Weekly Spotlight - Blackbird

 

Blackbird 

From the author of the Eve trilogy comes the breathless story of a girl racing to figure out who she is—and how to stay alive. When a nameless girl wakes up on the subway tracks, she knows only one thing for sure: people want her dead. Can she find them before they track her down? This pulse-pounding contemporary thriller is perfect for fans of The Maze Runner, The Darkest Minds, and Legend.

Things I Know Are True:
I am in Los Angeles
I woke up on the train tracks at the Vermont/Sunset station
I am a teenage girl
I have long black hair
I have a bird tattoo on the inside of my right wrist with the letters and numbers FNV02198

People are trying to kill me 

My Review

Deadfall

In the compelling sequel to Blackbird, Anna Carey delivers a gritty and adrenaline-filled story of a girl desperate to escape her mysterious and terrifying assailants. Told in second person, this heart-pounding thriller puts the reader in front of the target.

A week ago, you woke up in Los Angeles with no memory of who you are. The only thing you knew: people are trying to kill you. You put your trust in Ben, but he betrayed you and broke your heart. Now you've escaped to New York City with a boy named Rafe, who says he remembers you from before. But the two of you are not safe. The same people who are after you are tailing Rafe as well. As the chase heats up, your memory starts to return, but your past cannot save you from the terrifying circumstances of your present, or the fact that one wrong move could end this game forever.

With enemies on every side, and not a reprieve in sight, Deadfall will grab readers and refuse to let go. Perfect for fans of the Maze Runner series and the Legend series.

My Review

Deadfall

Deadfall
by Anna Carey

Book: Blackbird #2
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pub Date: June 16, 2015
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Mystery
Format: Print
Source: Bought
Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon

In the compelling sequel to Blackbird, Anna Carey delivers a gritty and adrenaline-filled story of a girl desperate to escape her mysterious and terrifying assailants. Told in second person, this heart-pounding thriller puts the reader in front of the target.

A week ago, you woke up in Los Angeles with no memory of who you are. The only thing you knew: people are trying to kill you. You put your trust in Ben, but he betrayed you and broke your heart. Now you've escaped to New York City with a boy named Rafe, who says he remembers you from before. But the two of you are not safe. The same people who are after you are tailing Rafe as well. As the chase heats up, your memory starts to return, but your past cannot save you from the terrifying circumstances of your present, or the fact that one wrong move could end this game forever.

With enemies on every side, and not a reprieve in sight, Deadfall will grab readers and refuse to let go. Perfect for fans of the Maze Runner series and the Legend series.

 

My Review: Finally! This series is over. I was very 50/50 on whether or not I was going to finish this duology after the first book, but I went for it.  

This one was about the same as the first one. I didn't love it, but I didn't exactly hate it either. More like it was just meh. 

Told in second person (still not my favorite thing) just like the first, it basically gets right into where we last left off. New characters and the answers were finally coming in. 

However, the love triangle gave me a headache. But then in the end for Lena to decide she was going to do life solo just made that triangle so not needed. 

It's a fast read, suspenseful and kinda an okay ending. I wasn't in love with this series like I was with Anna's Eve series. It just didn't do it for me, but I'll still continue to give Anna's book a read since her Eve series did become a favorite of mine. Who knows, maybe the next book will be a winner for me.  

My Rating:

✪✪✪

Weekly Spotlight - Not Worth the Hype

 

Great and Precious Things

by Rebecca Yarros  

How do you define yourself when others have already decided who you are? Six years ago, when Camden Daniels came back from war without his younger brother, no one in the small town of Alba, Colorado, would forgive him-especially his father. He left, swearing never to return. When he receives a desperate message from his father, all of the memories come rushing back. The betrayal. The pain. And the need to go home again. But home is where the one person he still loves is waiting. Willow. The one woman he can never have. Because there are secrets buried in Alba that are best left in the dark.If only he could tell his heart to stay locked away when she whispers she's always loved him, and always will...Great and Precious Things is a heart-wrenching story about family, betrayal, and what we're willing to sacrifice for those who need us most.

My Review

Cruel Seduction
by Katee Robert

He was my enemy. My lover. My husband.

And the one man I swore by all Olympus I would destroy.

