Six For Sunday: Favourite Characters

May 24, 2020May 22, 2020 by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 2 Comments

This week on Six For Sunday we’re talking about favourite characters – so lets dive in!

1. The Darkling (Shadow and Bone – Leigh Bardugo)
One of my favourite characters has to be the darkling from Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse. I think he’s such a brilliant villain and such an interesting character, I would love to have a prequel book about his life before the events of Shadow and Bone – I’m also super excited to see how Ben Barnes plays him in the new Netflix adaptation!

2. Jude Duarte (The Cruel Prince – Holly Black)
Jude is such a kick-ass character in Holly Black’s Folk of the Air. She’s scheming and determined and she doesn’t shy away from difficult choices. I loved seeing her character grow through the three books and she has definitely become one of my favourite characters. I must admit though it was tough to decide between her and Cardan, they’re both brilliant.

3. Hermione Granger (Harry Potter – J K Rowling)
Growing up I pretty much wanted to be Hermione Granger. I’m pretty sure I might have went as her for Halloween on more than one occasion. Clever and brave, she’s one of the best characters in the Harry Potter books and I think she deserves a lot more credit for all the times she stopped Harry and Ron from getting into even bigger disasters.

4. Mia Corvere (Nevernight – Jay Kristoff)
Going into Nevernight I wasn’t really sure what to expect, I really didn’t expect to discover a new favourite series. A bit like Jude, Mia Corvere is another kick-ass character that I just absolutely love. She’s such a strong character, completely set on her vengeance against those who hurt her family. I loved her in the Nevernight books, even if they completely broke my heart in the end.

5. Levi Glasayer (Ace of Shades – Amanda Foody)
I finished reading King of Fools last month and I’m still thinking about it, so obviously Levi had to go on this list. I love the way he schemes and charms his way out of every situation. I love the world Foody has created in The Shadow Game series and seeing Levi carry out his plots and schemes has led to these books becoming some of my favourites.

6. Cersei Lannister (A Game of Thrones – George R R Martin)
Cersei Lannister is one of my favourite characters in both the books and the television adaptation. She’s fierce, unapologetic and just the best character. She protects her family at any costs and I think she’s just one of the most fascinating characters. To be honest it was hard to pick just one from the ASOIAF series, but Cersei has to be my favourite.

Six For Sunday: Series I Want to Get Into

May 17, 2020May 16, 2020 by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 5 Comments

Six for Sunday is created by Steph over at Alittlebutalot. This week the topic is series you want to get into and for me there are absolutely tons of them. I’m forever behind on big series and there are so many I want to read.

1. The Bone Witch – Rin Chupeco
In the captivating start to a new, darkly lyrical fantasy series, Tea can raise the dead, but resurrection comes at a price.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.

2. Three Dark Crowns – Kendare Blake
When kingdom come, there will be one.

In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born—three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins.

The last queen standing gets the crown.

3. Empirium – Claire Legrand
The stunningly original, must-read fantasy of 2018 follows two fiercely independent young women, centuries apart, who hold the power to save their world…or doom it.

When assassins ambush her best friend, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing herself as one of a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light, and a queen of blood. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven elemental magic trials. If she fails, she will be executed…unless the trials kill her first.

One thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a fairy tale to Eliana Ferracora. A bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, Eliana believes herself untouchable–until her mother vanishes. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain and discovers that the evil at the empire’s heart is more terrible than she ever imagined.

As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world–and of each other.

4. Shades of Magic – V. E. Schwab
Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.

Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see. It’s a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they’ll first need to stay alive.

5. The Wounded Kingdom – R J Barker
To catch an assassin, use an assassin…

Girton Club-foot, apprentice to the land’s best assassin, still has much to learn about the art of taking lives. But his latest mission tasks him and his master with a far more difficult challenge: to save a life. Someone, or many someones, is trying to kill the heir to the throne, and it is up to Girton and his master to uncover the traitor and prevent the prince’s murder.

In a kingdom on the brink of civil war and a castle thick with lies Girton finds friends he never expected, responsibilities he never wanted, and a conspiracy that could destroy an entire kingdom.

6. The Witchlands – Susan Dennard
In a continent on the edge of war, two witches hold its fate in their hands.

Young witches Safiya and Iseult have a habit of finding trouble. After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home.

Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she’s a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden – lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult’s true powers are hidden even from herself.

In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls’ heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

So those are six series I would love to get into. If you’ve read any of them I’d love to know your thoughts, as well as some series you’re dying to read!

