Review | The Crumrin Chronicles Vol. 1: The Charmed and the Cursed by Ted Naifeh

April 30, 2021April 30, 2021 DeAnneLeave a comment

In this new spin-off from the New York Times bestselling Courtney Crumrin series the powerful young sorceress Courtney Crumrin has battled against all manner of evil forces, but helping her little brother Will navigate high school might be the death of her.

To help Will Crumrin adapt to the mortal world after a hundred years in the twilight realm of faeries, sis big sister Courtney makes him a glamor charm that renders him the most popular kid in school. But he eventually finds popularity a prison, in which he’s surrounded by people who neither know nor care about the real him. When football star Ross, jealous of Will’s friendship with outcast Tucker, bullies her relentlessly, Will decides to turn him in, give up the false popularity of the charm. But Ross retaliates against Will, prompting Courtney to take revenge using magic. But her activity draws the attention of Emil Gorka, an ancient, powerful vampire.

Once driven into hiding by Courtney’s former mentor, Uncle Aloysius, Gorka has reemerged under the guise of a corporate CEO. Everyone in town works for him, including Courtney and Will’s clueless parents. But he wants Courtney, a powerful but inexperienced young sorceress as his servant. And to save Will from his dreadful bite, she must surrender herself. Now only Will, with the help of his best friend Tucker, can save Courtney from eternal servitude to the undead monster and his unquenchable hunger for blood and power.

I haven’t previously read the series that this is a spin off from, so I’m not sure if that would add more to this story or not. That being said I really enjoyed this first volume and felt like for the most part the setup was done well. I did wish that a little more was revealed about Courtney’s background earlier on, because I was unsure at first how she factored into the story/characters. Still, if there are further adventures ahead for Will and Courtney in the future, I did feel it was a good set up for him and their interactions. It was also a great journey for Will to come to a number of realizations about himself, people and magic. The art style was dynamic and kept the story moving, and I felt the color saturation and tones suited the story really well as well.

Happy reading!

Review | Small Cures by Della Hicks-Wilson

April 29, 2021April 29, 2021 DeAnneLeave a comment

From the much-loved viral poet Della Hicks-Wilson, comes a powerful first dose of small interconnected poems about the heart, letting go and a healing love readers can carry and quote for a lifetime.

‘darling,
you feel heavy
because you are
too full of truth.

open your mouth more.
let the truth exist
somewhere other than
inside your body.’

In this beautifully tender and ambitious debut collection, Della Hicks-Wilson weaves together more than one hundred and fifty poems written over the course of seven years into a single one — to form a stirring and intimate meditation on love and recovery after heartbreak. Using the stages of pathology as an extended metaphor, this book-length poem skilfully takes the reader on a persuasively healing journey in three parts. In what reads like an effortlessly honest and lyrical conversation, Hicks-Wilson works through the complexities of pain, love, loss, self-love, acceptance, growth and repair with both sensitivity and confidence.

Featuring never-before-seen poems and follower favourites, Small Cures is the transformative and soothing bite-sized prescription every person craving to fall in love after love with themselves has been waiting for.

First and foremost, I really enjoyed the format of this collection as the poems were all interconnected and clearly portrayed a journey. While some of the poems were the super short tumblr style poetry that I don’t always love, the fact that there was variety made me not mind these types of poems interspersed in the collection. There were some poems that were really standouts, whether because of the emotion they portrayed or the imagery in them. While the collection dealt with some heavy topics it was an enjoyable and quick read.

Happy reading!

Can’t Wait Wednesday | 4/28

April 28, 2021April 28, 2021 DeAnneLeave a comment

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.

Seventeen-year-old Stephanie Armand doesn’t believe in ghosts or spirits. Despite her six-year-old sister, Charlie, insisting a masked figure is hiding in her closet, and the rumors at school, Stephanie isn’t convinced her father’s latest renovation project–a crumbling Victorian mansion–houses the soul of a monster.

So when the very charming (and paranormal obsessed) Lucas Cheney takes an interest in both Stephanie and her notorious home, the supernatural and romantic activity escalates to an all-time high. And that doesn’t even take into account the dashing, British-accented eighteen-year-old boy, Erik, who’s taken up residence in Stephanie’s nightly dreams. A boy who may have something to do with the man in the mask, and the strange occurrences taking place at Moldavia.

A steamy YA romance with Twilight vibes, inspired by Gaston Leroux’s classic The Phantom of the Opera.

Happy reading!

Blog Tour | The Hate Project by Kris Ripper | Review

April 27, 2021April 27, 2021 DeAnneLeave a comment

This arrangement is either exactly what they need–or a total disaster

Oscar is a grouch.

That’s a well-established fact among his tight-knit friend group, and they love him anyway.

Jack is an ass.

Jack, who’s always ready with a sly insult, who can’t have a conversation without arguing, and who Oscar may or may not have hooked up with on a strict no-commitment, one-time-only basis. Even if it was extremely hot.

