State of the ARC [33]

 

State of the ARC is a monthly meme hosted by Avalinah at Avalinah's Books! It's an opportunity for readers to catch up on their long overdue ARCs, but right now I'm using it to keep up with my upcoming ARCs instead. It helps me stay organized! Edit: State of the ARC is currently being hosted by Sarah (All the Book Blog Names Are Taken) while Evelina is on hiatus.

The Audacity of Sara Grayson by Joani Elliott

If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales, Cale Dietrich 

A History of Wild Places by Shea Ernshaw

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins 

When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord

Honor by Thrity Umrigar

How to Love Your Neighbor by Sophie Sullivan

Servant Mage by Kate Elliott

Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

Finding Normal: Sex, Love, and Taboo in Our Hyperconnected World by Alexa Tsoulis-Reay

The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberley, Austin Siegemund-Broka

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont 

Vladimir by Julia May Jones

Black Girls Must Be Magic (Black Girls Must Die Exhausted, #2) by Jayne Allen

Just Right Jillian by Nicole D. Collier

Red Thread of Fate by Lyn Liao Butler

Bright Ruined Things by Samantha Cohoe 

Full Flight by Ashley Schumacher

Edgewood by Kristen Ciccarelli

Come As You Are: A Novel by Jennifer Haupt

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle 

Daughter by Kate McLaughlin 

The Suite Spot (Beck Sisters, #2) by Trish Doller

Remember Me by Estelle Laure

Four Aunties and a Wedding (Aunties, #2) by Jesse Q. Sutanto 

At Least You Have Your Health by Madi Sinha

This May End Badly by Samantha Markum

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune 

This Vicious Grace (The Lady Finestra, #1) by Emily Thiede

Bend Toward the Sun by Jen Devon 

Better late than never! 🙃 I am s l o w l y catching up on all things blogging related and it feels SO GOOD. Are any of these on your TBR? Let me know which books you're most looking forward to!

My Weekly Pull [197] & Can't-Wait Wednesday [172]

 

My Weekly Pull is something I do every Wednesday to show which comics I had pulled for me that week! If you're into comics, or you're looking to start, please join me! If you decide to do your own post, there's a link-up at the bottom. I would love to stop by and check it out!

Marvel Voices Community #1 by Various, Natacha Bustos

Devil's Reign #1 by Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto, Peach Momoko

Jacob's comics for the week!

Silver Coin #7 by Joshua Williamson, Michael Walsh

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Best of Shredder #1 by Various

Transformers Wreckers Tread & Circuits #3 by David Mariotte, Jack Lawrence, Adam Bryce Thomas

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly feature that's currently hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings. It highlights the upcoming releases we're really excited about reading! CWW is a spinoff of the feature Waiting on Wednesday (WoW), that was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Sundial by Catriona Ward 

Expected publication: March 1st 2022 by Tor Nightfire

Synopsis (via Goodreads): Sundial is a new, twisty psychological horror novel from Catriona Ward, author of The Last House on Needless Street.

“The new face of literary dark fiction.” —Sarah Pinborough, New York Times bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes

You can't escape what's in your blood...

All Rob wanted was a normal life. She almost got it, too: a husband, two kids, a nice house in the suburbs. Far from her childhood home, Sundial, hidden deep in the wild Mojave Desert.

But beneath the veneer, Rob is terrified for her oldest daughter, Callie, who collects tiny bones and whispers to imaginary friends. Rob sees a darkness in Callie, one that reminds her too much of the family she left behind.

Running from her past has led her directly back to it -- what’s buried at Sundial could never stay a secret forever, and Rob must risk one last trip out there to protect her family, and her future.

If you are participating in My Weekly Pull, please leave a direct link to your post and not just your blog's URL. Thank you and happy reading! 📖

Dragon Mountain (Dragon Realm, #1) by Katie Tsang, Kevin Tsang

Synopsis (via Goodreads): Beast Quest meets Percy Jackson in this epic new middle-grade fantasy series!

