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Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig

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“Shadows in the corridor loomed, only to scurry away. They seemed taller in the witching hour, dawn mere hours away.” In this sequel to One Dark Window , Nightmare has finally taken over Elspeth’s mind, leaving her imprisoned in the dark. Ravyn, who is desperate to save her and break the curse on Blunder, must find the last Providence card before time runs out. With Hauth on his deathbed, Elm finds himself becoming an unwilling heir to the throne. I loved the plot of this a little bit better than the first. I think maybe the first book was simply introducing the world… The second book is more of a quest as the future of Blunder hangs in the balance. There was no waffling about either, nothing extraneous included. RG knew where she wanted her characters to go and she sent them there. The romantasy elements were really fun. The story is passionate without being super smutty. Ravyn’s determined to save Elspeth even if it means allying himself with the monster that lives in her head, even ...
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The Writing in the Water by John Ajvide Lindqvist

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“He didn’t particularly like being himself, but he didn’t want to be anyone else either.” Julia Malmros is a successful mystery novelist with a whole career ahead of her. When she’s asked to ghostwrite for the Millennium series she reaches out to Kim Ribbing, a mysterious hacker, to help her prepare for the task. Olof Helander is throwing a Midsummer’s Eve party when armed assassins unleash a rain of bullets. Julia and Kim find themselves drawn into the violent murder when they discover the brutal aftermath. This author is on my auto-buy list. Doesn’t matter what it is, if he wrote it, I’ll give it a try. Up until now, I’ve only known him as a horror writer. I was deeply intrigued when I saw this newest translated novel was a mystery. The characters are interesting to say the least. Julia is a retired cop, turned crime-writer investigating the murder of a childhood friend. Kim, a hacker, lives his life under the oppressive weight of childhood trauma as revealed in flashbacks throughou...
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A-Z Reflections

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For this year’s A-Z Challenge, I decided to focus my posts on bookish topics. I don’t think all of them were as bookish as I wanted them to be, but I took a shot at it. I’m proud to say this is the third year in a row I managed to blog from A-Z without missing any letters. If you want to take a look at some of my topics, I posted a list here . I am disappointed in myself though. The difference between this year and the previous two, is I didn’t have time to blog as thoroughly as I wanted. I usually visit ten new blogs a day, but my blogging this year was restricted to weekends. I tried to visit everyone who visited me, but some days that just wasn’t possible. So I apologize if you were kind enough to visit me and I couldn’t make it to your blog in return. Mostly when I look back at this challenge, I consider it a semi-success. I found some new blogs and rejuvenated my interest in some old ones. I managed to post from A-Z even if I didn’t have time to enjoy as many of your blogs as I ...
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The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

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"When the world of man collapses in ruin, beauty will take over. " This is the sequel to Interview with the Vampire , where Lestat has returned to the limelight quite literally. Lestat has become a rock star, flaunting his vampireness to the world. He, having read Louis’s book, has decided to publish one of his own. His own memoir details his life as a human, his transformation into a vampire, and his quest for knowledge. I actually liked this book a little more than Interview with the Vampire but not by much. Lestat is super narcissistic which is on par with his character from IwtV .   But unlike Louis’s story, Lestat has been changed from a creepy pedo into a killer of killers which makes him a little more likable, but makes the story inconsistent. I like the question it presents though: Which vampire is telling the truth? As a human, he was a noble who felt trapped by his family. He longed to be an actor from a very young age and when he meets Nikki, a musician, that ...
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The Sunday Post

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  Happy Sunday! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your weekend. The Sunday Post is a news meme created by CaffeinatedReviewer . I'm also linking up with Sunday Salon at ReaderBuzz . I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. The weather has been wild this month for this time of year. We got a heatwave of 80 degrees and then we dropped right down to a more normal 50-60 with rain. It is environmentally concerning, but at the same time, I’m so ready for the summer heat. This year I finished my A-Z Challenge . You can find a complete list of my topics here if you’re interested. I considered it a semi-success. I did manage to post for every letter of the alphabet, and I tried to visit all of those who visited me, but I didn’t have the time I wanted to visit every blog I wanted. When I did visit blogs, I stuck mostly to Blogspot/Blogger blogs because they load easier on my computer and I was a bit frustrated that some blogs I liked ...
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2026 A-Z Topics

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My original idea for this year’s A-Z Blogging Challenge was to post posts on bookish topics. I don’t think all my topics were as bookish as they should have been, but I do think it came together quite nicely in the end. I succeeded in finishing the alphabet at any rate. I even did it without cheating on letter X with Ex like I usually do.  Here’s a complete list of my A-Z Topics: A = Adaptations B = Books C =  Contemplate D = Dystopia E = Encyclopedias F = Favorites G = Galactic H =  Horses I = Inclusive J = Just Reading K = Kaboodle L = Listening M =Myth N = Nonsense (banned books) O = Opinionated P = Podcast Q = Qualifications R = Retellings S = Short Stories T = Terror U = Unbuntu V = Vacationer W = World Building X = Xenophobia Y = Your Genres Z = Zeitgeist
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Friday Book Beginnings & Book Blog Hop

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Book Beginnings on Fridays  by  Rose City Reader  -  Share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now. "The darkness bled into itself- no beginning, no end." Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gilig So I've only just started this book but I love that first line of the story sets up for a gothic tone. Now I have to find out if that tone can be maintained. Book Blogger Hop Q : Is there a book you've been meaning to read forever but haven’t gotten to yet? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer) A : Justify: 111 Days to Triple Crown Glory by Lenny Shulman . I sometimes add books that I plan on reading right away to my Currently-Reading shelf on GoodReads... and I think I put it on that shelf two years ago which isn't quite forever, but long enough considering I own it. Am I currently reading it? No, I am not. And I can't j...
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