Fiction Archives - Brooke's Reviews and Sweeps

Books in The Ocean

By Brookelorren on April 6, 2021April 5, 202110 Comments

Hello! It’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl)! Today’s topic is supposed to be “Books I’d Gladly Throw into the Ocean.” This is a tough topic for me because there’s only a part of a book I’d consider throwing into the ocean. Plus, I just hate being so negative about books. So I’m going to talk about the seven chapters of a book I’d throw into the ocean and then other books that have the ocean in them.

Seven Chapters I’d Throw Into the Ocean: Allegiant Chapters 50-56. I’d gladly throw Allegiant chapters 50-56 into the ocean. Sorry, I love you, Veronica Roth, but I do not love the end to this book. And “We Can Be Mended” didn’t mend me. But fanfiction did. The canonical end to this story is not my truth. I guess this is the one good thing that came out of this story’s end. I realized in fiction, you can change the ending in your head if you want to. And I can also say that Allegiant also got me into writing again.

Books With the Ocean in Them

So now that we’re done with all that negativity, let’s talk about books with the ocean in them. To be clear, I like these books and don’t want to throw them in the ocean. Although I’d like to sit by the ocean and read them.

Alex, Approximately – Jenn Bennett. As the weather begins to warm up around here, I begin to feel the urge to read this book again more and more. This book takes place along the ocean, and the male MC is a surfer. I get so many beach vibes reading this lovely book.

Start Here – Trish Doller. I know I featured the last two books two weeks in a row; I guess I’m in the mood for beaches and sun at the moment. And there’s only 7 1/2 weeks of school left, so I’m looking forward to a lightening of my workload for 104 days (yes, since I homeschool, I give my boy exactly 104 days of summer vacation). In this book, they go sailing. I need to add her latest book, Float Plan, to the TBR lottery. Ms. Doller said that her new book covers some of the same themes, so I’m on it.

Twilight – Stephanie Meyer. When I was a kid, my parents used to take us almost every year to a beach near where the ocean scenes in Twilight took place. I took my kids camping there when my youngest was 1 1/2 and my oldest was 5 (yep, just me and the kids), and I hope to go again next year. So I’m very familiar with this beach, and it’s nothing like the beaches of California or the Caribbean. But it is a very nice beach to visit on one of the relatively rare sunny summer days they get in the area.

The Vanishing Deep – Astrid Scholte. This book is all about the ocean. While it never says specifically, The Vanishing Deep seems to be set far into the future where the world is covered with water. Not exactly the inviting beaches of the previous three books, but an ocean nonetheless.

10 Things I Hate About Pinky – Sandhya Menon. This book takes place on Cape Cod, which I think qualifies as the ocean. If not, I haven’t had the chance to feature this book much, so I’ll include it here.

The Scorpio Races – Maggie Stiefvater. This books take place on an island, so they’re surrounded by ocean. I’m not sure this is the type of ocean I’d like to visit, however. There are murderous horses in the water! If you haven’t read this book yet and are inclined to read it, I recommend you start reading this book on November 1st some year.

Call of the Raven – Wilbur Smith. Every villain is the hero of their own story. While I haven’t read any of the other books in this series, evidently the main character of this story becomes a villain. Even though there’s a picture of a burning building on the cover of this book, a lot of this story takes place at sea.

Crown of Coral and Pearl – Mara Rutherford. It’s been a while since I’ve read this book, but most of the people in this world live at sea. Even though I love the ocean, this isn’t the kind of sea world I’d enjoy. I most definitely wouldn’t want to live here.

Across a Broken Shore – Amy Trueblood. I saw on Facebook yesterday that they put a net under the Golden Gate Bridge when they were building it in order to save lives. Did I know that? Why yes, yes I did, because I read Across a Broken Shore. It takes place in San Francisco while they’re building the Golden Gate Bridge. Which makes this the 9th book today to take place near the ocean.

So how about you? What’s your favorite book to take place near the ocean? Are there any books you’d like to throw in the ocean?

Next week we’re going to talk about books that could be Crayola crayon colors. I think I can come up with some ideas for this.

Chain of Iron

By Brookelorren on March 3, 2021March 3, 2021Leave a Comment

I finished Chain of Iron an hour or so ago.

