2017 Popsugar Ultimate Reading Challenge

In an attempt to read a little more diversely and meet my Goodreads reading goal for 2017, I'm participating in the Popsugar 2017 Reading challenge.  There are 52 challenges in total, 40 regular and 12 advanced reading prompts.  I found this challenge through YouTuber Bree Hill.  I'm hoping to use this challenge to breakout of the YA Fantasy binge I've been on and read some different genres, read some books on my TBR list, and maybe read some new books I've never heard of.  The Goodreads group has been a great resource so far for suggestions for the prompts.  I highly suggest you join.

There really aren't any rules other than you have to follow the prompts and have fun.  The prompts are open to interpretation by the reader.  I've already read/listened to 15 books this year and several of them fit on the list so I'm well on my way.  I'm trying only count one book per prompt, but we'll see how I do.  I have a bunch of books that count for more than one.

I'm going to create a google doc to keep track of my progress, check it out here.  Feel free to make suggestions.  I feel like the excel doc will be easy to manipulate as I read more books, plus I just like to use excel for lists.

Happy reading!

Review: Winter Falls: A Tale of the Snow Queen by Jacque Stevens

Winter Falls: A Tale of the Snow Queen by Jacque Stevens
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was provided for an honest review. Let me start out by saying I enjoyed this book. If you read the author's note at the beginning, you can really tell that the author was going through something when she wrote this and it comes through in Katie's story. The message of the story that whatever struggles you are going through end and that you can over come them is a great one and I really appreciated the message and the way that the main character never gave up, though you thought she might a couple of times. My only real issue is Katie's self loathing attitude, I have a hard time connecting with characters like Katie. She refused to admit her feelings for other people, refused to be cared about by those around her, and never knew her own worth, and for me that gets old after a while. I needed her to snap out of it sooner than she did. I don't think it is an issue with the writing or the character development, I think after having read a few characters like Katie, I just don't connect well with them.

On to the actual story...Katie Graham lives in a hotel with her father. The book starts with Katie finding Avery, a talking crow from a place called the Four Kingdoms. Where Avery is from there are all manner of talking animal and fairy tale creatures, specifically the Fairy Princesses of the four seasons who take turns ruling. Avery has a broken wing and Katie vows to nurse him back to health and find his way home, in the meantime the two become inseparable companions. In the meantime, at the age of 7 Katie must take over the hotel while her father mourns the loss of her mother. Katie wants to keep the hotel in business and she has to grow up way to fast. The story follows her from the age of 7 to 17 while she runs the hotel, her father gets remarried and has more children, and Katie never feels like she is part of the family, she always feels left out even when she's included. Part of her issue is because she closes herself off to everyone and is cold so she doesn't get hurt. Even to Shay the boy who has liked her since they were 7. Much of the book follows Katie through her life at the hotel and her interactions with her family and the townspeople. After a while the story begins to alternate between Katie's adventures in the Four Kingdoms.

One of the guests at the hotel turns out to be the Snow Queen, Flurry. Flurry takes Shay to the Four Kingdoms, and Katie isn't very happy about it. She can't decide if they are just friends or something more, but she knows she has to go after him, so she goes to the Four Kingdoms herself and meets each of the princesses, who help her along the journey in some way. Katie's perseverance to save Shay and restore the Four Kingdoms and reunite the fairy sisters was really enjoyable. Overall a great retelling of the Snow Queen tale.

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Review: Condemn Me Not: Accused of Witchcraft by Heather B. Moore

Condemn Me Not: Accused of Witchcraft by Heather B. Moore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was provided for an honest review. I very much enjoyed this. I loved learning about the Salem Witch Trials in my youth and the cast of familiar characters and excerpts from the actual trials was a very nice touch.  I actually wrote a paper on the Witch Trials in high school after having visited Salem on a family vacation to Massachusetts.  The trials were a testament of how awful people can be to one another and how people will turn on one another.  Moore does a good job capturing that in the book and trying to give a bit of a history lesson within the story.

