Maya
💬: "“I am old,” she said, masking her fear with anger. “I could be your mother’s mother!” She could have been an ancestor of his mother’s mother. But she kept that to herself. “Who are you?” she demanded. “I could be your mother’s father,” he said. She took another step backward, somehow controlling her growing fear.
Butler, Octavia E.. Wild Seed (The Patternist Series Book 1) (p. 11). Open Road Media. Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: adult, science fiction, historical fiction, speculative fiction
📚Page Count: 404
🎧Audiobook Length: 11h 09min
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5
----
TW - <spoiler>Animal death, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Colonisation, and Death</spoiler>
One of my favorite books of all time. Amazing.
5/5 Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
💬: "“I am old,” she said, masking her fear with anger. “I could be your mother’s mother!” She could have been an ancestor of his mother’s mother. But she kept that to herself. “Who are you?” she demanded. “I could be your mother’s father,” he said. She took another step backward, somehow controlling her growing fear.
Butler, Octavia E.. Wild Seed (The Patternist Series Book 1) (p. 11). Open Road Media. Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: adult, science fiction, historical fiction, speculative fiction
📚Page Count: 404
🎧Audiobook Length: 11h 09min
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5
----
TW - <spoiler>Animal death, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Colonisation, and Death</spoiler>
One of my favorite books of all time. Amazing.
5/5 Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
💬: "Hawke bared his teeth. When Stenson flinched, he realized the gesture had been more lupine aggressiveness than human smile. Ah well, the man would have to get used to dealing with wolves sooner or later.
Singh, Nalini. Allegiance of Honor (Psy-Changeling Book 15) (p. 173). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: paranormal romance, romance, urban fantasy, adult
📚Page Count: 479
🎧Audiobook Length: 15h 08min
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3.75/5
----
Allegiance of Honor is the 15th book in the Psy/Changeling series by Nalini Singh. This book has
partly to do with the characters of past books, almost everyone makes an appearance. Although there is a current threat in the story, a lot of the book's focus is on past characters and how they're doing in their friend and romantic relationships. Sascha and Luca's cub is in danger, there's a group of people rumored to be targeting their baby and they have to do everything they can to protect her and other members of the pack.
This story was was 50% catching up with past characters, and the other 50% was dealing with the current threat in the books. It was nice to see how the characters in their relationships progressed but it seemed like these parts were dragging on. We also got to see a few pregnancies in action. There were so many characters to address in this final Psy/Changeling novel that it was a bit hard to keep up with who was who, even though I started this series just about one year ago.
The spicy scenes were okay, we got several spicy scenes of characters in different relationships but it was just okay. I would have liked to stay with a specific couple and read their spicy scenes instead of switching couples for every scene. I'm giving it two chilies 🌶️🌶️ out of five chilies
Overall, Allegiance of Honor was just okay, there were interesting parts and some not so interesting parts. This was a novel to wrap up character relationships and situations to end the series. We all know now in 2024 that there is a follow up series, one that I'm excited to start soon. I'm giving this book 3.75 stars out of 5.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3.75/5 Stars
I listened to this for free on the library app [HooplaDigital.com]
💬: "Hawke bared his teeth. When Stenson flinched, he realized the gesture had been more lupine aggressiveness than human smile. Ah well, the man would have to get used to dealing with wolves sooner or later.
Singh, Nalini. Allegiance of Honor (Psy-Changeling Book 15) (p. 173). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: paranormal romance, romance, urban fantasy, adult
📚Page Count: 479
🎧Audiobook Length: 15h 08min
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3.75/5
----
Allegiance of Honor is the 15th book in the Psy/Changeling series by Nalini Singh. This book has
partly to do with the characters of past books, almost everyone makes an appearance. Although there is a current threat in the story, a lot of the book's focus is on past characters and how they're doing in their friend and romantic relationships. Sascha and Luca's cub is in danger, there's a group of people rumored to be targeting their baby and they have to do everything they can to protect her and other members of the pack.
This story was was 50% catching up with past characters, and the other 50% was dealing with the current threat in the books. It was nice to see how the characters in their relationships progressed but it seemed like these parts were dragging on. We also got to see a few pregnancies in action. There were so many characters to address in this final Psy/Changeling novel that it was a bit hard to keep up with who was who, even though I started this series just about one year ago.
The spicy scenes were okay, we got several spicy scenes of characters in different relationships but it was just okay. I would have liked to stay with a specific couple and read their spicy scenes instead of switching couples for every scene. I'm giving it two chilies 🌶️🌶️ out of five chilies
Overall, Allegiance of Honor was just okay, there were interesting parts and some not so interesting parts. This was a novel to wrap up character relationships and situations to end the series. We all know now in 2024 that there is a follow up series, one that I'm excited to start soon. I'm giving this book 3.75 stars out of 5.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3.75/5 Stars
I listened to this for free on the library app [HooplaDigital.com]
💬: "I'll let the past burn to ash, Freya, because you are my present. My future. My destiny."