So… I just have to review it. Considering it’s March 3rd, the book released yesterday (although I got it Monday evening), the book is 688 pages, I’ve had work duties for the past couple of days, and I’m already 5 books behind in my Goodreads reading challenge, I suppose you can guess that it was a book I couldn’t put down. In fact, I stayed up until 3 AM two nights in a row to read it.

But… wow. That ending.

This review assumes you’ve already read Chain of Gold (click the link for my review of that book).

Lucie is on the cover of Chain of Iron, but this book spends a great deal of time on James and Cordelia. Which I love, because they’re my favorite couple in this series. The book begins right before their wedding. And after that… everything falls apart.

There’s a killer on the loose again, and James is having dreams about the murders. Elias, Cordelia’s dad, returns, but he’s still drinking. Matthew’s still drinking–if you’ve read “Cast Long Shadows” from Ghosts of the Shadow Market, then you know why he started drinking, although Matthew does tell someone what happens during the course of this book. Lucie and Grace are working together, trying to resurrect Jesse.

It’s hard to say too much without giving away spoilers. But… we have some of our suspicions (if you have them) confirmed about Grace, some of the relationships in the Shadowhunter’s Found Family tree are foreshadowed, Belial makes a comeback, and Lucie turns out to be a little more conniving and interesting than she was in Chain of Gold. Grace and Alastair are shown to be… sympathetic characters? Chain of Iron doesn’t excuse their actions, but it does give reasons as to why they behaved the way they did. Maybe they’ll even be redeemed in the last book?

And then there’s the elephant in the room. The ending. It’s not as bad as the ending to that one Shadowhunter book where a major character is literally stabbed to death in (I think) the last chapter, but it comes close to it. If you don’t like cliffhangers–wait to read this one. There isn’t a major death at the very end, but there is a–misunderstanding–that could easily be cleared up under normal circumstances, but Cassandra Clare literally throws every obstacle in the way so that it doesn’t, and now we have to wait a year to see it resolved.

That being said, I’m willing to bet that Chain of Thorns is going to be MONSTER sized (like pretty much all of her last books in trilogies are). There are so many things that have to be done in that book. Matthew’s secret is going to have to come out, all the characters that are supposed to get together and have kids in the Found Family Tree are going to have to find love together, and the epilogue will probably end up showing us how they live happily ever after. Clare has said that after The Last Hours, she’s going to write The Wicked Powers (which deals with the modern-day timeline) and that’s going to be it. Since this will be the end of our London timeline, I’m sure she won’t leave us with loose ends. I’m sure I’m going to ugly cry hard like the end of Clockwork Princess.

In a nutshell–amazing book, noooo!!!! ending because of the cliffhanger. I need Chain of Thorns ASAP. Chain of Iron will most certainly get a reread before next March.

Books That Came Out Before I Was Born

By Brookelorren on February 23, 2021February 22, 202113 Comments

Hello! It’s Tuesday, which means it’s Top Ten Tuesday Time! Today is the day we get together with all our book friends and talk about books. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today’s topic is supposed to be “Books that Made Me Laugh Out Loud” but I’m not sure if I can come up with 10. I know there are more than that, but there aren’t a lot of books I can come up with that I think “Oh my that was funny!” Today’s post would be full of Sandhya Menon and Cassandra Clare books. Since I missed a couple weeks, I’m going to go back a couple weeks and do “Books That Came Out Before I was Born” instead, which was the topic for a few weeks ago. I’m going to start with books on my TBR, then move on to books that I’ve read.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – William Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s plays are classics. I saw this play when I was in middle school (I think). Maybe I read it then too? Either way, I’d like to read this play.

Up From Slavery – Booker T. Washington. I’m sure many of you have heard of Booker T. Washington. He started life as a slave and later went on to found what is now Tuskeegee University. I’d love to read his autobiography someday.

Война и мир (War and Peace) – Leo Tolstoy. While this is often thought of as the quintessential long book, it’s only between 1150 and 1400 pages, depending on what edition you get. And I’m sure the translation matters too. While I’d love to read it in the original Russian and French someday, I kinda should finish reading Дивергент (Divergent) first. It’d be much easier to read, and it’s less than 1/2 the length.

And that’s all the books on my TBR that were made before I was born! That being said, there are plenty of other books that were made before I was born, that I either have read or would be interested in reading.

