Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and it is now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is a Favourite Tropes. I didn’t want to do this list, so I decided to list the best new books I’ve read this summer so far. Here’s my list:
1. The Last Resort by Marissa Stapley
2. The Last Guest House Megan Miranda
3. The Beholder by Anna Bright
4. Heartwood Box by Ann Aguirre
5. My Ideal Boyfriend is a Croissant by Laura Dockrill
6. Wherever She Goes by K.L. Armstrong
7. Wilder Girls by Rory Power
8. The Last Hope (The Raging Ones #2) by Krista and Becca Ritchie
9. Love at First Like by Hannah Orenstein
10. A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying by Kelley Armstrong
Title: Angel Catbird, Volume 1 Author: Margaret Atwood, Johnnie Christmas Genre: Graphic Novel Publisher: Dark Horse Source: Purchased Format: Paperback Release Date: September 6, 2016 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Lauded novelist Margaret Atwood and acclaimed artist Johnnie Christmas collaborate on one of the most highly anticipated comic book and literary events of the year!
On a dark night, young genetic engineer Strig Feleedus is accidentally mutated by his own experiment and merges with the DNA of a cat and an owl. What follows is a humorous, action-driven, pulp-inspired superhero adventure– with a lot of cat puns.
Published in over thirty-five countries, Margaret Atwood is one of the most important living writers of our day and is the author of more than forty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. Her work has won the Man Booker Prize, the Giller Prize, Premio Mondello, and more. Angel Catbird is her first graphic novel series.
Review:
This was actually one of the first books I reviewed on my blog about two and a half years ago. I wanted to reread it before reading the rest of the series, and also because it is a great graphic novel!
I love that this is Margaret Atwood’s first graphic novel. In the foreword, she talks about how she loved graphic novels when she was a kid, so this was a natural thing for her to write. I could really relate to her!
There are great facts about cats throughout the story, including foods that are poisonous to cats and the amount of birds that cats kill every year. I didn’t know these things before reading this book, so they were interesting facts. This also brings awareness to important issues concerning cats.
I love this cat bird hybrid superhero!
What to read next:
Angel Catbird, Volume 2: To Castle Catula by Margaret Atwood, Johnnie Christmas
Have you read Angel Catbird, Volume 1? What did you think of it?
This blog meme is hosted by Book Date. It is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile!
What I just finished:
This weekend I finished Angel Catbirdby Margaret Atwood, Johnnie Christmas.
What I’m currently reading:
I’m currently reading Tidelands by Philippa Gregory.
What I’m reading next:
Next I will be reading Fan the Fame by Anna Priemaza.
What are you guys reading this week? Have you read any of these books?
The meme that dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning? Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today! This meme is hosted by Midnight Book Girl.
This Sunday I’m reading Tidelands (Fairmile #1) by Philippa Gregory.
Goodreads Synopsis:
THE BRAND NEW SERIES FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR
England 1648. A dangerous time for a woman to be different . . .
Midsummer’s Eve, 1648, and England is in the grip of civil war between renegade King and rebellious Parliament. The struggle reaches every corner of the kingdom, even to the remote Tidelands – the marshy landscape of the south coast.
Alinor, a descendant of wise women, crushed by poverty and superstition, waits in the graveyard under the full moon for a ghost who will declare her free from her abusive husband. Instead she meets James, a young man on the run, and shows him the secret ways across the treacherous marsh, not knowing that she is leading disaster into the heart of her life.
Suspected of possessing dark secrets in superstitious times, Alinor’s ambition and determination mark her out from her neighbours. This is the time of witch-mania, and Alinor, a woman without a husband, skilled with herbs, suddenly enriched, arouses envy in her rivals and fear among the villagers, who are ready to take lethal action into their own hands.
Title: Sparrowhawk Author: Delilah S. Dawson, Matias Basla, Rebecca Nalty Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy Publisher: BOOM! Studios Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: August 20, 2019 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
After a young woman is kidnapped by an evil Faerie Queen and trapped in a far off realm, she must survive teen Victorian fairy fight club in order to get back home.
