FAME, FATE AND THE FIRST KISS by Kasie West #ARC #Review #Edelweiss+

FAME, FATE AND THE FIRST KISS 
by Kasie West 
Release Date: February 5, 2019; HarperTeen

From Goodreads:

Lacey Barnes has dreamt of being in a movie for as long as she can remember. However, while her dream did include working alongside the hottest actor in Hollywood, it didn’t involve having to finish up her senior year of high school at the same time she was getting her big break. Although that is nothing compared to Donavan, the straight-laced student her father hires to tutor her, who is a full-on nightmare.

As Lacey struggles to juggle her burgeoning career, some on-set sabotage, and an off-screen romance with the unlikeliest of leading men, she quickly learns that sometimes the best stories happen when you go off script.

'Can't-Wait' Wednesday: WARRIOR OF THE WILD by Tricia Levenseller #WoW #CWW

'Can't-Wait' Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa of Wishful Endings. It highlights books to be released that readers/bloggers are most excited for. It is based on Jill, from Breaking the Spine's 'Waiting on' Wednesday.

My 'Can't-Wait' Wednesday pick for this week is-

WARRIOR OF THE WILD
by Tricia Levenseller
Release Date: February 26, 2019; Feiwel Friends

From Goodreads:
How do you kill a god? 

As her father's chosen heir, eighteen-year-old Rasmira has trained her whole life to become a warrior and lead her village. But when her coming-of-age trial is sabotaged and she fails the test, her father banishes her to the monster-filled wilderness with an impossible quest: to win back her honour, she must kill the oppressive god who claims tribute from the villages each year or die trying.

Top Ten Most Recent Additions to My TBR Shelf #TTT

Hi and welcome to Top Ten Tuesday- a weekly event hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Follow this link for more info =)

For this week's theme of The Ten Most Recent Additions to My To-Read List, I went thru my Goodreads tbr shelf and voila! Presenting my ten most recent additions to my ever growing pile of unread books.. I remember craving for new UF/PNR books to read and it shows. 

(Just click on the cover for more info about the book.)

DEMON MAGIC AND A MARTINI (The Guild Codex: Spellbound #4) by Annette Marie #CoverReveal

DEMON MAGIC AND A MARTINI (The Guild Codex: Spellbound #4) 
by Annette Marie 
Release Date: April 12, 2019; Dark Owl Fantasy Inc.
New Adult, Urban Fantasy 

About the book:

When I first landed a bartending job at the local guild, I didn’t know a thing about magic. These days, I’m practically an expert on the different magical classes, but there’s one nobody ever talks about: Demonica. 

Turns out they have a good reason for that. My guild is strictly hellion-free, because who wants to risk life and limb to control the biggest bullies on the mythic playground? 

Well, some people do, and now a demon has been loosed in the city. My three best friends are determined to slay it, but even badass combat mages are critically out-magicked. And that’s not all. The monster they’re tracking—it’s not hiding. It’s not fleeing. It’s not leaving a trail of corpses everywhere it goes. 

SOUL IN DARKNESS by Wendy Higgins #ARC #Review

SOUL IN DARKNESS 
by Wendy Higgins
Release Date: February 12, 2019

From Goodreads:

People travel from afar to the small isle in the Aegean Sea hoping for a single glimpse of Princess Psyche. Their adoration for the mortal woman is so all-consuming that citizens begin to shower her with the very gifts and offerings they once left at the alter of Venus, goddess of love and beauty.

But gods are known for their jealousy.

Cupid, the god of love, takes pleasure in causing strife and mischief in the lives of humans. He uses love as a weapon, humoring in the weakness of people at the whims of their feelings. When his mother Venus approaches him about punishing the human girl who dares to steal her offerings and affections from the people, Cupid gladly accepts.

Psyche's punishment is to be given to a mysterious creature who only comes to her in the dark of night under the pact that she will never lay eyes on him. She is terrified of this stranger, who the oracle described as a serpent. Her mate, however, is masterful in his dealings with his bride. He takes his time, morphing her fears into different sensations completely.

