Tag: reading challenge

March Reads & Playlist

Published on by gotmeghanLeave a comment

Hello!

This might be a new thing on the blog, especially if I want to talk about the books I read in a month, so maybe it would be a good idea to include these subjects together. Let’s start with the books.

💚 Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
💚 Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare
💚 Stranded with a Dirty-Talking Shifter by Olivia T. Turner
💚 City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
💚 Stranded with a Ravenous Shifter by Olivia T. Turner
💚 A Deeper Love by Cassandra Clare and Maureen Johnston
💚 The Sirens by Emilia Hart

It’s been a Cassandra Clare month.

I started reading The Infernal Devices series back in November. I really enjoyed the first book and gave it five stars and then quickly attempted to read the second, but I had a difficult time connecting to the story at the time and I decided to push it back. In a way to make sure I didn’t do what I did with Janette Oke’s When Calls the Heart back in 2024, I put the series on my reading challenge and I’m very glad I did it as I had a reason to go back to it–not to say the characters and events weren’t enough to pull me back.

I’m still a little bit confused by certain events, but I really enjoyed that world and fell deeply in love with the characters, and then after I finished the books, I decided to give the original series The Mortal Instruments another try, even if I didn’t include it into my original lineup. Honestly, I wanted another series by Cassie, The Last Hours. I’m currently in line for the audiobook of “City of Gold” as it’s the next series in line and includes the children of the characters mentioned in the TID books. I have already read “City of Bones” in 2020, so it was just a refreshment and now I’m in line for “City of Ashes” and I’m hoping the audiobook will still be available when it’s my turn so keep your toes crossed for me.

As I was swept up in that world, I found another set of books that were shorter but kept the ‘fantasy’ theme alive, in case anything diverted me and I found series called Marooned for the Night written by a few authors, one of which was Olivia T. Turner. I had never heard of her or the other books, but I read the fourth book first and then went back to the beginning and so far, they are pretty good and I would like to read the ones written by Olivia; I’m not sure about the others, but open to it at a later date.

My next book was a surprise. I had wanted to read it back in September, I think. The cover and blurb were intriguing to me, and I had one of those moments where I knew I would enjoy it wholeheartedly, but I was just not in the mood to have it without the audiobook. I couldn’t find it on my LbbyApp so I had to ignore my gut again and push it away. I was going to include it in my reedling challenge. but I just kept it off for some reason. However, I went looking on the app again and there it was ready to borrow and luckily it was still available on KU so I took the opportunity and I definitely don’t regret it.

It was SO good! We may be entering our fourth month of the year, but I really believe it’s my favorite so far. I also took the hint that since it was my fourth book that talks about sirens/mermaids that I think it’s officially safe to say I’m in my oceanic era. So, if you know anything that would resemble The Sirens by Emilia Hart, please send them my way! Hopefully I can find the audio through my local library.

Now, let’s switch our focus on the music I was enjoying–honestly, music takes a step back whenever I get on my audiobooks for obvious reasons, but I’ve been watching more reels on Facebook, and my algorithm has been giving me a lot of music I wouldn’t be able to find on my own. Most of the time, it’s Instagram doing this, but I try to keep myself open to new stuff on all of my social media platforms.

Here are my Top 15 for this month. If you’re interested in checking out the full playlist, click here.

The Woods by Lydia the Bard
For The Girls by ASTON
Bed (On Your Knees) by Ash to Eden
Underneath by Phix featuring Ryan Oakes
Words Are Worthless by Sleep Theory
1×1 by Hollywood Undead
Everybody by ADONA
Sun Killer by Spiritbox
Go Off by M.I.A.
Click Clack Symphony by RAYE featuring Hans Zimmer
Death Above Life by Orbit Culture
Waiting For Your Love by Jamie Bower
Bones by Young Guns
Cry for Mercy by As The Structure Falls
Puppet Master by Xstitch featuring Dre Tamashi

What have you been reading and listening to lately?

snowflake

Blogmas: Top 10 Books of 2023!

Published on by gotmeghanLeave a comment

Hello!

Well, this is my final post for 2023 and of course, it’s all about books.

This year I dared to dream about reading 60 books–I am close to the finish line, but I feel like I’m back at school and just have enough room to think about Christmas break and I’m barely passing my tests and trying not to fall asleep in class on those really boring days where we did absolutely nothing, but watched movies or talked our heads off in small groups around the classroom. Thankfully, there were some teachers who were fine if I preferred to be in the library in a quieter space to read my book.

