Summer and Fall Favorites

It has been a LONG while since I posted my favorites. Since it has been over six months since my last favorites, I'm going to name a few of my favorites from the summer and beginning of fall. Since it has been so long, I had a hard time choosing just one favorite!

Book Favorite: These last few months I have read some amazing books. It is really hard to choose between them. I don't know how I'll narrow it down to just a few. I don't have reviews for any of these yet because I am INCREDIBLY far behind these year on reviews. They were all fantastic though and I loved them for different reasons.

   

Audiobook Favorite: Since March I've listened to two audiobooks that really blew me out of the water. During the Tome Topple Readathon I listened to American Gods and really enjoyed the full cast version of the story. Then 

 

Blogger/Youtuber Favorite: I've been trying to expand my youtube subscription list lately. Even though I love the people I'm already subscribed to, I want to expand the books and thought I am exposed to. One of my most recent favorite people is Lia Cooper. Lia is smart and critical. She expresses her thoughts really well and she gets me excited about the books she talks about!

#FridayReads October 20, 2017

Happy Friday! This week I've been trying to fit in some creepier reads and these two have fit the bill. Darkfever is a urban fantasy focused on the fae and so far all of the fae have been horribly inhuman and twisted. It definitely falls on the darker side of urban fantasy and I'm enjoying it even though it is a little slow. Crimson Peak on the other hand is really ramping up the action as I read the end of the book. I only have two hours left in this audiobook and I'm very anxious to reach the end of the gothic thriller. Though this is a little predictable, it is very atmospheric and creepy. A young bride follows her new husband to his historic estate in England, but the home is falling apart and there is something watching her. It is delightfully creepy.

 

What are you reading this weekend?

Review - American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Series: Standalone

Genre: Urban Fantasy 

Age Group - Adult

William Morrow (first published July 2001)

Audiobook - (635pgs)

Add it // Buy it

Rating: 5/5

Locked behind bars for three years, Shadow did his time, quietly waiting for the magic day when he could return to Eagle Point, Indiana. A man no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, all he wanted was to be with Laura, the wife he deeply loved, and start a new life. But just days before his release, Laura and Shadow's best friend are killed in an accident. With his life in pieces and nothing to keep him tethered, Shadow accepts a job from a beguiling stranger he meets on the way home, an enigmatic man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. A trickster and rogue, Wednesday seems to know more about Shadow than Shadow does himself.

Life as Wednesday's bodyguard, driver, and errand boy is far more interesting and dangerous than Shadow ever imagined. It is a job that takes him on a dark and strange road trip and introduces him to a host of eccentric characters whose fates are mysteriously intertwined with his own.

Along the way, Shadow will learn that the past never dies; that everyone, including his beloved Laura, harbors secrets; and that dreams, totems, legends, and myths are more real than we know. Ultimately, he will discover that beneath the placid surface of everyday life, a storm is brewing - an epic war for the very soul of America - and that he is standing squarely in its path.

The full cast edition of this audiobook completely captured me. This book follows a lot of small threads that all come together to make an epic story, much like America is made of many people who make up the whole. It is really hard to pinpoint what this book is about. On one hand we are following Shadow as he works for Wednesday and on the other we are following a larger story about American lore and what America IS. The pace is quite slow especially at the beginning and the end. The audiobook really helped keep me invested and focused on this book. It would've been a lot harder to get through a physical copy of this story.

This book is jammed packed with mythology and history. I really enjoyed how Gaiman broke up Shadow's story with smaller chapters about how different gods arrived in America. It was a nice way to build up the narrative of the gods without someone explaining it exactly how it happened. These chapters were some of the most emotional parts of the book and the one that hit me the hardest was the story of Wututu and her brother Agasu. I listened to this section twice and cried though the whole thing.

Throughout the book I felt like I was reading this book at the right time. Even though the book was originally published in 2001, many of the struggles and storms in this book are still raging within America. There were a few moments I found predictable during, but overall I really enjoyed this book and I was blown away by the audiobook. I was not expecting to enjoy this as much as I did at all.

Hopefully, I'll be watching the TV series at some point in the near future. I'd really like to see how certain sections are interpreted. 

My Last Review --> Magic Dreams and Magic Steals Review 

T5W - Shapeshifters/Werewolves

This week I was really excited to participate in Top Five Wednesday. Paranormal creatures are some of my favorite parts of books. Two of my favorite genres are urban fantasy and paranormal so I had a hard time narrowing this down to just five books. I did use a loose definition of shapeshifter for this Top Five Wednesday, but they are all shifters of some kind.

Magic Dreams and Magic Steals Combo Review

Series: Kate Daniels Series 4.5 & 6.5 

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Age Group: Adult

Ebooks 

Published: 2012/2016

MD Addit // Buy it

MS: Add it / Buy it 

MD Rating: 4/5

MS Rating: 4.5/5

Alpha Pack leader Jim Shrapshire has always been the strong, silent type. But something has come over him--a magic force currently residing in one of the Pack's headquarters. Were-tigress Dali Harimau has always wished she could get Jim's attention--but now he needs her help. 

Stricken with a magic-sickness, Jim needs Dali's flair for magic. And to save him, she must challenge a powerful, dark being to a battle of wits. 

These are two very fun novellas that I picked up because I need Andrews' writing in my life and I need a taste of the Kate Daniels world while I wait for Magic Triumphs. Dali is quite the opposite of Kate in many ways and it was really interesting to see the world from a different perspective. 

