It's almost time for ARC April!!

Hey there guys!

The awesome Octavia & Shelly from Read Sleep Repeat are once again holding ARC April, a way to motivate ourselves to tackle all those ARCs that are demanding our attention and that we'd like to clear off before heading to BEA!

This year there are extra prizes depending on the levels of ARCs you read and sign ups close up on April 15th, do check out the rest of the rules and info HERE.

 I'm hoping for the Silver level, that it's 5 to 9 ARCs. I'm mostly gonna be reading eARCs, although I also plan to read my left over ARCs from last year BEA, so I'll go to this year's BEA with a clean slate!

My three physical ARCs will be Newt's Emerald, The Witch Hunter and Blood Passage.

And from my eARC list from either Edelweiss and Netgalley I'm hoping to catch up a bit and read some backlogged eARCs and some going to be backlogged:

- The Last Faerie Queen
- Lair of Dreams
- Wendy Darling
- Tell the Wind and Fire
- Love, Lies & Spies

That's my list to choose from, let's see how I do!
Are you guys joining us on ARC April?

Mark These Books Monday: We'll Never Be Apart & Discover Ruta Sepetys sampler!!

Hello there guys!!

*waves* *yawns*

Today is a Monday off work, even if it's because I worked night shift on Sunday! But hey, I've slept a bit in the morning and I don't have plans beyond sorting some books, doing some chores around the house and start my buddy read of Carry On with Mel!

For this week's Mark These Books Monday I have two more reviews that shall count towards my Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge, both backlogged eARCs from Netgalley that should help me remain with my ratio at 80% or more!

Discover Ruta Sepetys by Ruta Sepetys

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I got this sampler for both Between Shades of Grey and Salt to the Sea from Netgalley because I've heard many things about Ruta Sepetys' books and all of them good, so I wanted to check the writing for myself and see if they are my kind of books.

And well, the answer is yes, they are my kind of books for sure! I only got a few chapters of each book and I already was turning pages fast, completely engaged and very much drawn into the stories of those I had just barely met! The characters voices felt so very real and the writing is simply fantastic, drawing you into the story and keeping a hold of you!

Now I need to get me both Between Shades of Grey and Salt to the Sea ASAP!!

View all my reviews



We'll Never Be Apart by Emiko Jean

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


We'll Never Be Apart was a book that I requested last year because it sounded very intriguing, it was a debut book and I wanted to read a bit more contemporary. For some reason or other I couldn't get to it before release date and then it joined the ranks of my poor backlogged eARCs.

I read most of the book last Friday during night shift, and that means both that I had a rather good shift and that the book was a fast and engaging read! The book would have got a higher rating if I wouldn't have suspected so early what the twist at the end of the book was. I'm not saying it was super obvious, because there was not just one thing to point out that might have given it away...

The book is told from Alice's POV while she's at a mental health institution and also by her journal entries and memories. Alice is a complex and intriguing character and discovering her past anew and her reflections on it were also quite fascinating.

The way the author wrote the tension and the fear and trepidation that Alice felt was fantastic and the pacing was also done very well. The book makes you want to turn pages and find out more about what might have happened, about who Jason really was, what happened that night and how Alice can get better.

I wasn't too keen on the possibility of a romance when we first met Chase, but I have to say it was done so well and it really didn't bother me as much as I would have thought at first. Chase was more than what he might have seemed at first, and his character development was done really well.

All in all, it was a very engaging book, even if the epilogue did change things around a bit again, and although I had guessed the twist, the book managed to keep my interest! 3 to 3.5 stars to an intriguing debut!

View all my reviews

Friday Reads: ARC Reviews of Into The Dim & The Girl From Everywhere!!

Hiya there guys!

Friday is here! And with it sleeping in the morning because I work night shift tonight. I'm hoping for a bit of a quiet shift so I can get some reading done while the patients are sleeping!

For this week's Friday Reads I have two eARCs that count towards my Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge and that are two time travel YA books and 2016 debuts, so they do count towards my 2016 Debut Author Challenge goal! Time travelling for the win today it seems! ;)

Into the Dim by Janet B.  Taylor

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I'm a big fan of historical fiction and after reading & watching Outlander now I'm also a big fan of time travel that focuses more on the historical bits of where you land than the science mechanics of the traveling itself.

