WWW Wednesday: 8/30

I know it’s been like three weeks since I’ve done this post, but I had stuff going on last week, and the week before I took a bit of a blogging break. But I’m back now, here to update y’all with what I’ve been reading.

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme that used to be hosted at A Daily Rhythm, but has been taken over by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Now, without further ado, let’s get into the 3 Ws!

The 3 Ws of WWW Wednesday:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

The Thing I’m Currently Reading

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

CURRENT STATUS: 50%

CURRENT FEELS: 😊🥹🤔 (it’s kinda slow but I quite like it, even though it’s made me cry)

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

In the vein of The Time Traveler’s Wife and Life After Life, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab’s genre-defying tour de force.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever – and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

The Thing I Most Recently Finished Reading

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

My Review

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

From USA Today bestselling author T. Kingfisher, Thornhedge is an original, subversive fairytale about a kind-hearted, toad-shaped heroine, a gentle knight, and a mission gone completely sideways.

There’s a princess trapped in a tower. This isn’t her story.

Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?

If only.

Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He’s heard there’s a curse here that needs breaking, but it’s a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold…

The Thing I Might Read Next

Blood Stain (Volume #1) by Linda Sejic

(I’ve been getting more into graphic novels and webcomics lately… It feels nice to branch out and read a bunch of different things!)

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Mad science at its finest. Chemistry major, Elliot Torres has been unable to keep a steady job and eventually accepts a job by a rumored mad scientist Dr. Vlad Stein. Humorous hijinks ensue as their collaboration becomes epic.

What books are you guys currently reading? Have you read any of the ones on my list this week? What did you think of them, if you had? How do you feel about the book(s) you’re reading now?

Anyway, thank you to everyone for reading, and I hope that you have a fantastic day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Book Review: “Thornhedge” by T. Kingfisher

The love of monsters was uncomplicated.

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

LENGTH: 116 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Tor Books

RELEASE DATE: 15 August 2023

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

From USA Today bestselling author T. Kingfisher, Thornhedge is an original, subversive fairytale about a kind-hearted, toad-shaped heroine, a gentle knight, and a mission gone completely sideways.

There’s a princess trapped in a tower. This isn’t her story.

Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?

If only.

Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He’s heard there’s a curse here that needs breaking, but it’s a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold…

My Review

“There is a story,” Halim said, watching her closely, “of a beautiful maiden in a tower, enchanted by some terrible magic.”

“There cannot be a story,” said Toadling, almost inaudibly. “Everyone has been dead for so long. There cannot be a story. Who told you such a story?”

Thornhedge was a book I was looking forward to, ever since I first heard about it a few months back. I fairytale retelling? By the author of What Moves the Dead? Oh, heck yeah!

But I didn’t really like this book as much as I hoped that I would. Which has been a bit of a trend lately, unfortunately. (I’m looking at you Witch King. And you, the rerelease of Masters of Death.)

But I did like a few things about it. So I’m gonna talk about it. Uh, yeah.

(I’m just so eloquent, huh?)

Pros

I really liked the characters. Toadling was a very different take on the fairy who cursed the princess, and one I’ve never seen before. She’s nervous and insecure, but she has a phenomenal sense of duty that keeps her tied to the tower surrounded by thorns. She’s also curious, and longs to get a taste of the world(s) beyond her exile. Which is where our other major character comes in.

Halim was a great take on the knight in shining armor. Particularly because he’s not much of a knight – in his own words. He’s even more curious than Toadling, as that’s what led him to the tower to begin with, but he’s even more kindhearted. Even when he and Toadling meet face-to-face, he’s far more curious to her predicament than he is hostile, and spends the majority of the tale doing everything in his power to help her.

Beyond the characters, the other two things that I liked were the way T. Kingfisher built her world, and the lack of romance. Concerning the first of the two – I love the way that she weaves her stories (so far). The world building itself is just so intricately tied into the narrative in a way that I can’t imagine any other way to tell the story. I found it beautiful.

Regarding the lack of romance – I love gen relationships! There aren’t enough books completely free of romance out there, especially in the fantasy I’ve read, and it hurts me. I love a good friendship, and there aren’t enough novels where the main characters are just really close friends that exist. Particularly in a fairytale retelling.

Cons

As much as I loved the way the world building was, and how the story of Thornhedge was told… I don’t know how to explain it, honestly. I guess the novel itself just wasn’t quite for me.

