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!
Aloha Friday everyone! It’s the LAST Friday of August, hooray! The closer I can get to cooler weather here in Hawaii, the better, except that may not happen for another 2 months. Yes, it’s usually hot and humid even on Halloween – it makes trick or treating really gross.
Speaking of Halloween – I already got decorations from Target, yup and my daughter, bless her sweet little heart, loves pumpkins. She’s been playing with our pumpkin decorations all week and it’s still summer. It’s hot, I’m tired and I’m just trudging through this heat, staying on top of my son’s homework and yesterday I had to take everything out of the closet because we might have termites in the floor. Yup. SO much FUN – not. It was exhausting but I definitely got to throw out things, and I’m going to donate a lot of stuff too. I guess it’s time to rip out the carpet (This house is only 6 years old! ugh 😩) like my hubby and I have been planning and put the nice flooring we’ve been wanting to since we bought the house.
Anyway enough of that – this weekend is the LAST birthday celebration for my son, he had two weeks of cake, fun with family visiting from out of state, more cake and now with our Hawaii family, we are going to hang out in Waikiki for Labor Day weekend to celebrate his birthday with them. Ladies and gents, I will be getting a margarita or Mai Tai or mojito or something tropical that will make me feel like I’m on vacation, because…I deserve it. 🏝🍹⛱ (honestly I’m so tired of the sun though haha)
With all THAT said…sorry…lol…
Can you guess this book?
“Candlelight reflected off the silver anchor etched onto my sister’s necklace. It was an ugly piece of jewelry and something Eulalie would never have picked out for herself.”
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Intriguing! Has anyone read this book yet? Did you like it? Let me know in the comments below and I hope all of you have an amazing weekend!
I love book crate subscriptions, I’ve tried three of them now and am going to continue trying as much as I can. I’m in the shopping around stage but so far each box has been pretty awesome.
I decided to try the July Fae Crate box because I found a coupon code for it. So I thought, why not?
Here is what was inside it:
In the box:
Renegades Sorting Candle by SpideyScents
Steelheart Lanyard
XL Lunar Chronicles Pouch by. CatarinaBookDesigns
Hero Pop Socket
Mystery Hero Card Collection
Young Elites Collectible Coin
Carry On Collectors Polaroid by. @choink
The book is Collateral Damage by. Taylor Simonds with a super cute reversible dust jacket:
And the edges are sprayed black…
And it even comes with a free ebook download – the book is Deviation by. Christine Manzari
My favorite thing in the box is the XL pouch, looks like it can hold a laptop. What do I do with the rest of the items in the box? I gift them or will put them together for giveaways I do on my instagram account. I haven’t read the book yet, but I’ll get to it eventually!
I thought the box was some cute things, but it’s not my favorite of the three subscriptions I’ve tried. I do like that with Fae Crate you can do a one-time purchase. Some other companies is a monthly subscription and you have to go in a cancel if you don’t want the next box. The one-time purchase is so much more convenient when you are shopping around like I am. I’ll try it again when I see a theme I like. I kind of want to get all the Halloween themed subscriptions 😂 but I’d be super broke if I did that!
Have you tried book box subscriptions? Any you would like to recommend?
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. Please check out That Artsy Reader Girl for more Top Ten Tuesday topics and other awesome stuff!
This week’s topic is…
Books I’ve Read That I’d Like In My Personal Library
(perhaps you checked it out, borrowed it from a friend, received it for review, etc. and want to own it yourself.) (Submitted by Annemieke @ A Dance with Books)
I have so many I want – now only if I had the space…haha…
Vow of Thieves by. Mary Pearson – because the Dance of Thieves duology is one of my favorites. I love Kazi and Jase! ❤️ Read it as an arc and need it to complete my set.
The Nightingale by. Kristin Hannah – it’s the book that got me reading all of Kristin Hannah’s work. Read it as an ebook and definitely need a hard copy.
The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King, & The Queen of Nothing by. Holly Black – I’m actually getting the Barnes & Noble trilogy set when it releases in November. Can’t wait!
Every Judith McNaught book in Hardcover – because her books made me fall in love with reading when I was a teenager.
Most of Lisa Kleypas historical romance books – I want almost all of them, because after Judith McNaught stopped writing, Lisa Kleypas books filled that void for my love of historical romance novels.
His Hideous Heart by. Dahlia Adler – because I love Edgar Allan poe and only read this as an arc. Will add it to my collection once it releases.
The Bridge Kingdom by. Danielle L. Jensen – hopefully I can get the set once the series is complete. Love this first book, hope the rest lives up to it!
