O.W.L. Read-a-thon and TBR

So I keep seeing these O.W.L. TBR video's on Book-tube and I haven't watched any of them, until today.  I watched Pages and Pens TBR earlier today and realized I am missing out on an amazing and magical readathon.  So naturally I went down the TBR video rabbit hole, and I realized this is totally something I can do in the month of April.  Several of the O.W.L prompts fit right in with what I'm already planning on reading. 

Check out Book Roast's O.W.L.'s Magical Readathon 2019 Announcement, she is the creator of this awesome read-a-thon and all of the prompts, rules, and the amazing career guide she made are all posted in the description box of her video.   I really admire all of her creativity and the work she has put into creating the materials. 

Based on the books I plan on reading in April I think that makes my career path a Magizoologist.

My TBR

• Care of Magical Creatures - Land Animal on the Cover
• The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden 
• Charms - Age-line: Read an adult work
• The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
• History of Magic - Published at least 10 years ago
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 
• Muggle Studies - Contemporary
• Things We Never Said by Samantha Young 
• Potions - Next Ingredient: Sequel
• Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

April TBR

It is rare that I'm actually all caught up on everything I need to read.  I have some ARCs that are due out in May and some others that I've had waiting to be reviewed so hopefully I can get to those.  I've got a bunch of stuff on hold at the library as usual, and I'm slowly making progress on my reading challenges.

Books/Ebooks/ARCs

• Unhappily Ever After (The Librarian #2) by Eric Hobbs
• I'm currently reading this now.  I've had a copy of this to review for quite a while, and I'm just getting around to it.  I have the 3rd one as well, and hopefully I'll get to that as well.  It is a little bit of a retelling and a little bit of a mashup of favorite fairy tales and classics.  The two main characters altered reality when they changed the classic Wizard of Oz tale.  They find that the people they know and even their own personalities have changed.  So far it is good, I need a good adventure story.
• The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
• The is due out on May 7th.  This is a historical fiction book set in the 1930's.  It sounded really interesting to me and appears to tackle a lot of tough issues that have plagued the US for a very long time.  
• Storm and Fury by Jennifer Armentrout
• This is the first book in a new YA Fantasy/Paranormal series.  If you have read The Dark Elements you will be familiar with some of the characters, as this is Zayne's story post Layla.  The Dark Elements is one of my favorite series, and I'm looking forward to seeing some old favorite characters and Zayne getting his own story.  If this is anything like the original you will have whitty banter, romance, gargoyles, demons, and who know what other manner of creature to take us on a crazy adventure.  This is set to release June 11, 2019.
• Things We Never Said by Samantha Young
• This is the third book in Sam's On Hart's Boardwalk Series.  Fans of the series have been patiently awaiting Dahlia's story for quite some time now.  We don't have to wait much longer as this is due out on May 7, 2019.  Dahlia is a local artist and she owns a local gift shop on the boardwalk.  We don't know much about her yet, but at the end of the last book Michael waltzed in and upended Dahlia's quiet demeanor.  I'm so excited to get to know them.

Audiobooks

I'm hoping to get Bloodwitch on audio (or in print) so I can finish it, but I've got a ton of other things on hold as usual.  The two I've got checked out currently are both to fulfil challenge prompts.

• City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab
• I really love Victoria Schwab/V.E. Schwab's writing.  I've been looking forward to this book for a while.  I started this yesterday and so far so good.  It is a middle grade/YA paranormal story about a girl who can see ghosts.  I love a good paranormal fantasy.
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• I don't even know what this is about except it has won lots of awards, everyone speaks highly of this book, and it won the Great American Read vote.  It also has over 3 million ratings on Goodreads which is why I'm reading it.  I'm using it for my reading challenge prompt for a book with over 1 million ratings.
• Welcome to Lagos by Chibundu Onuzo
• I won a copy of this in a giveaway that Highbridge Audio was having.  It is narrated by Robin Miles, who is a fantastic narrator, and is about and African soldier who deserts his post, political scandal, and many other things.  This fits a couple of the challenge prompts, and from the few chapters I've listened to its interesting.

