Wednesday Audio Waves: The Reckoners Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson!!!

Hey there guys!

This week I'm back with more audibook reviews for my Wednesday Audio Waves feature here in the blog! And this week I have a full series that I had started but lost motivation to continue (despite loving the first book) but once I started re-reading the first book as audio, I totally binge and finished!

I must blame Cassi in particular for this binge read, because although both her and Nikki love these books and both are big Sanderson fans, Cassi was the one that raved about the narrator enough to make me jump on these audios even if it's just one guy doing all the voices.

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

This one was a re-read for me and I really fell in love very early on with the narrator, he really IS the perfect David!

He did a great job with all the other voices too, even the female ones, and that was one of my concerns when I started listening to it. Every voice was distinctive and that really helped with the enjoyment of the book, none of them were irritating and I never once was confused about who was talking.

This was a re-read and a necessary one because even if I thought I remembered most of the book but turns out I had forgotten loads of the smaller details then later proved important in the rest of the series! And also quite a few of the not so smaller too!

The pacing of the book was fantastic and I listened to the whole book way faster than I had expected at first.

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson

After the reveals and the ending of Steelheart, I was wondering what to expect from Firefight and no matter what I expected, it seriously wasn't what I got!

The narrator did an amazing job once again with all the voices, both from previous characters as well as the new ones. David continued being my favourite with his awesome humour, adorkability and always odd metaphors that never failed to made me laugh.

We got quite a few new revelations in this one and the world gets bigger and even a lil stranger than I thought it was on the first book. We learn more about the Epics and how they came to be, or how we suspect they came to be, and there's quite a bit of food for thought about Epics and their vulnerabilities and what makes them go bad.

The pacing is quite fast and full non-stop action and/or revelations and still it managed to include a lot of both individual character development as well as the relationships between characters, romantic or not!

The ending was quite a bit of a cliffhanger and I was itching to finally get Calamity to start listening to it ASAP! Very much deserved 5 stars to this one!

Calamity by Brandon Sanderson

After the massive game changer that the ending of Firefight was, we find ourselves in Calamity wondering what will happen next!

David continues to be banking on hope and on the knowledge that what happened to Megan and what Megan did can be something all Epics can do.

He's now the leader and he's making his mission to stop the bad Epics from destroying cities and lives and to try and get those that can be turned back into their human selves, not the ones they are when they're taken over by their powers.

The pacing is once again fast and full of action, with very many tense moments, although it has enough light moments of humour (David and his crappy signature metaphors) to keep it balanced out.

We get more revelations and a lot of information, some of it answers, some of it creating even more questions!

A very hard book to review trying to avoid spoilers, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed! And I'm sure a big part of it aside from the book's own merits that I'm sure are many, is the narrator's! He did such a brilliant job! 5 stars for this one for sure!

Mark This Book Monday: Nevernight by Jay Kristoff!!!

Hiya there guys!

Today I have a scheduled post here for you all, while I am enjoying a pair of days off at my parents' cottage, reading up a storm and relaxing and playing with puppies!

For this week's Mark This Book Monday I have a book that will be for sure on my Top 10 list for 2016 and one that I'm already in the process of re-reading and collecting a few editions of!

I've heard quite a bit of debate and controversy about Nevernight being YA or not being YA... and my own opinion would clearly be that it ISN'T YA. It's a really dark and bloody book and it simply feels like an adult book for me, not so much because there is sex in it, but mostly because it's dark and violent and pulls no punches.

And I'm stealing this lil bit from a friend's review (Jessica from Rabid Reads) where the author himself answers the question:


There seems to be some confusion on the YA/not YA nature of this book, so let the record show, in response to the question, "Are your books YA or not?" on his website FAQ, Kristoff replied:

THE NEVERNIGHT CHRONICLE is a different beast. The protagonist is a sixteen year old girl. Does that automatically make it YA? My editors say “Definitely not, and who the hell let you out of your cage? Get back to work”.

