


MAY The Force Read With you Read a Thon

April Wrap Up and Updated TBR List

The Winter Road by Adrian Selby

April TBR- New Format

Monthly Mariana! April- Under Locke

Monthly Mariana! March- Lingus
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Monthly Mariana!

Mark Lawrence Interview

Edge of the Breach by Halo Scot
Future Planning

The Hay Bale by Priscilla Bettis

Gunmetal Gods by Zamil Akhtar

Happy New Year! Reading Goals for 2022

Stone & Shield by Thomas J. Devens

GhostCityGirl by Simon Paul Wilson

Dark Sea's End by Richard Nell

Fear Farm No Trespassers by S.J. Krandall

Seasons of Albadone by Élan Marché & Christopher Warman

Malice by John Gwynne

Birthday Treat by Anthony Self

Beguiled by Night by Nicole Eigener

Cannibal Creator by Chad Lutzke
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Blog Entries
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By BrandieNoel in Brandie Babbles 2Happy May!! 🌸
Last month I posted my rolling TBR list and new way of managing what I read. So far it is working pretty well for me. In this blog post I will share with you all what I read from my list in the month of April with some of my thoughts. Also my new list. It is a little big. But this month I am participating in the "May the Force Read With you Read-A-Thon" (stay tuned tomorrow for my blog about that) I will be taking books from my list to fill the prompts in that read-a-thon.
So here are the books that I checked of my list in April:
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This was so hard to get through. I was determined to finish because This was book nine out of nine books in the series. Every three books in this series is about a different couple within this Carrero family. The first six were great and I found them to be a lot of fun. I was skeptical about the Alexi and Camilla books because Camilla was already established as a hated character in previous books. She does some pretty nasty stuff. You do get a little insight into why Camilla is the way she is but it is repeated over and over and over. These last three books could have been just one book. The author repeated herself way too much. It just dragged on and on and took forever for anything exciting to happen. Not a fan of this one.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I am reading Tolkien with my teenagers. We did the Hobbit a couple months ago and then watched all of the movies. We are all reading on our own. I have been listening to the audio books for these because ... Andy Serkis! He is great! He sings all of the songs and as you can imagine his voices for all of the characters are just amazing. I have never read Tolkien and I am having a blast so far reading these and discussing them with my kids and finally getting to experience the magic that is Tolkien. I am seeing why he is so beloved. Excited for The Two Towers. Patiently waiting for my kiddos to finish before I move on.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
I had a great time reading this with my hubby, @Steve , @Jolien Reads and @MaedBetweenthePages . They had a fun and thoughtful discussion on Jolien's channel and I was there to participate in the chat.
I really enjoyed hearing their thoughts. The conversation makes things interesting and helped me pick up on some things I missed. This book, you could tell, was heavily inspired by the show Peaky Blinders, I liked that feel of it because I love that show. I didn't feel like it was too on the nose. It was just a great balance of a Peaky Blinders feel with some fantasy and magical elements. We are going to keep going with the next book Priest of Lies. These are rather short books as far as fantasy goes so anyone could totally catch up to us for the next one and join in.
⭐⭐⭐
This one I am also reading with @Steve. I liked this one too. It was a fun short fantasy read also. It has some strong Sons of Anarchy parallels but with orcs and fantasy elements. I felt in this one that the SOA parallels were a little too on the nose and not at all subtle. But I had a good time with it. I enjoyed the humor, the action, and the darkness of the story.
⭐⭐⭐
This was my first time reading a true crime book. I liked it. I read it because @Lezlie started a Crime and Wine book club and this was the first pick! Reading it with others and hearing everyone's thoughts and theories made it so fun! I liked the crime aspect of this with some paranormal elements. Here is the fun discussion from Lezlie's channel, there are spoilers. I am so glad I added this fun club to my months and I am looking forward to the next one, Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
THIS BOOK! The Dark Tower broke my heart, it made me cry tears of anger and tears of joy. It was bitter sweet. I really loved this one, it may be my favorite book in the series. I know that this book can be a little controversial with some people loving it and some people angry with it. But I thought it was a perfect way to end this journey. My only complaint is that it spoiled both the Cujo book and movie for me, but I suppose that can be forgiven. I would recommend reading some of the books connected before reading this book, it really adds to the enjoyment of the series. @Amanda Feeser has a great video on her channel about reading some of the books connected to the Dark Tower books. (link below)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFWVfvs74JM&t=23s
