Wishing For Wednesday #39

Okay so, this week I have two again, the first one I'm very intrigued about because I loved Maze Runner and it seems to have a similar vibe, but with a twist!
The second book...well....it's so me it's not even funny, it's literally right up my street and I'm SO EXCITED for it it's ridiculous!

The Cage

When Cora Mason wakes in a desert, she doesn't know where she is or who put her there. As she explores, she finds an impossible mix of environments—tundra next to desert, farm next to jungle, and a strangely empty town cobbled together from different cultures—all watched over by eerie black windows. And she isn't alone.

Four other teenagers have also been taken: a beautiful model, a tattooed smuggler, a secretive genius, and an army brat who seems to know too much about Cora's past. None of them have a clue as to what happened, and all of them have secrets. As the unlikely group struggles for leadership, they slowly start to trust each other. But when their mysterious jailer—a handsome young guard called Cassian—appears, they realize that their captivity is more terrifying than they could ever imagine: Their captors aren't from Earth. And they have taken the five teenagers for an otherworldly zoo—where the exhibits are humans.

As a forbidden attraction develops between Cora and Cassian, she realizes that her best chance of escape might be in the arms of her own jailer—though that would mean leaving the others behind. Can Cora manage to save herself and her companions? And if so . . . what world lies beyond the walls of their cage?

The Cage is out May 26th, pre-order your copy...here! 
Add it to your TBR...here! 

Witch Hunter

Sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Grey doesn't look dangerous. A tiny, blonde, wisp of a girl shouldn't know how to poison a wizard and make it look like an accident. Or take out ten necromancers with a single sword and a bag of salt. Or kill a man using only her thumb. But things are not always as they appear. Elizabeth is one of the best witch hunters in Anglia and a member of the king's elite guard, devoted to rooting out witchcraft and bringing those who practice it to justice. And in Anglia, the price of justice is high: death by burning.

When Elizabeth is accused of being a witch herself, she's arrested and thrown in prison. The king declares her a traitor and her life is all but forfeit. With just hours before she's to die at the stake, Elizabeth gets a visitor - Nicholas Perevil, the most powerful wizard in Anglia. He offers her a deal: he will free her from prison and save her from execution if she will track down the wizard who laid a deadly curse on him.

As Elizabeth uncovers the horrifying facts about Nicholas's curse and the unwitting role she played in its creation, she is forced to redefine the differences between right and wrong, friends and enemies, love and hate... and life and death.

The first book in an incredible new series set in a fantastical medieval world. 

Witch Hunter is out June 4th, pre-order your copy....here!

Add it to your TBR...here!

Dark Touch

Dark Touch
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Won from the publisher!

For Lily McCain, the move from local music journalist to being the incarnation of Mabe, Mother of Mortals was a surprise to say the least....and a surprise she fought at every turn. Now she has chosen Gabriel as her mate, she has to face down the council. You know....polite introductions with other...unusual individuals, which means a trip to New York, where they find one of Gabriel's people needing help with a problem.

It's Lily's secret investigations in to said problem that causes a world of trouble. You see the problem has been stealing people's souls and collecting them like stamps or some such collectible item. Lily is thrown in to a game of gods and monsters, the rules of which she barely knows, and one thing is clear: if you have power, someone will try to take it away from you. Someone who wants to use it to evolve like a Pokemon in to something bigger and badder and infinitely badder for the world. Lily will have to make the ultimate sacrifice, trust a frenemy or allienemy? Anyway, she's gonna have to do all that and pretty much cross her fingers and hope for the best....

"I've got 99 problems....but a witch ain't one"

Okay guys, so (why do I ALWAYS start reviews with that?!) I won this in a Twitter competition from the publisher and I didn't really have to review this especially as it's been out for over a month now, but I kinda felt like I should because I think a fair few of you guys are going to like this, and it's a book that needs to be shared.

I think this may be a new favourite series of mine, and I'm eagerly awaiting the third book. Yes. I am assuming there is a third book because positive thinking gets you everywhere. I'm going to try not to do my usual gushing and rambling but it's going to be hard!

I've got to say, this book is SO FREAKING BRITISH (Grand Poohbah *cackles*). Like not just where it's set, but just in the humour and the language and the phrases and everything and it's so perfect because of that, it's pitched perfectly and I can't even really. I rarely read books set in England, let alone ones as damn good as this and I have never before had the urge to go to Liverpool, but now I quite want to day trip it up there and have a look around at Lily's world!

"Everyone else was either trying to turn in to the Invisible Man or, in the case of Carmel, sitting back to enjoy her own personal episode of the Jeremy Kyle Show."

