Hi, guys! Hope everyone is happy and ready for Friday, because it’s almost here! ❤ To help you see the light and to make the week go by faster, I prepared another edition of the Bookish News that I receive on the comfort of my inbox, haha!
You see, I’m a sucker for newsletters. I’m positive I’m signed up to over a hundred of them easily enough, haha! Mostly are bookish, as you’d expect, and sometimes I get to see really nice releases or news from authors that deserve to be shouted to the world ❤ And that’s what I’ll be doing today =)
Just as I did last time, you’ll find the bookish news sorted alphabetically by the author’s first name because I want it that way, haha! #backstreetboysfeelings
On this post, you’ll find news about: Amy McNulty, B. Kristin McMichael, DeAnna Knippling, Lucy Abbot, Michelle Madow, R. J. Scott and Riley Knight.
Hello, there! Merry Christmas to all of you that, like me, celebrate this beautiful date 😀 ❤ If you don’t, enjoy this beautiful Friday! I hope everyone is having a great time and a wonderful Holiday!
I’m sorry I’m only saying this now, but I’m at my relatives’ place and computer/blogging time is seriously compromised, oops! Haha!
I can’t complain about my Christmas Eve or party, it was awesome! The food, my Family reunited after so many months apart… I loved it! Even the secret friend thing that I was totally not okay with turned up to be tons of fun. I guess it wouldn’t hurt do it next year as well! 😀
I won lots of Christmas presents, but mainly clothes, not books. I was dressing like a homeless girl on my last dissertation months, so my mom gave me many new clothes to start 2016 looking good, haha! It was nice, but clothes are not books. Which brings us to my “official” Christmas present: a gift card for a local bookstore and season 7 of Supernatural, Limited Edition package!!! *—*
(cof and the older one that kindly lend me his computer for this post cof)
Also, I’d like to make a small reflection here. Several people that I know in the off-line world condemn Christmas as a solemly capitalistic Holiday nowadays, but I disagree. I with the market does what it takes to sell their stuff; if you fall for them, it’s up to you. For me, Christmas is all about being with my family, with people that I love and that love me back. It’s all about sharing and giving. If you receive back, much the better. We gathered around our dinning table yesterday and no one was busy in their celphones (myself included), no one was worried with the outside world or in a hurry to leave. It was all about us being together in such a beautiful day. And I’d like to thank my parents for raising me like this, for having taught me how delicious it is to be with family as much as you can.
As I’m Brazilian, we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. So, at Christmas time, I thank for all the good things I have in my life: my family, my friends (both off and online), my personal achivements through life, for my dissertation’s success and, of course, this blog and its beautiful readers! Thank you all!
That’s it, haha! Sorry if I sounded a bit cheesy, but come on, it’s Christmas! Who cares about that as long as it was sincere, right? ❤ Hope your day is being as lovely as mine!
Hello, there! Merry Christmas Eve to you! Almost official Christmas *–*
I was never that kind of person that feels the need to read books matching the time of the year. Like, I’m in the middle of Summer and I don’t think I’ll be reading a summer themed book any time soon. It’s Christmas time, I didn’t read any themed books or watched any different movies.
Usually, the end of the year is my most anticipated time of the year. You see, my parents and I live very far from anyone of our family, so the summer vacation with Christmas and New Year are our big chance to spend quality time with our loved ones. Besides, my family has some cool Christmas traditions that I love and the food is amazing, haha! So, as my real life is already wonderful during this time of the year, I never feel the need to run for a book and hide in its festivities.
However, it seems that nothing is changeless in the world. Several reasons piled up together killed my happy and nice summer vacations, along with my once cool Christmas time. Everything this year is just wrong. So, on this night of December 24th, I regret not escaping to a place where the party would give me a happy ending.
But let’s not cry over the spilled milk, right? 🙂 So I made a list with 5 books that I wish I had been able to read before Christmas, let’s go!
