Review: A Clash Of Kings by George R.R. Martin || This Is How You Write Multiple POVs

A Clash Of Kings by George R.R. Martin

Pages: 1010

Genre: High Fantasy

Series: A Song of Ice and Fire #2

Publication Date: November 1998

A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk at night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel . . . and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.

This review is for book 2 in a series. It's spoiler-free, but you might want to check out my review of A Game of Thrones.

Top Ten Tuesday: Places I’d Never Want To Live (But Would Make Excellent Book Settings)

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is bookish worlds I’d never want to live in. That topic doesn’t work for me because I mostly read realistic fiction, so I’m doing my own thing this week. Here is a list of real-life places where I’d never want to live, but would make excellent book settings.

Places I’d Never Want To Live (But Do Want To Read About)

The Sunday Post #148

Call now to order your vary own barrel of lovely ladies. Only three easy payments of $19.95. Operators are standing by . . .

The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, and share news. It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? is hosted by Book Date. I get to tell you what I’ve read recently.

Happy Memorial Day to everybody who's celebrating.

The Sunshine Blogger Award

Thank you to Erica @ Erica Robyn Reads for tagging me and asking these awesome questions. I believe that this tag has a lot of rules? Yeah, nobody’s got time for that. I’m just going to answer Erica’s questions. Let’s go!

The Sunshine Blogger Award

Discussion: Ten Profound Thoughts While Binge-Watching Outlander

The 2018 Discussion Challenge is hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction & It Starts At Midnight

If you’ve been on this blog in the last few weeks, you might know that I’ve hit a bit of a shit pit in life. I haven’t been able to concentrate on reading. Or blogging. Or anything. Instead of staring at the walls and feeling sorry for myself, I decided to do something super important. I binge-watched the TV show Outlander.

What the heck is Outlander? The show is based on the book series by Diana Gabaldon. It follows a British nurse, Claire Randall, who tumbles through a magic rock and finds herself in 1700s Scotland. Since she’s stuck in a place with rampant disease and no Internet, she makes the best of a bad situation and falls in love with Jamie Fraser, a Highland warrior. Together, they get involved in the Jacobite rebellions.

Mini Reviews: Tin Man || Some Possible Solutions: Stories

The Sunday Post #147

My mountain conquerors
Dakota: 10/26/03 - 9/11/15
Cheyenne: 10/31/06 - 5/10/18 

The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, and share news. It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? is hosted by Book Date. I get to tell you what I’ve read recently.

Mini Reviews: Saint Death || The Long Shadow Of Small Ghosts

These books seem like the fiction and nonfiction sides of the same story, so I thought I’d review them together.

Newbery Mini Reviews: The Midwife’s Apprentice || It’s Like This, Cat || . . . And Now Miguel

One of my long-term goals is to read all of the Newbery Award winners. Here are some winners that I’ve read recently . . .

Newbery Mini Reviews: The Midwife’s Apprentice || It’s Like This, Cat || . . . And Now Miguel

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Didn’t Like But Don’t Regret Reading

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is books I didn’t like but don’t regret reading. I’d normally avoid a topic like this because I don’t enjoy being overly negative, but I know that you guys like snark and unpopular opinions, so let’s give it a shot.

Normally, I’d stop reading a book I didn’t like, but I’ll push through a book if it’s culturally relevant. These are all books I pushed through. Some of them are classics, and some of them are books that got a lot of hype. I didn’t like them, but I don’t regret reading them.

Review: The Smell Of Other People’s Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock || This Is How You Write Setting

The Smell of Other People's Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

Pages: 240
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Publication Date: February 2016

Ruth has a secret that she can’t hide forever. Dora wonders if she can ever truly escape where she comes from, even when good luck suddenly comes her way. Alyce is trying to reconcile her desire to dance with the life she’s always known on her family’s fishing boat. Hank and his brothers decide it’s safer to run away than to stay home—until one of them ends up in terrible danger.

Guys, I finally read the Smelly Houses book! You were right; it’s brilliant. I’m pretty sure this is my new favorite book of 2018 (so far).

Discussion: How Accurate Are Amazon Recommendations?

The 2018 Discussion Challenge is hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction & It Starts At Midnight

A few months ago, I posted a discussion about the accuracy of the book recommendations that Goodreads offers its users. A few commenters suggested that I look at Amazon’s book recommendations and see how they compare. That’s what we’re doing today.

Top Ten Tuesday: Blue-tiful Books

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is books with your favorite color on the cover. At first I thought, That’s easy. I’ll just go on Goodreads, borrow some blue book covers, and slap them on the blog. Then I thought, No, Aj, you know how to be way more pretentious than that. So, here are some photos of artfully (?) arranged blue books.

The Sunday Post #146

Because everybody needs a chubby chicken jockey in their life.

The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, and share news. It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? is hosted by Book Date. I get to tell you what I’ve read recently.

Review: Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

Series: Arc of a Scythe #2

Pages: 504

Genre: Young Adult Dystopia

Publication Date: January 2018

Rowan has gone rogue, and has taken it upon himself to put the Scythedom through a trial by fire. Literally. In the year since Winter Conclave, he has gone off-grid, and has been striking out against corrupt scythes—not only in MidMerica, but across the entire continent. He is a dark folk hero now—“Scythe Lucifer”—a vigilante taking down corrupt scythes in flames.

Citra, now a junior scythe under Scythe Curie, sees the corruption and wants to help change it from the inside out, but is thwarted at every turn, and threatened by the “new order” scythes. Realizing she cannot do this alone—or even with the help of Scythe Curie and Faraday, she does the unthinkable, and risks being “deadish” so she can communicate with the Thunderhead—the only being on earth wise enough to solve the dire problems of a perfect world. But will it help solve those problems, or simply watch as perfection goes into decline?

This review is for the second book in a series. I tried really hard to avoid spoilers, but you should probably check out my review of Scythe.

Do we have a release date for the next book in this series? I need it right now. I am not okay, guys! I’m deadish. A book shouldn’t just end like that! What happens next?

April Wrap-Up

April Snapshots

The pear tree is blooming.

Creepy bunny krispie treats.

Top Ten Tuesday: Killing Lions For Books?

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is books I’d slay a lion to get early. First off, there will be no slaying of lions in this post. Lions are noble beasts, and we’re civilized souls. We will bravely endure the long, cold weeks between now and the release date of our much-anticipated reading material. Then we will procure said reading material from a friendly local tome merchant. No lion slaying necessary.

Slay, baby, slay!

Anyway, here are some intriguing books that are coming out in the next few months.