Inferno and Mafiosa by. Catherine Doyle – I have Vendetta, from the Blood for Blood series but need the other two. One of my favorites!
The World on Either Side by. Diane Terrana – read this as an arc and I absolutely loved it.
The Bone Witch Series by. Run Chupelco – because I need more filipino authors on my book shelf and I love this series.
What books do you want on your bookshelf? Leave me your answers or link in the comments below! I’d love to hear from you!
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 Aloha Friday everyone! What a week! We have visiting family from New York and California, so it’s been busy around here. We have been hanging out at the beach a lot and since my son turns 7 years old in five days and our family leave this weekend, we have been doing birthday celebrations. Lucky him, he’s having the best birthday ever I think. 🤗
So like I’ve been doing the past few weeks – here are some photos of my week before I do my First Lines Friday.
Summer time, summer time…
Hope you enjoyed that! So let’s get to the lines:
“People lived because she killed. And if that meant braving the Arz where even the sun was afraid to glimpse, then so be it.”
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I hope this one is good! I know there was a lot of hype around it so we shall see. I do love the map inside it. 😍
How has your week been going? What are you reading? Have you read We Hunt the Flame? I would love to hear from yo! Let me know what you think in the comments below. 😘
Welcome everyone to my spot on the His Hideous Heart Blog Tour. This is my first blog tour and I’m truly honored to have been given a chance to do it for this book. Thank you to Flatiron Books for inviting me to participate in this blog tour.
Title: His Hideous Heart
Edited by: Dahlia Adler
Contributors:
Kendare Blake (“Metzengerstein”)
Rin Chupeco (“The Murders in the Rue Morge”)
Lamar Giles (“The Oval Portrait”)
Tessa Gratton (“Annabel Lee”)
Tiffany D. Jackson (“The Cask of Amontillado”)
Stephanie Kuehn (“The Tell-Tale Heart”)
Emily Lloyd-Jones (“The Purloined Letter”)
Hillary Monahan (“The Masque of the Red Death”)
Marieke Nijkamp (“Hop-Frog”)
Caleb Roehrig (“The Pit and the Pendulum”)
Fran Wilde (“The Fall of the House of Usher”)
Dahlia Adler (“Ligeia”)
Amanda Lovelace (“The Raven”)
Pages: 480
Publication Date: September 10, 2019
The Cask of Amontillado. The Tell-Tale Heart. The Pit and the Pendulum. Filled with love and loss, vengeance and regret, the dark, chilling stories of Edgar Allan Poe have haunted us for over 150 years. Now, thirteen of YAs most celebrated writers reimagine Poe’s stories for a new generation.
These contemporary retellings will grab readers by the throat and drag them along to surprising and unsettling places, whether they are Poe aficionados or new newcomers to these classics. Tiffany D. Jackson, award-winning author of Monday’s Not Coming, transports “The Cask of Amontillado” to the streets of Brooklyn during the present day West Indian Day Carnival in Brooklyn. Poet amanda lovelace finds new meaning in the classic poem “The Raven” by blotting out words from the original lines. And Kendare Blake, New York Times bestselling author of the Three Dark Crowns series, gives the unreliable voice narrating “Metzengerstein” a contemporary edge.
With the original stories printed in the back of the book, HIS HIDEOUS HEART offers up a fun way to meet Poe for the first time, or for readers to revisit old favorites with fresh eyes. Hiswork reminds us why we love to be scared, whether we get that thrill from watching the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, visiting a haunted house at Halloween, or by reading Poe’s spine-tingling stories.
Thank you to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for a copy of this eArc for an honest opinion. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
When I heard about this anthology, I had to get my hands on it. I love Edgar Allan Poe’s work and I saw some of my favorite authors contributing to this anthology. Also this has a young adult twist to it which made me very curious to see how each story would play out.
This will definitely appeal to readers who are not familiar with Poe’s work. There is fantasy, sci-fi, horror and mystery genres represented throughout the collection. The stories have so much diversity with LGBT+ characters and people of color representation which I truly appreciated. This is the book I wish I had in high school when I was studying Edgar Allan Poe! I would have related to some of his stories on a whole new level.
The original works are included in this book as well, which is perfect for new and old fans of Edgar Allan Poe. It gave me a chance to compare the classic and reimagined versions side by side. Another thing the book allowed me to do is get a glimpse of authors I’ve never heard of. I’ll be adding a few books from these authors to my TBR list for sure.
