I’ve been wanting to read one of her books since I saw her speak at Book Riot Live 2015. I’m a little embarrassed it took me this long.
What I’m Reading Now: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
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Tag Archives: bethlylou reads
What I’m reading Now: Riders by Veronica Rossi
Because there are not enough books about the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Review: Blackbird by Anna Carey
I admit that I have had this book sitting on my Nook for awhile now. It was one of those it’s on sale impulse buys. I read Anna Carey’s her Eve series. It was great until the last book. I was really frustrated with how Eve spends the entire series running away from getting pregnant to only get pregnant anyway. So I bought this book but held off reading it and really only decided to read it because it’s not that long. Only about 186 pages on the Nook. It’s completely different from Eve. Instead of of being another dystopian novel, it’s a contemporary novel. Our heroine wakes on a LA subway track with no memory of who she is or how she got there. All she has on her is a bookbag, money, a fresh shirt and a notebook that instructs her to stay away from the police and call this number. She does and arrives at the appointed office to find that it’s empty and the safe is open with money missing. She’s been set up and forced to be on the run. She quickly realizes that she’s being followed and some of them want to kill her. She turns for help to Ben. A boy she caught selling pot on her first day. The two set out to try to figure out who she is and what is going on. Why are people trying to kill her? Who is orchestrating it? Who is she? Is there anyone one looking for her?
The intriguing thing about this book is that it’s written in the second person. I’m not sure I’ve read a book written in that voice before. In short stories yes but not a novel. It lends it well to the narrative. It really adds to the uncertainty and paranoia of our character. However it took a while for me to get used to it. “Sunny” as she calls herself since she doesn’t remember her name is resourceful. She has small snippets of her past but she doesn’t know if they are real or not or how they relate to what is going on with her. She finds that she knows how to do things that suggest that maybe she wasn’t all that innocent as she would like. She knows how to pick locks and how to evade people who are following her. She also knows how to fight. This makes her a little uneasy about herself. I like her, she’s quick on her feet and smart. She comes to the same conclusion of what is going on the same time I did but her story isn’t over yet. We have one book to go to find out more about the people who are hunting her and if she finally be able to out run them or take them down.
Review: The Iron Warrior by Julie Kagawa
*Spoilers*
I’m not sure if Julie Kagawa counts towards our Diverse Stacks, Diverse Lives challenge since I would have read her books anyway. This is the last book in the The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten series. I knew I was going to read it as soon as I finished the last book, The Iron Traitor and I’m going to read Soldier, the next book in her Talon series. So counting her as my Asian American author doesn’t really go in the spirit of the challenge since we are trying read new authors, However, I think it’s good to point out the diversity that is already in my reading list. Yes, this is a little self serving, pat myself on the back type of thing but while I do mostly read white women, I’ve never been exclusively been just that and honestly until this past year I’m not sure I’ve noticed. I’ve been reading Julie’s work for a couple of years now and it make me think. I’m not sure where I’m going with this but you should read her work is all.
So The Iron Warrior is the last book in the The Iron Fey series’. The first series followed Meghan as she transitions from normal teenage girl to Fairy Queen of the Iron Fey. In Fairy mythology, iron has always been one their weaknesses and the human world has become more and more technologically advance the Nevernever has started to get poisoned, except for some of the Fairy who have adapted and created a new kingdom of Iron. Call of the Forgotten is the continuation of the series but follows Meghan’s brother, Ethan and son , Kerrian. Now, it’s been about a decade since Meghan has left and in that time Ethan has grown cursed with the sight and is constantly harassed by the Fey. Then one day he finds himself back in the Nevernever with a new girl, Kenzie and his nephew, Kerrian, who is roughly the same age thanks to the fact that time moves differently in Faery. Yeah, it’s weird. It’s even weirder since Ethan didn’t even know that Kerrian even existed. You see, their was a prophecy that one day Kerrian would kill Ethan and either destroy the courts or unite them. So obviously everyone wants to keep them apart. It didn’t work because the prophecy is set in motion when Kerrian does in fact stabbed Ethan and temporarily lifting the veil between faery and the human realms. Now Kerrian is the champion for the Forgotten Queen who looks to lift the veil permanently and only Ethan can stop him.
