First Lines Fridays: 23 September 2016

It’s almost the end of the month and ??? I just don’t know where the month has gone. I’ll try and cram as much reading into this weekend! I miss reading and having time to read, but at the same time I’m glad to be where I am right now, job-wise.

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
• Finally… reveal the book!

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Anna Latham tried to disappear into the passenger seat.
She hadn’t realized how much of her confidence had been tied to having Charles beside her. She’d only known him a day and a half, and he’d changed her world… at least while he was next to her.

Review | Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder (+ book swap footnote)

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder (Study #1)
Published October 1, 2005 by MIRA, 431 pp.
Summary:

Murder, mayhem and magic…

Locked in a coffin-like darkness, there is nothing to distract me from my memories of killing Reyad. He deserved to die—but according to the law, so do I. Here in Ixia, the punishment for murder is death. And now I wait for the hangman’s noose.

But the same law that condemns me may also save me. Ixia’s food taster—chosen to ensure that the Commander’s food is not poisoned—has died. And by law, the next prisoner who is scheduled to be executed—me—must be offered the position.

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Ahh I love Yelena’s world! Even if I wouldn’t want to be in her shoes, I definitely want to explore more of Ixia. I thought Maria V. Snyder’s writing was great and her characters were all written pretty well, even if I couldn’t connect to them in this book. So glad I decided to start this on a whim while I was waiting and managed to finish this overnight!

Review | The Immortal Heights by Sherry Thomas

The Immortal Heights by Sherry Thomas (The Elemental Trilogy #3)
Published October 13, 2015 by Balzer + Bray, 432 pp.
Summary:

In a pursuit that has spanned continents, Iolanthe, Titus, and their friends have always managed to remain one step ahead of the forces of Atlantis. But now the Bane, the monstrous tyrant who bestrides the entire mage world, has issued his ultimatum: Titus must hand over Iolanthe, or watch as his entire realm is destroyed in a deadly rampage. Running out of time and options, Iolanthe and Titus must act decisively to deliver a final blow to the Bane, ending his reign of terror for good.

However, getting to the Bane means accomplishing the impossible—finding a way to infiltrate his crypt in the deepest recesses of the most ferociously guarded fortress in Atlantis. And everything is only made more difficult when new prophecies come to light, foretelling a doomed effort…

Iolanthe and Titus will put their love and their lives on the line. But will it be enough?

With The Immortal Heights, Sherry Thomas brings the acclaimed Elemental Trilogy to its breathtaking conclusion.

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If there’s one thing I will say about this series, it’s that this probably has one of my favourite romances ever. I love that Titus is so lovestruck and has zero qualms about expressing his love for Iolanthe.

That being said, The Immortal Heights is a satisfying end to the series: the characters we have come to know all have neatly tied ribbons around their stories, villains get their comeuppance, and I have another series finished under my belt!! Yay!

Farewell to August, Random Life Updates™, ETC. (ﾉ^∇^)ﾉﾟ

Well would you look at that! I read more books than I expected, even if most of them aren’t from my TBR…. *looks around shiftily* With the end of August I’ll once again pretend we have fall here, even if all the weather does until the end of the year is alternate between raining cats and dogs to scorching summer heat.

Review | Road-Tripped by Nicole Archer

Road-Tripped by Nicole Archer (Ad-Agency #1)
Published August 1, 2016 by Twist Idea Lab LLC, 344 pp.
Copy provided by author in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:

What’s worse than losing everything? Try driving a phallic-shaped RV across the country with a vile womanizing coworker.

Copywriter Callie Murphy has a bad attitude, a vicious tongue, and a serious aversion to Shimura Advertising’s resident manwhore, Walker Rhodes. Know where he can stick his good looks and Southern charm? She can think of a few creative places. Avoiding him wouldn’t be a problem, except her boss threatens to fire her if she doesn’t go along with him on their RV client’s cross-country tour.

Burnt-out art director, Walker, is sick of his job, tired of women, and in a big old creative rut. The upcoming client road trip is just what he needs to shake things up and rediscover his lost passion. But his plans go south when his partner drops out at the last minute, and Callie, the foul-mouthed tiny terror, takes her place. Unless he can find a way to thaw his icy coworker, he’s looking at two months of pure hell.

On the road, they experience one hilarious misadventure after another and soon find themselves on a life-changing journey. But when their paths veer off in different directions, will they hit a dead end?

