Monthly Wrap-up April 2019. #BookBlogger #BookBloggers #Blogger #Bloggers

Welcome to my April wrap-up post featuring all of the fantastic posts on my blog that I posted during the month of April.

I had a really good month for reading managing to read and review six books. Two, of which were both rather lengthy tomes. I also read The Chain by Adrian McKinty but as it’s not released until July I won’t be reviewing until nearer the release date (unless I get permission from the publicist to post before then). It is definitely one to watch out for though, menacing, fast-paced and with a chilling premise.

My April Posts.

• Creed: One Last Breath.
• Candlebox: Far Behind.
• Guns N’ Roses: November Rain.
• Shinedown: Second Chance.
• Slipknot: Duality.

• On the breeze.

• Waiting on Wednesday: Council (Helga Finnsdottir #2) by Snorri Kristjansson.
• Waiting on Wednesday: Priest of Lies (War for the Rose Throne #2) by Peter McLean.
• Waiting on Wednesday: Hangman’s Gate (War of the Archons #2) by R. S. Ford.
• Waiting on Wednesday: The Fifth Ward Good Company by Dale Lucas.

• One Word Kill (Impossible Times #1) by Mark Lawrence – Guest Post and Book Review.
• The Pale Ones by Bartholomew Bennett – Guest Post.
• #Zero by Neil McCormick – Guest Post.
• Not From Above by Alexander Mayor – Guest Post.

• March 2019 monthly wrap-up.
• Book Haul.

• The Ruin of Kings (A Chorus of Dragons #1) by Jenn Lyons.

Review snippet:

The Ruin of Kings features epic world-building and Lyons has crafted a world that is full of history and lore. Much of which we only get to glimpse the surface of but it is utterly fascinating and leaves you wanting to dig deeper and find out more. The locales in which the story takes place are well-realised and the world includes zombies, krakens, snake men (sadly none with the name of King Hiss), various cults, assassins, gods, goddesses, dead gods, magic, magical artefacts, mages, witches, demons, dragons, ghosts, the Morgage (who are a savage race with poisonous barbs adorning their arms) and various types of Vane who are an immortal race.

The Ruin of Kings is absolutely stunning, it is epic fantasy at its finest, like a tapestry it is hugely complex, intricately woven and lavishly detailed. It is a highly skilled debut from Lyons and it is a book that you need to concentrate on reading. If you do give The Ruin of Kings the attention that it requires (and fully deserves) then you are richly rewarded with what amounts to a highly immersive reading experience.

• Breakers by Doug Johnstone.

Review snippet:

Flick and Tyler are different people from different places and are polar opposites on the social scale. There is a class divide, Flick is one of the rich, one of the ‘haves’ while Tyler is one of the poor, one of the ‘have nots’ but there is a connection between them. Something that transcends social standing and something inside them that makes them similar, common ground, a symmetry to them and how they feel about themselves, their families, their lives and the world. They are from different sides of the track but are kindred spirits who have found something in each other that was missing.

I love books where the characters come to life. Books where you can imagine that you are reading about real people and real events. Fully-fleshed and three-dimensional characters, not just names on a page, cardboard cutouts who are involved in a story but characters that you feel for, that you care about and that seem real. I don’t just mean the ‘good‘ characters of the story either that many readers gravitate towards and root for but also the ‘bad‘ characters too. The ones that you dislike not because they are the villain of the tale and you are ‘supposed‘ to hate them but the ones that actually do make you hate them because of their actions, attitudes and because they are evil. That’s what Johnstone gives you in Breakers, stellar characterisation and characters that whether you like them or not they make you feel.

• The Tower of Living and Dying (Empires of Dust #2) by Anna Smith Spark.

Review snippet:

The Tower of Living and Dying starts near immediately after the ending of The Court of Broken Knives carrying on the various story arcs from the first book. Marith has a goal, total domination and dominion over all of Irlast, to reclaim the kingdom that his ancestor Amrath once ruled over, he is, after all, Amrath reborn. From the White Isles, across the Bitter Sea, to Ith, the Empty Peak mountains, through the Wastes, ever onwards towards Illyr and the fortress of Ethalden that was once Amrath’s seat of power. Wherever he goes Marith leaves a trail of death and destruction in his wake and blood follows him flowing like the tide of a river.

• Call Me Star Girl by Louise Beech.

Review snippet:

With Call Me Star Girl Beech has created a captivating and chilling story. It is a story that will thaw the ice in the veins, that will thaw the coldest of frozen hearts, a dark story but it is a darkness that is infused with heart. There is a beauty to the way that Beech writes, a beauty that is found within the darkness and one that contains an emotional undercurrent. Her words ebb and flow, waxing and waning like a candle flame, flickering, caught in a breeze. There’s something evocative and poetic about both her writing and her way with words. Something alluring, something hypnotic, casting you under her spell, charming you, drawing you in, grabbing you and ultimately pulling you under before allowing you to resurface changed at the end of the book.

• A Book of Bones (A Charlie Parker Thriller: 17) by John Connolly.

Review snippet:

It is a complex canvas and a clever story, a multi-layered story that meanders, that takes its time in getting to the ending, getting where it needs to and you enjoy every moment of it, savouring each new chapter, each of the characters, each location, each new development and all that comes with it. It is a story that builds, a story that can be traced back with the roots, the foundations laid well in the past both, in the actual story and in the series. I know, I know, as I have mentioned I have only read the previous book, The Women in the Woods but it is a gut feeling that I had whilst reading A Book of Bones that it is the book that the Charlie Parker series, itself has been building towards for some time and honestly, it is a fitting finale to close of the tale of Quayle, Mors and the Fractured Atlas…but, you never know, the Fractured Atlas might reappear in the future (only Connolly knows) as books are funny things, strange by their nature and even when they are lost, they survive, their heart and the stories that they tell, that want to escape the pages live on.

• The Closer I Get by Paul Burston.

Review snippet:

With The Closer I Get, Burston has created a book that is very much in ‘the now’. It is a fitting read for the current world and one that should serve as a cautionary tale. It is a warning to all of those people who share everything about themselves and their lives on social media. Those people with no thought for their own safety who don’t consider who might be following them, reading their posts or just silently skulking in the darkened confines of the web but it will date with time as many books do. However, in the future, The Closer I Get will offer the reader a glimpse into days gone by, a glimpse into the past, a glimpse into a world where follower counts ruled, a glimpse into online interaction and relationships and a glimpse into the perils and the pitfalls of social media.

• TTBG’s Pussy Party – yes, you read the title correctly! 😉

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