March Wrap up

I got through a ton of books in March.  I reviewed almost everything I read too, which is even more impressive than the reading of the books.  I've been slacking on reviewing the audiobooks, but that's not unusual for me.  

Books/Ebooks/ARCs

• Space by Penny Reid
• Review
• This did not disappoint, though I didn't expect this to head in the direction it did.  This is not a bad thing, I kind of expected the reveal to happen in book 3 and the tension to linger, but Penny knows what she is doing and I'm not complaining.  I love Mona and Abram, and I really like where this ended.  I know our couple will face more challenges in the next installment but I like where things left off.  I know have to wait another month to find out how it ends.
• Bennett Mafia by Tijan
• Review
• I was excited to find out Tijan was releasing another book and that I was able to get my hands on an early review copy.  This is a mafia, hate to love romance book, and I really enjoyed it.  I'm about a quarter of the way into it.  The main character is spunky and she really surprised me at every turn. This came out March 4, 2019.
• The Last Wingman by Daisy Prescott
• Review
• This came out March 7th.  This is a fun, light hearted, small town romance.  It as exactly what I needed after a stressful few days.  The main characters are awkward and sweet and I loved them so much.  This is my first Daisy Prescott novel but it most certainly will not be my last.
• Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson
• Review
• This comes out March 5th.  This is a psychological thriller.  The main character is bipolar and begins to suspect that her neighbor may be a murderer, but she isn't sure of herself or if she is an unreliable narrator in her own life.  I've been really into thrillers lately and this one was amazing.  I highly recommend it.  It was entirely unpredictable and I did not see the ending developing until it happened.  It was so dark but so good!
• The Test by Sylvain Neuvel
• Review
• This was a strange little novella.  It was a quick read and really made me think.  If you liked The Themis Files I'd give it a try, but there aren't any robots or aliens.  It is more realistic/speculative fiction with a hint of psychological thriller.
• In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire
• Review
• This is another installment of the Wayward Children series.  It's good, but not my favorite.  I wanted more fantasy, action, and adventure.  It was also missing some of the whimsy that is present in the other books, this installment is far more serious than the others.  This is an origin story for one of the staff members at the school that the kids end up at, so it is a valuable story to be told.
• Erased, Volume 4 & 5 by Kei Sanbe
• I finally finished this series.  I'm so glad I went out of my comfort zone an tried something new.  This series was great.  It follows a man who goes back in time to his childhood to save a friend from being murdered.  He then works to solve the murder and catch the killer.  Book 5 gives a summary of each of the side characters in the series, and is a nice wrap up to see where each of them started and ended.  I never saw myself reading manga, and while it was a challenging format to get used to this series was excellent.  
• Saving Megan by D.J. Palmer
• Review
• This was a crazy medical drama/psycological suspense novel.  I really enjoyed it.  I had no idea who to believe or what to think as I was reading it.  This comes out April 9th.  You aren't sure if the daughter is actually sick, if it is all in her head, if her mom is making her sick, or if something else is going on.  What I suspected wasn't what was going on at all, and it really threw me for a loop.
• Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard
• I got about 60% of the way done with this before my library loan ran out.  It is exactly what you would expect for the 4th installment.  There is a lot going on in this book, more characters and each of them have their own storyline to keep track of.  I was really enjoying it until was taken away...it's my own fault.  I had the audiobook but accidentally returned it, then I got the ebook and didn't give myself enough time to finish it.  Hopefully I'll get one or the other back soon so I can finish it.

Audiobooks

As usual who knows what I'll get to, but I've got the books listed below checked out from the library at the time of this post with the exception of Bloodwitch.  

• Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
• Review
• This series is so good.  The full cast is amazing!  I can't say enough good things about this series.  I love how this ended.  The audiobooks are amazing but I highly recommend checking out the books because the drawings are awesome too.  They aren't needed but they are just too good not to mention.
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
• Review
• I really enjoyed this.  It was more of a family drama than a mystery, but I liked it just the same.  Christopher was a wonderful character.  It certainly gave me some perspective about parenting and patience. 
• The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemison
• This was a bit different that the first two books.  We are still following Assun and Nassun on their journey to save humanity and the world by using their abilities.  We also get Hoa's perspective and background, which is a very valuable piece of information as to how the world got to be in this whole situation.  The extra perspective gives the book a different feel, but that doesn't mean it isn't as amazing as the others.  It is an excellent conclusion to an excellent series.
• Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto
• I actually didn't finish the audiobook of this.  I got through about 20% of it and returned it.  I really like the story, but the audio was kind of bland.  It has a full cast but I wasn't drawn into this book, and there are way too many characters for me to keep track of.  I have requested the e-book because I really do want to read this, the audio just wasn't doing it for me.
• The City of Brass by S.A Chakraborty
• This is another great book about mythology/folklore.  This focuses on Middle Eastern lore, specifically Djinn and Daeva in 18th century Egypt.  I've been meaning to read this for a while because the cover is stunning.  The audiobook is long, but it is really entertaining.  If you are a mythology lover like I am I recommend it.
• Becoming by Michelle Obama
• I've been waiting for this since it came out.  I highly recommend the audio, as it is read by Mrs. Obama herself and she really puts her emotion into the book.  You can hear her choke up a bit when she talks about losing her dad, and her frustration when she talks about the politics and campaigning.  I really enjoyed learning more about the former First Family.  This is a book I plan on purchasing for myself, I took a lot away from it.  While I'm not a person of color, I am a working mom and I related so much to the parts where she talked about balancing her work life balance and how important family is.
• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
• I don't have the best luck with classics.  I wanted to make some progress with the Great American Reads list and this is a really short one.  This is about 4 hours long on audio.  It is an interesting book, but I can't say that I enjoyed it.  It just isn't my favorite type of book to read.  I can see why it is on the list, and definitely can see why people like to discuss it.

Review: Saving Meghan by D.J. Palmer

Saving Meghan by D.J. Palmer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was crazy. It kept me guessing the entire time. I wasn't sure who to believe or what to think. The end was completely unexpected. You really couldn't tell if Meghan was really sick or if it was all in her head. This book will take you on a medical mystery adventure filled with family drama and psychological suspense that you won't soon forget. I don't want to give away too much of the plot because thrillers such as this are best discovered as you read.

This is told from multiple perspectives, Meghan the daughter with the undiagnosed ailment, Becky the devoted mother who has all of the makings of Munchausen's by Proxy, and Zach the doctor who is caught in the middle trying to save Meghan but also has his own baggage. The characters are all very well developed and they all have so many things going on that you aren't sure what to believe or who is at fault. Who I thought was at the center of the whole thing was not the culprit at all, they turned out to be just another victim of the true criminal mastermind. Each of the characters and all of their emotional baggage have a very specific role to play in this story. All of the characters were well developed, and came with their own backstory. You can tell that D.J. Palmer did his his homework and researched the medical aspects of the story. I very much enjoyed that there was just enough medical terminology but not too much that I needed to google things to understand what was going on in the book.

I was provided an advanced copy via the publisher in exchanged for an honest review. My head was spinning the entire time I was reading this, and I highly recommend it.

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Review: In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While still a good story, this was not my favorite of the series. It wasn't as whimsical as the others, it was far more serious with less action and adventure. This felt more character driven than plot driven which isn't my taste. This is still extremely imaginative and well written. It is still enjoyable and fits right in with the rest of the series. I recommend it for fans of the series and I'm looking forward to more books in the series. Unlike the other books in the series, this focuses on one character instead of visiting other characters at the school or somehow ending up back at the school with the other characters.

