Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp

We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

I’m spending the rest of my Sunday in bed with What the Fang? by Stacey Kennedy. I came across this one after reading a review on Julie’s blog and it looks/sounds like such a fun read. I’m looking forward to something lighter to round up this hellacious week!

What are you currently reading?

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The Book Blogger Memory Challenge

Hello, book lovers! Since it’s been a long while since I last did a tag, I decided to finally do one this Saturday and went for The Book Blogger Memory Challenge! I was tagged to do this by the awesome Kerri @ Kerri McBookNerd, who you should follow if you haven’t already done so, especially if you’re a fantasy lover! Knowing how atrocious my memory is, I’m probably gonna struggle with this one (read as: I’ll sit staring at the screen for ages trying to come up with answers)

I knew from the moment I saw this that I was going to struggle to come up with answers for many of these (lol, welp, my memory), so without further ado… Let the struggle begin? 😂

This tag was originally created by Laura @ Laura’s Book Reviews.

The Rules

  • You have to answer the prompts without using the internet or looking at your bookshelves.
  • Your answers have to all come from memory!
  • Make sure to link to the person who originally tagged you (thanks, Kerri! ❤️)
  • Once your done, you can tag five other people if you’d like.

Name a book written by an author called Michael

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. I started off my sci-fi journey with Michael Crichton back in 2010 when I came across his books in a second-hand bookstore in Cambodia and I ended up buying all of his books from that place soon after. Glad I remembered his name! 😂

Name a book with a dragon on the cover

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon! Although I ended up really struggling to get through this great beast of a book, it’s still one of the most gorgeous covers I’ve seen. This one definitely sticks out a lot in my mind 😊

Name a book about a character called George

Uh… Curious George? 😂 (I’m honestly surprised this was the book that came to mind cos when was the last time I read a Curious George book?!)

Name a book written by an author with the surname Smith

Ugh, why is the only name coming to mind Sam Smith?! 😭 The other name coming to me is Ali Smith and I don’t even know if they’re an author? I don’t know… FAIL! 😂

Name a book set in Australia

The Dry by Jane Harper. Btw, if you’re a fan of extremely atmospheric, slow-burn mysteries with fascinating characters, I would highly recommend Harper’s books!

Name a book with the name of a month in the title

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by … I forgot the author’s name OMG 😭 BUT *evil laugh* cos I can’t believe I actually recalled a book title with a month in it!

Name a book with a knife on the cover

My Lovely Wife by… someone? 😬 This book has been on my TBR for ages and I actually remembered this one because I actually really love this cover where the wife is holding a knife and her husband’s face is reflected in it!

Name a book with the word ‘one’ in the title

Uhm… One Day by Dave Nicholls? David Nicholas? Is this even the right author? I’m truly so terrible with names and I think that this book title is correct 🤔 I think it is… I haven’t read the book yet but I did watch the movie and oof, what an emotional journey it was!

Name a book with a eponymous title

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Thank you to this Top Ten Tuesday post from a few weeks ago for helping jumpstart my memory for this prompt 😂

Name a book turned into a movie

The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien. Popular opinion time that will make the Tolkien lovers want to slay me but I loved the movie so much more than the book! 🙈

Phew, okay, that wasn’t as terrible as I thought I’d do. I did spend a lot of time staring accusingly at my screen for some of these answers but I happily only botched one answer—yay! 😅 I’m not planning to tag anyone but feel free to do this if you want!

Joanna @ The Geekish Brunette
Maria @ The Character Study
Julie @ One Book More
Elli @ AceReader
Andie @ Books, Coffee, Passion
YOU and anyone who’d like to do this tag! 😍

Blog Tour Review: Across a Field of Starlight by Blue Delliquanti

Today is my stop on the TBR & Beyond Tours for Across a Field of Starlight by Blue Delliquanti.
Special thanks to Random House Graphic for providing an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

Click here or on the banner above to check out the rest of the amazing bloggers on tour!

Goodreads: Across a Field of Starlight
Publisher: Random House Graphic
Publication Date: 08 February 2022
Genre: Young Adult Sci-Fi, Graphic Novel

Panda Rating:

(3.5 pandas)

An epic sci-fi graphic novel romance between two non-binary characters as they find one another through time, distance, and war. An amazing story that explores the complexity of human nature and what brings us together.

When they were kids, Fassen’s fighter spaceship crash-landed on a planet that Lu’s survey force was exploring. It was a forbidden meeting between a kid from a war-focused resistance movement and a kid whose community and planet are dedicated to peace and secrecy.

Lu and Fassen are from different worlds and separate solar systems. But their friendship keeps them in each other’s orbit as they grow up. They stay in contact in secret as their communities are increasingly threatened by the omnipresent, ever-expanding empire.

As the empire begins a new attack against Fassen’s people–and discovers Lu’s in the process–the two of them have the chance to reunite at last. They finally are able to be together…but at what cost?

This beautifully illustrated graphic novel is an epic science fiction romance between two non-binary characters as they find one another through time, distance, and war.

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Blog Tour Review: The Witch, The Sword, and the Cursed Knights by Alexandria Rogers

Today is my stop on the TBR & Beyond Tours for The Witch, The Sword and The Cursed Knights by Alexandria Rogers. Special thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for providing an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

Click here or on the banner above to check out the rest of the amazing bloggers on tour!