These books are about an assassin. They are, as you may expect, somewhat violent as a result. They also have sex scenes (and now I have to contemplate the fact that my mother is going to read them *shudders*). I’d rate them MA (or NA if you prefer) and describe them as “crossover books”. But they’ll be found in the adult Fantasy section of your bookstore.

 Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Started reading it last night and spent the majority of today glued to the pages! Bloody and unapologeticly gory and full betrayal and darkness!! And some damned amazingly brilliant writing. A brilliant book that is bound to give me a damned book hangover for sure!!

----

It indeed gave me a massive book hangover and all the reading I managed to do was listening to my re-read of the Throne of Glass books. I've already started re-reading Nevernight, because that's one sure cure for a massive book hangover, right? Right.

Nevernight is one amazing book with brilliant and lyrical writing, weaving words like a master, and those footnotes? The perfect way to add more to the story without bogging down the pacing of the plot or the narrative. I loved the footnotes in Sir Terry Patchett's Discworld and the footnotes in Nevernight really reminded me of those, full of humour, information and a wee bit of irony here and there!

Mia is our main character, and a girl that had everything taken from her and that decided to never again have anyone else make choices for her. We get quite enough back story to understand where she's coming from at first, and we keep on getting a little bit more here and there, giving us tidbits of the past to help us understand better what's going on in the present.

Her will to become an assassin and train in the Red Church is fueled by revenge and it's what makes her get through the very tough, very bloody and very messy training in there. The teachers are all assassins and they have no qualms about students dying or being at risk of it, training is brutal in so many ways. Then you have to deal with the rest of the fellow students that are rivals and quite fierce ones, even Mia might have considered some as allies and friends (at least to some extent).

Not all adult books have sex in them, but this one does, and I have to say that I really liked how empowering it was for Mia. She made the choices every time of when, with whom and why, and what the limits were for her, and I felt that it was a message we don't always get in books, so I applaud Mr Kristoff for that!

Plenty of twists, betrayals and most of them got me completly by surprise! This one is one hell of a captivating book that you will want to savour & devour at the same time! I simply adored it and I'm beyond looking forward to the next one! 5 stars and many more!!


View all my reviews

Friday Reads: The Forgetting & Stalking Jack The Ripper!!!

Hello there guys!

Friday is here and with it a pair of more mini reviews for Friday Reads of some of my highly awaited ARCs that I got from BEA, and that will totally count towards my ARC August Challenge pile!!

The Forgetting was a book that I was pretty excited about because it sounded fantastic, I had read Sharon Cameron's books and really enjoyed all of them, and that coverrr! And after I read Alyssa's review, I knew I had to grab it and read it ASAP, so it ended up being my Alyssa Recommends book for August!


The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The Forgetting is one of those books that starts a bit slow, with very few details and knowledge at first but not in frustrating way, given how forgetting and not knowing anything beyond the most recent 12 years before another Forgetting is the way people live in this world Sharon Cameron has created.

The writing was amazing and by going with Nadia's POV we both know what goes outside and inside of her head, because she's quite a silent one but there's so much going on in her head all the time! I loved how her bright self started poking out from the shell all through the book and she has a really fantastic character development!

She was so ready to fight for her family and to give them the best chance of being together and save in the next Forgetting and that plan changes and evolves as she finds out more about what's really going on on her partnetship with Gray.

Gray was also a very interesting character, one that at first is coloured by Nadia's memories and that seems to have two faces, depending on what memories Nadia focuses on. He really grew on me and I was glad that Nadia continued to keep him as an ally even when some revelations came up.

The world building was simply fantastic, starting with so little and making it grow and grow with little hints here and there and then finally more explanations and revelations, but they really did not shape the book so much as the choices the mains characters and the secondary ones had to make.

The biggest strenght of this book is not the amazing world building, the fantastic writing or the brilliant character development but the way all of it came together and shined when the hard questions were asked and how the book simply gives us so much to think on the choices made and what might have changed and which one would really be the right choice and if there's such a thing for everyone.