Dali's magic is another awesome element to these stories and her self-depreciating humor really amused me. Not only is she funny, she doesn't take any crap either. She knows her magic, even if it doesn't always work for her, and she doesn't let anyone tell her otherwise. Even so, she has her human moments, like when her mom embarrasses her or she worries Jim doesn't like her, which made me love her even more. 

Can we have more Jim and Dali screen time? These two are fantastic and a little less toxic than Kate and Curran. (and by a little I mean they aren't toxic at all) I loved their slow burn romance and I want to see more of their adventures together.

My Last Review ---> Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs

Review - Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs

Series: Mercy Thompson #4
Age Group: Adults
Genre: Paranormal
Published: February 2009 (Ace Books)
Hardcover - 309 pgs
Add it // Buyt it

By day, Mercy is a car mechanic in the sprawling Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington. By night, she explores her perternatural side. As a shapeshifter with some unique talents, Mercy has often found herself having to maintain a tenuous harmony between the human and the not so human. This time she may get more than she bargained for.


Marsilia, the local Vampire Queen, has learned that Mercy crossed her by slaying a member of her clan - and she's out for blood. But since Mercy is protected from direct reprisal by the werewolf pack (and her close relationship with its sexy Alpha), it won't be Mercy's blood Marsilia is after.

At the end of Iron Kissed I was convinced and disappointed Briggs was going to gloss over any further repercussion from the events of that book. Instead, Mercy continues to struggle with what happened which was realistic and I liked that Briggs took the time to address it. Mercy continues to develop as a character and the entire cast of characters finally feels fleshed out and full of personality.

Bone Crossed is mostly a bridge book. Mercy needed time to recover, like I mentioned before, and Briggs needed to fill in some holes she had left open during the first few books. The book did its job though the plot of this installment was a little bland for me. Most of the details have already escaped my brain. The romance in this series is starting to take a larger role as well, but it is nicely balanced and everyone had issues to work through.

There is a distinct lack of women in this series though. Mercy doesn't have many close female relationships and she is combative with most of the women in her circle. I'd like this to change, there are some promising signs, in the future. Even though most werewolves are men, it would be nice to see Mercy have some female relationships.

My Last Review ----> The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher 

End of Year Book Tag

The lovely Ariel Basset created a really fun tag for the transition to the end of 2017. I had a lot of fun answering these questions and I had a chance to wear my favorite romper one more time since the weather has been warm here in the Northeast. I hope you will check out Ariel's cool original video after you listen to my answers.

My Used Book Shopping List

This post is shamelessly stolen from TrishaJennReads. Her blog is gorgeous and full of fun context so I recommend you also check out her original post as well. 

I adore shopping in a used book store or browsing a used book sale. There are always books you are hoping to find, but it rarely works out that way. Most of the time when I browse the sales, I find something I've never heard of rather than something I am looking for. However, there are a few titles I keep my eyes peeled for when I browse a book sale. 

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Outlander Hardcovers

Tamora Pierce Books of Any Variety

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Austenland by Shannon Hale

September Real Time Book Haul

September was a weird month for me. I've had some weird health issues going on and it has made me lethargic. Even though this haul idea didn't work the way I wanted it to, I think I will try it again in the future. What did you pick up in September?

Review - Code by Brendan Reichs and Kathy Reichs

Series: Virals #3

Genre: Science-Fiction

Age Group: Young Adult

Published: Young Arrow (2013)

Paperback - 408 pg

Add it // Buy it

Rating: 4/5

The Virals are put to the ultimate test when they find a geocache containing an ornate puzzle box. Shelton decodes the cipher inside, only to find more tantalizing clues left by "The Gamemaster." A second, greater geocache is within reach—if the Virals are up to the challenge.

But the hunt takes a dark turn when Tory locates the other box—a fake bomb, along with a sinister proposal from The Gamemaster. Now, the real game has begun: another bomb is out there—a real one—and the clock is ticking. 

After a very long break between books, I've finally picked up the third book in this series. I forgot how much I love this group of intelligent and quick thinking kids. At times this is a mix of Scooby-Doo and the Temperance Brennan novels which is a lot of fun to read. This particular book features a serial killer, which as a crime show fan I approve of, and the kids need to beat him at his own game.

Just like the other novels in this series, the story starts off a little slowly, but events start to pile up as the book continues. By the second half it was hard for me to put this book down because I need to know what will happen next! 

Tory's strong personality and her independence are both qualities I admire in her, but I wish Reichs balanced the characters a little more. At times Tory's take-charge attitude was a little overwhelming and the other three characters get overshadowed.  I really enjoyed how Reichs has written this group. All of the characters read as teens and have teen problems even though they are incredible smart and inventive. They worry about high school bullies and curfew while they try to defeat a killer. 

Though the pack does some pretty unbelievable things with their enhanced abilities, I had the hardest time believing their break ins at the lab. After the events in book two, Tory mentions a lot of increased security measures. I don't believe the kids could skip through these so easily. This part of the story really bothered me especially since it happened multiple times throughout the book. 

September Wrap Up

In September I read quite a few books. During the month I felt like I was really struggling to read even though I read a lot of good books. Hopefully I won't struggle quite as much in October. Check out my wrap up to see exactly what I read last month!