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I love books · reading

‘Tis The Season

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This past month has been rather awful for me. I lost someone I love and have been a bit of a whirlpool, at a loss when it comes to a few things, especially this blog. But, I’m trying to slowly get back to it, though mostly I’ve been spending a lot of time reading.

Now that I’ve releases The Torc into the world, I’m hoping to take a bit of a break from stress (which to me means no deadlines), and just read. I have two books left  before I reach my 2017 Goodreads goal of 60 books, which sometimes feels stressful even though I know I’ll finish those two books.

Currently my reading pile looks like this:

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And actually, I just finished Rupi Kaur’s, the sun and her flowers before posting this. I’m about halfway through the massive, OATHBRINGER, by Brandon Sanderson (I think that title deserves all caps), and almost done Leia, Princess of Alderaan, by Claudia Gray. I’ve also got Spirit Animals Book 4, Fire and Ice on Audiobook right now, which keeps me mellow on my way to work.

Speaking of Leia, Princess of Alderaan, I have tickets to the new Star Wars for four o’clock today. I’m so excited I can hardly wait! Have you seen it yet? My fingers are tingling with anticipation!

JEH Continue reading “‘Tis The Season” →

Blogging · books · I love books · reading

Happy December Reading

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I’m a wee bit behind, but happy December reading everyone! This month I’ve set aside a ton of time to read. I’m currently working my way through the over 1200 page long Oathbringer, and so far it is fabulous. December has been cold, and it’s only going to get colder and frostier. It’s a good thing I have three advent calendars to keep me busy: tea, stories, and chocolate! This month, I hope to have a few posts for you, book reviews, book purchases, and holiday goodness. Do you have special book related plans this month?

JEH

book review · books · Covers

What I’m Reading: Amber Fang, The Hunted by Arthur Slade

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I’m going to start this off by saying that I got this book as part of a conference “goodie-bag”. I love vampires, and it’s the right time of year, so I decided to give it a go.

Amber Fang The Hunted by Arthur Slade is a nice, quick read. What I liked about it most was the small, unique differences about this vampire world (and yay, no one glitters!). Because there are so many vampire stories, it is so important for there to be something unique in a vampire book. At least in my opinion. What I liked the least about this book, was it’s length. It was good, and a quick read, but more time could have been spent adding a bit more detail and depth to some parts.

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Amber Fang is a 21 year-old future librarian hopeful, a born vampire who knows little about her own kind. This is listed on GoodReads as book #1, though there is not yet a book #2. If there was, I would likely read it, since the mystery was just beginning to out at the end of this book. If you’re a sucker for all things vampire, then you might want to check out this book.

3/5 stars

JEH

book review · books · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

What I’m Reading: The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

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Young Adult Book Review: The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started this book, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. The Darkest Part of the Forest is a beautifully written (and I mean pink-sunset beautiful) novel about a young girl, her brother, a sword, and a forest full of dark faerie folk.

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Probably my favourite part of this book was that it is a standalone novel. After reading a bunch of trilogies or series, sometimes it is so nice to read a book that is just that, a book. Nothing more expected, no more cliff hangers. Hazel, the main character, is strong and headstrong, and contrast nicely to her gifted brother Ben, who is gay. It was really great to see the loves and lives of Hazel and Ben intertwine. The relationship between the two characters is fully explored and deep with complication, just like sibling relationships often are.

The only thing that sometimes wore on me with this book, was the slow, backstory which cropped up here and there. Sometimes it felt like a bit too much of the story took place in the past, but mostly I did see a place for it. And the writing was so good that it made all of the reading worthwhile.

A solid 4.5/5 Stars.

JEH

book review · books · reading · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

What I’m Reading: The Savage Dawn by Melissa Grey

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Young Adult Book Review: The Savage Dawn by Melissa Grey

I loved The Girl At Midnight series from the first, and really looked forward to the third book. While I enjoyed the Savage Dawn, I felt like not as much happened as could have, and the characters sat around for a long time thinking about what to do.

But, I did love the way Melissa Grey ended the series. With so many series, I find I’m left unsatisfied, that things could have been done differently (Divergent comes to mind). But this ending I felt was entirely fitting.

For those of you who might have read The Girl At Midnight series yet, maybe because you only read series that are completed, now is a great time to settle down with this story.

4/5 Stars

JEH

book review · books · Covers · reading · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

What I’m Reading: The Death Cure by James Dashner

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Young Adult Book Review: The Death Cure by James Dashner

It has taken me a long while to get around to reading the last book of The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner. This last book in the series definitely kept me on the edge of my seat as I wondered just how Dashner was going to wrap everything up.

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Earlier this week, I posted a review for The Savage Dawn, which is also a last book in a trilogy. I wrote about how that book had an ending that fit, and that I liked. Now, I liked how The Death Cure ended the Maze Runner Trilogy, but I’m not sure I got enough information. At the end of a series, I like to have a good feeling that I know how the main character’s life is going to be, and with The Death Cure, I feel that I don’t really know what Thomas’ life will be. I feel like there could be a whole new series of books.

