Rustic Book Reviews: December 2019

Review: The Lightning Thief

Dec 19, 2019

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

I have heard so many great things about this series but wasn't sure I wanted to pick up because this is a huge world but when it popped up as a recommendation on GR because I like "Hidden Wings" by Cameo Renae then call me intrigued because I love "THE Hidden Wings" series and it is the series that gave me my love for reading so here is to hoping!

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Igniting Darkness by Robin LaFevers
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

THIS COVER!!! I can't deal with this beauty!

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Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Guys this book cover! IT has to be better than the first!!! I can not wait to see what Melanie Parker thinks of this book since book one was one of her favorites for 2019.

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The Shadow Wand by Laurie Forest
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Wait WHAT?? Book 3?? When did this happen. I still need to read book one which I have owned since it was released! I am so far behind. Come on 2020 do me good and let me get tons of reading in and less reading slumps! 2019 has been bad with the slumps.

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The Betrothed by Kiera Cass
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Looks like Kiera Cass is at it again with her girls and dresses! Here is to 2020 and all the new releases!

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Unravel the Dusk by Elizabeth Lim
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

I have not read book one to this yet but guys, this cover is just a lovely as the first book!

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Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

GUYS!!! Look what is coming to us in 2020!! BOOK 2 to the "The Aurora Cycle" - So many happy feels!

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Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

I want to read these so that I will not ruin things for myself when the Netflix series comes out. Do I need to start with The Shadow & Bone series so I will not be lost? I have heard it both ways. But some say to fully understand the magic system you need to read the Shadow & Bone series first! Any suggestions?

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Hidden Wings by Cameo Renae
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

December 2019 UPDATE!! Time for a reread! I have been having the erg to dive back into this world. Honestly I think I need yearly reread every year. This series is what started my love for reading. I enjoy the world building and the books just get better as they go! I highly suggest you give these books a shot. They are such fun reads!

This book was wonderful. I love this author. After I read her Hidden Wings series, I had to meet the author behind the books. I had the luck of meeting her last year and again this year. She takes you on a journey. You get to escape all the pressures of life and dive into the YA. She was YA author of 2016 for Penned Con 2016. I watched as she accepted her award for this book series.

This story is a love story between Emma and Kade. When she turns 18 she must make a choice of which side she will choose. She is struggling because she has fell for and Angel but Lucifer wants her also so he sends his own distraction her way. So will she choose good or bad?

She is caught in the battle of Darklings and Fallen angles. Her family and friends become targets in trying to keep her safe and in the protection of the barrier from the Fallen Angels. After danger accours to her family she must take a trip to Hell and come face to face with Lucifer himself to try to save her family and her own life. The 5 stages of hell is just amazingly told and described in such details.

How will this story unfold?? You must read this!!! I recommend.... This is all in book 1!!!

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Freaky Hearts by Amanda M. Lee
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

This is another series I started and actually very much enjoyed and never made it through book 3 and just stopped. I hate that I can't make it through series even though I am highly enjoying them. Now there are 9 books out. They are small books but still - I will need to start completely over since it has been around 4 years since I read the first one. SOMEONE KICK ME into gear!

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The King of Crows by Libba Bray
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

WHY??? I am started this series this year and fell behind on the read-a-thon with everyone else. I am still halfway through book 2 but will have to start that one over. I have read book 1 like 3 times. I really need to get caught up because I just know this story better & better.

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Heartstopper: Volume Three by Alice Oseman
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

OMG!!! Hearts!!!! I am so excited! This story is such a cute read. I read both book 1 & Book 2 online but I really need to own all of these. These are such cute reads!

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Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

December 2019: Okay, I did not realize that it has been this long since I tried reading this book but I have been wanting to try and pick this entire series up. They are small reads and with the new release of book 5 coming out in 2020 I want to try to get to these. I love the world setting and reviews I have heard about these books so here is to 2020 and picking up this series. I am going to try to make 2020 my series year and finish series I have not finished. I have so many I started and never completed.

July 2018: I will come back to this book. I think I had to many books going to and could not find myself getting into it. I really want to take my time on this small book. I have heard good things about it and want to give it another try.

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Child of a Mad God by R.A. Salvatore
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Okay.. So I have a question. I want to get started on this authors work BUT I have no idea where to start. Do the worlds collide in all of his books? Is there a starting point? is there a reading order of his books that any one would recommend or a YOUTUBE video that has the best line up for his books?

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Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Bring on this goodness!!!! This cover guys!!! 2020 is looking to be a good year.

