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!

My 4th Blogoversary - Giveaway (US Only)

I can't started blogging four years ago this week!  How time flies!  It's been a fantastic four years and I hope this upcoming year is going to be just as successful.  I've loved getting to know members of the book blogging community - we're a great bunch of people, if I do say so myself.  I can't wait to see what the next year brings!  Let's celebrate with virtual cake, virtual hugs, and, what you're all here for, a giveaway!

As a big thank you, I'm hosting a giveaway (US Only, sorry)!  One lucky winner will get to choose one of my favorite 2018 debuts!  You can choose from the books listed below (covers are linked to Goodreads):

This giveaway will last until Midnight (ET) on Wednesday, August 29th, 2018.  I will alert the winner via email and they will have 48 hours to respond or I will have to select another winner.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

As always, thank you for visiting my blog and perhaps commenting down below.  Here's to the rest of 2018 and 2019 (and hopefully many more)!

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Bookish Websites

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to the first Top Ten Tuesday now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.  This week's topic is Favorite Book Blogs/ Bookish Websites.  I've shared some of my favorite books blogs before, so today I'm sharing some of my favorite bookish websites.  Here we go, in alphabetical order:

Book Riot

Bookstr

Bustle Books

Epic Reads

Goodreads

The Hub

NetGalley

Off The Shelf

The Ohio Digital Library - Overdrive/ Libby

Project Gutenberg

Music Monday: The Lion King and Pocahontas

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 some more of my favorite Disney songs - "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" from The Lion King (1994) and "Steady As The Beating Drum" from Pocahontas (1995).  I love these two songs and I feel like I don't mention either of them enough.  By the way, The Lion King was the first movie I saw in the movie theater.  What are your favorite songs from these two movies?

Sky Girls: The True Story of the First Women's Cross-Country Air Race by Gene Nora Jessen (ARC) - Review

❋ ❋ ❋

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

The year is 1929, and on the eve of America's Great Depression, nineteen gutsy and passionate pilots soared above the glass ceiling in the very first female cross-country air race. Armed with grit and determination, they crossed thousands of miles in propeller-driven airplanes to defy the naysayers who would say it cannot - not should not - be done. From the indomitable Pancho Barnes to the infamous Amelia Earhart, Sky Girls chronicles a defining and previously forgotten moment when some of the first women pilots took their rightful place in the open skies. For a country on the brink of defining change, they would become symbols of hope, daring, and the unstoppable American spirit. And for generations to come, their actions would pave the way for others to step into the brave unknown and learn to fly.

Sky Girls is a reprint of the 2002 release The Powder Puff Derby of 1929: The First All Women's Transcontinental Air Race. Early aviation has always interested me, especially when it comes to women pioneers in the field. This history book is a decent entry to get you get interested in the topic. It covers the entire length of the race from California to Ohio and gives us a taste of the pilots involved including Amelia Earhart. Personally, I wish the author's narrative followed a few of the pilots more closely rather than jumping around between the entire group of racers involved. There are also a lot of photos and maps included (or at least there are supposed to be since the ARC mostly just had blank spaces representing where those are supposed to appear in the final copy which definitely made me feel a little out of the loop). Overall, my favorite aspect of this book is that at the end it features more in-depth profiles on all of the racers by concisely going beyond the narrow scope of the race. I also liked the fact that the author, a pilot herself, also goes a little further in the history of female aviation pioneers by touching on their involvement in WWII, commercial airlines, and space. By the way, she even features a profile of Jerrie Mock, the first woman to fly solo around the world in 1964 completing Amelia Earhart's goal. She was awarded the Federal Aviation Agency Gold Medal by President Johnson for her achievements. Even cooler yet, she was a local central Ohioan from Newark.

Thanks again, NetGalley!

I read this history book from August 8 - 10, 2018 and my review is also on Goodreads.  Sky Girls: The True Story of the First Women's Cross-Country Air Race will be released on August 18th, 2018.

The Friday 56 (With Book Beginnings): My Life As A White Trash Zombie (White Trash Zombie #1) by Diana Rowland + 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 my third book of the Make Me Read It Readathon, My Life as a White Trash Zombie (White Trash Zombie #1) by Diana Rowland.  I've heard a lot of great things about this urban fantasy series and I'm liking what I'm seeing so far.

Beginning:

"You should be dead," the ER nurse stated as she adjusted something on my IV. 

56:

But I'd been craving brains.  The smell was like chocolate and cookies and biscuits and gravy and everything else that was delicious.

50/50 Friday: Favorite/ Least Favorite Summery Book

Least Favorite - I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus by S.G. Browne - I actually really liked this zombie Christmas book, but it just isn't summery book if you know what I mean.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - You have to admit, this classic is probably about the most Summery book out there with giant parties and everything.

What are you reading this weekend?  Are you taking part in the Make Me Read It Readathon this year?  As always thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!

The Raging Ones (The Raging Ones #1) by Krista Ritchie & Becca Ritchie (ARC) - Review

❋ ❋ ❋

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

Franny, a Fast-Tracker teen, dreams of dying with wealth she’s never known. Like everyone else, she believes it’s impossible to dodge a deathday - until she does. Court knows wealth as well as pain. After five years in prison, he wants a life beyond all of that. Mykal, a Hinterlander who is willing to fight for those he cares for, shares a connection with Court which becomes more chaotic when they meet Franny. To avoid discovery by those who know they've seemingly escaped the impossible, they'll have to take drastic action and leave the planet. They'll have to hide their unique connection and manage to earn a place on the newest space mission against thousands of potential candidates.

The Raging Ones by Krista & Becca Ritchie was one of my most anticipated reads of the summer. I was really looking forward to it and had very high expectations even though I had never read anything from these authors before. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this as much as I had hoped. It wasn't a bad read and it didn't quite fall flat, but I didn't find it as addicting or as put together as I was expecting. It certainly has its moments, but in the long run for me I found it too mediocre to truly stand out among other 2018 releases. I will say that my favorite aspect, though, is the world-building which is always great for an intro into a sci-fi or fantasy world. The authors do a good job of fleshing out the world of our cast. I like that we get some answers about why things are the way things are in regards to the world like with the deathdays and the classes. The writing is quite visual which definitely lends itself to their descriptive writing. The authors also gave us some intriguing twists and turns throughout with the best for the cliffhanger ending. Finally, what really made this story fall short for me was our cast of characters. Franny, Mykal, and Court all came across as too flat and underdeveloped for my liking. I actually had a difficult time telling the three of them apart - even during their rotating perspective chapters. I could have been reading just one character rather than three. Let's just say I was grateful that each chapter listed the narrator because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

Overall, Krista & Becca Ritchie's The Raging Ones has a lot of potential as a YA sci-fi series with a lot to like about it especially when it comes to world-building and keeping the reader on their toes. However, it didn't quite live up to my expectations, mainly due to lax character development. You may want to try this novel for yourself if you like YA sci-fi with a dash of romance in a unique and clearly defined world. Thanks again for this opportunity, NetGalley.


I read this ARC from July 30 - August 5, 2018 and my review is also on Goodreads.  The Raging Ones will be released on August 14th.