Hello again friends! Time for my monthly reading wrap up where I can talk about all the books I read! I read a whopping 18 books this month! It was a very healthy mix of audiobooks, ebooks, and the physical books you see pictured above! This is the most I’ve read in one month and I feel so accomplished! I’m not going to try to read as many next month, but I am going on a cruise so I’ll be getting in some good reading time.
PHYSICAL BOOKS
Obsidio – Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – 5/5 stars
Four Dead Queens – Astrid Scholte – 4/5 stars
Once and Future – Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy – 3/5 stars
Shadow of the Fox – Julie Kagawa – 3.75/5 stars
Boneless Mercies – April Genevieve Tucholke – 3/5 stars
Geekerella – Ashley Poston – 4/5 stars
Aurora Rising – Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – 5/5 stars
A Thousand Perfect Notes – C. G. Drews – 5/5 stars
Wicked Saints – Emily A. Duncan – 4.5/5 stars
AUDIO BOOKS
The Upside of Falling Down – Rebekah Crane – 4/5 stars
EBOOKS (INCLUDING ARCS)
Savage – Nicole Conway – 4/5 stars
Harbinger – Nicole Conway – 4/5 stars
Legend – Nicole Conway – 4/5 stars
Soul of the Sword – Julie Kagawa – 4.25/5 stars
Call It What You Want – Brigid Kemmerer – 5/5 stars
Of Rioters and Royals – M.L. Greye – 4.25/5 stars
Songlines – Carolyn Denman – 3.25/5 stars
Control Freak – Brianna Hale – 4/5 stars
Overall, I had a lot of good reads this month! I’m looking forward to reading more in July, starting with Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand!
In a war of gods and tyrants, the will of the dragonrider must never falter.
Captured and tortured by the brutal tyrant, Argonox, Reigh’s worst fears have now been realized. Argonox has successfully twisted his mysterious dark power for a truly evil purpose—reanimating the long-deceased legendary dragonrider, Beckah Derrick, and her monstrous king drake. But Argonox’s cruelty won’t end there, and Reigh fears the worst is yet to come. Rescue is unlikely as the Tibrans prepare to make their final strike, poised to break Maldobar’s ranks of proud dragonriders once and for all.
With many of its cities already captured by the Tibran Empire, all hope now rests with Jaevid, Princess Jenna, Phillip, and their mismatched band of dragonrider allies to lead the last stand and save their kingdom. Even in such frightful times, Jaevid may find he still has a few old friends ready to take up their weapons and stand at his side again. But facing down Beckah is perhaps the one thing that might break Jaevid’s resolve. Can he really strike down the woman he used to love in order to save the kingdom?
One final battle will decide the fate of our heroes. Can the strength dragonrider prevail once again? Or will the Tibran Empire become Maldobar’s new legacy?
Review
*ebooks received in exchange for an honest review*
Friends! I’m here today to talk about the third book in the Dragonrider Legacy trilogy! I received all 3 ebooks from Month9Books for free in exchange for an honest review of the the third book, LEGEND, along with my participation in a Bookstagram tour. Many thanks to Month9Books for this opportunity 🙂
I’m going to focus on the third book for this review, so if you haven’t read the first two – look away and go get the first 2 books if you don’t want spoilers! Overall, if you like dragons, dark magic, and overthrowing tyrannical, invading overlords in bloody battles – this book series may be for you! I enjoyed the series and gave all 3 books 4 stars.
LEGEND is the epic conclusion to Reigh’s journey. Sadly, most of the book is not told from his perspective – which I found mildly strange. However, as he was a captive of the aforementioned tyrannical, invading overlord I guess it makes sense – I just wanted more Reigh in my life, along with his adorably naive cockiness! Overall, the book provided a nice ending for all characters. Reigh is acknowledged as a Prince by his father, the King, and he continues to get to know his other siblings. There’s a few good battle scenes, Jaevid does pretty awesome, demigod-like tricks and of course, they defeat the bad guy.
It killed my heart that Jaevid’s long lost love was brought back to a semblance of life to haunt him in the middle, but my heart swelled when his deal with Clysiros brought her back for good! And that ENDING. WITH KIRAN??? UGH my heart. Reigh so deserved it. I loved that he didn’t ask for any conditions in the deal, and that Jaevid thought of it for him – so considerate, and showed that Reigh really just wanted the bad guys to be gone for the good of Maldobar and Luntharda.
One critique, I wanted more closure for Reigh and Enyo. Will they stay together? Does she visit him in Maldobar? Do they ever get married?? What happened to Jenna and Phillip? Basically, I need answers. I feel like there was a lot of good closure in this series but I ALWAYS WANT MORE! Especially when love stories are involved – I want to know everything about their hopefully now mundane lives!!
I knocked this down one star because a decent bit of it was a confusing. The writing seemed a bit disjointed at times, and I felt that some transitions were lacking. Some major events occurred without enough buildup or explanation, in my opinion. HOWEVER, I would continue to read in this realm and I’ve heard (from Goodreads) that there’s a prequel series where I can read about my boy Jaevid’s first war and discovering he is the lapiloque – definitely intrigued!
OVERALL. We have dragons, war, dark magic, unconditional love – AND some pretty decent characters. Nicole Conway weaves a good mixture of those highly desirable fantasy traits that will keep you reading. I recently won a copy of Scales by Nicole Conway in a Storygram Tours giveaway, so I’m glad I have the opportunity to continue reading her work.