Deep within the mountain, a great creature stirred in its sleep. Its eyes rolled back in its head, and its wings jerked wide open...

When 12-year-old Billy Chan finds out his parents are sending him to a summer camp in middle-of-nowhere China, he doesn't know what to expect. There he meets fellow campers Dylan, Charlotte, and Ling-Fei, and together they stumble upon an age-old secret: there are four powerful warrior dragons hidden deep within the mountain behind the camp! They need the children's help to set them free before terrible evil in the guise of the Dragon of Death is unleashed upon the earth.

Billy and his friends must set off on a dangerous adventure that will take them to the heart of the Dragon Realm. But can they save the dragon and human worlds from destruction?

I would have stopped reading Dragon Mountain after the first few chapters, if it wasn't for my son. He's seven and it's about dragons, so obviously he liked it. However, the storytelling was awful. It's like the authors were trying too hard to convince readers that their characters were believably afraid of the dangers they faced. Billy constantly questioned his choices and bounced between excitement and trepidation so often it made me want to scream. Just go on your flarking adventure! We already know this book is fiction, you don't have to constantly berate me with a character's inner turmoil over one decision. There are DRAGONS for the love of God. I wish they had just accepted their situation and went with it.

Comparing this book to Percy Jackson is an insult to Rick Riordan.

The story itself didn't always make sense, and I could tell my son was getting frustrated with me for stopping so I could notate my issues with the book. The dragons have been trapped in a mountain for what? A hundred years or something? Yet they don't have names? What have they been calling each other all this time??? "When our humans die, so does the name. It is wiped from my memory and all who have ever spoken it." Okay, so why do other dragons have names? They've been referring to other dragons like Dimitrius, yet they themselves haven't had one for more than a century? Pfft. Additionally, the names they are given by children were predictably lame and unoriginal. Tank? Spark? Buttons? (If I were an ancient and powerful dragon, I would have been insulted by their lack of imagination.)

The dialogue between the characters is also obnoxious af. The kids talking amongst themselves is one thing, but the ANCIENT DRAGONS sounded just as inexperienced and came across as childish themselves. Don't even get me started on Billy's acceptance of death. In the midst of him constantly questioning what they're doing he somehow comes to terms with his own death. "This might be the last thing that he ever did. He thought about his life at home, his life before dragons. And he realized that even if this was the end, it would be worth it. To get a chance to experience magic in the world. To be a part of something epic." What is he? 12? And he's known about dragons and magic for less than 24 hours. How did he go from speculative to full on I WILL DIE FOR THIS SHIT? 

There were also several inconsistencies that I'm not even going to bother to list, but they made me roll my eyes and wish for the book's seemingly inevitable conclusion. I just wanted the story to end so I could get rid of the book and never think about it again. Dragon Mountain had the potential to be a fun middle grade book for kids, but the redundancy and dialogue were too off-putting. I liked how the book started, but it went from okay to terrible as soon as the kids discovered dragons. If you're going to write something fantastical, it has to be believable (this was not). The world-building needs to make sense (it didn't), and the characters have to be somewhat likable or at least people you want to root for (not even a little bit). (★★☆☆☆)

The Sunday Post [66]

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly at the Caffeinated Reviewer! It's an opportunity to share news, post a recap for the previous week, showcase books, and highlight what's planned for the week ahead.

News:

I know it's been several months since I blogged consistently, but I've been dealing with some family drama that required the majority of my time and energy. Things have settled some, so here I am. 🙃 Hopefully there won't be another long absence in the future, because I've definitely missed reading, blogging, and chatting with you lovely people. 

I've managed to read a few books recently, so I'm trying to get back into the groove of blogging. I don't like to let books sit before writing down my thoughts, because I feel like time muddles my feelings and I don't always remember things as clearly. Reviewing books as soon as I'm finished with them - the next day a the latest - has always been what's worked best for me.

