2018 was a pretty slow reading time for me. I only read 27 books, and most of them in the last few months.  To keep from listing them all, since I’ve not done a list in a while, I’m going to highlight a few top reads for me.

Some may interest you, some may not. I hope it gives you at least a few ideas!!

Onto the post:

What I Read

[easyazon_link identifier=”0062797611″ locale=”US” tag=”redefiperfec-20″]Kill the Queen[/easyazon_link]

I have had one of Estep’s books on my TBR for AGES…and it wasn’t this book. I should have read the other b/c that series has about 17 books in it already. This one? Well, only the first book is out and I’ll have to wait for the next…I’m not good at waiting…

But it was SO GOOD. The world building was spectacular.  The heroine was awesome…a little broken, but learns to fight for herself…not because of a man in her life, but in spite of his presence.  Some of it was predictable (hello, loverboy)…but much of it kept me not only guessing, but on the edge of my seat.

It’s not pretty…I mean, they are gladiators and there is death…at the hands of the heroine. She builds her own strength and with the help of others and her own grit, learns to use a power she’s long kept hidden.

I cannot wait for the second in the series and what it means for this intrepid band of gladiators and their new queen.

 

[easyazon_link identifier=”073875840X” locale=”US” tag=”redefiperfec-20″]Tarot Elements[/easyazon_link]

*I received a copy of this book via netgalley. All opinions are my own*

Still available only as a pre-order (Release of March, 2019)…I suggest getting this one in print as soon as humanly possible.  If you’re interested in tarot at all, if you’re interested in SELF HELP at all…this book is amazing at both.

Probably the first book I’d ever tag as “self-help for pagans”…it’s a great tool to, as the cover says, reset your life.  The readings focus on you and your life and aren’t meant to be quickly breezed through. Some of the stuff that comes up will be ROUGH, and deep, and you’ll have to dig through the depths to face what you need to…but isn’t that what all good self-help books do?

I recommend it if you’re new to tarot (and if you are, add in Cynova’s other book, [easyazon_link identifier=”0738750778″ locale=”US” tag=”redefiperfec-20″]Kitchen Table Tarot[/easyazon_link], which is so easy to read and so beautifully explains the cards you will carry it with you everywhere)…or if you’re experienced…or if you just need a good kick in the ass to get yourself out of your slump.

Written with Cynova’s brilliant ease with words, that come across like an old friend across the kitchen table (see what I did there?)…it’s an excellent read that really makes you think.

[easyazon_link identifier=”B01LW3WQ6K” locale=”US” tag=”redefiperfec-20″]A Glimmer of Hope[/easyazon_link]

I got this as an Amazon First Read about 3 days before my netgalley approval. So technically, I should disclaimer that I got this via netgalley, but I started reading it before I got approved…so…anyway, all opinions are, as always, my own.

I’d never read any of the series this is a spinoff of, so I had no idea what I was getting into.  I really bought it based on the cover.

I really ended up enjoying it. In fact, it makes me want to read the series this stemmed off of, as well as the rest of this series itself…and hope it lives up to this one.

The heroine was likable – although at a few points I did want to smack her…she did go through a huge, traumatic event so some of her wariness and unease was to be expected for sure.

The accompanying cast is fun, dangerous, and intriguing. I look forward to learning about them some more.

 

[easyazon_link identifier=”1250147905″ locale=”US” tag=”redefiperfec-20″]The Hazel Wood[/easyazon_link]

Look at the gorgeous cover…it’s even more gorgeous in person as it shimmers and shines in the light.  This is the reason I picked up the book…and I bought it because the blurb intrigued me.

This is the book that got me reading again.  Not at first, as I started reading it in March of last year…and then promptly put it down for six months. Not because I wasn’t intrigued by it…but because life.  Once I picked it up again, I finished it in a couple of days…devoured it is probably more apt.

The dark and twisted fairy tales played such a mind-bending part in the story it was amazing.  The fairy tales that were spoken of reminded me of how dark the grimm fairy tales originally were before they were prettied up for film.

The MC was intriguing and I’m so glad that this book took a played out trope and turned it WAY on it’s head…something completely unexpected in a YA novel (not telling you what, for it’ll give it away).

This book is spine-tingling, nerve-wracking, exciting, and page-turning excitement.  It’s a must read in my book.

