Month: March 2020

Review: Rescuing the Ranger

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Gabe Preston’s been sent on a mission: clean out his beloved grandmother’s house in Havenport and help move her into senior living—or so he thinks. Havenport had always been a special place to visit while growing up, but during this ride into town he finds more than he bargained for. Surviving multiple deployments as an Army Ranger hadn’t ever proved this type of challenging. All Gabe desires is to ride his motorcycle, enjoy his time out of the Army, and figure out his next stop in life. The best laid plans don’t necessarily work out when you’ve got a meddling, matchmaking grandmother.

Francesca Montefiore loves Havenport, and her recently acquired florist shop. She’s finally made a fresh start in her life, one stem at a time. When she’s “adopted” by the local Garden Club members she treasures the ladies as family, something she’d been sorely lacking. When her past comes back to threaten her contentment, she’ll need the help of one hunky, visiting Army Ranger, the Garden Club President’s grandson to come to her rescue. But will she be the one doing the rescuing instead?

This was such a fun story. We’re introduced to Francesca and Gabe through their letters when he’s in the service, then pick up again when he goes to Havenport to see his grandmother. The story progresses very quickly and there’s definitely action mixed in.

I do feel like it would have been even better if it had been a little longer since there were some things that felt like they were glossed over or just got resolved really quickly. Still the story and characters were really fun and fast paced, so I really enjoyed it.

Happy reading!

Review: RWBY: The Official Manga Vol. 1

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Experience the introductory arc of the international smash hit series RWBY in a whole new way—manga!

In the world of Remnant, monsters known as Grimm wreak havoc. They’re kept in check by Huntsmen and Huntresses, highly skilled warriors experienced in monster extermination who utilize their special abilities on the field of battle. Ruby is a ferociously talented young girl who comes to Beacon Academy to hone her skills and serve as a Huntress herself. Alongside her sister Yang Xiao Long, rival Weiss Schnee and newfound friend Blake Belladonna, Ruby leads Team RWBY, the coolest new group at Beacon!

Ruby takes her first step on the road to becoming a Huntress by enrolling at Beacon Academy, eager to take on the battery of tests, challenges and difficulties that follow. Ruby knows her talents will take her to her goal, but is she ready to clash with Weiss Schnee, haughty scion of the Schnee Dust Company?

I was super excited to see a new manga version of RWBY coming out, especially since it’s starting out where the show started. Fans of the show RWBY will recognize this story arc as it starts off at the same point, with a robbery being committed and foiled by Ruby.

This is a great introduction to the main set of characters as well as the setting and world. That being said, a lot of the action sequences were a little hard to follow in the manga format. It’s understandable as action can be hard to portray, but if I hadn’t watched this part of the show already I may not have been able to follow the action sequences and what was happening.

Still, if you’re a lover of the series, this will definitely be something to add to your collection.

Happy reading!

Camp NaNoWriMo: April

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Though I’ve participated in NaNoWrimo the last three years, I’ve never taken on Camp NaNoWriMo. To be honest, April tends to be a busy month for me and I usually don’t remember it until it’s too late. Since one of my goals for this year is to get my writing back on track I want to take every opportunity I can.

Now today’s post isn’t just about me saying I’m going to do it, but I’ve officially committed myself and signed up on the site to actually do Camp NaNoWriMo – no going back now!

I’m returning to the project that I did my first year of NaNoWriMo. While I did succeed in writing 50k words that year, the story was far from over. To tell the truth I haven’t written much more in it since then, so I thought this was a great chance to go back to it. For Camp NaNoWriMo I’ve made a goal of 30k words in the month of April.

I’m sure it will be a struggle since I not only read a lot but I also have to juggle my day job and other things that I do on a daily basis. Still, I think it’s totally achievable and have my fingers crossed.

Happy writing!

Review: The Daughters of Ys

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An Atlantis-like city from Celtic legend is the setting of this mythical graphic novel fantasy from National Book Award winner M. T. Anderson and artist Jo Rioux.

Ys, city of wealth and wonder, has a history of dark secrets. Queen Malgven used magic to raise the great walls that keep Ys safe from the tumultuous sea. But after the queen’s inexplicable death, her daughters drift apart. Rozenn, the heir to the throne, spends her time on the moors communing with wild animals, while Dahut, the youngest, enjoys the splendors of royal life and is eager to take part in palace intrigue.

