Friday, 24 January 2020

THE LIST OF MY 10 MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS

One of my shelves on Goodreads is titled "most-anticipated". It contains all the books that I truly can't wait to get my hands on and I would happily wait hours in the line just to get them sooner. This list includes even the books that have no cover, title or release date yet. And oh happy day, I'm about to share this list with you (in no particular order)!


Tuesday, 3 December 2019

THE BEST OF ALL THINGS BOOKISH (EDITION 2019)

Hi everyone! Long time no see and I am sorry for that. Those of you who do not follow me on my Goodreads profile, here are my reading ups and downs of 2019.




Saturday, 27 April 2019

ANNOUCEMENT: BLOGGING & MOTHERHOOD

I think it is finally the time (long overdue) to let all my followers know why there has been no posts on this blog in past 12 months. Last year I got pregnant and gave birth to beautiful boy. Simply said: I love being mom, I am enjoying it immensely but the new role of mother of lively infant leaves me with no time for blogging.

And for me, blogging has never been just about writing an article and posting it. Blogging is being a part of community. Blogging is about visiting other like-minded bloggers, reading their posts and interacting. And sadly, I seriously have no time for that at the moment. But who knows what time brings. So if it is not much trouble for you, feel free to still follow my blog and one day I may surprise you with new post.

However, I still read. If not just for myself, I read to my son before sleep. Even though he does not understand yet, he likes hearing my voice and it gives me time to squeeze in some reading time :) Moreover, I am still active on Goodreads. So if you want to keep tabs on what I am reading and read my reviews, feel free to follow me or add me as a friend there. Here is link to my profile.

This is it for now. Thank you all for every visit and comment, it was a pleasure to be a part of bookish blogging community. I wish you all happy reading and many amazing bookish experiences. And hopefully, I will be back one day...

Wednesday, 11 April 2018

DO YOU PRE-ORDER BOOKS?

The other day I was browsing my TBR list and looking up the forthcoming titles on Bookdepository. One thing led to another and I ended up pre-ordering some of my most awaited titles. Which got me thinking... do you guys pre-order books or not?


Wednesday, 4 April 2018

PESTILENCE - MY FIRST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2018

Last month, I fell in love with the blurb of Pestilence and one-clicked it as soon as it was released. Imagine my disappointment when I found out that story was nothing like I had expected it to be...


Thursday, 29 March 2018

BOOKISH RECAP: FIRST QUARTER OF 2018

Bookish Recap is my version of Stacking the Shelves post in which I talk about all the books that I read and posts that I shared on the blog in last three months. Linking up with Stacking the Shelves post by Tynga’s Reviews.


Wednesday, 21 March 2018

BLURB LOVE #12

Book blurb is the most important aspect when it comes to deciding what I want to read. It is usually what makes me add (or not add) book to my TBR. Imagine there is no cover, no title and you have no idea who wrote it. Would you read such a book based just on its blurb?
Test yourself.


Monday, 12 March 2018

REVIEW: EDUCATED BY TARA WESTOVER

Educated by Tara Westover
Published by: Random House
Genre: Autobiography / Memoir
Release date: February 20th 2018
Source: Netgalley ARC

      
       
An unforgettable memoir in the tradition of The Glass Castleabout a young girl who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University

Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her “head-for-the-hills bag.” In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father’s junkyard.

Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent.

Then, lacking any formal education, Tara began to educate herself. She taught herself enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University, where she studied history, learning for the first time about important world events like the Holocaust and the civil rights movement. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

Educated is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty, and of the grief that comes with severing the closest of ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one’s life through new eyes, and the will to change it.

Thursday, 8 March 2018

BATTLE OF SURVIVAL STORIES: SCI-FI VS. HISTORICAL

Do you like survival stories? I do. Today I have two for you. 
One set in the past, the other one in the future. Which one won me over?


Monday, 26 February 2018

DEAR BOOK, I HATE YOU. SINCERELY, THE ANGRY READER

Immaculate by Katelyn Detweiler
Published by: Viking Children's
Genre: YA Magical Realism
Published: May 26th 2015

     
        
Mina is seventeen. A virgin. And pregnant.

Mina is top of her class, girlfriend to the most ambitious guy in school, able to reason and study her way through anything. But when she suddenly finds herself pregnant—despite having never had sex—her orderly world collapses. Almost nobody believes Mina’s claims of virginity. Her father assumes that her boyfriend is responsible; her boyfriend believes she must have cheated on him. As news of Mina’s story spreads, there are those who brand her a liar. There are those who brand her a heretic. And there are those who believe that miracles are possible—and that Mina’s unborn child could be the greatest miracle of all.

