Book Ishness! (March 2020)

Just a very quick post today, featuring some GORGEOUS books that released this month, and an update on what I’m reading.

(I usually post these early in the month but life intervened. 😛 And if you want to know what I’m reading, check out my March Magics post!)

MARCH RELEASES

*squeaking* LOOK HOW PRETTY! ❤ I can’t get over these stunning covers. They make me happy! (Titles link to Goodreads.)

• Emberhawk – Jamie Foley — I ADORED this new fantasy adventure from one of my favorite authors! You can read my review here but it’s just delightful and features elemental magic and a snarky fox. 😀
• On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness & North! Or Be Eaten – Andrew Peterson — These are the new editions, with new illustrations, in hardcover! I’m so excited! I loved On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness when I read it a year or two back, and I’ve been meaning to read North! Or Be Eaten (I love that title) ever since, so maybe this will push me to do that finally. 😉 Also, I just read this author’s nonfiction Adorning the Dark and loved it.
• The New Emperor’s Concerto – Hazel B. West — *incoherent squawking* I’m SO thrilled this book is releasing on Tuesday! It’s a delightfully British book full of snark and action and unlikely buddies and one of the most epic butlers ever. I adore it!
• Dragons and Ravens – E. E. Rawls — I’m so excited about this novella featuring characters from Strayborn! It sounds so intriguing!
• Ronnie Akkard and the Brotherhood of Blades – A. C. Williams — This sounds like a super fun superhero story! And I can tell the hero is snarky just from the blurb so I bet it’s a blast. XD

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MY READING NEWS

February Reads

I shared about these on my other blog but I’ll repost here. 😛

Compared to January’s fifteen reads, I did not, seemingly, read as much. But some of these were a bit longer, and mostly delicious, so we’ll call it a win.

• Cry of the Raven (Morgan L. Busse) // A new favorite! (My review.)
• Lifelong Writing Habit (Chris Fox) // Some interesting tips.
• Fairest Son (H.S.J. Williams) // Delightful novella! (My review.)
• Green Dolphin Country (Elizabeth Goudge) // Absolutely fascinating!
• This Year You Write Your Novel (Walter Mosley) // Eh. It was okay.
• In the Region of the Summer Stars (Stephen R. Lawhead) // Aaahh! This was magnificent! Another favorite. I need the sequel ASAP. (My review.)

March So Far

So far this month, I enjoyed a couple of picture books (The Four Donkeys by Lloyd Alexander + Saint George and the Dragon by Geraldine McCaughrean), as well as a nonfiction (Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson) and an ARC (Emberhawk by Jamie Foley). I’ve gotten one Pratchett (Thief of Time) and one Diana Wynne Jones (The Islands of Chaldea) read so far for March Magics. I loved them! I’ve loved all the books I’ve read so far this month. ^_^ Maybe I’ll have some further thoughts later, but that’s what I’ve been reading. 🙂

Currently Reading

• I’m currently reading A Hat Full of Sky (Pratchett) and enjoying it. The Feegles! XD
• I’m behind on my bookclub read (Lady of Kingdoms by Suzannah Rowntree) but it’s rich and intriguing so far — historical fantasy during the Crusades!
• My exercise routines have suffered from all the rain lately so I haven’t listened to If Wishes Were Curses in awhile but one of these days I’m going to finish this fun urban fantasy! (Audiobooks take me way longer than they should and I feel kind of bad about that. XD)
• And I kind of got sidetracked from Scoundrels but need to get back to that because it’s a delightful Han Solo heist book I’m rereading and having a blast.

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RECENT POSTS

• Top 15 Favorite Reads of 2019!
• February 2020 Book Ishness
• The Fairy Tale Tag #FantasyMonth
• No Chance Meeting Blog Tour
• March Magics 2020
• Two Cover Reveals!

Recent Reviews

That’s it on today’s little update. Hope you enjoyed it and that you are all hanging in there and reading good books. Tell me about a book you’re enjoying! Thanks for reading! ❤

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February 2020 Book Ishness

It’s time to share some bookish releases this month, and what I’ve been reading so far this year!

FEBRUARY RELEASES

There are some AMAZING books releasing in February which I’m super excited about! *muffled shrieking* (Titles link to Amazon or Goodreads.)

