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
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!
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?
It’s 2023! Hope you had a lovely New Years Eve/Day! We just had a quiet one at home (but with snacks!)
Back to school and work now and it was a shock to the system after having 2 weeks off!!!!
I haven’t done a reading update since the 5th December. I went into a horrible slump for a few weeks but did manage to read Ninth House before the end of the year and loved it and I think that snapped me out of the slump!
What I’ve Read
The Stolen Heir by Holly Black ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ See my review here.
Godkiller by Hannah Kaner ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ See my review here.
🎧 Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ See my review here.
Courting Fae Thieves and Crowns by Joanna Reeder ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ See my review here.
Review – Loathe to Love You by Ali Hazelwood Review – The Stolen Heir by Holly Black Review – Saint by Adrienne Young Review – The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton Feature – Books Releasing I Want to Read Book Club – Relaxed Reading Corner
Me and a few book friends have started a book club over on Instagram!
We were all talking and bemoaning our tbr piles so we decided to form a simple, relaxed, free book club where we can read our tbr and, something else we love, discuss the book!
I’m really excited about this endeavour! A chance to read some books off my tbr? Talk about the book with like-minded people? Heaven!
If you want to take a look the club is called @TheRelaxedReadingCorner (on Instagram)
Our book for January is………
So we plan to read it by the 29th January, no pages set everyday, no schedule, just at your own pace!
If you want to join in, comment on the book announcement post and we’ll add you into the chat group!
Look out for February’s book coming around mid-January! February tis the season for lurve (apparently!!!)
Oh this is going to be an expensive month! I did get some money for Christmas so this is where it will be going!!!!
I am really lucky to have already read arcs of 7 of these but have included them here as I really enjoyed them!
~ Stolen Heir by Holly Black ~ Loathe to Love You by Ali Hazelwood ~ Unseelie by Ivelisse Housman ~ Saint by Adrienne Young ~ Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo ~ City of Nightmares by Rebecca Schaeffer
~ Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson ~ Emily Wildes Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett ~ Godkiller by Hannah Janer ~ Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim ~ Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare
What books are you looking forward to that are releasing soon?
Eleven-year-old Ella Durand is the first Conjuror to attend the Arcanum Training Institute, where Marvellers from all around the world come together to practice their cultural arts like brewing Indian spice elixirs, practicing Caribbean steel drum hypnosis, and bartering with fussy Irish faeries. Ella knows some people mistrust her Conjuror magic, often deemed “bad and unnatural,” but she’s eager to make a good impression—and, hopefully, some friends.
But Ella discovers that being the first isn’t easy, and not all of the Marvellers are welcoming. Still, she connects with fellow misfits Brigit, a girl who hates magic, and Jason, who is never found without a magical creature or two. Just as Ella begins to find her way at the A.T.I., a notorious criminal escapes from prison, supposedly with Conjurors’ help. Worse, her favorite teacher Masterji Thakur never returns from a research trip, and only Ella seems concerned about his disappearance.
As tensions grow in the Marvellian world, Ella finds herself the target of vicious rumors and growing suspicions. With the help of her new friends, Ella must find a way to clear her family’s name and track down her beloved mentor Masterji Thakur . . . before she loses her place at the A.T.I. forever.
Ella Durand is the first conjurer to attend the Arcanum Training Institute for Marvelous and Uncanny Endeavors and lets just say that not everyone is pleased she is there and, of course, there’s a mystery to solve!
Along with her 2 best friends, Brigit and Jason, Ella has to navigate finding her place in their world, coupled with all the prejudices thrown at her and trying to investigate a few mysteries!
This was a really fun book! I absolutely loved Ella, she was so driven, optimistic and never gave up. I also adored Feste and those naughty pixies!
I’ve got so many questions, my most pressing is what Ella’s animal companion will be!
The ending was sort of open ended so I really hope there is more to come! After reading this book I’ve decided I’d love to be a Marveller or a Conjurer!
‘What’s done in the dark doesn’t stay there for very long.’
As a boy, Elias learned the hard way what happens when you don’t heed the old tales.
