Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl.
This weeks prompt is a fun one because it is easy. I read from so many new to me authors last year and I can not wait to read more from them. Some have a backlist a mile long and some were debut.
1. Barbara Kingsolver
2. Julia Quinn
3. Travis Baldree
4. Scarlett St. Claire
5. Riley Sager
6. Tatsuya Endo
7. James Riley
8. Jacqueline Winspear
9. Rebecca Yarros
10. Maggie Stiefvater
Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to ugly cry at the end of this. The problem right off the bat that I had with this was the character names. The book I finished before this was set at a school named Weston. The male main character is named Weston. Our main girl is named Anna and both of them are on the high school marching band.
I don't know anything about marching band and was hesitant at how I was going to like this. It was very band centric with insta love. It was sitting at a two star for most of the book because every chapter was the same with Anna not wanting to lie to her parents and wanting to be good at saxophone and worrying about her duet with Weston. Weston was not wanting to get to close and was basically the outcast in their little small town Texas high school.
He didn't want to fall for Anna because his parents divorced and he had the mindset that every relationship is doomed and love doesn't last.
I thought about DNFing this because it was taking forever but I pushed through and the ending had me crying. I am really triggered by car crashes. The whole ending of this reminded me of the Rascal Flatts music video What Hurts The Most because it is exactly what happens, minus teenage pregnancy which is what I was expecting because there is a sex scene but not graphic.
I ended up giving this a three star. The end is what bumped it up a star because it gave me emotion and it was touching, I just wish there was more of that throughout the book.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl.
This weeks topic is bookish goals and I don't have that many besides to read 100 books, finish some series, and enjoy my time reading. Instead I am going to be sharing my favorite books of last year because I missed that post due to work and procrastination. So without further ado, my favorite books of 2023.
Thanks Netgalley.
I got this copy a couple years ago when it was available as a read now. It has been on many a TBR and this year I am going to be buckling down and reading my Netgalley shelf because I am embarrased by my Netgalley ratio. It is so freaking low, I am confused as to how I can still get books even from the read now section.
This follows a group of girls who are close friends and they attened an all girl boarding school called Weston. Our main character Doe is a senior and instead of focusing on her life and where she is going to go to college, she is consumed by the decades old rival with the all boys boarding school across the road called Winfield. She is known as the master prankster and the first prank she pulls involves tampons... but that is not the plot.
The whole plot is that during the introductory assembly for the beginning of the school year, the headmistress announces that Weston is going to be merging with Winfield to become a co educational boarding school.
Doe is against it and she feels that she has to make it her mission to make the merger fail. She gets into a fake relationship with a Winfield boy named Wells to make his cousin Three, who is Doe's arch enemy jealous and gets his dad to say no to the merger.
There is one plot line that has nothing to do with the merger but it makes Winfield boys and Weston girls come together. There is a male teacher at Weston who is a sexual predator and one thing all the girls in this school agree on is to never ever be alone with him. Why is there a male teacher at a all girl boarding school to begin with????
The lead up to this particular conclusion happens in the last third of the book while we were focused on Doe and her fake relationship and pranks and her family drama. Also the book has an abrput ending and before finishing the book, I was on the authors Goodreads page and someone asked the question was there going to be anything else on Doe and Wells' relationship. The author answered back that there story was complete.
I get to the end of the book expecting something juicy and cutesy and it ends with Doe thinking about Weston and how it will now be a safe place for girls.
I ended up giving this a three star because while reading it, I knew about the male teacher and the sexual assault thanks to Goodreads reviews, but I did like Doe's family dynamic around Christmas.
I am questioning why am I still reading these. Maybe its FOMO or wanting to finish the series, but going into this I couldn't remember a damn thing that happened in volume 4. To me this series is totally forgettable and I am just over how all of the characters are so juvenile.
I could give two shits about Minthe and yet we got her and Hades breakup in the first 2 chapters. Persephone keeping all her money in a shoebox is stupid but wanting to be paid in gold and jewels sounds reasonable.
LMAO.... HAPPY WOMB EVACUATION DAY!!!! I can't.
Persephone is so not qualified for this internship and her struggle is so freaking cringe. I have no idea who all of these other gods are and why they are so hell bent on taking Persephone down, except the one that raped her OBVIOUSLY!
THEY FINALLY KISS and Persephone turns into butterflies. HAHA, how tragic. Does persephone have multiple personalities??
