Bookish People To Follow

Happy No-Alarm Day #1!
It’s a nice pleasant Saturday today, though I hear it may rain tomorrow.

Alas…it is the end of July. Yesterday, I remarked that it was the last work day of July, but now, it really is the LAST day of July! To celebrate, I have a very special post!

Ever since I started my book blog, and started to interact with people from the reading, writing, and book community of twitter, I’ve been shown so much kindness and love. I wanted to do something to give back to this warm community in the form of a writer’s lift (as a post).

So, today’s post is going to be a shoutout/tag/links post for the bookish community! Go ahead and check out all of the links below and give these wonderful people a nice big FOLLOW! There’ll be people from book blogs, Instagram, TikTok, Youtube, and plenty of authors as well!
A huge thank you to all of you lovely people! I really appreciate book twitter and all the other bookish communities I am part of. I wouldn’t have had nearly as much fun and my love of books wouldn’t have rekindled without you guys ❤

So thank you ❤


Bookish Content Creators

Amanda at Bookish Brews: Book blogger – Reads and celebrates diverse books & authors.

An at The Lost Reads: Book blogger – Shares book related opinions, debates, and reviews.

Andrea at Andrea’s Book Corner: Book blogger & Bookstagrammer – Find bookish posts on Andrea’s blog and bookish photos over on Instagram at andreasbkcorner.

Carol at Reading Ladies Book Club: Book blogger – Retired teacher and an avid & ardent bibliophile.

Celeste at A Literary Escape: Book blogger – Book reader turned blogger.

Hannah at thepaperbackbruncher: Booktokker – A bookish content creator on TikTok.

Jackie O’Neill at lovesbooksandruns: Bookstagrammer – A bookish content creator over on Instagram.

John at Tales From Absurdia: Book blogger – A book blogger who is on a mission to “share some of the greatest books with the world!” Blog focuses a lot on indie and self-published books.

Leah at The Very Bookish: Book blogger – Focuses on book reviews, blog tours, reading wrap ups as well as some non-bookish content.

Mehsi at Twirling Book Princess: Book blogger – Has reviews in both Dutch and English.

Robin Rose Graves at SpicyMisoRamen: Booktuber – Mains sci-fi books, hosts writing sprints, and has a WordPress blog you can also check out.

Trin at Portable Magic: Booktuber – Blogger, vlogger, and devourer of books.


Authors

Branwen OShea (Author Website) – Sci-fi, author of The Calling, Silence of the Song Trees, and the upcoming The Chasm.

Chelsea Callahan (Amazon Book Page) – Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance, author of Hell Bound.

Danielle Dassler (Amazon Book Page) – Author of P.R. and Coming Up Gray.

Em Whelly (Amazon Book Page) – Author of My Beautiful Ghosts.

Joel Flanagan-Grannemann (Author Website) – Author of Servants of the Moon and Sun series.

Kayla Serrano (Amazon Book Page) – Author of Unwritten Crimes.

Maxime Jaz (Linktree) – Educator, tech coach, the author of Fall.

M.R. Dewar (Amazon Book Page) – YA epic fantasy adventure, author of AON, the first book to The Legend of the Eight series.

Sean Steven (Amazon Book Page) – A poet and author of Poetry Passages: In Due Time.

S. Z. Attwell (Author Website) – SFF author of AESTUS, an epic sci-fi dystopian series.

First Line Friday

Happy Friday my lovelies!
Wow! I can’t believe it’s the last [workday] of the month already! At least July didn’t fly by as fast as June, huh?
Today’s First Line Fridays post comes from one of my favorite books and the first in one of my favorite series.
Now that I think about it, I can’t believe I haven’t done a FLF for this book yet…

First Lines Friday is a weekly book meme hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

This week’s line:

Six garbage bags full of red cedar shavings, purchased two at a time for a dollar a bag, at midnight, at the self-serve shed at Dunstead & Daughter Custom furniture, serving your fine cabinetry needs sine 1986. No cameras, no lights, no attendant, no theft, no problem.