Anyways, I didn’t necessarily rate them 1-10, I just picked my favorites throughout and talked about them below. If you’ve read any of these books, leave a comment to tell me what you thought about them.

WARNING: I do talk in detail about certain things in some of the books. Also, some of the content below can be a trigger for people as well.

The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson

One of my reading goals (in general) is to read more classics and kid books. I’ve talked about this many, many times over the years, I was not a reader as a child, so I am really making up for lost time. I’ve created a bucket list of various books and I managed to knock out several fairy-tale stories in 2023. The first book I decided to read was The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson

I am a lover of the Frozen films (second is my favorite!) and they were inspired by the story Hans wrote in 1844, but it is very loosely based. The main thing that is the same in the story is the bond between the characters Kai and Gerda. Instead of being related, they are neighbors, and Kai goes off alone and Gerda journeys to find him, which sounds like when Elsa took off after her magic became out of control and scared everyone in the castle, but her sister Anna chose to look past everything and rescue her anyways.

There was one quote that I fell in love with at the start of the year and I decided to use it as inspiration for the second theme in my reading journal. I used what I already had in my room, like I went with both Elsa’s colors blue and purple and Ann’s green and pink, but I bought three rolls of blue and purple snowflakes to tie it all into together, and it was an easy and fun theme to do.

“When we get to the end of the story, you will know more than you do now…

Shield-Maiden: Gambit of Swords by Melanie Karsak

After a few other fairytales, I decided it was time to move on and Melanie Karsak released the final story in The Shadows of Valhalla series. This would see the end of the characters mentioned in her original Viking series The Road to Valhalla and this spin off books and I was somewhat ready for it.

The ending to Gambit of Blood was troubling. It left you as a reader wondering what was going to happen to all of these characters. Loptr stayed in the Myrkviðr with his sister Ervie and it was nice to see these two characters together. Loptr lost his love, an arm and the one person who could get him back to his old self was his sister’s boyfriend, King Omarr.

Once winter came at last, it made everyone look for shelter and they trained their asses for when the ice thawed, it would be time to fight Prince Hlod and the rest of the Huns, but Princess Ervie becomes a married woman, a Queen and a mother, but it wasn’t just about finding her place, you had princes Loptr and Angantyr, the next generation of Vikings with these old Vikings mentioned in the first series hoping to get a seat at Odin’s table.

There were a lot of heart tugs, especially concerning King Hofund’s feelings towards his grandson Prince Angantyr, and of course he’s proud of Blomma’s children and how they found their way in their lives, but the moment Hofund, Jarl Leif, King Gizer, shield-maidens Klara and Sigrun and her husband Trgve joined the younger crowd and their warriors, it was bittersweet. I barely made it through those chapters.

It was a great way to finish out the series. In all, there are a total of 10 books including Under the Strawberry Moon and Winternights Gambit which are both prequel novellas. If you are worried about getting into multiple books, I highly suggest trying these out first.

In My Mother’s Footsteps by Mona Hajjar Halaby

I am a huge fan of nonfiction but can find it difficult. I like reading about people’s lives, and this one appeared around the same time of Ramadan, the Muslim holiday of renewal. The author Mona talks about her experiences working in Ramallah just outside of where her mother and her relatives lived in Palestine and were forced to leave during the first Nakba in 1948.

The story discusses Mona and her mother living in the Palestinian territories at separate times and the yearning of discovering and remembering their roots, Mona actually convinces her parents to come back to a place where they were taken from their homes. It is one thing to move out of a neighborhood peacefully to being forced out by the military. Family members were even taken prisoners in order to confiscate homes with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

In certain chapters, Mona explains about her work–she’s there to help the teachers deal with their students’ behaviors, you hear more and more about the student’s home life and why they are fighting their classmates and teachers. How they delt with the checkpoints and the Israeli Occupation in general. What you need to remember this wasn’t conducted recently, this was in the early 2000’s, and attempting to wrap your mind on the trauma these kids were (and STILL!) subjected to on a daily basis is heartbreaking!

Nobody should be forced out of their homes with no place to go. Nobody should ever bomb neighborhoods in the hopes of killing hundreds of innocent families. Israel is pushing Palestinians people to their breaking points with refusing them food, water, electricity, medicine, etc. Every part of Gaza is a war zone, and it is absolutely gut-wrenching to see young and old carrying out for their families and finding them burning or buried alive under the rubble.

I am not anti-sematic; I do not hate Jews! I don’t support Hamas or any other terrorists, I am a lover of learning about people and their cultures. These people, these children are losing their places of worships, schools, playgrounds, markets, hospitals for nothing! I felt for Mona and her mother Zahara’s pain for the people in Palestine back then and more importantly the people who are going through it now.

