Bout of Books TBR (Round 20)

Happy Bout of Books! One of my favorite readathons is happening this week and I can't wait to read what I've picked out. I doubt I'll get a lot accomplished because life is very hectic right now, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

Bout of Books Homepage

Review - Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

Series: Mercy Thompson #3

Genre: Paranormal 

Age Group: 
Mass Market: 287 pgs.
Ace - 2008 
Add it // Buy it 

Rating: 4/5

Mechanic Mercy Thompson can shift her shape - but not her loyalty. When her former boss and mentor is arrested for murder and left to rot behind bars by his own kind, it's up to Mercy to clear his name, whether he wants her to or not.

Mercy's loyalty is under pressure from other directions, too. Werewolves are not known for their patience, and if Mercy can't decide between the two she cares for, Sam and Adam may make the choice for her...

Trigger Warning: Rape, Date Rape, Drugging.

Does every paranormal series hit its stride with book three? If so, I'll go back to a couple I haven't continued. Paranormal series can be a bit formulaic, but so far Briggs has kept things interesting and surprised me many times. I really enjoy the way she sets up her stories. She continues to build up the rules of this world by expanding Mercy's circle from werewolves and vampires to the very dangerous fae.

I'm absolutely addicted to the fast pace of these books and I love how trim they are. Even though they are just 300-400 pages, nothing is missing. There is a fantastic amount of action and I've become very attached to all the characters. One thing I like, especially compared to the Kate Daniels Series, is the relatively small cast of characters.

Briggs expanded her characters and her world once again in this installment and I've been completely hooked. Though many of the elements have been used before, this series is fresh interesting and original. I can't wait for more.

My Last Review---> Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

Bookshelf Tour (Part 1)

For ages I've wanted to publish a bookshelf tour like I did for my TBR shelf. It took a lot more work to capture all these books! I'm excited to bring you part one today and you will see the next installment soon!

Review - Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

Series: Captive Prince #1

Genre: Fantasy

Age Group: Adult (Mature) 

Paperback - 314 pgs

Berkley - January 2014
Source - Library 

Add it // Buy it 

Rating - 3/5 

Trigger Warnings: Rape, physical abuse, torture, pedophilia.

Damen is a warrior hero to his people, and the rightful heir to the throne of Akielos, but when his half brother seizes power, Damen is captured, stripped of his identity, and sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a pleasure slave.

Beautiful, manipulative and deadly, his new master Prince Laurent epitomizes the worst of the court at Vere. But in the lethal political web of the Veretian court, nothing is as it seems, and when Damen finds himself caught up in a play for the throne, he must work together with Laurent to survive and save his country.

For Damen, there is just one rule: never, ever reveal his true identity. Because the one man Damen needs is the one man who has more reason to hate him than anyone else

There a lot of mixed reviews about this book. I come down somewhere in the middle of it all. I see why this story is highly criticized but it did keep me engaged and interested to see where else this story will go. I kept turning the pages because the characters are so well developed and have a lot of layers to them. Laurent seems irredeemable at this point, but I want to know what happens to Damen and the hype around this series has me interested enough to continue reading.

The trigger warnings I mentioned are not given lightly. This story is intense to read. I don't think I quite knew what I was getting when I started it. Slavery permeates across this world and every culture has slaves. It took me about half the book to really wrap my mind around the world and customs Pacat created. I wasn't looking for romance in this first installment, but I wasn't expecting the brutality either.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this book and how complicated my feelings are about it. On one hand I found the characters fascinating and the complex political situation that played out in this story made me read this story in a day. Several months later I'm still disgusted by parts of this and enthralled by others. 

My Last Review - Magic Stars by Ilona Andrews

If We Were Having Coffee

Since I've hit a blogging slump again, I thought I would try out this post I've had on my list for ages. Jamie from The Perpetual Pageturner has a series called If We Were Having Coffee. I love this series and I've always meant to write one of these for my own blog. So here is my first crack at it!

If we were having coffee...I'd tell you I'm thirteen books ahead on my Goodreads Challenge and right on track to read 40,000 pages in 2017. This summer has been amazing stretch of reading for me and I've plowed through quite a number of books. Right now I'm listening to Norse Gods by Neil Gaiman and finding the audiobook quite addictive.

If we were having coffee...I'd tell you my vacation in Cape May was gorgeous and I've had trouble staring at a computer since. The beach house we rented had finicky WIFI and my cell service was terrible. Hence, I was cut off from most of the world's news and social media for a whole week. Since I returned to Pennsylvania, I've had a hard time doing technology things. My brain is still in vacation and disconnected mode.

If we were having coffee...I'd mention I'm having trouble keeping up with everything. On top of adding a new, larger library selection to my Overdrive (I joined the Free Library of Philadelphia recently and so should you if you live in PA), I also discovered Hoopla thanks to a friend. Right now I am overwhelmed with choices and I've borrowed a lot in the past few weeks. Hopefully I actually finish most of this, but right now I'm feeling stretched thin.

