Cover Reveal | Thirst by. Jill Williamson

Hi everyone! I think this may be the first cover reveal on my blog, which is exciting for me. ☺️Today I have a cover reveal for an upcoming release by Jill Williamson! The book is called Thirst. Check it out!

Book Summary:

The end of the world is only the beginning.A waterborne disease has contaminated the world’s fresh water, decimating the human race. Seventeen-year-old Eli McShane and his friends flee the chaos and violence in Phoenix and journey north toward the rumored location of a safe water source. They add several to their number, including the mysterious Hannah, who is being hunted by a dangerous man. Desperation brings out the worst in many of the travelers, infecting even those closest to Eli. When division comes, will he be able to hold his group together or will each fall victim to their own thirst for survival?

Join some old friends from Glenrock and Jack’s Peak in this thrilling first book of the Thirst Duology. Best-selling author Jill Williamson has brought back the breathtaking suspense of the The Safe Lands series in this chilling prequel that will leave readers panting for the next installment.

You can preorder the book here: http://jillwilliamson.com/thirst

It’s an amazing book cover and the summary sounds really good. I’m looking forward to reading this book!

Top Ten Tuesday | September 24, 2019

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Books On My Fall TBR List

Perfect topic! I have a stack of these right on my desk, so let’s get to it.

I’m starting this SOON…like sometime this week since it’s officially Fall now. Haha…no I’ve been meaning to get to it, I just had others I had to finish up!

I won a copy of this arc! Yay, so I just got it in the mail and will get to it before it publishes in October.

I just got this in the mail with my OwlCrate box! So excited!!

Another arc I won on Bookishfirst! The blurb sounds interesting, cupid and a dating service?

Finally got my hands on this from my library. It’s been awhile since I read the first book though so I hope I can remember details when I start reading this one.

Been saving this one for Fall just to get into a spooky mood! It’s been sitting on my shelf for awhile.

I have a copy of this eARC in my NetGalley shelf but I want to read it closer to publication (which is next year), but I may just read it before Halloween because look at that cover! I mean…come on…🤷🏻‍♀️

Another NetGalley and yes the cover caught my eye plus I was requesting all kinds of things when I was done with my reading list last month! Haha…now I got all these random books to read.

I loved the cover, but reviews on it are average on NetGalley – so we shall see what I’m getting myself into!

And I had to at least have one contemporary ya book on my NetGalley shelf right?! I get approved for most ya fantasy, but I do love contemporary book as well!

That’s 10 but I have so much more for Fall because I need to clear up some NetGalley reads. What is on your list? I have a feeling I’ll be adding more on my TBR after reading other blogger’s lists! 😊

The Waffle Book Tag

Hi everyone, let’s take a break today from book reviews and do something fun. I saw this floating around the blog world and thought it was super cute. Plus it comes with adorable graphics – thanks to the creator kat @ novelsandwaffles.

All waffle graphics used here are created by Kat.

The Rules:

Link back to the original creator, Kat @ Novels & Waffles
Feel free to use any of the waffle graphics in this post, just make sure to credit Kat
Tag away if you want.

I always say Pride & Prejudice is my favorite classic novel but…I’ll change it up and say Jane Eyre. I love the moment when Mr. Rochester’s secret is revealed and Jane decides to leave him. Such angst, I felt horrible for both of them.

Wholesome goodness vibes is what Peter K and Lara Jean always give me. And not only because of the two of them. I think it’s because Lara Jean is always baking something and she and her sisters are so cute together.

I read this when it was first published in the 90’s and I was in love with the whole series. This reminds me of middle school! For years after I left middle school, every time I reread this series it reminded me of my middle school library.

I’m cheating LOL…I cannot think of ANY character right now in the recent books I’ve read or am reading who is SWEET. 😆 But I read a lot of children’s books to my kids and Hattie and Horace are the sweetest!!!

The perfect book for this category. Broke my heart but it made me smile too.

A dystopian western?! Yup and with paranormal aspects in it too! Review coming soon for this one, but for me it was different – but good different!

