Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Review: Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland

 


Reading this right after The Assassin's Blade kept me in the fantasy mood. There were so many comparisons and I thought at first that I would get things confused and mix to two books and that is not the case. There may be similarities but this book holds it own. I gave this 5 stars because I love Asian fantasy. They always have myth and lore involved and it just keeps me engaged to entire time.

This book has 6 main characters, so 6 POV's. I thought I was going to be so confused, but there was only a couple time where I had to flip back to the chapter heading to remember who was talking. 

The first chapter we meet Royo. He is a strongman and he is just coming off a job. He goes into a tavern and he is told by the bar keep a beautiful woman is looking for him. He then finds a calling card in his pocket and he gets spooked because someone got close to him without knowing. 

The second chapter we meet Euyn who is living in poverty and in hiding. It turns out he is an exiled prince with a bounty on his head. His former lover who is also the royal spymaster finds him and tells him that his sister Queen Quilimar wants to reunite with him. Mikhail the spymaster is another main character and throughout the book, he was just a bland character who didn't make much difference until he does. He stays under the radar. 

The third chapter we meet Sora. She is a poison maiden who is a royal courtesan. She and her sister Daysum were sold to the count who ran an illegal poison school where out of 20 girls, only three survived. She is told that there is a plot to kill King Joon who is known throughout the country as a God King because he cannot die. She is being sent with the counts son Tiyung to see that the mission is a success and grant her her freedom by burning her indenture. Little does she know that Tiyung recieved different orders, but he refuses because he has been in love with Sora since she was purchased by the count. 

The 6th POV is Aeri, the beautiful woman who was looking for Royo. She hires Royo to be a guard for her and keep her safe because she has been tasked by Mikhail to help assassinate King Joon. She is known as a thief and pickpocket, but nobody can see her do it because she is that fast.

The quest for these three pairings were so engaging and page turning. There was times where each character felt distrustful of the others and they eventually decided to overcome their doubts to work as a team to try to assassinte the king. 

I need to pick up the second book soon and the third book comes out next month.

Monday, June 16, 2025

Review: The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J Maas


 

I am determined to finish the Throne of Glass series this year. I am so in love with Sarah J Maas writing. It keeps me focused when I do get the chance to pick up a book and I do not want to put them down. My reading has slowed down tremendously this year. I am 10 books behind schedule and I am not mad about it. 

This is the book of short stories following Celaena before the events of Throne of Glass. We get to see her as the number oe assassin in the Keep. We meet Sam who I immediately loved and was heartbroken over his death. 

I thought I would be annoyed with the different stories but they all flowed nicely. I really enjoyed the story when she was in the Red Dessert. I kind of hope that the silent assassins will make an appearance in the rest of the series. Also I want to see if the slaves that Celaena and Sam freed also make a comeback to help with the conclusion.

The end of the book where Celaena sees the stag and she yells at him to run broke my damn heart because she was already defeated and seeing that piece from her past reminded her of what she lost, but also what is to come and what to fight for. 

Now as for reading order. I think that this should absolutely be read before starting the series especially if you like having context and backstory to things. 

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Recent Reads!!

 I have been slacking HARD on my reviews. I have also been reading very slowly. I am only reading 5 books a month because I have so much work and also school work with my kids. I homeschool and I have two high schoolers and a middle schooler. 

I am going to be combining some recent reads in one post because I do not have the time to make separate posts, but with it being summer and having some free days, I am hoping to get back into blogging because I really miss it.

First review: ASAP by Axie Oh


I finished a series this year, even though it is a duology. I had to complete this series because I am obsessed with Kpop thanks to my teenage daughters. The cover screams V from BTS and Jennie from Blackpink. I also really enjoyed the mention of my number one favorite BTS song on page freaking three. Anpanman was playing in the restaurant/ cafe that Sori is going to meet Jenny in.