Enjoyed that preview? This week’s book is…

Dark of the Moon (Virgil Flowers #1) by John Sandford

Blurb
Virgil Flowers — tall, lean, late thirties, three times divorced, hair way too long for a cop — had kicked around a while before joining the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. First it was the army and the military police, then the police in St. Paul, and finally Lucas Davenport had brought him into the BCA, promising him, “We’ll only give you the hard stuff.” He’d been doing the hard stuff for three years now — but never anything like this.

In the small town of Bluestem, where everybody knows everybody, a house way up on a ridge explodes into flames, its owner, a man named Judd, trapped inside. There is a lot of reason to hate him, Flowers discovers. Years ago, Judd had perpetrated a scam that’d driven a lot of local farmers out of business, even to suicide. There are also rumors swirling around of some very dicey activities with other men’s wives, of involvement with some nutcase religious guy, and of an out-of-wedlock daughter. In fact, Flowers concludes, you’d probably have to dig around to find a person who didn’t despise him.

That wasn’t even the reason Flowers had come to Bluestem. Three weeks before, there’d been another murder — two, in fact, a doctor and his wife. The doctor was found propped up in his backyard, both eyes shot out. There hadn’t been a murder in Bluestem in years — and now suddenly three? Flowers knows two things: this wasn’t a coincidence, and it had to be personal.

But just how personal is something even he doesn’t realize, and may not find out until too late. Because the next victim… may be himself.

Never Have I Ever Book Tag

Happy Thursday, my lovelies!
I really enjoyed my last two weeks of book tags so I’m going to continue them until I stop finding new tags.
While looking for tag posts, I found Never Have I Ever on CJR The Brit‘s Book Blog (created by Madam Writer). Be sure to check both of them out as well!


Rules

1. Link back to the original creator! (Madame Writer)
2. Link back to the person who tagged you!
3. Answer all prompts.
4. Add one more prompt of your own.
5. Tag at least five people.
6. Don’t lie.
7. Have fun!

Never have I ever…read a later book in a series before reading the first book.

Yes. I used to actively look for the very first book and refuse to read any of the newer books until I at least read book one of the series. Then I would allow myself to skip around. Well…last week I purchased Rainbow Six despite not having read any of the previous books and with NetGalley I’m sure to come across more of this type of stuff.

Never have I ever…burned a book.

No. Eh-SQUEEZE me??? (Okay, it’s a no for me, but I did hear about an edition of Fahrenheit 451 that can only be read when burned. I thought that was a pretty neato concept).

Never have I ever…read a book I knew I would hate.

No. If I knew I would hate the book, it wouldn’t come home with me. If I did somehow find a copy of something I wouldn’t like, sitting in my shelves, I probably wouldn’t read it and just blame it on “Ever piling mountain of TBR” and “Sorry, just don’t have time for it, maybe if I cleared my current TBR though 😏.”

Never have I ever…wrote a fanfiction about my favorite books.

Specifically on books? No. I’ve only ever written a sparse few fanfictions in my life; there’s a couple on fanfiction.net and a couple on Ao3 and only on games I’ve played or cartoons I’ve watched as a kid (Please tell me someone remembers Spider Riders!!) I haven’t written one in a long while, but every now and then I still get emails for kudos and that warms my heart. Take a gander at my tiny three fics on Ao3 if you’d like.

Never have I ever…loved a book when I was young and hated it when I got older.

No. I can’t say I’ve hated a book ever, but the closest would probably be Harry Potter and I certainly don’t hate it. I just fell out of love for it and can’t get back into the book. But hate? Nope.

Never have I ever…dressed up as one of my favorite literary characters.

No. I’ve seen (and love watching) this on tiktok and IG, but I’ve never been one to dress up as anything or anyone (tv shows, movie characters, etc.)

Never have I ever… hated a book by an author I love.