I’ve always felt as though I left a piece of myself in all the places I’ve lived. Do our stories remain alive, trapped in our houses’ walls?

One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake

This book is the second in the “Three Dark Crowns” series, I started it last year I think, and I fell in love with it instantly! You have these three sister Queens, each with their own powers and places of representation. The are forced to kill each other until only one remains, and if you haven’t read the first book, skip this next section.

You find the answers to how Katharine gets out of the well. I loved Katharine, I liked how meek and misunderstood she seemed during the first, but she is fierce and out for more blood than she or anyone else realizes!

Her sister Arsinoe deals with the consequences of the Quickening. She has to wear a mask now and her friendships are somewhat strained as Jules has issues with Joseph and his one-night stand with Mirabella. Jules is also suffering her own power troubles, yeah, that was a twist! The other part is when Billy is sent to Queen Mirabella to be her royal taster after Katharine’s failed attempt to poison her.

Mirabella was considered the “best” Queen as she had perfected her powers of controlling the elements, but she kind of falters halfway through the middle of the book. She is tired of being fed all of these lies and hopes that her sisters can love for each other again, and despite the sad ending, Mirabella somewhat gets that wish with one of them.

My Ántonia by Willa Cather

I am forever trying to find another series that is like the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I haven’t finished all of those books, but I loved learning about that era in rural America. I honestly, I don’t remember how I found this book, I do remember wanting another audiobook to listen to before bedtime, and it has been my favorite thing to do night now.

I was obsessed with this story. It was refreshing to hear about this girl Ántonia through her childhood friend Jim and neighbor in Nebraska of all places! We get from the time Antonia and her Bohemian (or gypsy) family arrive in America to when they have grown up and had families of their own. I was thoroughly upset that I had finished with it, and my mom will tell you, I practically mourned over this book.

I have O Pioneers, which is the first in Willa’s series The Great Plains trilogy. This is the third and the most popular for Willa, I was so into My Ántonia that bringing more characters wasn’t working out for me, but I did find it as “free” on Kindle and I know if I’m in the mood for something a little different or have those old Midwest vibes, I have it and I’m sure I can listen to the audiobook as well.

“As I went back alone over that familiar road, I could almost believe that a boy and girl ran along beside me, as our shadows used to do, laughing and whispering to each other in the grass.”

The Raven’s Widow by Adrienne Dillard

By the end of summer, I was looking for something else entirely and I found these next two simultaneously, they each come from the same worlds, but three generations separates them.

The Raven’s Widow is about Lady Jane Parker, the wife of George Boleyn, younger brother of Anne Boleyn and Mary Boleyn. She is also arrested and convicted of treason by concealing the affair of fifth wife and Queen Catherine Howard.

Jane has always been a curious person in history, she married into the scandalous Boleyn family at the peak of their greatness, most people assume we know her role from the show The Tudors, but what I really liked about this book was how Adrienne was able to basically strip away those accusations and assumptions and look at the woman underneath all of it.

I definitely changed my views of Lady Jane as the book went on. At the beginning of each chapter, you hear about her life as she is arrested for treason and is being sent to the The Tower after Catherine Howard and her lovers have been taken as well, and then Jane tells us the story of when she is asked to become a lady-in-waiting for Queen Catherine of Aragon with the hopes of working her way up to the Queen’s good gracious and find a suitable husband for herself.

Now whether or not she and George had a better relationship and marriage is a bit harder to find out. I believe George was a hard-working person, but he had to be wary of his position as well as the king was highly paranoid and lost interest with everything, not just his wives… Others would be willing to do anything to get a spot into the king’s ear. They were all at the mercy of Henry VIII and Jane was a victim in both ordeals, but you have to wonder if she wasn’t done with life by the time when she became a lay-in-waiting to Catherine. She’s seen every side of the King’s anger and degradation. She was just a bad position all around, she couldn’t say yes or not to anyone or anything, but one thing you were always sure about was you could feel the love she felt for everyone–even her own husband!

Penelope – Tudor Baroness by Tony Riches

Now with this story, you are introduced to a new person within the Tudors. Penelope was the eldest daughter of Lady Lettice Knollys and William Devereux, Viscount Herfort. Both Adrienne and Tony play on the assumptions her grandmother Lady Catherine Carey would have been the illegitimate daughter of King Henry VIII, which means she would have been a first cousin to Queen Elizabeth I.

