31 July, 2018

REVIEW: THE DARKEST MINDS by Alexandra Bracken

Title: The Darkest Minds
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Series: The Darkest Minds #1
Genres: YA, Sci-Fi
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Release: December 18th, 2012
Source: Kindle Edition
Pages: 499

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BLURB: When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something frightening enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that got her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that had killed most of America’s children, but she and the others emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they could not control.

Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones. When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. She is on the run, desperate to find the only safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who have escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents. When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at having a life worth living.

30 July, 2018

29 July, 2018

COVER OF THE MONTH


We are always told to not judge a book by its cover but... this is exactly what we will be doing! Cover art should also be appreciated. Am I right? ;)

In this meme we will be choosing 5 covers every month from books published on said month
e.g. for january we will choose a cover from a book published in january


28 July, 2018

REVIEW: SMOKE IN THE SUN by Renée Ahdieh

Title: Smoke in the Sun
Author: Renée Ahdieh
Series: Flame in the Mist #2
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Release: June 5th, 2018
Source: Kindle Edition
Pages: 432

// Goodreads // BookDepository // Amazon //

BLURB: The highly anticipated sequel to Flame in the Mist - an addictive, sumptuous finale that will leave readers breathless from the bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn


After Okami is captured in the Jukai forest, Mariko has no choice - to rescue him, she must return to Inako and face the dangers that have been waiting for her in the Heian Castle. She tricks her brother, Kenshin, and betrothed, Raiden, into thinking she was being held by the Black Clan against her will, playing the part of the dutiful bride-to-be to infiltrate the emperor's ranks and uncover the truth behind the betrayal that almost left her dead.

With the wedding plans already underway, Mariko pretends to be consumed with her upcoming nuptials, all the while using her royal standing to peel back the layers of lies and deception surrounding the imperial court. But each secret she unfurls gives way to the next, ensnaring Mariko and Okami in a political scheme that threatens their honor, their love and very the safety of the empire.

27 July, 2018

REVIEW: LUCY by Jamaica Kincaid


Title: Lucy
Author:  Jamaica Kincaid
Series: -
Genres: Fiction, Feminism, YA
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Release: November 6th, 2002
Source: Paperback
Pages: 163

// Goodreads // BookDepository // Amazon //

BLURB:
Lucy, a teenage girl from the West Indies, comes to North America to work as an au pair for Lewis and Mariah and their four children. Lewis and Mariah are a thrice-blessed couple--handsome, rich, and seemingly happy. Yet, almost at once, Lucy begins to notice cracks in their beautiful facade. With mingled anger and compassion, Lucy scrutinizes the assumptions and verities of her employers' world and compares them with the vivid realities of her native place. Lucy has no illusions about her own past, but neither is she prepared to be deceived about where she presently is.  At the same time that Lucy is coming to terms with Lewis's and Mariah's lives, she is also unraveling the mysteries of her own sexuality. Gradually a new person unfolds: passionate, forthright, and disarmingly honest. In Lucy, Jamaica Kincaid has created a startling new character possessed with adamantine clearsightedness and ferocious integrity--a captivating heroine for our time.

26 July, 2018

25 July, 2018

24 July, 2018

REVIEW: SPECTRED ISLE by K.J. Charles

Title: Spectred Isle
Author: K.J. Charles
Series: Green Men 1
Genres: LGBT, Historical
Publisher: KJC Books
Release: August 3rd, 2017
Source: ebook
Pages: 271

// Goodreads // BookDepository // Amazon //

BLURB:
Archaeologist Saul Lazenby has been all but unemployable since his disgrace during the War. Now he scrapes a living working for a rich eccentric who believes in magic. Saul knows it’s a lot of nonsense...except that he begins to find himself in increasingly strange and frightening situations. And at every turn he runs into the sardonic, mysterious Randolph Glyde.

Randolph is the last of an ancient line of arcanists, commanding deep secrets and extraordinary powers as he struggles to fulfil his family duties in a war-torn world. He knows there's something odd going on with the haunted-looking man who keeps turning up in all the wrong places. The only question for Randolph is whether Saul is victim or villain.