Aphrodite has never flinched at getting her perfectly manicured hands dirty, and she's not about to start now—even if that means marrying Olympus's enemy number one, the new Hephaestus. She has a wicked plan to keep her deadly new husband off-balance, seducing the one person he seems to care about most in this world: Pandora, a woman as beautiful as she is sweet.

Two can play the seduction game, however, and Hephaestus is all too happy to put his new wife in her place. Her ex, Adonis, seems like he'll do the trick. It doesn't hurt that he's gorgeous in the way of fallen angels, either.

The only problem with using seduction as a weapon? Hearts are all too quick to get involved. With Hephaestus and Aphrodite trading venomous strikes that feel a whole lot like foreplay, lines become blurred and emotions entangled. But a broken heart may be the least of their worries. With unrest in Olympus reaching new heights, these bedroom games may have deadly consequences for themselves, their city, and everyone they've come to love.

Cruel Seduction

Cruel Seduction
by Katee Robert

Book: Dark Olympus #5
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Pub Date: August 8, 2023
Genre: Adult, Romance, Greek Mythology, Retelling
Format: Print
Source: Bought
Book links: Goodreads  Amazon

He was my enemy. My lover. My husband.

And the one man I swore by all Olympus I would destroy.

Aphrodite has never flinched at getting her perfectly manicured hands dirty, and she's not about to start now—even if that means marrying Olympus's enemy number one, the new Hephaestus. She has a wicked plan to keep her deadly new husband off-balance, seducing the one person he seems to care about most in this world: Pandora, a woman as beautiful as she is sweet.

Two can play the seduction game, however, and Hephaestus is all too happy to put his new wife in her place. Her ex, Adonis, seems like he'll do the trick. It doesn't hurt that he's gorgeous in the way of fallen angels, either.

The only problem with using seduction as a weapon? Hearts are all too quick to get involved. With Hephaestus and Aphrodite trading venomous strikes that feel a whole lot like foreplay, lines become blurred and emotions entangled. But a broken heart may be the least of their worries. With unrest in Olympus reaching new heights, these bedroom games may have deadly consequences for themselves, their city, and everyone they've come to love.

 

My Review: This one to me, was a hot mess. Compared to the others in the series, this one was my least favorite thus far. 

The beginning was boring and overly detailed in ways that it felt droned out and gave me a headache.  From Hephaestus complaining to having to marry Aphrodite now that he's in this new role/power. To Aphrodite complaining in her own way to the both of them jabbing at each other. That's all just in the very start of it too. I get it, political and being of the 13. Things are just done a certain way/expected. But it felt just way too much for the start.

I tried to push past that and I barely made it halfway. The numerous POV was a lot for this pairing. I didn't need so many and this book seemed more heavy on politics than the others have.  

This book for many more reasons, just wasn't it for me. I'm not sure what happened in the thought process for this one, but the other books were much much much better than what this was. 

It ended up being a DNF for me.

 

My Rating:

✪✪

Great and Precious Things

Great and Precious Things
by Rebecca Yarros
 
Book: Stand Alone
Publisher: Entangled
Pub Date: February 25, 2020
Genre: Adult, Romance Contemporary, Military
Format: Print
Source: Bought
Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon

 

How do you define yourself when others have already decided who you are? Six years ago, when Camden Daniels came back from war without his younger brother, no one in the small town of Alba, Colorado, would forgive him-especially his father. He left, swearing never to return. When he receives a desperate message from his father, all of the memories come rushing back. The betrayal. The pain. And the need to go home again. But home is where the one person he still loves is waiting. Willow. The one woman he can never have. Because there are secrets buried in Alba that are best left in the dark.If only he could tell his heart to stay locked away when she whispers she's always loved him, and always will...Great and Precious Things is a heart-wrenching story about family, betrayal, and what we're willing to sacrifice for those who need us most.

 

My Review: Welp, it happened. I finally ran into a book by Rebecca that I just didn't love.  

While I hate to say a favorite author of mine has written something that wasn't what I expected, it still wasn't a bad read. Something about this book for me personally was too slow a pace, wasn't pulling me in like the others have and well the first half of the book was kinda boring. 

Camden is called back home to CO. Done with military life, he is home for good. Back to help is brother care for his ailing dad. Who even on a good day, hates Cam. He never forgave him for getting his brother killed, but then again he never listened to the full story. Sure Cam was a trouble maker back in the day, but he's now grown into a great man who deserves a chance at knowing who is now rather than the town only remembering who he was.  

