WWW Wednesday

Today I have a super simple post to let the world know what I’m reading. Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, you answer 3 questions and hey presto, you are all done.

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

I have had a really good Wyrd and Wonder reading month so far. I have stuck to fantasy, although I did do a quick detour and had a couple of unscheduled stops at some books that weren’t on my tbr. Plus, I’ve also had a couple of false starts with 2 or 3 dnfs.

Author Interview with Khaiah Thomson

I’m incredibly lucky to have Khaiah Thomson, author of Welcome to Blackwood, on the blog today. 

She writes paranormal stories, with a determined, feisty, female lead in the most lush setting you could hope to live. Make sure you check out the giveaway I’m running if you want to win your very own copy of Welcome to Blackwood, links will be at the end. You can see my review HERE.

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Hi Khaiah, thank you so much for taking the time to join me on the blog. Congratulations on the release of Welcome to Blackwood. I had an absolute blast reading it.

Please Don’t Hug Me by Kay Kerr

Your eyes don’t deceive you, it’s actually happening, I’m reviewing a contemporary read. And what a delightful read it was.

• Australian author 

• Female author

• Own voices

• Autistic female main character

Please Don’t Hug Me ticks all the boxes. That title is simply the best. The story was told in letter format. The characters are all incredibly relatable and just trying to do their best. The family was flawed but truly wonderful. It was heart warming, engaging and an absolute delight. 

Synopsis – A funny-serious own-voices story about what happens when you stop trying to be the person other people expect you to be and give yourself a go.

Erin is looking forward to Schoolies, at least she thinks she is. But things are not going to plan. Life is getting messy, and for Erin, who is autistic, that’s a big problem. She’s lost her job at Surf Zone after an incident that clearly was not her fault. Her driving test went badly even though she followed the instructions perfectly. Her boyfriend is not turning out to be the romantic type. And she’s missing her brother, Rudy, who left almost a year ago.

But now that she’s writing letters to him, some things are beginning to make just a tiny bit of sense.

Erin is the most wonderful main character. She is absolutely adorable and is doing her absolute best to be who everyone wants her to be. But it’s not easy and as she is growing up, she realises things aren’t going to work out the way she had planned. 

I can empathise with Erin and her family so much. The way they are written is brilliant. The style brings us right into Erin’s head, we see everything the way she does and I think it’s fantastic. She is a delight with a kind heart. This was a really beautiful coming of age story. The growth throughout was realistic and had me cheering for Erin and her family. Her little brother was such a sweet, innocent character. Also fantastic female friendships for the win!!

Please Don’t Hug Me is such an easy read. The format makes it fly by. I read it a couple of hours as I couldn’t put it down. If you are after a contemporary absolutely brimming with heart, this is the book for you. It will leave you with a massive smile on your face, even after it rips your heart out. 

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Goodreads  –  Amazon  –  Released: 28th April 2020

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I want all the books

I was placing an order on Amazon the other night and after a solid hour of wishful thinking book stalking, I was led to a kindle unlimited ad. I’ve avoided kindle unlimited so far because I didn’t think it would be worth the cost, but it was a two month free trial. How could I actually pass that by… It would be crazy of me not to use this opportunity to see what it has to offer.

Apparently my ever growing piles of books and backlog of NetGalley arcs weren’t enough to make me pause, I dove in with a level of excitement I usually reserve for cake and cats.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where we get to feed that part of our soul that loves lists, by coming up with 10 things related to a certain topic. Top Ten Tuesday was originally created by The Broke and Bookish and is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future topics can be found HERE. This weeks topic is: 10 BOOKS FROM YOUR TBR THAT YOU THINK WILL BE FIVE STAR READS.

The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley

AMBITIOUS, CREATIVE, FANTASTICAL, DIVERSE, EPIC.

Once again Hurley has shown us that she is an absolute force. I can only imagine how daunting this project was purely because of how epic in scope it is. I think the word dense could be used to describe this book (I don’t mean that in a bad way), there is so much worldbuilding, there are so many characters, there are so many cultures and histories and we get to dive into it all. She doesn’t hold us back. She gives us as readers everything she has and she smashed it out of the park. This is the longest book by Hurley I have read and as with her other stories she doesn’t waste words. Every word on the page has a purpose. I fucking love that.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where we get to feed that part of our soul that loves lists, by coming up with 10 things related to a certain topic.  Top Ten Tuesday was originally created by  The Broke and Bookish) and is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future topics can be found HERE.  This weeks topic is:

Most anticipated releases of the second half of 2019 in no particular order –

1. Darkdawn (The Nevernight Chronicles) by Jay Kristoff 3rd Sep
2. Dispel Illusion (Impossible Times 3) by Mark Lawrence 14th Nov
3. Starsight (Skyward 2) by Brandon Sanderson 26th Nov
4. Meet Me in the Future: Stories by Kameron Hurley 20th Aug
5. The Wolf’s Call (Raven’s Blade #1) by Anthony Ryan 23 July
6. The Princess Beard: The Tales of Pell by Kevin Hearne and Delilah S Dawson 8th Oct
7. The Bone Ships by R.J. Barker 24th Sep
8. The Marked Prince by M.A. Grant 5th Aug
9. Monstress Vol. 4 by Marjorie M. Lui 1st Oct
10. A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie 19th Sep

And as a bonus I want to add Lauren James’s The Starlight Watchmaker, out on July 15th a middle-grade sci-fi. She writes fantastic ya sci-fi  and if you are looking for something for your kids (or yourself) to read, either of these would be a great choice.

In the interest of honesty, I will say I have already read Meet me in the Future: Stories by Kameron Hurley and it was a 5 star read. You should all go and pre-order your own copy now. And I haven’t read all the Abercrombie books, I just can’t wait to see everyone get excited for it. I know their will be some squealing over it.

 

Stacking The Shelves

A weekly post where I can brag about my new books? Yes please. Granted I definitely won’t have something to post every week, I’ll just do it as required. I will be including everything from my purchases, to NetGalley, gifts and books from authors or publishers (haha as if I’ll get a book sent to me from a publisher).