Waiting on Wednesday // More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer

Wednesday, February 28, 2018


More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Childrens
Publication Date: March 6th, 2018
Pages: 304

Summary (from Goodreads):

*While this book exists in the same universe as Letters to the Lost, it is a standalone title.*

Rev Fletcher is battling the demons of his past. But with loving adoptive parents by his side, he’s managed to keep them at bay...until he gets a letter from his abusive father and the trauma of his childhood comes hurtling back.

Emma Blue spends her time perfecting the computer game she built from scratch, rather than facing her parents’ crumbling marriage. She can solve any problem with the right code, but when an online troll’s harassment escalates, she’s truly afraid.

When Rev and Emma meet, they both long to lift the burden of their secrets and bond instantly over their shared turmoil. But when their situations turn dangerous, their trust in each other will be tested in ways they never expected. This must-read story will once again have readers falling for Brigid Kemmerer’s emotional storytelling.

I loved Letters to the Lost last year and I'm pretty sure that Rev was my favorite character so I am READY for this book!

What books are you looking forward to today? Let me know in the comments!

Review: The Mirror King by Jodi Meadows

Monday, February 26, 2018


The Mirror King by Jodi Meadows
The Orphan Queen #2
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Publication Date: April 5th, 2016
Rating: 5 Stars
Source: Giveaway
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 531

Summary (from Goodreads):

Wilhelmina has a hundred enemies.

HER FRIENDS HAVE TURNED. After her identity is revealed during the Inundation, Princess Wilhelmina is kept prisoner by the Indigo Kingdom, with the Ospreys lost somewhere in the devastated city. When the Ospreys’ leader emerges at the worst possible moment, leaving Wil’s biggest ally on his deathbed, she must become Black Knife to set things right. 

HER MAGIC IS UNCONTROLLABLE. Wil’s power is to animate, not to give true life, but in the wraithland she commanded a cloud of wraith mist to save herself, and later ordered it solid. Now there is a living boy made of wraith—destructive and deadly, and willing to do anything for her.

HER HEART IS TORN. Though she’s ready for her crown, declaring herself queen means war. Caught between what she wants and what is right, Wilhelmina realizes the throne might not even matter. Everyone thought the wraith was years off, but already it’s destroying Indigo Kingdom villages. If she can’t protect both kingdoms, soon there won’t be a land to rule.

In this stunning conclusion to THE ORPHAN QUEEN, Jodi Meadows follows Wilhelmina’s breathtaking and brave journey from orphaned criminal on the streets to magic-wielding queen.

I can't believe that I waited so long to finish this series. I can't think of very many sequels that I liked better than the first book, but I don't know, this might be one of them.

This book takes place immediately after the ending of The Orphan Queen and follows Wil's journey as she ascends the vermillion throne. She has to deal with the people of the Indigo Kingdom now knowing that she is the lost princess of Aecor. She has to do whatever she can to save Tobiah after Patrick shot him at the end of book one. She also has to deal with Patrick raising an army under her name to do things that she never wanted done to take back Aecor. And on top of all that, she has to deal with her wraith boy's shenanigans.

I still liked Wil a lot in this book, possibly even more than in the first one. She has a lot of tough decisions to make in this book and she has to deal with Patrick's crap. And I feel like she handles it all so well. And she always tries to do things right by everyone, not just the people of Aecor or her Ospreys. I loved that about her.

One thing that did bug me a bit regarding Wil was the fact that she got away with a lot of stuff in this book that I felt like she shouldn't have. I mean, she's the lost princess of an overtaken kingdom that impersonated a Liadian refugee duchess to infiltrate the palace in Skyvale who has a wraith boy sidekick that continually causes trouble. I mean, some of the things really aren't her fault, but I feel like there should be some consequences for her!

Also, like, I think it's mentioned that she's basically a prisoner in the Skyvale palace in this book, but it never feels serious? The guards are kind of incompetent or they just don't care that much. She's always sneaking in and out of the castle and in and out of the king's chambers and she never really gets busted?!

I really liked Tobiah as well. I think he's a wonderful ruler and he always tries to do what's right even if it's not what's best for him. And his list at the end of the book...


It made my heart happy.

I think that the wraith boy was done dirty. Like he's an interesting character. And he is completely and totally devoted to Wil. I get that people were terrified of him, Wil included, but I feel like he could have been treated better. He's continually locked in broom closets and wardrobes and what not and then forgotten about until he emerges to cause trouble. Which, I don't think would have happened if anyone had bothered to just pay attention to him. He followed every order Wil gave him. He was like a puppy! He would have been more well behaved if he had been given more attention. And he could provide them with some information about the wraith that they didn't have before! UGH!

