The Silver Queen

It's been a minute since I read the first book in the Sovereign series, but one chapter into The Silver Queen and it all came rushing back. It was like picking back up with friends who I hadn't seen in a while. There is no time lapse between this book and the first, but it is one you most definitely need to have read the first one to understand this one. It's a complex story line and readers jumping into this one would become easily lost. The Gilded King ended with the last uncontaminated city becoming tainted by treachery and blood. Julia is one of the few uncontaminated humans left and chaos is breaking out as the Nobles fight each other over the quickly dwindling blood supply (uncontaminated humans). Outside the walls of the city is only more destruction; Cam has taken several trusty silvers with him to go out into the Red to rescue his Queen and try to bring order and safety back to the city. Operating with the same alternating story lines (Cam and Julia); it's great to see the view of the world through such different perspectives. Action packed and full of betrayal, death, romance, and adventure. This is a high fantasy that readers won't want to miss out on! I can't wait for the third installment!

Full Disclosure

I couldn't NOT read this book. I had to know! I had to! And Stormy does not disappoint. It's ridiculous, a little trashy, full of drama, and I adored it. Trump is not the MAIN focus of this book, of course he has key importance, but Stormy does more than just center on him, she goes into depth about her shitty childhood, what led her into stripping, and then eventually porn. She talks about her many romances, her love for horses, how much she has overcome, and of course Trump. Trump and his weirdly shaped dick. Ugh. Stormy is a bit of braggart, I did this, then I did this, and omg can you believe I did this? But if you overlook all that, she has had one hell of an interesting life.

In the House in the Dark of the Woods

Maybe I'll just chalk this up to me not being smart enough to understand all the finer nuances. All I know is that this was lyrical, confusing, pretty, and haunting. None of those should go together but they do. I only picked up this book for the artwork and that's where I screwed up, lol. It's a "suspenseful" fairy-tale that's equal parts creepy and equal parts confusing. A young wife goes into the woods to pick berries and gets horribly lost. She wanders around and is eventually helped by a woman named Eliza, who lives in a creepy ass cottage. There's Captain Jane, a weird bird, a girl in yellow, and others, but honestly this story got a bit too weird for me. I can't even find the strength to summarize it. Hard pass.

Last Christmas in Paris

I find novels written in letters beyond charming and this World War I novel was charming. It very much reminded me of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society in that two charming characters fall in love with each from a distance. Evie is a young woman with too much energy to be pent up at home while her brother and his best friend goes off to war. She starts writing them both immediately, trying to keep their spirits up and live vicariously through them. She's stuck at home attending tea parties, knitting scarves for soldiers, and writing the most humorous and heartfelt letters to Will (her brother) and Tom (his best friend). As the years progress and the tone of the war changes, she starts to find herself falling for Tom, but she's pretty sure it's one sided. What would Tom ever see in his best friend's younger sister? Romantic, thrilling, and full of wit and charm, this novel will be sure to charm readers.

Lady of a Thousand Treasures

Inspirational readers will be a big fan of this historical fiction involving, murder, theft, intrigue, romance, and a dash of adventure. Miss Eleanor Sheffield is practically running her late father's antiquities and appraisal shop. Her uncle is in declining health and it's on her and another young man to keep the business afloat. Many of the aristocracy and wealthy have reservations about a young lady's knowledge in treasures, but she was trained by the best, her father. When a large estate of treasures is placed in Eleanor's care to decide whether the collection should say with the deceased man's son or go to a museum, she finds herself torn. The son in question is her former crush, and she fears she still has feelings for him. What's a girl to do? If that wasn't complicated enough, counterfeits keep cropping up, and she discovers that bills have gone unpaid. How will she ever keep her family's business open? A delicate, inspirational romance with lush atmosphere.

