Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation by Bill Nye

I think this is a really good starter book for those who didn't study the subject matter at hand. 

However, for those of us who did, it seems pretty basic. I learned all of this from middle school through college and I don't know... I guess I was expecting something along the lines of Steve Jones' books, which always have those little known fascinating facts that even scientists feel wonder reading them.

Also, I was really expecting Nye to crack down on creationism, but he only does it for a very short length...

Still, this is a wonderful book for those who did not study evolution.

Bill Nye's official site

Buy Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation
@ The Book Depository

The Duke's Holiday (The Regency Romp Trilogy #1) by Maggie Fenton

This could be your typical enemies to lovers romance.

The two main characters look into each others eyes and they know, they feel, that they could basically kill one another without having it weight _ all that much _on their consciences.
That, or basically rip each others clothes!

Oh, oh, look... first thing in common! :D

But besides being a farce, a comedy, deep... deep down _okay, not that deep _ this is a  love story between two very troubled individuals who love to be on control... of basically everything in their lives.

So, Montford _ the Duke _ aka Cyril... aka "my parents were probably wasted when they gave me this horrible combination of names" ( my phrasing but close enough) is all that is proper and boring. A true peer of the realm.
He also has occasional bouts of OCD : I honestly would have loved seeing the guy rearrange the entire library and not just a tiny little shelf.

So here is someone happy content basically depressed with his life (arranged marriage in a month and basic stuff like that..) when he suddenly finds out that the patriarch of a family who has been annoying the Montfords _like... for centuries!_ has actually died a year ago.

And why does this death upsets his well ordained world?
Because in the absence of a male heir, the Honeywell "clan" will lose his land to Montford.
*Adds evil laughter*
( not that Montford would be crass to do such a thing... although he does ponder the possibility of grave... investigation?)

Finally, Montford will be able to install some order in the lands that should have been his: blah, blah, this is mine... blah, blah this is ours (says the other party).

Now Montford, OCD Montford has another set of problems peculiarities:
He can't stand the sight of blood without fainting _ the poor guy actually has a pretty good reason for that.
He has a very sensitive stomach... a little like my cat Gigio o_O, not that Gigio rides in coaches, but he's a very sensitive CAT.
(Montford could be a cat...)

He's also extremely handsome with his blue eyes, chocolate fur and impossibly long beige..whiskers ;)
(My cat. Although it is said that Montford is not that bad to look at too...ah!)

I have no idea where I am going with this review...
_____
________
Humour.
 Insanity galore. Borderline insane characters... check
Crazy "ginormous" Pig... check.
(Pig, pig... the oinc oinc type... not the "how ya doing babe?")
Crazy family member... check.
Hateful family members... check.
Insta hate-attraction... check.
One sleaze-ball villain * YOU'LL BE MINE AH! AH! AH!* cue music... check.
Witty dialogues and at times intelligent bratty repartee... check

So why a 3.5 star you ask.
Q: Susana, why the 3.5 star rating?

Well... once upon a time when I started reading this I was your typical "head over heels/give me that book/ go away" bookworm!
I couldn't read fast enough.

And then suddenly I wasn't anymore, because this dragged, and dragged, and craziness started piling up, and I started getting really mad with these two!
Astrid was impossible. Twenty six years old and there were plenty of times when she acted like a brat.

Also I could have done without the : hey you just whipped me... hm, not that bad.... :/
Or the: Hey, you've just trussed me up like a chicken... but I like it. Ugh
(once again my words)

Has anyone seen the cover for fifty shades of chicken? Because I have! AND THE IMAGE IS EMBEDDED IN MY BRAIN UNTIL THIS DAY!
-_-
FIFTY SHADES OF GREY: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
*cries*
You're everywhere :/ in your silly small mentions.

Bottom Line: With some moments... "trimmed" this could actually be a four/four and half star rating.
I'll probably end up re-reading this in a near future but I think this time I'll skip the end, in which she was trussed up like a chicken, and they were making out in a moving carriage.
The damn thing was moving right? o_O

And whom in their right mind takes of to Gretna Green without... I don't know...money?
Some...snacks? Water?
A f****g bath?
And the castle has just ______ ______________!
And she just takes of like that?
What about the girls?
What about all those people?

