WWW Wednesdays #71 – March 24th

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly bookish meme formally hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm, and revived by Sam of Taking on a World of Words. This meme consists of answering the following three questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

For now I will be participating monthly instead of weekly.

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►What am I currently reading?◄

I am currently reading All Souls Near & Nigh by Hailey Turner, the second book in the Soulbound series. I read the first one in this series back when it originally came out, over two years ago. I remember enjoying it but I guess I just never got around to continuing it. Next thing I know there are six books, with the seventh and final one coming out later this year. It’s a M/M romance and urban fantasy that follows Patrick Collins, a Special Agent of the Supernatural Operations Agency. He’s working a case that involves immortals that have been popping in and out of his life since a traumatic event when he was younger. As his past comes back to haunt him, he also ends up meeting a sexy werewolf that the Fates have thrown in his path. So far I’m really liking this series. The world building is neat and has a different take on gods from many myths and legends. Can’t wait to see how this story plays out.

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►What did I recently finish reading?◄

I recently finished reading Cry Wolf  by Charlie Adhara, the fifth book in the Big Bad Wolf series. I mentioned in my post last month that I read the first book awhile ago and the rest of the series recently became available through my library. I devoured these ones pretty quickly. I’ve really come to like the main two characters and the plot itself in each book keeps me coming back for more. I am eagerly waiting for more to come out, even though this fifth one was just published this year. I’m assuming I’ll have to wait until next year for the sixth. I also finished reading Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett, the first book in The Founders Trilogy. I was buddy reading this one with my good friend Emily @embuhleeliest. AND IT WAS AMAZING. We both fell in love with this one pretty quickly and I cannot wait until we read the second one together. I read a few more M/M romance books as well but I won’t go into detail because I’m lazy ^^;

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►What do I think I’ll read next?◄

Emily and I are still planning to start the first book in the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson, The Final Empire. We haven’t really discussed when we’ll start but I’m thinking in the next week or so, or maybe the beginning of April. Up to her since I know she’s doing other buddy reads as well. I also plan on continuing the Soulbound series with the third book, A Crown of Iron & Silver.

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What are you currently reading? Have you read any of the books above? Let me know in the comments!

Happy reading! :)

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WWW Wednesdays #70 – February 3rd

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly bookish meme formally hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm, and revived by Sam of Taking on a World of Words. This meme consists of answering the following three questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

For now I will be participating monthly instead of weekly.

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►What am I currently reading?◄

I am currently reading Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett, the first book in The Founders Trilogy. I’m buddy reading this one with my good friend Emily @embuhleeliest. We’re a bit over halfway done with this one and IT’S SO GOOD. I’ve been wanting to read this one for awhile now and I’m glad I finally started it. Making it a buddy read is only making the experience better! The characters, the world building, the humor, the plot. So far I’m digging ALL OF IT. And the pace. So much happens each week I’m reading it (we’re currently reading six chapters a week) that it’s hard to put it down! It’s quickly becoming one of my favorites. Maybe I’ll actually make a review on it when we’re done. If you haven’t read this one yet, so far I highly recommend it! I am also currently reading Dark Around the Edges by Cari Z. This is a M/M paranormal romance that revolves around a private security firm agent, Devon, who is a human/incubus hybrid and his sometimes partner (in both the field and the bed), Rio. The book focuses on their hunt for a dangerous summoner, which then leads them to the demon behind a number of antagonistic events. I’m about 70% finished and have been thoroughly enjoying it!

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►What did I recently finish reading?◄

I recently finished reading Coming Up for Air by Amanda Meuwissen, a M/M fantasy romance involving mermaids. Overall I haven’t’ read many books that focus on mermaids but, after reading the synopsis, this one intrigued me! At first I got sort of a The Little Mermaid vibe, but there were so many unique things about the characters and storyline that the comparisons quickly fell away. In a good way though. The lore surrounding mermaids in this book was different and more interesting than anything else I’ve read about them and I liked the fact that the main character had ties to the mafia – it made the plot more interesting than just your typical romance. Recently I also finished reading One Bite With a Vampire by Louisa Masters, the second book in the Hidden Species series. This is another M/M paranormal romance series with some fun characters and a different take on certain titles and species. Check out the first book, Demons Do It Better, if you’re interested!