Science fiction with dystopian feelings, this brilliant standalone book will keep you guessing all through the pages and will leave you with plenty of food for thought for days after you've read it! 4.5 to 5 stars!!


Stalking Jack The Ripper is a story that I discovered through my dear friend Cassi from My Thoughts Literary and I was beyond pumped to get me a signed ARC copy at BEA and to meet the absolutely lovely and wonderful Kerri Maniscalco!


 Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Brilliantly done!! The pacing, the atmosphere, the setting, the characters and the mystery, so well done!! I fell for the main red herring just has my dear Audrey Rose did, but I managed to guess the identity of Jack the Ripper before her, so I'm feeling quite happy with myself!! What an absolutely wonderful debut!!

I absolutely adored that Audrey Rose was struggling with keeping with what she loved and wanted to do, societal conventions be damned, but at the same time was trying not to worry her brother was trying to keep appearances to a point, but it all changes once things get really dire and when she starts suspecting her own blood of being involved in the cases she's dealing with.

I've always been fascinated by Jack The Ripper and all the theories about his identity and the mystery of who he could have been and what his motivations were? And in this book Kerri Maniscalco does a great job of presenting us a theory that works so great with the characters she's created and although it tweaks the actual events a lil, it could really have worked well in the time and place!

I loved how Audrey Rose was both intellectual and proving that she was not a fainting delicate rose but at the same time didn't need to lose her love for dresses or fashion, even if she was not keen on sticking with the strict society rules when it came to women.

Kerri's writing was very atmospheric and rich in details that really immersed you in the narrative and did not bog down the plot progress or the character development. She really made me hungry with all the talk about desi food and now thinking about it I'm once again having serious cravings!

The relationship between Audrey and Thomas was both intriguing, maddening and a lot of fun! They challenge each other in many ways and Thomas is both an intellectual in a rather Sherlockian way but at the same time, he's a bit of a rake and a flirt, so quite fun to read about!

With a rather emotional ending that I managed to guess a lil before it was revealed and still getting enough resolution to not leave us twitching, I'm so very looking forward to more installments into this companion series in which we'll follow Audrey and Thomas in more murder-solving adventures!

Vicarious by Paula Stokes: PLAYLIST!!

 Hey there guys!!

This week another of my fave 2016 books that I beta read last year comes out and I cannot wait till I can read the finished copy of Vicarious!! And now I can read it while listening to the songs that inspired it because Paula is here to share them all with us, even with the lil extra bit of commentary & explanation!

So here is the Spotify link for those of you like me that use Spotify ALL THE TIME:

Vicarious by Paula Stokes

And now I give it over to Paula!:


When I create a playlist, I “watch” the book like it’s a movie in my head and select songs that fit individual scenes. I also try to find songs that match the tone of the story. Vicarious is a gritty, high-tech mystery with a lot of action scenes and dark emotions. I think you’ll find that this playlist captures those elements quite well. In case you don’t use Spotify, I have linked to official licensed (AKA non-pirated) YouTube videos where available.) Enjoy!

POWER by Kanye West
Even though Vicarious starts with a prologue and then flips to a scene with both sisters in the penthouse apartment where they live, the movie in my head has always begun with a scene panning in over the city of St. Louis at night. There are gray skyscrapers, and sidewalks crusted over with ice. People cluster in front of the businesses that line the darkened streets--businessmen, club goers, drug dealers. POWER captures both the urban feel and frenetic energy of the area where Winter and Rose live.

Radioactive by Imagine Dragons
I heard this song on YouTube in 2012 when I was writing the first draft of Vicarious (which back then was called Goodbye Rose), and there was something about the feel of the song that just clicked with the manuscript. I probably listened to Radioactive at least two hundred times during the revision process, because something about it always transported me from the real world back into the world of Vicarious.