• Winter Spell – Claire M. Banschbach — This one isn’t on Goodreads yet (hence no picture) but I’M SO EXCITED FOR IT TO RELEASE! It’s the final Faeries of Myrnius book (but it stands alone) and I copyedited it and it’s my favorite book by this author yet (aside from Oath of the Outcast which just topped my favorite reads of last year). Y’all. This book has absolutely everything that I love, and it’s wintry, and has faeries, and all of the relationships and snark, and just AAHHH. It’s amazing and you need it in your life! I think it’s releasing in March or late Feb. Soon!
• Cry of the Raven – Morgan L. Busse (Feb. 4) — Final book in the Ravenwood Saga, and I’m SO excited that this one is out! *shrieking* IT WAS AMAZING! (Read my review here.)
• No Chance Meeting – Jaye Elliot (Feb. 14) — Jaye L. Knight is publishing a contemporary romance under a pen-name, and I’m super looking forward to reading it! I’ll be sharing a bit about it for the blog tour later this month. 🙂
• Freeze Thaw – Selina J. Eckert (Feb. 14) — This novelette is a breathtaking take on Sleeping Beauty, featuring an archaeologist student and an Ice Age princess! Pretty sure I didn’t remember to breathe the entire time I read it. Wow. (I copyedited this, so I got an early look at it!) This was a Top Ten Finalist in the Five Magic Spindles contest held by Rooglewood Press.
• Clockwork Magician – W. R. Gingell (Feb. 28) — I’m very behind on the Two Monarchies series (I’ve still only read Masque and Spindle) but this is another one and it’s releasing soon and I can’t wait to catch up on these delightful books!
• The New Emperor’s Concerto – Hazel B. West — I beta-read this and it’s totally another favorite! Set in futuristic London, with two chaps on opposite sides who may be the only ones who can stop another world war. It has one of my new favorite buddy stories and the characters and snark and Britishness is all MY FAVORITE. It’s brilliant and I love it so much! I’m so excited for it to release!

In other news . . .

February is Fantasy Month

If you haven’t heard, Jenelle Schmidt is hosting the Fifth Annual February is Fantasy Month blog event! There are giveaways, fantasy blog posts, and an Instagram challenge! Feel free to check out all the info here, and join in with fantasy posts of your own (there’s a linkup and everything)!

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MY READING NEWS

January Reads

2020 is off to a great start for reading! Here’s what I read this last month. (If you want to read more about them, you can find them on Goodreads here.)

• The Geppetto Codex – Kyle Robert Shultz — Aaah! The fifth Beaumont and Beasley book is finally here and it’s so good! Faun and dryad MCs, the Afterverse version of Venice, creepy puppets, awesome epilogues…!
• The New Emperor’s Concerto – Hazel B. West — I just flailed about this so I’ll spare you. 😉 (But I love it!)
• Unexpected Magic – Diana Wynne Jones — This one’s an anthology of fantasy or sci-fi short stories, although I read the short stories at the end of 2019 and only read the novella at the end (Everard’s Ride—terribly interesting) this year… Some of them weren’t my favorite but they were all interesting, and I enjoyed a bunch of them. I’ve been meaning to read this collection for ages, so I’m pleased I finally did!
• Winter Spell – Claire M. Banschbach — I just talked about this one too but AAAAHHH IT’S SO GOOD!!
• Freeze Thaw – Selina J. Eckert — Likewise!
• The Butler’s Story – Hazel B. West — What a fun prequel short story that introduces the hero of The New Emperor’s Concerto, and the butler character, Sinclair. (Everyone needs a Sinclair!) If you’re curious about my squawking, you can meet these characters in the prequel short story which just came out!
• 5,000 Words Per Hour – Chris Fox — I’m trying to read a few nonfiction books I’ve collected. This one was interesting and hopefully some of the ideas will be helpful.
• Brown-Ears at Sea – Stephen Lawhead — I finally read this! I love Lawhead’s books for children, which are not very well known but delightful! I just loved this adventure of a stuffed rabbit being swept out to sea and having adventures, while trying to get home to his little boy.
• Defined – Sarah Holman — An intriguing short story in the Tales of Taelis Kingdom Adventure series!
• Writing Magic – Gail Carson Levine — I have a stack of a dozen books on writing which I’m hoping to get through, one month at a time, this year. I quite enjoyed this author’s thoughts about writing and it inspired me and made me smile. 🙂
• The Honorary Agents and the Mystery of the Stolen Artifacts – Lindsay Helm — Fun mystery for younger readers. 🙂
• The Honorary Agents and the Mystery of the Rare Coin – Lindsay Helm — And this is the sequel to that one and I loved it so much! It’s a fun mystery/treasure hunt and I really enjoyed it! ^_^
• Elapse – Sarah Holman — I listened to this on audiobook and really enjoyed it! Also in the Tales of Taelis series, it made me excited to read the next book.
• Strange Waters – Phoenix Fiction Writers — What a delightful collection of fantasy and sci-fi short stories! I need to get together a review for these. Some of them were a liiiittle too scary for me, but most were amazing! (And they’re all super well-written!)
• Beyond the Shadowed Earth – Joanna Ruth Meyer — I’m getting my thoughts together for a review but WOW, that was gorgeous and mythic and intense! :O I don’t think I’ve ever read anything like it!

