January 2019 Wrap Up

January was a successful reading "year"...lol. It was a really great reading month. I got through 11 books and I am so proud to start the new year off on the right foot. I got through 2 nonfiction books and I am in the middle of reading Beauty and the Beast with the kids which is the classic of the month even though I will be finishing it tomorrow on the 1st of February.

1. Walking the Americas by Levison Wood

2. Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

3. Lady Smoke by Laura Sebastian

4. Jungleland by Christopher S. Stewart

5. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

6. What Elephants Know by Eric Dinerstein

7. The Train To Impossible Places by P.G. Bell

8. A Circle of Elephants by Eric Dinerstein

9. Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson

10. City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

11. Gone by Michael Grant

Review: City Of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

I am continuing the Shadowhunter series and I have finally finished book 4 of The Mortal Instruments. Book 3 which was City of Glass was my absolute favorite and that one made me want to  continue this series more quickly. This one however was not a good one in my opinion. It had no world building and the plot was semi mediocre. The greater demon and reincarnating Sebastian was the only thing that helped this story.

I did have some laugh out loud moments thanks to Magnus Bane. He is still my favorite character out of the whole series so far. He made the comment that he has never had an affair with a mermaid because they smell to much like seaweed. Also, when he was asking Alec where he wanted to go next and he starts listing off this EXOTIC places and then he names South Carolina as an option, I lost it and was rolling with laughter.

I also noticed that Cassandra Clare mentioned seaweed ALOT in this book. Is there a reason.... I don't know. I decided to do a reading vlog while reading this book and I am also participating in the 24in48 read-a-thon. It started midnight January 26 and so far I have read for 6 hours and 25 minutes. I did not get a lot of reading time in today, but my main goal today was to finish this book.

The next book in the Shadowhunter Chronicles that I will be reading is Clockwork Prince and I will be reading that in March.

Country Cottage 5 Bed 3 Bath

I need this house. This house is so beautiful.

BLOG TOUR: A Circle of Elephants by Eric Dinerstein

Rockstar Book Tours is hosting a two week long tour for the second installment in the Nandu series.

Title: A CIRCLE OF ELEPHANTS

Author: Eric Dinerstein

Pub. Date: January 22, 2019

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Pages: 288

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, iBooks, TBD

Summary: From the author of What Elephants Know, a 2017 ALA Notable Children's Book and winner of the 2017 South Asia Book Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature, comes this stunning companion novel about the complex relationship between people and nature coexisting in the Borderlands of 1970s Nepal.

Thirteen-year-old Nandu lives in the newly established Royal Elephant Breeding Center on the edge of the jungle. Here, the King's elephants are to be raised under the protective watch of the stable. Nandu-along with his adoptive father Subba-sahib, his mentors, friends, and the rest of the elephant drivers-is tested by man and nature as earthquakes, drought, wild herds, and rumors of poachers threaten the Center.

When Nandu's world is thrown into turmoil, so, too, is the world of Hira Prasad, the Center's powerful bull elephant. An unbreakable bond of brotherhood drives Nandu and Hira Prasad together as they struggle to maintain the delicate natural order of life in the Borderlands.

Dinerstein's poetic prose and scientific expertise come together in this breathtaking tale that transports the reader to the center of dangerous conflicts and heartbreaking friendships.

Review: The sequel to What Elephants Know and it holds up really well. It does not have that 2nd book feel. We follow Nandu has he is growing into his role as an elephant driver with his new Tusker (male elephant) and learning more about the beauty and importance of nature and wild life around him. I listened to the audio book of the first novel, What Elephants Know and I felt more connected to the characters while reading this novel. I could imagine their environment, how they dealt with the natural disasters.

Eric Dinerstein is Director of Biodiversity and Wildlife Solutions at RESOLVE. Previously, he was Lead Scientist and Vice President for Conservation Science at the World Wildlife Fund. His areas of specialty include tropical mammals, large mammal biology, biogeography, bats, rhinos, seed dispersal and community ecology. With the World Wildlife Fund, he led many of the organization's most important scientific projects, including the Global 200 Ecoregions, examples of which form the basis of his book TIGERLAND AND OTHER UNINTENDED DESTINATIONS. Dinerstein is also the author of THE KINGDOM OF RARITIES, THE RETURN OF THE UNICORNS: The Natural History and Conservation of the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros and WHAT ELEPHANTS KNOW: A Novel, among other articles and publications.

He attended Northwestern University and Western Washington University, and did his post-graduate studies at the University of Washington (Organization of Tropical Studies) and the National Zoological Park's Conservation and Research Center.

Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

3 winners will win a finished copy of A CIRCLE OF ELEPHANTS, US Only.

Giveaway Link:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e2389ba2879/?

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

1/14/2019- The Reading Corner for All- Review

1/15/2019- BookHounds YA- Interview

1/16/2019- Rhythmicbooktrovert- Review

1/17/2019- Confessions of a YA Reader- Excerpt

1/18/2019- dwantstoread- Review

Week Two:

1/21/2018- Lifestyle of Me- Review

1/22/2018- Loie Dunn- Review

1/23/2018- YA Books Central- Interview

1/24/2018- The Layaway Dragon- Excerpt

1/25/2018- Two Points of Interest- Review

Review: What Elephants Know by Eric Dinerstein

My first audio book of the year because that is what my library had. I read this first book to prepare for the sequel that I am doing a blog tour on tomorrow.

This is almost like a The Jungle Book retelling. We follow a little boy, Nandu, who is found in a Nepal jungle when he was a toddler. He was protected by wild dogs and a elephant mother and it's driver found him. Nandu had a red string necklace and they assumed his was from a Buddhist family. The elephant who found him was a mother to the boy and the driver of the elephant became his adoptive father.

When the boy is 11 years old, he gets to go on a Royal Hunt that the King is hosting. They are hunting Tigers and they ride Elephants into the jungle. When the king is about to shoot a tiger, Nandu screams out to the tiger to run. Many of the drivers become angry at Nandu and the King thanks him because the King was about to kill a Tigress which is a crime in Nepal even the King will not break. Female Tigers are protected.

Eventually, they are told that the elephant stable that they live and work will be closing because the Kingdom can no longer afford the elephants and that only one will be moving to the new stable. They hatch a plan to save their stable.

Review: One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

I am glad that i did not read this book before Two Can Keep A Secret. This book was not the best and I can say for sure that it will be going on to my worst books of the year. I just did not like it at all. Two can Keep a Secret was good and I enjoyed that story line way better than this one.

This is a Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars and oooh, man is it cringe worthy. The character I hated the most was named Addy. She was a dumb ditzy doormat. She had a mother who clearly didn't grow up at all and thinks that you just have to have looks and be dumb as a box of rocks to get and keep a man so he can take care of you. She was also controlled by her boyfriend.

This book is about these 5 teens who get detention for having cell phones in their backpacks. The phones are clearly not theirs and they have been planted. The teen who dies has been running this gossip app and spreading peoples secrets. The 4 other kids in the room are dubbed the murder club and are the 4 main suspects since everyone knew that the guy who died had a peanut allergy and he had a heavy dose of peanut oil that was laced in a cup.

This book dragged on and on. It would get to certain parts of the investigation, and then a couple sentences later we would have three or four pages on characters making out, talking about sex, or watching movies on Netflix.

Not a fan of this novel.

BLOG TOUR: Lady Smoke by Laura Sebastian

Rockstar Book Tours is hosting a month long tour for the second installment in the Ash Princess series by Laura Sebastian.

Title: LADY SMOKE (Ash Princess Trilogy #2)

Author: Laura Sebastian

Pub. Date: February 5, 2019

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook

Pages: 512

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Audible,  B&N, iBooks, TBD

Summary: The sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller that was "made for fans of Victoria Aveyard and Sabaa Tahir" ( Bustle ), Lady Smoke is an epic new fantasy about a throne cruelly stolen and a girl who must fight to take it back for her people. 

The Kaiser murdered Theodosia's mother, the Fire Queen, when Theo was only six. He took Theo's country and kept her prisoner, crowning her Ash Princess--a pet to toy with and humiliate for ten long years. That era has ended. The Kaiser thought his prisoner weak and defenseless. He didn't realize that a sharp mind is the deadliest weapon.

Theo no longer wears a crown of ashes. She has taken back her rightful title, and a hostage--Prinz Soren. But her people remain enslaved under the Kaiser's rule, and now she is thousands of miles away from them and her throne.

To get them back, she will need an army. Only, securing an army means she must trust her aunt, the dreaded pirate Dragonsbane. And according to Dragonsbane, an army can only be produced if Theo takes a husband. Something an Astrean Queen has never done.

Theo knows that freedom comes at a price, but she is determined to find a way to save her country without losing herself.