Ethan is the type of hero I like. He’s sarcastic and I do love sarcasm. He’s also a fighter. Not always the swiftest on the up take but he’s loyal. He knows the stacks are high and despite being given outs several times throughout the book he never backs down. Kerrian I’m not really digging. He’s quite stubborn to the point of destroying the Nevernever. Everything starts with Kerrian unwillingness to let go of his love. Since the story is from Ethan’s point of view, we don’t get to know the inner working of Kerrian’s mind and because of that I found him a little unsympathetic. We all have people we love that we don’t want to lose but losing your soul for them. Killing your uncle and friend. No one would want that. If he was able to keep his emotion’s in check all of this could have been avoided but then again we wouldn’t have a story. Kenzie is my favorite. She’s a normal human. She’s not fairy or half fairy or related to. She just happened to be with Ethan when he goes back and because she is curious and looks for adventure sticks around. She is also sick so wants to live life to fullest. That being said she is the smartest of them all. She adapts quickly to the Nevernever. She may not be a fighter but it’s often her quick thinking that saves them . I would love a book just about her.
All and all this was a great series with a satisfying ending. It’s not the usual fairy story and full of action and adventure. If you like fairy books or fantasy, you can’t go wrong with the Iron Fey.
Books that Rocked My Face off in 2015
This year it was hard to narrow it down to just 10 books as there were so many books I really loved this year. So to narrow it down, I had to ask myself which ones was I still thinking about even after I started reading the next book? Those are ones I choose for the list. (These are really in no particular order
- Beauty Queens by Libba Bray – This book I really wish I read when I was a teenager as so many of the messages I could have really used. You would almost think that a book about teenage beauty queens stuck on a desert island would be caricatures but they weren’t. They were very like girls I know or were me. I could pretty much identify with all of their struggles. Plus it was a lot of fun.
- Winter by Marissa Meyer -I am really going to miss this series so much. Cinder, Scarlet, Cress and Winter made me laugh, cheer, angry ( on their behalf) and proud of all of them. Winter was by far the longest book of the series and it was non-stop action. There wasn’t any filler or time to relax. It was the perfect ending.
- Carry On by Rainbow Rowell – A little bit Harry Potter and a little bit of fanfiction. It was a great final book to an imaginary series. I was surprised by many of the twists and turns and touched by the romance.
- Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray – I loved the first book in the series and so I was nervous this one wasn’t going to be as good. It was better. Now my only complaint is that she doesn’t write fast enough.
- Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard – It was fun, tense and very interesting. I thought I knew where things were going and then I didn’t. I’m looking forward to what lays in store in the next book.
- Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow – This wasn’t anything like I thought it would be. It was surprising. It was fresh. It had the sassiest A.I. in the history of A.I.’s. For that reason alone, you all should read it.
- An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir – It was sorta historical fiction with a dystopian vibe and boy did it work. It was brutal and it was tense but entertaining.
- Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo – This was very much an Ocean 11’s style caper with a little bit of a magic and darkness in only the way that Leigh Bardugo could do it. It’s set in the same world but after the events of her last series but a completely different vibe.
- The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson – This is the third book in the series so the stakes are so much higher and it didn’t disappoint. It’s full of humor, action and ghosts. What else can I say.
- The Rose Society by Marie Lu – This is the second book in the series that tells the story from the villainess point of view (though I’m not convinced that Adelina is the real villain but whatever) It was intense and was surprising, maybe a little problematic but worth the read.
There was two books that I enjoyed so much that I read the other books in the that were out in the series this year too. So I thought they would get their own category.
- Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas – For those looking for a Game of Thrones fill in until George publishes the next book, I recommend this. It was has all the twists and turns and is not afraid to kill of a character or two. I’m never really sure where it’s going to take us next but I know it will be well worth the ride.
- Talon series by Julie Kagawa – It has a little bit of everything. A Romeo and Juliet Love, a love triangle, a betrayal and yeah dragons. Who doesn’t love dragons? Ok, the idea isn’t that original but I do love it anyway.
What I’m Reading Now: Endure by Sara B. Larson and The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
I don’t normally read two books at once but I got Endure an ARC downloaded to my iPad and well my iPad and case doesn’t fit in my new purse. I need something to read on the train to work. This is a must. So it came down to this, move everything into a new bag so I can take my iPad with me to work or find another book to read on the train and read this at home.
