Snowflakes and Spider Silk

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars Genre: Fantasy, mystery Goodreads Summary : In a land where three suns almost never set, a fledgling killer joins a school of assassins, seeking vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family. Daughter of an executed traitor, Mia Corvere is barely able to escape her father’s failed rebellion with her life. Alone and friendless, she hides in a city built from the bones of a dead god, hunted by the Senate and her father’s former comrades. But her gift for speaking with the shadows leads her to the door of a retired killer, and a future she never imagined. Now, Mia is apprenticed to the deadliest flock of assassins in the entire Republic—the Red Church. If she bests her fellow students in contests of steel, poison and the subtle arts, she’ll be inducted among the Blades of the Lady of Blessed Murder, and one step closer to the vengeance she desires. But a killer is loose within the Church’s halls, the bloody secrets of Mia...

There's something to be said about first impressions. I know we aren't supposed to, but I definitely have judged a book by its cover (those retro sci-fi covers with the giant block print from the 80s? Run away, run far, far away!). I have become pretty good at judging whether I will like a book or a series after the first book. Either I love the characters or I can't stand them, I'm entranced by the world/plot twists or I wish they were more complex. And occasionally I just can't stand how blatantly/subtly sexist or problematic a book is, and then I won't continue with that book or series. Sometimes, though, I decide to give a series I didn't care for a second chance. The most striking examples are both of SJ Maas's series, Throne of Glass and ACOTAR. In both series, I thought the first book was okay, but I didn't fall in love with the main characters. I also didn't find the world-building all that interesting. But both books...

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme: Top Ten Favorite Fantasy characters I decided to rewind to 2013, where one of the themes was Top Ten Favorite characters in X genre. Since fantasy is my favorite, here are the characters that have made me laugh and cry and love getting lost in fantasy worlds :D   Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen from the Gentleman Bastards! My favorite brotp and two of my favorite characters ever. I adore their witty banter and how they always have each other's backs no matter what happens.   Aelyn Galathynius from Throne of Glass: She got on my nerves in book 1 and I really didn't like her, and then she dealt with awful sacrifice and grew up tremendously and became the fierce and unstoppable warrior she always claimed to be.   Kelsier from Mistborn. He's one of those people who always has a plan up his sleeve, an almost unbelievable force and legend r...

Title:  Nightshades Author:  Melissa F. Olson Genre: Urban fantasy, mystery My rating: 3 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary : Alex McKenna is the new Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office of the Bureau of Paranormal Investigations—the division tasked with investigating crimes involving shades. Or vampires, as they’re more widely known. Children have been going missing, and agents are routinely being slaughtered. It’s up to McKenna, and some unlikely allies, to get to the bottom of the problem, and find the kids before it’s too late. Nightshades is a new gritty urban fantasy from Melissa F. Olson. I'm not gonna lie, I requested this book on netgalley because of how cool the cover looked! Of course the synopsis sounded interesting as well, and at the time I was looking for a mystery/UF book and since this was a mix of both I decided to give it a shot. I thought the premise was interesting: vampires living among humans and kidnapping them a few at a time for ...

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme: Top Ten Books you'd buy immediately if you had a fully loaded giftcard Well, this TTT was perfectly timed because I got an amazon gift card as a graduation present and I finally redeemed the code this weekend, so here are the books I want to buy ASAP! I may also be counting on a time machine to get me into the future so I can get a few books, but that's just a small detail...   I NEED THIS BOOK. I can't believe how much I've grown to love this series considering how little I liked the first book, but one thing's for sure, this is one of my most anticipated books of this year!   This is one of my most anticipated books ever.  I think I pre-ordered it last spring because it was supposed to be published last fall? But IT'S FINALLY COMING AND I NEED IT NOW.    I liked but didn't love Red Rising, but the second and t...

Title:  Dark Matter Author:  Blake Crouch My rating: 3 of 5 stars Goodreads Summary: “Are you happy with your life?” Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.” In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable--something impossible. Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battl...

Heads up that I'm on vacation with limited intranet, so I'll have the blog up and running as usual in 2 weeks! In the meantime, I've got an awesome bunch of books loaded on my kindle for the next few weeks: Providence of Fire by Brian Staveley Truthwitch by Susan Dennard Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence and I just bought an ebook of Words of Radiance so I can re-read 😄