Saul hasn’t trusted anyone in a long time. But as the supernatural threat grows, along with the desire between them, he’ll need to believe in evasive, enraging, devastatingly attractive Randolph. Because he may be the only man who can save Saul’s life—or his soul.

 

23 July, 2018

22 July, 2018

21 July, 2018

REVIEW: I, ZOMBIE by Hugh Howey

Title: I, Zombie
Author: Hugh Howey
Series: -
Genres: Horror, Zombies
Publisher: Broad Reach Publishing
Release: August 15th, 2012
Source: ebook
Pages: 222

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BLURB:
***WARNING: NOT FIT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION***

This book contains foul language and fouler descriptions of life as a zombie. It will offend most anyone, so proceed with caution or not at all.

And be forewarned: This is not a zombie book. This is a different sort of tale. It is a story about the unfortunate, about those who did not get away. It is a human story at its rotten heart. It is the reason we can't stop obsessing about these creatures, in whom we see all too much of ourselves.

 

20 July, 2018

REVIEW: THE LAST WISH by Andrzej Sapkowski


Title: The Last Wish
Author: Andrzej Sapkowski
Series: Witcher #1
Genres: Fantasy, Short stories
Publisher: Orbit
Release: 2008
Source: Audiobook
Pages: 388

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BLURB:
Geralt de Rivia is a witcher. A cunning sorcerer. A merciless assassin. And a cold-blooded killer. His sole purpose: to destroy the monsters that plague the world. But not everything monstrous-looking is evil and not everything fair is good... and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth. The international hit that inspired the video game: The Witcher.


19 July, 2018

18 July, 2018

17 July, 2018

REVIEW: FLAME IN THE MIST by Renée Ahdieh

Title: Flame in the Mist
Author: Renée Ahdieh
Series: Flame in the Mist #1
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Release: May 16th, 2017
Source: Kindle Edition
Pages: 416

// Goodreads // BookDepository // Amazon //

BLURB: From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn, comes a sweeping, action-packed YA adventure set against the backdrop of Feudal Japan where Mulan meets Tamora Pierce.

The daughter of a prominent samurai, Mariko has long known her place—she may be an accomplished alchemist, whose cunning rivals that of her brother Kenshin, but because she is not a boy, her future has always been out of her hands. At just seventeen years old, Mariko is promised to Minamoto Raiden, the son of the emperor's favorite consort—a political marriage that will elevate her family's standing. But en route to the imperial city of Inako, Mariko narrowly escapes a bloody ambush by a dangerous gang of bandits known as the Black Clan, who she learns has been hired to kill her before she reaches the palace.
Dressed as a peasant boy, Mariko sets out to infiltrate the ranks of the Black Clan, determined to track down the person responsible for the target on her back. But she's quickly captured and taken to the Black Clan’s secret hideout, where she meets their leader, the rebel ronin Takeda Ranmaru, and his second-in-command, his best friend Okami. Still believing her to be a boy, Ranmaru and Okami eventually warm to Mariko, impressed by her intellect and ingenuity. As Mariko gets closer to the Black Clan, she uncovers a dark history of secrets, of betrayal and murder, which will force her to question everything she's ever known.

16 July, 2018

15 July, 2018

SUNDAY PORTRAIT: Laurent of Vere


Happy Sunday, friends! Welcome to Sunday Portraits, where we give a face to our beloved book friends!

 Today we have: Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat:

Laurent of Vere
Laurent's physical beauty is often drawn attention to in the books, and is noted by many people in their discussions of him. Famously he is blond-haired and blue-eyed, with very fair skin, and is often paralleled with the Lady Jokaste, who possess similar features. However Damen also notes that, like Jokaste, Laurent's beauty is something that one must forcibly shunt aside when considering him as it is the least significant thing about him, saying that it is difficult to associate Laurent with a physical body at all, as you were always dealing with a mind. It is significant that, though Laurent is aware of his high level of attractiveness, he never uses his appearance or sexuality to further himself in any of his political or military endeavours.

