Top 10 Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2021

It’s Top Ten Tuesday time!

If you’re unaware, Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly original feature created by The Broke and the Bookish, and it’s now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week there’s a new Top Ten theme that the blogger responds to with their own list of answers.

This week’s theme is… *drumroll please*…

Most Anticipated Releases for the First Half of 2021

I originally thought 2021 was kind of a dud when it comes to new releases, but I was wrong. Happily wrong.

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Winter's Orbit by Evarina Maxwell

This one used to be higher on my list, but I won an ARC from Tor so I'm either reading it now or have already read it by the time this post goes up.

War of Dragons by Jessica Cluess

So I read book one last year with my book club, and I enjoyed it. Book two comes out in May; however, the author has done some very questionable things. I'm not sure if I'll buy the book or not.

The Last Watch by J.S. Dewes

I'm watching season five of The Expanse right now, and this book just really reminds me of that show/book series.

Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart

Pretty cover? Witches? Magic? Count me in.

Trial of Sorcerers by Elise Kova

Another very pretty cover for a fantasy book. Another cool magic system with sorcerers. I need it.

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

Another M/M sci-fi book? Heck yes! Between Winter's Orbit, this book, and the upcoming A Complicated Love Story Set in Space, 2021 is going to have some great gay sci-fi romances.

Grace and Glory by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The last book in the Dark Elements/Harbinger series. Sad day.

Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard

The Red Queen series is one of my favorites, so I'm excited to see Aveyard take on a new fantasy world.

A Dark and Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttleworth

This book has snuck up on me and replaced Realm Breaker for the number two spot. I want it. That cover and it having two queer couples? Yes, please!

The Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Is anyone surprised at this point? This series has taken over my life.

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Alright, there you have it. My most anticipated releases of the first half of 2021. What did you put on your list? Let me know in the comments section.

December Wrap-Up & January TBR

December is over! 2020 is over! Hopefully, 2021 will save us all! Lol. I'm just so glad that the nightmare will be over at the end of January. Yes, there's a long way to go, but at least one major obstacle will be out of the picture. Anywho, time to move on to book-related news.

In this wrap-up, I’ll list the books I read, the books I reviewed, the books I bought/received, and my TBR for next month. Now, let’s get this bookish party started!

Books Read in December

A Warm Heart in Winter: 3 stars
Cast in Firelight: 4 stars (my review)
These Violent Delights: 3 stars (my review)
Everless: 3.5 stars (my review)
Bring Me Their Hearts: 4 stars
United: 3 stars
The Language of Thorns: 2 stars

I read seven books in December. One was an ebook and an advanced reader copy from NetGalley, while the rest were physical copies. Cast in Firelight was the ebook/ARC. Four of the books I read this month were books that had been on my TBR since before 2019: Everless, Bring Me Their Hearts, United, and The Language of Thorns. United by Melissa Landers is one of the books that was on my 2020 reading goal post to finish off series I had started but not read the last book of yet.

Books Bought/Received in December

In total I got 17 books in December. Three ebooks and 14 physical books. So the physical books kind of exploded. Eek. To be fair, I only bought four of them this month and one last month. I bought A Warm Heart in Winter by J.R. Ward at my local indie bookstore, and then I stumbled upon cheap mass market paperback copies of two of J.R. Ward's other books: Prisoner of Night and Blood Fury, which are kind of cut off in the photo. Sorry. And then Master of One was December's FairyLoot book, which I am unbelievably excited for. This was probably my favorite FL box of the year. These Violent Delights was the November book, which I paid for in November.

The Kinder Poison and The Cruel Prince trilogy were all presents from my parents for Christmas, while The Covenant graphic novel was from my sister, as we both love The Covenant film about teen boy witches and the graphic novel is supposed to be what it's sort of based off of. Cemetery Boys was a gift from my book club/high school friend as part of our first gift exchange, and Morning Star was a surprise present from Jessica at A GREAT Read. Thanks Jessica! I also received a book about grant writing from a co-worker. It's the skinny book between the graphic novel and The Cruel Prince boxset. And finally for the print books, I won an ARC of Winter's Orbit.

Now onto the ebooks! I bought three this month. All of them were impulse buys, as they were $2.99 on Kindle, and I couldn't resist. The three books are Jade City by Fonda Lee, Nophek Gloss by Essa Hansen, and The Bone Shard's Daughter by Andrea Stewart. Whew! That was a lot! Let's move on.

Currently Obsessed With

Not a lot of obsessions in December. I guess the closest thing is The Expanse television series. Season five just started releasing this month, and I'm super excited to see how amped up everything is. I'm constantly asking "What the heck is going on?" in every episode.
 

