Goodreads Monday | The Last Bloodcarver by Vanessa Le

May 22, 2023 ~ Joanna @ TheGeekishBrunette ~ 13 Comments

Hello Readers!

Goodreads Monday was hosted and created by Lauren’s Page Turners and has now been taken over by Budget Tales Book Blog. To participate, choose a random book from your TBR and show it off.

Title: The Last Bloodcarver
Author: Vanessa Le
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publication Date: March 26th, 2024
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

“The tantalizing romance of These Violent Delights meets the mechanical wonders of Cinder in The Last Bloodcarver, the first in a two-book debut – with a riveting medical magic system and lush Vietnam-inspired fantasy world.

Nhika is a bloodcarver. A cold-hearted, ruthless beingwho can alter human biology with just a touch. In the industrial city of Theumas, she is seen not as a healer, but a monster that kills for pleasure.

When Nhika is caught using her bloodcarving abilities during a sham medical appointment, she’s captured by underground thugs and sold to an aristocratic family to heal the last witness of their father’s murder.

But as Nhika delves deeper into their investigation amidst the glitz of Theumas’ wealthiest district, she begins to notice parallels between this job and her own dark past. And when she meets an alluring yet entitled physician’s aide, Ven Kochin, she’s forced to question the true intent behind this murder. In a society that outcasts her, Kochin seems drawn to her…though he takes every chance he gets to push her out of his opulent world.

When Nhika discovers that Kochin is not who he claims to be, and that there is an evil dwelling in Theumas that runs much deeper than the murder of one man, she must decide where her heart, and her allegiance, truly lie. And – if she’s willing to become the dreaded bloodcarver Theumas fears to save herself and the ones she’s vowed to protect.” (Goodreads)

DOES THIS ONE SOUND LIKE SOMETHING YOU WOULD READ?

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Top Ten Tuesday | Favorite Audiobooks Because of the Narration

April 25, 2023 ~ Joanna @ TheGeekishBrunette ~ 9 Comments

Hello Bookworms!

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018.

Today’s prompt is Favorite Audiobook Narrators. I don’t ever really follow their names so I am going to go with Favorite Audiobooks Because of the Narration.

1.) The Illuminae Files Series (Full Cast!)

2.) The Promise Boys by Nick Brooks (Full Cast!)

3.) Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

4.) Thank You for Listening by Julie Whelan

5.) A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin

6.) I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

7.) The Rural Diaries by Hilarie Burton Morgan

8.) The Call of the Wild by Jack London

9.) Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle

10.) Only a Monster by Vanessa Len

Bonus!

11.) Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Do you listen to audiobooks? Have you listened/read any of these?

I have read all of these besides the first four, but they are on my tbr! Also, I threw in some mythical animals because why not haha.

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Weekly Wrap-Up | 4-8-23

April 8, 2023 ~ Joanna @ TheGeekishBrunette ~ 10 Comments

Hello Lovely Bookworms!

This week was pretty busy! I’ve at least had time to be able to write this up which usually doesn’t end up happening.

I feel like its been busy with all the prep for Easter and my step father-in-law had his grandson over so we end up spending more time away from other things. It’s okay though because I love when we get more family time in!

This morning we went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then I came home and dealt with chickens again. The farm life is wild sometimes (although at least we only have chickens lol). Our two roosters have been fighting this morning and so I have been doing research for keeping the peace between them. I’ll become the chicken whisperer at this point haha!

Tomorrow we will be leaving early to drive an hour and twenty to family for our Easter celebration. I’m excited for the yummy food and seeing some relatives we haven’t seen in awhile.

I hope you all have an amazing rest of the weekend and Happy Easter!

All the Dark Souls by A.M. Dunnewin (arc) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett (🎧) ⭐⭐⭐
Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon (🎧) ⭐⭐⭐

(Since WWW Wednesday)

Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Midnight Strikes by Zeba Shahnaz (🎧)
Rubi Ramos’s Recipe for Success by Jessica Parra (arc)

HOW WAS YOUR WEEK? DID YOU DO ANYTHING FUN OVER THE WEEKEND? READ ANYTHING GOOD THIS WEEK? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS!