While I knew some things about Jane Parker, I wasn’t aware of Penelope until she is barely mentioned in Adrienne’s book Cor Rotto, but still I wasn’t familiar with her, so I thoroughly enjoyed reading more about her in this story. Penelope talks about her siblings, most noted Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, who was an on-and-off ‘favourite’ to Queen Elizabeth I. At one point he rebelled against her and had him convicted for treason and was ordered to be hanged at The Tower where so many other family members were killed.

She was married to Robert Rich, Baron Rich and practiced being a Purtitan, and raise their three children in the religion. What is awfully interesting about her is that she had an affair. Technically she had two of them, but I’ll let you discover that on your own. Anyways, Charles Mountjoy was a lovable character, and was known to be a great father to his children, so much so, that after he married Penelope, he fought for his son Mountjoy to inherit his titles since he was born at the time Penelope was still with her first husband after his death.

I thought it was ironic that she would have engaged in an affair–especially since she was rumored to be a great-granddaughter to the Queen’s father. And the fact there is proof of the relationship with Baron Mountjoy cracked me up! Another interesting fact I personally enjoyed was the number of children that were produced between Catherine Carey, Lettice Knollys and Penelope Blount. King Henry VIII had accused his wives for not giving him a son, but yet these ladies and possible members of the Tudor family, had many sons and daughters and were influential members of court life.

‘Be proud of your Boleyn blood. There are few enough of us left.’

It’s Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

I like books that discuss some holidays, Fourth of July, Halloween, Christmas mostly., but I tend to have issues with seasonal reads. I don’t exactly know why I was so committed to Jenny Han’s Summer series, but I guess it was what I needed at that moment. I’ve read Jenny’s books before, in 2020, I was able to finish her To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before series and it was my first ever trilogy. I was thoroughly proud of myself on the accomplishment of finishing a book series.

I found these books to be more emotional, and older with its target audience. As much as I fell hard for Jeremiah, I was definitely Team Conrad. I loved the fact Jenny included his narrative into the second book. He was antsy and overrun with raw emotions over the loss of his mother, memories at the beach house but Belly was at the heart of everything too. As much as he tried, he couldn’t let go of her.

One of my favorite parts, was when Belly’s mom came to help Conrad and Jeremiah. Oh, that was such a great scene! Beck was such a sad character in the beginning, but her best friend had died, and it was so awful to see her like that. I felt Susannah in every chapter though, and she knew they would fight for her sons’ backs on almost everything.

The scene at the hotel and Conrad and Belly have the fight and he finally gives up, broke me. I’m sure a lot of people felt like they were going to lose it once they got through those chapters. I cried so hard for Belly and Conrad. This was the moment I wanted to smack him upside the head honestly.

Antoinette’s Sister by Diana Giovinazzo

Back in September, I was in a nonfiction mood, and thought this would be a good book to continue the spree, but I quickly realized it was fictional, but it didn’t matter though I read it anyways.

This is about one of Marie Antoinette’s sisters, Maria Carolina,. You will figure out quick is that their mother Empress Maria Teresa and father Frederick, Duke of Lorraine liked to reuse names for their 16 children. There were multiple daughters named “Maria Carolina” and “Maria Christina”. The ten that survived were married off to various Kingdoms to strengthen alliances with other countries. Charlotte, as she is known in the book, was sent to Naples to be married to King Ferdinand IV of Naples and Sicily.

It was an interesting story. I enjoyed Charlotte as a person and her life in Naples was a nice trip. The one thing I was sad about, was the author had to title the book “Antoinette’s Sister”. Charlotte had three other sisters and whether or not they all had an excellent relationship, I think Diana should have renamed it “The Austrian Queen of Naples” or something like that. She was a strong woman in the book and real life, and deserved to be out of the shadow of her younger sister’s shadow.

“What I’m sure you know is that people in our position do not have the luxury of marrying for love. It is strictly a business transaction.”

Holly by Stephen King

The final book.

The one I did not think would be on this list. My very first Stephen King book ever.

I found it on YouTube as an audiobook with an odd narrator. It reminded me of how Siri or Alexa talks, but this was a male voice. It was a male for both SK books I read this fall, and it was choppy, but somehow, I made it.

I’m not into horror, but I wanted something to celebrate Halloween, I actually read quite a few Halloween-ish books, but this was my favorite of the bunch. I just thought I’d listen for one chapter and see what happens. I almost didn’t go for chapter two because I was so confused about the first chapter. It didn’t click in my brain that it could be an epilogue. Thankfully the next day, we are introduced to Holly, and I thought she was a terrific character, she reminded me of someone I use to know back in the day, and I built her in my mind off the person I knew, and it was much easier to understand her as a main character.