I really liked this installment more than the first book. This follows Sori who was the roommate of Jenny in the first and the mean girl/best friend. We follow Sori as she is trying to figure out if she really wants to become an idol and she is also navigating alot of family drama. Her mom is trying to keep the company afloat and her dad is screwing other women.

Sori is also trying to keep her feelings for Nathaniel in check because she can't go through another heartbreak and does not want to ruin his career. This book made me cry because the character growth and the intimate and close mother daughter relationship that thrives at the end. 


NEXT REVIEW: I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I am Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming


I really enjoyed the Mead Mishaps series by Kimberly Lemming and I have to read everything that she gets published because they are good fun reads. This one was out there and honestly it was grand. I did give it a 4 star because the sex scenes were very unbelievable and the knotting was not it. I am not into that kind of kink in smut. 

We follow our main girl Dorothy who is a scientist studying meercats ans she is in Africa and she is trying to get her mom to get off her case about marrying rich and being taken care of. Suddenly, she gets beamed up into a space ship with a lion and other women who have been abducted. Sshe escapes with the lion and the lion starts talking. Dory names the lion Toto because the wizard of oz and honestly Toto is my absolute favorite character.

We meet the aliens who were also abducted from their home planet and was dumped on this planet that is meant to look similar to Earth. The funny thing is that the Owl creatures who abducted Dory, only studied Earth for three days and they got shit messed up. They put a freaking pink t-rex and other dinosaurs and stores and houses together. 

The whole time Dory is trying to survive, she is trying to gather evidence to take back to the real Earth so she can be credited with a discovery and get her mom off her back. This book definitely had more plot and suspense than the Mead Mishap series, but I don't think this will be a series. 


REVIEW 3: Hum If You Don't Know The Words by Bianca Marais


I have had this book on my TBR shelf for years and I have tried to make it priority for the last three or four years. I finally picked it up and I was so disappointed. I liked it but it did not leave a lasting impression and I felt that my time was wasted because it just ended so abruptly and nothing changed. There was hardly any character growth. 

This is set during apartheid in South Africa and we have two points of view. A yound white girl named Robin, whose parents are brutally murdered by angry black miners that worked under her father and then we follow a black lady named Beauty who is on the search for her daughter who has joined the revolution. The whole plot of this book is Beauty trying to find her daughter and her being told that her daughter has run off to be a soldier when in fact, she has been working as a serving girl for a crime lord who started the revolution. 

Beauty ends up taking care of Robin to be able to stay in Johanesburg and Robin's aunt is just awful. We have Jewish characters and Gay characters who help teach Robin that the world is bigger than the conflict of the white and black races. That the black people are more than just what she has been told and not all of them are horrible or savage or brutal murderers. 

The ending like I said was just underwhelming. It was abrupt and it was just concluded too quickly. I know that there is another book that Bianca Marais has written that is not a sequel but it has a couple characters from this book, and I am not interested. I also feel that this didn't give enough details of the apartheid. The reader is kind of expected to know what it was, and I know bits and pieces but I was confused.

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Bookish Wishes


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

I only have three books at the top of my wishlist that I would love to finally get my hands on. I have been on a book buying ban for most of the year and the only ones I have bought have been classics and manga that my library does not have.

WISHLIST


I am obsessed with Bridgerton and these special editions are GORGEOUS!

I am on my Brandon Sanderson journey this year and my library has a massive waitlist for this because they only have 2 copies to share between 8 libraries in my county.


Iron Widow was my number 1 read the year it came out and I have been waiting so long for this one and once again, my library can't buy this one because there is apparently not a big enough interest for it.


Monday, June 9, 2025

Review: Dog Man Series books 1-3

 


Back in December of last year, I was watching tv with my kids and we saw the trailer for the Dog Man movie that came out last month. We all got excited and my kids have got me to start the series. I am going to be combining my reviews of the books in these posts, because there isn't much to say. 

I used to read the Captain Underpants books growing up and I knew that this would be stupid silly humor. The first chapter where Dog Man becomes Dog Man, I was kind of grossed out. Also Dog Man is the same exact color of my pitbull lab mix puppy Pizza. So everytime that the chief yelled at Dog Man and Dog Man was upset, I wanted go hug and cuddle my pup.