Into The Dim combines a bit of both, there's a bit of mixed science explanation of how you time travel and there's a lot of finding yourself in a different time and having to adapt to it and making the best of what the circumstances throw at you.

Hope, our main character, is grieving the loss of her mother, and battling her phobias and even her photographic memory from overwhelming her. And once she thinks things cannot get more difficult and it's trying to adapt to the new situation, she gets a real game changer thrown at her. And her reaction and responses made a lot of sense. After a lifetime of being told one thing, even certain proof can be hard to swallow & digest, even more when it means that your loved ones have lied to you all along.

Her interactions with a certain boy that she meets are more than a lil suspect to me, but given her upbringing, being homeschooled and quite closeted, it didn't seem as far fetched that she wouldn't suspect it as much as I did. And frankly I can understand the allure of the guy, even if the "stalker" vibes at first should have been a bit of a no-no!

My favourite part of the book had to be once our dear Hope and rest of the gang find themselves in the time of Eleanor of Aquitania and have to execute a rescue plan where nothing goes as it should, full of unexpected hurdles but also unexpected allies. You can see that the author did her work on researching the era and we get so many winks at historical events to come! I already liked Eleanor of Aquitania, but now? Now I'd like to claim her as my patronus! So much love for such a strong woman and how she did what she could given the time she lived in!

Family feuds, friendships destroyed by jealousy, unexpected revelations that throw what we thought we know for a spin and that could have quite intriguing repercusions on books to come, some really swoony moments and a character with changing loyalties except for one and that makes some maybe questionable choices but nonetheless understandable... Combine all that with a great sense of pacing and gripping writing and you've got yourself a book that cannot stop reading until the very end!

Thank goodness for the lack of real cliffhanger though! I mean, the ending is sad and heartbreaking but it's reasonable and very much the closing of a chapter, but not a real cliffhanger. Still, it definitely leaves you wanting more and making grabby hands at the sequel! Very much deserved 4.5 stars to this fantastic debut!

View all my reviews

The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


What a magnificent debut!

The Girl From Everywhere is one of those 2016 debuts I was so very excited for and it has not disappointed!

Nix's story is more complex than what you'd think at first, but at the same way it's also simpler. It is at its core the story of a girl and her father growing apart and finding a way to reach common ground again. Their circumstances being quite complex and unusual, but the problems being lack of communication and grief clouding judgement, those are not so extraordinary.

The world building for this book was simply outstanding... the mythology and the time travel is done in such a fantastic and simple and at the same time complex way! Things are happening because something happened in the past but that is caused my something happening right now? Quite an interesting take on causality and even if there are few rules to this time travelling via map, the ones that exist are absolute. Every bit and detail woven into the narrative is done in such a way that you are reminded of this being a fantasy story but making you wish so very hard that it could happen!

The writing also compliments the world building, because it's extremely visual and gripping! Never a moment to be bored, no matter if you're sailing to the border, taking a small tour of the island and being awed by sacred waterfalls or trying to avoid the Hawaian version of Dance of the Death. You want to be on board the Temperance and you want to see all the sights and visit all the places!

I must warn of the presence of a love triangle, surprisingly it didn't bother me as much as I was expecting, although I feel bad some one of the parts of the triangle, and the resolution is not as definitive as it could have been... I wasn't all that bothered, and I sort of understood Nix's motivations, feelings and doubts. I might have prefered if it wouldn't have been there, BUT... well, it didn't take from my enjoyment of the book or how captivated I was so...

Even if I felt like taking a half star off because of the love triangle, there's a dragon and a puppy and that means it gets extra half star too, so it all evens out. I'm not sure if it's a 4.5 or a full 5 stars, but this is one book I see myself re-reading, I'm hoping for more stories about the Temperance crew and their adventures and more mythology to absolutely love and enjoy!

View all my reviews

Mark These Books Monday: ARC Reviews Blackhearts & Beyond The Red!!

Hello there guys!

Last week I totally failed on the blogging front! I only had my Monday reviews up and then I was distracted reading, working, feeling rather crappy and completely stuck on review writing... so I'm gonna be upping it up this week and I hope to get as many reviews up as possible! Also, finally got to the ever ellusive 80% ratio on Netgalley, so YAY!! Now, the hardest part... to keep it!!

Starting the week right with another edition of Mark These Books Monday, I have two 2016 debuts, but only one of them will count towards my 2016 Debut Author Challenge as well as my NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge, because one of them I read in Dec'15 and I had failed to review it till now!



