#AmReading… A Spark of White Fire

It’s good, a space opera/fantasy mashup with gods and sentient spaceships, but… I’m conflicted. I made the mistake of reading the blurbs of the other books in the trilogy and I’m not getting happily ever after vibes, and that is not fun.

We all know how I ❤️ Happy Endings.

Reading Challenge 2024: The search begins

I didn’t make any resolutions this year but I did set myself some challenges. I find challenges a good way to build habits, or break them depending upon the need. Last year, I didn’t read anywhere near as many books as I wanted to, and so this year I decided to do something about it. … Read more

I want this book! Gates of Thread and Stone

Gates of Thread and Stone release day celebration! 5 August 2014

You can never have too many books, which is why I’m always on the lookout for a good one, and why my bookshelf includes towering piles on the floor.

Personally, I’m not to sure where I’m going to fit Gates of Thread and Stone (which looks and sounds awesome), but I’m sure I’ll find a cranny somewhere.

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My Bookshelf on WWW Wednesday

I’m currently reading Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz and Alliance by Mark Frost. I started watching the television spin-off of Witches of East End. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t horrible either, so I thought I’d give the book a go. So far, I’m 8% of the way into the ebook and, like … Read more

Teaser Tuesday: The Towers of the Sunset

Can you see how the pieces fit together? Not just the visible ones, like the towers of the sunset, but those unseen, like the heart of a man or the soul of a wizard.

The cover of The Towers of the Sunset by L.E. Modesitt Jnr.
A good book, although the lack of a blurb is confusing.

What’s awesome about it

  • The langauge is beautiful (as you can see above)
  • The worldbuilding and the use of the word ‘masculine’.

What’s not-so-awesome

  • There’s no blurb! At least on my copy. This makes it very hard to place the book in context to the first, The Magic of Recluce
  • The last half of the book is kinda boring
  • Magera is a twit.

Would I buy the sequel? I already did, in fact, not only did get the sequel, The Magic Engineer, I splurged on its sequels as well, The Order War and The Death of Chaos. I just haven’t read them yet. 

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Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst

Pearl is a sixteen-year-old vampire… fond of blood, allergic to sunlight, and mostly evil… until the night a sparkly unicorn stabs her through the heart with his horn. Oops.

'Drink, Slay, Love' by Sarah Beth Durst
The ebook version of the cover.

If you like your vampires dark, Goth, not quite soulless and with just the tiniest hint of My Little Pony, then Drink, Slay, Love could be for you. It’s the third work from author Sarah Beth Durst and reads like the opening of a series (although I could find no news of a sequel).

What I liked and didn’t like

Pearl was the best part of the book, confident, arrogant, viewed humans as cattle yet remained vulnerable under all her bluster. It was almost a shame that she grew a conscience because it dulled her superior attitude, which was a lot of fun.

The development of her character was a strong yet subtle thread that ran through the book with none of the long, blah, blah, blah blocks of inner monologue that can pass for character development.

While the first two-thirds of the book were good, maybe even great, the final third did its best to fall in a heap.

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