Jensen L. Danielle. A Fate Inked in Blood (Saga of the Unfated Book 1) (p. ?). Del Rey. Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: fantasy, romance, romantasy, mythology (Norse), vikings
📚Page Count: 400
🎧Audiobook Length: 15h 16min
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3/5
----
A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen is the first book in the Saga of the Unfated series. This story is about Freya who is a Goddess Blessed fisher man's wife in an unwanted marriage. After her fisher man husband breaks faith with Freya and betrays her to the local Jarl, the local Jarl orders her to fight his son, Bjorn, to the death. Secretly, Freya has the blood of a Goddess on her side, that helps her survive the fight. Soon after she gets the news that she is the shield maiden that is supposed to make this particular Jarl, the King. That was foreseen in a prophecy. The Jarl then forces Freya to bind herself to him and thus begins the saga of Freya learning how to fight and tame her magic. Will she be able to ignore the lingering lust she feels for the Jarl's son?
This book had interesting parts, but it did not do a good job of keeping my attention throughout the book. I had such high hopes for this book. Mostly because it's so highly rated amongst my peers but also because the beginning of the story was really good so I expected the action and the overall story to keep up a good pace. The first 25% was interesting, the next 50% really dragged on and was boring, and the last 25% had everything thrown in there, in an exciting way (spicy scenes, action, fighting, surprises, secrets, and a cliff hanger.)
There was one spicy scene <spoiler> in the middle of the book</spoiler> and there are two more spicy scenes <spoiler>at the end of the book.</spoiler> Yes there are many ways to be intimate with someone but I really hated that we had to wait until <spoiler>the end of the book for the two love interests to have intercourse.</spoiler> I'm giving the spicy scenes two chilis 🌶️ out of five chilies.
Overall, I had high expectations going into this book but it was just okay. The beginning and the ending were very exciting, but the middle of the book was really boring. I'm giving this 3 out of 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3/5 Stars
I listened to this for free on the library app [Libbyapp.com]
💬: "I'll let the past burn to ash, Freya, because you are my present. My future. My destiny."
Jensen L. Danielle. A Fate Inked in Blood (Saga of the Unfated Book 1) (p. ?). Del Rey. Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: fantasy, romance, romantasy, mythology (Norse), vikings
📚Page Count: 400
🎧Audiobook Length: 15h 16min
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3/5
----
A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen is the first book in the Saga of the Unfated series. This story is about Freya who is a Goddess Blessed fisher man's wife in an unwanted marriage. After her fisher man husband breaks faith with Freya and betrays her to the local Jarl, the local Jarl orders her to fight his son, Bjorn, to the death. Secretly, Freya has the blood of a Goddess on her side, that helps her survive the fight. Soon after she gets the news that she is the shield maiden that is supposed to make this particular Jarl, the King. That was foreseen in a prophecy. The Jarl then forces Freya to bind herself to him and thus begins the saga of Freya learning how to fight and tame her magic. Will she be able to ignore the lingering lust she feels for the Jarl's son?
This book had interesting parts, but it did not do a good job of keeping my attention throughout the book. I had such high hopes for this book. Mostly because it's so highly rated amongst my peers but also because the beginning of the story was really good so I expected the action and the overall story to keep up a good pace. The first 25% was interesting, the next 50% really dragged on and was boring, and the last 25% had everything thrown in there, in an exciting way (spicy scenes, action, fighting, surprises, secrets, and a cliff hanger.)
There was one spicy scene <spoiler> in the middle of the book</spoiler> and there are two more spicy scenes <spoiler>at the end of the book.</spoiler> Yes there are many ways to be intimate with someone but I really hated that we had to wait until <spoiler>the end of the book for the two love interests to have intercourse.</spoiler> I'm giving the spicy scenes two chilis 🌶️ out of five chilies.
Overall, I had high expectations going into this book but it was just okay. The beginning and the ending were very exciting, but the middle of the book was really boring. I'm giving this 3 out of 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3/5 Stars
I listened to this for free on the library app [Libbyapp.com]
The Pretenders
💬: N/A
📖Genres: graphic novels, mystery, paranormal, urban fantasy, young adult(?)
📚Page Count: N/A
🎧Audiobook Length: 01h 58min
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4/5
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The Pretenders Part 1 of 3 of the dramatized adaptation of "Cemetery Girl" is the first half of the dramatized version of the graphic novel of the same name written by Charlaine Harris and Christopher Golden. This is the story of a girl who died temporarily after a brutal attack by someone who wanted her dead. The male attacker abandoned her in a cemetery and when she wakes, she's able to see ghosts or spirits.
