Books and Prejudice: March 2016

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Dragon Loyalty Award

I was tagged by the lovely Sam over at Tsundoku Books. You should definitely go check her blog out :)

The Rules:

1. Give nine facts about yourself.

2. Tag other bloggers (dragons only).

So, four of these "facts" will be true and five false, or five true and four false.

Waiting on Wednesday (46) Aerie

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spineto highlight upcoming releases we're excited about.

Lately, I'm all about sequels. And this week, I'm excited for...

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

For this week's theme, I'm doing top five of my most recent disappointing reads. AND top five best recent reads.

So here we go.

Review: The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski

The Winner's Kiss (The Winner's Trilogy, #3)

Title: The Winner's Kiss
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)/Bloomsbury Children's
Release Date: March 29, 2016/March 24, 2016

War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it with untrustworthy new allies and the empire as his enemy. Though he has convinced himself that he no longer loves Kestrel, Arin hasn’t forgotten her, or how she became exactly the kind of person he has always despised. She cared more for the empire than she did for the lives of innocent people—and certainly more than she did for him.

At least, that’s what he thinks.

In the frozen north, Kestrel is a prisoner in a brutal work camp. As she searches desperately for a way to escape, she wishes Arin could know what she sacrificed for him. She wishes she could make the empire pay for what they’ve done to her.

But no one gets what they want just by wishing.

As the war intensifies, both Kestrel and Arin discover that the world is changing. The East is pitted against the West, and they are caught in between. With so much to lose, can anybody really win?

Spring TBR

I'm not late at all. Nope.

So here are my wishes for this Spring, including my TBR and to-do list for writing.

Review: The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead

The Glittering Court (The Glittering Court, #1)

Title:The Glittering Court
Author: Richelle Mead
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: April 5, 2016

A dazzling new fantasy series set in a mix of Elizabethan and frontier worlds that’s dripping with romance from Richelle Mead, #1 internationally bestselling author of Vampire Academy.

Big and sweeping, spanning the refined palaces of Osfrid to the gold dust and untamed forests of Adoria, The Glittering Court tells the story of Adelaide, an Osfridian countess who poses as her servant to escape an arranged marriage and start a new life in Adoria, the New World. But to do that, she must join the Glittering Court.

Both a school and a business venture, the Glittering Court is designed to transform impoverished girls into upper-class ladies capable of arranging powerful and wealthy marriages in the New World. Adelaide naturally excels in her training and even makes a few friends: the fiery former laundress Tamsin and the beautiful Sirminican refugee Mira. She manages to keep her true identity hidden from all but one: the intriguing Cedric Thorn, son of the wealthy proprietor of the Glittering Court.

When Adelaide discovers that Cedric is hiding a dangerous secret of his own, together, they hatch a scheme to make the best of Adelaide’s deception. Complications soon arise—first, as they cross the treacherous seas from Osfrid to Adoria, and later, when Adelaide catches the attention of a powerful governor.

But no complication will prove quite as daunting as the potent attraction simmering between Adelaide and Cedric. An attraction that, if acted on, would scandalize the Glittering Court and make them both outcasts in wild, vastly uncharted lands. . . .

Amazon|B&N|Goodreads|Kobo|TBD

The Day My Dad Bought Me a Book

Here is a little story.

Once upon a time, there was a girl who had a father. She loved her father, but sometimes he just didn't understand. When he thought he was being supportive, it was actually quite the opposite.

"I'll support anything you do," he would say, "but don't get your hopes up."

She sighed and tried to forgive him for putting her down. He didn't know better, right?

Waiting on Wednesday (45) Crystal Storm

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine to highlight upcoming releases we're really excited about.

I would usually wait until there is more information, but I just couldn't. There is a cover and a synopsis and that's enough!

Do you like Fantasy? Do you like romance? Do you read YA novels? Then I have a book for you!

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

And wow. I haven't done one of these posts yet this month. I'm awful. So this week's theme is Top Ten books I really love but I haven't talked about enough.

Book Spine Poetry

So for today's blogging extravaganza post (actually I made this like last week), I have made a poem of book spines.

Those of you that know me may know that I really enjoy poetry. I used to write a lot of poetry (not good), but I stopped a while back. Is this poem that I made good? No, not really. I mean, it consists of book titles I was able to string together to make something coherent.

Review: Stone Field by Christy Lenzi

Title: Stone Field
Author: Christy Lenzi
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Release Date: March 29, 2016

In a small town on the brink of the Civil War, Catrina finds a man making strange patterns in her family’s sorghum crop. He’s mad with fever, naked, and strikingly beautiful. He has no memory of who he is or what he’s done before Catrina found him in Stone Field. But that doesn’t bother Catrina because she doesn’t like thinking about the things she’s done before either.