Together, they’re a bickering, combative mess.

When Oscar is fired (answering phones is not for the anxiety-ridden), he somehow ends up working for Jack. Maybe while cleaning out Jack’s grandmother’s house they can stop fighting long enough to turn a one-night stand into a frenemies-with-benefits situation.

The house is an archaeological dig of love and dysfunction, and while Oscar thought he was prepared, he wasn’t. It’s impossible to delve so deeply into someone’s past without coming to understand them at least a little, but Oscar has boundaries for a reason—even if sometimes Jack makes him want to break them all down.

After all, hating Jack is less of a risk than loving him…

After reading The Love Study I was definitely interested in reading the next book and I was not disappointed. I really enjoyed the fact that this book wasn’t necessarily following a formula or always going in the way you thought it might – it was a nice change. I also really appreciated the anxiety rep and direct way Oscar’s experiences are discussed and addressed. The writing style was both easy to read while being starkly honest with its portrayal of the characters and their interactions. So many of Oscar and Jack’s interactions ran the gamut, from maddening to hilarious at times and that was really heartening since that’s how real life can sometimes be. I’m excited to see what the third book is about after enjoying both this one and The Love Study.

Kris Ripper lives in the great state of California and zir pronouns are ze/zir. Kris shares a converted garage with a kid, can do two pull-ups in a row, and can write backwards. (No, really.) Ze has been writing fiction since ze learned how to write, and boring zir stuffed animals with stories long before that.

Happy release day to The Hate Project and thanks so much to Carina Adores for including me in the blog tour.

Happy reading!

Writing Update | 4/26

April 26, 2021April 26, 2021 DeAnneLeave a comment

Well here we are everyone, it’s almost the end of April. I definitely haven’t written the amount that I thought I would in this month, but I’m not too torn up about it. To be honest other things took priority over writing and sometimes that is just the way it goes.

I thought April would be a nice, quiet month where I would be able to get tons of reading and writing done, but in reality it was very stressful. My day job takes priority and I definitely had some high priority projects that had to be done. Add onto that the fact that my cat had to go to the vet for a possibly big procedure (thankfully it ended up being best case scenario and she is absolutely fine!) and we had the loss of a family member in my family at the end of March. All those things kind of compounded together and demanded my time.

Still, in the last week I was able to do some editing and a little bit of writing. Sometimes simply writing myself out of a corner is an accomplishment – and I was able to do that with a couple of my stories. Hopefully that will mean that in future months I’ll be able to get a lot more writing done.

How was everyone else’s April?

Happy writing!

Kindle Deals | 4/25

April 25, 2021April 25, 2021 DeAnneLeave a comment

Hey everyone! Found some more great deals on Kindle so I figured I would share them. Make sure to check the prices to make sure they haven’t changed or are different in your region!

Hot British Boyfriend ($2.99) – After a horrifying public rejection by her crush, Ellie Nichols does what any girl would do: she flees the country. To be more precise, she joins her high school’s study abroad trip to England. While most of her classmates are there to take honors courses and pad their college applications, Ellie is on a quest to rebuild her reputation and self-confidence. And nothing is more of a confidence booster than getting a hot British boyfriend.

When Ellie meets Will, a gorgeous and charming Brit, she vows to avoid making the same mistakes she did with the last guy she liked. Which is why she strikes up a bargain with Dev, an overachieving classmate who she’s never clicked with, but who does seem to know a lot about the things Will is interested in: If he helps her win over her crush, then she’ll help him win over his.

But even as Ellie embarks on a whirlwind romance, she still needs to figure out if this is actually the answer to all her problems . . . and whether the perfect boyfriend is actually the perfect boy for her.

Shadow of the Fox ($1.99) – In this first book of her Japanese mythology-inspired Shadow of the Fox trilogy, bestselling author Julie Kagawa weaves a stunning, high-stakes tale of alliances and deceptions, characters who aren’t what they seem, and secrets that could change the fate of the world.

Every millennium, whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers has the power to call the great Kami Dragon from the sea and ask for one wish. The time is near…and the missing pieces of the scroll will be sought throughout the land of Iwagoto.

When demons kill half-kitsune Yumeko’s adoptive family, she’s forced to flee her home with one part of the ancient scroll. Fate thrusts her into the path of mysterious samurai Kage Tatsumi, who is Yumeko’s best hope for survival. But he’s under orders to retrieve the scroll. An uneasy alliance forms, and Yumeko begins the deception of a lifetime, knowing her secrets are more than a matter of life or death—they’re the key to the fate of the world.

Strange the Dreamer ($3.99) – The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around–and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was just five years old, he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the form of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.

What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? And who is the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams?