Beyond the Red by Ava Jae

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A fantastic debut indeed! I really got a "classic science fiction" feel from this one, and although it was more focused on the plot and the action than the world building, the author did a really great job with establishing the setting.

The books is told in dual POV from halfbreed Eros, that lives with the human refugees, and queen Kora, the first female ruler of her territory in many generations. The book starts with them in very different places and situations but soon they cross paths and change each other's lives.

We can easily picture ourselves in the red desert camp, among the humans that are making their life there as best as they can, and we can easily picture ourselves into the city that Kora rules, feeling quite intrigued about the kind of society that she lives in, and the kind of political war she finds herself involved in. I kept on wishing for a bit more of in-depth explanations about the past history, because we get some lil bits here and there, with legends and stories and snippets, but I wanted more!

Humans & aliens, although technically the humans should be the aliens since they're the ones not indigenous to the planet (and no, it is not Mars, even if the Red bit of the title made me think it'd be) with an us vs them relationship based on discrimination, hate and political power plays. The resentment was clear but the fact that Eros as a halfbreed existed also made me wonder about how different both species could be and if there might not be closer ties than the ones we know about?

The relationship between Kora and Eros moves from the only way out of a really bad situation for Eros to a reluctant alliance to a more solid one, and there's attraction quite clear there. Eros sees that a position of power isn't exactly free of pain, hurdles or doubts, and sees that despite his anger & pain, helping Kora might very well be the lesser of two evils. Kora finds an ally with no political designs that she feels she can trust and one that shows her a different light on her situation as a ruler and what she thought she knew about humans too. Part forbidden relationship, part unbalance of power, their interactions & the way the relationship changes and progresses is great.

I already said the action is quite non-stop and we also get quite a few revelations, although some of them were easier to suspect than others. Once the main one happened, there others were easier to see coming, although after that ending, I'm not really sure what will come next and I really hope there will be a next! It could be a rather open ending and be left at that, but I'm really hoping that we'll get a sequel and with it more answers to questions about the past!

Well deserved 4 stars to this science fiction debut!

Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Blackhearts was initially not one of my most awaited debuts of the year, I cannot pinpoint why because I like stories about pirates but for some reason I was a bit undecided. But then I saw a few super positive reviews for it and Sarah (The YA Book Traveller) made her book trailer and I was absolutely pumped for the book!

Being approved after being not approved for it my Simon Pulse on EW seemed like a sign that I had to read the book ASAP, and so I did! And guess what? Another fantastic debut that I'm beyond glad I didn't miss!

Just keep one thing in mind, Blackhearts is not a story about pirate adventures, pillage and battles. Blackhearts is all about the unknown and untold backstory of Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard.

Blackhearts is a character driven novel, told in dual POV from both Teach and Anne Barrett. Anne is mixed race and is employed as a maid at Teach's father's house, but she's got too much spirit for a maid and her looks set her apart and make people suspicious or underestimate her. At first that makes her clash with Teach but soon enough that changes.

Teach has just returned from spending a year at sea and he doesn't want to go back to fold into his father's expectations and society's norms. He wants to return to be the man he was on the ship, where he was valued for himself and the choices he made, not the choices others make for him, or climbing the social ladder.

Teach and Anne first meetings are rather clashing and quite fun to read about too. And the way their relationship progressed from Anne hitting him (not on him) to them finding they understand each other much better than they could ever expect given their different backgrounds.

I loved the setting and how very much immersed into the story and the time I was. And I was so very easily drawn to both Teach and Anne and their budding relationship. I really appreciated Anne's fierceness and determination and Teach's open mindness and the way he looked at people's worth as themselves and not their social status or connections.

The ending was quite open and rather cruel too, and I'm really hoping there will be a sequel so we'll get a bit more on the story of Teach and Anne, and a bit more of pirate adventures too! Still, very much deserved 4 stars for this debut! Don't miss it!!


View all my reviews

Mark These Books Monday: ARC Reviews of NEED & An Inheritance of Ashes!!

Hello there guys!

Mondays off are one of those lovely treats, aren't they? Today I really must catch up on some house chores and also run a few errands, but I'm hoping to also have some time to relax and read a lil bit, or maybe just go back and continue binge watching BSG on Netflix... who knows??

