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.
For January I am veering off the prescribed list as I already did the subjects for Blogmas!
So for today…..
Topic: My auto-buy authors!
Intisar Khanani
Holly Black
Sarah J Maas
Marissa Meyer
Ali Hazelwood
TJ Klune
Jay Kristoff
Leigh Bardugo
Caroline Peckham
Kristen Ashley
Who would you have picked?
Title: Kingdom of the Feared
Series: Kingdom of the Wicked #3
Author: Kerri Maniscalco
Emilia is reeling from the shocking discovery that her twin sister, Vittoria, is alive. But before she faces the demons of her past, Emilia yearns to claim her king, the seductive Prince of Wrath, in the flesh. Emilia doesn’t simply desire his body, she wants his heart and soul—but that’s something the enigmatic demon can’t promise her.
When a high-ranking member of House Greed is assassinated, Emilia and Wrath are drawn to the rival demon court. Damning evidence points to Vittoria as the murderer and she’s quickly declared an enemy of the Seven Circles. Despite her betrayal, Emilia will do anything to solve this new mystery and find out who her sister really is.
Together Emilia and Wrath play a sin-fueled game of deception as they work to stop the unrest that’s brewing between witches, demons, shape-shifters and the most treacherous foes of all: the Feared.
Emilia was warned that when it came to the Wicked nothing was as it seemed. But, have the true villains been much closer all along? When the truth is finally revealed, it just might end up costing Emilia her heart.
‘Two curses.
One prophecy.
A reckoning all have feared.’
Here we are, back with Wrath and Emilia and she is dealing with the fact that her sissy is not dead and is possibly quite evil, there’s curses and drama flying around everywhere and all Emilia wants to do is bone her husband!!!!!!
Well this was steamy with a capital S! I’m totally here for that when it includes Wrath!
Like in Cursed, Emilia got right on my wick in the first part of this book but I’m happy to say that it didn’t last long (phew, I didn’t want to feel that way about her!!)
The conclusion has arrived and the story unfolds. There’s revelations, a lot of them, drama and more glimpses of the Demon Hell Princes (God love them!)
‘A love more powerful than fate. All hail the king and queen of Hell.’
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?
Fully back into the swing of work and school this week. Can’t say I love it! I need to win the lottery!!! We’ve had floods here this week so the school run has been interesting (and worrisome!!)
It’s been an arc reading week and I also finished our book club read, One Dark Window! It’s called The Relaxed Reading Club on Instagram and there’s still time to join (or hop on over on the 15th to see what romance book we’re reading for February!)
One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
See my review here
Nova by Cara Clare
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
See my review here
🎧 Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
See my review here
Review – City of Nightmares by Rebecca Schaeffer
Review – The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake
Review – The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu
Review – I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
Feature – Books Releasing February that I want!
What have you read lately?
January releases were a killer on my bank account so, it was with great relief, that I realised I only wanted 3 books that are releasing in February (I say this and I always buy more so I don’t know why I say this!)
~ Last Tale of Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
~ Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey
~ End of Story by Kylie Scott
What books are you looking forward to?
Title: I Kissed Shara Wheeler
Author: Casey McQuiston
Chloe Green is so close to winning. After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she’s spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates and a puritanical administration at Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal’s perfect progeny.
But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe and vanishes.
On a furious hunt for answers, Chloe discovers she’s not the only one Shara kissed. There’s also Smith, Shara’s longtime quarterback sweetheart, and Rory, Shara’s bad boy neighbor with a crush. The three have nothing in common except Shara and the annoyingly cryptic notes she left behind, but together they must untangle Shara’s trail of clues and find her. It’ll be worth it, if Chloe can drag Shara back before graduation to beat her fair-and-square.
Thrown into an unlikely alliance, chasing a ghost through parties, break-ins, puzzles, and secrets revealed on monogrammed stationery, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to this small town than she thought. And maybe—probably not, but maybe—more to Shara, too.
Chloe Green is in total academic rivalry with Shara Wheeler…..until one day Shara Wheeler kisses her, disappears and leaves clues to her whereabouts.
Armed with Shara’s boyfriend, Smith and the local bad boy who crushes on Shara, Rory, they solve the clues to find her.
The plot was great but what I absolutely loved here were the characters!
~ Smith was my absolute favourite, god love him!
~ Rory the bad boy wasn’t what I expected and loved him too!
~ Chloe was just so determined (almost crazy) that she made me laugh!
~ And the one that links them all, Shara!
I really enjoyed this, there was much LGBTQ rep in this book that it warmed my heart!
This author is fast becoming one of my favourites.
Title: The Art of Prophecy
Series: War Arts Saga #1
Author: Wesley Chu
It has been foretold: A child will rise to defeat the Eternal Khan, a cruel immortal god-king, and save the kingdom.
The hero: Jian, who has been raised since birth in luxury and splendor, celebrated before he has won a single battle.
But the prophecy was wrong.