I cannot wait to discuss this with the Ka-Tet and see what everyone else thinks. Right now it is planned for May the 7th and will be on @Joseph Carrel's new youtube channel. It will be spoiler filled. Keep an eye on the calendar post for updates on that discussion.
https://www.pagechewing.com/forum/index.php?/calendar/event/75-the-dark-tower-discussion/
Here is the link to Joseph's channel, he has some fun stuff going on over there if you haven't checked it out yet!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ndLlcAOal-Chxf8y202qw/videos
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This book was OK. I felt like it was a bunch of fantasy romance tropes mashed into one book. Things moved so fast that I didn't feel I had time to be invested in any of the characters and had trouble rooting for them because of that. This was book one in a series, I am not too sure if I will keep going yet. Even though I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would, it was the pick for The High Court Ladies monthly read-a-thon. No matter what the book is, the read-a-thon is always a blast! I was unable to be on camera this month for the live midnight kick off, but I was in the chat. It is always a great time with these ladies and I always try to finish the book by the end of the weekend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZKDqSAZV4M
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This book was a gift from @Stacyejaye and I read it to attempt to catch up with @Jolien Reads so that I can read the next one when she reads it. Jolien had great things to say about this book and she or Stacey have never steered me wrong. This book had a very interesting premise. I enjoyed the world building, the political intrigue, and cultural and religious aspects of it. The only thing I didn't enjoy as much is some of the action and fighting parts that went on a little too long, but that's never really been my thing. I will go on to the next one Kushiel's Chosen and have added it to my new TBR list.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is a book that was not on my list. I have been dealing with some autoimmune and health issues. My functional medicine doctor wanted me to read this as part of the healing journey that I am on. It was very good and had so much information that I really needed. Before I read the book I watched the TEDX talk that Dr. Wahls gave and was just so inspired to learn more. I am going to link that video below because I just found it to be very informative and inspirational and can be for everyone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc&t=16s
So that was everything that I got to in April! I am behind on my Monthly Marianna for April- Under Locke. I didn't end up starting my re-read of that until May 1st. But I will be updating that post as I finish my re-read and creating a new one for May- Kulti!
Here is my new list. Stay tuned tomorrow (May the 4th) Star Wars day, for my blog about the read-a-thon!
The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince (May)
Little Women- Louisa May Alcott (classic)
Under Locke- Mariana Zapata (romance)
The Healing Mindset (1 chapter a day)
Shadow of Night- Deborah Harkness (paranormal romance)
The Bone Shard Daughter (Read a thon May)
Kushiels Chosen- Jaqueline Carey (fantasy romance)
Kulti- Monthly Marianna May
Child of the Prophecy- Juliet Marillier (fantasy romance)
Priest of Lies
Insomnia (wine and crime)
The wind through the keyhole
Well Met- Jen DeLuca (romance)
The Dead Inside- Laurel Hightower (horror)
A Court of Frost and Starlight- Sarah J. Maas (fantasy romance)
A Court of Silver Flames- Sarah J. Maas (fantasy romance)
What He Never Knew- Kandi Steiner (romance)
Bad Liar- Lauren Rowe (romance)
Lover Awakened- J.R. Ward (paranormal romance)
The Wreckage of Us- Britainy C. Cherry (romance)
Shadow of the Wind- Carlos Ruiz Zafon (fantasy?)
Fools Errand- Robin Hobb (fantasy) (june)
Lady of the Lake- Adrej Sapkowski (grimdark fantasy)
The Only Good Indians- Stephen Graham Jones (horror)
The Darkness that Comes Before (june)
What did you all read in April? What's everyone reading in May? Have you all read any of these books? I always look forward to any discussion about things that I am reading!
Hope everyone has a good month!
Hugs 🤗
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By BrandieNoel in Brandie Babbles 2Happy May the 4th! ✨
I LOVE a read-a-thon and am excited to participate in this year's May the force read with you read-a-thon.
THIS is the youtube video that lured me to the dark side! Thank you to @Lezlie for sharing this! It is going to be so much fun! If you want to join I don't think it is too late. Lezlie provides the information for the discord with this video.
Like I said before, I chose the DARK SIDE/ Sith Order! Really, how could I not?!
Here is my list that will help me achieve level 5 Dark Lord of the Sith:
Lightning- A book you think will shock you- Kushiel's Chosen by Jaqueline Carey ⭐⭐⭐
Seduction- a book with a pretty cover- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Force Fear- a horror/thriller book- Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough
Corruption- start a series- The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
Mind Control- pets or people chose the book for you- Priest of Lies by Peter McClean (picked by my hubs) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Force Sensitive- neutral ability- dark side reads this book only at night- Under Locke by Marianna Zapata ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Lightsaber- A book with your favorite color on the cover- Healing Mindset by Eileen Laird (pink)
Blasters- take another shot at a previous ability prompt- force sensitive- Kulti by Marianna Zapata
Space Ships- a book that has a sky or space/stars on the cover- Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Partners- I plan to be Neutral
Bounty Hunters- read a book at the top of your list- The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince by Robin Hobb
Droids- audiobook/ebook- The Wind Through The Keyhole by Stephen King ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is quite an ambitious list I have created for myself! I think it will be a blast trying to achieve it! Is anyone else joining?! What side did you choose? Share your lists below! I will come back and update this blog post with star ratings as I check all the books of my list.
Let's go team Dark Side! 🤩
Hugs! 🤗
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By BrandieNoel in Brandie Babbles 0Hi All!! This month I will be doing a re-read of Kulti. ⚽
I remember this as being one of my favorites! I'm excited to see if it still is! It was the first sports romance that I have ever read. I wasn't sure if I would like a sports romance because, even though I watch a lot of football and basketball, I am not huge into sports. But Mariana Zapata writes a great sports romance. This one is also an enemies to lovers romance, which I love! As always it is a super slow burn, as are all of her books! I found the main character to be so hard working and very likeable. She is also pretty funny. As usual there is some great banter in this one. I also love the side characters, the father of the heroine just absolutely cracked me up.
Looking forward to re-reading this one! Let me know what you all think if you read it. As always don't forget to use the spoiler function if you are talking spoilers below.
Feel free to jump in anytime! These posts will remain, so whether you read these books now or later I will always be here to discuss with you!
Hugs! 🤗
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By BrandieNoel in Brandie Babbles 5Hi Friends!!
My Monthly Mariana read for April is going to be Under Locke! 🏍️
I remember before reading this the first time, just seeing the words "tattoo shop" and saying "sign me up!" It has been exactly a year since I have read this one but I do remember really loving it.
I am not sure when I will start it, I have quite a few group reads to get through before I can. But I will be reading it before the month ends. Please check back here for updates with my thoughts as I re-read it.
Also if you plan to read it with me let me know! If you do read it please post your thoughts in the comments. Just use the spoiler function and mark the chapter you are referring to if you plan on discussing spoilery thoughts!
As always this post will stay here and the discussion will be ongoing for anyone who can't jump in this month. Feel free to join me any time!
Hugs! 🤗
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By BrandieNoel in Brandie Babbles 8Hi Everyone! 💦
I have been meaning to make a blog about how I have been doing my TBR lately.
I really wanted to get away from doing a monthly TBR. So what I have had for the past few months is just a list. I try to keep it about 20-25 books long. I do have group reads that take priority but the list just kind of revolves to the next month and each time I remove a book, I add another carrying over what I didn't get to.
I am liking this so much better. It gives me a chance to have multiple genres on the list and I can have that flexibility to read something that I am in the mood for.
My plan is to post my list here and next month I will update it. I'll let you know what I read and what new books have been added.
Here is THE LIST as of April 9th:
The Carrero Contract #9 Finding Freedom- L.T. Marshall (romance)- CURRENTLY READING- I have been reading this for about a month and I am not loving it. I'm actually close to DNFing it. I'm trying to hang in there. But it is book 9 and I just really want to finish out this series. I loved the first 6 books, but these last 3 have been rough. The author repeats herself so much, and I feel like these 3 books could have just been done in one. I'll keep you posted.
The Book of Cold Cases- Simone St. James (thriller)- CURRENTLY READING
The Dark Tower- Stephen King (fantasy?)- CURRENTLY READING
The Grey Bastards- Jonathan French (grimdark fantasy)
The True Bastards- Jonathan French (grimdark fantasy)
Kushiels Dart- Jaqueline Carey (fantasy romance)
Kushiels Chosen- Jaqueline Carey (fantasy romance)
Priest of Bones- Peter Mclean (grimdark?)
Well Met- Jen DeLuca (romance)
Little Women- Louisa May Alcott (classic)
Fortuna Sworn- K.J. Sutton (fantasy romance)