For this week's Mark These Books Monday I have two reviews of eARCs that I got approved for quite a while back on Netgalley but I never got around to reading in time, so now they're part of my Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge and my ongoing battle for finally reaching the 80% ratio (and keeping it!).

NEED by Joelle Charbonneau

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


NEED was one of those books that I requested because they sounded extremely interesting: social media and teens using it to get what they really wanted with no concern for what they have to do in exchange... Sounds really cool! It also was a Read it Now when I got it on Netgalley.

Then release date rolled over, I couldn't fit it into my schedule and fast forward till I had a conversation with a friend about it and I remembered I had the eARC somewhere in my Kindle!

NEED was a very fast read and one that had me turning pages rather fast wondering if what I was figuring about it would be right or not. With multiple POVs it could have felt slow or cumbersome, but given that they were also short chapters for the most part, they didn't seem to slow the pacing as much. I know other people have said that some POVs seemed pointless to them, but for me it showed the outreach of the website and different people's reaction to the website, their actions and the consequences of those actions.

But the moment the big reveals started to happen... I was disappointed. I can't really go on in depth about why because I would spoil the ending and climax for everyone of course, but it just made me think, and I'm sorry all my dear US friends, "oh come, yet another typical American movie move". It felt like very typical combination of a blockbuster + conspiracy theory... just... gah.

Given how disappointing the ending was for me, I cannot give this one more than 3 stars and only because it was an interesting take on social media and the freedom to forget about being responsible from our acts & choices that seems to be inherent to anonimity sometimes, and the mob factor. Multiple POV was also done well for me, but nothing can take away how disappointing the ending was.

An Inheritance of Ashes by Leah Bobet

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Some books have slow beginnings peppered with enough small bits here and there that make you want to keep on reading to see if it delivers what it promised, and this one is one of those. From 40% onwards it became better and better and ended up earning 4 stars.

An Inheritance of Ashes is one of those books that needs to be given a chance because they develop slowly and hides its secrets quite well. For a good part of the book I wasn't sure if it should even be considered fantasy because despite the mentions of the Wicked God and the presence of the Twisted Things, what we get is two sisters at odds, trying to survive in the aftermath of a war and the trials and tribulations that come with that.

The biggest strengh of this book lies in the characters and the story & relationship between the two sisters and their struggle to survive. Hallie and Martha have to deal with their family history, the losses from the war and being alone in running the whole homestead on their own. The book is told from Hallie's POV but we get to see that things might not always be as she perceives them.

And the secondary characters aren't any less strong, meeting the neighbours that love the girls as family, even if sometimes the sisters feel like they have to prove they don't need help. Tyler, Nat & their family weren't without issues on their own, but dealt with them differently and provided with a great balance for the sisters.

I said it before, sometimes I struggled with the book till I reached the 40% mark, because I wasn't sure where it all was going, or wasn't sure about the world building, but after the 40% mark I was well and truly hooked, not only because everything started to come together both plot and world building wise, but because the character development continued to grow and expand and the interactions between the characters grew even more complex as new revelations started to drop here and there.

The mix of magical world of fantasy and the feeling of historical fiction/period drama was so well done. So much about the mistrust between family members, living within a lie to protect yourself, and consequences of war and how it changes you when you're lucky enough to return from it. This book is one wonderful study on human nature and how we shape or relationships with those around us with our fears and hopes and secrets and not only how the others act.

And once thing I haven't been able to stop thinking about was a conversation about help, how we need to make sure when we're offering help to others is NOT to offer things we want to do for them, but to make sure to ASK them what is the help that they really NEED. I will have to look up the exact quote because I really need to have it up somewhere in some shape, because I feel it is SO relevant and so important!

As I already said, the last 60% of the book really earnt itself the final 4 star rating and I'm very glad I got the chance to read it!

Tell Me Tuesdays #35!!

Tell Me Tuesdays is a meme/feature created by the awesome La La In The Library, where we can share how we choose the book we are currently reading from our TBR pile!

I'm always curious about that, cause as much as I tend to make myself a rough schedule for books to read and the like, I'm quite a mood reader and sometimes I just HAVE to ignore my schedule and read something else!

Into The Dim by Janet B Taylor


“Seventy-two hours, then we have to be back at the clearing. Sunrise on the third day.”