No. I found this out recently after reviewing my list of books I’ve read by John Sandford (10 so far). If I really like a character, no matter how bad the book is, I always end up loving it somehow. Maybe it’s a bias, but there was this one book that people didn’t seem to like (by that author) and I was actively trying to seek those points out while reading and just couldn’t find it. And I was looking for them.

Never have I ever…gone into a bookstore to buy one book and come out with many more.

No. Funny enough, I am very good at this. I grew up with the library and books as luxury so, despite having the money now, I still go to bookstores to pick only 1 book up at a time and usually as a treat.

Never have I ever…read the end of a book before reading the beginning.

Yes. I am also very good at this. I justify this by uh…quoting this one article (that I can no longer find) stating that spoiling a book can lower blood pressure and stress or some squat that may or may not actually be true. I love spoilers. Sometimes, if I’m interested in a movie but can’t sit still to watch it through, I just tell the other people (brother usually) to “Just tell me how it ends later.” I’ve never cared about spoilers in my life.

Never have I ever…read a book without the dust cover.

Yes. If it’s a library book where the cover is pretty much taped to the book and it doesn’t wiggle around, yeah I understand. But if there’s a dust cover on a book I own, 100% of the time, that guy is coming off.
I don’t do this to protect the covers. I do this because reading with them on is a hassle!

Never have I ever…skim-read nearly half the book.

No. Half the book? No. Maybe a chapter or two, but I generally don’t skim because of FOMO 😬

Never have I ever…pretended to read a book I haven’t read.

Yes. Strictly school assigned books where I was not going to miraculously finish both the book and the assignment in a span of 24 hours (procrastination) or I just wasn’t feeling the vibe and ended up cliff noting it.

Never have I ever…had a book boyfriend.

YeNo? I’m not sure. Do minor book crushes count?

Never have I ever…picked up a book based on the cover alone.

Yes. Literally speaking and picking up a book based on the cover? Pleeennttty. Like so so many.
Purchasing though, hard no. I’m super picky, so there’ll be multiple reasons I’d buy a book, but a cover might be a contributing or even deciding factor!

Never have I ever…brought multiple books in a series without having started it.

NoYe. I wouldn’t do this with individual books from a new series, but if a book is a “Volume one of XYZ series” or an omnibus, I’d definitely go for it! In fact, I have an omnibus of The Black Company! (I didn’t realize it was an omnibus when I first purchased the Kindle version though).

Never have I ever…read a book so quickly that I don’t remember what happened by the end.

No. I am a slooooowww reader. I wouldn’t gulp down a book without savoring its taste first. But I’m also a very emotional reader. If I, a slow reader, ever find myself inhaling a book in a single (or two) sittings, that must be one hell of a book and that means I would remember everything. Get ready for a word vomit review if that’s the case.

Never have I ever…recommended a book without reading it first.

No. I think I would say something like, “I heard this is very good” or “Yo, this book is trending on booktok like crazy!” but I wouldn’t recommend a book I haven’t read yet.

Never have I ever…not bought a book because it was too big.

No. I am quite the opposite. Sometimes, I buy books because they are too big. You know, gotta prepare for them apocalypses bunkers where the internet will go down along with delivery services so that means no new books and only what I own…for life (or until whatever worldly cures brings us back to the surface).

MY QUESTION:

Never have I ever…own multiple editions of a book.

Yes. I’m guilty of this. I’m tempted to get the e-book version of The Eye of the World. One of the reasons I couldn’t continue reading the physical is because it’s a pain with the font size and margin layout with the words stuck so close to the binding. I also own both the Kindle and physical of the first omnibus of The Black Company because I saw the physical paperback at Barnes and Nobles, once, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how nice it’ll be to hold it in my hands (and how it’ll look on my shelves).

I TAG:

Current Reads: Reactions Post

Another Wednesday, but not another WWW. Unfortunately, while I do have a new current read, added on, I still haven’t finished Tomorrow’s End and my next read will still be Deadline and the BBNYA excerpts, so nothing much has changed.