What shocked me the most was, and it seems so wrong to say this out loud, were the older couple, they were the most intriguing to me! The ruse they used was absolute genius. They believed in cannibalism, and they harvested it and one thing that scared me the shit out of me, and I thought was so amusing–was when they were using fat and bone morrow as like a “natural” lotion. It was sick and twisted but I loved it to pieces! No pun indented.

If anyone made it to the bottom of this post, I congratulate you on that accomplishment!

I didn’t mean to make this post so long (I should get a shirt with this written on it!) I just had a lot to say about each of these books. I mainly write this post for you, my audience. I know a lot of people love to see what I’m reading lately, and I hope something her captures your attention. I just hope I hadn’t spoiled any of the endings though.

I may not finish out the year with 60 books, but I gave it a shot and can always try again next year. I hope you were able to pass your goal for 2023.

What was your favorite book(s) of 2023? Did you make it to your yearly goal or not?

snowflake

Blogmas : The Christmas Song Tag

Published on by gotmeghan4 Comments

Hello!

So, I’ve had this post in my drafts for basically a year and when I saw it I thought I had won the jackpot until I opened it and there was absolutely nothing written in it besides the title… A part of me felt like a fool but then again I thought I could use it to my advantage. I looked through other blogs that include holiday tags and I ended up finding the actual link that I was going to use in the original post so I get to do what I should have done last year or whatever.

There weren’t any rules to the actual tag, other than add some friends and letting them know about it, but let’s face it, nobody does that anymore. If you do, you’re a godsend! Anyways, I’m tagging anybody but if you want to do this on your blog or Facebook (because that would be cool and different!) save the questions for safekeeping and title it so hopefully you’ll remember better than I! I am leaving the original link that will send you to Hailey in Bookland’s YouTube channel.

“You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch”
Name a villainous character you couldn’t help but love.

My first thought was Constantine from The Bratva’s Heir by Jen Henry and Sophie Lark, because I was really iffy about him in the beginning and honestly the scene in the sex club still has me bothered to say the least. However, there was Kage from Ruthless Creatures by J.T. Geissinger and between these two dudes, I was honestly more fearful of Kage. These mafia boys can be really intense and draw out all kinds of emotions and hotness… but that’s not what you’re asking though!

“All I Want for Christmas is You”
Which book to you most hope to see under your Christmas tree?

Oh god…. now this is a question because I hope there quite a bit of books under our Christmas tree but if we’re talking about my own tree, I would say, the Celtic Blood series by Melanie Karsak. This was the second series I’ve ever finished and I really hope Santa can get the four books so I can stack them up on my bookshelf next to my bed as a reminder of the accomplishment like I did with Jenny Han’s To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy. I also hope I can talk my sister into bringing back my print copy of the first book too.

“Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”
Name a character that overcomes major obstacles and learns to believe in themselves.

Speaking of the Celtic Blood series, Cerridwen overcomes a LOT especially from the beginning of Highland Blood and really doesn’t end when the books stop–although I do want to point out that she is allowed to relish in many, many things through the entire series, but nothing really affects her badly until the start of book two and she becomes somebody different, and I’m not talking about the raven either! She grows from the young girl to a stronger person after what she’s been through in a quick ascend.

The second character has to be Dahlia in What Passes As Love by Trisha R Thomas. She is the daughter of a slave owner but lives in his house with her paternal grandmother and half sisters, they all treat her like a slave but is very loved amongst the family. However, it’s the fact that she’s forced to balance both affects of herself, things take one heck of a day out, where she meets the Ross brothers and everything takes a turn for the worst.

“Santa Claus is Coming to Town”
Which character do you think would be on the top of the naughty/Nice list?

As I’ve said above with the first question, with all of the mafia books I’ve read in the last few months, I think it’s fair to say they might be pretty high on Santa’s naughty list but that’s just my opinion. I can’t choose just one for the top spot though!

For the nice list, we have Lady Madelaine of the Celtic Blood series as she has a very sad story in Highland Raven and she’s such a fragile character throughout but whenever she’s around Cerridwen, Tavish and the ladies of the coven, she flourishes into this friendly person and you hope something good comes her way.

“Frosty the Snowman”
Which book just melts your heart.

The first book that came to me was Kennedy Fox’s This Is War about Viola and Travis. I really fell in love with the enemies to lovers type of story. It was cute and very sexy, but I wouldn’t say it “melted” my heart.

