Weekly Wrap Up : 14th July 2019
I didn’t do a weekly wrap up last week. I’ve been having a kind of crazy chaotic July and things have simply got out of control, which has made it almost impossible to even crack open a book. Anyway, this is my past two weeks wrap up – and it’s not very impressive in terms of numbers unfortunately – or reviews which I have now managed to get behind with again. Why? Is it asking too much that I simply catch up? Really??
So, here’s what I’ve been reading:
My books:
- Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa
- The Toll by Cherie Priest
- This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
I’m about a third of the way into Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and on top of this I’ve read 30% of my first SPFBO book and started the second – I need to speed up a little to make sure I’m on track – but, as mentioned above, life sort of got in the way this week.
Next scheduled reads:
- Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Storm
- Cursed by Patricia Briggs
- The House of Sacrifice by Anna Smith Spark
- Shadows of the Short Days by Alexander Dan Vilhjálmsson
- Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham
Upcoming reviews
- King of the Road by RS Belcher
- Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs
- Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs
- Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa
- The Toll by Cherie Priest
- This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
- Queenslayer by Sebastien DeCastell
I’d love to know what you’re reading this week.
#SPFBO Cover Competition
The cover competition for this year’s SPFBO is now live. See here for all the details. Each blogger will now pick four covers and place them in their order of first, second, etc. Check out some of these covers – there are some absolute beauties here. It’s going to be a real struggle to narrow this down to four – at the moment I have at least 10 very strong contenders! Which ones are your favourites:
Friday Face Off : A wrap around cover
12 July 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Books by Proxy, Brandon Sanderson, Friday Face off, Words of Radiance
Here we are again with the Friday Face Off meme created by Books by Proxy . This is a great opportunity to feature some of your favourite book covers. The rules are fairly simple each week, following a predetermined theme (list below) choose a book, compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Future week’s themes are listed below – the list has been updated to help out those of you who like to plan ahead – if you have a cover in mind that you’re really wanting to share then feel free to leave a comment about a future suggested theme. I’ve also listed events that take place during the year, that I’m aware of, so you can link up your covers – if you’re aware of any events that you think I should include then give me a shout. This week’s theme:
A wrap around cover
Firstly, apologies for not visiting everyone last week – I’ve been travelling and not had good wifi so my blog has been reliant on scheduled posts. Hope you all found a cover you love. Personally I love the Whelan covers and in particular the covers for Brandon Sanderson’s Way of Kings. I had a few other ideas but I had to go with the Words of Radiance cover. this is my favourite:
Like last week I’ve added a Mr Linky here so that you can leave a link if you wish or please leave me a link in the comments so we can all visit and check out each others covers. Thanks
I’ve updated the list and included themes through to the end of 2019 – I’ve also included events that I’m aware of so that you can perhaps link your themes up where possible (if you know of an event you’d like to share that let me know in the comments). I also have a list prepared for 2020 and so will set up a separate page soon for forthcoming themes. As always, if you wish to submit an idea then leave me a comment.
Next week – A cover that is grainy or looks like ‘white noise’
Future themes: (if you’re struggling with any of these themes then use a ‘freebie’ or one of your favourite covers)
2019
19th July – “You can’t choose between life and death when we’re dealing with what is in between.” – A cover that is grainy or looks like ‘white noise’
26th July – “Ludo ….. down” – A cover that is Upside Down
2nd August – “There are children here somewhere. I can smell them.” A cover featuring children
9th August – “I’m disinclined to acquiesce to your request.” – A cover featuring Pirates
16th August – “The haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagles own plumes” – a cover featuring feathers
23rd August – A cover that is a movie tie in
30th August – “I wandered lonely as a cloud” – a cover that is predominantly yellow
6th September “Warm September brings the fruit” – a cover that is seasonal for Autumn/Fall
13th September – Friday the 13th – unlucky for some! A cover with ‘curse’ in the title
20th September – “Your hair is winter fire,January embers.” – A cover featuring hair
27th September – Freebie
4th October – “Feed me Seymour” – A cover that is 60s horror
11th October – ““And, though there should be a world of difference between the smile of a man and the bared fangs of a wolf, with Joss Merlyn they were one and the same.” – a cover featuring an Inn
18th October – “It’s your favorite scary movie, remember? He had on the white mask, he stalked the babysitters.” – A cover featuring a scream
25th October – for Halloween – pick any scary cover you like
(I’m hoping that November will once again bring to us SciFiMonth – Twitter @SciFiMonth)
1st November – A cover that is predominantly grey
8th November – “big badda boom” – a cover that features an explosion
15th November – “No thinking thing should be another thing’s property, to be turned on and off when it is convenient.” – a cover featuring a robot
22nd November – A cover that is Futuristic
29th November – “When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.” – a cover that is 60s sci fi
6th December – Now is the winter of our discontent, Made glorious summer by this sun of York” – a cover that puts you in mind of winter
13th December – A cover that features a temple/or religious icon
20th December – Longest Night – a dark and foreboding cover
27th December – the festive season – a cover that is glittery or sparkling
(2020 – January is Vintage SciFi month so I’ll be including possible themes to take that on board.