Six For Sunday: Favourite Book One In A Series

May 3, 2020April 29, 2020 by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Six For Sunday is a weekly prompt created by Steph over at A Little But A Lot. Today we’re talking about your favourite first book in a series. I’m love long running series so it was quite hard to narrow this down to just six, and quite honestly I loved every book in these series – but lets dive in!

1. Geekarella – Ashley Poston
The first book in the Once Upon A Con series, is such a cute and sweet story that I couldn’t help falling in love. I’ve read and completely adored The Princess and the Fangirl and Bookish and the Beast but the story of Darien and Elle will always be my favourite. This series is the perfect cute and fluffy contemporary to become completely absorbed in.

2. Godblind – Anna Stephens
The Godblind trilogy is one of my all time favourite grimdark series and I recently finished book three Bloodchild. I gave all three five stars but something about the first book just edges it as my favourite. Getting to know this bloody, violent world of gods and war was just incredible and I can’t wait to reread this series soon.

3. Shadow and Bone – Leigh Bardugo
This is another one where I loved every second in the world, but the first book in the series was my favourite. I loved seeing Alina come into her powers and navigate the world of the Grisha. The story is an epic tale but I loved the setting of book one as well as getting to know the darkling – who remains one of my favourite villains.

4. The Boy With the Porcelain Blade – Den Patrick
I wasn’t sure whether to put this one of my list because I also really really love book two in this series but I couldn’t resist mentioning it. The Erebus Sequence is a really underrated fantasy series, full of magic and monsters and it’s one I found difficult to put down. The Boy with the Porcelain Blade is a brilliant read and my favourite in the series (honestly though they’re all incredible).

5. The Bear and the Nightingale – Katherine Arden
I’ve talked about this series again and again but honestly if you haven’t given it a go you definitely need to pick it up soon. The beautifully told tale of Vasya is full of gorgeous vivid imagery and I could read Katherine Arden’s writing till the end of time. This Russian inspired tale is full of folklore and magic and is everything you could want in a book.

6. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before – Jenny Han
This is another totally cute and sweet series but the reason I love book one the most is that I loved the fake dating trope, and I think it’s so well done in this book. I also kind of thing the story could have been a standalone without the subsequent books, so To All the Boys will always be my favourite in the trilogy.

So those are my some of my favourite first book in a series – what are some of yours?

Six For Sunday: Recommendations On Your TBR

April 26, 2020April 25, 2020 by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 2 Comments

The prompt for Six for Sunday this week is focusing on books on your TBR because someone recommended them to you. This was a really fun and interesting prompt, so let’s dive in!

1. The End of the World Running Club – Adrian J. Walker
Perfect for fans of The Martian, this powerful post-apocalyptic thriller pits reluctant father Edgar Hill in a race against time to get back to his wife and children. When the sky begins to fall and he finds himself alone, his best hope is to run – or risk losing what he loves forever.

When the world ends and you find yourself forsaken, every second counts. No one knows this more than Edgar Hill. Stranded on the other side of the country from his wife and children, Ed must push himself across a devastated wasteland to get back to them. With the clock ticking and hundreds of miles between them, his best hope is to run — or risk losing what he loves forever.

2. The Creeper Man – Dawn Kurtagich
When Silla and her little sister, Nori, escape London and their abusive father, Aunt Cath’s country house feels like a safe haven. Leaving the smog and fear behind, the girls have the love and freedom they never had in their violent home. But slowly, ever so slowly, things begin to unravel.

Aunt Cath locks herself in the attic and spends day and night pacing; every day the surrounding forest inches slowly towards the house; a mysterious boy appears from the enclosing wood offering friendship, and Nori claims that a man watches them from the dark forest. A man with no eyes who creeps ever closer…

3. Dread Nation – Justina Ireland
Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.

4. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet – Becky Chambers
Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through space-and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe-in this light-hearted debut space opera from a rising sci-fi star.

Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.

Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe.

5. The Darkest Minds – Alexandra Bracken
When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that gets her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that’s killed most of America’s children, but she and the others have emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control.

Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones.

When the truth comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. Now she’s on the run, desperate to find the one safe haven left for kids like her—East River. She joins a group of kids who escaped their own camp. Liam, their brave leader, is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents.

When they arrive at East River, nothing is as it seems, least of all its mysterious leader. But there are other forces at work, people who will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at a life worth living.