I have to say that belongs to Auschwitz Lullaby by Mario Escobar. This may seem strange for anyone on here, because I didn’t share the actual review on my blog, but I did post it on my Facebook and Instagram. Anyways, it’s a story about a woman who’s life goes upside down when she, her husband and their children are sent to Auschwitz II in 1943. The book is heartbreaking but it does show how the Nazis treated the gypsy families in and around Germany. They were prosecuted just as much as the Jewish communities. You don’t hear much (or I didn’t at least!) about the Romani camps, and one thing I thought was even more interesting was, the youngest child Adelia is said to be around three years old and I thought this was somewhat strange as the Nazis would send the elderly and babies into the gas chambers if they thought they wouldn’t be able to do any work, so how is it she survived the selection process?

“Feliz Navidad”
Choose a book that takes place in a country other than your own.

All of the five books I read written by Melanie Karsak takes place in and around Scotland. The Celtic Blood series is centered in Scotland hence the “highland” part of each title but as much as I adored Cerridwen in the CB series, Boudica felt so much different for me. I never knew anything about the real ladies that lead to the inspiration of these books–Cerridwen is actually Lady Gruoch of Scotland and she married to Gillacoemgain of Moray, which produced a son Lulach, and after the death of her husband, she ended up marrying Macbeth and later became his Queen.

“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
Which holiday themed book do you use to spread the Christmas joy?

I actually haven’t read any holiday themed books as of yet. I do have two on my Kindle though; they are: Finding Love At The Christmas Market by Jo Thomas and Christmas In The Scottish Highlands by Donna Ashcroft. These are both contemporary fiction whereas the book I am currently waiting on is Riding His Sleigh by Cameron Hart and I am pretty sure this is just straight up erotica, at least I hope it is! I found it on Instagram as a preview and by the time this post goes up, I should be able to finally get my toes on it.

“Sleigh Ride”
Which fictional character would you choose to spend the holidays with (doesn’t have to be a love interest!)

The first character that popped out at me was Boudica’s sister Princess Brenna as it is mentioned in the book, Queen Of Oak that she loves Yule (which is the pagan equivalent to Christmas!) and I found that whole chapter very interesting. Honestly, I thought all of their big holidays like Beltane, Litha, Lughasadh, and Samhain were all fascinating! It was another element in the CB series that I thoroughly enjoyed learning about too. I love learning more about how different cultures both past and present celebrate the changing of the seasons!

“Baby it’s Cold Outside”
Which book that you didn’t like would you sacrifice to a fire to warm yourself up in the cold?

Honestly I think that’s a little harsh!

I only had two books (so far) that I have absolutely hated and they are: Highland Queen by Melanie Karsak and Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard. I know, I’m still shocked by both of these books since I adore their series, but they each had elements that never sat well with me. For example, Highland Queen never quite ended, for the last of the series, it seemed like a bad cliffhanger, but sadly there were more things like the meeting with the goddess Scotia in the beginning was never resolved and the conversation between Sidhe and Cerridwen about the reason about given the Seelie gloves was left out entirely too.

Now with Glass Sword, I think the main reason why I did not enjoy it was because the events of collecting other reds just dragged on with each page/ The middle of it was massive and so boring! It also had the opposite effect to Highland Queen as the end of it was very exciting and thrilling, but I also feared how I would think about Winter’s Cage later on too.

This is a late addition, because I literally forgot all about it! I had a chance to listen to the audible version of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland a couple of months ago and I just couldn’t enjoy it as much as I tried to, and it still drives me crazy! I hope this doesn’t happen to every classic I decide to read later on in the future.

“Do you hear what I hear”
Which book do you think everyone should read?

I will be doing a Top 7 of the books I read this year towards the end of December, but I think this book should be on every royalist bookshelf or e-reader in the future.

For anyone who has thoughts about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s choice to step away of being senior members of the royal house and be a “normal” family, should look into Before Wallis: Edward VIII’s Other Women by Rachel Trethewey. It will give you an insight into the mind of a royal, despite the different times, as they find their spouse and what they will do for love. The former king was an enigma of sorts, and it was so interesting to see how dealt with life as a senior royal in the 20th Century.

All right, well I think that is everything! I actually had a lot of fun coming up with my answers for this tag, and I apologize if you were hoping I would talk about other books than the ones I read this year. I tend to do it this way every time and it helps me make the decision of what I truly loved the most or hated in some cases. I hope you enjoyed what I had to say in this post.

Book Review: “Badd Ass” by Jasinda Wilder

Published on by gotmeghanLeave a comment

Hello!

