Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the Broke and Bookish

Hey guys! It is time for another TTT and this weeks topic is new-to.us authors we read in 2016! I have so many different authors in mind for this it is crazy! Without further ado, and in no particular order:

10.  Leigh Bardugo – So, I recently read the Grisha trilogy and I absolutely loved it! I cannot even believe that it took me so long to jump on that bandwagon. Now, I am all set to read Six of Crows when my copy turns up from The Book Depository…

9.  Merrie DeStefano – I recently read her upcoming Lost Girls (approved via Netgalley) and I just can’t even describe the feels I had for this book… You guys all need to be adding it to your TBR’s and I need to be checking out more of her books!

8.  Candy Atkins – I adored The Lost Knight and to say I am excited for book 2 would be an understatement…

7.  Louise O’Neill – I gobbled up both Asking For It and Only Ever Yours and I need more from this author!! Please, someone tell me she is planning something fantastic!

6.  Elise Kova – I actually only read the AA series this year and I absolutely loved it. Whilst I did enjoy her upcoming The Alchemists of Loom, I wasn’t as blown away as I was by her first series!

5.  M. R. Carey – Because who doesn’t love themselves some zombies?? I am so glad I decided to read The Girl With All the Gifts!

4.  Luke Taylor – This author is extremely friendly and I am so glad I requested an ARC copy of his Vault of Dreams because I fell in love with it immediately!! I cannot wait for more of his upcoming books and to check out the ones that he has already released!

3.  Morgan Rhodes – After seeing all the hype, I obviously had to check out Falling Kingdoms! I am so glad I did because I loved it! I have the second book waiting on my shelf for me to read as well! 😀

2.  Betsy Schow – Spelled is one of my all time favourite retellings! I was crying, it was just that funny and I cannot even begin to tell you guys my excitement over Wanted!

1.  Karen Tomlinson – Ok, so technically she is a debut author, however, A Bond of Venom and Magic was my favourite read of 2016, so I just had to include her! I absolutely love this author, plus she is extremely friendly! 😀

That’s it from me! These were all new to me authors this year and I am so glad I picked up books from all of these authors! I look forward to reading more from them!

Which authors are new to you? Feel free to let me know in the comments below!

November Wrap Up!!

Hey guys!! Can you believe that Christmas is around the corner?!? Time to slowly start panicking about presents and food and I don’t even know what else! However, before all that, time to wrap up my reading month of November!! I’m actually writing this and I have no idea how many books I read in November… so, I will be just as knowledgable as you guys by the end of this post! Without further ado:

Read: 

Crystal Crowned by Elise Kova – 4/5 Stars

The Crown’s Dog by Elise Kova, ARC copy – 4/5 stars

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake, 2.5/5 stars

Lost Girls by Merrie DeStefano, ARC copy – 4/5 stars

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo – 4.5/5 stars

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo – 4/5 Stars 

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo – 4/5 stars

The Sin Eater’s Daughter by Melinda Salisbury – DNF

Acquired:

Physical:

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry – A fellow Tower Guard member was unhauling and I decided to request this one! I can’t wait to read it!

Ebooks:

Lost Girls by Merrie DeStefano, ARC copy from Netgalley

The Firethorn Crown by Lea Doue – I saw this on another blog and I decided to grab a copy from Amazon! It looks so good!

The Angel Knight by Mary Ting, Review copy – I requested the first book from the author in exchange for a review and she was kind enough to gift me the prequel novella too!

The Chosen Knights by Mary Ting, Review copy

The Judgement by Melissa A. Craven, ARC copy – I received an ARC copy of this from the author! I absolutely loved the first book and I cannot wait to dive into this one!

Special posts:

Cover and Synopsis Reveal: The Crown’s Dog by Elise Kova

Meraki Candles: October Villainous Box

Cover Reveal: The Lost Girl by Candy Atkins

*Phew* That’s it!! I think I had an ok reading month and I really didn’t buy that many books – so, my husband should be happy! 😛 I guess it is time to start panicking about Christmas!

