I’m on holiday!
We are having a big family holiday (30 of us!) in a massive converted barn so I’m going to be off the grid from today until the 20th!
I have scheduled some posts in, but unless I can find some time (and internet!) then I won’t be blog hopping and commenting and will try my best to catch up when I get back!
Hope you have a great 10 days!
Here’s what’s tantalising me that’s releasing in September (that I’ll probably buy or have already preordered!!)
Mindbreaker by Kate Dylan
The Scarlet Veil by Shelby Mahurin
The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young
A Fall of Wrath and Ruin by JLA
Fragile Threads of Power by VE Schwab
Cage of Dreams by Rebecca Schaeffer
Will you get any of these?
Title: Alone With You in the Ether
Author: Olivie Blake
CHICAGO, SOMETIME—
Two people meet in the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist, undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. By the end of the story, these things will still be true. But this is not a story about endings.
For Regan, people are predictable and tedious, including and perhaps especially herself. She copes with the dreariness of existence by living impulsively, imagining a new, alternate timeline being created in the wake of every rash decision.
To Aldo, the world feels disturbingly chaotic. He gets through his days by erecting a wall of routine: a backbeat of rules and formulas that keep him going. Without them, the entire framework of his existence would collapse.
For Regan and Aldo, life has been a matter of resigning themselves to the blueprints of inevitability—until the two meet. Could six conversations with a stranger be the variable that shakes up the entire simulation?
Gawd I felt out of breath listening to this!
For ages I listened to this and wondered if I liked it, if I got it, questioning myself! But then I realised I did get it, I liked it. So much so, l listened to it in one sitting!
Regan and Aldo find each other and have their own brand of love which basically borders obsession and sex but also of understanding and respect for each other, well that’s what I took away from this anyway!
Regan has a mental disorder and Aldo is a loner type genius but their journey made me feel breathless! There were some disturbing moments and some situations I didn’t really agree with but it was their journey.
If you read this, make sure to read the acknowledgements.
Title: Ravensong
Series: Green Creek #2
Author: TJ Klune
Gordo Livingstone never forgot the lessons carved into his skin. Hardened by the betrayal of a pack who left him behind, he sought solace in the garage in his tiny mountain town, vowing never again to involve himself in the affairs of wolves.
It should have been enough.
And it was, until the wolves came back, and with them, Mark Bennett. In the end, they faced the beast together as a pack… and won.
Now, a year later, Gordo has found himself once again the witch of the Bennett pack. Green Creek has settled after the death of Richard Collins, and Gordo constantly struggles to ignore Mark and the song that howls between them.
But time is running out. Something is coming. And this time, it’s crawling from within.
Some bonds, no matter how strong, were made to be broken.
Oh wow! What an emotional rollercoaster!
I loved Gordo in Wolfsong, he’s brash, grumpy and not up for any tom foolery!
This book was filled with dark humour, drama, action and made me have a lump in my throat in a few places!
Also I loved:
~ The flashbacks
~ Gordos heartache after heartache
~ Found family
~ Bambi – she’s my new favourite person
~ Mark – my heart!
~ Ox – I still love him
~ The wooden raven
~ The moment when Gordo realises it’s time
~ The singing of the wolves
~ The hate/love romance
‘But the funny thing about hate is the razor-thin line that separates it from something else entirely.’
And lastly, the timber wolf and that ending, can’t wait to see what happens next! Oh and pack, pack, pack!
The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received.
Hi everyone, hope you’ve had a good week?
August has arrived, we’re back from holiday and I’m back to work! Now the countdown to our next holiday on Friday!
It’s school holidays here but it’s been a busy week of doctor appointments, blood tests, an office day and I got my hair cut, I even had some fancy highlights put in for the summer!
It’s been a slower reading week for me but that’s what I was aiming for. Dropping down a gear and get back that love of books instead of seeing it like a job to speed through!
