Angieville

Since I thought I'd start with the two most egregious reviewing gaps, you get Wayward Son next. I hope this is agreeable to all and sundry. And let's just agree not to pull any punches, shall we? I'll start by admitting that this book wrecked my life. To be clear, I am not complaining. It's just that it had been a long time, yeah? A long time since  Carry On came out. Just such a very long time since I'd been in the company of these two. And their crew. And I thought I was ready. Don't I always? Must remember to learn from past mistakes. But more than that, I wasn't thinking about the fact that of course Rainbow Rowell would create nothing less than the sequel that would naturally follow the events at the end of Carry On. Which is to say a sequel that would hurt . Because everything about what happened to Simon Snow from the beginning of his life to his graduation from Watford was designed to damage. With the shining exceptions of Penny and Baz. And so th...

I haven't wanted to talk about this. With  anyone.  But I think I probably need to. That like Georgina, I need to use my words to break the curse. I think that like Sam, I need to believe in my cure. So I'm going to talk about it here, and maybe you can help. Since pandemic type things got real in my neck of the woods, I haven't been able to read. I haven't been able to  reread . This has (and I am not exaggerating) never happened to me before  in my life.  I know it happens frequently to most everyone. And I have certainly always been a mood reader. It's not in any way uncommon for me to drift from book to book, from shelf to shelf in my library, until I land upon the right thing. But that drifting tends to occur over the course of a few hours. Not ever does it occur over the course of a few days or, God forbid, weeks.  I feel like I'm losing my mind. And, yes, I am fully aware of where this problem likely rates on the triviality scale in the current schem...

Top Ten Tuesday is a bookish feature hosted at That Artsy Reader Girl It's been awhile, but this topic was too good to pass up. When I thought about it, I genuinely could not recall which were the first ten books I actually reviewed here on the blog. So then, of course, I had to know . The thing is, I originally started the whole thing simply posting a once a month list of my favorite reads and rereads of the month. That went on for some time until lo and behold I went ahead and wrote and posted my first review on November 9, 2007. In hindsight, I probably should have known exactly which book pushed me over the edge into full fledged reviews. So this was a rather delightful journey back in time. Do you remember the first book you ever reviewed (in any forum) or what made you take the plunge? Here are my first ten (and I have to say, looking at this snapshot from the past, these remain some of my absolute favorite authors and a pretty spot-on array of the genres I read and l...

Phoenix Unbound —the first book in Grace Draven 's new Fallen Empire series—releases from Ace Trade Paperback on September 25th. In honor of the release, Penguin Random House is celebrating with a giveaway that features not only an ARC of Phoenix Unbound but also a Fantasy Romance Starter Kit made up of other first-in-series romantic fantasy books by Ilona Andrews , Patricia Briggs , Nalini Singh , Anne Bishop , and Chloe Neill . Guys, this includes the first Kate Daniels and Alpha & Omega books. Two of my very favorites. I love the whole idea! Just click here to enter the sweepstakes giveaway. PHOENIX UNBOUND by GRACE DRAVEN Ace Trade Paperback | September 25, 2018 A woman with power over fire and illusion and an enslaved son of a chieftain battle a corrupt empire in this powerful and deeply emotional romantic fantasy from the  USA Today  bestselling author of  Radiance . Every year, each village is required to send a young woman to the Empire's capital--her fa...

It has been too long since I've had a new Alpha and Omega novel in my hands. Dead Heat was a solid entry on my Best of 2015 list , and I have missed Anna and Charles (and Bran) ever since. Burn Bright is, if you can believe it, the fifth installment in the series. So it's no wonder I began reading and instantly felt how good it was to be back in Aspen Creek again with all of Bran's crazy foundlings. By now, Patricia Briggs ' books are firmly comfort reads for me, whether they're brand new or not. They feel like home. Which is probably why the dedication in this one made me tear up. I'm so glad we go on. I'm so glad words go on. And that we are connected to one another through them. Anna and Charles are somewhat housebound in Aspen Creek since the Marrok up and took off for Africa to see a man about a horse how Sam is doing. And, in his absence, it is Charles the pack looks to for leadership, enforcement, and otherwise keeping things in line until Bran...