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WWW Wednesday | 4-5-23

April 5, 2023 ~ Joanna @ TheGeekishBrunette ~ 9 Comments

Hello, My Lovely Bookworms!

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and is now hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

It consists of answering these three questions:

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

My audiobook is Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett. It’s been good but not a favorite of mine from this author.

I will be continuing on with Eragon by Christopher Paolini and starting All the Dark Souls by A.M. Dunnewin (arc).

The Curse of Saints by Kate Dramis (arc) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley (🎧) ⭐⭐⭐

The next audiobook hasn’t been picked yet!

My other books will either be Deathmark by Kate Stradling, Rubi Ramos’s Recipe for Success by Jessica Parra (arc), or Free Radicals by Lila Riesen.

WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT READ? ARE YOU LOVING IT? HAVE YOU READ OR WANT TO READ ANY THAT I HAVE LISTED? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS!

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Magical Readathon | Spring Equinox TBR 2023

March 30, 2023 ~ Joanna @ TheGeekishBrunette ~ 6 Comments

Hello Readers!

This year I am going to be participating in Magical Readathon. There is also a year-long challenge for it that I found from Dini @ dinipandareads! This will actually be my first year with this readathon so I am really excited!

I have already started the yearlong part of it and am 3 for 3! For the spring semester I am going small instead of big, which is normally what I would do. There are a lot of arcs I need to get through for May and June before life gets busy with traveling over the summer and I’m not sure how April is going to go since I have a couple things planned. It’s nice that this readathon has callings for everyone’s lifestyle whether it be busy or not.

My Character~

Name: Kitara Avagnar
Heritage: Dwarf
Lunar Phase at Birth: Eclipse
Background: Urban
Province: Kerador
Traits: Intelligent, sociable, humorous, crafty, dependable

Guild: House of the Arcane
Calling: Craftsmage
Certification: None at the Moment
Conduit: Crystal Necklace
Guild’s Legacy: Animated Broom

My Calling~

This year I am picking Craftsmage! It’s on the small side for prompts but that’s okay. I am looking forward to seeing what the extra quests will be and I can fit in other books for my mood reading. It sounds like a fun one anyways! It will consist of three classes for the Spring Equinox and two for the fall classes.

Inscription (Book from your top (highest) shelf): Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett

Articifery (Start your read with a snack): Rubio Ramos’s Recipe for Success by Jessica Parra

Spells & Incantation (Target Length 389-415): Free Radicals by Lila Riesen

Are any of these books on your tbr? Will you be joining this readathon?

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Arc Review: One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

September 26, 2022September 23, 2022 ~ Joanna @ TheGeekishBrunette ~ 16 Comments

Title: One Dark Window
Author: Rachel Gillig
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Publication Date: September 27th, 2022
Publisher: Orbit Books
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom of Blunder—she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.
But nothing comes for free, especially magic.
When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure Blunder from the dark magic infecting it. And the highwayman? He just so happens to be the King’s nephew, Captain of the most dangerous men in Blunder…and guilty of high treason.
Together they must gather twelve Providence Cards—the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.” (Goodreads)

What a wild book this was!

This book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Elspeth but there are flashbacks here and there to explain more about the shepherd king and rhymes that correlate with the magic system which is done by providence cards. Basically, they are like tarot cards. I loved all of the tales surrounding the cards as they were fun to read and gave me a bit more on what to expect from them. Elspeth has grown up with keeping a lot of secrets for her own safety as well as those she is close with, like her family. It must have been tough because the ruling king seems kind of ruthless and as you get to know one of the princes you realize he is to.

Elspeth is strong-willed and wants to do what is right, but she can also be impulsive which can cause a lot of chaos. I would say that in ways she can be morally grey and the thing living inside her head definitely is. The nightmare is something else and I loved the conversations they had!