Decline and fall of the roman Empire Gibbon cover

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire – Edward Gibbon. I’ve actually been reading the unabridged version of this book for several years now. I’m 29% of the way through the book. It’s 3,672 pages. I don’t read it every day, and it’s a difficult book. But it is interesting to read about all of these emperors. It also gives me ideas for fictional books I might want to read. Another thing that I like about it is that it reminds me that–politically, things can get a lot worse. I can feel fortunate that they’re not.

Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy. I read Anna Karenina a long time ago. I don’t remember much about it, so I’d like to read it again. I had aspartame poisoning when I was in my 20s, and it affected my memory from that time. I would watch a movie and couldn’t keep track of the characters in the movie while I was watching it. I forgot a lot about the books I read too.

Little House on the Prairie (series) – Laura Ingalls Wilder. I’d love to read the entire Little House on the Prairie series again someday. There are a couple more books written after The First Four Years, which I’ve never read, and I’d like to read someday. Ms. Wilder was an inspiration to me; someday I’d like to write my autobiography as well. She fictionalized a few details, and I probably would too.

Anne of Green Gables (series) – L. M. Montgomery. I’d love to read the Anne of Green Gables books again (although my favorite is Rilla of Ingleside). When my grandma died, I really wanted to inherit her Anne books. She loaned them to me when I was in middle or high school. I haven’t read them since, but they definitely need another read someday.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo. I read Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables in 2019, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame is “only” 553 pages in comparison. This is a book I’d love to get around to reading someday.

The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas. I have a copy of this book somewhere in my garage, but it looks a little thin, considering that the book is 1138 pages and the copy I have doesn’t look like a brick. I’ve seen the movie, but I’d love to read the book someday. Books contain so much more information–especially if they’re over 1000 pages, you know there’s a lot in the book that never made it to the movie! One of the things I love about old books is that it takes you back into that time period in a way that books written about older time periods cannot.

The History of the Franks – Gregory of Tours. I’ve actually read this book twice already, but I’d read it again someday. It has fantastical stories about the early Frankish kings (that would be, kings that ruled what is now France). It wasn’t meant to be a fantastical story either. I love to read it and wonder what actually happened and was miraculous, and what was just made up. Reading these stories after being more familiar with the characters in the stories I think would change the way I saw the book.

So there are ten stories that were written before I was born, that I’ve either read before and would like to read again, or I’ve never read but would like to. Did you write about funny books this week? Maybe I need to read some of the books on people’s lists this week! Especially as the pandemic is getting close to a year now.

Next week Chain of Iron comes out! Here, we’ll be talking about “Characters Whose Job I Wish I Had.” I think I can do a better job with those than funny books. I mean, there have to be at least 10 books about princesses or authors or something, right? But I’m sure I can find a few others too.

Books with Green, Yellow, and Purple Covers

By Brookelorren on February 16, 2021February 16, 202118 Comments

Hello! Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday! Sorry I haven’t been around for a couple weeks. Two major things have been draining my time: QuizUp is discontinuing, and it’s been my goal for years to become the best in the world in the Divergent Trilogy category there. Only problem is, there was one lady that was way ahead of me. So I had less than 2 months to make up that difference (and I did, so now I’m the best in the world, but I have to retain my lead for another month). Second, I sold a bunch of DOGE (a cryptocurrency) that I mined several years ago for about $4000. So I bought a new laptop and had some money to trade.

Anyway, today we’re talking about books with yellow, purple, and green colors. It’s Mardi Gras, I guess. When I worked at Walmart I’d kinda know because they’d sell stuff in those colors right around this time. Are people doing anything for Mardi Gras this year? Covid is kinda taking everybody’s parties away. I’m listing my most recently read books using “My Books” on Goodreads. Which color did I read the most covers of in the last nine months? Let’s find out:

Oooh, a purple cover in one of my most recent reads! Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman is a great book. I wrote a story over the weekend, “My Embarrassing Secret,” about Satoshi Nakamoto, the unknown creator of Bitcoin; I created a wife for him and named her Akemi.

Are all my covers going to be purple this week? We’ll see. A Sky Beyond the Storm is the final book in Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes tetralogy. It is such a wonderful end to the series, if you haven’t had the chance to read it yet.

I read Keeper by Kim Chance last November, and it has a green cover (so I guess I’m not going with just purple). This book is a lovely blend of contemporary reality with some magic thrown in.

