Can't Wait Wednesday (109)

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings to spotlight highly anticipated books.  It is based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme which used to be hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. 

FROM GOODREADS: Killing isn’t supposed to be easy. But it is. It’s the after that’s hard to deal with.

Nate was eight the first time he stabbed someone; he was eleven when he earned his red laces—a prize for spilling blood for “the cause.” And he was fourteen when he murdered his father (and the leader of The Fort, a notorious white supremacist compound) in self-defense, landing in a treatment center while the state searched for his next of kin. Now, in the custody of an uncle he never knew existed, who wants nothing to do with him, Nate just wants to disappear.

Enrolled in a new school under a false name, so no one from The Fort can find him, he struggles to forge a new life, trying to learn how to navigate a world where people of different races interact without enmity. But he can’t stop awful thoughts from popping into his head, or help the way he shivers with a desire to commit violence. He wants to be different—he just doesn’t know where to start.

Then he meets Brandon, a person The Fort conditioned Nate to despise on sight. But Brandon’s also the first person to treat him like a human instead of a monster. Brandon could never understand Nate’s dark past, so Nate keeps quiet. And it works for a while. But all too soon, Nate’s worlds crash together, and he must decide between his own survival and standing for what’s right, even if it isn’t easy. Even if society will never be able to forgive him for his sins.

Like a teen American History X, S.F. Henson’s Devils Within is gut-wrenching, thought-provoking, no-holds-barred look at the plague of white supremacy in contemporary American culture that may have you examining your own soul. 

WHY I CAN'T WAIT:  I have a hard time even fathoming the concept of white supremacy but I know it's out there. It's totally not something I've ran into in books before so while this may be out of my comfort zone, I'm anxious to see how the author handles it.  I also can't wait to learn more about Brandon and his interaction with Nate.  

WHAT BOOK CAN'T YOU WAIT FOR THIS WEEK???

TTT - Last 10 Urban Fantasy Books I Just Added to My TBR.

This top 10 weekly meme is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and can be found HERE.  Each week they focus on lists which cover various topics related to books and reading. 

This week we are looking at 10 books from (any genre) I recently added to my TBR.  Anyone who has made a visit or two to The Farm know I read all sorts of genres and while I could easily come up with 10 dog-related books or 10 horror books, I decided to share a different interest this week. Therefore, I'm sharing my love of urban fantasy (which I do not read enough of)!

Moonbreaker (Secret Histories #11)

You may be asking, "Gee Barb, have you read the first 10?  Did you enjoy them?  You must have to have added this to your TBR.  Answer - NOPE.  Don't Judge.

The Spawn of Lilith (Lilith #1)

I've read other things by this author and absolutely love her so I'm thrilled there's a new series starting out.  It's about a demon hunter who is paying off a debt to free her ancestor, Lilith, from imprisonment.  Sounds awesome right?

Westward to Strange 

A story about a surfer chick who meets an odd boy who swims with sharks. You all have been warned, I'm on a real shark kick this summer!

Trolls in the Hamptons (Willow Tate #1)

This series features a graphic novelist starts writing about a troll who then suddenly appears in Manhatten. Sounds fun to me.  Plus, I like trolls (but like gargoyles more).  They seem kind of related to me.  Plus, book 5 is called Sand Witches in the Hamptons - that kills me!

Ravenheart (Crossbreed #2)

I already own the first book in this series (which puts me ahead of the Moonbreaker game) and have heard great things about it so I went ahead and picked this one up so onto the TBR it went!

Blood Kissed (Lizzie Grace #1)

Magic, science, witches and werewolves.  All add up to a decent urban fantasy in my opinion.  I've heard good things about this one too.

A Kiss Before Dooms Day (Dru Jasper #2)

I have actually read the first one in this series and feel in love with the concept of the 4 Horses of the Apocalypse being demons in muscle cars.  Can't wait to see what happens next (and I even have an ARC so I have no excuse not to jump back into this one.

Forever Between (Between Life and Death #2)

I saw this for free a while back and since the first one is on the Kindle, I added this to the TBR as well.

Magic Eater (Dark Lakes #1)

It mentions "horror, humor and fast-paced action collide in a thrilling urban fantasy..."  Sign me up.

Slouch Witch (The Lazy Girl's Guide to Magic #1)

"Hard work will pay off later.  Laziness pays off now."  Don't we all have days where we feel like that?  I know I do.

So I really love urban fantasy and used to read it a lot.  It seems to take a backseat a lot of the time on my TBR so I'm going to have to remedy that.  Have you read any of these and what made it on your lists this week?

