The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue By V.E. Schwab #Bookreview #bookblogger

 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

By V.E. Schwab

Published: October 6 2020

Tor Books

Genre: Literary fantasy

Oh how I adored thee...

This was beautiful, and seductive.
A caress, a whisper.


Adeline LaRue does not want this life that is laid out for her, she turns down proposal after proposal, until her parents arrange marriage with Roger. She doesn't want to marry and lose herself. She wants to be free, to live.

So she prays, to the old gods, the new God does nothing. Day in day out she prays, giving all she has yet none answer.

And time is running out.

Never pray to the gods that answer after dark


If you could make a deal, the price your soul, what would you ask for?

Would you pray to the gods, in the hopes they would answer?

What if the night it's self is the only one who hears? Or cares?


Hello darkness my old friend.

The Girl with the Whispering Shadow (The Crowns of Croswald, #2) by D.E. Night #bookreview

 The Girl with the Whispering Shadow (The Crowns of Croswald, #2)
by 

D.E. Night

Published January 23rd 2019 by Stories Untold LLC

Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Welcome back to the world of Croswald.

This review contains spoilers if you have not read Book 1: The Crowns of Croswald.

The Girl with the Whispering Shadow the second instalment of D.E Night's The Crowns of Croswald series. And like the first book it did not disappoint. 

The book basically starts days after the events of book 1, Ivy and Rebecca are getting ready to leave the Halls of Ivory for the summer. One going home the other, Ivy going to the town with no name, well it has a name but it is a secret and only those who live there or are going there know it. You can not find this town on your own you have to go by cabby. It is protected from the outside world, it where the many of the scrivenist live in safety to practice magic. 

But things are happening in the town, shades are being scene and quills are being stolen. Ivy has been sent there to find the next stone and to keep her safe from the Dark Queen but how safe can she be if things are happening in the town that hasn't happened before. Is the Dark Queen getting closer to finding her? To find the stone?

The Girl with the Whispering Shadow like book 1 screams Harry Potter vibes, we are introduce to a game that that scrivenist play involving their quills and and the quills of past scivenists. With that we get introduced to a greater cast of characters, ones I'm sure we will see again in future books, ones that play a big role in this particular one.  

So back to the Harry Potter vibes, I can see this series blowing up. This could be the Harry Potter, and it should be,I hope for D.E Night and all booklovers and Harry Potter fans it does. 

Over all I really enjoyed this book, and I love this series thus far. One day they will be at home on my bookcase. 

*I was given a copy in exchange for review 

Amethyst by Jesse Nolan Bailey #booktour #bookreview

 

  

   Amethyst by Jesse Nolan Bailey

Published: September 24, 2020

Genre: Fantasy (New Weird)

Age Group: Adult

Cover Art and Design: Rena Violet (https://www.coversbyviolet.com/)

Order Link: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/zdn3e00kso

Blurb:

Rashell’s brother has vanished. When the local villagers express no concern, she enlists the help of a stranger from a faraway city to find Teth.

 Investigator Derrik discovers the people worship a massive stone known as the Amethyst. Even more bizarre, an ancient relic of a mummy fuels their reverence.

 Given limited time, Rashell and Derrik confront these mysterious elements at play, all the while striving to uncover what happened to Rashell’s brother.

Review:

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rashell's brother is missing, and no one is her village is doing anything to help find him. Keer the village leader seems to not ever care that he is gone. So she sends away for an outsider to come investigate. They don't like outsiders in this place

Derrik, is an investigator who arrives but it isn't just the missing brother that he is interest in. Yes it is part of the reason he is there, the other is because stories of this village has reached the organization that he works for. It is the cult like worship that goes on in that village that is the real reason he came. 

You see the people of this place worship a large stone called the Amethyst, and it's connection to the oracle, an ancient mummy. Like I said they don't like outsiders, if you are not connected they want to purge you, to keep them safe.

This short story was eerie and horrific. A quick horror fantasy that is very Lovecraftian. If Jesse Nolan Bailey ever decides to expand on this tale I would love to read it. Also need to point out the trans rep in this book. ++ for that.

