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Saturday, December 9, 2017

Viewer's Choice: NEW & UPCOMING BOOKS | #StackofFive

Enjoy the crappy lighting and the fact that I'm mostly slightly blurry throughout the video. I'M SUPER PROFESH GUYS.

Anyway, le books are below. Vote in the comments for which ONE you want me to read and do a video review of in December.

Oh, and side note: I posted a video review on my channel for Marissa Meyer's Renegades, but forgot to cross-post it here -- so it will be posted here soon, but it's also linked at the end of the video, if you just can't wait to hear my thoughts on this behemoth of a book.




THE SECRET OF NIGHTINGALE WOOD

1919. Mama is ill. Father has taken a job abroad. Nanny Jane is too busy to pay any attention to Henrietta and the things she sees--or thinks she sees--in the shadows of their new home, Hope House.

All alone, with only stories for company, Henry discovers that Hope House is full of strange secrets: a forgotten attic, ghostly figures, mysterious firelight that flickers in the trees beyond the garden.

One night she ventures into the darkness of Nightingale Wood. What she finds there will change her whole world...


A timeless exploration of high-stakes romance, self-discovery, and the lengths we go to love and be loved.

Sixteen-year-old Zarin Wadia is many things: a bright and vivacious student, an orphan, a risk taker. She’s also the kind of girl that parents warn their kids to stay away from: a troublemaker whose many romances are the subject of endless gossip at school. You don't want to get involved with a girl like that, they say. So how is it that eighteen-year-old Porus Dumasia has only ever had eyes for her? And how did Zarin and Porus end up dead in a car together, crashed on the side of a highway in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia? When the religious police arrive on the scene, everything everyone thought they knew about Zarin is questioned. And as her story is pieced together, told through multiple perspectives, it becomes clear that she was far more than just a girl like that. This beautifully written debut novel from Tanaz Bhathena reveals a rich and wonderful new world to readers; tackles complicated issues of race, identity, class, and religion; and paints a portrait of teenage ambition, angst, and alienation that feels both inventive and universal.

ALL THE CROOKED SAINTS

Here is a thing everyone wants:
A miracle.
Here is a thing everyone fears:
What it takes to get one.

Any visitor to Bicho Raro, Colorado, is likely to find a landscape of dark saints, forbidden love, scientific dreams, miracle-mad owls, estranged affections, one or two orphans, and a sky full of watchful desert stars.
At the heart of this place you will find the Soria family, who all have the ability to perform unusual miracles. And at the heart of this family are three cousins longing to change its future: Beatriz, the girl without feelings, who wants only to be free to examine her thoughts; Daniel, the Saint of Bicho Raro, who performs miracles for everyone but himself; and Joaquin, who spends his nights running a renegade radio station under the name Diablo Diablo.
They are all looking for a miracle. But the miracles of Bicho Raro are never quite what you expect.



There are no secrets in Saintstone.From the second you're born, every achievement, every failing, every significant moment are all immortalized on your skin. There are honorable marks that let people know you're trustworthy. And shameful tattoos that announce you as a traitor. After her father dies, Leora finds solace in the fact that his skin tells a wonderful story. That is, until she glimpses a mark on the back of his neck . . . the symbol of the worst crime a person can commit in Saintstone. Leora knows it has to be a mistake, but before she can do anything about it, the horrifying secret gets out, jeopardizing her father's legacy . . . and Leora's life.In her startlingly prescient debut, Alice Broadway shines a light on the dangerous lengths we go to make our world feel orderly--even when the truth refuses to stay within the lines. This rich, lyrical fantasy with echoes of Orwell is unlike anything you've ever read, a tale guaranteed to get under your skin . . .

THE NOVEMBER GIRL

I am Anda, and the lake is my mother. I am the November storms that terrify sailors and sink ships. With their deaths, I keep my little island on Lake Superior alive.

Hector has come here to hide from his family until he turns eighteen. Isle Royale is shut down for the winter, and there's no one here but me. And now him.

Hector is running from the violence in his life, but violence runs through my veins. I should send him away, to keep him safe. But I'm half human, too, and Hector makes me want to listen to my foolish, half-human heart. And if I do, I can't protect him from the storms coming for us.

Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored video, though these books were sent to me for review consideration purposes. All thoughts and opinions are honest, and my own.

Friday, November 17, 2017

LATE FALL BOOK HAUL, Y'ALL!

So. Many. Books! Check below for book list and links 👇👇👇
Let me know what videos you'd like to see, whether with these books or with or about any others!