6. Cold Granite – Stuart McBride
Winter in Aberdeen: murder, mayhem and terrible weather…

It’s DS Logan McRae’s first day back on the job after a year off on the sick, and it couldn’t get much worse. Three-year-old David Reid’s body is discovered in a ditch: strangled, mutilated and a long time dead. And he’s only the first. There’s a serial killer stalking the Granite City and the local media are baying for blood.

Soon the dead are piling up in the morgue almost as fast as the snow on the streets, and Logan knows time is running out. More children are going missing. More are going to die. And if Logan isn’t careful, he could end up joining them.

So those are six books on my TBR that were recommendations from other people – if you’ve read any I’d love to know what your thoughts were!

Six For Sunday: Books I Think will be 5 Stars

April 19, 2020April 16, 2020 by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 2 Comments

This week for Six for Sunday the prompt is six books on your TBR you think will be five star reads. There are so many books on my TBR that I’m excited to get to and I think I’m going to just adore and I really hope they’re going to be five star reads – so let’s dive in!

1. Ruthless Gods – Emily A Duncan
This is a really recent purchase for me but I read and loved Wicked Saints last year and it was a five star read for me so I have high hopes for this sequel!

Darkness never works alone…

Nadya doesn’t trust her magic anymore. Serefin is fighting off a voice in his head that doesn’t belong to him. Malachiasz is at war with who–and what–he’s become.

As their group is continually torn apart, the girl, the prince, and the monster find their fates irrevocably intertwined. They’re pieces on a board, being orchestrated by someone… or something. The voices that Serefin hears in the darkness, the ones that Nadya believes are her gods, the ones that Malachiasz is desperate to meet—those voices want a stake in the world, and they refuse to stay quiet any longer.

2. And I Darken – Kiersten White
This has been on my TBR for absolutely ages and I have no idea why I haven’t picked it up yet. I love all things Dracula so this sounds like I will absolutely adore it. I’ve heard amazing things so I really should get to it.

No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.

Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.

But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.

3. Daughter of the Burning City – Amanda Foody
I recently read King of Fools by Amanda Foody and it is one of my favourite books I’ve read so far this year. I gave both books in the series five stars, so I’m really interested to try Amanda Foody’s other work.

Sixteen-year-old Sorina has spent most of her life within the smoldering borders of the Gomorrah Festival. Yet even among the many unusual members of the traveling circus-city, Sorina stands apart as the only illusion-worker born in hundreds of years. This rare talent allows her to create illusions that others can see, feel and touch, with personalities all their own. Her creations are her family, and together they make up the cast of the Festival’s Freak Show.

But no matter how lifelike they may seem, her illusions are still just that—illusions, and not truly real. Or so she always believed…until one of them is murdered.

Desperate to protect her family, Sorina must track down the culprit and determine how they killed a person who doesn’t actually exist. Her search for answers leads her to the self-proclaimed gossip-worker Luca, and their investigation sends them through a haze of political turmoil and forbidden romance, and into the most sinister corners of the Festival. But as the killer continues murdering Sorina’s illusions one by one, she must unravel the horrifying truth before all of her loved ones disappear.

4. The Mercies – Kiran Millwood Hargrave
I’m so excited to start reading this one soon, I’ve read all of Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s middle grade and YA and all of them have been four or five star reads for me so I’m incredibly excited to dive into her first adult novel.

Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Magnusdatter stands on the craggy coast, watching the sea break into a sudden and reckless storm. Forty fishermen, including her brother and father, are drowned and left broken on the rocks below. With the menfolk wiped out, the women of the tiny Arctic town of Vardø must fend for themselves.

Three years later, a sinister figure arrives. Absalom Cornet comes from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles. He brings with him his young Norwegian wife, Ursa, who is both heady with her husband’s authority and terrified by it. In Vardø, and in Maren, Ursa sees something she has never seen before: independent women. But Absalom sees only a place untouched by God, and flooded with a mighty evil.

As Maren and Ursa are drawn to one another in ways that surprise them both, the island begins to close in on them, with Absalom’s iron rule threatening Vardø’s very existence.

Inspired by the real events of the Vardø storm and the 1621 witch trials, The Mercies is a story of love, evil, and obsession, set at the edge of civilization.

5. Crooked Kingdom – Leigh Bardugo
I cry every time I add this to lists of books I haven’t read yet. I finally read Six of Crows and of course it was incredible. I’ve read all of her other books by Crooked Kingdom and King of Scars, I really have no excuse but I’m pretty sure it will be a five star read.

Kaz Brekker and his crew of deadly outcasts have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives.

Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties.

A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets – a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.