Friday, 16 February 2018

MY BOOKISH HIGHS AND LOWS OF 2017

2017 was the year when I almost gave up on blogging, therefore there was no annual recap post on my blog last year. But you know what they say, better late than never. So let’s take a look at list of the best 10 and the worst 10 books that I read last year. Everyone loves lists, right? List contains 2017 releases as well as backlist titles. The only condition was to pick from books that I had read in 2017.


Monday, 12 February 2018

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: SONS OF ARES BY PIERCE BROWN

Pierce Brown's Red Rising: Sons of Ares
(Sons of Ares #1-6)
Written by: by Pierce Brown, Rik Hoskin
Illustrated by: Eli Powell

Source: ARC by publisher

Published by: Dynamite Entertainment

Release date: March 6th 2018

      
       
From the world of the best-selling YA series Red Rising comes a story of love and loss and rage!

In the future, when mankind has spread across the stars, the hierarchy of man is dictated by the color of one's caste. The Golds rule all, but what will happen when one falls for a lowly Red? See how a forbidden love will set the course of events for the future and lead to the formation of the formidable Sons of Ares!

Written by author Pierce Brown (The Red Rising Trilogy) and Rik Hoskin (Heroes of Skyrealm, Brandon Sanderson's White Sand), with art by Eli Powell (Yakuza Demon Killers, The 13th Artifact), comes the in-continuity story of revolution and Red Rising!

Friday, 2 February 2018

TWO QUICK REVIEWS: TABOO TOPICS IN YA GENRE

Last month I read two Young Adult novels dealing with very sensitive topics. I am glad that authors increase awareness by writing more about taboo topics like racism, prejudices or teenage suicide. If only they paid better attention to writing itself... Here are my thoughts on both books.


Wednesday, 24 January 2018

REVIEW: IRON GOLD BY PIERCE BROWN

Hello everyone, long time no see. I apologize for being silent for so long but I simply didn't have anything worthy to write about. However, last week I finally read a book that inspired me to write proper review to share with you.

Iron Gold by Pierce Brown
(Red Rising Saga #4)
Published by: Del Rey Books
Genre: Science Fiction / Dystopia
Release date: January 16th 2018

      
        
They call him father, liberator, warlord, Reaper. But he feels a boy as he falls toward the pale blue planet, his armor red, his army vast, his heart heavy. It is the tenth year of war and the thirty-second of his life.

A decade ago, Darrow was the hero of the revolution he believed would break the chains of the Society. But the Rising has shattered everything: Instead of peace and freedom, it has brought endless war. Now he must risk everything he has fought for on one last desperate mission. Darrow still believes he can save everyone, but can he save himself?

And throughout the worlds, other destinies entwine with Darrow’s to change his fate forever:

A young Red girl flees tragedy in her refugee camp and achieves for herself a new life she could never have imagined.
An ex-soldier broken by grief is forced to steal the most valuable thing in the galaxy—or pay with his life.
And Lysander au Lune, the heir in exile to the sovereign, wanders the stars with his mentor, Cassius, haunted by the loss of the world that Darrow transformed, and dreaming of what will rise from its ashes.

Red Rising was the story of the end of one universe, and Iron Goldis the story of the creation of a new one. Witness the beginning of a stunning new saga of tragedy and triumph from masterlyNew York Times bestselling author Pierce Brown.

Friday, 30 June 2017

NO MORE WAITING #9: THE SAXON STORIES

Are you fed up with cliffhangers? Are you not patient enough to wait months for next instalment when reading series? Or do you just prefer to completely lose yourself in story and marathon all the books together? If you answered "yes" to at least one of these questions, this post is for you. NO MORE WAITING is a feature on my blog that spotlights completed series. You can look forward to spoiler-free reviews and graphic arts to accompany it.

The Saxon stories by Bernard Cornwell

Published by: HarperCollins

Genre: Historical Fiction


     
This is the exciting—yet little known—story of the making of England in the 9th and 10th centuries, the years in which King Alfred the Great, his son and grandson defeated the Danish Vikings who had invaded and occupied three of England’s four kingdoms.