So that’s what I decided to do. The Royal We was on sale a couple of weeks ago and since I follow both the authors on twitter and love their blog, Go Fug Yourself, and I have been looking for more romances, I thought I would give it a go.
So these two books will end my reading experience for 2015 and bring me into 2016. What are the last books you are reading this year?
What I’m Reading Now: Frozen Tides by Morgan Rhodes
This is one of those series that I should have reread the previous books before hand just to refresh. There are so many characters, plots, deaths, betrayals and so on that it’s hard to remember it all.
What I’m Thankful for 2015
Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating today. In keeping with tradition here at Stacks, we are going to share what literary things we have been grateful for this year. I’m going to go first.
I am thankful for my Nook Tablet. Now this is something that I have never thought I would say. I bought it because I got a heavy employee discount on it when it first came out but I haven’t used it all that much until this year. Since leaving B&N, I’ve had to buy more books than I have ever had before. I much prefer the real deal when it comes to reading but I have to admit the convenience of my Nook has its benefits. The books themselves are cheaper. I don’t have to get dressed to the bookstore. I don’t have to wait for them to be delivered and they take up space in my apartment. My place is already overrun with books as is. Plus, my nook is a little easier to read on the train to work because it doesn’t take up as much space. So thank you, Nook. You will never fully replace books for me but you have come in handy.
I am thankful for #Weneedmorediversebooks movement. It has made me aware of my own privilege which I never really thought about. I’m sure if you look through the books that I read you will noticed that they are mostly all women but you also will noticed that they are also mostly all white. And their characters are also mostly white as well. I’ve been trying to be find more authors of color, who are from different backgrounds from me but also look for books with protagonists who are from different cultures. I’ll admit that I still have work to do but I am trying. Thank you for Sabaa Tahir, Marie Lu, Julie Kagawa and Nnedi Okorafor just to name a few. I hope that 2016 will bring new authors and new voices.
I am thankful for book clubs because it forced me to read books that I probably would never have read on my own. Also, it’s also fun to talk books with friends.
I’m thankful for J.K. Rowling’s twitter. I’m thankful for her in general but following her on twitter just reaffirms everything I have ever thought about her and that I really want to be her friend. She’s smart, quick, funny and does not suffer trolls. She truly is a bright spot on the internet.
And finally I’m thankful for all you reading. Kate and I started this blog for fun. A way to keep connected and talk books but I think it’s fair to say it has passed our own expectations. I thought that maybe a few of our real life friends would read it and comment but to have complete strangers from all over the world, like our blog and leave comments has been so much fun for us. If it wasn’t for you, I’m not sure that Kate and I would have been as motivated to keep updating the blog. So with complete sincerity, thank you.
What I’m Reading: Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan
In an older post, I talked about the trend of YA authors who write novellas as an add on to their series. Last year Cassandra Clare took it to a whole another level with The Bane Chronicles. With the help of fellow authors Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson. Clare wrote a series of ten novellas about everyone favorite Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane. Over the 10 stories, they wrote about Magnus’ past that is often hinted out in both of Clare’s The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments series. It was fun to read about Magnus adventures before he met Tessa, Will, Jem and later Clary, Jace and Alec. Of course the series also served as a introducing characters of upcoming series and fill in gaps between series as well.
This year she is doing the same thing but with another fan favorite, Simon Lewis in the Tales from Shadowhunter Academy. This time she is joined again by Breenan and Johnson and also Robin Wasserman. Now the following is sort of a spoiler to those who have not finished City of Heavenly Fire, the last book in the The Mortal Instruments series. Simon is attending the newly reopened Shadowhunter Academy as the Clave tries to add new Shadowhunters to their numbers after the loss of life in the last war. Those who have finished City of Heavenly Fire will know why Simon can attend the academy in hopes of becoming a Shadowhunter himself and for those who haven’t finished will want to before reading. Personally, I thought the last three books of The Mortal Instruments were three too many but I am looking forward to several Simon centric stories since he was easily my favorite character from that series. Also it gives us something to read while we wait for Clare’s next shadowhunter series, The Dark Artifaces about Shadowhunters in LA.