I thought about not using two Sabaa Tahir books for this list, but I’m going in order of when I read them. Too bad An Ember in the Ashes series doesn’t have a yellow cover too, or they’d have the whole Mardi Gras thing going on! A Reaper at the Gates has a green cover. I read the first three books last year in preparation for the release of A Sky Beyond the Storm, so that’s why there are two here among my most recent reads.

Our first yellow cover! Opposite of Always is a story about a boy who meets the love of his life, but she’s sick and dies. Only–then he goes back in time and meets her again and she dies again. The love interest, Kate, has sickle cell anemia, which is something my husband has.

I’m not intentionally grouping these colors by cover, but it seems like they’re grouping themselves. Last summer I reread Summer Days and Summer Nights on audiobook. Considering it was -15º last night, I’m kinda looking forward to the return of those summer days and summer nights.

The Bride Test is yet another yellow cover. I wonder which color will have the most covers? I’m pretty sure I’m going to borrow the third book in this series, The Heart Principle, from the library. The hardcover is still selling for $26! That’s way more than I can spend on most books. The Kindle book is a more reasonable $9.99, but I can wait and save myself the money.

Our fourth yellow cover in a row means that in the recent past, I have read more yellow covers than any other. Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour is a story about two late-teens driving across the country and getting to experience life. It’s a trip I’d like to take. Actually, I have kind of taken trips like this, although not so spontaneous (I knew I wanted to stop at Yellowstone and The Great Salt Lake, etc.). I wish everyone the opportunity to drive across the country, stopping at places that interest them. Not now though, because covid. But soon. According to Worldometers, the Daily New Cases and Daily Deaths have started to decrease! Yes! But we have a long way to go.

Last year, I read the Divergent trilogy again, including Insurgent, the second book. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve read these books. I’ve forced myself to only read these every other year so I don’t burn out. I absolutely adore these books.

When I started looking through these covers, I wouldn’t have guessed that the color with the most covers read since last June (out of the colors yellow, purple, and green) would be yellow. But out of these colors, half of them were yellow! I wonder if I’d get different results next year, or if I just read more covers with yellow covers. King of Scars makes the fifth yellow book I’ve read since last June.

That’s it! I hope you’re all staying warm. And that you have power! I’m sure our Australian friends are very happy they’re not in the US right about now. Next week we’re going to talk about “Books that Made Me Laugh Out Loud.” Wow, that’s going to be a toughie. But I did miss two weeks so maybe I’ll do one of those if I can’t think of enough books. Assuming I’m not in a battle to the death over Divergent trilogy on QuizUp.

The Ribbon Duet

By Brookelorren on February 5, 2021February 3, 2021Leave a Comment

The Boy & His Ribbon has been on my radar for a couple years. I finally drew its name in the TBR lottery, and–this duology may just be one of the best books I’ll read in 2021. It’s still early in the year, but this book had all. The. Feels.

The blurb doesn’t give away much; however, I think that to get an idea of what you’re getting yourself into with this book, you’ll want to at least know what happens by the second or third chapter. From the blurb, I imagined The Boy & His Ribbon was a story about a boy who had been sold, and he fell in love with his owner’s daughter while he was still “their property.” Nope.

This story begins with the boy running away from the people that bought him. With the monsters’ baby daughter in his backpack, stowing away. Ren is ten years old, and he not only has to worry about surviving after escaping, but he also has to worry about taking care of an infant. He can’t take her back because they’ll kill him, he’s too kind to leave her to the wolves, and he’s too distrustful of people to leave her to Social Services.

And they fall in love. Not immediately, but as they grow up. Perhaps you’re thinking this is really weird–I mean, do you fall in love with someone who you grew up with that is almost like a cross between your dad and your sibling, even though you’re not technically related? This is addressed in the books. The Boy & His Ribbon is mostly about the first 18 or so years of their life together, watching this relationship evolve. The Girl & Her Ren is about the next 20ish years of their life.

A Tragedy

This duology is not a happy story; it is a tragedy. While A Boy & His Ribbon isn’t a tragedy, The Girl & Her Ren is, and you’re not going to want to read one without reading the other. This is why I’m reviewing them together. You don’t want to start reading the first book without being prepared for having your heart ripped out in the second. I don’t want to say too much about what exactly happens here (although I do plan on writing a second, spoilery post on my thoughts later), but I was weeping for almost the entire second half of the second book. But there were some beautiful parts to this love story as well.

