Top Ten Tuesday: Winter 2024-2025 TBR

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl.

Seasonal TBR time and I have a lot of library books out at the moment, so this topic was a piece of cake. I am hoping to get to most of these in the next two weeks, but who the heck knows. I have so much going on like everyone else and reading is starting to slow down and sometimes take a back seat. There are some chonkers on here that I know will take me a week or two to get through because I am not reading as fast as I used to, but every single book on this list is on here for a reason.. either I love the authors previous works, it's a movie adaptation or becoming a movie or a show... etc etc.

Review: Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco

 

Finally continuing this series. I thought Stalking Jack The Ripper was ok and I really like Dracula retellings but dislike the original Dracula by Bram Stoker. I did have the mindset that if I did not like this one, I would not continue with the series and I would get rid of the first book of my shelf. I really liked this. I gave it 4 stars. 

Audrey Rose and Thomas are on their way to Romania to attend an academy of medicine and forensics at Bran Castle. Home of Vlad Dracul or Vlad The Impaler. They are on journeying on a train when there is a murder on board. There has been a murder in the village close to Bran Castle where the victim was impaled with a stake. So tensions are already highand during this time Audrey Rose is having constant visions and hallucinations are bodies coming up out of the ground and bodies reanimating and she is constantly thinking about Jack the Ripper and reminding herself that he is no longer alive.

That was one of the things that annoyed me was the constant mention of Jack the ripper and comparisons. And of couse with this being set in the late 1880's there is sexism and Audrey Rose is trying to stand on her own feet, but she is getting belittled by the headmaster who is a total knob and also Thomas keeps trying to protect her and it is just not going well.

We get some new information that there are two major bloodlines from Dracula and the Dracul family. We learn that our main man Thomas Cresswell is the last male heir to Vlad the Impaler himeself. He doesn't want anyone to know and the current Prince to Romania who is of the other bloodline knows Thomas' secret and they dislikes each other immediately. 

We learn about the Order of the Dragon and there are vampire bats, spiders, and wolves involved. The Romanian superstitions and legends is what kept me engaged and I really like that when Audrey Rose and Cresswell were having close encounters and wanting to kiss and just being in close proximity without the deed, that she called him Prince Dracula and that is what made me decide to keep reading the series. 

When that line was said, I immediately thought of the Johnathan Rhys Meyers show Dracula and pictured him as Cresswell in the past scenes of that show. I hate that the show got canceled but that is besides the point. 

I can read the rest of the series and still picture him like that and I hope that she will mention the prince title as some sort of pillow talk or flirty tease on the ship to America.

BLOG TOUR: After the Fall by Ellen Parent

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the AFTER THE FALL by Ellen Parent Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

 

About The Book:

Title: AFTER THE FALL

Author: Ellen Parent

Pub. Date: December 3, 2024

Publisher: Fitzroy Books

Formats:  Paperback, eBook, Audiobook

Pages: 266

Find it: Goodreads, https://books2read.com/AFTER-THE-FALL-Parent

"A gripping, visceral, post-apocalyptic story brimming with adventure and heart." - Kirkus Reviews

So much is forgotten in the Republic: the way the seasons used to turn like pages in a book, the technology that once made life easy for everyone, even the art of reading. For fifteen-year-old June, the forgetting goes even deeper, ever since a mysterious accident six years ago stole her mother and her memory. When a strange circus with ties to her family comes through town, she follows them without a second thought. In the outside world, June has to navigate a landscape and society pushed to the edge by the powerful forces of climate change, and to decide who she can trust in a world where everyone seems to have secrets. Can she believe the grizzled deputy who somehow knows more about her past than she does? What about the circus performers, who push her away even as they beguile her best friend? Only when she finally uncovers a truth that threatens to change the Republic forever, will she know who her true family is— and whose life is worth saving.

About Ellen Parent:

Ellen Parent has been telling stories since the mid-nineties, when she started whispering them down to her sister on the bottom bunk. Her poetry has been published in Bloodroot, Vermont Magazine, Birchsong, and was shortlisted for the 2014 Vermont Writers Prize. After the Fall is her first novel. She lives in rural Vermont with her delightful husband, her precocious daughter, and two eccentric cats.

Website | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon

 

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a $25 Amazon Gift Card, International.

Ends December 17th, midnight EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

12/2/2024	Ogitchida Kwe’s Book Blog	Excerpt
12/2/2024	Book Review Virginia Lee Blog	Excerpt/IG Post
12/3/2024	Two Chicks on Books	Excerpt/IG Post
12/3/2024	Daily Waffle	Excerpt
12/4/2024	@callistoscalling	IG Post
12/4/2024	@mjreadsmagic	IG Post
12/5/2024	Fire and Ice Reads	Excerpt/IG Post
12/5/2024	TX Girl Reads	Excerpt/IG Post
12/6/2024	Edith's Little Free Library	IG Post/LFL Drop Pic/TikTok Post
12/6/2024	@fiction._.fuss	Review/IG Post

Week Two:

12/9/2024	@enthuse_reader	IG Review/TikTok Post
12/9/2024	@evergirl200	IG Review/TikTok Post
12/10/2024	Haney Hayes PR	Review/IG Post
12/10/2024	Kim's Book Reviews and Writing Aha's	Review/IG Post
12/11/2024	Lifestyle of Me	Review
12/11/2024	rolo_the_book_lover-	IG Review/TikTok Post
12/12/2024	Review Thick And Thin	Review/IG Post
12/12/2024	A Blue Box Full of Books	IG Review/LFL Drop Pic/TikTok Post
12/13/2024	Deal sharing aunt	Review

Review: Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne

 

I had been hearing so many good things about this series and so I jumped on the hype train. I love cozy fantasies thanks to Legends and Lattes. Going into this I didn't know much about it being indie pubbed first and the inspiration being Legends and Lattes.