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►What do I think I’ll read next?◄

After Foundryside, Emily and I are going to start the first book in the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson, The Final Empire. We’ve both had this book on our TBR list for years now and are excited to experience reading it together! I’m not too sure about Emily, but this will be my first time reading something from Brandon Sanderson and I’ve only heard good things so my expectations may be slightly biased. Hopefully it doesn’t disappoint! After I finish up Dark Around the Edges, I’ll probably read The Wolf at Bay by Charlie Adhara, the second book in the Big Bad Wolf series, another M/M paranormal romance. I read the first book awhile ago and the rest of the series recently became available through my local library. I’ve also been slowly rereading The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. He released TWO books last year and I bought them both immediately, so I had decided to reread the series in order to prepare. It’s been a bit slow going but I’ll get there eventually.

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What are you currently reading? Have you read any of the books above? Let me know in the comments!

Happy reading! :)

Beat the Backlist 2021

Well, obviously I haven’t been active on this blog for awhile. A major struggle of mine is staying motivated to continuously post. I usually don’t have a problem getting started, just a problem to keep going. I’ve been in the mood to try to become more active, once again, and I’m hoping I will be more successful than I have in the past. I thought a good idea to help with that motivation is to start a challenge!

I participated in the Beat the Backlist Challenge for 2018 but, unsurprisingly, I didn’t remain active for long. So I’m going to give it another try this year!

The Beat the Backlist Challenge is hosted by NovelKnight. If you take a look at their page you’ll find they are making a few changes to the challenge this year, but the ultimate goal is the same – to read those books that have been clogging up your TBR list for awhile now, as in any book published in 2020 or earlier. And that’s it! I generally read older books anyway, so that’s what originally drew me to this challenge in the first place. I’m a little bummed they aren’t doing a photo challenge this year – since I’d like to also be more active on my book-related Instagram (@allboutthembooksandstuff) – but I’ll still try to post some pics a few times here and there as well.

However, they did create a reading prompt list – which is purely optional- so I think that’ll still be fun! I won’t completely revolve my reading choices around it, since I’m such a mood reader, but it’ll be fun to see how many I can complete. They have a 52 and a 24 prompt list and, knowing myself, I think the 24 prompt list will be more attainable. They made it into a check list or a BINGO card.

So, that’s my start to try becoming more active. I might begin doing the WWW Wednesday posts monthly again – I haven’t been reading quite enough to be able to post them weekly – and I may do a few tags as well.

Thanks for being patient with me if you’re still following my blog! I would also like to be better at reading posts from the blogs I follow so you may see me lurking around~

Happy reading! :)

R.I.P It or Ship It Book Tag

Okay everyone, it’s been awhile since I’ve done a tag. I know there are a few that I’ve been tagged in that need doing, HOWEVER, I’ve seen this one done a few times and it seems like fun! I’ve actually steered away from tags that require you to write down a bunch of characters names…because I’m lazy. That’s pretty much my only reason. Yes, I know. That’s a dumb reason. But I’m sure some of you agree, right? RIGHT?! Ehem. But yes. Moving on.

The Rulez:

• Write names of book characters on little slips of paper and toss them into some sort of container. There’s no required amount, so however many you want.
• Pick two of those names out of the container.
• Either you see those two individuals becoming a lovely couple, or you don’t. Pretty simple, yeah?

Let’s go!

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Tohru Honda (Fruits Basket) & Citra Terranova (Scythe)

Hmmm…this is such an interesting pair. Tohru is so sweet and innocent, I’m not too sure if Citra would be able to handle her. I feel like she wouldn’t be able to put up with Tohru’s ditsy-ness, to be honest. But I also feel like I can totally picture Citra coming home and Tohru cooking her a nice meal after a long day of gleaning people.  You know what, I’m going to go with…

SHIP IT.