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One of Us Is Next by Karen M. McManus
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

I am so excited for the release of this month next month. I have loved Two can keep a secret. Can't wait to see where she takes us in this book.

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Stolen Princess by Nikki Jefford
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

I am so far behind on this series!!! There are 4 books in this series and I am behind!! I love this author. I have met her for the last 3 or 4 years at Penned Con in St. Louis and I always look forward to seeing her!! Time to get caught up!

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Regretting You by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Hey guys, for you that are interested, this book is free to listen & read if you have KU. Just wanted to throw that out there for you guys!

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Boundary Haunted by Melissa F. Olson
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

So, I have read this authors books since the Scarlet Bernard series and I read but I have fell behind on her last few books and now she has another entire new series out. But the only issue is, it has been about 4 years since I read the books. I found her books need to be read in order due to characters merging together from other series. So, I think it may be time to do a read of her books. The good thing is, most of her books are free to listen too & read with KU.

Anyone else read her books? I just hate that I have let myself fall so far behind and now it is hard to remember anything. I do remember love the Scarlett Bernard series and the second series after that.

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Teeth in the Mist by Dawn Kurtagich
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I noticed I rated this a 4 star... After thinking on this and I keep wanting to reread and I talk to everyone about this book - I am changing it to a 5 star. This book was great.

Trigger Warning: Demonic sounds in the audiobook, Death, Gore, Creepy factors, Cutting, self-harm.

I took a few days to dwell on this one! I really enjoyed the book but I had to take a moment and wrap my head around the timelines and how they all came together. I am going with a 4.5 star on this. I think the timelines throw me off some and then the ending is a bit confusing so that is why the book is not a full 5 stars.

I did listen to this on audiobook and the audiobook along deserves 5 Stars. So I am giving the book a 4 and the audiobook a 5 so leaving my rating a 4.5. I did read and follow along with the audiobook in the hardback book just so I could see the pictures and format that was set up in the book. They were both done very well as far as formatting.

We follow several POV's in the book which each had their own timeline. This audiobook had amazing sound effects. The voices were outstanding. It made the book so creepy just hearing the sounds and the voices instead of just reading it.

Zoey (NOW)
Roan (1851)
Hermione (1583)

You also have several others in the time that Roan was in when she arrived at Mill House that arrived with her. She tells her story as she seen it there, with their stories as well. They are all connected to one thing, Mill House.

Roan arrives at Mill house as a ward of the state. She arrives and finds that the house feels uneasy. Things are not what they appear here. Sounds and the darkness surround her everywhere.

Zoey is in the now and has always been fascinated with Mill house so she and her best friend, Pole, set off to explore Mill Hose and to find out why it drove her dad mad.

Hermione lived in 1853 and you get her dairy entries as she telling her story. You hear the match strick and light the candle as she writes and then she tells her story. She and her husband are expecting a child and have just acquired Mill House but soon she notices things are not right. You follow her journey in the darkness of Mill House.

There are 3 things that Mill House has in every timeline and POV - it is dark, creepy, and has many deaths. The mountain scenes were done in great detail. The darkness seeped through the pages.

You also soon realize that they were not just randomly chosen for Mill House. They were all brought there for a reason. BUT WHY?

SPOILERS GOING FOWARD BASED ON ME HAVING QUESTIONS THAT NEED TO BE ANSWERED"

(view spoiler)

Can someone help me out with the timelines?

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Dec 6, 2019

Saga, Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Love the characters in this. Worth the read.

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Dec 4, 2019

Fall of the Elves by Alexis Samson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a review copy from the author. A 4.5 stars. Thank you for reaching out to me and asking me to give this book a read.

I was a little intimidated by the size of this book at first and I told the author *WOW* it is long lol but after reading the synopsis I wanted to give this fantasy a try and I am glad I did.

This was a debut and I absolutely loved it. The world building was done very well. The story kept me intrigued and even though the book was long and there was a lot of debt put into this book, I was still very surprised at how much I really enjoyed this book.

This book follows 2 POV's. Zariah and Tessa. The chapters go between POV and I love when a book is done this way. The closer you get to the end of the book, you can begin to see how the 2 world collide. There is lots to love about this book. The friendship and magic in this book was done great.

I love following Tessa on her dreams and her dreams of Zariah.

Now, the surprising thing is, I don't normally read books with dragons but every once in a while one will peak my interest and the author did great on how the dragon was written in.

