Knitting, Sci-fi and other stuff...

I read six books total in January.  I had four 5 star reads, a 4.5 star read and I read Stutter last month.   The Ever King was a re-read.  The Ever Queen was a very good follow up, but I enjoyed The Mist Thief the most out of the three.  The fourth book in the series, The Stolen Crown will be coming out in October of this year.   Moonborn was an ARC read.  I enjoyed it, but it wasn't quite a five star read for me.  It's lacking something but I can't put my finger on what exactly.  It's the first book in a series and I will be reading more when they come out. Daughter of the Pines was also an ARC and it was exceptional.  I enjoyed it so much.  I wasn't sure about it reading the blurb.  I don't usually like the urban/paranormal stuff as much as the full on fantasy but this was done so well.  I loved the FMC, she is snarky, independent and smart.  There is a mystical companion creature, a cu...

5⭐️ 2🌶 I finished The Mist Thief by LJ Andrews which is book three of the Ever Seas series.  It was amazing.  I think I liked this one the best out of the three.  It was intense, intriguing and had a few plot twists I didn't see coming.  I really enjoyed the banter between Skadi and Jonas.  I loved the bond that formed between Kase and Skadi.  It was really fun to see Skadi explore her affinity and be accepted by everyone at the Black Palace and thusly become more comfortable with herself.  This book could technically be read as a standalone.  It would help to know at least the events from The Ever King and Ever Queen, but there is enough explanation that its not absolutely necessary.  The epilog in this book ends on a cliffhanger which sets up the next book.  I knew everyone was highly anticipating The Stolen Crown, now I know why. Up next; I received an ARC for Daughter of the Pines by Maria A. Eden.  I'll be starting...

  5★ 2🌶     I finished my re-read of The Ever King by LJ Andrews last night.  It was just what I needed to cure the book hangover still left from Until I Die.  I loved this book when I read it two years ago and first discovered LJ Andrews and her incredible world of Viking fairy tale retellings.  I picked up on a few details I had missed or forgotten.  It was a great refresh so I can go on to read The Ever Queen and the Mist Thief which hadn't been published yet when I read The Ever King the first time.  The Ever King is separate but interconnected to the Broken Kingdoms series.  The FMC Livia is the daughter of Valen and Elise who are the couple the first three books follow in the Broken Kingdoms.  The events in The Ever Seas occur about 20 years after the first book in the Broken Kingdoms.  There are enough little re-capping moments that you wouldn't need to read TBK first.  I didn't (initially) but it does help to know the ...

  3.75 ★ 4 🌶 I finished Speak by Ruby M. Darling yesterday.  Wow, what a hot mess and I do mean that as a compliment, mostly.  This is a dark academia why-choose romance that deals with trauma, healing and mental health representation among other things.  It's also downright unhinged and the writing left something to be desired.  Despite all the grammar errors, syntax flaws and the non-existent plot in between all the gratuitous sex scenes in the first half of the book, once the three relationships get established the book really pulls itself together and I genuinely enjoyed it.  I'm already 10% through the second book, Stutter, now.  The main character, Raven, goes to Rayne-Moore university in Massachusetts.  She is brutally attacked and left for dead stuffed inside a locker.  She spends the next couple of years in an asylum being treated by Dr. Damon Archer.  The attack left her mute.  Dr. Archer believes her voice may come back ...