ON HIATUS, WILL BE BACK SOON

HELLO EVERYBODY. I HOPE ALL IS WELL. I WANT TO INFORM EVERYONE THAT THIS BLOG WILL BE ON HIATUS FROM SEPTEMBER 27-OCTOBER 8 BECAUSE I'm VISITING FAMILY AND THEN I WILL BE AT NYC COMIC CON WHEN I COME BACK FROM VISITING FAMILY. SO I WILL START UPDATING THE BLOG AGAIN AFTER NYC COMIC CON. I HOPE YOU ALL UNDERSTAND. HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME.

To Kill The Queen Book Review (Fantasy) (Crown of Shards #1) by Jennifer Estep

Title: Kill The Queen

Author: Jennifer Estep

Series: Crown of Shards #1

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Pub Date: October 2, 2018 

Pages: 480

My Copy: Courtesy of Edelweiss and Harper Voyager

Note: Review contains Spoilers, so Read at Your Own Risk. You have been warned.

Book Summary:

Gladiator meets Game of Thrones: a royal woman becomes a skilled warrior to destroy her murderous cousin, avenge her family, and save her kingdom in this first entry in a dazzling fantasy epic from the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Elemental Assassin series—an enthralling tale that combines magic, murder, intrigue, adventure, and a hint of romance.

In a realm where one’s magical power determines one’s worth, Lady Everleigh’s lack of obvious ability relegates her to the shadows of the royal court of Bellona, a kingdom steeped in gladiator tradition. Seventeenth in line for the throne, Evie is nothing more than a ceremonial fixture, overlooked and mostly forgotten.

But dark forces are at work inside the palace. When her cousin Vasilia, the crown princess, assassinates her mother the queen and takes the throne by force, Evie is also attacked, along with the rest of the royal family. Luckily for Evie, her secret immunity to magic helps her escape the massacre.

Forced into hiding to survive, she falls in with a gladiator troupe. Though they use their talents to entertain and amuse the masses, the gladiators are actually highly trained warriors skilled in the art of war, especially Lucas Sullivan, a powerful magier with secrets of his own. Uncertain of her future—or if she even has one—Evie begins training with the troupe until she can decide her next move.

But as the bloodthirsty Vasilia exerts her power, pushing Bellona to the brink of war, Evie’s fate becomes clear: she must become a fearsome gladiator herself . . . and kill the queen

Book Review:

A really action packed book and a great start to a new series. One of the things that I really like is how a young woman who wants to do something different finds herself in a situation she could never dream of or be in a position where your life gets uprooted and you are the one person left who can stop the devastation of someone else’s actions. 

One of the things that made this book pop for me right away is that we get a heroine, Everleigh who has gone thru some tragedy of her own when her parents died and she was forced to live and grow up in the Royal Court. There are a lot of nobles in the Blair line and they have all come to see what the Queen is going to say at this party. Also we learn that Everleigh works for a stone master who gives her a memory stone. The Memory stone becomes very important later on in this story as it can absorb memories and show them if the user can activate the stone properly. It’s meant to be given to the user. 

So of course Everleigh goes to the party and chaos erupts at this party. It becomes a bloody massacre to say the least because one of Queen Cordelia’s daughters, Vasila decides to take the throne for herself. She also poisons the guests drinks so they will not be able to use their magic to defend themselves. The scene reminded me of some of the massacres you would see on Game of Thrones. It was very brutal and quick. Plus Vasilia murders her own sister and brother in law because she wants power quite simply. Plus we get introduce to two other characters who are new to everyone in court. Queen Cordelia warns her not to trust Maeven and Nox, because they are using her. Needless to say Everleigh almost dies but because of her immunity she doesn’t but no one knows that. Before Queen Cordelia dies, she tells her to find a woman who helps train Queens. She also tells Everleigh that she is a Winter Queen. So of course, Everleigh doesn’t understand it. 