Being “the homeschooled girl,” in a small town, Hope Walton’s crippling phobias and photographic memory don’t help her fit in with her adoptive dad’s perfectly blonde Southern family. But when her mother is killed in a natural disaster thousands of miles from home, Hope’s secluded world crumbles. After an aunt she’s never met invites her to spend the summer in Scotland, Hope discovers that her mother was more than a brilliant academic. She’s a member of a secret society of time travelers, and is actually trapped in the twelfth century in the age of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Now Hope must conquer her numerous fears and travel back in time to help rescue her mother before she’s lost for good. Along the way, she’ll discover more family secrets, and a mysterious boy who could be vital to setting her mother free… or the key to Hope’s undoing.

Addictive, romantic, and rich with historical detail, Into the Dim is an Outlander for teens.

 An Inheritance of Ashes by Leah Bobet

 Six months ago, the men of the lakelands marched south to fight a dark god.

Weeks after the final battle was won, sixteen-year-old Hallie and her sister, Marthe, are still struggling to maintain their family farm—and are waiting for Marthe’s missing husband to return. After a summer of bitter arguments, Hallie is determined to get Roadstead Farm through the winter—and keep what’s left of her family together, despite an inheritance destined to drive them apart.

But when Hallie hires a wandering veteran in a bid to save the farm, every phantom the men marched south to fight arrives at her front gate. Spider-eyed birds circle the fields, ghostly messages writes themselves on the riverbank, and soon Hallie finds herself keeping her new hired hand’s despite desperate secrets—and taking dangerous risks. But as she fights to keep both the farm and her new friend safe, ugly truths about her own family are emerging—truths that, amid gods, monsters, and armies, might tear Roadstead Farm apart.

Leah Bobet’s stark, beautiful fantasy explores the aftermath of the battles we fight and the slow, careful ways love can mend broken hearts—and a broken world.


I was lucky enough to grab Into The Dim when it was a Read It Now on NetGalley, and An Inheritance of Ashes is one of my backlogged eARCs that I didn't get to read on time, so now I'm working on my list to try and finally achieve and consolidate the ever ellusive 80% ratio! Right now I'm at 79%... SO CLOSE!!

 So what are you all guys reading and how and why did you decide to pick up that book? Shiny new ARC? Comfort read? Scheduled for review? Must have new release? Tell me!!

Mark These Books Monday: ARC Review of Night Study & The Abyss Surrounds Us!!

Hello there guys!

Monday for me this week also means back to work since I had the weekend off (as most people tend to, but a once a month occasion for a nurse like me). I spent it reading & catching up on shows and sorting the library room!

For this week's Mark These Books Monday I have two books that I read in 2016 and that also count towards my challenges of the year (YAY me!). One of them even counts for three challenges: 2016 Debut Author, Netgalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge (since both are eARCs, both count for this one) and the Diverse Books 2016 Reading Challenge!

Night Study by Maria V. Snyder

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Action filled, with many twists and surprises, very many unexpected surprises that are changing the game as we knew it and that are keeping the series fresh and me turning pages like there's no tomorrow!

Shadow Study left us with quite a bomb and thankfully Night Study picks up right there where we were left, with Yelena and Valek as a team, trying to figure out things together. I so love that as the series progresses these two continue to make a fantastic team, facing threats together and without pointless drama.

Things are more dire than ever, Yelena without her magic and no idea how to get it back, Valek with his torn loyalties and his fierce need to protect Yelena but trying not to be a traitor to the Commander... and twisting and complex net where their enemies are getting the upper hand and refuse to stay dead.

The pacing in this one was neck-breaking and I could barely turn the pages fast enough to see how they'd get themselves out of the very dire situations and dangers they kept finding themselves. Working together or apart Yelena and Valek and their allies/friends/family are always a great team, even if this team all their efforts are barely enough to keep their heads above the water!

There were even more surprises and shocks and twists in this one, that I wasn't expecting, that made a lot of sense but that were real game changers once again! The death toll is also starting to raise and I'm beginning to get worried for my fave secondary characters, because the prospects are are dire and things are looking more and more grim by the moment!

Another fantastic installment in the newly extended series, and frankly with the way the author is keeping things spinning, I'm looking forward to many more books, although I don't know if this was planned as an extra trilogy?? Either way, I'll be bitting my nails here waiting for the next book! Very much deserved 4 stars for this one!

The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Tough as nails lady pirates, monsters from the deep, and a slow burn romance with a cruel twist at the end, this was a wild ride that had me glued to my Kindle! Proper review to come, but I need a sequel like NOW!!