And then the last character I wanted to mention was Patrick for the sole reason that I hate him because he was one of those characters that ALWAYS has a scheme going on and his schemes never seemed to go wrong. I just don't find it believable when a character's schemes not once ever go wrong. It drives me mad.

Overall, I thought that The Mirror King was an EXCELLENT sequel. I didn't feel like it suffered from the dreaded second book syndrome. I thought it was action packed. It kept my interest for the whole thing, I was so eager to know what was going to happen next. I loved the characters, even if there were little things that bugged me. I though the romance was cute. There were a few plot twists that were super interesting and the ending is kind of heart wrenching. But also hopeful. And I am sad that it was only a duology. I need to read the novellas still, so I'm glad that I can still delve back into this world a little bit!

I loved this series so much, I already want to reread it.

Have you read this series yet? What did you think of it?

Discussion // Things That Will Make Me Pick Up Almost Any Book

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Lately, I have been thinking about things that are almost guaranteed to make me interested in a book or to pick it up. I don't really know what made me think about this, but I felt like discussing what types of books that I'm trash for.

One type of book that I will NEVER ever ever tire of is books about royalty. The lost princess/queen trying to regain her rightful throne tropes give me life and if those types of books were the only books I was allowed to read for the rest of my life, I honestly think that I would be perfectly happy.

Specifically, I was thinking about words in book titles that will automatically peak my interest. Words like:

Queen // The Queen's Rising by Rebecca Ross
King // Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller
Prince // The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
Princess // Princess of Thorns by Stacey Jay
Kingdom // To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
Throne // Specifically I am thinking of the LitJoy Crate I am expecting that had the theme "Upon Her Throne" which made me want to throw my money at them.

I think you get the gist of what I'm saying here.

          

A couple of other things that you can tell me about a book that will make me salivate over it:

It's about badass lady pirates (or really pirates in general) //

Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller
Pacifica by Kristen Simmons
Song of the Current by Sarah Tolcser
These Rebel Waves by Sarah Raasch

          

It's about necromancers (this is my newest thing that I am loving lately) //

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
Reign of the Fallen by Sarah Glenn Marsh
For a Muse of Fire by Heidi Heilig

-Honestly don't know if For a Muse of Fire is ACTUALLY about necromancers or if 'binding the souls of the dead' is actually something else, but either way it sounds like something I want.-

          

It has absolutely anything to do at all with WWII //

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Among the Red Stars by Gwen C. Katz

     

It's a tough-issue contemporary having anything to do with sexual assault/rape culture (or really any genre dealing with this topic) //

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu
The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed
All the Rage by Courtney Summers
Wrecked by Maria Padian
The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis
 
          

What are some things that will automatically peak your interest in a book? Any themes or specific words?

Waiting on Wednesday // Daughters of the Storm by Kim Wilkins

Wednesday, February 21, 2018


Daughters of the Storm by Kim Wilkins
Blood and Gold #1
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: March 6th, 2018
Pages: 448

Summary (from Goodreads):

Five very different sisters team up against their stepbrother to save their kingdom in this Norse-flavored fantasy epic--the start of a new series in the tradition of Naomi Novik, Peter V. Brett, and Robin Hobb.

FIVE ROYAL SISTERS. ONE CROWN.

They are the daughters of a king. Though they share the same royal blood, they could not be more different. Bluebell is a proud warrior, stronger than any man and with an ironclad heart to match. Rose's heart is all too passionate: She is the queen of a neighboring kingdom, who is risking everything for a forbidden love. The twins: vain Ivy, who lives for admiration, and zealous Willow, who lives for the gods. And Ash, who is discovering a dangerous talent for magic that might be a gift--or a curse.

But when their father is stricken by a mysterious ailment, they must come together on a desperate journey to save him and prevent their treacherous stepbrother from seizing the throne. Their mission: find the powerful witch who can cure the king. But to succeed on their quest, they must overcome their differences, and hope that the secrets they hide from one another and the world are never brought to light. Because if this royal family breaks, it could destroy the kingdom.

What books are you looking forward to today? Let me know in the comments!

Review // The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Monday, February 19, 2018


The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
The Folk of the Air #1
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: January 2nd, 2018
Rating: 4 Stars
Source: Purchase
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 384

Summary (from Goodreads):

Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

Wow, okay people. So this book was a huge surprise for me. In general, I am really not a fan of books about fae. I can't think of a single fae book that I have read that I still like at this point. There are a few that I liked when I read them originally, but I can't really say that I like them anymore.