When Everleigh washes up on shore, she goes to find the Gladiator troupe and does. Plus Everleigh doesn’t give anyone her real name because she doesn’t know who to trust. She is in a place that if anyone finds out she survived the massacre, people could use her to challenge Vasilia for the throne so they could rule thru her. She understands that at some point she might have to fight for her life. Not to mention things happen when she gets to the troupe. 

Her training really begins with the gladiator troupe and no one knows her real name. She comes up with a good lie, but a believable one. Things happen that surprised me. I really liked how Everleigh got into the troupe buy baking a pie and it turned out to be really good. Plus she gets into the troops good graces eventually. Then two gladiators who are competing for the spotlight end up resulting in something deadly. Plus Everleigh knows that the other gladiator ended up poisoning the other one because she would never forget the smell of worm root.  So this ends up in Everleigh using her abilities in a way she had never thought of doing before.

Then the leader of the Gladiator troupe announces the death of the whole royal family save the Princess Vasilia who somehow survived. Things happen one night where Everleigh hears Lucas Sullivan and a conversation that she shouldn’t have overheard. Sarilda says that there has to be a Blair that survived not realizing that she has one under her nose. Because of what Everleigh accused the other gladiator of doing she has to fight and does.

This book picks up so much speed. Everleigh has to fight for her life and it seems like she always has to fight. Defeating your opponent by using the one thing she has been afraid to do her whole life. Use her immunity in a way that she has never been able to do. I really found myself loving this gladiator fight because it’s two female fighters. Most of the time you see it being male gladiators, not female, but I really enjoyed reading it. Not to mention Serilda and Everleigh see Vasila. Vasila and Serilda have a conversation and she doesn’t recognize her cousin because she is totally dressed and covered in makeup and a costume. You can tell this conversation is very intense.

Serilda realizes that Vasilia might want to kill them. Things happen where they go to the mountains, have to encounter a weather magier and then up having to deal with another group where somehow Everleigh gets them out of by doing a dance and finding out that this person has survived. It was the person who taught her how to do that dance. Also Serilda finds out Everleigh’s true identity. Then Serilda begins to train Everleigh and tells Everleigh some interesting stuff about what being a Winter Queen really means.

So of course training is hard for Everleigh and everyone together comes up with a plan. They know what will happen if Everleigh loses the challenge. Everleigh is definitely scared, but knows that she has to stop running. I totally loved the way the fight and the way the challenge was issued. It was like a non stop action ride the fight. Not to mention, Everleigh embraces her magic in a way she has never been able to before. Plus she kills her cousin and becomes Queen in an unforgettable fashion. 

Totally loved this book. I couldn’t put this down. A great start. Looking forward to reading the second installment of this series.

Rating:

5 Hearts

Stacking The Shelves, Bought, Borrowed and Bagged

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Team Tynga's Reviews and Bought, Borrowed and Bagged is hosted by Braine over at Talk Supe Blog.

Note: I'm going to be going away from September 27-October 4, but when I come back it's NYC Comic Con from October 4-7. But I'm only going from October 4, 5, 6 so I will be back after the 7th. I'm visiting family in California.

                                           NETGALLEY/EDELWEISS-NOTHING

                                                             E-BOOKS GOTTEN:

Epic Journeys Coloring Book Update

Ivy and The Inky Butterfly Coloring Book Update

Original Bliss Vol 2 Coloring Book Update

Pop Manga Mermaids Coloring Book Update

Romantic Country Coloring Book Update

Sagor Och Sagnor Coloring Book Update

Tillasman's Coloring Book Update

Blog Tour: Book Review: Promises and Primroses by Josi S. Kilpack

Title: Promises and Primroses

Author: Josi S. Kilpack

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Shadow Mountain

Pub Date: September 4, 2018

Pages: 336

My Copy: Review Copy Sent to Me by the Publisher for an honest Review

Book Summary:

Lord Elliott Mayfield aims to correct the very messy marital mistakes and spousal scandals of his brothers and sisters by requiring his nieces and nephews to choose worthy companions.  If they choose wisely, they will receive their generous share of the family’s inheritance.

