Kate Constable

September 2021 Reading Wrap-Up

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Neon Gods by Katee Robert
(Dark Olympus, book 1)
Rating:  N/A – DNF
Review:  No
Format:  Audiobook
Reading Dates: Aug 19 – Sept 7
Read Count:  0.5
Favorite Thing:  Interesting premise
Least Favorite Thing:  This book made me feel oogy?

I tried to read this for Katesbookdate‘s patreon book club and… I swear this was almost porn-without-plot, it was barely not that. I felt so uncomfortable the whole time, not about the sex, but about how every single thing – good or bad – brought on a new sex scene. Also…the way he talked to her was shudder inducing.

My Posts About Neon Gods

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
(Percy Jackson and the Olympians, book 5)
Rating:  ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review:  No
Format:  Audiobook
Reading Dates:  Sept 7
Read Count:  3
Favorite Thing:  The oracle!
Least Favorite Thing:  Why can’t people just tell other people things?

I probably won’t ever read these books again, but because I feel like I’ve really aged out of them. But it was a nice little throw-back.

My Posts About The Last Olympian

All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris
(The Southern Vampire Mysteries, book 7 )
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review: No
Format: Audiobook
Reading Dates: Sept 1 – 7
Read Count: 2
Favorite Thing: Telepath Teamup!
Least Favorite Thing: I can’t even think of anything, I take these books as they are lol

So I’ve read this before, physically, but I listen to music or audiobooks while I work now and I needed something fluffy so of course I went for the Sookie Stackhouse books. I’ve been trying to slowly work my way through, but once I start one I just can’t turn it off!

My Posts About All Together Dead

Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review: No
Format: Audiobook
Reading Dates: Sept 8 – 9
Read Count: 2
Favorite Thing: I love the way everyone talks. No the accents, but like the word choice and the…cadence maybe?
Least Favorite Thing: She’s so painfully selfish, the movie definitely took some of that out.

I love this movie so much, and I have listened to a different audiobook version in the past, but I think this one was better.

My Posts About Brooklyn

From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
(The Southern Vampire Mysteries, book 8)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review: No
Format: Audiobook
Reading Dates: Sept 10 – 11
Read Count: 2
Favorite Thing: I like that a major real life event was included, makes a fantastical story feel more real.
Least Favorite Thing: Stop, I’m never going to have a least favorite am I?

These books are so relaxing for me. And occasionally quite funny.

My Posts About From Dead to Worse

Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
(The Southern Vampire Mysteries, book 9)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review: No
Format: Audiobook
Reading Dates: Sept 12 – 13
Read Count: 2
Favorite Thing: Shifters out!!!!
Least Favorite Thing: How many times is Jason going to be accused of some kind of horrific murder? Examine your life, bro.

Ok, fine, I picked a least favorite thing. Except it’s not even really a least favorite thing, because it’s kind of hilarious?

My Posts About Dead and Gone

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
(Daughter of Smoke & Bone, book 1)
Rating: ★★★★☆ – really liked it
Review: No
Format: Audiobook
Reading Dates: Sept 15 – 17
Read Count: 3
Favorite Thing: TEETH!
Least Favorite Thing: Special girl is so special.

I had been wanting to reread these, specifically via audiobook, for so dang long! I finally broke down and joined audible just for the time it would take to listen to these books.

My Posts About Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor
(Daughter of Smoke & Bone, book 2)
Rating: ★★★★☆ – really liked it
Review: No
Format: Audiobook
Reading Dates: Sept 17 – 20
Read Count: 3
Favorite Thing: Ziriiiiiii
Least Favorite Thing: Mr. White Wolf himself obviously.

You know I’m just now realizing how little the covers have to do with the story…

My Posts About Days of Blood & Starlight

The Singer of All Songs by Kate Constable
(The Chanters of Tremaris, book 1)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review: No
Format: Audiobook
Reading Dates: Sept 22 – 23
Read Count: 3
Favorite Thing: I just love the magic style!
Least Favorite Thing: Does she have to love the first man she’s ever met?

Don’t ask me why, but I suddenly became convinced that this was the book I needed to listen to ASAP… Anyway I bought it and I listened and the background sounds were strange…

My Posts About The Singer of All Songs

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ – it was ok
Review: No
Format: Print
Reading Dates: July 23 – Sept 28
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: Uh….I….can’t think of one…
Least Favorite Thing: SHE’S SO INCREDIBLY STUPID I CAN’T HANDLE IT

Could it have taken me any longer to finish this book? Gawd! I honestly did not enjoy it at all. I wanted to, I tried really hard…. Blah.

My Posts About Lock Every Door

Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor
(Daughter of Smoke & Bone, book 3)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it
Review: No
Format: Audiobook
Reading Dates: Sept 20 – 28
Read Count: 3
Favorite Thing: Things finally happen!
Least Favorite Thing: I wish I could care at all about the main characters’ romance, but the only romances I give a shit about are side characters lol

WHAT DOES THIS COVER HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING??