My poor OCD brain does not compute.

Author's Official Site

Buy it !( With a different cover! More sedate..)
I decided to copy paste the cover above instead because I actually prefer it: I like its bold colours, and for me it goes along "nicely" with the second book _ that still hasn't been released.

@Bookdepository

Isa's Review

(same rating as Susana's review)

This is the perfect example of "too much of a good thing".
I can't recall a novel with a more entertaining beginning thank this one. The characters are hilarious, the setting is amazing, the dialogue is snappy, and Petunia the pig is great.

Montford, with his OCD and tragic past, is very endearing.
Astrid, with her mismatched eyes and bluestocking ways, is incredibly funny.
And aunt Anabele is one of the funniest characters in recent times!

It was absolutely delightful to dive into this world and all its crazy turns!

Sadly, near the end it started to drag. And drag. And draaag.
I honestly think that the [SPOILERS!!!] rape plot [/SPOILERS!!!] was unnecessary. It's a very touchy subject, unreadable for some, and I hate to see it used so lightly as a plot point. It really sucked all the fun out of the book...

And it wasn't much better how Montford, barely a day after the event, [SPOILERS!!!] decides to kidnap, tie up, and take Astrid to Gretna Green to get married [/SPOILERS!!!]. No offence, but after such a traumatic experience the last thing you want to do is re-enact pieces of it in a ~romantic~ way.

That said, it was mostly enjoyable, and very funny, and I CAN'T WAIT to read the next book about Sherbrook and Lady Katherine!

Latest batch of arc approvals :)

Yes, I know. 
I am always complaining about how l don't have enough time to read *blah, blah*... and how I'll have to stop requesting arcs *blah, blah*... one of these days.
_____
Well, as you can see that time still hasn't come :)

 

Yes, in the meanwhile it's okay: I always found that being socially active was overrated.

So... arcs... approved arcs, here are they:

                          

             

 Edit:
And behold (Just out of the publisher's approval... I mean, I was just approved!):

 

THE LAST VOLUME OF SHERRY THOMAS ELEMENTAL TRILOGY!

"Nicolette’s awful stepsisters call her “Mechanica” to demean her, but the nickname fits: she learned to be an inventor at her mother’s knee. Her mom is gone now, though, and the Steps have turned her into a servant in her own home. " synopsis  from Betsy Cornwell, Mechanica

"Years ago, she was promised to him…and now she wants out of their marriage contract.(..)" Excerpt from Valentine's book synopsis

Okay, I admit: I requested this one in great part due to its cover. -_-

"Heed this warning, mortal: stay far away from the three sister Fates. For if they come to love you, they might bring about the end of the world…" excerpt from Rebecca Hahn's book Synopsis "The Shadow Behind The Stars"

"Sarah Prineas’s bold fairy tale retelling is a dark and captivating world where swords are more fitting than slippers, young shoemakers are just as striking as princes, and a heroine is more than ready to rescue herself before the clock strikes midnight." 
 Sarah Prineas, Ash & Bramble

"In the spell-powered city of Tarreton, the wealthy have all the magic they desire while the working class can barely afford a simple spell to heat their homes."

 Excerpt from R. J. Anderson' bk synopsis "A Pocket Full of Murder"

"Azeril is a ward of the Church, and their most cunning weapon. By day he hides in plain sight as a student, but with his beloved obsidian knife, he also kills wizards."
 Excerpt from Chelsea M. Campbell "Fire & Chasm"

 

Don't they "sound" amazing? :)

Untaken by J. E. Anckorn

Arc provided by Curiosity Quills Press through Netgalley

Book status: Already Released ( March 23rd )

For me the main problem with this story, is that it feels as if it suffers from multiple personality book disorder.
 
This was supposed to be a YA sci-fi story, but with a fourteen, a fifteen and even a younger kid, there's times in which this is clearly a middle grade story.
 However there are other moments in which this crosses to "the adult road" _ a lot of swearing for instance and misogynistic bullshit. I normally couldn't care less about this situation_ the first one_, but in this story it just felt strange and out of place.

