Year: 2021

First Lines Fridays: November 19, 2021

Published on by CelesteLeave a comment

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?  The rules are as follows:

  • 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!

If you’re using Twitter, don’t forget to use #FirstLinesFridays!

Without further ado….

“I’m gonna need someone to help me. I’m gonna need somebody’s hand.” Singing along, pretending Nathaniel Rateliff and I were a couple of salty bikers in leather jackets, I sat at my desk with more swagger than self-awareness. Imagining our fat wallets clipped and chained. Both of us worked up. Clapping and stomping, rocking and rolling to a soul revivalist’s pitch. Preparing to break out of some godforsaken prison.

Do you know what book this is?

Still guessing?

Well, the book reveal is…





Prophecy of Love by T. Satterfield

From Amazon:

Good guy Gabe Mendes is certainly passionate. He thinks love will make his life worth living. So he’s made a deal. In exchange for access to the universe of love he agrees to slay the black ram. But soon he learns, being unlucky in love isn’t his only problem. Turns out—love isn’t what he thinks it is.

By the time Gabe stumbles across the website of the alluring, though mature, Pythia—mystic and high priestess—he’s already failed miserably in love yet again. Raised by a hardworking single mom, never having known the full truth about his father, Gabe has spent his life faithful to three beliefs: follow the rules; don’t let anyone get too close; and avoid, at all costs, being honest about how you feel—especially with yourself. If it weren’t for Gabe’s steadfast companion, a cat named Cat, he might not know love at all.

But when the enchanting red-headed priestess dangles the keys that will unlock the secret answers to the long-asked questions of love, Gabe jumps at the chance. Before he knows it, things change—and fast. The entertaining Pythia takes him on a whirlwind journey traveling the portals of time and space. She’s got him questioning everything he’s ever thought about love. And if that weren’t enough, Gabe is beginning to believe this business about the black ram might cost him everything. It might just kill him.

Book Review: For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten

Published on by Celeste5 Comments

Author: Hannah Whitten
Publisher: Orbit Books
Publish Date: June 1, 2021
Pages: 480
Format: Paperback

Want to support local bookstores? Buy a copy of For the Wolf on Bookshop.org!*

*These are not affiliate links and I do not make a commission from any purchase made using these links.

Official Synopsis
The first daughter is for the Throne.
The second daughter is for the Wolf.

For fans of Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale comes a dark, sweeping debut fantasy novel about a young woman who must be sacrificed to the legendary Wolf of the Wood to save her kingdom. But not all legends are true, and the Wolf isn’t the only danger lurking in the Wilderwood.

As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose—to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he’ll return the world’s captured gods.

Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can’t control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can’t hurt those she loves. Again.

But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn’t learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become will swallow the Wilderwood—and her world—whole.

My Review
Let me just start off by saying this is the first book I’ve pre-ordered since my high school days when Harry Potter midnight release parties were a big deal. I’m now over 30 and if there’s one silver lining to all of these pandemic shenanigans it’s that I rediscovered my love of reading. When I saw the synopsis and marketing for For the Wolf something in me just had to have it. And voila, here we are!

The official synopsis is absolutely true to the plot, so I don’t feel the need to add anything else. It’s alluring and mystifying, just like the first few pages of the book. At first it’s a little confusing because the reader is thrust into the last few nights leading up to Red’s departure for the Wilderwood. There’s no setting of the scene or painting of a broad brush to get the reader established into the world. Normally I like a few pages of introduction, but the lack thereof serves to enhance the mysteriousness.

For the Wolf seemingly starts off as an adult retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale. There’s a female character named Red. There’s talk of a dangerous wolf in the woods. And Red has to go into the woods to save her people, which I think is analogous to “checking on grandma.”

Once Red enters the Wilderwood and finds out the Wolf is actually a man, that’s where the tale takes a different turn from our childhood bedtime story. She realizes that everything she learned about her kingdom’s last several hundred years’ worth of history isn’t quite accurate. Time has a way of skewing the truth, or how people want to remember the past.

As Red learns more about her magic from the Wolf, back in Valleyda her twin sister, Neve, works on a plan to find and bring Red back from the Wilderwood. Neve will do anything to save Red, even if it means sacrificing herself to a cause she doesn’t quite understand.

There’s strangers to lovers (is that a thing?), or at least not-quite-enemies to lovers. There’s some spice. It’s not Sarah J. Maas level of spice or graphic (if that’s not your thing), but those scenes are *chef’s kiss*.

Simply, I loved everything about this book: the writing style, the characters (even though some of them frustrated me), the creepy Wilderwood. The whole concept of the Wilderwood fascinates me and I’m still not one hundred percent sure I understand it. But you won’t get anymore details out of me–no spoilers! I can’t wait for the next book, For the Throne, which I will definitely pre-order. If you haven’t read this book yet, do yourself a favor and get on it.

Rating: 4.5/5
Content warnings: blood
Reading format: Paperback

First Lines Fridays: November 12, 2021

Published on by CelesteLeave a comment

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?  The rules are as follows:

  • 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!

If you’re using Twitter, don’t forget to use #FirstLinesFridays!

Without further ado….

I will die drowning; it has always been known. This was my first vision, long before I knew it for what it was, and I’ve had it so many times now that I know each instant by heart. Where most visions are ephemeral things, shifting and changing in different lights and at different angles, this one is always so solid that it leaves its bruises on my mind and soul long after it ends.

Do you know what book this is?

Still guessing?

Well, the book reveal is…





Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian

From Penguin Random House:

The Lady of Shalott reclaims her story in this bold feminist reimagining of the Arthurian myth from the New York Times bestselling author of Ash Princess.

