A Fatal Waltz By: Tasha Alexander

This was also a re-read for me, but I remember having adored this book the first time I read it. I still do! In this installment, the main character travels to Vienna and the author did such a brilliant job of describing it. The snowy streets, the buildings, the cafes and culture. It was very well done and I enjoyed every minute of it. I devoured this book! The mystery in this one was a bit more suspenseful and had more of a sense of impending danger. The characters developed some more in a very interesting way and there was a lot happening. I really love this series. I picked up the next one, Tears of Pearl immediately and am almost halfway through it already.

Book Haul

 

 

My book haul from today! The library is having a weekend long book sale. Love it.

A Poisoned Season By: Tasha Alexander

I finished this one last night. A Poisoned Season is the second book in the Lady Emily Mysteries. This one was just as good as the first if not better. The mysteries kept me guessing and I absolutely loved the chemistry between the characters. There was just enough romance and suspense and the descriptions of the time period and clothes was excellent. I love that the main character, Lady Emily Ashton, isn’t perfect. She is a strong, intelligent woman but is perfectly capable of making mistakes. But making mistakes never means she doesn’t get to the bottom of a problem and she is rather unstoppable. I do love me a strong female character that isn’t perfect and annoying. I truly enjoy mysteries and this one did not disappoint. I began reading the next one, A Fatal Waltz, immediately. I look forward to reading the rest!

My Books

So I finally decided to organize my bookshelves. It was a lot of work as I haven’t done it in a long while. Also, I’ve been running out of room on my shelves so I decided to lay all of the books down so I can pile them higher and leave room for more books. Because lets be honest, there will always be more. I organized them in a way that works for me, but doesn’t necessarily make any actual sense. So yay! Books!

This shelf is for classics, mysteries and general/historical fiction.

This shelf is all of my young adult books. There are a lot.

And this shelf is for fantasy, non-fiction and cookbooks.

And Only to Deceive By: Tasha Alexander

This was a re-read for me. I first read this book around six years ago and I remember absolutely loving it. From then I read the next four books and then stopped, I can’t remember why, I probably just got distracted. I recently wanted to see how many books there were in the series now and found out the tenth one is being released this year, so I knew I had to catch up. but of course, I couldn’t remember anything, so I’m re-reading them all again. I still absolutely loved this book. This story takes place in the 1800’s and the main character is simply marvelous. She is strong-willed, feminine and constantly pushing the boundaries of society. The cast of characters in this mystery is intriguing and keeps you guessing until the very end. The descriptions of the antiquities and different settings are also lovely. This is definitely a very talented storyteller and I truly enjoyed re-reading this book. I can’t wait to jump right into the next one! Luckily I already have it. If you love the time period and you love mysteries, I highly recommend picking this book up.

Russian Winter By: Daphne Kalotay

I’ve been interested in reading this book for a while now. The cover and summary are very intriguing. This book sucked me in right away and as my husband can attest, I did not pay attention to much else while I was reading it. The writing was beautiful and the characters were very well written. I loved learning more about soviet Russia and the ballet. This book is full of intrigue and mysteries and I found it to be similar in style to Kate Morton’s books. (Which I love) This book is split between a past narrative and present day from different characters view points and I found it to be very well executed. This was truly a wonderful book and I found myself thinking about it when I had to put it down. So yes, I would highly recommend this book.

The Quick By: Lauren Owen

What to say about this book? I had seen it a few times, but always passed it by because I didn’t realize what it was actually about. Then I saw that it was comparable to The Historian By: Elizabeth Kostova and I got extremely excited, because that is basically my favorite book. I also noticed that the reviews are extremely mixed. It looks like people either love it or hate it. Luckily, I loved it. I adore books like this. Stories so wonderfully told that you just get swept up in the writing itself, the descriptions, the characters, the settings. This book was frightening, creepy, and rather tragic, but it was also hopeful in a way. Everything about it was fabulous, a great gothic story. This lovely book must be read with large cups of tea.It helped me forget about the stifling heat of summer, which was a big plus because I am really not a fan of summer. So this book was everything I needed it to be and at the right time, as strange as it sounds. But essentially, if you’re looking for a very well-written gothic story that is creepy and wonderful, look no further!

 

A Court of Thorns and Roses By: Sarah J. Maas

Sorry for the long space between posts, but I’ve been reading this while also re-reading Harry Potter, so I am reading, but y’know, life. Anyway! I was really excited to read this book as I love Sarah J. Maas’ other books. I was not disappointed. This book was thrilling to the last. Though definitely more mature and grittier than her other books, the story was fantastic. I was instantly drawn into this world and the life of Feyre. Her character was bitter but hopeful and I found her very interesting to read about. The other characters were wonderful and the villain was perfectly detestable. Also, awesome ending! Just a warning, though, there is definitely more sexual content in this book than in her Throne of Glass series and it really just is more mature in general. Overall though, I would recommend this book and look forward to her future works!

 

Rogue By: Julie Kagawa

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was exciting! I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed the first one. I really liked that Ember developed as a character, even with her stubbornness and fiery disposition. I really enjoyed getting to know more about Riley’s character and his past as well as a bit more development in the relationships between the characters. I still love the premise of dragons shape shifting into human forms and it is described so perfectly in this series. There was basically non-stop action the whole way through, but it in no way took away from the story and development. The villains are the kind you really love to hate and the heroes are believable. I truly enjoy Julie Kagawa’s creativity and imagination and really love immersing myself in this world. I’m absolutely looking forward to the third book.

The Book of Speculation By: Erika Swyler

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I saw this book and was very excited to read it. I was not let down at all. This is a book about families, tragic histories, books and the ocean. All things I love to read about in one book. Not to mention, the cover is absolutely lovely. This book really did have it all and it kept me reading all day, not wanting to put the book down at all. It starts with a tantalizing mystery that just drags you right into the story and it doesn’t let go. I didn’t even feel like I was reading, I was just swept away by the story. The characters were fantastic and the setting was so vivid it felt like a character all its own. The story lured me in and I was so excited to find out what would happen to the characters, to figure out what the truth behind the mystery was. I absolutely loved this book and I believe its landed a place on my favorites shelf. I would love to revisit this story and these characters again in the future. I’m looking forward to future works from this author.