And like, I wasn't even going to buy this book. When I heard about it, I was like, "LOL, there's $20 that I don't have to spend!" But I kept seeing everyone talking about it and hauling it and as usual, I was curious! THE HYPE WAS REAL! And even people that I know of that also don't tend to like fae books were really enjoying it. So then when it was EVERYWHERE in Barnes and Noble the last time I went, I caved and bought it.

And I am so surprised by how much I ended up liking it. Like, honestly, a lot of it is probably due to the fact that I was expecting to not like it at all and I was building it up in my head to be just another fae book with a romance that I hated. From everything that I heard about this book, I was expecting it to be brutal and for Cardan to be a giant P.O.S.

And yes, this book was definitely brutal, but not BECAUSE of Cardan which was what I was expecting based on what people were saying about it. Like, yes, Cardan is cruel to Jude and is basically a total bully and a jerk and I feel like this book kind of perpetuates the whole "If a boy is mean to you, it means he likes you" thing, but I was expecting him to be more like 'murders small animals for fun' rather than 'kicks dirt in your food'.

All of that being said, I loved Cardan. Probably more so just because I was expecting to hate him passionately. I could see and understand why he was such a jerk and it basically just made me want to hug him.

What do I want to say about Jude? She's the main character so I probably should have talked about her first, but Cardan is the main reason that I liked this book. But yeah, I really liked Jude. I thought she was brave. She spent her everyday life in Faerie terrified. And for good reason. But she still went out and defied and challenged the one person who seemed to have it out for her. She's ambitious. She wants to be a knight and when she gets a little taste of power, she wants more.

She doesn't really do... good things. But I don't feel like she's bad. I wish she could be good because I feel like that's what she wants, but her circumstances don't really allow for that. I liked when she was coming up with her schemes for what she was going to do with Cardan. Because the way she was going about it didn't feel to me like she really knew what she was doing. And considering that that was her first scheme, she wouldn't. I appreciated that she didn't just start scheming and immediately know exactly what she was doing and just become the scheme queen. I hate how in a lot of YA books characters just start doing things and are immediately pros on their very first shot.

There isn't a LOT of romance in this book. But there was a little bit. I don't really know what I want to say about it because I feel like I'll just start spouting off spoilers if I start talking about it. But all that mattered to me was that the romance wasn't something that I hated like I was really expecting.

The story is brutal, I feel like I've used that word a lot, but it's a good word to describe some of the events of this book. There is a lot of murder. Something that I thought was interesting was the fact that faeries are so... easy to murder. Like, I expected them to be hard to kill, but it seems like you can kill them in the same ways that you could kill any old mortal.

One last thought that I had about this book was that I thought the way that lying was talked about was funny. Jude was sought out for her ability to lie and when she does it and people know she did, they're so taken aback and uncomfortable that it's a thing she can do.

So yeah, I don't even really know if this counts as a review. It's so hard to talk about books that I enjoyed. It doesn't really feel cohesive to me. But oh well. It's safe to say that I would definitely recommend this book. If you are also one to not generally like fae books, I think you should give this one a try if you're feeling adventurous. I don't think that it will disappoint you!

Have you read The Cruel Prince yet? What did you think of it?

Waiting on Wednesday // Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles

Wednesday, February 14, 2018


Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: March 20th, 2018
Pages: 304

Summary (from Goodreads):

When Marvin Johnson's twin, Tyler, goes to a party, Marvin decides to tag along to keep an eye on his brother. But what starts as harmless fun turns into a shooting, followed by a police raid.

The next day, Tyler has gone missing, and it's up to Marvin to find him. But when Tyler is found dead, a video leaked online tells an even more chilling story: Tyler has been shot and killed by a police officer. Terrified as his mother unravels and mourning a brother who is now a hashtag, Marvin must learn what justice and freedom really mean.

What books are you looking forward to today? Let me know in the comments!

Waiting on Wednesday // The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco

Wednesday, February 7, 2018


The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco
The Bone Witch #2
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: March 20th, 2018
Pages: 400

Summary (from Goodreads):

In The Bone Witch, Tea mastered resurrection―now she's after revenge...

No one knows death like Tea. A bone witch who can resurrect the dead, she has the power to take life...and return it. And she is done with her self-imposed exile. Her heart is set on vengeance, and she now possesses all she needs to command the mighty daeva. With the help of these terrifying beasts, she can finally enact revenge against the royals who wronged her―and took the life of her one true love.

But there are those who plot against her, those who would use Tea's dark power for their own nefarious ends. Because you can't kill someone who can never die...