Even though I wasn’t into it by the end – I finished the series.

My favorite accessory? A bookmark-or whatever I use for a bookmark, my cellphone, a receipt, one of my kids’ drawing laying around, a hair tie, etc…😂

Such a super short and sweet tag! I enjoyed doing this one – and definitely help yourself to doing this tag if you like! Would love to see your answers. 😘

Top Ten Tuesday | September 17,2019

Favorite Things to Eat/Drink While Reading

Today’s topic is a very easy one but I don’t think I’ll have ten to list since I don’t really snack when I eat, so let’s do a top FIVE:

Because coffee DOES own me. Except I don’t drink my coffee like this…I like it in an ice blended. Not even as iced coffee…I needed blended.

And sometimes, when I feel funky, like my tummy is feeling weird or my throat is feeling scratchy and I just want to read and really really relax – then it’s all about chamomile tea for me.

Then on the days I really have time to read all day and I got some cookie dough in the fridge, then I will bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies to eat while I read!

Sometimes I find myself getting anxious when reading an action packed book and then I start munching on chips! Hummus and chips sometimes.

I’m a daily iced tea drinker though so I think I always have iced tea on hand if I don’t have any of the above.

And that’s what I have on my list! What did you have on yours? Leave your TTT link in my comments, or leave me a comment if you didn’t make a TTT. Would love to hear from you!

First Lines Friday (09/12/19)

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open 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!

Happy Friday the 13th everyone! 🌕 Isn’t it also a full moon tonight?

My son was down with a cold for half the week, so that’s what I was dealing with. But it gave me time to read since he finally rested a little.

So I’ve been on a weird spectrum with the books I’m reading. It’s either ya dark fantasy or light contemporary ya books lately. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’m trying to finish up the contemporary stuff so I can just be all in with the darker themed books. It’s getting me in the mood for Halloween, which is one of my favorite holidays. Here are some lines from a book I am dying to read:

“There’s something haunting about a body touched by magic. Most people first noticed the smell: not the rot of decay, but a cloying sweetness in their noses, a sharp taste on their tongues.”

🤔

I’ve heard amazing things about this book and yes I have the physical copy on my shelf! Have you read it? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear from you.

Have a wonderful weekend fellow readers and bloggers!

WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

This is my first WWW Wednesday so let’s get to it:

What are you currently reading?

I am reading this eARC called Unspoken by Celia McMahon. It is set to publish September 17, 2019 by The Parliament House Press. It’s pretty good so far, check out the link for the book blurb. It’s got a Princess who loves to hunt, forbidden magic, shape shifters and so much more!

What have you just finished reading?

I have finally read Nocturna! It was only on my book shelf for about 3 or 4 months. Haha, not too bad, but I wanted to read it before the summer came to a close. Review will be up before the end of this week.

What are you going to read next?

Going to try and read Descendant of the Crane this week. It’s due at my library soon, so hoping I can finish it quick.

And that’s all I got for Wednesday! It’s been a long weekend as my family and I were staying at a hotel for Labor day weekend. So I’m trying to catch up on everything. And I can’t quite say I had a relaxing weekend…I barely slept. At one point I had 4 kids in my hotel room (I only have 2 children 😂 – the other 2 were my nephews)….SO…relaxing it was not, but getting away from my house for 2 days always makes me feel a bit different. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Top Ten Tuesday

This week’s topic is:

Books I Enjoyed That Are Outside of My Comfort Zone

(i.e., a genre you don’t typically read or subject matter you’re not usually drawn to)

I just got done reading this eARC of Mooncakes which is a graphic novel and I hardly read graphic novels. I saw awesome reviews for this one and gave it a try and LOVED it! I have a review on it coming up this week!

I don’t read middle grade books but I love Catherine Doyle and decided to give it a try. And I was not disappointed!

