Top Ten Tuesday: A Winter TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by  The Broke and the Bookish.

My planned TBRs always end up becoming such a mess because I get too ambitious or sidetracked and end up not reading the books I planned on reading. That being said I’m still going to try and have a TBR for the winter here and HOPEFULLY I will read at least a few of these. I really am terrible.

Also some of these will be included in an upcoming Book Haul I’m going to be doing I didn’t want to spoil ALL of the books I received and bought! I have a TON of ARCs that I’ll have to be reading here this winter as well but as I said I’m not going to spoil all of them!

These are in no particular order.

10.) Dear Martin by Nic Stone

I JUST got this from the library so I’m going to be reading it right away here, I’m super excited to finally be reading this book! I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about it so I’m expecting to love it.

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9.) There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

Another library book I’m going to finish here quickly. I’ve heard a lot of mixed things about this book so I decided to just read it myself and see what I think although I’ll go in with lower expectations.

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8.) Final Girls by Riley Sager

Once again another horror/thriller that I’ve heard mixed things about and yet again I wanted to read it myself and see what I think of it. I just really love the idea of the “final girl” trope being used in a book!

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7.) Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor

I know, I know. I have been adding this to my TBRs FOREVER and I still haven’t read it! Once I battle through all of the ARCs I have to read I WILL READ THIS BOOK! I stare at it every time I pass my bookshelf!

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6.) Because You Love To Hate Me

Another book I “had to have right away” and still haven’t read but I really do want to get to it sooner rather than later! It’s a collection of short stories so I feel that it will be a quicker read.

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5.) A Torch Against The Night by Sabaa Tahir

After reading the perfection that is “An Ember in the Ashes” I seriously need to get on to reading the sequel! I’m ready to be emotionally wrecked again, bring it on.

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4.) City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

I’ve had this book on my TBR for a while but since it released this month I’ve seen TONS of great reviews so I’m even more excited to read it. I love fantasy but a fantasy set in Egypt is right up my alley.

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3.) Between the Blade and the Heart by Amanda Hocking

I’m SUPER excited to be reading this ARC and I’m going to be a part of my first blog tour with it as well so be on the look out for my review this coming month!

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2.) A Conspiracy of Stars by Olivia A. Cole

Another ARC I’m excited to read here soon, it’s a YA sci-fi and it has one gorgeous cover.

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1.) The Fire Queen by Emily R. King

I received an ARC of the first book in this trilogy and actually really enjoyed it! I also recently received an ARC of the last book in the trilogy as well and have a copy of the sequel on its way so I will be reading both of these here this winter but especially the second book.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think?

What’s on your winter TBR?

Let me know in the comments!

Top Ten Tuesday: Hidden Gems in Fantasy

Hello fellow book lovers!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week’s theme is Hidden Gems in whichever genre you’d like to pick! Of course I adore hidden gem recommendations and I have more than a few to give but fantasy is my most read genre so that’s the genre I went with. Some of these may be a little more iffy as far as having them be considered fantasy but there are fantasy elements none the less and most of them are 100% pure fantasy. Some of my choices also might be a little more popular than others and some of you may not consider them a “hidden” gem but they still aren’t super popular so I’d like to recommend them!

I will link up each title to my full review as well if you’d like to be convinced some more to add these to your TBR! Also these aren’t in any particular order!

10.) Alice (The Chronicles of Alice #1) by Christina Henry

This is more of a horror book than anything but it still counts as fantasy in my mind especially since it’s a dark retelling of “Alice in Wonderland”. This book isn’t for the faint of heart, it’s truly terrifying, graphic, brutal, and violent and yet it’s still an addictive story. I highly recommend reading it if you’re looking for a unique retelling!

You can read my full review of “Alice” here.

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9.) Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor

A collection of three short fairy tale-esque stories all revolving around a kiss but trust me when I say it’s not the gushy romance fest you think it would be! Laini Taylor’s writing is gorgeous and she weaves together such creative tales with mythology of her own making, these stories are fantastic. Plus the illustrations are gorgeous as well!

You can read my full review of “Lips Touch: Three Times” here.

