OBSESSED!!!!!! That is how I feel about this book. I hate that I took so long to read this. I had heard so many good things about this and how it was just as good as The Martian and I have to agree that it is up there, but it doesn't take the number one spot. This was definitely better than Artemis. I have found some of my favorite quotes and I am really hoping that this will be made into a movie because I want to see how they make Rocky who is without a doubt the best character. Never thought I would say that about a space spider.
Ryland grace, out human main character is a high school science teacher who gets dragged into a government program where he learns that the sun is dimming and Earth will be plunged into an instant ice age in 5 years. He terms the name for the microbe aliens that are stealing the Sun's energy and it becomes a global race to send a crew to another solar system to find out what the alien is and how can Earth be saved.
He then wakes up from a coma aboard the Hail Mary with amnesia and he two other crew members dead and mummified from their comas. He then realizes he is on a suicide mission and he is in a race to get Earth answers before Earth dies and he dies. He then makes a friend who is the best spider in the universe and they become best buds. There are hijinks, sadness, happiness and general anger and also fear about what to do and how to do it, but they make an amazing team.
I would love to have another book from Rocky's POV after the events of this one. I think it would be cool to see how he lives out the rest of his life and how his planet will evolve and learn.
I had to jump on the Bridgerton bandwagon because the FOMO became too much and I am so glad that I did. I am obsessed. I loved the humor and the sarcasm and the smut. The sexism from Simon could have taken a flying leap. I understand that it was a product of the time period and one of the reasons I have always stayed away from this time period in books and movies because it always grates on my nerves. Hence why the 4 out of 5 stars.
This series follows the Bridgerton siblings and there are 8. The thing that is funny about this family is that there names are in alphabetical order by birth order. The oldest is Anthony who is now the head of the family. But this book follows Daphne, who is the eldest daughter of the Bridgerton brood and she is of marriage age. Her mother is introducing her to society and she meets the Duke of Hastings who has come back to London after traveling the world. They meet at a ball where Daphne is being pleaded to by a man who is desperately wanting to marry her. Simon and Daphne literally get their punches in on the pleading, drunk and pathetic guy who starts to get handsy with Daphne.
We also learn about Simon's childhood and why he is such an angry person. Daphne is very ignorant and naive. The smut in this book was top notch and it is better than the smut in Outlander. But I still have to watch the show to see if what I said is true for the adaptations. Outlander has the most revealing smut scenes.
I can't wait to pick up the next book because it is from Anthony's POV and I am obsessed with the Bridgerton kids and plus I want to read more from Lady Whistledown's society papers.
My favorite quote from the book is at the very end and it is a huge spoiler, so I will not add names.
First nonfiction read of 2023 and it is 5 stars. My favorite type of nonfiction are ones that are told like stories and this was exactly that. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a true account and it definitely remided me of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Both of the books are set during the same time in Afghanistan when the soviets invaded and their democratic government crumbled.
The author Enjeela tells us about her childhood and how she was one of the wealthy families due to her mother's family and her father's job as a translator at the American Embassy which turns out to place a massive target on his back. Enjeela is one of 7 or 8 siblings and one day her mother takes only two of her children and flees the country to India. The whole time, Enjeela is waiting for her mother to return while Kabul is turning into a war zone. Her older brother is on the run from the afghan military and then one night Enjeela and her remaining siblings have to flee the country.
It is almost similar to The Kite Runner but no gas tankers or sexual assault. They stay in villages along the way and Enjeela realizes that how she lived in Kabul and what she thought was right in her religion is practiced differently and some rules are not followed. She meets friends along the way who open her eyes to what she didn't know. She has to trek over the Hindu Kush mountains and go into multiple different countries to be able to get to India with her mother and hope that her father will be able to find them.
This week we get a freebie and I just came up with this on a whim and didn't give it much thought until now. The past week, I have not had any time to devote to my blog and sadly my youtube channel has taken a backseat again for the whole month. I am trying to stick with readathon prompts and that is my main priority this year.
I am hoping that I can somehow fit these series continuations or conclusions into some prompts.
Here are the series I want to complete this year.
1. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. (I AM NOW MAAS TRASH)
2. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon ( this would be outrageous)
3. Shades of Magic by Victoria Schwab
4. The Mirror series by Julie C. Dao, Dhonielle Clayton, J.C. Cervantes, and L.L. McKinney
5. School For Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
6. The Walking Dead novels by Robert Kirkman
7. City Spies by James Ponti
8. Queen of Hearts saga by Colleen Oakes
9. My Lady Jane book 3 by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows
Not as traumatized as I thought I would be when I started writing this review. Though it has been a few days since I finished reading and now I am just getting to it. I was supposed to read this last summer and I am kind of glad I didn't because with the summer I had, it would have taken me months to finish this brick.