We meet Cassandra on her regular life, and we learn as the pages pass about the world we are in, with a few conversations here and there to add to the knowledge of the set up and the way it's changed from ours. Not a full info dump, and we don't know all the details of how or why, but enough to figure out the differences and get a clear idea of where we stand.

But soon enough the real action starts and Cassandra has her world turned upside down. Her first solo mission as a Reckoner trainer ends in failure and death and she finds herself among the same pirates she's always fought against, and what's more, finds herself with torn loyalties and scrambling around for a way to survive and keep doing what she thinks is right.

Once the pirates enter the book, we have this cast of grey and extremely interesting characters that shake Cas' world in ways that she really didn't expect. Cas always grows as a character tremendously, doing her best to survive and trying to hold onto the sense of right and wrong that was her moral compass before, but also discovering that not everything is so black and white and that people aren't always so black & white either.

I loved how gender stereotypes are subverted in many small ways and how in the narrative and the world, they are what they are, not challeged and not taken as exceptions. Santa Elena is a ruthless, tough as nails pirate that can chop off fingers and care for her son and conquer a boat with him strapped to her back or celebrate a victory wearing a ball gown. A father can be the one to stay home to care for the kids while the mothers come and go to the sea and might never come back. No one doubts what a girl can or cannot do because of their gender.

The relationship between Cas & Bao, her new Reckoner charge is quite complex, because she doesn't want to train him as Santa Elena wants him trained, she resents him for his own nature and how it traps her because of her knowlegde, but still, it's always a close bond between trainer & Reckoner.

And there's a fantastic romance, with a great slow burn and a girl that recognizes her feelings but also see how messed up the situation is and doesn't exactly throw herself into the mess anyways. It's still used against her, it's still full of chemistry and heartache and fantastic, and it's a lesbian romance (YAY diversity!). I was rooting for them both all through the book and was quite shocked and shaken at the end because holy spoilers Batman!

I'm so very glad we do have a sequel coming next year (it's written and all!!) because although this ends in a open but bearable way plot wise... emotionally... nope, unresolved as hell! Very much deserved 4 stars for this fantastic debut!

View all my reviews

Tell Me Tuesdays #32!!

Tell Me Tuesdays is a meme/feature created by the awesome La La In The Library, where we can share how we choose the book we are currently reading from our TBR pile!

I'm always curious about that, cause as much as I tend to make myself a rough schedule for books to read and the like, I'm quite a mood reader and sometimes I just HAVE to ignore my schedule and read something else!

It's been a while since I last posted on Tell Me Tuesdays so hi there!!

The Paladin Caper by Patrick Weekes

A thief’s good deeds are never done.

Loch and her crew are determined to stop the ancients from returning to reclaim the world they once ruled, but a kidnapped friend throws their plans awry. When a desperate rescue turns into a shocking reunion, the ancients return and seize power. Determined to stop them, Loch and the crew look for a way to close the gate to the ancients’ world, but this time, they find themselves up against an enemy that has insinuated itself into the highest ranks of the Republic. Cruel, cunning, and connected, the ancients target the crew’s families and histories, threatening to tear friendships apart.

If that weren’t bad enough, Loch must deal with her treacherous assassin sister, her turncoat ancient friend, and a daemon who has sworn to hunt her to the ends of the earth. In order to save the Republic and pull off her largest con ever, Loch will need her friends…and maybe her enemies too.

 Riders by Veronica Rossi

For eighteen-year-old Gideon Blake, nothing but death can keep him from achieving his goal of becoming a U.S. Army Ranger. As it turns out, it does.

Recovering from the accident that most definitely killed him, Gideon finds himself with strange new powers and a bizarre cuff he can't remove. His death has brought to life his real destiny. He has become War, one of the legendary four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Over the coming weeks, he and the other horsemen--Conquest, Famine, and Death--are brought together by a beautiful but frustratingly secretive girl to help save humanity from an ancient evil on the emergence.

They fail.

Now--bound, bloodied, and drugged--Gideon is interrogated by the authorities about his role in a battle that has become an international incident. If he stands any chance of saving his friends and the girl he's fallen for--not to mention all of humankind--he needs to convince the skeptical government officials the world is in imminent danger.

But will anyone believe him?

The Paladin Caper is the last book (for now, hopefully there will be more) on The Rogues of the Republic series, a fantasy heist series, as I like to call it, and one that I'm loving to bits! So happy that I got approved for them on NetGalley!