Now, I know that there is a novella that might fill in some gaps, and I haven’t picked it up. I’ve also read some reviews that say it doesn’t really answer the lingering questions. Overall though, the ending was solid, and hey, some people really like the unknown.

4/5 Stars

JEH

book review · books · Covers · I love books · reading · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

What I’m Reading: Graceling by Kristin Cashore

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Young Adult Book Review: Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Graceling is one of those books I heard a lot about for a long time before I finally decided to pick it up. Graceling is the story of Katsa, a fun, fearless, kick-butt female hero who reminded me a lot of Aelin from Sarah J. Maas’ Throne of Glass Series. Published in 2008, Graceling came well before Throne of Glass, but came in the same year as The Hunger Games and the now very well known Katniss Everdeen.

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Since I was a child, female hero’s have definitely become stronger, more independent, and just as deadly as any male counterpart. And I love this. Graceling is very much a classically written epic fantasy, with slow moving, but beautiful passages of description, and less dialogue. There are good guys and bad guys and of course a few love interests.

I really enjoyed Graceling, though I felt this book had a good ending, and though there are two more books in the Graceling Realm Series, I don’t feel pressed to pick them up, as the books are about other characters. Sometimes I like this, and other times I fine with one book being just one book.

A solid 4/5 Stars.

JEH

book review · books · I love books · reading · Young Adult · Young Adult Books

What I’m Reading: This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman

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Young Adult Book Review: This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (Starbound Trilogy #2)

Early this year I reviewed These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, book #1 of the Starbound Trilogy. I loved that book, so I wasn’t surprised when I feel right into This Shattered World. The second book of the trilogy has two different main characters, Jubilee and Flynn, but the tension, world, and romance were similar enough that I found the transition easy. Because the mystery is bigger than the characters themselves, it is easy to get hooked.

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I listened to This Shattered World as an audiobook. It was nice that the book was ready by two narrators, one for the part of Flynn, and one for the part of Jubilee. Without two separate narrators, I might not have so easily been able to tell the chapters apart. There’s one more book left in this trilogy, and I imagine I’ll be listening to it soon.

4/5 Stars

JEH

book review · books · Covers · I love books · reading · Young Adult Books

What I’m Reading: Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios

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Young/New Adult Book Review: Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios

Either Young Adult books are becoming more and more edgy, or there really needs to be a new category of book. I vote for the later. There has always been edgy fiction, but these days there is a certain class of fiction that has young adult characters, is shelved as young adult, but has very adult themes. Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios is one of those books. Exquisite Captive is a paranormal fantasy that follows Nalia, a Jinn, on her quest for freedom from her captor.

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I listened to this book as an audiobook on a solo road trip last month. I really enjoyed it, but looking at the other reviews out there, at lot of people did not. Their main pet peeve seemed to be the somewhat abusive relationship in the book. Now, in my opinion, and abusive relationship is not a reason to put down at book (unless you’re a really sensitive reader, I’m not). How that relationship is treated may or may not be. As I don’t believe the relationship is glorified in any way, I didn’t find it a reason to stop listening. I liked the book, so I kept going.

For fans of darker young adult fiction (the stuff that is often called New Adult), such as Sarah J. Maas or Laini Taylor, Exquisite Captive may be for you. Of course, there were somethings I didn’t love about the book, like how it things just kept not working out. I mean sure, it’s fiction, that happens, but it was almost like that happened one time too many.

Still, it was a pretty decent book. Exquisite Captive is the first book in a trilogy, the third book of which was release in February this year. Which is great, since sometimes I just hate having to wait for all of the books to be released.

JEH

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What I’m Reading: Star Wars Aftermath Life Debt by Chuck Wendig

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Okay, first off I’m going to admit that it’s been a while, a long while, since I’ve blogged about anything. Somehow, I fell into a blogging summer vacation. I imagine it was all the sun and the hot weather that pulled me away. The good news is I have a lot of catching up to do, and I’ll start with a review of a book I finished reading just yesterday: Star Wars Aftermath Life Debt by Chuck Wendig.

Prior to the new Star Wars reboots, I had almost all of the old Star Wars fiction, which is now Legend. Between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, there is a large gap of time, and I’m the kind of Star Wars fan that needs to know what happened, and this new trilogy, written by Chuck Wendig is how to find out. Life Debt is the second book of the trilogy, and while the first book was fairly slow and a bit too meandering, the plot of the second book is much tighter, and has more of a purpose, so it seems. It also has much more Han, Leia, and Chewy.

The ending was a bit of a cliffhanger, so I’m hoping to get the third book sooner rather than later, but I have a few books that I need to get through first for an upcoming writing conference.

Overall, this trilogy has been satisfactory. Can’t wait to see what’s next.

4/5 Stars

JEH