Top Ten Tuesday: Books Recently Added to my Goodreads TBR

 

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

This weeks topic is a freebie and I had no clue what I wanted to do and then I watched two different BookTube videos where one was anticipated reads of 2023 and then an old Christmas Book Haul and i wanted to share the last ten books that I have added to my Goodreads TBR. All of these have my buzzwords that interest me and I just can't wait to get to these next year. 

Review: The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan & Maureen Johnson

 

The last time I read a Shadowhunter book was last year in July and I cried my damn eyes out and wanted to immediately read The Bane Chronicles and put it on every TBR since and I have finally read it. It took me a week but man it was so good. I love Magnus Bane!! He is one of my favorite characters that I have read in the Shadowhunter world so far. He tops Jem and I am obsessed with everything Jem aka someone else but I will not be spoiling that tidbit of info.

Anyways, going into this I knew that it was a bunch of short stories of his life throughout the many years of his life till current day with Clary, Jace and Alec and all the others. It goes into detail of his intense friendships with Ragnor Fell and Catarina Loss. They are sassy and sarcastic, The nicknames that they have and joke on was the best part of the beginning. Ragnor blaming everything especially the earthquake on Magnus was hilarious. 

It also brings a tough and emotional moment with our favorite trio from the infernal devices and it hit me in the feels. There were a few stories at the end where they weren't my favorite like his first date with Alec. I could care less about that. I may feel different about the relationship once I read The Red Scrolls of Magic or some of the other series, but right now I am indifferent to that relationship. I would have liked a story of him continuing to do the memory spell on a certain character as she was growing up. I think that was a missed opportunity. Also, the first date story was the only one written solely by Cassandra Clare and the rest she co wrote with the other two authors attached. So the creator of this world had the weakest story in my opinion. 

The next two that I have to read before I can start The Dark Artifices series are The Shadowhunter Codex and Tales from The Shadowhunter Academy. 

If you have not read any of the books in the Shadowhunter Universe, please do so because they are worth it. The first book is very cringe but gets ten times better by the end of the first series. 

Say Hello To Pizza// Sunday Post #45

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly from The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

In todays post I wanted to share my December TBR. I am 8 books away from my Goodreads goal and the last 3 weeks, I have only finished 3 books with each book taking me a week to read. I want to read but just don't have the time and now my little bit of me time that I have had for the past few months are now going to a new little member of my family. Everyone meet Pizza! Her name came from the shirt I was wearing on Friday which was a Marvel Hawkeye shirt of Lucky the Pizza Dog.

My husband rescued her on his way home from work on Friday night. We live in the country and he always takes back roads home and it was almost completely dark and he had to slam on brakes because this little baby ran out in front of him and went under the car to the tire and curled up. She was not the only one. There is an even sadder part to this story. There was a black and brown puppy that had been hit by a car and there was no way for my husband to move this puppy. He called me crying and this man does not cry. 

This road is uninhabited. No one lives on this road. We are 100% sure that she was dumped. There was no mama and no other puppies that we could see. Right when he pulled into the yard, I could see her through the window and I immediately knew that she was ours to keep. This baby was exhausted, scared and lonely. 

Yesterday, we took her to the Petsmart vet because our vet that we take our German Shepherd  and 3 cats too are not open on the weekend. They determined that she is between 3-4 weeks old. She is a labrador and she is a little over 3 pounds. She is perfect besides some digestion issues which is understandable because she doesn't have her mama's nutrients. And also some puss filled ant bites near her private area.

She has gotten so comfortable in the 24 hours that she has been here. She is playful and teething like a mad woman. She is growling and finding her bark. She is obsessed with Si our German Shepherd and Si tried to play with her today, it was cute. The only animal that is not to comfortable yet is my cat Luna. She is the youngest of my three cats and a complete diva. 

All of our animals have been rescues by my husband. He can't stand to see an animal on the side of a road or in abandoned buildings or living on the street. I have told him that this is our last animal because our cats are up in their years and unfortunately, our oldest cat Missy is not doing that great health wise. 

Anyways, Pizza is our new puppy and my reading may be non existent for a while.... hoping not. I did finish a book yesterday that I started last Saturday and that was The Bane Chronicles. 