This is the backstory for Katherine Lundy, who if you recall is the child therapist at Eleanor West's school for wayward children who have gone through doors and can't quite adjust to their original lives. We learn about Lundy's experience in the Goblin Market and the choice she was faced regarding her door. Lundy grew up as a lonely young girl, but found her true identity in the world of the Market. As she traveled between the land of the Goblin Market and the "real world" she learned about fair value, trade, friendship, family, and love. In the end she must provide fair value in one world, but she must give up the other world completely because she can't provide fair value in both.

As always McGuire paints such a vivid picture of the characters and the world they are in. While I didn't love Lundy, I also don't think I was supposed to. She was detached and cold for much of the book only showing warmth to The Archivist and Moon, and then at the end to her little sister Diana. Her closed off demeanor is part of the reason why she ended up in the Goblin Market, she was lonely and detached from the world. I don't think you were supposed to love her. The rest of the characters aren't the focus of the story and they are well developed for the roles they play. The world building as always is great. I really love how Seanan McGuire tells a story.

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Review: The Test by Sylvain Neuvel

The Test by Sylvain Neuvel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a strange little novella. It packs a punch in such a short little book. I really enjoy Nuevel's writing and his imaginative plotlines. If you are expecting giant robots and aliens you won't find them here. This is more speculative/realistic fiction set in the future. I can actually see this happening in the not so distant future, but I hope this never comes to pass. Parts of this read like a psychological thriller. This book is the perfect length and the story is well developed. Because it is a novella and fairly short, I don't want to spoil too much.

The story follows Idir, a dentist from Iran, who wants a better life for his wife and two small kids. He is taking a citizenship test so they can move to the UK. He has to answer 25 questions on UK facts and history to see if he and his family will be granted citizenship. While his family is waiting, terrorists swarm the testing center and Idir is singled out by the ringleader. Idir is tasked with choosing who lives and who dies? As you read you find out if it is too much for him and if he can actually make the choice? All he wanted when he started his day was a better life for his family. I won't say more than that.

This book really makes you think. The things that happen in this book could actually happen in some form or fashion and in some ways they already do. I hope that what Idir went through never becomes a reality.

As far as the character development goes, Idir was great we get to know him very well. Some of the side characters were lacking, but I almost feel like that was by design as they weren't a major part of the story but they did drive what happened. Overall, this was a quick read that really made me think. It is a bit dark, but it was well worth the read.

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Review: Space by Penny Reid

Space by Penny Reid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an arc of this via the Author in exchange for an honest review.  This was released on March 11, 2019.  Check out my blog tour post for an excerpt and all of the purchase links.

I love Mona and Abram together. I also love that we get to see Kaitlyn from the Elements of Chemistry and I really like how she has grown since finding her passion in music. She is a great friend to Abram and so much like Mona that she sees through the hot mess of Mona's emotions.

Mona and Abram have been apart for 2 years since they spent a week together. Mona still feels guilty about not telling him the truth, and she hasn't been able to move on. They are forced to spend time in the same house during Mona's winter getaway because her brother Leo invited all of his musician friends to their mountain house to write music. Abram is not happy to be snowed in with Mona after realizing she deceived him. Mona wants to clear the air, however Abram gives her the cold shoulder. Mona of course shuts down because she doesn't know what to do with her feelings which makes Abram rage all the more. The entire time they are drawn to each other like magnets and can't deny the attraction they feel for each other. When Abram challenges her to be honest, Mona is finally able to tell her side of what happened that week. Abram lets his wall of anger down and lets himself get to know the real Mona.

Like Motion, this ends on a cliffhanger, but you knew that going in. I'm anxiously awaiting the final installment of this series. I love the main characters and I really like where their story is headed. I know there are more challenges that they will face, but I'm hopeful that all will workout for them in the end. I was surprised to get alternating perspectives, but it really gave the book something extra. As always Penny doesn't disappoint.

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