Under Locke- Mariana Zapata (romance)
The Dead Inside- Laurel Hightower (horror)
A Court of Frost and Starlight- Sarah J. Maas (fantasy romance)
A Court of Silver Flames- Sarah J. Maas (fantasy romance)
What He Never Knew- Kandi Steiner (romance)
Bad Liar- Lauren Rowe (romance)
Lover Awakened- J.R. Ward (paranormal romance)
The Wreckage of Us- Britainy C. Cherry (romance)
Child of the Prophecy- Juliet Marillier (fantasy romance)
Shadow of the Wind- Carlos Ruiz Zafon (fantasy?)
Fools Errand- Robin Hobb (fantasy)
Lady of the Lake- Adrej Sapkowski (grimdark fantasy)
The Only Good Indians- Stephen Graham Jones (horror)
Shadow of Night- Deborah Harkness (paranormal romance)
Ok whew! That is a long list, and no, I am not going to read them all in April. But I will let you all know what gets checked off the list for sure. I am pretty excited about this list. They are all books I really want to get to!
What are you all planning to read?
Hugs! 🤗
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Blog Comments
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2 hours ago, Stacyejaye said:So, my son started reading The Hobbit a few days ago. He is doing immersion reading with the Serkis audiobook. I have never seen him this excited about a book. He loves to read and he has many favorites, but this one I think is special because he has been a big fan of LOTR, but had struggled to read it in the past. He was only 6 or 7 at the time. We tried the audiobooks before, but he didn't like the narrator. Now with Andy Serkis, it is fun and he brings the story to life. Even the songs are fun to listen to!
I read a lot of the books you have on here lol, but I want to share my thoughts on The Dark Tower. This book also wrecked me. I sobbed, SOBBED, while reading it. Maybe it was hormones, but I like to give credit to the author who made characters that felt so real that I genuinely mourned the end of this series. I am very seriously considering re-reading this whole series, but this time reading the connected books along the way. I have been wanted to re-read The Stand, but the original version. So maybe I will start there.
I love how the Council of High Ladies has evolved. Our readathons have always been fun and I look forward to them every month. What do you think about us going back and doing check in shows and sprints? Maybe just on discord?
I can't say enough how amazing Andy Serkis is. My daughter is listening too. My son has a strong aversion to audio books. He is almost done with fellowship.
I am thinking that I will definitely go through Amanda's list and at the very least read all of the connected books that I missed. I too was so invested in all of the characters. He really made us love them all even the ones we are supposed to hate.
I am up for anything as far as the read a thons go. I sometimes have trouble doing youtube check ins if Steve has other stuff going on and I can't use his set up. But I personally try to make myself available all weekend to discuss and read and hopefully finish the entire book. I do look forward to it every month. It is my one thing that everybody in my house knows I'm checked out for the weekend. It's my mom break every month! HA HA
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2 hours ago, Stacyejaye said:This is an impressive list. A lot of long books. Are you reading just Little Women or are you reading the bind up that includes Little Wives?
I also picked the Dark Side. I thought the prompts were more fun (what does that say about me?). I tried to fit in all the books I already planned to read for the month of May, but I will probably have to change my TBR as library books become available. For example, Nettle & Bone is waiting for me to pick it up now. This was a surprise, because I thought I was far down the list, but YAY!
The one book I didn't find room for was Memories of Ice which is the next Malazan book. I thought if I put it in this TBR I would be forced to finish it by the end of the month. But now @Steve wants to have the show the first Sunday of June, so I might as well put it into this readathon lol. It would be perfect for the Galactic Empire prompt: a book that intimidates you.
The good news is that more than half of the books I plan to read are less than 350 pages. So, the pressure isn't so bad. I am trying to figure out a fun way to put this TBR into my bullet journal. Do I make a whole spread or just put the TBR into my monthly spread. What are you doing?
So here is my list as of today:
Comprehend Speech - neutral ability - A translated novel - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami (reading this for Asian and Pacific Islander Month)
Seduction- a book with a pretty cover- The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince by Robin Hobb
Force Fear- a horror/thriller book- The Cipher by Isabella Maldonado
Corruption- start a series- The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
Mind Control- pets or people chose the book for you- Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (picked by my son, he picked a Star Wars book first, but I asked him to pick something shorter lol)
Weapons:
Lightsaber- a book with your favorite color on the cover- Book Lovers by Emily Henry (blue)