"A darkly enchanting page-turner you won't be able to put down." --Bustle on Ash Princess, Book 1 in the Ash Princess series

Review: An epic continuation of the first book Ash Princess. We pick right back up where we left off and follow Theo's journey to Ste' Crivero where the king will give her protection. While she is in hiding, she has to pretend once again and let people force her in to things to be able to get her country Astrea back. We see her eventually grow into her own as queen and that she cannot be like her mother and that she will have to fight for what she wants. 

This book had the right amount of female empowerment, epic girl power, bad ass sword fighting and some LGBTQ love!!!

Title: ASH PRINCESS (Ash Princess Trilogy #1)

Author: Laura Sebastian

Pub. Date: April 24, 2018

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook

Pages: 432

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Audible,  B&N,  iBooks, TBD

Theodosia was six when her country was invaded and her mother, the Fire Queen, was murdered before her eyes. On that day, the Kaiser took Theodosia's family, her land, and her name. Theo was crowned Ash Princess--a title of shame to bear in her new life as a prisoner.

For ten years Theo has been a captive in her own palace. She's endured the relentless abuse and ridicule of the Kaiser and his court. She is powerless, surviving in her new world only by burying the girl she was deep inside.

Then, one night, the Kaiser forces her to do the unthinkable. With blood on her hands and all hope of reclaiming her throne lost, she realizes that surviving is no longer enough. But she does have a weapon: her mind is sharper than any sword. And power isn't always won on the battlefield.

For ten years, the Ash Princess has seen her land pillaged and her people enslaved. That all ends here.

Laura Sebastian was born and raised in South Florida (the Redlands and Key Largo) and has always loved telling stories–many apologies to her little brother who often got in trouble because of them. No copies of her first book, a Cinderella retelling about angels circa 2nd grade, remain. Thankfully.

After getting her BFA from Savannah College of Art and Design, she moved to New York City thinking that she would stay for a couple of years before going somewhere better suited for a small-town, sun-loving girl. Five years later, she’s still here and madly in love with it.

When Laura isn’t writing, she’s probably reading, baking cookies or cupcakes, buying more clothes than her overstuffed closet can fit, or forcing her lazy dog Neville to take a walk.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram

Giveaway Details:

3 winners will receive a finished copy of LADY SMOKE, US Only.

Rafflecopter link:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e2389ba2874/?

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

1/1/2019- To Be Read- Review

1/2/2019- A Dream Within A Dream- Review

1/3/2019- Here's to Happy Endings- Review

1/4/2019- Random Bookish Banter- Review

Week Two:

1/7/2019- Tween 2 Teen Book Reviews- Review

1/8/2019- Jrsbookreviews- Review

1/9/2019- Omg Books and More Books- Review

1/10/2019- Fiction Fare- Review

1/11/2019- Du Livre- Review

Week Three:

1/14/2019- Loie Dunn- Review

1/15/2019- A Court of Coffee and Books- Review

1/16/2019- Paws and Paperbacks- Review

1/17/2019- A Gingerly Review- Review

1/18/2019- Lifestyle of Me- Review

Week Four:

1/21/2019- Paper Reader- Review

1/22/2019- Adventures and Reading- Review

1/23/2019- Popthebutterfly Reads- Review

1/24/2019- Adventures Thru Wonderland- Review

1/25/2019- YA Books Central- Interview

Week Five:

1/28/2019- Confessions of a YA Reader- Review

1/29/2019- Colorimetry- Interview

1/30/2019- Smada's Book Smack- Review

1/31/2019- Kat's Books- Review

Review: Jungleland by Christopher S. Stewart

My second non fiction read of the year and I didn't really enjoy it. I chose it to read because it was on my Goodreads TBR and I picked it out to read as a Caribbean and Latin America selection because my library had none of the books listed on ReadtheWorld.org. I read two books that take place in Central America and it pretty much is set in the same exact countries.

It's basically an adventure that have the same goal and the same routes taken to try and find "the White City." There is two timelines in this and they are told in correlating chapters. The oldest adventure took place during WW2 and that is before he becomes a spy for the US. The second is more of a present day adventure with this guy who is a city guy who lives in Brooklyn with his wife and little girl. He basically has a mid life crisis some what and what I think is that he really wanted attention. He was pissed at the end that he did all that walking in the jungle and had to battle bugs, mosquitoes, jaguars and bandits when he he found out that there is not a "white city" and that it is just a metaphor.

I give this book a two out of five. It was a quick read and the chapters are short which gave it that fast paced feel, but the story was all over the freaking place. he basically told the first explorer's life story and didn't dig deeper in to the journey.