I am moving pretty slow through my mini Jasinda Wilder’s Badd Brothers collection on my Kindle, but after failing to find anything to cure my thirst once I finished What Passes As Love, I decided to dive back into this one and was able to include it as part of my reading goal for the year.

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I was a Sixty-Eight Whiskey—a combat medic. So when I hear someone shout “MEDIC!” training just kicks in. It’s automatic, immediate. I don’t think I even saw the guy whose leg I tended to, not really. All I saw was him. Zane Badd. His tuxedo fit him like he’d been sewn into it, and his eyes reflected the fury and the hardness of a combat veteran, but when he looked at me, he just…softened. By the time I had his brother patched, Zane and I were both covered in blood, and I knew I had to have him.

The trouble with Zane isn’t getting him, it’s keeping him. 

And the trouble with me is, even if I could hold onto a man like Zane, I wouldn’t know what to do with him. It’s not in my nature, and if life has taught me anything, it’s to not trust anyone, least of all men like Zane. He’s a warrior through and through, hard, muscular, gorgeous, tenacious, and yet oddly tender toward me.

Experience and instincts are telling me to run from Zane Badd as fast as possible, but my heart and my body are telling me to stay, to hold on and not let go. Yeah, it’s a conflict as old as humanity itself, but it’s brand new for me. 

*   *   *

Life as Navy SEAL doesn’t exactly prepare you for normality. Yeah, I can tend bar and goof off with my seven crazy brothers, but what do I do when the woman of my dreams—dreams I didn’t know I’d had until I saw her—explodes into my life like a frag grenade? I’m trained to attack, to win, to survive at any costs, and figuring out what to do about a woman like Amarantha Quinn will take every scrap of tenacity and courage I possess. Combat is easy, it turns out, in comparison to facing your own fears and scars. 

And then sometimes, just when you think you’ve got it finally figured out, fate throws you a screwball and sends everything FUBAR. 

taken from Goodreads.

I’m slightly disappointed in myself for not only taking as long to finish the book, but also getting this review. I figured by the time I got to this story of my third Badd brother I’d be moving on pretty quickly, but I guess not… I’m not terribly troubled by this since I really enjoyed reading how Mara and Zane got together. For anyone who doesn’t know, I started with the fourth brother Baxter earlier this summer, and then finally got to start over with the entire series and now I’m down to Badd brother #3 which is Brock. However, I doubt I’ll hit a dent in that one for a while!

“You’re terrible,” I said, trying to wriggle out of his clutches, but he wasn’t letting go. “No, the name’s Badd, sweetheart. Two D’s.”

I don’t know how Jasinda Wilder can create a series of eight breath-taking brothers and yet make every book feel like a standalone, but I am a fan of it! You get a tiny snippet of each of the brothers personalities in the first book, and definitely an interesting look at the second oldest Zane, as he is described as this brawly, lookalike Henry Cavil but with tattoos (which is the best way to describe any amount of men honestly!) by the lovely Amarantha Quinn after a wonderful one night stand. I thought I loved how Dru thought, but Mara took her place quickly!

Honestly, every book I’ve read so far has the premise of being a cheesy Hallmark movie but thanks to the amount of sex and swear words, it would never make it to mainstream television – much to the loss of the network… Anyways, I loved how Mara and Zane have good hearts, even though they want to make everyone around assume they would be free because they don’t think they deserve to be loved and give into those types of feelings. Oddly as it seems, I’ve been there, but I have been working on myself and believe there is someone out there for me. These characters were afraid to give in to love and decided to attempt to tricking their hearts and fail miserably!

Have you read Jasinda Wilder’s “Badd Ass” yet? Of the eight brothers and their significant others, who is your favorite?

Book Review: “Before Wallis: Edward VIII’s Other Women” by Rachel Trethewey

Published on by gotmeghan1 Comment

Hello!

I did not expect to finish two books this month but I am thrilled to do so, because I’m not reading as much as I did at the start of the year, so I have been feeling discouraged about it lately. And if I am reading, I’m not going as fast either, like with this book, I began reading it during the last week of March and it was smooth sailing for a while but then once I distracted with other things, I kind of lost my mojo with it.

Something you may not know about me is that I have thought if I was alive around the time that Edward was alive, I’d probably be one of his ‘royal groupies’ honestly him and Prince Albert (King George VI) were so good looking that I often wonder what exactly happened with the recent generations! I swear I think the good looks stopped after The Queen and her sister Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. Of course, this is just my opinion on the matter!