Fox 8

I don't know what I was expecting, but I will admit, I picked up this book because it was small and it was beautiful Fox 8 is a dark short story about an endearing fox who is enamored by humans. He sits outside of a house night after night listening to the mother read to her children and over time Fox 8 learns how to speak like a "Yuman" and read. He puts his newfound skills to use for his pack to discover what is going on to their forest. Land is being clear and there are more trucks and white boxes every day. Soon their environment is gone and they are starving. Fox 8 is not so impressed with the yumans now. A chilling tale from a cute wolfs perspective on humans screwing up the environment.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

I ADORED this book! It now ranks as one of the most moving coming of age stories I've ever read. It was poignant, heartfelt, and filled bits of humor and unique ways of looking at the world. Francie and her younger brother are no stranger to poverty. They've been dirt poor, but have found ways to find the beauty while surrounded by dirt. They live in Brooklyn, New York with a hard working mother and a lovable drunk father who is good hearted but useless. Francie is an odd child, she fiercely loves her family, loves learning, and is always questioning. She has grand dreams about being an author or a playwright and she loves to write. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is loosely based on the author's childhood in pre-World War I New York which doesn't surprise me at all. The voice of young Francie is so knowing, so delicate, and so well understood. A wonderful novel.

Smoke City

Ridiculously original, I can't even think of a book to compare this too. Joan of Arc's executioner has been reincarnated time and again and finds himself living a droll existence as a record store owner in Portland, Oregon. Marvin has never lived past 57 so he knows his time is near. He's all but resigned to the fact when he sees a woman on a daytime talk show claim to be Joan of Arc reincarnated. Is this it? Is this Marvin's chance to break the cycle of reincarnation and make amends for killing Saint Joan? He starts to hitchhike down to LA to find Joan of Arc and in the process joins Mike Vale, a former art icon and current drunk. Their road trip turns out to be more than adventurous. Their trip is dotted with smokes, ghostly apparitions that are starting to appear on the east coast. Know one knows what smokes want, but they they don't hang around long. Hundreds appear and disappear and a sense of doom is falling over California. Ghosts, booze, sarcasm, and a 14th century reincarnated executioner make this novel and unforgettable and fun read.

Same Kind of Different As Me

A quick inspiring read about two men with nothing in common, finding, they do in fact have things in common. Denver is an illiterate, black, homeless man who grew up as a modern day slave working for the man in Louisiana. Ron is a famed international art dealer with more money then he knows what to do with. When Ron's wife feels called by God to start helping others, Ron goes along for the ride. He begrudgingly starts handing out meals at a local mission. While there he encounters Denver, but Denver wants nothing to do with him. The streets have made him hard and he doesn't have time for rich people trying to make themselves feel better by helping the homeless. Slowly though, Ron's wife pushes the two of them together and they realize that they have more in common then they ever thought possible and start to genuinely appreciate each other's perspectives on life. A little hokey, but I'm probably just a jaded cynic.

Two Dark Reigns

This series continually hold my attention. The plot really thickens in this one! Instead of just fighting each other, they have a new enemy, the mist. The mist that has been guarding the island begins to attack the islanders without mercy. Over on the mainland Arsinoe begins to have weird dreams of the Blue Queen and she begins to feel the pull of the island. She convinces Mirabella and Billy to go back with her to the island, but they have no idea what is in store for them. Back on the island the warriors are convincing Jules that she should lead the uprising as the Legion Queen and Queen Katherine is having one hell of a time keeping the dead queens inside of her in check. All in all, it's another great installment and as always it ends with a cliffhanger!

Something in the Water

Very much in the style of Lisa Jewell and other contemporary female thriller authors, Something in the Water keeps you guessing at the outcome until the end. When Erin and her husband go on their honeymoon they make a shocking discovery while scuba diving. Do they pretend they saw nothing or do they take what they find?? One bad decision follows another as the two British newlyweds find themselves in heaps of trouble. They have to sleep with one eye open as the trouble begins to seep into every outlet of their lives. If only they had gone somewhere other than Bora Bora! Pretty fast paced all the way until the end (which I did not see coming).

Consumed

I thought I would enjoy a light fluffy romance with some steamy scenes, but even I was under impressed with this. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood to read this, but whatever the case, I was not a fan. The plot was very predictable, there were far fewer sex scenes then I would have anticipated, and I was over the firefighter shit from the first chapter. I feel like I'm being unfair to this book. I'm sure it will garner lots of fans. It wasn't even badly written, it just did nothing for me. Anne was a firefighter until an on the job emergency cost her her hand. No longer able to be one of the boys (aka a firefighter), she undergoes intense physical therapy and becomes a fire investigator. One of her cases leads her back to Danny, a smoking hot firefighter she once had a one night stand with. Now she is lusting after Danny and having to watch her back, because her one case is going to put her in danger. Cliche. Cliche. Cliche. 

