January 2020 Wrap up

Total books reads:41


 

All time favorite :
 

Mageborn

Title: Mageborn
Series : The Hollow King #1
Author: Jessica Thorne
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Rating:5

A dark and addictive fantasy read for fans of Graceling and Sarah J. Maas. The life of an orphan soldier becomes entwined with that of the mysterious heir to the throne, whose very presence draws out the secret magic living inside her: a magic that breaks every law she is duty-bound to uphold…

The room is small and dark. Row upon row of jars line the shelves, each one sealed with blood-red wax. The seal’s mark is a twisted circle of briar with gleaming, gold-tipped thorns. And in each jar a flicker of forbidden magic dances… beautiful, but deadly.

Sold to the Crown in the aftermath of the Last Great War, Grace Marchant has never known her parents. Now, she trains as an elite soldier tracking down mageborn – those born with an ancient and long-outlawed magic – and destroying them if they don’t surrender their power to the Crown.
The mageborn who submit are collared, then handed over to the King’s cousin and heir: the elusive Bastien Larelwynn, Lord of Thorns, locked away in his shadowy workshop deep inside the castle. What becomes of them is hard to say – the Lord of Thorns keeps his secrets close.
Grace has always fought the voice inside her that questions whether the law is truly just – but when her closest friend is next on Bastien’s list, Grace’s loyalties are tested to the limit. Confronting Bastien – searching his strangely compelling obsidian-black eyes for answers – Grace is shocked to feel herself begin to change, to show the first signs of the wild magic she so fears.
Only the Lord of Thorns has the power to save her and the rest of the mageborn – if he doesn’t destroy them all first…

My thoughts

Would I recommend it? Yes 

Would I read more of this series?Yes

Would I read more of this author? Yes

A great start to new fantasy series, where the introduction to the world and the magic is spot on, the characters seem to come to life off the page and the magic is unlike anything I've read so far,and the story is told in the prospective of Grace and Bastien ( Lord Thorns ),each having a reason to finding out what is happening to the mageborns and why someone or something is killing them before they themselves become next. Another thing I loved was how you see bits and pieces of Grace's unknown past and you find out that there are ways that magic can be stolen from others .And the more you read the more you see not everything is what it seems, there's twist and turns  and hiding secrets,as well lies and don't forget the  betrayals. With that said I want to thank NetGalley for letting me read and review it .

Tilling The Truth

Title: Tilling the Truth
Series :garden squad mystery #2
Author:Julia Henry
Genre: cozy mystery
Rating:5



It’s August in Goosebush, Massachusetts, and go-getter retiree Lilly Jayne and her youthful senior pals show no sign of slowing down during the lazy days of summer. But when murder mows over a pesky local, could a Garden Squad member be nurturing a deadly second act?
 
While Lilly digs into a town beautification project, her friend Tamara O’Connor has greater concerns than well-pruned geraniums. The real-estate firm owner hasn’t been shy about blaming perennial grouch Gladys Preston for thwarting her many attempts to sell off a beautiful beachside property. But accusations fly when Gladys is suddenly found dead—and Tamara is caught standing over the body with a bloody weapon in her hand . . .

As Tamara becomes the prime murder suspect, Lilly and the Garden Squad ladies set out to prove that someone planted the evidence. With a potpourri of alarming clues scattered around Goosebush, cracking this case means confronting a calculating culprit with a penchant for cutting down anyone who gets in the way . . .


My thoughts:
Would I recommend it? Yes
Would I read more of this series? Yes
Would I read more by this author? Yes
 Once again the author has done it with this cute and adorable cozy mystery even if it is the second book in a series. It's fun loving and shows the closeness of friendships, and the love of their small town,and when a murder happened, nothing is going to stop these friends in proving their friend innocent. And mixed into all of this are twist and turns, lies, and truths , secrets and dreams that are big or small, and of course don't forget about the murders , that right you've read it right because this makes you ask yourself the question has two different murders happen or is it actually one ,and if it's two was it done by the same person or by some one different and why. So with that out there I'm going to go and say thank you to NetGalley as well as the Publishers for letting me read and review it. and I can't wait for the next book.

Beautiful Liars

Title: Beautifu Liars
Author: Isabel Ashdown
Genre: thriller
Rating: 5
In the photograph Martha Benn has kept for two decades, three girls lounge on the grass during a school field trip. Beside Martha, there's Liv, petite and wickedly funny, and Juliet, their unofficial leader, brave, kind, and effortlessly beautiful. Back then, they meant the world to each other. But when Juliet disappeared, the bond between Martha and Liv unraveled too.

Martha was the last known person to see Juliet alive, and she still has no idea what happened after the two said goodnight on a towpath beside London's Regent's Canal. The next day, Juliet's abandoned bicycle was discovered, but no sign of Juliet. Without witnesses or clues, the investigation fell apart.

Martha, now a TV celebrity preparing to host a show investigating cold cases, finally has a chance to get answers. As Martha tries to piece together what happened to Juliet, she realizes that her memories of those long-ago bonds may not tell the whole story. And someone else may know more about Juliet's fate, and their friendship, than she could ever have imagined . . .