Citra needs some innocence in her life.

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Eliot “Eli” Cardale (Vicious) & Tessa Gray (Infernal Devices)

Noooo. I wanted to put Eli in the mix because I saw so many people put Victor. But him with Tessa? Just…no. There’s no way Tessa would put up with Eli’s superior bullshit. She would definitely put him in his place. And he’d probably try to kill her for it. So, coming to that conclusion, I’m going to…

RIP IT.

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Ryan Foxheart (Tales From Verania) & Hermione Granger (Harry Potter)

Although Ryan would prefer a certain wizard over a witch, I can actually see this ship sailing. Both characters are smart and great to have along during any sort of shenanigan they’re thrown into, although Hermione would most likely disapprove. I could also picture Hermione telling Ryan to stop posing, as he is wont to do, and him just getting all flustered about it. I really think they’d be adorable together. And with that, I’d…

SHIP IT.

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Will Herondale (Infernal Devices) & Nita (Not Even Bones)

This is such an interesting pair. And I like it! Both characters seem to have issues with their moral compass at times, but ultimately they are decent people that simply get thrown into shitty situations and will do what they must to survive. Nita dissects supernatural creatures, and Will hunts them. If that doesn’t say power couple, I don’t know what does. Although, Nita likes her peace and quiet so having Will around constantly blabbing away may get on her nerves. But still. I’d…

SHIP IT.

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The Jackal (Red Rising) & Sam Haversford (Tales From Verania)

No. No no no no no. Not happening. I can’t say too much about the Jackal, because of spoilers and all that, but this is definitely a ship that would not sail. It would sink so, so fast. Now, them facing off as enemies. That, I could see. But them as a couple? Bleh. Sam can do sooooo much better. Let me go ahead and…

RIP IT.

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Sevro au Barca (Red Rising) & Inej Ghafa (Six of Crows)

Another interesting pair! Both characters can be ruthless killers and know how to get the job done. Although, I feel like Sevro would be a bit too…eccentric for Inej’s tastes. He’s such an odd little bean. That’s why he’s one of my favorites. This one’s hard. I can see them possibly becoming friends, if anything. But romantic partners? I’m going to have to say…

RIP IT.

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Harry Potter (Harry Potter) & Darrow (Red Rising)

Yes, yes, I’ve picked quite a few Red Rising characters. But hey, I’m right in the middle of the third book. They’re on my mind. ANYWAY. Harry and Darrow. Well that’s…I need to say something besides interesting. BUT IT IS. So much so. They’re both great protagonists that unwillingly get thrust into leadership roles at some point. They could bond over essentially having everything revolve around them, but not necessarily in a good way. I dig it. Or in other words, I…

SHIP IT.

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Karen Murphy ( Dresden Files) & Draco Malfoy (Harry Potter)

No. Just no. Karen’s such an amazingly badass woman. There’s no way she’d put up with Draco for even a second – she already has her hands full with one wizard as it is. Karen would verbally tear Draco apart in just a few words and Draco would be like “My father will hear about this!” And Karen would pull a Hermione and punch him in the face, if not worse. I’m going to…

RIP IT.

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And that’s that! So many unique pairings! That was bunches of fun. I’ll definitely have to do more tags like this in the future. If you found this tag amusing, DO IT. And let me know!

Happy reading! :)

WWW Wednesdays #68 – February 13th

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly bookish meme formally hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm, and revived by Sam of Taking on a World of Words. This meme consists of answering the following three questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

For now, I will be participating monthly instead of weekly.

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►What am I currently reading?◄

Currently I am reading The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. This is my book club’s February read. I’m only a couple chapters in, so I need to get my butt in gear and read some more since our meeting is next week. I’m enjoying it so far and am really interested to see where it goes, since quite a bit has happened already. I’m also debating about watching the movie after reading it to see how they did.