The second chapter about the evil Mayor made me chuckle because my town has a really horrible feud going on where half the town hates out mayor and the rest are on the side of the mayor and there was a big argument about the town Christmas tree and it was so stupid but it was relevant in a way. 


Finally reading the second volume in the middle of May. The movie will be coming on Peacock at the end of the month and I also really need to catch up to my goodreads goal. I am 5 books behind, so I will be getting this one and volume three knocked out this week. So far in chapter 1, it is just a recao of how Dogman came to be and of course, once again I need to cuddle my dog Pizza.

I cant handle Dogman being upset and looking sad. Especially when being called obnoxious, which they are. The flip o rama haiku was so cute. The pet store owner asking Dogman what he had to say for himself and Dogman squeeking the ball is so relatable. Flippy the evil fish eating all the brain dots and his brain growing eleven sizes. The cops are truly idiots...lol. Flippy is impersonating Petey and he robbed the pet store. Dogman and the pet store is not a good combo.

I was shooketh reading the part where everyone was chasing Petey after he stunned them with the love ray. It was very creepy, especially the grandma chasing him and saying she wanted "tender vittles". Like what does that mean???


We watched the movie before I got to the third book and the movie is a mix of a good bit of the first 4-5 books according to my kid. This one has me giggling everytime I start a new chapter because A Tale of Two Cities is one of my favorite classics, and seeing spoofs and parodies is hilarious.

There is one section I can't get past and once again, it is Dog Man looking sad and he is being told to look sad. My dog looks sad everynight when I am cooking dinner because I wont share the food. Also Dog Man hiding beind the plant. Why is this so relatable to my dog???

The part where Lil Petey is left in the free kitty box and that whole section of the book being in the movie was not as sad as it actually is in the book. It shows the emotions of Petey being sad that Lil Petey was upset and he didn't pull his box into the road. 

Petey being sad seeing Lil Petey sleeping is so relatable because I look at my kids and pets that way. Petey making the puppet of Dog Man cracked me up. Lil Petey falling asleep with the DogMan puppet is so cute.

The "evil robot" 80-HD being friends with Lil Petey was cute. It is weird that most of the Dogman movie was basically this book more than the first two books. The fact that dental floss and french salad dressing was used to help destroy the living buildings.

I like book Petey more than the movie Petey and that is just because I dislike Pete Davidson with a passion and cannot see him in the father role or hear his nails on a chalkboard voice when I read Petey. I do wish that they kept the motorcycle hang glider scene in the movie, but oh well. 

I LOVE the very end where it talks about reading skills and kids reading outloud to their dogs because it has benefits and dogs don't judge if you mess up. I love reading out loud to my kids and my dogs are always there right in my kids laps and when my kids have independent reading, the dogs are right there with them. I honestly think that reading outloud benefits dogs as well, because when I am the one reading or my kids, my dogs are so calm and cuddly and they sleep so deeply. 

I do think book three is my favorite of the series so far but it may be because of the movie, but the books are kind of better than the movie. I will be reading the rest of the series this year.

Friday, May 30, 2025

BLOGTOUR: The Karma Kantanta series by A.O. Wagner

Thanks for stopping by my stop on the THE KARMA KANTANTA SERIES by A.O. Wagner Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours!

 

About The Books:

Title: THE KARMA KANTANTA SERIES- The Karma Sequence (Book 1), The Karma Topology (Book 2), The Karma Ubiquity (Book 3)

Author: A.O. Wagner

Pub. Date: Book 1 December 8, 2022, Book 2 December 9, 2023, Book 3 October 25, 2024

Publisher: A.O. Wagner

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: Book 1 323, Book 2 314, Book 3 410

Find it: Goodreads Series Page, Amazon Series Page, Read all 3 books for FREE With A Kindle Unlimted Membership!