My thoughts:
Would I recommend it ? Yes
Will I read more by this author?yes
Once I started reading it I just couldn't stop, because the first few pages had me hooked and wouldn't let go. As for the author herself she has a way  of writing a story that weaves an atmospheric, gripping, and character driven psychological thriller that is non stop with twist and turns and characters that make you either like them or hate them , as well as some that just comes off the page as down right creepy and crazy .With that said I want to thank NetGalley for letting me read and review it .

Death at Hungerford Stairs

Title: Death at Hungerford Stairs
Series: Charles Dickinson investigations #2
Author: J.C.Briggs
Genre: historical fiction mystery
Rating:4


Boys are going missing from London’s slums…
London, 1849
When a boy is found drowned in the River Thames at Hungerford Stairs, novelist Charles Dickens and Superintendent Jones of Bow Street are mystified to discover that the child is not the missing youngster for whom they have been searching.
As Dickens and Jones delve deeper into London’s poverty-stricken backstreets, they stumble across two more bodies.
A serial killer is on the loose. And Charles is terrified that someone close to him may be one of the victims.
With a strange image of a mask sketched next to the corpses, could the murderer be leaving a trail for the detectives to follow…?
Or will the Death at Hungerford Stairs remain unsolved…?


My thoughts:
Would I recommend it? Yes
Will I read more of this series? Yes
Would I read more of by this author? Yes
Once again the author takes us back to London 1849, and this time it's a little bit darker and twisted then before because this time someone is praying on the innocent lives of children. And Charles Dickinson and his friend is off to find out who ,why and to out a stop to it before anymore more boys die. But not only does Mr Dickinson has that to figure out ,he has to find a list boy and his dog, and the story also shows how people's beloved pets where taking and either sold back to them for money or force to fight. It also brings to live how hard the lives of people was doing that time period as well. With that said I want to thank Netgalley for letting me read and review it .

Never -Contented Things

Title: Never -Contented Things
Author: Sarah Porter
Genre:Young Adult
Rating : 1


  Seductive. Cruel. Bored.
Be wary of…

Prince and his fairy courtiers are staggeringly beautiful, unrelentingly cruel, and exhausted by the tedium of the centuries ― until they meet foster-siblings Josh and Ksenia. Drawn in by their vivid emotions, undying love for each other, and passion for life, Prince will stop at nothing to possess them.

First seduced and then entrapped by the fairies, Josh and Ksenia learn that the fairies' otherworldly gifts come at a terrible price ― and they must risk everything in order to reclaim their freedom

My thoughts:
Would I recommend it: No
Would I read anything else by this author? no
I really want to to like it , and I went in expect it to be dark and creepy as well as some what twisted ,but while it was a bit dark ,it wasn't what I was expecting at all, and the way the author wrote it kind of throw me .And it was a struggle to try and understand what in the world was going on, as well as try and get though it, but non the less I did finished and not once did I enjoy it at all because after I finish it I was like what did I just read, and other thing I kept asking myself why in the world did i pick it up in the first place and then it hit me the only reason was because of the cover ,will I guess the saying is true in this case : never judge a book by its cover. With that said I want to thank NetGalley for letting me read and review it.

Snowball

Title : Snowball
Author: Gregory Bastianelli
Genre: Horror
Rating :4
A group of motorists become stranded on a lonely stretch of highway during a Christmas Eve blizzard and fight for survival against an unnatural force in the storm. The gathered survivors realize a tenuous connection among them means it may not be a coincidence that they all ended up on this highway. An attempt to seek help leads a few of the travelers to a house in the woods where a twisted toymaker with a mystical snow globe is hell bent on playing deadly games with a group of people just trying to get home for the holidays. FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

My thoughts
Would I recommend it ? Yes
Will I read more by this author? Yes
I can't believe it took me this long to pick it up, as soon as I read the first couple of pages I was hooked, and i do have to say after reading this book that I'll at a snowman the same way ever again.It was the perfect read for a cold snowy day ,and that made it even more spooky .Not only that but it gives of vibes of these movies which I've seen bits and pieces of and after reading this I don't think I want to see them, and the movies are Krampus, Jack Frost and and a Christmas Horror Story. With that said I want to thank the Publishers as well as NetGalley for letting me read and review it.

The Dilemma

Title: The Dilemma
Author: B.A.Paris
Genre:
Rating:3
Livia is finally having the birthday party she always dreamed of. When she and her husband Adam fell pregnant as teenagers, she was disowned by her parents. Their marriage has had its ups and downs, but now, twenty years on, they are blissfully happy now with their two grown-up children, Josh and Marnie. And tonight, Adam is throwing Livia the party of a lifetime, to make up for the fairytale wedding they could never have.

Marnie has been studying abroad and can’t make it to the party. Livia can’t help but be slightly grateful for this, as she’s recently uncovered a secret about their daughter which, if revealed, will shake the foundation of their family to its core. For just one night, Livia wants everything to be perfect.