Persephone going to Minthe for help with the software and when Minthe refuses, Persepone black mails her into telling on her when she gave false directions. Persephone holding on to that when Hades and Hecate already know who gave her the flase directions is definitely grasping at straws. Also don't understand the videotape of Hades and Persephone. I am just so damn confused and really hoping that shit starts making sense soon.
See, I start disliking the book and then cute shit like Persephone and Hades sleeping next to each other and Hades mentioning having to go to feed the dogs is such a normal mortal thing to do.
So Hades and Persephone have met before and Demeter got him piss drunk so he wouldn't remember. Why did Persephone need to know if a mortal could be brought back from the underworld. Has thisi been mentioned before. If so, once again this series is forgettable.
We learn how Persephone becomes The Bringer of Death and holy shit is it epic. Now it makes sense why she wants to bring mortals back. Artemis going to the underworld like a bat out of hell looking for Persephone.
Zeus asking Hera for a vision to find his socks and she just flips him off is the best. Zeus calling all of his little inconvinences No respect is laughable.
Hera being disguised as Persephone to decieve Demeter because no one knows where Persephone is. That lunch was funny as hell. Hera being herself and not the way Persephone acts and Demeter becoming SUS.
Persephone is pawning all her stuff in the underworld and Hecate and Hades are going to all 7 and 1/2 pawn shops to find her. Funnily enough, Hades ends up embarassing Hecate when he gets into a screaming match with a violent little nymph who is wearing the comb that Hades gifted Persephone.
THANK YOU... WHY IS THE WORD NO SO HARD FOR MEN TO FUCKING UNDERSTAND... Apollo needs to go choke. Thank the Gods that Hera rejected Apollo's marriage proposal to Persephone.
Persephone and Demeter are now wanted for the act of wrath without a permit.
Ok, I will be picking up the 6th volume this summer.
My first read of 2024 and it was 4 stars. Going into this, I knew it was a prequel and I knew Viv's end game. That didn't take away my enjoyment and it didn't sway my rating like everyone else's reviews. In Legends and Lattes we got introduced to Viv the Orc, who has decided to leave the mercenary life behind and settle down with COFFEE!!!!
This is the prequel to that where Viv is just starting out being a mercenary and being in a group called Rackams Ravens. They are going after a necromancer and Viv gets seriously injured. They end up dumping her in a little sea side town called Murk to heal and get better to eventually join back up.
While she is recovering, she becomes friends with the local bookstore owner. She is a rattkin named Fern and she has a gryphet which is a pug like owl and his name is the best thing ever. Even better is when I read the name, I had just finished my New Years dinner of slow cooked roast. Needless to say that Potroast is now a new favorite pet name.
Viv also becomes friendly with the local baker, a dwarf named Maylee. Sadly I was spoiled for the connection between Viv and Maylee. Viv is not a favorite for the major Gatewarden and wants Viv to recover quickly and get the hell out of her town.
Viv startes reading books on Fern's recommendation and then starts helping out at the bookstore that is slowly but surely going under. Financially and literally. There is a threat to the town in the form of a gray man who is eventually dealt with but that just leads to a bigger host of problems and a new character named Satchel.
I ended up giving this 4 stars because I wanted more action with the confrontation of Varine the necromancer. I feel that it was just half assed and rushed and not meant to be a main plot point. The epilogue gives me a little hope that there may finally be a sequel to Legends and Lattes.
This weeks topic is anticipated book for the first half of the year. I usually focus on backlist and previous year releases that I didn't get to because I usually dont have the money to buy brand new releases and my library takes FOREVER to get new books and then the hold list is a mile long.
My list is in no particular order except the very first book because I have been waiting for this one since I finished Iron Widow. I am not rushing the year, but I am ready to have this book in my hands.
My 100th read of 2023 and I loved it. This review is super late because I was a major slacker in all things life and hobbies due to work. I also dont preorder books but this one was definitely an exception because I needed to know what the hell was going on with certain characters and why they were suddenly not dead.
This pretty much picks up right where the first book left off. We learn what is going on and the significance of what happened and why they were targeted. They decide to go back to Basgiath and it is graduation day. They walk in as their names are being read from the death roll and Xaden being Xaden, he shouts that it's weird because he doesn't feel dead.
Violets mother the General becomes furious that her second in command, Colonel Aetos did not confirm and just sent all of the branded on a mission to an outpost that was no part of the war games. Violet then becomes a target to the Colonel.