And Riders is only a sampler I got from NetGalley, because as much as I think the summary sounds amazing and should be something I'd be all over it, I don't seem to be able to be as excited for it as I should! So I got the sampler hoping to either discard it completely from my list or finally get as excited as I should.

That sounds odd, I know, but that's me, I'm quite odd! ;)

So what are you all guys reading and how and why did you decide to pick up that book? Shiny new ARC? Comfort read? Scheduled for review? Must have new release? Tell me!!

ARC August: Third Week Recap!

Hey guys!

This post should have been done yesterday, since it's the recap for last week and all that, but since I was unplugged at the cottage, it'll have to be done a day later!

Clearly I do much better with my reading when I don't get distracter with Twitter and logging my reading progress on GR, so whenever I need to kick the TBR pile real good, I need to pack my books and head off for the cottage!

I finished Into The Fire before going to the cottage and I hope to review it soon! While at the cottage I read A Curious Tale of the In Between, Firewalker, Walk on Earth a Stranger and started Tonight The Streets Are Ours! (I also finished one book and read another two, but they are finished copies and therefore don't count towards this challenge).

Now... now I need to get my arse in gear and WRITE ALL THE REVIEWS!!

How did you guys do??

ARC August: Second Week Recap!

Hey guys! Welcome to my recap of the second week of ARC August!

This week I haven't done as well as I would have wanted, but being the mood reader than I am, I got through two re-reads and read a newly released book and started another... and so I only finished two ARCs, one physical : The Copper Gauntlet, the review will be up tomorrow and an eARC: The Bollywood Bride, review HERE.

I gave up on Legacy of Kings so I've DNFed that one, and will write a short DNF review after its release. Now I've started two ARCs and I hope to finish them early next week: A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano and Into The Fire by Manda Scott!

Into The Fire is one of my backlogged ARCs and I cannot believe I had forgotten about it because it's an adult historical fiction mixed with actual events novels by an author I love and I'm completely immersed in the book now!

Let's hope my mood reading is better and I can get through more ARCs since I'll be spending a few days at the cottage!

How did you guys do this week?

ARC August: First week recap!

Once again I joined ARC August hosted by the lovely ladies of Read Sleep Repeat and this is my first recap post to keep myself accountable!

Between work and my apartment stuff related, I'm not reading as much as I hoped, but on this first week I've focused on reading eARCs, to try and get on with the ever ellusive 80% on NetGalley! I'm happy to report that right now I am at 79%! NEARLY THERE!!

I finished two eARCs this week, Fated by Sarah Fine that I reviewed HERE and Beastly Bones by William Ritter, which will be reviewed next week on the blog.

I've also got two other eARCs started, Riot of Storm & Smoke by Jennifer Ellision that I hope to finish today itself (and hopefully have up for review on Monday) and Legacy of Kings by Eleanor Herman that I hope to return to at some point and not just give up on... I'm currently at 43% but not too invested, too many POVs seem to be a problem for me...

For week 2 I plan to focus on physical ARCs, and since I'll be gone to my parents cottage for a few days next week, no distractions will mean loads of reading time, or so I hope!

I'll be back next Sunday for another recap!

Mark This Book Monday: All the samplers!: Dove Arising, Daughter of Deep Silence, The Heir, Ungodly!!

Happy Monday you guys!

This week is gonna be quite work-busy for me, and I still hope to manage to read a bit at night and hope that I won't have to juggle too many apartment related things...

And if only the damned heat wave went the F away! This heat is really killing my energy and my productivity!

For this week's Mark This Book Monday I'm gonna have a special Samplers mini reviews, so I can finally get them off my NetGalley Shelf!



Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan

This was a rather short sampler, but quite enough to give us a sense of the state of mind of Frances right as she is rescued from a shipwreck, dealing with survivor's guilt and having to face the fact that the other only survivors are lying about what happened in the cruise and how the ship was sunk.

I liked Frances' voice and just the first chapters were really intriguing, really left me wanting to read more. And for some strange reason the sampler also made me think of the Doctor Who Xmas Special about the space Titanic (Allons-y Alonzo!). I think the whole conspiracy feeling about a ship sinking making it look like an accident or lying about how it was an accident is the similar thread there.

Did this sampler succeed in making me want to read the book? Quite so!