Catrina and Stonefield fall passionately, dangerously, in love. All they want is to live with each other, in harmony with the land and away from Cat’s protective brother, the new fanatical preacher, and the neighbors who are scandalized by their relationship. But Stonefield can’t escape the truth about who he is, and the conflict tearing apart the country demands that everyone take a side before the bloodbath reaches their doorstep.

Inspired by Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Stone Field is a passionate and atmospheric story of how violence and vengeance pervert the human spirit, and how hatred can be transcended by love.

Amazon|Goodreads|B&N|Kobo|TBD

Character Dating Profile: Magnus Damora

As part of today's Get Up Offa That Slump post, I'm submitting a character dating profile (and I must say I really love this idea, I might need to do more of these at another time).

Today's unlucky participant it Magnus Lukas Damora from the Falling Kingdoms series.

Waiting on Wednesday (44) Gemina

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine to highlight upcoming releases we're excited about.

This week I'm waiting on...

Totally Should've Book Tag

Today (I can't seem to type that without a typo) for our blogging extravaganza is a book tag. So I found one that I haven't done yet. The Totally Should've Book Tag is a youtube original from emmabooks.

Title: Tell Me Three Things
Author: Julie Buxbaum
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: April 5, 2016

What if the person you need the most is someone you’ve never met?
Everything about Jessie is wrong. At least, that’s what it feels like during her first week of junior year at her new ultra-intimidating prep school in Los Angeles. Just when she’s thinking about hightailing it back to Chicago, she gets an email from a person calling themselves Somebody/Nobody (SN for short), offering to help her navigate the wilds of Wood Valley High School. Is it an elaborate hoax? Or can she rely on SN for some much-needed help?

It’s been barely two years since her mother’s death, and because her father eloped with a woman he met online, Jessie has been forced to move across the country to live with her stepmonster and her pretentious teenage son.

In a leap of faith—or an act of complete desperation—Jessie begins to rely on SN, and SN quickly becomes her lifeline and closest ally. Jessie can’t help wanting to meet SN in person. But are some mysteries better left unsolved?

Amazon|B&N|Goodreads|Kobo|TBD

Review: Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

Title: Glass Sword
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 9, 2016

Mare Barrow’s blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control.

The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince—the friend—who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.

Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors.

But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat.

Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?

Amazon|B&N|Kobo|TBD|Waterstones

10 bookish things I'd give a kidney for

March 10th was World Kidney Day. So what bookish things would I give a kidney for??

Interview with Myself!!

So this is a thing, right? Rachel over at Beauty and the Bookshelf came up with this whole blogging extravaganza to help us get back into the groove of blogging. I know I personally have been finding it difficult to find topics to post on. So this is a thing! And the first post is an interview with yourself.

Strange, right? Well... sure.

Review: Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands, #1)

Title: Rebel of the Sands
Author: Alwyn Hamilton
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Release Date: March 8, 2016

She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands.

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there's nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can't wait to escape from.

Destined to wind up "wed or dead," Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she'd gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan's army, with a fugitive who's wanted for treason. And she'd never have predicted she'd fall in love with him...or that he'd help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is.

SST Interview with Ava Jae + Giveaway!

Title: Beyond the Red

Author: Ava Jae

Publisher: Sky Pony Press

Release Date: March 1, 2016

Alien queen Kora has a problem as vast as the endless crimson deserts. She’s the first female ruler of her territory in generations, but her people are rioting and call for her violent younger twin brother to take the throne. Despite assassination attempts, a mounting uprising of nomadic human rebels, and pressure to find a mate to help her rule, she’s determined to protect her people from her brother’s would-be tyrannical rule.

Eros is a rebel soldier hated by aliens and human alike for being a half-blood. Yet that doesn’t stop him from defending his people, at least until Kora’s soldiers raze his camp and take him captive. He’s given an ultimatum: be an enslaved bodyguard to Kora, or be executed for his true identity—a secret kept even from him.
When Kora and Eros are framed for the attempted assassination of her betrothed, they flee. Their only chance of survival is to turn themselves into the high court, where revealing Eros’s secret could mean a swift public execution. But when they uncover a violent plot to end the human insurgency, they must find a way to work together to prevent genocide

Amazon|Goodreads|B&N|Kobo|Waterstones

________________________________________________________________

Review: The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner

Title: The Serpent King

Author: Jeff Zentner

Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers

Release Date: March 8, 2016

Dill has had to wrestle with vipers his whole life—at home, as the only son of a Pentecostal minister who urges him to handle poisonous rattlesnakes, and at school, where he faces down bullies who target him for his father’s extreme faith and very public fall from grace.

He and his fellow outcast friends must try to make it through their senior year of high school without letting the small-town culture destroy their creative spirits and sense of self. Graduation will lead to new beginnings for Lydia, whose edgy fashion blog is her ticket out of their rural Tennessee town. And Travis is content where he is thanks to his obsession with an epic book series and the fangirl turning his reality into real-life fantasy.

Their diverging paths could mean the end of their friendship. But not before Dill confronts his dark legacy to attempt to find a way into the light of a future worth living.