Bookish Ramblings: Five Things Friday

I’m wrapping up my week with a Five Things Friday – I don’t know if I’ll keep up a weekly wrap up or not, I’m wondering if an end of month wrap up would be better? Let me know in the comments if you would rather I made these monthly 🙂

New to my queue

To Best the Boys by Mary Weber came in the March Fairyloot box and it looks pretty intriguing, the cover is great too and I feel that by it being a subscription box book it doesn’t contravene my book buying ban – that’s my story and i’m sticking to it lol. I don’t know if I’ll reach it this month but I’ll do my best!

Favourite book(s) this week.

Truly, I have not read much at all this week and what I have read I didn’t love so it’s a bit of a stretch to put it in as a favourite just so I can fill this space! I am making good progress now with Priory of the Orange Tree now that I am over my mountain of reviews that I needed to get through. Now I’m not reading to a deadline it’s letting me enjoy it more!

When I wasn’t reading

Zelda. I have pretty much spent most of my evenings playing Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and I’m finally getting to understand what everyone loves so much about it. Having had the time to dedicate to it this week I have made massive inroads and am loving it! Following on from the “Great Breaking” as Jay Kristoff now calls it, I managed to snag a subscription for Illumicrate to get the Aurora Rising box in May. I’m truly sorry to those who missed out on both, as with the Illumicrate website crashing as well it wasn’t an easy task. Also with the arrival of BST there is now more light in the day for me to take IG pics, I’ve been struggling with time with the muggle job of late so I’m hoping for lots of inspiration now!

Pic of the Week

After spending a couple of months looking at the Sugar and Sloth website longingly I finally got a few bits and signed up to their Pin Party Club! This cute little guy was my first pin, I also grabbed a badge for my friend and a great Rainbow Narwal of Anxiety sticker. Their stuff is so so cute and I’m sure I’ll be staying in support of this small business for a while!

Looking Ahead

I’m not at work next week so I’m looking forward to spending lots of time with Little Miss Paperback (not sure if I like that as much as Little Miss Playground) as it’s the school holidays. I’m sure there will be cinema, crafts, and some shopping along the way. I’ll get a Fairyloot unboxing up this weekend hopefully too!

Remember to let me know if you would rather have these wrap ups monthly or even every fortnight 🙂

Review of Thanos: Death Sentence by Stuart Moore

A new life for the Mad Titan! Thanos’s pursuit of the Infinity Gems has always defined him. But when the Marvel heroes defeat him once again, Thanos’s beloved Mistress Death grants him one final chance. Stripped of his powers and his old skin, Thanos embarks on a cosmic walkabout to reassert his power over himself and the Multiverse. This all-new, original tale explores the inner life of one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. Haunted by family – or the semblances of it – the Mad Titan may become something else entirely. Will he maintain his illusions of grandeur, or is this a new path for a lost god?

Firstly I would like to thank Titan Books for the opportunity to read this book for review. I’m feeling the love for the Avengers at the moment, especially with the trailer for Endgame recently dropping, so this release comes at an opportune time. Movie tie-in’s are often tricky. Being able to bring something new to an established multiverse without stepping on the toes of the big productions isn’t easy, but in fairness Death Sentence does this well. It’s accessible enough that if you’re just into the movies you won’t feel lost, as there are plenty of nods to fan favourites and cameos that will make you smile. Similarly there is plenty for more established fans of the Marvelverse with the inclusion of characters from the Black Order and a section dedicated to the Kree.

Separated into four parts we start with Thanos as the Titan we all know so well, an epic space battle worthy of the finale of any Avengers movie. I sped through the pages as it was fantastic science fiction writing, big in scope with unexpected turns, Thanos’s brush with Lady Death, is chilling and more than a little creepy. This is not one for the kids. The premise is set up strongly with the haunting shade of his mother as an unofficial patron of his downfall. Thanos, stripped of everything that made him Titan, needs to try and rediscover himself through the trials of the next sections of the book.

So it was a shame that after such a strong start that the middle sections weren’t quite up to the same standard. The set pieces whilst stunning didn’t have much feel or depth to them. There was lots happening but the narrative wasn’t strong enough in these parts to hold it together with feeling, it felt a little clumsy at times. This may have been partially by design though, as indeed Thanos chides himself for his lack of forethought at one point, but much of the story didn’t feel cohesive, and I was left wondering what he was meant to be learning from the situations he is dropped into. The final section pulled it back for me though, it gave Thanos the chance to actually develop as a character and gave him an arc, an opportunity to fulfil the burden placed upon him and rise him up from his existential crisis. It actually achieved the feat of almost making him pretty likeable.

Death Sentence was very much a book of two halves, it’s an enjoyable read and despite its near 400 pages it doesn’t feel heavy. If you’re a Marvel fan then I think that this will be the perfect interlude to keep you going to the next movie. It’s pretty crowd pleasing and may make you look at Thanos in a different light.

3*

Mackenzie Grey Cover ReVamp with Karina Espinosa

Title: Mackenzie Grey Series

Author: Karina Espinosa

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Cover Designer: Covers by Christian

Editor: Daniella Brooks

Publisher: Black Quill Publishing

Hosted by: Lady Amber’s PR

Blurb:
It’s hard enough being an undergraduate student, an intern at Downtown Manhattan’s police station, and a bouncer at a local bar. Add her now ex-boyfriend who recently dumped her for the school’s resident bimbo—oh, and she’s a werewolf.