Lady Julia Whitney is at her wit’s end. Her perfect beau just won’t propose! But she’s struck upon a plan to ensure her marriage by Christmas. Between masquerades and mistletoe, she finds herself fully compromised by the wrong man!
Right husband?
Captain Dunbar cannot believe he’s fallen for this chit’s game! Now he must marry society miss Lady Julia with nothing to connect them other than incredible passion. But he’s about to discover that the best Christmas presents come in surprising, and delightful, packages!
Paul Jansen was the only one of his friends who wanted a relationship. Naturally, he’s the last single man standing. No gay man within a fifty-mile radius wants more than casual sex.
No one, that is, except too-young, too-twinky Kyle Parks, who sends him suggestive texts and leaves X-rated snow sculptures on his front porch.
Kyle is tired of being the town’s resident Peter Pan. He’s twenty-five, not ten, and despite his effeminate appearance, he’s nothing but the boss in bed. He’s loved Paul since forever, and this Christmas, since they’re both working on the Winter Wonderland festival, he might finally get his chance for a holiday romance.
But Paul comes with baggage. His ultra-conservative family wants him paired up with a woman, not a man with Logan’s rainbow connection. When their anti-LGBT crusade spills beyond managing Paul’s love life and threatens the holiday festival, Kyle and Paul must fight for everyone’s happily ever after, including their own.
Warning: Contains erotic snow art, toppy twinks, and super-sweet holiday moments. Best savored with a mug of hot chocolate with a dash of spice.
Christmas at The Tin Star Ranch brings means a lot of things to Jamie and Ethan. It’s a time of togetherness to celebrate the adversity they’ve overcome to be together. It’s also a time of playful bargaining.
Ethan insists on his usual ugly Christmas tree, and Jamie wants something in exchange. An early Christmas gift is the agreed-upon price, and Ethan knows he needs to make it good. Luckily, Ethan knows just what toy will satisfy The Christmas Tree Bargain.
Publisher’s Note: This is a male-male love story and contains homoerotic sex acts that may be offensive to some readers.
This would be actually a re-read and I still may do it, as it is a small ebook 🙂
To escape a scandal, Lady Joan Flynn flees to her family’s estate in the Scottish Highlands. She needs a husband by Christmas, or the holidays will ring in nothing but ruin.
Practical, ambitious mill owner Dante Hartwell offers to marry Joan, because a wellborn wife is his best chance of gaining access to aristocratic investors.
As Christmas—and trouble—draw nearer, Dante and Joan’s marriage of convenience blossoms into unexpected intimacy, for true love often hides beneath the most unassuming holiday wrapping…
The holiday spirit has forsaken Simon Harris. A recent reminder of the man who used then left him sends lonely Simon on a glum visit to his club to while away a few hours. A breath of fresh air in the form of Christopher Andrews is about to enter his stale life.
Performer of many talents and faces, Christopher gained entrée into the club to win money at cards. Unfortunately, he’s losing. But the evening needn’t be a complete disappointment as he strikes up a friendship with a gentleman which ends in a bedroom.
Simon and Christopher enjoy a few hours of pleasure together, never expecting to see each other again, but Simon’s newfound resolution to change might just transform both their holidays.
That’s it! Thanks for reading and sorry for laying my heart a bit on the beginning, but sometimes, we have to talk to someone, haha! And I’d love suggestions of Christmas books to read, haha!
Hello, again! Today I’d like to talk a little about the best selling books of 2015! I know we still have a couple of days left, but Book Depository already did a list of the best selling books of the year and I selected a few of them to put on my personal whish list, haha! If you want to send me a Christmas present, here is what you can get me LOL (just kidding):
Coloring books
Seems like AGES ago, but coloring books went viral this year and I loved this wave, as I always like to color ❤ I bought a Parisian themed one and a Frozen themed one, but I still want many more, like these:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Illustrated Edition)
Do I need to say more? LOL
To Kill a Mockingbird 50TH Anniversary edition
I’ve read this book in the beginning of my college years, but it was a friend’s borrowed book, so I still need to get myself a copy of this amazing novel ❤
Go Set A Watchman, from Harper Lee
As I loved TKAM, it’s only logical that I’m dying to read this book, right? Haha!
