Review: Warcross by Marie Lu

Book: Warcross
Author: Marie Lu
Series: Warcross #1
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd.
Release: September 17th, 2017
Pages: 353

When a game called Warcross takes the world by storm, one girl hacks her way into its dangerous depths. For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn't just a game—it's a way of life. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who bet on the game illegally. When Emika hacks into the game illegally, she's convinced she'll be arrested, and is shocked when she gets a call from the game's creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year's tournament in order to uncover a security problem ... and he wants Emika for the job. In this sci-fi thriller, #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu conjures an immersive, exhilarating world where choosing who to trust may be the biggest gamble of all.

Goodreads

A Quasi Return (But Still in Hiatus Mode)

Hi all!

I know it wasn't too long ago that I said I was going on temporary hiatus. I still kind of am...except I recently read a bunch of great books and needed to write reviews, not just my scraps of emotions and feelings on Goodreads. It's kind of lonely and sad not having anyone to fangirl to afterwards...

And...that led me to write a few reviews. Mind you, I don't have a ton, nor are they very long. But they're written all the same, and I feel like it's only fair to get them out to you guys, rather than letting them collect dust on my computer. 

So of the few that I have so far, I've decided to post one a week. At least until I run out (which is probably going to be sooner than you think), until I find the ability to return to blogging proper.

But due to my inability to make any promises on reading and reviewing consistently, I'm still considering myself in quasi-hiatus mode. Not taking any review requests, just taking time to read when I can and write reviews when time enables me to.

The first few reviews on my list you can look forward to? Warcross (Marie Lu), Tower of Dawn (Sarah J. Maas), A Court of Frost and Starlight (Sarah J. Maas---MORE RHYSAND FOR ME TO FANGIRL OVER!!!), Leah on the Offbeat (Becky Albertali), and a few more. Yay, so excited to be able to express my thoughts properly again!!!

The first of these reviews will be next week...stay tuned for the upcoming slow return of my reviews, hooray! And until then, happy reading :)

Temporary Hiatus

Hi guys,

So as you know, I haven't been really active here. It's been a running problem since last fall, and it doesn't look like it's going to be resolved anytime soon. I moved to a new city last fall and the life thing is kind of settling over me. That leaves me little time to read (that's NOT stopping though!!! NEVER NEVER NEVER) and even less time to blog with you guys.

So it pains me to say that I'm going on a temporary blogging hiatus. BUT I'm not disappearing completely! I'll still be around now and then, though I won't have as big of a presence (not that I've had much of one recently). I'm will still review books, but they will be short and on Goodreads (you can find my Goodreads profile here--friend me!!!). If you want to chat, I'm just one Goodreads message away, since Goodreads is kind of my version of Facebook :)

I'm thinking this hiatus will last until the end of the summer, but I'm holding off on making any promises. Regardless, I will do another post in the summer as followup and update as to what's going on!

That's it from me for now. Hope you're all doing well! Message me if you want to chat! And, most importantly: happy reading!

Blog Tour: The Call of the Rift: Flight by Jae Waller

Hi everyone! I'm super excited to be kicking this month off with a blog tour stop! I'll be doing a cover art discussion of this beauty :)

Book: Flight
Author: Jae Waller
Series: The Call of the Rift #1
Publisher: ECW Press
Pages: 440
Release: April 3rd, 2018

A rebellious heroine faces a colonial world coming unstitched in Jae Waller's stunning debut fantasy

Seventeen-year-old Kateiko doesn’t want to be Rin anymore — not if it means sacrificing lives to protect the dead. Her only way out is to join another tribe, a one-way trek through the coastal rainforest. Killing a colonial soldier in the woods isn’t part of the plan. Neither is spending the winter with Tiernan, an immigrant who keeps a sword with his carpentry tools. His log cabin leaks and his stories about other worlds raise more questions than they answer.

Then the air spirit Suriel, long thought dormant, resurrects a war. For Kateiko, protecting other tribes in her confederacy is atonement. For Tiernan, war is a return to the military life he’s desperate to forget.

Leaving Tiernan means losing the one man Kateiko trusts. Staying with him means abandoning colonists to a death sentence. In a region tainted by prejudice and on the brink of civil war, she has to decide what’s worth dying — or killing — for.

Review: Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

Book: Three Dark Crowns
Author: Kendare Blake
Series: Three Dark Crowns #1
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release: September 20th, 2016
Pages: 396

When kingdom come, there will be one.

In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born—three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins.

The last queen standing gets the crown.

Review: Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

Book: Empire of Storms
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #5
Genre: YA fantasy
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Release: September 6th, 2016
Pages: 693

The long path to the throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius as war looms on the horizon. Loyalties have been broken and bought, friends have been lost and gained, and those who possess magic find themselves at odds with those who don't.

With her heart sworn to the warrior-prince by her side, and her fealty pledged to the people she is determined to save, Aelin will delve into the depths of her power to protect those she loves. But as monsters emerge from the horrors of the past, and dark forces become poised to claim her world, the only chance for salvation will lie in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.

In this breathtaking fifth installment of the New York Timesbestselling Throne of Glass series, Aelin will have to choose what—and who—to sacrifice if she's to keep the world of Erilea from breaking apart. 

Review: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Book: The Way of the Kings
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Series: The Starlight Archive #1
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Pages: 1007
Release: August 31, 2010

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, Book One of the Stormlight Archive begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths:

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination. 
And return to men the Shards they once bore. 
The Knights Radiant must stand again.