This is nothing against the writing – I already said I liked it. I think the problem was there was too much background, and yet not enough. Maybe. Like I said, I think I just didn’t end up liking it as much as I’d wanted. I don’t know. So I’m not really sure what to put in my little con section here, lol.

Final Thoughts

She had so many choices and she had never had choices, never been given a chance to choose anything more important than what fish to snatch or what herb to pick.

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher was a very interesting and different take on Sleeping Beauty. Despite the fact that I didn’t quite enjoy it as much as I’d have liked to, it was still a very refreshing take on a fairytale retelling.

I think that people who’ve read and enjoyed more of the author’s work will probably like this one, at least a little bit. I also think that those who just enjoy fairytale retellings and retellings in general, will find something to like about it, too. (As well as my fellow gen lovers!)

So yeah, as always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

My Links:

Goodreads

Instagram

Weekly Wrap-Up: 8/7 – 8/13

Here we are again. Another weekly wrap-up. Can you tell that I’m disappointed in myself about last week? Lol.

Ugh, I don’t know what happened during the second half of the last week. Actually, no, I do – food poisoning and the like sucks. It wasn’t exactly good poisoning (maybe), but my stomach definitely didn’t agree with a couple of things I ate. At all.

(Also, I’m not sure if I can have coffee anymore. 😭😭)

Anyway, I’m not gonna waste anymore time. Let’s wrap up the past week.

Tuesday 8/8: Yumi and the Nightmare Painter Review

Last Tuesday, I finally posted my review of Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson. It’s a Japanese manga and Final Fantasy inspired fantasy. I really enjoyed it. I gave it ★★★★★.

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter Review

Wednesday 8/9: WWW Wednesday / Can’t-Wait Wednesday

On Wednesday, I double posted for the first time in a long time. First, I participated in one of my staples: WWW Wednesday. WWW Wednesday is a weekly feature hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words.

Then, I posted for another thing I’ve been participating in every once in a while – Can’t-Wait Wednesday. Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings.

WWW Wednesday 8/9

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: “Thornhedge”

Books I Read Last Week

Goals for 7/14 – 7/20

My goals for this week are to just be better than I was last week. My blogging output was just so bad! Ugh! But yeah, I just want to be better.

For this week, I want to post reviews for the books I finished last week. I also want to participate in my favorite weekly features/memes, as per usual. Also, it’s getting to the halfway point of the month, which is around the time I participate in my other monthly post, so I’d like to do that too.

But that’s kind of all I’ve got planned. Wish me luck!🤞🍀

And of course, as always, I hope you have a wonderful day/night. Thank you so much for reading.

See ya ~Mar

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: “Thornhedge”

Here I am! With the moderately rare double post! What can I say? There’s a few books releasing in the near future that I’m excited for!

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings (and was previously hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine where it was known as Waiting on Wednesday) to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. They’re usually books that have not yet been released.

This week’s book is:

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher!

I absolutely love a good fairytale retelling or what-if story. There’s so much potential with them! And this one seems pretty interesting. Plus, I really liked What Moves the Dead, and I want to read more T. Kingfisher stuff.

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

LENGTH: 128 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Tor Books

RELEASE DATE: 15 August 2023

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

There’s a princess trapped in a tower. This isn’t her story.

If only.

Are you looking forward to Thornhedge? Have you read other T. Kingfisher books? What books are you looking forward to coming out in the near future?

As always, thank you all so much for reading, and I really hope that you have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

First Line Friday: 7/28

Yes! Two Fridays in a row of posting! Back on track!

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.

What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?

If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:

📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page
📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
📙 Finally… reveal the book!

Here are the first lines:

Halla of Rutger’s Howe had just inherited a great deal of money and was therefore spending her evening trying to figure out how to kill herself.

Annnd the book is 🥁🥁… Swordheart by T. Kingfisher!

(Didja get it right?)

Swordheart by T. Kingfisher

LENGTH: 426 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Argyll Productions

RELEASE DATE: 27 November 2018

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Halla is a housekeeper who has suddenly inherited her great-uncle’s estate… and, unfortunately, his relatives. Sarkis is an immortal swordsman trapped in a prison of enchanted steel. When Halla draws the sword that imprisons him, Sarkis finds himself attempting to defend his new wielder against everything from bandits and roving inquisitors to her own in-laws… and the sword itself may prove to be the greatest threat of all…

As always, thank you so much for reading and have an excellent day/night!