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►What did I recently finish reading?◄

I finished reading Red Rising by Pierce Brown and quickly jumped into the second book in the series, Golden Son. Red Rising was a fantastic beginning to this series. I admit I personally had to get through the first part to start really getting into the book, and it took me a bit to get used to Brown’s writing style, but once I did I couldn’t put it down. We had a great discussion about the book during our meeting last month and I couldn’t wait to continue this series. I ended reading Golden Son fairly quickly as well. I enjoyed both books immensely. I was leaning toward the first one a little more, but once I got to the end of the second it completely blew my mind. I’m still processing it and it’s been two weeks. I cannot wait to see what happens in the third book. And I also heard that they’re in the very early stages of making this series into a TV show. I always have mixed feelings about this – I think how it turns out really depends on who is going to produce it. I also ended up reading Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost, the first book in the Night Huntress series. I put this book on the Books I’d Like to Read in 2019 post I did last month. It’s one that has been on my TBR list for quite some time now. I ended up giving it 3.5 stars. I enjoyed it for the most part, but I found this main character, Cat, just a bit too…meh, I guess. I think it was because she was still fairly young and that influenced her way of thinking quite a bit. And I know her upbringing in the book had influence on her as well, so I tried to be understanding, but it still was annoying at times. I still liked her, but I wanted to like her more. I’m hoping she’ll develop nicely throughout the series. I really liked Bones, and the ending to the first book peaked my interest to where I am looking forward to reading the second book. But I have a few other series I’m interested before returning to this one.

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►What do I think I’ll read next?◄

Next up I plan on reading Morning Star by Pierce Brown, the third book in the Red Rising Saga. Although I’m still processing the second book, I NEED TO KNOW what happens in the third. I almost jumped into it right after Golden Son, but I knew I should try to get my book club book read first. I can’t wait! I also still plan on reading the fourth and final book in the Tales From Verania series by T.J. Klune, A Wish Upon the Stars. I’ll probably read it once I finish up Morning Star. I’m hoping to get to  Crooked Kingdom in the near future as well.

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What are you currently reading? Have you read any of the books above? Let me know in the comments!

Happy reading! :)

WWW Wednesdays #67 – January 9th

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly bookish meme formally hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm, and revived by Sam of Taking on a World of Words. This meme consists of answering the following three questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

For now, I will be participating monthly instead of weekly.

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►What am I currently reading?◄

Currently I am reading the first book in the Red Riding Trilogy by Pierce Brown, Red Rising.  This is the book my book club is reading for this month and I am thoroughly enjoying it! I am also reading Ignite by Nora Phoenix, the first book in a new sci-fi, M/M romance series.  It’s been a quick, interesting read and I’m intrigued to see where she takes the story and the characters.

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►What did I recently finish reading?◄

Recently, I FINALLY finished reading the third book in The Remnant Chronicles series, The Beauty of Darkness by Mary E. Pearson.  I was buddy reading this series with  Emily and a friend, but I got distracted by other things and put it off…for about a year ^^; Emily went on ahead and finished it and since I actually went to visit her the other week, I figured now would be a good time to get back to it. It was a pretty good YA series. There were a few things about the ending that bothered me, but overall I enjoyed this last installment. And I’m also planning to eventually read Pearson’s new series set in the same world.

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►What do I think I’ll read next?◄

Next up I plan on reading the fourth and final book in the Tales From Verania series by T.J. Klune, A Wish Upon the Stars. I fell in love with the first book in this series and I am very sad to see it come to an end. I re-read the first two books and read the third for the first time a couple of months ago. I meant to read this one right after, but I have a habit of putting off the last book in series I enjoy because I don’t want it to end. If you’re looking for a fantasy-based M/M romance with a hilarious cast of characters I highly recommend this series!

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What are you currently reading? Have you read any of the books above? Let me know in the comments!

Happy reading! :)

Books I’d Like to Read in 2019

As I briefly mentioned in my last post, I made a post of what books I’d like to read for the past two years and thought I’d do one for this year as well. Unfortunately, last year wasn’t a great one for me reading-wise. I read yes, but I was in a reading slump for a good chunk of the year and got a little too busy.