My Posts About Dreams of Gods & Monsters

In Progress

Shelf-History Tag!

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I have been attempting to be more active in the book blogging community lately, but I’m pretty bad at talking to people (I get nervous lol) so I thought I’d do something fun, like make my own little book tag. Hence the Shelf-History Tag!

❀ This tag is for those books that came to you in an unusual, interesting, funny, or sweet way. Pick 5 (or more if you want) books from your shelf and tell us the story of how you came to own that book. If you’re a public library user and don’t really own any books, you can still participate. Just tell us the most interesting/funny/sweet ways you came to find a particular library book.

Tag your posts with #ShelfHistory so I can see them all!

When you’re finished, tag 5 (or more) readers whose Shelf-History you’d like to know about! This one can easily be done on any blogging/vlogging platform so feel free to tag cross-platform if you really want to. ❀

I’ll go first as an example and also just because I want to play too:

Book 1: Jane Austen: Seven Novels + Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I received these two as a gift from the pastor’s secretary at the church I used to work at (but before I worked there). They are both beautiful volumes, but especially the gilded Seven Novels collection. I was in high school, so this was about 10 years ago) and had never read Jane Austen before and Ms. Judy highly recommended them. I wasn’t sold so she went out and bought them for me and asked only that I give them a chance. They have sweet little inscriptions in them and I will definitely cherish these for a long, long time.

Book 2: The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

My copy of The Goose Girl was purchased from the Scholastic Book Fair back in middle school. I bought it because the cover was beautiful and the title was interesting. (And because I always bought tons of books from the book fair lol) I took it home and read it right away and it totally swept me up. It was my first fairytale retelling novel and I was totally hooked. At the time I wasn’t reading very much, I was really struggling with everything, and this book got me into reading again. The Goose Girl will always have a special place in my heart, and I hope I can hold on to this particular copy until it falls apart and then some.

Book 3: A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb

Did you ever own a book that you had no idea how you got it or why you have it? One day I was rearranging my books and I found one that I didn’t remember reading (this was back when I had a lot less books). I read the back and it didn’t ring any bells at all. Despite this, it was clearly my book, since it was on my shelves. Over the years I have unhauled it at least twice, and yet somehow it always winds up back on my shelf. That’s not me being cute. I mean I literally don’t know how it winds up back on the shelf. I put it in the box of books to get rid of and it just doesn’t get rid. I guess I figure I’m supposed to own this book…

Book 4: The Tenth Power by Kate Constable

This is my only Advanced Reader Copy. Oh lucky me, I got an ARC, right? Wrong. I ordered the hardcover version of this book online and received the ARC anyway. It wasn’t a huge deal, but it bothered me slightly because hardbacks are expensive and because it didn’t match the others from the series that I had. So I wrote to the seller and they offered to send me the copy I actually ordered and I could do with the ARC whatever I wished. Well lo, and behold, two weeks later, here comes a book in the mail. But is it the hardback copy that I ordered? No, bitch, it’s ANOTHER ARC copy! At this point I just gave up. It was both too funny and too dumb to care about any longer.

Book 5: It Happened This Way

I don’t know where or how I got this book, but I’ve had it since I was about 2 years old. The thing that makes this book truly special to me is that it’s the book my mom used to teach me to read. The best I can figure, she found it at a garage sale or got it from one of the classrooms she used to interpret in before I was born. I don’t know how I’ve managed to hold on to it all these years, but I still look through it every so often and love it so much. My favorite story in it is the story of Mark Park (who the kids called Mark Park Walk in the Dark). It will probably always make me smile.

Alrighty those are my Shelf History picks. Not the most interesting stories, but I’m betting that some of y’all have some really fascinating ones!

I’m tagging: Purple Manatees, Lauren @ Northern Plunder, Amanda @ Between the Shelves, Sionna @ Books in her Eyes, & Words in the Rain. But feel free to do it even if you aren’t tagged!

Top 5 Wednesday: January 31, 2018

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Hidden Gems in Your Favorite Genre

What are some of your favorite books in your favorite genre that don’t get a lot of hype?
To participate in Top 5 Wednesday, head over to their Goodreads Group!

Tales of the Kingdom // Cynthia Voigt

I swear there isn’t a single book rec that goes by without me trying to get someone to read these books. It’s a four-book, loosely-connected, non-magical, fantasy series, in a feudal sort of setting. These are actually some of my all-time favorite books. The female characters are strong, without falling into the whole “strong = masculine” trope, and the lack of magical powers doesn’t take away from the overall magic of the story at all.

