Books Archives - Page 12 of 50 - Brooke's Reviews and Sweeps

Favorite New-to-Me Books from 2019

By Brookelorren on January 1, 2020December 29, 20192 Comments

Hello! Today’s my 3rd Blogoversary for this web site (I’ve had a blog somewhere for about 20 years now), and it’s also time for one of my favorite posts of the year: my annual list of favorite books from the previous year. I count down my top 10 books that I read for the first time in the previous year, regardless of its release date. I also combine any series I read, if I think all the books in the series deserve favorite status.

Here’s last year’s list:

10. When Dimple Met Rishi/There’s Something About Sweetie – Sandhya Menon. Early last year, I went to the Colorado Teen Literature conference, where Sandhya Menon was one of the keynote speakers. Although I had heard of her before, I hadn’t read any of her books before. I read three of her books this year, and I get to be on her street team! These books were hilarious. I haven’t had the chance to read 10 Things I Hate About Pinky yet, otherwise that one might have been included on this list too.

9. Rebel – Beverly Jenkins. This list has some overlap with the top books of 2019 (which I posted yesterday), especially since I read a lot of new releases last year. I loved Rebel and would read more books from this author.

8. The Guinevere Deception – Kiersten White. This was one of two books that I read from Kiersten White this year. This is a King Arthur retelling with a strong and magical female lead. I’ll be looking forward to reading the next book in the series!

7. Spectacle – Jodie Lynn Zdrock. I think this book was one of the hidden gems from last year. It kept me up late into the night, because I didn’t want to put it down.

6. Ghosts of the Shadow Market – Cassandra Clare. One of the most anticipated books of 2020 for many people is Chain of Gold, the new book in The Last Hours series, which details the story of Will and Tess’s children, along with the other shadowhunters of their generation. Ghosts of the Shadow Market contains several short stories from Jem’s point of view.

5. The Grishaverse Books – Leigh Bardugo. One of the authors I really wanted to read last year was Leigh Bardugo. I liked the Grishaverse books so much that they ended up on my list this year. I also had the chance to read Ninth House and the Six of Crows duology.

4. Les Misérables – Victor Hugo. I’m guessing that there won’t be too many people in the blogosphere with Les Misérables on their top 10 list for the year. I read it for the first time last year though, and it was an excellent book, so it deserves a place on this list.

3. The Wicked King/The Queen of Nothing – Holly Black. 2019 was a year that was bookended with two great Holly Black releases: The Wicked King and The Queen of Nothing. After I read the first book at the beginning of January, I really wanted to read the second (which was originally supposed to be released this year). They both came out this year, and both made my list.

2. Sky Without Stars – Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell. This was probably my surprise favorite of the year. It didn’t get a lot of hype, but when I read it, I absolutely adored it. I can’t wait until Between Burning Worlds comes out later this year, and I’m looking forward to rereading this book before it comes out.

1. Rebel – Marie Lu. This was not a surprise favorite, as Legend is one of my favorite books and I always wanted some closure for Day and June. I reread this book already. This was the ending to the series I was waiting for.

So there is the list of my favorite books that I read for the first time last year.

December 2019 Wrap-Up

By Brookelorren on December 31, 2019December 29, 20192 Comments

Hello! Welcome to my final post of the decade! I hope the 2010s were good to you, and I hope you have an even more amazing decade ahead of you. Being the last day of the year, it’s time to give a wrap-up for the year.

Books Read:

This has been a fairly busy month, visiting my parents in another state and trying to get edits done on my book, so I only managed to read 10 books. Two of them were rereads:

Every Other Weekend – Abigail Johnson
The Guinevere Deception – Kiersten White
Thousands – Pepper Winters
Of Curses and Kisses – Sandhya Menon
Clockwork Princess – Cassandra Clare (reread)
Father of Lions – Louise Callaghan
Almost Midnight – Rainbow Rowell
The Christmas Pact – Vi Keeland and Pelelope Ward
Rebel – Marie Lu (reread)
Echoes Between Us – Katie McGarry

Blog Stats:

Wait, what? How did my blog users go up? Over 450 people stopped by this month. Thank you! Maybe because I posted on Christmas Eve where a lot of people were taking a break. Twitter is up to 2130? Nice.