War is brewing among the kingdoms, and when dark magic is at play, no one is safe.

I absolutely L O V E D The Bone Witch!! I'm so excited for the sequel! I NEED to know what happens next!!

What books are you looking forward to today? Let me know in the comments!

Review // Broken Beautiful Hearts by Kami Garcia

Tuesday, February 6, 2018


Broken Beautiful Hearts by Kami Garcia
Publisher: Imprint Make Your Mark
Publication Date: February 6th, 2018
Rating: 4 Stars
Source: Publisher
Format: Audiobook
Pages: 416

Summary (from Goodreads):

Before, Peyton was a star soccer player with the perfect boyfriend, Reed. Now, she has a torn knee ligament, a scholarship on the line, and a shattered sense of self. No one believes Reed pushed her, causing her injury, and Peyton just wants to leave the trauma behind. Living with her uncle and twin cousins in their small, football-obsessed town seems like a great escape plan. 

There, Peyton meets Owen—high school classmate and local MMA fighter. Though Owen is charming and gentle, Peyton is determined to repress her growing attraction. But when her old and new life collide, Peyton must reclaim the truth of her past in order to save her future.

**I received this audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.**

Broken Beautiful Hearts was my first Kami Garcia book and also a book that I probably wouldn't have picked out for myself if I weren't offered the audiobook for review. It DOES fall under the tough-issue contemporary category that I do find myself enjoying, but it also deals a lot with sports, which isn't something that I know or care a lot about.

I am glad that I read this book! I really enjoyed it! The very beginning was a bit iffy for me, but when I got into it, I really liked it.

This book is about Peyton, who is a star soccer player for her DC high school and just got a soccer scholarship to a good college. Things are going great for her until she finds out that her boyfriend is abusing steroids and when she confronts him about it, he pushes her down a flight of stairs, causing her to tear a ligament in her knee and jeopardizes her soccer career and scholarship.

No one believes her when she tells them what Reed did to her and Reed won't leave her alone so her mom sends her to Tennessee to live with her uncle and twin cousins. There she plans to rehab her knee and heal so that she can play soccer again in the spring.

It took me a minute to really like Peyton. I can't really put my finger on what it was that bothered me about her, but in the end, I did grow to like her. She has gone through a lot. She recently lost her father. She lost her best friend (and basically all of her other friends) after Reed pushed her and no one believed her story. She isn't sure if she lost her shot at a soccer career.

She's really just had it rough.

Something I really appreciate about her is how she handles everything. She knows what she wants in life and what she deserves in a relationship and she doesn't seem to be afraid to make tough choices. She doesn't waver in her story about what happened to her knee, even though she loses all of her friends and starts to get threatening phone calls over it.

Truly, I don't understand why no one believes her. She's not made out to be a liar in this book or anything. I feel like there's only one person who has any real reason to not want to believe her and that's Reed's sister, Tess. But Tess is also her best friend so I guess I still don't understand why Tess won't even entertain the idea that Peyton is telling the truth.

I also like how after her ordeal with Reed, she just immediately drops his sorry butt. There's no pining after him. There's no missing him or wanting to get back with him. There's not a single regret about telling the truth about what he did to her. I don't know, I just really appreciated that about Peyton.

I really liked the romance in this book. Owen is an MMA fighter like Reed, so Peyton immediately marks him as Not An Option, but her heart has other ideas. I really liked Owen. He seemed really sweet and kind and I loved him and Peyton together.

There are only a couple things that I can think of that I didn't care for about this book. For one, when Peyton is first introduced to the "mean girl" of the story, she takes every opportunity she gets to call her a bitch. Like, yeah, when they first meet, April is picking on one of her fellow cheerleaders, but Peyton just comes out with guns blazing every time April comes into the story. It doesn't seem like there's any real reason for it because April isn't even a relevant character in the story, she's literally just there for Peyton to hate and it seemed unnecessary.

The other thing I thought was weird about this book was the way Peyton's twin cousins, Christian and Cameron, treated her. They're ridiculously over protective of her. Going so far as to tell all the guys at her new school that she doesn't date and being super nosy in her love life.

Besides that, I really liked Christian and Cameron. They were hilarious and were always there for Peyton.

Overall, I really liked this book. I feel like I personally might not have liked it as much if I were reading it instead of listening to it, but I did really enjoy listening to it. If you like books about sports (I feel like that's a thing I've seen people asking for on Twitter), you might like this book. I feel like soccer should be the main sport, but MMA fighting is probably the most prominent sport featured.

Have you read Broken Beautiful Hearts yet? Or are you looking forward to it?

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