Books Archives - Page 39 of 50 - Brooke's Reviews and Sweeps

Cyber Monday Deals on Amazon!

By Brookelorren on November 26, 2018Leave a Comment

So today is Cyber Monday. I’m a sucker for $1.99 books on Amazon… today here are some deals that you might want to take advantage of!

Today, The Unseelie Prince by Kaitlyn Abdou is free! You can’t beat that price, right? I haven’t read it yet, although @KaitlynAbdou is really nice on Twitter, so maybe you should pick up this free book, and if you like it, leave a review.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi is $2.99 today! I’m reading it right now. It’s not one of my favorite books of the year, but it’s still pretty good. It’s also currently #8 on Goodreads Listopia list of YA Novels of 2018, so it’s well-liked by many Goodreads readers.

All four books in The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer are now $2.99 each. I haven’t read any of these books, and I keep hearing about them, so maybe I should consider picking up the series today. You can get all four books for $12!

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli is only $1.99! It’s currently #10 on Goodreads list of top YA Novels of 2018, so if this is a book you’ve been thinking about reading, now would be the day to pick it up.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi is $1.99 today. I haven’t read this series before, but I’ve heard a lot about it. I figure for $1.99 I might as well get a copy.

A Touch of Gold tells the story of the daughter of King Midas. It’s selling for $1.99 today, so if you saw this book earlier this year and didn’t get the chance to read it, today maybe you should pick up your copy.

V.E. Schwab’s Vicious is selling for $2.99 today. Okay, I seriously do not want to look at my Amazon.com gift card balance after today. There are just too many good books on sale! I haven’t read this series yet, but I’ve heard a lot about it, so… there goes another $2.99 from my account…

American Gods by Neil Gaiman is on sale today for $2.99. I’ve actually never read anything by Neil Gaiman, but I keep hearing about this author, so this might be a deal you’d like to take advantage of.

Ender’s Game is a classic. If you haven’t read it yet, you probably should. It’s on sale today for $2.99.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is only $2.99 today. I still haven’t read it yet, although I’ve wanted to read it for a while. If this has been on your TBR for a while, maybe now is the time to get a copy.

Stop clicking buy! When are you going to find time to read all of these books anyway? Not you, me. Anyway, Kristin Hannah’s The Great Alone is the final book on my Cyber Monday sales list, and I’m really glad, because I’m afraid to see what my Amazon.com gift card balance looks like right about now. Ouch. I’ve heard a lot about this book this year, and it looked interesting, so I picked it up.

I’m actually a little afraid to see my Kindle book haul from over the weekend. Plus, I bought a few physical books too.

Are there any Cyber Monday book sales that you know of that you think others should know about? Don’t tell me… no, do tell me! Just leave a comment. And remember, these sales will probably all be gone at midnight pacific time tonight! Maybe that’s a good thing… because I know I spent way too much money…

The Young Adult Writer’s Journey Begins… Here?

By Brookelorren on November 26, 2018Leave a Comment

I recently finished reading The Young Adult Writer’s Journey by Janet Schrader-Post and Elizabeth Fortin-Hinds. It is a book written for authors who would like to write young adult books. I thought the book was useful and well-written, although I don’t exactly think that this book contains a lot of information that you wouldn’t find elsewhere.

The newer you are to young adult literature, the more helpful I think this book will be to you. It goes into The Hero’s Journey, what teenager’s lives are like, and general things to keep in mind when writing young adult books. There’s also information about marketing your book (because you are going to need to market your book, whether you self-publish or go the traditional route with an agent).

There’s a lot of information here that is pretty basic, especially if you have been doing your research for a while (and I recommend that). One of the biggest recommendations that I have if you’re going to write YA books is to read YA books. The authors of this book don’t place a lot of emphasis on that, but it really helps you get a feel for the books that people are actually reading these days. YA is a rapidly shifting genre, and if you read a lot of YA books and read this book, then you might think that there’s a little bit in this book that’s slightly outdated.

While The Young Adult Writer’s Journey does have some good information about story arcs, promotion, and the like, I wouldn’t stop my learning with just this book. Get on book Twitter. See what actual teen book readers are saying about Young Adult books. Read actual YA books. While this is a quick read that you might want to use for reference now and again, it is by no means complete, nor does it represent the latest in YA.

