February Wrap-Up

Hey guys! -waves-

So I'm sorry I didn't have a monthly giveaway for February. But I did try to make up for it by having a couple twitter giveaways this month. I'm still trying to decide what to do for my March giveaway, so if you have any ideas before tomorrow, leave a comment below!

So let's get this party wrapped up!

Things I read

Okay, I did a fair amount of reading and reviewing this month. I'm honestly feeling really lazy, so I'm just going to put a picture of my goodreads page lmao.

Review: Queens of Geek

Title: Queens of Geek
Author: Jen Wilde
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Release Date: March 14, 2017

When BFFs Charlie, Taylor and Jamie go to SupaCon, they know it’s going to be a blast. What they don’t expect is for it to change their lives forever.

Charlie likes to stand out. SupaCon is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star, Reese Ryan. When Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought.

While Charlie dodges questions about her personal life, Taylor starts asking questions about her own.

Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there’s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about the Queen Firestone SupaFan Contest, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.

Amazon|B&N|Goodreads|Kobo|TBD

Review: Strange the Dreamer

Title: Strange the Dreamer
Author: Laini Taylor
Publisher: Little, Brown BFYR
Release Date: March 28, 2017

The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around— and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he's been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance to lose his dream forever.

What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?

The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo's dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? and if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?

In this sweeping and breathtaking new novel by National Book Award finalist Laini Taylor, author of the New York Times bestselling Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy, the shadow of the past is as real as the ghosts who haunt the citadel of murdered gods. Fall into a mythical world of dread and wonder, moths and nightmares, love and carnage.

Welcome to Weep.

Amazon|B&N|Goodreads|Kobo|TBD|Waterstones

Weekly Snippet

Hello! I'm deep in revisions and super busy. So I'm providing you with a tiny part of Spy Project (the part I've skimmed over already at least lol).

Hope you enjoy! I need to get back to work...

Audiobook Review: King's Cage

Title: King's Cage
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 7, 2017

In this breathless third installment to Victoria Aveyard’s bestselling Red Queen series, allegiances are tested on every side. And when the Lightning Girl's spark is gone, who will light the way for the rebellion?

Mare Barrow is a prisoner, powerless without her lightning, tormented by her lethal mistakes. She lives at the mercy of a boy she once loved, a boy made of lies and betrayal. Now a king, Maven Calore continues weaving his dead mother's web in an attempt to maintain control over his country—and his prisoner.

As Mare bears the weight of Silent Stone in the palace, her once-ragtag band of newbloods and Reds continue organizing, training, and expanding. They prepare for war, no longer able to linger in the shadows. And Cal, the exiled prince with his own claim on Mare's heart, will stop at nothing to bring her back.

When blood turns on blood, and ability on ability, there may be no one left to put out the fire—leaving Norta as Mare knows it to burn all the way down.

Amazon|B&N|Goodreads|Kobo|TBD|Waterstones

Audiobook Review: Ink Mage

Title: Ink Mage
Author: Victor Gischler
Publisher: 47North
Release Date: April 29, 2014

In the first installment of the A Fire Beneath the Skin trilogy, the city of Klaar has never fallen. No enemy has ever made it across the Long Bridge or penetrated the city’s mighty walls. Even when a powerful invading army shows up at the gates, the duke and his daughter, Rina Veraiin, are certain that it poses little threat.

But they are cruelly betrayed from within and, in a horrific spasm of violence, the city is brought to its knees.

With the help of her bodyguard, Kork, the battle-trained young Rina narrowly escapes the slaughter and makes her way to the lair of an ancient sorcerer—the Ink Mage—who gifts her with a strange, beautiful set of magical tattoos.

Now a duchess in exile, Rina sets out on a quest to reclaim what is rightfully hers, aided by a motley assortment of followers who will help her in her cause—some for noble reasons and others for their own dark purposes.

With the enemy’s agents nipping at her heels, Rina must learn to harness her new and startling magical powers if she is to assert her rightful place as ruler of Klaar.

Amazon|B&N|Goodreads|TBD

Weekly Snippet

Hello and welcome to Weekly Snippet, a post where I show you a small bit of one of my WIPs. This week's snippet is from Iron Curse, my MS that is temporarily available to read on Swoon Reads. At least until March.

It's small, I know. But I haven't worked on this MS in a while, and there is a lot I plan to overhaul once I have it taken down from the Swoon Reads site.

Review: Traitor to the Throne

Title: Traitor to the Throne
Author: Alwyn Hamilton
Publisher: Viking Books
Release Date: March 7, 2017

Mere months ago, gunslinger Amani al'Hiza fled her dead-end hometown on the back of a mythical horse with the mysterious foreigner Jin, seeking only her own freedom. Now she's fighting to liberate the entire desert nation of Miraji from a bloodthirsty sultan who slew his own father to capture the throne.

When Amani finds herself thrust into the epicenter of the regime—the Sultan's palace—she's determined to bring the tyrant down. Desperate to uncover the Sultan's secrets by spying on his court, she tries to forget that Jin disappeared just as she was getting closest to him, and that she's a prisoner of the enemy. But the longer she remains, the more she questions whether the Sultan is really the villain she's been told he is, and who’s the real traitor to her sun-bleached, magic-filled homeland.