The other characters in the book were just as interesting, even if some had smaller parts. I never once thought, “ugh, it’s this person again”. Even though the ruthless prince has personality, not always in a good way but he sure knows how to liven up a party! A lot of the characters have the same goal in common but it’s getting there that is different.

My least favorite part was the romance. It’s not bad per say and I did enjoy it a lot, but the build-up kind of sped up and then they were definitely in love. I do like the guy that Elspeth is interested in and their banter was cute so I’m not really going to complain that much, haha.

There were so many plot twists when it came to the plot and I was hear for every single one! They had my jaw dropping and the author killed me with that ending. I knew something was going to happen but let me down easy. It came full force!

I loved the magic system and thought that it was very unique. Nothing I have ever read before and I think it was done well. I understood it from the beginning and that’s something that doesn’t always happen when reading fantasy.

Overall, this was a fantastic book and I can’t wait for the sequel!

Audiobook Review: The Liar’s Crown by Abigail Owen

August 28, 2022August 24, 2022 ~ Joanna @ TheGeekishBrunette ~ 6 Comments

Title: The Liar’s Crown
Author: Abigail Owen
Genre: YA Fantasy / Romance
Publication Date: August 30th, 2022
Publisher: Entangled: Teen
Rating: ⭐⭐

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for a complimentary earc to review! All opinions are my own.

“One born to rule. One to forfeit…
Everything about my life is a lie. As a hidden twin princess, born second, I have only one purpose—to sacrifice my life for my sister if death comes for her. I’ve been living under the guise of a poor, obscure girl of no standing, slipping into the palace and into the role of the true princess when danger is present.
Now the queen is dead and the ageless King Eidolon has sent my sister a gift—an eerily familiar gift—and a proposal to wed. I don’t trust him, so I do what I was born to do and secretly take her place on the eve of the coronation. Which is why, when a figure made of shadow kidnaps the new queen, he gets me by mistake.
As I try to escape, all the lies start to unravel. And not just my lies. The Shadowraith who took me has secrets of his own. He struggles to contain the shadows he wields—other faces, identities that threaten my very life.
Winter is at the walls. Darkness is looming. And the only way to save my sister and our dominion is to kill Eidolon…and the Shadowraith who has stolen my heart.” (Goodreads)

The blurb made me really interested but talk all over bookstagram is what got me to request the audiobook for this one from Netgalley. The audiobook is very well done and I like the narration. It was easy to tell the characters apart. The downside is that this book just didn’t do it for me.

The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Meren. She is a twin and is used as a body double for her sister who is the true queen-to-be. Body doubles always intrigue me and so I was happy to see this done again. I thought this part of the plot was well done. Although Meren has a sister, I didn’t fully believe in their bond. They were hardly ever together and even though she talked about protecting her it felt that she was more concerned about the love interest.

The love interest was a no go for me. Meren was simping hard right from the get-go. “Oh, he kidnapped me! But, he does so much good! He is a hunk. Oh darn, I shouldn’t feel that way about him.” Nope. Nope. Nope. I do not like. Don’t get me started with him only calling her princess for the first half of the book. 🤦‍♀️ It felt more like insta-love than enemies-to-lovers.

Some of the characters have magic and I thought that they were cool powers. I liked the shadow magic the best and was intrigued by that.

I can’t say that I ever connected with any of the characters and that really dwindled the ability to ever connect to the story overall.

Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me but it may be for you!

Book Review: Crimson Reign (Blood Heir #3) by Amélie Wen Zhao

May 9, 2022April 28, 2022 ~ Joanna @ TheGeekishBrunette ~ 3 Comments

Title: Crimson Reign (Blood Heir #3)
Author: Amélie Wen Zhao
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publication Date: March 1st, 2022
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

“The Red Tigress, Ana Mikhailov, has returned to Cyrilia, but the country she once called home has fallen under a dark rule. Across the land, the Empress Morganya is tightening her grip on Affinites and non-Affinites alike. Ana dealt a blow to the Empress when she and her allies turned back Morganya’s troops in Bregon, but she couldn’t stop Morganya from gaining possession of the last remaining Bregonian siphon: a dangerous new weapon with the power to steal Affinities.