I also started an ebook called This Eternity of Masks and Shadows and it is about Inuit mythology I believe. The one chapter I have read so far has been really good and intriguing.

I am going to be trying my damndest to finish this in a couple days and not take a week. 

Here I leave you with more pictures of my newest hellbeast!

Review: Wake the Bones by Elizabeth Kilcoyne

 

I got a review copy of this earlier this year and never got around to picking it up. I always kept the title in the back of my mind to read for spooky season, and I am so glad I did. I went into this book knowing nothing about this and I did read trigger warnings about the type of gore that was written. I kind of wish that I didn't see those trigger warnings because I think I would have been even more grossed out than I was. 

This story takes place in a little small town in Ohio and we follow our main character named Laurel Early who likes to walk in the woods around her tobacco farm and gather dead animal bones and make art or jewelry to sell. She has just dropped out of college and her uncle who is her guardian is disappointed and says that she needs to act like an adult and work now. 

There is also two relationships that form and to be honest, right when the story was getting good and creepy, the relationship between the two boys and Laurel and her love interest took over and kind of ruined the horror feel.

I really liked the paranormal and spirit aspect and I wish that it went even deeper. Overall I give this a 3 out of 5 stars and I am interested in this author's future works. 

Getting Ready for Christmas// Sunday Post #44

 The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly from The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Last week was a long and great week. The girls got so much done for school that I am feeling like that are on track for December. Thursday we had a great Thanksgiving. We cooked so much food. Our grilled turkey turnes out delicious as always. My dad came over and hung out a while. We started watching a new show on Netflix called Wednesday about Wednesday Addams. The Addams Family is one of my favorite franchises and the movie version of Gomez and Morticia is #goals...lol. I have not seen the animated versions yet, but it is on my to watch list.

Yesterday we went shopping and we had to get a new TV for our youngest daughter's room because it used to be the main TV in our house 11 years ago and it was struck by lightning and the HDMI port was the thing that broke. We ended up giving that TV to my grandmother and uncle who has the smallest TV in their living room and when I walk into the front door, I squint everytime to see the screen. I think we finished our Christmas shopping. It is still to early to tell, but I feel I got the majority of it done. 

Now onto reading, my reading mood at the beginning of the month was peaked. I was reading at a fast pace and then last week came and I read a book a week and then the same thing happened again. I started reading Wake the Bones on Sunday and just finished it 5 minutes before writing this post. 

It was really creepy and spooky and it would have made an excellent read last month but I have it 3 out of 5 stars because the romance between the characters took me away from the main plot. I have a review going up tomorrow.

My next read is one that I Have been meaning to get to since last year. This character is my favorite out of the two series I have read in this universe.

I may listen to some of this on audio while I am cleaning and rearranging my living room for my Christmas tree. I used to dread putting up my tree because it was exhausting, but a couple years ago my hubby bought me a white tree with rose gold ornaments and I love putting it up now. 

Now time to go spend some more time with my hubby before he goes back to work tomorrow and we begin our countdown to his week long vacation at the end of December. 

I got some book mail this week. It was for a blog tour that I did a week or two ago. I can't wait to read it to my kids and I know that it will be good because one of the authors Ryan Calejo wrote the Charlie Hernandez series that is focused on Hispanic mythology and it was great and it is a favorite.

Review: The Blood Tainted Winter by T.L. Greylock

 

After having this book on my shelf for 7 years, I finally got around to reading this. I have had this on many a TBR this year and I made my November TBR a priority one because I was in such a reading mood. Getting started with this, it was kind of hard to get really into it, and slowed down my reading to the point where it took me a full week to finish this. I really enjoyed my time reading it and I liked the story, but there were moments when it was just battle after battle and then traveling and describing the setting and it was very boring and I couldn't picture the landscapes besides the river scenes and waterfalls and caves.

There is a good handful of characters in this that it is very hard to keep track of everyone and who is loyal to who. We start the story off with our main character Raef and his dream of going out on a sea voyage but his father not approving of it. Then his father, his father's warriors and himself go to a gathering where there is going to be a choosing for a new king. Something goes terribly wrong and half of the lords out of all that show up pick a new king on the spot which leads to a war.