Get Lost in City of Lost Souls

By Brookelorren on November 22, 2018October 4, 2018Leave a Comment

City of Lost Souls is the fifth book in Cassandra Clare’s series, The Mortal Instruments. I didn’t want to put it down. This series just continues to get better and better.

Because this if the fifth book in The Mortal Instruments series, there may be spoilers for the first two books.

As the story begins, Jace is missing. Along with Sebastian’s body. The Clave is looking for them, but other, more pressing matters pop up, and the search for them loses priority. Clary and her friends are not going to give up on him, however. Especially Clary.

We find out that a demonic force has bonded Jace with Sebastian. If one is hurt, then so is the other. Even though Sebastian has evil plans in mind, he can’t be killed without Jace being killed. The search turns into a quest to separate the two and eliminate Sebastian.

I love the relationship development in this book. Jace and Clary make this series for me. Although Jace isn’t quite himself for the majority of this book, they still love each other and have some great scenes together. Simon and Isabelle seem to be working their relationship out as well, which is nice to see. I also like to see Jordan and Maia, a couple of newer characters in this series, as they work towards rebuilding a relationship that they once thought was over. Alec and Magnus are having difficulties in this book, but that’s pretty typical for real relationships.

Sebastian has nice character development in this book. We know that he’s evil, but evil people usually don’t think that they’re doing wrong. His mind was obviously twisted by his father and by his demonic blood, but we also see that he’s a lonely boy who is trying to do good (although he’s going about it the wrong way). He also seems to have a strange fixation with his sister. While Jace and Clary fought against their attraction when they thought that they were siblings, Sebastian seems to disapprove of Jace and Clary and seems to want Clary for himself.

Clary also develops as a person in City of Lost Souls. She has to make some difficult decisions throughout the book. Jace asks her to go with him in the book, and she chooses to go with him. She sees it as the only way to save him, even though she knows it might be dangerous. Later on in the book, she makes a selfish decision that could have turned out disastrous. In the end, she chooses to put someone else’s wishes above her own, even though it might not have worked out for her best personal interest. It was also great to see her developing skill as a fighter.

I loved reading City of Lost Souls, and can’t wait to read the final book in the series.

Bookish Things I’m Thankful For

By Brookelorren on November 20, 2018November 19, 201823 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday! Since this week is Thanksgiving, our topic is thankfulness. There are a lot of things that I have to be thankful for today.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Goodreads – I’m thankful that I’ve started to take advantage of all the goodness that Goodreads has to offer this year. It is such a useful tool. I wouldn’t have found all the amazing books this year that I’ve read without it.

Amazon.com $1.99 book sales. I absolutely love Amazon.com’s monthly book sales. Get Kindle books that are on my TBR for only $1.99? Yes, please! I’m really thankful for this cheap way to get books.

I’m thankful for Book Twitter. Where else can you hear from your favorite authors? I learn about tons of new releases this way too. Not only can I hear from some of my favorite authors, but I’ve also met many nice unpublished authors here as well.

I’m thankful for Top Ten Tuesday. Top Ten Tuesday posts are so fun! I love to read about all of the things my fellow readers have to say about books.

I’m thankful for my local public library. They always have books for me to read and they have meeting spaces available for my Russian meetup group. I absolutely love this place.

I’m thankful for writing. I’ve written a lot this year! If you would have asked me in January what I would have accomplished by the end of the year, I would never have guessed that I would have written more than 250,000 words this year. That’s a quarter of a million words! Thanks to all of the amazing people on Twitter and on the internet giving advice, my writing has gotten better this year as well. I have to be thankful for that.

Writer with cats I’m thankful for my favorite authors. Where would we be without all the wonderful books that they create for us? I’ve seen people bad-mouth authors before, and I wonder why they would do this if they want them to create more books? Nobody has to write books. The big names probably don’t need the money, and the smaller names could probably make more money elsewhere. So for all of you amazing writers that I’ve read this year, thank you for what you do.

I’m thankful for my Kindle – I like hardback books, but it’s really easy to check out books on the Kindle. I actually don’t really have a preference, although for the same price, I’d rather have a physical copy.

