Review: A Rose of Blood and Binding: The Middlemist Trilogy, Book 3 by Claire Legrand

A Rose of Blood and Binding: The Middlemist Trilogy, Book 3 by Claire Legrand
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ALC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This is the conclusion to the Middlemist Trilogy, and while each book follows a different sister, I don't feel like you can read them as standalones.  The main plotline is interwoven between the three books and to truly understand what is going on you would need to start at the beginning.  Now if you are only interested in Mara and her part of the story you could get away with reading them individually as there is enough info to fill in the blanks about what is happening and the main storyline follows Mara and her journey.

Mara has been portrayed as a brave and strong warrior in the previous two books, but in this installment we find that she has a lot of feelings about being sent away at a young age to train with the Roses.  The Roses are a band of female warriors secluded from their families who train hard and protect the realm from the mysterious mist and the creatures that it hides.  They are ruled by the Warden who is not only their keeper, but also like a mother to them though she is harsh a ruthless at times.  We come to learn that Mara has been made to do things as Rose that she feels quite a lot of guilt about, and she uses pain and sex to ease her feelings of shame and inadequacy.  The also has a lot of thoughts of ending her own life so trigger warnings for suicide as it is mentioned quite a lot.  Mara has a lot of self hatred to work through and while Gareth her love interest tries to help her through it, it overwhelmed the storyline in my opinion.

We do reunite with Mara's family, her sisters, their partners, her parents, and many other key players we have met along the way to thwart the antagonist.  The magic and worldbuilding were as always really interesting.  Legrand always does a great job with those.  Gareth and Mara's characters eventually get together and when they do there are plenty of scenes to solidify their love, Legrand's books are always full of those as well.  I didn't always feel their chemistry, especially with Mara always pushing him away.

Overall this was a good conclusion to the series.

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Review: Kingsbane by Claire Legrand

Kingsbane by Claire Legrand
Narrated by Fiona Hardingham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I felt like this was a good sequel. I listened to the audiobook, but I was also provided with an ARC via Edelweiss for review. The narrator was amazing and she brought life to all of the characters in such a spectacular way. I highly recommend the audio because this book is long and much like with Furyborn the pacing was off in places. I find that audiobooks tend to help with pacing issues, especially with very large books.

This picks up where Furyborn left off, but we still haven’t gotten back to the opening bit in Furyborn where Rielle falls. I still have lots of unanswered questions, in fact after Kingsbane I think I have more unanswered questions. I hope that those will get answered in the next installment as I feel like we are getting there slowly. Much like in Furyborn we are still following the back and forth perspectives of Rielle and Eliana as they navigate their power and their place in the war and politics of their respective times. There are also some other perspectives randomly thrown in throughout the book. Some of them are valuable, while I felt others didn’t really lend much to the story.

A downfall of this series is that the books are much too long. Legrand's writing is getting better and better as she continues to hone her craft, but I feel like there were far too many verbose scenes that while written well didn't really add to the plot advancement. I think that is just the author's style, she is very descriptive and sections of the book are repetitive. That being said, there is a lot going on in this book but I’m still not clear where it is heading. I’d like a bit more on the magic system, I’m still not clear on castings and why some people need them and some don’t. We did get an explanation on the angels and the saints and that whole situation. I appreciated that. I’m still not really clear on the political motivations of any particular character anymore and I’m not sure if that is by design or if that is because I missed something. At the end of this book I kind of just felt overwhelmed and confused, I think that is because the ending felt rushed and after a 500+ page book that should not be the case. I’m looking forward to the next book and I’m hoping all will become clear in the final installment of this trilogy. I’m looking forward to seeing how things play out for our two leading ladies as things have shifted for both of them. We have started to see Rielle’s fall from grace and Eliana has begun to embrace her power but things are not going according to the original plan. I’m also really interested in seeing what part Corien plays in each of their stories as this all plays out.

I also have a big problem with this series being marketed as a YA, it is not. It is an adult fantasy series. A huge pet peeve of mine is when characters are teenagers and a series is labeled YA, I don’t care what their age is it is their actions and the content that should be considered when marketing a book to specific age groups not the age of the characters alone. I think there is a line that should be maintained when it comes to sex and violence in YA vs. adult fantasy and this is clearly adult. There are some questionable scenes in this book that while I can roll my eyes at them and say it’s just a book or that’s not OK in real life, young readers may not be ready for that content or may not want to read those scenes just yet. Again that’s just my opinion.