I thought I was done with the crying when I finished The Raven King last night at an only slightly ungodly hour. But then this morning I got up and I just didn't know what to do . And when I realized I had to sit down and  write about how this book made me feel , the tears start welling up again. Honestly, Aaron will likely never let me read another series aloud to him again for all the tears he carefully wiped off my cheeks with this one. I am not a huge book crier as a rule, and I did not cry reading the other three. But it wasn't so much the sadness as it was the saying goodbye. I hate saying goodbye. Even though I am a serial rereader, there is no escaping that particular goodbye that comes at the end of a series that has meant . . . more than a lot. That contains characters I have loved the precise way I have loved these ones. These boys. That Blue. This incredible writing that makes me want to prowl the streets at night reciting passages aloud to the stars. I h...

This cover of The Raven King is presented almost entirely without comment because the anticipation is that high.  Blue. Adam. Ronan. Gansey. Noah. Save them all.

Stop the presses (except not really because I need this baby in my hands pronto )! Entertainment Weekly has revealed the cover for the brilliant Sarah Rees Brennan 's upcoming novel Tell the Wind and Fire . For those of you savvy readers who recognize the title quote, this book is a modern, magical retelling/adaptation/what-have-you of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. Which fact sent me into paroxysms of joy when I found out. We finally have a release date for this beauty, and it is April 5, 2016. I know it's a ways down the road yet, but I feel like I've been waiting forever and an actual date helps set my jitters at ease a bit. As part of the reveal,  Entertainment Weekly  has an exclusive excerpt from Chapter One. Go check it out and let me know what you think of the excerpt. Personally, I'm still reeling from the excellence.

Once again I surface from a haze of mandatory rereading of each and every one of my favorite parts in the previous two novels in the Raven Cycle to write this review of the third and latest installment. I finished Blue Lily, Lily Blue and lay awake in bed, staring at the ceiling, seeing nothing but the quicksilver leaves of Cabeswater, hearing nothing but Adam's soft drawl over the tune of Ronan's inappropriate Irish jigs, and tasting nothing but mint on my tongue. It's a heady experience giving yourself over to one of Maggie's novels and not a decision to be taken lightly. Knowing that she persists in ending each book on a cliffhanger teaser (of sorts), I prepared myself for the worst (though I know she's really saving that for the fourth and final book). And, as ever, as the whole thing crashes to its temporary conclusion, some threads are flung far and wide even as others (the core ones) tighten their hold, both on each other and on me. This is the third b...

. . . because I hate myself love this series. And now I cannot handle my day . I am embedding it here, because I need someone else to read it so we can proceed to console one another. I mean the WORDS. And the RONAN.   SNEAK PEEK: Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Steifvater Excerpt

So. I am going ahead and reviewing Burn for Me , even though it doesn't come out for two months (I know), because I just can't seem to wait that long to tell you how fun it is. I knew Ilona Andrews had two full-length releases out this year and I was super excited about this brand new series, but somehow the latest Kate always overshadows other titles in my mind. I also had it set in my head somehow that this one resided more on the paranormal end of the spectrum, which is fine, even though I tend not to respond quite as well to that genre. I trust this author implicitly. But I was really pleasantly surprised as I was reading to find out that (shirtless cover aside), though the romantic subplot plays a much more central role and proceeds more quickly than it does in the Kate Daniels novels, it is never overwrought and in no way overshadows the rich world-building, fast pace, and fantastic characters I've come to expect from Ilona Andrews. Nevada Baylor prefers not to a...

