Eligible

Ever heard of The Austen Project?

I hadn't until I was looking for a picture for this post.

I read Eligible on a friend's recommendation, and because it's not that hard to get me to read something based on Pride and Prejudice.

As retellings go, it was really successful. Curtis Sittenfeld achieved a good balance of source material and updating. Plot points were different, but recognizable.

It's set in Cincinnati, and Liz & Jane have to fly home from New York to deal with a family health scare. From there, the story progresses more or less as one would expect.

Darcy is an arrogant neurosurgeon, which feels more believable that just a rich do-nothing.

It was fun. But I probably won't read it again.
(I finished reading this on April 18)

Image from the author's website:

Amber & Dusk

by Lyra Selene

This lovely book came in one of my Owlcrates. I've built up quite a backlog of novels over this school year, and I'm slowly working through them.

The world has permanent night in one place, dusk in another, and permanent day in the part of the world where the book mostly takes place.
There is a legend about why - I thought the plot would relate to that, but no, just some cool world building.

The main character - Sylvie - was abandoned as a baby, raised by people who are essentially nuns, and pretty much had a rough childhood. She runs away from the nuns to make her way to the capital city, which is at the center of the daylight zone. She thinks that she belongs there because she can do magic.

There is some really deep character building with the not-Gypsy group she travels with, but it doesn't really have much payoff in the end.

When arriving at the royal palace, she is disappointed that "her people" (because that's where the magic wielders live) don't welcome her with open arms. They do, however, take her in, and palace drama ensues.  Also, some romance.

Also, a lot of words and descriptions in this book seem to come from a French base, which is kind of interesting.

Amazon gives me these stats:
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press (November 27, 2018)

Stealing this image off of the Owlcrate site, because blogger + phone = no pictures and my phone is my camera...


I read this on April 19.

Scythe & Thunderhead

This was great, I need book 3 to come out!

Image stolen from Amazon: 

Book of Life

All Souls Trilogy
By Deborah Harkness

You know, vampires & witches & demons. But the vampires don't sparkle and the characters are all interesting. 

Book 1 was the best, book 2 was weaker, and the conclusion of the trilogy was fine.

It's the favorite series of a student, and I'm glad to have read it, but I don't I'll read it again.

Image from Amazon: 

Song of the Dead

By Sarah Glenn Marsh

Second book in the Reign of the Fallen duology.

Necromancy and other magic. Dragons. Ships. Betrayal. Death.

An engaging read.

Books I've read since blogger stopped posting from my phone...

Why has the app stopped posting for me? Not sure. I've read a several books though, but in between life being crazy and the app being annoying I haven't posted about them in a while.

Spark of Light- Jodi Picoult

Adult book about the abortion debate. Wouldn't have picked it up, but went to her book talk and was given a copy. It was pretty interesting.


The Hotel Between - Sean Easley

Middle grade book about a hotel that connects to different places around the world. Missing parents, intrigue, conspiracy. It was a good read. 


Legendary - Stephanie Garber

Second book in a trilogy. Caraval, Legendary, Finale (out this May). I didn't like it as much as the first, but I do really want to read the third still. Reserving my opinion on the series until I get to finish it.


Spin the Dawn - Elizabeth Lim

This was a really cool and different book. YA Fantasy - reminded me a little of Mulan at the start, but it totally its own thing. 


96 Words for Love - Rachel Roy & Ava Dash

This was a cute book. Set in India (mostly), it's a YA book about a girl looking for her direction in life and a connection to her family. 


Thirteen Hallows - Michael Scott & Colette Freedman

Adult, fantasy, didn't really enjoy it, but interesting enough that I finished it. 


The Queens of Innis Lear - Tessa Gratton

Adult fantasy novel inspired by Shakespeare's King Lear. 


On A Sunbeam - Tillie Walden

Thick YA graphic novel. Science Fiction. lovely art and super cute space ships. 


The End of the Wild - Nicole Helget

Cute middle grade book about poverty, science, and fracking. 


Shadowsong - S. Jae-Jones

The second in a series - Wintersong is the first. Isn't this cover glorious? A strong follow-up; I'm often disappointed in sequels. YA Fantasy. 


The Wizards of Once: Twice Magic - Cressida Cowell 

None of the pictures I could find matched the cover of the ARC that I read. My copy ws missing all of the pictures from the second half of the book - just not done yet. Also, I got the non-Americanized version of the words. Yay.

This is the second in the series. I gave the first one away to my student teacher last year. This was a cute second book, but I'll hand this copy off to someone as well.