6. Dispel Illusion – Mark Lawrence
Mark Lawrence is one of my favourite authors and I think know this is going to be a five star read. The first two books in this series were unputdownable and I can’t wait to see how it all ends!

Nick Hayes’s genius is in wringing out the universe’s secrets. It’s a talent that’s allowed him to carve paths through time. But the worst part is that he knows how his story will end. He’s seen it with his own eyes. And every year that passes, every breakthrough he makes, brings him a step closer. Mia’s accident is waiting for them both in 2011. If it happens then he’s out of choices.

Then a chance 1992 discovery reveals that this seeker of truth has been lying to himself. But why? It’s a question that haunts him for years. A straw he clings to as his long-awaited fate draws near.

Time travel turns out not to be the biggest problem Nick has to work on. He needs to find out how he can stay on his path but change the destination. Failure has never been an option, and neither has survival. But Nick’s hoping to roll the dice one more time. And this new truth begins with a lie.

So those are some of the books on my TBR that I think are going to be five star reads. I’d love to know what books on your TBR you think will be five star reads and if you’ve read any of these I’d love to know what you thought!

Six for Sunday: Reasons I Love Blogging

February 9, 2020February 6, 2020 by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 1 Comment

Six for Sunday is a fab weekly post created by Steph over at A Little But A Lot. The prompt for today is reasons you love blogging, so let’s dive in!

1. Reading more
I was quite a big reader before I became a blogger, but I would probably read a book or maybe two a week at most. Now with being a blogger I always have a book on the go and I always have review copies to get to. It’s definitely increased the amount of reading I do and I find it also challenges me to read more.

2. Seeing people read your recommendations
There’s nothing quite like hearing someone picked up a book you mentioned and really enjoyed it. It’s so nice to know that people trust your judgement enough to pick up a book. I totally love when I go out with my family and they buy books on my recommendation, it never gets old.

3. Learning new skills
I definitely think blogging has taught me a range of skills I didn’t have before. Not only has it improved my writing, I’ve learned skills about website design, making images, taking photos for Instagram, coding marketing and skills in managing my time. It’s really been a brilliant hobby so far.

4. Always having loads to read
This goes without saying but I love blogging because I always have loads of books to read or books I want to buy. Whether it’s someone else’s review or a book that’s been getting lots of buzz on social media I’m constantly picking up new releases and I’ve never gotten to a point where I have nothing to read. My TBR is totally out of control, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

5. Gaining confidence
I’m quite a shy person and going to events and networking with other bloggers and publishing people has helped me gain confidence in talking to people. I went to an event with recently with Cornerstone and while I’m still awkward, I’m definitely way better at going to events and chatting to people now.

6. Discovering new books
I’ve always predominantly been a fantasy/science fiction reader. I’m happy to dip into other things but generally that’s what I usually read. However through blogging I’ve tried so many books I probably would never have picked up and I’m now willing to give pretty much anything a shot. After so many years blogging I’m a big fan of crime, historical fiction and contemporary – something that definitely wouldn’t have been the case before.

So those are six reasons I love blogging! What are reasons you love being a blogger?

Six For Sunday – Bookish Habits!

January 26, 2020 by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 3 Comments

Today on Six for Sunday the prompt is bookish habits, so let’s dive in!

1. Bookish Spreadsheet
I use an amazing spreadsheet made by Kaleena at Reader Voracious. It helps you track pretty much everything from the number of books you’ve read this year, how many ARCS you have outstanding, the followers and stats of your blog and everything in between. It’s brilliant for helping me plan my blog posts and I think I’d be pretty lost without it.

2. Collecting bookmarks
I’m a bit obsessed with bookmarks. If we go on holiday or go to an event I always like to pick one up in the places we’ve visited. To be honest I usually just end up using the same ones over and over again but I have a nice little collection and I love getting new ones.

3. Reading more than one book at once
I’ve got a terrible habit of reading more than one book at once and then it takes me even longer to finish them. I currently have two on the go at the moment – which is actually pretty good at the moment.

4. Reading in the car
This is a new habit I’ve picked up since I started driving to work rather than commuting on the train. I’ve started leaving a bit earlier so that I get to work in plenty time and then I can spend thirty minutes in the car just chilling out and reading some of book. It’s a great way to start the day and always puts me in a good mood.

5. Always having an overflowing TBR Cart
I bought one of those adorably cute TBR carts and it’s great for putting the books I haven’t read yet. Trouble is when I take one off and read and it leaves a space it pretty much means I’ll go out and buy another book – I don’t think I’ll ever have a cart that’s half empty.

