Waiting on Wednesday #67: Love, Life and the List by Kasie West

Hello everyone! "Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, that is hosted by Breaking the Spine and the purpose of this event is that we spotlight upcoming releases of books that we are excited for!  This will also tie into Wishful Ending's Can't Wait Wednesday post!

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Title:  Love, Life and the List

Author:  Kasie West

Expected Publication Date:  December 26th, 2017

Everyone knows Abby Turner is in love with her best friend, Cooper Wells. Including Cooper Wells. But despite what people tell her, it doesn’t affect their friendship. And she’s practically over it, anyway. What she really can’t get over is when her boss at the local museum tells her that her paintings lack heart. 

Art is Abby’s passion and she hopes her future as well. She is determined to change his mind and earn her way into the upcoming exhibit at the gallery. So along with her family’s help, she compiles “The Heart List,” a series of soulstretching experiences that are sure to make her a deeper person and better artist in six weeks or less. When Cooper decides to complete the list along with her, she realizes this list is expanding her heart in more ways than one. Maybe she needs to start another project.

Love, Life, and the List is about a girl who, in an effort to bring more emotional depth to her art, compiles a list of soul-stretching experiences to complete with her best friend—a boy she also happens to be in love with. 

This is the first in a set of three standalone books with crossover characters.

I seriously need to read a Kasie West book and this book sounds really interesting, especially the part about making a list that conveys your emotions!

So, what upcoming books are you looking forward to?  Please respond below!

Top Ten Tuesday #58: Top 10 Books on My Winter TBR List

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.


This week's top 10 Tuesday topic is "Top 10 Books on My Winter TBR List!"  I have so many books to go through and what good way to get through all of those MOUTH WATERING books than to list what books I'll be reading for the wintertime?

So here's my top 10 Books on My Winter TBR List (in no particular order, of course)!

1.  This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

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2.  Seeing Red by Sandra Brown

3. 11/22/63 by Stephen King

4. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

5.  Every Thing Every Thing by Nicola Yoon

6. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

7.  Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

8.  When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

9.  Heartless by Marissa Meyer

10. The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell

Book Blitz: Bad Princess by Julianna Keyes

Bad Princess 

Julianna Keyes

Publication date: November 27th 2017
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Romance

Notorious for leaping off roofs, maiming foreign royals, and that twerking incident, Brinley Cantrella of Estau is nobody’s definition of a good princess.

She’s fearless and bold, not good and gracious. And after a lifetime of being told she’s unfit to be queen, wearing the crown and helping to usher Estau into a new era is the one dream she’s never dared chase.

But when her older sister abdicates the throne, all Brinley has to do to inherit the role is not twerk, not maim anybody, and definitely not get caught fooling around topless with Prince Finn, her childhood crush, the only man she’s ever loved…and her sister’s former future husband.

Finn embodies the definition of good. Tall and handsome, serious and honorable, he always does the right thing—including agreeing to marry his ex’s sister to cover up this latest scandal. Brinley has fallen down stairs, broken teeth and broken bones, but this is the first time her heart has ever been broken. She now has the crown and the prince, and on the surface, life is good—but is being married to a man everyone swears could never love her back good enough?

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

—

For Brinley, the girl who had spent her life exploring every forbidden nook and cranny, crawling under desks and peering behind paintings, the castle was very much her home. For Elle it had been a jail cell. Her perfect behavior had been that of a model prisoner, biding her time, waiting to break free. And now she had fled and left the world with—

“Brinley,” King Edric said. He rose from his seat where he waited with her father in the formal sitting room. He buttoned his perfectly tailored jacket and nodded politely. “How lovely to see you again.”

The words were polite, but the man himself was cold and impersonal, his pale hair and eyes a visual representation of the permanent frost in his voice.

“And you,” Brinley replied, extending her hand for him to kiss. No matter the modern ideology of the kingdoms, some traditions never waned. She kept her eyes on his, her crooked smile bright and cheerful, even as she almost died from the effort required not to look at Finn, who stood just behind his father, calmly waiting his turn to greet her.

