Top Ten Tuesday: Relationship Freebie

Happy Tuesday peeps!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It celebrates lovely lists, wonderful books and the bookish community. This week’s topic is Relationship Freebie. Specifically, it’s about picking a relationship type and choosing characters who fit that relationship as it relates to you. So, characters you’d like to date, be friends with, be enemies with, etc. Bookish families you’d like to be a part of, characters you’d want as your siblings, pets you’d like to take for yourself, etc.

The one that I decided to go with was Pets I’d Like to Take for Myself. Because I like a challenge. Let’s do this! I had to go waayyy back on the books I’ve read in my lifetime for some of these – like 15+ years guys!

Charlie Bone series: The Flames! I love Aries, Leo and Sagittarius so much! When I was in middle school/junior high I wanted to have these three colorful magic cats so badly. (I still want them, lol.)

The Scorpio Races: This might not be the answer you expect in the book about horses – but Puffin. The sweet little barn cat.

Beautiful Darkness: It’s been awhile, but I’m pretty sure this is the one with Lucille Ball the Cat in it? I love her, btw.

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands: I picked this one over the first one, because not only does it have Shadow the Magical and Loyal Dog in it, but it also has Orga the Magical and Sassy Kitty.

The Dresden Files: Harry’s cat, Mister, as well as his dog, Moose.

Hounded: I didn’t much care for this book, but one thing I adored was Atticus’ perfect doggo, Oberon.

The Lost Story: Skya has a magical red crow named Aurora. I want a magical red crow named Aurora, and I’m not even that into birds.

The Ghostkeeper: There’s a cute ghost cat named Muffin in this graphic novel that likes knocking things over. Enough said.

A Dog’s Life: I read this one a long time ago. But I still remember clearly how much I wished I could find Squirrel in real life and give her a home. (I’m so happy she ultimately got a happy ending.)

Warrior Cats: The cats. All of them. There’s room in my heart for everyone (except the villains, but even then…) I promise!

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Favorite Books from Ten Favorite Series

Hey everybody! Happy Tuesday!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It celebrates lovely lists, wonderful books and the bookish community. This week’s topic is actually Books Featuring Travel, but I’m not feeling it this week. So I decided to do last week’s topic – 10 Favorite Books from 10 Favorite Series – since I missed last week.

Without further ado, let’s get started!

(Important Note: This list isn’t in order of my favorites, ironically enough. This list is in order of which book I thought of first. I just felt everyone should know that.)

#1

A Court of Mist and Fury: My mixed feelings about the ACOTAR series aside (aside from the fact that it’s one of my guilty pleasures), I loved A Court of Mist and Fury. Like, so much and so immediately, despite its flaws. I definitely think this is the best ACOTAR book.

#2

The Last Olympian: Not only is it the best PJO book, but I’d hazard to say that this book in particular is one of the greatest middle grade/young adult novels ever written. It’s just an amazing novel in general, and is such a satisfying conclusion to the original series. And since it’s so hard to stick the landing sometimes for authors, especially for a five book series, I’d say it’s a great accomplishment. (BTW, The Battle of the Labyrinth (book four) is also amazing – I honestly have trouble choosing which one I like more.)

#3

A Darker Shade of Magic: Despite being the first book in the Shades of Magic series, it’s still my favorite. Just, the way it’s written, the way it gives you just a taste of what’s coming, the characters, the setting(s) – it’s all just so, so good. I just love this book so much.

#4

The Gray Wolf Throne: I know that book three is a weird choice to pick, but out of the four Seven Realms books, The Gray Wolf Throne is my favorite for some reason. I like the final book, The Crimson Crown, a lot too, but book three is the one I like best.

#5

Once Upon a Broken Heart: I don’t think the OUABH books are the best written – in fact I think that these books have a TON of problems. But I enjoyed Once Upon a Broken Heart when I first read it a few years ago, and I like it more than the others in this trilogy, so it’s here.

#6

Exit Strategy: I love the first four novellas in the Murderbot Diaries pretty much equally, but there’s just something about Exit Strategy, what with everything coming together, that I love.

#7

Beautiful Creatures: Nearly every year in high school, I had this thing where every October, I’d get in the mood to read this book. Sometimes I’d read the second book in this series too (Beautiful Darkness), but there was something about Beautiful Creatures that made me want to come back and read it for years.

#8

Death Masks: Out of the seven Dresden Files books I’ve read, this one is by far my favorite. The pacing, the plot, the characters, the dialogue – the sass – it was all so perfect.

#9

Cress: When I first tried to read this like, six and a half years ago, I wasn’t vibing with it (I had a lot going on in my personal life at the time and it had a bit of a slow start), but reading it again last year… I dunno, it suddenly really clicked with me. Now I like it just about as much I love Scarlet – this was another one where I had trouble picking my favorite book out of two. It’s weird that they were both the two middle books – this series didn’t suffer from Middle Book Syndrome at all!