Tome Topple/Beach Weekend TBR

It seems like I just returned from vacation, but my friends and I have an annual tradition of doing a girl's beach weekend. This year it falls right at the beginning of the Tome Topple Readathon. So my plan is to kick off this readathon in a serious way by hitting the beach and reading ALL day. However, I have a few more things on my TBR than just Tome Topple books. Check it out to see what I'll be reading!

Top Ten Things I've Been Doing to Avoid Writing Blog Posts

I'll be honest. Over the past few months I've been really lazy here on the blog. Summer has been passing so quickly and I've been doing just about everything except working on blog posts. Mostly, I've gotten out of the habit of writing reviews and brainstorming posts.

What have I been doing you might ask? Well, let me tell you!

1) Reading (Glad this one made it to the list) 

2) Vacationing

3) Starting a Free Trial of Hulu

4) Staring at my books

5) Comparing Netflix and Hulu

6) Watching baseball games (Go Yankees!)

7) Making lists of reviews I need to write 

(then being scared stiff by the sheer number)

8) Giving my dog belly rubs

9)  Getting enough sleep

10) Anything and everything

So hopefully I'll be back working on my posts and get back in the habit of writing reviews too! Here's hoping that will work out!

via GIPHY

July Wrap Up

This month was a great reading month for me! I'm really excited to share my thoughts on the books I read in July and hope things go as well in August too! 

The Magpie Lord by K.J Charles
Interlude with Tattoos by KJ Charles
The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher (audiobook)
The Truth About Mr. Darcy - Susan Adriani (DNF)
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters (DNF)
The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas (audiobook)
The Abyss Surrounds Us by Elizabeth Skrutskie
Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs
Code by Brenden Reichs and Kathy Reichs
Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Fruits Basket Vol 7- Natsuki Takaya
Prince's Gambit by C.S. Pacat

Review - Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

Series: Mercy Thompson #2

Genre: Paranormal

Age Group: Adult

Kindle Edition  - 335 pgs

Ace Books - 2007

Add it // Buy it 

Rating: 4.5/5

Mechanic Mercy Thompson has friends in low places - and in dark ones. And now she owes one of them a favor. Since she can shapeshift at will, she agrees to act as some extra muscle when her vampire friend Stefan goes to deliver a message to another of his kind. 
But this new vampire is hardly ordinary - and neither is the demon inside of him.

After the first book, I thought I had a good handle on how these books were going to go. As we all know, paranormal series tend to be a touch predictable and formulaic. And I like that! Blood Bound still had some of those elements, but its dark turn at the beginning took me by surprise. Mercy is a stronger character in this book and the cast of characters is more developed. I liked how we mainly focused on Mercy in this book with some asides about some romantic interests.

Briggs has a tendency to info dump on her readers, but I hope this will fade as the series goes along. Overall I like the world and how it has a twist on the traditional humans knowing/not knowing about magic. It makes the story interesting in other ways and forces Briggs to be creative about how things get done.

Mercy is relatable and believable. I like how she doesn't want to be treated like a weakling but knows her limits. I hope we continue to learn about her powers (I'm sure we will) and find some answers to that mystery. Really hoping Briggs doesn't stretch that bit out for ages. Will continue very soon! 

Review - Magic Stars by Ilona Andrews

 

Series: Kate Daniels #8.5/Grey Wolf #1

Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy

Age Group: Adult

NYLA - December 2015

Ebook -64 pgs

Add it // Buy it

Rating- 5/5

Scarred, solitary Derek Gaunt has separated from his Pack, and is truly a lone wolf. With no family he answers to no one; but is fiercely loyal to a chosen few. So, when several of those close to him are murdered, he’ll stop at nothing to hunt their killer through the magic-drenched streets of Atlanta.

Never one to be left on the sidelines, equally determined—some might say stubborn—Julie Lennart-Olsen soon joins in his pursuit; and what began as revenge turns into a race to save the city. Their search pits them against powers they never imagined and magic so old, it predates history. It may cost Derek his life, but there are things for which even he would risk everything.

Honestly, I could read a million of these Derek and Julie adventures. Julie, like Kate, is smart, witty and knowledgeable. She can kick butt and outsmart her opponents. Derek complements her well and has a lot of experience and brute strength to balance their teamwork out. I like how this story follows the same basic format we see in the Kate Daniels Series and I am holding out hope we will see the two of them again after the Daniels Series finishes. There have been vague mentions of it on the authors' social media. Please please please give me the Julie and Derek adult romance right now!

The pacing and story structure are familiar like I mentioned, but it is on a condensed scale.  I enjoyed the plot line a lot and sincerely hope there are more to come. The novellas in this series are just as much fun as the full-length novels!

My Last Review---> Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

June Book Haul (2017)

Happy Sunday Book Haul! This month has been a book buying craze for me! Check out all the awesome books I picked up in June.