14 July, 2018

REVIEW: BINTI by Nnedi Okorafor

Title: Binti
Author: Nnedi Okorafor
Series: Binti #1
Genres: Science Fiction, Novella, Short story
Publisher: Tor.com
Release: September 22nd, 2015
Source: Kindle
Pages: 96

// Goodreads // BookDepository // Amazon //


BLURB:
Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.
Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti's stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.
If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself - but first she has to make it there, alive.

13 July, 2018

PEN NAME GENERATOR




Though pen names are used for slightly different reasons today than when used by our literary counterparts in the previous centuries, many modern authors still adopt some sort of nom de plume to identify their work. The history of pen names dates all the way back to the 1720s where authors used them for various reasons: to remain anonymous, easily switch genres, hide from the law, and most commonly to avoid sexism. The infographic below shows some of the most famous pen names plus the reasons in which each author wrote under them!

12 July, 2018

11 July, 2018

10 July, 2018

REVIEW: OUR DARK DUET by Victoria Schwab

SPOILERS OF THE FIRST BOOK
Title: Our Dark Duet
Author: Victoria Schwab
Series: Monsters of Verity #2
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction
Publisher: Titan Books
Release: June 13th, 2017
Source: Kindle Edition
Pages: 533

// Goodreads // BookDepository // Amazon //

BLURB: The sequel - and conclusion - to Victoria Schwab's instant #1 New York Times bestseller, This Savage Song. Kate Harker is a girl who isn't afraid of the dark. She's a girl who hunts monsters. And she's good at it. August Flynn is a monster who can never be human. No matter how much he once yearned for it. He has a part to play. And he will play it, no matter the cost. Nearly six months after Kate and August were first thrown together, the war between the monsters and the humans is a terrifying reality. In Verity, August has become the leader he never wished to be, and in Prosperity, Kate has become the ruthless hunter she knew she could be. When a new monster emerges from the shadows - one who feeds on chaos and brings out its victim's inner demons - it lures Kate home, where she finds more than she bargained for. She'll face a monster she thought she killed, a boy she thought she knew, and a demon all her own.

09 July, 2018

08 July, 2018

07 July, 2018

REVIEW: INHERITANCE by Christopher Paolini

Title: Inheritance
Author: Christopher Paolini
Series: The Inheritance Cycle #4
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Release: November 8th, 2011
Source: Hardcover
Pages: 816 (Spanish Edition)

// Goodreads // BookDepository // Amazon //

BLURB: It began with Eragon... It ends with Inheritance.

Not so very long ago, Eragon — Shadeslayer, Dragon Rider — was nothing more than a poor farm boy, and his dragon, Saphira, only a blue stone in the forest. Now the fate of an entire civilization rests on their shoulders.

Long months of training and battle have brought victories and hope, but they have also brought heartbreaking loss. And still, the real battle lies ahead: they must confront Galbatorix. When they do, they will have to be strong enough to defeat him. And if they cannot, no one can. There will be no second chance.

The Rider and his dragon have come further than anyone dared to hope. But can they topple the evil king and restore justice to Alagaësia? And if so, at what cost?

This is the spellbinding conclusion to Christopher Paolini's worldwide bestselling Inheritance cycle.

06 July, 2018

REVIEW: GHOSTMAN by Roger Hobbs

Title: Ghostman
Author: Roger Hobbs
Series: Jack White 1
Genres: Thriller, Crime, Mystery
Publisher: Corgi Books
Release: July 17th 2014
Source: ebook
Pages: 400

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BLURB: I make things disappear. It’s what I do. This time I'm tidying up the loose ends after a casino heist gone bad. The loose ends being a million cash. But I only have 48 hours, and there’s a guy out there who wants my head in a bag.

He'll have to find me first. They don’t call me the Ghostman for nothing...

05 July, 2018

04 July, 2018

03 July, 2018

02 July, 2018

01 July, 2018