City Hunter (Instrumental) by Oh Jun Sung from the City Hunter OST soundtrack
If Radioactive is the right music for Winter and Jesse walking across the frozen streets near the beginning of the book, this short instrumental piece is the right accompaniment as they break into the Phantasm building, navigate the darkened offices, and then run away after getting caught. Thanks to Eli from The Silver Words for this pick. This kdrama is not on Hulu, but I must find somewhere because it sounds epic!

My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light ‘Em Up) by Fall Out Boy
This is another song like Radioactive where the music and lyrics together capture the essence of the entire novel. I have always imagined this song being used in my book-movie’s trailer. But since my book-movie is a purely hypothetical thing that exists only in my mind, I’ll pick an actual scene to slot this in. It would be perfect for the high-energy scene where Winter and Gideon are sparring on the rooftop.

Keep Breathing by Ingrid Michaelson
After Rose is killed, Winter struggles with anger, depression, and hopelessness. There’s a point where she’s in the bathroom and she’s supposed to be taking a bath but she can’t even find the energy to do that. She’s just sitting up against the wall, thinking about her sister. This song is perfect for that scene.

(Can’t You) Trip Like I Do by The Crystal Method
Winter tries to push past her depression by focusing on finding out who killed Rose. One of the places the clues lead her to is a hot new dance club called Zoo. This song by fits the ambiance of the club as well as Winter’s mindset during the scene.

Disturbia by Rihanna
After leaving the club, Winter and a couple of friends find themselves in a high-speed car chase during a snow storm. Given the events leading up to the chase, I think Disturbia is the perfect accompaniment to this particular action sequence.

Bad by Infinite
I wanted to include at least one K-pop song on this list because K-pop is so popular with young adult readers. (This book is actually more K-rock or K-metal, but those songs are a lot harder to find on Spotify.) So here we are. This is a song about a guy who loves a girl so much he’s afraid she might ruin him. After the car chase, there are multiple scenes that show how far Jesse will go to protect Winter—maybe too far. Is she going to ruin him? You’ll have to read to find out ;)
Thanks to Minjae for the song recommendation!

Beautiful by Akon, featuring Colby O'Donis, Kardinal Offishall
Later in the book, Winter is playing one of Rose’s ViSE recordings from Inferno, the dance club in the building next door to where she lives. Rose’s clubbing experiences are a lot different from Winter’s, and this song fits the theme of that ViSE perfectly. In fact, I’m pretty sure all of the people in this video are at Inferno with Rose ;)

Falling to Pieces by Faith No More
This sounds like it should be about Winter’s state of mind as she deals with the death of her sister, but the lyrics do a better job of describing Winter’s feelings for Jesse. Gideon sends the two of them to Miami to record a ViSE, and spending the night in a hotel room with Jesse brings all of Winter’s conflicting emotions bubbling to the surface.

Always by Saliva
“I hear a voice say ‘Don’t be so blind.’ It’s telling me all these things that you would probably hide…” Winter has major trust issues when it comes to men. She wants to trust Jesse, but when she finds out a secret that he’s been keeping, she becomes as angry as the lyrics to this song. “I love you, I hate you…”

Terrible Lie by Nine Inch Nails
When Winter finally finds out who killed her sister, she becomes even angrier than she was about the secret Jesse kept from her. An angry girl doing angry girl things needs some angry NIN music to go along with.

Two Against One by Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi, featuring Jack White
After Winter gets angry, she calms down and has to face some harsh realities. But is she strong enough to accept the truth? Or will she fall apart without her sister there to hold her together? This song is perfect for when she’s piecing together the entire puzzle in her brain.

Chop Suey by System of a Down
Chop Suey is a close second to Radioactive when it comes to transporting me into the world of Vicarious. (I know, I know—the songs could not be more different.) This song is fifteen years old, but it still feels very cutting edge to me, with its mix of thrash metal guitar riffs and lead vocals that transition into a softer bridges and choruses. There’s a part near the end of the book where Winter is desperately sprinting up the stairs, that fits exactly with a part near the end of this song.