I’m thankful for ARCs! This year my life has taken a lot of twists and turns. In February I got a note from someone asking me to continue writing Like Normal People, and shortly after that I found that Goodreads had amazing lists to help you find books, and then I found out that people actually let you read books ahead of time if you’re willing to review them! ARCs provide me with a steady stream of things to read, and it’s also pretty cool to get to read a book before everybody else does. So these are definitely something I’m thankful for.

Finally, I’m thankful for you! Yes, you! I’m thankful that you came to visit my little site today. I’m thankful when you leave comments. Most of the people that leave comments here are book bloggers, and I’m thankful for your book blogs. They help me find new books to read and give me ideas and inspiration. Plus, most of you are so darned nice! There have been a lot of things about this year that have sucked, but the biggest thing this year that has been completely awesome is being part of this writing/reading/blogging community. I haven’t been doing book blogging for that long, but I’m glad that I’ve found you.

Thank you for stopping by this week. What are you thankful for? Next week on Top Ten Tuesday, we’re going to talk about platonic relationships in books. Sisters, brothers, moms, dads, most books have them somewhere!

I Fell For City of Fallen Angels

By Brookelorren on November 15, 2018October 4, 2018Leave a Comment

After waiting for several months, City of Fallen Angels became available at my local library. It is the fourth book in Cassandra Clare’s series, The Mortal Instruments, and the wait was worth it.

As with any book that is not the first book in a series, this review may contain spoilers for previous books.

City of Fallen Angels begins a few weeks after City of Glass. Everybody is back in New York, and it seems like life is getting back to normal. As normal as life can be when you’re a shadowhunter, at least.

Clary and Jace are having problems, and they won’t speak to each other about it. For much of the book, we don’t know why either. They both love each other, and it’s apparent that whatever problem is going on is affecting them. They’re both having trouble sleeping and even eating. This leads to one of my favorite lines in the book. Simon is wondering whether Jace wants to break up with Clary, and his response is “Break up with her? Are you insane?” Okay, so that’s not the problem. We do find out later what is wrong, but in the interest of not giving out spoilers, you’ll just have to read the book.

Simon is having his own issues. After being that nerdy kid for most of his life, he now finds himself interested in two girls. Neither of them know about Simon’s relationship with the other one. Oops. And they both expect to go with Simon to Luke and Jocelyn’s wedding, which is rapidly approaching. As if girl problems aren’t enough, he’s being tracked down by people who want to kill him, and his mother discovers that he’s a vampire and he has to leave home. What a mess!

Valentine might be dead and gone, but there are still other monsters to contend with. Throughout this story, we find out what is bothering Jace, who is trying to murder Simon, and what else this new villain is up to. Our story doesn’t completely end with a happily ever after, but that’s why this series has a fifth (and sixth) book.

I loved this story. This story, like many of the other Mortal Instruments books, incorporates myths and Bible lore into its story, and it makes it quite interesting. If you’re reading this far into the series, you probably are already invested in the characters and care about what happens to them, and of course, I wanted to find out more. Even though I was supposed to be reading another book to review at the time I was reading City of Fallen Angels, I couldn’t put it down.

I absolutely love this series, and I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Other reviews in The Mortal Instruments Series:

Bookish Things I’d Like to Own

By Brookelorren on November 13, 2018November 12, 201828 Comments

Welcome to another edition of Top Ten Tuesday! Today’s official topic is “Bookish Items I’d Like to Own.” This may be a little different than a lot of people’s posts (and this is a really difficult topic for me) because there really aren’t too many things I want to clutter up my house. My parents are always asking me for Christmas gift ideas, so I can’t wait to see other people’s lists! Really, all I ever seem to do is read, write, go to sleep, and go to work, so there’s not really much on my Christmas list other than Amazon gift cards.

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Here’s my list (in case I win the lottery for most of these items):

Life After Legend (the Warcross pre-order gift) – I don’t know if this technically counts as a “book” or a bookish item, but I’m going to call it a bookish item because I want it for my collection. This seems to be as difficult to find as an original Van Gogh painting. Fortunately, I have read the story because I went and bought the paperback copy of Warcross so I could read it, but I still want the original. If you ever see this on eBay or know of someone who would like to sell their copy, please send me a message. It would go nicely with Life After Legend II, which I am fortunate enough to have.