Peter, Elliott’s eldest nephew, thinks the entire idea is ridiculous. A widower with two young daughters, he simply needs a governess, not a wife. Julia Hollingsworth certainly has the credentials and the experience, but is altogether too young and pretty for such a job. So why can’t he stop thinking about her?

Julia loves working as a governess, despite the objections of her mother, Amelia. And as it turns out, Amelia has a lot to say about the Mayfield men—none of it good. But Julia dismisses the rumors of ruined reputations and instead concentrates on helping Peter with his children and his fledgling business in canine husbandry. His kindness and gentleness is endearing—and increasingly attractive.

But Amelia, whose heart was broken thirty years ago by none other than Elliott Mayfield, is determined to prevent any relationship from blooming either between Peter and Julia—or between herself and Elliott.

Hearts and history collide as both couples must face their pasts and decide if risking it all is worth the promise of new love and a new future.

Book Review:

A very sweet love story that makes you believe in love and having a wonderful future. Julia and Peter may come from two separate classes but sometimes things happen that are unexpected. Peter Mayfield and Julia Hollingsworth are the most unlikely couple but somehow you fall in love with these two characters.

I really like how this starts with Elliott Mayfield who wants the best for his family considering how many scandals the family has been in recently and how the family should consider making matches that are desirable. So of course, Peter being a widow doesn’t want to marry again. He wants to breed dogs and be a good father to his two young daughters. His other realatives have some issues we find out, but Peter thinks that marriage should be about love, not marrying for social advancement. So he needs a governess to help out.

Julia Hollingsworth wants to have some independence. Her mother Amelia is a bit much to handle, Julia thinks. Amelia wants Julia to be happy and eventually have a family of her own. Julia needs to do things that she can feel proud of on her own merit. Being a governess is a profession that makes her feel good. So when she gets the job for Peter Mayfield she takes it and leaves her mother a note. This note is to let her mother know where she is going not realizing that her mother has a past with Elliott Mayfield that she has never told anyone about. Amelia is very afraid that this is going to end in disaster.

This book has a lot of things happen in it. I really enjoy the way the relationships form and work well. You have two couples who are bonding in different ways. Julia understands Peter’s daughters and also how to relate to the dogs in ways that Peter is really impressed with. Love how wonderful both Peter and Julia are with the dogs. (RN: I’m a dog lover, so I find that I really liked the way these two work with the animals.)

Also the history between Amelia and Eliott is explained and their relationship is re-examined between both of them and you understand what happened and both of them were hurt by what happened. Yet they start to rekindle a friendship of sorts. I really like that both of them still have feelings for one another. Amelia doesn’t like to listen to anybody. Everyone tries to tell her that Julia and Peter are adults and what she is imagining is not going to happen. Amelia is one of those people that thinks certain things and most times is wrong.

I really love the way that these people find connections and old feelings return. Plus sometimes you have to take that chance on things. Not to mention, everyone deserves a chance to be happy. I really love the way this book turned out to have a happily ever after for everybody involved in the story. 

Rating:

4.5 Hearts

Stacking The Shelves, Bought, Borrowed and Bagged, Coloring Book Pictures Updates

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Team Tynga's Reviews and Bought, Borrowed and Bagged is hosted by Braine over at Talk Supe Blog.

Note: This is Two Weeks Worth of Stuff. I wasn't feeling very well last week, so I decided to do a two week haul

                                                             NetGalley/Edelweiss

E-Books Gotten

Adult Coloring Book Treasury Vol 2 Update:

August Reverie 2 Coloring Book Update

Botanicum Coloring Book Update:

Custom Bliss Coloring Book Update:

Cute Fairies by Jade Summer Coloring Book Update

Elegant Faces Coloring Book Update:

Enchanted Faces Coloring Book Update:

Enchanted Halloween Coloring Book Update:

Mermaid Legends Coloring Book

Ticket to Dreams Coloring Book Update

Vivid Beauty: Women of the World Coloring Book Update

World of Fairies-Grayscale Coloring Book Update

Book Review: Four Nights with the Duke by Eloisa James

Title: Four Nights with The Duke

Author: Eloisa James

Series: Desperate Duchess by the Numbers #2

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Avon

Pub Date: March 31, 2015

Pages: 384

My Copy: Paperback in my Too Be Read Pile

Book Summary:

As a young girl, Emilia Gwendolyn Carrington told the annoying future Duke of Pindar that she would marry any man in the world before him—so years later she is horrified to realize that she has nowhere else to turn.