February: Currently Reading (Ish)

The closest I have to a nightstand stack right now. ARCs and review books, which I’m hoping to focus on and catch up on reading and reviewing in the next month or so! I’ve actually read the top two now, and I’m looking forward to getting into the others. 🙂

I’m also re-reading aloud Scoundrels by Timothy Zahn (fun Han Solo heist novel!), and I’m still in Green Dolphin Country by Elizabeth Goudge which is GORGEOUS but is taking me an embarrassingly long time because it’s so long and I keep having reading deadlines on other things. XD I WILL finish it soon! I’m determined!

January Book Haul

My January bookhaul! So many exciting books! (The top three were given to me.) Also, how about the adorable art by H.S.J. Williams! IT’S SO ADORABLE. I’ve read/loved Cry of the Raven, Hollow, Kate’s Christmas, and the Honorary Agents book. Looking forward to Emberhawk (it’s releasing March 10!!) and reading the Hero’s Guide series so I can read this third book!

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That’s all the updates I have for now. Are there any books you’re excited about? I hope you have an amazing, bookish month! Thanks for reading!

4th Blogiversary & Jan. 2020 Book Ishness!

Happy New Year! Hey, it’s only January 3rd—I’m still allowed to say that. XD Speaking of which, today is J.R.R. Tolkien’s birthday! (Always have to commemorate that day since he’s my favorite author. ^_^)

Also, January 1st was the fourth anniversary of when I started this book blog, so I’m pretty excited! Happy Blogiversary to the Page Dreamer. ^_^ And… it’s 2020. Not quite sure how. O_O

Anyway, I’m here to share a few January releases and what I read in December!

But first, a few quick stats in honor of my blogiversary!

• 228 posts
• 281 followers (1,136 including connected social accounts)
• 1,784 likes
• 2,576 comments
• 6,249 visitors
• 13,973 views
• 218,842 words of posts

Also, I apparently wrote 50,376 words on this blog in 2019 alone, which does not count my other blog, so… O_O

Anyway, this is a fun time to look back at four years of this book blog. I’ve had a blast with it so far!

But better than any numbers is getting to chat with y’all about books I love, and all of YOU, my blog readers, who are the ones who make this blogging thing fun. 🙂

Thanks so much for hanging out with me here these last four years, and here’s to four more!

JANUARY 2020 RELEASES

• Beyond the Shadowed Earth by Joanna Ruth Meyer — (Jan. 14) This one is very soon on my TBR and I’m hoping I can read and review it by the time it releases, but I’m SO stoked about this book! It’s a companion novel to Beneath the Haunting Sea, which I read last year and adored. (And it’s by the author of Echo North which was one of my top reads which I shrieked about early last year and have been shrieking about since. XD) Also, I hear there are some snazzy preorder goodies.
• The Geppetto Codex by Kyle Robert Shultz — (Jan. 17) Guyssss, it’s the next Beaumont and Beasley book! Remember how The Stroke of Eleven came out awhile back? And then there was The Hound of Duville novella and various other shorter B&B adventures… Well, this one is the next B&B novel and it’s releasing in just two weeks! *gasp* There’s a preorder where you can read more about it, but I edited this one and it features Gareth the faun and Sylvia the dryad, scary puppets, and the Afterverse version of Venice. YES PLEASE. And, of course, lots of the usual snark and humor. 😉
• The Black Claw by Jessi L. Roberts — (Jan. 20) I copyedited this a couple of months ago and it’s an excellent space opera novella! I’m so excited to read Hand of Steel, which is the book before this one (and I remember seeing it at Realm Makers when it had just released), so that I can get the “backstory” on these characters. If you need a bit of space pirates and bounty hunters and excitement to kick off your year, check these out. ^_^
• Hidden Current by Sharon Hinck — (Jan. 28) I don’t know a lot about this one but it’s the next book from Enclave and it’s GORGEOUS! Plus, a fantasy novel that prominently features dancing sounds really unique.

