June Reading Roundup {2016}

Reading Roundup #6: June 2016

Heeeere are the books I read in June!

Yes, I am seeing a 4 books per month trend lately… *cough*

Also, oddly, I read mostly historical fiction with a touch of modern this month. o.o Which is strange for this fantasy-addict. 😉 Buuut they were mostly also retellings, so apparently that’s close enough. 😛

(Titles all link to Goodreads.)

1. Lost Lake House – Elizabeth Grace Foley

Reviewed this. A cute, sweet, kind of elegant short read, which I enjoyed falling into for an afternoon. It kind of made me happy, so. ^_^ Also, Twelve Dancing Princesses (ish) — so there’s that. 😉 I wasn’t even going to review it, but I just started typing some thoughts out and then… there was a review. o.o

2. The Golden Braid – Melanie Dickerson

Really enjoyed this one! I wrote a review for it too… I don’t think I’ve read any other Rapunzel retellings, and while Tangled will probably always be the definitive version for me, this one was really cool too. 😀 I loved how it linked in with bits of the other Hagenheim books, especially The Princess Spy… AND THAT PLOT TWIST!!! 😀 *flails around in happiness*

3. Drover’s Secret Life – John R. Erickson

D’awww! *huggles book* Loved this! The Hank the Cowdog books are so much fun — especially the audio editions, narrated by the author. This one was really fun, narrated by Drover. Loved it! Getting to hear the history of Drover… It’s great. Not to mention hilarious. XD Listened to this on audio, read by the author, which is the best. So much fun! Nothing like a Hank the Cowdog book to make you laugh. These books… so fun to have an unreliable narrator, who’s a DOG… And having Drover narrate it this time instead of Hank was so fun. Hilarious. 😀 Just one more thing to say now, of course… “OH MY LEG!” XD

4. Defying Shadows (Rising Shadows, #3) – Ashley Townsend

WOW, this book. So many feeeels. It’s wrapping up the Rising Shadows trilogy and EVERYTHING happened in it! O_O JUST WOW. A couple bittersweet things and many feels, but overall so so good. Time travel and all of the mind-bendingness that involves? Check. Robin Hood retelling? Check. Adorable romance and loveable characters with enormous character-arcs? Check. ALL OF THE REVELATIONS AND PLOT TWISTS OF EVER? BIG CHECK. If this was a chess game, this book would have me in checkmate apparently… ANYWAY. I was privileged to beta-read it, and it’s coming out sometime this July I believe. It made me happy, and I’ll be doing an actual review of it at some point, likely on my other blog. But it was super fantastic! 😀 I don’t usually read such enormous books so I’m also proud of myself a little. XD

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So those are my reads for June. I have SO MUCH I want to read this month but we’ll see how much I get to. 😉

How about you? What’s your favorite read of June? What are you reading next?

Dream away in those pages . . .

~ The Page Dreamer

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The Golden Braid by Melanie Dickerson

Title: The Golden Braid

Author: Melanie Dickerson

Another excellent read from Melanie Dickerson! *huggles book*

I think it was the least standalone-ish of her books I’ve read so far, simply because it had so many delightful tie-ins to other books in the Hagenheim series. I loved that! 🙂 It was also so so cool how it tied in with The Princess Spy and the events going on in that and even some of the things behind the scenes we hadn’t seen before! So awesome. (Though a couple times it seemed like it was summarizing a bit too much and I would have liked more details/scenes sometimes. But that may also be because I don’t remember The Princess Spy all that well since I read it awhile ago. *shrug*)

I also loved how the Christian theme was so well-woven into the plot–it was just a really strong part of it, more-so than usual in these books, and I just thought it was super lovely and incredibly well-done.

And I loved the retelling, how it had so many nods to Rapunzel (and maybe even Tangled…?). Awesome retelling! But also rearranged and different and unique enough that I never knew what was coming, which was really cool. 🙂

The romance, as always, was adorbz and awesome and I loved both the characters. Rapunzel was super likeable, and Sir Gerek was, naturally, fantastic. I loved his grouchyness. XD And just… yes, he was awesome.

AND THE TWIST. OH MY GOODNESS THE TWIST. Okay, so I was picking up on little subtle hints and totally guessed it before it came to light, but that only made the revelation even BETTER because I pieced clues together and came to the conclusion myself and was hoping and hoping and then it WAS and just ASLKDFJLDKJF it makes me so happyyyy! ^_^ I only wish :: SPOILER (highlight to read) :: that there could have been a scene featuring Gabe and Rapunzel. I WAS SO HOPING THERE WOULD AND THEN THERE WASN’T. *cries* That was my only disappointment though. I just… it would have been so wonderful seeing a scene like that after what Gabe was thinking in The Fairest Beauty. *sniff* But oh well, I can imagine it, so that’s okay I guess. 🙂 :: END SPOILER ::

I also got a little teary-eyed there at one point, at a certain beautiful scene, so gotta give it credit for that. 😉

Anyways, aside from a couple little things, I absolutely loved it and just THE TWIIIIST!!! *flails around* So so so awesome and automatically made it twice as wonderful as it could have been. 😀

Overall, great book! ❤

From Goodreads:

The one who needs rescuing isn’t always the one in the tower.

Rapunzel can throw a knife better than any man around. And her skills as an artist rival those of any artist she’s met. But for a woman in medieval times, the one skill she most desires is the hardest one to obtain: the ability to read.

After yet another young man asks for Rapunzel’s hand in marriage, Mother decides they need to move once again, but this time to a larger city. Rapunzel’s heart soars—surely there she can fulfill her dream. But Mother won’t let her close to a man. She claims that no man can be trusted.

After being rescued by a knight on the road to the city, and in turn rescuing him farther down the road, Rapunzel’s opportunity arrives at last. This knight, Sir Gerek, agrees to educate Rapunzel in order to pay back his debt. She just has to put up with his arrogant nature and single-minded focus on riches and prestige.

But this Rapunzel story is unlike any other and the mystery that she uncovers will change everything—except her happily ever after.

Genre/Category: Christian YA Romance / Historical Fiction / Fairy Tale Retelling (Rapunzel)

Age Group: YA

Published: 2015

Pages: 471 pages (Large Print Hardcover)

Series?: Book #6 of the Hagenheim/Fairy Tale Romance series

When Read: June 4 – 5, 2016

Favorite Character: Sir Gerek

Source: Library

Other Notes: Read a large print version because it was what my library had, and I for some reason really liked reading it like that. XD It was relaxing somehow. *shrug*

{Goodreads} • {Amazon} • {Barnes & Noble}

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Thanks for reading!

Dream away in those pages . . .

~ The Page Dreamer

 

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! 🙂