Always Me

Wow! It doesn't seem like today is the last of the first month of 2018 - and that means 2 out of the 24 tasks for Book Riot's 2018 Read Harder Challenge are complete!  The tasks I completed required me to read acomic written or illustrated by a person of color and a one-sitting book.  For the tasks, I selected Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze and Revival, Deluxe Collection Volume 1 by Tim Seeley respectively.  Read on to see my mini reviews and what's next for February:


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I'll admit it, I'm only really familiar with the Blank Panther from his fantastic onscreen appearance in Captain America: Civil War and I know as good as nothing about the character in the comics. I can't wait to see Black Panther at the movies and I was hoping that this graphic novel could give me some more insight on his story. Although, this is book one of a new run for the character I felt completely out of the loop throughout the en…

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to the first Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme originally created by The Broke and the Bookish, which is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.  The rules are exactly the same as they were before - this week's topic is Book I Can't Believe I Read.  Here we go, in alphabetical order by title:


American Agent by Melvin Purvis - I'd had my eye on this for ages, but it was actually difficult to come across a copy that I didn't have to pay an absurd amount for (yay for libraries)!


Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock - 1) it's about football, and 2) look at that cover.  Really, though, it was a pretty fantastic YA contemporary.

Fallen Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes - I still didn't like it the second time around, no matter how much I wanted to.

Finding Fire by Mallory Crowe- Just going with the cover I wouldn't have expected it to be my sort of read, but a friend convinced me to try it, and it turned out to be much better than I was…

Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately!  If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below.

Rules:

Every Monday share a few songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s).

If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post's url.

This week I'm sharing new music from one of my favorite bands, Fall Out Boy - "Wilson (Expensive Mistakes) (2018) & Hold Me Tight Or Don't (2017).  I've been listening to these guys since I was in high school and I love how they've grown over the years, but still have stayed true to that original sound. 

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I received a free ecopy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Life Seemed Good, But... A Collection of Short Quirky Stories by Richard Bell features ninety creative short stories on a wide variety of topics that cover just a little bit of everything. In fact, it's a bit difficult to describe them as a whole, but the author has a great sense of humor and that comes across well - although, his sense of humor may not be for everyone. I definitely found myself giggling aloud at several points while reading - and he can certainly turn a colorful phrase. Most of these short stories are in the neighborhood of one to two pages apiece, and there were quite a few that I found myself wanting to know a little more about the characters and/ or the world they inhabit. Either way the author gives us just the right taste to keep things moving right along.

Overall, Richard Bell's Life Seemed Good, But... A Collection of Short Quirky Stories is a quick, fun read if you're l…

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I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Alice has been on the road for most of her life. She and her mother have been trying to stay a step ahead of the bad luck that seems to follow them where ever they go. That bad luck gets much worse when Alice learns that her grandmother, the author of an out-of-print book of dark fairy-tales called Tales from the Hinterland, has died at her upstate New York estate named the Hazel Wood - her mother has been kidnapped by a figure claiming to be from the Hinterland, the setting of her grandmother's book. Alice only has one lead, a message from her mother telling her to "Stay away from the Hazel Wood." Alice has no idea where to start if she wants to find her mother - she'd never met her grandmother, never knew exactly where she called home, and had never even read her book (as per her mother's orders). She's always dodging her grandmother's obsessive fans, but now she realizes that sh…

On Friday's I take part in three weekly link ups - The Friday 56, hosted by Freda's Voice, Book Beginnings, hosted by Rose City Reader, and 50/50 Friday is a new weekly link up and it is hosted by Carrie @ The Butterfly Reader and Laura @ Blue Eye Books. For The Friday 56, you choose a book, a book you have just finished, a book you are about to start, your current read, and share a line or a few lines that grab you (but don't spoil anything) from page 56 or 56% of the way through the ebook. Post it and share your post's url on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. As for Book Beginnings, you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires, and then link up your post's url with Rose City Reader. Then, for 50/50 Friday, every week there's a new topic featuring two sides of the same coin - you share a book that suits each category and link up on the hosts blogs.