But then there's a lot of "dorks", "nerds", "losers", "chicks" comments running around, so I guess that that makes this YA.

The synopsis sounded really amazing: I read it, and my mind immediately conjured images of something along the lines of "Angelfall". Something intense and focused on the characters survival.
My bad.

The thing is that for more than thirty percent we get treated to the characters backstory, and it says a lot about the story execution that despite being privy to that, I couldn't care less about them.

The characters:
For starters, Gracie sounds way younger than her fourteen years old.

"Mom and Dad always told me never to play with—or even touch—lighters or matches, and even though getting a booboo was a seriously pre-Space Man thing for a person to worry about,(..)

Brandon sounds way older than his fifteen years of life, something more than comprehensible due to the way he was raised, but for almost three quarters of the story, the guy is such a prick to the girl that I practically couldn't stand him. If an alien would come and took him away, I would just say:
THANK YOU.
 I am not sure anymore if it's on their first or second interaction that he calls Gracie a bitch...

"There was something kind of romantic about a gun."

Then there's comments like this "lying around" waiting to trip you. "A pearl of wisdom" that a friend of Brandon apparently decided to share with the guy.
Yup! Buy a gun you teens, blow your brains out!-_-

Also, the story has some severe lacunas in important parts of the story:
For instance, when Gracie and Brandon first meet they are both in a safe-house with a large number of other refugees . But then something out of a nightmare happens, and the military forces end up appearing and everything is told fast forward in a blink of an eye... and that's it. Move on.
We never have a clear image of what has happened. Where is the government? Where are his allies?
WHERE IS NATO?
Where are the other survivors?

With the exception of a few moments, the pace of a story never manages to pick up.
Strangely _ in a story like this _ this was a most boring read. I lost count to the vast number of pages wasted on boring, couldn't care less details.

Yes it has some horror moments, some alien abduction scenes, some disgusting octopus attacks, but when I didn't get to watch  a real partnership establish itself between the kids, and instead I had to watch the fifteen old jerk boss the girl around I was mostly done with this story.

Unfortunately, I found myself interested in the younger kid story (Jake), so I had to keep on reading. -_-

With Brandon's increasing stupidity as the story moves along... although it does give the fifteen old character more credibility as to his age, it was hard to force myself to keep turning the pages.
In the end, Brandon manages to grow up, because a year has gone by, but I didn't get to see that.

Bottom line: Just as I suspected, a post apocalyptic scenario isn't all that fun to live in, or to read about, not when there isn't a sense of dread of what is looming ahead.
And although the characters and their interactions change with time, this is not a story that I see myself re-reading.
What can I say?
I am not a big fan of ET.

Oh, and I also could have done without the budding romance between the main characters in the last pages.

About the Author

Daughter of Glass by Vicki Keire

Thank you so much to Curiosity Quills for providing us with this book in exchange for an honest review!

TW: CUTTING, SELF-HARM

I was so, so excited about this book! 

Just read the summary! Doesn't it sound amazing?

Sadly, it didn't work for me...

The book is quite short, at about 199 pages, but it still doesn't feel like there is enough plot for it.

For starters it's overly-descriptive. Every little thing, as irrelevant to the plot as it may be, is told to us: car rides, extensive physical descriptions, every little thing that goes through Sasha's (the main character) thoughts is told to us in detail. 

And on the subject of being told... this book is all "tell", no "show". 

Readers can infer things, they don't need to be told, often through repetition (and repetition, and repetition...) what is going on. As a reader, I felt like I was being talked down to...

And when the author wasn't telling the reader every minutiae, we got awkward, stilted dialogue instead. 

Then there is Sasha (who is a very hard to relate to main character), and Noah's... "relationship". 

"For about the millionth time, I tried to name this feeling between us and failed."

It's insta-love, girl. 

To summarise, this book is basically a good plot idea failed in the execution, ending up as a collection of YA tropes, from the insta-love, to the absent parents, complete with tragically dead mother, too much drama... I could go on.

