City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

I am a huge fan of Victoria Schwab (or V.E. Schwab as she's also known by) and I am so on board for anything she writes. This one was no different.

City of Ghosts is a middle grade paranormal novel. It's about a girl named Cass that can pull back the Veil and see the dead. Her parents are ghost hunters doing a tv show about haunted places and she must go along with them. Her best friend is a boy who might just happen to be a ghost himself. during the trip to Scotland, Cass meets a girl who can do what she can and there's a lot more about the Veil that Cass doesn't know.

It's spooky. There's ghosts a plenty. The atmosphere was alluring and I was totally absorbed right from the start. It's the details that Victoria Schwab adds into her stories that make them such wonderful things.

This book totally delivered the adventure that I was looking for, and it gave me all the creepy ghosts I could ask for in a great way. It might only be middle grade, but it wasn't hard to jump in the story and follow Cass (who's only 12) go across the Veil and walk through so seriously creepy (but totally interesting) places in Scotland!

My only complaint was that I wanted more. I always want more when I'm loving something so there's no surprise there really, but since it was a middle grade, it makes sense it was a little bit more simplistic than an adult book.

City of Ghosts is the first book in the series. The second one is already out and it's called Tunnel of Bones. I can't wait to get my hands on it and keep going with the story!

Recommendations: For the lovers of ghost stories, paranormal stories, author Victoria Schwab, and those who love being a little creeped out in their reads!

Into the Dim series by Janet B. Taylor

There are two books in this series and both have been out for a while. Book one is Into the Dim and book two is Sparks of Light. I did see there was mention of a third one on Goodreads (which I so hope is true) but I'm not sure if it's going to happen.

I came across this series by accident at the bookstore. I was looking for another author and the first book Into the Dim caught my eye, and I picked it up. 

The series starts with Hope Watson. She's a teenager who has lost her mother to an earth quake and goes to Scotland for the summer to stay with her mother's family. Turns out that her mother and her mother's family are time travellers and it's going to be up to Hope to go back in time to rescue her mother who isn't dead, just in another time. 

First off, the detail and the time traveling aspects of this series is fascinating! I loved the twists and turns in these books and I couldn't put them down! I was worried and excited about what was going to happen. 

The first book was my favourite of the two, but I still really enjoyed the second book. I really fell for all the characters and I thought the romance aspect of the books to be seen and lovely. 

I had to go back to the bookstore right after I finished the first book to get the second one because I needed to keep the story going. 

This series has villains, family, courage, love, time travel, history, and more all beyond my wildest dreams. This series felt new and interesting to me in ways I haven't seen often. 

What really surprised me was that I hadn't seen any of these books on bookstagram. No mention of them, no one really talking about them. For an awesome series about time travel and history, I would have thought otherwise. 

The second book was great, but I did find myself becoming a little confused in the middle. It looked like the story was going in one direction but then went in a total different direction which I felt was jarring, but I ended up enjoying the outcome. You do have to read the first one before this one though. I don't think it would have been easy to follow the tangent of the story without having read the first one before this one. 

Both of these books kept me glued to the page, and I really wish the third one would become reality. This really was a stellar series. 

Recommendation: Read this if you love time travel, historical fiction, the weak growing strong and kicking butt. 

Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan

Okay, this book was partially a cover buy and partially because when it was released it was all over the internet and the storyline just begged to be read.

For those of you who don't know it's about a girl, a boy, and a prince. Together they have to work together to assassinate a king and stop a war. The girl can speak to the Gods, the boy has a pretty monstrous secret and the prince has a lot to learn about who to trust. It's got romance, gothic feels, and its the type of fantasy that I love with plenty of magical things going on.

Right off the bat you get thrown into the action. There's a war going on and don't you know it!

The magical element was really different too, and I totally loved it. Having a story about a girl (and culture) of people who, when chosen, can speak to the Gods and use their abilities was pretty seriously great. The other magical element of having people who use their blood to activate spells they tear out of books they wear on their waist was so neat!

This was fast read for me, partially because I was totally absorbed in the story, and partially because it's wasn't an overly complicated read.

The writing in this book was something really great. The way the author wrote the characters, it was like you knew them immediately and you developed feelings about them so fast that when something happened, you could really feel for the characters. This was especially apparent with the villains. One second you feel one way and then it's call different! I won't say more, you'll just have to read the book!