The story is seen through the eyes of Uhtred, a dispossessed nobleman, who is captured as a child by the Danes and then raised by them so that, by the time the Northmen begin their assault on Wessex (Alfred’s kingdom and the last territory in English hands) Uhtred almost thinks of himself as a Dane. He certainly has no love for Alfred, whom he considers a pious weakling and no match for Viking savagery, yet when Alfred unexpectedly defeats the Danes and the Danes themselves turn on Uhtred, he is finally forced to choose sides. By now he is a young man, in love, trained to fight and ready to take his place in the dreaded shield wall. Above all, though, he wishes to recover his father’s land, the enchanting fort of Bebbanburg by the wild northern sea.

This thrilling adventure—based on existing records of Bernard Cornwell’s ancestors—depicts a time when law and order were ripped violently apart by a pagan assault on Christian England, an assault that came very close to destroying England.

Friday, 23 June 2017

REVIEW: BAD ROMANCE BY HEATHER DEMETRIOS

Bad Romance by Heather Demetrios
Published by: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
Release date: June 13th 2017

       
          
Grace wants out. Out of her house, where her stepfather wields fear like a weapon and her mother makes her scrub imaginary dirt off the floors. Out of her California town, too small to contain her big city dreams. Out of her life, and into the role of Parisian artist, New York director—anything but scared and alone.

Enter Gavin: charming, talented, adored. Controlling. Dangerous. When Grace and Gavin fall in love, Grace is sure it's too good to be true. She has no idea their relationship will become a prison she's unable to escape.

Deeply affecting and unflinchingly honest, this is a story about spiraling into darkness—and emerging into the light again.

Monday, 22 May 2017

BLURB LOVE #11

Book blurb is the most important aspect when it comes to deciding what I want to read. It is usually what makes me add (or not add) book to my TBR. Imagine there is no cover, no title and you have no idea who wrote it. Would you read such a book based just on its blurb?
Test yourself.


Thursday, 30 March 2017

MY NEW ALL TIME FAVORITE BOOK

The Name of the Wind 

Written by: Patrick Rothfuss
(The Kingkiller Chronicle #1)
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Release date: March 2007

     
      
"MY NAME IS KVOTHE

I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

You may have heard of me."

So begins a tale unequaled in fantasy literature--the story of a hero told in his own voice. It is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man's search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend.

Friday, 3 March 2017

THE POSSESSIONS - DELICIOUSLY CREEPY DEBUT

The Possessions by Sara Flannery Murphy

Published by: Harper

Genre: Mystery Thriller Fiction

Release date: February 7th 2017

      
         
In this electrifying literary debut, a young woman who channels the dead for a living crosses a dangerous line when she falls in love with one of her clients, whose wife died under mysterious circumstances

In an unnamed city, Eurydice works for the Elysian Society, a private service that allows grieving clients to reconnect with lost loved ones. She and her fellow workers, known as “bodies“, wear the discarded belongings of the dead and swallow pills called lotuses to summon their spirits—numbing their own minds and losing themselves in the process. Edie has been a body at the Elysian Society for five years, an unusual record. Her success is the result of careful detachment: she seeks refuge in the lotuses’ anesthetic effects and distances herself from making personal connections with her clients.

But when Edie channels Sylvia, the dead wife of recent widower Patrick Braddock, she becomes obsessed with the glamorous couple. Despite the murky circumstances surrounding Sylvia’s drowning, Edie breaks her own rules and pursues Patrick, moving deeper into his life and summoning Sylvia outside the Elysian Society’s walls.

After years of hiding beneath the lotuses’ dulling effect, Edie discovers that the lines between her own desires and those of Sylvia have begun to blur, and takes increasing risks to keep Patrick within her grasp. Suddenly, she finds her quiet life unraveling as she grapples not only with Sylvia’s growing influence and the questions surrounding her death, but with her own long-buried secrets.

A tale of desire and obsession, deceit and dark secrets that defies easy categorization, The Possessions is a seductive, absorbing page-turner that builds to a shattering, unforgettable conclusion. 

Friday, 17 February 2017

REVIEW: EMPRESS OF A THOUSAND SKIES

Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza
(Empress of a Thousand Skies #1)
Published by: Razorbill
Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction
Release date: February 7th 2017

     
         
Empress

Rhee, also known as Crown Princess Rhiannon Ta’an, is the sole surviving heir to a powerful dynasty. She’ll stop at nothing to avenge her family and claim her throne.

Fugitive

Aly has risen above his war refugee origins to find fame as the dashing star of a DroneVision show. But when he’s falsely accused of killing Rhee, he's forced to prove his innocence to save his reputation – and his life.

Madman

With planets on the brink of war, Rhee and Aly are thrown together to confront a ruthless evil that threatens the fate of the entire galaxy.

A saga of vengeance, warfare, and the true meaning of legacy.