The story follows Susannah North Martin at various times in her life, the story alternates between her time in jail as a 71 year old woman accused of witchcraft and as a 25 year old unmarried woman living with her family. Susannah's time in jail shows us her strength and devotion to her family and her faith.  She never once broke her faith in God and never once let her moral compass slip like so many of the other accused did.  Her time as a young woman, though she was almost a spinster for the times, tells us the story of a woman devoted to her family but who had a mind of her own and often said what she thought and did what she thought was right. This was not generally accepted in 1646, and those who did not conform to social norms did not often do well in the community. As the Salem trials proved, those who dare cross those in power ended up at the Gallows.  As I learned about the trials from my own research, accusations were made if you didn't agree with the masses or those in positions of power which is what happened in this story.  If you did something unfamiliar or not generally understood, you must be a witch.  Susannah often spoke up when she was supposed to be reserved and quiet, usually trying to do what was right or speak out toward injustice and it ended bady for her.  Susannah's story takes us through her romance with her new neighbor George and develops their relationship nicely. Their love story was really sweet, the kind of love that really endures.  Moore states that Susannah Martin was actually her relative, and while I'm sure much of story is fiction I hope some of it is true I really loved George and Susannah.  I really appreciated revisiting the subject and the author's ability to stay true to the events that took place during the time.

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Review: The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed The Bone Witch.  The story was very interesting, a girl who can use dark magic instead of light magic.  She can raise the dead, and she's got an attitude.  Tea our main character isn't porcelain doll to be put on display, she's powerful but lacks control.   I felt the writing was well done, but the book itself was flawed. The book is good for about the first half then it drags on for quite sometime where nothing happens. There is a weak attempt at a love triangle that doesn't really materialize, I think we'll see more of that in the next book. There is one really good plot twist, that I didn't see coming, and one I figured out early on. My biggest issue is the ending. The story builds up to some epic thing that is supposed to happen, but it never occurs. I huge pet peeve of mine is books that don't stand alone and close completely. I want to feel closure when I close a book, and be compelled to read the next book. I have to read the next book to find out what happens, I'm given no choice. I have no clue what happens next, and that irks me. There are a lot of loose ends that weren't wrapped up in this book and I hope that they are tied up in the next book.

The Bone Witch follows our main character Tea, who discovers her affinity for magic at her brother's funeral.  Tea discovers she is an asha and can control magic, but she is also a bone witch and can control the dead.  Tea begin's her journey to learn control over her abilites with the help of fellow Bone Witch, Lady Mykaela, and recently raised from the dead brother, Fox.  Mykaela takes Tea to the Willows, a place where asha like Tea, learn the arts of music, singing, dancing, history, fighting, social graces, and how to control their magic.  Asha, similar to a Geisha, are things of beauty in appearance and ability to entertain as much as they are able to control the elements and wield magic.  Being a Bone Witch means that Tea and Mykaela can control dark magic where as the other girls can control light magic like the elements.

The story stalls out shortly after Tea and Mykaela arrive at The Willows and Tea is accepted into the House Valerian to begin her asha training.  Tea is taken on as a house maid as part of her asha trials to teach her obedience.  Tea causes causes some accidental trouble, which puts her in the limelight and her training is sped up.  This is where the story kind of becomes repetitive, Tea just takes lessons for a while and doesn't really do anything but asha training, none of it specific to her dark nature or her being a Bone Witch.  Mykaela is off fighting daeva (demons) or recovering from fighting and doesn't really teach Tea anything.  Tea gets adopted by some older asha and they begin teaching her but this goes on for a while but again they don't really do anything for quite some time.  Eventually they actually go fight a dragon, and that is where the story gets interesting again and the pace picks up again.

The chapters alternate between Tea's past learning to be a Bone Witch and her present time in exile.  You never are sure if she is guilty of her the crimes she is accused of.  She was sought out by a bard during her time in exile and she is telling him her story.  The chapters are very short, but help tell of things past and things to come.  In between, the chapters tell Tea's story as a child and her journey to become a powerful asha.  I normally don't like flashbacks/flashforwards, but I felt this was done well where the future time chapters were short enough that they didn't detract from the main story and they gave just enough info so as not to spoil the story yet to be told.  These chapters tell the story of Tea's exile and seem to be ramping up to her doing something epic.  This leads me to my biggest issue with this book.  The epic thing never happens.  She can raise the dead, and she spends many of these alternating chapters, telling the bard her story, but we never find out why she was exiled, or what she is going to do.  You have to read the next book to find out.  After all the anticipation, you don't even have a hint of what she is going to go do with the creatures she's raised from the dead.  I'm left wanting at the end with no closure.  I am interested in reading the next book and hope that all the loose ends are tied up.

