First Line Fridays 11/15/19

Hey there everyone! Back again with my second First Line Friday. First Line Fridays is hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author, or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first!

Finally…..reveal the book!

Everything had gone horribly wrong. None of Safiya fon Hasstrel’s hastily laid plans for this holdup were unfolding as they ought.

⬇️

This book is….

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

In a continent on the edge of war, two witches hold its fate in their hands. Young witches Safiya and Iseult have a habit of finding trouble. After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home. Safi most avoid capture at all costs as she’s a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep hidden – lest she used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult’s true powers are hidden even from herself. In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now got on the girls’ heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

Triwizard Tournament readathon

Hello! Today I am bringing you a readathon I have been looking forward to. It is called the Triwizard Tournament readathon. All the information is explained better here, but the readathon is broken into 3 weeklong readathons based on the three tasks involved with the tournament. Your birthday decides what school you are representing, and according to mine I’m representing Durmstrang.

The first task runs from Monday November 11- Sunday November 17. The opening ceremony was on Halloween, and each school found out what dragon we would be facing in the first task. Durmstrang got the Swedish Short Snout so our task is to reread a favorite. I am going with Unhinged by A. G. Howard. Trying to get my Splintered series reread done before the end of the year.

Our second challenge for this first task is to select a method of defeating the dragon. We have: Conjunctivitis Curse, Bewitched Sleep, Speed, and Distraction. I chose Distraction and for that I have a to read a book with an animal on the cover. What better choice than Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Illustrated Edition by J. K. Rowling. The cover shows Harry facing off with his chosen dragon. If I have time, I will also try to complete Bewitched Sleep and that is to read a whole book in bed. For that I have Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender.

I will post my reading options for other tasks and events closer to the date they start. Are you thinking of joining in? Have you already put your name in the Goblet of Fire? If so let me know! Have a great day everyone 💚

Red, White, and Royal Blue review

What happens when America’s First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales? When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius – his image is pure millennial – marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a beef with actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./ British relations take a turn for the worse. Heads of state, family, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instagramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love survive the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through?

Alright. I am not a contemporary or romance reader. However, the hype got me on this one. I will be honest. This was so cute and funny, but it just seemed to drag for me and was a steady 3 star read for awhile. Then a certain character did a certain thing. Y’all I’m telling you…I was pissed lol I’m a character driven person and when that happened, I was ready to fight. That incident on through the end of the book raised my final rating to a 4 star read.

Alex and Henry have officially joined Simon and Baz, Simon and Blue, Aristotle and Dante, and Mare and Denna. They know have a place in my heart.

I absolutely loved June and Nora! I need them as friends! I love how the story also gave them focus as well and not just background side characters.

Overall I really enjoyed this story. Like I said it did start kind of slow for me, but picked up after a certain event took place. Plus it did play on my emotions which is great for me because I’m an emotional/character driven reader. I will definitely read this again and more from this author.

First Line Fridays 11/8/19

Hello everyone! I’m here with something new today. First Line Fridays is hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author, or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first!

Finally…..reveal the book!

Night fell as death rode into the Great Library of Summershall. It arrived within a carriage.

⬇️

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery – magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power. Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them. As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught – about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could have never imagined.

Fall book haul

Oh boy. I forgot to do a haul post in both September and October, and of course I’ve already bought books this month lol so I’ve decided to showcase everything I’ve bought and received up to this point. Fair warning: I may not remember where I got a couple of these 😬 and it’s going to be long. Let’s get started!

Subscription boxes

These first three cane from subscription boxes that I canceled after only two boxes. I just didn’t feel like I was getting what was advertised.

Amazon

The Westing Game is one of my all time favorites so I had to pick it up. Plus I just wanted to grab a few others by this author to see if I like them just as much. If you love books with a puzzle or game aspect, try The Westing Game.

People have multiple editions of Harry Potter (I will too eventually). I have multiple editions of this series. I know have the paperbacks in this edition and the original black edition, plus the hardbacks, the 10th anniversary hardback double edition of Twilight, and the gender flipped 10th anniversary story Life and Death in paperback. The double edition has Twilight on one side and then you flip it over and it’s Life and Death (Beau and Edyth instead of Bella and Edward) on that side.

Speaking of Harry Potter lol I finally have my own set of the series. I absolutely love this edition plus I was too excited when my preordered copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Illustrated Edition came in last month. I know have books 2-4 of the illustrated editions. Now I just want a hardback set of the whole series.

A Court of Mist and Fury left me in a book hangover after reading it so I had to pick up the rest that’s out. My Rhysand print came from an order I did with Happy Hello on Etsy.

I absolutely loved Carry On so why wouldn’t I pick this up?!?!

Book Depository

I mean…of course I did. I need more SnowBaz in my life 💚 plus I absolutely love this cover

Book of the Month

My first BOTM box 😊

Book Outlet

Only one I’ve read in this order is Romiette and Julio back in school. I absolutely loved it so I got it just to see if I still love it. Plus I wanted to continue in the Daughter Of Smoke and Bone trilogy. Everything else just sounded interesting lol

2nd and Charles

Now I have all 4 illustrated editions 💚

I still need The Young Elites but I’m happy I found books 2 and 3! I really enjoyed book The Young Elites and have been wanting to continue and now I can!

If I haven’t made it apparent by now, I love big books and I love series. I could not pass these up.

So. This is all the new books that have come in my life this fall season. I have nowhere to put them all, but that’s a good thing in my eyes. Have you read any of these? Any of these on you TBR? Let me know in the comments. Have a great reading day!! 💚

WWW WEDNESDAY 11/6/19

Hello everyone 👋🏽 Today is another installment of WWW Wednesday, hosted by Taking On A World Of Words. It asks the questions: What are you currently reading? What have you recently finished? What do you plan on reading next?

What are you currently reading?

I’m currently on chapter 8 in Unhinged, will be starting Strange the Dreamer, and I am restarting and annotating Beautiful Creatures.

What have you recently finished?

Just finished this a little bit ago. First book of the month. I enjoyed it, though I did rate it only 3 stars. The plot twist and end were really good, but the rest was just ok so I went with an overall rating.

What do you plan on reading next?

I have two ARCS to read this month (Raven Lane is not pictured) plus I’m continuing my reread of the Splintered series. I plan on doing a full series review once finished and it more than likely will be spoiler filled. I will of course put a spoiler warning at the beginning and in the title.