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Top 5 Wednesday: Most Anticipated 2019 Releases

This week's topic:

Most Anticipated 2019 Releases 

Pretty self-explanatory. 

There are a bunch of good books coming out this year.  I've got my eye on a couple of series that have new books coming out this year.  These are just a few I'm really looking forward to in 2019.  What are you anticipated releases for the new year?

• The Dragon Republic by RF Kuang
• I loved the Poppy War and can't wait to see what happens next.  This was a brutal, epic fantasy and I really loved it.  The sequel has big shoes to fill, but I expect it will.
• This is expected to come out in May.
• 
• Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard
• I really love the Witchlands series.  I'm looking forward to getting to know Aeduan more, and follow Safi and Iseult on their adventures.
• This is expected out in February.   I highly recommend the audiobooks if you are an audio person.
• 
• Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout
• Jen is one of my favorite authors, and her Dark Elements series is possibly my favorite of her YA series.  This is a spin off to the original series and will focus on Zayne, one of the main characters from the original series.  
• This is expected out in June.
• 
• Shadowglass by Rin Chupeco
• This is a great fantasy series.  I'm really looking forward to finding out how Tea manages to use her powers as a Bone Witch to get revenge on those who have wronged her.
• This is expected out in March.
• 
• Kingsbane by Claire Legrand
• This is the sequel to Furyborn.  This is such an interesting series.  The first book left us with just enough information to be satisfied, but wanting more.  I'm looking forward to learning more about Rielle, Corien, Simon, and Eliana and how this story ends.
• This is expected out in May.
• 

November Wrap Up

I had a pretty good reading month.  I read 9 books and 4 audiobooks.  I am finally caught up on all of my ARCs that I needed to review.  And I knocked out 5 reading challenge prompts.  

Books/Ebooks/ARCs

• Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand
• Review
• This came out October 2nd.  I got super backlogged in October.  This was fairly long, and it took me a while to read.  This wasn't scary at all, and it was a bit slow paced.  Overall I liked it.  It had decent diverse representation and good character dialogue.
• Lies by TM Logan
• Review
• This came out on September 11th.  The plot was pretty good, and there was a great plot twist at the end.  Overall, I thought the main character kept doing really idiotic things to get himself in trouble, which played into the twist eventually.  It was certainly not the scariest or best reads of the year as promised.  It was an OK mystery/thriller and a quick read.
• Evermore by Sara Holland
• Review
• This is the sequel to Everless.  I really like the premise of how time is currency in this story.  This moved a bit slow for me.  There was a long time where not alot happened as the main character tries to remember her past lives.  It is a good conclusion to the duology, but what I was expecting.
• Cranberry Bluff by Deborah Garner
• It fits the prompt for a fruit or vegetable in the title.  It was a quick, cozy mystery type book.  I got it for free and it was pretty cute.
• Blue Water by J.A. Armitage
• Review
• This is a reverse fairy tale/retelling of The Little Mermaid.  It is a fun YA story line with some interesting mythology that I'm enjoying.  Overall I'm liking the series and am looking forward to the third book.  
• Pittsburgh Irish by Gerard F. O'neil
• I read this for the reading challenge.  I really enjoyed learning about the city I grew up in and walk around in everyday.  I learned so much from this and about the surrounding areas of Pittsburgh.  It was really nice reading about places that I know and learning about their namesakes and more about the events that took place there and the people who formed the city I call home.
• Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier
• I used this for my time travel prompt book.  I'm so glad I read this.  It was a quick enjoyable read.  I really enjoyed the historical and secret society aspects to the story.  I also like that the main character is not having he male chauvinism and she is speaking up for herself more and more as the story progresses.
• The Darkest Star by Jennifer L. Armentrout
• Loved this Lux spin-off series.  I always thought Luc was a great character and I'm happy we get to finally know him.  We meet some new characters, and see the return of some old favorites.  I would have liked to see Katy and Dee, but we got Daemon and Archer so...
• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
• This fulfilled another reading challenge prompt for a book I meant to read last year, though it could have filled several others.  It was a short, but powerful book.  I really loved it and the illustrations were as beautiful as the words.  So glad I finally read it!

