Tag: books

Book Reviews, Products I love!!

To Kill a Kingdom- Book Review

Megan Nicole

Short and sweet!

Overall rating: ***

I had heard so many great things about this book and I was really in a reading slump so decided to step away from my series and take on a standalone. Plus I don’t think that I have ever read a mermaid or siren book prior to this. Even though Lira is a Siren and not a mermaid I would still consider this book to be a darker retelling of The Little Mermaid. Especially Lira’s mother The Sea Queen just screams Ursula from the Disney movie, tentacles and taking away Lira’s song….

I definitely enjoyed the book and it did a fair amount of world building for as short as it was, left me wanting to hear more stories about the 100 Kingdoms and the different tales of the Royal Families. I could really see additional books being written in this universe even if they don’t directly relate to Lira and Elian.

Since it was a shorter book and a standalone I don’t want to give too much more away and ruin the whole book. Even though 3 stars out of 5 seems low this is still a book I would recommend. Personally it is really hard to “wow” me in one shorter book, it takes more time for me to be head over heels for characters (hence why I love long books or series). That being said I would also read anything additional put out by this author or about this world in the future.

Book Boxes, Bookish Merch, Products I love!!

Fairyloot December Unboxing

Megan Nicole

Over the past several months I have been on a bit of a book box bender. It all started when my little brother ordered me a FairyLoot box for my birthday in August. I have to say FairyLoot is one box that I have been consistently impressed with so I wanted to share my December “Dragons” unboxing with you guys.

 

Fairyloot Dragons Book Box

Included in this box:

  1. Reading Journal by Fictiontea Designs
  2. Pin Flag
  3. Glow in the Dark Dragon Necklace
  4. Harry Potter themed Book Sleeve by Sweet Sequels – I am completely obsessed with this item and everything by this artist!
  5. An Advanced Reading Copy of Storm Crows by Kalyn Josephson- this book doesn’t release until July 2019!!!
  6. Doubled sided art print with Manon and Abraxos on one side and Toothless on the other.
  7. For the SECOND book, a signed copy of Fire and Heist by Sarah Beth Durst with author letter
  8. Mother of Dragons Magnetic Books Marks- This item was actually missing from this month’s box due to a packing issue. The Fairy Loot team sent out emails right away advising of the issue and that they would be getting that item out to us as soon as possible. They communicated the issue and solution promptly and I have no concerns over it.

Fairlyoot Dragons Book Box Unboxing

The one downside to this box for me being in Texas is the shipping. Since the company is based in the U.K. the international shipping is about $20, which makes the total cost of the box right around $50. Due to that cost I only order the box every other month or so, but even with that little extra cost I feel it is well work the money. I have ordered several other domestic boxes that with shipping landed right around $40 but the quality for the price was not even close to that of FairyLoot.  You can also skip months with your subscription so you are not locked into spending that money each month either way.

Their January theme is Unbreakable Bonds and is still available at Fairyloot.com

Book Reviews

My Top 5 Books of 2018

Megan Nicole

I feel live overall this year I had a bit of a reading slump, I read quite a few books there were just not a large number of them that really stuck with me especially in the new release department. I still wanted to share a few of my favorites for the year. Some old, some new and in no particular order.

1. A Court of Thorns and Roses (series) by Sarah J. Maas

While I was super late to the bandwagon on this series I really got sucked into it and enjoyed it. Rhys for sure goes on the list of all time book boyfriends and I loved the smut in this book. I would say I would put this more as a New Adult book and would not recommend for “teens”. 

A Court of Mist and Fury Chapter 55

2. Legendary by Stephanie Garber 

I heard a lot of negative feedback on these books but I have to say they are quick enjoyable reads that suck you in and keep you wondering what on earth they are going to do next…this was the second book in the Caraval Trilogy that will be complete early in 2019.A Court of Mist and Fury Chapter 55

3. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

This book was not a fast-paced suck you in book but it was very neat and such a fun concept. I really enjoy the Grishaverse world Leigh has created and I will be reading the sequel to this duology Crooked Kingdom soon! See my post Six of Crows- Book Review for a more detailed summary. 

Yoda with Six Of Crows Book

 

4. Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

So I read a good bit of SJM this year with discovering ACOTAR and completing the Throne of Glass series… While I did enjoy all of the TOG books this is one of my all-time favorite and one I saved to read for the first time right before Kingdom of Ash released. I am so glad I save it because this was the ultimate in “Maas Destruction”. I also found out after the fact that there is a guide to reading Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn at the same time since the timelines are concurrent. I totally wish I had done this and will for sure try this out the next time I reread. Oh and Tower of Dawn was actually really good as well… just didn’t make the final 5 cut 😉

5. Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis- Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be

I used my free trial of Audible to purchase and listen to this book and it was really great. I went into it with no expectations and didn’t think I had anything to gain from it and was so surprised. Listening to the book was such as great choice for this as Rachel narrates it herself and had me laughing and crying along with her as she told her story and the lessons she learned.