In this sweeping and breathtaking novel by National Book Award finalist Laini Taylor, author of the New York Times bestselling Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy, the shadow of the past is as real as the ghosts who haunt the citadel of murdered gods. Fall into a mythical world of dread and wonder, moths and nightmares, love and carnage.

The answers await in Weep.

Happy reading!

Review | Secret Investigation by Elizabeth Heiter

April 24, 2021April 24, 2021 DeAnneLeave a comment

In the wake of a tragedy,

the Tactical Crime Division is the first call.

When ironclad body armor inexplicably fails and soldiers perish, the Tactical Crime Division jumps into action. Agent and former ranger Davis Rogers asks to go undercover to find the traitor responsible for the death of one of his friends, and Petrov Armor CEO Leila Petrov is happy to provide access to her company…especially once she discovers she’s being framed. But will their joint efforts be enough to uncover the truth?

Having never read anything by Elizabeth Heiter I was interested in seeing what her writing style was like since the premise of this book (and the Tactical Crime Division series itself) interested me. I really enjoyed the pacing and the fact that while there was romance it was definitely not the main focus of the story. There were definitely some complex emotions wrapped up in these characters and I was kept guessing until it was revealed who was really causing problems with the body armor. If you want a read that is chock full of suspense and will keep you guessing with every page turn, this would definitely fit that bill.

Happy reading!

Review | Isola Vol 1 by Brenden Fletcher

April 23, 2021April 23, 2021 DeAnneLeave a comment

An evil spell has been cast on the Queen of Maar and her Captain of the Guard will do anything to reverse it. Their only hope lies on an island half a world away–a place known in myth as Isola, land of the dead.

First and foremost I thought the art and coloration were amazing and that’s really what piqued my interest in this series. The way the story starts you do kind of get dropped in partway, but the backstory is built well through flashbacks so that you know what has lead to the state the main characters are currently in. I really loved how the coloration changed depending on the environment or character perspective. I definitely look forward to seeing where this series goes as the first volume definitely left some things as question marks.

Happy reading!

Review | A California Christmas by Brenda Novak

April 22, 2021April 22, 2021 DeAnneLeave a comment

Up-and-coming TV anchor Emery Bliss can’t imagine anything more humiliating than the sex tape her ex revenge-posted online. That is, until it causes her to lose her job on top of her self-esteem. Seeking solace—and anonymity—in Silver Springs, Emery isn’t looking to get involved with another man anytime soon. But when she’s thrown back into contact with Dallas Turner, she sees something that his many detractors have missed.

Being home for the holidays and his adoptive mother’s wedding isn’t where mountain climber Dallas feels most comfortable. Thanks to his troubled childhood, he’d rather be on a rock face alone than trying to connect with people. Emery, however, makes him want to overcome his past…somehow.

Both Emery and Dallas had been planning on a quiet, solitary Christmas, but the sparks between them are lighting a fire strong enough to last—possibly forever.

I was excited to pick this one up as I do enjoy books set at Christmas time, or centered around holidays. While this one does have Christmas in the title, it isn’t necessarily a Christmas story and could be read any time of the year. I really enjoyed how the characters had to grow and face their own difficulties before figuring out if they could take the chance to be together. The chemistry between Emery and Dallas was incredibly crafted and really great to read. Their individual journeys and working through their own roadblocks really added to the story.

I would definitely want to pick up other books in the series to see how they connect, but I would say that you don’t have to have read the series to read this book. I’m not sure if having read the previous books would add anything, but this does work as a stand alone.

Happy reading!

Can’t Wait Wednesday | 4/21

April 21, 2021April 21, 2021 DeAnneLeave a comment

I’ve really enjoyed the books by Riley Sager that I’ve read so far, so will pretty much pick up anything put out by them. This one comes out in July and I can’t wait!

It’s November 1991. George H. W. Bush is in the White House, Nirvana’s in the tape deck, and movie-obsessed college student Charlie Jordan is in a car with a man who might be a serial killer.

Josh Baxter, the man behind the wheel, is a virtual stranger to Charlie. They met at the campus ride board, each looking to share the long drive home to Ohio. Both have good reasons for wanting to get away. For Charlie, it’s guilt and grief over the murder of her best friend, who became the third victim of the man known as the Campus Killer. For Josh, it’s to help care for his sick father. Or so he says. Like the Hitchcock heroine she’s named after, Charlie has her doubts. There’s something suspicious about Josh, from the holes in his story about his father to how he doesn’t seem to want Charlie to see inside the car’s trunk. As they travel an empty highway in the dead of night, an increasingly worried Charlie begins to think she’s sharing a car with the Campus Killer. Is Josh truly dangerous? Or is Charlie’s suspicion merely a figment of her movie-fueled imagination?

What follows is a game of cat-and-mouse played out on night-shrouded roads and in neon-lit parking lots, during an age when the only call for help can be made on a pay phone and in a place where there’s nowhere to run. In order to win, Charlie must do one thing—survive the night.

Happy reading!