The story was so built up that I was in a hurry for the ending because I NEEDED to know what was going to happen. This meant that the ending didn't quite satisfy me. I've since learned this will be part of a trilogy, so it makes sense the ending I was after didn't quite happen yet.

It's also possible I'm missing something in the ending because I read it so quickly. I think I might need to revisit it, especially before I read the next one when it come out. I will admit that when it was over I felt like I was missing something.

Overall, I really liked this book! It was an interesting and different gothic fantasy young adult read and I enjoyed it! I will definitely read the rest of the series when it comes out.

Recommendations: For fantasy lovers who love a good magic system, gothic elements, and interesting villains!

The Struggle With TBR's

I began this book blogging journey by keeping a notebook where I would write down my thoughts on the books I'd like to write about. At this point I am on my fifth notebook.

On the first page of the first one I placed sticky notes listing the names of all the books I planned on reading and reviewing. I think I was able to get 25 on each side of the first page if I lined them up just right.

I started this because I am a big believer of writing down simple to-do lists and things like that so that I can get that satisfying feeling of crossing out things once I've done them. This was the same idea I had when I created this sticky note list of books. Once I finished reading and taking notes on a book I would gleefully tear off its corresponding sticky note. 

A book made it onto a sticky note usually when it came home with me (either from a bookstore or the library) and I thought it would be perfect to review. Somehow I managed to fill up the first notebook before I finished the list of sticky noted books so I transferred them into the second notebook. By the end of the second notebook, the sticky note list was a lot smaller but still hanging on.

I transferred it into the third book for all of 10 minutes before I pulled half of them off and replaced them with new books that I was more excited to read. That lasted I think for another day till I pulled them all off and threw them out. 

The books on the sticky notes just became like failed tasks. A lot of the remaining books have been on the list since the very beginning and it was starting to drive me nuts. The list was supposed to make me feel more organized but instead I felt confined. 

This feeling was exactly the reason I've stopped trying to keep TBR (to be read) lists. Every single time I wrote out a monthly TBR list, I would give up after about two books. What I think I would love to read would change all the time. Either new books would find their way into my hands or my moods would change and the lists would be ugly little reminders that I wasn't keeping up with my goals again and nobody needs that kind of negativity.

I've since acquired a book cart and decided right off the bad that the top shelf was going to be where I'd place books I'd like to read soon. I went and pulled some books from my bookshelves and then arranged them on the cart. I told myself it wasn't a TBR because those didn't work for me. I told myself that I was just going to put books on there for now and grab them when I wanted to read. It's been about three months, if not more. Some of those books are still there. Do I go there when I need a new read? Nope. It's like those books I was so excited for are now being ignored because they aren't on my bookshelf, they are on my cart.

I believe that am done with ever having another TBR. Goodbye to the book lists and shelves of books set aside because I think I'll read them soon. Goodbye to the stress they cause. I am just going to read what I want when I want and throw the rest out the window. 

Don't worry about my book cart though! She's still there, and still so very useful. Right now I'm in the middle of about 5 different books and they are living on the top shelf along with books who are simply waiting to be put onto my shelf. The middle rack is a catchall from my desk, and the bottom are books I'm going to donate or drop off at a free library.

How about you? Tell me your thoughts! Do you love TBR's? Do you hate them? If you love them, tell me how you deal with them and make them work!

Murder at the Grand Raj Palace by Vaseem Khan

This completely new to me book was one I stumbled across by sheer luck on my last bookstore trip. It's bright beautiful cover was facing out at me on the shelf as I walked by. As soon as I read the back, I was hooked.

It's the 4th in a series and it's about a retired Inspector turned private investigator in India. The best part? He is quite often accompanied on his investigations by his baby elephant Ganesha!

This book has never crossed my feed on bookstagram, and I'm seriously sorry for that because this book/series deserves all the attention!

As I intend to gush about each and every one of these on my blog when I finish reading them, I'll tell you a little bit more about the actual story: There has been a death at the Grand Raj Palace hotel. An American billionaire business man has been found dead, the day after buying India's most expensive painting. Officially, the police and officials want to label it a suicide, but the man in charge of the investigation doesn't believe it's suicide. Chopra is called in to investigate, and along with his baby elephant Ganesha, he gets down to work on the case.