Everyone knows the legend. Of Arthur, destined to be a king. Of the beautiful Guinevere, who will betray him with his most loyal knight, Lancelot. Of the bitter sorceress, Morgana, who will turn against them all. But Elaine alone carries the burden of knowing what is to come–for Elaine of Shalott is cursed to see the future.

On the mystical isle of Avalon, Elaine runs free and learns of the ancient prophecies surrounding her and her friends–countless possibilities, almost all of them tragic.

When their future comes to claim them, Elaine, Guinevere, Lancelot, and Morgana accompany Arthur to take his throne in stifling Camelot, where magic is outlawed, the rules of society chain them, and enemies are everywhere. Yet the most dangerous threats may come from within their own circle.

As visions are fulfilled and an inevitable fate closes in, Elaine must decide how far she will go to change destiny–and what she is willing to sacrifice along the way.

WWW Wednesday: November 10, 2021

Published on by Celeste2 Comments

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme revived and hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is to answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses.

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

Currently Reading: I’m currently reading Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian. It’s marketed as a feminist retelling of the Lady of Shalot. I haven’t read too far along yet, but I’m already impressed by the writing style.







Recently Finished: I just finished reading a NetGalley ARC of The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart. It follows the first book, The Bone Shard Daughter. I expect to publish this review in late November or early December, so keep a look out!






Reading Next: I plan to focus more on my NetGalley ARCs for the remainder of the year. But Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen, a new release, arrived on hold at the library for me. So I need to read that first since there’s a hold list and therefore I’m only allowed to keep it checked out for three weeks.





Book Review: After the Flood by Kassandra Montag

Published on by CelesteLeave a comment

Author: Kassandra Montag
Publisher: William Morrow
Publish Date: September 3, 2019
Pages: 419
Type: Hardback

Want to support local bookstores? Buy a copy of After the Flood on Bookshop.org!*

*These are not affiliate links and I do not make a commission from any purchase made using these links.

Official Synopsis
A little more than a century from now, our world has been utterly transformed. After years of slowly overtaking the continent, rising floodwaters have obliterated America’s great coastal cities and then its heartland, leaving nothing but an archipelago of mountaintop colonies surrounded by a deep expanse of open water.

Stubbornly independent Myra and her precocious seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, fish from their small boat, the Bird, visiting dry land only to trade for supplies and information in the few remaining outposts of civilization. For seven years, Myra has grieved the loss of her oldest daughter, Row, who was stolen by her father after a monstrous deluge overtook their home in Nebraska. Then, in a violent confrontation with a stranger, Myra suddenly discovers that Row was last seen in a far-off encampment near the Arctic Circle. Throwing aside her usual caution, Myra and Pearl embark on a perilous voyage into the icy northern seas, hoping against hope that Row will still be there.

On their journey, Myra and Pearl join forces with a larger ship and Myra finds herself bonding with her fellow seekers who hope to build a safe haven together in this dangerous new world. But secrets, lust, and betrayals threaten their dream, and after their fortunes take a shocking–and bloody–turn, Myra can no longer ignore the question of whether saving Row is worth endangering Pearl and her fellow travelers.

A compulsively readable novel of dark despair and soaring hope, After the Flood is a magnificent, action packed, and sometimes frightening odyssey laced with wonder–an affecting and wholly original saga both redemptive and astonishing.

My Review
Just over 100 years from now, global warming has transformed Earth into a water world. Transportation is by boat and there are few places where one can step on dry land. Myra and her daughter, Pearl, fish on their small boat and only visit land to trade for supplies. Seven years have passed and Myra continues to grieve the loss of her firstborn daughter, Row, whom her husband stole. Outwardly, Myra has finally given up on finding Row. But when she unexpectedly learns that Row was seen at an outpost near the Arctic Circle, she and Pearl embark on a journey to find Row. Along the way they join up with the crew of a larger ship and Myra sees this as her best chance to make it to the Arctic. However, when their luck begins to change, Myra wonders if saving Row is the right choice at the expense of Pearl and the crew she’s grown so fond of.

After the Flood is a story about loss, grit, survivorship, and motherhood. It’s also about learning to trust again in a world where trusting others usually leads to one’s misfortune. Though I have a morbid fascination for fictional, post-apocalyptic content, I don’t actually read or watch a lot of it. This book has been on my reading list for a while. I read it after reading An Enchantment of Ravens, so it was a nice change of pace from the fantasy genre.

Right away this book reminded me a lot of the 1995 movie Waterworld. Water is everywhere, land is few and far between, and boat gangs take advantage of and terrorize those who are just trying to survive. I don’t know if that movie inspired this book, but there are a lot of similarities. I say this matter-of-factly, not because I think it’s a bad thing. In fact, I really liked this book.

The author’s writing is wonderful and the first lines really drew me in. There are quite a few quotable lines. If I was a better book reviewer, I would’ve taken notes to share them with you; but I’m not, so have fun picking out your favorite lines! Montag does a great job developing the characters, even the minor ones. Each person has a story and Montag relays each story organically, through conversation (of course) and reactions wrought from unfortunate circumstances.

Montag shows rather than tells the reader what’s going on, which helped me connect more with the characters. I could really feel how torn Myra is between fulfilling that ache to find Row, but also wondering how much that quest would endanger Pearl. I could see how perceptive Row is for her age. Though Row doesn’t express her perceptiveness verbally, the author shows the reader this through Row’s confidence, experience, and emotional outbursts.

Montag also explores the nuanced thinking and emotions of the characters in this harsh water world. She covers survivor’s guilt, turning a blind eye, and survivorship. And though the characters may not always make the choices we want them to, I understand their decisions. When trying to survive and navigate in a world with few resources and the collapse of civilization, expect to make tough choices.

Rating: 4/5
Content warnings: murder, mention of rape, drowning, death, sex, abandonment
Reading format: Library hardback