6. Reading with my cat
My favourite place in the world to read is on the couch with the cat. It’s become something of a routine at weekends for me to grab a blanket and she’ll sleep while I read. It’s really relaxing, the only trouble being that it’s a bit distracting when she starts to snore!

So those are six of my bookish habits, what are some of your bookish habits?

Six For Sunday: Books I Want to Reread

May 12, 2019May 12, 2019 by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 5 Comments

This week on Six for Sunday the prompt is books you want to reread! Rereading isn’t something I do very often and there are loads of books I would love to read again.

1. A Song of Ice and Fire Series – George R. R. Martin
George R. R. Martin is one my all time favourite authors and I love the A Song of Ice and Fire series so much. I did my dissertation on the female characters in the series and that was the last time I reread them. I’d love to dive into the series again and I’m thinking it might be interesting to listen to them as audio books this time around.

2. Abhorsen Series – Garth Nix
I have a ton of Garth Nix books that I’ve read over and over as I was growing up and my favourites are definitely the Abhorsen Series and Shade’s Children. It’s been quite a while so I’d love to get my old battered copies out and have another read of them.

3. See What I Have Done – Sarah Schmidt
See What I Have Done is one of those books that I still think about even though it was a few years ago that I read it. An imagining of the story of Lizzie Borden – who was accused of murdering her Father and Stepmother with an axe – it was just such a dark and twisted story. I completely loved this book and I want to read it again to see if my feelings are still the same.

4. The Sin Eater’s Daughter Series – Melinda Salisbury
This series broke my heart. I loved each book in this series and it’s definitely still one of my favourites. The world building is superb and I completely adored the characters. The series finished in 2017 so I really need to dive back into the world.

5. The Winternight Trilogy – Katherine Arden
Katherine Arden’s Winternight Trilogy is (aside from ASOIAF) probably my most beloved series of all time. From book one I knew this was going to be a favourite and I’m so sad that the series finished in December last year. It’s not been that long since the last book was released but I’m really keen to return to the story.

6. The Queen of the Tearling – Erika Johansen
The Queen of the Tearling is a book I read a really long time ago when it first came out. I really loved it and was really excited to read the other books in the series, but for some reason I never got around to it. I really want to read books two and three but I’m definitely going to have to reread The Queen of the Tearling to understand what’s going on.

So those are the six books/series that I would love to reread! What’s on your reread pile?

Six for Sunday: Books From My Childhood

April 14, 2019 by Nicole Sweeney ♥ 4 Comments

Today’s Six for Sunday prompt is books from my childhood. I loved so many series growing up that it was tough to choose just six! Six for Sunday is a weekly post created by Steph over at A Little But A Lot, you can find out more about it here!

1. Harry Potter – J. K. Rowling

I think this is probably on everyone’s list. I grew up reading Harry Potter over and over and I’m still obsessed with it today. I remember getting the first two books and just being completely absorbed and then it was midnight openings to get the next instalment.

2. A Series of Unfortunate Events – Lemony Snicket

I really adored A Series of Unfortunate Events. I got the first three from my parents as a birthday gift and I spent the rest of the afternoon making my way through them. I still have my beautiful hardback collection and they’ll always be on my favourites shelf.

3. Sweep Series/Balefire Series – Cate Tiernan

I was obsessed with the Sweep and Balefire series by Cate Tiernan. I loved the mixture of magic and romance and I completely fell in love with the characters. I named my first pets (two guinea pigs) Skye and Morgan after my favourite characters.

4. Abhorsen Series/ Shade’s Children – Garth Nix

I picked the Abhorsen series but honestly I pretty much flew through every book Garth Nix put out (and I still buy all his new ones though quite a few are in my TBR pile), I loved the magic and adventure of it all. I met him recently as an adult and he signed all my battered and beat up copies and it made me so happy.

5. The Lord of the Rings – J. R. R. Tolkien

After racing through so many fantasy books I bought Lord of the Rings with my pocket money. I remember being a bit intimidated by the size of the book but I completely fell in love and it definitely made me become a huge fan of chunky fantasy books.

6. Inheritance Cycle – Christopher Paolini

When I was young I really adored Eragon and the Inheritance Cycle. I didn’t notice the obvious similarities with Lord of the Rings and I just loved returning to the world. It was probably the first big fantasy book that I was eagerly awaiting the next instalment for. It’s something I’m hoping to reread in the future because I wonder if my feelings for this series will have changed.

So those are my six books I loved from my childhood! What are some of your childhood favourites?

The Bibliophile Chronicles

Tag: six for sunday