For those of us who haven't been to Liverpool (what a setting though!) the city is brought to life effortlessly by the author, and the world building is such that it will suck you in until a bomb could go off in the real world and you'd have no clue. In this instalment New York is also brought to bustling life, and I LOVED the Friends reference! Anywho, as someone who already is desperate to go to New York, this book didn't help curb the urge. Whatever setting the author decides to throw us, it's created to be vivid, atmospheric and engaging, and will have you absorbed in the book in minutes.

I love the rich mythology to the book, it's not something I'm familiar with and I enjoyed learning about it in the first book and continuing to learn about it in this book. I love rich mythology like I love an Five Guys...deeply and to disturbing levels. The author gives you lots of knowledge, without sacrificing pacing or the plot, it's concise and it builds up over the books.

The characters. Oh how I LOVE the characters. Never before have I come across a more colourful cast of characters. The Morrigan....a load of bawdy Irish blokes who love killing things and then getting drunk....vampires....a proper Scouse girl.....a goddess......various other people of varying natures. Each character is just so lively they leap off the page and in to existence. Each brings something different to the story, each the story couldn't do without and each is so well written and brought to life and so full of depth it's amazing the pages can contain them.

"Public speaking isn't easy at the best of times, and he was getting heckled by two goddesses, a love rival vampire and a very seasick Egyptian Warrior Woman. Life at the top eh?"

I love Lily. I really do. I connected with her instantly and ever since the first book, whatever happens, I am always on her side. I understand her as a person so completely, and how everything shaped her and how she feels things and why, she's a character I really get, and can root for. In this book, you see her grow and change and start to become the person she's meant to be. She's not perfect, and that's one of the things that makes her so refreshing, she has flaws, she's fucked up and she's up front about it and that makes her SO relatable it's insane. I mean....going for a pint when things get shitty...what other heroine does that?!

Carmel is a favourite of mine. I can't wait to find out about her heritage and what it means and who she really is and all of this. I love her friendship with Lily, it reminds me of me and my best friend, and they crack me up both together and separately. Not to say I don't love the other characters I do, I love them all, but I do have favourites! Oh and I love the Morrigan, can we have more of her please? She has been known to make me chuckle as well as make me fear her haha.

The plot was simple, yet complex, you could see where it was going...but there where surprises all over the place. It started out simple...then got complicated as we carried on reading, I mean I thought the problem was going to be the council, and then things happened and then there was a game changer right at the end. The book is an easy read, but there's a lot going on and the book gives you some intense feels, while making you snort laugh in public places.

"I shoved the guy with the toe of my boot, hoping he wouldn't do a backflip upright and produce a taser from his arse"

The romance. Now. Here's where I may have a slight issue. Just a slight one. Not enough for me to dislike the book, but one that makes me sigh a bit. Lily and Gabriel, destined to mate. Luca cute little vampire who's just adorable even though he's a vampire and can and will kill you. Lily and Gabriel have been a slow budding romance, although at one point it was suddenly all "I love you" and I was a bit like...oooohkay. Now, don't get me wrong, I find them cute. I do. It's kind of warm and fuzzy inducing to be honest. What's the problem? I hear you say? Well....

I know there's visions of what could happen and the end made me sigh and resist the urge to scream "no" even while I was like "aw" because, much like Lily, half the time I dislike Gabriel. She even says at one point that they will never be equal or words to similar effect. He says no more secrets, he keeps a huge one from her. He never trusts her to take care of herself and he's constantly seemingly having no respect for her and treating her like a child, with no care for her feelings in a  lot of matters. That is what annoys me hugely, and then when he is sweet, he screws it up by being a dick. Of all the things he's done to her, I'm still surprised she's forgiven him to be honest.

"At least do him the courtesy of listening, your Royal Bollocks. And if you can't be arsed, then off you fuck"

Now Luca. I love Luca, like I've said, I want to know more about Luca and I'm hoping I'll get that in book 3. I feel like Lily should give Luca a chance. I mean...he genuinely cried when he found out about her and Gabriel he was that upset. He treats her like an equal. This is going to seem stupid, but when they where all in danger at the end, Luca was the only one of the two who thought to save Lily's dog and keep it safe for her, knowing how much she loves that dog. Gabriel is overprotective to the point of being a total asshole half the time. I'm not entirely sure I understand her decision to go with Gabriel all the time. But I kinda wish she'd go with Luca. Maybe she will, maybe she won't in book 3, but I wish she had in this book.

Either way there's plenty of romance type things going on, some warm and fuzzies, and you pretty much feel exactly as Lily does, including when she feels monumentally frustrated. I'm just Team Luca and not necessarily riding the Gabriel train to be honest, maybe I'll come around. Either way it's not a big enough thing to make me hate the books or not read. It doesn't take away enjoyment, it just makes me go "noooooooooooo" a lot haha.

"Yeah. Ok. Even the magic rice rope failed, big fucking shocker. Should've tried pasta."

Dark Touch is a hell of a wild ride. It really is. Insanely wonderful characters, easy to read but with plenty of plot twists, action, romance, magic and mythology, Dark Touch is a hell of a hard book to put down and it's impossible to not enjoy it. Dark Touch is freaking hilarious. Like 75% (maybe higher) of the time I'm laughing at a comment made by a character, or Lily's narrative which is so ridiculously engaging and humorous. Lily and Carmels comments in particular crack me up, it's not a book to read in public because I was snort laughing at one point. Just a warning. The other 25% of the time shit gets real and it's all serious, and there's action and fighting and gore, and when none of the above is present? Cheese. This book is cheesy sometimes. Like eye rolling cheesy. But it's the RIGHT kind of cheesy, the kind that you need to curl up with when you've had a shitty day especially...but will brighten up any day.

Dark Touch is a hilarious, unique, original, laugh out loud, cheesy, action packed, wild ride, and when it gets serious...it usually makes you feel some intense feels. It pretty much has everything you want in a good book, and I'm excited to see where the story goes next.

Wishing For Wednesday #38

Wednesday greetings guys!
This week I have two for you, we're getting in to the kind of territory where there's so many awesome books coming out, it's hard to narrow it down! So have two!
So these two I have chosen because they both sound unique and original and like a lot of fun, which is of course, right up my street!
So check em out and add them to your TBR's and buy them and yeah!

A School For Unusual Girls

It’s 1814. Napoleon is exiled on Elba. Europe is in shambles. Britain is at war on four fronts. And Stranje House, a School for Unusual Girls, has become one of Regency England’s dark little secrets. The daughters of the beau monde who don't fit high society’s constrictive mold are banished to Stranje House to be reformed into marriageable young ladies. Or so their parents think. In truth, Headmistress Emma Stranje, the original unusual girl, has plans for the young ladies—plans that entangle the girls in the dangerous world of spies, diplomacy, and war.

After accidentally setting her father’s stables on fire while performing a scientific experiment, Miss Georgiana Fitzwilliam is sent to Stranje House. But Georgie has no intention of being turned into a simpering, pudding-headed, marriageable miss. She plans to escape as soon as possible—until she meets Lord Sebastian Wyatt. Thrust together in a desperate mission to invent a new invisible ink for the English war effort, Georgie and Sebastian must find a way to work together without losing their heads—or their hearts...

A School For Unusual Girls is out May 19th, pre-order your copy....here! 
Add it to your TBR....here!

Illusionarium

What if the world holds more dangers—and more wonders—than we have ever known? And what if there is more than one world? From Heather Dixon, author of the acclaimed Entwined, comes a brilliantly conceived adventure that sweeps us from the inner workings of our souls to the far reaches of our imaginations.

Jonathan is perfectly ordinary. But then—as every good adventure begins—the king swoops into port, and Jonathan and his father are enlisted to find the cure to a deadly plague. Jonathan discovers that he's a prodigy at working with a new chemical called fantillium, which creates shared hallucinations—or illusions. And just like that, Jonathan is knocked off his path. 

Illusionarium is out May 19th, pre-order your copy...here!

Add it to your TBR...here!

Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke

Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher and Bookbridgr!
Check out my review of the first book...here!

The girl known as Gretchen Whitestone has a secret: she used to be part of Adolf Hitler's inner circle. More than a year ago, she made an enemy of her old family friend and fled Munich to live in Oxford, posing as an ordinary German immigrant. Her love, Daniel Cohen, is a reporter in town, and Gretchen is content. Then a telegram about a family member sends Daniel back to Germany, and her world turns upside-down when she learns that Daniel is wanted for murder. To save him, she must return to her homeland and somehow avoid capture and recognition by her former friends, the Nazi elite. And as she and Daniel work to clear his name, they discover a deadly conspiracy stretching from the slums of Berlin to the Reichstag itself. Can they dig up the explosive truth and escape in time - or will Hitler discover them first?

So, I really enjoyed the first book, history geek that I am, and the angle it took, and I was super excited for this sequel, and honestly it was as good as I was expecting! There was the whole murder whodunnit bit that I wasn't expecting that was intriguing and kept you busy trying to work out who'd done it and why! 

I enjoyed the continued romance of Gretchen and Daniel, the relationship continued to feel natural and organic, and the development of their relationship was something, again, very natural and realistic, especially with all the obstacles they had to face and what they had to deal with. I will admit, my heart stopped when it got to the part about Daniel being executed and I was like...no, you can't....whaaat. It was a very real fear, and to be honest, I was reading and waiting for something to happen because I wasn't sure they'd be lucky enough to get out of Germany twice! 

I enjoyed all the historical aspects, I absorbed it all like a sponge and was trying to work out what was true and what was not, as much as we'd studied World War 2, I don't recall the fire mentioned in this book, so I was fascinated and eager to find out what happened. Luckily, the author once again has extensive yet concise notes on the historical facts of the book. Blackman's notes are literally there to answer every question you have, yes this is real, this is what really happened and so on, and you come away from the book having learned something, or having had something clarified. 

I'm fairly confident in saying this book is very historically accurate, excluding the made up characters of course! Not only do the authors notes prove the author knows a considerable amount of the history, but throughout the book she's clearly sharing her knowledge with every reader. Things I remember from learning about the pre-war atmosphere and things I didn't know mesh together to give me a better picture of the politics and the way of life at the time and what it was like to live in Germany when Hitler was coming to power and War was looming. My point is, the author has considerable knowledge, and things I know for sure are historically accurate are in the book, and so, I'm willing to say this book is very historically accurate. 

The author continues to transport you to Germany of the past, giving you an insight in to how Hitler came to power, why, how he achieved it, what went on in the years before the war, and what it would have been like to live in Germany at the time, and it's pretty scary to picture yourself living there during these times. The book is utterly fascinating to be honest. 

The plot was intriguing, not just because it's history and you want to know more because you didn't know this or that, but because the writing is so compelling, you want to know who killed the girl and why, you want to know what's going to happen to Gretchen and Daniel and you're on the edge of your seat as you're reading, hoping they're going to be okay and make it out alive, but there are some pretty close calls that have you holding your breath and frantically turning pages. You're so invested in these characters that you have to continue reading to make sure they're okay. There's plenty of plot twists and turns to keep you engaged in the story, and have you gasping in horror or shock, it's very hard to put the book down and I read it in one sitting. 

In short, this book is the perfect sequel, the perfect continuation, all the things I loved from the first book where present in this book, and I loved feeling my brain expand as I learned more from this book, much like I did with the first book. I'm hopeful that there might be a third book and we'll see our pal Winston again, perhaps? 

The Month In Books: April

So, I finally decided to start doing the monthly wrap up post that everyone else seems to be doing, this is not going to be in any way pretty looking nor will it be accurate, as I didn't really plan on doing this and now I can't locate some of the books and yeah. But hopefully this won't look too crappy!

SO! This month's been kinda meh for me to be honest, applied for a lot of acting gigs, haven't heard back, but I did apply for a really cool job that everyone will freak over if I get it but I'm not allowed to say what it is! HOPING SO BADLY THAT I GET THIS I CAN'T EVEN.

But anyways, on with the interesting part.....

What I've Won:

So, I've been really lucky this month, like really really lucky as you can see! 
I won proofs of  The Novice and 13 Days Of Midnight from Books With Bite! 
Aaaanndd I also won a copy of Talon along with a cool dragon egg necklace, a poster and a sampler of Rogue! 

What I've Received:

This month I received some totally awesome books and I'm so grateful to the publishers for hooking me up with them! 

The Fatal Flame and The Silvered Heart courtesy of Headline!

Skin and The Art of Baking Blind courtesy of Hodder!

Rogue courtesy of Mira Ink!

The Dead House from Orion!

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street courtesy of Bloomsbury!

Dave VS The Monsters: Emergence courtesy of Titan!

The Invasion of the Tearling from Bantam Press!

Maximum Ride Forever from Arrow!

Books I've Read: 

Okay so I haven't managed to read all that many books that I'm just reading for myself, I've mostly read review books, the one book I did read myself was Dark Vision. Even then I've only read this because I won the second book and I fancy reviewing it ahaha

Books I've Reviewed:

This month I've reviewed loads! I'm just gonna link to the review this time round instead of GoodReads soooo....

Code & Exposure and Terminal by Kathy Reichs

Gemini Force One: Black Horizon by M.G. Harris

Angelfall by Susan Ee

Disclaimer by Renee Knight

Guns of the Dawn by Aidrian Tchaikovsky

Adamant by Emma L Adams

Havana Sleeping by Martin Davies

Spirits, Stilettos and a Silver Bustier by Deanna Chase

The Mage Winds by Mercedes Lackey

The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige

A Court of Thornes and Roses by Sarah J Maas

Rogue by Julie Kagawa

What I'm Currently Reading:

So right now, I'm reading Dark Touch which I won from Del Ray, I just started it last night and I haven't got far in to it yet, but it's just as hilarious as the first one! I think I'll most likely review this one as well! 