December 2019 Reads

Christmas reads

I went on a bit of a Christmas story reading-rampage. XD I just felt in the mood and devoured several short works which I’d been saving up.

Most of these I mentioned in my Christmas books post, so I won’t repeat thoughts about them here. The last few were after that post, though. 🙂

• Brown-ears by Stephen Lawhead (re-read!)
• The Least of These by Kate Willis
• The Dragon and the Santa by Emily Martha Sorenson
• The 12 Cats of Christmas by Perry Kirkpatrick
• Nyssa Glass’s Clockwork Christmas by H. L. Burke
• The Grift of the Magi by Ally Carter
• ’Twas an Evening in Bethlehem by Jenelle Leanne Schmidt (adorable picture book!)
• Holidays at the Castle by Jessica Day George — Fun short story.
• Some Christmas Camoflage by E. S. Grayson — Really enjoyed this historical fiction short story. 🙂
• The Ninjabread Man — Okay, so it’s not totally Christmas, but it’s a gingerbread man picture book retelling, but with ninjas. It’s basically The Gingerbread Man meets Kung Fu Panda and I loved it. XD

Non-Christmas reads

• Knife’s Edge by Hope Larson and Rebecca Mock — A graphic novel! I read the first one, Compass South, in November, and was so excited to get this one from the library and finish this duology. Swashbuckling high-seas middle-grade historical fiction graphic novels. They were SO much fun and I loved them so much! ❤
• Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks — This novel was a tribute to P.G. Wodehouse, and I’ve been meaning to read it for YEARS so I was terribly pleased to pick it up at the library and finally read it. It was absolutely hilarious and I loved it so much. XD Jeeves and Bertie have to switch places, Jeeves being a Lord Etringham and Bertie his gentleman’s gentleman, and that’s only the beginning of the shenanigans. Yes, it wasn’t Wodehouse, but it wasn’t pretending to be, and on the whole the author did an absolutely terrific job of capturing the essence of Bertie Wooster’s narration and the shenanigans that always happen. It was just SO much fun and it made me happy. 😀
• My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse — So then I was in the mood for some more Jeeves and I dug this one out of my Kindle and read the short stories in it that were Jeeves-ish (which, yes, means I skipped half the book, but who’s counting). HILARIOUS. Wodehouse’s classic characters are… well… classic. Hurrah for Jeeves!
• A Storm Grows by Janeen Ippolito — Poetry collection, very short, which I opened on my Kindle app on my phone to look at and ended up reading the whole thing. It felt kinda dark and sad but I liked some of them, even if poetry isn’t usually my thing. XD
• Murder on New Year’s Eve by P. Creeden — I was sorting my Kindle app and found this and so obviously I had to read it on New Year’s Eve. XD It was a pretty interesting short story.

Also, if you want to check out the books I read in 2019, Goodreads has a handy-dandy list right here.

I’m going to sign off with some books I got for Christmas, and collage of my top nine most liked pictures on my Instagram!

That’s what I have for today. I’m not sharing a TBR right now since I’m not sure what I’ll be able to read this month, and I haven’t figured out my New Year goals and things. But I’m in the middle of way too many books right now. O_O I must finish some before I go crazy. XD

I’ll be back hopefully soon-ish with a list of my favorite books I read in 2019!

Thanks for reading, and happy 2020! May it be full of books!

Book Ishness + 200 Posts! (June 2019)

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! ^_^)

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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.)

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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! 🙂

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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!)

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EEP! I love the blue on this one! So shiny! And I’m always up for a Cinderella retelling. 😀 Check it out.

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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! 😀

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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. ❤

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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! ❤

Book Ishness + Hiatus (May 2019)

Happy May Day! Which always makes me think of Howl’s Moving Castle. 😀

I have a few bookish things to share with you, including what I’ve been reading, and I’m also announcing a bit of a blogging/social media hiatus for May. So let’s get to it!

MAY RELEASES

Either I’ve been terribly remiss about keeping track of upcoming releases (not unlikely, given how crazy April was with Camp NaNo etc.), or people haven’t yet announced some of the things coming out in May, or there’s just nothing coming out in May. XD

But these two lovelies at least are releasing!

