The Bone Witch
March New Releases I’m Excited For!
Another month and more new book releases! There are, of course, a few more releases coming out this month but these are the books I personally am the most excited for.
March TBR
So I have got a TON of library books and ARCs to get through this month so this TBR is going to be pretty big! Hopefully I can get through all of them too, so far “The Heart Forger” has put me in a bit of a slump because it’s awfully slow but I’m sure one of these books can help me out of it.
Halloween Non-Horror Recommendations!
So as I promised I’ve done up a post for those of you who want to read some spooky books for Halloween but don’t necessarily like horror or want your pants scared off! These are mostly all thrillers or have a paranormal factor present.
If you want to see my Halloween Horror Recommendations you can check that out here.
Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova
A great diverse read featuring a Latino family of brujas (witches) and when Alex tries to rid herself of her powers her entire family vanishes. This is a very magical adventure full of family love and who doesn’t love a good witch book?
The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas
This is a thriller about a girl who lied about who murdered their babysitter when they were younger and must now hunt for the true killer. This doesn’t have much for Halloween vibes but it is a very dark and twisted story full of surprises. It definitely gets gritty and you’ll get chills reading through it!
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Who doesn’t think “Coraline” is a Halloween classic now? Because I sure do! It’s subtly creepy and just absolutely perfect for reading this time of year.
The Hanging Girl by Eileen Cook
Another thriller but this one has some psychics involved making it all the more perfect for some Halloween reading. A girl who fakes being psychic must now help the police find a missing girl but she may just have some insider information….
Black Bird of the Gallows by Meg Kassel
Harbingers of Death? That screams Halloween in my opinion! A mysterious boy shows up in town accompanied by flocks of strange crows and when he saves Angie from something supernatural she realizes he may not be human either. Paranormal elements and a slightly creepy atmosphere makes this another great read for non-horror fans!
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Another book that shouldn’t surprise many of you but “The Graveyard Book” is about a boy who is raised by the supernatural residents of a graveyard. It’s full of adventure and just straight up adorableness.
I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
A mystery thriller revolving around Jasper Dent the son of the most infamous serial killers in the world. Jasper was being groomed to take over the “family business” and therefore can see crime scenes from a criminal’s POV so when a new serial killer shows up in his small town he’s determined to prove it’s not him.
So, so, sooooo many twists and turns with this one it’s especially great if you have a morbid curiosity about serial killers, like me.
The Grownup by Gillian Flynn
I could honestly recommend any of Flynn’s books but this short story fits the best in my opinon. It’s about a woman who fakes psychic readings and help from the beyond for money. When a woman wants her help ridding her house of something evil our main character may just start believing in ghosts….
Super quick read and open ended so if open endings aren’t your thing I’d skip it.
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Psychics, ancient sleeping kings, ley lines, and magic trees I think it’s safe to say this isn’t your run of the mill paranormal romance or urban fantasy. It’s full of magic and sets a very fast pace not to mention you will definitely fall in love with the characters!
The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney
This is more Middle Grade than YA but it’s still super interesting and full of supernatural spirits and creatures and there’s more than a few creepy moments too as Thomas learns about how to be a Spook.
The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
This one is filled with monsters, demons, undead, and spirits and while it has a few dark moments it mostly follows a girl named Tea learning to control her powers of necromancy.
This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
This book fits into a kind of neat genre but it’s about a girl who wants to hunt monsters and boy who is one of those monsters in a city torn into two sects. The monsters are very unique and fun to read about and the characters are a bit morally grey, definitely a fun read though and the monsters aren’t TOO creepy either!
Bad Blood by Demitria Lunetta
Another witch book makes the list! This one is about a girl who visits Scotland and learns a bit more about her family’s past as she continues having visions of two women and a bit more about witchcraft and blood magic. Honestly the background of Scotland makes this book worth the read as well!
Have you read any of this books? What did you think?
Will you give any of these books a try?
What are some of your favorite non-horror Halloween reads?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
February Wrap-Up
So February was one of my best months ever as far as stats go which is awesome it also wasn’t such a terrible month for reading either. The only thing that happened that I wasn’t happy with was I got sick last week and didn’t get ANYTHING done, no reading or anything. Fortunately I’m feeling better and am looking forward to getting some shit done this month!
Books Read This Month: 5
These were all ARCs that I read this month and unfortunately none of them were very good with the exception of “The Bone Witch” which I did enjoy even though it did have some problems.
