Fall/Winter 2016 Book Releases

*pokes at poor neglected book blog* It’s NaNoWriMo so obviously not a lot of reading going on in my arena, what with trying to write 50,000 words this month…

So just a quickie post today!

I haven’t done a book-release spotlight in awhile, so here’s a brief list of 4 books I’m excited about that came out/are coming out this October/November/December as we wrap up 2016!

An Earthly King (Modern Tales of Na Fianna, #2) – Hazel B. West

Oct 31, 2016

{Goodreads} {Amazon}

I reviewed this last week and let me tell you, you definitely don’t want to miss this awesome modern/medieval/Fae story set in a contemporary Ireland with an alternate history, with loads of awesome characters and shenanigans. So, so, SO good! ❤

…

The Silent Songbird – Melanie Dickerson

Nov 8, 2016

{Goodreads} {Amazon}

Yes indeed, it released today! *happy flailing* Set in the generation between The Merchant’s Daughter and The Princess Spy, it’s a Little Mermaid retelling in medieval England and I can’t WAIT to read it! Melanie Dickerson’s fairy tale retellings are always so enjoyable! 🙂

…

The Shattered Heart (Book of Sight, #5) – Deborah Dunlevy

Dec 1, 2016

{Amazon} {Author’s Site}

So this is the final book in the Book of Sight series, of which I’ve read the first three and really enjoyed them (contemporary fantasy and just a lot of fun), and this gorgeous cover JUST got revealed today and I’m so excited to finish reading this series! (Also terrified what with that title and all; but hey, it happens. XD)

…

Once: Six Historically Inspired Fairytales – by:

• Elisabeth Grace Foley
• Rachel Heffington
• J. Grace Pennington
• Emily Ann Putzke
• Suzannah Rowntree
• Hayden Wand

Dec 2, 2016

{Goodreads}

This is a collection of half a dozen retellings of various fairytales, by authors I enjoy and others I’ve seen around the interwebs… Most of these sound pretty cool so I’m looking forward to this one! What can I say… fairytale retellings are my weak spot. 😛

How about you? Excited for any of these? What books are you excited for that are coming out soon?

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Ten Books I Enjoyed Last Year Outside My Typical Reading Zone

Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish — Join this week’s Link-up.

Here’s a list of books I read last year that were not what I typically read, but which I enjoyed all the same… mostly contemporary stuff because I’m not big into the genre but dabbled in it more recently. (Fantasy of a vaguely medieval nature is pretty much my genre, so some things outside it I just consider “weird.)

(Please note that I almost included several Diana Wynne Jones books, because they pretty much defy genre… but Diana Wynne Jones is a distinct category/genre herself in my mind, so that doesn’t count as being outside my typical reading zone, because I’ll read anything with her name on it. So I’m excluding those. We’ve got to be fair to the other poor books…)

The first six are Contemporary, but I’m dividing them into straightforward contemporary fiction, and contemporary fantasy. I don’t know why, but there’s somehow a HUGE difference…

CONTEMPORARY

Heist Society / Uncommon Criminals / Perfect Scoundrels / Double Crossed (free short story on Kindle) – by Ally Carter

I know, I’m cheating slightly with a series… But I have to put them all here together in place of one. These were so much fun. YA heist/con-artist books, clean and fun, and well-written — the writing is sort of humorous and just… yes. I quite enjoyed them and wish there were more! Also notable for a certain character, namely Hale, who is awesome. (What is his first name?? We may never know…)

The Penderwicks in Spring – Jeanne Birdsall

I waited so long for this book and was delighted with it. In a sense, I almost SHOULDN’T have liked it because some of it was sad or bittersweet, but it was also so hilarious and awesome and PENDERWICK-y, even though it’s set several years after the other books. Also all of the myriad of characters were so distinct and their storylines were seamlessly juggled and just gaaah, can I sign up somewhere to write this well??

CONTEMPORARY FANTASY

The Book of Sight (5 stars) / The Broken Circle (3 stars) / The Secret Source (4 stars) – by Deborah Dunlevy (On Goodreads)

Again with the contemporary… but I just really enjoyed these, especially the first one. For absolutely no reason. But just… it makes me happy. A group of friends and their interactions with various fantastical creatures/happenings. I’m dying to read the fourth one, still… whyyy have I not found time to read it yet?