This week I'm spotlighting one of my current…

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I received a free ecopy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

At the height of Apartheid, Pieter, a wealthy Afrikaner with family going back in South Africa for hundreds of years, and Audrey, a Brit, fall in love and are ready for a life of splendor together, but revolutionary changes are coming for South Africa. Michael Manzulu is ready to risk everything to change the status quo and wipe out his oppressors. As white rule begins to collapse, there is an uncertain sense of hope - Nelson Mandela may be able to bring about lasting change. Twenty-three years later, though, the country has suffered decline and continues to unravel and fear is palpable. Pieter and Audrey, though, navigate the threat as best as they can and hope that their home is never attacked. Recently, voices are beginning to speak out in protest, including the bombastic Afrikaner named Kaspar Coetzer. The world begins to take notice, but is beneficial and constructive change possible for South Africa…

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to the first Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme originally created by The Broke and the Bookish, which is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.  The rules are exactly the same as they were before - this week's topic is Books I Really Liked But Can't Really Remember.  Let's just say it's a good thing I reviewed some of these or I'd be completely in the dark...  Here we go, in alphabetical order by title:


Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen


Harrison Squared by Daryl Gregory


Heist School Freshman by Alan Gallauresi


I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest


The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear


Prisoners in the Palace by Michaela MacColl


Rivers by Michael Farris Smith

Roseblood by A.G. Howard


Taliesin by Stephen R. Lawhead

Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately!  If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below.

Rules:

Every Monday share a few songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s).

If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post's url.

This week I'm sharing "broken" by lovelytheband (2017) - I've just started to hear this on the radio and I'm already hooked.  So far this is their only song that's been released, but I'm looking forward to more!  This time I'm also sharing "Imperial March played on pencil" (2018).  I don't know if you've hear…

On Friday's I take part in three weekly link ups - The Friday 56, hosted by Freda's Voice, Book Beginnings, hosted by Rose City Reader, and 50/50 Friday is a new weekly link up and it is hosted by Carrie @ The Butterfly Reader and Laura @ Blue Eye Books. For The Friday 56, you choose a book, a book you have just finished, a book you are about to start, your current read, and share a line or a few lines that grab you (but don't spoil anything) from page 56 or 56% of the way through the ebook. Post it and share your post's url on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. As for Book Beginnings, you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires, and then link up your post's url with Rose City Reader. Then, for 50/50 Friday, every week there's a new topic featuring two sides of the same coin - you share a book that suits each category and link up on the hosts blogs.



This week I'm spotlighting one of my current …

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Summary for Lair of Dreams:
After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O'Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. Now that the world knows of her ability to "read" objects, and therefore, read the past, she has become a media darling, earning the title, "America's Sweetheart Seer." But not everyone is so accepting of the Diviners' abilities...

Meanwhile, mysterious deaths have been turning up in the city, victims of an unknown sleeping sickness. Can the Diviners descend into the dreamworld and catch a killer?
Summary for Before the Devil Breaks You:
After battling a supernatural sleeping sickness that early claimed two of their own, the Diviners have had enough of lies. They're more determined than ever to uncover the mystery behind their extraordinary powers, even as they face off against an all-new terror. Out on Ward's Island, far from the city's bustle, sits a mental hospital haunted by the lost souls of people long …

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to the first Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme originally created by The Broke and the Bookish, which is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.  The rules are exactly the same as they were before - this week's topic is Bookish Resolutions and Goals.  Here we go:

1. I've set my Goodreads reading challenge at 200, which is the same as I've done for the past few years.  I hope I can make it again this year, too. It's probably a good thing I'm a fast reader and can handle multiple books at once...

2. I'm back this year for Book Riot's 2018 Read Harder Challenge!  I enjoyed taking part last year and I really appreciated how it pushed me to read more widely and broadly.  It introduced me to some fantastic books and authors!

3. This year I've signed up for my first ever #BeatTheBacklist Challenge, hosted by Austine @ A Novel Knight.  I plan on earning lots of points for the Story Sorcerers team.  The rules are pretty easy fo…