Goodreads: The Witch, The Sword and The Cursed Knights
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 08 February 2022
Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy

Panda Rating:

(3 pandas)

Twelve-year-old Ellie can’t help that she’s a witch, the most hated member of society. Determined to prove her worth and eschew her heritage, Ellie applies to the Fairy Godmother Academy—her golden ticket to societal acceptance. But Ellie’s dreams are squashed when she receives the dreaded draft letter to serve as a knight of King Arthur’s legendary Round Table. She can get out of the draft—but only if she saves a lost cause.

Enter Caedmon, a boy from Wisconsin struggling with the death of his best friend. He first dismisses the draft as ridiculous; magic can’t possibly exist. But when Merlin’s ancient magic foretells his family’s death if he doesn’t follow through, he travels to the knights’ castle, where he learns of a wicked curse leeching the knights of their power.

To break the curse, Ellie and Caedmon must pass a series of deathly trials and reforge the lost, shattered sword of Excalibur. And unless Ellie accepts her witch magic and Caedmon rises to become the knight he’s meant to be, they will both fail—and the world will fall to the same darkness that brought King Arthur and Camelot to ruin.

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#WWWWednesday: 09 February 2022

Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. What will you read next?

It’s been a pretty good reading week if you see the numbers (11 books) but I only enjoyed less than half of them… I surprisingly read 3 audiobooks while painting and I realise that’s something I’d definitely love to continue doing! 😊

The Dark Side Series (Books 1-4) by Kristy Cunning ★★¾
This was not the series I thought it’d be and I was disappointed! It started off strong but this could’ve easily been a 2-novella series because a lot of it was filler, the explanations nonsensical and I got bored. The series more than lost its spark for me by the end!

The Deep by Rivers Solomon ★★★★½
My first audiobook of 2022 and it was wow! Daveed Diggs’ narration was *chefs kiss*! Check out my review!

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Book Review: The Deep by Rivers Solomon

Goodreads: The Deep
Publisher: Saga Press
Published: 05 November 2019
Genre: Adult SFF

Panda Rating:

(4.5 pandas)

Yetu holds the memories for her people—water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners—who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one—the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu.

Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface, escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities—and discovers a world her people left behind long ago.

Yetu will learn more than she ever expected to about her own past—and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they’ll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identity—and own who they really are.

Inspired by a song produced by the rap group Clipping for the This American Life episode “We Are In The Future,” The Deep is vividly original and uniquely affecting.

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Sundays in Bed With… #MyWeeklyWrapUp

We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed with, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

I’ll be wrapping up my Sunday in bed reading The Witch, The Sword and the Cursed Knights by Alexandria Rogers. I didn’t make as much progress on this as I’d hoped and it took me a little while to get into it but I’m really enjoying the magical school vibes and an exciting twist on Arthurian legend!

What are you currently reading?

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Book Review: How to Walk Away by Katherine Center

Goodreads: How to Walk Away
Publisher: Pan
Published: 09 August 2018
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Romance

Panda Rating:

(4 pandas)

Margaret Jacobsen has a bright future ahead of her: a fiancé she adores, her dream job, and the promise of a picture-perfect life just around the corner. Then, suddenly, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, everything she worked for is taken away in one tumultuous moment.

In the hospital and forced to face the possibility that nothing will ever be the same again, Margaret must figure out how to move forward on her own terms while facing long-held family secrets, devastating heartbreak, and the idea that love might find her in the last place she would ever expect.

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#FirstLinesFriday: 04 February 2022

Happy Friday book lovers! We’re back with another First Lines Friday, a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? Here are the rules:

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

First lines:

“It was like dreaming,” said Yetu, throat raw. She’d been weeping for days, lost in a remembering of one of the first wajinru.
“Then wake up,” Amaba said, “and wake up now. What kind of dream makes someone lurk in shark-dense waters, leaking blood like a fool? If I had not come for you, if I had not found you in time…”

Do you recognise the book these first lines come from?

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Blog Tour Spotlight: The Counterclockwise Heart by Brian Farrey

I’m excited to be shining a spotlight on The Counterclockwise Heart by Brian Farrey today! This middle-grade fantasy sounds really good and I actually started it on a whim the other day. I’m already getting slightly dark but very magical fairytale-gone-wrong vibes from it and I can’t wait to dive back in whenever I have to put it down. I can’t wait to see where this story goes 😄 Also, how cool is this cover?!

Special thanks to Algonquin Young Readers for having me on tour and providing an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads: The Counterclockwise Heart
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Publication Date: 01 February 2022
Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy

Tick . . . tick . . . tick . . .
Time is running out in the empire of Rheinvelt.
 
The sudden appearance of a strange and frightening statue foretells darkness. The Hierophants—magic users of the highest order—have fled the land. And the shadowy beasts of the nearby Hinterlands are gathering near the borders, preparing for an attack.
 
Young Prince Alphonsus is sent by his mother, the Empress Sabine, to reassure the people while she works to quell the threat of war. But Alphonsus has other problems on his mind, including a great secret: He has a clock in his chest where his heart should be—and it’s begun to run backwards, counting down to his unknown fate.
 
Searching for answers about the clock, Alphonsus meets Esme, a Hierophant girl who has returned to the empire in search of a sorceress known as the Nachtfrau. When riddles from their shared past threaten the future of the empire, Alphonsus and Esme must learn to trust each other and work together to save it—or see the destruction of everything they both love.

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