May Wrap-Up: I’m on Summer Break & I’ve Been Reading SO MUCH

I’m so happy; I ACTUALLY READ THIS MONTH, and a fair amount of books at that! And not one, but TWO of them are books I’ve been regularly putting on TBRs for over a year now?!? Who am I? I managed to read 9 books this month, which is not quite the 10 I was aiming for, but I’m still super proud of myself considering I only read 2 books last month.

Though stressful at times, May has been a well need month. My semester wrapped up at the end of April, so May began my summer. With a lot of free time, I got in a lot of needed reading time. I also had my birthday this month (I still can’t believe I’m 21!). I also returned to my summer job from the previous year.

Alas tho, between participating in Camp NaNo in April and my eagerness to read, I barely got around to writing this month. I have so many books that I want to read in June, but I’m really hoping that I’ll be able to achieve a better balance between writing & reading in the coming month (AKA bribe myself with wine, coffee, or honeycomb cereal to write).

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BOOKS READ:

1. Archival Quality by Ivy Noelle Weir & Steenz

Rating: 3.25 stars

I won a copy of this graphic novel over a year ago in a Goodreads giveaway and I finally read it! I was completed invested in the mystery of this book and I appreciated it’s focus on mental health, but I really wish the ending had been fleshed out more. You can read my complete review here!

2. Myths & Mortals by Charlie N. Holmberg

Rating: 2.5 stars

This is the sequel to Smoke & Summons, which I participated in the blog tour for back in February. The sequel was interesting, but continued with a lot of the problems I saw in the first book. You can see more of my thoughts here!

3. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Rating: 3.75 stars

So I may or may not have binge read this entire book in a day (I did). It was super cute and OMG I LOVE STELLA SO MUCH. I really enjoyed the romance, though I will say that I found Michael annoying at times. There were so many instances where he said/thought/did something possessive and it disappointed me.
I can’t wait to pick up the companion though!

4. Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas

Rating: 5 stars

I FINALLY READ KOA AND OMGGGGG. Even though I took a week to read this book (it’s already kind of blur), but I couldn’t stop screeching/crying/laughing as I read it. It still hasn’t hit me that the series is actually over. I loved seeing everyone reunite and despite it’s length, the book never failed to captivate my attention.
I can’t wait until I can get my hands on another SJM book!

5. Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee

Rating: 3.5 stars

One of my unofficial goals for the summer is to try to read more MG! I read this book for the Dragons & Tea Book Club and it was so much fun! I adored the magic and Min & her pals were freaking hilarious!

6. An Illusion of Thieves by Cate Glass

Rating: 2.5 stars

Argh, this book was disappointment. It was decently crafted and the magic was cool, but I struggled with the writing style, characters, and pacing. You can read my full review here.

7. Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

Rating: 4 stars

After putting this book on way too many TBR lists, I finally read it and adored it! I’m a total sucker for superheros, especially origin stories, and of course, Leigh Bardugo did not disappoint! I fricking loved seeing Diana’s development and grow into her own strength over the book. I will say tho that I found the antagonist at the end to be a stretch and the ending to be rushed. I wanna know more about what happened to Diana & her friends (I adored them so much)!

8. The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman and Illustrated by Chris Riddell

Rating: 4 stars

Is it sad that this was technically my first Neil Gaiman book? This illustrated retelling of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White was so beautiful and refreshing. I adored how Gaiman managed to interweave their stories while infusing them with new twists. I wish I could have gotten more of this world!

9. The Living God by Kaytalin Platt

Rating: 2 stars

I just finished this book today, and yep, it was another disappointment. I had such high hopes for it with its pretty cover and opening scene, but I quickly found the ensuing pages lacking the depth and epic-ness that I wanted. Full review to come early June!