Top Ten Tuesday... on a Monday #TTT

Hi and welcome to Top Ten Tuesday- a weekly event hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Follow this link for more info =)

I greatly enjoyed participating in last week's theme of  New-to-Me Authors I Read In 2018. (You can check that out here.) And since it's the new year, I figured why not make #TTT a regular thing? So here I am. (Here's hoping I could keep up with this commitment though.) 

Anyway, for this week's theme it's... Books I Meant to Read In 2018 but Didn’t Get To.  I don't actually have a definitive list of books to read in a particular year. But I have a long list of books on my tbr (because who doesn't?) that I've barely made a dent in. And 2018 was the year I, apparently, decided not to tackle my tbr pile. Suffice it to say, I now have a taller pile and much longer list of unread books. 

To make this a bit simpler and less overwhelming (for my emotional state, lol), I decided to limit the list to 2018 releases only. So without further ado, here are the Books I Meant to Read In 2018 but Didn’t Get To...  (just click on the book cover for more info about the book =) )

A PACK OF BLOOD AND LIES (The Boulder Wolves #1) by Olivia Wildenstein #ARC #Review #Netgalley

A PACK OF BLOOD AND LIES (The Boulder Wolves #1)
by Olivia Wildenstein
Release Date: April 18, 2019; Twig Publishing

From Goodreads:
The primal rule of winning: don’t fall in love with the contender. 

Three months shy of her eighteenth birthday, Ness is forced to return to Colorado. Even though it’s been six years, and the wolves of her all-male pack don’t recognize her, she recognizes them. People who shun others because of their gender are hard to forget.

Especially Liam Kolane—son of Heath, the crudest and cruelest Alpha to have ruled the Boulder Pack. Liam is as handsome as he is infuriating, as kind as he is punishing, and he makes Ness’s traitorous heart race, which isn’t good. After all, he’s a Kolane. Like father like son, right?

When Heath dies, Liam vies to become the new Alpha and no one dares challenge him.

AMARYLLIS by Joyce Proell #Review

AMARYLLIS 
by Joyce Proell
Release Date: January 23, 2019; The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

From Goodreads: 

When it’s spy vs. spy, love vs. loyalty, someone is going to get hurt. 

Lily Fitzhugh is desperate to get to America when her father is imprisoned as a traitor against the Crown. To gain passage, she accepts a dangerous job: To sneak aboard a ship headed to New York and spy on suspected colonial patriot Griffin Faraday. 

Griffin Faraday doesn’t have time for a beautiful, tempting stowaway—especially one he can’t trust. He has a secret shipment of guns to deliver to General Washington and the Continental Army. Nothing can get in the way. But when the ship’s captain orders Lily sent away with pirates, a sure death sentence, Griffin must propose something else entirely: Marriage, the absolute last thing he wants. 

Top (Not Quite) Ten Tuesday #TTT

Hi guys! This is my first time participating in Top Ten Tuesday and I am so excited!

As I'm sure you already know, Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. And this week's theme is New-to-Me Authors I Read In 2018. I've read quite a few new-to-me authors last year. Some of them are debut authors and some are authors I discovered thru Goodreads and/or Amazon. In no particular order...

1. Charlotte McConaghy

Website  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads

Discovering Charlotte McConaghy and reading her book, Avery (The Cronicles of Kaya #1), was definitely one of the best decisions I made in 2018. (And let's face it I've made very few of those.) 

Avery was everything I love in a YA romantic fantasy. It has such high ratings on Goodreads so I don't know why it wasn't on my radar sooner. I've read the book twice now and I LOVED it both times. It's part of a trilogy and the only reason I haven't read the other two books yet is because I got spoiled with the ending. I won't say much but it's nothing if not heartbreaking. And I wasn't (still isn't) ready to get my heart broken.

THE WICKED KING (The Folk of the Air #2) by Holly Black #Review

THE WICKED KING (The Folk of the Air #2) 
by Holly Black

From Goodreads:
You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.

The first lesson is to make yourself strong.

After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.

When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.