 

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews

Hey guys! I haven’t done one of these posts in ages!!!! However, I thought I would jump back onto the bandwagon and bring these posts back to my blog again! So, without further ado, here are the books that I got last week and this week!

Lost Girls by Merrie DeStefano – ARC

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley. I have already read and I absolutely adored it!! Definitely recommend this book to everyone!

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

A fellow Tower Guard member was unfailing, so obviously I had to request this one! She sent it to me last week and I am so happy!!

The Firethorn Crown by Lea Doue

I actually saw this as part of this weeks TTT on another blog and after checking it out on Goodreads, I just had to get a kindle copy from amazon!

The Angel Knights by Mary Ting

The Chosen Knights by Mary Ting

I requested a review copy of The Chosen Knights by Mary Ting and she was kind enough to also send me the prequel!! Can’t wait to get stuck into this!

That’s it from me! Aside from Lost Girls, I can’t wait to read the rest of these! They all look so interesting!

What books did you guys add to your shelves this week?? Feel free to leave links and comments and I will check them all out! 

Lost Girls by Merrie DeStefano

Lost Girls by Merrie DeStefano

Expected Publication: January 3rd 2017 by Entangled: Teen

Yesterday, Rachel went to sleep listening to Taylor Swift, curled up in her grammy’s quilt, worrying about geometry. Today, she woke up in a ditch, bloodied, bruised, and missing a year of her life. 

She doesn’t recognize the person she’s become: she’s popular. She wears nothing but black. 

Black to cover the blood. 

And she can fight. 

Tell no one. 

She’s not the only girl to go missing within the last year…but she’s the only girl to come back. She desperately wants to unravel what happened to her, to try and recover the rest of the Lost Girls. 

But the more she discovers, the more her memories return. And as much as her new life scares her, it calls to her. Seductively. The good girl gone bad, sex, drugs, and raves, and something darker…something she still craves—the rush of the fight, the thrill of the win—something she can’t resist, that might still get her killed… 

The only rule is: There are no rules.

Note: I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley in return for an honest review. This in no way influences my opinion.

This has got to be the best YA Contemporary Thriller that I have read so far this year. It is a unique book that tackles subjects that I have never seen in a book. It is also a retelling of Black Swan, but done in its own way and I LOVED it!

This book starts off with our MC crawling out of a ditch, with no memory of the last year or so. As the book continues, she begins to see her dark side (enter the Black Swan) and she learns things about herself that both excite her and scare her! I loved watching our MC and the things that she learns throughout the book. She comes a long way personality wise.

What I loved most about this book is the fact that it tackled the subject of underground fight clubs and human trafficking in this sense. It is something that I have never seen in a book before, which makes this book extremely unique in my eyes. I loved the way the issue was shown and dealt with throughout the book and I also love the fact that it was calling to our character. It showed the other side of underground fight clubs like these because it showed the characters mixed feelings toward it. Rachel loved the adrenaline that it gave her, but she also knew that it was wrong and against the law. There were many mixed feelings and I was interested to see how the MC was going to deal with these.

I loved Rachel as a character. It was great to watch her memories slowly coming back. We could easily see as readers her personality changes from when she was found throughout the book as the book went on. I love watching her dark side coming out like the Black Swan and watching her try to fight it and the eventual ending that we got from it. I was not expecting the book to go in the direction that it did!

An issue I did have with this book is that I felt like her memories could have trickled through maybe a little bit earlier. The mystery from the past year was definitely there from Rachel’s muscle memory and her ability to fight etc. But I wanted a little more. I felt like the memories of the last year dragged on a little too much and could have definitely been introduced a little bit earlier and may a bit more frequently throughout.

I LOVED the ending! The final scenes were the perfect ending for the book and I am so glad that her dad came through. I loved Rachel’s mixed reactions from her memories finally coming through and the betrayal she felt from her so called friends. I’m glad that she ultimately made the right decision, but I also loved watching her think it through.

I really enjoyed this book and it is definitely unique! I will definitely be checking out more from this author! I gave this book 4/5 stars.