 

Embark on an exhilarating odyssey with The Karma Kantata, a series that unfolds across captivating realms filled with intriguing characters, Faustian temptations, and unexpected turns.

The series mixes thrilling elements of suspense with societal, technological, and spiritual dimensions.

Follow Dan's journey from an absolute physical and mental low to a state of balance and an ongoing quest for understanding the dynamics of the world and its supernatural mechanics.

On his thrilling pursuit, he faces challenges that may seem insurmountable but also achieves the amazing experiences and insights he hopes for, as well as some he hadn't expected.

While rooted in the familiar, Dan’s story is interwoven with mythical and spiritual dimensions that invite readers to see the world through a new lens.


This series is for you if you're looking for a model to understand life's purpose and a deeper meaning of existence.

This series can make a difference for you by giving you an impression of how everything in the physical world is interconnected on a transcendent level.

This series will give you insight into how your subjective perception of yourself as being central in your experience of the cosmos may be more objectively true than you realize.

All this, in addition to a fascinating and immersive story.

 

Excerpt From Book 1, The Karma Sequence:

PROLOGUE

 

On a highway heading toward Copenhagen, a man was sitting behind the wheel of his car in the early morning traffic. He was on his way to work from his home outside Køge—a town south of the Danish capital.

Traffic flowed quietly, as it normally did. Not fast, but perfectly acceptable. On a typical day, he spent the time in the car reviewing his plan for the day and the suggestions and comments he’d prepared in the evening for his various projects.

He was in his early forties and had a relatively exciting job as a project manager in a software company, which he’d advanced to through many years of working in system development. He often missed the direct participation in designing and programming the systems the company delivered—mainly to the banking sector. But with the position he’d now advanced to, he had more responsibility and was better paid.

In his private life, he’d married a sweet woman eight years younger than himself. She worked in Køge and consequently didn’t have to leave as early in the morning as he did. They’d played badminton together for many years and were both in good shape. They jogged frequently and had some exercise equipment in the basement, which he mainly used. In addition, he tried to be conscious of his diet and habits, though occasionally, there had to be space to relax and enjoy himself.

Although he had much sedentary work, with meetings and planning, he still felt he was as fit as he’d been in his twenties.

Two months earlier, he’d also paid a professional firm to prepare a full report on his health and prospects—based on an extensive questionnaire and a mouth swab he had to perform on himself and submit in an envelope he’d received from the firm. Besides a series of analyses and recommendations, the report—or document, as the company called it—also included predictions of which risk categories one might fall into with age, and an estimate of how old one would become. It estimated his life expectancy at ninety-two years, which he was pretty happy with. Still, he reminded himself that this was a calculation with very few inputs. Being a system developer, he understood it was a simple algorithm that did the math—there was no guarantee.

But he’d noticed one small thing in the document he’d received that looked like a mistake. After the calculated expectation of how old he’d get, there was an odd number that looked entirely out of place. The number was 15,529, and there was no indication of what it meant, so a part of his analytical mind had seen it as a technical challenge and had set about finding possible explanations—besides the most likely, that it was a mistake and that the number was completely random and insignificant. But because it stood next to the field showing life expectancy, one of his first hypotheses had been that it might be the number of days in his life.

Even before he’d divided the number by 365, he could easily see that it wouldn’t give ninety-two years, and as it only showed about forty-two, it confirmed his initial assessment that it must be an error with a random value. Still, part of him couldn’t shake the idea, and when he added the number to his date of birth in a spreadsheet, the result showed that he’d die on May 15th, that year.

And that was today.

When he’d seen the result, he tried to push the thought away, blaming himself for taking his own far-fetched guess seriously. The number was some sort of error; it was impossible to predict how many days a person would live. He’d promised himself not to think about it anymore and never to purchase a similar analysis again, but to rely more on his own assessments of his health and habits.