HEART OF THE FAE (The Otherworld #1) by Emma Hamm #Review

HEART OF THE FAE (The Otherworld #1) 
by Emma Hamm

From Goodreads:
Beauty and the Beast meets Irish Mythology in this sweeping retelling of the beloved fairytale....

Once upon a time…

A plague sweeps across the emerald hills of Uí Néill, leaving a young midwife’s father with months to live. To save her people, Sorcha makes a deal with a dangerous Fae. She must travel across the sea, through merrow and kelpie lands, to find a forgotten king on a crumbling throne.

Born king of the Seelie Fae, Eamonn fought battles unnumbered to uphold honor, duty, and freedom… until his twin brother sank a blade between his shoulders. Crystals grew from the wound, splitting open skin and bone. His people banished him to a cursed isle for his disfigurement, now king of criminals and fools.

With the help of brownies, pixies, and will-o’-the-wisps, Sorcha battles to break through his crystalline shell and persuade him to take back his stolen throne.

AN AFFAIR OF POISONS by Addie Thorley #WoW #CWW

'Can't-Wait' Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa of Wishful Endings. It highlights books to be released that readers/bloggers are most excited for. It is based on Jill, from Breaking the Spine's 'Waiting on' Wednesday.

My 'Can't-Wait' Wednesday pick for this week is-

AN AFFAIR OF POISONS
by Addie Thorley
Release Date: February 26, 2019; Page Street Kids

From Goodreads:
After unwittingly helping her mother poison King Louis XIV, seventeen-year-old alchemist Mirabelle Monvoisin is forced to see her mother’s Shadow Society in a horrifying new light: they’re not heroes of the people, as they’ve always claimed to be, but murderers. Herself included. Mira tries to ease her guilt by brewing helpful curatives, but her hunger tonics and headache remedies cannot right past wrongs or save the dissenters her mother vows to purge.

Royal bastard Josse de Bourbon is more kitchen boy than fils de France. But when the Shadow Society assassinates the Sun King and half the royal court, he must become the prince he was never meant to be in order to save his injured sisters and the petulant Dauphin. Forced to hide in the derelict sewers beneath the city, any hope of reclaiming Paris seems impossible—until Josse’s path collides with Mirabelle’s, and he finds a surprising ally in his sworn enemy.

New Releases! 01.08.2019

Hi guys! Gaah! Today is THE DAY! One of my most anticipated releases comes out TODAY!! Yes, it's The Wicked King! I am so excited to finally read it! Honestly I was more excited for this book's release than the new year. I lost count of the number of times I requested (and consequently got rejected) on Edelweiss+ just hoping to get lucky and be approved for an e-arc. And now it's finally here!! 

Anyway, here are some of the books releasing today that I'm most looking forward to reading. Leave a comment below and tell me what you think! What book/s releasing today are you most excited to read?

THE WICKED KING (The Folk of the Air #2)
by Holly Black
Amazon  |  Book Depository  |  Barnes & Noble

From Goodreads:
The enchanting and bloodthirsty sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel The Cruel Prince.

You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring. 

The first lesson is to make yourself strong. 

After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.

When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.

IRON AND MAGIC (The Iron Covenant #1) by Ilona Andrews #Review

IRON AND MAGIC (The Iron Covenant #1)
by Ilona Andrews

From Goodreads:
No day is ordinary in a world where Technology and Magic compete for supremacy…But no matter which force is winning, in the apocalypse, a sword will always work. 

Hugh d’Ambray, Preceptor of the Iron Dogs, Warlord of the Builder of Towers, served only one man. Now his immortal, nearly omnipotent master has cast him aside. Hugh is a shadow of the warrior he was, but when he learns that the Iron Dogs, soldiers who would follow him anywhere, are being hunted down and murdered, he must make a choice: to fade away or to be the leader he was born to be. Hugh knows he must carve a new place for himself and his people, but they have no money, no shelter, and no food, and the necromancers are coming. Fast.