The first half is Cam really getting back into the swing of things. His dad going from hating him to not knowing who he is, to striking a deal together. Catching up with his brother. Getting the land and house back into shape that his uncle left him. Oh, and running into Willow a lot.  

Now, it didn't really pick up for me until about the halfway point, where I started to finally get into the book. However, I just couldn't connect with these characters and really give it my all. Not a bad book at all, just happened to not be for me like I expected. 

However, this being the first book I didn't absolutely love but didn't hate by Rebeca is still a good thing for me. Perhaps a little humbling too. I'll still have her as an absolute favorite and continue on to her other books. If you haven't already, check out her other stand alone books and her FOURTH WING books. Now that series has my heart.  

 

My Rating:

✪✪✪

Weekly Spotlight - Favorite Authors Pt. 6

 

Kylie Scott

Kylie is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today best-selling, Audie Award winning author. She has sold over 2,000,000 books and was voted Australian Romance Writer of the year four times by the Australian Romance Reader’s Association. Her books have been translated into fifteen different languages and she is based in Queensland, Australia.

Kylie's Website

Molly McAdams

Molly grew up in California but now lives with her husband and daughter in the oh-so-amazing state of Texas. When she's not diving into the world of her characters, some of her hobbies include hiking, snowboarding, traveling, and long walks on the beach . . . Which roughly translates to being a homebody and dishing out movie quotes with her hubby. She has a weakness for crude-humored movies and loves curling up in a fluffy blanket during a thunderstorm . . . Or under one in a bathtub if there are tornados. That way she can pretend they aren't really happening.

Molly's Website

Linger

Linger
by Molly McAdams
 
Book: Rebel #4
Publisher: Jester Creations, LLC
Pub Date: October 3, 2023
Genre: Romance, Adult
Format: eBook
Source: Borrowed
Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon
 
The heart-stopping finale of New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Molly McAdams’s REBEL series.I’ve always known where I ranked in every aspect of my life.Parents? Not the favorite twin.Military? Dangerous scapegoat.Women? Practically a god—they’re welcome.Mafia? Irreplaceable member of the family.When Willow Bennett moves into our little town, I find that confidence rocked for the first time by how guarded she is.But that secretive smile and those dancing eyes keep drawing me back to her as if falling in love isn’t a danger I never wanted to put on anyone.And now that danger is knocking on our door. Demanding atonement for a choice my family made years ago. Attempting to ruin the peace we’ve been living in.Threatening to destroy everything.But in our world, rebellions aren’t a phase; they’re an oath. A way of life.And I’m the unassuming Rebel you need to watch out for.Nearly every word out of my mouth might drip with sarcasm, but that doesn’t diminish my aim. More than that, you can’t escape me because I’m a bloodhound.The name’s Diggs.There’s nothing and no one I can’t track down. If I’m looking for you, you might as well start praying because I’m about to be the last thing you see.
 
My Review: It's been a while since I read this series, but the excitement for this new book and getting back into this series was still there.
 
Willow was interesting at the start. One would think that she trusted a little too easy at first. I mean who craves for this mysterious man who only breaks in at night? I mean, sure at first she was spooked, but it quickly went to lust.
 
Diggs is the mysterious bad boy. He can track anyone. But is his need to keep Willow at bay is impacting his ability to get the job done. 
 
When Willow becomes a target in the string of murders, she and everyone else a part of the family/world must come together in one home for safety.
 
Here Willow finally learns more about Diggs. He lets it all out for her. She knows and still wants Diggs and everything that comes with him.
 
After a kidnapping turns to an exchange for another. The race is on to get Willow. But once everything is finally over, Willow and Diggs can truly be together. Have a real relationship, home, everything she could want. Heck even get Diggs to get a different style of wheels. 
 
These two are absolutely a ride you cant miss. The love, heart wrenching and angsty romance you have to read.
 

My Rating:

✪✪✪✪✪

Weekly Spotlight - April Anticipated Releases

 

A Promise of Peridot

A prophecy of death. A weapon of hope. A sacrifice of love.

Arwen Valondale is sailing for the mysterious Kingdom of Citrine after the battle of Siren's Bay. Reeling from shocking revelations and her newfound powers, Arwen directs all of her pain and rage toward the man who betrayed her: King Kane Ravenwood.