The Books of Bayern // Shannon Hale

This middle grade fantasy series was actually my introduction to the genre and they remain favorites to this day. It starts with a fairy tale retelling of The Goose Girl and expands from there into a lovely series full of magic and friendship and saving kingdoms.

Underland Chronicles // Suzanne Collins

This is another middle grade fantasy series. In this one, a boy discovers a hidden land under NYC and he and his family proceed to get caught up in a bunch of prophecies. There’s not magic in this one, unless you count giant talking animals as magical…

The Chanters of Tremaris // Kate Constable

Nature magic via song? Yes, thank you! This trilogy begins with a world divided. Those with magic are separate from those without, and even the individual types of magic wielders keep segregated. But what world could thrive like that?

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

In this standalone novel, serving maid Dashti is bricked into a tower with her obstinate mistress as a seven-year punishment. It’s another fairytale retelling — Shannon’s specialty if you ask me — and this time the magic works through song.

I’d love to hear what books from your favorite genre haven’t gotten the attention they deserve. Hit me up with some recommendations everybody!

December 2017 Reading Wrap-Up

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The Waterless Sea by Kate Constable
(The Chanters of Tremaris, book 2)
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  December 11 – 12
Read Count:  2
Favorite Thing:  Chanters vs. Pirates from the beginning.
Least Favorite Thing:  Ooomg so many sexist desert-dwellers!

I started to reread this series earlier in the year and then just totally got side-tracked, but I’m back now! (Also I think I completely blocked out the end….)

My Posts About The Waterless Sea

The Tenth Power by Kate Constable
(The Chanters of Tremaris, book 3)
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  December 12
Read Count:  2
Favorite Thing:  The reveal about Cal’s family 🙂
Least Favorite Thing:  Um… Keela’s entire original personality?

Man I zipped through this one! I was so anxious because I couldn’t remember in detail how this book went so I just devoured it!

I definitely recommend the Chanters of Tremaris series to anyone who likes YA Magical Fantasy and those who, like me, love stories about nature magic.

My Posts About The Tenth Power

The Swan Maiden by Heather Tomlinson
Rating:  ★★★☆☆
Review:  Kinda?
Reading Dates:  December 12
Read Count:  2
Favorite Thing:  Lavena had me cackling!
Least Favorite Thing:  Seriously why does her entire family have to be Like That?? I just wanted to climb into the novel and systematically throttle them all…

I was actually surprised by how little of this story I remembered from when I first read it years ago.

My Posts About The Swan Maiden

The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan
(Trials of Apollo, book 1)
Rating:  ★★★☆☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  November 23 – December 13
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Actually dealt pretty well with the portrayal of a relationship between a child and their abusive parent.
Least Favorite Thing:  Apollo is so fucking annoying. I miss Percy.

Seriously the only parts of the book I truly loved were the parts with Percy. I didn’t even realize he was my favorite, but he’s obviously my favorite. Lovably sarcastic dork….

My Posts About The Hidden Oracle

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
(Brian’s Saga, book 1)
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  December 13
Read Count:  2
Favorite Thing:  I love the way Brian thinks about things, like referring to the fire as his “new hungry friend”.
Least Favorite Thing:  That moose was a dick. (Honestly, I can’t think of anything I didn’t like about the story/writing.)

I’m really glad I decided to try rereading this again. I wanted to see if I still liked it after all these years and I think I actually like it more now.

My Posts About Hatchet

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao
(Rise of the Empress, book 1)
Rating:  ★★★★★
Review:  Yes
Reading Dates:  December 15 – 18
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Had me totally rooting for someone I knew was technically a villain!
Least Favorite Thing:  I really didn’t need the mental images of killing small animals… (To be clear, it’s not often and it’s not like gratuitous slaughter, it’s just the descriptive language Julie C. Dao is good at made things a little too vivid for me for that particular couple scenes.)

I was so excited to get my hands on this book and it didn’t disappoint! I feel like wandering around town yelling about this book like a street preacher. Seriously, I recommend it to everyone, especially if you like fairy tale retellings.

(I almost put that my favorite thing was that there was literally zero white people in this entire novel, but I thought that might be a little tactless…oops!)

My Posts About Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

Mind Games by Kiersten White
(Mind Games, book 1)
Rating:  ★★★☆☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  October 22 – December 23
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Fia being all small and kick-ass.
Least Favorite Thing:  It just didn’t hold my attention very well…

I think it’s a pretty decent book, there was just something that made it hard to stay in the story. Still it ended on a minor cliffhanger so I guess I’ll be reading the sequel at some point!

My Posts About Mind Games

Hold Still by Nina LaCour
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Review:  No
Reading Dates:  December 23 – 26
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  The photography.
Least Favorite Thing:  I’m surprised to find there isn’t really anything I didn’t like from this book. Everything felt very honest.