Writing:

I wanted to finish my fourth draft of The Brightness of Shadow, but I only managed to do 139 pages so far. It’s a major rewrite, and I’m sending this to beta readers after this (I promise).

Life:

Any month without a trip to the hospital is a success. I went to visit my family in Washington State. We almost thought we were going to have to take our cat on vacation with us, but my daughter’s friend decided to cat-sit at the last minute. Unfortunately, a couple of our fish have gotten sick :-(.

That’s all! Have a great New Year’s Eve and I’ll see you in 2020!

Favorite 2019 Releases

By Brookelorren on December 31, 2019December 26, 201918 Comments

Hello, welcome to the final Top Ten Tuesday of 2019! It’s been a great reading year. Today’s Top Ten Tuesday Topic is supposed to be “Favorite Books I Read in 2019” but I normally release that list on January 1st, so today I’m doing my favorite 2019 releases, which is a slightly different list. There will be some overlap with tomorrow’s list. Anyway, here is the list!

10. Song of the Crimson Flower – Julie C. Dao. I absolutely loved this book. The main character, Bao, was sweet, and I loved the twist at the end. This is a great book if you’re looking for a happily ever after in a fantasy setting. I’d definitely read more books from her in the future.

9. There’s Something About Sweetie – Sandhya Menon. This is the second book in the When Dimple Met Rishi series. Rishi’s brother, Ashish, used to be a ladies’ man… until he fell in love. He hasn’t been able to get over his ex, and it’s even affecting his basketball. He ends up asking his parents for help. Sweetie goes to a school across town, and even though she’s a track star, her mother thinks she’s too fat to date an athlete. It was funny and I loved it.

8. Rebel – Beverly Jenkins. Rebel by Beverly Jenkins was one of two books with this title I read this year. I loved the main character in this book, who is a teacher who tries to teach black people to read in the years after the Civil War. I loved the historical setting, as well as the strength of the main character.

7. The Guinevere Deception – Kiersten White. Guinevere is on her way to marry King Arthur–but there’s more to her than everybody knows. As you read this story, you get to find out what her secrets are. I can’t give away too much without giving away spoilers, but I do plan on reading the second book.

6. Spectacle – Jodie Lynn Zdrock. Spectacle was a thrilling book that kept me up late the day I read it. I loved the historical setting that had me (virtually) running around the Parisian Catacombs.

5. Ghosts of the Shadow Market – Cassandra Clare and others. Chain of Gold‘s release date was pushed back until March, but I did get to read this great collection of short stories, whose dates range from right after The Infernal Devices to after The Queen of Air and Darkness. I plan on reading this book again before Chain of Gold comes out in March.

4. The Wicked King/The Queen of Nothing – Holly Black. I read The Wicked King on its release date on January 8th, and that ending! I wanted the next book right away. Fortunately, the release date for The Queen of Nothing was moved up to November from its original 2020 date. Since they both were released this year, they share a spot on my list of favorites from this year.

3. Sky Without Stars – Jessica Brody. I loved this story, which I got to read as an ARC and ended up buying after its release. This is one of those books I plan on reading before it’s sequel, Between Burning Worlds, comes out. I’ve already pre-ordered the sequel and can’t wait to read it.

2. Enchantée – Gita Trelease. Enchantée is the only book on this list that I didn’t read this year, and is not eligible for my list of top books I read for the first time in 2019. I loved this book, and while I’m sad that its sequel, Liberté, won’t be released on Bastille Day next year (it’ll be released in early 2021), I will read this book again before its sequel comes out.

1. Rebel – Marie Lu. There are two books on my favorite 2019 releases called Rebel, and it’s probably not a surprise that this book was my favorite. I just finished rereading this book, and I’m sure I’ll read it again at some point in the future.

So that’s the list of my favorite 2019 releases! There are a few more books I wished I could have added to this list, but I have to stop somewhere.

Tomorrow I release my favorite books I read for the first time in 2019, but next week for Top Ten Tuesday, we’re talking about our most anticipated releases for 2020!