This book is true-to-life, and sometimes life is heartbreaking. But even when life is heartbreaking, there are plenty of good times too. That is probably what makes this book so good and so painful in the end. It doesn’t paint life with a rosy brush and try to pretend everything is always wonderful.

Kind of Funny… An Anachronism

This book was published in 2018, but it runs into the future, ending in 2032. Of course, the characters go through 2020. Of course, there are no mentions of the pandemic. It could take you out of the story if you think too much about it, but if you see this as an alternate universe where the pandemic never happened, then the references to 2020 and no masks or lockdowns is a little comical.

Not A YA Book

Don’t look at the description and think this is a YA book. It is definitely not. Yes, the story starts out with a ten-year-old boy and a baby, but they grow up. Even in the first book. I wouldn’t recommend this to my fourteen-year-old.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for an adult book that will break your heart, you may wish to give The Ribbon Duet a try. It wasn’t what I expected, but it was sooo good. I think it was highly underrated. At the same time, the blurb really didn’t give enough information to give me a good idea of what it was about.

Make Up Break Up

By Brookelorren on February 1, 2021February 1, 2021Leave a Comment

I’m so excited because Make Up Break Up comes out this week! In case you didn’t know, Sandhya Menon has a pen name in order to write adult books: Lily Menon! Her first full-length adult romance Make Up Break Up, comes out on Tuesday. She also wrote the novella “Booked for Christmas” which was excellent. And there’s more to come!

Make Up Break Up is about two tech entrepreneurs: Annika, who created a computer program called Make Up, which has a premise of getting people back together, and Hudson, who created a program called Break Up, which helps people break up.

Obviously, they have two different philosophies on life. Their two businesses aren’t exactly compatible. As the story progresses, they will end up bumping into each other at work.

The only problem is–Hudson is hot. And Annika thinks he’s a complete jerk. Why does she have such a negative reaction to him? As you read the book, you’ll find out that they have met before.

I enjoyed how Ms. Menon slowly reveals the details of their story. I don’t want to give out too many details, but we eventually find out why they have such an animosity towards each other. I was so surprised at the final revelation. And of course, since this is a romance, there’s a happily ever after.

I did find Annika to be a little immature at the beginning of the story, considering she’s an adult, but some people are like that. Especially when they become emotional about something.

If you’re looking for a cute romance and the tech industry is your thing, I definitely recommend Make Up Break Up. It’s definitely an adult book, so I don’t recommend this to younger Sandhya Menon fans, but if you’ve loved her YA books and would like something a little steamier, you may enjoy this book.

Books On My TBR Lottery The Longest

By Brookelorren on January 26, 2021January 26, 20219 Comments

Hello! I hope you’ve been having a great week. It’s Tuesday, and time for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl). I did today’s topic (New To Me Authors) last week, so this week I’m going to do last week’s topic (Books I Meant to Read In 2020 but Didn’t Get To). I actually didn’t have a lot of books that I had to read last year. There were a few new releases, but I pretty much pre-order those and start reading them release day. Most of the other books I’m interested in, but you know what? There’s about 50 other books I’m interested in reading just as much.

That’s why I started the TBR lottery. It’s a numbered list of books I’m interested in reading. When I want to read a book but don’t have one I have to read (like Chain of Iron on March 2nd) then I use a random number generator to pick my next book. As long as I have access to that book (some I have to get from the library, as an example) I’ll start reading it. I’ve been doing this for about a year now, and some books just don’t get picked. So today, I’m going to go over the books that have been patiently waiting the longest.

I found The Boy and His Ribbon through book blogging. I’ve read most of Pepper Winters’ Dollar series, and they were always so addictive. This book is a forbidden romance that sounded interesting from the first time I heard about it. Although this book has the lowest number on the TBR lottery (the higher numbers are newer), it did get picked for my winter TBR so I’ll be reading it soon.

I read the first book in Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Lux series, Obsidian, back in 2019. I haven’t had the chance to read the second book, Onyx, yet. And it hasn’t been picked by the TBR lottery yet.

One of the Amazon Prime benefits I take advantage of every month is picking up their free book every month. Sometimes I just end up collecting these books though. I’ve been adding them to the TBR lottery though. The Boy Between Worlds is about a biracial boy in the Netherlands who lives through World War II. It sounds really interesting, but it’s number hasn’t been drawn yet.