The waterproof Kindle Paperwhite – my current Kindle Paperwhite works fine, so this isn’t something I plan on rushing out to buy any time soon. However, it is four years old, and I’m sure that someday, I’ll need to get another one. I don’t really want a Fire, because I like the way the Paperwhite reads, so something like this would be the replacement.

Bookshelves – I currently don’t own a bookshelf. We used to have some really nice ones that we bought in Italy. We got rid of them after we had a house fire years ago. I don’t really have any room for them in my house; that’s why we don’t have any right now.

A New House – okay, so now we’re getting a little crazy here. I certainly don’t need a new house, although one day I hope to move to a house that has room for bookshelves. My husband bought a Powerball ticket the other day when the jackpot was way up there, and he had fun dreaming about what he’d do if we won. If we did win, I’d get a really big house with a library.

Here’s another one of those bookish things that I absolutely don’t need: a new laptop computer. The one I have right now is a little slow, but it’s okay. This one would be more for me to write on rather than to read on, but writing is a part of my bookish life too.

These magnetic bookmarks might be more what That Artsy Reader Girl had in mind when she came up with the bookish merchandise topic. These are Shadowhunters in pajamas, and they’re pretty cute. Although they are adorable, I tend to lose my bookmarks fairly easily. I usually keep then around for the entire time I am reading the book, and then I lose them. That’s why I usually just use scraps of paper. Maybe I should give this idea to my parents for Christmas.

Scribbler Subscription box – This is another idea I might give my parents for Christmas. I think that most subscription boxes would have a lot of things I didn’t need in them, but these boxes are designed for writers, so they might have some things that are actually useful.

Composition books – I bought some of these at the beginning of the school year, so I don’t really need any at the moment, but these are great for writing. I keep one in the backpack that I take to work. My job primarily consists of staring at people and thinking up stories in my head. They don’t pay me to think up stories, but I do anyway. At any rate, on my breaks, whenever I come up with something that I might want in my latest WIP while I’m at work, I write it down while I’m on my breaks.

Bluetooth keyboard – Here’s another item that I already have, but is absolutely wonderful for my bookish life. I take my Bluetooth keyboard to work and use it on my breaks. Mostly to tweet quickly. So far, I’m well ahead of my target wordcount for NaNoWriMo, but if I did get behind, this Bluetooth keyboard could be used to write The Brightness of Shadow while I’m on my breaks for NaNoWriMo. Because it works with my iPhone. And I don’t want to take a laptop to work. A laptop wouldn’t even fit in my locker.

Mini three ring binder – These would fit in my backpack, like the composition books. They’re better though, because you can take the pages out and move them around. Which is good when you have writing ADD like I do, and work on several projects at once.

So there’s my list. This one was really difficult to do. Next week’s list should be much easier, because we’re talking about thankfulness for the American holiday of Thanksgiving! I have a lot to be thankful for. So I’ll see you then, unless you stop by before that!

Crow Flight Soared

By Brookelorren on November 12, 2018October 5, 20192 Comments

Recently, I read Crow Flight by Susan Cunningham. The description looked interesting. “The curious flight patterns of crows lead a teen computer programmer down a path of mystery and romance.” Just like earlier this year, when The Kiss Quotient had me at math (LOL), Crow Flight had me at computers. I majored in computer science in college, and have been programming computers since fifth grade, so I immediately had something in common with the protagonist of this book.

I was fortunate enough to have been given an advanced reader copy of Crow Flight in exchange for an honest review.

Gin is a computer genius who’s starting her senior year of high school. She loves computers, especially computer modeling. She’s taking a computer modeling class with a world-class teacher this year, and hopes that excelling in the class will help her get into Harvard. When she is paired up in her computer modeling class with Felix, the cute new boy, their model on the flights of crows uncovers something unexpected and potentially dangerous.