Mackenzie Grey meets her match when she is kidnapped by the Brooklyn Pack and tossed between Sebastian and Jonah—the Alpha and the Beta. Being a lone-wolf in the city is dangerous, and now that the Pack has found her, so can every supernatural being in the Tri-State area. And not even her sarcastic, smart mouth can get her out of this.

When a string of kidnappings involves Mackenzie in supernatural politics, she questions her new acquaintances and finds unlikely allies. Can she escape Pack law and keep her freedom—or will she be condemned to an unwanted path?

Blurb:
Mackenzie Grey has started a brand new life in an attempt to escape the Brooklyn Pack. She settles in as a detective in a special unit of the LAPD when her identity is put at risk, and she has no choice but to run again. The question is: does she want to run forever?

As events force Mackenzie to confront her past, she is met with many surprises—including the revelation of her true ancestry. When Packs across the country learn of who she is, Kenz becomes the object of desire in a deadly wolf hunt, and she must once again fight to keep her freedom.

Witnessing first-hand the barbaric treatment of Lunas, Mackenzie has to make a choice—follow the prediction of her Vision Quest or let herself be CAGED…

Blurb:
Mackenzie Grey never felt as vulnerable as she does now—but that won’t stop her from getting what she wants: revenge. Kenz and her friends journey to a new land where everyone has a motive and everyone is a suspect.
The Lunas find their voices after the massacre but question still stands—who is the real enemy? If Mackenzie wants to free herself, she will need to free them all; and it won’t be easy. As she approaches her 24th birthday—in the middle of a web of lies, deception, and murder—Kenz has to weave her way to the truth before she’s next on the chopping block.

With her companions, Mackenzie will make her final stand and change the course of the Lycan world forever…

  

Blurb:
Bodies drained of blood are scattered around New York City. With a serial killer on the loose, Mackenzie Grey is obsessed with solving the murders. She dives into her work at the Supernatural Investigative Unit to forget about the events that dismantled her Pack a year ago. When the killer makes Kenz the target, she falls down the rabbit hole and discovers she has a lot more to do with these murders than she realized.

As her past creeps up behind her, she must swallow her pride and seek aid from old and new friends.

In the epic finale of the Mackenzie Grey: Origins series, she will finally become the wolf she is destined to be…

Karina Espinosa is the Urban Fantasy author of the Sins of the Fallen series and the Mackenzie Grey novels. Infatuated with travel, pop culture, and the need to write everything down, she spends much of her days in front of a computer working on her next book, shopping online, and listening to music. With nomadic tendencies, she is currently resting her head in South Florida until the itch to move strikes again. You can usually catch her on Facebook, Instagram and live-tweeting during episodes of Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and Orphan Black. Follow her on social media!

Author Links:

Web: https://www.karinaespinosa.com/

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2rQFsj2

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7784354.Karina_Espinosa

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKarinaEspinosa/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TweetsByKarina

Buy Links:

SHIFT: http://amzn.to/2rQGs6M

CAGED: http://amzn.to/2r2fR2u

ALPHA: http://amzn.to/2rxim0m

OMEGA: http://amzn.to/2uO1rGF

Review of Viper by Bex Hogan

He will make me a killer.
Or he will have me killed.
That is my destiny.
Seventeen-year-old Marianne is fated to one day become the Viper, defender of the Twelve Isles.
But the reigning Viper stands in her way. Corrupt and merciless, he prowls the seas in his warship, killing with impunity, leaving only pain and suffering in his wake.
He’s the most dangerous man on the ocean . . . and he is Marianne’s father.
She was born to protect the islands. But can she fight for them if it means losing her family, her home, the boy she loves – and perhaps even her life?
A brave heroine. An impossible dilemma. An epic new fantasy trilogy set on the high seas.

Firstly, YA Fantasy covers are knocking it out of the park so far this year, Viper has colour and foiling and it’s just wonderful. Whilst I read this as an Arc via Netgalley, I then received a copy in my Fairyloot box which was amazing as I absolutely loved this book and to have that cover in my grabby hands is awesome. Viper is the kind of book that grabs you with both hands from the opening lines and pulls you under the waves so you are totally immersed in the story. I knew immediately that this would be a book for me, as the characters, the setting and the use of language were perfect. I found that the author writes in a way that I would speak so the words just worked for me on every level, it truly is a wonderful debut.

Marianne is an amazing character, struggling under the will of the patriarchy but holding her own under the weight of parental irresponsibility. I loved how defiant she was, even in the face of the most feared of men she stayed true to herself and her beliefs, although her recklessness did on occasion bother me as she knew the ways in which her father would be cruel. Life on deck is vivid and brutal, yet she manages it all in full skirts and corset and whilst we know that as the captains daughter she is off limits, there is still a read dread as the crew circle like sharks waiting for her (in their minds) inevitable failure.

Bex Hogan is so good at building up tension, there were parts that I was scared to keep turning the page on as I was willing things I was rightly or wrongly anticipating not to happen, the sense of anticipation was real. Topics aren’t shied away from and it gets pretty graphic at times, so I would suggest that this is more of an upper YA age range read. It’s also a tough job to world build when your story is set on the ocean but again, I felt that not only were the tumultuous seas wonderfully crafted but I loved the imagination that went into the islands too. They are small but each one is beautifully unique bringing a valued purpose to the story.

The book itself had a YA Game of Thrones vibe and also, this is going to sound weird, a little Assassins Creed: Black Flag as the sea battles are pretty epic. If you enjoy amazing characters, great world building, and high seas adventure then you will love Viper, it’s actually a book that I’m happy to know is going to be a trilogy as I can’t wait to come back to these characters.

5*