It just wasn't for me, but maybe others will like it. 

Buy Daughter of Glass
@ amazon

Vicki Keire's official site

Forever Grace ( Ever After #2) by Linda Poitevin

                                Arc provided by Michem Publishing through Netagalley
                                            
                                            Status: Already released ( April 24 th)

Trigger warnings: Domestic Violence

Having read and loved the first book in this series ( Read my review Here!) I was more than happy to sunk my metaphorical teeth in this one.
This is basically a four star book. As usual it is extremely well written. The characters pretty much have a life of their own, and the author was able to interwove a harsh reality with the promises of a new day. Hopefully a better one.

However _ for me _ since the story happens against the background of domestic abuse, I spend a third of the book wishing that the plot had been told during a longer time frame.

Grace and her nephews are living in the aftermath of a nightmare _that hasn't yet ended_ and I couldn't help feeling that the week they spend around Sean was just too little for the guy to have such an impact in their lives. Not that you don't feel a strong connection between those two, you do.

Also, I had some difficulty believing into Sean's change of heart. Here is someone who didn't want to have kids. And Grace has to take care of four... and the cuteness has an expiration date. lol
Once again, I found everything too sudden.Yes, the situation has its nuances, and maybe his protective instincts have been activated, but...

I was happy to take a peek into Gwynn's and Connor's married life.
I liked how strong (mentally and psychically) Grace turned out to be. I especially loved the fact that she didn't need anyone to save her in the end.
And the fact that she landed Sean on his... posterior (both psychical as literal speaking) was an added bonus.

Bottom line, a good story, although I still prefer the first book in the series "Gwynneth Ever After" something not difficult to understand given the theme of this book.


Author's Official Site

Buy it:
Bookdepository.com

Valiant by Sarah Mcguire

                                           Arc provided by Egmont usa through Netgalley

                                                          Release Date: April 28 th

And unexpectedly, a favourite read appears...

Having never read the original fairy tale, it was the expression "a debut fairy tale reimagining" in the synopsis that caught my interest. And I am so glad that it did! 
~What can I say? You people know I can't resist a  fairy tale retelling!~

I loved this from page one until the very last.
Especially because I had no idea of what was going to happen. And I have no problem  admitting that I was a "little nervous" to see how a certain situation would be resolved.

Saville is a great character: She's level headed, intelligent and courageous... and no, she is not a Mary Sue.

She is a seventeen year old who has lost her mother, and only has her brute of a father in her life.
The father is the Tailor. Someone more interested in fabrics and outfit models than in his own daughter. In fact he pretty much hates her.

Saville has grown accustomed to his violent moods, but not resigned. And it is her intention to start a new life once father and daughter reach their new home in Reggen.

Unfortunately things don't work out as Saville had planned, and just when she is settling into her new life, her dreams end up pushed aside, when the girl finds herself suddenly entangled in Reggen's state affairs.

It's not easy to make a living as a Tailor being a girl. There the need for a disguise.
It becomes even more difficult when someone sees through said disguise, and when she suddenly finds herself in the unlikely role of Reggen's champion.

Now the "brave little tailor" who happens to be a girl, will have to find a way to stop a war between Reggen and a mysterious duke determined to lay waste to the whole city.
In the meantime she will have to keep safe the only family she has left_ and no, I am not talking about her worthless father_ and especially try not to lose her heart to her only ally: someone way above her station in life.

Regarding the romance, I will just say this: It evolved into a beautiful _although at times aching_ story to watch. I had no idea of what was going to happen.

Full of adventure, heartbreak, and just the right dose of romance, this is a tale that will probably be better appreciated by the YA and adult readers... or so says the adult who loved it. :)

Author's Official Site

Pre-order it : (with free worldwide delivery!)
Bookdepository.com

It Happened One Midnight ( Pennyroyal Series # 8) by Julie Anne Long

It had been some years since I last read a Pennyroyal Green book.

And I don't even know why.

I absolutely loved #5 in the series What I Did For a Duke. And so far the latest volumes _ unlike the first ones _ have not disappointed me.
This one _ due to unknown circumstances -_- _ has been sitting on my TBR pile for quite some time, and during the first time I picked it up, I couldn't seem to pass the first pages.