Can’t Wait Wednesday : Survivors The Voices Book 3 by G X Todd
10 July 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Can't wait Wednesday, Defender, GX Todd, Hunted, Survivors, The Voices Book #3, Wishful Endings
“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that was originally created by Breaking the Spine. Unfortunately Breaking the Spine are no longer hosting so I’m now linking my posts up to Wishful Endings Can’t Wait Wednesday. Don’t forget to stop over, link up and check out what books everyone else is waiting for. If you want to take part, basically, every Wednesday, we highlight a book that we’re really looking forward to. This week my book is : Survivors The Voices Book 3 by G X Todd. I am loving this series. The next book is due out October 2019 and although I don’t have a synopsis at the moment I am absolutely buzzing for this : the blurbs for books 1 and 2 and my reviews are below:
Book 1 – Defender – In a world where long drinks are in short supply, a stranger listens to the voice in his head telling him to buy a lemonade from the girl sitting on a dusty road.
The moment locks them together.
Here and now it’s dangerous to listen to your inner voice. Those who do, keep it quiet.
These voices have purpose.
And when Pilgrim meets Lacey, there is a reason. He just doesn’t know it yet.
Book 2 – Hunted – The birds are flying. The birds are flocking. The birds know where to find her.
One man is driven by a Voice that isn’t his. It’s killing his sanity and wrestling with it over and over like a jackal with a bone. He has one goal.
To find the girl with a Voice like his own. She has no one to defend her now. The hunt is on.
But in an inn by the sea, a boy with no tongue and no Voice gathers his warriors. Albus must find Lacey . . . before the Other does. And finish the work his sister Ruby began.
TTT – Favourite Fictional Characters from 2019
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week’s topic is:
A character freebie
This is a relatively easy one this week – a freebie about characters. I’ve kept this simple and chosen characters from the books I’ve read so far this year. I’ve, quite by accident, chosen mainly females. Here they are:
Silas – from Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson. I loved this character, he’s so intriguing, did I mention he’s a demon but definitely a demon that is conflicted. I strongly recommend Sorcery of Thorns. It’s just amazing.
Vintage from The Poison Song by Jen Williams. Jen Williams can really knock the ball out of the park when it comes to characters and Vintage stole my heart whilst reading The Winnowing Flame Trilogy. One of my favourite reads this year.
Ruth Butterham from The Corset by Laura Purcell. I’ve read two of Laura Purcell’s books so far and they have both been brilliant. The Corset probably even topped The Silent Companions. In fact there are two great characters in The Corset (or Poison Thread) but on balance I think Ruth was my favourite. She either has some very powerful magic or she’s absolutely deluded. I won’t ruin the read for others by saying anything else.
Gilda from Westside by WM Akers. Westside really took me by surprise and Gilda is just such a tough little cookie – a detective of tiny mysteries when secretly she really longs for the answer to the biggest mystery in her life.
Vasya from the Winternight Trilogy The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden. Vasya is a character born to the wrong age, she’s really ahead of her time in her thoughts and actions. She’s kind and she tries to do the right thing but more than that she is absolutely fascinating to read about. This is a trilogy that I simply adored. Loaded with Russian mythology and told beautifully by an author with a magical ability with words.
Nona from the Book of the Ancestor series Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence. Nona is a character that grows wonderfully with each instalment in this series. She’s absolutely badass but more than that she’s a devoted friend and she believes in forgiveness when it involves the ones she loves. You could liken this, in some ways, to the Harry Potter series – except with a lot more punch and definitely for adults.
Omat from The Wolf in the Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky. I was transfixed by this book. The culture, the place, the back stories. It was really quite something and I can’t wait to read whatever this author writes next. Omat is a character living in harsh times, brutal, cold, hungry times. She goes through a heck of a lot and her story makes for compelling reading. I couldn’t put this one down.
Griz from A Boy and His dog at the End of the World by CA Fletcher. This book is excellent. It really is. It’s full of surprises and set in a post apocalyptic world that’s different from any that I’ve read before. What makes this especially good though is Griz’s narration. What a great story teller, charming, innocent, naive and either brave or foolish enough to dive head first into danger in order to retrieve a stolen dog. I love Griz.
Maggie from Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse. How much am I loving this series so far. It feels so unique and Maggie plays a huge part in that. Here’s a little description from my review ‘Of course she’s not always the easiest person to get along with, she has a bad track record when it comes to killing people (although she is trying to control that impulse) and to be honest she can be a little bit scary. Her reputation has grown somewhat and people expect ‘badass’ from her.’ Read this series. That is all.
Helga from Council by Snorri Kristjansson. The Helga Finnsdottir #2 series is turning into a favourite for me. It’s such a unique world. Set in a world of Vikings this takes such an original approach. Instead of bloodthirsty Vikings raping and pillaging this focuses on one young woman and how she becomes involved in mysteries that nobody even knows are mysteries until she solves them. Murder mysteries in a time of Vikings.
Books and travelling with Lynn 