The Witches : Salem, 1692, from Stacy Schiff
As soon as this book was released [LINK], I knew it was good stuff and that I had to read it. Now I can’t wait to put my hands on it!
Carry On, from Rainbow Rowell
I just started reading Fangirl and already am in love with it! I can’t wait to read Carry On!
The Death House, from Sarah Pinborough
I LOVE THIS WOMAN. I didn’t even know this book and I already need to read it ❤
The Mortal Instruments 1: City of Bones, from Cassandra Clare
I plan on start to read her next year, so I need the books, haha!
The Sin Eater’s Daughter, from Melinda Salisbury
I’ve read a friend’s review for this book and it left me so curious! Now I want to read the book as well, haha!
The Miniaturist, from Jessie Burton
So many people talked about this book at Instagram! I want to play along, haha!
The Serpent Papers, from Jessica Cornwell
I just learned about this book and sounded amazing. I like those kind of fictions that sounds like non fiction ❤
The Hundred and One Dalmatians, from Dodie Smith , Illustrated by Alex T. Smith
I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t know that there was a book for The Hundred and One Dalmatians… NOW I HAVE TO READ IT.
Audrey Hepburn: Portraits of an Icon, from Terence Pepper and Helen Trompeteler
I love Audrey, so I wouldn’t mind having a book full of pictures of her at my shelf, haha!
A Portrait of Fashion : Six Centuries of Dress at the National Portrait Gallery, from Aileen Ribeiro and Cally Blackman
I did my college final dissertation this year and my theme was fashion related. I love this universe and am always interested in reading more about it!
The Other Tudor Princess : Margaret Douglas, Henry VIII’s Niece, from Mary McGrigor
I love history books, so another one to my TBR list!
That’s it! Thanks for reading ❤ You can check the full list of best selling books of 2015 on Book Depository, here. Do you have any favorite new releases that you would love to see under your tree?
Good night! I know, the blog is on fire, haha! And it is about to burn all the way up because the reviewed book of the evening is HOT HOT HOT!
Ahem, do you remember when I did this mega post talking about the release of Convincing the Secretary, third book in the London Legal series, from Ava March? So, Ava sent me a copy two days ago as an early Christmas gift and allowed me to open and read it on the spot! 😀 ❤ Thanks so so so much, again!
I finished the book on the same day, but Ava plays so hard with my emotions that I needed to breathe before posting this review, haha!
Ok, I’m in control again. Without any more giber jabber, let’s do this and THANKS AGAIN, I LOVE YOU, AVA! ❤
The Story
Edward Fenton has always fantasized about a lasting relationship with someone that he truly loved and that felt the same way towards him. At first, his boss Arthur Barrington sounded like the perfect choice for his dream to come true. Except that the man is already way taken by his lover, Leopold Thornton. One can’t win them all.
With the arrival of a new solicitor in Barrington’s office, Edward is relocated as his secretary. Lord Grayson is the perfect definition of tall, black and handsome and sends Edward’s imagination to depths that he never knew himself capable of. But can a relationship with such a powerful man work out the way Edward dreams of?
Gray, in the other hand, knows he found the perfect match in the moment he understands Edward’s interests on him, but how to convince the young man that he is Mr. Perfect?
The Analysis
Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂
Ava always catches my heart unguarded. I was completely okay with life, minding my own business, when I opened my e-mail and saw her gift. As the book isn’t going to be published until March of 2016, I was trying to lead a mental healthy life without being too much of a goner and counting the minutes for the pre-ordering to start on Amazon. But the heart attack was so worthy! This book was awesome! It is a short book (my copy had 100 pages), but the romance is so intense that you are breathless for the whole time! (Or maybe I was, because it was a gift from my favorite author and a book that I already knew about for quite a while.)