For fear of repetitive content and to gear up for Tomorrow’s End‘s review, today’s post is going to be a non-spoilery reactions post! This is the first time I really got into tabbing up a book (and there will be a future post on my tab/flagging system). Amongst them are flags where I have favorite moments or reactionary flags to note my feelings towards certain scenes/people.

I’m not going to share the context behind any of the reactions. That way, based on my notes and eventual review, you might feel hyped enough to go out and give it a whirl, yourself! (Beware though, this book has been all sorts of gore).


Book Description

Title: Tomorrow’s End (The Path of a Savior #1)
Author: G.R. Morris
Genre: Fiction, Science Fiction, Apocalypse, Horror
Publisher: Dark Light Publishing
Pages: 425

Blurb:

Do you have free will?
He never asked to be a hero, but the universe didn’t give him a choice.

Kevin Knight never wanted to be the one to save the galaxy. But when tragedy upends his life and demonic forces steal his soul, the fate of time and space are sealed. Until a scaly, trench-coat-clad alien appears and gives him a glimpse into the true nature of all things.

Astounded, Kevin learns the world he knows is merely an illusion created by alien beings who control humanity’s every move. With an invasion imminent, he must defeat the blackness and perfect his powers before the bloody battle begins.

Which prophecy will Kevin fulfill… the one of darkness or the one of light?


This character is wild. Gives me a bit of joker or scary unhinged clown vibes. You know what? She reminds me of Peri from Fire Emblem.

This page is so wild. Call me Aristole…Socrates! Look, even [MC] is confused. [MC] your head hurts? B****, me too! You’re not special! What is even happening?

Bro, what in the matrix?

Damn, talk about a way to go…There’s no resistance. What a gore fest… Like, cutting through butter, if the human race was butter.

Nearly dies, witnesses something awful, is now talking to an alien named Bob, and your only reaction is, “I’m a little freaked out.” A little?!?

*GASP* OMG. What an epic chapter and omg, what amazing imagery. I can almost see the HD visuals in my head!

Did…did that baby just talk? That, born three seconds ago, newborn child…just talk?


Now if you’ll excuse me as I go back to screaming at this book.

Top 3: NetGalley Reads

Right now, I’m mood reading and jumping between several books. Tomorrow’s End is my only real current reads and I’m still working on it. So in place of a Teaser Tuesday (since I have no new CRs for the week), today’s post is going to be a Top Three post.

A little while ago, (6 or 7 books in) I had intended to draft a a similar post to celebrate 10 reviews on the site, but when I finally did hit my 10 books/reviews, I’d long forgotten about making this post. I suppose, better [slightly] late than never, (in no particular order) here are my top three favorite NetGalley books out of the 11 I’ve read so far.


10 Book Reviews


The NG Books I’ve Read & Reviewed

My Top Three Favorite Reads

I Am Not A Wolf

by Dan Sheehan

The most hilarious read this year goes to I Am Not A Wolf by Dan Sheehan. It is a satirical and comedic piece of art as a wolf, disguised as a man, voices his confusion and opinions about the human world, culture and customs, especially revolving around human behavior and the workplace. The narrator was the cherry on top and made for a golden read. I laughed my way through this book!

Shards of Earth

by Adrian Tchaikovsky

A unique read and my first literary introduction to Space Opera. While I grew up with having watched pieces of Star Wars (very vague memory of it), this is the first I’ve read a book from the subgenre. The worldbuilding was impressive and the characters were unique and headstrong; the crew, a rowdy and chaotic band. Absolutely loved this book and may even be my favorite book of the year.

Sons of Valor

by Brian Andrews & Jeffrey Wilson

I’ve really been getting into audiobooks this year and this would mark my 4th. At first, I was lost and very worried because there were acronyms just thrown at me with not much explanation. I feared not understanding the book, but that anxiety was quickly alleviated when I realized it didn’t take much away from the story. Deeply enjoyed it and was a great thriller. The driving force behind my latest book haul, last week, where I ended up purchasing three other military fictions, one of which by the same authors.