What I'm Planning To Read Next: 

I haven't quite decided what I'm going to read yet, I'm HOPING to read The Summoner this month, as well as re-read Queen of The Tearling and then read Invasion of the Tearling,  then Maximum Ride Forever and An Ember in the Ashes, but it depends how much time I have.  I kinda review in the order they arrive and by release date so I'll definitely get Summoner and Maximum Ride done, but the others aren't out until a few months and I have other review books, and I'm kind of including these ones as "reading for pleasure" because I'm super excited about them and eager to get started.  But most importantly, I'm really hoping to start FINALLY finishing Game of Thrones this month. It's been ages, seriously.  OH and I should get Day Four read this month too! 

The Silvered Heart

The Silvered Heart
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!

1648: Civil war is devastating England. The privileged world Katherine Ferrars knows is crumbling under Cromwell's army, and as an orphaned heiress, she has no choice but to do her duty and marry for the sake of family.

But as her marriage turns into a prison, and her fortune is decimated by the war, Kate becomes increasingly desperate. So when she meets the enigmatic Ralph Chaplin, she seizes the chance he offers. Their plan is daring and brutal, but it's an escape from poverty and the shackles of convention. They both know if they're caught, there's only one way it can end... 

'The distant thrum of galloping hooves conjures nothing but doubt and fear these days."

Okay, so I was really excited when this showed up in the post, it was the best surprise ever considering I loved The Crimson Ribbon, it was totally perfect and so was this, I can't even begin to tell you guys!

This book is totally engrossing, it sucks you right in to the time period and keeps you there while you read, I read this in one sitting because I couldn't put it down or tear myself away from the world. The time period is brought to vivid life by the authors writing and world building, and her historical knowledge gives you a perfect understanding of the politics of the time, and you leave the book with a feel for what it was like to live in that time.

I didn't really know much about the time period, but after reading the book that's very different. The book is filled with historical fact without being laid out in pages of background information that you have to slog through, the history is woven in with the plot and there's a lot to learn from the book. I feel like I've learned more than I ever would have in a history lesson and in a much better way, a way that means that my brain has absorbed the knowledge like a sponge. I don't know if I've mentioned before, but I can learn my lines and remember them perfectly, but ask me to remember anything else and I fail unless it's something that interests me and my brain decides to hang on to the knowledge! Which is why I was good at history and sucked at everything else!

Anyways, I'd never heard about The Wicked Lady before, but once I'm done typing this I'm off to see what else I can dig up about her, there was never any confirmation about who she was, but the author has taken a theory, and come up with a plausible plot and story as to who the highwaywoman was and what her motivation was. The authors note at the end tells you everything the author knows about Katherine, which isn't much, no-one even knows how she actually died unfortunately, whatever Katherine's real story, I'd wager this one had a marginally happier ending.

The plot was intriguing, the writing compelling. The plot is full of betrayal and drama and intrigue and plots and was engaging until the last page. You're sucked in to Katherine's world and trying to decide who can be trusted, right along with her. There where plenty of plot twists and turns and it would appear Game of Thrones hasn't hardened me to character deaths or killed off my sense of hope because when Rafe's execution happened, I was like "someone's going to save him.....any time now....okay maybe he's not actually dead and they switched him with someone or something...". I think my heart broke when Rafe was hanged. It genuinely did, and then when Willis appeared and I lost all hope that it had been a trick, my heart broke again. I so wanted her to get her happy ending.

In case you couldn't tell, I connected with Katherine, I felt everything she felt right along with her. The betrayal from Rachel, the frustration the sense of being trapped, the heart break at Rafe, everything. It's an emotional read, or at least it was for me. Katherine is brought to colourful and believable life, I don't know what really happened to the real Katherine, but this version of her life is written so well it's totally believable if you didn't read the author's note and learn this isn't true.

The Silvered Heart was an emotional read, with a character you come to love, and feel for. The Silvered Heart blends historical fact and fiction seamlessly so you're left eager to learn more about the events and the people, and learn what was and was not true. You come away from the story having been totally engrossed and sucked in to England at this particular time period, having learned more about the history of the time and the events and the politics and the people, while still having read an engaging and gripping story. I really do love this author's work, and I hope she continues to write many books, because I'm looking forward to her next offering.

Now, if you'll excuse me, the heart break of Rafe's death so soon after McDreamy's this week on Grey's has left me requiring copious amounts of ice cream! *ugly sobbing*