Yellowface by RF Kuang
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
Reread – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎧 Ravensong by TJ Klune
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎧 Prince Philip Revealed by Ingrid Seward
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Look out for my reviews soon!
Feature – Christmas in July Review – Malice by Heather Walter
Review – Bryony and Roses by T Kingfisher
What have you read lately?
Title: Bryony and Roses
Author: T Kingfisher
Bryony and her sisters have come down in the world. Their merchant father died trying to reclaim his fortune and left them to eke out a living in a village far from their home in the city.
But when Bryony is caught in a snowstorm and takes refuge in an abandoned manor, she stumbles into a house full of dark enchantments. Is the Beast that lives there her captor, or a fellow prisoner? Is the house her enemy or her ally? And why are roses blooming out of season in the courtyard?
Armed only with gardening shears and her wits, Bryony must untangle the secrets of the house before she—or the Beast—are swallowed by them.
A Beauty and the Beast retelling by one of my new fave authors!
It’s pretty faithful to the original tale: Bryony gets lost in a snow storm and stumbles into a large house where the beast lives and he gets her to stay and she tends the garden as a sort of hostage in a ruse to help him break the curse
I loved the poems, the dreams, the falling in love and the humorous and sarcastic comments!
That bit at the end was different….and I’m not sure how I feel about it! But I think I like it!
Title: Malice
Series: Malice duology
Author: Heather Walter
Once upon a time, there was a wicked fairy who, in an act of vengeance, cursed a line of princesses to die. A curse that could only be broken by true love’s kiss.
You’ve heard this before, haven’t you? The handsome prince. The happily-ever-after.
Utter nonsense.
Let me tell you, no one in Briar actually cares about what happens to its princesses. Not the way they care about their jewels and elaborate parties and charm-granting elixirs. I thought I didn’t care, either.
Until I met her.
Princess Aurora. The last heir to Briar’s throne. Kind. Gracious. The future queen her realm needs. One who isn’t bothered that I am Alyce, the Dark Grace, abhorred and feared for the mysterious dark magic that runs in my veins. Humiliated and shamed by the same nobles who pay me to bottle hexes and then brand me a monster. Aurora says I should be proud of my gifts. That she . . . cares for me. Even though it was a power like mine that was responsible for her curse.
But with less than a year until that curse will kill her, any future I might see with Aurora is swiftly disintegrating—and she can’t stand to kiss yet another insipid prince. I want to help her. If my power began her curse, perhaps it’s what can lift it. Perhaps, together, we could forge a new world.
Nonsense again.
Because we all know how this story ends, don’t we? Aurora is the beautiful princess. And I—
I am the villain.
A sapphic sleeping beauty retelling – and it was glorious!
Alyce, aka Malice, meets Princess Aurora who has a curse and…..something….blooms between them!
Alyce is perceived as evil, the villain, because of her powers but is she really the villain? A chance meeting with the Princess sets them about trying to break her curse, amongst other things, but as you can imagine, it all goes wrong!
I listened to this and can totally recommend the audio! The world building and the magic system were amazing! I truly loved Alyce and also loved the spin the author put on this fairy tale!
I think there is a book 2 so I’m off to look for that and I’m still saying to myself, who needs a Prince when you’ve got Malice?!
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.
Topic: Backlist Titles
My tbr pile is soooo large that it’s embarrassing! I was mortified to find out I have 2 books on there that I purchased the day they were released in 2012 and 2013 that I still havent read!!!!!
To Have and to Hoax by Martha Waters
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
Once Upon A Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber
Ghosts and Reincarnation series by Kristen Ashley
I’ve actually read 2 of these (and these are the ones from 2012/13!)
What’s on your list?
Just a little post to wish you a happy August!
“Leaving any bookstore is hard, especially on a day in August, when the street outside burns and glares, and the books inside are cool and crisp to the touch.” ―Jane Smiley
“Breathe the sweetness that hovers in August.” ―Denise Levertov
CJRTB Books 