Other than The Expanse, I'm currently making my mom watch LOTR with me. She's never seen the movies before. I also crammed in one last re-watch of The Office before it left Netflix on December 31st. *sobs*

Currently Reading/January TBR

I have one book that I must read in January: The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab (not pictured). It's the winter book club pick. I also need to finish Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare and Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell. Oh, and I need to start A Clash of Kings, since it's a new year and I have the personal goal of reading one A Song of Ice and Fire each year. It typically takes me the entire year to finish it, as I read one chapter at a time. The others are just books I'd like to get to if I have time.

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Okay, well, that’s the month of December, plus some January sneak peeks, all wrapped up into one post. Do you have a wrap-up post for last month? If so, share in the comments! Also, stay tuned for my 2020 reading wrap-up and 2021 goal posts!

Stacking the Shelves: The Christmas Edition

"Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

 I haven't done a “Stacking the Shelves” post since September. Oops. It's not because I haven't received anything or bought any books, I just haven't been posting a lot. Plus, it takes a lot of energy to write up posts on my crappy laptop right now. It's getting better at connecting to the WiFi, so I'll try to do some StS posts whenever I get new reads. No promises though.

The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King, and The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

The Covenant by Aron Coleite and J.S. Cardone

The Kinder Poison by Natalie Mae

This is purely my family Christmas haul, as these are gifts from my parents and sisters. Like most households, Christmas was weird this year. Let's not get into that, though.... I have some other books from friends and publishers, but those will be in my December Wrap-Up. So stay tuned!

 Besides the books, I got three Funko Pops: Crowley from Supernatural, Maleficent, and Jon Snow (my sixth Pop of him because I'm still obsessed with GoT despite its crappy ending.) I also got The Labyrinth on DVD and some Supernatural socks. All of which are pictured above. What isn't pictured is the new computer monitor and the candy and clothes I received.

Oh, and I got another bookcase. It's bookcase #6. Yikes. I haven't put anything on it yet. I'm too indecisive and can't figure out what should go on it.

What books have you bought/received lately?

Review: United by Melissa Landers

United

Melissa Landers

(Aliented #3)

Publication Date: August 2, 2016

Hardcover, 317 pages, EverAfter

Genres: YA, Sci-Fi

Goodreads

After thwarting a deadly coup and saving the alliance between their worlds, Cara and Aelyx have finally earned a break. Their tiny island colony is everything they dreamed it would be―days spent gathering shells on the beach and nights in each other’s arms.

But the vacation is short-lived.

The treaty between Earth and L’eihr has awakened an ancient force that threatens to destroy them all. The Aribol, mysterious guardians charged with maintaining interstellar peace, deem the alliance a threat to the galaxy. They order a separation of the races, decreeing humans and L’eihrs must return to their own planets within the month or face extinction. In fact, they already have agents in place on Earth, ready to begin.

With the clock ticking, Aelyx and Cara assemble a team of colonists and race back to Earth, where they unite with old friends to solve the mystery of who the Aribol are, what they want, and the real reason the alliance has provoked them. As tensions build to a full-scale war, Aelyx and Cara must fight harder than ever―not just for their future, but for the survival of both their worlds.

My Review

I did it. I finally finished this trilogy after having United on my shelf for over four years! And overall, it was a good conclusion to the young adult sci-fi series.

United starts with Aelyx and Cara on their new colony planet. They're trying to lead calm lives on this new colony when, of course, disaster strikes. Unfortunately, I didn't remember much from books one and two besides Aelyx, Cara, and Cara's family, so I didn't recall all of the side characters like Elle and Aisly very easily. Though, it was pretty easy to pick up the plot without remembering who those characters were.

The series is told in Aelyx and Cara's point of views, but despite their voices not being overly different, I never got the two mixed up while reading. However, I do think it's odd that Aelyx doesn't have more original thought processes considering he's an "alien." Cara really stepped up in this installment. She took on quite a bit of responsibility, and I very much enjoyed seeing it. Though it did seem like Aelyx didn't get as much time to shine or do anything major related to the plot with this addition.

As for the actual plot, it was a satisfying conclusion. Lots of aliens and political drama. I actually wanted to bump up the star rating at one point, just because the ending of the book was so good, and I was enjoying myself so much. Sadly, I couldn't make myself go up another star, as the beginning and middle were a bit too large in scope and too choppy. It's kind of hard to explain. You'll just have to trust me that though this book starts out all over the place, things slow down and the action starts coming together in those final chapters.

All in all, the Alienated trilogy is a quick, fun series. It's very reminiscent of Jennifer L. Armentrout's Lux series as well as the CW television show, Starcrossed. So if you're a fan of those or even Roswell or Roswell: New Mexico, you might enjoy Melissa Landers's trilogy.

*Note: I purchased a copy of this book myself. This in no way affected my opinion/review.