 

[easyazon_link identifier=”0312360800″ locale=”US” tag=”redefiperfec-20″]First Grave On The Right[/easyazon_link]

*I received this book via netgalley. All opinions are my own*

Confession – I first picked up this book to read quite a few years ago. Everything I’d heard about it made it seem like it was right up my alley. Here’s the thing…this cover I’m using? It’s not the normal cover. I use this cover because I cannot stand to look at the original for the mere fact that there is a bare foot on it. Yup. I had to take the book back to the library pretty quickly after taking it out that first time because I couldn’t stand to touch the cover that had a bare foot on it (podophobia is real, folks…it’s so real).

Soooo…fast forward to several weeks ago when Netgalley put the entire series up as a “read now” option – with the exception of book 13, which is soon to be released. I thought, maybe if it’s on my kindle and I don’t have to see the foot I can read it…and jumped on them. I’m so glad I did and took the chance.

As I’d suspected all along, these books were right up my alley. Charley is an amazing heroine. The book was clever, tension-filled, hilarious, and smart.  I can’t wait to continue on the series (I do have all 13 now…woohoo!)

[easyazon_link identifier=”0399185798″ locale=”US” tag=”redefiperfec-20″]The Princess Diarist (Audiobook)[/easyazon_link]

Whoosh…this was a rough one.  Mostly in it Carrie Fisher makes several references to her, and her mothers, eventual demises…which happened a scant two years ago.  Hearing such words in her own voice gave them a bittersweet pang that hit me in the heart strings hard.

All debate over the validity of her relationship with “Mr. Ford” can be had elsewhere, for I don’t care whether this was the recollections of a woman on a time that changed her life…or stories taken from the musings of a girl on the cusp of womanhood with a crush she dealt with through flowery, rhyming prose in diaries between takes on a movie she had no idea would one day very soon rocket her to stardom.

What I do care about is that the book was a lovely read, and a compelling look at what happened in a more innocent time before stardom…and the lap dances it led her to in the future long after her youthful days and dreams were gone.

It was a beautiful look inside a soul gone too soon.

 

What I’m Reading Now

[easyazon_link identifier=”0778324338″ locale=”US” tag=”redefiperfec-20″]Poison Study[/easyazon_link]

This is a re-read for me. I initially read this book in 2012(!!) and loved it. I never continued on with the series, though. Either lack of interest in reading, or forgetting about it when I am reading, I can’t say.

What I can say is that this series, and the subsequent series after, keep showing up in my feeds on Goodreads, Facebook, Netgalley, you name it. Making subtle hints that I need to revisit it again.

So, I’ve picked the book back from the library and have already begun to re-read it. Odds are that I’ll get halfway through and remember the whole thing and have to put it down to skip to the next one, but maybe I won’t. Either way, I’m looking forward to getting back into this fascinating world.

 

[easyazon_link identifier=”0316264350″ locale=”US” tag=”redefiperfec-20″]Conspiracy of Ravens[/easyazon_link]

Oh my, oh my…this is the sequel to a story I first read several years ago, and re-read in 2017 with the goal of continuing and never really have.  It’s a fun series and I have not one excuse as to why I’ve never finished.

Well, on a recent library run I spotted the third book of the series on the shelf…and rushed to get this one. I have it on my kindle (thanks to netgalley)…but I’m hoping having the physical book, and a deadline, will get me moving on reading it past the first 10 pages.

Wish me luck.

I’m gonna need it. Time’s already running out and I haven’t started, too busy reading the book up there ^^.

 

[easyazon_link identifier=”1250005914″ locale=”US” tag=”redefiperfec-20″]Second Grave on the Left[/easyazon_link]

Yuppers. I enjoyed book 1 so much, I’m ready to dive into book 2. I can’t wait to see what sort of trouble Charley gets herself into this time.

Also, more Reyes?

Um…YES.

Oh, to have more time to read all the time.

 

[easyazon_link identifier=”B07C96XW1D” locale=”US” tag=”redefiperfec-20″]Smoke & Summons[/easyazon_link]

You know those “must read” authors you find? The ones that…you don’t even read the blurb…you see the book and buy it?

Well, that’s Charlie Holmberg for me.  Her Paper Magician series captivated me, so when this came up as a January Kindle First Read, I grabbed it without another thought.

So it’s a new add…but one I must read for sure.

Along with the rest of her books that I’ve stashed away to read.

 

*~*

I’m so glad I’m on a reading kick again. I have a LOT to catch up on.  So stick around…more updates coming soon!