I also love that the published copies have blue sprayed edges and the other two books in the series also have the same. In this instalment, we follow two women. One is a former queensguard and one of the most important person in the world, the Mage of Ages. They are a couple and they decide to open a bookshop with a cafe that does tea.

Kianthe has wanted this dream ever since she realized that becoming the mage is just a way to use her and not have any friends or freedoms. Reyna is the former queensguard who has been trained her whole life to be a guard and it is a family job. Reyna decides that she has had enough of being a guard when the evil and merciless Queen does not stop a would be assassin from holding a blade against Reyna's neck. 

Kianthe and Reyna go to the edge of the Queendom next to Dragon Country and they find the perfect place to open their bookshop. This is where the similarities to Legends and Lattes come in, but it doesn't go full into detail about the barn renovation which is what I wanted. I mentioned it to my husband that it was HGTV in a book. 

This book has more plot than just being a bookstore tea shop. There is missing dragon eggs, dragon attacks, Queen and Arcandor rivalry. 

I ended up giving this a 3 out of 5 because I was over the length. This was longer than it needed to be. Usually when I read a book I am interested in, when I put it down I remember where I stopped. When I would pick this back up, I had to try to remember where I left off. That told me at the very beginning that it was forgettable and not holding my attention.

I also hated some of the decisions that Kianthe and Reyna made. I did not understand why they did not fight against Queen Tilaine and her wishes. Also the epilogue was about the character that will be the main one in the second book. There was also a one shot that should have been the prologue to this story because it would have given more information and background instead of just throwing these characters at us.

I will be picking up the second book when my library gets a copy. 

Review: Queen Charlotte by Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes

 

I need Bridgerton to become a lifestyle for me. I am straight Bridgerton trash and I am not mad about it. I loved the show Queen Charlotte and I want a second season with the heir and all of the babies being born. 

This is basically a novelization of the show but with some new information and some scenes cut because it does not do anything for the book but made sense in the show.

I need to get my own copies because I need to annotate and mark my favorite quotes because the line Charlotte says to George about hiding from the heavens with her is my kryptonite. It is my Roman Empire because I melt everytime. 

There are 4 pov's in this novelization. Charlotte, George, Brimsley and Agatha. We get more of Brimsleys back story of how he became Charlotte right hand man. The part in the show where Agatha and Lord Ledger meet and eventually have relations have been cut out. The modern parts in the show were not in this at all, which I really appreciated because I didn't want to read a rewrite of the show. 

There are some parts where I forgot if it was in the show or not because it genuinely shocked me. I definitely need to rewatch the show. This is a must read, and if you love Queen Charlotte and Farmer George as much as I do, then pick it up.

Top Ten Tuesday: The 10 Oldest Books On My Netgalley Shelf

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl.

HAPPY DECEMBER! 2024 is almost over and I cannot wait for this year to be done. It has been a rough one. Thankfully this weeks topic is a freebie and doesn't require much thought and planning. I decided to share the ten oldest books on my Netgalley shelf because I have a problem. I am not even going to announce my percentage because it is younger than me.... let's just say that.

I will be making my Netgalley a priority next year, so this is the first step in holding myself accountable.

Review: Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear *SPOILERS*

 

Second book in the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear. It has been a year since reading and loving the first book. This installment was ok. It kept my attention and I was intrigued but it didn't have the same grip on me that the first book did. 

The whole book was a very slow read and it took me a week to get through it. I wanted to pick it up and read it, I just didn't because of how slow it was. I started questioning my memory of if the first book was slow and if I listened to it on audio. I thought about getting the audio book for this but I pushed through. 

I was not confused about any of the returning characters and I was not satisfied with the one scene of her visit to her love Simon. In both books, Maisie has contemplated finally letting go of Simon and not visiting him as much to try to move on in her life. We also did not get any of her backgroud  or much of her childhood in this book.

The great war was a plot point because Maisie's client lost a son in the war and most of his workforce. He has hired Maisie to bring his daughter back home. While Maisie is looking for her, she makes connections to some recent murders and she learns that the women along with Charlotte were part of a horrible group that formed during the first world war. 

The group was known as the order of the white feather. This group was full of women who handed out white feathers to men who were not in uniform in public to shame them for not fighting for their country. I actually had to look this up because I could not believe that this sort of thing existed but it did exist. 

I am hoping to get to the third book sooner rather than later, because I am invested in Maisie Dobbs life and the fact that the author just completed this series this year makes me want to know what Maisie gets up to.