Audiobooks

 I did pretty well in the audio department this month.

• Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor
• I really enjoyed this.  It was a little heavy on the romance, but it was still great!  I loved the mythological and paranormal element to the story.  I can't wait to read more of Taylor's writing.  This didn't really go where I expected, but I liked where it ended up.
• A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner
• I loved this installment of the series.  We finally get to know what happened to Sofos who kind of just disappeared from the story a while back.  It also kind of brings all of the political plotting of the 3 kingdoms together once and for all.  There is still plotting but it seems that finally all of the kings and queens will be united.  This series keeps getting better.
• The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager
• Review
• I got an ARC of this from Edelweiss after it was published, so in an attempt to get to clear my review list up I grabbed the audio book.  This was a great mystery with alternating times.  I really enjoy the way Sager tells stories.  If you liked Final Girls check this out.
• Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner
• This surprised me by following a completely new character in the series.  It took me a bit longer than normal to get into the story, but it was just as good as the rest of the books.  The writing is amazing, and now I have to wait patiently for book 6 which doesn't come out until March.

Review: Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

ARC provided by the publisher via Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review.  This came out in early October.  I know this is up a little late, but alteast I got to it.  A month late isn't too bad.

The plot follows three different perspectives, four if you count the perspective of "the Rock", Zoey, Marion, and Val. Zoey is the police chief's daughter, she has recently lost her best friend in a mysterious disappearance and she is determined to find out what happened to her. Marion is the new girl on the island, her father has recently died and her sister mysteriously disappears shortly after they arrive. Val is the beautiful and affluent girl that Marion's family came to work for, but Val's family has a dark secret tied to all of the disappearances on the island. The girls are ultimately connected and not just because the island of Sawkill Rock is small and everyone knows everyone. As girls keep disappearing, Zoey and Marion discover that they have developed supernatural powers, but they aren't sure why. Val and her family have been connected to the disappearance and legend of The Collector for generations. Val wants no part of it, but she can't seem to see a way out of the part she's been destined to play. As she fights the Collector's wishes, she too develops a power. Zoey, Marion, and Val eventually figure out that they have to use their "gifts" to fight the monster.

Meanwhile, Zoey's dad the chief of police also happens to be a member of a misogynistic cult. The cult is tasked with banishing the monsters around the world like Sawkill's Collector. Their methods are brutal, and involve the girls dying to make the monster go away temporarily. The girls aren't having it. Each of them is strong willed, smart, and doesn't want to die. They are all fighters and want to go down swinging. The Hand of Light was irritating, and you really just wanted them to go away anytime they came around.

As for The Collector, I really wanted him to be more scary. He was creepy sure, but he wasn't scary. He was kind of just a jerk, who happened to be a monster.

This tackles some real world subjects and decent representation. I thought this was done very well. There is an African American character who is also asexual. Asexuality is discussed, not just glossed over. There is a real discussion on how that does and may impact a romantic relationship in the future in a very realistic way. There is a lesbian relationship between two of the main characters. When the characters say and do hurtful things to each other it is addressed, and they don't kiss and make up two seconds later. They stay mad, all is not forgiven, just like in the real world. Emotions are justified, discussed, validated, maybe they move on, but they atleast accept that things are not OK and that life is ugly sometimes.

Overall, I thought this was an entertaining YA read. It is more mystery than horror or thriller. I wanted more scare factor, but I liked it anyway. I really enjoyed the writing style and the plot. Overall, it felt a little long and I felt like I wanted to know more about the mythology and magical elements in the book. I wanted more about the Rock and more from the perspective of the Rock. I think the parts from the Rock's perspective were actually my favorite. Those chapters were extremely poetic and I really loved them.

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October TBR

Happy October!  Where did the rest of the year go?   It is hard to believe it is October already!  I love fall so I'm happy October is here, though I'm in disbelief that another year is coming to an end.

A new month means some updates to the blog.  I discovered a couple of new widgets on Goodreads and I like them better than what I had going on before.