Evander Septimus Brody has his own reasons for agreeing to Mia's audacious proposal, but there's one thing he won't give his inconvenient wife: himself.

Instead, he offers Mia a devil's bargain...he will spend four nights a year with her. Four nights, and nothing more. And those only when she begs for them.

Which Mia will never do.

Now Vander faces the most crucial challenge of his life: he must seduce his own wife in order to win her heart—and no matter what it takes, this is the one battle he can't afford to lose.

Book Review:

Absolutely a fabulous historical romance. I love how Eloisa James has made you believe that two people who have their own ways and reasons for things can fall in love and not just be a marriage of convenience or in this case blackmail.

Love how we get a scene from the past with both Vander and Mia when they are younger and how this interaction determined the relationship that these two would have when they got older. It all started over a poem that Mia wrote and somehow her father’s mistress who is Vander’s mother got hold of it and made it very public and this of course led to an embarrassment for Mia. Mia said that she would never bother would Vander or any of his friends again and least of all marry any of them. It was something that would haunt her for a long time. Plus she has a lot of issues to deal with later on, as does Vander we will learn.

This starts off with Mia actually having to blackmail Vander into marrying her. He thinks that she is insane for even doing this. He will never ever give her what she wants. She tells him that he is way too honorable to let the dukedom go over his pride. Plus if he doesn’t want to be declared a traitor he will marry her, so of course she makes Vander a deal and he reads it over. Vander is aghast by this very idea and tries to get out of it, but finds that he can’t. So he marries her and finds as he gets to know her, that she is far more complicated than he first thought.

Mia finds that life with Vander at first is difficult, but they come to really like and respect one another. Also Mia is surprised by the things that Vander does to help her out of her situation and she also finds that his horses respond to her in a way that they hadn’t before anyone else has. It’s really interesting. Also Vander makes sure that he takes control of things that are quite sticky in Mia’s life like her uncle Richard and Mia’s nephew Charlie who he is surprisingly good with as most men wouldn’t be. 

One of the things that I really enjoy about Mia is that she is also a romance writer. (RN: There are references to other popular romance authors if you are clever enough to find them and I enjoyed it a lot.) Mia also charms a lot of the staff and other people. Also Vander gets rid of Mia’s uncle Richard who is a real piece of work. He is rather nasty and gets right in Vanders face and Vander decides to send him away to a place that’s far away from Mia and Charlie. Mia is surprised by how good Vander is with Charlie because of his condition with his leg. So this made Vander seem much more of a compassionated character and he feels like that shouldn’t hold him back.

The relationships actually get more complex between these two individuals and Vander finds himself liking Mia and really wanting Mia in a way that he hadn’t before. Mia also starts to think a little bit differently about the future. Things happen that make it seem like maybe they could eventually have one based on love and respect possibly. There are tons of twists and turns happening in this book that no one can see or predict. I found that these turns and twists made this book much better and made you realize how wonderful their relationship can be, if they let it happen and both almost realize how much they need each other and eventually  that they love and need one another.

Vander realizes that Mia is a woman worth fighting for after four incredible nights with her. After these four nights, he realizes that there will never be another woman for him. He does something tremendously brave and somewhat nervous, but then Mia’s uncle shows up and does something very nefarious and gets recaptured again. Things get better between both Vander and Mia in a way that neither of them expect. I totally loved the ending of this book and how both characters found something wonderful with each other. 