Vicarious by Tool
The last song in a playlist is always the one I imagine playing while the credits of my “book movie” are running. This song is not only the obvious choice, but both the lyrics and music do a great job describing Winter’s frame of mind as she transitions from the end of Vicarious to the beginning of the sequel. The band Tool does not believe their albums should be experienced piecemeal, so this song is not available on Spotify. (Pili here - I ended up adding a tribute band version to at least let you listen to the lyrics and the music as close as possible).

Vicarious by Paula Stokes

Winter Kim and her sister, Rose, have always been inseparable. Together the two of them survived growing up in a Korean orphanage and being trafficked into the United States. But they've escaped the past and started over in a new place where no one knows who they used to be.

Now they work as digital stunt girls for Rose's ex-boyfriend, Gideon, engaging in dangerous and enticing activities while recording their neural impulses for his Vicarious Sensory Experiences, or ViSEs. Whether it's bungee jumping, shark diving, or grinding up against celebrities in the city's hottest dance clubs, Gideon can make it happen for you--for a price.
When Rose disappears and a ViSE recording of her murder is delivered to Gideon, Winter is devastated. She won't rest until she finds her sister's killer. But when the clues she uncovers conflict with the digital recordings her sister made, Winter isn't sure what to believe. To find out what happened to Rose, she'll have to untangle what's real from what only seems real, risking her own life in the process.

Paula Stokes weaves together a series of mysteries and the story of an unbreakable bond between sisters in this unforgettable high-tech thrill ride.

Indiebound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

About the author:

Paula Stokes writes stories about flawed characters with good hearts. She’s the author of several novels, most recently Vicarious and Girl Against the Universe. Her writing has been translated into eleven foreign languages. Paula loves kayaking, hiking, reading, and seeking out new adventures in faraway lands She also loves interacting with readers. Find her online at authorpaulastokes.com or on twitter as @pstokesbooks.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Goodreads

Wednesday Audio Waves: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater!!!

Hiya there!

I finally have got an alliteration idea for my audiobooks reviews!

I'm a bit of an odd duck and like having names for my review days and alliterations are my prefered form whenever possible. So much that I've been postponing posting my audiobooks reviews until I came up with a name! But now Wednesday Audio Waves is born and my first audio review is here!

I had never been a big fan of audiobooks (except the Harry Potter ones, read by Stephen Fry) but I have two of my bookish friends that are huge fans of audiobooks and that have very recently converted me! Both Nikki & Cassi love audiobooks and listening to them is their preferred way to re-read books.

I decided to give audiobooks a try because I want to be able to continue reading even when you cannot be reading from a book because you need your hands and eyes. Like cleaning the house or walking around.

And after asking both Cassi and Nikki for recommendations, I signed up for Audible and got The Scorpio Races as my first book! And it was as amazing as Nikki promised it'd be!

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

As my first audiobook (after a disastrous experience with a Sookie Stackhouse one) this couldn't have been a better choice! With dual narrators, one for Sean and one for Puck, the characters really came to life with their voices!

And the book was so atmospheric! I don't know if it was the book itself or the narration or a combination of both but I simply adored the vibe and feel of the book!

There was some real magical feeling to the book, with the capaill uisce, the race and the small town with traditions and mysteries and distrust of strangers.

I loved that both Puck and Sean had different reasons to want to run and win the race and that although both had the more to win and the more to lose, they both managed to not become real rivals. They began to work together and although the romance is on the light side, it is also quite deeply felt and rooted at the same time!

There's so much more than just the race, but there's also so much about families and what you'd do to keep yours together, to get freedom, to feel safe again... And the relationships between characters were do complex and well crafted!

If you haven't read this book, I do very much recommend that you do, and if you can? Do listen to the audiobook! It will add some more magic to the already atmospheric book! Very much deserving of 5 stars!