Meet the Author

Enthralled by the magic that written stories contain, Jesse Nolan Bailey has always wanted to be an author. With his debut novel, THE JEALOUSY OF JALICE, and his shorter fiction, AMETHYST, released to the masses, he can now claim such title with relief. He lives in Durham, North Carolina, where he has embraced the equally-gratifying lifework of hosting a trio of spoiled cats and two mini-aussies

Website/Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Goodreads

Check out the rest of the stops

A Season of Whispers by Jackson Kuhl #BookBlitz #bookreview + #giveaway

 

A Season of Whispers by Jackson Kuhl

Published: October 8, 2020 by Aurelia Leo

Genre: Supernatural Gothic Horror

Age Group: Adult

Pages: 130

Blurb:

In the summer of 1844, Tom Lyman flees to Bonaventure, a transcendentalist farming cooperative tucked away in eastern Connecticut, to hide from his past. There Lyman must adjust to a new life among idealists, under the fatherly eye of the group’s founder, David Grosvenor. When he isn’t ducking work or the questions of the eccentric residents, Lyman occupies himself by courting Grosvenor’s daughter Minerva.

 

But Bonaventure isn’t as utopian as it seems. One by one, Lyman’s secrets begin to catch up with him, and Bonaventure has a few secrets of its own. Why did the farm have an ominous reputation long before Grosvenor bought it? What caused the previous tenants to vanish? And who is playing the violin in the basement? Time is running out, and Lyman must discover the truth before he’s driven mad by the whispering through the walls.

 Review:

:

⭐⭐⭐⭐

When Tom Lyman arrives to Bonaventure, a small farming commune, hidden away in Connecticut, he hopes to be able to live out the rest of his life hidden from society, leaving his past behind him. 

But things are not quite what they seem at Bonaventure, there's tales of the old family that had own the land before. The family that came over from Dunwich, a family accused of being witchcraft. There are strange sounds. Whispers in Tom's ear, the sound of a violin, voices being heard in the basement 

There are other things that go on, sink holes, missing people and animals.

A Season of Whispers is a short Gothic horror novella that tips it's hat to Edgar Allen Poe while giving me H.P Lovecraft vibes. The two combined make for some attention holding reading. 

I enjoyed this story and look forward to reading more by Jackson Kuhl.

Book Links: 

Goodreads/Aurelia Leo/Amazon

Meet the Author:

Jackson Kuhl is the author of the Revolutionary War biography SAMUEL SMEDLEY, CONNECTICUT PRIVATEER, and the fiction collection THE DEAD RIDE FAST. Kuhl has written for Atlas Obscura, Connecticut Magazine, the Hartford Courant, National Geographic News, Reason, and other publications. He paddles the waters of coastal Connecticut. For more information, visit www.jacksonkuhl.com.

Author Links:

Website/Twitter/Instagram/Amazon/Medium/GoodReads

Publisher Information

Established in 2016, AURELIA LEO is an independent publisher and bookseller. Located in Louisville, Kentucky, we specialize in diverse speculative fiction, namely: horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Our flagship titles are Helios Quarterly Magazine, Selene Quarterly Magazine, and Invictus: Quarterly Comics and Illustrations.

Links:

Website/Twitter/Instagram/Facebook/Pinterest/Youtube

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you StoryTellers on Tour

#booktour Sisters of the Moon by Alexandrea Weis #bookreview & #giveaway

Sisters of the Moon
Alexandrea Weis
Published by: Vesuvian Books
Publication date: September 22nd 2020
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy

** A Novella ***

A monstrous fate will turn a girl into a legend.

On an island in Lake Obersee, where The Sisters of St. Gertrude abide, a destitute Moor named Durra arrives. Sold for taxes, she and her two companions tend to the nuns and their collection of cats. At night, she combs the library for details on the order, the remote island, and the beasts howling outside her window.

But when a prank reveals the sisters’ gruesome secret, Durra is forced to accept a new fate. Bestowed an unearthly power, she must choose between life as a nun or living among the monsters beyond the convent walls.

Her path is about to change the tide in the ultimate war. The war between good and evil.

Goodreads / Amazon

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Review:

Durra and two other girls have been taken to an island in which a convent lies. The Sisters of St. Gertrude, live a simple life, they do their choirs, eat no meat and have cats up on cats up cats. They take in unwanted women, sold to them. Former slaves, those sold for money to pay off debts, those who have had been touched by a men then deemed unworthy.  The island on which the convent is built on is surrounded by woods and feels off, it feels evil. 

There are secrets in this place, the walls have paintings of  religious scenes Durra has never seen before, books in the library talking about saints she's never heard of and at night the girls are made to go to their rooms, or rather cells and are locked in. They are to not be out walking the halls at night, because at night it's when you hear the howling. You don't go out at night. 

What are the nuns hiding? What is really going on in this place? Where are all these cats coming from? 

I liked this story, the concept is fascinating. It is a quick read that holds the promise of more books to come. 