Going into this I had heard from everyone and their mama that I would be crying and not want to pick up another book because reading would be ruined. Well, I call bullshit. I ended up giving this a 3 out of 5 stars and before you go calling me heartless and not caring about Jude.... I do, but I will call you an enabler and hope that if you have someone like him in your life that you will go against there wishes and actually get that person professional help.
Jude was just made to have every bad thing in the world happen to him. He is always cutting himself and refusing help. He loves his friends but he refuses to tell them anything. I did tear up when he was forced into prostitution but what got me crying was when his partner and best friend Willem died in a car accident. I have a fear of driving and I am always scared when my husband drives on really busy roads. How Jude lives after Willems death, I would probably be the exact same.
I was angry at every character that knew of his cutting throughout the book especially Willem and his doctor Andy. Andy was a medical professional who did not stay true to ethics and get his patient actual true help after Jude's first suicide attempt. I place the blame of Jude's death on Harold, Julia, JB, Andy, Willem, Malcolm and Richard. All of them had the years to get Jude professional help and they enabled him and were cowards because they were scared of losing a friendship... yet they lost a friend instead.
I got to the end with Jude's second suicide attept that this time was successful and I really thought, did I just read a book that the author just word vomited every bad thing and then end it likes this.
I
am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the CITY SPIES: CITY OF THE DEAD by James
Ponti Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar
Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to
enter the giveaway!
In this fourth installment in the New
York Times bestselling series from Edgar Award winner James Ponti, the
young group of spies go codebreaking in Cairo in another international
adventure perfect for fans of Spy School and Mrs.
Smith’s Spy School for Girls.
Codename Kathmandu, better known as Kat, loves logic and order, has a favorite
eight-digit number, and can spot a pattern from a mile away. So when a series
of cyberattacks hits key locations in London while the spies are testing
security for the British Museum, it’s clear that Kat’s skill for finding reason
in what seems like randomness makes her the perfect candidate to lead the job.
And while the team follows the deciphered messages to Egypt and the ancient
City of the Dead to discover who is behind the attacks and why, Kat soon
realizes that there’s another layer to the mystery.
With more players, more clues, and involving higher levels of British
Intelligence than ever before, this mission is one of the most complex that the
group has faced to date. And it’s also going to bring about a change to the
City Spies…
JAMES
PONTI (he/him/his)
is the New York Times bestselling author of three middle grade book
series: City Spies, about an unlikely squad of five kids from around the
world who form an elite MI6 Spy Team; the Edgar Award–winning Framed! series,
about a pair of tweens who solve mysteries in Washington, DC; and the Dead
City trilogy, about a secret society that polices the undead living beneath
Manhattan. His books have appeared on more than fifteen different state award
lists and he is the founder of a writers group known as the Renegades of Middle
Grade. James is also an Emmy– nominated television writer and producer who has
worked for many networks including Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, PBS, History,
and Spike TV, as well as NBC Sports. He lives with his family in Orlando,
Florida. Find out more at JamesPonti.com.
In conversation with Sayantani DasGupta (author
of THE FIRE QUEEN series), Chris Grabenstein (author
of DOG SQUAD and THE SMARTEST KID IN THE UNIVERSE),
and Karina Yan Glaser (author of THE
VANDERBEEKERS series)
I am thrilled to be hosting a spot
on the A RESERVOIR MAN by L.J. Ambrosio Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out
my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
Born with a birth defect leaving a
scar on his lip, Michael’s endless trials of survival include sexual assault,
The Vietnam War, an arrest in Spain, Hollywood scandal, the AIDS outbreak, 9/11
and beyond.
If only Michael could find the one thing he values most, his freedom. Michael’s
coming-of-age is tarnished by many but the courage to live his truth may just
keep Michael one step ahead...or will he succumb to the embraces of a Reservoir
Man?
A Reservoir Man, critics have hailed this explosive and timely work as
“a must-read coming-of-age story of 2022.”
Twists and turns further pull the reader in to Michael’s action-packed tale,
with powerful themes, from betrayal and family to secrets and identity.
“Be sure not to blink because you just might miss a pivotal moment in Michael’s
rousing, larger-than-life story.” -- R.C. Gibson, Indiestoday(dot)com.
“This book is a dream, a gamble, a utopia, even.” -- Kalyan Panja, Bookmarkks.
Review: coming soon
About L.J. Ambrosio:
Louis J.
Ambrosio ran one of the most nurturing bi-coastal talent agencies in Los
Angeles and New York. He started his career as a theatrical producer, running
two major regional theaters for eight seasons. Ambrosio taught at 7
Universities. Ambrosio also distinguished himself as an award-winning film
producer and novelist over the course of his impressive career.