I was afraid this book would be really hard to read because of the subject matter, but it moved really well and was a very honest portrayal of grief and recovery.

My Posts About Hold Still

In Progress

January 2017 Wrap-Up

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Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
(Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children, book 1)
Rating:  ★★★★★
Reading Dates:  January 9 – 12
Read Count:  2
Favorite Thing:  The books Jake finds when he explores the bombed shell of the home. He remarks the titles of ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘The Secret Garden’. I laughed so hard I lost my place!
Least Favorite Thing:  Jake does not think about things enough! He supposedly went over his grandfather’s last words constantly, but he doesn’t catch when people say things that might allude back to it? That freaking apple rots overnight into dust and his reaction is literally: “puzzled, I shrugged it off and went out”! What the hell, Jake!?

If you love adventure and amazing descriptive language in your novels, this is definitely a book (and series) you need to read. I genuinely had to pause several times just to absorb the imagery. (And once to scrub my brain of the mental image presented by the imagery…)
If you saw the movie and decided this book wasn’t worth reading, I urge you to reconsider.

My Posts About Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs
(Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children, book 2)
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Reading Dates:  January 12 – 14
Read Count:  2
Favorite Thing:  “Nowhere am I deadlier than in a field of wildflowers,” Hugh said, enjoying the attention.
(Also can we talk about how cute Fiona and Hugh are? She grew flowers for his bees so they could kiss! I’m dyingggg!)
Least Favorite Thing:  The menagerie… Something about the peculiar animals just… Bleh…

My Posts About Hollow City

Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs
(Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children, book 3)
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Reading Dates:  January 14 – 23
Read Count:  1
Favorite Thing:  Jacob’s Hollow!!!! Precious little killing machine!
Least Favorite Thing:  The defeated feeling it gave me around halfway through… I accept that adventure novels have to have a “progress, set back, progress, set back” sort of rhythm, but sometimes it gets to a point where it feels like more set backs than progress and it leaves me feeling hopeless. Luckily, it didn’t last too long in this book, so don’t let that be what keeps you from reading it.

My Posts About Library of Souls

The Singer of All Songs by Kate Constable
(The Chanters of Tremaris, book 1)
Rating:  ★★★★☆
Reading Dates:  January 24 – 27
Read Count:  2
Favorite Thing:  Talk shit get…..all the saliva in your mouth frozen solid.
Least Favorite Thing:  Trout whines too damn much… (And Samis gloats too damn much…)

My Posts About The Singer of All Songs

WWW Wednesday: January 25, 2017

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Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three W’s!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading:  The Singer of All Songs by Kate Constable (Chanters of Tremaris, book 1)
I’ve read this series once before, but I realized the other day I was having trouble remembering some details. And the details I did remember made me want to reread it so I could remember them all!
Plus I always love the idea of magic through language (in this case song). And of course it’s elemental magic for the most part, which is always fun.
Calwyn almost seems boring in the beginning, but I’m not sure how exciting you can make a convent girl who does nothing but chores or singing at a wall to keep it frozen solid all day long really seem…. She get’s more interesting after she meets Darrow.

Recently Finished:  Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children, book 3)
I am never getting over my affection for Jacob’s stupid Hollow! I literally cried over that thing for heaven’s sake… And the ending really got me. Like I knew there had to be some way to make the ending happy, but at a certain point (I won’t say specifically in case some haven’t read it) I was feeling just as desperate and hopeless as Jacob and almost in tears.
I did have some trouble around the half-way point with this one because everything just seemed to be going wrong over and over and nothing going right, but I got past it and I’m so glad I kept reading.
Did I mention the Hollow? 😦 I miss him….

Reading Next:  Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink (Prophecy of the Sisters, book 1)
I’ll probably be reading this next, unless some miracle happens and the copy of The Waterless Sea that the public library ordered comes in and I can continue with the Chanters of Tremaris series.
Also if I have any luck at all, I’ll manage to read some more on The Tale of Oriel since I just stopped part way through a while back and never got back to it! It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just that I hit a reading slump while I was reading this one and now I’m having trouble making myself get back to it in case the slump comes back!

Top 5 Wednesday: January 25, 2017

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Favorite Underrated Books

Give some love to those books that aren’t as widely talked about. Those hidden gems. Those books that maybe used to be popular but people have forgotten about and they still deserve some love.
To participate in Top 5 Wednesday, just head over to their Goodreads Group and join the fun!

I wound up with a list of book series instead of individual books, but whatever!

  1. The Books of Bayern // Shannon Hale
  2. The Tillerman Cycle // Cynthia Voigt
  3. The Underland Chronicles // Suzanne Collins
  4. Princess Academy Series // Shannon Hale
  5. The Chanters of Tremaris Series // Kate Constable

What underrated books do you love? Comment or make your own Top 5 Wednesday post!