Always Me

How is it already the end of January?  Wow! This month has gone fast!  Anyway, this means that I've completed 2 out of 24 books of  Book Riot's 2019 Read Harder Challenge !  How is 2019 going by so quickly?!  The tasks I completed required me to read an epistolary novel or collection of letters and a book by a woman and/or AOC (Author of Color) that won a literary award in 2018 .  For the tasks, I selected  Only Human  ( Themis Files  #3)   by Sylvain Neuvel  and  The Stone Sky  ( The Broken Earth  #3) by N.K. Jemisin .   Read on to see my mini reviews and what's next for February: ❋  ❋  ❋ Only Human  by Sylvain Neuvel is the third and final installment of  The Themis Files . The first two novels in the series were absolutely fantastic and I loved the epistolary style they're told in. The finale is formatted in the same way and it's a pretty great wrap up to the story, ...

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to the Top Ten Tuesday now hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is The Ten Most Recent Additions to My To-Read List.  Here we go, in alphabetical order by title: Akata Witch ( Akata Witch #2) by Nnedi Okorafor  - I recently read the first book in this series and it really impressed me (honestly, I don't know what else I was expecting).  I need to continue it! Dark Shores ( Dark Shores #1) by Danielle L. Jensen  - This YA fantasy novel doesn't come out until May, but I'm still really excited for it.  All I really needed to hear was pirates and I was sold. Many Tender Ties: Women in Fur-Trade Society, 1670-1870 by Sylvia Van Kirk  - One of my friends found a copy of this at Goodwill and recently passed it on to me.  You may think this non-fiction history book doesn't sound like my kind of thing, but it really is! Moon Over Soho ( Rivers of London #2) by Ben...

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 sharing some of my favorite songs from the soundtrack of The Mummy (1999) composed by Jerry Goldsmith .  I just recently rewatched both this and its sequel The Mummy Returns (2001) which I absolutely love.  The two movies are just so much fun (let's just forget about The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor )!  ...

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 spotligh...

❋ I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Mulan isn’t afraid to pretend to be a son and assume her father’s soldier duties in war. But what happens when the handsome son of a duke discovers her secret? Mulan is trying to resign herself to marrying the village butcher for the good of her family, but her adventurous spirit just can’t stand the thought. At the last minute, she pretends to be the son her father never had, assumes his duties as a soldier, and rides off to join the fight to protect the castle of her liege lord’s ally from the besieging Teutonic Knights. Wolfgang and his brother Steffan leave Hagenheim with several other soldiers to help their father’s ally in Poland. When they arrive, Wolfgang is exasperated by the young soldier Mikolai who seems to either always be one step away from disaster . . . or showing Wolfgang up in embarrassing ways. When Wolfgang discovers his former rival and reluctant friend Mikolai is actually a girl, he is det...

❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. When smallpox kills her parents, Camille Durbonne must find a way to provide for her frail, naive sister while managing her volatile brother. Relying on petty magic—la magie ordinaire—Camille painstakingly transforms scraps of metal into money to buy the food and medicine they need. But when the coins won’t hold their shape and her brother disappears with the family’s savings, Camille must pursue a richer, more dangerous mark: the glittering court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. With dark magic forbidden by her mother, Camille transforms herself into the ‘Baroness de la Fontaine’ and is swept up into life at the Palace of Versailles, where aristocrats both fear and hunger for la magie. There, she gambles at cards, desperate to have enough to keep herself and her sister safe. Yet the longer she stays at court, the more difficult it becomes to reconcile her resentment of the nobles with ...

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to the Top Ten Tuesday now hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is Books I Meant To Read In 2018 But Didn't Get To.  Well, my tbr is pretty massive so my list of books I mean to get to is pretty long, but these are the books that I didn't get around to that made me feel very disappointed in myself.  Here we go, in alphabetical order by title: Dreadful Company ( Dr. Greta Helsing #2) by Vivian Shaw For a Muse of Fire ( For a Muse of Fire #1) by Heidi Heilig Future Lost ( Future Shock #3) by Elizabeth Briggs  Given to the Earth ( Given Duet #2) by Mindy McGinnis The Invasion ( The Call #2) by Peadar O'Guilin Odd & True by Cat Winters Pitch Dark by Courtney Alameda The Steep & Thorny Way by Cat Winters This Darkness Mine by Mindy McGinnis Yesternight by Cat Winters 

Welcome to my first official update for  Winter Bookish Bingo  hosted by  Bekka @ Pretty Deadly Reviews !  I haven't made a bingo yet, but I have managed to tackle ten books so far since the challenge began last month.  I'd say I'm off to a pretty good start!  Read on for my mini reviews of these books: Historical: ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ Dread Nation ( Dread Nation #1) by Justina Ireland was fantastic. I didn't quite realize just how much I needed that zombie novel. Historical fantasy is one of my favorite genres and this series opener hits all the right notes and is quite a page turner. Jane McKeene, our leading lady, is easily one of my new favorite characters. The novel is both incredibly entertaining and thought-provoking as well. I can't wait for the sequel and I will have to read more from the author. I read this novel from December 7 - 16, 2018 and my review is also on Goodreads . White Cover: ❋  ❋  ❋...