• Voyage of the Pequod is a short tale from E.B. Dawson, featuring Moby Dick in space. GUYS. THIS STORY IS INCREDIBLE. I got to read an advance copy of it and I was absolutely floored and breathless! It’s so brilliant! I totally recommend checking it out, even if (like me) you only have a vague grasp of Moby Dick and don’t read much sci-fi. XD
• If you live under a rock you might not know about Nadine Brandes’ Romanov releasing this month but otherwise I’m pretty sure everyone knows. XD Historical fantasy Anastasia sounds fascinating! I may not have been the hugest fan of Fawkes (sorry! unpopular opinion!) but I’m still intrigued by this one!

OTHER NEWS

The Fairy Tale Central’s fairytale theme for May is Rapunzel! Check out what’s coming soon from them! 😀

Jill Williamson Audiobook Kickstarter

If you haven’t heard, Jill Williamson’s kickstarter was fully funded, which means that there will be audiobooks of all three books in this series! I’m SO excited! 😀 (If you were interested in supporting it for the chance at getting the audiobooks for a low price, or for the limited-edition hardcovers of the series, the kickstarter is open just a couple more days until May 3, I believe.)

And… yeah, I’m drawing a blank.

Not a lot of news I can think of offhand, but I did do my last Book Ishness News fairly recently, and I could just be in the clouds from finishing Camp NaNo and my novel. XD

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MY READING NEWS

This was April’s nightstand:

And I finished all of them in April except Cress! *does little happy dance*

My currently-reading “stack” looks like this:

• An ebook of Flower of the Underworld (an urban fantasy Hades & Persephone retelling which I shared about last week and is so much fun so far! XD)
• And of course my ongoing audiobook listen of Cress. (Speaking of Rapunzel. XD) I put it on hold while I listened to The Electrical Menagerie last month, but I’m hoping to get back to it this month!

After that, I don’t have specific plans and I’m not setting up a “nightstand” for this month.

I’ll be on hiatus, and other than catching up on some review books (hopefully), I’m not making plans for my reading.

I’ll just wing it and see what happens!

April Reads

• 2 nonfictions (who am I? At least they were short? XD)
• 3 re-reads (Howl’s Moving Castle, Second Son, and The Electrical Menagerie — all much beloved! <3)
• 1 beta-read novella (the coverless one, which is called Spindle Dreams by Kirsten Fichter, sequel to The Rose and the Balloon which I LOVED. This one is a Sleeping Beauty retelling and it should be coming out fairly soon. It’s loads of fun! <3)
• 5 short scifi-ish stories by E.B. Dawson which I binge-read and ADORED. I totally recommend all of them and will review them at some point, but AWK. SO GOOD. (I’m not a sci-fi person. But these were AMAZING.) I 100% recommend!
• 1 book-club read, Spindle by W.R. Gingell, with the Fellowship of Fantasy bookclub (my favorite bookcluuub!), which was a BLAST. XD I adore this series and need to read the rest! ❤
• 1 audiobook, namely The Electrical Menagerie, which I just reviewed!

Kind of a mish-mash of reading fare, but all really good! And I was happy to (mostly) finish off what I was in the middle of reading so I can more-or-less start fresh.

May Hiatus

A couple of days from now after I wrap some stuff up, I’m going to take a blogging/social media break this month, but I’ll be back after May!

I’m just really tired and need to take a step back after an exhausting (but good!) April and catch up on some stuff. Thanks for understanding!

Drop me an email or contact me if you need to get in touch. 🙂 Love you all! ❤

What are you reading right now? Let me know in a comment! I hope you have a splendid month!

Book Ishness/News! (April 2019)

Good day, my Pagelings!

I have a whole passel of bookish news and book ishnesses to share with you today, and you’re not going to want to miss these freebies, a giveaway, some exciting books releasing, and my March Magics wrapup, as well as a look at my current nightstand of books I’m reading!

Giveaway!

Firstly, in case you missed it, I’m giving away a paperback of The Skin Map by Stephen R. Lawhead, and there’s still two days left to enter to win it, so hurry and enter here! (US only, ends midnight 4/17/18)

Vote for your favorite fantasy!

If you’ve read 2 or more of the 20 books that made it to the semi-final round of the fan-voted Alliance Awards hosted by Realm Makers, then you can vote for whichever ones you’ve read using a star-rating system! You still have a week left to vote — get it in before April 23! Vote here!