As the illegitimate daughter of a Naval Captain, Artemisia has never fit in with her father’s family, nor the high class world to which they belong. However, when she is targeted by the Faerie Queen and pulled into another realm, she has no choice but to fight her way back home, amongst evil fairies who want her head, and untrustworthy allies that claim solidarity but have ulterior motives. New York Times bestselling author Delilah S. Dawson (Ladycastle, Star Wars: Phasma) and illustrator Matias Basla (The Claw and Fang) present a gripping dark fantasy tale of a young woman claiming her time and her agency.
Review:
This graphic novel combined two of my favourite settings: Victorian England and the world of Faeries.
The main character, Art, is of mixed race. Her mother was a slave in a country that her father colonized. When he brought Art home with him, his wife treated her like a servant and made her be a lady’s maid to one of her daughters. Then one day, Art was pulled into a mirror and entered the world of Faeiries.
I really liked the way Art’s time in the world of Faeries reflected the way her mother’s country was colonized. She was told to kill the evil faeries, so she could gain power and take over. At first, she recognized that there wasn’t a good reason for killing the innocent faeries, but once she gained some power, she quickly forgot. This shows how wrong it was for powerful countries to invade weaker countries.
This was a great graphic novel!
Thank you BOOM! Studios for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Ladycastle by Delilah S. Dawson, Ashley A. Woods
Have you read Sparrowhawk? What did you think of it?
This is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!
I was approved for a book on NetGalley from BOOM! Studios:
Sparrowhawk by Delilah S. Dawson, Matias Basla, Rebecca Nalty
I was approved for a book on NetGalley from Simon and Schuster Canada:
Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren
I was approved for a book on NetGalley from Algonquin Young Readers:
Cub by Cynthia L. Copeland
Thank you BOOM! Studios, Simon and Schuster Canada, and Algonquin Young Readers for these books!
Title: The Love Solution Author: Ashley Croft Genre: Fiction, Romance Publisher: Avon Books UK Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: August 15, 2019 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
It’s all in the chemistry…
Sisters Sarah and Molly are close, but they couldn’t be more different. Sarah runs a craft business and is obsessed with all things shiny and glam, whilst Molly is much more at home in her white coat and goggles, working in a science lab.
When Molly is put onto a new assignment, she’s over the moon. It’s a high-profile, top secret project – and she has a handsome new boss to ogle at when she’s not bending over a petri dish…
But when Sarah finds herself on the painful end of a disastrous break-up, no amount of Ben & Jerry’s or trashy rom-coms can cheer her up. She wants to take a more drastic approach to dealing with her heartbreak, and one that only her sister – and perhaps a sprinkle of science – can help with . . .
Will Sarah find love where she least expects it, or is it really all in the chemistry?
Review:
This was a fun romantic comedy!
Though many parts of this book were funny, they often had a serious spin on it. Sarah discovered her boyfriend cheating on her, at the same time that she found out she was pregnant. Molly has a crush on her supervisor at work, but then she jeopardized her job. These serious parts made the story tense at times.
The premise of the story is quite funny. Molly and her supervisor Ewan have come up with a “love bug” which is a virus that can make two people fall in love. This seems like the perfect solution to Sarah’s problems, until it all blows up in their faces. I don’t know much about science, so I’m not sure how realistic this “bug” is, but it was fun for the story.
I really enjoyed this romance!
Thank you Avon Books UK for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Have you read The Love Solution? What did you think of it?
This is a weekly meme hosted by Wandering Words, where you give the first few lines of a book to hook your readers before introducing the book.
Here are my first lines:
“On the second Sabbat of Twelfthmoon, in the city of Weep, a girl fell from the sky. Her skin was blue, her blood was red. She broke over an iron gate, crimping it on impact, and there she hung, impossibly arched, graceful as a temple dancer swooning on a lover’s arm.”
Do you recognize these first lines?
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And the book is… Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor.
Goodreads synopsis:
The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.
What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?
The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? And if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?
Welcome to Weep.
You can check out my review for Strange the Dreamerhere.
Have you read Strange the Dreamer? What did you think of it?
Jill's Book Blog 