Girl Wash Your Face Audible

 

Book Reviews

The Dark Artifices- Review of Books 1 and 2

Megan Nicole

Overall: ***

Romance: ***

Reading Rate: ***

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Recommend if you liked: The Mortal Instruments 

Purchase on Amazon here 

I will preface this review by saying that I read both The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices and while I won’t say they were literary wonders I enjoyed both series. They offered great binge worthy heart wrenching paranormal drama (and I am a sucker for it)!

Shadowhunter Books

Knowing how Cassandra Clare loves to tear my heart out I waited until the series was complete with the release of Queen of Air and Darkness to start reading. Like the first series of hers I read I was expecting to be sucked in right away and devour the whole series in a few days… Yes I admit I have a problem….. BUT alas it has taken me WEEKS to get through the first few books and I am not even interested in diving into the third at this point.

Now I have heard a lot people raving about The Dark Artifices and how it is their favorite Shadowhunters novel but I just cannot make it happen for me.

My issues *spoilers*:

  • I think this being the third of her series that I have read I might be a little burnt out on the same concept being repeated – Forbidden love, lack of communication, narrow-minded Shadowhunters. Like that one person we all know that keeps making the same mistakes and wondering why they have so much drama?
  • I personally and not a fan of the Julian being the parent dynamic.
  • 2/3 of the way through the series and I don’t feel like the villain or villians are really built out.
  • I don’t not like the cameos from The Mortal Instruments main crew. I mean if you are going to write a book with Jace in it, I want it to be all him lol. Plus after they hinted about Clary dying I almost didn’t want to keep reading to find out if it really happened.
  • These cameos also ruined Alec and Magnus for me. While I get it was trying to show them in an adult/parent light years down the road I just didn’t care for their new softness.

While curiosity will get the best of me eventually and I will finish Queen of Air and Darkness and hopefully it will be so amazing it changes my mind on the whole series. But as of right now I have no plans to purchase her two new books releasing in 2019 Red Scrolls of Magic or Chain of Gold.

Stay Tuned….

Products I love!!

Book Outlet Review

Megan Nicole

I started seeing a lot of people posting unboxing videos from Book Outlet online and wondered what all the fuss was about. I decided to check out the site and when I saw the prices I had the same thought as many folks “there is no way this can be real”. I was thinking they had to be damaged books or maybe different versions of the books. But, the prices were so cheap and there were a ton of books on my wish list so I decided to give them a try.

IMG_4552.jpeg

They have the book prices color coded according to type, such as red for bargain books and green for “scratch and dent” so when you are browsing you can clearly see what you are getting. I went for all bargain books because I wanted them to be in the best shape possible and for only a few bucks more they were still totally worth the buy up for me. My first order was 11 books and with the additional 10% off coupon I used for signing up on their site before my first purchase I only spent $66…. and they were almost all hardbacks

Falling Kingdoms Book
Edge of Everything Book
The Wrath and the Dawn Book
Summoner Series Book

Shipping: In the U.S. they have free shipping on orders of $35 plus, but I have heard that international shipping gets pretty outrageous. I also heard some complaints about shipping time, and while they certainly are not Amazon Prime I placed my order on 12/16 and received it on 12/24. I thought that was pretty impressive especially for the holiday season on something I didn’t pay expedited shipping for. 

Now a few things to keep in mind if you are picky about your books.

1) Most of the books that arrived do have “reminder marks” on the pages. This wasn’t a deal breaker for me but it does affect the overall condition rating of the book long-term.

Book Reminder Marks

2) There were some books that had sale stickers from their original retailers on them. This I was actually not really happy about, but both books that I purchased the stickers came off really easy and there were no marks left on the books.

Book Outlet Stickers

3) There were just a few books that had a little wear on the book jackets but this is really something that I see with all retailers. I have pre- ordered books from major book chains that have come in with a decent amount of damage on them so I don’t take this away from them at all.

Book Outlet Book Jacket Wear

Would I order from them again? Well…. I already have!!! They had a great coupon for $40 off $100 (which I think is actually still good for a few more days) and I got 18 books for $60 shipped!!!! I will be sure to share the haul and any quality or shipping updates I have when they arrive!