Unknown by Wendy Higgins Release Day Blitz!!!

Hello there guys!!

Today I'm extremely happy and honoured to take part of the Release Day Blitz for Unknown by Wendy Higgins, organized by Irish Banana Tours!!

Wendy has been one of my absolute favourite & autobuy authors since her very first book and she's still has to write a book that I haven't loved!

Unknow by Wendy Higgins

Amber Tate believes the worst thing she’ll suffer in life is dealing with the unrequited love she feels for her brother’s best friend, Rylen Fite. She also believes war is something unfortunate that happens places far, far away from her rural Nevada town. She’s wrong on both counts.

When an unknown organization meticulously bombs major cities in the United States and across the globe, a trickle-down effect spreads to remaining towns at an alarming speed—everything from food and water sources to technology and communications are compromised. Without leadership, the nation is split between paralysis and panic, but Amber isn’t one to hide or watch helplessly. She’s determined to put her nursing skills to use, despite the danger, even if it means working alongside the man she can never have.

In this first installment of NY Times bestselling author, Wendy Higgins’s debut New Adult series, a frighteningly realistic apocalyptic America is brought to life, entwined with searing romantic tension that will leave you eager for more.

Kindle | iTunes | Kobo

 About the author:

Wendy Higgins is the USA Today and NY Times bestselling author of the SWEET EVIL series from HarperTeen, the high fantasy duology THE GREAT HUNT, and her independently published Irish Fantasy SEE ME.

After earning a Creative Writing degree from George Mason University and a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from Radford, Wendy taught high school English until achieving her dream job as a full-time writer.

 
Wendy lives on the Eastern Shore of Virginia with her husband, daughter, son, and little doggie Rue.

 GIVEAWAY

Open International

Grand Prize: Signed Paperback copy of Unknown with Poster, bookplate stickers, and bookmarks.

1st & 2nd Prize: digital copies of Unknown (has to be B&N or Amazon user - will be gifted via their email address) plus signed bookmarks and bookplate stickers. 

Click HERE to go to the Rafflecopter giveaway!!

Mark These Book(s) Monday: The Architect of Song & Warrior Witch!!!

Hello there guys!!

Back on the blog today! I keep trying to be a bit more constant with the blogging and the reviews but something or other keeps on getting in the way!

BUT today I am back with two reviews of eARCs! One of the will count towards my NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge and the other counts for my ARC August Challenge!!

The Architect of Song by A.G. Howard

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Anita Howard is one of my auto buy authors and every book of hers reinforces this more and more!

The Architect of Song is a perfect example of a brilliantly done gothic novel. Atmospheric, enticing and absolutely captivating!

The writing is as vivid and visual as it was in her previous books and it paints us clearly both settings and characters without bogging down the narrative.

Very soon we are completely enthralled by the mystery and Juliet's experience through it all. Given Juliet's disability and her losses in the book, she is a wonderful & strong main character that tries to be strong and true to herself even if it goes against what society expects and accepts in her time.

She still has a support system that accepts her as a whole and even if misguidedly try to push her towards something or other, they always try and be there for her when she needs it.

The romance is very much part of the mystery, a mix of love triangle and forbidden love and the author really managed to surprise me and very much like and enjoy the way she did & resolved the love triangle, and that really IS saying something!

There's so much tension in this book, romantic tension and character development tension and it's all so well paced! It just keeps you glued to the page, wanting to continue reading and finding out more and finally knowing what will happen!

And the way the book ends is done so very well!! It's the first book of a series of companion novels and as such ends up resolving everything very satisfactory, but have you looking forward to more stories too! Very much deserved 5 stars to this enthralling & perfect gothic tale!

Warrior Witch by Danielle L. Jensen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Warrior Witch is the final book in the Malediction trilogy and as such it had to find a way to solve everything that had come to clash and burn at the end of the last book.