The first years are now second years and Violet tries her damndest not to get attached or learn any of their names, except one and that is Liams little sister Sloane. The problem is that Sloane is another person who hates Violet. Not just because of who her mother is, but because she is the reason Liam got killed.
Violet goes through even more hell this year because the people that she calls friends, she has to keep this massive secret and can't confide in them. Which starts straining immediately. She also becomes public enemy number one to Colonel Aetos friend and new Vice Commandant.. Varnish. He is a major asshole and his dragon is a literal one eyed ticking time bomb. Varnish is so eager to get close to Andarna and to get close to a gold dragon. Sadly Andarna is not conscious most of the book because of things that are spoilery.
I absolutely loved Tairn even more because he was even more sassy and violent towards everyone even Xaden. This book is filled with plot twist after plot twist and I am very anxious about book three. Sad that book three wont be out till December of this year.
I am thrilled to be hosting a spot
on the BARBARIC VOL. 3: HELL TO PAY by Michael Moreci, Nicholas Eames, Nathan
C. Gooden & QUEEN OF SWORDS: A
BARBARIC TALES by Michael Moreci & Corin Howell Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out
my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
About The Books:
Authors: Michael Moreci, Nicholas Eames, Nathan C.
Gooden (Illustrator)
Pub. Date: January 2, 2024
Publisher: Vault Comics
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 128
Find it: Goodreads, https://books2read.com/BARBARIC-VOL-3-HELL-TO-PAY
As one of Entertainment
Weekly’s “10 Best Comics of 2021,” BARBARIC – featuring
Owen the Barbarian and his bloodthirsty companion Axe – is back: bigger,
bloodier, and badder than ever with BARBARIC Vol. 3: HELL TO PAY!
Hailed as one of the best comics of 2021 by Entertainment Weekly,
Thrillist, Screen Rant, and more, bestselling BARBARIC is
back, big, bloody and headed straight to Hell in Volume 3: Hell to
Pay!
While Owen tames a dragon with an old friend, Soren and Steel cross paths with
someone else from our cursed barbarian’s past…who isn’t looking nearly as
friendly. Hell hath no fury like a woman stabbed through the heart by an ugly
f***ing orc.
Oh, wait! Who’s carrying Axe?
BARBARIC Volume 3: Hell to Pay includes the oversized
one-shot Wrong Kind of Righteous co-written by fantasy
powerhouse writer Nicholas Eames (Kings of the Wyld)!!
For fans of BRZRKR!, The Witcher, Conan the Barbarian, Red
Sonja, Heathen, Rat Queens, Kings of the Wyld, and Dungeons
and Dragons!
Collects the third three-issue miniseries (Hell to Pay) and the
special one-shot standalone (Wrong Kind of Righteous)!
It’s just … BARBARIC!
From writer Michael Moreci (Wasted Space, The Plot,Spree, and Revealer)
and artist Nathan C. Gooden (Brandon Sanderson's Dark One, The RUSH,
Vampire: The Masquerade)!
Own a whole lot of Owen, Axe, and the BARBARIC universe with:
Barbaric Vol. 1: Murderable Offenses (hardcover)
Barbaric Vol. 1: Murderable Offenses (trade paperback)
Barbaric Vol. 2: Axe to Grind (trade paperback)
Barbaric Vol. 3: Hell to Pay (trade paperback)
Queen of Swords: A Barbaric Tale (trade paperback)
PRAISE FOR BARBARIC
‘One of the “10 Best Comics of 2021…” Barbaric took only three
issues to establish itself as a first-rate comic.’ - Entertainment
Weekly
‘One of the “Best Comics of 2021…” It's a funny, gory, weird comic with
stunning art in muted colors.’ – Thrillist
‘One of the “Best Comic Books and Graphic Novels of 2021…” the
“excellent…violent, expletive-filled fantasy epic Barbaric never
holds back… It’s bloody spectacular.”’ - Screen Rant
"A visually stunning, incredibly funny, action-packed bloody tale."
- Comic Book Yeti
Authors: Michael Moreci & Corin Howell (Illustrator)
Pub. Date: January 2, 2024
Publisher: Vault Comics
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 112
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, Indigo, Powell’s, BAM, Bookshop, Blackwell’s
Barbarian. Assassin. Witch. Red
Sonja meets Dungeons & Dragons in Queen
of Swords: A Barbaric Tale, where the triple threat of women's fury
rises - bursting from the pages of the smash, BARBARIC (one of
Entertainment Weekly's "Best Comics of 2021!")!