But despite his rational conclusion, the stupid document had made him spot danger everywhere the past few days. And when he looked in the rearview mirror, he could see a man in a car, two positions behind him, that he thought had also been there the day before, possibly even the day before that. Even though many people went to work using the same highway every morning, he still found it strange to spot the same car at the same distance, two—maybe three—days in a row. Especially since the car had also been there when he went home from work. It was difficult to dismiss as pure coincidence.

As he squinted to see if he could get a better look at the man behind the wheel, the traffic came to a stretch of roadwork that had been going on for a while and where oncoming traffic was being diverted onto one of the lanes on the same side as the many cars heading into town.

In the mirror, it looked like the man was trying to signal to him with open mouth and wild gestures.

He shifted his focus back to the road ahead, but before he could react, he realized he’d crossed into the wrong lane, and a split second later, he collided head-on with a large truck going at high speed in the opposite direction.

 

 

About A.O. Wagner:

A. O. Wagner is a pen name for an author who values his privacy and prefers to remain anonymous.

He is the author of the trilogy “The Karma Kantata.” The first book in the series about Dan and his journey is “The Karma Sequence,” followed by “The Karma Topology,” and concluding with “The Karma Ubiquity.” The novels explore the intersection of technological and spiritual themes.

A. O. now resides in a remote mountain area, having left behind the hustle and bustle of city life. Prior to his move, he worked as a software developer and consultant before shifting his focus to writing.

Being a bit of a recluse, A. O. has chosen not to engage on social media. His interests span spiritual and technical subjects, with a humble curiosity about the workings of the cosmos and consciousness.

A. O. is currently working on his next novel, continuing to explore themes that fascinate him while striving to engage readers with his unique perspective.

Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon

 

Tour Participants:

GryffindorBookishNerd

Country Mamas With Kids

Lifestyle of Me

@thepageladies

@alexandriavwilliams_

Reading With Texan Girl

Ogitchida Kwe's Book Blog

Frugal Freelancer

Edith's Little Free Library

A Blue Box Full of Books

Book Review Virginia Lee Blog

Lady Hawkeye

trooshtisbookshelf

Fire and Ice

Two Chicks on Books

Daily Waffle

jlreadstoperpetuity

Deal sharing aunt

@mama_coffee_books_cardigans

Lilly's Book World

@sudeshnablogs


Thursday, May 1, 2025

BLOGTOUR: The Harrowing Adventures of New Eden by Dell Vans

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the THE HARROWING ADVENTURES OF NEW EDEN by Dell Vans Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

 

About The Book:

Title: THE HARROWING ADVENTURES OF NEW EDEN

Author: Dell Vans

Pub. Date: April 22, 2025

Publisher: Phoenix Moirai

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Pages: 360

Find it: Goodreadshttps://books2read.com/u/3JwpBQ

Buy direct from the publisher! 

Judy is a quiet young girl who tries to avoid her father’s frequent outbursts. After a particularly abusive episode, her brother Josh reveals a secret: he’s been communicating with their older brother, Danny, through a special rock outside their neighbor’s home. Danny also sent Josh a map to a location in the woods outside their home, which he is gung-ho at finding. But the woods are supposed to be off-limits! What should Judy do? Eager to see their brother again, Judy reluctantly agrees to follow Josh to the location, if only as an escape from their home. Upon leaving the next morning, their father chases after them. When they arrive at the location, Danny is nowhere to be found. Instead, they find a hole. To escape their father once and for all, they jump into the hole, only to realize it’s actually a portal to Eden. Yes, that Eden! 

Luckily, Josh and Judy run into a couple of elves named Robin and Joralf. Judy and Robin are excited to meet each other, but Josh has his doubts. Meanwhile, Joralf feels the children’s sudden appearance will have dire effects throughout the land. Evel threatens to enter the land and cause an imbalance throughout the garden, which would lead to Eden’s complete desctruction. Joralf encourages the children to return home immediately, but Judy doesn’t want to go home. However, she doesn’t want to be what kills all of Eden’s inhabitants—mermaids, jackalopes, kalavinkas, Nephilim, and so much more—either. There’s a problem, though: Judy accidentally broke the crystal that operates the portal! There’s only one other option; the group must find the Archangel Uriel before Eden collapses. It’s going to take a lot of determination and resolve to fight through roaring rivers, major lightning storms, deception, killer birds, and mutinies to get there. 

Can Josh and Judy find Uriel before the building natural disasters tear Eden apart? Follow Judy through the portal and find out!

 

Excerpt:

Meet the Protagonists by Dell Vans

I was recently asked to share an excerpt from The Harrowing Adventures of New Eden to introduce readers to the characters Judy and Josh. It took me exactly 3 hot seconds to open the manuscript, hold ctrl F on the keyboard, and type the words, “Don’t look at her. She’s not gonna save you.” There was no doubt in my mind which scene would give readers a glimpse into the world of Judy and Josh.

The following is an exchange between Judy and her father, Carl. He’s been told by Judy’s mother, Jenna that Judith has been working overtime trying to make their family look bad, as if Jenna herself hadn’t been doing a fine job of that all on her own. The altercation that followed is the moment Judy and Josh decide to leave. This scene was the catalyst that exploded into their harrowing adventure. Enjoy!

*********************************************************

His rage grew in response to Judy's blank expression. "You think you can make your mom look bad in front of that teacher?" he asked.

Ah, thought Judy. The bush-hiding incident. She wondered what creative edits her mother had made when relaying the story to her father this time.

“You hide in the bushes and scare your poor mother half to death. Then you cry to your teacher that she forgot you? She's been home the past two days waiting on your poor, sick brother hand and foot, and you decide to pull a stunt like that?"

Anger slammed into the back of Judy’s teeth again. She looked at her mother once more, who sat smugly satisfied in her favorite chair.

"Don't look at her. She's not gonna save you," growled her father. 

Yeah, no kidding, thought Judy. "Dad, I didn't..." Judy tried to defend herself—or at least try to diffuse the situation. However, her efforts were cut short by the sound of a beer can whizzing past her head. It exploded against the wall behind her. The frothy contents splattered in Judy's hair, dripping down her neck and the side of her face. Her father clenched his fists and took a stumbling step toward her. Judy stood frozen in shock. He'd never done anything like this before. Yell, scream, cuss, punish, sure, but this... never.

She flinched as Josh came whirling around the corner, jumping in front of her and grabbing the first thing he saw that could be used as a weapon: a pink polka-dotted umbrella sitting on the shelf by the front door.

Carl was startled at first, then tickled by the sight of his son carrying a pink umbrella like a weapon. Then he noticed something he hadn't before. Thirteen-year-old Josh had gotten quite tall and had shed the look of a child. He was becoming strong and formidable. Carl stared into his son’s eyes. Josh didn't appear the slightest bit afraid, though he almost certainly was.

"You two get out of my sight. You disgust me," their father said, finally breaking eye contact with his son. Josh stood his ground a moment longer, reveling in this subtle shift of power.

Judy pulled on his arm. "Let's go, Josh. Josh! Let's get out of here!"

“Yeah,” said Josh, his jaw remaining tightened. “Let’s get out of here.”

************************************************************

 

About Dell Vans:

Dell Vans is an American author best known for her whimsically grounded approach to storytelling. Her debut novel, The Harrowing Adventures of New Eden, released in March of 2025, is her siren song to the dreamers and high school zine poets of the world. While she continues work on the next harrowing adventure, Dell resides with her husband and four children in Madera, a city in central California known for its agriculture and everyday heroes. Dell credits the teachers at Madera Unified School District for encouraging her passion for writing and giving her a life-long love of learning.

Twitter (X) | Instagram | TikTok | Goodreads | Amazon

 



Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a $10 Amazon Gift Card, courtesy of Rockstar Book Tours, International.

1 winner will receive a finished copy of THE HARROWING ADVENTURES OF NEW EDEN, US Only.

Ends May 20th, midnight EST.

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