The writing is so good! The characters are phenomenal! The story is just so much fun that you just can't put it down! This is a more intricate cozy mystery. Books like this one are exactly the kind of reads I so adore!

There are four books in the series, with another one coming out later this year in August. I believe there are also two short stories as eBooks too that go along with this series. All I know is I need to get shopping and put these on my shelf A.S.A.P for a binge reading weekend! I will say I was a little miffed because even at the bookstore, I could tell this wasn't the first in the series, but they didn't have any of the other books in stock. After going online and checking my other local bookstores, they don't have them either, which I think is totally nuts.

Honestly, I don't even want to tell you anything else about the book because its so good. If you're reading this, you need to just go read the book and see what I mean Really though, I don't remember being this excited about a book I've read in a really long time. It's that freaking amazing!

Recommendation: If you love mysteries, this is 100% for you. It's got amazing characters, intriguing mysteries, and wonderful writing. You need to read this book!

Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

You might have seen this book around, or you've seen the other books in the series, so this probably isn't a new-to-anyone-book. I arrived late to this particular party and I am regretting it!

When I first heard about this book, it was 100% due to bookstagram. People were posting about it, photographing it, showing it off. It was a thing. Like I usually do with books I see on bookstagram (especially with YA books that are hugely hyped up) I go to my local bookstore to find the book and check it out myself in person.

For whatever reason, the first time I picked up this book.... I wasn't interested.

Honestly, I was surprised at myself. I love murder mysteries, particularly historical ones so the whole history of Jack The Ripper and all the books/folklore/stories written about it have always captured my attention. This one though? I didn't think this was the book for me.

Right off the bat, the back cover alludes to the main character loving Jack The Ripper. Maybe I was afraid this book was going to go down some seriously unforgivable path of adoration and encouragement of a murderer. I don't know what I was thinking, but I didn't think I should read this book.

Then another one in the series came out, this one about Dracula. Then another one came out. Now there's a fourth one coming out.

I caved and grabbed up one of the mass market paperbacks. Guess what? I liked it. A lot. I'm going to read more of the series. It's on my TBR. Especially the next one.

This book was quite different than a lot of the other books I've read surrounding Jack The Ripper. The story about people around the case was different enough and new to me that I found it to be quite interesting. Not often do you see a story from the point of view of a young woman who is studying forensic medicine in that time period.

This book does tell you who (in this fictional literary universe) Jack The Ripper is, which was a surprising but interesting take on it. 

If this book is something you've stayed away from, for whatever reason, I urge you to pick it up and read a couple of pages. It's not what I expected but in such a different and good way, that I think you'll find yourself regretting not having read it sooner like I did!

Recommendations: If you are intrigued by the mysteries surrounding Jack The Ripper and love reading anything and everything, fiction or not, about him and the case, then you'll most likely enjoy this one. Also if you have a love for tough female heroines who stand up for themselves and for women in general, you'll like this book!

Roar by Cora Carmack

I loved this book!

If you're not familiar with this book, it's a young adult fantasy featuring a princess who's kingdom is in trouble, storm magic, princes, hunters, and a quest to save the world.

The writing in this book was lovely. I thoroughly enjoyed every second of this story.

We meet a princess by the name of Aurora who's about to marry a prince she's never met so she can hide the fact that she doesn't possess the storm magic that her family was born with. Her kingdom would suffer from the ravages of storms because she would be powerless to help, and she would be in major trouble if anyone found out. Marrying a prince who does have storm magic would cover it all up and both she and her kingdom would be safe.

She's almost fully resigned to her fate when she finds out that there are regular people in the world who weren't born with storm magic either, but now have it. There's another way to get storm magic and perhaps she can too, and won't have to marry that prince, or fall into ruin if she's found out.

I won't go into any more details because I don't want to spoil the story, but the rest of the book is her chasing that possibility.

I did think, going into this, that it might be like a lot of other books of this type (which I totally love) but it was more than that. It had a lot of the same bits and pieces from other YA fantasy featuring princesses and magic, but it was put together in a new way. This book was really refreshing that way.

There's romance, there's character growth, there's sub plots, and side stories. There's a lot of meat in this book, and I am digging it!!

There will be a second book very soon that follows this one and I CANNOT WAIT! I need to know what happens!!

Recommendation: For the YA fantasy lovers, for those who like a little love with their adventures, for those who love strong female characters coming into their own, this is for you!