    

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STARS OVER CASTLE HILL by Samantha Young Cover Reveal

STARS OVER CASTLE HILL

A JOSS & BRADEN NOVELLA

Cover Design: Samantha Young

Stock photos provided by Deposit Photos: © Konradbak & © StockCube

Release Date: March 30th 2017 in ebook on most e-retailer platforms (incl. Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, BN and Google Play)

Book will go live on all platforms day of release.

Joss and Braden Carmichael are blissfully married living in their townhouse on Dublin Street with their two beautiful children. It’s a life Joss never expected to have, and one she’s grateful for every day.

But… what if she never met Braden and Ellie Carmichael on that fateful day when she

was only twenty-two years old?

When Joss is asked to write a story about how her life might have turned out if a pivotal

moment in it never happened, she thinks of the day she met both Braden and Ellie

Carmichael. If she had never met them where might she have ended up? Joss believes no

matter where life may have taken her it would have inevitably led her to Braden. But what if she was thirty instead of twenty-two when they met? How would she have felt about risking her heart then?

And even if she was older and wiser and ready to fall madly in love, what if too much had happened to Braden to make him the man that would risk his heart to save hers?

Will time be their enemy… or is it possible that two souls are meant for one another in

any reality?

Stars Over Castle Hill is an alternate reality novella of a romance that captured the

hearts of readers all over the world. Joss and Braden are back with a story that is

just as emotional, passionate and sexy as their first!

Haven’t read Joss & Braden’s story from the beginning? On Dublin Street, the #1 international bestseller, from Berkley Romance http://amzn.to/2krSKvI

Follow Samantha Young:

Facebook: http://bit.ly/2lsENxR

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Website: https://authorsamanthayoung.com

Review: Possession and Illusion by Annie Oldham

Possession by Annie Oldham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. This was such a great read. Necromancy isn't a common topic and this kept my attention from beginning to end. I really enjoyed it and recommend it.

The book follows high school senior Constance Jerome. Constance is awkward, and no one except her best friend Greta and her immediate family like her. Constance can't wait to graduate and get out of Milltown. The only thing she truly enjoys is singing in the choir, Greta on the other hand flirts with being a social butterfly and sits just outside being one of the popular kids. Senior year starts off with Constance being a calculus tutor to one of Milltown High's prized football player's, Seth, who happens to be the boyfriend of Seline who is at the top of the social ladder. Amidst trying to survive high school, Constance having strange memories and nightmares and her mom is acting weird and going on strange errands. One is of her mom bringing her hamster back from the dead when she was 5, and the other is of herself bringing a duckling back from the dead. After some more weirdness in the Jerome home, Constance finds out she is a necromancer and can control spirits. She comes from a line of necromancers that herd spirits back where they belong when they get misplaced, a good necromancer if you will. Veronica, Constance's mother, has been going on errands to herd spirits back to the upper and lower planes because someone either a dark necromancer or an amateur has been letting spirits run amok in Milltown. Constance is naturally shocked and doesn't really believe her at first. Then her memories start to make sense and she begins to work with her mother to corral the naughty spirits. Paul Jerome, Connie's dad, is not really happy about the situation and doesn't want his daughter involved, but she does it anyway as she feels obligated to help her mom.

The weird keeps getting weirder as one of Veronica's necromancer candles disappears once night after she comes back from an errand. Turns out Greta took it thinking it was an aromatherapy candle and was no big deal. Seline swipes the candle from Greta, and Constance and Greta try to get it back to no avail. Turns out Seline is using the candle to do a little necromancy of her own to try to make homecoming perfect. As Seline's attempts at amateur necromancy get out of control at homecoming, Constance is there to stop her with her new found abilities and kind of saves the day and the school. Constance tries to go back to normal, but she knows she has more to do and more to learn. Not all the spirits are back where they belong and she and Veronica have their work cut out for them since they apparently aren't the only necromancers in Milltown.

