Showing posts with label Amy Rose Capetta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amy Rose Capetta. Show all posts

Saturday, July 1, 2023

Week 26 Review: Transmogrify!

From Goodreads:
Perfect for fans of All Out and Cemetery Boys, this anthology claims a seat at the table of fantasy literature for trans and gender nonconforming stories.

Transness is as varied and colorful as magic can be. In Transmogrify!, you'll embark on fourteen different adventures alongside unforgettable characters who embody many different genders and expressions and experiences—because magic is for everyone, and that is cause for celebration.

My Review:
I had a fantastic time reading this anthology! This collection of trans and gender nonconforming stories was such a great concept, and I really enjoyed all of these stories! I hadn't read from most of these authors before, so it was so great to check them out! 

I will say that the lack of trans women authors, and minimal characters, was a bit sad, espcailly with the way the editor of this collection reacted to that criticism wasn't great. But these stories were really great, and deserved to be told, and read. I just wish that there could've just been that extra bit of representation, because people are vast.

I was really looking forward to AR Capetta and Cory McCarthy's story, I've really enjoyed their books together and yeah, it was such a cute story, I loved who the narrator was, and watching these two kids taking care of a dragon egg-a fantasy school project version of either the flour bags or mechanical baby dolls. Loved reading it! 

Saundra Mitchell's story was another I was excited to read, and it was so cute, with a magic school but they got kicked out of it, and finding their place. It was such a cute read, I loved these characters, and watching it unfold!  

Loved reading these stories, they were all so great to read!

Authors: AR Capetta and Cory McCarthy, g. haron davis, Mason Deaver, Jonathan Lenore Kastin, Emery Lee, Saundra Mitchell, Cam Montgomery, Ash Nouveau, Sonora Reyes, Renee Reynolds, Dove Salvatierra, Ayida Shonibar, Francesca Tacchi, Nik Traxler 
Read: June 25th, 2023
Source: Edelweiss
Reason Why: Sounded really great, and it's a SAC 2023 Book! 
Publisher: Harper Teen
Published: May 16th 2023
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars

Monday, April 13, 2020

It's Monday! What Are You Reading #462, April 13th

It's Monday! What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Book Date where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week...and anything in between! This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well...you never know where that next "must read" book will come from!

What happened in the past week:

Weekly Memes:
It's Monday! What Are You Reading #461
Teaser Tuesday #469
WWW Wednesday #469
WOW #465
Will the Time Come #462
Third Sentence Thursday #452
Random Reads #438
First Lines Friday #465
Book Blogger Hop #131
The Reward Challenge Update #447
How Well I Stuck to It #299
Wrote that Review Update #296

Week 15 Reviews:
Immortal Angel
Once & Future
Sword in the Stars
A Stoke of Malice
Chaos Reigning
Ghost Money
The Shadow Cats
The Shattered Mountain
The King's Guard
The Girl of Fire and Thorns

Random:
We Have the Cover of Scholomance #1!!!!
24 Hour Reading Challenge 1st April Sign Up
24 Hour Reading Challenge Update 1

OK, so I got 21 posts in 7 days, it was a pretty good week, I read some really great reads, and I have a really great week coming up! What about you guys? Happy reading!

So this week I want to read The Age of Witches, The Burning, Every Step She Takes, Nowhere on Earth, and The Storm Crow.

Louisa Morgan, author of A Secret History of Witches, returns with another riveting tale of family, witchcraft, and love that spans generations, set in Gilded Age New York and London.

Harriet Bishop, descended from a long line of witches, uses magic to help women in need -- not only ordinary women, but also those with powers of their own. She must intervene when a distant cousin wields dangerous magic to change the lives of two unsuspecting young people... one of whom might just be a witch herself.

Frances Allington has used her wiles and witchcraft to claw her way out of poverty and into a spectacular marriage with one of New York's wealthiest new tycoons. She is determined to secure the Allingtons' position amongst the city's elite Four Hundred families by any means necessary -- including a scheme to make a glorious aristocratic match for her headstrong and reluctant step-daughter, Annis, using the same strange power with which she ensnared Annis's father.

To save Annis from this dark magic, Harriet reveals to her Frances' misuse of their shared birthright and kindles in Annis her own nascent powers. Together, Harriet and Annis must resist her stepmother's agenda, lest she -- and the dashing young lord she suspects she could come to love -- lose their freedom, and possibly their lives.
A rumor is like fire. You might think you've extinguished it, but one creeping, red tendril, one single wisp of smoke is enough to let it leap back to life again. Especially if someone is watching, waiting to fan the flames.

New school. Check.
New town. Check.
New last name. Check.
Social media profiles? Deleted.

Anna and her mother have moved hundreds of miles to put the past behind them. Anna hopes to make a fresh start and escape the harassment she's been subjected to. But then rumors and whispers start, and Anna tries to ignore what is happening by immersing herself in a history project about Maggie, a local woman accused of witchcraft in the seventeenth century.

In her newfound friendships with Alisha, Cat, and Robin, as well as her connection with Maggie, Anna finds a voice to face her tormentors.
"We are the granddaughters of the witches you could not burn. And we're not putting up with it anymore."

From Laura Bates, internationally renowned feminist and founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, comes a debut novel that is a harrowing look at misogyny through the centuries. It's a powerful call to action, reminding all readers of the implications of sexism and the role we can each play in ending it.
A gripping new thriller by the author of the instant bestseller Wherever She Goes.

Sometimes there's no use running from your past. . . .

Genevieve has secrets that no one knows. In Rome she can be whoever she wants to be. Her neighbours aren't nosy; her Italian is passable; the shopkeepers and restaurant owners now see her as a local, and they let her be. It's exactly what she wants.