She Rode a Horse of Fire (“Mertzengerstein”) got me spooked, and The Glittering Death (“The Pit and The Pendulum”) scared me as much as Poe’s version did, maybe even more because it was a modern retelling. It’s Carnival! (“The Cask of Amontillado”) had me cackling in wicked delight! Whenever I read one of the stories at night, it gave me the creepy feeling that I always look forward to from Poe’s work.
This is a wonderful reimagined collection and creative endeavor by thirteen talented authors. They took on some of Poe’s most popular works and made it relatable for young adults today. I am definitely adding this to my book shelf!
My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dahlia Adler is an Associate Editor of mathematics by day, a blogger for B&N Teens, LGBTQ Reads, and Frolic by night, and an author of Young Adult and New Adult novels at every spare moment in between. Her books include the Daylight Falls duology, Just Visiting, and the Radleigh University trilogy, and her short stories can be found in the anthologies The Radical Element, All Out, It’s a Whole Spiel, and His Hideous Heart, which she also edited. Dahlia lives in New York with her husband, son, and an obscene amount of books, and can be found on Twitter and Instagram at @MissDahlELama.
Another fun book tag post from A Little Haze Book Blog! Check out her book blog for more book tag ideas and enlightening book reviews. Let’s see how well I do answering these questions:
1. Do you get sick while reading in the car?
I never used to but I haven’t tried it in forever since I’m always the one doing the driving lately!
2. The Harry Potter Series or The Twilight Saga? Give 3 points to defend your answer
Twilight
According to my Goodreads Read list, I’ve read 2 Harry Potter Books. I don’t even remember the second one. It’s not for me.
I read Twilight so long ago but I loved the whole ordinary girl gets noticed by a vampire and a werewolf. I was addicted to this series.
It has romance! I love romance – did Harry Potter have any romance in it? I don’t even know!
3. Do you carry a book bag? If so what is in it?
Nope, I have one bag filled with my essentials, and no room for a book. Plus I’m always with my kids and they never leave me alone enough to actually read in public.
4. Do you smell your books?
Um yes…doesn’t every book lover smell books? 😂 I love it new, I love it old.
5. Books with or without illustrations?
Obviously without illustrations for novels but I read a LOT of children’s books and soon middle grade books for my son. He’s moving onto graphic novels so I’m trying them out too.
6. What book did you love while reading but discovered later it wasn’t quality writing?
Long ago (I act like I’m a dinosaur sometimes 😆) – long ago, in late 1990’s, when I was in college, lol… I started reading Lauren K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series. It’s urban fantasy, and I thought it was really good, different, Anita Blake was a badass vampire slaying private investigator, it was addicting, kinda racy, a little kinky, sexy if you like seeing someone hook up with shape-shifters, ya know…but then each book after the first few started sounding the same. And Anita didn’t only now have a vampire lover and a shape-shifter lover…she had a few…like soon all the story was about who’s turn it was for her to have sex with and I gave up. And look, I don’t even mind sometimes if a book doesn’t have quality writing, but when it’s a series and the newest book reads like the last book, then we have a problem. I gave up…and I just checked goodreads and it says there are now 26 books in the series!! I think I gave up at book 10.
7. Do you have any funny stories involving books from your childhood? Please share!
Not that I can think of.
8. What is the thinnest book on your shelf?
The Little Prince by. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
9. What is the thickest book on your shelf?
Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning
10. Do you write as well as read? Do you see yourself in the future becoming an author?
I started writing in the 6th grade, writing some teen romance novel. I wrote in diaries since the 4th grade, journaling until I was about…33 – when my kids came, I found no time to write. But when I thought to tell my parents when I was young I wanted to be a writer/author…my immigrant parents said “what do you mean, writing? What is that? You can only be a doctor, lawyer or nurse.” 😂 SO…I wrote and wrote for years privately, never really finishing a story because I didn’t believe I could I think. I had a few blogs years ago to just write about what was going on in my life – especially when I was wedding planning. Did some paid blogging jobs also, which was was surprising and fun. But never sat down and finished a story. Instead I just read a lot, worked in a library (to be near books), and finally told myself to start a blog again to do book reviews since all I do is read so much. Will it happen? I don’t know. Maybe. My friends keep trying to encourage me, which is nice. But we shall see…
11. When did you get into reading?
I remember being fascinated with the Disney version of Cinderella at like 5 or 6. But getting INTO reading, like…when my addiction started? I’d say middle school when I read teen romance novels that my older cousins handed down to me. 😬
12. What is Your Favourite Classic Book?
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and of course, Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen.
