WINTERY THEMED BOOKS

Since we have officially entered the month of December, I decided to make a post recommending some winter themed books. None of these are in any particular order.

1.  Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones 

Wintersong is a book about Liesl who's heard tales of the Goblin King all her life and he's inspired many of her musical compositions. However, now that she's eighteen and helping to run her family's inn, her childhood dreams are slipping away. Then when her sister is taken by the Goblin King, she has no choice but to journey to the Underground to save her. This book revolves around winter a lot and it just reminds me of a cozy winter night. 

2.  Hunted by Meagan Spooner

Hunted is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and the majority of the book is set in the winter time in Russia. This follows Yeva, the youngest of three sisters. She's a hunter, just like her father, and finds her calling in the woods. After losing his fortune, her father sells everything and moves them to a cabin in the woods. Soon, her father goes missing in the woods and Yeva sets her sights on the beast that she's been tracking just before his disappearance. 

3. Carols and Chaos by Cindy Anstey

Carols and Chaos is a cute Christmas YA regency romance. This is a companion novel to Suitors and Sabotage but you don't have to read that one to understand this one. This is set in December 1817 where a houseparty is being hosted. Kate Darby is a lady's maid who is eager to welcome along with her mistress' guests, a valet named Matt Harlow. It is a super cute romance that includes many traditions that the characters participate in during Yuletide.

4. Winterspell by Claire Legrand

Winterspell is a retelling of The Nutcracker that was a lot darker than the original. This follows a teenage girl named Clara who lives in 1899 and then on Christmas Eve she gets transported to the magical world of Cane. Her only companion is the dethroned prince named Nicholas (who is supposed to be the Nutcracker prince) who is under a curse. This book is set in a sort of wintery world and it's also set around Christmas which is why it made this list. 

5. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo 

Shadow and Bone is very atmospheric and I always think of winter when I look at it. Even the cover looks dark and reminds me of winter. Also the entire aesthetic of the book includes snow and dark colors which remind me of winter. 

6. Stork by Wendy Delsol

Stork is about a girl who just moved from her home in Los Angeles to Minnesota and feels very out of place at her new school. Soon she finds out she's a Stork, a member of a mysterious order of women with a very unique duty. She also meets Jack, a gorgeous farm boy and editor of the school paper and discovers that a secret from her past binds her fate to his. This has Norse lore, aspects of The Snow Queen, and Icelandic customs and is all set in a frozen midwest. 

7. Frostfire by Amanda Hocking

Frostfire is about the Kanine which is a troll tribe. Bryn is an outcast among them as she is half Kanine (Earth troll) and then half Skojare (which is basically a water troll) and she is treated as inferior because she looks different. She wants to be a part of the King's Guard but all her plans are put on hold when someone begins kidnapping changelings and she's sent to stop him. This is on this list because it is set in a sort of winter wonderland. 

8. The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand

The Afterlife of Holly Chase is a retelling of A Christmas Carol and it's Christmas theme is the main reason it's on this list. It's about a girl named Holly who dies after she refuses to mend her ways and she is then stuck in the afterlife working for the super secret Project Scrooge as the latest Ghost of Christmas Past. Every year, they save another grouch and every year, Holly is stuck at the age of seventeen while her family and friends go on without her and she's miserable until this year. It's a cute and emotional book about the spirit of Christmas. 

9. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

The Bear and the Nightingale is an atmospheric fairytale set in Russia. This is about Vasilisa Petrovna who is the youngest child of a wealthy boyar and heir to ancient magic and she has lived with the burden of being able to see spirits and the creatures that surround and protect her town and people. When her father brings home a new bride who fears the spirits that Vasya can see and forbids Vasya from communicating with them and not long after, a young and arrogant priest is sent to her village and uses the rumors about demons to turn the people away from their old ways. Vasya tries to keep the magical protections in place from falling through and if that wasn't hard enough, the Winter King who lives in the woods wants her for himself. This is a very eery and atmospheric book set in the Russian wilderness which makes it the perfect wintery themed book.  

Have you read any of these books or do you want to? 

NOVEMBER '19 WRAP-UP

Time for another wrap up!