See ya ~Mar

My Most Anticipated SFF Reads of 2023 | Jul, Aug, & Sept 🐚☀️🍁

So, this post is a few days later than I’d planned, but once again, I was super busy this past week as well as ill. But I’m posting it today.

It’s quarter three of 2023 now, so it’s time to do that thing I’ve done every quarter again. I’m gonna go over the books that are coming out over the next three months that interest me the most.

This time I have five. For real this time. I’m genuinely interested in five different books releasing (or re-releasing) this quarter.

Without further ado, let’s be off!

RELEASING: July 18th

NOTE: The physical copy has already been released, but the digital version hasn’t yet, so I’m listing it here on a technicality. 😆😅

Ours is a land of many gods, and we are a people with the ability to pick the worst of them.

Cahan du Nahare is known as the forester – a man who can navigate the dangerous Deepforest like no-one else. But once he was more. Once he belonged to the god of fire.

Udinny serves the goddess of the lost, a goddess of small things; when she ventures into the Deepforest to find a lost child, Cahan will be her guide. But in a land where territory is won and lost for uncaring gods, where temples of warrior monks pit one prophet against another – Cahan will need to choose the forest or the fire – and his choice will have consequences for his entire world.

Gods of the Wyrdwood is book one in an evocative new fantasy trilogy from RJ Barker, the British Fantasy Society Award-winning author of The Bone Ships and Age of Assassins.

Masters of Death: Revised Edition by Olivie Blake

RELEASING: August 8th

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes Masters of Death, a story about vampires, ghosts, and death itself.

*Now newly revised and edited with additional content, this hardcover edition will include new interior illustrations from Little Chmura and special illustrated endpapers from artist Polarts.*

There is a game that the immortals play.

There is only one rule: Don’t lose.

Viola Marek is a struggling real estate agent, and a vampire. But her biggest problem currently is that the house she needs to sell is haunted. The ghost haunting the mansion has been murdered, and until he can solve the mystery of how he died, he refuses to move on.

Fox D’Mora is a medium, and though he is also most-definitely a shameless fraud, he isn’t entirely without his uses―seeing as he’s actually the godson of Death.

When Viola seeks out Fox to help her with the ghost infestation, he becomes inextricably involved in a quest that neither he nor Vi expects (or wants). But with the help of an unruly poltergeist, a demonic personal trainer, a sharp-voiced angel, a love-stricken reaper, and a few mindfulness-practicing creatures, Vi and Fox soon discover the difference between a mysterious lost love and an annoying dead body isn’t nearly as distinct as they thought.

RELEASING: August 15th

From USA Today bestselling author T. Kingfisher, Thornhedge is the tale of a kind-hearted, toad-shaped heroine, a gentle knight, and a mission gone completely sideways.

There’s a princess trapped in a tower. This isn’t her story.

Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?

But nothing with fairies is ever simple.

Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He’s heard there’s a curse here that needs breaking, but it’s a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold…

City of Bones: Updated & Revised Edition by Martha Wells

RELEASING: September 5th

Before Martha Wells captured the hearts of MILLIONS with her Murderbot series, there was Khat, Sagai, and Elen, and a city risen out of death and decay…

The city of Charisat, a tiered monolith of the Ancients’ design, sits on the edge of the vast desert known as the Waste. Khat, a member of a humanoid race created by the Ancients to survive in the Waste, and Sagai, his human partner, are relic dealers working in the bottom tiers of society, trying to stay one step ahead of the Trade Inspectors.

When Khat is hired by the all-powerful Warders to find relics believed to be part of one of the Ancients’ arcane engines, he, and his party, begin unravelling the mysteries of an age-old technology.

This they expected.

They soon find themselves as the last line of defense between the suffering masses of Charisat and a fanatical cult, bent on unleashing an evil upon the city with an undying thirst for bone.

RELEASING: September 19th

A wild girl with sand magic in her bones and a mad god who is trying to fix the world he broke come together in SANDYMANCER, a genre-warping mashup of weird fantasy and hard science fiction.

All Caralee Vinnet has ever known is dust. Her whole world is made up of the stuff; water is the most precious thing in the cosmos. A privileged few control what elements remain. But the world was not always a dust bowl and the green is not all lost.