13. In school was your best subject English or another Language Arts subject?
English and History
14. If you were given a book as a present that you had read before and hated, what would you do?
The only person who gifts me books is my mother-in-law! If someone did give me a book I hated I would donate it to the library haha.
15. What is a lesser known series that you know of that is similar to Harry Potter or The Hunger Games?
There are so many books on Amazon by indie authors similar to Harry Potter, but with a female protagonist. I’ll mention The Culling Trials (Shadowspell Academy Series).
16. What is your favourite word?
So hard to pick one. But one of my favorites is “Mana” – in Hawaiian it means “power”, the power inside of you or the power of nature, etc…
17. Are you a Nerd, Dork, or Dweeb? Or all of the above?
A book nerd for sure. Sometimes a dork, but aren’t we all? Dweeb…hmmm, what exactly is a dweeb?
18. Vampires or Faeries?
You really going to make me pick? Because I think my love for both them are EQUAL. Now would I want to get with a vampire or Faerie? I might like the lure of Faerie much more…they seem to have a lot of fun. 😂
19. Bookmark or Random Piece of Paper?
Both, because I love bookmarks but always lose them! I blame my daughter though, she takes them from me.
20. Love Triangle or Forbidden Love?
I love a good love triangle if it’s done well. I love anything with “love” in it. 😅
21. One book at a time or several books at once?
I used to only read one book at a time but when I started this blog I wanted to have all these posts ready to go and then I signed up for NetGalley and now I read several books at once. It’s taken awhile for me to get used to it and sometimes I get overwhelmed and take a break from reading. Hopefully I can get back to reading one at a time.
22. Can you stop reading at any part of the book or does it have to be the end of the chapter?
I shoot for end of the chapter.
23. Do you write in your books?
Nope. The only one I ever wrote in was my paperback copy of Jane Eyre but ever since then I don’t do it.
24. Can you read while listening to music or watching TV?
I can read while my kids watch tv – does that count? 😂 but I prefer quiet.
25. Do you read out loud or silently in your head?
Silently but sometimes when the writing is just so beautiful, I read a passage out loud to just appreciate how wonderful it is!
BONUS QUESTION: Physical book, e-book or audio book?
Physical and ebooks and NO to audiobooks. I don’t have the concentrate needed for audiobooks.
And that’s another book tag! If you think this was fun and you want to do it, feel free to leave me your link in my comments. I would love to read your answers! Happy reading book lovers!
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!
Okay I always use these Friday Lines Fridays post as a weekly update as well – so just a quick one: my sister-in-law and her family are here visiting us from upstate New York and they watched our kids so my hubby and I could go to the Phantom of the Opera that’s touring right now in Hawaii. While we were waiting for a friend to join us outside of the theater I noticed the sky was the color of cotton candy. 😍 Loved it! It’s been busy around here, I hope you all have had an awesome week. 😘
So back to the lines!
“Lara rested her elbows on the low sandstone wall, her eyes fixed on the glowing sun descending over the distant mountain peaks, nothing between here and there but scorching sand dunes, scorpions, and the occasional lizard. “
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I love Danielle L. Jensen books and saw this pop up on Amazon.com as an audiobook and I was like, wait, she wrote another book I haven’t heard about? WHEN? WHAT? WHY is it an audiobook? 😂😱 But I did find the ebook copy, I bought it, read it in one day and now I need book two. 😭 Review to come soon!
I saw this book tag on A Little Haze Book Blog and it looked fun. Check out her blog for more fun book tags and awesome book reviews. So let’s get to it!
1. You have 20,000 books on your TBR. How do you decide what to read next?
With that many books, I’ll just pick whatever I’m in the mood to read. By the way, who has 20,000 books on their TBR? Because…wow, that’s a list to get through. 😅
2. You’re halfway through a book, and you’re just not loving it; do you put it down or are you committed?
I put it down and try to pick it back up again. If I borrowed it from the library, I may renew or just return it and pick it up some other time. If I’m reading an ARC, then I try to finish even if I don’t like it, just so I can give it a fair review.
3. The end of the year is coming, and you’re behind on your reading challenge; do you try to catch up? And if so, how?
I’ve already met my Goodreads goal, and I think early in my blogging I put up the Pop Sugar reading challenge, but I’m pretty sure I’m not going to complete it. And it’s TOTALLY ok…🤷🏻♀️
4. The covers of a series you love do not match, how do you cope?
Yikes..not sure if I’ve had that problem yet. But if that did happen and it’s a series I absolutely love, I’d buy the series with matching covers and donate the other one not matching.