November didn't start out well for me in the reading department, however, by the third week I managed to catch up on my reading! I also won my Goodreads 2019 Challenge!

However, I ended up writing a lot for my nanowrimo and I finally feel like I know where my book is going (though I have had a plan from the beginning).

 Anyways...

Time to talk about the books I read this month.

PHYSICAL BOOKS

The first book I read was Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. This is about rag-tag bunch of misfits lead by star pupil Tyler who are sent on their first mission together but their mission is interrupted because of a girl who'd been rescued from space. Said girl is named Aurora and has been trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries. Aurora is out of her depth and she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler's crew could be the last hope the galaxy has. Except, his crew can barely function as a team. I really enjoyed this book as it was a lot of fun and I loved the squad vibes. I rated it 4 Crowns. 

The second book I read was Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand. I had been wanting to read this one for awhile but I could never really get into it as the first couple of chapters were a little bit confusing.  This is a very hard book to explain but I am going to try. Sawkill Rock is an island that is beautiful but has an ugly, terrible secret: girls keep going missing and more disappear every year. Nobody knows where they go and by this time, the islanders have just accepted this sad dark truth. There are three main characters, with chapters alternating between their perspectives. Marion arrives on the island with her mother and sister as her family was hoping a move would help them with the loss of their father. Instead, Marion discovers that something is very wrong with the island which is only reinforced with the disappearance of her sister. Zoey is the daughter of the police chief who's best friend went missing awhile ago and she's never been the same. Her search for answers leads her to discover that girls have been disappearing from Sawkill and nobody has ever found them. Then there's Val who is the queen bee at school but in reality she has a much darker and more haunted side then anything you could ever imagine. I really enjoyed this book and liked seeing how the relationships these girls had with each other progressed. It was a very scary book which I didn't expect but it is also beautiful! I rated it 4 Crowns. 

The third book I read was The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett. Jenn Bennett is one of my auto buy authors as her contemporary young adult books are great. This book is about Theodora who is the daughter of a treasure-hunting father. However, Theodora doesn't have her father's permission to travel with him while her father's protege (Huck Gallagher) does. However, when Huck arrives from an expedition without her father, he asks for Theodora's help in rescuing him. The duo learns from her father's travel journal and people they meet that he's been digging up information on a magical and legendary ring that once belonged to Vlad the Impaler (also known as Dracula) and it might be the key to finding him.  I really liked this one as it was a fun historical fiction. I really liked the characters and loved the interactions between Huck and Theodora. I rated this one 4 Crowns. 

The fourth book I read was Loki: Where Mischief Lies by Mackenzi Lee. This was one of my most anticipated books of the year as Loki is one of my favorite Marvel characters and I loved one of Mackenzi Lee's previous books. This is about a younger Loki (before his days in the Marvel movies) who is desperate to prove himself as heroic and capable of handing the responsibility of the throne, when everyone around him suspects him of villainy except for Amora. Amora is a sorceress in training on Asgard who Loki sees as a kindred spirit. However, when the two cause the destruction of one of Asgard's most precious artifacts, Amora is banished to Earth. Loki is very upset as she was the only one who saw his magic as a gift rather than a threat. Then, when Loki upsets his father, he sends him to Earth to investigate a string of mysterious murders with Asgard magic attached, and Loki embarks on a journey to discover who is truly meant to be.  I loved reading about Loki in nineteenth century London as well as seeing him in a way that Marvel never let us see. I rated this one 4 Crowns. 

AUDIOBOOKS READ

NONE THIS MONTH

ARC'S READ

NONE

REVIEWS IN OCTOBER: 

Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen Book Review

WEEKLY WRAP-UP:

NONE

DISCUSSIONS/OTHER:

October '19 Wrap-Up

FAVORITE COVER OF THE MONTH:

NEW FICTIONAL BAE'S: 

Tyler from Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Kal from Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Finian from Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Huck from The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett

Loki from Loki: Where Mischief Lies by Mackenzi Lee

NEW FAVORITE FEMALES: 

Aurora from Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Scarlett from Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Theodora from The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett

NEW FAVORITE BOOK RELATIONSHIPS: 

Aurora and Kal from Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Theodora and Huck from The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett

TV SHOWS I WATCHED THIS MONTH:

MOVIES I WATCHED THIS MONTH:

WHAT BOOKS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:

NONE

There's so many more but these are the main ones! 