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8.) The Impostor Queen (The Impostor Queen #1) by Sarah Fine

This is such an underrated fantasy novel it isn’t even fair! The magic system is one of the best I’ve come across with both fire and ice users but the magic doesn’t come without it’s costs. The Valtia is the queen of the land who is the only wielder of both ice and fire magic and when she dies it passes on to the next but when the magic doesn’t enter Elli she is forced to flee. Great characters and great world building, go give this book some more love!

You can read my full review of “The Impostor Queen” here.

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7.) The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury

This book is a little more well known but still not enough in my eyes! It’s an Aladdin retelling where the genie is female and they have a relationship, it’s got some great world building, badass female characters, and gorgeous writing! What more could you want?

You can read my full review of “The Forbidden Wish” here.

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6.) Labyrinth Lost (Brooklyn Brujas #1) by Zoraida Cordova

Not only does this book have a gorgeous cover and diverse characters but it’s also filled with magic and a very Wonderland-esque adventure. Alex is a bruja (a witch) and wants to rid herself of her powers but when she tries her whole family vanishes into thin air.

You can read my full review of “Labyrinth Lost” here.

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5.) Kingdom of Ash and Briars by Hannah West

I recommend this book ALL the time and it’s probably the book on here I feel is the most underrated. It has a great story, world building, and characters plus on top of all of that it has four retellings weaved into the plot which include: Sleep Beauty, Cinderella, Hua Mulan, and Jane Austen’s Emma. It’s a fantastic story!

You can read my full review of “Kingdom of Ash and Briars” here.

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4.) The Bone Witch (The Bone Witch #1) by Rin Chupeco

This is a dark fantasy featuring a witch with the gift of necromancy who goes to train under another bone witch. She must control her powers if she is going to aid her fellow witches with the war that is brewing in the kingdoms. I really loved how dark and sometimes creepy this book got especially with the necromancy, great world building too!

You can read my full review of “The Bone Witch” here.

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3.) Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Once again this one is a little more popular so it may not be considered a true hidden gem but it’s not a book I see tons of people talking about all of the time either. This is a Peter Pan retelling revolving around the character Tiger Lily, her backstory, and her relationship with Peter. It’s a darker version of Neverland and you’ll definitely be heart broken by the end.

You can read my full review of “Tiger Lily” here.

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2.) The Hundredth Queen (The Hundredth Queen #1) by Emily R. King

A girl raised by the Sisterhood is chosen to be the Rajah’s 100th wife and she must fight in gladiator style battles against his other 99 wives in order to secure her place. This book is full of magic and some badass females, it may not be the best written book ever but it was highly addictive and entertaining!

You can read my full review of “The Hundredth Queen” here.

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1.) Mask of Shadows (Untitled #1) by Linsey Miller

This book is pretty hyped up at the moment but still isn’t receiving as much hype as it should. This is everything I wanted and expected “Throne of Glass” to be with the brutal competition to be the Queen’s assassin, plus we get a genderfluid main character!

You can read my full review of “Mask of Shadows” here.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think?

What are some of your hidden gems in YA fantasy?

Let me know in the comments!

ARC Review: The Hundredth Queen (The Hundredth Queen #1) by Emily R. King

As an orphan ward of the Sisterhood, eighteen-year-old Kalinda is destined for nothing more than a life of seclusion and prayer. Plagued by fevers, she’s an unlikely candidate for even a servant’s position, let alone a courtesan or wife. Her sole dream is to continue living in peace in the Sisterhood’s mountain temple.

But a visit from the tyrant Rajah Tarek disrupts Kalinda’s life. Within hours, she is ripped from the comfort of her home, set on a desert trek, and ordered to fight for her place among the rajah’s ninety-nine wives and numerous courtesans. Her only solace comes in the company of her guard, the stoic but kind Captain Deven Naik.

Faced with the danger of a tournament to the death—and her growing affection for Deven—Kalinda has only one hope for escape, and it lies in an arcane, forbidden power buried within her.

****Big thank you to Skyscape and Amazon Publishing for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review****

Wow, let me just say I am pleasantly surprised with how much I ended up enjoying this book! It has every element I love in a YA fantasy and I honestly cannot wait for the rest of the series now!

