June 2019 Wrap Up

I got through a ton of books this month.  Since so many of these were ARCs, I got a bit bogged down toward the end of the month and got a bit behind.  Fortunately I was able to get audiobooks for some of these and was able to get caught up on some of them.  A few of these were challenge prompt books.  I'm feeling behind on my challenges, but it is only the end of June and I've gotten through 87  books so far.  That isn't too bad.

Books/Ebooks/ARCs

• The Dragonet Prophecy by Tui T. Sutherland
• I finally met my end of the bargain I made with my son.  While I won't be continuing on with the series, I now understand why my son loves this.  If you have a young reader who loves fantasy, I highly suggest this one.  It is 100% tailored for young readers who love dragons.  There are also some really good lessons.
• The Black Tides of Heaven by J.Y. Yang
• I picked this up through Tor's free ebook of the month.  I picked this for one of my reading challenge prompts for a novel by a trans or nonbinary author.  It also features LGBTQIA+ characters.  This is a really interesting fantasy featuring imaginative creatures, elemental magic, and political struggles between the two ruling bodies.  I'm glad I discovered this series, I'm looking forward to continuing on with the remaining books.  I really like the writing style and the characters.
• Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
• Review
• I've really enjoyed Sager's previous books, so when the opportunity to review this new release due out July 2nd.  This is the lightest of his 3 books so far.  Still good, the ending was good, but it wasn't as suspenseful and twisty.  If you like lighter thrillers check this one out.  This is a book that I see being turned into a movie soon!
• The Sorcery Trial by J.A. Armitage and Claire Luana
• Review
• This was a really fun book.  It comes out July 1st.  It is a mashup of The Hunger Games and The Amazing Race, if they had magic and fae.  It is fast paced and I really enjoyed the characters.  I've looking forward to the rest of the series.
• Teardrop Shot by Tijan
• Review
• This is out June 24th and is a sports romance featuring basketball.  If you don't know much of my time is spent on the sidelines of a basketball court.  This is a new adult romance from Tijan and it was so fun.  This was funny, heartbreaking, and just overall a great story.  One of my new favorite Tijan books!  I couldn't put it down.
• The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs by Katherine Howe
• Review
• This comes out June 25th.  This is a paranormal historical fiction from what I can tell.  The synopsis reminds me a bit of The Discovery of Witches and it has some ties to the Salem Witch trials which I find fascinating.  I'm looking forward to reading about this magical family.  

Audiobooks

I was able to get through quite a few audiobooks this month despite a few of them being very long and heavy.  

• Nexus by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings
• Review
• This was OK.  The narration wasn't the best on Zenith or Nexus, they were a bit monotone and it bugs me when there are multiple narrators and they don't all pronounce character and place names the same or even try to mimic the same accents for the characters they are all portraying.  This blended YA, Sci-Fi and Fantasy, some of it worked and some of it didn't.  Well atleast for me..  It was entertaining, but I wish I had read the print version of it versus listening to it.
• A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult
• This is for a reading challenge prompt for a book that takes place in a single day.  That was all I knew about it when I started it.  This deals with the heavy topics of gun violence and abortion, which is fitting given recent current events.  I'm not sure I would have picked it up had I known what it was about because I tend to shy away from realistic fiction.  This was pretty heavy, and at times uncomfortable.  It was so well written, and makes so many good points.  I won't say I enjoyed it because I don't think it was an entertaining book nor do I think it was meant to be, but I think it made a really important statement about such a very important issue.  Definitely a good conversation starter.
• Binti, Home, and The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor
• This series has been on my TBR forever, it is a sci-fi set in the future and parts of it are set in space.  inti is a mathematical prodigy, but when she leaves her humble tribe to attend the prestigious university to study, her space transport is attacked by alien lifeforms called the Meduse.  As the sole survivor Binti uses her gift as a harmonizer to befriend the Meduse and broker a treaty with them so they stop the destruction.  She continues to hone her mathematical craft and her skills as a peacemaker.  This is filled with creativity and a strong female lead who is brilliant in math and science.  I really enjoyed this whole series.  
• Kingsbane by Claire Legrand
• Review
• I was so excited to get approved for an ARC of this.  This is a fairly large book and because it was already published when I was approved for the ARC I opted for the audio book.  The audio is very long but it is narrated by a wonderful narrator and she did an amazing job with this book.  I still have alot of open questions and felt the book could have been shorter.
• A Map of the Dark by Karen Ellis
• Review
• I received an ARC of this one too, but since this was published in 2018 I opted for the audio on this one too.  This feels like an episode of Criminal Minds, which I enjoy.  It follows an FBI agent and a local police officer as they try to locate a missing girl.  I won't say more but its good.
• Shadowglass by Rin Chupeco
• I started this in June, but I don't think I'm going to finish it.  So far it is pretty good.  I'm excited to see how this plays out.  So far Tea is on a rampage destroying things and no one is sure why.  Like the previous books it alternates between Tea telling her story about what happened in the past and the Bard telling the story in the present as Tea has emerged from exile and exacts her vengeance.