Echoes Between Us

By Brookelorren on December 30, 2019December 29, 20194 Comments

I recently read Echoes Between Us by Katie McGarry. Thank you Bookish First for the Advanced Reader Copy (I love you Bookish First!). If you’d like the opportunity to get free books from them in 2020, you can use referral code 56cf541090ca608b4 and get your own books too (and help me too). I enjoyed this book and am passing on my copy to my niece.

Veronica is a girl who has a secret. She has a brain tumor… and sees ghosts. Some people think she’s weird, but she pretty much likes to do her own thing. The upcoming school year promises to be lonely for her, as her friends are either going off to college or attending high school part-time. It’s going to be a challenge to find someone to do the senior English paper with.

Sawyer is a swimmer; at first glance, you’d think he had everything. He has a secret too: his mom drinks a little too much on the weekends, and he has to care for his younger sister Lucy a lot. When he moves into Veronica’s first floor (which is said to be haunted), their paths cross. Over times, they discover they have feelings for each other.

There are a lot of things I like about this book. The first thing that stuck out to me about this book was the author’s voice. It had a quality that made me want to read more and laugh out loud at times. The other things I liked about this story was the characters and what they go through. The characters were likeable and sympathetic.

Another thing I liked about this book is the situations the characters had to deal with. Veronica believes she’s dying of a brain tumor. Sawyer has an addiction to jumping off cliffs into water; he also has to deal with his mother’s alcoholism. Fortunately, I’ve never had to deal with either of these situations, but these are serious problems that some people have to deal with. The ghosts add interest to the story.

Although this book isn’t heavy on setting (except for a few haunted places) the rest of the story makes up for it. I enjoyed it a lot and highly recommend it if you’re looking for a contemporary YA book. There were places in this book where I didn’t want to put it down. Echoes Between Us doesn’t come out until January 14, 2020, but you can pre-order it now.

ABC Book Challenge – Z and Numbers

By Brookelorren on December 29, 2019December 29, 2019Leave a Comment

It’s Sunday again, and it’s time for the ABC Book Challenge! I found it over at Me, Myself, and Books, but I think it was started by The Thrifty Bibliophile. Today’s letter is Z, plus the books that don’t start with letters. To be honest, I don’t have any books in “My Books” on Goodreads that start with Z (I didn’t have any that started with X either) but I found some.

It’s hard to believe that this will be my last ABC book challenge post. Perhaps I’ll revisit this challenge in five years, or maybe I’ll do this once in a decade… but who knows what ten years will bring? I can’t imagine things would change enough to do this next year, however, especially since this is a six-month commitment. It was fun to go through my TBR and books I read to see my favorites in every letter though.

So without further ado, here are the Z and non-letter books!

I heard about Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth years ago when it initially came out. I can’t remember whether this was a controversial book or not, but from reading the reviews, I’d probably disagree with the author on some points (I am a Christian) but I’m also of the opinion that you can learn things from people that disagree with you even if you don’t necessarily agree with everything a person says. For example, I’m sure I’d find the historical context in this book interesting.

Zia stuck out to me because it’s written by the author of Island of the Blue Dolphins. It’s the story of another native girl who, this time, is at a mission. This is supposed to be the story of the niece of the girl from the Island. Karana, the lady whom the original story was written about, couldn’t communicate with her “rescuers” and only lived for seven weeks after she rejoined civilization, so this story would have no basis in fact, but it might be an interesting read.

I have an ARC for 10 Things I Hate About Pinky, which is a story with fake-dating and is in the When Dimple Met Rishi Universe, so I hope to read this early in 2020.

My mom adores Stephen King books, although I haven’t read many in recent years. 11/22/63 sounds like an interesting blend of history with a Stephen King twist. Maybe I should use one of my Audible credits on this.

I’ve been saying I wanted to read 1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance for years now. I enjoyed 1421 and The Lost Empire of Atlantis, both by the same author. For some reason, I never got around to reading this book. Maybe in 2020.

1920: The Year of the Six Presidents is another book I’ve been meaning to read for a while. Perhaps 2020, the centennial of that important year, would be a good time to read this book.

The 5th Wave was one of my favorite books I read in 2016. I tore through this book, despite its monster length. Sadly, I didn’t like the other books in this trilogy as much as I loved the first book.

So that’s it! I hope you’ve found this tour through my My Books highlights on Goodreads to be semi-interesting. Thank you for reading!