NEW BLOG FINDS

NONE

SONGS ON REPEAT

Frozen 2 Soundtrack - Frozen 

demons - Hayley Kiyoko 

Siren - Kailee Morgue 

Preacher Man - The Driver Era 

Cake by the Ocean - DNCE

Only Human - The Jonas Brothers

Sucker - The Jonas Brothers

Watermelon Sugar - Harry Styles 

World Burn - Mean Girls Soundtrack 

 BOOKS I WANT TO READ NEXT MONTH

The graphics at the top belong to me. The background pictures for them, however do not.

Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen Book Review

This is a spoiler free review.

Stolen Songbird
Written by Danielle L. Jensen

Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy/Paranormal

Publisher: Strange Chemistry

Release Date: April 1, 2014

Pages: 469
Source: Bought Paperback

Places to Get this Book: Amazon Barnes and Noble Book Depository

Recommended Age: 13 and up!

Summary:

For five centuries, a witch’s curse has bound the trolls to their city beneath the mountain. When Cécile de Troyes is kidnapped and taken beneath the mountain, she realises that the trolls are relying on her to break the curse. 

The more time she spends with the trolls, the more she understands their plight. There is a rebellion brewing and she might be the one the trolls have been looking for. 

(Summary from Goodreads)

Review:

Stolen Songbird is a book that many people don't know about so I had no expectations heading into this book. This book is basically a combination of Beauty and the Beast and Fairest and though there are many similarities to those stories, this is a story that can completely stand on its' own.

COVER

The cover doesn't give much away about the book. I really like how the dress the model is wearing on the cover seems to fit with the time period.

WORLD-BUILDING

The world-building in Stolen Songbird is fantastic. Danielle L. Jensen weaves the information throughout the book so we don't get an info dump. The trolls in this novel are not the ugly and stupid creatures that we know from myth. These trolls are powerful, strong, clever and ruthless and they have magical abilities, can't lie, are resistant to iron and can be controlled by their 'true names'. These trolls reminded me a lot of fae in young adult books and you can see their similarities throughout the book.

Then there are the characters.

CECILE

Cecile de Troyes is an aspiring opera singer, who is also a fabulous heroine. She managed to be very relatable and humorous. She was a heroine who was thrown into a world that she had no idea about and she had to navigate it and figure everything out alongside the reader. She was trying to prove her usefulness so she isn't seen as expendable and simultaneously making decisions that would both benefit herself and help those in Tollus who she'd come to care for. Cecile was an overall relatable heroine who was likable from the first chapter.

TRISTAN

Tristan is the Prince of Trollus who comes off as untrusting, rude and deceptive. However, after we get to know him, he shows how smart, brave, charismatic, protective and selfless he is. He's a very flawed individual who is roped into a unwanted marriage with a human whom he's never met before. I really enjoyed getting to see how much he changes as he opens himself up to Cecile.

FRIENDSHIP/FAMILY

Cecile is taken from her family quite early in the book so we don't see much of her relationships with them. However, we do get to see how she is able to make friends in Trollus. Cecile is a very kind person who easily makes friends with some of the trolls she meets and lives around. I liked her relationship with them a lot because it showcases her kindness and selflessness.

We also get to see how Tristan interacts with his own family. Tristan has complicated relationships with his father and his brother which we get to see a lot of. His family doesn't seem to think he can be a suitable king and are unsure about him leading Trollus.

PLOT

Stolen Songbird is about a young woman named Cecile who is an aspiring opera singer until she is kidnapped by a former friend and taken beneath the mountain to be sold to the trolls in exchange for gold. She is then forced to bond with/marry Prince Tristan to fulfill a prophecy to break a centuries-old curse cast upon the trolls which has prevented them from ever returning to the human realm. While there, Cecile gets caught up in a revolution brewing between the trolls in servitude and the aristocracy. She also must learn to adapt to this world and prove her usefulness because as long as she is living without the curse being broken, the more she becomes expendable in the eyes of the trolls. The plot was very unique and I loved every bit of it.