I loved this story. Not only could I identify with Gin on the whole computer thing, I could also identify with her and her feelings for Felix. She likes him, but there couldn’t possibly be any way that he’d like her, right? He’s rich, popular, and other girls like him.
The does he like me or doesn’t he is only part of this wonderful storyline. Gin has a friend that she’s always hanging out with, and their friendship is strained when boys get in the way. There’s also the mystery about the crow model itself. While a computer model on crow flight patterns might not sound interesting, it is when there’s potentially a crime involved. While I did guess some of what was going on, it didn’t ruin the story for me.

You’ll just have to read this book if you want to find out what happens between Gin and Felix, or what kind of trouble the crow model gets out heroine into, but you won’t be disappointed if you do.

I can’t really think of anything I didn’t like about this book. Maybe the only downside about Crow Flight is that it’s not getting the hype that it deserves. I highly recommend this book, and hope that more people find out about it.

Legendary was Just That

By Brookelorren on November 8, 2018October 4, 20183 Comments

Legendary finally became available to me at the library, and I was so happy to be able to read it. It is the second book in Stephanie Garber’s Caraval series. Finale will be out next year.

After Caraval, Tella and Scarlett end up going to another Caraval. Usually, there is only one a year, but this year, there is another one in only a few more days, held in honor of Empress Elantine’s seventy-fifth birthday.

Legendary is told from Tella’s perspective. Tella discovers that her mom is still alive. With the help of her “friend”, she’s trying to find out where her mom is and to save her. In order to save her mom, she needs to find out who Legend is, which means she has to participate in and win Caraval.

It’s not all that easy.

A few complications occur along the way. First, Tella is forced to fake an engagement with the Empress’s heir. Then, the stakes are raised even higher: if she doesn’t win Caraval, she discovers that both she and her mom will die. And then she falls in love. To make matters worse, if she saves her own life and that of her mom’s, she might just hurt the boy she loves. The decisions seem impossible.

We don’t see a lot of Scarlett in this story. While Caraval focused a lot on the relationship between siblings, Legendary focused on Tella’s feelings about her mother. Scarlett is away for much of the time, trying to sort out the things going on in her life (I don’t want to give away spoilers here, so I’m not saying what).

Legendary kept me wanting to read from the beginning until the very end. Like Caraval, Legendary is full of magic and mystery. I love how we got to see more of Tella’s character. She’s much more impressive once you get to know her. I love the decisions that she makes, and I wish the best for her. I will definitely be reading Finale once it comes out next year.

Older Books I Want to Read

By Brookelorren on November 6, 2018November 5, 201822 Comments

Welcome to another edition of Top Ten Tuesday! Today’s official topic is “Backlist Books I Want to Read”. I’m just going to write about older books in general, because some of these books may be out of print, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still get them. With the internet, almost any book that you want is at your fingertips (with the exception of Life After Legend that came as a pre-order gift with Warcross – I’m pretty sure nobody wants to sell their copy because I never see it on eBay).

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

So here’s today’s list (they’re in no particular order):

Daughter of Smoke and Bone (series) ~ Laini Taylor – I enjoyed Strange the Dreamer and Muse of Nightmares so much this year that I’d like to check out some more of Laini Taylor’s work. Maybe I’ll be able to get to these in 2019. This year I spent a lot of time catching up on entire series of books that came out years ago (like The Mortal Instruments) so next year I may have more time to read some of these backlist books.

Naughts & Crosses ~ Malorie Blackman – This was a book that Goodreads recommended to me based on the fact that I liked The Midnight Star by Marie Lu. It sounds like an interesting book that makes a statement about interracial relationships. Considering that I’m in an interracial relationship, it sounds like a book I might want to read someday.

The Raven Cycle ~ Maggie Stiefvater – I’ve heard a lot about the Raven Cycle and think that maybe I should check it out someday.

Michael Vey (series) ~ Richard Paul Evans – This is one of those series that whenever I think about it, I wonder “why haven’t I read this yet?” My daughter has read several of these books and thinks they’re great. I’m sure I own several of these on my Kindle. Although I’ve known about this series since before it first came out, I still haven’t read any of them.