That being said, I didn’t get around to reading any of the books I had shared in my Books I’d Like to Read in 2018 post. I am indeed a mood reader, so this is more of what I feel like I’ll want to read, but I was still hoping I would at least read something from my list last year. Let’s hope I can this year! Wish me luck!

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost – the first book in the Night Huntress series. This series has been on my TBR list for a long time and I’ve been in the mood for a good adult fantasy series recently. I’m hoping to start this one in the near future!

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas – the first book in the Throne of Glass series. Most of the people in my book club rave about this series and I have yet to touch it. But now that the final book has been released, I think it’s about time I see what all the fuss is about.

 Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo – the second and final book in the Six of Crows duology. I read Six of Crows last year and was planning on reading this one right after, but  it was right before things got rather hectic for me and I didn’t get back to it. For some reason I actually thought I read it, but it turns out I never got back to it! I can’t wait to see how she wraps up with these amazing characters!

Hounded by Kevin Hearne – the first book in The Iron Druid Chronicles. This series was on my list last year and I’d really like to do my best to actually get to it this year! It sounds like a series I could easily fall for.

 

And I’m going to leave it at that. There are definitely more books I’d like to get to, of course, but for now these ones have captured my attention recently.  Have you read any of the books above? If so, what did you think? And what are YOU planning on reading this year?

Happy reading! :)

What I Didn’t Do In 2018 & What I’d Like To Do In 2019

Happy New Year, everyone!

As some of you may have noticed, last year was not a good year for me blog-wise. It was also one of the first times I was in a major reading slump. I would at least like to really try to be more active this year, even if it’s just a little. But first, let’s quickly go over what I did/didn’t accomplish last year.

Last year was the first time I joined a reading challenge (other than the Goodreads one). I was a part of the Book Bards team for the Beat the Backlist 2018 challenge. My personal goals for that challenge included:

• Participate in at least 2 of the 4 Instagram prompts each month
• Write one review of a book dedicated to this challenge at least every 3 months (since I’ve been seriously slacking in the review department)
• Have 4 out of every 5 books I read be dedicated to this challenge

I only managed to do a total of 12 Instagram posts for my book account this year. I started off strong then slowly stopped. I did not write any book reviews last year. Zip. Zero. And, although most of the books I read last year were published earlier than 2018, I actually ended up reading more published in 2018 than I thought I would. So 4 out of every 5 books I read was not dedicated to the challenge. I also ended up not keeping up with submitting the books I read to the Beat the Backlist website.

As for my 2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge, which was to read 60 books, I read 62. However, it was very close and a good chunk were graphic novels. But hey, they still count.

Also, last year I posted Books I’d Like to Read in 2018, and I didn’t read a single book I had on that list. It’s not that I didn’t want to read them at all, I just got easily distracted by other things. I will be making a similar post in the near future.

So that wraps up what I didn’t/did do in 2018.

Now, on to what I’d like to do in 2019!

As usual, I would like to become more active. However, knowing how I tend to drop on and off, I’ll make my active goals a little more reasonable, especially because I will be starting my last semester of school in  about a week!

First off, I’ll be dropping the Teaser Tuesdays reading meme I participated in. It’s just not a meme I feel like participating in any longer. I will still be posting WWW Wednesdays posts, however, I’ll most likely only post one once a month instead of every Wednesday. If I end up reading more, then I may bump it up to twice a month.

I’ll also try to be better about keeping up with tags. And I would like to try to be more active on my Instagram book account as well. I may end up looking at some Instagram challenges, because I feel like I need some sort of prompt to post things. We’ll see. For now, I’ve kind of given up on actually writing reviews. If I end up writing even one this year I’ll be happy. I’ll still rate them on Goodreads, but my motivation for actually writing a whole thing is just…no. Just not feeling it right now.