Once again Tristan and Cécile need to find a way to work together and learn from each other how to balance the greater good and the individual good and how to balance thinking and acting. Cécile is still the one that will always throw herself into action and will always be more emotional, and Tristan is the one that thinks everything through and through every possible angle. They do find a way to let each other do what they have to, even if not everyone agrees with the tactic.

Things are more and more complicated because not only we have the trolls out BUT we do have the trolls ancestors throwing their on sides of the war in, and that makes everything even more complex!

I wasn't thrilled by some of the choices that both Tristan and Cécile made, but they were very much in character and in the end proved to be the right ones, even if they were probably more of the "lesser of two evils" variety at some point.

The ending really packed an emotional punch, and there were plenty of casualties and pain along the way, but I'm so glad that Danielle managed to add hope and redemption in this very harsh road! I don't think the trilogy could have ended better in any other way. Very much deserved 4 stars!

You'll Want To Read This Book Wednesday: A Study In Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas!!

You'll Want To Read This Book Wednesday was inspired by Save the Date from The Perpetual Page Turner and Pre-Squee from Bewitched Bookworms, when I decided to do my own feature/meme to showcase those books that I get to read pretty ahead of time (mainly from BEA) and it'd replace Waiting on Wednesday on my blog. It might be weekly, bi-weekly or once a month, depending on when I indulge on reading one of the far off ARCs!

Today I'm featuring an eARC that I got approved for by Berkley on NetGalley and I just had to devour right away! A Study In Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas!!

 A Study In Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas

USA Today bestselling author Sherry Thomas turns the story of the renowned Sherlock Holmes upside down…

With her inquisitive mind, Charlotte Holmes has never felt comfortable with the demureness expected of the fairer sex in upper class society.  But even she never thought that she would become a social pariah, an outcast fending for herself on the mean streets of London.

When the city is struck by a trio of unexpected deaths and suspicion falls on her sister and her father, Charlotte is desperate to find the true culprits and clear the family name. She’ll have help from friends new and old—a kind-hearted widow, a police inspector, and a man who has long loved her. But in the end, it will be up to Charlotte, under the assumed name Sherlock Holmes, to challenge society’s expectations and match wits against an unseen mastermind.

I was pretty sure I'd love A Study In Scarlet Women because I've read other books by Sherry Thomas and I've loved her writing and the way she weaves plot and world building, and because I love Sherlock retellings, I love historical fiction and the idea of a gender-swapped Sherlock? It was automatic GIMME ME!!

And as soon as a started reading, I knew I couldn't put it down until I was done with it and it had me in its thrall, turning pages like mad and trying to guess at the mystery!! Our Charlotte/Sherlock is a heroine to root for, with her eccentricities and her powerful mind, flounting the society conventions in very bright ways. I simply adored figuring out who was who, gender swapped or not. And there's a shippity ship too!!

In short if you love historical fiction, mysteries, gender swapping, badass ladies and Sherlock retellings? YOU DO NEED THIS ONE LIKE NOW!! Preorder now, because it comes out October 18th!!

Release Day Blitz for United by Melissa Landers!!

Hello there guys!!

Today I'm taking part in the Release Day Blitz for United by Melissa Landers!! I'm so very excited to finally get my hands on this beauty! Now, over to Melissa herself!!

Hey there, booklovers!

I’m author Melissa Landers, and I’m thrilled to announce the release of UNITED, the final book in the Alienated trilogy. Our star-crossed lovers Aelyx and Cara have overcome some heavy obstacles to be together—riotous mobs, alien hybrids, and worst of all, high school on two planets. Now to stay together they’ll have to unite their people against a common enemy, a threat more deadly than they ever imagined. (NBD, right?) I’ve written an ending to this trilogy that makes my heart happy, and I hope you’ll love the conclusion as much as I do!

What do reviewers have to say about the series?