I think the author did this journey just to find "gold" and to make it rich and to get his name placed with the discovery of one of the lost cities of the Central Americas. He just wanted attention.

OWLCRATE: SEPTEMBER 2018, OCTOBER 2018, & NOVEMBER 2018

I have slacked off on these posts but I do unbox them over on my YouTube channel Kelly Lyn. These boxes have been so much fun to unbox and I don't see my self stopping my subscription any time soon. The girls look forward to these boxes every month.

SEPTEMBER 2018: Ghosts & Ghoulies

When this box was announced, Owlcrate mentioned that the book for the month was from one of their favorite authors and right away, I knew what book would be included and also the theme gave the book away. I was looking forward to this box more than Addy.

As I am writing this post, the cover was revealed for the 2nd book in this series and I am in love. I guessed that it would take place in the Paris Catacombs and the cover does not disappoint. 

OCTOBER 2018: Mail Call

To be honest, I was not a big fan of this theme, but Ariana loved it. She got a bigger coin purse that she desperately needed. I was going to get her a bigger one from an online shop that I found, but then she got this stamp one and loved it. The one thing I liked that was included in this box were the special delivery stationary and Owlcrate also included their address for their subscribers to send letters. I thought that was really heartwarming. We are also reading this book and it is about impossible places and trolls and delivering packages.  This box was free because Samantha won the coloring contest on Instagram and she gifted this box to Ariana for her birthday.

NOVEMBER 2018: Intergalactic Adventure

When this theme was announced, Ariana had a fit because she is obsessed with space and wants to be an astronaut. This box went to Sammy and Sammy was in love with this box because Owlcrate included their very first graphic novel and when we got done with our video, she crawled into her bed and started reading it and was finished with it in two days. Since they included a graphic novel, they also included another book. It was a paperback and a backlist title. I was excited because this second book was written by Wendy Mass, and we read our first Wendy Mass book earlier in the school year, which is one of Ariana's favorite books, A Mango Shaped Space.

Review: Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

I have had my eye on this book ever since I heard about it on Booktube. I have the opportunity to read an ARC of the sequel Lady Smoke this month thanks to a blog tour company. The review for the second book will be posted next Friday, January 18th.

I flew through this book. It is a fascinating and gripping fantasy that reminded me a lot of Children of Blood and Bone. We follow a girl named "Thora". Her true name is Theodosia (if you start singing along to Hamilton in your head, you are not alone.) Her country was overpowered by a kingdom who enslave the natives and use up all natural resources before moving on to another country.

The country that this book is settled in is called Astrea and it was taken over by the Kalovaxians. Thora's mother was the Fire Queen of Astrea and she had her throat slit in front of Thora when she was six years old. For ten years, she has been under the Kaiser rules. Whenever there is a riot by the enslaved Astreans, she gets whipped for it. When there are banquet and balls or public functions, she is made to wear an ash crown to be humiliated even further.

I read this book in two days, it was a quick read but I did feel a bit bored in some of the chapter and I was dreading one chapter because of how many pages, when in actuality, it read super quick. Some of the chapters could have been shortened and some of the repetitiveness could have been left out after 2-3 mentions in every subsequent chapter.

But overall, I give this a 5 out of 5 at the moment.

January TBR

Starting my year off with the TBR choices for the month of January. I have already read two and I highly enjoyed them. Two of them are blog tour spots coming later this month. I did want to read 1 non fiction and 1 classic a month, but I am going with 2 non fiction this month, so I will balance it out with two classics next month. I am also taking part in the Buzzword read a thon round 2 that is taking place on January 14th through January 20th. The buzzword for this round is "lie", so I will be reading One Of Us Is Lying that week. 

Review: Walking The Americas by Levison Wood

My first read of 2019. A couple years ago, I watched this man in a documentary on Animal Planet. That documentary was called Walking the Nile. I was fascinated by how many miles he walked, the dangerous countries he bravely walked across and just seeing him make it to the Mediterranean Ocean was amazing. I have kept up with his adventures over the years and finally decided to pick up this third book written by him. He is a fascinating and well thought story teller. He puts his emotions into his writing and he can make it feel like you are actually walking along right beside him.

When it came to the parts where he was stopped by the police, or border security officers or drug cartel members, my heart almost stopped. I know that he made it through alive or the book probably would have never seen the light of day. It was fun reading about his journey with Alberto who was freaking hilarious.

I am watching the documentary of this journey now and the humor and sarcasm that Alberto brought to this walk was the best part besides learning about the regions that they walked through.