I’ll try to be professional now, but I won’t promise that I’ll be impartial, because that’s impossible when working with perfect books. #justsaying
I really love March’s narrative style. Third person, alternating points of views between the couple present in the book ❤ Both Edward and Gray had their own minds and you could see who was doing the thinking very clearly. Once again, March showed how important is communication in a relationship, as words unspoken do the damage in both men’s feelings.
The plot was simple, but not obvious, not for me. I mean, okay, boy meets boy in the 19th century, boy is not sure if other boy likes boys as well, both give the relationship a try and things go wrong. To explain why I wasn’t very sure of the outcome of this particular work of March, I’ll have to talk about the characters, so hold that thought. Back to the plot, we get to see Arthur and Leopold again, which was awesomely cool (I always like to see my boys again; those two are the heroes of the first books in the series, Convincing Arthur and Convincing Leopold, respectively). There were no loose ends; it would have been nice to know a little more about Edward’s and Gray’s past, but no information was lacking inside of the proposition of the book.
The characters are the best part. You see, in a regular March novel, you’d have two individuals that really need to find true love, that feel incomplete and don’t know what they need until they meet their soul mates, for say. On this book, it was different. Both Edward and Gray are pinning for a happily ever after, but not necessarily with each other. Gray realizes faster that he needs Edward, that Edward is the one, but Edward was more down on the earth. He felt the need of having Gray around, but could (cof and did cof) survive a break up with him without dying the emotional death of break-ups, you know? Honestly, Edward impressed me. He made a cameo appearance previously in the series and I never paid much attention to him, he was so… Bleak? Haha! But being inside of his head, it all made sense and oh boy, he grows up SO MUCH! He is officially one of my favorite males from March now ❤
I always like her males, for God’s sake…
And, dealing with a book written by March, I can’t treat sex scenes as a bonus point, because they are always there and she never EVER disappoint her readers. Did I mention that NEVER happens? Okay, haha! Since the beggining, the bed roles between Edward and Gray are pretty clear and I was waiting for them to have a kind of Oliver and Vincent relationship behind closed doors. Once again, I was wrong! =O I mean, none of them gets to really submit and I thought that AWESOME. Neither was the “fragile” part, always so equal even inside of the bedchamber. AVA, YOU ROCKED HARD!
Bonus point: oh, this cover. Do I need to say more?
also from my Instagram! 😀
Overall, I knew I would love this book since Ava told me she was beginning to write it and I did, a lot. Ava, Thanks again for sending me this, it was the best Christmas present EVER! 😀
That’s it! Thanks for reading and humoring me as I once again talked about Ava March’s work 😉 I bet you all can’t wait until next year, when I’ll do a big re-reading and reviewing of ALL OF HER BOOKS, MWAHAHA MWAHAHA.
Ps: don’t worry, there will be Harry Potter and The Vampire Diaries reviews too, haha!
Hi, there! Good morning and Happy Friday! Friday is always happy, but okay, haha!
I’ve got exciting news! (cof not really if you follow me at Instagram cof) I’m going to be participating of the #12daysofbooksmas2 readathon! 😀 I was invited in by my lovely friend @thepagemistress and this will rock!
from @thepagemistress Instagram account!
Here we have the rules:
Read a book with red or green on the cover
Read about book that’s on your end of the year tbr
Read a book that takes place during the holiday season
Read a sequel
Re-read a favorite book
Read a book with a movie adaptation (and watch the movie)
Read a total of 1,200 pages!
This is going on from December 11th-22nd
This readathon has also a photo challenge, but I’ll only do it at my Instagram account, so follow me there if you want to see what I’m about, haha!
Cemetery Tours series, from Jacqueline E. Smith (514 pages, both books that I own. Talked about it here and, besides being my currently-reading, this is my sequel of the list!)
Emma, from Jane Austen (currently-reading, my red book and book with a holiday season, haha!)