Blasters- take another shot at a previous ability prompt- comprehend speech - City of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Space Ships- a book that has a sky or space/stars on the cover- Kulti by Mariana Zapata
Partners:
First Order - a book with a compelling first line - Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
Droids- audiobook/ebook- The Wind Through The Keyhole by Stephen King
Great List!
I did just read Little Women and that was it. I may go on in the future, but it was a buzzword book for April, of course I am behind on that. But I'm thinking as long as I do those prompts through out the year and not specifically in the month they are assigned, I will complete them all at some point. I think you said you were doing it that way too?
I do hope to make a spread in my journal for the read-a-thon, I am so behind in my journal. I need to catch up. I'm hoping to catch up and do a blog post about that, plus add a book-oply board at some point!
I read Hatchet with my son when he was probably about G's age. It was fun and then we watched the movie. I think the movie is called A Cry in the Wild?
I don't have FOMO about Malazan. Maybe one day I will change my mind and read it. Just not feeling it these days.
Excited to read Hobb and Kulti with you!! Oh and Boneshard and Keyhole too!
Stacyejaye reacted to this -
This is an impressive list. A lot of long books. Are you reading just Little Women or are you reading the bind up that includes Little Wives?
I also picked the Dark Side. I thought the prompts were more fun (what does that say about me?). I tried to fit in all the books I already planned to read for the month of May, but I will probably have to change my TBR as library books become available. For example, Nettle & Bone is waiting for me to pick it up now. This was a surprise, because I thought I was far down the list, but YAY!
The one book I didn't find room for was Memories of Ice which is the next Malazan book. I thought if I put it in this TBR I would be forced to finish it by the end of the month. But now @Steve wants to have the show the first Sunday of June, so I might as well put it into this readathon lol. It would be perfect for the Galactic Empire prompt: a book that intimidates you.
The good news is that more than half of the books I plan to read are less than 350 pages. So, the pressure isn't so bad. I am trying to figure out a fun way to put this TBR into my bullet journal. Do I make a whole spread or just put the TBR into my monthly spread. What are you doing?
So here is my list as of today:
Comprehend Speech - neutral ability - A translated novel - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami (reading this for Asian and Pacific Islander Month)
Seduction- a book with a pretty cover- The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince by Robin Hobb
Force Fear- a horror/thriller book- The Cipher by Isabella Maldonado
Corruption- start a series- The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
Mind Control- pets or people chose the book for you- Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (picked by my son, he picked a Star Wars book first, but I asked him to pick something shorter lol)
Weapons:
Lightsaber- a book with your favorite color on the cover- Book Lovers by Emily Henry (blue)
Blasters- take another shot at a previous ability prompt- comprehend speech - City of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Space Ships- a book that has a sky or space/stars on the cover- Kulti by Mariana Zapata
Partners:
First Order - a book with a compelling first line - Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
Droids- audiobook/ebook- The Wind Through The Keyhole by Stephen King
BrandieNoel reacted to this -
So, my son started reading The Hobbit a few days ago. He is doing immersion reading with the Serkis audiobook. I have never seen him this excited about a book. He loves to read and he has many favorites, but this one I think is special because he has been a big fan of LOTR, but had struggled to read it in the past. He was only 6 or 7 at the time. We tried the audiobooks before, but he didn't like the narrator. Now with Andy Serkis, it is fun and he brings the story to life. Even the songs are fun to listen to!
I read a lot of the books you have on here lol, but I want to share my thoughts on The Dark Tower. This book also wrecked me. I sobbed, SOBBED, while reading it. Maybe it was hormones, but I like to give credit to the author who made characters that felt so real that I genuinely mourned the end of this series. I am very seriously considering re-reading this whole series, but this time reading the connected books along the way. I have been wanted to re-read The Stand, but the original version. So maybe I will start there.
I love how the Council of High Ladies has evolved. Our readathons have always been fun and I look forward to them every month. What do you think about us going back and doing check in shows and sprints? Maybe just on discord?
BrandieNoel reacted to this -
7 hours ago, BrandieNoel said:how was the audiobook? I'm thinking I might listen to some of it.
I liked the audiobook. The narrator is the same for all Zapata's books.
BrandieNoel reacted to this
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