Waiting on Wednesday: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme that highlights pre-publication/upcoming releases that readers cannot wait to get their hands on. It is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Title: Ninth House
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publication date: October 1, 2019
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Genres: Young Adult, New Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary

Synopsis

The mesmerizing adult debut from #1 New York Timesbestselling author Leigh Bardugo

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?

Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Waiting on Wednesday: King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme that highlights pre-publication/upcoming releases that readers cannot wait to get their hands on. It is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Title: King of Scars
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publication date: January 29, 2019
Publisher: Imprint
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy

Synopsis

Nikolai Lantsov has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war—and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, the young king must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army.

Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha Squaller, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried—and some wounds aren’t meant to heal.

I NEED IT!

I am a huge Shadow and Bone trilogy/GrishaVerse fan,
and I cannot wait to see more of Nikolai. 

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Top 5 Tuesday: Covers with Green, Blue, Purple

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created and hosted by The Bionic Book Worm. 

Today’s topic: Top 5 Covers with Green, Blue, and Purple

Click on the my photographs to be linked to my review or the book’s Goodreads page.

Greens and Blues: I adore Emery Lord’s books, especially The Names They Gave Us. Plus look at this cover. The picture doesn’t do the green and blue sunset justice. Also, the stars in the trees are silver foiled and sparkle, which I love. 

Blue: Christina Rosetti’s poem “Goblin Market” is one of my favorite Victorian poems, and when I found out Wintersong was a slight retelling of the poem, I knew I had to read it. And you guys, this book is so good.

Green and Purple: Love and Other Alien Experiences is such an adorable rom-com story. The story focuses on some mental health issues and I loved the “you’ve got mail” feels of the book too.

Blue: I am a collector of Leigh Bardugo’s books, especially her first series, so when I found The Gathering Dark, the alternate UK title for Shadow and Bone, I knew I had to own it. I really love the blue tones on this cover. 

When I first saw the cover of Black Bird of the Gallows, I knew I had to have it before I even bought it. I love the black bird and all the purple hues. 

What are some of your favorite books that are green, blue, purple?

 

Waiting On Wednesday: Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme that highlights pre-publication/upcoming releases that readers cannot wait to get their hands on. It is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Today I am aiming the spotlight on…

 

Title: Wonder Woman: Warbringer
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publication date: August 29, 2017
Publisher:  Random House Books for Young Readers
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Comics

Synopsis

 

She will become one of the world’s greatest heroes: WONDER WOMAN. But first she is Diana, Princess of the Amazons. And her fight is just beginning. . . .

Diana longs to prove herself to her legendary warrior sisters. But when the opportunity finally comes, she throws away her chance at glory and breaks Amazon law—risking exile—to save a mere mortal. Even worse, Alia Keralis is no ordinary girl and with this single brave act, Diana may have doomed the world.

Alia just wanted to escape her overprotective brother with a semester at sea. She doesn’t know she is being hunted. When a bomb detonates aboard her ship, Alia is rescued by a mysterious girl of extraordinary strength and forced to confront a horrible truth: Alia is a Warbringer—a direct descendant of the infamous Helen of Troy, fated to bring about an age of bloodshed and misery.

Together, Diana and Alia will face an army of enemies—mortal and divine—determined to either destroy or possess the Warbringer. If they have any hope of saving both their worlds, they will have to stand side by side against the tide of war.

Goodreads | Amazon |Barnes & Noble

You guys, I saw Wonder Woman over the weekend, and I AM IN LOVE with that film. Now I want to own and read everything Wonder Woman. How did I survive so long without this heroine in my life? I need this book NOW! NOW I SAY!!!

Top Ten Tuesday: FREEBIE!

HOSTED by The Broke and the Bookish

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This week’s topic is a FREEBIE!…

Top Ten Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time

(Click on the book cover to be linked to its Goodreads page or my review)

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Book and TV Villains

HOSTED by The Broke and the Bookish

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This week’s topic is…

TOP TEN FAVORITE BOOK AND TV VILLAINS

1. The Darkling from Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha series. I think he’s an excellent villain, but I never understood the shipping of him and the heroine, Alina. JUST NO! 

