I have that wonderful spring feeling again! Yesterday it was 7 above, things were melting, and I went out for a walk in weather was finally incapable of freezing me to death in hours. I had books on my mind (of course), and thought, you know, that my upcoming reads would probably like to get some fresh air too, so I decided to do a little book photo shoot for your enjoyment. Featured books are ones I’m currently reading or am hoping to get to soon. But, of course, there’s never enough time for reading.
My current “On the Go” Read, What Light by Jay AsherAir Awakens by Elise KovaHiding the Star Touched Queen by Roshani ChokshiA Torch Against The Night by Sabaa TahirReading On The Go, From Great HeightsA Reader’s Self-Portrait
Today I’m posting my handwritten review of Pretties by Scott Westerfeld. You’ll see all the books of this four part series blogged about in the next week. You can see from the first review that I read this series back in 2010. That feels like it shouldn’t be that long ago but it was. I’ve always loved Science Fiction and I still feel like there just isn’t enough of it.
It’s been a while since I posted and entry from my old book journal, which I kept long before I began blogging about books. Below, you can see my handwritten review of Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.
There are a lot of series out there, especially in the young adult reading world. I’ve started reading a lot of series in the past couple years, a lot of which aren’t even finished being written yet (or maybe they are, and the publishers just haven’t released them yet!). Hurry up, publishers! Below is a list of the top 5 Young Adult Fantasy books I’m waiting for this year. Only one of these isn’t part of a series I’ve already begun reading, but is instead a new series by an author that I love.
1.The Savage Dawn (The Girl At Midnight #3), Melissa Grey, July 11th, 2017
I’ve loves this series since I first read The Girl at Midnight. Melissa Grey’s lively characters really bring this world alive for me. Especially Jasper, lovely funny Jasper. I also love the world building and the unique mythology in this trilogy. The Savage Dawn in the last book of the series. So if you’re the kind of person who likes to read a series all in one go, you’ll be able to do that come July 2017.
2. Throne of Glass 5.1 Chaol Novel, Sarah J. Maas, September 5th, 2017
If you’re a Throne of Glass fan, then you’ve probably already heard that book #6 has been bumped to a 2018 release date because Sarah J. Mass instead wrote a 100K novel regarding Chaol’s exploits, currently titled Throne of Glass 5.1. I’m acutally pretty pumped for this because Chaol is one of my favorite characters and he wasn’t in book 5 at all. Where did Chaol go? What is happening to Chaol? Maas has advised fans to read The Assasin’s Blade before TOG 5.1 is released, which I’m currently doing. I think I know how the novellas are going to fit into the Chaol novel. It’s going to be a good one!
3. Traitor to the Throne (Rebel of the Sands #2), Alwyn Hamilton, March 7th, 2017
I loved Rebel of the Sands when I read it in 2017. I loved the world and the characters and the mythical beasts. I can’t wait to discover what happens next in Alwyn Hamilton’s world, and it looks like I’ll be able to do this right away with the March 7th release date.
4.Strange the Dreamer, (Strange the Dreamer #1) Laini Taylor, March 28th, 2017
I still haven’t completed Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone series (I’m almost done audiobook #2), and I have to say, I love these audiobooks! Daughter of Smoke and Bone actually won Best Fantasy Audiobook in 2011, which does not surprise me. The Daughter of Smoke and Bone series is one of those that are classified as Young Adult, but I think that’s pretty iffy. Barely any of the characters are teens (I think most of them are like, 50-200 years old, and there is enough gore and violence to make me cringe). Anyway, Laini Taylor is such a great writer that I’m sure Strange the Dreamer will be just as fantastic as Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Also, a bonus fact, this book is scheduled to be released on my birthday! I think I might pick this one up in hardcover. Happy Birthday to me!
Waiting for those birthday cupcakes…and Strange the Dreamer!
5. The Ship Beyond Time (The Girl From Everywhere #2), Heidi Heilig, February 28th, 2017
This entry is a bit different, as I haven’t even finished reading The Girl From Everywhere. You see, what happened is that I borrowed the book from my e-library and began reading it, but got really busy, and my loan expired before I got all that far into the book. This happens with a lot of books that I borrow to try. Most of the time I forget about those books, and never borrow them again. But I keep thinking about The Girl From Everywhere, and I keep wanting to know what happens. i need to know how this time traveling ship and these maps work. I need to know what happens to these characters! So I’ve waitlisted myself for this book again, and this time I’ll finish it. The sequel is out next week, so maybe I’ll even be able to read them back to back.
Earlier in the year I mentioned that I’d be blogging more about the books I read that aren’t Young Adult, so long as I think they are a reasonable match to the YA books I know and love. I think Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman fits this bill.
Dovekeepers is an historical fiction about the persecution of the Jewish people by the Romans. I hadn’t ever read anything about this period of time before and Hoffman did a great job at inspiring my interest in both her characters and this specific piece of history. One of my favorite pieces of the novel was the touch of magic. The magic was never written about as ‘real’ magic, but it was written as real as the people of the time would have believed. Or maybe it was real, who knows? Sometimes I think that magic are the little things that happen that are overlooked by our modern sensibilities. There was a strong romantic element in this book, and also quite a bit of violence, as it is depicting a true and brutal time, but it is never over the top.
This book is written in four parts instead of chapters, and it took me until the second part to get into the book, but I was glad I did. Each part features a different character. This was really refreshing to me, reading something that didn’t follow the usual novel conventions.
If you enjoy historical fiction, especially about strong women, then I recommend checking out this book.
