Spotlight: The Ruin of Kings – Jenn Lyons
About the book: There are the old stories. And then there’s what actually happens. Kihrin is a bastard orphan who grew up on storybook tales of long-lost princes and grand quests. When he is claimed against his will as the long-lost son of a treasonous prince, Kihrin finds that being a long-lost prince isn’t what the storybooks promised. Far from living the dream, Kihrin finds himself practically a prisoner, at the mercy of his new family’s power plays and ambitions. He also discovers that the storybooks have lied about a lot of other things things, too: dragons, demons, gods, prophecies, true love, and how the hero always wins. Then again,…
Guest Post: The View From Halfway by The Little Red Reviewer
I am writing this guest post from the halfway point. The kickstarter for The Best of Little Red Reviewer runs for 30 days, from Jan 2nd through Jan 31st, and I am writing this guest post from day 15. I thought all the hard work would be before the kickstarter launched, and then afterwards if it funded. Prior to launch, I had to figure out what exactly The Best of Little Red Reviewer would consist of, how kickstarter even worked (Thank you to my friends who answered my ten thousand questions!), identify editors and book designers, hire a graphic designer to create the cover art, film a the kickstarter video,…
Our Child of the Stars – Stephen Cox
A lost child, the family who try to protect him and the secret that refuses to stay hidden . . . Molly and Gene Myers were happy, until tragedy blighted their hopes of children. During the years of darkness and despair, they each put their marriage in jeopardy, but now they are starting to rebuild their fragile bond. This is the year of Woodstock and the moon landings; war is raging in Vietnam and the superpowers are threatening each other with annihilation. Then the Meteor crashes into Amber Grove, devastating the small New England town – and changing their lives for ever. Molly, a nurse, caught up in the thick…
Girls of Paper and Fire – Girls of Paper and Fire #1 – Natasha Ngan
Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It’s the highest honor they could hope for…and the most cruel. But this year, there’s a ninth girl. And instead of paper, she’s made of fire. In this lush fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most oppressed class in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards still haunts her. Now, the guards are back, and this time it’s Lei they’re after–the girl whose golden eyes have piqued the king’s interest. Over weeks of training in…
Spotlight: The Fall – Tracy Townsend
About the book: Eight months ago, Rowena Downshire was a half-starved black market courier darting through the shadows of Corma’s underside. Today, she’s a (mostly) respectable clerk in the Alchemist’s infamous apothecary shop, the Stone Scales, and certainly the last girl one would think qualified to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders a second time. Looks can be deceiving. When Anselm Meteron and the Alchemist receive an invitation to an old acquaintance’s ball–the Greatduke who financed their final, disastrous mercenary mission fourteen years earlier–they’re expecting blackmail, graft, or veiled threats related to the plot to steal the secrets of the Creator’s Grand Experiment. They aren’t expecting a…
Best Reads of 2018
The end of 2018 has come and gone and it’s again time to look back on the year and list the best book I read. A lot happened in 2018! I moved back to the UK after two years in Australia and started the last year of my PhD. I was able to spend the Holidays at home again for the first time in three year. I’m starting up my own little homemade business and I’m moving in to a flat by myself. So many exciting events and so many promising things for the future. What seems to be a theme since I started my PhD, is that I haven’t…
The Light Between Worlds – Laura Weymouth
Five years ago, Evelyn and Philippa Hapwell cowered from air strikes in a London bomb shelter. But that night took a turn when the sisters were transported to another realm called the Woodlands. In a forest kingdom populated by creatures out of myth and legend, they found temporary refuge. When they finally returned to London, nothing had changed at all—nothing, except themselves. Now, Ev spends her days sneaking into the woods outside her boarding school, wishing for the Woodlands. Overcome with longing, she is desperate to return no matter what it takes. Philippa, on the other hand, is determined to find a place in this world. She shields herself behind…
Fall Into Fantasy Readathon: End Result
As I could have predicted, I didn’t manage to read 4 books in the 8-day Fall Into Fantasy Readathon organised by Penguin Teen. I did manage to finish half as many books and I loved them both. The first book I finished is Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan. This is what it’s about: Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It’s the highest honor they could hope for…and the most cruel. But this year, there’s a ninth girl. And instead of paper, she’s made of fire. In this lush fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the…
Spotlight: Skyward – Brandon Sanderson
About the book: Spensa’s world has been under alien attack for decades. Pilots are the heroes of what’s left of humanity, and becoming a pilot is Spensa’s dream. Ever since she was a little girl, Spensa has dreamed of soaring skyward and proving her bravery. But her father’s legacy stands in the way—he was a pilot who was killed for desertion years ago, branding Spensa the daughter of a coward, and making her chances of attending flight school slim to none. Spensa is still determined to fly—even if it means she must be as resilient in the face of long odds as humanity itself has had to be against the…
Fall Into Fantasy Readathon (Penguin Teen)
Yikes, I’ve committed to something again that is probably not going to work out… But that doesn’t make me any less excited to tell you that I’m joining the people at Penguin Teen for their Fall Into Fantasy Readathon. It starts today (18/11/2018) and ends the 25th of November. In that time we’ll be reading at least 4(!) books off our TBR pile. People who have followed my pace of reading in the past know that this is a major stretch for me. With everything going on in my life, I barely read one book a week sometimes! But anyway, here are the 4 books I’ve chosen to…