White Cat / Red Glove / Black Heart (The Curseworkers Trilogy) – by Holly Black

Oh my goodness, how do I even start? Um. These are super dark YA, I don’t even think they should be considered YA? But despite the darkness/content and stuff, I couldn’t help really having a blast with them. (They’re even in first-person-present-tense, which I generally hate? But I just forgot while I was reading.) The hero, Cassel, is just so snarky and hilarious and unfortunate, and the series is… I don’t know. It’s mafia crime family con-artists with magic. WHAT IS NOT TO LOVE. The magic is fascinating — like, there’s four or five different “types” and people are born with different kinds, and everyone wears gloves because the magic comes from the touch of hands. These books I feel like could teach me a lot about pacing and stakes and stuff, for my writing, because just everything comes at our poor hero all at once! My goodness. I can’t fully recommend them due to content, but I really enjoyed them aside from that. But yes, definitely outside my genre/comfort zone; but I’m glad I read ’em all the same. I picked up the first one on the sole recommendation of Cait’s review on Goodreads… After I read it, I thought I didn’t need to bother reading the other two. …Then the next day I realized I was really MISSING this world! Ack. So I got the other two from the library as soon as I could, and devoured them both in a day. Sigh. Addiction is bad, isn’t it? *shakes head at self* I really hope the author will write sequels or spinoffs or something, but I doubt she will…

The Grimm Legacy – Polly Shulman

There’s a sort of lending library of magical artifacts from fairytales, in modern-day New York… This one was fun, I enjoyed it, though I feel like it had potential to be more, if you know what I mean? But it was good. Also Aaron.

Scepter of the Ancients (Skulduggery Pleasant #1) – Derek Landy

This was so bizarre but I adored it all the same, because of the fantastic witty banter/dialog/snark from Skulduggery Pleasant himself. It’s set in modern-day Dublin, which is so cool, and Skulduggery is awesome, even if IS a… erm… skeleton. He’s also a detective and has the best lines and this was just rather fun even though it was also kind of scary.

…STUFF

Illusionarium – Heather Dixon

I’m considering steampunk odd/outside my general reading because I’ve only read a handful. This was my first, and I loved it so so much. (For those who haven’t, you can read my incoherent fangirl babbles on this book on my other blog.) But briefly: steampunk and alternate worlds and science-y/magic-y illusion things and sarcastic footnotes by the narrator, our hero Jonathan who’s wonderful, and then of course my favorite thing about it, the character named Lockwood who is just the best ever.

Plenilune – Jennifer Freitag

Um… it’s a historical-fiction 1800s turned epic medieval fantasy on the moon story? That’s… not exactly a genre I read a lot of, since it kind of doesn’t exist. It was way too long and exhausting to read because it was so beautifully written, but a lot of it was brilliant all the same, and I really love one and a half of the characters. (Dammerung is the best ever, okay? And Rupert and I have a complicated relationship. BUT DAMMERUNG. <3)

The Skin Map – Stephen R. Lawhead

Oh my goodness, so much genre mashing in this one too! It defies category… It starts out Contemporary England, and then becomes some odd mix of sci-fi/fantasy with time-travel and alternate time-lines and it’s a mess and I love it so much. I need to read the rest of this series… Also it’s brilliantly written and at times hilarious and so exciting and edge-of-your seat, and the CHARACTERS are just the best.

Frederica – Georgette Heyer

I don’t read regency romance that often, but this one was so much fun. The family dynamics in this were the best, it was sort of like E. Nesbit meets Jane Austen sort of thing… But the hero, Lord Alverstoke, was one of those kind of awful characters you love all the same (looking at YOU, Howl…) and he and the heroine and her siblings were just… awwwk, the best. *flails around* There is also a hot air balloon. What is not to love. Shenanigans and romance ensue. It’s fabulous and I need to read more of this author.

Do you have a comfort zone/genre of books that you tend to read? Do you step out of it sometimes and are the results good or bad?

Dream away in those pages . . .

~ The Page Dreamer

 

Nightstand Books {Jan 2016}

Nightstand Books is a monthly meme created by Jenelle Schmidt and D.J. Edwardson, focused on taking a look at your nightstand of books, i.e. what you’re reading or plan to read this month. Join in if you like! It’s usually the first Wednesday of every month… sooo I’m a week late. 😛

Also, I tend to go a little overboard with my posts, because I always plan a bit over-ambitiously what I want to read and it doesn’t always pan out so well… Ahem.

Still, on we go!

Physical Nightstand

Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones: I got this for Christmas and read it on New Year’s Day (all 400+ pages of it, and actually stayed up till 3:30 a.m. to do so, so yes, it was good) and really enjoyed it. Maybe I’ll write a review? 5 stars.

I’ve started reading a handful of books with daily readings, for the new year. I usually mean to and don’t usually succeed, but this year I’m trying! Most notably A Year With C. S. Lewis. It reminds me that I really need to read through several of his nonfiction works. I’ll obviously likely be in this all year, so I’ll just mention it this time. 😉

I don’t know about the following, as I would like to read them soon, preferably this month, but I don’t know how soon it will happen.