I loved this book! An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir brought back all the good feelings I got reading the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Not that this was like the Hunger Games… I mean, it was a dystopian world, but a fantasy one, and there were some elements of death match style competition, but mostly it was a very unique story.
The tale is told from two alternating perspectives, Laia and Elias. They worked so well with each other and each voice was independent and unique, so i never forgot who was narrating that part of the story. The fantasy elements had their own uniqueness to them too, though they did not play that big of a role in the first book of this series. I have a feeling these elements will play a bigger part in book two. In fact, that was almost one of my pet peeves about this book: that the fantasy elements were almost forgotten about and then dropped in there here and there. There wasn’t much consistency with that. But I still loved it. I would definitely recommend this book to any fans of the Hunger Games, The Throne of Glass Series, or Rebel in the Sands. I can’t wait to read the next one.
The title is kind of a lie. I actually listened to this on audiobook and didn’t read it. But I did enjoy it. I haven’t read the books, so I can’t compare the reading experience to the listening one, but I really enjoyed the audio book of this children’s fantasy adventure.
Spirit Animals: Wild Born by Brandon Mull follows four eleven-year old kids who call The Fallen as their spirit animals. There is quite a bit of set-up in this book, but there are seven books in the series, so I appreciate all the time taken to give the story a good base. Even with the set-up, there was a good amount of action. The story had me longing for a spirit animal of my own, and I keep hoping one will just appear any day now.
Spirit Animals Wild Born is definitely children’s fiction, not young adult, but I think for any fan of the fantasy genre, the Spirit Animals world would be an enjoyable one, especially if you have a secret longing to be a veterinarian, like I do. This is the kind of book that I would like to read to my children one day—maybe once they are old enough to sit through more than on sentence from a board book. This is the kind of fiction that is uplifting, and good to read on a stressful day.
As for the audiobook, it was read by Nicola Barber and I thought she did a wonderful job with all of the varying voices and accents and characterization. Though I think she actually did a better job of the male voices than the female voices, which I find to be a problem with a lot of audiobooks. Or maybe it’s just me.
Have you read or listened to this book? What did you think?
One of the books I fininshed reading while on vacation was As I Darken by Kiersten White. This is an ‘alternate’ history, taking place during the time of the Ottoman Empire and Mehmed the II. The ‘alternate’ comes from the fact that White has made Vlad the Impaler a girl. This bring such an interesting dynamic to this story. The whole book was well written, rich with detail and character and raw emotion.
There are really three main characters in this book, Lada, her brother Raul, and Mehmed. Lada is just what I love in a heroine, she is fierce, fiery, and needs no one (or likes to think she does). It makes me wonder what other histories would sound like if famous males were females. It’s an interesting concept to say the least. I’ve never read any of White’s other books, but I’ve heard from other people that they are great reads as well. As I Darken has definitely encouraged me to seek out more of White’s work.
*I was actually going to post this last week and forgot. Oops
It’s the end of year, which means it times to spend a bit of time contemplating what I’ve spent the past year doing. I wrote a lot, read a lot, worked hard, and traveled a bit. The post is going to focus on the reading. My Goodreads goal was to read 40 books, which I met just this week. I read an assortment of YA, Fiction, Non-Fiction. All kinds of things really. I’ve reviewed the list, and here are my top ten favorites, from most loved to least (Though I did love everything on this list).
Queen of the Tearling
The Name of the Wind
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
The Shadow Hour
The Selection
Rebel of the Sands
Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass Series, really, since I read the majority in 2016)
As I Darken
The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Hexed by Michelle Kays
I feel like I’m quite behind in my reading, since half of the books on my list weren’t published in 2016. A lot of the books I did read were from series, as I seem to like reading these only once their completed. I know I’m not the only person who hates waiting for sequels, but this list makes it pretty clear that I prefer to read the whole thing in one go if at all possible. Unfortunately, this makes it a bit rough for new releases. I also hate having to buy hardcovers. I don’t mind ebooks, but I prefer paperbacks, which means I have to wait even longer to find the books I want. Why is the entire publishing industry working against me??? Good thing I can still use my e-library.
I’m setting my reading goal for 2016 at 60 books, slightly less than the number of unread books currently lying around my bedroom. Here’s a glimpse at my overflowing bookshelf:
I’m sure some new releases will jump the cue as well. What were your favorite reads in 2016? What are you looking forward to in 2017?
So here’s the thing: every year I ask for books at Christmas. I love books, to me, there is no better present. Only, when I was recently counting the books on my ‘To Be Read’ shelf, I realized I had 67 books stacked up. 67! According to Goodreads, I’m currently on book 39, which I will finish today or tomorrow, along with book 40, which is my Short Story Advent Calendar (one story a day up until Christmas). This means, that to get through my entire ‘To Be Read’ shelf next year, I’m going to have to up my Goodreads Reading Challenge to 70 Books. That’s almost double what I did in 2016. But that’s okay. I can do it. I just need to read more, and I love reading. This also means I get to spend more time wearing my Christmas socks, which I love. I love them so much I wish it was acceptable to wear them out in public.
My favorite Christmas mug was broken last week, so I’m currently on the hunt for a replacement. Meanwhile, I’m drinking all my coffee with whipped cream, as the Christmas season calls for. Today is my last day at the office until next Wednesday, so I’m hoping for more than a few quiet moments where I can knock off a few books from my list of 67. Maybe if I only have 65 on my list by January 1st things will seem less daunting in the new year.
So, here’s to Happy Holidays, whipped cream, and cats in trees.
J. E. H U N T E R 