tracy wolff

Tasteful Tuesday #5

Happy Tuesday again, everyone! I’m starting to get into a bit of a system with this post, huh?

For anyone unfamiliar, Tasteful Tuesdays (formerly Majestic Mondays – so it’s not new, I just switched days, haha) are when I highlight an awesome looking book cover and talk about what I like about it. That’s it, that’s pretty much the point of this post.

This time I’m admiring the cover art of a book that’s coming out later this month. It’s Sweet Nightmare by Tracy Wolff.

Sweet Nightmare by Tracy Wolff

Sweet Nightmare by Tracy Wolff

SERIES: The Calder Academy #1

LENGTH: 496 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, YA, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Entangled: Teen

RELEASE DATE: 7 May 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The scariest school on earth…
Is about to experience real fear…

Most schools are about being the best. This school? It’s about being the worst. Calder Academy is where the rogue paranormals go. The ones who break the rules or lose control. And when that happens for vamps, werewolves, witches, and dark fae? It gets pretty freaking scary.

I should know. Because I’m trapped here.

Look, every seventeen-year-old girl thinks their mom is a tyrant. But mine just happens to run Calder Academy, which paints a giant target on my back. The way I make it through these dark halls is by steering clear of the things―and kids―who go bump in the night.

Especially Jude Abernathy-Lee.

But when a freak storm hits our isolated island, I’m stuck without a backup plan. The power is gone. The lights are out. And our worst nightmares are suddenly real―and out for blood.
Now the only way to survive is to align myself with one evil to avoid the other.

And the only thing worse than the idea of getting close to Jude? Secretly loving every minute of it.

Book Cover Rating: 🍭🍭🍭• 3 1/2 eaten sweets

Though I’ve never read a Tracy Wolff novel, I am familiar with her work – I’ve seen some book vlogs on her Crave series. And they had pretty good covers, that I thought were kind of reminiscent of the Twilight Saga. And Sweet Nightmare is her newest series, and it also has a pretty good cover.

First off, it’s blue. So it’s a given that it’ll catch my eye. I like the swirly leaf-like background as well. It contrasts well with the other stuff on the cover. I also like how the pattern fades around the edges.

The serpent is a bright, eye-catching gold, especially with how it wraps around the sword, which has a silver nose and red hilt. They both stand out really well. I also like the bold, display font used for the title. Making it white was also the right choice – I’m not sure if the title would’ve stood out had it been another color.

I unfortunately don’t really have anything else to say about the book cover art. It caught my attention and I like it well enough, but it isn’t one of my favorite covers that I’ve seen. Still a great cover though!

So yeah, that’s another Tasteful Tuesday. What do you think about this cover art? Are you looking forward to Sweet Nothing‘s release? Have you read any of the author’s other works, like the Crave series? What did you think of it if you have?

Anyway, as always, thank you to everyone who reads my posts. I hope that you enjoyed this one as well, and that you have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Popular Books That I’ve Read Never #2

So, it’s a week or so later than I wanted to post another one of these, but life has just been nuts for the past two weeks or so. But welcome back to Popular Books That I’ve Read Never!

(And yeah, I know I worded it a bit odd, but you can probably still figure out what this post is about, lol.)

Now, as I’ve said before, it’s not that I only read unpopular books, it’s that I don’t only read the popular books. I also don’t read hardly any of the really popular books, because those are usually nonfiction or memoirs (which I don’t usually like), or they have a TON of romance (which I also don’t usually like).

This post is primarily going to focus on SFF novels, mostly because SFF is primarily what I read. It’s gonna be of five books, because I don’t want it to get too long. So, without further ado, let’s get into it!

ONE:

Crave by Tracy Wolff

Crave by Tracy Wolff

SERIES: Crave (Book #1)

LENGTH: 571 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, YA, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Entangled Teen

RELEASE DATE: 7 April 2020

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

My whole world changed when I stepped inside the academy. Nothing is right about this place or the other students in it. Here I am, a mere mortal among gods…or monsters. I still can’t decide which of these warring factions I belong to, if I belong at all. I only know the one thing that unites them is their hatred of me.

Then there’s Jaxon Vega. A vampire with deadly secrets who hasn’t felt anything for a hundred years. But there’s something about him that calls to me, something broken in him that somehow fits with what’s broken in me.
Which could spell death for us all.

Because Jaxon walled himself off for a reason. And now someone wants to wake a sleeping monster, and I’m wondering if I was brought here intentionally–as the bait.

TWO:

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

SERIES: Iron Widow (Book #1)

LENGTH: 394 pages

GENRES: Science Fiction, Fantasy, LGBTQIA+, YA, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Penguin Teen

RELEASE DATE: 21 September 2021

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid’s Tale in this blend of Chinese history and mecha science fiction for YA readers.

The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.

When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.

To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.

THREE:

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

SERIES: Legacy of Orisha (Book #1)

LENGTH: 531 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, YA, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Henry Holt & Company

RELEASE DATE: 6 March 2018

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.
Now we rise.

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.

Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.

Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers and her growing feelings for an enemy.

FOUR:

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

SERIES: From Blood and Ash (Book #1)

LENGTH: 613 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Blue Box Press

RELEASE DATE: 30 March 2020

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A Maiden…

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.

A Duty…

The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.

A Kingdom…

Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.

FIVE:

The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle Jensen

The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle Jensen

SERIES: The Bridge Kingdom (Book #1)

LENGTH: 354 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: CLA

RELEASE DATE: 13 August 2019

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

What if you fell in love with the one person you’d sworn to destroy?

Lara has only one thought for her husband on their wedding day: I will bring your kingdom to its knees. A princess trained from childhood to be a lethal spy, Lara knows that the Bridge Kingdom represents both legendary evil – and legendary promise. The only route through a storm-ravaged world, the Bridge Kingdom controls all trade and travel between lands, allowing its ruler to enrich himself and deprive his enemies, including Lara’s homeland. So when she is sent as a bride under the guise of fulfilling a treaty of peace, Lara is prepared to do whatever it takes to fracture the defenses of the impenetrable Bridge Kingdom.

But as she infiltrates her new home – a lush paradise surrounded by tempest seas – and comes to know her new husband, Aren, Lara begins to question where the true evil resides. Around her, she sees a kingdom fighting for survival, and in Aren, a man fiercely protective of his people. As her mission drives her to deeper understanding of the fight to possess the bridge, Lara finds the simmering attraction between her and Aren impossible to ignore. Her goal nearly within reach, Lara will have to decide her own fate: Will she be the destroyer of a king or the savior of her people?

So that’s it for Popular Books That I’ve Read Never. For now at least. You can bet that it’ll return again, though. I haven’t read nearly enough popular books for that to be the case.

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

See ya ~Mar