I didn't get to a couple of these books in September and they are out in October.  I really fell behind with my reading the last few weeks.  I read a couple of longer books which didn't help, and I was really in a slump for most of September.  Everything I'm committed to read comes out at the beginning of October and it is all stuff I really want to read so that should help get me out of my slump.  Most of the books on my TBR are mystery, thriller, or have a paranormal element which is perfect for October.  I love Halloween and I'm excited to get to these.

• Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand
• This is one of the mysteries on my October list.  It comes out on the 2nd.  The description reminds me of the RL Stine books I read in elementary school where there was a monster and the teens have to solve the mystery Scooby Doo style.  I'm really for that right now.  I need something light and not too complex but gripping at the same time.
• The Case of the Hidden Daemon by Lucy Banks
• I really loved the previous books in this series and I'm anxious to find out what happens in the next installment.  The group of ghost-hunters is pretty histerical and I really enjoy Banks' writing style and humor.  This comes out October 23rd.
• The Spellbook of Katrina VanTassel by Alyssa Palombo
• This is perfect to get into the Halloween spirit.  This is a retelling of Sleepy Hollow.  I used to love the Headless Horseman cartoon when I was a kid because it was scary and I really enjoyed the TV show for a while.  I'm looking forward to getting to this.  I comes out October 2nd, and early reviews have been nothing but glowing.  
• Fight or Flight by Samantha Young
• This is the newest offering from Samantha Young.  It comes out on October 9th, and I'm excited to get to it.  I need a good contemporary in my life right now.
• The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
• One of the reading challenge prompts is to read a book about or set on Halloween.  This has been recommended several times.  I've got it on hold in e-book format and audio so we'll see which one comes up first.  It is pretty short so I'm excited to get to it.

Audio

As usual I've got a bunch of audiobook holds setup at the library.  I want to knock off a couple of challenge prompts for the Popsugar reading challenge and I've found audio has been the best way to get those knocked off my list.  These ones I should definitely get to this month.  I'm also listening to one with my son, but we only listen to that on Wednesday on our way to and from basketball practice.  Penguin Random House does free audio books periodically and I also have a copy of Frankenstien, also perfect for October and it has been on my TBR forever.  We'll see if I get to that.

• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
• I've already got this checked out.  I'm going to read and listen to this one.  My son just read it, and he loved it.  Although he said there is alot of swearing.  To be fair he's 10.  His friend lent him a copy so in an effort to get through it a little more quickly I'm going to use the book and audio to get it back to the owner.  I've been wanting to read this for quite a while and it covers a book challenge prompt.
• The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
• I've already got this checked out and it's next up after Ready Player One.  I'm really enjoying this series, and I'm excited to see what happens to Gen as he embarks on his next adventure.
• Warcross by Marie Lu
• This should fulful my cyberpunk reading challenge prompt.  I've enjoyed Marie Lu's other works, and I'm looking forward to this one as well.  This will be a departure from what I normally read, but I like her writing style so I have high hopes.
• The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
• This has gotten a ton of hype and lots of great reviews.  The other bloggers/vloggers I trust have loved it so I figured why not.  I need a good fantasy in my life.  It sounds amazing and I'm looking forward to it.

September TBR

Well the kids are back in school, and fall activities have started back up with a vengeance.  That means everyday after work I have to be somewhere and there is little time for reading after feeding the hungry hoard.  Thank goodness for audiobooks.  Between commuting and the chaos of life I would never get to read, so I listen.  Now if only I had time to post all of the reviews I meant to write.  I'm still feeling like I'm in a bit of a reading slump, I've got a ton of books I want to read but I can't stay focused.  I read for 5 minutes then I go do something else.  I'm still reading everyday so I'll break out of it eventually.  It isn't the book either they are all good so far, I think I'm getting run down by life and I took on too many ARCs in August.  Here's to September being a little better.