Nine years after his lack of superstition got his father killed, he’s grown into a young man of piety, with a deep reverence for the hallowed sea and her fickle favor. As stories of the fisherman’s son who has managed to escape the most deadly of storms spreads from port to port, his devotion to the myths and creeds has given him the reputation of the luckiest bastard to sail the Narrows.
Now, he’s mere days away from getting everything his father ever dreamed for him: a ship of his own, a crew, and a license that names him as one of the first Narrows-born traders. But when a young dredger from the Unnamed Sea with more than one secret crosses his path, Elias’ faith will be tested like never before. The greater the pull he feels toward her, the farther he drifts from the things he’s spent the last three years working for.
He is dangerously close to repeating his mistakes and he’s seen first hand how vicious the jealous sea can be. If he’s going to survive her retribution, he will have to decide which he wants more, the love of the girl who could change their shifting world, or the sacred beliefs that earned him the name that he’s known for―Saint.
Saint and Isolade…..
I absolutely loved this. Going back in time, how it all began. Where Fable came from.
Their first meeting gave me shivers! ‘Those narrowed blue eyes had left a feeling like fire everywhere they’d landed and I could still feel it now, the ghost of it alive on my skin.’
Loved seeing Saint and Clove’s friendship, Loved Saint and Isolade, Their connection, A true love story It was perfect.
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 I could reread forever
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black Thorn by Intisar Khanani Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston Zodiac Academy by Caroline Peckham
The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic The Extraordinaires by TJ Klune With Everything I Am by Kristen Ashley Rock Chicks by Kristen Ashley Ride Steady by Kristen Ashley
A runaway queen. A reluctant prince. And a quest that may destroy them both.
Eight years have passed since the Battle of the Serpent. But in the icy north, Lady Nore of the Court of Teeth has reclaimed the Ice Needle Citadel. There, she is using an ancient relic to create monsters of stick and snow who will do her bidding and exact her revenge.
Suren, child queen of the Court of Teeth, and the one person with power over her mother, fled to the human world. There, she lives feral in the woods. Lonely, and still haunted by the merciless torments she endured in the Court of Teeth, she bides her time by releasing mortals from foolish bargains. She believes herself forgotten until the storm hag, Bogdana chases her through the night streets. Suren is saved by none other than Prince Oak, heir to Elfhame, to whom she was once promised in marriage and who she has resented for years.
Now seventeen, Oak is charming, beautiful, and manipulative. He’s on a mission that will lead him into the north, and he wants Suren’s help. But if she agrees, it will mean guarding her heart against the boy she once knew and a prince she cannot trust, as well as confronting all the horrors she thought she left behind.
‘Maybe you will come back and tell me how the Prince of Sunlight liked the Queen of Night.’
I absolutely adored Cardan and Jude’s books so, I admit, I was worried that I wouldn’t love this as much……but I did!! But maybe in a different way!
In the original trilogy I loved the bully side of it, that they were openly cruel from the get go hiding nothing but here we have 2 people who are meant to be monsters, inherently evil…..and maybe they are but they hide it well.
This book is the start of something beautiful, I can feel it in my ordinary human bones!
Suren, I mean that girl has suffered. In every year of her life so far she has suffered so greatly that I can’t believe she is still sane. I love her. After all she has been through all she wants is to be loved. I could cry. I want to hug her but those teeth make me nervous!
Oak….now I like Oak but at the moment I don’t love him. Maybe that will change with the next book. He is just so Folk. I mean with the role models he had round him growing up, I can’t say I’m surprised!
Together though they actually made my heart sing. Oak was right in that they’d be formidable together.
The quotes were plentiful and I highlighted so many!
‘We are no longer children, playing games and hiding beneath his bed, but I feel as though this is a different kind of game, one where I do not understand the rules.’
In conclusion, this book was full of what you would expect from the Folk and from Holly Black. Schemes, lies, treachery, plans, shocks and I want more! I know this is a duology so I’ll be looking out for news of book 2 and after that explosive ending, I need it now!!!!
But I also want some questions answered in book 2. ….is Taryn now with the Ghost? Will we get an Oak pov?
CJRTB Books 