I’m back from hiatus! *happy dance*
And I just realized that my most recent post was my 200th post on the Page Dreamer! HURRAH!
*throws confetti and passes out virtual cupcakes*
200 is a pretty cool number, I feel. 😀
Thanks, as always, for reading and supporting my little bookish rambles and reviews, my dear Pagelings! Y’all are the best! ❤
Onward to the bookish news and releases, free books and cover reveals, and what I’ve been reading while I was on hiatus! (It was a good reading month! ^_^)
NEW RELEASES
Urban fantasy, urban fantasy, fairytale retelling, Arthurian retelling, steampunk, dystopian. (Respectively.)
SOME PEOPLE write way too fast (okay, there’s no such thing. XD), and I can’t keep up with all their new books and need to catch up, but look! Shinies!
Some came out last month and others are arriving sometime this June. Click the titles below to read more on Goodeads if any intrigue you . . .
Wish You Weren’t Here (Janeen Ippolito) • Between Frames (W.R. Gingell) • The Matchgirl and the Magician (L. Palmer) • The Heir of Logres (Suzannah Rowntree) • Heart of the Curiosity (H.L. Burke) • Irrelevant (Sarah Addison-Fox)
Deadwood, the sequel to Horseman (Crockett and Crane, book 1) is coming out at the end of the month as well!
Oh, yes, this one is almost here! As the Editor of the Afterverse, I’m excited to say that you don’t have much longer to wait for the further adventures of part-time centaur Todd Crane, ex-Marshal Amy Crockett, and Julio the dragon, in the magical wild west of the United States of Neverica. *grins*
It’s not on Goodreads yet, but here’s the Amazon preorder link if you want to know more! Kyle Shultz and I are finishing up the final edits on this one, and I’m really excited for y’all to read it. 😀
Official release date is June 30. (And book 1 is free! Details below.)
Free Ebooks
Horseman by Kyle Robert Shultz is free just through today (June 3!) so be sure to pick up the ebook of that if you don’t have it yet!
Book 2, Deadwood, is coming soon, so now is the perfect time to read this one if you haven’t!
And if you want more fun, you can join the Fellowship of Fantasy Bookclub over on Facebook to read it this month, since Horseman is book of the month for June!
This super-power-ish short story by E.B. Dawson is free through June 4 so be sure to pick up your Kindle copy! (I’m planning to review a bunch of sci-fi short stories by this talented author next week, but I had to share this one while the sale was running!)
OTHER NEWS
Alliance Award Voting — Final Round!
There’s still time to vote on the Alliance Awards, reader-based fan awards run by Realm Makers — so if you’ve read Fawkes, Mark of the Raven, The Story Peddler, or any combination of the three, hurry and get your vote in before June 4 at midnight PST!
Sci-fi Fairy Tale Retellings — Kickstarter
There’s a campaign (through June 22) to help fund an upcoming collection called Once Upon a Future Time (Volume 2), and it features at least one story that I know is awesome — Beast in the Machine, a sci-fi retelling by E.B. Dawson! There’s also a story by our very own Savannah Grace, as well as tales by Shannon McDermott and several other authors. If this sounds of interest to you, be sure to check it out and spread the word if you can! 🙂
Other than that, I’m a bit out of the loop since I was mostly on internet hiatus for the last month, but here, have some pretty covers!
Cover Reveals
I know you probably saw this one when I shared it and related info a couple weeks ago, but LOOK AT IT AGAIN BECAUSE IT’S EPIC. 😀 (Also, it’s now on Goodreads!)
EEP! I love the blue on this one! So shiny! And I’m always up for a Cinderella retelling. 😀 Check it out.
I know I shared this one in the list of new releases coming this June, but I had to share it again! And steampunk! I’m excited! 😀
HIATUS END + READING NEWS
I had a lovely month of reading during my hiatus, and found myself actually reading one book at a time, focusing, reading straight through, and then starting another. I’m so proud of myself for not being all scattered and trying to read half a dozen books at once, which doesn’t always work so well. XD
I also found myself with a bit of extra reading time, due to my social media hiatus, which was lovely!
And as much as I love Goodreads, reading felt like a lot less pressure when I wasn’t tracking my reading on there. 😛 *cough*
I also OFFICIALLY CAUGHT UP ON READING ALL MY REVIEW BOOKS so I’m sort of ecstatic about that.
It was a quite successful reading month, overall!
MAY READS
Oh, look, I passed my reading goal for the year! (In my defense, I do count short stories, which is why the number is so high. XD)
For more details on any of these, you can find links to them on my Goodreads reading challenge.
- Flower of the Underworld – Hazel B. West — Super-enjoyable urban fantasy. I just had so much fun reading this! And I loved Hades and Persephone and their friends and all the shenanigans, and the mix of Greek myth and modern times, in a totally unique way. (I may have promptly named a plant George after the plant Persephone gave Hades. XD)
- In the Shadow of Croft Towers – Abigail Wilson — Secrets, spies, highwaymen, a mysterious mansion, and a smidge of romance, all tied up in the Regency era. It’s a Regency romance/murder mystery and the combination was super cool! You can read my review here if you missed it.
- Flight of the Raven (Ravenwood Saga, #2) – Morgan L. Busse — Review coming tomorrow on my other blog as part of the blog tour, but I ADORED this one! 😀
- Friday’s Child – Georgette Heyer — Oh, man. XD I hadn’t read a Heyer book in far too long and almost forgot how hilarious and full of shenanigans they are. I had such a blast reading it that I stayed up until 1 a.m. and only went to bed under the veriest protest, and then was absolutely useless all the next day until I finished the last page. 😛
- Castle in the Air – Diana Wynne Jones — I re-read this aloud to the younger siblings and had the absolute best time re-visiting Abdullah and the soldier and the cats he’s besotted with, and of course the genie and magic carpet. XD SO fun, and the cameos of people from Howl’s Moving Castle, including Howl and Sophie, just make the book. ❤
- Battle for the Throne – E.J. Willis — A bit bloody for my taste but definitely had its moments! This was an intriguing YA Christian fantasy about a lost princess and included gladiators, giants, and winged-wolf-spirit-guardians! I’ll be reviewing it later too. 🙂
- Mardan’s Mark, Mardan’s Heir, Healer’s Curse, and Pirate Wager – Kathrese McKee — I sort of binge-read these and LOVED them! Pirates, princesses, missing heirs, friendship and romance, siblings and survival and adventure and politics. Watch for my series review post, coming soon!
Not Pictured
- How to Be a Savage – Daley Downing (coming soon!) — A short collection from the author of the Order of the Twelve Tribes series, I edited this one and it’s coming soon! Super enjoyable!
- Pseudonym (Dana Illwind and Sorcerer Lord Jayden short story) – Arthur Daigle — I’ve mentioned . . . these short stories . . . before, but every time a new one pops up online it makes my WEEK and I devour it at once. I can’t get enough of these delightful characters! Jayden and Dana are my FAVORITE. ❤
JUNE PLANS
I have a handful of review posts planned for this month, since I did so much catching up on review books, so watch out for those!
I’m not sure exactly what my “nightstand” TBR pile for June will be, but it has occurred to me I should probably take this opportunity to tackle at least a few Realm Makers books before I go to the conference in July. XD
We’ll see what the month brings!
How was your May? I missed you guys! What was your favorite book you read while I was gone? And do any of these books intrigue you? Thanks for reading, and HI AGAIN! ❤
The Page Dreamer 