I got The Night Circus for $1.99 on Amazon when it was on sale. I figure for that price I couldn’t pass it up. Anyway, it went onto the TBR lottery and hasn’t been heard from again. I’m sure it will get picked someday.

Once & Future is another book I got on sale. I was interested in reading it when it came out, but it wasn’t one of my top priority books. So it went onto the TBR lottery, and has been sitting there ever since.

Meet Cute was another book I got on sale. That’s a common theme for a lot of these older books, I think, because I’m interested in them enough to take advantage of the low price, but not quite so much that I want to read it right away. Anyway, this book (about a girl who has a meet cute with an actor she had a teenage crush on) is still waiting for its big break.

So Hope Nation was on sale, and I had to pick it up, because it had an essay by Marie Lu in it (and a lot of other amazing authors). I have read the Marie Lu essay in this book, but the book is on my TBR lottery and I’ll read the rest of the authors when this book gets picked.

All the Little Lights is another book I got on sale. Actually, the majority of these books I either got on sale or I don’t own. Anyway, this book is about two friends who are forced apart, reunite, and then trouble happens that keeps them apart.

Millions is the last book in the Dollar series by Pepper Winters. I said earlier that this series is addictive. If I owned this book, I probably would have read it earlier. It’s not that expensive ($3.99) but I guess I’m waiting for it to win the TBR lottery to buy it. Then I can finally find out what happened to these people!

I really liked Laini Taylor’s Strange the Dreamer, so when I saw that Daughter of Smoke and Bone (you probably guessed it) was on sale, I had to pick it up. So now it’s been on my TBR lottery for a while.

So that’s today’s list! Are there any of these you think should jump to the front of the line?

Next week I won’t be a rebel and I’ll post about Books that Were Published Before I was Born like everyone else. Maybe I’ll narrow it down to books that I’ve read. They’ll probably end up being mostly classics. See you then!

Upcoming Releases that Catch My Eye

By Brookelorren on January 5, 2021January 4, 202126 Comments

Hello! It’s Top Ten Tuesday again (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl), and we’re talking about upcoming releases. The official topic is “Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2021,” but I always find this topic difficult. Typically, I only have a few books in pre-order status, and those are my most anticipated future releases. Then I get some ARCs, but if I have an ARC, there’s a good chance I’ve already read it. Most of the other books I read are already out. So… I’m going to talk about upcoming releases that catch my eye.

Chain of Iron comes out on March 2nd, but you’re probably not too surprised to discover I pre-ordered this book last July. I’ve written three short fanfiction stories about this series, and am in the middle of rereading the books and stories leading up to this. My #1 anticipated book!

I love the Grishaverse books, although it took me a while to read King of Scars, the book that comes before Rule of Wolves. While I don’t plan on pre-ordering this book, I’m sure it will make it to my TBR lottery and I’ll eventually read it.

Float Plan is another March 2nd release, although I don’t plan to pre-order this. I did enjoy Trish Doller’s book Start Here, so this book has been on my radar. I’m sure I’d enjoy it if/when I get the chance to read this.

The Four Winds is set in the Great Depression. I pre-ordered this book on audiobook, and it’s on my Winter TBR, so I’m likely to read it. I’ve never read a book by Kristin Hannah before, although she’s been on my radar for years, so I’m looking forward to it.

Sadly, I can’t share the cover of Of Princes and Promises with you yet. I’m pretty sure it underwent a cover change. I haven’t had the chance to read this one, but Sandhya Menon’s sequel to Of Curses and Kisses (a Princess and the Frog retelling) is sure to be great. This one comes out in June.

Counting Down with You comes out in May, and it sounds like it has an interesting premise. It’s a book with fake dating. I may want to check that out.

The Ex Talk comes out this month, and it looks like a book I may want to check out someday. I loved Rachel Lynn Solomon’s Today Tonight Tomorrow so much! I will probably wait to read this one, but I plan to keep it on my radar.

And that’s all the books I have from the first half of the year. If I included books I’ve already read, I’d include Everything that Burns by Gita Trelease and Make Up Break Up by Lily Menon. I recommend them.

The Heart Principle comes out in August. I’m sure I’ll end up reading this one, although it’s a little pricey for me, so unless I find it on sale, this’ll be a book I get from the library.