Of course it’s easy to think with the description of this book that it would be something similar to “The Wrath & The Dawn” or even “The Star-Touched Queen” and while there are some similarities it’s still very unique. I would still say that if you were a fan of either you will probably enjoy “The Hundredth Queen” as well!

I really enjoyed the world building a lot, I liked how every aspect of the lore we were introduced to was incorporated into the plot. I also never felt overwhelmed or confused when information on the world was provided, no info-dumps here! The mythology was probably my favorite part about this story since it ended up playing a major part and was just so fascinating to learn about.

I found the magic system to be pretty unique and actually reminded me a lot of Avatar: The Last Airbender since each element is represented, that’s probably why I loved it so much……

While the pacing wasn’t necessarily slow in the beginning it was a little bit harder for me to get into since there was a bit of insta-love that really put me off. However, once I got a little bit further in I was completely engrossed in this story! There were many twists and turns that I honestly did not see coming and I felt like there was definitely plenty of action and fast pacing to keep me turning pages.

The rank tournaments themselves were actually pretty brutal too, there definitely wasn’t any sugar-coating this aspect of the story which I liked since I feel YA authors always try to get out of or gloss over any sort of violence in their novels. Not that I’m some blood-thirsty, horrible person! It’s just I get tired of books promising fights to the death and then not delivering.

I also liked the way females were represented in the story as well as female relationships. There is a bit of girl-on-girl hate at the beginning of the story but I promise you it isn’t what it seems as it changes as the story progresses. I appreciated how the author would point out the wrongness of the way women were treated and how they sometimes treated each other in this world as well and how our heroine, Kalinda, also frowned upon any negative treatment of women and would intervene. The women in this story are honestly total badasses and I loved it! Although I will say I wish the few positive relationships between females would have been shown a lot more.

I was also really impressed with the writing and it was hard to believe this was a debut novel, everything flowed so well! Simple and easy to read overall, which sometimes is just perfect.

The characters in this book were actually very enjoyable, all of them! Once again, I was pretty surprised by how well I thought a lot of them developed and the levels of complexity a few of them had. I have to admit I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with these characters but I love to be proved wrong in this case!

Kalinda was the perfect protagonist, in my opinion. She was brave and loyal but also had her moments where her courage would fail her, she wasn’t perfect. I also really liked how she wasn’t some “super skilled special snowflake” (that’s a bit of a tongue twister, huh?), she had skill but she definitely wasn’t as skilled as lot of the other characters. I think maybe the best word to describe how I felt about Kalinda’s character was “heart-warming” because everything she did, said, or felt just gave me tingles because she was just so realistic and down to earth!

The secondary characters were all well done too, I felt like I knew so many of them even though they were only around for a few sentences! I loved how many were also not just by-standers and we got to see so many of them grow and develop throughout the story.

As I mentioned earlier I really liked all of the female relationships in this book but especially the friendship between Kalinda and Jaya. Honestly, I wished there was more shown between those two because I feel YA could really use more positive female friendships like this one!

The only real problem I had with the romance was that there was some heavy insta-love at the beginning but overall I did like it and felt that Kalinda and Deven made a great couple. Was it anything super special or impressive? No, not really but like I said I did enjoy it so that’s all that really matters.

Plus it doesn’t hurt that Deven is a pretty swoon-worthy love interest. He treated Kalinda right and I’m all for a good guy love interest!

What I Loved:

• The world building and mythology
• Kalinda was a great female protagonist
• The writing flowed well and was easy to follow
• The plot was fast-paced, action-packed, with plenty of twists
• Kalinda and Jaya’s friendship

What I Didn’t Love:

• There was some girl-on-girl hate (which is never okay although in this story it was overcome)
• Insta-love relationship (even though I did come to like them together)
• I wish Kalinda and Jaya’s friendship would have been shown a lot more and maybe some more of the female relationships as well

I definitely recommend checking this book out especially if you’re looking for something a little similar to “The Wrath & The Dawn”!

Links: Goodreads / Amazon / Book Depository