Because when Taishi, the greatest war artist of her generation, arrives to evaluate the prophesied hero, she finds a spoiled brat unprepared to face his destiny.
But the only force more powerful than fate is Taishi herself. Possessed of an iron will, a sharp tongue—and an unexpectedly soft heart—Taishi will find a way to forge Jian into the weapon and leader he needs to be in order to fulfill his legend.
What follows is a journey more wondrous than any prophecy can foresee: a story of master and student, assassin and revolutionary, of fallen gods and broken prophecies, and of a war between kingdoms, and love and friendship between deadly rivals.
Jian is meant to be the hero of a prophecy but unfortunately his training hasn’t been up to scratch so when Taishi, a old, great warrior meets him, she sets out to set him straight but then it all goes wrong!
Their journey, with some friends made along the way, starts off…..oh and we meet Salminde trying to save her fallen people and an absolutely fab assassin, Qisami, who basically wants to off everyone!
I absolutely loved the premise of Jian. Meant to be a hero of a prophecy but it never and probably never will, come to pass (I’m wondering if it will though, but cant see how!!!)
The star of this book for me was Taishi, she was totally amazing! Old, crochety and didn’t stand for any messing. She also totally knew her stuff.
This book was full of humour, action, violence, fab world building and brilliant fight scenes. Was a great read!
Title: The Atlas Paradox
Series: The Atlas #2
Author: Olivie Blake
“DESTINY IS A CHOICE”
The Atlas Paradox is the long-awaited sequel to dark academic sensation The Atlas Six—guaranteed to have even more yearning, backstabbing, betrayal, and chaos.
Six magicians. Two rivalries. One researcher. And a man who can walk through dreams. All must pick a side: do they wish to preserve the world—or destroy it? In this electric sequel to the viral sensation, The Atlas Six, the society of Alexandrians is revealed for what it is: a secret society with raw, world-changing power, headed by a man whose plans to change life as we know it are already under way. But the cost of knowledge is steep, and as the price of power demands each character choose a side, which alliances will hold and which will see their enmity deepen?”
I really enjoyed The Atlas Six and after how that ended, I couldn’t wait to dive into this book!
So we are back at the Alexandrian Society with one notable abscence (I can’t say more here or it will be a spoiler for book 1!)
So in the first part of this book the 5 are basically floundering, they seemed lost, slightly insane even and new alliances are formed. In the second half it felt that so much happened but at the same time it didn’t. Does that make any sense at all?!!!!
A few of my notes:
– I absolutely adore Libby,
– Calum is not having a good time!
– Well that went in a different direction that I thought it would, romantically!!!
So to conclude, I’m hoping that Libby causes utter chaos in the next book – there is a next book isn’t there?!
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.
For January I am veering off the prescribed list as I already did the subjects for Blogmas!
So for today…..
Topic: Books where the audiobook was better!
Beach Read by Emily Henry
Hook, Line and Sinker by Tessa Bailey
Babel by RF Kuang
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco
Illuminae Files by Jay Kristoff
Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
What would you have picked?
Title: City of Nightmares
Series: City of Nightmares #1
Author: Rebecca Schaeffer
Gotham meets Strange the Dreamer in this thrilling young adult fantasy about a cowardly girl who finds herself at the center of a criminal syndicate conspiracy, in a city where crooked politicians and sinister cults reign and dreaming means waking up as your worst nightmare.
Ever since her sister became a man-eating spider and slaughtered her way through town, nineteen-year-old Ness has been terrified—terrified of some other Nightmare murdering her, and terrified of ending up like her sister. Because in Newham, the city that never sleeps, dreaming means waking up as your worst fear.
Whether that means becoming a Nightmare that’s monstrous only in appearance, to transforming into a twisted, unrecognizable creature that terrorizes the city, no one is safe. Ness will do anything to avoid becoming another victim, even if that means lying low among the Friends of the Restful Soul, a questionable organization that may or may not be a cult.
But being a member of maybe-cult has a price. In order to prove herself, Ness cons her way into what’s supposed to be a simple job for the organization—only for it to blow up in her face. Literally. Tangled up in the aftermath of an explosive assassination, now Ness and the only other survivor—a Nightmare boy who Ness suspects is planning to eat her—must find their way back to Newham and uncover the sinister truth behind the attack, even as the horrors of her past loom ominously near.
Ness lives in a place where your worst nightmare can literally come to pass just as you sleep.
Because of this, Ness is permanently frightened, a self-confessed coward, and as this can happen to anyone at any point, I really can’t blame her at all!
A routine trip for the Friends of the Restful Soul (it’s not a cult!) turns Ness life upside down and makes her question everything, including herself.
I’m here again to toot my horn for the main man! Sometimes I think why am I like this? Why do I fall for every leading man?! But then I shrug and carry on loving them! Vampire, Cy stole my heart. He was everything. I love him!
This was a really great read. A bit dark, a bit weird, totally original and fabulously written. Now I need a physical copy because I’m in love with that cover!
CJRTB Books 