They include (titles link to my reviews if I have them): The Story Peddler (Lindsay A. Franklin), The Electrical Menagerie (Mollie E. Reeder), Spice Bringer (H.L. Burke), Song of Leira (Gillian Bronte Adams), Renegade Skyfarer (RJ Metcalf), Mark of the Raven (Morgan L. Busse), Fawkes (Nadine Brandes), Bitter Winter (Jaye L. Knight), Common (Laurie Lucking), and many others! So go check it out!

Jill Williamson Audiobook Kickstarter

Jill Williamson launched a kickstarter to fund audiobooks of her stellar Blood of Kings fantasy trilogy, and it has cool rewards if you support it! The first goal is fully funded, which means there WILL be an audiobook of By Darkness Hid, but there’s still a little to go to reach the first stretchmark (for an audiobook of To Darkness Fled) and it would be amazing if it could get even beyond that, so go check it out and see if it’s something you’re interested in! (I love this series and Jill was one of the first authors I got to meet, so the idea of this coming to audiobook is exciting to me. ^_^) [EDIT: The audiobook of book 2 is now funded! EEP! We need your help to get the final book in the trilogy funded too! :D]

Fairy Tale Central is live!

If you missed when I shared about it, the new website Fairy Tale Central, hosted by some of my dearest fairy tale loving pals, has been absolutely ROCKING it with reviews and commentaries and all sorts of fairy tale goodness, focused on the fairy tale of the month, Rumpelstiltskin. Sound like fun? IT IS! Be sure to check it out if you haven’t!

(And while you’re at it, check out the new website of one of the founders, Christine Smith, who moved from Musings of an Elf to a new and even more gorgeous site, ChristineSmithAuthor, and if fairy tales or fantasy or writing is your thing, you NEED to check out her blog!! <3)

APRIL RELEASES

So much coming out this month, and I feel like I’m even missing a few!

• H.L. Burke has a new book out, Match Cats, three short tales of cats and love — can’t wait to read this one!
• Flight of the Raven is coming AT LAST!! I adored the first book in this series by Morgan L. Busse (Mark of the Raven) and have been dying to read the sequel ever since. It’s arriving April 30th and I could not be more excited!
• Encircled, a collection of six fairytale retellings by six authors, including Laurie Lucking, J.M. Hackman, and Jebraun Clifford, released TODAY and is so pretty sitting shiny and new in my Kindle. I can’t wait to check it out!
• I just read Shadow Figure, which is a short story releasing in just a few days from E.B. Dawson. It’s the sequel to Government Man (another short story), kinda dystopian and sooo intense but I loved it! I’ll be reviewing several stories by this author soon. 😀
• Cait at Paper Fury has a new book out, The Boy Who Steals Houses, and it sounds like a fabulous contemporary novel!
• This Cursed Flame by Selina J. Eckert, releasing April 27, is available for preorder and features a mix of urban and portal fantasy, elemental magic, genies and djinn, some fabulous female friendships and delightful characters, stunning settings that feel straight out of Pinterest fantasy art boards (in the best possible way), and a talking ocelot! I loved this one, and totally recommend it! (Disclaimer: I did edit it. But. You know. It’s still unbiased-ly good. ;))
• A Greater Strength from Rebecca P. Minor (who runs the Realm Makers writers conference) also released today! I haven’t read the first book yet but it’s FREE at the moment and features elves, so I’m looking forward to reading it — plus, just look at the gorgeous cover of this sequel! :O
• The Fourth Musketeer (Part 2) just came to Patreon from Kyle Robert Shultz, with more Julio and the Three Musketeers and a certain other fan-favorite character. It’s so, so good! (One of these days the Patreon stories will come to a collection for other readers, but for now, there they are.) (And I did edit this one as well.)
• Speaking of things I’ve edited and also speaking of Kyle, he has two nonfictions releasing this month! (Yes, this boy has been busy. XD) The 10,000-Word Secret is a short nonfiction book available for free to subscribers of his new nonfiction-and-writing related newsletter, and Not Write Now is a hilarious and brilliant reverse-psychology book on writing, which I totally recommend! It. Is. Perfect. XD It’s releasing April 30th and is up for preorder too, and you can check out his post about both of these.
• And finally, Hazel B. West (author of my favorite Modern Tales of Na Fianna books) is coming out with an urban fantasy retelling of Hades and Persephone called The Flower of the Underworld which I NEED IN MY LIFE. I’ll be sharing about it for the blog tour when it releases next week on April 23!