Books/Ebooks/ARCs

• Ruin of Stars by Linsey Miller
• This is out already and I'm way overdue with my review.  I'm hoping to finish this over the holiday weekend and get my review up.  So far its action packed and picks up with Sal still wanting to exact revenge on those who wronged her and her country in the past.  
• Rule by Ellen Goodlett
• This comes out on September 11th.  This is supposed to be a Three Dark Crowns meets Pretty Little Liars.  Now I know nothing about PLL but I liked Three Dark Crowns so I thought I'd give it a go.  
• Lies by TM Logan
• I already started this and its a perfect family thriller.  I haven't gotten very far but its good.  This comes out on September 11th.
• The 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
• I've had this for a while now and its about time to get to it.  This comes out on September 18th.  I believe it is out in other countries though and I've seen good reviews.  It promises a murder mystery and a kind of weird groundhog day plot line.  Sounds really interesting.
• Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand
• This comes out in October, and is another YA thriller/horror novel.  The plot reminded me of my beloved R.L. Stine books that I adored in elementary school.  I couldn't get enough of them.  This sounds perfect for fall.  
• Broken Things  by Lauren Oliver
• I've read a bunch of Lauren Oliver's other books and I really like her thriller/mysteries.  I'm really looking forward to getting to this especially as we get into the fall.  This come out in October as well.

Audiobooks

I've got a ton of stuff on hold at the library so I'm not even going to mention them.  I never know what's going to happen audio-wise and most of them are repeat mentions from the past.  I do have 2 currently checked out so I will mention those.  Two Dark Reigns by Kendare Blake comes out on the 4th, and I'm looking forward to continuing The Three Dark Crowns Series on audio.

• Strange Weather by Joe Hill
• I haven't read anything by Joe Hill.  I love Stephen King so I'm anxious to see how his son's books compare.  I'm reading this for a challenge prompt as a book I saw a stranger reading.  There is always a gentleman sitting outside of my office building reading every morning before I got into work and he was reading this one day.  I just started it and it's interesting so far.
• Before The Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray
• I'm loving The Diviners series.  I love the historical aspect of the series and the paranormal happenings.  I really love the characters and the audio books are so gripping.  I already have this checked out and as soon as I finish Strange Weather I'm starting this.

Review: Furyborn by Claire Legrand

Furyborn by Claire Legrand
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  This releases on May 22, 2018.  If you enjoy fantasy I recommend it.  Be warned, it has some more adult/mature content even though it is marketed as Young Adult.  I feel it leans more New Adult/Adult.


I really enjoyed this, and I can't wait to see what happens next. It follows two different perspectives, which typically is not my favorite but I liked how it was done here. Because the perspectives aren't the two love interests alternating back and forth and they are in different time periods, you get two distinct storylines that aren't muddled by their feelings for each other. I do think that it slowed the pacing down a bit though, just as I was getting invested in one character’s story we would switch and I would lose interest in what was going on in the other timeline. I think had we stayed with one character a little longer it would have kept the flow of the story going. The prologue sucks you in, and you think the characters are completely unrelated, but as things unfold we learn that they are very much connected.

We follow Rielle, who has since she was 5 has been hiding her abilities to control the elements. Some people can control one element but she can control all 7. Her father has had her hide her ability and train to control it after an accident when she was a child. When she is exposed, she is put through excruciating trials to see if she is the prophesied Sun Queen, come to save the kingdom from the angels when the gate trapping them finally falls. Angels in this world are evil creatures, and they were defeated by Seven Saints at one time, trapping them behind a gate. The prophecy foretells that the gate will fall and the angels will return, and that two queens will rise, one of blood and one of light. The Blood Queen will destroy the world and the Sun Queen will save it. Rielle undergoes the trials thinking that she is the Sun Queen, as she can control all 7 elements and she wants nothing more than to protect her kingdom. She also wants her best friend Audric, whom she’s been in love with forever. He of course is the Crown Prince of the kingdom and engaged to her other best friend Ludivine. Rielle and Audric’s romance is fairly predictable, and at times over the top. Ludivine is always there to support Rielle, and I really loved her as a side character. As Rielle undergoes the trials, she has some extra help, but I don’t want to spoil it. It’s a plot twist you have to read for yourself.

Eliana is an assassin working for the empire and rooting out the rebel faction the Red Crown. She’s noticed that women around town keep mysteriously disappearing, but she doesn’t let it stop her work rooting out members of the Red Crown until her mother becomes one of the women that is taken. When Simon, also known as the Wolf and high ranking member of the Red Crown, tracks Eliana down and proposes that she help him on a mission in exchange for his help finding her mother. Eliana hesitantly accepts his offer in exchange for protection for her mother and young brother Remy. As her story unfolds we learn that she has some secret powers of her own, and while her meeting with Simon may have seemed convenient for both of them, we learn that he has known her since the day she was born. He knows her true identity and that she is more than just an assassin. There is a hint of a romance between the two of them.