Road-Tripped is a stand-alone novel and the first book in the Ad Agency Series.
Adult language and situations.

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I love romantic comedies. I may not watch the movies as much but I love them in books! I think when done well they have just the right amount of angst to help the reader root for the couple and their happily ever after you’ve already invested in them because they fit.

Road-Tripped gave me more angst than I expected, but as a whole I think this was full of heart, and has a healthy dose of comedy as well in the form of Callie and Walker bickering while on the road.

Classic of the Month ft. Northanger Abbey

I’m on an Austen roll you guys!! This is my second (what a roll, amirite) book from her and I liked it! Probably not as much as Persuasion, but still very enjoyable, which is largely thanks to Catherine, who goes off to visit the titular Northanger Abbey while she’s in Bath.

First Lines Fridays: 19 August 2016

Happy Friday you guys!! What have you guys been reading this week?

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
• Finally… reveal the book!

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No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine. Her situation in life, the character of her father and mother, her own person and disposition, were all equally against her.

The Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag

I was tagged by Vivian @ Inked In Pages and Monique @ That Wild Soul. Be sure to check out their posts! I added a few books to my TBR thanks to their answers heh.

This tag was created by Chami @ ReadLikeWildFire and Ely @ Ely Jayne on YouTube. It’s where we look back at (and freak out over) the books we’ve read during the past six months.

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BEST BOOK YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2016

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Six of Crows is probably my favorite book so far this year. My review probably didn’t do enough justice as to how much I loved this book, but I loved the setting, the writing, and most of all the characters. I’m rooting for a happy ending for everyone, although I have a feeling it won’t be that way…

Honestly I’m just happy that the hype was real and well-deserved. This, along with Uprooted by Naomi Novik, is a book I’d enthusiastically recommend to anyone.

Review | Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley (Magonia #1)
Published April 28, 2015 by HarperCollins, 320 pp.
Summary:

Maria Dahvana Headley’s soaring YA debut is a fiercely intelligent, multilayered fantasy where Neil Gaiman’s Stardust meets John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars in a story about a girl caught between two worlds . . . two races . . . and two destinies.

Aza Ray Boyle is drowning in thin air. Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak—to live. So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. But Aza doesn’t think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name.

Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Jason, who’s always been there. Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. Aza is lost to our world—and found, by another. Magonia.

Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power—but as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war between Magonia and Earth is coming. In Aza’s hands lies fate of the whole of humanity—including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie?

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You know, I actually find this quite messy and all over the place, like there’s so much going on you don’t know where to focus. Kind of like a sensory overload, but put into words. Oddly enough, I do like this – it’s unique, richly imagined, and transports you to a whole different world. Well, not really – just one above our own that we have no idea exists.

August TBR!

Hello, August! This month features sequels, except for one. (Spot it, lmao) I find myself reading series most of the time, and this TBR reminded me of that. I need a really great standalone soon, haha. As always, I am open to recommendations! 😀

Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch

It’s been three months since the Winterians were freed and Spring’s king, Angra, disappeared—thanks largely to the help of Cordell.

Meira just wants her people to be safe. When Cordellan debt forces the Winterians to dig their mines for payment, they unearth something powerful and possibly dangerous: Primoria’s lost chasm of magic. Theron sees this find as an opportunity—with this much magic, the world can finally stand against threats like Angra. But Meira fears the danger the chasm poses—the last time the world had access to so much magic, it spawned the Decay. So when the king of Cordell orders the two on a mission across the kingdoms of Primoria to discover the chasm’s secrets, Meira plans to use the trip to garner support to keep the chasm shut and Winter safe—even if it means clashing with Theron. But can she do so without endangering the people she loves?

Mather just wants to be free. The horrors inflicted on the Winterians hang fresh and raw in Januari—leaving Winter vulnerable to Cordell’s growing oppression. When Meira leaves to search for allies, he decides to take Winter’s security into his own hands. Can he rebuild his broken kingdom and protect them from new threats?

As the web of power and deception weaves tighter, Theron fights for magic, Mather fights for freedom—and Meira starts to wonder if she should be fighting not just for Winter, but for the world.

I have been eyeing Ice Like Fire with trepidation, to be honest. The reviews don’t give me much hope, but I’ll do it. I’ll dive straight into this one! (If Meira doesn’t want Theron, can I have him? I loved him in Snow Like Ashes.)