So… I got a lot of books this month! I did such a good job last month of not really buying books, that of course I had to make up for it?? I swear my boyfriend is going to leave me one of these days if I keep coming home with Barnes and Noble’s bags full of books! Honestly, I have no space for extra books but do you see that stopping me? No ma’am! My next plan is to buy a TBR cart like those I’ve seen on Bookstagram – only when I went to buy one at Target they were out. Womp Womp.
So here’s my breakdown of my book acquisitions for this month:
BOOK BOXES:
My April and May ShelfLove Crates, May OwlCrate, Finale Special Edition OwlCrate, and Fox and Wit Kingsbane box came this month.
Wicked Saints – Emily A. Duncan (artwork on reverse of dust jacket)
We Hunt The Flame – Hafsah Faizal (exclusive cover)
Romanov – Nadine Brandes (exclusive cover)
We Hunt The Flame – (exclusive ARC cover on the reverse of dust jacket)
Finale – Stephanie Garber (exclusive cover)
Kingsbane – Claire Legrand (sprayed edges)
BARNES & NOBLE:
I went to B&N the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend to splurge… so here’s what I got!
Gemina – Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Obsidio – Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Aurora Rising – Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (see a trend???)
A Curse So Dark and Lonely – Brigid Kemmerer
Enchantee – Gita Trelease
GIVEAWAY:
Not pictured, but I won a giveaway on Bookstagram and received one book!
A Good Enough Mother – Bev Thomas
FROM LE BOYF:
The boyf picked up a book for me (totally without being asked…right…) this month and he chose…
Scythe – Neal Shusterman
Let me know in the comments if you picked up any of these this month, or if you’ve read any of these! I’ve already read a few, which I’ll talk more about in my May Wrap Up post coming tomorrow!
Definitely going on a book buying ban in June……… you’re welcome boyfriend!
There will be plenty of time for me to beat him soundly once I’ve gotten what I came for.
Sent on a mission to retrieve an ancient hidden map—the key to a legendary treasure trove—seventeen-year-old pirate captain Alosa deliberately allows herself to be captured by her enemies, giving her the perfect opportunity to search their ship.
More than a match for the ruthless pirate crew, Alosa has only one thing standing between her and the map: her captor, the unexpectedly clever and unfairly attractive first mate, Riden. But not to worry, for Alosa has a few tricks up her sleeve, and no lone pirate can stop the Daughter of the Pirate King.
Review
“Lass, you’ve the face of an angel but the tongue of a snake.” ― Tricia Levenseller, Daughter of the Pirate King
Hi all! I finished this quick read this past weekend (trying to get to all of my library books before they are due back, yikes!). I’ve seen this title on Bookstagram a few times, but not super often. I honestly only grabbed it from the library for 3 reasons:
I like the author. I read Warrior of the Wild a little while ago and loved it, so I wanted to give her other books a try. I knew Daughter of the Siren Queen came out semi-recently, so I knew if I liked it I could easily get to the next one.
It looked short. I normally go for really long and meaty books, but when I was perusing the library I wanted to get some quick and easy reads to break up some of the more extensive books I have on my TBR.
I saw it on Bookstagram. I wasn’t invested enough to buy it, but that’s what libraries are for.
So as you can see, I picked this one up for pretty simple reasons. I really enjoyed it though! The characters were likable (mostly) and the plot was good, if not outstanding. Like I said, I picked this for it’s simplicity, not to spend weeks on it.
Let’s start with our main characters – Alosa and Riden. It becomes apparent quickly that we’re going to have a romance between these two. Like it’s so obvious that I’m not even classifying this as a spoiler. They have an instant curiosity towards each other because Riden seems to have Alosa figured out, and she isn’t used to that. He is smart, insightful, and he calls her on her BS. In return, Alosa gives him everything she has in her Vault of Sarcasm and Snark (I have one of these, but hers is MUCH better). She loves to rile him up and get into his head – cue some serious sexual tension. It’s a pretty easy back and forth in the beginning as the plot is being laid out, but it becomes more prevalent and obvious as it continues. During the main CONFLICT part at the end, they become much closer in order to set it up for the next book.
I gave this one a 4.5/5 stars because it hit the spot for me. I’ve seen some reviews where people hated it, and come on now we are never all going to agree on a book. I liked it for the same reasons that people hate it. If you’re looking for an in-depth, high/epic fantasy novel that will keep you entertained for hours and salivating for more, maybe pick up a different book. If you want something more on the light and breezy side, try this one on for size.
I did knock it down by .5 stars for a few reasons, but one major one. TRIGGER WARNING –
There is a scene in the book where Alosa is on the brink of being sexually assaulted. She is grappling with another pirate and it does NOT go very far, however it is traumatic for her a bit and can be triggering for readers. Riden is present while this is happening but chooses to stay out of it. In his words, he thought she could handle herself and wouldn’t appreciate him stepping in to take care of something she was fully capable of. OKAY YES Riden, Alosa doesn’t exactly give off “damsel in distress” vibes (I mean, she’s a trained killer come on?) but friend, let’s help my girl out. Honestly, he mostly just wanted her to kill the other pirate so he didn’t have to and get in trouble with the Captain, aka his brother.
So, this scene was a major draw back for me for that reason, so I couldn’t give it a full five stars. However, still worth the read and I will be picking up Daughter of the Siren Queen on my next library trip.
Baltimore Bibliophile 