THE BOOKS:







ALSO MENTIONED / RELATED:
Renegades Blog Tour "Villains" post

The Forgetting: http://amzn.to/2yPvZt1
-- first impressions

BELLES (the Jen Calonita book I couldn't remember the name of, even though I said the name... )
-- review here


Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored video, though these books were sent to me for review consideration purposes. All excerpts shared are copyright the author, and were shared for review and promotional reasons only. Excerpts are subject to change, as (most of) these are an advance version of the book, and thus not final -- so grab a copy and check it out for yourself when released!

Friday, November 3, 2017

THE BEST OF THE WORST -- My Favorite VILLAINS | Renegades Blog Tour

If you followed along with me last month for #30DayBookBinge, you'll know that I spent a good chunk of the month reading Marissa Meyer's Renegades. This take on superheroes is due out next week, and I'll be sharing my thoughts on it then, but TODAY. . . today, we're taking a look at some of my absolute faves, inspired by the Renegades.


Wait.
Scratch that.

'Cause I'm TEAM ANARCHISTS, BABY.


It's no secret I love a good villain, so today I'm gonna play favorites and share my top picks for love-to-hates and hate-to-loves to ever have graced the page.

Starting with  my favorites, the *technical* villains whom I actually really (not so secretly) love.

Elphaba, Maleficent and probably many, many other villains who've had a redemptive story arc, something that explains why they are they way they are. Are they misunderstood? Has their "villainous" image been manipulated by outside influences? Are they secretly good, or actually a tragic hero? I wanna know, I am always here for that.

Along those same lines, shout out to Victor Vale, the villain / anti-hero of Vicious, and all other "mad scientist" types who are doing the wrong things for the right reasons. I love me some gray area, yo!


Merricat Blackwood.
So, spoilers, I guess, but I think, if you ever pick up We Have Always Lived in the Castle (and you should), you'll catch on pretty quickly to the fact that all is not right with Ms. Mary Katherine Blackwood. Merricat is one of my favorite characters of all time, and though the things she does are certainly not okay, the way she tells them. . . well, she's a favorite for a reason.


And one last villain I just love to love, and probably the reason for all of the other sympathetic villains I've loved over the years, and that one is. . . um, Satan?
Hear me out.
Anyone familiar with Paradise Lost will know where I'm going with this; lit nerd that I am, I've always loved a good dynamic, complex character to sink my teeth into, and Byronic heroes give us that in spades. Hell, you probably could have figured out from the few I've listed so far -- I have a type. The fallen angel, the misunderstood, the cursed -- I wanna get to the bottom of their stories.

And now for a few that I just truly love to hate.

Severus Snape, Dolores Umbridge, Lucius Malfoy . . . shall I go on?
Obviously there are a lot of excellent villains in Harry Potter. But I'm not talking about the obvious Villain Who Must Not Be Named; rather the every day, attainable regular ol' people who casually inflict damage just because they can. And though there are few characters I hate more passionately than Umbridge, the rosy-colored, Alan Rickman-shaped glasses people wear in regards to Snape has made me even more critical of just what an unlikeable, mean-spirited douchecanoe he actually was.

The Bitches of the Classics. Mrs. Norris. Lady Catherine. Mrs. Reed. Hansel & Gretel's stepmom. . . All of those many, many women of the classic staples who had a chance to be welcoming and caring and motherly, and instead to every opportunity to torment and lord their power over the powerless heroines of the books.
And yes, we've talked about these "ladies" a time or ten around here.

So many Shakespeare villains, but especially Iago. This perfect specimen of fragile ego combined with a manipulative malicious streak a mile wide makes for a perfect storm of heartache. That we can see these traits in people now, in real life (in our families, our neighborhoods, our governments), and know the havoc they can wreak in a very tangible way, makes Iago all the more insidious and believable as the master villain he is.


My villains and anti-heroes list could fill a book long enough to spawn new villains and anti-heroes, but I'll stop there.
What are some of YOUR favorite villains and anti-heroes -- whether you love to hate them, or hate how much you secretly love them?  Let me know in the comments!

And keep an eye out for my review of Renegades! If you can't wait until then, perhaps amuse yourself with the Renegades website, where you can listen to the audiobook, take a quiz to determine your special power (mine's water, which is exactly what I'd expect, tbh), and pick a side.
Choose wisely. . .



ABOUT THE BOOK:
RENEGADES by Marissa Meyer
576 pages; Expected publication: November 7th 2017 by Feiwel & Friends
Secret Identities. Extraordinary Powers. She wants vengeance. He wants justice.

The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies—humans with extraordinary abilities—who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone...except the villains they once overthrew.

Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice—and in Nova. But Nova's allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.




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