ROMANCE

I really liked the romance and how it was developed. As many of you know, enemies-to-lovers is one of my favorite tropes in books and this one fits into that category. I really liked how they started out not liking each other at all and they gradually began to trust each other and become friends before they began to like each other. Their relationship is also one of sacrifice as they are devoted to a cause that is higher than their own and they know that if you love someone sometimes you have to let them go. I liked how much their relationship grew over the course of the book and I'm sure it will continue to change over the course of the trilogy.


WRITING

Danielle L. Jensen's writing made me get immediately sucked into the story and she really managed to bring the world and characters to life.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Stolen Songbird is a fast-paced and unputdownable book that leaves you wanting more. It's full of magic, complex characters, romance and politics. I am shocked that it took me this long to start this series and I recommend it to all young adult fantasy lovers.

Quotes from the Book:

“I think it is our nature to believe evil always has an ugly face,” he said, ignoring my question. “Beauty is supposed to be good and kind, and to discover it otherwise is like a betrayal of trust. A violation of the nature of things.”

“I cannot stop the world from moving. All I can do is be prepared for when it does.”

“To be bound is a burden, but it is the actions we freely take that cause us the most pain.”

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Crowns

OCTOBER '19 WRAP-UP

Time for another wrap up!

October is always the month where I try to read a lot of spooky books and normally fail. But, this month, I managed to read three!

I also worked on getting back into blogging and writing my novel. Fall TV shows are also back which is fun!

 Anyways...

Time to talk about the books I read this month.

PHYSICAL BOOKS

The first book I read was There Will Come A Darkness by Katy Rose Pool. This is a story that some people compared to Six of Crows because of the multiple points of views, however it is very different. This is about  Without giving too much away, this is about a world where seven prophets used to guide humanity until they all disappeared leaving behind a secret prophecy fortelling an age of darkness and the birth of a prophet who would either be the world's salvation or the cause of its destruction. There are five people who have points of views in this book: a prince exiled, a ruthless killer, a leader torn between duty and his heart, a reckless gambler and a dying girl. I had very high expectations for this book and while they weren't all met, I still enjoyed this book a lot. I rated it 4 Crowns. 

The second book I read was The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen.  This is about Fie who lives in a world broken down into castes. She belongs to a caste called the Crows who are serve as undertakers in order to take those who die from a horrible plague. They are called out to collect a dead royal, and she is expecting a great payday. Instead, they find out that Prince Jasimir and his bodyguard have faked their deaths in an effort to protect the kingdom from being taken over by a vicious queen. Fie offers the prince protection in his mission if he'll provide protection for the Crow caste when he ascends to the throne. I really liked this book and I wrote a whole review about it which is up on my blog. I liked how the characters all had a lot of character development and I thought the plot was very unique. I rated it 4 Crowns. 

The third book I read was Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I watched the Alfred Hitchcock movie based on this book a couple of months ago and never read the book so I decided to give it a try. This is about a woman who is swept off her feet by a widower aka Maxim de Winter. The two get married and since she's a orphan and working as a lady's maid she believes she's stumbled upon a lot of luck. However, after they arrive at his country estate she realizes how his late wife casts a shadow over their lives. It's a spooky gothic mystery romance. What's really interesting about this is that the heroine of the story isn't given a name which adds to the spookiness. I rated it 4 Crowns. 

The fourth book I read was The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas. I picked this one up because it's a thriller and I love reading at least one spooky book during the month of October. This is about a town that has no cheerleaders because five years ago all of them died and the cheer squad was disbanded. Now the faculty and students don't want to remember them. But for the main character, it's harder to forget as one of them was her sister. Now, a lot of things are starting to show up and Monica realizes that what happened five years ago isn't over. I expected a spine-chilling thriller however I was disappointed. The plot was a little predictable and I wanted to be shocked when I found out everything. I rated this one 3 Crowns. 

