A Long Overdue Thank You to Sarah J Maas

It’s been 2085 days since Kingdom of Ash (KOA) was released and here I am, finally finished reading it. You’re probably wondering why it’s taken me so long to read this book? How can someone read the entire series and not want to know how it ends. When you love something so much, you don’t want it to end and that’s how I was with this series. This book literally stayed in the Barnes and Noble bag (along with the receipt) since I purchased it on October 23, 2018. I only took it out to take a selfie with it and then back in the bag it went. This also happened to be around the time where I made my exit from book reviewing/blogging and really, I had such a negative experience with reading that I didn’t read much for years. I’m talking of going from 150 books a year to maybe 5, if I was lucky. I loved my time as a book reviewer and running a blog; I met some amazing people along the way (both readers and authors) and I’m disappointed in myself for letting a lot of those relationships fade when I made my exit in the book world (my biggest regret, really). The pressure of reviewing books by a deadline and even feeling like I had to like a book that I was sent for review, even if I didn’t. I think that negative pressure is what did me in because most of the books I read, I truly enjoyed reading. 

But let me get back to my love for Sarah J Maas’ (SJM) writing and specifically, Throne of Glass (TOG). I was first introduced to SJM at my very first BEA (Book Expo America) and I kept hearing people talk about this book but I wasn’t really familiar with it. I was able to get in to her signing line, met and got a copy of the book. She was super nice (and absolutely stunning) but I was excited I was able to get this book everyone was talking about. It was one of the first books I read when I got home and I understand the hype of it all. I was thrust in to this amazing world and amazing characters; I felt like I was actually right there in the story, with these characters. I just needed more. Sometimes, the hype is actually worth it. I instantly became a fan and started following her on social media and just waiting for the hardcover to be released (I’m a sucker for hardcovers). 

Blog Tour: Wonder Woman Warbringer {Review}

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo
(DC Icons, #1)
Release Date: August 29, 2017
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers; 384 pages
Rating:

She will become one of the world’s greatest heroes: WONDER WOMAN. But first she is Diana, Princess of the Amazons. And her fight is just beginning. . . .

Diana longs to prove herself to her legendary warrior sisters. But when the opportunity finally comes, she throws away her chance at glory and breaks Amazon law—risking exile—to save a mere mortal. Even worse, Alia Keralis is no ordinary girl and with this single brave act, Diana may have doomed the world.

Alia just wanted to escape her overprotective brother with a semester at sea. She doesn’t know she is being hunted. When a bomb detonates aboard her ship, Alia is rescued by a mysterious girl of extraordinary strength and forced to confront a horrible truth: Alia is a Warbringer—a direct descendant of the infamous Helen of Troy, fated to bring about an age of bloodshed and misery.

Together, Diana and Alia will face an army of enemies—mortal and divine—determined to either destroy or possess the Warbringer. If they have any hope of saving both their worlds, they will have to stand side by side against the tide of war.

Royal Bastards by @Shvartacus {Review + Giveaway}

Royal Bastards by Andrew Shvarts
(Royal Bastards, #1)
Release Date: May 30, 2017
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion; 352 pages
Rating:

Being a bastard blows. Tilla would know. Her father, Lord Kent of the Western Province, loved her as a child, but cast her aside as soon as he had trueborn children.

At sixteen, Tilla spends her days exploring long-forgotten tunnels beneath the castle with her stablehand half brother, Jax, and her nights drinking with the servants, passing out on Jax’s floor while her castle bedroom collects dust. Tilla secretly longs to sit by her father’s side, resplendent in a sparkling gown, enjoying feasts with the rest of the family. Instead, she sits with the other bastards, like Miles of House Hampstedt, an awkward scholar who’s been in love with Tilla since they were children.

Then, at a feast honoring the visiting princess Lyriana, the royal shocks everyone by choosing to sit at the Bastards’ Table. Before she knows it, Tilla is leading the sheltered princess on a late-night escapade. Along with Jax, Miles, and fellow bastard Zell, a Zitochi warrior from the north, they stumble upon a crime they were never meant to witness.

Rebellion is brewing in the west, and a brutal coup leaves Lyriana’s uncle, the Royal Archmagus, dead—with Lyriana next on the list. The group flees for their lives, relentlessly pursued by murderous mercenaries; their own parents have put a price on their heads to prevent the king and his powerful Royal Mages from discovering their treachery.

The bastards band together, realizing they alone have the power to prevent a civil war that will tear their kingdom apart—if they can warn the king in time. And if they can survive the journey . . .

Undone by @Wendy_Higgins {Cover Reveal}

It's my birthday so I'm gonna share something with wonderful with y'all. Wendy Higgins UNDONE, the follow up to Unknown and Unrest (books which I absolutely adored) has a cover and I want to share it with the world.

If you're unfamiliar with these books, let me refresh your memory (or introduce them to you for the first time). ***Click on the picture to visit the goodreads page***

Blog Tour: Jonah by @styclar {Review}

Jonah by Nikki Kelly
(The Styclar Saga, #3)
Release Date: February 7, 2017
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends; 352 pages
Rating:

The conclusion of the Styclar Saga trilogy focuses on Jonah, the vampire badboy with a hunger for Lailah and a rivalry with the angel Gabriel.

Jonah is the vampire who saved Lailah from the appetites of even darker evil: the vampire Purebloods. Now he must decide whether he will give up his existence so that Lailah will survive—even if it means that she will spend eternity with his friend and rival, the angel Gabriel.

This stunning conclusion to the Styclar Saga will have fans deciding once and for all: Team Jonah or Team Gabriel?

Frostblood by @elly_blake {Review}

Frostblood by Elly Blake
(Frostblood Saga, #1)
Release Date: January 10, 2017
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; 376 pages
Rating:

The frost king will burn.

Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a Fireblood who has concealed her powers of heat and flame from the cruel Frostblood ruling class her entire life. But when her mother is killed trying to protect her, and rebel Frostbloods demand her help to overthrow their bloodthirsty king, she agrees to come out of hiding, desperate to have her revenge.

Despite her unpredictable abilities, Ruby trains with the rebels and the infuriating—yet irresistible—Arcus, who seems to think of her as nothing more than a weapon. But before they can take action, Ruby is captured and forced to compete in the king’s tournaments that pit Fireblood prisoners against Frostblood champions. Now she has only one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who has taken everything from her—and from the icy young man she has come to love.