I know I am being too hopeful, but it’s my chance to knock my tbr pile of December for good, haha! Let’s see how I go! Oh, and I know there’s no signalized book with movie adaptation, I didn’t decide yet which one I’ll be reading, haha! Oops 🙂
That’s all about the readathon, for now! I’ll make another post about this when it’s over, talking about how it was my first readathon ever! ❤ Thanks again for inviting me, Lindsey, and thanks to you, that is reading the blog 😀
Hi, there! Honestly, this team IS ON FIRE! =O I’m happy to announce yet another release from Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon, that is already available at all book selling sites, called Simon and The Christmas Spirit!
This is a short story Christmas themed (no, really?) from my favorite team of authors! Here’s the Goodreads blurb:
A Christmas trifle from Devon/Dee.
The holiday spirit has forsaken Simon Harris. A recent reminder of the man who used then left him sends lonely Simon on a glum visit to his club to while away a few hours. A breath of fresh air in the form of Christopher Andrews is about to enter his stale life.
Performer of many talents and faces, Christopher gained entrée into the club to win money at cards. Unfortunately, he’s losing. But the evening needn’t be a complete disappointment as he strikes up a friendship with a gentleman which ends in a bedroom.
Simon and Christopher enjoy a few hours of pleasure together, never expecting to see each other again, but Simon’s newfound resolution to change might just transform both their holidays.
A short story, which includes a brief excerpt from The Merchant and the Clergyman*.
If you follow me on my Instagram profile (follow me! :D) or read any of the posts in the blog, you may notice that I collect books besides reading and loving them, LOL. This collecting thing is a bit tiresome sometimes, I admit. This post is full of book lovers problems, be prepared.
my The Selection box X my Tales from the Kingdoms books
I’m mostly unlucky with book boxes. I love them, I find them very beautiful and practical, but I usually already have all or most of the books inside of it to make it worth buying it. It’s so dammed frustrating! They take so long to release those that I already got the separate books instead.
I brought here three examples in my collection: The Selection series, Tales from the Kingdoms series and Percy Jackson main series.
The first series that I started among those three was TFTK, in my book reader. I loved it and needed it, but, short in money that I was, several months had passed before I was able to buy the printed copies as well. I bought Charm on a liquidation, then Venom at a used bookstore and then Beauty, on another liquidation. Some weeks ago, I saw a beautiful box with the three books inside at a bookstore and wanted to be dead. It was the economical edition. Dammit, guys 😦
my babies ❤
The second series was The Selection. I also started it in my book reader after nudges from a friend and read them all in a matter of one week. A few months later, Christmas arrived and I was able to buy them all, in a beautiful box set. Points for me /o/
my other babies ❤
The third series, Percy Jackson, was very similar to The Selection, but I didn’t buy the box, as I didn’t find any; I just bought the five books at once and, again, navigating through an online bookstore, yesterday I found the box edition.
While admiting that buying a book at time has lots of advantages, I like the boxes way better. They usually have something more inside and, even when they haven’t, like my The Selection box didn’t, they still are pretty and good for organization in the book shelf.
Unfortuantelly, here in Brazil, they take too long to publish those and I don’t usually have that patience. The only ocasions that I can manage to buy boxes is when I don’t have money for a long time, like months, and them I go and buy the box set later. Oh, and we never know when a saga/author is going to turn into a box set too ://
There’s also the issue of costs. Even when publishers do release boxes, I usuallyt don’t have the money to buy them, as they have a greater cost at once than buying books separatelly 😦
I’ll remaing in my suffer, as not years of theraphy healed my anxiety with certain topics, but I can say that I’m happy to be buying more and more boxes, even in a slow rythm: today I just ordered online a box set from Collector’s Edition with two Austen romances, one Brontë and Little Women ❤
Resuming: I will keep ranting about how boxes are great and expansive, but I still prefer them and I’m still wanting the TFTK box set, LOL.
The Book Adventures of Annelise Lestrange 