Adam, meanwhile, has set up another surprise for his wife: Marnie will be secretly flying back for the family celebration. But soon it emerges that Adam is faced with a dilemma of his own, and he too may have to keep a terrible secret. After all, if you could give the person you love the most in the world a few more hours of happiness, you would . . . wouldn’t you? As the day of the party dawns, one thing is clear: Marnie’s arrival could shatter 

My thoughts
Would I recommend it? Yes
Would I read more by this author?yes
I was so happy when I got an email from St.Martins Press inviting me to read her new book, because of the two I've read I ended up loving them, and I didn't even know she was coming out with a new one until I saw the email ,and I was like yes please ,it even made its way on to my most anticipated reads for this year, bit sadly it didn't work for me, while I did like the concept of the story and as always her characters came to life it just didn't have her normal punch that her other two books (The Breakdown and Bring Me Back),and while I know and understand that every book is going to be different this one just didn't want to hold my attention at all,it was just boring even though it was a spectacular emotional display of love and deceit in a marriage. With that said I want to thank St.Martins Press as well as NetGalley for letting me read and review it , and I can't wait to to read more by this author .

The Girl from Widow Hills

Title:The Girl From Widow Hill

Author: Megan Miranda

Genre: psychological Thriller

Rating: 5

Everyone knows the story of “the girl from Widow Hills.”

Arden Maynor was just a child when she was swept away while sleepwalking during a terrifying rainstorm and went missing for days. Strangers and friends, neighbors and rescue workers, set up search parties and held vigils, praying for her safe return. Against all odds, she was found, alive, clinging to a storm drain. The girl from Widow Hills was a living miracle. Arden’s mother wrote a book. Fame followed. Fans and fan letters, creeps, and stalkers. And every year, the anniversary. It all became too much. As soon as she was old enough, Arden changed her name and disappeared from the public eye.

Now a young woman living hundreds of miles away, Arden goes by Olivia. She’s managed to stay off the radar for the last few years. But with the twentieth anniversary of her rescue approaching, the media will inevitably renew its interest in Arden. Where is she now? Soon Olivia feels like she’s being watched and begins sleepwalking again, like she did long ago, even waking outside her home. Until late one night she jolts awake in her yard. At her feet is the corpse of a man she knows—from her previous life, as Arden Maynor.

And now, the girl from Widow Hills is about to become the center of the story, once again, in this propulsive page-turner from suspense master Megan Miranda..

My thoughts
Would I recommend it ? Yes
Would I read anything else by this author? Yes
Wow other win for this author, so far besides this one I've read All the Missing Girls , The Last Houseguest, The Perfect Stranger.And all of them just like this was and is five start reads for me, in fact I would go as far and say that this one is my all time second favorite book of her while All the missing girls is my all time favorite one.Why is this my second all time favorite book over her other two books The Perfect Stranger and the Last Houseguest you may be wounding and the answer is because it's more dark and twisted then they are, and it makes you question everything you thought you knew about Olivia. And to tell the truth even though I give the other two books 5 stars and they deserved them this one was everything that I love when it comes to a thriller fast paced, heart pounding, non stop action. With that said I want to thank Simon &Schuster as well as NetGalley for letting me read and review not only one of my most anticipated reads but also one of my top books for January 2020.

Legion of Fire

Title: Legion of Fire
Series: Luke Jensen Bounty Hunter #6
Author: William W.Johnstone & J.A.Johnstone
Genre: western
Rating: 4


 Johnstone Country. Frontier Spirit Lives Here.

Luke Jensen comes from a righteous brood. Survival is in his blood. And he’s burned enough gunpowder to forge out his own legend on the frontier as the toughest bounty hunter who ever stalked his prey . . .
 
THE HUNTING PARTY
 
When Luke Jensen traps fugitive Ben Craddock in Arapaho Springs, he’s ready to collect on his bounty. But the job’s not done—not by a long shot. A raid by a savage gang known as the Legion of Fire has left the peaceful settlement looted, burned to the ground, and the ashes scoured for female hostages—including the marshal’s daughter. For Luke this is more than a hunt. It’s now a rescue. And with Craddock busted out of jail and thrown in with the gang, it’s also revenge. Wrangling a small posse, Luke heads for the Legion’s hideout in the Kansas badlands. Outnumbered, they can’t risk an ambush. Instead, it’s going to take cutthroat cunning for the outlaws of the Legion of Fire to go down in flames—one by one.

My thoughts
Would I recommend it ? Yes
Will I read more of the series ? Yes
Would I read more by this author? Yes

Very well written ,and the characters come to life before your very eyes, but then again they will because it's William W.Johnstone and J.A.Johmstone. And even though this is book 6 and my first time reading this series, it's not my first time reading anything by these author's ,in fact their two of my favorite western author's to read, just because of how well their stories being back memories of watching old western movies with my dad. So if your looking for something like that to read and get lost in then check them out as well as this series .With that said I want to thank NetGalley and Kensington Books for letting me read and review it .