Reviews Finished This Month:
Traveler (Traveler #1) by L.E. DeLano
The Dragon’s Price (Transference #1) by Bethany Wiggins
The Bone Witch (The Bone Witch #1) by Rin Chupeco
Tags & Memes Done This Month
Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite/Least Favorite Slow-Burn & Insta-Love Romances
Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Loved Less Than Everyone Else
Other Posts Done This Month
Most Anticipated Releases: First Half of 2017 (Part 2)
Book Recommendations: Underrated Books
What I’m Currently Reading:
So far this is a pretty decent book and I’m still expecting to love it in the end! Amy Lukavics has yet to disappoint me!
How was your reading and blogging month this February?
What were your best or worst reads?
What are you currently reading?
What books are you excited for this coming month, March?
Let me know in the comments!
ARC Review: The Bone Witch (The Bone Witch #1) by Rin Chupeco
When Tea accidentally resurrects her brother from the dead, she learns she is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for necromancy means that she’s a bone witch, a title that makes her feared and ostracized by her community. But Tea finds solace and guidance with an older, wiser bone witch, who takes Tea and her brother to another land for training.
In her new home, Tea puts all her energy into becoming an asha — one who can wield elemental magic. But dark forces are approaching quickly, and in the face of danger, Tea will have to overcome her obstacles…and make a powerful choice.
**** Big thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!****
I was super pumped when I found out Rin Chupeco was writing not only another book but a dark fantasy book! So of course I went into this book expecting to love it since I loved “The Girl From the Well” and luckily for me I was not disappointed.
While I was very much invested in the plot of this story I will admit that the pacing was pretty uneven it was borderline slow. It felt like this book was more so setting up for the next book than having any real action on its own. This is a book you have to be a little patient with.
I also really liked how the story was told from two different POVs one being a Bard whom an older Tea tells her life story in the present and the other being told from the past by a younger Tea. I have to say the present day Tea is very dark and mysterious and I found her to be the most interesting I want to know what happened to her to make her this way! So this does jump back and forth throughout the story between the present and the past which I thought worked really well in this book, it made the story more suspenseful and interesting, it kept me reading!
The story may not be the most fast paced or action packed but it’s still super interesting with all of the world building. I absolutely loved reading about the asha and their magic as well as the horrible monsters the daeva which were actually pretty terrifying. Reading about how Tea is such a rare breed of “witch” and watching as she comes to terms with her Dark abilities and learning how to use them was just a ton of fun.
The world building was also spot on and very creative, it provided just enough to keep me happy and withheld enough that I am interested to learn more in the next books. I loved the concepts of the magical Asha, the demonic monsters Daeva, the mythology of the world, and the different aspects of all the Kingdoms. Also the magic system was interesting as well. There was definitely no lack of world building here and at the same time there was no info dumping either.
The writing was something I had a sort of love-hate relationship with, on one hand I liked it and thought it was very beautiful but on the other hand I found it to be almost TOO descriptive at times. It did help me visualize things a little better but the in depth details got a little tedious after while, I can only read about clothes in that much description before it gets old.
THAT ENDING THOUGH! It wasn’t necessarily a cliffhanger but at the same time it left me crying because I don’t want to wait a YEAR for the next book!
Overall the characters were pretty great in this book, I did feel some lacked a little development though especially the secondary characters because I would have liked some more background on them. I still got very attached to a lot of them mostly the other asha characters such as Althy and Polaire!
The more central characters were a little better such as Tea, her brother Fox, and her mentor Lady Mykalea. We got a lot more background on these characters and I assume we are only going to get more as the series goes on.
I’m happy to say that the romance did not play a HUGE factor in this story, it didn’t take center stage and didn’t take precedence over the plot. Apart from that it wasn’t really developed either, once again I’m assuming it will be explored more in the next book.
There is a bit of a love triangle although without spoilers I will say it isn’t what you think it is a first, they kind of throw a red herring our way and it WILL surprise you when you get to the end. I hate love triangles and this one didn’t bother me at all!
Overall I was very satisfied with this book even though it did bother me a little bit that so much is left to be determined in the next books. The world building is the strongest (and best) part! I am VERY excited to continue with this series and so far Rin Chupeco has yet to disappoint me!
What I Liked:
- The overall story was intriguing
- The world-building was great and creative
- The POVs between past and present was interesting
- The ending left me wanting MORE
- The characters were pretty well written
- The romance didn’t take over the plot
What I Didn’t Like:
- The writing got a little TOO descriptive at times
- I wanted just a bit more background on some of the characters
If you’re interested in reading a dark YA fantasy I highly recommend this one, it combines all the best parts of fantasy with a little bit of horror since the monsters and sometimes the magic get very creepy. Also if you liked Chupeco’s other duology I think you’ll love this one too!
Links: Goodreads / Amazon / Book Depository
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