This was an interesting story premise and I did enjoyed Graphic Audio's execution of their graphic audio adaptation, I only had one issue. Without spoiling too much I will say that out of the books I've read so far Harris for sure has an issue with <SPOILERS>writing in Black characters just to kill them off. She does that more than once in this story.</ENDSPOILERS> This story is no exception and it annoyed me, given her history with The Sookie Stackhouse series (I AM only 5 books into that series).
Overall, part 1 of the graphic audio of Cemetery Girl was good, I'm not rushing to listening to part 2 but I am interested in listening to it sometime this year (2024). I'm giving this 4 out of 5 stars instead.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4/5 Stars
I listened to this for free on [Hoopladigital.com]
💬: N/A
📖Genres: graphic novels, mystery, paranormal, urban fantasy, young adult(?)
📚Page Count: N/A
🎧Audiobook Length: 01h 58min
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4/5
----
The Pretenders Part 1 of 3 of the dramatized adaptation of "Cemetery Girl" is the first half of the dramatized version of the graphic novel of the same name written by Charlaine Harris and Christopher Golden. This is the story of a girl who died temporarily after a brutal attack by someone who wanted her dead. The male attacker abandoned her in a cemetery and when she wakes, she's able to see ghosts or spirits.
This was an interesting story premise and I did enjoyed Graphic Audio's execution of their graphic audio adaptation, I only had one issue. Without spoiling too much I will say that out of the books I've read so far Harris for sure has an issue with <SPOILERS>writing in Black characters just to kill them off. She does that more than once in this story.</ENDSPOILERS> This story is no exception and it annoyed me, given her history with The Sookie Stackhouse series (I AM only 5 books into that series).
Overall, part 1 of the graphic audio of Cemetery Girl was good, I'm not rushing to listening to part 2 but I am interested in listening to it sometime this year (2024). I'm giving this 4 out of 5 stars instead.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4/5 Stars
I listened to this for free on [Hoopladigital.com]
💬:N/A
📖Genres: horror, sci-fi, manga, graphic novels, comics
📚Page Count: 190
🎧Audiobook Length: N/A
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.5/5
The Drifting Classroom by Kazuo Umezu is a horror manga from the 70's about an entire elementary school (with the students, staff, and teachers included) disappearing. When parents and the police come to investigate a giant explosion at the elementary school, all they find is a giant gaping hole in the ground where the school used to be. Meanwhile, the students, staff, teachers, and school are all transported somewhere, but where? The main character Sho, a 6th grader, must fight to survive alongside his friends. All hell starts to break lose, will Sho and his friends survive? Will he ever make his way back to his family?
This manga had so much going on and most of it was unpredictable. I don't want to say too much because spoiling it would ruin part of the story. I will say that all hell starts to break lose by the time the end of the first volume comes along. I'm so excited about future reveals.
The Drifting Classroom is delightfully creepy and I would suggest volume 1 to all my horror comic/manga friends. I did take issue with how long the "story" took to start, other than that I liked everything else about this manga. I'm giving this 4.5 stars out of 5.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️4.5/5
I read this manga for free on [Libbyapp.com]
💬:N/A
📖Genres: horror, sci-fi, manga, graphic novels, comics
📚Page Count: 190
🎧Audiobook Length: N/A
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.5/5
The Drifting Classroom by Kazuo Umezu is a horror manga from the 70's about an entire elementary school (with the students, staff, and teachers included) disappearing. When parents and the police come to investigate a giant explosion at the elementary school, all they find is a giant gaping hole in the ground where the school used to be. Meanwhile, the students, staff, teachers, and school are all transported somewhere, but where? The main character Sho, a 6th grader, must fight to survive alongside his friends. All hell starts to break lose, will Sho and his friends survive? Will he ever make his way back to his family?
This manga had so much going on and most of it was unpredictable. I don't want to say too much because spoiling it would ruin part of the story. I will say that all hell starts to break lose by the time the end of the first volume comes along. I'm so excited about future reveals.
The Drifting Classroom is delightfully creepy and I would suggest volume 1 to all my horror comic/manga friends. I did take issue with how long the "story" took to start, other than that I liked everything else about this manga. I'm giving this 4.5 stars out of 5.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️4.5/5
I read this manga for free on [Libbyapp.com]
💬: "I’m a cadet. I’m nowhere close to his rank. I’m also so much more than that and good ol’ boy Radson decided to fuck with me on the right day. I smile at Radson while motioning him forward. Feeling the severe strain of my cheek muscles, I know I appear a little psycho."