It's Official - I LOVE Harley Quinn

TITLE: Harley Quinn, Vol 1 : Die Laughing (Rebirth #1)
AUTHOR: Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PUBLISHING DATE: March 21, 2017

FROM GOODREADS: Harley Quinn's crazy world on has gotten even more crazier when an unexpected, contagious enemy comes to town! Protecting her neighborhood just got a little harder, good thing they have chainsaws!

MY THOUGHTS: Ever since watching Suicide Squad and loving it (take that critics!) I've been wanting to learn more about Harley Quinn.  She's always been one of my favorite characters, but as time goes on, I love her more and more.  I'm pretty clueless about the DC Comics order and originals vs. New 52 vs. Rebirth (I'm lucky I even know THAT), but this Rebirth issue was tons of fun and I can't wait for more.  The artwork is colorful and so much fun and the story lines are action-packed and interesting.  In the first few issues, Harley and her ragtag group of friends are battling zombies in the most inventive ways.  Now these aren't your normal zombies either.  They were created when an alien came to work and ended up being ground up as beef along with some cattle which then caused th epidemic.  Harley then becomes lead in a punk rock band so she can determine who is stealing things from her Coney Island neighborhood and who killed her favorite mailman.

The new Harley has a heart.  Now she is still wild and zany but she also has a caring side, which I always got when watching Harley anyway.  She is a real animal lover (score another point for her in my book) and seems to go out of her way to help her friends.  And since Harley has gotten away from Arkham, she is now working with the police to bring down criminals rather than being the hunted.

If you love DC Comics or just Harley in general, and want a great story along with some awesome artwork, pick this up!

RATING: 4 PAWS

 

May 2017 Wrap Up - I Barely Remember This Month at All!

So I did quite a bit of reading in May but looking at my Goodreads lists, it doesn't feel like the month of May happened at all.  I kept looking at books I read in April thinking they were May reads and vice versa.  Guess it's just been a hectic month and time is just going faster and faster.  Overall I read 9 things which I think is pretty good overall. Oh, and for a whole half a day I was meeting my Goodreads Challenge.  Didn't last long but at least I managed to catch up some.  Anyway, here's the breakdown.

GOODREADS: 40/100
2017 CLOAK & DAGGER CHALLENGE: 17/25 (Bad to the Bone, You Were Here, The Well)
2017 FLIGHTS OF FANTASY CHALLENGE: 16/18 (Flame in the Mist, Blue's Prophecy, The Well, Memortality)
2017 HORROR READING CHALLENGE:  11/25 (Wytches, The Well)
2017 WHAT AN ANIMAL CHALLENGE:   11/20 (Downward Dog, Bad to the Bone, Blue's Prophecy)
2017 NEW RELEASE CHALLENGE: 27/61 (Bad to the Bone, Flame in the Mist, You Were Here, Downward Dog, Harley Quinn Rebirth Vol. 1, Blue's Prophecy, The Well, Memortality)
BLOGGER SHAME REVIEW CHALLENGE:  2/12

I had 1 DNF, 2 3-paw reads, 5 4-paw reads, and 1 5-paw read.  My faves were The Well, Downward Dog and Wytches.

So overall I'm OK with where my challenges stand.  Some could be better but hey, I'm having fun!  How are your challenges going???

Stacking the Shelves (113)/ Sunday Post

Stacking the Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves or TBR piles, may it be physical or virtual.  This means you can include books you buy in a physical store, online, books you borrow from the library or friends, review books, gifts and of course, ebooks! The original meme was started over at Tynga's Reviews. And it now has a new co-host where individuals can link up as well - Marlene from Reading Reality.  Clicking on the book (or title) should take you to the Goodreads page.

I'm also now linking up with the Sunday Post which is hosted byKimberly@Caffeinated Book Reviewer. I'm hoping to discover some new blogs to love.

I had to make a library run this week because I requested "Snotgirl" and it finally came in.  Excited to see what this one has to offer and I've heard a few good things about it.  I saw "Royce Rolls" while I was there and have been curious about it since Clare at Duel Reads read it.  Finally, who can resist a new Joe Hill graphic novel so I grabbed "Tales from the Darkside" too.

I grabbed a few books for Paul Anka from Amazon.  "Stillhouse Lake" was my Kindle first pick for the month of June.  I loved the Veronica Stillwell series by Deanna Raybourn so when I saw "Silent in the Grave" for less than $2.00, I knew I wanted to give it a try.  "Slippery Souls" was a free book and I couldn't resist it once I read the tagline.  Tell me if you agree:

Welcome to a whacky world of vampires, werewolves & zombies!