Skyhunter 2 by Marie Lu comes out on September 28th, and I pre-ordered it last year (it was in December, but that was still last year). It doesn’t have a title or a cover yet, but I want to find out what happens.

Once Upon a Broken Heart also comes out on September 28th, and I definitely plan on reading it. It takes place in the Caraval universe with other main characters. I definitely plan on reading this at some point.

So those are ten books I’ve got my eye on in this new year. What books are on your radar?

Next week, we’re going to talk about resolutions and hopes for 2021. Most of them are likely to be writing related. See you then!

Fireblood

By Brookelorren on December 18, 2020December 18, 20201 Comment

I recently read Fireblood by Elly Blake. It’s been nearly two years since I read the first book, Frostblood. I liked the story, but I wasn’t enamored with the book (probably because I listened to the audiobook and I didn’t care for the narrator). I read a physical copy of Fireblood so I wouldn’t have those problems.

Because this is the second book in a trilogy, there are probably spoilers for the first book. You can read my review for book 1 here.

Ruby is an anomaly at the frost court. If she didn’t have the favor of the king, Arcus–King Arkanus–she wouldn’t be there at all. Even so, she feels out of place. So when she gets the chance to see the fire kingdom, Sudesia, she takes it. Especially since the fire nation might be the key to destroying the Minax, which is now wreaking havoc in the countryside.

Of course, things aren’t quite as simple as Ruby would hope them to be. There’s trouble at home, Tempesia, there’s trouble in Sudesia, and–there may be a love triangle in this book.

I enjoyed this book and immediately added Nightblood to my TBR lottery. It’s hard to tell whether I liked this book better because I wasn’t listening to the audiobook or whether the book was better, but there was a lot going on in this book from start to finish. And now I want to find out how this ends–because while Ruby meets her goals for this book, there’s another difficulty that arises that she’ll need another book for.

Fireblood is an excellent sequel to Frostblood. It was well-written, had excitement throughout, and I cared about the main character, Ruby. I’m looking forward to reading the final book in the trilogy, Nightblood, although I’ll probably wait until I draw its number in the TBR lottery before I read it, since there’s so many other books I also want to read on that list.

A Sky Beyond the Storm

By Brookelorren on December 5, 2020December 5, 2020Leave a Comment

The long wait for Sabaa Tahir’s A Sky Beyond the Storm has ended! If you enjoyed the other books in her An Ember in the Ashes series, then you don’t want to miss this finale. This is definitely one of my favorite books this year. Expect to see it on my top 10 list coming January 1st.

Because this review is of the fourth book in a tetralogy, it may contain spoilers from previous books.

At the beginning of this book, it seems like almost all is lost. Cities have been decimated, plus the Nightbringer received all the pieces of the star. Keris Veturius has outplayed the Blood Shrike at almost every turn. Laia found and then lost her mother again. And Elias has taken on the role of the Soul Catcher and seems to have discarded his humanity. Is all lost?

Laia is convinced she needs to take down the Nightbringer. The Blood Shrike feels she needs to protect her nephew, the new Emperor, at all costs. Much of this book covers their journeys. Since this is a book, it’s going to get worse before anything gets better. We also see the Soul Catcher and The Nightbringer as they go through their journeys. And one chapter from Keris’s point of view.

This book was so good. It wraps up the past with a beautiful red bow. All the prophecies we’ve seen will make sense. I did cry–for maybe the last 50 pages? But in the end, I was satisfying. It brought joy instead of the desire to throw my book across the room or write fix-it fanfiction. Yes, Ms. Tahir has taken us on a long journey and destroyed our favorite characters–but there is a Sky Beyond the Storm.

A Sky Beyond the Storm is full of lifelike characters. The villains aren’t just cookie-cutter evil people who give monologues–they have a past, hurts, and people that loved them. There are so many memorable quotes in here, I’m looking for the next Top Ten Tuesday where the topic is book quotes. I started writing in my book journal again, where I write down quotes, and I’m so glad I did this for this book.

This was one of the highlights in my reading year. In a year where I’ve been struggling to complete my Goodreads Reading Challenge, I finished this 500-page book in three days. If you’ve read the first three books in this series and loved them, I recommend finishing the series. If you haven’t started, now’s a good time to start.

If you’re interested in my other reviews in this series, they are here: