Not a spoiler because I'm not referencing a book but when an intimate scene is the woman's first or second time ever having sex with someone and it's in water and it's supposed to be mind blowing... c'mon, the pleasure isn't realistic. This bit of information goes out to the authors out there. It takes a few times until your body can handle h20 sex.

"Are we human or are we..." readers? I am a good reader but a marginal reviewer at explaining why a book is worth your time. I almost never put down a book. It's whatever I'm into at the time... deep, shallow, predictable, surprising, on the edge of my seat etc. Most hit the mark of what I am looking for in the moment. At some point, I will add the books I have read to my "read" list. There are a lot. SEE MORE BELOW...

I enjoyed this article as someone who has an audiobook and a book going on at the same time. I've had to re-read books too when it's a long time between releases. "Oral storytelling predates writing by millennia, and many of the oldest stories in our literary canon existed for centuries as bardic tales before they were put down in print." https://www.wired.com/story/is-listening-to-audiobooks-really-reading/amp

It's not often that I find so many books in an article that look good. But this list is promising. Also has sequels etc. that I didn't know were out. "October's Scary Big Pile of New Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Books", https://gizmodo.com/56-new-scifi-fantasy-horror-books-releasing-oct-2022-1849503...

I have quite a few to review. I will over the next few days. Before I do, can I say that it is very hard when you start a series and have to wait months for the next installment. Sure, it's hard for most everyone. But it's especially hard when you blow through a print book in 2 days or less & several audiobooks a week. It's really hard to remember plot lines. I've started too many new series in the past week. I'll have to make notes.

I haven't stayed up reading until 5 am in awhile. I was 44% through this book when I picked it up last night and I couldn't put it down.

I need a few book suggestions. I feel bad asking because it's been two years since I've been on Litsy. Job change, quarantine and all. I've probably read and/or listened to 200+ books in that time. I promise to make a list of memorable books if you share your favorites. BTW, I worked on a COVID-19 research project so that took up all my time until now. Thank you vaccines. I have more time to read. I ♡ you Litsy.

So I'm either PMSIng or whatever. But I've been reading a lot of Jennifer Armentrout books. They pretty much follow a format but I kind of like them for a night read. This is a teen series (not explicit). I started reading and thought... this is too young for me. Fast forward, I'm crying near the end of book 2.

It is a little Artic monkeys - Do I wanna know/Natalie merchant - My Skin

Finally... free on American TV... "A Discovery of Witches" begins on BBC America on Sunday, April 7th at 9 pm (EST).

Does anyone else read a book at the same time they are listening to a different audiobook? I audiobook by day and read at night (always 2 different books)... unless I have free time and can read my book from the Google books app on my tablet, computer or phone. I'm just wondering if I'm alone in being near constantly submerged in a story?

This is a YA novel but the brutality and desolation in some parts brought me to tears. When Thora/Theo‘s country is conquered, her mother the queen killed and her people enslaved, the Kaiser decides to keep her as a prisoner rather than killing her. He uses every opportunity to brutalize, ridicule and shame her. 10 years later, he forces her to do something so horrible, it propels her on a mission to make him & all his people pay.

A different perspective from the original story. Unable to deal with their son Victor‘s fits, the Frankenstein family takes Elizabeth in as a ward. From an early age, she knows that Victor‘s emotional stability and happiness is all that keeps her safe. They form a weird codependency. When Victor leaves for school and does not correspond for a long time, she sets out to find him. She discovers his madness and goes to great lengths to cover it up.

This is the story of a “resurrectionist” (fancy name for grave robber) in the mid-1800‘s. She robs corpses from graves for medical school dissections and exhibitions in the spirit of “Barnum‘s American Museum” & “The Mütter Museum”. Meanwhile, she is the most sought after specimen around. What I liked about the book, besides being morbidly fascinating, is that there are so many twists and turns that you do not see coming.

As an adult, I enjoyed this book meant for kids. It‘s the Napoleonic Wars but with dragons. A navel Captain captures a ship with a dragon egg onboard. Dragons bond immediately to a person so they try to make it back to England before the egg hatches – that doesn‘t happen & before the Capt. knows it he is in the Aerial Corps. Temeraire is endearing as he learns about the world and the bond between he and the Capt. develops. Many teary moments.

I'm reviewing out of reading order. Today's reviews are the one-offs (except in the case of the Ash Princess, I've just started the second book). Tomorrow I'll start on series. I have to go back and see where each book stopped/started in the story telling.

I can't believe I'm this far behind in my reviews. I've been on a Brandon Sanderson run and it is too hard to tear myself away. I'm a third of the way through Oathbringer now. I went out of "order" on the Cosmere series although you can do one or all the series and it won't spoil anything. Just make sure you don't wreck anything for yourself by reading an Arcanum Unbounded novella out of order.

http://recaptains.co.uk Recaptains was created in 2013 to spoil books on purpose. The founders realised that there are too many book series for people to keep up with, so they decided to create a website that would cater to readers everywhere. While the primary focus is Young Adult fiction, Recaptains is also working on a lot of recaps for adult fantasy and science fiction series.

So I'm about 25 books behind in reviewing but I did find this handy website yesterday that gives recaps on books. I don't know how well it will work for all books but it did help me on a sequel I'm about to start. I read so much that I need a bit of a reminder when a book comes out a year or two after the first. https://www.bookseriesrecaps.com/

If you like "The Name of the Wind" and are willing to switch an epic story with alchemy to an epic story with allomancy, you will like "Mistborn". P.S. The trilogy is actually finished, so you won't be left hanging.

My little book reading interrupter asleep in her "bread" bed.

AMC premier will let you watch the first episode of Discovery of Witches for free but you have to subscribe to watch the remaining 7 episodes. I really want to watch the whole show because I loved the book. Is there any way to watch it through England's Sky TV where it played for free?

The dying words of Lark‘s mother cursed her to live without a voice and bound her father‘s life to Lark‘s. For if she dies, he dies. She cursed the king and his son as well. Her father wants to be king more than anything. In a brilliant move, the prince (now king) takes Lark as a hostage thwarting her father from making a move on the throne. Lark soon learns that the king has a magical secret/curse too. They need each other to be free.

This book made me think of the Amish in a weird way. This community lives apart from ordinary humans only doing business with them from time to time. Cali‘s aunt refuses to do magic and hires an outsider to fix up her home and that is where the story really begins. I thought it would be a love story and in some ways it is but it is a story of sadness, truths withheld and corrupt leaders as well. Heartbreaking in the end.

Novak blends real and fantasy so well. The main character is a Jew and descended from moneylenders. She becomes one herself and is skilled at it. She boasts that whatever she touches turns to gold. This catches the eye of a mythical creature called the Staryk King. He brings her increasing quantities of Staryk silver to turn to gold. The web of characters and predicaments that arise from spinning silver are priceless.

Book 3 in the “And I Darken” Trilogy. Lada rules Wallachia and the people love her. She won‘t play by the rules, paying taxes and giving conscripted slaves to the Ottoman Empire. Instead, she does so many brutal things that war with the Ottomans led by Mehmed (who is in love with her) is inevitable. It‘s an epic conclusion to this story.

Book 2 in the “And I Darken” Trilogy. The Dracul siblings are on their own paths in this book. Lada is ruthlessly fighting with her handpicked Janissaries trying to restore herself to her rightful throne in Wallachia. Meanwhile Mehmed sent her brother Radu to Constantinople as a spy. His time there disillusions him somewhat to the cost of war in the name of faith.

This story reimagines Vlad Dracula as a girl instead of a boy. The account follows some of the bones of Dracula‘s real life story but weaves an intricate tale around it. Much of the historical backdrop is correct though. I loved fierce Lada. The story begins with she and her brother‘s early years when they were held hostage in the Ottoman Empire. I highly recommend!

This is why I have about 20 books to review. I won't put my book down to sleep or post a review. I am going to post a few tonight though.

Book 3 of the “Three Series”. Not my favorite and don‘t listen on audiobook or the new narrator will frustrate you. The third couple is raunchy, it‘s hard to get into their “romance”, and the confrontation/conclusion of the prophecy is confusing and anticlimactic. Boo to the ending.

Book 2 of the “Three Series”. This book is even sexier than the first and I highly recommend listening to the audiobook because the Scottish brogue is seductive. I enjoyed the love story (as odd as it is). There was a heartbreaking scene in the book that almost made me cry. Which is something I didn‘t expect from a paranormal romance book.

Sexy vampire story for adults. I like that the main female character is in her 40‘s. It‘s the 50 Shades of Grey of vampire stories minus the BDSM. If you‘re listening to the audiobook and are not alone, wear headphones. This is the beginning of a trilogy. The thing I didn‘t like is that they don‘t bring in the connection to the future books until the end and it‘s almost an afterthought in order to string this series together somehow.

This series has 10 books; I listened to 3 & read 3. I don‘t know if I‘ll return to the series. After the first 2 books, it became the same story with different couples (wash, rinse, repeat). The first 2 books were interesting because of the hidden world, the characters and the love triangle. I read the next few because they are short and move quickly. It was X-mas & I didn‘t want to get into something I couldn‘t put down. 1st book free on kindle.

Oh how happy I was to be back in the world of Lazlo and Sarai. This installment introduces new characters. Therefore, many twists and turns. There are so many reveals! You find out why the godspawn are blue and where they came from. There is a tie-in to Taylor‘s “Smoke & Bone Trilogy” as well. She could write a million stories about a million worlds that tie into one another if she wanted to. Two thumbs up!

Again, Laurie Forest nails it with this prequel to “The Black Witch”. Written and best read after reading “The Black Witch”. It is the story of Elloren‘s grandmother and parents. It also includes Gareth‘s parents and a certain professor we know from the first book. This is the story of how the black witch conquered Kelt rule. When one countries despotism is quashed, another rises.

“The Black Witch” story picks up where it left off. The mage council delivers racist rules by the day. It‘s an action packed book. There are a lot of twists and turns. A reveal about the shadow wand. The ending is making it hard for me to wait until the next installment comes out.

This book is a lead up to the events that begin with the wand in book 1. It is the true story of what happened with Sage. It was nice to get another person‘s perspective on Gardneria. I liked it.

I like this series and have the next book on my calendar. Magic and dystopia! Not only is this a good story with interesting characters, it weaves in a message of tolerance. The main character learns that prejudices she learned growing up are not true once you meet people and get to know them.

If you make it through the second you will find that, the last book is pretty good. There are many plot twists you will not see coming. I do wish there was a more prolonged scientific explanation at the end and more detail. However, DeStefano wraps up the trilogy neatly.

The second book in “The Chemical Garden Trilogy” is kind-of a drag. There was one interesting part but more than anything, a good portion of the book could have been whittled down. I was irritated with the main character in this book.

I cannot put into words how much I loved this book. As usual, Aelin has plans in the fire that are only revealed when they are executed so the reader is as surprised as the character. I wanted to read the book slowly but of course, I couldn‘t put it down. I felt it was a good end to the story (except the one thing she had to give up). I do wish there was a longer epilogue. Maybe a little follow-up novella will come sometime in the future?

A Better World. I finished "Kingdom of Ash" and loved it. I'll fully review it soon. I have a few others to review but I've been busy. ??

I‘m so glad I revisited this series before reading the final book (I‘m 100 pages from finishing it). I read this story the 1st time and it was hard to adjust to the audiobook narrator but I was used to her by book 3. It was a good refresher – especially the last book, “Tower of Dawn”, it wasn‘t my favorite book and I forgot all the mythology that came out of it. I had it in my head that we had left off with the ending from “Empire of Storms”.

I loved “The Glass Spare” and when I saw this dystopian series of Lauren DeStefano‘s, how could I resist? The law of unintended consequences is at play in this book as past genetic breakthroughs caused the next generations to die young – males at 25 and females at 20. Reminded me a bit of the Netflix series “Between”. Except there are older people (those that benefited) and geneticists work for a cure while girls must keep the human race going.

I am afraid I left this one for now. I may come back to it in the future. I listened to five hours of it on audiobook and while I liked two of the characters, it didn‘t really seem to be going anywhere. Like each scene was a vignette rather than part of a novel. I was bored and kept zoning out. There are many great reviews for this book. However, someone wrote that it is more like a prequel to the next two books and maybe it is.

The follow-up to The Archived was better than the first. More ass kicking, more risk of exposure and many reveals. Nothing is what it seems.

Because I loved the other V.E. or Victoria Schwab series I have read, I had to read this one. It is a completely new premise of what happens after death. Very imaginative. Mackenzie has a tough job for a teenager. This series is way more YA than the other three series of hers that I read but it's still a good read.

I am glad I stuck with this book. It was slow moving at first and lacking action. When Altan Trengsin entered the story, everything changed and became much more interesting. Moreover, the action began. For those who do not like gore – beware of the war. In addition, this author is not averse to killing off characters. I was very surprised at parts.

LOVED, LOVED this magical tale! I couldn‘t put it down and found myself unwittingly reading late into the night. It is like reading an old dark tale from long days past. If the first paragraph doesn‘t hook you, I don‘t know what will.

I‘ve read this series and am refreshing my mind before the final book comes out by listening to the audiobook. The narrator is driving me a bit crazy. First, Caelena is 18 at the beginning of this story. The narrator makes her sound like a 14 year old. Her cadence and intonation make the characters sound like petulant children when we know there are deeper emotions at work (if you read the prequels, you'd know)… continued in comments…

I haven't been able to get into "The Poppy War" so I'm procrastinating by watching Wynonna Earp after binge watching Insatiable on Netflix over the weekend. I'm not a quitter but I sure am a procrastinator. Tell me the book is going to hook me soon. 61 pages in. I've seen such great reviews.