The Friday 56 (With Book Beginnings): Retribution Rails (Vengeance Road #2) by Erin Bowman + 50/50 Friday

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 reads for Book Riot's 2018 Read Harder Challenge, Retribution Rails (Vengeance Road #2) by Erin Bowman which will fulfill the task to read a western.  I'm really excited to finally be reading this one because I really enjoyed Bowman's Vengeance Road (this is a companion novel).  You rarely see YA westerns, but Bowman's brand is definitely worth picking up especially if you are a fan of True Grit, Walk the Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson, or Revenge and the Wild by Michelle Modesto.  

Beginning:

There's a nice stretch of rail between Painted Rock and Gila Bend, and that's where we'll take the train.

Diaz and Hobbs are hunched over the track, sweating and cursing beneath the Territory's winter sun as they work to uproot another spike.  Hobbs is yapping advice in a tone that's earning him rude gestures from Diaz.  Besides their banter and the clank of tools hitting metal, the morning's silence is damn near deafening.  No cactus wrens singing.  No breeze.  Not even the far-off whistle of the train we know's coming. 

A robbery ain't how I envisioned spending my eighteenth birthday, but after three years riding with this crew, I've learned to expect nothing and be ready for anything.

56:

Across the way, the door to the deputy sheriff's house bursts open.  he stumbles into the street wearing only his night things, but his arm's raised, and I don't got to see the pistol to know it's there.

50/50 Friday: Best/ Worst Magical Power You've Read About

Best - Antari from Shades of Magic by V.E. Schwab - I'd love to be able to travel between the four London's like Kell.

Worst - Forced Sleep from Doctor Sleep by Stephen King - I love this novel and Snakebite Andi who has this ability, but this isn't one of my favorite magical powers to read about in a book.


Have you read any of these books?  What are you reading this weekend?  As always thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!