“The author’s storyline is out of this world.” –VOYA on Alienated

“The unusual plot and world building are ingenious.” –Library Media Connection on Alienated

“If [the third novel] is as entertaining as this tale, it can’t come soon enough.” –Kirkus Reviews on Invaded

“A fun genre-blending series that will only gain traction as it continues.” –Booklist on Invaded



If you love hot aliens, snarky humans, and wild sci-fi adventure, make sure to pick up a copy of UNITED today. It’s now available in stores and online.

Amazon | iBooks | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository (free international shipping) | Indie Bound

To celebrate my book birthday, I’m offering one lucky winner a set of all 3 mini-posters in the Alienated series—signed by me! The giveaway is open internationally.

Best of luck, and happy reading!

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/08007cc347/

Melissa Landers is a former teacher who left the classroom to pursue other worlds. A proud sci-fi geek, she isn’t afraid to wear her Princess Leia costume in public—just ask her husband and three kids. She lives outside Cincinnati in the small town of Loveland, “Sweetheart of Ohio.” For more information or just to say hello, visit www.melissa-landers.com.

Mark These Book(s) Monday: Splinter And Paper & Fire ARC reviews!!

Hello there guys!!

I'm somewhat tentatively back! I needed a break before and after my trip to Star Wars Celebration in London and I really needed a break because work and life make blogging a bit more complicated!

So here I am back now with two ARC mini reviews for this week's Mark These Books Monday, trying to start August right! These two totally work towards my Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge too!

Splinter by Sarah Fine

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I read Reliquary and really enjoyed it, although our main character Mattie sometimes got on my nerves and I wanted to shake her more than once, but I decided to cut her some slack, because given how her life is thrown upside down... Gods know how I'll handle something of that magnitude!

I'm really happy to report that I loved how Mattie did grow as a character, not only on her powers and her knowledge of the world she is now part of, but also in what she really wants or who she really is. She starts the book in a bad place, both physically and emotionally, even if she had got what she had fought so hard to get back.

I had chosen a ship quite clearly during book 1, even if I wasn't entirely happy about the relationship seemed to be forming at the time, but once again, decided to give it space and see what might come of it, and I'm quite glad to see that although the progress seems to be very slow all through the book, it is what I'd call the right kind of progress!

Splinter is the second book in the trilogy, but it does NOT suffer from middle book syndrome or sequel slump at all! The stakes got really higher, more slightly unexpected betrayal (I was not expecting it entirely, I knew he was not exactly reliable but goodness!) and more enemies coming together to make life difficult (thankfully also more allies) and it also left me wondering about the original relics and how much more we'll learn about them in the bigger picture on Mosaic!

A very much deserved 4 to 4.5 stars to this one! A half star probably because of Asa and Gracie and how much I love when canines are okay! Thank you for that Sarah!!


Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really enjoyed the first book in the series because it touched on something that had long fascinated me, the Alexandria Library, and created an alternative future where not only it had not burnt but one where it controlled the world. And it is a rather less wonderful world than I would have expected.

On Paper & Fire stakes get higher, betrayals happen unexpectedly and the action is absolutely non-stop! From the training and the fear of discovery in the beginning, to the plotting and sniffing around to mount a rescue, to trying to be ahead of the Library from then on to make sure the rescue doesn't turn into a massacre of all of those involved... we barely get any respite!

Jess has to deal with so much in this book! Not only in terms of being hunted and fighting for his life and figuring out how not to die while facing the Library's automata, but also on the more emotional side of things. He has to figure out his feelings and loyalties towards his family and his friends, and also how to navigate the mess that his feelings and relationship with Morgan are.

Rachel Caine managed to make me even more scared for my poor dear books, sometimes I'd just stop reading the book and go pet my poor darlings in my library room and tell them "You're okay, I would never let any evil Library take you away or any crazy people burn you!!". We get quite a few more unsettling revelations, go through very traumatic events and with quite a few unexpected twists here and there that culminate in one hell of an unexpected cliffhanger!!

Very well deserved 4 to 4.5 stars! I just cannot wait till I can get my hands on the third and final book!! *bites nails*


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