The Friday 56 (With Book Beginnings): Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges Trilogy #1) by Stephen King + 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.

Happy Friday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting one of my current reads, Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges Trilogy #1) by Stephen King, which is one of my 2020 Popsugar Reading Challenge books.  I don't know why I've been putting this off for so long, but I'm happy to finally see what all the fuss is about!

Beginning:

April 9-10, 2009

Augie Odenkirk had a 1997 Datsun that sill ran well in spite of high mileage, but gas was expensive, especially for a man with no job, and City Center was on the far side of town, so he decided to take the last bus of the night.

56:

"She thought she was telling it.  You know that as well as I do.  She talked herself into it so completely she could have passed a lie-detector test."

50/50 Friday: Favorite/ Least Favorite Paranormal of 2019

Favorite - Summoned to the Thirteenth Grave (Charley Davidson #13) by Darynda Jones - This series was so much fun and addicting.  My fingers are crossed that there will be a spin off series one of these days.

Least favorite - The Babysitters Coven (The Babysitters Coven #1) by Kate Williams - Buff the Vampire Slayer meets Adventures in Babysitting is a tall order, and it just never quite got there for me.


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

Top Ten Tuesday: The Last Ten Books That Gave Me a Book Hangover

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to the Top Ten Tuesday now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.  This week's topic is The Last Ten Books That Gave Me a Book Hangover (submitted by Deanna @ A Novel Glimpse).  I've read a lot of great books lately and there have been many books that really stuck with me that made it difficult to jump into another world.  Without further ado, here we go in alphabetical order:

Call Down the Hawk (Dreamer Trilogy #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

A Curse So Dark and Lonely (Cursebreakers #1) by Brigid Kemmerer

Darkdawn (The Nevernight Chronicles #3) by Jay Kristoff

Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass #5) by Sarah J. Maas

Inkheart (Inkworld #1) by Cornelia Funke

Jade War (The Green Bone Saga #2) by Fonda Lee

Locke & Key by Joe Hill

Queen of Air and Darkness (The Dark Artifices #3) by Cassandra Clare

Spellslinger (Spellslinger #1) by Sebastien de Castell

The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H.G. Parry


What are some books that you couldn't get out of your heard?  As always, thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!

Music Monday: The Prince of Egypt (1998)

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.

Happy Monday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting a couple of my favorite songs from The Prince of Egypt (1998) which is one of my all time favorite movies.  The animation is excellent and the music is marvelous.  I remember when I had this on VHS I totally wore out my copy I watched it so many times.  If you haven't seen this, what are you waiting for?  Listen to "Deliver Us", "All I Ever Wanted (with the Queen's Reprise)", and "Through Heaven's Eyes": 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Made of Darkness (Lunis Kendall #1) by Erica M. Kim - Review

❋ ❋ ❋ ❋

I received an ecopy of this book from Reedsy in exchange for an honest review.

Made of Darkness (Lunis Kendall #1) by Erica M. Kim is a fantastic way to kick off a brand new paranormal romance urban fantasy series. Urban fantasy is one of my favorite sub-genres of fantasy and I always have my eyes peeled for unique new additions to the genre that really stand out from the crowd. Luckily for me, I had the opportunity to read this new release courtesy of Reedsy and it hit almost exactly the right notes for me.

Made of Darkness follows Lunis, a woman who runs her own dog grooming business who during the full moon turns into a monster. She doesn't physically change into a werewolf or anything like that, but it's more like her state of mind changes and she becomes a fiercely violent, bloodthirsty, stone cold killer. She uses her dark side to moonlight as an assassin. Let's just say that she has become very good at what she does and she gets paid well for her skills. It's a living and it pays her bills. She keeps everyone at arms length due to that monster she becomes every month, but then she meets Lio at her shop. As far as she's concerned, he's practically perfect in every way - he's handsome, wealthy, and he seems to be genuinely interested in her - but she knows any kind of relationship is out of the question. Against all reason, though, Lunis finds herself drawn toward Lio unlike anyone else in her life.

I'd love to continue and go into more detail on everything that happened, but I don't want to spoil anything good for future readers. However, I will say that I adored getting to know Lunis and Lio. Both characters are well-developed and they each feel like they could walk right off the page. Lunis is quite a lead and she's a bit different than I expected. Kim's writing clearly reflects the curse Lunis has been dealing with her whole life and how it influences her decisions. I also loved the unique world-building. The magical and fantasy elements start fairly light and as the story goes on they build up and become one of the most intriguing aspects. There's so much more I want to know about Lunis's world. Like I was saying earlier, I'd like to say more, but that would take us too far into spoiler territory.