• The Night Dance by Suzane Weyn: Got this for Christmas and looks like a delightful little read (Arthurian/Twelve Dancing Princesses!).
• Out of Darkness Rising by Gillian Bronte Adams
• Half-Blood by Jaye L. Knight
• Goddess Tithe by Anne Elisabeth Stengl: These three are small novellas which I would love to just sit down and devour but haven’t found a moment for yet.

Virtual Nightstand

The Sunken Realm by Serena Chase: Currently reading and excited for it. Pirates and Captain Cazien. YES. ❤

Yorien’s Hand by Jenelle Leanne Schmidt: I read this and loved it. I reviewed it on my other blog, as I had gotten it for review; but I may also post the review here sometime. 5 stars.

Rising Shadows by Ashley Townsend: This is next on my list to read. Looking forward to reading it, as I already love the characters (one in particular…).

Prince of Demargen by E. Kaiser Writes: If I can finish the books I’m supposed to read for review, I hope to read this one and review it by the 22nd, so we’ll see. It sounds cool!

The Poisoned Cure by Deborah Dunlevy: Can’t. Wait. Dying to read.

Again, not sure how many I’ll get to…

I also have a handful of books I’d love to reread soon (Holmes short stories, The Blood of Kings Trilogy, Ronia the Robber’s Daughter, Rick Brant…), and having just finished Yorien’s Hand I have upped King’s Warrior and Second Son on my read-soon list, and there are countless other books on my shelves waiting patiently for me to read them… But books for review come first, and I would like to read some of my smaller things, plus I’m not made of time, so we’ll see how much happens in the rest of January…

Basically I want to read ALL OF THE THINGS! (RIGHT NOW! *flails*)

What’s on your nightstand? 🙂

Top Ten 2015 Releases I Meant To Get To But Didn’t

I’m addicted to lists, so once again I’m linking up with The Broke and the Bookish on their Top Ten Tuesdays bookish meme. This week’s theme is Top Ten 2015 Releases I Meant To Get To But Didn’t (check it out!).

Here are my top ten (roughly in the order they came out) but there were others too. Apparently 2015 was a big year for books coming out that I want to read and either didn’t get ahold of or didn’t find time for. Hopefully I will get to a lot of them this year! 🙂

Out of Darkness Rising – Gillian Bronte Adams

I own this and can’t BELIEVE I haven’t read it yet. It’s a Christian allegory novella, like… seventy pages long. I just need to sit down and read it, especially as I own a copy!

Mist of Midnight – Sandra Byrd

I won this in a giveaway, and again, I can’t believe it’s still sitting on my shelf unread! This must be remedied. It sounds like a mysterious intriguing historical romance.

Stolen Magic – Gail Carson Levine

It’s the sequel to A Tale of Two Castles, of course I need to read it! I just need to get to the library to snag this…

Ink and Bone – Rachel Caine

I’m irrationally drawn to this book because it’s about books and alternate history… I actually held it in my hands but could not check it out from the library as it was NaNo and I did not actually have time to read it… Yes, I reget it now. I need to try it…

Silver in the Blood – Jessica Day George

I held this one too! *flails* Oh, the pain and sorrow that writers have when they have no time to read… No idea why I want to read this one but it intrigues me so I’d like to try it out sometime.

Half-Blood – Jaye L. Knight

I haven’t yet been able to get into reading the Ilyon Chronicles yet, as Resistance is such a monster of a pagish book that it daunts me… However I may manage to trick myself into starting the series by starting with this small prequel which is currently waiting on my shelf to be devoured in probably a sitting. Because I hear great things of Jace and must meet him.

The Poisoned Cure – Deborah Dunlevy

I recently snagged an ebook copy of this, and am positively dying to get to it. Can’t wait to continue this delightful contemporary fantasy series (The Book of Sight)!

The Sunken Realm – Serena Chase

I’m currently reading this, loving it, and am so mad at myself for not getting to it sooner! I was supposed to review it eons ago and got so swamped with NaNo and holidays that I wasn’t able to look at if for MONTHS. Fortunately I’m now trying to remedy that as fast as I can… I’ve been looking forward to this ever since I finished reading The Seahorse Legacy.

A Thousand Nights – E. K. Johnston

I don’t know. But Arabian Nights retelling? Sounds… coolish. Yet again, a trip to the library is due…

The Golden Braid – Melanie Dickerson

Last but very much not least (in fact I may be the most excited about this one) another fairytale retelling by Melanie Dickerson! I just learned this is at my local library and I’m now dying to charge down there and kidnap it post-haste! AAHHH! *flails* I’m so excited to read it sometime! 🙂