Book Review: True Loaf by L. Austen Johnson

Book Description

Title: True Loaf
Author: L. Austen Johnson
Narrator: Penny Scott-Andrews
Publisher: Lore and Lyre
Edition: Audiobook
Length: 16 Minutes, 3 Seconds
Genre: Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Folklore, Fairytale

Disclaimer:
An audiobook copy of this book was provided to me in exchange for a fair and honest review. This did not affect my review and all opinions are mine.

Blurb:
A fun and enchanting modern fairytale.

When a strange man puts in a strange request at the bakery where she works, Riley must go on a mini-adventure to find one unusual ingredient. Along the way, she realizes that things are not always what they seem and that fae might just be real.

Review:

First of all, I was drawn in by the stunning cover. I was surfing NetGalley for my next audiobook read and somewhere in my sleep deprived mind the listen now button looked like the request for audio excerpt button and I accidentally ended up downloading the book. While I did open up this book’s page multiple times, I never got to reading the synopsis and was slightly nervous that I just downloaded a book that I had no idea what it was about. And then I saw it was only 16 minutes long and figured there was no harm to it.

It’s a lovely and short story based on a Balkan Folklore and the plot was pretty simple. Riley works at a bakery when one day a strange man comes in and is just oozing eerie vibes, but somehow, at the same time, not threatening. He goes on to requesting for bread made out of yarrow, which she doesn’t have and he directs her to where she can find it. Despite lots of doubt, her response was welp, don’t wanna get fired so I better go get the customer’s ingredient for his special bread request and without further questions and caution, finds herself in the forest. At night. Alone. Lost. Looking for yarrow by the moon’s glow.

“You have to walk west. There’ll be a big ol’ alder tree. Go around the tree seven times, and on the seventh time, you’ll be at the edge of the forest. There you’ll find the yarrow with the whitest flowers and most silver stems. Only that yarrow should be eaten and others won’t be good.”

By the end, a very short time later, I wasn’t particularly sure what happened. It was a sweet short read. Even the scary parts weren’t scary (because if you found me in a forest at night, I’d be thinking about slenderman). It’s just…short and sweet. I personally thought it was a little too short and slightly confusing towards the end. I’m not sure if there was any symbolic moment to bring out of this and I’m not sure if there was a lesson learned either, but I think it’s left to the reader’s imagination and interpretation to take apart the ambiguous ending and figure things out themselves.

All in all, it’s so short that I could summarize the story in maybe two sentences, and therefore I can’t say much without spoiling, but it was a decent and lovely tale with a sprinkle of goosebumpless eerie vibe. If you enjoy folklore, fairytales and a bit of fantasy and enjoy a good ambiguous ending you could ponder on, this is a nice read for you!

Week’s Wrap Up

This week in life

This week was somewhat dull. There was no deep cleaning or going anywhere (besides work). I had planned to start and even finish the BBNYA excerpts, but I barely got around to reading my current read, let alone anything else. I did have a lot of fun on Thursday when my cousin, her kids (my niece and nephew) and my other cousin, stopped by our house. I was working [from home] for most of their visit, but their presence really helped break up the monotony of the shift.

Then, on Twitter, Thursday, I had thrown up a little tweet asking if anyone wanted to be featured on Cozy with Books. I’ve left links on tons of writer’s lifts, blog lifts, and comments (lift?) in the past. For such an amazing community, I figured it was high time to give back. If you’re interested, feel free to leave a link as well! Authors, publishers, bookish content creators, whatever! Throw down a link so I can share the love that’s been shown and given to me!

The links post is going up next Saturday.

I also made myself a little Beacons page. I guess, in retrospect, maybe my week wasn’t as boring as I thought, huh? Beacons is so much more colorful than LinkTree and I’m liking it a lot so far! Would you believe me if I told you I spent several hours picking out the right theme? Because I did.