Finally, I just want to mention a couple of things that didn't quite work for me in this novel. I knew going into this book that there's a romance element and some explicit content. Romance isn't usually my thing, but sometimes I surprise myself. Personally, it was a little much for me here, so I skimmed some of the heavier spots. As I said above, the strength of the characters helped me with this though as they had already grown on me. Otherwise, my only other minor issue with the story is that from time to time dialog and some of Lunis's inner monologue can be awkward. There are a couple of spots that took me out of the story as it could have done with a little more editing to improve flow.

Overall, Made of Darkness has the potential to become a new favorite series for me since it starts off incredibly strong. I'm certainly looking forward to reading more of Lunis's future adventures. If you're a fan of urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones, I have a feeling you'll want to dive right into this series opener. I can't wait to see more from this author in the future.


My review can also be found on Goodreads and Reedsy.

The Friday 56 (With Book Beginnings): Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass #6) by Sarah J. Maas + 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.

Happy Friday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting one of my current reads, Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass #6) by Sarah J. Maas, which is one of my 2020 Popsugar Reading Challenge books.  I've just finished up Empire of Storms so it's a great feeling to have the opportunity to jump into this parallel novel so soon.

Beginning:

Chaol Westfall, former Captain of the Royal Guard and now Hand to the newly crowned King of Adarlan, had discovered that he hated one sound above all others.

56:

He and Nesryn had never been good at talking.  They'd tried, usually with disastrous results.

50/50 Friday - Favorite/ Least Favorite Romance of 2019

Favorite - The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #3) by Holly Black - I love this series so much!

Least favorite - I Spy the Boy Next Door by Samantha Armstrong - Maybe if I were younger I would have liked this more?  Otherwise, it really wasn't for me.


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

Top Ten Tuesday: Classic Romance Movies I Want To Watch

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to the Top Ten Tuesday now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.  This week's topic is a Love Freebie, and I've decided to share Classic Romance Movies I Want To Watch.  The movies on my list range from 1932 to 1956.  Here we go, in order by release date:

Merrily We Go To Hell (1932)

Red-Headed Woman (1932)

No Man of Her Own (1932)

Footlight Parade (1932)

Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

I Married A Witch (1942)

Now, Voyager (1942)

Cover Girl (1944)

People Will Talk (1951)

A Kiss Before Dying (1956)


What are some of your favorite classic romance movies?  Have you seen any of these movies?  As always, thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!

False Gods (The Prophet, #1) by Don Newton - Review

❋ ❋ ❋ ❋

I received a ecopy from Reedsy in exchange for an honest review.

False Gods (The Prophet #1) by Don Newton is an exciting new science fiction fantasy series opener. I'm so glad I took a chance on this novel because it really pulled me in right from the very beginning.

I particularly love that the story successfully blends elements of two distinct genres of speculative fiction. There are high tech devices, space ships, the destruction of the planet, the multiverse, reality bending, old gods, magic, prophecies, immortals, sorcerers, and so much more. I don't often have the opportunity to read SFF novels that combine so many intriguing elements at once in the same world, so of course I jumped at this opportunity. Don Newton does a brilliant job of bringing this whole new world together and making it flow very believably as there are so many elements included in the world. While the novel isn't overlong, he manages to pack a lot into his descriptions of this unique and imaginative world. The story also flies right by. Once I got to reading I didn't want to stop. The pacing of events is fast and it is action packed as well. There are also a lot of enticing twists and turns. I just couldn't wait to see what was going to happen.

The characters that the author has created to populate his world are all intriguing in their own way and all quite well drawn. Everyone feels like they could just walk right off of the page. On the whole I only had a couple of pretty minor issues with the novel - it took me a little while to really get to the point where I could keep the cast straight in my mind and there were a couple of moments where I thought I must have missed something because I felt somewhat out of the loop.

Finally, I highly recommend this SFF novel to those who enjoy fantasy and science fiction as well as genre mashup novels. I'm looking forward to seeing where this series goes next.


My review was originally posted on Reedsy and my review can also be found on Goodreads.