Goodreads: My Year in Books 2019

By Brookelorren on December 26, 2019December 26, 201912 Comments

Hello! I hope you had a great Christmas. Even though I still plan on reading one or two more books, the Goodreads Your Year in Books has been going around for a while. Bite Into Books is hosting the Your Year in Books Book meme and I decided to participate.

I knew when this year began that it would be a good year in books, and it was!

Some Statistics…

I read 55,261 pages across 152 books (so far) this year! There’s still one more week so it’ll probably be a little more. I averaged 363 pages per book.

The shortest book I read was Life After Legend, which was a whopping 21 pages. the longest book I read (on audiobook) was Les Misérables, which is 1463 pages in print.

The most popular book I read this year was City of Bones, which was read by 1,626,682 other people. The least popular book I read was Goof-Proof, which was read by 26 other people.

My average rating was 4.5 (although I don’t always rate my lower-rated books).

My first review of the year was “The Midnight Heir,” and the last book of the year was Almost Midnight (so far).

So that was my year in books! How did you do? You can join this meme with a link-up on Bite Into Books. There you can see what other people read too!

Books I’d Like to Haul in 2020

By Brookelorren on December 24, 2019December 23, 201920 Comments

Hello! It’s Tuesday, and you know what that means: Christmas Eve! It’s also Top Ten Tuesday! Today’s topic was supposed to be Books I Hope to Find Under My Tree, but I tend to pre-order a lot of books (or buy them on sale), and I’m not sure if my parents would be able to pre-order books, so the books I really want won’t be there tomorrow. However, I do want some books coming up so I’ll list them here today!

This book is out now, so it might actually be under my tree. This sounds like a good book and I plan on reading it in 2020. I also want to write a fusion fanfic of this book, combined with A Treason of Thorns by Laura E. Weymouth. I think it might be fun.

I should get an ARC of The Kingdom of Back soon, but I’m still going to get a finished Kindle copy and hardback. Those are going to arrive on March 3rd. The hardback copy will probably be shipped via UPS (along with the next book) so it probably won’t arrive until late in the evening.

I bought Chain of Gold with last year’s Christmas gift cards, so in a way, this did appear under my tree already. However, it won’t be released until March 3rd, so I’m still waiting for it.

The Vanishing Deep is another March 3rd release I want. I’m getting this one on audiobook… because as you can see, there’s already a lot of books coming out that day I want to read.

Here’s yet another book coming out on March 3rd. The Midnight Lie sounds great. I might get this from the library though, as I’m not in a huge hurry to read this.

I adored Sky Without Stars, and knew I had to read the second book as soon as I finished it (even though it didn’t have a title at the time). I’ve already pre-ordered Between Burning Worlds, although I have to wait until March 24th for it to come out. In the meantime, I’ll reread Sky Without Stars.

I just noticed that Chosen Ones, Veronica Roth’s next book, is coming out in April instead of May. So one less month before I read this book. I loved Divergent; this is her adult debut.

I already had the opportunity to read Of Curses and Kisses, but I plan on getting a finished copy. I’m looking forward to reading the next book when it comes out too!

I really liked Echoes by Alice Reeds, and am looking forward to reading Fractures, which is supposed to come out on June 2nd.

A tenth book that I’d like to haul in 2020 is Skyhunter, which doesn’t come out until October 6th, but I’ve already pre-ordered. I’d buy Marie Lu’s shopping list if she published it, so even though I don’t know much about what this book is about, I’m sure I’m going to like it.

So those are ten books that, even though I don’t expect them under my tree, I plan to get in 2020. Do you hope to get books for Christmas? What books do you hope to buy next year?

ABC Book Challenge – Y

By Brookelorren on December 22, 2019December 29, 20194 Comments

It’s the last Sunday before Christmas, and I’m posting late this week because the holidays have been busy. How has your week been? There’s only one week left for the ABC Book Challenge, which I first found over at Me, Myself, and Books, but I think was started by The Thrifty Bibliophile. There are a few books that start with Y this week.

Benjamin Franklin was a genius. When I took a class on creativity, the professor talked about some of the exercises Franklin did. Young Benjamin Franklin: The Birth of Ingenuity, talks about Benjamin Franklin’s earlier years. It seems interesting to me.