Caralee has a secret―she has magic in her bones and can draw up power from the sand beneath her feet to do her bidding. But when she does she winds up summoning a monster: the former god-king who broke the world 800 years ago and has stolen the body of her best friend.

Caralee will risk the whole world to take back what she’s lost. If her new companion doesn’t kill her first.

As always, thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Birthstone Book Covers: May 2023

It’s later in the month again, but I’ve been pretty busy for the past week or so, and haven’t had a lot of time. But now I do have more time, so I’m finally posting my May 2023 birthstone book covers.

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.

May has one birthstone – Emerald.

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!

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson — **Tress of the Emerald Sea** **by Brandon Sanderson**

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas — **A Court of Mist and Fury** **by Sarah J. Maas**

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater — **Half a Soul** **by Olivia Atwater**

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune — **In the Lives of Puppets** **by TJ Klune**

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher — **Nettle & Bone** **by T. Kingfisher**

The Other Emily by Dean Koontz — **The Other Emily** **by Dean Koontz**

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

See ya ~Mar

January 2023 Reading Wrap-Up

It’s another new month, and that means it’s to go over the previous month’s reading statistics. January Reading 2023, here we go!

Before I move on to the stats and pie charts and other assorted graphs, I want to mention how seriously happy I am with the amount of books that I combed through. It’s a huge improvement from December’s reading, and I’m hoping to read even more this month (February).

And now, on to the stats…

January 2023 Reading Stats

😐 Moods: For January, I had five moods – mysterious, adventurous, dark, tense, and challenging. No surprise there – I read a ton of either dark fantasy or horror.

👢 Pace: All of the books I read last month pretty much all turned out to be medium-paced. Most actual books are, so I’m honestly not surprised with that one, even though I did find Spinning Silver to be kind of slow, and What Moves the Dead to be generally fast-paced.

🔢 Page Number: Most of the books I read were between 300 and 500 pages, which is pretty average for me. (It’s my favorite length of book to read, after all.) What Moves the Dead was essentially a novella, or a short novel though, so it only clocked in at 165 pages.

📖 Fiction/Nonfiction: All fiction, once again. I promise that I occasionally (very occasionally) read nonfiction books, though.

🎭 Genres: I had four genres that I generally read last month. Fantasy (hello to you too, favorite genre), YA (not exactly one of my favorites, I just happen to read this one often), Horror (when I’m feeling like having a bad time), and LGBTQIA+ (What Moves the Dead had some pretty good rep).

📄 Format: I read three physical copies of books this past month, and one e-book. (Or so the chart says…)

⭐ Rating: My average rating was 4.19 stars, but that’s what happens when you read 4 books, rate two 4/5, one 3.75/5, and one 5/5.

📉 Pages Read Daily: I’m kind of all over the place in January, in terms of how many pages I read in a day, let alone a week. I peaked pretty early on, because I read the entirety of Unraveller in one day, but I read all of the other books in multiple sessions.

The Books I Read in January

Unraveller Book Review - The Blog That Nobody Knows

Unraveller by Frances Hardinge

Spinning Silver Book Review - The Blog That Nobody Knows

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Deeplight Book Review - The Blog That Nobody Knows

Deeplight by Frances Hardinge

What Moves the Dead Book Review - The Blog That Nobody Knows

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

Wrapping Up the Wrap-Up

So yeah, I read a lot more – annnd I posted a lot more, now that I think about it – in January 2023 than I did in December. And that really makes me happy with myself, and just my ability to be proactive in general. (Especially with how hard winter can get on my mentality.)

What books did you read last month? Did we read any of the same ones? What did you think of the stuff you read in January?

Thank you for reading, and have a marvelous day/night! Tune in next post for more bookish stuff!

See ya ~Mar

LINKS: Goodreads | Instagram

“What Moves the Dead” by T. Kingfisher: Book Review

The dead don’t walk.

Mushroom Zombie Nightmare | What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher [Book Review]

★★★★☆ • 4 / 5 stars

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

The Book Description Was Serviceable

This book was what modern retellings of classic literature should be: something that embellishes and expands upon the original, whilst staying true to the original material.

What Moves the Dead is a short novel (of 165 pages) written by T. Kingfisher, and published rather recently on July 12, 2022 by Tor Books. As I just noted, it’s a retelling, specifically of The Fall of the House of Usher written by Edgar Allen Poe, originally published in the 19th century.