I look forward to reading more

I was torn between 3.75 and 4 so I rounded it to 4 stars

*Book review is part of xpresso booktours*

Author Bio:

Alexandrea Weis, RN-CS, PhD, is a multi-award-winning author, screenwriter, advanced practice registered nurse, and historian who was born and raised in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Having grown up in the motion picture industry as the daughter of a director, she learned to tell stories from a different perspective. Infusing the rich tapestry of her hometown into her novels, she believes that creating vivid characters makes a story moving and memorable.

Weis writes romance, mystery, suspense, thrillers, supernatural, and young adult fiction and has sold approximately one million books. She lives with her husband and pets in New Orleans where she is a permitted/certified wildlife rehabber with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries and rescues orphaned and injured animals.

She is a member of both the International Thriller Writers Association and the Horror Writers Association. www.AlexandreaWeis.com

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Newsletter

GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hosted by:

#BookReview: Focus (Focus #1) by Naomi Charles

Focus by Naomi Charles
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Told in a series of flash backs and present day. Focus is story that is full of twist and turns, it grabs you and keeps you coming back for more.

Nicole got into something so much deeper then she ever imagined possible the day she walked into Noah's, her then boyfriend's house, two years earlier. When he told her to leave, when she saw all the blood, when she promised to help cover for him, to help cover the murder of his uncle.

She wasn't prepared for him to just up and go, to never see or speak to him again. She wasn't prepared to have nightmares, to be jumpy. She doesn't like surprises now. So now two years later, she's moving forward in her life, she's in NYU, she's made a new friend, of the boy type, Jason. She wasn't prepared to run into Noah, to have all the memories flood back. To have the worry and fear come to the surface because the new guy is pre-law and some how he has stumbled upon the murder of Noah's uncle. And this case getting looked into isn't good for anyone involved.

She's now looking over her shoulder, trying to throw Jason of the case and get through her first semester away from home.

Like I said twists, on top of twists.

This book did not disappoint, unless you are talking about it ending in a cliffhanger. I'm disappointed that I have to wait to know more. Because that ending. That ending left me going , 'oh shit'. What is going to happen next. It just ends, and I'm hanging and I want more. I need to know what is going to happen. What has just went down?

This story is like an onion, so many layers, I can't even talk about it, because spoilers and you need that shock and information discovery yourself. So if you like cover ups, twisty twisty turns, and to be glued to your book then this will not disappoint you.

But yes that ending....is the second book written yet???

Thank you Naomi Charles for giving me the opportunity to read and review your book. I'm on the edge of my seat needing to know what next.

Pick up your own copy on Amazon    and    Find me on Goodreads 

#bookreview Dear Girl by Aija Mayrock

Dear Girl by Aija Mayrock
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Staying true to the book, my review will be in poetry form.

Dear Girl,

A collection of poetry
to bring you to tears.
Some you feel
Some you might never know,
while wishing you did.
I found myself clapping,
shouting yes this is true.
Rivers forming in my eyes
because I have worn these shoes.

****

Aija Mayrock's poems will connect
all women kind to another.
We have fought,
we have cried.
This our truth.
We must love each other,
love ourselves,
speak out for one another,
hold the candle,
hold the door.
Scream a little louder for the voices of the unsure,
the timed,
the scared,
the forgotten and the lost.

I cried. I connected. I smiled.

Well written, broken up into sections and 100% real.
*Thank you Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing

View all my reviews

 

#bookreview Smash It! by Francina Simone

Smash It! by Francina Simone
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5

Oliva is like so many other teenage girls lacking confidence, insure with their body, in love with their best friend, who by the keeps on giving her those mixed signals. After a moment self reflecting after some unwanted advice from a bartender at Halloween party she decides to make same changes. To take charge of her life, to be seen, to do it, to say yes more. So she makes herself a list, "the year of fuck it" And well things they are starting to go well....until they don't.

The story it's self is a play on Shakespeare's Othello, which also just happens to be the school play that O wants to try out for as part of her year of yes, her year of "fuck it".

I liked how the story it's self is broken up in to Acts, like they would be for a play with a modern spin on the lines, because the play in the book is a modern rap musical version.

I'm torn, torn when it comes to this review. One side I laughed so much, I was feeling Liv's nerves and insecurities. But then on the other hand I was like this is a bit much.

Over all I liked the story, it kept my attention, made me laugh, had me hooked but still it had some problematic areas.

My copy is an uncorrected proof from Netgalley so maybe things got ironed out before published.

Do I want to read book 2?
Of course I want to see how Oliva's live turns out, what's next for her, to see her grow some more.







View all my reviews