Now, after having gone through some YA reads that bored me to death, I was more than ready to start an historical romance with adult characters, who would hopefully behave as adults.
I am happy to report that they did! ;)

There's not much to say about this one: this is a story of friends to lovers romance.
When you look at Tommy _ Thomasina *poor girl*_ and Jonathan's situation, they don't seem to have anything in common. But at their hearts, they're passionate people that care deeply about justice being made. And I loved them for it.

I also had a few laughs at Jonathan's expense every time, children _ his future children _ were mentioned. 

 

"Jonathan shook his head to and fro. “They’re bloody exhausting. It’s always ‘don’t!’ and ‘stop that!’ and ‘be quiet!’ or ‘speak up!’ . . . they’re completely anarchic creatures. Animals make infinitely more sense.”
“Children?”
“What else!”

When to that one adds their friendship, the story was pretty much perfect. 

 

"Thank you, Jonathan."

"You're welcome, Burden."

 

See? :D

Author's Official Site

Buy it!

Bookdepository.com

 

Omega City (Omega City #1) by Diana Peterfreund

                                          Arc provided by Balzer + Bray through Edelweiss

                                                       Release Date: April 28th


The author's series "For Darkness shows the Stars" _ well I hope it is a series, and not a duology _ is amongst my favourites reads, so despite this being labelled as a middle grade story, I couldn't resist requesting it.
Also I've read pretty amazing books labelled as middle grade oriented, so I had pretty high expectactions for this book.
What I found was truly a middle grade story.
.................
Can I complain that it was more middle grade that what I am used to? lol
I could, but that would make of me a complete moron... when I strive to never pass the "partial one" mark.

Allow me then to say _ in a very diplomatic manner_ that I am no longer this story's target. Reading this reminded me of Enyd Blyton adventure stories, like the Famous Five. Books that I more than re-read when I was growing up, but which I haven't touched in decades.

This rating  is intended to be seen as a form of compromise: It isn't a bad book... but it never held my interest. Especially the sci-fi bit. That really didn't work out for me.

Despite this, I  have to mention that the characters are well developed: there's the adventurer who is determined to clear her father's name, the adventurer's best friend who has not only beauty but also brains... the adventurer's brother who has a terrible fear of MONSTERS, the cute older guy who tries to control the kids _ right _ and his brother, the extremely intelligent one who probably has some level of autism.
The interactions between them were all well done. They are intelligent kids, being chased by a "I am going to reveal all of my secrets to you" villain... so, smart kids versus a less than intelligent foe.
Guess who wins? :)

Author's Official Site

Pre-order it:
Bookdepository.com

Radiance (Wraith Kings #1) by Grace Draven

I LOVED it!!!

I'm no stranger to Grace Draven's work, so I went into this with high hopes, which were more than met. 

Ildiko has been "condemned" to marry Brishen, a prince of the Kai. 

It's difficult to tell who is less eager for the marriage: bride or groom. 

Ildiko is human and Brishen is Kai. I don't know the name of this particular trope, but it's one of my absolute favourites: when beautiful women/men among their people are married off to beautiful women/men among their own people but, to each other, they are absolutely abhorrent. 

It can usually start off on a bitter tone like, "Ugh, this disgusting monster I married." But Draven has the refreshing sense to write her characters as pragmatic people, open to making the best out of the hand fate dealt them, and opposed to drama.

So we have Ildiko and Brishen starting off as friends, allying to survive court intrigue and attempts on their lives, falling for each other even if along the way they can't help but find the other physically repellent. But they do fall in love, for they find each other's inner beauty. 

It's like Beauty and the Beast, but they're both beauty and beast, and their love feels all the more precious for it, pure and true, without the initial trappings of lust at first sight.

What follows is a slow romance steeped in an engrossing plot and ending on a cliffhanger that has me dying to read the next book in the series!

I can't wait!

Grace Draven's official site

Buy Radiance:

@ Amazon 

@ Smashwords

@ Barnes & Noble