Here are my reviews for the week with my ratings:
I did 8 weekly blogging memes:
How was your week? What did you guys read?
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 The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow.
Can a girl who risks her life for books and an alien who loves forbidden pop music work together to save humanity?
Two years ago, a misunderstanding between the leaders of Earth and the invading Ilori resulted in the deaths of one-third of the world’s population.
Seventeen-year-old Janelle “Ellie” Baker survives in an Ilori-controlled center in New York City. Deemed dangerously volatile because of their initial reaction to the invasion, humanity’s emotional transgressions are now grounds for execution. All art, books and creative expression are illegal, but Ellie breaks the rules by keeping a secret library. When a book goes missing, Ellie is terrified that the Ilori will track it back to her and kill her.
Born in a lab, M0Rr1S (Morris) was raised to be emotionless. When he finds Ellie’s illegal library, he’s duty-bound to deliver her for execution. The trouble is, he finds himself drawn to human music and in desperate need of more. They’re both breaking the rules for love of art—and Ellie inspires the same feelings in him that music does.
Ellie’s—and humanity’s—fate rests in the hands of an alien she should fear. M0Rr1S has a lot of secrets, but also a potential solution—thousands of miles away. The two embark on a wild and dangerous road trip with a bag of books and their favorite albums, all the while making a story and a song of their own that just might save them both.
What book are you in bed with today?
This meme is hosted by Steph at A little but a lot. The weekly prompts for 2019 can be found here.
This week’s prompt is Favourite Covers. Here’s my list:
(All book cover images from Goodreads)
Did you write a Six for Sunday list?
Title: The Other Mrs.
Author: Mary Kubica
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Publisher: Park Row
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: February 18, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★
Propulsive and addictive, The Other Mrs. is the twisty new psychological thriller from Mary Kubica, the New York Timesbestselling author of The Good Girl
She tried to run, but she can’t escape the other Mrs.
Sadie and Will Foust have only just moved their family from bustling Chicago to small-town Maine when their neighbor Morgan Baines is found dead in her home. The murder rocks their tiny coastal island, but no one is more shaken than Sadie.
But it’s not just Morgan’s death that has Sadie on edge. And as the eyes of suspicion turn toward the new family in town, Sadie is drawn deeper into the mystery of what really happened that dark and deadly night. But Sadie must be careful, for the more she discovers about Mrs. Baines, the more she begins to realize just how much she has to lose if the truth ever comes to light.
This was a thrilling read!
The story was very fast paced. It progressed quickly, with many twists. The story had three alternating narratives. Sadie was the main narrative. There was also Camille, a woman who was having an affair with Sadie’s husband. The third one was Mouse, a six year old girl.
I can’t say much about this book without spoiling the ending. It was cleverly written. At first, I didn’t like the big revelation, once I realized what was going on. However, when I looked back on the whole story I realized how carefully everything was written so the answers were right there in the story all along.
I really enjoyed this book!
Thank you Park Row for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Have you read The Other Mrs.? What did you think of it?
This is a weekly meme hosted Devouring Books. This week’s prompt is Books About Spies. Here’s my list:
(All book covers from Goodreads)
If you’d like to do this list too, consider yourself tagged!
Did you make a Top 5 Saturday list?
Title: Twisted Fairy Tales: The Ninjabread Man
Author: Stewart Ross, Chris Jevons (illustrator)
Genre: Children’s
Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: February 15, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★
Long ago, in ancient Japan, two ninja warriors had everything they wanted in life, except for a child. So they decided to bake one! Out of the oven leaped a speedy, sneaky, and brave Ninjabread Man… who went on to cause absolute chaos! This hilarious tale will be sure to thrill readers aged 6+.
This story is a great twist on the tale of the Gingerbread Man.
In this story, a man and woman want a child of their own. They speak to a fox, who gives them a recipe to make a ninjabread man. However, they don’t use the right amount of ingredients, so he is a mischievous ninjabread man who keeps running away from them.
I loved the Japanese setting in this story. It added some diversity to the story. It also put a twist on the story, because one of the ingredients for the ninjabread man was wasabi. That was an important part that gave it a surprise ending.
The illustrations were very cute. The ninjabread man was adorable, but he had a sneaky look on his face. He was quite a troublemaker.
I really enjoyed this story!
