WWW Wednesday: February 9, 2022

Published on by CelesteLeave a comment

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: Right now I’m reading Octavia Bloom and the Missing Key by Estelle Grace Tudor. This is part of another Write Reads tour I signed up for this month. My review will go up on Monday, so again, stay tuned! This book was also a 2021 Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) finalist. It’s a middle grade book, which isn’t a category I’ve read since, well, probably elementary school. However, I started it last night and I’m very impressed so far.




Recently Finished: The last book I finished was The Broken Heart of Arelium by Alex Robins. I mentioned in my last WWW Wednesday that this is part of a Write Reads tour as well. Now I need to write up my review, which will go live on Friday.






Reading Next: I know there are some NetGalley requests I need to get to. But I have two nonfiction books from the library sitting on my bedside table. One of these, Culture Warlords by Talia Lavin is the one I really want to read. It’s been on my TBR since November 2020 after I heard about it on NPR. So I’ll probably shift gears to that book.




Book Review: Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian

Published on by Celeste11 Comments

Today’s review is about HALF SICK OF SHADOWS by Laura Sebastian. It’s a feminist retelling of Arthurian myth from Elaine’s point of view. It showcases how strong women around Arthur helped him along the way.

Author: Laura Sebastian
Series: None
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Ace
Publish Date: July 6, 2021
Print Length: 443

Want to support local bookstores? Buy a copy of Half Sick of Shadows on Bookshop.org!*

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

Continue reading “Book Review: Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian” →

First Lines Fridays: February 4, 2022

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!

The sky foretells a coming tragedy.

It is the palest of greys, yet red stains clots the eastern horizon–evidence of the rising sun. The stain expands, sopping the clouds and dripping farther westward, puddling in dark splotches along the lingering shade of night. Huddled in the thicket of snow-laden trees, I watch the day waken with fear running cracks through my heart. The sky is read, like bloodshed.

Do you know what book this is?

Still guessing?

Well, the book reveal is…







The North Wind by Alexandria Warwick

From Amazon:

Lush. Dark. Romantic. Introducing a newly reimagined tale written in the vein of Beauty and the Beast and Hades and Persephone.

Long before civilization, there were the gods. And before the gods, there was the earth, the celestial bodies, and air given flesh. They are the Anemoi-the Four Winds-and they have been banished to the four corners of the world.

Wren of Edgewood is no stranger to suffering. Her parents are gone. Survival is all she knows. For three hundred years, the land known as the Gray has been encased in ice, surrounded by a great barrier called the Shade, which protects the townsfolk from the Deadlands beyond.

But day by day, the Shade weakens.

Only one thing can stop the Shade’s fall: a mortal woman taken captive across the barrier, bound in wedlock to the dark god who reigns over the Deadlands. He is the North Wind, the Frost King, an immortal whose heart is said to be as frigid as the land he rules.

And the time has come for the Frost King to choose his bride.

The North Wind is a standalone, enemies-to-lovers fantasy romance, the first in a series sprinkled with Greek lore. Perfect for fans of Jennifer L. Armentrout, Laura Thalassa, and Scarlett St. Clair.

Monthly Book Blog Wrap-Up: January 2022

Published on by CelesteLeave a comment

And just like that January 2022 is over. Done. Finished. On to the next month of the year. Sometimes it feels like time passes by so quickly. Which reminds me of a recent episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation I recently watched. In it Data times how long it takes for a kettle of water to boil in an effort to understand why his human crew mates feel that time moves slowly or fast. But I digress…on to the monthly recap!

Book Reviews
I posted our book reviews in January. From earliest to latest I reviewed:

Book Memes and Other Posts
I posted five book-related memes:

I also posted a variety of other bookish posts including:

That’s a total of 13 blog posts, which ties January 2022 with December 2021. There must be something about the cold weather that makes me more productive than usual…oh wait, yes, the cold. Which keeps me inside. So far it’s been a cold winter with multiple nights in the teens, sometimes as low as 12 Fahrenheit!

Other Book-ish Progress
I set some lofty goals for myself this month considering I’m not a fast reader. I’m motivated to get through my backlog of NetGalley approvals. I’m happy to say I met all of my goals, which included reading and writing reviews for all of the books listed above. I also set a goal to finally write my review of Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian and finished that on Sunday night.

Unexpectedly, I read and wrote three extra reviews for Field Notes on Love by Jennifer E. Smith; To Bleed a Crystal Bloom by Sarah A. Parker; and Castles in their Bones by Laura Sebastian. That brought my total reads in January to six, which is fantastic for me.

I also started reading two books this past weekend. The first is The Broken Heart of Arelium by Alex Robins. This read is for a blog tour I signed up for with The Write Reads. The second book I started is The North Wind by Alexandra Warwick. I looked through my NG account and realized I totally forgot to download this approval before the archive date. This means I missed my opportunity to read and review it on NG. I’m not sure why I missed it, but it is what it is. I felt bad, so I decided to read it on Kindle Unlimited and at least post a review here.

And that’s a wrap!

Book Review: Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen

Published on by Celeste6 Comments

Today’s review is about SKIN OF THE SEA by Natasha Bowen. It’s the first book in the Skin of the Sea duology. In this Young Adult fantasy, Natasha Bowen incorporates various African mythologies of Mami Wata who collect the souls of those who die at sea.

Author: Natasha Bowen
Series: Skin of the Sea #1
Age Category: Young Adult
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Publish Date: November 2, 2021
Print Length: 336

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

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

Continue reading “Book Review: Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen” →