When Rozenn and Dahut’s bond is irrevocably changed, the fate of Ys is sealed, exposing the monsters that lurk in plain view. M. T. Anderson and Jo Rioux reimagine this classic Breton folktale of love, loss, and rebirth, revealing the secrets that lie beneath the surface.

I had never heard of or read the folktale this graphic novel was based on, but I was instantly intrigued when I read the description of the story. It’s a tale of how people can change depending on what they consider important. It also examines themes such as power, good and evil and family connections.

The art style was simple and more rustic, but it fit the theme and setting of the story perfectly. It definitely gave it the feel of the time period and the seaside setting. You could definitely see the influence of the original folktale and the time period that it came from.

All in all this is an enchanting tale that provides more than one good morality lesson woven into it.

Happy reading!

Review: Blue Flag Vol. 1

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An unexpected love quadrangle with a dash of unrequited love as two classmates, a boy and a girl, begin to fall for each other when each of their best friends have already fallen for them.

It’s the last year of high school, and love is in the air. Romantic feelings that have been building up over years of friendship come to light. When Taichi’s classmate Futaba asks him to help her confess to his best friend, Toma, it sparks the catalyst that begins the sweet and heart-wrenching journey of their third and final year of high school.

For some reason, Taichi Ichinose just can’t tolerate Futaba Kuze. But at the start of his third year in high school, he finds himself in the same homeroom as her, along with his childhood friend and school sports star Toma Mita. But one day Futaba opens up to Taichi, admitting she has a crush on Toma and asking for his help in confessing to him! There’s just one problem—Toma seems to already have a secret crush on someone else…

I really felt that this one was a great first volume to a series. It sets up the characters well as well as establishing their existing relationships, or lack thereof. It immediately starts discussing typical status’ that happen in high school, how people end up in different cliques and how those cliques may be treated by others. While this isn’t a focus of the story, it’s important that it’s set up in the beginning to differentiate the roles.

Taichi is portrayed in a very raw way, perfectly displaying his conflicting emotions as we progress through the story. You really get to see his internal struggle as well as his growing emotions for those he’s spending time with and helping.

When you reach the end of this first volume, there’s definitely quite a lot hanging in the air that you have to wonder how all these things will resolve. It will be interesting to see where this series goes.

Happy reading!

Clearing the Hoard: Update and Month 3

DeAnne1 Comment

This challenge was created by Caffeinated Fae in an effort to reduce the number of physically owned but unread books in her collection. Make sure to head over to her post (linked above) to check it out.

Another month has already gone by! In total this past month I read six physical books, though one of them wasn’t on my TBR shelf (The Forever House) as it was a re-read. I did finally get to The Cheerleaders, but alas I didn’t love it so it will be going to my local bookstore so someone else can love it. The rest of them have been moved to my read shelves.

As for this coming month, I do have a couple physical ARCs to get to, but I’ll also be trying to tackle a few more physical books on my TBR shelf. I am still making my way through Robots vs. Fairies one story at a time, and currently have the audiobooks for the following books:

-The Devouring Grey
-Trail of Lightning
-When the Moon Was Ours
-Night Music

Fingers crossed that I get to them this month, if not I’ll probably keep moving them forward until I do!

What are you hoping to get off your TBR shelves?

Happy reading!

Blog Tour: Before He Vanished

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Today’s post is another blog tour for a book in Harlequin’s Intrigue line. I’ve really been enjoying this line and the mystery/suspense storylines they feature. Thank you again to Harlequin for inviting me to participate in their blog tours!

Twenty-five years ago, Halle Lane’s best friend vanished from their Tennessee town. When a childhood photo brings Liam Hart to Winchester, Halle is certain the man is the same child who vanished. Now Liam seeks out Halle to help him investigate the circumstances of his mysterious past. Can Liam and Halle uncover the truth before a killer buries all traces of the boy Halle loved—and the man he may have become—forever?

This was only my second title from Debra Webb and I’m swiftly discovering that I really enjoy her writing in general. I was sucked in from the beginning of the story and there weren’t any points where I felt the story dragged.

The characters were very compelling and it really felt like their emotions and feelings were really well fleshed out. Plus the suspense and mystery was definitely not an afterthought and was full of so many surprises and twists. The romance didn’t overshadow it and was balanced really well.

I really applaud Debra Webb on creating mysteries that are full of heart and keep you on your toes. I will be picking up more of her books in the future!