Elara Harper is a creature who should not exist. Her enemies call her Abomination; her people call her White Lady. Tasked with their protection, she's trapped between the magical heavyweights about to collide and plunge the state of Kentucky into a war that humans have no power to stop. Desperate to shield her people and their simple way of life, she would accept help from the devil himself—and Hugh d’Ambray might qualify.

TRACING SHADOWS (Scout #1) by Alex Lidell #Review

TRACING SHADOWS (Scout #1)
by Alex Lidell
Date Published: 04.08.18
Amazon  |   Book Depository

From Goodreads:
To protect the throne, seventeen-year-old spy Kali must play a male guardsman trainee by day and royal lady by night.

Orphaned and trained on a spymaster’s remote estate, Kali is a scout who works alone in the shadows. But when a terror group threatens the Dansil throne, the king forces Kali to accept a mission at the palace or forfeit her sister’s life.

Suddenly thrust into the light, Kali must infiltrate high society as the royal Lady Lianna while penetrating the servant ranks as Kal, a male guardsman trainee. It doesn’t help that Trace, the harsh and enigmatic captain of the king’s guard, is soon assigned as both Lady Lianna’s palace escort and Kal’s commanding officer.

As Kali edges closer to the truth behind the violent group’s identity, she uncovers dangerous secrets that could bring her mission to a brutal end.

'Can't-Wait' Wednesday: COURTING DARKNESS (Courting Darkness #1) by Robin LaFevers #WoW #CWW

'Can't-Wait' Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa of Wishful Endings. It highlights books to be released that readers/bloggers are most excited for. It is based on Jill, from Breaking the Spine's 'Waiting on' Wednesday.

My 'Can't-Wait' Wednesday pick for this week is-

COURTING DARKNESS (Courting Darkness #1)
by Robin LaFevers
Release Date: February 5, 2019; HMH Books for Young Readers

From Goodreads:
Death wasn’t the end, it was only the beginning… 

Sybella has always been the darkest of Death’s daughters, trained at the convent of Saint Mortain to serve as his justice. But she has a new mission now. In a desperate bid to keep her two youngest sisters safe from the family that nearly destroyed them all, she agrees to accompany the duchess to France, where they quickly find themselves surrounded by enemies. Their one ray of hope is Sybella’s fellow novitiates, disguised and hidden deep in the French court years ago by the convent—provided Sybella can find them.

Genevieve has been undercover for so many years, she struggles to remember who she is or what she’s supposed to be fighting for. Her only solace is a hidden prisoner who appears all but forgotten by his guards. When tragedy strikes, she has no choice but to take matters into her own hands—even if it means ignoring the long awaited orders from the convent.

Happy New Year! (And 2018 Wrap- Up)

Hi guys! Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! May this year be filled with joy, triumphs and hope! May it bring a lot more laughs, more swoon and even more books! 

Honestly, 2018 kind of sucked for me but I'm hopeful to turn the tide this 2019 and make it an even better year. Here's to all the greatness that this year will bring! Cheers!

I also decided to post my very first wrap- up. But since this is my very first one and it's the start of the new year,  I figured why not do a wrap- up for the whole year of 2018?? It's quite a lot. I've read 75 books of my goal of only 20. (Few of these I've read more than once. Some are re-reads of books I read years ago. And three are 2019 releases I was lucky enough to read in advance.) I'll just list them below, include a review in some and link all the book covers to where you can buy a copy of the book/s. 

Without further ado, here are the books I've read for the year 2018. (I have a feeling this is gonna take a while.) In no particular order...

One of my best reads for 2018!

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My very first four-star read of 2018! Woot! This was honestly not what I expected. It was all parts gruesome, dark, intriguing, and exciting and I didn't want it to end. I've read like two books by Holly Black and after reading The Cruel Prince I am mentally hitting myself for not reading more of her books. Like what the heck is wrong with me?! 

The Cruel Prince had me guessing and surprised 'til the end. I love that no one is who they seem and you never really know who to trust. I have my doubts about the romance but other than that everything else was just amazing! Jude was a surprisingly resilient character. I also love that she could be gentle and loving but still be super badass and bold and cunning. I just love her!