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Illusion by Annie Oldham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book in exchanged for an honest review. I really like this series. The 2nd book wasn't as good as the first in my opinion, but I still really liked it. It lost 1 star for formatting errors, missing periods and such which are easily fixed, but it really bugged me as it was constant throughout the book. The story was good though, however I didn't appreciate the cliffhanger ending, it felt a bit rushed and incomplete almost like the book doesn't stand alone. A pet peeve of mine is that each book in a series should stand alone with a distinct ending, I just really don't like cliffhangers.

On to the actual story, Illusion picks up where Possession left off with Constance trying to figure out what being a necromancer really means. She is walking the fine line of protecting the family secret, helping her mother, and still trying to keep some normalcy with her dad, and failing miserably at all of it. Things at school are strange as Queen Bee Seline is no longer on top after her antics at Homecoming, Mr. Ransom still gives Constance the creeps, and something is up with Greta. Constance is trying to still be a normal teenager and tutor Seth at calculus by day, and at night she is trying to learn how to banish naughty spirits back to where they belong. As the book progresses they determine who the dark necromancer is and come up with a plan to try to stop him and his evil plan with Seline and Greta in tow. Greta finds out she has a poltergiest attached to her from her previous run in with that "aromatherapy" candle from book 1 that they have to banish before someone gets really hurt, and Seth finds out what is really going on with Constance. As things get more dangerous Constance starts to come to terms with her "powers" even if her mom doesn't accept that there is another way to do things. Constance starts to take things into her own hands to try to draw out the dark necromancer and get some answers. The whole Jerome clan is in danger and Constance is determined to stop the dark necromancer from hurting her friends and family.

Overall I've really enjoyed this series thus far and I'm anxious to find out what happens next. I really like the different subject matter on this one. Necromancy isn't something you see often and I like Oldham's writing style, so much so I've downloaded some of her other books. I highly recommend the series, it is a good entertaining read.



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Review: The Viscount of Maisons-Laffitte by Jennie Goutet

The Viscount of Maisons-Laffitte by Jennie Goutet
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There was alot going on in this book, but overall I liked it. There were too many storylines going on for my taste, I had to go back and re-read some parts to make sure I knew what was going on. The characters also have several names so I was confused at times until I figured out who was who. Fortunately this was a pretty quick read and the author did a decent job tying up all the loose ends at the close of the story. I didn't feel like anything was left unanswered at the end. Overall, I thought this was a nice, sweet romance. I would have liked a brief description of what a viscount is, as it is never really explained in the book, he just does a lot of stuff and seems to own a big chateau. I gather that he's kind of like royalty in his town, as he has a very high profile public life.

The story follows Chastity, the American who teaches English at a school in France. She meets the Viscount of Maison-Laffitte, Charles, when she expresses concerns over his son, Louis' school work. The viscount is pretty hands off when it comes to parenting, for reasons that are explained along the way. He is irritated that Chastity dare call him to discuss such matters as his son's English homework and accuse Louis of possible drug use. Louis is in fact using drugs and in way over his head. This is where the story branches off into several storylines. There is Louis story with his struggles as an incompetent drug dealer, Chastity's story as a teacher and mother, and Charles story as Viscount, racetrack owner, father and doctor. This is where Jean also known as Marc, enters the picture, he plays several roles in the story which are unclear until the very end.

A terrible accident befalls Chastity and her beloved son Thomas. Enter Charles the neurosurgeoun who is actually a very kind and caring man, not the cold Viscount and father Chastity has seen previously. They connect in the hospital in a very innocent and sweet way, and a sort of romance ensues. Chastity must focus on getting her son better, and Charles still has his chaotic, high profile life. In the end they find themselves falling for one another inspite of relationship baggage, drama with their children, drug dealing, and an art heist. This is where all the story lines culminate and come to a close and you figure out what role the extraneous characters are playing.

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