I’m not a big mystery fan, but I enjoy this series by indie author K.A. Miltimore who reached out to me to read and review her books. I love the supernatural characters and paranormal elements in this series. It always makes me want to move to a small town in Oregon. 🤔 And eat strangely shaped delicious pastries…😬

My comfort zone for the fantasy genre is more young adult fantasy which are broken up into trilogies and so when I borrowed this book I wasn’t sure what to expect. The Priory of the Orange Tree is a hefty book clocking in at 800+ pages. I read it in one week and I felt like it went slow because I couldn’t connect to the characters as I wanted to and I wanted more dragons really. It was pretty epic in scale, the world building , the length, the weight of the book (I felt like I was carrying around a newborn baby!).

I’ve been easing into reading sci-fi but I still enjoy reading it more as a space opera type books. It has to have romance and I definitely prefer it in as a young adult book. If it gets too technical, it loses me, so give me a book with action and emotion, like The Honors series and I can get into it.

Once in a great while I have the urge to read a book like Gone Girl. It’s not my favorite genre, but sometimes, just once in awhile, I need a good scare or freak out – I don’t know why! 😂 Last year I read Sharp Objects because I heard Amy Adams was going to star in the tv series. So I read the book beforehand and ugh…..it’s disturbing and just what I strangely wanted at the time. TOTALLY out of my comfort zone.

I read this one years ago when it came out in 2008 and I was working in a college library at the time and I borrowed from our collection. There was so much hype over it and so I read it and the whole series afterwards. What I really enjoyed about it was the computer hacking and revenge aspects but geez…it has a lot of disturbing scenes.

Apparently I’m digging deep in my Goodreads READ list to finish this topic…😅 but I read this 10+ years ago?! And I wasn’t into dystopia yet, Twilight was SO big that year, I remember falling in love with Vampires (again, you know there is always a cycle haha)…and I picked up this series and was like…whoa. It was just so different from all the vampire stuff I was reading, it was a breath of fresh air.

Bully romances…I actually liked book one Broken Legacy of this series, but after book two I decided to give up on the series and probably bully romances in general. I love the romance genre, it is what made me fall in love with reading in general. But I can take only so much unhealthy relationships in the romance genre. 😂

Reverse harem books are definitely out of my comfort zone – I tried this series because I love indie author Jaymin Eve, I liked book one but by the time I got to book four I stopped. I couldn’t make myself read book five. I just can’t do the whole one girl, five brothers relationship. 😅 It’s just way too much sharing for my taste. I can deal with a love triangle but more than that…it’s too much for me.

That’s my TTT today! I look forward to reading your lists ~ are any of these out of your comfort zone as well? Let me know in the comments below!

20 Questions Book Tag

I saw this book tag on a few blogs but finally decided to do it after seeing it just recently on Nen & Jen check out and follow her lovely blog for more awesome content!

Let’s do this!

How many books are too many in a series?

I think it depends on the series – some just need to stop at three if it’s becoming repetitive or the writing/editing is suffering (I’m looking at you Anita Blake series 😅). In YA Fantasy or Sci-Fi, I love a good, solid, well written trilogy but lately I am in love with duologies. It keeps the story tight and exciting. But for historical romance novels with a whole family and each family member has a story to tell, I want each sibling or whoever to have their own book. So it depends!

How do you feel about cliff hangers?

I used to hate them, because I hate waiting a year for the sequel. Like why do you have to torture us?! 😂 But now that I blog about books, I have so many books on my TBR list, it makes the time go fast reading other books, and now I don’t mind them so much. Out of sight, out of mind haha…

Hardback or paperback?

I’m not picky anymore. Just give me books.

Favourite book?

I don’t have just one…I just have too many I love equally.

Least favourite book?

I don’t have a book I totally dislike. I mean there are a few, but not at the top of my head.

Love triangle…yes or no?

I love them when the girl picks the guy I want her to end up with. 😂

The most recent book you couldn’t finish?

I don’t know why but I just cannot push on to read Ruin & Rising by. Leigh Bardugo. I barely got through Chapter 1! And I just don’t have a desire to finish. I borrowed it twice already and both times I didn’t finish.