DEBRA WEBB is the award winning, USA Today bestselling author of more than 150 novels, including reader favorites the Faces of Evil, the Colby Agency, and the Shades of Death series. With more than four million books sold in numerous languages and countries, Debra’s love of storytelling goes back to her childhood on a farm in Alabama. Visit Debra at http://www.DebraWebb.com or write to her at PO Box 176, Madison, AL 35758.

Harlequin Series celebrates 70 years of feel-good entertainment! Founded in May 1949 and a pioneer of the category Series romance model, Harlequin is a globally recognized brand with offices all over the world.

Unique to Harlequin are the category romance novels, which are short romance novels, usually no more than 200 pages, and about 55,000 words. That means you can finish a book in 2-4 hours, making them perfect binge-reading! Plus, they’re great for the budget-conscious reader, with print prices starting at $4.99 and ebook prices starting at $1.99.

Before He Vanished is out now, so be sure to pick up a copy if it interests you – happy reading!

February 2020 Wrap Up

DeAnne2 Comments

January seemed to go on forever, and February was over in the blink of an eye. It was only two days shorter, but man, it flew by. It was a good reading month, but not a great reading month. I’m always hoping to read more than I do, but so far this year I’ve been slower than usual. Without further ado, let’s get to what I read!

In total I read 19 books. Of those 19 seven were physical or kindle books and 12 were review books. I will be unhauling one of the physical books but the rest have moved to my read shelf.

For ratings it was still a pretty good month. I had six books that were three stars, 10 that were four stars and 3 five star books!

Now if we are going to talk about my challenge to brought in less books than I read, I just barely succeeded this month (keep in mind that the only books I count for this are books I purchase which I have not read at the time of purchase). I read 19 books and brought in 17 books, but I did end up reading two of the books I brought in, so that was good.

I’m hoping to read even more in March and to continue that trend as the year progresses. And of course, we will most likely see more examples of Calypso trying to help with my pictures!

Happy reading!

Can’t Wait Wednesday 3/3/2020

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Can’t Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings based on the meme Waiting on Wednesday by Breaking the Spine. In this weekly post people share a book that they’re excited about being released.

Today I want to talk about I’ll Be The One by Lyla Lee. There are so many buzzwords that make me want to read this one immediately such as a plus sized main character and Kpop. Unfortunately I have to wait until June, but it’s going to be a long wait!

Skye Shin has heard it all. Fat girls shouldn’t dance. Wear bright colors. Shouldn’t call attention to themselves. But Skye dreams of joining the glittering world of K-Pop, and to do that, she’s about to break all the rules that society, the media, and even her own mother, have set for girls like her.

She’ll challenge thousands of other performers in an internationally televised competition looking for the next K-pop star, and she’ll do it better than anyone else.

When Skye nails her audition, she’s immediately swept into a whirlwind of countless practices, shocking performances, and the drama that comes with reality TV. What she doesn’t count on are the highly fat-phobic beauty standards of the Korean pop entertainment industry, her sudden media fame and scrutiny, or the sparks that soon fly with her fellow competitor, Henry Cho.

But Skye has her sights on becoming the world’s first plus-sized K-pop star, and that means winning the competition—without losing herself.

Happy reading!

February Book Haul

DeAnne2 Comments

It’s that time of the month again where I go through my stats to see how I did. When it comes to new books, my goal is always to bring in less than I read each month. With that in mind, I keep track of everything that I bring in each month, but the only ones that count towards my new books/read books ratio are the ones that actually get added to my TBR.

Firstly I do have a few books added to my collection that I’d read before purchasing them, so they don’t count towards my challenge. This month I added a few more Nancy Drew books to fill in some holes in my collection as well as a copy of Snug, which I read as an eArc and wanted a physical copy of.

Next I bought the rest of Heather Graham’s Krewe of Hunters series that I was missing so I have all of them available to me. I also picked up three books from Book of the Month this month. My regular book was You Are Not Alone while the other two were add-ons. I then picked up two graphic novels, but managed to read both of them in the month of February, so that one was a win.

And then…a few trips to Barnes and Noble and Amazon happened. Oops? I picked up a number of books that I’ve been meaning to get for a while as well as some new releases that I’ve been looking forward to. I won’t lie, some of this pile was a present to myself out of my tax refund, but I’m hoping March will be a much smaller book haul month cause I need to get to my physical books!

Finally, no book haul post would be complete without Calypso’s help. She likes to keep me on my toes when I’m trying to take pictures!

Happy reading!