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Wallis Simpson was the woman who stole the king’s heart and rocked the monarchy – but she was not Edward VIII’s first or only love. This book is about the women he adored before Wallis dominated his life.

There was Rosemary Leveson Gower, the girl he wanted to marry and who would have made the perfect match for a future king; the Prince’s long-term mistress, Freda Dudley Ward, who exerted a pull almost equal to Wallis over her lover, but abided by the rules of the game and knew she would never marry him. Then there was Thelma Furness, his twice-married American lover, who enjoyed a domestic life with him, but realized it could not last forever and demanded nothing more than to be his mistress.

In each love affair, Edward behaved like a cross between a little boy lost and a spoilt child. Each one of the three women in this book could have changed the course of history. In examining their lives and impact on the heir to the throne, we question whether he ever really wanted to be king.

taken from Goodreads.

I have always wondered about Edward VIII, and how he, himself, saw the monarchy in the early 1900’s. He was an odd duck as royals go, as he would rather wear polo clothes and smoke out in public than keeping the suit and tie, discreet traditions, He also had a habit with chasing women too. As you learn in this book, there were quite a few women who had his attention before he became infatuated with Wallis Simpson.

When you first start reading, the author Rachel explains that while you will learn about the three main women in Edward’s life before meeting Wallis, later you will learn more about their lives after each relationship fizzled out. The first lady is Lady Rosemary Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, as she acts as a nurse in a field hospital created by her own mother, Millicent, The Duchess of Sutherland around 1918. It was while taking care of wounded soldiers that she met the prince for the first time.

The more I was able to learn about Rosemary, the more I fell in love with her too. It is such a shame that the King and Queen refused their son’s wish to marry her because she was the ultimate woman for the king-to-be, but it also reminds you that despite being part of the upper class of nobility and well-liked throughout the royal family, even they had their standards. If it wasn’t for King Edward VII’s “secret” relationship to Rosemary’s half-aunt Daisy, Countess of Warwick (plus her blunt opinions of politics!) Rosemary would have been the perfect bride and Queen consort to the prince,

Once that relationship was over, Edward moved onto another well known lady of nobility: Freda Dudley Ward. She was the wife of William Dudley Ward, the Liberal member of Parliament (MP) and they had two daughters and you will get to know everyone, trust me. Edward’s relationship to Freda lasted for 10 years and is the bulk of the actual book.

This is where you start to see a noticeable shift personality wise with Edward, because Rachel includes the letters he wrote to the Queen, Rosemary and Freda. He leans on Freda on support not just for a sexual release. He was as invested with Freda as if they were married like a regular couple. Honestly, at first I really wasn’t a big fan of Freda, mainly because she was next in line, but as I continued reading, I ended up changing my mind. She was first and most importantly a mother in a era where the children where mostly left with nannies but she truly loved her daughters and they came before anything, including her lovers!

And then finally, we move to Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness. My opinion of Thelma never went away, because she just seemed so self-centered compared to her counterparts. Thelma had a twin sister named Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, and Thelma is the aunt to Gloria Vanderbilt and great-aunt to Anderson Cooper! After figuring this out, I was pretty much done with learning more about Thelma’s personal life.

He did not want to be a prince on a pedestal, but rather to be treated like an ordinary man.

One thing that I definitely kept in the back of my mind was when Prince Charles was starting his relationship with Camilla, before he met Lady Diana, because Camilla was already married, The Queen Mother and Lord Louis Mountbatten thought that Charles would ruin the monarchy because it was like when Edward met Wallis, as she was already divorced once in the beginning and then of course become divorced again to keep the prince. They had arranged that Prince Charles meet and talk to his paternal great-uncle The Duke of Windsor. Obviously we don’t know what was said but whether or not Edward had the same thoughts about Camilla, Charles didn’t care and perused her anyways.

The thing is, I was thinking that the book itself reminded me of Prince Charles, when he was running around with all of these women in the his 20’s and 30’s, before settling down, but honestly he made think about the royal family’s current situation with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Edward was never happy with his public persona as the first son of the king, and you could see it on his face that he seemed bored and sad in a way, and I think he acted out with his many relationships to find some normalcy in his life. We don’t know what truly goes on within the royal court and households so I actually saw the Harry and Meghan exit as senior members in a new light.

If you are interested in learning about the British royal family, The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and everything else that happened from 1918-1934, this is the book for you. It was a very interesting read but I only gave it three stars because it did become somewhat boring towards the end.

Have you read ‘Before Wallis’ by Rachel Trethewey yet? If you have, what did you get out of it the most? Did your opinion(s) about the previous and/or modern royals change at all?