Pros:
• The telling of the story from the dual perspectives was done really well. I’m usually not a fan, but I liked how they were done. Typically dual perspectives are bogged down with the characters mooning over one another from the romance perspective, but we don’t get that here. I liked that they were 1000 years apart, but still tied together.
• I loved the mythology. I am a mythology junkie, whether it is a creation of the author or based on myths and legends of old. I really liked what Claire Legrand did here with the angel mythology and the different magical powers people can possess. I hope we learn more about it in the future, we got a little but I want to know more.

Cons:
• The pacing was a bit slow for my taste. This book is pretty long; Goodreads says it’s over 500 pages. There is a ton of action, fighting, crazy magic trials, assassins, and evil angels for all intents and purposes I should have not been able to put this book down. I did not find that to be the case. I liked it, it’s really good, but I didn’t fly through it
• The ending. We start with the fall of Rielle, and then the book goes back and tells her story from the beginning but we never get back to the beginning. I assume we will get to that in the future books, but it is a pet peeve of mine when I don’t feel closure from a book. I was left without a sense of closure when I finished.
• This book feels confused with regards to the sex. Is it adult or YA? It is listed as YA, but I disagree. It felt YA up to a point then it switched and got pretty adult pretty fast. It is pretty violent so it gets a point for adult right there. The sex is pretty graphic and steamy, so this should not be a YA book. I don’t mind steamy, but a book should be one or the other, if you are a YA book keep the sex and mentions of sex vague and non-descript, if you are an adult book I feel like you can get away with more description.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series.


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May TBR

I have a couple of things I want to get to in May.  I'd like to get caught up on all of the things I didn't read last month, and maybe knock out some of the ARCs I have for June and July to review.

• Furyborn by Claire Legrand
• I started this but I haven't finished it.  It is much longer than I anticipated.  It is really good.  There are angels, elemental powers, spies, assassins, prophecies, so there's alot going on.  This comes out on May 22nd.
• Smart but Scattered by Peg Dawson
• I'm still working through this.  I'm learning alot and hoping to figure out my exective skill strengths and weaknesses as well as those of my 2 boys so we can figure out how to work together instead of against each other.
• Lucky Charm and Charmed by J.A. Armitage
• I need to to get to both of these in May.  I enjoyed the first one and I'd really like to see how the story ends up.  It is an interested reverse fairy tale about Cinderella.
• Beard in Mind and Beard Science by Penny Reid
• These are rolling over from last month.  I've been wanting to get caught up on this series for a while now.  I finished the Knitting in the City series a few weeks ago, and I need to get back to the Winston's.  The next one in the series is coming out in July and I want to be caught up by then.
• Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi
• I keep extending my hold on this.  I really want to get to it.
• The Fragile Ordinary by Samantha Young
• I received an ARC of this via Edelweiss+.  Sam is one of my favorite authors, and while contemporary isn't my favorite genre, I'll read it if she wrote it.  I just love the way she writes and develops her characters.  This will be out in June, but I'm anxious to get to it.
• Moonlight Seduction by Jennifer L. Armentrout
• I received an ARC of this and I'm anxious to continue the series.  I really enjoyed Moonlight Sins, it was a romance, a thriller, a mystery, and had a little bit of paranormal mixed in.  I expect the same from this installment which follows Gabriel another of the de Vincent brothers.  This comes out in June so I'm hoping to get it read and reviewed well ahead of it's release.
• Bad Boy Brody by Tijan
• I just received an ARC of this, it comes out May 7th, so I'm going to read and review that first then back to the regularly scheduled reading program.  I've only recently discovered Tijan, but I really like her writing style.  This one is about a grieving Hollywood starlet turned bad boy.  

Audiobooks

I have a couple of things on hold at the library, the only two I really want to get to is A Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss and Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare.  Lady Midnight is for my reading challenge prompt for a book with a time of day in it plus I've been meaning to get to this book for a while now.  Everything else would just be a bonus.  I'm hoping my library or hoopla gets the last book in the Titan Series by Jennifer Armentrout on audio, it supposed to be out in May I think.

I'm always looking for audio recommendations.  Who are your favorite narrators?  What are your favorite audio books?

