My 2019 4.5 star reads

Hi booklovers

It's time to share with you my 2019 4.5 star reads. 

These books were not necessarily published in 2019.

*Shadows of Self (Mistborn #5) by Brandon Sanderson

This was my favourite of the current three books of Mistborn Era 2.

*The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer #2) by Brent Weeks

This one is filled with a lot of twists and turns and the ending is such a big cliffhanger.

*Skyward (Skyward #1) and Starsight (Skyward#2) by Brandon Sanderson

I really enjoyed both books (I have to admit that I actually read Skyward at the end of 2018 and then reread it before starting Starsight). Starsight didn't go where I thought it would go and I missed some of the characters from Skyward, but I found some new favourite characters as well. I'm very curious to see where book 3 will take us. Unfortunately, it won't be published until 2021 :-(

There is one sci-fi book on this list:

*One Word Kill (Impossible Times #1) by Mark Lawrence

This is Mark Lawrence's venture into YA sci-fi and I enjoyed this a lot. It takes place in the 80s and being an 80s kid myself some things were familiar. I actually listened to the audiobook of this one and the sequel and only recently got the physical copies. I also pre-ordered the final one on audio and I'll definitely be getting a physical copy as well.

The other 3 4.5 star reads were NA contemporary:

*The Risk (Briar U #2) and the Play (Briar U #3) by Elle Kennedy

Elle Kennedy is one of my favourite NA writers and I thoroughly enjoyed both these stories.

*Shacking Up (Shacking Up #1) and Hooking Up (Shacking Up #2) by Helena Hunting

I've read a couple of the books in the Shacking Up series, but these are still my favourite ones.

Btw, these NA covers are so cringe-worthy, it's one of the reasons I read these on my e-reader.

Have you read any of these? What were some of your 4.5 star reads of 2019? Do you use half stars in your rating? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

My 2019 4 star reads

Hello booklovers

Very long time no see, it's been almost three months since I last wrote a post. I just haven't felt like posting anything lately... I'm going to give it one more try, I guess and see where it leads me. I want to write more reviews, but they are so time-consuming and school has been really hectic with all the changes there have been.

Anyway, I thought of doing a top 10 of 2019 but when I started looking at my GR list of read books, I had a hard time narrowing it down to 10 books. So, instead of a top 10, I'm going to list my 4, 4.5 and 5 star reads of this year.

These books are in no particular order and they weren't necessarily published in 2019.

*Shadowblack (Spellinslinger #2) by Sebastien de Castell

I reread Spellslinger so I could read this one (even though I'd only read it back in April), because I wasn't totally invested in the story the first time I read it. After having enjoyed it a lot more the second time around I didn't wait very long to read Shadowblack. I really liked this one and I already have book three Charmcaster on hand.

*The Black Prism (Lightbringer #1) and The Broken Eye (Lightbringer #3) by Brent Weeks

I have been meaning to read a Brent Weeks book for a while now. I've had the first book in his Night Angels trilogy on my TBR for years. But I decided to try his Lightbringer series first.
So far, I've read three out of the five books in this series and even though I'm sometimes confused when reading them I'm really enjoying them as well.

*The Alloy of Law (Mistborn #4) and The Bands of Mourning (Mistborn #6) by Brandon Sanderson

I really love the Mistborn Era 1 trilogy and was really curious to read the Era 2 books. They aren't as good as the original trilogy, but I still enjoyed being back in this world. And the humour is again very good. I thought this was a trilogy, but apparently, a fourth book has been announced.

*Malice (The Faithful and the Fallen #1) by John Gwynne

This is another one that I've had on my TBR for ages. I started it a couple of years ago, but I couldn't really get into it (I don't have the audiobook for this one, so it was taking me ages to make any progress) but in August I decided to give it another try. And I'm so happy that I did. I even went and bought the rest of the series after finishing this one. Malice is perfect for fans of the more classic fantasy writing style.

These were all the fantasy books that were 4 star reads.

The other two 4 star reads were an adult dystopian and a New Adult contemporary:

*The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

I watched the first two seasons of the TV-show before reading this so I had some idea of the bleakness of the story being told here, but wow, the book painted an ever bleaker version of that possible future. I'll be picking up The Testaments when it's released in paperback.

*Him by Elle Kennedy and Sarina Bowen

I've read quite a few books by Elle Kennedy, but I hadn't read anything that she co-wrote with Sarina Bowen yet. This is also only the second M/M romance that I've read and I have to admit I liked it a lot. My biggest fear when reading M/M romance is that it will be cringe-worthy, but that's definitely not the case in this story. I'm definitely going to pick up the sequel at some point.

What were some of your 4 star reads this year? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies 

MedievalAThon / IronTomeAThon / July wrap-up

Hi booklovers

Yesterday was the last day of both the MedievalAThon and the IronTomeAThon, so let's take a look at what I managed to read.

MedievalAThon

*Nevernight by Jay Kristoff: this was a reread in preperation for the release of Darkdawn in September. Still a solid 5 star read. Hopefully I'll be posting my review soon.

This earned me the rank of peasant and my daggers.

*Legendary by Stephanie Garber: again a reread because I want to read Finale. This, however, I didn't enjoy as much as the first time around. 

I became a squire by reading this one and I got my breastplate.

*King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence: this was a very hard book for me to rate. Immediately after finishing it I was leaning towards 3 - 3.5 stars because I didn't feel the same connection to the characters as I did with Prince of Thorns. But while writing my review I realized I did enjoy the story a lot and that it actually was a solid 4 star read. I'll be posting my review soon. (I have a review for Prince of Thorns.)

Next rank: knight. I earned my crown with it.

*The Sword Volume 1 by the Luna Brothers: I really enjoyed Alex+Ada and Girls by the Luna Brothers, so when this was recommended to me at the comic book store I wanted to give it a try. I really enjoy the artwork and the storyline is pretty cool.

I became a countess with a cloak by reading this graphic novel.

*The Sword Volume 2 by the Luna Brothers: I again enjoyed it a lot and I'll be picking up volumes 3 and 4 at some point :-)

Next rank: princess with a sword.

I was hoping to finish Malice by John Gwynne which would have made me a queen and earned me a pair of leggings. Alas, that didn't happen: I managed to read 504 out of the 628 pages.

When I tweeted about this, I got a really cool response from John Gwynne himself.

I love it when authors interact with their readers like that.

IronTomeAThon

*Nevernight: Oldtown + 428 pages.

*King of Thorns: King's Landing + 597 pages.

*The Sword Volume 1: 100 pages.

*The Sword Volume 2: 100 pages.

Total number of pages: 1225. (I'm a bit sad that I can't add the 504 pages I read of Malice :-/ )

I'm really pleased with how both these readathons went and I hope they'll become annual readathons :-)

I read another book that I couldn't count for either readathons:

*Masquerade by Nyrae Dawn. I needed a break from the fantasy genre after the epicness that is Nevernight, so I picked up this NA contemporary. It is the final book in the Games trilogy and I enjoyed it.

How was your reading month? Did you participate in either of these readathons? 

This month I'm taking my NEWTs, I'm curious to see if I'll become a librarian.

Bye for now

Annelies