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JUNE TBR:

In support of Pride month, I’m of course going to try to read lots of books with queer rep, so The Song of Achilles, The Princess and the Fangirl, and Final Draft are my top priorities! (Fingers crossed The Song of Achilles comes in on time for me at the library). Enchantress Uncover is an eARC I was suppose to read, oh, by the middle of March, whoops. And The Last Time I Lied in a book one of my best friends just read and she wants me to read it so we can compare thoughts.

Other Potential Reads:

BUT WAIT, I could also read The Girls of Paper and Fire! And They Both Die at the End! And I have an eARC of Shatter the Sky, which has an f/f romance! Hmmm, yeah, might switch this out for that other ARC…

Ahhh, why are there so many books I want to read in June??

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RANDOM UPDATES:

• I turned 21 this month and can now legally drink! Cheers!

• I returned to the same summer job as last year (grounds crew AKA mowing and weed-whacking). Kinda sad tho because I was the only one of the summer crew to return.
  • Regardless of the new workers, the guys are still very redneck-esque and slightly sexist, but ya know, that’s to be expected. I mostly tune them out and keep my nose stuck in a book. 😂
• I met up with some friends from high school and we went out and saw the new live-action Aladdin movie!
  • I really enjoyed the remake and adored how empowering they made Jasmine’s character (though it was rather blunt and forced, but shhh). The movie was really fun and nostalgic and definitely a must see for Disney lovers!
• I barely wrote this month. I think my grand total for the month was a measly 1,200 words AKA virtually nothing (and pathetically the same length as this post). My writing buddy and I are planning on doing a writing challenge in June, so hopefully I’ll write a lot more then!
• I got more free books sent to me! My professor sent me books to read for the summer as part of an internship I’m doing with her. I haven’t actually started the work for this internship, but I can’t wait to do so!

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How was your May? What books are you planning on reading in June? Have you seen the new Aladdin movie? If you’re a student, are you out for the summer yet?

If you did a wrap-up post, feel free to link it in the comments; I would love to read it!

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Books Released in the Last 10 Years

This week’s TTT topic is “Favorite Books Released In the Last Ten Years”. This is such a weirdly specific and challenging topic; it seems like so many first books in beloved series came out during the same year! What the heck? This is also hard, because as a SJM fan, I want to pick one of her books for almost every year from 2012-2018. I’m going to try to confine myself to only 1 or 2 SJM books on this list, but we’ll see.

Now please note that I didn’t necessarily read these books in the year they released.

ALSO, I can’t stress enough how stressful it was to choose between all my favorites. Here are the books I currently feel most strongly about, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be fully satisfied with my answers. It’s so hard to combat my nostalgic feelings and view them from semi-current feelings.

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

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2009: Darkwood by M.E. Breen

I’ve loved this MG book for years now and I’m honestly probably due for a reread. I’m not sure when I first read this book, but I imagine I purchased it at some sort of Scholastic Book Fair a year or 2 within the release date.

2010: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Who loves faeries?!? THIS GIRL! But wow, 2010, this book truly is a throwback. I loved this trilogy and Julie Kagawa so much! (we don’t talk about the last 3 books with the brother.)

2011: Angelfall by Susan Ee

I didn’t expect it, but this year’s release was so hard to decide on it! 2011 was also the year The Girl of Fire and Thorns and The Daughter of Smoke and Bone released (and apparently there was a trend in similarly formatted titles then, lol). It was so hard to pick, but Angelfall is the only one of the three I’ve read multiple times (that ending guts me every time!).

2012: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

I mean come one, how can I not include this book? I got this book for Christmas in 2012 and instantly devoured it. I continued to carry around the book in my saxophone case every day for practically the rest of the year. I’ll admit now that the writing is a bit amateur, but I have so many fond memories of discovering this series, I had to let this be the one exception where I ignored my current feelings.

2013: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Look, a contemporary! I’m totally a multi-dimensional reader! Ha.
I read this book during my sophomore year of college and couldn’t believe how similar Cath was to freshman year me. This book was so cute and the relatability was amazing–how can it not be a fav release for me?