April Wrap Up

I set out to read a bunch of stuff in April, you can see my TBR post here if you like.  I did pretty well.  I didn't get to everything, but I got to most of the stuff I intended to, plus a couple of things I didn't plan on reading.  I read or listened to 10 books total and started 2 that were on my list to read.  And I reviewed almost all of them, which is more of an accomplishment than actually reading the books.  Reading is the easy part, finding time to post reviews is the hard part.  I have a few more to review, but I'm almost caught up.  I'll update the links when I'm done.

Ebooks/ARCs I did read, I've put their goodreads links and links to all of my reviews below so you can go check them out:

• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
• My review
• I finished this and it was fantastic.  I highly recommend it.  I hear the audio version is fantastic as well.  
• Unbreakable by Sara Ella
• My review
• This took me almost a month to finish.  I'm sorry to say I didn't enjoy it as much as the first 2 books.  
• Kissing Tolstoy by Penny Reid
• My review
• This popped up randomly as an auto checkout from my library, which means they bought it on recommendation and I was next in line for it on the holds list.  This was really short and cute and I read it in a couple of hours.
• Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas
• My review
• This was a surprise release by Pen Douglas.  It just came out mid-April, and I was lucky enough to win a copy in a giveaway hosted by The Lovely Books.  I really like her work, and I've read most of her books but I don't think I've reviewed any of them, yet.  I think I read them before I started on this blog journey.  I joined the blog tour so I had to squeeze this in to April's list.

Things I meant to read but will move to May:

• Furyborn by Claire Legrand
• I started this but I haven't finished it.  It is much longer than I anticipated.  It is really good.  There are angels, elemental powers, spies, assassins, prophecies, so there's alot going on.
• Smart but Scattered by Peg Dawson
• I started this, but as I mentioned in my TBR, I didn't plan to finish it in April.  My goal was to start it.  I've read the first few chapters and I've learned quite a bit.  It has already give me some good insights into parenting.  I have 2 very intellegent children, but they both lack what I consider basic human skills.  I'm hoping this book can teach our whole family how work on those things and face the world more effectively.  So far so good.
• Lucky Charm and Charmed by J.A. Armitage
• I need to to get to both of these in May.
• Beard in Mind and Beard Science by Penny Reid
• I know I'm going to love these and I fly through them so they will happen very soon.  The next one in the series is coming out in July and I want to be caught up by then.
• Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi
• I keep extending my hold on this.  I really want to get to it.

Audio Books

I finished all of the books but one.

• The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss
• I just checked this out today, so it is next up.
• Timekeeper by Tara Sim
• My review
• I really enjoyed this one.  I was expecting it to be about time travel, but there is no time travel involved.  Time control perhaps, but no travelling.  This has an LGBT male main character who fixes clocks and can feel and see time unlike us regular people.  I liked the premise and I'm anxious to continue.  My library just purchased Chainbreaker, and I'm currently listening to it now.
• One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake
• My review
• This was another random checkout.  I forgot all about this series until I saw the cover in the available now section and I grabbed it.  I really liked the first book, but you know how it goes waiting a year for the next book to come out.  The 2nd book was a great follow up to Three Dark Crowns and I loved being back in the world and getting to know the Queens better.  I put the 2 novellas on hold as soon as I finished but it looks like I'll be waiting a while until we find out what happens to the sisters.
• Every Little Thing by Samantha Young
• My review
• Sam is one of my favorites, but this isn't my favorite book.  I haven't loved her books on audio.  I think I prefer to read them on the page.  It was still good, but the romance in this lost some thing for me in the translation.  I think I'll stick to reading her books in print.  This is still a good hate to love romance, and still recommend it.
•   Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
• My review
• This isn't my normal type of book but I really did enjoy it.  It hits on just about every problem facing today's society.  I was surprised how much I enjoyed it.  
• Walk on Earth a Stranger, Like a River Glorious, and Into the Bright Unknown by Rae Carson
• My review
• I picked this up randomly because I heard Regan from Peruse Project talk about it and she said it was good.  I needed a new audio book an this was available so I took a chance.  I really ended up liking it and checked out the next 2 books.  The books aren't terribly long, but I really liked the Oregon Trail vibe.  The series follows Leah a girl who can sense gold during the California gold rush.  I really enjoyed the series.