My son is thriving now that he's back in school, the girls just celebrated their 5th birthday, and I have a new job that is somehow easier and more difficult than others I've had in the past. I'm happy with the hours and better pay, but dealing with entitled assholes diminishes the positives a bit. Let's just say that people need to keep their tongues in their mouths and out of my ears (a sexual harassment complaint was definitely filed).

I've also changed my blog's URL (took the hyphen out), so please be patient while I fix any broken links. 

What have you been up to? What have I missed? Link your favorite posts in the comments so I can catch up this week!

Previous week on the blog:

SUNDAY: NA

MONDAY: NA

TUESDAY: NA

WEDNESDAY: My Weekly Pull [196] & Can't-Wait Wednesday [171]

THURSDAY: NA

FRIDAY: NA

SATURDAY: NA 

What I'm currently reading:

Wildwood Whispers by Willa Reece

Empire of the Vampire (Empire of the Vampire, #1) by Kay Kristoff

What I plan on reading next: 

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins

What I'm watching:

We just finished the newest season of GBBO (definitely what my brain needed), and have been alternating between Mythic Quest, Loki, and Hawkeye. I occasionally put TVD on when I want some background noise. A friend recently recommended Golden Kamuy and I watched the first few episodes - not bad. :)

Challenge updates: 

• Read the Alphabet Challenge 9
• Audiobook Challenge 16 / 50+
• Beat the Backlist Challenge 13 / 100
• Discussion Challenge 0 / 1-10
• Goodreads Challenge 166 / 365

Yeah, those are some ridiculously bad stats. 😅 We'll see what I can do in December, but I'm not going to hold my breath. 

My Weekly Pull [196] & Can't-Wait Wednesday [171]

 

My Weekly Pull is something I do every Wednesday to show which comics I had pulled for me that week! If you're into comics, or you're looking to start, please join me! If you decide to do your own post, there's a link-up at the bottom. I would love to stop by and check it out!

Daredevil #36 by Chip Zdarsky, Manuel Garcia, Marco Checchetto

Once & Future #22 by Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora

Jacob's comics for the week!

Venom #2 by Ram V., Bryan Hitch

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #123 by Sophie Campbell, Jodie Nishijima, Kevin Eastman

Transformers Shattered Glass #4 by Danny Lore, Dan Khanna, Priscilla Tramontano, Alex Milne

Hellboy Bones of Giants #2 by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, Matt Smith

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly feature that's currently hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings. It highlights the upcoming releases we're really excited about reading! CWW is a spinoff of the feature Waiting on Wednesday (WoW), that was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

The Bone Spindle (The Bone Spindle, #1) by Leslie Vedder

Expected publication: January 11th 2022 by Razorbill

Synopsis (via Goodreads): Sleeping Beauty meets Indiana Jones in this thrilling fairytale retelling for fans of Sorcery of Thorns and All the Stars and Teeth.

Fi is a bookish treasure hunter with a knack for ruins and riddles, who definitely doesn't believe in true love.

Shane is a tough-as-dirt girl warrior from the north who likes cracking skulls, pretty girls, and doing things her own way.

Briar Rose is a prince under a sleeping curse, who's been waiting a hundred years for the kiss that will wake him.

Cursed princes are nothing but ancient history to Fi--until she pricks her finger on a bone spindle while exploring a long-lost ruin. Now she's stuck with the spirit of Briar Rose until she and Shane can break the century-old curse on his kingdom.

Dark magic, Witch Hunters, and bad exes all stand in her way--not to mention a mysterious witch who might wind up stealing Shane's heart, along with whatever else she's after. But nothing scares Fi more than the possibility of falling in love with Briar Rose.

Set in a lush world inspired by beloved fairytales, The Bone Spindle is a fast-paced young adult fantasy full of adventure, romance, found family, and snark.

*Share your My Weekly Pull post! Please leave the direct link to your post and not just your blog's URL. Thank you for participating and happy reading!