Dove Arising by Karen Bao

This one was a slightly longer sampler, and one that showed how unique the voice of this novel is. Phaet doesn't speak out loud, much or nearly at all. That could have proved a challenge to relate or to connect with her, but given it was not like that at all. Being inside her head with the first person narrative was a treat!

I loved how she was determined to work hard and make the most of her intelligence and was aiming to do what she loved, but how she was even more determined to keep her family together.

The world building of the Moon as a colony and the society developed there felt like a mix of classic science fiction and classic dystopia, and one I really would love to read more about!

Did this sampler succeed in making me want to read the book? YES!


The Heir by Kiera Cass

I must confess that getting this sampler was a total guilty pleasure, because I read the three Selection books and enjoyed them, even if they were the fluffiest of fluff. I had decided not to give a flying f*ck about the next book because I felt it wasn't needed, but then I got curious and grabbed this sampler.

It is a fairly big sampler, with the first 10 chapters of the book. The writing is equally as easy to read and devour as the rest of the Selection books, but Eadlyn, our new main character and the daughter of Mer and Maxon, is not an easy to like character. She reads entitled and spoiled in a way that her brother doesn't, and when she makes a point of fighting for her independence and self reliance, it comes out more as a selfish tantrum.

There's a new Selection, one with a female as a chooser for the first time, so it's like a first edition of the Bachelorette. And maybe it should have read girl empowering, but since it was used as a distraction, it felt manipulative and even if that was not the intention, it read like "you need to find someone to love, or you'll never be happy" sort of attitude pushed onto Eadlyn.

Did this sampler succeed in making me want to read the book? Well, yes...
Will I buy the book and read it? Nope, I'll probably beg for spoilers to know what the hell happened though.


Ungodly by Kendare Blake

My most recent sampler grab and one that I had to read right away, even if reading a sampler from the last book of a trilogy you love is never really a good idea...

This one is also a BIG sampler, with the first ten chapters and quite a few answers and twists already happening!

After the very bloody and cruel ending of Mortal Gods, we see the fallout and what happened to our characters, meet a few interesting new characters (helloooo there Death!) and see Athena in a rather unexpected light and continue to feel like hugging and walloping Cassandra in the head! Neither Athena nor Cassandra are easy characters to love, but for some reason I give Athena more lenience and Cassandra ends up making me want to shake her a bit more, with her combination of hatred, naivete and deep knowledge at the same time...

Did this sampler succeed in making me want to read the book? HELL YEAH, EVEN MORE THAN I ALREADY WANTED TO BEFORE!!

ARC August is back and I'm totally signing up for it again!!

Hey there guys!!

Once again the amazing ladies at Read Sleep Repeat are doing ARC August (for the third year!!) and I do plan to once again, sign up for it!!

You might be asking, what is ARC August? Well, I'm gonna let the mighty Octavia explain it to you, words taken right out of her blog:

"For those of you new to RSR let me explain ARC August. And to answer your first question, no it is not a month where ARCs of you most anticipated books rain from the heavens and fall directly into your laps.

I started ARC August my first (was it really my first?!) year of blogging, as an attempt to get caught up on my ARCs and get my Netgalley ratio up since it was completely in the shitter (think 32% people) and it wasn’t changing any time soon. And, like they say, misery loves company so I invited my fellow book nerds to tackle their ratios and piles with me and it was GLORIOUS! Not only did we have fun, I really made a dent in my pile! So I’m bringing ARC August back and am inviting all of YOU to look over those ARCs and show them who’s boss."

I was so close to getting to 80% ratio on NetGalley before I had to put the blog on hiatus, so I'm hoping to get back to eARC reading and reviewing with a vengeance, so I can end the month of August with the ever ellusive 80% NG ratio! And also, I need to tackle my BEA pile of ARCs in the proper order!

That's why I'm planning to read and review all the September ARCs from the BEA pile

And I'm also planning to read another 5 eARCs that are currently in my Kindle, probably Legacy of Kings, The Veil, Beastly Bones, Lair of Dreams and at least a pair of titles that I'm late to read and review...

My goal is reading at least 10 ARCs, between physical and eARCs, and I hope to succeed! After all, once I'm done with ARC August, I'll have Queen of Shadows to read, and what better way to read it that with all the Sept ARCs read and reviewed!! No guilt!!

Are any of you guys thinking of joining ARC August? Wish me luck!!