A book you’re currently reading?

The last book you recommended to someone?

Outside of my blogging, I recommended, Frankly in Love, by. David Yoon to one of my besties who is looking for more Asian authors.

Oldest book you’ve read (based on publication date)?

I think it has to be Pride and Prejudice. I’m pretty sure I’ve read older stuff in high school and college, does William Shakespeare count? Or Beowulf (wasn’t that a poem? 🤔)? Haha but the one I enjoyed is Pride and Prejudice.

Newest book you’ve read (based on publication date)?

I read a lot of eARCS that haven’t been published yet, but for published books, I’ll say Vow of Thieves by. Mary Pearson that was published on Aug. 6th. And I’m just looking at my NetGalley list.

Favourite author?

I have too many: Mary Pearson, Sarah J. Maas, Madeline Miller, Jenn Bennett, Sarah MacLean, Lisa Kleypas, Karen Marie Moning….way too many haha.

Buying books or borrowing them?

Mostly borrow because of cost and space but I’ve been buying more because I’m trying out book crate subscriptions. And I told my hubby I finally want a nice big book shelf in the house. I didn’t plan on one because my kids would pull off the books. But I do love our library!

A book you dislike that everyone else loves?

Very unpopular opinion but The Grisha series. 😞 I tried but for some reason, it doesn’t interest me.

Bookmarks or dog-ears?

Bookmarks!

A book you can re-read over and over?

Lisa Kleypas books I’ve re-read a lot when I’m in the mood for historical romance. But I also love the A Court of Thorns and Roses series.

Can you read while listening to music?

I have two children. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’ve learn to read while listening to gaming youtube videos, Dan TDM videos, baby shark videos, Peppa Pig, Blippy…🤦🏻‍♀️💆🏻‍♀️

Multiple POV or one POV?

No preference, I love both, as long as it’s done well!

Do you read a book in one sitting or over multiple days on average?

If the book is good, then in one sitting (well…actually that’s what I used to do before kids-so I’d say in one day because my kids do come first). But if a book is slow-paced, it will take me a few days.

Who do you tag?

Anyone who wants to do this tag! No pressure. 😘

Thanks for reading my post! Hope you enjoyed it and if you do any book tags, please put your links in my comments. I love reading book tag posts!

Monthly Wrap-Up | August 2019

August is over? What?! Where did the time go? I spent a lot of August at the beach folks and in the heat but it was nice because we were visiting with family. My kids had a lot of fun hanging out at the beach or pool – so much that my son already has two absences this month for school. He had so much fun he got a runny nose and sore throat. 😩 And he just started school…oops! 👀

But I am seriously ready for cooler weather and all things fall. We don’t get fall weather in Hawaii so I love all the fall decorations in the store, pumpkin bread in the stores and gearing up for Halloween. I love the holidays. 😍

So let’s get to it! Here’s what I read in August:

I read some awesome books! I do say 2019 have been really good with releases. 💃🏻 If you want to see the reviews for these books, just type the title in the search box or check out my archives menu. I promise I will update my book reviews list sometime this week.

What did you read in August? Leave your link below in the comments!

Let’s move on to September shall we? ☺️

Unboxing | Owl Crate | August 2019 Box

I’ve been dying to try Owl Crate for months now but I was waiting for a featured book I wanted to own and when I saw that the book for August was House of Salt and Sorrows, I bought it. I got the box last weekend and I was not disappointed!

This is what was in the box:

Just the theme alone I’m so in love with! I am an island girl and love all things ocean and the octopus? Love those tentacled creatures! The pin, bath salts, tea, wooden book mark and pencil case are so lovely! And that lantern? 😍 I’ll be using it as a prop for my bookstagram photos. I’m going to gift a few things but I’m definitely keeping the lantern and book. Isn’t it beautiful? This was a great box, glad I got it!

Now I’m looking forward to the September box and all the Halloween themed items coming! Love this box and I will definitely keep this subscription for now. Stay tuned for the next unboxing! 😘