Ana’s forces are scattered, and her tenuous alliance with the Cyrilian rebel group, the Red Cloaks, is becoming more frayed by the day. What’s worse, she’s lost her Affinity to blood and without it, Ana barely knows who she is anymore–or if she has the strength to defeat Morganya.

Morganya’s reign of terror is close to crushing the nation Ana was born to rule. And now Ana will finally face the sinister empress, but will she survive? Will anyone? And will her Empire welcome her back to the throne, or turn her out to survive on her own.

The Affinites and Non-Affinites of Cyrilia will determine Ana’s future, if Morganya doesn’t kill her first.” (Goodreads)

Since book two was a mixed bag for me I was very wary when starting this one. Although there were things that I definitely liked more in the last book than book two, it still didn’t give me the love I felt for the first book in the trilogy.

The book is told through multiple point-of-views just like book two. I understand continuing this into the final book as there are a lot of times where the main characters are not together. I get the distance but it is also one of my biggest gripes. Since there is supposed to be a relationship between Ramson and Ana it just felt very meh to keep them a part for long and then to have some big plot twists that involved them when they finally made it back together was just not the right choice for me. It’s fine to up the ante but it just was my least favorite thing. There are also times that the characters dialogue felt too similar to others and it was hard to differentiate the two.

There is a lot of action because of the war going on which made the book easy to get into. I liked the action but, and this is a big but, some of the fights against powerful people felt so lackluster! I just really hates when that happens.

I know that I have said a lot of complaints and you are probably wondering why I still liked it, lol. Well, it does wrap up the trilogy nicely. There are no loose ends and I thought it ended well.

Overall, it was good and at least I can write off one more series to finish from my list!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books to Read If You Love YA Fantasy (11/16/21)

November 16, 2021 ~ Joanna @ TheGeekishBrunette ~ 15 Comments

Hello Bookworms!

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018.

Today’s prompt is Books to Read If You Love/Loved and then pick whatever. I am doing YA Fantasy because it’s what I read a lot of! Here are my top recommendations for the genre.

1.) The Traitor’s Circle by Erin Beaty

2.) The Winner’s Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski

3.) The Caraval Trilogy by Stephanie Garber

4.) The Bone Charmer Duology by Breeana Shields

5.) Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

6.) The Glass Alliance Trilogy by Joanna Hathaway

7.) The Kinder Poison by Natalie Mae

8.) An Ember in the Ashes Quartet by Sabaa Tahir

9.) Dark Shores series by Danielle L. Jensen

10.) Beneath the Haunting Sea by Joanna Ruth Meyer

What’s a book/series off this list you would try based on the cover? Have you read any of these?

Let me know in the comments below!

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August 2020 TBR: Update!

September 1, 2020September 1, 2020 ~ Joanna @ TheGeekishBrunette ~ 10 Comments

Hello Lovely Bookworms!

I figured I would update on how my tbr is going. So far, it’s going, haha. I did read and listen to other things that weren’t on this list but they will be in my monthly wrap-up!

New Releases:

Set Fire to the Gods by Sara Raasch and Kristen Simmons
Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar
Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer

I finished them all! The only one I really liked was Midnight Sun. The others were okay and did have good moments but I wasn’t immersed in them.

Audiobooks:

The Queen’s Rising by Rebecca Ross
The Queen’s Resistance by Rebecca Ross
For a Muse of Fire by Heidi Heilig

A Kingdom for a Stage by Heidi Heilig
Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody
King of Fools by Amanda Foody

I ended up DNFing The Queen’s Rising at 25%. It was really slow and I just wasn’t interested. So, I obviously won’t be continuing on to the second one.

The other audiobooks on this were ones I had on my shelf and have been on my tbr for even longer than this list. After rereading the blurbs and looking at some reviews, I decided to not read them. Maybe I’ll look into them at some other time but I have also become too much of a mood reader. 😂 Plus side, there is less books on my shelves. 🤷‍♀️