One morning, after getting groceries, she returns to her 500-year-old Trastevere apartment. She climbs to the very top of the staircase, the stairs narrowing the higher she goes. When she gets to her door, she puts down her bags and pushes the key into the lock . . .

. . . and the door swings open.

It's unlocked. Sometimes she doesn't lock it because break-ins aren't common in Rome. But Genevieve knows she locked the door behind her this morning. She has no doubt.

She should leave, call the police. What if someone is in her apartment, waiting for her? But she doesn't.

The apartment is empty, and exactly as she left it, perfectly tidy and not a thing out of place . . . except for the small box on her kitchen table. A box that definitely wasn't there this morning. A box postmarked from the US. A box that is addressed to "Lucy Callahan."

A name that she hasn't used in ten years.

Edge-of-your-seat riveting, K.L. Armstrong's new book will keep you turning the pages until the very end.
From the Printz Award-winning author of Satellite comes a compelling new novel about a girl who must brave the elements to help a lost child with an otherworldly secret.

Sixteen-year-old Emily is on the run. Between her parents and the trouble she's recently gotten into at school, she has more than enough reason to get away. But when she finds a little boy named Aidan wandering in the woods, she knows she needs to help him find his way home. But getting home is no easy matter, especially when Emily finds out that Aidan isn't even from Earth. When their plane crashes into the side of a snowy mountain, it's up to Emily to ensure Aidan and their pilot, Bob, make it off the mountain alive. Pursued by government forces who want to capture Aidan, the unlikely team of three trek across the freezing landscape, learning more about each other, and about life, than they ever thought possible.
In the tropical kingdom of Rhodaire, magical, elemental Crows are part of every aspect of life...until the Illucian empire invades, destroying everything.

That terrible night has thrown Princess Anthia into a deep depression. Her sister Caliza is busy running the kingdom after their mother's death, but all Thia can do is think of all she has lost.

But when Caliza is forced to agree to a marriage between Thia and the crown prince of Illucia, Thia is finally spurred into action. And after stumbling upon a hidden Crow egg in the rubble of a rookery, she and her sister devise a dangerous plan to hatch the egg in secret and get back what was taken from them.

Saturday, April 11, 2020

Week 15 Reviews: Once & Future, Sword in the Stars


I’ve been chased my whole life. As a fugitive refugee in the territory controlled by the tyrannical Mercer corporation, I've always had to hide who I am. Until I found Excalibur.

Now I'm done hiding.

My name is Ari Helix. I have a magic sword, a cranky wizard, and a revolution to start.

When Ari crash-lands on Old Earth and pulls a magic sword from its ancient resting place, she is revealed to be the newest reincarnation of King Arthur. Then she meets Merlin, who has aged backward over the centuries into a teenager, and together they must break the curse that keeps Arthur coming back. Their quest? Defeat the cruel, oppressive government and bring peace and equality to all humankind.

No pressure. 

From Goodreads:
In this epic sequel to Once & Future, to save the future, Ari and her Rainbow knights pull off a heist... thousands of years in the past.

Ari Helix may have won her battle against the tyrannical Mercer corporation, but the larger war has just begun. Ari and her cursed wizard Merlin must travel back in time to the unenlightened Middle Ages and steal the King Arthur's Grail---the very definition of impossible.

It's imperative that the time travelers not skew the timeline and alter the course of history. Coming face-to-face with the original Arthurian legend could produce a ripple effect that changes everything. Somehow Merlin forgot that the past can be even more dangerous than the future...

My Review:
Wow, I really enjoyed reading these books! They're such great stories, I love the fact that they're gender bent King Arthur retelling. Well, the first book is more of an extension, while the second one is more of a retelling, since they're back in the original. Yeah.

I love that this is set way in the future, that Ari is a girl, and that Merlin is a teenager. It's a great mix of elements that were just so enjoyable to read. And that this world is pretty diverse in terms of gender identity and sexual fluidity, as well as skin tones, since Ari is from the planet  Ketchan, were people of Arab descent settled, and how Ketchan is their identity, not Arab. Also, English is now called Mercer, because of course the evil company that they're after changed culture stuff.

We got Ari's perspective and we got Merlin's. Ari has the more important story in the first book, she does her Arthur quest, and does pretty well, with all the big reveals and such. But it's not quite enough, and Sword in the Stars is more Merlin's book. We learn so much about him, and he does come into his own in this book, which was pretty great to read!

Both characters learn and grow over the course of these books. Because there's a whole year gap in the first book, with an unseen, but know it happened training montage. Plus the whole, Gwen and Lancelot bit. As for Merlin, he has to confront aging backwards, and then in the second, being gay in a pretty restricted and backwards time. But I enjoyed both of their journeys, the growth that they both went through, as well as all the story reveals and how everything wrapped up story wise!

Loved reading these stories, they were so enjoyable to read and it was great to have widespread representation!

Authors: Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy
Series: Once & Future #1, 2
Read: April 5th, 6th, 2020
Source: Bought, NetGalley
Reason Why: Sounded really good, and they're 2020 Retelling Reading Challenge Books and Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2020 Books! And Sword in the Stars is a End of Series 2020 Book!
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson
Published: March 26th 2019, April 7th 2020

Once & Future:
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars








Sword in the Stars:
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

WWW Wednesday #469, April 8th

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you'll read next?

Thanks to MizB of Should Be Writing now A Daily Rhythm for starting this meme!

I'm currently reading A Stroke of Malice, and I'm really enjoying this mystery! 
 I read Sword in the Stars, and it was an epic read, I enjoyed this conclusion to the duology!
I'm going to be reading Chaos Reigning, and I can't wait to devour it, it sounds fantastic!

What about you guys? Happy reading!