So a lot of times spin-off series fall somewhat flat for me. Either I'm so invested in those original characters that I have trouble shifting my loyalty as unswervingly to these previously side characters, or the story lines are just not as strong, or the genre shifts in a direction that just doesn't click for me as well, or what have you. But from the moment I picked up the introductory novella to Patricia Briggs ' Alpha & Omega series, Anna and Charles were just  in with me . And the three novels that followed only cemented that fact. It looked like we might not be getting another book for some time, which is why I was so thrilled to hear she'd gone ahead and written a fourth. Dead Heat is due out March 3rd of next year, and when I saw the cover all I could do was squee. Because Charles in human form. And because fourth book in a series I truly love.

I remember thinking nothing could top Shiver and then being introduced to Cole St. Clair in Linger and realizing Maggie Stiefvater had several more tricks left in her bag. Then Cole and Isabel proceeded to go for each other's throats and I forgot to worry at all. I loved them so much, though, that the continuation of their storyline was perhaps my biggest problem with Forever —the "conclusion" to the "trilogy." The two of them were just left hanging. And because at that point I really felt like Sam and Grace's story was winding down just as Cole and Isabel's was ramping up, I had a hard time with the wide open, barn door left swinging in the wind ending they were given. The funny thing is that I desperately wanted more but really didn't give any thought to the possibility of her writing more. That ship had sailed, we'd all moved on to killer water horses and dead Welsh kings. Which is why when the news hit that there would in fact be a com...

Today I'm over @ Dear Author with my review of the first book in a new urban fantasy series I've been circling for awhile. Written in Red is the first in Anne Bishop 's Others series. A string of solid reviews induced me to give it a shot, and I'm really glad I did.

New series alert! To me, at least. I'm over @ Dear Author today with my review of the first book in Jenn Bennett 's Arcadia Bell urban fantasy series - Kindling the Moon .  Sarah , this one goes out to you. Rest assured, I will be back for more.

Retro Friday is a weekly meme hosted here @ Angieville and focuses on reviewing books from the past. This can be an old favorite, an under-the-radar book you think deserves more attention, something woefully out of print, etc. Everyone is welcome to join in at any time! I remember first running across Eileen Wilks ' name in the On the Prowl compilation I purchased solely because it contained Patricia Briggs ' first Alpha & Omega novella (fabulous, by the way). I never really sat down and read the other novellas, though. Now I'm wishing I had so that I could have discovered Wilks' writing much sooner. Instead, it took my buddy in all things urban fantasy Chachic throwing herself headlong into a glom of Wilks' World of the Lupi series to convince me to give the it a shot. And what a time to come in to a new series. The World of the Lupi is currently 10 full books in and going strong! Plenty of adventure to keep me busy in between waiting for the next book...

I swear this won't become a daily thing! But I just couldn't shut up about J.C. Daniels ' Colbana Files, and so today my review of book two is up over at Dear Author . Things get real, guys. I was not okay after finishing it. 

Today, I'm embarking on little bit of a new venture. I'll be reviewing a couple (or three or four, my mileage will I am sure vary) books a month over at Dear Author . These will be urban fantasy and parnormals, and I am so thrilled to be leading off with the first book in an urban fantasy series that took over my life the minute I started it. Make sure to drop by today to see what I thought of J.C. Daniels' Blade Song . 

Today, Tor.com revealed the cover of the next Mercy Thompson novel, Night Broken . As has become tradition here, I like to post the new cover and dish about it. This is a much-beloved series, and I'm always eager to see how Dan Dos Santos chooses to depict Mercy next. Tor's cover reveal includes some fascinating comments from Dos Santos on his painting process, as well as some awesome preliminary sketches. Apparently the Ace art director and editor weren't too keen on the hooded trench he initially worked up, but I have to say I'm a fan of it. Wish he'd been allowed to keep that element. Even without it, though, this is probably my favorite Mercy cover since Blood Bound . I love her face and hair. And, guys, just look at what she's holding! Can't wait.

. . . and it is called Sinner and the link is here and that is all because it is TOO MUCH AWESOME and I have to go lie down now.