I loved this story and I am looking forward to book 2 of this and other works by this author. For this to be a debut, the author took a lot of time building and knew what she wanted from this book. Great job done.

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Welcome to Dead House by R.L. Stine
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have wanted to start reading the Goosebumps books. I never read them as a child. Now, I do think since I am older these are not going to be as good. I can see how a child would be very interested in these.

It is a strong 3 stars but that is it for me. I really didn't do anything for me except provide me with a fast read.

We have a family that has received notice that a great uncle left them a house and after moving to the home in Dark Falls, strange things begin to happen. People are not always what they seem to be in this town. And everyone we meet has lived in the "The Dead House"

"This was a normal town once, and we were normal people. Most of us worked at the plastics factory on the outskirts of town. Then one day there was an accident... something escaped from the factory, a yellow gas. It floated over the town so fast that we didn't see it, didn't realize... and then it was too late, and Dark Falls wasn't a normal town anymore.”

I do recommend it but if you don't want your children reading about dead things, you may want to give this a read first before letting them read it.

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Dec 3, 2019

Reverie by Ryan La Sala
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

The publication date was pushed up on this and I was unaware. I will get to this as soon as I can this month. BUT happy publication day to REVERIE!!

MY FIRST 2020 ARC!!!!

Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher Source books for releasing this for review in exchange for my honest review.

A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality. YOKO ONO

Goodreads synopsis:

Inception meets The Magicians, except with better wigs and a maniacal drag queen sorceress attempting to unravel the reality of Connecticut (yes, the state) and replace it with something…well something better than Connecticut.

Ryan La Sala’s debut fantasy is an #OwnVoices story following Kane Montgomery, a gay teenager piecing his life back together after an attack robs him of his memories. As Kane searches for who he was, he uncovers a war for the creative rights to reality itself, each battle played out in an imagined world turned real: a reverie.

Reveries are worlds born from a person’s private fantasies, and once they manifest they can only be unraveled by bringing their conflicts to resolution. Reveries have rules and plots, magic and monsters, and one wrong step could twist the entire thing into a lethal, labyrinthine nightmare. Unraveling them is dangerous work, but it’s what Kane and The Others do.

Or did, until one of The Others purged Kane of his memories. But now Kane is back, and solving the mystery of his betrayal is the only way to unite his team and defeat reality’s latest threat: Poesy, a sorceress bent on harvesting the reveries for their pure, imaginative power.

But what use might a drag queen sorceress have with a menagerie of stolen reveries? And should Kane, a boy with no love for a team that betrayed him, fight to stop her, or defect to aid her?

Reverie is about the seduction of escaping inwards, about the worlds we hide within ourselves, and the danger of dreams that come true.

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Fall of the Elves by Alexis Samson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a review copy from the author. A 4.5 stars. Thank you for reaching out to me and asking me to give this book a read.

I was a little imitated by the size of this book at first and I told the author *WOW* it is long lol but after reading the synopsis I wanted to give this fantasy a try and I am glad I did.

This was a debut and I absolutely loved it. The world building was done very well. The story kept me intrigued and even though the book was long and there was a lot of debt put into this book, I was still very surprised at how much I really enjoyed this book.

This book follows 2 POV's. Zariah and Tessa. The chapters go between POV and I love when a book is done this way. The closer you get to the end of the book, you can begin to see how the 2 world collide. There is lots to love about this book. The friendship and magic in this book was done great.

I love following Tessa on her dreams and her dreams of Zariah.

Now, the surprising thing is, I don't normally read books with dragons but every once in a while one will peak my interest and the author did great on how the dragon was written in.

I loved this story and I am looking forward to book 2 of this and other works by this author. For this to be a debut, the author took a lot of time building and knew what she wanted from this book. Great job done.

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Sophia Freeman and the Mysterious Fountain by T.X. Troan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this from the author after reaching out to me via email. Thank you for allowing me to give this a read. SUCH A CUTE READ!

A high 4.5 star!

This was a very short read and I really enjoyed it. After the author reached out and I read the synopsis - I had to give this a read. It sounded very cute. It is a middle grade so if you are not into middle grades then I recommend not picking it up. BUT if you are like me and still enjoy the fun world of middle grades, then I highly recommend you to pick this up. I do think that YA readers will adore this book.

I don't want to go into much detail about the book due to it is pretty short but the synopsis of this book is very detailed in telling you the story. I loved the world building and the journey that Sophia took us on. I had no trouble following along in this book.

I am excited to know that this is just book 1 and we will have more in this world.

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