5. Everyone and their mother love a book that you do not. Who do you bond with over your shared feelings?
Sometimes my hubby, but mostly on my blog – because there are always readers out there who share your feelings. They are out there!
6. You’re reading a book in public, and you’re about to start crying; how do you deal?
I do most of my reading at home so I’ve never dealt with this problem! I’d probably do a laugh/cry kinda thing if it did happen.
7. The sequel to a book you loved just came out but you’ve forgotten a lot of what happens. Are you going to reread it?
I used to reread when I wasn’t a mom and had more time to do so. These days, I usually just jump into the sequel and pray things from the previous book resurface in my brain.
8. You do not want anyone to borrow your books. How do you politely say no when someone asks?
This is so hard because I’m the only one who buys books among my friends and family. 😩 So I usually let them borrow because I want them reading something! lol
9. You have picked up and put down five books in the last month. How do you get over this reading slump?
Take a break and not read for a few days. Watch TV shows, I just binged the 1st season of Euphoria on HBO without meaning to! I realized I didn’t read for or write a blog post for two days and it was kinda nice. It helped me jump into a few books I was struggling with and write posts that I’ve been meaning to.
10. There are so many books coming out that you are dying to read. How many do you end up buying?
I don’t. I have kids, lol, money goes to their needs first. Thank god for my public library, online library, and recently – Book Outlet (so many discounted books)! It’s been a lifesaver and I just learn to be patient.
11. After you purchase all of these books that you’re dying to read, how long do they sit on your shelf before you read them?
I usually read them right away but lately the TBR list has grown very long and ARCs usually are a priority for me to finish.
I hope you enjoyed this book tag post, just to switch it up a bit from book review posts. Feel free to do it if you feel like it and if you do, please drop your links in my comments so I can see your answers. 😘
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Check out her awesome blog to check out other Top Ten Tuesday topics! This week’s topic is Cover Redesigns I Loved/Hated (submitted by Rachelle @ Shell’s Stories).
Shatter Me by. Tahereh Mafi
Definitely love the redesigned cover more, it’s so pretty. Looking at them side by side, wow, what an upgrade the new design is!
Throne of Glass by. Sarah J. Maas
The original is pretty but the redesign is much more fierce!
The Luxe by. Anna Godbersen
I read this a long time ago and don’t remember much about it. But I just saw the redesigned cover on Book Outlet and had to wonder if it was the same Luxe I read! It’s so different. I don’t love the redesigned cover.
City of Bones by. Cassandra Clare
I remember buying City of Bones when it was first published and I’m partial to how the original looks more vibrant. So I’ll say I like the original better, the new one looks so bland.
An Ember in the Ashes by. Sabaa Tahir
I thin both these covers look great in their own way. I think I’m more drawn to the first one because of the lettering and colors. For some reason I’m not feeling the red coloring in the new design.
Shadow and Bone by. Leigh Bardugo
I love both covers but the original just embodies the mood of the series I think. Dark, a bit steampunk and Russian inspired.
Vampire Academy by. Richelle Mead
I love the redesigned cover more for sure. I love instead of Rose’s face, we get a rose dripping in blood.
Judith McNaught Books
This goes for all Judith McNaught books, but I had all the books that didn’t have a woman on the cover and I really loved that about her books. So I’m definitely going for the original versions.
Jane Austen Books
I don’t think you can go wrong with Jane Austen book covers! I mean look at these beauties! I can’t compare them to the original, but I bet even the original cover is amazing.
Harry Potter – by. J.K. Rowling
Remember the original? For the middle grade kids that read the original, it’s a totally charming cover. I’m sure there are lots of versions out there but yes I definitely love it with redesigned covers.
Leave me your link to your top ten or top five in the comments! Would love to read your post. 😘
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!
It’s the first Friday in August guys and girls! Wow, is this year going by so fast. We are in hurricane season and there is a hurricane that is now a tropical storm just traveling south of our islands. In a few days another hurricane which will also become just a storm soon will go north of us. So I’m just monitoring the news but not too worried about it.
In the meanwhile I have started a book today and here is the first lines:
“The calming echo of a holy chant filtered down from the sanctuary and into the cellars. It was late afternoon, just before Vespers, a time where psalms to the gods were given up in an effortless chorus.”
Can you guess what it is?
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It’s intriguing so far but I’m only on page 27. Hoping to get further tonight!
What are you reading this weekend? Have you read this book? What did you think? Leave me a comment, I’d love to hear from you.
Past Midnight Book Reviews & More 