The fifth book I read was Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder. I have owned this book for a long time and never picked it up because I was scared that it wouldn't live up to my expectations. This book is about Yelena who is about to be executed for murder until she is offered a reprieve. She is offered the position of a food taster and she takes it. However, the chief of security doesn't seem to trust her and deliberately feeds her a deadly poison and appearing for her daily antidote is the only way she can delay an agonizing death from the poison. However, that's not her only problem as rebels plot to seize the kingdom and Yelena also develops magical powers she can't control which could also get her killed. I loved this book so much and I am so glad that it lived up to my expectations. I loved how character driven this book was and how the romance didn't overshadow anything. This is compared to Throne of Glass but it is so different and I really enjoyed it. I rated it 4.5 Crowns. 

The sixth book I read was Contagion by Erin Bowman. This was the last book that I read this month but it was a great spooky book to end the month with. I have read this book once before and I loved it just as much the second time. This is about a ragtag group/crew who are sent to an outer rim planet, in response to a distress call. They have no idea what to expect and when they arrive they find it abandoned and littered with dead bodies along with creepy written warnings. They all have to figure out what happened and discover that some things are better left alone. It's a very scary book and the plot twists will continue until the very end. I rated it 4.5 Crowns. 

AUDIOBOOKS READ

NONE THIS MONTH

ARC'S READ

NONE

REVIEWS IN OCTOBER: 

The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen Book Review

WEEKLY WRAP-UP:

9/30 - 10/13

10/14 - 10/27

DISCUSSIONS/OTHER:

Summer '19 Wrap-Up

September '19 Wrap-Up

Favorite Spooky/Scary Books

FAVORITE COVER OF THE MONTH:

NEW FICTIONAL BAE'S: 

Tavin from The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen

Valek from  Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

Coen from Contagion by Erin Bowman

NEW FAVORITE FEMALES: 

Ephyra from There Will Come a Darkness by Katy Rose Pool

Fie from The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen

Yelena from Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

Thea from Contagion by Erin Bowman

Nova from Contagion by Erin Bowman

NEW FAVORITE BOOK RELATIONSHIPS: 

Fie and Tavin from The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen

 Valek and Yelena from Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

TV SHOWS I WATCHED THIS MONTH:

MOVIES I WATCHED THIS MONTH:

WHAT BOOKS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:

There's so many more but these are the main ones! 

NEW BLOG FINDS

NONE

SONGS ON REPEAT

I Warned Myself - Charlie Puth 

Kill My Mind - Louis Tomlinson 

Teeth - 5SOS

There Will Be Blood - Kim Petras

Nice to Meet Ya - Niall Horan 

Lights Up - Harry Styles

Queen - Loren Gray

Clockwork - Kristina Bazan 

Killer - Kristina Bazan 

House of Memories - Panic! at the Disco 

Liar - Camila Cabello

Dangerous - DeathbyRomy 

Toxic - Nina Nesbitt 

My Spooky Playlist on Spotify

 BOOKS I WANT TO READ NEXT MONTH

The graphics at the top belong to me. The background pictures for them, however do not.

Weekly Recap: 10/14 - 10/27

Weekly recap is where I update you on my life, reading and watching. Plus any posts I have done or will do.

I've been catching up on writing my novel as well as writing on here.

Now, let's get into recapping.

New Books

Purchased:

Library: 

Received for Review: 

In Case You Missed It

The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen Book Review

September '19 Wrap-Up

Favorite Spooky/Scary Books

This Week I Read

This Week I Watched

This Week I Listened To 

Teeth by 5 Seconds of Summer
Kill my Mind by Louis Tomlinson
Looking at Me by Sabrina Carpenter
Fingerprints by Kita Klane
There Will Be Blood by Kim Petras
Nice to Meet Ya by Niall Horan
Lights Up by Harry Styles
Queen by Loren Gray
Clockwork by Kristina Bazan
Killer by Kristina Bazan
House of Memories by Panic! at the Disco
My Spooky Playlist on Spotify

Next Week I'm Reading

Upcoming Reviews

Upcoming Posts

Monday: TBD

Tuesday: TBD

Wednesday: TBD

Thursday: TBD

Friday: TBD

Saturday: TBD

Sunday: Weekly Recap

Around the Blog Community

CG over at Paperfury did a post about preparing for and surviving Nanowrimo

Aimal over at Bookshelves and Paperbacks did a September Wrap-Up Post. 

Heather over at The Sassy Book Geek did a Halloween Book Recommendation Guide

Book, Movie, and TV News 

None This Week!