2014: Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

I’ve read this trilogy twice now and omg it has such a bittersweet ending and honestly I still think about the characters to this day. I really need to pick up King of Scars soon and ahhh, can the Netflix show come fast enough PLEASE??

2015: The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson

This is the second book in The Remnant Chronicles and surprisingly my favorite. I’ve read this book 3 times now and loved it every time. The series is very trope-y, but some how works SUPER WELL, and honestly, if it wasn’t for that pathetic ending of the final book (I like to pretend it doesn’t exist), this series would be one of my all time favorites.

2016: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

I have no doubt that this book is gonna be on a lot of people’s lists. No one can deny this sequel was incredible: Feyre’s PTSD rep, the Inner Circle, the hate-to-love romance, and so many FEELS! I even got my mom to read this series. Now I just need her to read the third book…

2017: The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

I actually read this short story collection in February and honestly, it’s probably been one of my fav reads for the year, if not the top. LB writes FRICKING AMAZING dark fairytales and honestly, I was sad there weren’t more in this collection.

2018: Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas

Dammit, I tried really hard not to have a 3rd SJM book on this list, but seriously, how could I not include the final Throne of Glass book on this list? I actually just read this book for the first time this month and omg, I loved practically every moment of it (at least when I wasn’t crying). I honestly don’t know what I would have done without SJM’s epic fantasy books growing up as a teen.

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2019 Prediction: The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black or The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson

My other anticipated releases have disappointed me thus far, so I’m really hoping The Storm Crow doesn’t follow that trend. But with a plot that involves a princess with depression, a forced marriage, and MAGICAL, ELEMENTAL CROWS, how can this book be anything but great? But then there’s also the final book in The Folk of the Air trilogy (which PRAISE THE LORD had the release date moved up from Jan. 2020 to Nov. 2019). I have little doubt that Holly Black will wrench our hearts out in this one, so I think it’s also a likely contender. 😂

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What are some of your favorite releases? Do you agree with any of my choices? Do you have a prediction for 2019?

If you participated in TTT this week, feel free to drop your link in the comments below, I would love to check it out!

ARC Review: An Illusion of Thieves

***I received a free e-ARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review***

An Illusion of Thieves

by Cate Glass

Release Date: May 21st, 2019

Genre: Fantasy, Adult

Publisher: Tor Books

 

 

 

Welp, this book turned out to be a lot different than I thought it was going to be. The writing style didn’t sit well with me, nor did the character relationships. An Illusion of Thieves held an interesting premise, but ultimately wasn’t for me.

In An Illusion of Thieves, an act of theft by her brother Neri, and Romy finds herself outcast from her role as the esteemed mistress of the Shadow Lord, and the rest of her family exiled from the city. The Shadow Lord puts Neri on probation and rules that for every misstep he makes, both he and Romy will suffer the consequences. After a long struggle and just when Romy and Neri finally seemed to have settled into their new existence, a person from Romy’s past turns up, threatening not only Romy, but the Shadow Lord’s reputation, and the welfare of their city. To save them all, Romy must gather her new allies and use the part of herself she’s always despised. Her magic.

Something that I really enjoyed about this book was the unique magical abilities the characters have. It wasn’t your typical elemental magic or whatnot, but characters could do things like paint doors to other locations, walk through walls, and rewrite memories. I also appreciated the seemingly extensive worldbuilding. It all honestly though, while it was admirable, I didn’t really pay attention to it. Maybe it would have been different if my eARC had included a map or index or something, but there were so much terminology and exposition thrust at the reader that I began to skim over anything about the world I didn’t understand. Which was often.

As I hinted at before, the two things that struck me right away was the writing style and Romy’s relationship with her brother Neri. The writing style is very formal and old-fashioned (I guess? I not quite sure how to describe it). This wasn’t a super big deal, but it did take me out the book on multiple occasions when I had to pause and reread the sentence to figure out what the author was trying to say.