 ...oh and a sarcastic, talking dog."

Finally I received a few review copies.  "Shark Island" is one I'm thrilled to get especially since I feel in love with "Jaws" all over again on Memorial Day weekend.  "How I Lost You" sounds like a pretty decent thriller.  And "Einstein."  Let met tell you about "Einstein."  Charlie wakes up one night to find an alien in the house who tells him it's the end of the world and he is there to save Einstein - Charlie's dog.  This book has me written all over it!

So what did you add to your shelves this week???

Weekly Reads (06/02/17)

I feel like it's been a crazy, crazy week!  So, last Friday went well and I got Grandpa to all the family graves and to visit some people he hadn't seen in a while who live in that community.  My mom went along as well so he enjoyed telling her some family history as the day progressed.  Mr. Barb managed to fix one of the small plumbing issues (which involved 2 trips to Lowe's) but hey, at least we didn't have to pay plumber's for that part.  They did come and look at the other issue.  They "patched" it and we are hoping that does the trick or else we'll have to get something bigger done.  At least we got an estimate and the money is already socked away so that's a plus.

I did get quite a bit of reading done over the weekend once I decided to DNF "Flame in the Mist."  "The Well" was really good so look for that review soon.  And hey, Harley Quinn graphic novels are always fun.  We also watched quite a few movies and then on Monday, Mr. Barb grilled chicken and ribs and we had a low-key family day.  We watched "Get Out" and I guess I didn't really realize it was a horror movie.  LOVED IT!!!!!  I definitely recommend it to fans of that genre.  We also watched "The Great Wall" with Matt Damon.  He isn't one of my favorite actors and I know the movie didn't get the best response, but we both really enjoyed it and the effects were super fun.  We also watched "Jaws" on Memorial Day which seems to be tradition in our home.   And to top it off, the Pittsburgh Penguins lead the Stanley Cup 2 games to none so YAY!

I plan on reading and cleaning some this weekend.  I got the carpets cleaned last week.  Also, Saturday morning is the yearly "Walk Your Paws" Humane Society benefit in our town and we always attends, take the pups and make donations.  This year's theme is "The Wizard of Paws."  Last year's was "Viva Paws Vegas."  I hope to finish "Mormama" early on and am over 50% through already.  I'm really enjoying it which surprises me because I've not seen a lot of favorable reviews.  I'm also not quite sure about "White Fur" but I'm going to give it a try.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead!!! 

Everybody Brace Yourself...I DNF'd a Book! (Flame in the Mist review)

TITLE: Flame in the Mist (Flame in the Mist #1)
AUTHOR: Renee Ahdieh
PUBLISHER: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
PUBLISHING DATE: May 16, 2017

FROM GOODREADS: The only daughter of a prominent samurai, Marikop has always known she been raised for one purpose and one purpose only: to marry.  Never mind her cunning, which rivals that of her twin brother, Kenshin, or her skills as an accomplished alchemist.  Since Mariko was not born a boy, her fate was sealed the moment she drew her first breath.

So, at just seventeen years old, Mariko is sent to the imperial palace to meet her betrothed, a moan she did not choose, for the very first time.  But the journey is cut short when Mariko's convoy is viciously attacked by the Black Clan, a dangerous group of bandits who've been hired to kill Mariki before she reaches the palace.

The lone survivor, Mariko narrowly escapes to the woods, where she plots her revenge.  Dressed as a peasant boy, she sets out to infiltrate the Black Clan and hunt down this responsible for the target on her back.  Once she's within their ranks, though, Mariko finds for the first time she's appreciated for her intellect and abilities.  She even finds herself falling in love - a love that will force her to question everything she's ever known about her family, her purpose and her deepest desires.

MY THOUGHTS:  I gave this book the old college try.  I love the cover and think it's one of the best I've seen this year.  In addition, I was really interested in the first few chapters of this book because the action started right away and the cultural aspects were very interesting.  However, I quickly bored and I found myself actually avoiding reading because I didn't want to pick up this book.  I read about 145 pages into it and since there was still quite a bit to go, I decided it was best for me to move on. Had I not done so, I'd probably STILL be avoiding reading and there are too many good looking books on my shelf to do so.  I didn't really connect with the characters and I found myself not really caring what happened.  I don't know if I will ever pick this book back up some day.  I've seen some people really love it and I've seen some who have struggled like I did.  It's probably a good book for many readers out there, but it just wasn't for me.

RATING: None since I don't feel it's fair because I didn't finish it.