The Friday 56 (97) & Book Beginnings: The Wrath & The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

One Life to One Dawn...

In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all. Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last.

But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she'd imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It's an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid's life as retribution for the many lives he's stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?

Inspired by A Thousand and One Nights, The Wrath and the Dawn is a sumptuous and enthralling read from beginning to end...

Beginning: "It would not be a welcome dawn."

56: "She ignored his meaningful tone as she reached back for another arrow. After she fitted it into position on the sinewed bowstring, her eyes darted to his face.

Comments: I've been looking forward to The Wrath & The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh for a long time. I can't really say much about this book yet since I'm still reading it. So far, the story is pretty good.

What series have you recently started?

Review: Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

Title: Truthwitch
Author: Susan Dennard
Source/Format: Borrowed from the Library; Hardcover
More Details: Young Adult; Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Tor Teen; January 5, 2016

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

In a continent on the edge of war, two witches hold its fate in their hands...

Young witches Safiya and Iseult have a habit of finding trouble. After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home. Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she's a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden - lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult's true powers are hidden even from herself. In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls' heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch...

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard is another one of those books I’ve been meaning to read. I’ve heard a lot about it. I’m also aware of the hype that surrounded the book around the time of its initial release, but Truthwitch was still a book I wanted to read. Low and behold, more than a year after it came out, I have finally read Truthwitch. I haven’t read anything else by Dennard, so I don’t have any other reference to go on besides what I’ve just read, but Truthwitch, man, it was just an average read. This is the second book I’ve recently read where I’m not sure if I want to continue on with the series. Despite that feeling, this book was a quick read. I read it in less than a day, and there was nothing egregiously bad about the story.

Truthwitch had its great moments, but more often than not, I found myself kind of bored and not because  there was a lack of action. Believe me, there was a lot of action. The bulk of the book involved action of some kind—whether that was in the form of a chase scene, one of the character having to sneak around, or a fight scene of some kind.

The magic was mostly cool. I liked how threads were used to explain emotions and relationships, but I didn’t really care for Safiya’s ability. The specialness of her ability was kind of lost on me, because early on she got duped, easily. I think my problem with this one was actually the main character. The beginning didn’t give me a good impression of Safiya, and the rest of the story didn’t do much for me either. Now, the characters weren’t all bad. I did like Iseult. She was by far my favorite character from Truthwitch, and I kept reading to see where her side of the story would ultimately end.

For me, the best part of Truthwitch were the friendships and the last couple of chapters where the story got a little more interesting. However, my meh feeling toward Truthwitch remained intact by the time I was done with the book. So, just like with The Girl at Midnight, I might wait until the last book comes out before I make a decision about whether I’ll continue reading this series or not.

Music Monday (17) Florence + The Machine, Rihanna, & Lone

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: Lately, I've been listening to Florence + The Machine again. I haven't listened to much of their newer music, but their Ceremonials albums is still one of my favorites. So, my pick for today is Shake it Out by Florence + The Machine. It can't believe its been five years since that music video first came out. It seems like such a long time ago. Shake it Out is still one of favorite songs by this group. Other songs I love by Florence + The Machine are Howl and Drumming Song. 

Adri: This week, I'm sharing two of my insta-favorite songs. A.K.A. songs I feel in love with after only giving them a fourth of a listen. My first pick is Sledgehammer by Rihanna. I first heard this song on one of the trailers for Star Trek Beyond. Since then, I haven't stopped listening to it. All I can say is...TOTALLY LOVE IT!

My second pick is Spirals by Lone featuring Anneka. Although I loved the entire Galaxy Garden album on the first listen, Spirals really spoke to me. To me, it has an ambient feel (and I love ambient music). If I had to pick my top three insta-favorite songs from the album it would be Spirals followed by Crystal Caverns 1991 and Cthulhu featuring Machinedrum.

Do you have have any insta-favorite songs? If so, tell us in the comments down below.

The Friday 56 (96) & Book Beginnings: Ghostly Echoes by William Ritter

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Jenny Cavanaugh, the ghostly lady of 926 Augur Lane, has enlisted the investigative services of her fellow residents to solve a decade-old murder—her own. Abigail Rook and her eccentric employer, Detective R. F. Jackaby, dive into the cold case, starting with a search for Jenny’s fiancé, who went missing the night she died. But when a new, gruesome murder closely mirrors the events of ten years prior, Abigail and Jackaby realize that Jenny’s case isn’t so cold after all, and her killer may be far more dangerous than they suspected. Fantasy and folklore mix with mad science as Abigail’s race to unravel the mystery leads her across the cold cobblestones of nineteenth-century New England, down to the mythical underworld, and deep into her colleagues’ grim histories to battle the most deadly foe she has ever faced...

Beginnings: "Mr. Jackaby's cluttered office spun around me. Leaning heavily on the desk, I caught my breath in shuddering gulps. My head was throbbing, as though a shard of ice had pierced through one temple and out the other, but the sensation was gradually subsiding."

56: "Officer Moore and I hurried to join Jackaby a the window, outside which the nosy neighbor had been conveniently trimming an already immaculate bush." 

Comments: I actually read Ghostly Echoes in early February, and I thought the story was pretty good. My favorite part was definitely the mystery. I don't normally start with the third book in a series. However, I already had this book on my shelf. The opening scene of Ghostly Echoes was actually pretty interesting, and involved a supernatural element that I thought was cool.

What are you reading this week?

February Discussion Post: Nonfiction

I finally get to use this post graphic that I made over two years ago, but that’s beside the point. Today, I am actually going to post the discussion post that I’ve been slowly working on since January. As far as how often I’m going to do discussion posts I really don’t know, but I’m going to try for at least once a month. So, here is my February discussion post…

It took me a while to decide on a topic I wanted to write about. I didn’t want to just talk about favorite genres, format, or tropes. I feel like I’ve already kind of sort of discussed those things before. So, I kept that in mind as I planned for my first discussion post of 2017. Of course, in the end, I did find a topic. So, I want to talk about nonfiction and why it’s important to me—especially since the world is starting to look like the synopsis of Fahrenheit 451 and 1984. No seriously, if you don’t believe me, look the books up, you’ll see.

Why is nonfiction important to me?

Whenever I think of nonfiction I automatically go towards one of my favorite subjects: History. But, history also makes me think of nonfiction as a whole range of subjects—from science to memoirs, even psychology. Anything that deals with information, actual facts or the details about someone or something, that’s what I’m talking about today.

It’s no secret that we live in a time where finding the information we need is literally only a click away. I can’t count on one hand how many times I’ve heard or even said the phrase “just google it”. That availability is great, because it allows ready access to things I want to know more about. Nonfiction is like a portal to the past and present. Mostly, it’s fact. But sometimes, that fact could be skewed by opinions, which is where critical reading and thinking comes into play. Having that ability to discern opinion and fact is getting to be crucial. I think it’s important to know, to be knowledgeable—or at least well-read—about the things that are happening around me whether that’s obscure bits of history, current affairs, or even the state of the environment. Simply put, I want to know, and nonfiction is one of the ways I can find the information I need to form an opinion about something that I find important.

Nonfiction is important to me because it gives me the option to learn about just specific subjects or varied topics all at once, which is something I appreciate.

So, in conclusion…

Nonfiction, like any form of literature, isn’t always perfect but it is important. Reading to learn is something I enjoy doing, but I fully understand that picking up nonfiction just because, isn’t for everyone. I think what it comes down to is reading preference, which is subjective and dependent upon the person.

What are your thoughts on nonfiction?