Speaking of Goodreads, for the 2019 Reading Challenge, I pledged 50 books. I will definitely strive to read more than that, of course, but I thought dropping it down a little from last year would be best.

And finally, I want to try a different reading challenge. This year I’ll be trying out r/Fantasy Book Bingo Challenge. Emily participates in this challenge and it looks like fun, so I’m gonna give it a try!

And that’s about it. So we’ll see how I do! Wish me luck! :’D

Happy reading! :)

WWW Wednesdays #66 – March 7th

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly bookish meme formally hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm, and revived by Sam of Taking on a World of Words. This meme consists of answering the following three questions:

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

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►What am I currently reading?◄

Currently I am reading the first book in The Rowan Harbor Cycle by Sam Burns, Blackbird in the Reeds – another M/M series I picked up.  I’m liking it so far and it’s a pretty quick read – less than 200 pages. I’m also about to start Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman, the second book in the Arc of a Scythe series. Can’t wait to see how this series continues to play out! :D I’m still plugging away at the third book in The Remnant Chronicles series, The Beauty of Darkness by Mary E. Pearson. We were getting back to it but it’s slowed down once again. But we’ll get there!

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►What did I recently finish reading?◄

It’s been a bit since my last WWW post and in that time I’ve actually read quite a few books. I finished the first book in the Unbreakable Bonds series, Shiver by Jocelynn Drake and Rinda Elliott, as well as the other three books in the series and all four novellas. I really came to like these books and it quickly became one of my favorite M/M series. They’re working on a companion series that touches on characters introduced in this series, so I’m excited to read that one as well. I also picked up another M/M series, the Marshals books by Mary Calmes. I’ve read the first two in the series, All Kinds of Tied Down and Fit to be Tied. These are actually rereads for me – I wanted to reread them because the fourth book is coming out this month. This is another series I really enjoy. I finished reading  Scythe by Neal Shusterman, the first book in the Arc of a Scythe series. This was February’s read for my book club and it definitely lived up to all the hype! I really enjoyed it. The only slight issue, not even an issue really, I had was the way it was written left me slightly…detached, I guess? Normally when reading I’m right there in the story with the characters, but this one it was almost like looking through a two-way mirror – I was watching the story unfold but I wasn’t really a part of it. Does that make any sense? xD It didn’t deter from the reading experience though, it was just interesting to me. I also ended up reading the third and final book in the Bounty series  by Christine d’Abo, No Master. I read the first two in the series back in October. I was meaning to read this one soon after but, as usual, got distracted by other things. And finally, I finished Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I started this one back in January and read a decent chunk, but ended up pausing for awhile. Not because it was bad or anything, far from it, I just think I was in M/M mood for awhile. But it turns out Six of Crows is now this months read for the book club and I actually ended up finishing it that very weekend after our meeting. It was sooooo good!!! I adored all of the characters and the plot kept you ensnared the entire time. Once I got back into it I couldn’t put it down. I enjoyed the Grisha trilogy, but I have to say I enjoyed this one more and can’t wait to read the second.

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►What do I think I’ll read next?◄

Next up I will be starting Crooked Kingdom, the second (and presumably last) book in the Six of Crows series by Leigh Bardugo. I can’t wait to see how the series wraps up, although I’ll be sad that I won’t get to spend any more time with the characters! D; Hopefully Bardugo will keep writing though, since I thoroughly enjoy her books.

 

 

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What are you currently reading? Have you read any of the books above? Let me know in the comments!

Happy reading! :)

Teaser Tuesdays #66 – March 6th

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. To play along just follow the rules below!

Rules:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page (I usually do a bit more than two…)
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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I will be starting Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman, the second book in the Arc of a Scythe series. I loved the first one and can’t wait to see what happens to Citra and Rowan next!

My teaser:

 

【Peach velvet with embroidered baby-blue trim. Honorable Scythe Brahms loved his robe. True, the velvet became uncomfortably hot in the summer months, but it was something he had grown accustomed to in his sixty-three years as a scythe.】

– Chapter 1, page 5
(hardcover)