Edric finally released her and Finn took his place, taking her hand and pressing his lips to her knuckles. A roaring fire burned brightly behind him, but that was not the thing that made Brinley’s cheeks flush.

“Princess,” he said formally. Everything Finn did was formal. Everything about him from his carefully coiffed hair and his straight features to the brass buttons on his jacket and the tassels on his epaulets was formal. He was so stiff and handsome, but instead of off-putting Brinley found it incredibly tempting, the way she found the castle’s forbidden secret passageways tempting. She wanted to explore him. She wanted so desperately to see those carefully chiseled features crack a smile when it was not called for, to hear him laugh, curse, moan.

But even as she wished for it, she knew it would never happen. Elle may not have reciprocated his feelings, but Brinley had little doubt that he had cared deeply for her sister. It was mandated, after all, and Finn was very much a dutiful prince, one who always followed orders and never his heart.

Julianna Keyes is a Canadian writer who has lived on both coasts and several places in between. She’s been skydiving, bungee jumping and white water rafting, but nothing thrills—or terrifies—her as much as the blank page. She loves Chinese food, foreign languages, baseball and television, though not necessarily in that order, and writes sizzling stories with strong characters, plenty of conflict, and lots of making up.

Excerpts, giveaways, behind the scenes tomfoolery - sign up for her very sporadic newsletter: http://juliannakeyes.com/newsletter.html.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

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Book Blitz: Tainted Rose by Yumoyori Wilson

Tainted Rose

Yumoyori Wilson

(Starlight Gods #2)

Publication date: November 10th 2017
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance

I failed…

My name is Ryder Carter, future heir of Realm Five, Minato.

I was destined to do great things, to walk alongside my fellow star knights, as we desperately searched for the woman who would lead our galaxy to salvation.

My spirit and I had failed her once, unable to prevent the chain of events and challenges she’d faced for sixteen cycles.

Then, we finally found her – alive.

Within two rotations, she’d blossomed into a beautiful rose – such delicate petals, filled with purity and life. My mission was to guide her home, to where she truly belonged, as our Princess and saviour from the approaching darkness. She was more than just our Princess; I loved her with all my heart.

But…I failed. My once perfect rose, damaged by my failures. Would she ever forgive me, her star knight who’d sworn to protect her? Will I ever get the chance to tell her how much she means to me…to us?

Only the Starlight gods can tell. Please…bring my Firefly home.

~In Stars We Trust~

Tainted Rose is Book Two in the new, paranormal reverse harem series.
Recommended for 18+ audience, containing mature sexual content and strong language.

Goodreads / Amazon

—

“Mako? Are you sleep walking again?” Ryder’s voice made me relax as I rubbed at my eyes.

“Ryder, why did you guys put a wall in the middle of the hall? It’s blocking me from food.” I whined.

“There’s our Firefly.” Marcus praised, chuckling.

“I can’t believe she actually called Kai a wall.” Daniel mused, his voice sounded thick with sleep.

“Kai?” I asked, opening my eyes just as the apparent wall, turned around, brilliant amber eyes locking on me. I gawked at the sight; my heart raced at the new shifter before me.

He was six feet for sure, maybe only an inch away from Marcus’ height. His wind-blown, coiffed hair was a stunning orange. Holy Starlight, a GINGER!! Like those hot guys in the fashion magazines.

He smiled, his perfectly straight, white teeth making an appearance, only adding to his forbidden sexiness. I wonder if Adam in the bible was this good looking. Maybe that’s why that Eve shifter went and took that apple.

“Princess, that’s not how it went in the bible, but I’m pleased with your admission of liking my ginger hair.” He approved; his calm voice enough to soothe any shifter.

Yumoyori Wilson is from Toronto, Ontario. She loves to sleep and write her days away. She works at night as a registered nurse. She has a little addiction to bubble tea and coffee but loves to workout. She has big plans for the writing world and can't wait to share them with everyone.