Thank you Arcturus Publishing for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Have you read Twisted Fairy Tales: The Ninjabread Man? What did you think of it?
This is a weekly meme hosted by Laurie Reads and Niffler Reads. Every Friday, they post a list of bookish things based on the prompt they provided. The prompts for Feb to May can be found here.
This week’s prompt is Friendship Goals. Here’s my list:
(All book covers from Goodreads)
Did you make a list for Bookish Friday?
Title: Of Curses and Kisses (St. Rosetta’s Academy #1)
Author: Sandhya Menon
Genre: Young Adult, Romance
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: February 18, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★
From the New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi comes the first novel in a brand-new series set at an elite international boarding school, that’s a contemporary spin on Beauty and the Beast.
Will the princess save the beast?
For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime. She knows what she must do: Make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. But much to Jaya’s annoyance, Grey’s brooding demeanor and lupine blue eyes have drawn her in. There’s simply no way she and her sworn enemy could find their fairy-tale ending…right?
His Lordship Grey Emerson is a misanthrope. Thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch, Grey knows he’s doomed once he turns eighteen. Sequestered away in the mountains at St. Rosetta’s International Academy, he’s lived an isolated existence—until Jaya Rao bursts into his life, but he can’t shake the feeling that she’s hiding something. Something that might just have to do with the rose-shaped ruby pendant around her neck…
As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it’s possible to write your own happy ending.
This new Sandhya Menon book definitely lived up to my expectations!
This story is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Jaya is a princess, who chooses to attend the same boarding school where her family’s rival goes. She thinks that he leaked some photos of her sister to the press, so she wants to make him fall in love with her so she can break his heart and get her revenge. At the same time, Grey lives with a family curse. His father ignores him because Grey’s mother died in childbirth and he is destined to be the end of their aristocratic line. When he sees Jaya’s ruby rose necklace, he suspects that it is the jewel that sparked the rivalry between their families. If it is, that means that when the last piece of the ruby falls off the necklace, his life will be over.
I loved the way this story borrowed from the tale of Beauty and the Beast, but it wasn’t an exact copy of the story. The imagery of the rose really reminded me of the original tale. It was a clever way to include the rose as a necklace that slowly drops its jewels. There was also the added drama of Jaya’s and Grey’s families being rivals, which really increased the tension of the story. Another great dramatic addition to the story was that Jaya was getting revenge on Grey to protect her sister, rather than the way she wanted to protect her father in other adaptations of the tale.
I really loved this book! It was a great retelling!
Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Have you read Of Curses and Kisses? What did you think of it?
TBR Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly Faye Reads, where you post a title from your shelf or e-reader and find out what others think about it.
My pick this week is Frankly in Love (Frankly in Love #1) by David Yoon.
High school senior Frank Li is a Limbo–his term for Korean-American kids who find themselves caught between their parents’ traditional expectations and their own Southern California upbringing. His parents have one rule when it comes to romance–“Date Korean”–which proves complicated when Frank falls for Brit Means, who is smart, beautiful–and white. Fellow Limbo Joy Song is in a similar predicament, and so they make a pact: they’ll pretend to date each other in order to gain their freedom. Frank thinks it’s the perfect plan, but in the end, Frank and Joy’s fake-dating maneuver leaves him wondering if he ever really understood love–or himself–at all.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it?
Title: Gretel
Author: Ben Meares
Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Graphic Novel
Publisher: Zenescope
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: February 4, 2020
Rating: ★★★★
Gretel’s story has been more nightmare than fairy tale ever since the tragic events of her childhood involving her brother and a maniacal witch. These events have left her cursed with a life that will span centuries.
After consuming the heart of a psychic witch, Gretel has been gifted the power of premonition. But when she has a psychic vision foretelling the end of the world, Gretel must open old wounds if she wants to try and prevent it from coming true.
This story tells an alternate story of Hansel and Gretel, where Gretel became a witch.
I really enjoyed the plot of this story. Gretel searches for the original witch, and meets many others along the way. It also tells the story of what she has been doing for the hundreds of years since her brother and her were captured by the witch.
This was quite a gruesome and graphic comic. The witches in this story eat human hearts. They eat children’s hearts to stay young, and they eat the hearts of other witches to gain their powers. These parts had realistic illustrations, so they were graphic.
This was a great horror graphic novel.
Thank you Diamond Book Distributors for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Have you read Gretel? What did you think of it?
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