This week in posts (this makes for my 20th day posting streak!)

I started this week off with a book review. Last week, I finished reading Sons of Valor by Brian Andrews & Jeffrey Wilson. I had broken it up across multiple work shifts because, for me, audiobooks are my work buddies. Despite a few small flaws (terms, slang, and acronyms flying over my head), I loved the book so much that I ended up buying the first book of the previous series Tier One.

On Tuesday, I followed the book review up with the usual bookish meme, a Teaser Tuesday post. After finishing up Sons of Valor, I had an empty feeling in my heart. I’m still new to audiobooks so my TBR list for them is sparse and book to book. If I finish one, I’d have to hunt down another one before my next in-office shift (at home, I can just listen to Youtube). I was pretty tired that day and mistook the audio excerpts button for the listen now button. My little happy mistake gave me what I needed to post for Tuesday and I even have an upcoming review for it! It was short and sweet and I’m more glad, of my little oops, than anything else.

Wednesday came the WWW wrap up post for the week. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m so behind on Tomorrow’s End that I’m a little worried about my next WWW, but hey, that’s next week Esther’s problem. As mentioned above, I finished True Loaf and Sons of Valor this week and still reading Tomorrow’s End. My plan for my next read is the next up Virgil Flowers book, Deadline by John Sandford, but I maaay take a break from books just to spend some time with the excerpts. Again, that’s next week me’s problem.

Once again, just as with last Thursday, I was struggling to come up with a Thursday post and, just like last week, my lovely friend, Danni, came in a pinch and I ended up with another tag post. This time, it was the Fantasy Tropes Book Tag and I had a blast with it. I think I’m going to spend a bit of time, today, to go read some other book tags out there and hope to return the favor for the upcoming Thursday 😉

For Friday, I had another bookish meme and it was the First Lines Friday post of this week. It was a nice little way to end the work week, but I barely registered it going up and the tweet going out! It’s actually a book from the living room bookcases and I can’t recall its origins. It’s just a book we’ve always had in our possessions, but where we got it is a mystery. It’s a thriller so maybe I’ll get around to reading it one day.

My Saturday post came out of nowhere. I started a little “blog post ideas” note in my phone and yesterday’s post was actually supposed to be “Favorite places to read” but seeing as I purchased Tier One on Tuesday, ordered Rainbow Six which arrived in the post on Friday, and purchased Weapons Grade on Friday as well, I ended up making a book haul post instead.

Did you have an interesting week? How’s your upcoming week looking?

Book Haul

Whoever handed me a rectangular piece of plastic, with credits in it, needs to take it away from me. I am irresponsible with it (JKJK)
Look, I had an extra rough week (and Friday) and rough weeks merit um … a little bit of retail therapy okay?
There’s never not a good reason to go book shopping right?

( 📣 Go SEROTONIN GO~! 📣)
 ✺◟(^∇^)◞✺

In the last few days, I ended up purchasing three books, one physical and 2 ebooks/audiobooks. When I started this post, I originally had only two books in mind but forgot that I also purchased another book a little earlier in the week so that’s a total of three books that have now joined my TBR tower.


Rainbow Six (John Clark #2) by Tom Clancy

I came across this book looking for more military fiction because I’ve really enjoyed the last few ones I came across.

I’ve only ever heard of this title (as a video game, no less) so was a little surprised to see it as a book. Imagine if I could find Astral Chain as a book?!? Or Harvest Moon?!?

I know this is nowhere near the beginning of the suggested reading order, but people mentioned that it alright as a standalone, so, If I end up loving it, I might go back and actually make my way through the series.

The book I got was a used (Like New) book from Amazon and it came wrapped up in plastic, but there were these weird little orange stains on the top edge and I’m not sure what it is (foxing?), but I’ll be making sure to keep this as far from any more humidity as possible just in case. The inside pages are still perfectly fine, nearly pristine in fact.