Rating:

4.5 Hearts

Book Review: The Stars Now Unclaimed Book Review

Title: The Stars Now Unclaimed

Author: Drew Williams

Series: The Universe After #1

Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: Tor

Pub Date: August 21, 2018

Pages: 448

My Copy: ARC that I got at Book Expo

Book Summary:

Jane Kamali is an agent for the Justified. Her mission: to recruit children with miraculous gifts in the hope that they might prevent the Pulse from once again sending countless worlds back to the dark ages.

Hot on her trail is the Pax--a collection of fascist zealots who believe they are the rightful rulers of the galaxy and who remain untouched by the Pulse.

Now Jane, a handful of comrades from her past, and a telekinetic girl called Esa must fight their way through a galaxy full of dangerous conflicts, remnants of ancient technology, and other hidden dangers.

Book Review:

Definitely a book that takes  you on an adventure. This book starts off with someone having a goal and yet that goal takes on a new dimension and takes turns into something else. Jane is definitely a character who is very goal driven and usually accomplishes the goal. Plus she does have to deal with the Pax also trying to reach that goal and if the Pax succeeds, it’s not good. 

The Pax are a very bad alien race that have come about because they have taken advantage of the repercussions of the Pulse. The Pulse was something that happened, it sent out a signal that basically made most planets technology obsolete and rendered them to be helpless. So this allowed the Pax to become powerful and take advantage of the universe during a time. 

When this novel begins she is trying to find a girl who the Pax wants as well. Her mission is to get this girl who has abilities that the Pax would use to enslave other worlds. She needs this girl and finds the girl in a weird situation. The girls name is Esa. Esa is a telekinetic. Meaning she uses her mind to do things that might seem weird and frightening to others. So she can be useful to both sides, but things get even weirder as the Pax put up a fight to get this kid. Also Jane has a ship that has an attitude to boot. Schaz for short is the name of her ship and it helps her get out of the situation. Schaz is very sarcastic and provides some much needed comic relief.

One of the things that I liked with all the main characters of this book was character development. All the characters grew tremendously as situations became more intense and we learned about past sins and actions. Not to mention Esa becomes a lot more determined and becomes smarter. Plus we learn that the Pax have something much bigger in mind. They are actually are planning on launching an all out assault on Sanctum. Sanctum is a place that a few people in the universe know where the location is, because it is a place where people with abilities like Esa can develop their gifts into something useful without having to fear that the Pax will use them.

Yet we learn that Jane has to warn the heads of Sanctum fast so they can prepare a defense after learning information from someone in her past. There are a lot of battles and things you don’t expect people to do. Plus everyone decides to fight because no one wants the Pax to win. If Sanctum loses, the whole universe will be lost and there will not be anybody able to stop the Pax. 

Tons of twists and turns. Plus there is some romance in a way that you don’t expect at all. I like the little bit of romance that we got with Jane and Javier, a former boyfriend who she hasn’t seen in a while. Thought it was nice to see a more human side of her. This was nice to have in the book as it reminds me you of what these people are fighting for. I really thought this was good.

Totally action packed during the last part of this book. I liked how crazy and unpredictable everything was. It was like those big space battle scenes that you see on certain tv shows like Battlestar Galatica or other space dramas like Star Trek shows. I found this terrific and the way it ended was great and unexpected how the underdogs won by conveying unconventional tactics. Not to mention that the characters got their happy endings in a weird unexpected way.

Rating:

4.5 Hearts

Stacking The Shelves, Bought, Borrowed and Bagged

Stacking The Shelves is a meme hosted by Team Tynga's Reviews and Bought, Borrowed and Bagged is hosted by Braine over at Talk Supe Blog.

                                         No NetGalley/Edelweiss Books this week....

                                            E-BOOKS GOTTEN THIS WEEK

Coloring Book Haul

Creative Haven: Magical Fairies Coloring Book Update

Elegant Faces Coloring Book Update

Ivy and the Inky Butterfly Update

Linda Ravenscroft Fairy and Fantasy Art Book 2

Lost You Forever Chinese Coloring Book Update

Original Bliss Vol 2 Coloring Book Update

Surreal Fantasy Coloring Book Update