Facebook Page / Facebook Group / Goodreads

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Stacking the Shelves #36: November 25, 2017

Stacking The Shelves is a book meme created by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality and it is about sharing books that you are adding to your shelves, whether it's physical or virtual.  This means including books that you bought from the store or online, books you borrowed from friends or from the library, books you've reviewed, gifts and ebooks!

Hey everyone! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!  I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and for anyone who don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you had a nice holiday!  Me and my family had a nice Thanksgiving meal (Turkey, stuffing, cheesecake, apple pie, collard greens and neckbones) and I must admit that I was quite full from all of that eating!  Me and my family also watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and I loved it!  My favorite parts of the parade was seeing the balloon floats, especially the Red Ranger from "Power Rangers" and Charlie Brown flying a kite (although I'm a bit surprised that there's going to be a "Spongebob Squarepants" Broadway musical coming up).

Books Bought: 

From Owlcrate:

[BOOK REVIEW] Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent by Bill Peet

Title:  Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent

Author:  Bill Peet

Genre:  Animals / Children's / Sea / Adventure / Pirates / Traveling

Year Published: 1975

Year Read:  1994

Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Company

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 7+  (Some Intense Scenes)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

“Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent” is an adventurous book from Bill Peet about how a friendly sea serpent who at first wanted to wreck a ship to have fun, ends up trying to protect a ship full of passengers looking for a new land.  “Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent” may be tough for smaller children to read but older children would most likely enjoy the adventurous scenes contained in this book. 

Bill Peet’s writing is extremely inventive and exciting as he writes the story about a sea serpent that is willing to risk his life to protect the people on a voyage for a new life.  Bill Peet is extremely inventive whenever he uses various words such as “doldrums” and “bedraggled” to make the story more clever and dramatic.  Also, the idea that Cyrus is more like a friendly sea serpent rather than a vicious one makes the story more creative as people usually believe that sea monsters are meant to be scary.  Bill Peet’s illustrations are beautiful and colorful, especially of the scenes where he illustrates the sea as a calm ocean for the water is beautifully blue and during the storm scenes, he makes the sky dark and the ocean smashing viciously at the Primrose. 

Parents should know that there are many advanced words in this book and that this book may be a bit too long for younger children to handle.  Some of the advanced words mentioned are “pilings,” “doldrums,” and “bedraggled” and young children may not understand what those words mean.  Parents should write down the advanced words down on a piece of paper and define them so that the younger children would understand what the word means and therefore, it would make it easier for them to read this book.  Also, the length of this book is a bit too long than any normal children’s book and that may be a bit too tiresome for some small children to handle, so parents should read at least a few pages a day so that children would not get too tired of this book. 

“Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent” is a wonderful story about the power of friendship and how it is better to help people rather than be cruel towards them and children would easily enjoy this book for ages.  I would recommend this book to children ages seven and up since the advanced words and the length of the book may be a bit too challenging for smaller children.

You might also like:

• Fly Homer Fly by Bill Peet

• The Spooky Tail of Prewitt Peacock by Bill Peet

• Encore for Eleanor by Bill Peet

Waiting on Wednesday #66: The Armored Saint by Myke Cole

Hello everyone! "Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, that is hosted by Breaking the Spine and the purpose of this event is that we spotlight upcoming releases of books that we are excited for!  This will also tie into Wishful Ending's Can't Wait Wednesday post!

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Title:  The Armored Saint

Author:  Myke Cole

Expected Publication Date:  February 20th, 2018

In a world where any act of magic could open a portal to hell, the Order insures that no wizard will live to summon devils, and will kill as many innocent people as they must to prevent that greater horror. After witnessing a horrendous slaughter, the village girl Heloise opposes the Order, and risks bringing their wrath down on herself, her family, and her village.

A world where using magic can take you to hell?  That sounds really interesting! I would love to check this book out!

So, what upcoming books are you looking forward to?  Please respond below!