The Grapes of Wrath

Alternative title: Running Over Animals and Slowly Starving. This tour de force about trying to survive during the great depression is eloquent in it's simplicity. The Grapes of Wrath follows one family as they are forced off their farm and decide to head to California to try and find work there. Handbills promise plenty of work but they soon discover that not everything is as stated. They are just one of tens of thousands who are down on their luck and desperate to survive. The Joad's suffer one set back after another, just when they think they may be able to make it, something runs them over (karma for all the animals they run over on the road - RIP roadkill). This large family is traveling in a truck with all their worldly possessions and a dwindling amount of money. Reading this you just want the family to be able to settle down, because like all the other poor people they encounter on their travels, they are hard working, nice folk. It's just hard to succeed when the deck is stacked against you. A wonderful, heartbreaking book.

I'd Rather Be Reading

I'm always easily charmed by any odes to reading and this little book charmed me from the first page. Filled with essays, anecdotes, little drawings, reading lists, advice, and stories, this love letter to books is a must read for any bibliophile. As a reader I could relate to everything Anne Bogel so eloquently wrote and I can't wait to read more of her work. A great little volume!

Elevation

I thoroughly enjoyed this short story by Stephen King. It takes place in Castle Rock (the setting of many King tales) and features a man who is slowly losing weight. In itself, that isn't very odd, but the puzzling aspect is that his mass is still staying the same. Every day he loses a pound or so but his muscles and physique don't change a hair. Scott Carey doesn't know what to think so he consults his friend who is a retired physician and he is just as puzzled as Scott is. At first Scott is worried, what will happen when the scale says zero? But soon he accepts fate and works on living his best life and trying to improve the lives around him, particularly the lives of the lesbian restaurant owners who live right next to him. Maybe he can work on making his conscious as light as his body. A charming, unique story that not just King fans will enjoy. 

Sex Criminals: Five Finger Discount

I love this series, but this was my least favorite so far. It's slow build up and I'm getting really annoyed with some of the characters. Suze is dating the most boring and bland guy and Jon doesn't appreciate his uber kinky ladyfriend. Gasp, maybe they still miss each other??Also, Suze's ma is super into her sexual side and Suze is maybe talking to her dead father via an old dial up computer. What in tarnation is happening?!?!

Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass

A really good coming of age novel for teens. Specifically Latina and female teens. Meg Medina does a great job writing for teens, I felt like a teen reading it, she really inhibited the teen mind. Pissy Sanchez already has it tough when she finds out someone named Yaqui Delgado wants to kick her ass. Piddy is already pissed that her mom made them move and now she has to attend a new school and she is separated from her best friend. Now to top it off, a fellow Latina at her new school apparently doesn't like the way that Piddy shakes her rear while she walks and wants to beat her up. This teen novel does a great job explore the intricacies of going through puberty, heartbreak, teen friendships, self-esteem, and parental struggles.

Check Please

A cute, endearing graphic novel that will find a plethora of fans. Check Please is a graphic novel starring a young baker/vlogger/figure skater/hockey player that is thrilled to go away to college and meet new friends. He immediately feels at home with his new collegiate hockey mates and they accept him in no time. How can they not when he keeps baking them pies? He's  having a harder time though on the ice then he thought he would, Bitty is terrified of getting hit; in his high school hockey league there was no checking; but now that he's in college he's going to have to accept taking a few hits and helping his teammates to help out. Cute, laugh out loud funny, inventive, and impossible to put down; I can't wait until volume two comes out. I have to find out what will happen between Bitty and his crush (the hockey captain!).

All Quiet on the Western Front

I feel that it's very fitting that this book is often lauded as the greatest war novel of all time. To me it also read as the greatest anti-war novel (besides Slaughterhouse Five) because after reading this dark, chilling, DEPRESSING account of what it's like going to war, why on earth would you ever want to enlist?? One very interesting thing I noticed while reading this, is that patriotism or fighting for your country never came up. At all. They weren't protecting the fatherland, they joined because it was expected of them, they didn't have any deep desire to show off their patriotism. All Quiet on the Western Front showcases several young German men on the front lines during World War I. They're fighting in the trenches, enjoying the little things in life (food, companionship, and cigarettes) and wondering where on earth their youth went. Two years of seeing the unimaginable, suffering every malady, and losing friend after friend has them questioning everything from why they are there to what they plan on doing if they are lucky enough to survive the war. A fast paced read that everyone should read.