2. I’ve read up to Volume 18 of The Walking Dead graphic novels, and the Governor is by far the most viscous and well-crafted villain in the series (so far!). 

3. If you know me, you know that my all-time favorite series is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And Angelus is hands down my favorite Villain in the TV series. 

4. One of my other favorite Villains in Buffy the Vampire is Caleb from Season 7…Nathan Fillion really knows how to play a monster of a person. 

5. And speaking of favorite TV Villains, I cannot get enough of the ruthless Moriarty in BBC’s Sherlock. His evilness always makes me smile.

6. Then there is Satan in Milton’s Paradise Lost. I could research and analyze this character over and over, and still want more. 

7. Cersei Lannister from the A Song of Ice and Fire series (and the Game of Thrones TV Series). She is smart, cunning, and horrifying. I would never want to cross her path.

8. Voldemort from the Harry Potter series. Harry has to endure a lot sh!t from this power-crazed lunatic. Voldemort literally gives up parts of his soul in hopes of evil triumphing: now that’s a dedicated Villain.  

9. The Weeping Angels in Doctor Who. They did something to my favorite couple, the Ponds, and I still weep thinking about that scene. GAHHHH!!!

10. And I can’t have a completed Villain list without Bram Stoker’s Dracula. One of the most fascinating characters that shaped my love for Victorian Literature.

 

 

Who are some of your favorite book and TV villains? Comment below. I really feel like I’m forgetting a lot of really good ones.

Top Five Wednesday: Gateway Books to My Favorite Genre

TOP 5 WEDNESDAY is a weekly meme created by Lainey @ GingerReadsLainey and is currently hosted by Samantha @ Thoughts on Tomes. Every Wednesday a new topic is listed on the Goodreads group, and you list your top 5 books related to the particular topic.

This week’s topic is…

Gateway Books to Your Favorite Genre

My go-to genre is fantasy. I love the world-building, the variety of characters that can show up, and more importantly I love the magic that usually encompasses the story. So below, here are my Top 5 Books that I believe are perfect to introduce a new reader to the genre of Fantasy. 

The Night Circus is 387 pages of mystery, kittens, the aroma of Kettlecorn, romance, and intense magic! If you are looking for a good fantasy read, this book will definitely win you over.

The Storyspinner is an engaging, high fantasy read. It intertwines reality, magic, and a badass heroine. Definitely add this to your TBR list now! 

This fantasy series needs no explanation. JUST READ IT! 

The Winner’s Trilogy contains no magic, but it definitely has elaborate world-building and a historical feel to it. The way the two main characters challenge other is intense, gut-wrenching, and beautifully executed throughout the whole series.

In 2012, I was going through a reading slump. I had just finished my first year of graduate school for English Literature, and I was in the dire need of a good book. I could go on and on about how great this series is, but trust me, it’s amazing in every way.

Top Ten Tuesday (#3)

TOP TEN TUESDAY

HOSTED by The Broke and the Bookish

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This week’s topic is…a FREEBIE! Top Ten Sequels/Companion Novels I look forward to reading in 2016

1. The Skylighter  (The Keepers’ Chronicles, #2) by Becky Wallace
2. Glass Sword (Red Queen, #2) by Victoria Aveyard
3. Love Charms and Other Catastrophes (Grimbaud, #2) by Kimberly Karalius  (#TheGrimbaudLife)
4. The Rose and the Dagger (The Wrath and the Dawn, #2) by Renee Ahdieh
5. Walk the Edge (Thunder Road, #2) by Katie McGarry
6. Untitled (Blood and Salt, #2) by Kim Liggett
7. The King Slayer (The Witch Hunter, #2) by Virginia Boecker
8. A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2) by Sarah J. Maas
9. Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) by Leigh Bardugo
10. Cashmere (Velvet Trilogy, #2) by Temple West

EEEKKK! I can not wait to continue each of these series. What sequel or companion novel are you looking forward to reading this year?