The summary provided with the book really covers just about everything, without really spoiling the novella too much. I honestly can’t tell you really anything else without doing the same.

The Characters Were Likeable

Like the last book that I recently reviewed, the characters here were extremely compelling, and relatively likable.

Our main character, Alex Easton, is a former soldier from the (fictional) Gallacian army. They’re curious and kind, but also a bit cheeky. I really liked them as a protagonist.

Dr. Denton and Miss Potter are the aforementioned doctor and mycologist in the synopsis. Both are quite interesting characters, each with their own motivations. I think I liked Miss Potter more, and her little romance with Angus was very sweet.

“Well, I am a superstitious sort,” said Angus, and I know there is [something wicked]. It ain’t canny. The sort of place you find devils dancing on the moors.”

Angus, Alex’s batman, was probably my second favorite character (we’ll get to the favorite momentarily). He was so intolerant, but you could tell how much he cared about Alex, and see how close they were.

My favorite character in the book, though, was Hob, Alex’s horse. He was just so cute, and Kingfisher gave him so much personality, even though he was just an animal. I loved his and Alex’s little interactions.

Hob gave me the look he gives me when I am asking him to do something that he considers excessive, but he followed.

Madeline and Roderick Usher were pretty interesting characters in their own right. You never quite knew what either of them were thinking until the climax.

The Plot Was an Awesome Expansion on the Original

As I mentioned at the beginning of my review, this little novel is a retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe. And it’s a pretty darn good one.

T. Kingfisher goes into her motivations for choosing to do this retelling in particular, in her Acknowledgments at the end of the book, but I’ll try to sum it up for you. She was unsatisfied with some of the decisions of the characters in the original story and the way the mysteries were resolved – or in the case of the book, weren’t.

So she decided to embellish on the original plot, and she did a damn good job with it. The inclusion of fungus zombies was unexpected but very interesting. I really liked it.

Final Thoughts

This place breeds nightmares.

This book was short, but as they say, it was also sweet. In an absolutely horrifying way, of course. Before now, I hadn’t yet had the pleasure of reading any of T. Kingfisher’s works, and I’m finally happy that I’ve done so. It was a quick little read, and anyone who’s read my reviews knows that I love retellings.

I recommend this to people that enjoy horror and can handle some body horror, and some disturbing descriptions. If you’re the complete opposite, you might want to keep away.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day/night! Tune in next time for more bookish stuff.

See ya ~Mar

LINKS: Goodreads | Instagram

WWW Wednesday #3

No Shelf Control from me this week, unfortunately, but I’m beginning to run out of books on my bookshelf/Kindle that have been languishing. (Which is probably a good thing.) (No it isn’t.) Anyway, I’m still up for WWW Wednesday, do let’s get started! I’ve really enjoyed it since I started participating in it a couple weeks ago.

WWW Wednesday is a meme that used to be hosted at A Daily Rhythm, but has been taken over by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Now, without further ado, let’s get into the 3 Ws!

The 3 Ws of WWW Wednesday are…

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

What I’m Currently Reading:

Cress by Marissa Meyer

Series: The Lunar Chronicles (Book #3)

Length: 552 pages

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, YA, Fiction

Release Date: February 4, 2014

Book Description:

The #1 New York Times Bestselling Series

In this third book in Marissa Meyer’s bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and prevent her army from invading Earth.

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl trapped on a satellite since childhood who’s only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s being forced to work for Queen Levana, and she’s just received orders to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is splintered. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a higher price than she’d ever expected. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai, especially the cyborg mechanic. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

What I Recently Finished Reading:

What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher

Length: 165 pages

Genres: Horror, LGBTQIA+, Fiction

Release Date: July 12, 2022

Book Description:

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

What I Might Read Next:

Winter by Marissa Meyer

Series: The Lunar Chronicles (Book #4)

Length: 827 pages

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, YA, Fiction

Release Date: November 10, 2015

Book Description:

The #1 New York Times Bestselling Series

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend–the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters? Fans will not want to miss this thrilling conclusion to Marissa Meyer’s national bestselling Lunar Chronicles series.

What are your 3 Ws for this week? How’ve you been enjoying them lately? Have you read any of the books above? What did you think of them, if you have?

Thanks for reading! Tune in next post for more bookish things! (This time, specifically a review of What Moves the Dead.)

See ya ~Mar

LINKS: Goodreads | Instagram