The Grisha Trilogy ~ Leigh Bardugo – One of the reasons why I have not read Six of Crows yet is because I hope to read The Grisha Trilogy first. This is another one of those series that I intend to get to in 2019. I’ve read a couple of Ms. Bardugo’s short stories, so it’s not like I haven’t read anything that she’s done, but I just haven’t read any of her novels yet.

The Darkest Minds (series) ~ Alexandra Bracken – this book got a lot of attention earlier this year when a movie came out about it. I don’t watch a lot of movies, but I do like dystopian fiction. This isn’t at the top of my list, but it may be something that I’m interested in reading someday.

The Infernal Devices (series) ~ Cassandra Clare – I will start reading Clockwork Angel as soon as I finish reading the ARC that I plan on reviewing next week. There are still two other books in this series to read, but I have the second book in the series on hold at the library. There’s a good chance that I will read these books before the end of 2018. I’ve already purchased Lady Midnight and pre-ordered Queen of Air and Darkness; I’ll probably read that series either late this year or early next year.

Rora ~ James Byron Huggins – I’m pretty sure that this book is no longer in print. Nevertheless, you can still buy it. I got a copy this summer when I was planning on reading it for the Summer TBR Wipeout, but you see how well that plan went, as it’s still on my TBR. This book is about a group of persecuted Christians during the Middle Ages. I thought that their story sounded fascinating when I first heard about it ten years ago, but I didn’t buy the book then, and now that I’ve bought the book, I still haven’t read it. Like Michael Vey, one of these days I will read it.

1453 ~ Roger Crowley – Evidently, the 1400s were an eventful time in world history, because there are several books that are named after years in this century. 1453 might not be at the top of my TBR, but it sounds like it would be an interesting book. This particular 1400 book is about the crusades.

Blacklisted by History ~ M. Stanton Evans – in the late 20th century, McCarthyism was a term that was synonymous with “witch hunt.” People lost their jobs if they were accused of being sympathizers with communists. It’s likely that several innocent people lost their livelihoods after being accused of being a communist, but the truth is, there were communists in the US government. This story sounds like an interesting take on an often-misunderstood part of US history.

So there’s my Top Ten Tuesday for the week. Next week: Book Related Things I’d Like. I might get some Christmas ideas from other people’s clever lists, but I can’t think of much specific bookish merchandise, so I’m broadening the category for next week.

What older books would you like to read?

Jack Jetstark’s Intergalactic Freak Show

By Brookelorren on November 5, 2018Leave a Comment

Come one, come all, and get your freak on for Jack Jetstark’s Intergalactic Freak Show!

That could have been how this story begins. This book, by Jennifer Lee Rossman, has a lot of fun moments to it. Although the writing style was fun, it wasn’t my favorite book of the month. For me, it was a book that started off strong but finished just okay.

Jack Jetstark is a circus performer who travels throughout the universe with a small band of “freaks.” Set in the far off future, there is a set of conjoined triplets, a girl with angel wings, and a mutant whose ancestors described the destruction of earth. Like most circus acts, there’s a catch to the whole thing. They only become these mutant creatures for a short period of time each day, when a song plays over their speakers.

As the story progresses, we discover that his former lover, Diantha, is the person that has been performing these songs for the past several years. When she stops performing the song, the circus ends. Oddly enough, all of these people start turning into their freak show selves.

That was the part that I enjoyed most about the book.

I didn’t dislike Jack Jetstark’s Intergalactic Freak Show, but I wasn’t as enchanted about the part where they were trying to sneak onto Diantha’s world in order to save the rest of the “freaks” (who were actually genetic experiments). There were questions about whether Diantha was good or bad, and I didn’t really find myself caring as much, because we didn’t get to interact with her that much. Her daughter did have a fairly big part in the book, and I liked her.

The book also had a couple of weak romances in it. I just didn’t see enough of the love interests together to care all that much. There was a love triangle in the book as well, but again, I didn’t see enough of the characters interacting to care too much about their relationship.

I did like the message that Jack Jetstark’s Intergalactic Freak Show was trying to convey. Just because someone is different doesn’t mean that they are lesser people.

Overall, I found this book good, but not amazing. If you read a lot of science fiction books and need something for your TBR, this book might be for you, but if you’re only going to read ten books this year, I probably wouldn’t make this your highest priority.