Forget everything you thought you knew about Miraji, about the rebellion, about djinni and Jin and the Blue-Eyed Bandit. In Traitor to the Throne, the only certainty is that everything will change.

Amazon|B&N|Goodreads|Kobo|TBD|Waterstones

Review: Frostblood

Title: Frostblood
Author: Elly Blake
Publisher: Little Brown BFYR
Release Date: January 10, 2017

The frost king will burn.

Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a Fireblood who has concealed her powers of heat and flame from the cruel Frostblood ruling class her entire life. But when her mother is killed trying to protect her, and rebel Frostbloods demand her help to overthrow their bloodthirsty king, she agrees to come out of hiding, desperate to have her revenge.

Despite her unpredictable abilities, Ruby trains with the rebels and the infuriating—yet irresistible—Arcus, who seems to think of her as nothing more than a weapon. But before they can take action, Ruby is captured and forced to compete in the king’s tournaments that pit Fireblood prisoners against Frostblood champions. Now she has only one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who has taken everything from her—and from the icy young man she has come to love.

Amazon|B&N|Goodreads|Kobo|TBD|Waterstones

Review: Traveler

Title: Traveler
Author: L.E. Delano
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Release Date: February 7, 2017

Jessa has spent her life dreaming of other worlds and writing down stories more interesting than her own, until the day her favorite character, Finn, suddenly shows up and invites her out for coffee. After the requisite nervous breakdown, Jessa learns that she and Finn are Travelers, born with the ability to slide through reflections and dreams into alternate realities. But it’s not all steampunk pirates and fantasy lifestyles…Jessa is dying over and over again, in every reality, and Finn is determined that this time, he’s going to stop it… this Jessa is going to live.

Amazon|B&N|Goodreads|Kobo|TBD

Review: Romeo & What's Her Name

Title: Romeo & What's Her Name
Author: Shani Petroff
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Release Date: February 7, 2017

Understudies never get to perform

. . . which is why being Juliet's understudy in the school's yearly "Evening with Shakespeare" is the perfect role for Emily. She can earn some much-needed extra credit while pursuing her main goal of spending time with Wes, aka Romeo, aka the hottest, nicest guy in school (in her completely unbiased opinion). And she meant to learn her lines, really, it's just:
a) Shakespeare is HARD,
b) Amanda, aka the "real" Juliet, makes her run errands instead of lines, and
c) there's no point because Amanda would never miss the chance to be the star of the show.


Then, Amanda ends up in the hospital and Emily, as the (completely unprepared!) understudy, has to star opposite the guy of her dreams. Oops?

Amazon|B&N|Goodreads|Kobo|TBD|Waterstones

This... This definitely had a scene that was the most mortifying thing I have ever read in my entire life.

Emily has a thing for Wes, the super sweet, smart, nerdy, and all-over just about perfect guy at school. Even better, they grew up just down the street from each other, so she's been harboring this crush for quite some time. When he comes back from winter break, she finds out he and his girlfriend broke up and is determined to get his attention. 

Much to Emily's surprise, Wes gives her the attention she always wanted. She's shocked/confused/etc until he seems to be doing to same to all the girls. So is he just being a a nice guy? 

So let's talk about the characters. I really liked Wes. He was super sweet, and constantly tries to do the right thing. But, as Emily points out early on, he is constantly walked over by others, which leads to some interesting times later on. Because he really just can't say no to anyone for anything.

And then there's Emily. She weirded me out at first. Okay, probably because I was pretty similar to her. Her obsessive crush was maybe a bit much, but who could blame her when she lives down the street from the hottest guy in school?

I loved that when Emily found out she had to perform she really and truly did try to learn her lines. She crammed with her friend Kayla (I loved both Kayla and Jill, her best friends) before the show, and they tried to come up with a way for her to see the lines on her phone. And we're led to believe she might actually know her lines. But then things happen, and more things happen, and she's totally lost, making up the entire scene in "Shakespeare-speak". Not gonna lie, it was bad. Mortifying. Even more so because I know that part was based on a true story. 

Characters: 3 stars
Plot: 4 stars
World: 4 stars
Feels: 4 stars

4 stars

Weekly Snippet

For this week's snippet, I went back to Iron Curse, which can be found on Swoon Reads in all its typo-y glory (lol). This particular snippet is from the prologue.

I need to get back to revising this, but I have so much that I need to read at the moment. It's been pretty far from my mind. Remember, this month on Swoon Reads is reading month. That means that the submission deadline for this publishing season just passed, and they are giving readers one extra month to read, rate, and review manuscripts.

Whoops! My Bad!

So today is the first of the month.

Today I would usually have a monthly giveaway post up. But I have a confession.

I forgot.

I've been crazy busy between a really stressful week at work, getting back from ALA, health issues, and my blogaversary, that it totally slipped my mind. I suck. I don't like not giving you guys the entire month to enter, so I'm going to skip this month and try to have an extra-awesome prize for March.

Sorry! I'm dumb, and I suck. I'll try to make it up to you guys!