Magic and mayhem, humor and trouble,
Fire burns as blood flows and bubbles ...
Spinning out of the pages of BARBARIC comes an all-new,
rip-roaring fantasy adventure, filled with mayhem, humor, and a bloodthirsty
weapon that just won’t stop talking!
Serra is a witch with a checkered past; Ka is an assassin with an agenda all
her own, and Deadheart is a barbarian who wants to bash everyone in her path.
They’ll have to unite their unique skills to track down a powerful foe who’s
tied their lives together. Get ready to meet your new favorite instrument of
death—the evil Ga’Bar, whose spirit is now trapped in Deadheart’s sword!
Discover the origin of the dark magic that turned Soren into the tattooed witch
she is today, in this totally new story, the perfect place to step into the
world of BARBARIC for the first time!
Hell's got nothin' on these badass Barbaric belles...
Collects the entire, standalone three-issue series!
Review: axe is by far my favorite character. need backstory on how he came to be. we follow deaheart on her journey after she returned from hell. ga'bor the sword irritated me to no end. he wishes he could be as cool as axe.
About Michael Moreci:
Michael Moreci is a bestselling comics author, screenwriter, and
novelist. His original comic works include The Plot, Curse, Barbaric,
Wasted Space (all for VAULT COMICS), the upcoming Creepy the
Snowman Middle Grade graphic novel – with his two sons – for
WONDERBOUND, Roche Limit, and more. He's also written canonical
stories for Stranger Things, Star Wars, Hack/Slash, and the DC universe.
Additionally, Moreci ‘s first movie, Revealer, premiered in Fall 2021 and he's
in pre-production on a second film.
Keep in touch:
Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub
An award-winning illustrator and sequential artist, Nathan
C. Gooden is Art Director at Vault Comics. Nathan studied animation at
the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and worked in film production, before
co-founding Vault Comics. Nathan’s previous works include Brandon Sanderson’s
Dark One (Vault), Barbaric (Vault), Zojaqan (Vault), and Killbox (from
American Gothic Press). He lives in Southern California, where he plays a lot
of basketball and hikes constantly with his wife.
Keep
in touch:
About Nicholas Eames:
Nicholas Eames was born to parents of infinite patience and
unstinting support in Wingham, Ontario. Kings
of the Wyld is his first novel, Bloody
Rose his second! He lives in British Columbia, Canada, and loves black coffee, neat whiskey, the month
of October, and video games, anime, movies, and all things awesome.
He is co-wrote(with Michael Moreci) the one-shot, oversized comic BARBARIC:
Wrong Kind of Righteous for Vault Comics!
Keep in touch:
Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads
Corin
Howell is a red
head Comic Artist of spooky, scary, and sexy, and monsters, maidens, and
robots.
I love cats too.
She is the artist for the supernatural detective series from Vault, SHADOW
SERVICE, with bestselling author Cavan Scott. Hometown: Austin, TX
Website | Twitter
| Instagram | Goodreads
Giveaway Details:
2 winners
will receive finished copies of BARBARIC VOL. 3: HELL TO PAY & QUEEN OF SWORDS: A BARBARIC TALES, US Only.
Ends January 16th, midnight EST.
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
|
12/18/2023 |
Excerpt |
|
|
12/19/2023 |
Interview Nicholas Eames /IG Post |
|
|
12/20/2023 |
IG Post |
|
|
12/21/2023 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
|
|
12/22/2023 |
Excerpt |
Week Two:
|
12/25/2023 |
Interview Michael & Nate/IG Post |
|
|
12/26/2023 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
|
|
12/27/2023 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
|
|
12/28/2023 |
Review/IG Post |
|
|
12/29/2023 |
IG Post/TikTok Post |
Week Three:
|
1/1/2024 |
IG Review/LFL Drop Pic/TikTok Post |
|
|
1/2/2024 |
Review |
|
|
1/3/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
|
|
1/4/2024 |
Review |
|
|
1/5/2024 |
IG Review |
Week Four:
|
1/8/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
|
|
1/9/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
|
|
1/10/2024 |
IG Review |
|
|
1/11/2024 |
Review/IG Post |
|
|
1/12/2024 |
IG Review |
DNF at 40%. I could not continue this whiplash. I was expecting some big drama surrounding the ex but finding out that she broke up with h...