Wait, not quite finished!

C. M. Banschbach has a new short story out, free for subscribers to her newsletter! It’s a short story prequel to something you may have heard me flailing about as “The Mountain Baron” which is now going to be TWO books, the first of which, Outcast’s Oath, is releasing this summer (and features the character I call my smol floof of anger management issues, Rhys the Mountain Baron). I’M SO EXCITED. ❤

Definitely check out the short story! 😀 (Because it’s free and I beta-read it so I know it’s amazing, and you need this snarky Scottish-like epicness in your life. YOU JUST DO.)

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MY READING NEWS

APRIL NIGHTSTAND

Oh, look, we’re halfway through April already. Wonder how that happened . . . *nervous laughter*

Instead of making lofty reading goals that I knew I wouldn’t make, I just took a photo of all the books I was currently reading when April hit (pictured above) and have fit in a couple of small things since.

• I actually read TWO nonfictions this month (*gasp* Three if you count reading The 10,000-Word Secret again, since I edited it.) Odyssey of a Texas Sailor — a true story of a Texan man attempting to sail from England in a boat by himself in 1985, told in his journal which is highly amusing, and gathered by his daughter and published. Larger than life, fun, and absolutely fascinating! And Oh Snap! I’m Making Money . . . Now What? by Chris Morris, which is the only accounting book with a sense of humor, apparently, and was useful. 🙂
• I finished my 6th read of Howl’s Moving Castle (left over from March Magics) and I REGRET NOTHING. I love that book so, so much!
• I’m listening to The Electrical Menagerie on AUDIOBOOK and having a blast! I’ve been meaning to reread that one since I finished it last year, so this is a treat. 😀 I’ll be reviewing the audiobook when I finish, so stay tuned! (CARTHAGE AND HUXLEY FOREVER. ❤ )
• I’m also listening to Cress, though I am not very far in yet and have sort of put it on hold until I finish The Electrical Menagerie . . . but I love it so far and am looking forward to returning to it. 🙂
• And I finally got back to my re-read aloud of Second Son, and am loving that! BRANT! ❤
• I’m halfway into the ebook of Spindle by W.R. Gingell, Fellowship of Fantasy Bookclub book of the month. I ADORE IT SO FAR! It’s like Sleeping Beauty with a Howl’s Moving Castle flavor. 😀
• I’ve also been beta-reading and copyediting, and recently binge-read a whole handful of sci-fi short stories by E.B. Dawson and got ADDICTED to them. They’re so good, halp! (And I don’t even read sci-fi??) I’ll be reviewing those soon because I MUST FLAIL.

So! There’s the first half of my reading for April. 😀

MARCH MAGICS Wrapup

Yes, hello, March ended over two weeks ago and I haven’t shared about how my March Magics went! (But don’t worry, wizards are never late, and I was reading about a lot of them, so clearly I’m immune to lateness too.)

Here are the Pratchett and Diana Wynne Jones books I finished in March — not very many, but so delightful!

• The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett was SO SO GOOD. I adored it. 😀 (Those Nac Mac Feegle, though! XD) Plus, the illustrated copy I found at my library was the coolest. O_O
• My reread of Reflections by Diana Wynne Jones was absolutely delightful. ❤ I loved revisiting her thoughts on fantasy, writing, children’s books, and of course her own works. So much gold!
• And Hexwood was brilliant and I still love it SO MUCH — plus it was fantastic to read it now that I knew what was actually going on. XD I think it’s going to need at least a third read at some point! (AND MORDION. I HAVE SO MANY FEELS.)
• And I read about half of Howl’s Moving Castle, which I finished in April, and is still my FAVORITE BOOK EVER. ❤

March Reads

I didn’t read much in March that wasn’t March-Magics related, but let’s see . . .

• Healer’s Bane was a fascinating novella with a gaslamp/dystopian type flavor. I really enjoyed it and have many feels! Read my review.
• The 10,000-Word Secret I already mentioned and it’s pretty cool (and free!).
• And also This Cursed Flame! I guess when I edit things and then they come out the next month, it’s handy, since I know they’re good and can tell you to go look them up! 😉
• So yeah, those and March Magics books are all I managed to read in March, but I guess it’s still a reasonable number of books, and they were all really good, so. 😀

Whew! I think that’s it on the news front. So much exciting bookishness going on! What book things are you excited about? Let me know in a comment! Thanks for reading! 🙂