love him already and I really hope there is a love story blooming here although I’m not really sure how that will work! We don’t see much of him but I hope to see more:

‘Sleep is cousin to death, Vasya. And both are mine.’

On the subject of Morozko, I have an art print from a book box that I’ve kept for a while as I really liked it, although I had never read the book (lets just say Morozko is painted in a very good light!)

I think it was an omen. I fell in love with the art and now I’ve fallen in love with the book.

 

Top Ten Tuesday is featured by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Theme = Books with Nature on the Cover

 

This actually was quite easy (at last, a subject I didn’t struggle with!)

 

Venom and Viper by Bex Hogan – snake

 

Crave by Tracy Wolff – flower

 

The Iron Raven by Julie Kagawa – raven

 

Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab – cat

The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young– sea

Moti on the Water by Leylah Attar – beach/sea

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert – leaves

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo– crow

The Golden Dynasty by Kristen Ashley– tiger

Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater – hawk

Some others to mention:

• All the Tides of Fate by Adalyn Grace- water
• The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison –  butterfly
• The Vine Witch by Luanne G Smith – vines
• With Everything I Am by Kristen Ashley – forest
• The Dragon Republic by R F Kuang –  dragon

 

What would your books be?

April 2021
Theme is… HIDDEN IDENTITIES!

‘You might think you know who someone truly is, but what if they are keeping a secret? A secret that could change everything… for the better or for the worse?’

Items inspired by From Blood and Ash, The Lord of the Rings, The City of Brass, Flame in the Mist and a foiled bookmark set inspired by the following fandoms: An Ember in the Ashes, The Poppy War and Blood Heir.

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Metal Bookends inspired by LotR designed by @jezhawk

Soap by Little Heart Gifts inspired by The Flame in the Mist

Tote bag with artwork from @arz28 inspired by From Blood and Ash

The Daevabad Trilogy Enamel Pin designed by @_iceydesigns

Foiled Bookmarks with artwork from @talia.nobel Fandoms: The Poppy War, Blood Heir, An Ember in the Ashes

Tarot Cards designed by @morgana0anagrom featuring Serpent and Dove

BOOK OF THE MONTH

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The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni

✔ Exclusive cover
✔ Signed 
✔ Foil embossing on naked cover by @talia.nobel
✔ Stencilled and sprayed edges
✔ Artwork on reverse of dust jacket by @alicemariapower
✔ Bonus content 

Title: The Crown of Gilded Bones

Series: Blood and Ash #3

Author: Jennifer L Armentrout

She’s been the victim and the survivor…

Poppy never dreamed she would find the love she’s found with Prince Casteel. She wants to revel in her happiness but first they must free his brother and find hers. It’s a dangerous mission and one with far-reaching consequences neither dreamed of. Because Poppy is the Chosen, the Blessed. The true ruler of Atlantia. She carries the blood of the King of Gods within her. By right the crown and the kingdom are hers.

The enemy and the warrior…

Poppy has only ever wanted to control her own life, not the lives of others, but now she must choose to either forsake her birthright or seize the gilded crown and become the Queen of Flesh and Fire. But as the kingdoms’ dark sins and blood-drenched secrets finally unravel, a long-forgotten power rises to pose a genuine threat. And they will stop at nothing to ensure that the crown never sits upon Poppy’s head.

A lover and heartmate…

But the greatest threat to them and to Atlantia is what awaits in the far west, where the Queen of Blood and Ash has her own plans, ones she has waited hundreds of years to carry out. Poppy and Casteel must consider the impossible—travel to the Lands of the Gods and wake the King himself. And as shocking secrets and the harshest betrayals come to light, and enemies emerge to threaten everything Poppy and Casteel have fought for, they will discover just how far they are willing to go for their people—and each other.

And now she will become Queen… 

‘My first. My guard. My friend. My betrayer. My partner. My husband. My heartmate. My everything.’

Well that started off nicely! There was loads of action in the first quarter, maybe too much as my head was spinning! And then it calmed and gave me the great FBAA and KoFaF feels!

The dynamic between Kieran and Poppy makes my heart soar. Friends, protector and Leissa. I’m  so glad the banter regarding questions is still here, that and the Poppy and Casteel moments made my life!

‘I looked at Kieran. You’re going to be happy to hear this. I have a question.
I am so thrilled.’

‘I have so many questions, I whispered. Not a single person is surprised to hear that, Kieran remarked.’

And talking of Poppy and Casteels moments look at this! My heart was so huge I thought it would burst!

‘If you think that what I did was a shock, then you need to understand that I will do anything and everything for my wife. No risk is too great, nor is anything too sacred. Because she is my everything. There is nothing greater than her, and I do mean nothing.’

MY HEART!!!!!!

Whilst we are here, being glad, I’m immensely   glad for Willa! I love her and her dirty diary!

I’m also glad for the last 20% of this book which had me on the edge of my seat.

More, I want more!

Title: Clockwork Angel

Series: The Infernal Devices #1

Author: Cassandra Clare

In a time when Shadowhunters are barely winning the fight against the forces of darkness, one battle will change the course of history forever. Welcome to the Infernal Devices trilogy, a stunning and dangerous prequel to the New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments series.

The year is 1878. Tessa Gray descends into London’s dark supernatural underworld in search of her missing brother. She soon discovers that her only allies are the demon-slaying Shadowhunters—including Will and Jem, the mysterious boys she is attracted to. Soon they find themselves up against the Pandemonium Club, a secret organization of vampires, demons, warlocks, and humans. Equipped with a magical army of unstoppable clockwork creatures, the Club is out to rule the British Empire, and only Tessa and her allies can stop them…

What is it about this whole series that makes me really like it?! I can’t put my finger on it!

But anyway, imagine my glee when I realised that Tessa wasn’t just a book lover, she was the ultimate bookworm! Then my glee deminished slightly when I discovered she was actually a bit rude and cruel. I didn’t really like her but I’m hoping that will change with the next book.

But anyway part 2, Jem is my utter fave. He was my shining light here.

But anyway part 3, I can’t not mention Will. Even though I didn’t like him more than Jem, I think my love for him will grow.

But anyway part 4, Jessamine. Why was she even in this story? Boring, horrible and a non entity!

But anyway part 5, I never guessed the twist. Wouldn’t have in a million years but at the end of chapter 17, it clicked! My jaw dropped. But I WAS WRONG!!!! So wrong! I put 2 and 2 together and made 5! Fabulous!

So to sum up, a lot of anyways but I can say I really did enjoy this and can’t wait to read the next one.