And the sibling relationship. Argh. I don’t know if I can properly review this, so I’ll just try to express my thoughts as best as I can. For a long time at the beginning, Neri resents Romy and continually tries to rebel, not fully seeming to grasp their situation. This leads Romy to start physically restraining her brother with a wire rope every night and manipulating him to keep him in line…and this made me uncomfortable. I understand Romy’s desperation, but I just couldn’t believe that should be the solution.

Romy is an interesting character, but it took me awhile to stop disliking her. Between what I mentioned above, and the fact that it the opening scene, readers see her slap her servant, I was really bothered by her character. She at one time, becomes an alcoholic, which I was disappointed to see the book really brush over. I liked the idea of Romy’s character, but I’m not sure I actually liked her.

And then there was the pacing. The first few scenes felt rushed (I wanna see more characters in their “ordinary worlds” before circumstances change, GOOD GRIEF PEOPLE), and the rest of the beginning-middle was SO SLOW. And in the last third, when things picked up, things seemed too easy for the characters. Almost every went according to their plan. Where were the obstacles? And then there was the ending! It read like the often cheesy endings that kids’ movies entail.

Overall, An Illusion of Thieves really didn’t resonate with me. I do think other fantasy readers could potentially enjoy this book though. I wish I could say that I’ll consider picking up the sequel when it releases, but I simply can’t see that happening.

Trigger Warnings: child & sex slavery (repeatedly mentioned, not shown), maiming, a person being physically restrained, a brief sexual assault, slapping, alcohol addiction

Rating: 2.5 stars

“…so, are you my book?”

“HA, nope. I put on the illusion I could be, but you quickly saw through it.”

 

WWW Wednesday: May 22nd, 2019

Time for my monthly participation in WWW Wednesday! May has been both relaxing and busy so far. I’m back home and I spent the first 2 weeks be lazy at home. Now, I’m back at my summer job, working full time. Thankfully, it’s a relatively chill environment with lots of breaks which means lots of opportunities for reading! Without a doubt, May has been my most productive reading month this year. Fingers crossed it continues!

Also, for those of you who don’t know: WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words where you answer 3 ‘what’ questions about your reading.

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What are you currently reading?

This COVER is so PRETTY. Between the cover and the fact that one of the protagonists is essentially a vessel for a god, I was sold on this book! I got an eARC from Netgalley and the book MIGHT have released yesterday (whoops), so I’m hoping to finish & review it soon. At the moment I’m only 10% in and it’s kinda of melodramatic but the magic is intriguing, so fingers crossed it improves throughout the book!

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What did you recently finish reading?

Dragon Pearl– Look at me, reading a middle grade book! This book was the May read for the Dragons & Tea Book Club. I got a late start so I didn’t participate in the discussions as much as I wanted to, but the book was really fun and I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting to!

An Illusion of Thieves– Another eARC from Netgally that I mostly requested because of the pretty cover. This book was a…very meh read for me. The beginning was slow, the ending was cheesy, and I was uncomfortable with the sibling dynamic at the beginning. Full review to come this weekend! (Lol, hopefully)

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What do you think you’ll read next?

Honestly, I’m kinda at a loss for what I want to read next. I don’t think I’m slumping (yet), but there are so many books that I want to read that I don’t know how to pick?!?!? Do I read Wonder Woman: Warbringer, a book I’ve been borrowing from my aunt for over a year? Rosemary & Rue by Seanan McGuire (I’ve never read anything by her and I want to change that!)? A Million Junes by Emily Henry, a book already sitting on my shelf? Or Green Rider by Kristen Britain, another book on my shelf? I have no clue!

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What are you currently reading? Discover any new favorites? Anyone else also horrible about reviewing ARCs on time?
PLEASE help me decide what to read next!!

And if you made a WWW Wednesday post this week, feel free to link it up in the comments below, I would love to read them!