Davenport, N. E.. The Blood Trials (The Blood Gift Duology Book 1) (p. 9). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: fantasy, sci-fi, romance, adult,
📚Page Count: 453
🎧Audiobook Length: 18h 20min
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 5/5
----
The Blood Trials by N. E. Davenport is a sci fi/fantasy ADULT story about a Black woman
who lives in a racist and misogynistic society who finds out her grandfather was murdered when she previously thought he died of natural causes. Ikenna is spending her last night as a cadet with friends when she privately gets the news, she instantly decides that she wants revenge. Joining The Praetorian Trials means that Ikenna can get close to the people who might have had a hand in her grandfathers death, so that's what she decides to do. She's sure that she cans survive the challenges, because she was trained by the best (her grandfather) and she has a secret blood gift to help her. Will Ikenna be able to survive the challenges while also figuring out who killed her grandfather?
There were plenty of things I really liked about this book. I love how the main character made impulsive decisions, now these decisions weren't always the best ones but I felt as if the character's personality really shined through and it was consistent. I liked how Ikenna often remembered her grandfather and how she would think about what advice he might give her. The action scenes were really well described in this book. And although some of the twists in the story were predictable, the story was written well so it was still interesting when revealed.
There was only one thing that I didn't like. I couldn't understand why the challenges were so hard, there were characters dying left and right and it felt like the Praetorians reasoning for the challenges being so hard didn't make sense. If no one survives your challenge then who actually wins? Literally no one, because the Praetorians wouldn't gain any new soldiers. There were so many people dying that it no longer became a shock when someone died, and it was no longer impactful. It ruined the immersion for me. Thankfully the story was written well so I was able to re-immerse myself back into the story a few chapters later.
There was one spicy scene, it was written well but I'm uninterested in spicy scenes between young adults. I'm giving the spicy scene a one chili 🌶️ out of five chilies.
Overall, this book was really good. There was so much I enjoyed and very little I disliked. The theme of this book is "revenge" and it really reminds me of "Iron Widow" by Xiran Jay Zhao and I gave that book a 5. This book definitely deserves a 5 as well. I'm giving this 5 out of 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 5/5 Stars
I listened to this for free on the library app [HooplaDigital.com]
💬: "I’m a cadet. I’m nowhere close to his rank. I’m also so much more than that and good ol’ boy Radson decided to fuck with me on the right day. I smile at Radson while motioning him forward. Feeling the severe strain of my cheek muscles, I know I appear a little psycho."
Davenport, N. E.. The Blood Trials (The Blood Gift Duology Book 1) (p. 9). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: fantasy, sci-fi, romance, adult,
📚Page Count: 453
🎧Audiobook Length: 18h 20min
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 5/5
----
The Blood Trials by N. E. Davenport is a sci fi/fantasy ADULT story about a Black woman
who lives in a racist and misogynistic society who finds out her grandfather was murdered when she previously thought he died of natural causes. Ikenna is spending her last night as a cadet with friends when she privately gets the news, she instantly decides that she wants revenge. Joining The Praetorian Trials means that Ikenna can get close to the people who might have had a hand in her grandfathers death, so that's what she decides to do. She's sure that she cans survive the challenges, because she was trained by the best (her grandfather) and she has a secret blood gift to help her. Will Ikenna be able to survive the challenges while also figuring out who killed her grandfather?
There were plenty of things I really liked about this book. I love how the main character made impulsive decisions, now these decisions weren't always the best ones but I felt as if the character's personality really shined through and it was consistent. I liked how Ikenna often remembered her grandfather and how she would think about what advice he might give her. The action scenes were really well described in this book. And although some of the twists in the story were predictable, the story was written well so it was still interesting when revealed.
There was only one thing that I didn't like. I couldn't understand why the challenges were so hard, there were characters dying left and right and it felt like the Praetorians reasoning for the challenges being so hard didn't make sense. If no one survives your challenge then who actually wins? Literally no one, because the Praetorians wouldn't gain any new soldiers. There were so many people dying that it no longer became a shock when someone died, and it was no longer impactful. It ruined the immersion for me. Thankfully the story was written well so I was able to re-immerse myself back into the story a few chapters later.
There was one spicy scene, it was written well but I'm uninterested in spicy scenes between young adults. I'm giving the spicy scene a one chili 🌶️ out of five chilies.
Overall, this book was really good. There was so much I enjoyed and very little I disliked. The theme of this book is "revenge" and it really reminds me of "Iron Widow" by Xiran Jay Zhao and I gave that book a 5. This book definitely deserves a 5 as well. I'm giving this 5 out of 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 5/5 Stars
I listened to this for free on the library app [HooplaDigital.com]