This blog has been leaning heavily towards the Bookish side lately and that’s purely because I really hadn’t been doing much crafty stuff. Between Christmas, being ill for the first two weeks of the year and stuffing as much writing time in as possible I just haven’t been crafting. That is changing though and I’ll mention it more over the next couple of weeks.
The only real crafty things I’ve been doing so far this year have been cross stitch (which you’ll get an update on this weekend) and making my card orders for my etsy shop. The only new card I have to show you is this valentines day one.
Which you can buy here (shameless self promo). I say valentines day card but I mean you could use it for anything, maybe mothers day coming up to?
But anyway, in all this non crafty time I have still been buying books. Obviously. Even though I’ve only been reading arcs and free books on my kindle unlimited trial. Which means the books on my kindle are growing at an alarming rate. I am going on holiday at the end of next month though so at least I’ll have enough books for that!
Literally every single one of these ebooks were on sale (okay no, Truthwitch was free from the Tor newsletter) and when a book on my tbr goes on sale I just can’t resist.
So onto the book haul; (As always, where I’ve used a blurb, it’s from goodreads)
Spellslinger by Sebastien de Castell
There are three things that earn you a man’s name among the Jan’Tep. The first is to demonstrate the strength to defend your family. The second is to prove you can perform the high magic that defines our people. The third is simply to reach the age of sixteen. I was a few weeks shy of my birthday when I learned that I wouldn’t be doing any of those things.
Magic is a con game.
Kellen is moments away from facing his first mage’s duel and the start of four trials that will make him a spellcaster. There’s just one problem: his magic is gone. As his sixteenth birthday approaches, Kellen falls back on his cunning in a bid to avoid total disgrace. But when a daring stranger arrives in town, she challenges Kellen to take a different path. Ferius Parfax is one of the mysterious Argosi – a traveller who lives by her wits and the three decks of cards she carries. She’s difficult and unpredictable, but she may be Kellen’s only hope…
…
A Court of Mist and Fury + A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas
I read the first book in this series at the start of December, I didn’t love it but it was alright and some of the characters were great. When I finished, I reailsed both of the sequels were on sale for less than £1 each so it would have been rude not to pick them up.
,,,
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
Strange the Dreamer is the story of:
the aftermath of a war between gods and men
a mysterious city stripped of its name
a mythic hero with blood on his hands
a young librarian with a singular dream
a girl every bit as perilous as she is imperiled
alchemy and blood candy, nightmares and godspawn, moths and monsters, friendship and treachery, love and carnage.
Welcome to Weep.
,,,
Truthwitch by Susan Dennard
In a continent on the edge of war, two witches hold its fate in their hands.
Young witches Safiya and Iseult have a habit of finding trouble. After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home.
Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she’s a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden – lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult’s true powers are hidden even from herself.
In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls’ heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.
,,,
Skyship Academy: The Pearl Wars by Nick James
A devastated Earth’s last hope is found in Pearls: small, mysterious orbs that fall from space and are capable of supplying enough energy to power entire cities. Battling to control the Pearls are the Skyship dwellers–political dissidents who live in massive ships in the Earth’s stratosphere–and the corrupt Surface government.
Jesse Fisher, a Skyship slacker, and Cassius Stevenson, a young Surface operative, cross paths when they both venture into forbidden territory in pursuit of Pearls. Their chance encounter triggers an unexpected reaction, endowing each boy with remarkable–and dangerous–abilities that their respective governments would stop at nothing to possess.
Enemies thrust together with a common goal, Jesse and Cassius make their way to the ruins of Seattle to uncover the truth about their new powers, the past they didn’t know they shared, and a shocking secret about the Pearls.
…
Touch by Natalia Jaster
Love is an immortal bad girl. With a strike of her arrow and a smirk on her face, she pins human hearts together against their will. It’s for their own good, of course—silly, clueless creatures that they are.
But Love has never loved. Not until the Fates parcel her off to a small, frostbitten town littered with needy souls. Not until she crosses paths with Andrew, a boy whose gaze locks onto hers. Yet how can this be? Mortals don’t have the power to see deities.
The longer they’re friends, the more Love wishes she could touch Andrew. In gentle ways. In other tempting and reckless ways as well.
It’s impossible. She isn’t a true part of his world. She’s an outsider whose fingers will only ever sweep through him. A mischievous, invisible goddess who’s destined to be alone. And he’s destined for someone else. By order of the Fates, it’s Love’s duty to betray his trust. To seal his heart while ignoring the gash in her own.
Or she could become human. For there is one very tricky, very dangerous way to do so.
If only Andrew felt the same about her, it might be worth the risk.
,,,
Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule. To commemorate their Great Victory, Hitler and Emperor Hirohito host the Axis Tour: an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents. The victor is awarded an audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor’s Ball in Tokyo.
Yael, a former death camp prisoner, has witnessed too much suffering, and the five wolves tattooed on her arm are a constant reminder of the loved ones she lost. The resistance has given Yael one goal: Win the race and kill Hitler. A survivor of painful human experimentation, Yael has the power to skinshift and must complete her mission by impersonating last year’s only female racer, Adele Wolfe. This deception becomes more difficult when Felix, Adele twin’s brother, and Luka, her former love interest, enter the race and watch Yael’s every move.
But as Yael grows closer to the other competitors, can she bring herself to be as ruthless as she needs to be to avoid discovery and complete her mission?
…
The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon
I read the first book, The Bone Season, years ago. My parents bought it for me in hardback when it first came out so we’re talking four years here. And the world that was created in London with the scifi underground gangs was, and probably still is, one of my favourite settings and setups that I’ve ever read and then it left London and went to a generic fantasy setting and the plot went all loveydovey instead of gang dynamics and I was so disappointed that I never even looked at the sequel BUT, someone mentioned in a twitter chat lately that the second book is gang setting heavy so…. here we are. Fingers crossed.
…
Steamborn by Eric Asher
Jacob, a tinker’s apprentice and sometime thief, has lived his entire life in the mountain city of Ancora, protected by the city walls. These towering barriers keep the Deadlands creatures at bay, but the monsters move higher into the peaks every year. More and more, they breach the defenses of the Lowlands while the Highlands rest easy.
A swarm overruns the walls and wreaks utter devastation on the Lowlands. Charles, the old tinker, suspects the attack may not be natural. With help from Jacob’s closest friend, Alice, and Samuel, one of the city’s elite spider knights, Jacob and Charles will uncover a terrible darkness at the heart of their city.
…
Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody
Sixteen-year-old Sorina has spent most of her life within the smoldering borders of the Gomorrah Festival. Yet even among the many unusual members of the traveling circus-city, Sorina stands apart as the only illusion-worker born in hundreds of years. This rare talent allows her to create illusions that others can see, feel and touch, with personalities all their own. Her creations are her family, and together they make up the cast of the Festival’s Freak Show.
But no matter how lifelike they may seem, her illusions are still just that—illusions, and not truly real. Or so she always believed…until one of them is murdered.
Desperate to protect her family, Sorina must track down the culprit and determine how they killed a person who doesn’t actually exist. Her search for answers leads her to the self-proclaimed gossip-worker Luca, and their investigation sends them through a haze of political turmoil and forbidden romance, and into the most sinister corners of the Festival. But as the killer continues murdering Sorina’s illusions one by one, she must unravel the horrifying truth before all of her loved ones disappear.
…
End book haul. But really, they were all really good value so how could I resist? Have you read any of these? Let me know what you though. My kindle unlimited trial runs out at the end of the month, which ones do you recommend I jump into first?
Bloglovin / Twitter / Etsy / Goodreads
Ever The Crafter 