#10

The Inquisition: Out of the three books in the Summoner Trilogy, book two is the one I like the most. This is another case of a series where I liked the middle book(s) best. Once again, no Middle Book Syndrome here.

Spell the Month in Books: August 2023

Hello hello. *gasp* It’s an elusive Saturday post! I know, I know, calm down everyone. I’m okay! I just wanted to test the waters on a new monthly post I’ve found that I wanna participate in.

It’s probably obvious from my featured image, but the post is Spell the Month in Books. Spell the Month in Books is a monthly post created and hosted by Jana @ Reviews from the Stacks. I actually discovered it a bit ago, but was nervous about participating in it for whatever reason. But new I’m not, so here. We. Go! I’m gonna spell August in books!

A

Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton

★★★★☆ • 4 / 5 • My Review

U

Unraveller by Frances Hardinge

★★★★★ • 5 / 5 • My Review

G

Grave Peril by Jim Butcher

★★★★✯ • 4.5 / 5

U

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

★★★★★ • 5 / 5

S

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

★★★★★ • 5 / 5 • My Review

T

Timekeeper by Tara Sim

★★★★☆ • 4 / 5 • My Review

What books did you choose to spell August with? Did we choose any of the same ones? Have you read any of the books I chose?

As always, thank you to anyone who read and enjoyed my post. Regardless, I hope anyone and everyone has a really good day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Birthstone Book Covers: April 2023

It’s later in the month than I usually do this, but April. Is. HARD. So, I had to take some time and consider the covers I was gonna pick for this month.

Leslie @ Books Are the New Black created a fun monthly post called Birthstone Book Covers. Each month, she features book covers that are either the same color of that month’s birthstone or include the color in the title.

April has one birthstone – Diamond.

Rules:

📚 Mention the creator (Leslie @ Books Are The New Black) and link back to her so she can check out your post.
📚 Pick 5+ book covers that match the current month’s Birthstone.
📚 HAVE FUN!
📚 Nominate people if you want!

This was a difficult birthstone for me, hence why this post is later than usual, as I mentioned above. I finally decided to choose primarily white or silver/gray covers. These are the book covers that I chose.

City of Souls and Sinners by Kayla Edwards — *City of Souls and Sinners* (House of Devils #2) by Kayla Edwards

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones — **My Heart is a Chainsaw** **(The Indian Lake Trilogy #1) by Stephen Graham Jones**

Starters by Lissa Price — **Starters** **(Starters #1) by Lissa Price**

White Night by Jim Butcher — **White Night** **(Dresden Files #9) by Jim Butcher**

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton — *Jurassic Park* (Jurassic Park #1) by Michael Crichton

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab — **City of Ghosts** **(Cassidy Blake #1) by Victoria Schwab**

Thank you so much for reading, and have a fabulous day/night!

See ya ~Mar

My Favorite Books I Read in 2022

I wanted to end the year on a high note, and there’s no higher note to end on on a book blog than a post glorifying books.

So I’m going to be highlighting my 5 star reads from the past year. Let’s get started!

Note: Despite this being a numbered list, it is not ranked in terms of how much I enjoyed these books. It isn’t ranked at all, actually. It’s just organized in the order that I read them.

A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) by V.E. Schwab: I loved this book sooo much. The magic system. The world building. The setting. It was just. Amazing. One of my favorite books I’ve ever read actually.
Gilded (Gilded #1) by Marissa Meyer: I absolutely loved this book. Just… so, so good. Marissa Meyer is truly the queen of fairytale retellings.
Mickey7 by Edward Ashton: This book got me out of a reading slump near the beginning of the year. Going into this book, I had a feeling that I would enjoy it a fair amount, but I was surprised just how much I enjoyed it.
Summer Knight (Dresden Files #4) by Jim Butcher: I started The Dresden Files very soon after finishing Mickey7 actually, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this series as a whole, as well. (Books 1 – 7 at least – I just... I haven’t gotten to reading the rest of the series yet, okay?!?) I only gave two of the books perfect 5 star ratings, however, and Summer Knight was one of them.
Death Masks (Dresden Files #5) by Jim Butcher: I almost enjoyed this more than Summer Knight if it were possible. Everything was absolutely perfect in this novel: the plot, the characters, the sass. I loved this book. (Note: I haven’t reviewed this series yet on the blog because I’m planning to do a massive review like with The Murderbot Diaries when I finish the entire series.)
The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells: Okay, so I’m cheating a bit here. I didn’t rate all of the novellas in this series perfectly. There were two that I gave 4.5 stars. But, as a whole, this series is definitely a 5 out of 5 for me. And the only reason those two even got that score was because they were just the slightest bit less than perfect. But I still consider this to be a perfect series.
The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding (Prosper Redding #1) by Alexandra Bracken: This was another unexpected surprise. I knew going into it that I would like this book, but once again, I was surprised by just how much. I just… I really loved everything about this one.