Top 10 Favorite Books of 2020

It’s Top Ten Tuesday time!

If you’re unaware, Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly original feature created by The Broke and the Bookish, and it’s now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week there’s a new Top Ten theme that the blogger responds to with their own list of answers.

This week’s theme is… *drumroll please*…

Favorite Books of 2020

I was going to make a separate post for my favorite reads of 2020, but this seems much easier. I already have a layout handy. 😉

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Aurora Rising by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman

This book was just a fun time. It has its issues (*cough* Aurora *cough*), but the ragtag group of crew members has really stuck with me since I read it a few of months ago.

Broken Throne by Victoria Aveyard

This book is kind of cheating, as I didn't really love all of the stories in this short story collection. Plus, I'd already read two of them when they were previously published. However, it was fantastic to be back in the world of the Red Queen series.

The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune

I laughed so hard while reading this book. It's so funny. Also, from here on out, all of these books were ones I rated 4.5 stars.

Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The first of three JLA books on this list. Can you tell she's a favorite author?

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

This was a fantasy story with magic and magical books! Books! It was so beautiful and I cried multiple times.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Oh boy. This book made me bawl. It's so adorable and has all the found-family feels.

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

An awesome and surprising read for me. It was so cute and wholesome.

Brave by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I finally finished the Wicked trilogy after reading the first book back when it originally released. This last installment was my favorite, though I'm still not completely satisfied that JLA left things so up in the air for a spinoff series that I don't really want to read.

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

Loved this book. Still haven't read the sequels, but I will soon. Very soon.

A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Book one in this series wasn't my favorite Jennifer L. Armentrout book, but the ending really made me excited (and super nervous) for the sequel. And boy, did AKOFAF deliver. I've become obsessed with this series. Now, I'm even buying fan art for it. Something I've never done for a series.

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Alright, there you have it. My favorite books of 2020. What did you put on your list? Let me know in the comments section.

Review: These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

These Violent Delights

Chloe Gong

(These Violent Delights #1)

Publication Date: November 17, 2020

Hardcover, 464 pages, Hodder & Stoughton

Genres: YA, Historical Fiction, Paranormal

Goodreads

The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery. 

 

A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal.

But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule. 

 

Perfect for fans of The Last Magician and Descendant of the Crane, this heart-stopping debut is an imaginative Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1920s Shanghai, with rival gangs and a monster in the depths of the Huangpu River.

My Review

Romeo and Juliet as two rival gang members? In 1926 Shanghai? With paranormal elements? Sounds like a blast, right? For some of it, it was.

These Violent Delights is a unique idea with a unique location not seen very often in western young adult publishing, but something in the book just seemed to be missing. The exposition was kind of dry at times, even though the information about foreign powers interfering with Shanghai's political backdrop was super important to real events, the story kind of read like a history book in spots. Juliette Cai's narration was often the most dense, even though there were multiple POVs in the book.

There was also a lot of description of the city and political backdrop, which is completely fine, but as a character-reader, I felt like the characters' individual personalities didn't get to shine with so much description. The gang elements were kind of the same way. I went into this story expecting some heavy tension between the Scarlet Gang and the White Flowers, but I never really felt like any of our main characters were in danger at any point. Maybe some of the side characters, but not the two protagonists. And, more importantly, why do these kids just get to run around? Shouldn't the head of a major criminal operation have guards for their kids or keep tabs on them somehow? Maybe I'm modernizing the fictional story too much...

Now, to the actual Romeo and Juliet, a.k.a Roma and Juliette. Roma wanting to stop committing violent acts and Juliette being all about the gang life was a dichotomy I loved and did not expect going into These Violent Delights. Juliette was pretty fierce, but, as I mentioned, her exposition was looooong. She also had the longest chapters. I was disappointed that when the two characters were together, there was never enough tension and angst between them. I never really felt their love and longing (something that seems crucial in an R&J retelling), even though I wanted to. However, I was very happy with the diversity Gong added to the story in terms of her side characters. I may continue with book two just for more Mars and Ben content.

Personally, this book simply missed the mark somewhere. I honestly wish it had solely been a historical romance retelling of Romeo & Juliet without the whole paranormal/bug aspect. A proper gang war story would've been bada$$ and allowed for some true tension. Instead, it turned into a weird monster hunt. Unfortunately, the ending was all about the paranormal elements and the gang war storylines barely played a part, so the big cliffhanger has me hesitating to pick up the sequel.

All in all, I give Chloe Gong major, MAJOR props for writing something so unique and intriguing. Even when I wasn't super invested in the story because of exposition, I still found myself learning about 1926 Shanghai. Sadly, I think I went into this book expecting something that I just didn't get. Hopefully other readers will have better luck.

*Note: I purchased a copy of this book for myself. This in no way affected my opinion/review.