The Young Elites is one of the books I plan on rereading in 2020. I love this trilogy which has a grey protagonist and one of my favorite ships.

I really liked the book Flame in the Mist, and Yumi is a companion short story to that. It’s also still free on Amazon.com.

I thought I had more books that started with Y, but there weren’t that many. Hard to believe, but next week is the last week of the ABC reading challenge. See you then.

The Christmas Pact

By Brookelorren on December 19, 2019December 19, 20192 Comments

Christmas is merely days away, and if you’re looking for something cheery to listen to over the holiday season, you might be interested in listening to one of December’s free Audible Original selections, The Christmas Pact. It’s a cute story about two people who have similar names: Riley Kennedy and Kennedy Riley. They work for the same company, although in different locations. Sometimes their email gets misdirected. Kennedy seems like a jerk: he often reads her email and forwards it with unsolicited advice. Although Riley tries to avoid Kennedy at the company Christmas party, their paths cross.

After Riley mentions that she’s going home for the holidays, Kennedy has an idea. What if Kennedy pretends to be her boyfriend? Riley felt like her mom was disappointed in her because she was single. In return, Riley could accompany him to his brother’s wedding.

And so, the fake dating scheme has begun. As their plan commences, they begin to enjoy each other’s company. They both have pasts that complicate their ability to have relationships with other people. By the time they return to work, they’ve fallen for each other. Neither of them decides to pursue the relationship though. Is that the end for the two? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

The Christmas Pact is only 2 hours and 54 minutes long, so it’s an easy book to get into and finish before Christmas. If you sign up for an Audible membership, it’s free, otherwise you can buy it without a membership. It will be available on Audible Escape in January (after the holidays).

Almost Midnight

By Brookelorren on December 18, 2019December 18, 20192 Comments

I just finished reading Almost Midnight by Rainbow Rowell. For the past several Christmases, I’ve read a Christmas book every December (this year I read two!). I originally wanted to read My True Love Gave to Me, but it was already in use at the library. I really wanted to reread “Midnights” again. I remembered that Ms. Rowell published a book which contained that book and another Christmas story, and this one was available at the library.

I don’t usually comment about a book’s cover, but Almost Midnight‘s photo online doesn’t do it justice. This book is gorgeous and sparkly (I read the hardback edition). Another thing to note about this book’s physical format is that it’s dimensions are smaller than your typical hardback–it’s about the same size as my Kindle Paperwhite.

There are two stories in this book, “Midnights” and “Kindred Spirits”.

“Midnights”: This was the whole reason I checked out this book. It’s the story about Mags and Noel, who meet at a New Year’s Eve party when Mags is 15. Over the years, they become best friends and slowly fall in love. Every year, they hang out with each other until midnight… and someone else kisses Noel. It’s their first year of college. Noel was away at Notre Dame and Mags stayed in Oklahoma. She absolutely can’t handle watching him kiss another girl at midnight this year. Well… I won’t tell you what happens, but this story makes me happy cry.

“Kindred Spirits”: This was the first year I’ve read this story. Elena is a huge Star Wars fan, and she decides to get in line to wait for The Force Awakens to release. Coincidentally, the book’s climax takes place 4 years ago to this date. She and two other strangers wait outside the movie theater for four days. It’s not exactly what Elena was expecting. There’s a twist that occurs towards the end that I wasn’t expecting. This story has a great ending too.

This book is illustrated, and the illustrations are really cute. I love how the artist, Simini Blocker, captured the characters.

Both of these stories were wonderful and I would definitely read them again (even though I’ve already read “Midnights” three times now). They’re beautiful stories and Ms. Rowell definitely captures the hearts of these teens in this story.

However, this book is nearly $10 for two stories. Unless you really love the illustrations, it might make more sense to buy My True Love Gave to Me and then buy a used copy of “Kindred Spirits” in Paperback or on the Kindle. My True Love Gave to Me is currently $9.22 on the Kindle or $11.49 in paperback (or less for a used hardback), and you can get “Kindred Spirits” for $2.99 on the Kindle. For just a little bit more you get both of these stories plus several other amazing holiday stories. Definitely read these Christmas stories someday, but they’re available in more than one format and this may not be the best bang for your reading dollar.