This is a novel about vikings and with my kids learning about vikings last year and this year, I was interested. There is also mentions of Odin, Freya and Thor and Loki, and Valhalla is the main goal. There were some moments where I was creeped out and couldn't put the book down, but it became one of those moments that when I did put the book down, the next day it took a while for me to pick it back up.

The ending was a little cliffhanger-y and I am interested enough to pick up the sequel. I just hope that it will have more mythology and plot beside the constant battling and blood and making sure there is a weapon in the hands of a fellow warrior to insure entrance to Valhalla. 

BLOG TOUR: The Year of the Bear by Douglas J. Lanzo

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the THE YEAR OF THE BEAR by Douglas J. Lanzo & Ambassador International Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

About The Book:

Title: THE YEAR OF THE BEAR

Author: Douglas J. Lanzo

Pub. Date: November 1, 2022

Publisher: Ambassador International

Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook

Pages: 316

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

A remarkable story of a bear and the coming-of-age journey of a teenage boy.

Thirteen-year-old Jason is on the cusp of manhood, striving to fi nd his place at school and at home—especially after his mother has abandoned them and his father is left to deal with his own anger. When Jason and his father encounter a bear while out hunting, they shoot and kill it, not realizing that they have left a cub without its mother. When Sasquot of the Penobscot Tribe, a part of the Bear Family, discovers what they have done, he decides that Jason needs a lesson in caring for God’s creatures. Thus begins a year that Jason will never forget as he begins to care and train the cub in order for it to survive. As Jason forms a bond with the bear, he, in turn, learns valuable lessons for life.

“Fans of classic, enthralling adventure (and I’m one) are in for a rare treat.”-Josh Lieb New York Times best-selling and Emmy Award-winning author of I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President

 

Review: coming soon

 

About Douglas J. Lanzo:

An award-winning and featured inspirational author published in Vita Brevis Press’ bestselling 2021 poetry anthology and Café Haiku’s upcoming 2021 Fifth Poetry Anthology and featured in WestWard Quarterly’s Winter 2021 issue, since 2020 Douglas’ poetry has found homes in thirty-eight literary publications across the U.S., Canada, England, Wales, Austria, Mauritius, India, Australia, and The Caribbean. A graduate of Harvard College and Law School, where Douglas enjoyed writing editorials for The Harvard Crimson and articles for various other Harvard publications, he has published professional legal articles throughout his career. A General Counsel by day and writer by night, Douglas resides in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with his wife and twelve-year old identical twin boys, fellow published poets, enjoying nature, traveling, biking, tennis, and chess. 

Website | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub

 

Giveaway Details:

1 Winner will receive a finished copy of THE YEAR OF THE BEAR, US Only. 

Ends November 29th, midnight EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

11/14/2022	Two Chicks on Books	Excerpt/IG Post
11/14/2022	@jaimerockstarbooktours	IG Post
11/15/2022	Lady Hawkeye	Excerpt/IG Post
11/15/2022	Mythical Books	Guest Post/IG Post
11/16/2022	Jazzy Book Reviews	Excerpt
11/16/2022	A Dream Within A Dream	Guest Post
11/17/2022	For the Love of Kidlit	Excerpt
11/17/2022	YA Books Central	Excerpt
11/18/2022	Rajiv's Reviews	Review/IG Post
11/18/2022	Kim"s Book Reviews and Writing Aha's	Review/IG Post

Week Two:

11/21/2022	@allyluvsbooksalatte	IG Review
11/21/2022	Fire and Ice	Review
11/22/2022	Lifestyle of Me	Review/IG Post
11/22/2022	The Momma Spot	Review/IG Post
11/23/2022	Girls in White Dresses	Review/IG Post
11/23/2022	A Blue Box Full of Books	IG Review/LFL Drop Pic
11/24/2022	Brandi Danielle Davis	IG Review/TikTok Post
11/24/2022	Two Points of Interest	Review
11/25/2022	@froggyreadteach	IG Review/Read Aloud
11/25/2022	One More Exclamation	Review/IG Post