Kane's presence is unavoidable as he travels with Arwen and her friends to seek the Blade of the Sun, a legendary weapon inextricably tied to her fate and the future of the realm. Even an uneasy truce proves difficult as Arwen fights against her unresolved feelings for Kane, who is willing to become darkness itself to protect her.

As Arwen faces creatures, foes, and magic beyond her wildest imaginings, she must discover the secrets of her past to defeat the monstrous Fae king Lazarus. But finding the light within might mean the death of her and everyone she loves.

Add on Goodreads

 

The Familiar

From the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishaverse series comes a highly anticipated historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position.

What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favor.

Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.

Add to Goodreads

Draw Down the Moon

New York Times bestsellers P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast return with a new duology set in a dark and magickal world filled with incredible danger and irresistible romance.

Wren Nightingale isn't supposed to have any powers. Born of magickal parents but not under a moon sign, she was destined for life as a Mundane--right up until she starts glowing on her eighteenth birthday. In a heartbeat, Wren's life is turned upside down, and she's suddenly leaving her home for the mystical Academia de la Luna--a secret magickal school on a hidden island off the Seattle coast.

Lee Young has always known about his future at the Academia. He has one pass the trials, impress the Moon Council, and uphold his family's reputation. But he wasn't expecting to be attending alongside the girl he's been secretly in love with for as long as he can remember.

As Wren and Lee are thrown into the Academia's grueling trials, they quickly learn there's something different--and dangerous--about the school this year. Wren will have to navigate a web of secrets, prophecies--and murder. And Lee will have to decide who to protect--his family's legacy, or the girl he loves.

Add to Goodreads

2024 April Reading Challenge

Launching our APRIL challenge!
 
Here is a list of books to help you get started: 

 
Historical: 

Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller 

Set in Europe:

Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Ireland Setting:

See Me by Wendy Higgins

Narvla's Celtic New Year by Therese Gilardi

We welcome you to comment your suggestions and tell us which spot your most excited for this month! 

Draw Down the Moon

Draw Down the Moon
by P.C. & Kristin Cast

Book: Moonstruck #1
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Pub Date: April 2, 2024
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Magic
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss
Book Links: Goodreads  Amazon

New York Times bestsellers P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast return with a new duology set in a dark and magickal world filled with incredible danger and irresistible romance.

Wren Nightingale isn't supposed to have any powers. Born of magickal parents but not under a moon sign, she was destined for life as a Mundane—right up until she starts glowing on her eighteenth birthday. In a heartbeat, Wren's life is turned upside down, and she's suddenly leaving her home for the mystical Academia de la Luna—a secret magickal school on a hidden island off the Seattle coast.

Lee Young has always known about his future at the Academia. He has one goal: pass the trials, impress the Moon Council, and uphold his family's reputation. But he wasn't expecting to be attending alongside the girl he's been secretly in love with for as long as he can remember.

As Wren and Lee are thrown into the Academie's gruelling trials, they quickly learn there's something different--and dangerous--about the school this year. Wren will have to navigate a web of secrets, prophecies--and murder. And Lee will have to decide who to protect--his family's legacy, or the girl he loves.

My Review: Love, love, love this new series!

I've loved these ladies since I discovered their House of Night series. Since then, I've been hook, line and sinker for everything that's come since.

Any who, Wren is just a normal girl. She is prepared to spend her life with books and take over her uncles book shop one day. Until then, it's the night before her 18th birthday and she's spending it with Lee, her favorite person. 

Pay no mind to what she was doing that night. But when the time hit and she became 18, Wren started to glow. Like the I've got magic in me and now what the heck is happening to me all wrapped in the same moment. 

Wren never had an inkling of magic and suddenly she does and goes from boring normal life with her uncles to being sent to a summer school with Lee where they will learn about their magic, attend trials and much more.

Now, at this point, I'm already hooked. Now once the trials starts, a death occurs and then the intrigue keeps you there when Wren finally figures out who/what she is. 

That is until she overhears the Dean and Leader of the Moon council talking. Well more kind of like an unofficial wasn't supposed to hear kind of warning. 

From there, you can't help it. You read on and next thing you know it's over and your begging for the next book. 

I love this book and can already see this series becoming a favorite of mine. These ladies know what they are doing and with every book they release, I'm reminded of why I'm such a huge fan of them. 

 

My Rating:

✪✪✪✪✪