The prologue was already really good so I’m extra excited to get started.


Tier One (Tier One #1) by Brian Andrews & Jeffrey Wilson

If you’ve read my last review, you know that I really enjoyed Sons of Valor by Andrews & Wilson. I copped the audiobook off of NetGalley and it was a really good read. Sure, at first I had to rewind a good chunk because my brain was refusing to register half the terms and acronyms thrown at me, but I ended up loving it.

Sons of Valor was only the first book of the Tier One-shared World Series, so to fill in the gap, as I wait for the next release, I figured to go back and check the original/previous/main series. The ebook was on sale(?) at $3.99 and adding in audio was $1.99 extra. I had greatly adored my newfound authors and narrator so…cha-ching.


Weapons Grade (Avery #1) by Ross Sidor

As I hit my latest purchase, I realize that my little haul/list here has a bit of a…theme. I guess I’m in a new mood huh? (Don’t worry I haven’t grown bored of the Cyberpunk mood just yet).

I don’t recall how I landed on this book’s Goodreads page (I think it was recommended by GR? It was on a side bar). As I was going through the list of [4] books by the author I was like, “Oh? Why are all four books the same cover? Are they the translated versions? But they have different English titles.”

And then, I realized that each cover had a different gun and I just need new glasses.

The first few pages were pretty good, it was 99¢, the GR page mentioned teams (and I’m in a huge squad/team mood) so clicking the dangerous 1-Click button was pretty easy.

My family is planning a trip next month so this will be my traveling ebook of choice.

How has your week been? Have you landed any new reads?

FIRST LINES FRIDAY

Happy Friday! This week went by much slower than the last, but I somehow did much less reading!
I’m hoping that I can fit in some more reading into this weekend.

Today’s lines come from a book I have owned for a long long time. I don’t even know where this book comes from, whether it’s from the old owner of a house I moved into or from a library book sale, but I definitely did not buy this because it spans back to before I started to read any thrillers. The first few pages and the synopsis sounded pretty interesting and since it’s a mystery thriller, I’m sure it’s something I’ll eventually pick up. Maybe.

First Lines Friday is a weekly book meme hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

This week’s lines:

Whitehall Palace
January 28, 1547

Katherine Parr saw that the end was approaching. Only a few more days remained, maybe a mere few hours. She’d stood silent for the past half hour and watched, as the physicians completed their examinations. The time had now come for them to deliver their verdict.

Enjoyed that preview? This week’s book is…

The King’s Deception (Cotton Malone #8) by Steve Berry

Blurb

Cotton Malone is back! Steve Berry’s new international adventure blends gripping contemporary political intrigue, Tudor treachery, and high-octane thrills into one riveting novel of suspense.
 
Cotton Malone and his fifteen-year-old son, Gary, are headed to Europe. As a favor to his former boss at the Justice Department, Malone agrees to escort a teenage fugitive back to England. But after he is greeted at gunpoint in London, both the fugitive and Gary disappear, and Malone learns that he’s stumbled into a high-stakes diplomatic showdown—an international incident fueled by geopolitical gamesmanship and shocking Tudor secrets.
 
At its heart is the Libyan terrorist convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103, who is set to be released by Scottish authorities for “humanitarian reasons.” An outraged American government objects, but nothing can persuade the British to intervene.
 
Except, perhaps, Operation King’s Deception.
 
Run by the CIA, the operation aims to solve a centuries-old mystery, one that could rock Great Britain to its royal foundations.
 
Blake Antrim, the CIA operative in charge of King’s Deception, is hunting for the spark that could rekindle a most dangerous fire, the one thing that every Irish national has sought for generations: a legal reason why the English must leave Northern Ireland. The answer is a long-buried secret that calls into question the legitimacy of the entire forty-five-year reign of Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch, who completed the conquest of Ireland and seized much of its land. But Antrim also has a more personal agenda, a twisted game of revenge in which Gary is a pawn. With assassins, traitors, spies, and dangerous disciples of a secret society closing in, Malone is caught in a lethal bind. To save Gary he must play one treacherous player against another—and only by uncovering the incredible truth can he hope to prevent the shattering consequences of the King’s Deception.

The Fantasy Tropes Book Tag

Happy Thursday morning!
Today’s post is going to be another book tag!
I was tagged by the lovely Danni over at For Books Sake! Make sure you give her blog a visit too 💯
Thank you Danni for the tag ❤

Rules:

  • Mention the creator ( One’s Peculiar )
  • Answer the questions
  • Tag as many people as you like
  • HAVE FUN!

1 – The Lost Princess – A book/series you lost interest in halfway through.

Harry Potter.
I only made it up to book 5, I believe, though book 4 was my most vivid.

I quite enjoyed reading those books as a kid, not because they were particularly good books, but because I felt cool being this pint of a child carrying around a tome of a book. But by the time I was in high school, I started to find other books more fun (nonfiction science books and history books). Then I started college where I completely stopped reading (for fun) to focus on studying and by the time I finally picked up a book again, post graduation, I just simply lost interest with Harry Potter and didn’t care for the writing or plot anymore. I know how the series ends. I know who dies. And that’s enough to satisfy my curiosity.

2 – The Knight in Shining Armour – A hyped book/series you were swept up by.

You know what? I have such a backlog of books I want to read that I haven’t actually made it to the latest hype books that have been circulating BookTwt or BookTok! Though…Prince of Thorns was pretty popular and I loved Mark Lawrence’s Prince of Fools so I might enjoy Prince of Thorns. But for truly reading and getting swept up by a hyped up book/series? Not yet.

3 – The Wise Old Wizard – An author who amazes you with his/her writing.

A recent new discovery and new author for me, I quite enjoyed reading Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Shards of Earth, so much so that I’m sitting here eagerly waiting for the second book of The Final Architects series. The book and the writing blew me away. So, here I am, low-key stalking the series 👀

4 – The Maiden in Distress – An undervalued character you wished had a bigger storyline.

The Shattered Sigil Trilogy has two main POVs, first person (Dev) and third person (Kiran). Dev has a friend, that Kiran eventually grows closer to too, but I don’t believe she has her own POV chapters, or if she did, it’s not enough, compared to the main two (it’s been a year or two since I last read the books). I love the trio, though most of the books revolve around Dev and Kiran so it’s understandable. Still, I’d love to read more about Cara and hoping I’ll see more of her in the final book.

5 – The Magical Sword –  A magical item/ability you wish authors used less.

I don’t think I’ve ever wished for an item or ability to be used less so I’m not sure for this one.

6 – The Mindless Villain – A phrase you cannot help but roll your eyes at.

Is there anyone who is going to say anything other than the “Held a breath they didn’t know they were holding”? I used to think it was a YA thing but now I see that it’s everywhere. This phrase is haunting me!

7 – The Untamed Dragon – A magical creature you wish you had as a pet.

Ah, my favorite question on here!

When I was a kid, I drew up a continent map made up of countries, different religions, leaderships, different local delicacies (you name it)…and of course different creatures! Amongst them (albeit still rare) were cat sized dragons! They were the spicier versions of dogs, but less so than cats. One of my OCs had one named Apple, a runt even amongst his species of “micro-dragons” who loved eating apples, resting on his owner’s hair and using it’s tail as a scrunchie. His favorite place to sleep was in the fire of the fireplace. There’s a special orb that can change a mico-dragon into a much bigger one and my OC would ride it like a dragon rider, striking from Apple’s back with his lance and…and I could talk all day about it.

(Listen. I put nearly 2 decades worth of thought into my imaginary world!)

8 – The Chosen One – A book/series you will always root for.

[Not a fantasy series but] My favorite series that I’ll always love and definitely always root for would be the Virgil Flowers series by John Sandford. I’ve read 9 out of the 13 books and I hope they never stop coming.

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