Showing posts with label Valerie Valdes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Valerie Valdes. Show all posts

Monday, July 31, 2023

It's Monday! What Are You Reading #634, July 31st

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 #633
Teaser Tuesday #641
WWW Wednesday #641
WOW #637
Will the Time Come #634
Third Sentence Thursday #624
Random Reads #610
First Lines Friday #637
Book Blogger Hop #303
Monthly Series August Round Up
Monthly ARC's Update 45
The Reward Challenge Update #619
Wheel of TBR #166
How Well I Stuck to It #471
Wrote that Review Update #468

Week 30 Reviews:
Quicksilver

Magical Readathon: Orilium: 

Random:

OK, so I got 35 posts in 7 days, and I finished all of my July TBR, and most of my non-ARC's of my August TBR. Dobby had his surgery and is mostly healing well. He had the cancer lump removed, and also one on his back, which has swelled a few times, so that's been a bit concerning. But he's acting like normal, which is great. And he'll be able to get the stitches out next week. What about you guys? Happy reading!

So this week I want to read Bookshops & Bonedust, Enchanted to Meet You, and Shards of Glass!

When an injury throws a young, battle-hungry orc off her chosen path, she may find that what we need isn't always what we seek.

In Bookshops & Bonedust, a prequel to Legends & Lattes, New York Times bestselling author Travis Baldree takes us on a journey of high fantasy, first loves, and second-hand books.

Viv's career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam's Ravens isn't going as planned.

Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she's packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk—so far from the action that she worries she'll never be able to return to it.

What's a thwarted soldier of fortune to do?

Spending her hours at a beleaguered bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted, but it may be both exactly what she needs and the seed of changes she couldn't possibly imagine.

Still, adventure isn't all that far away. A suspicious traveler in gray, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling, and an improbable number of skeletons prove Murk to be more eventful than Viv could have ever expected.
A witchy rom-com from New York Times bestseller Meg Cabot about a plus size witch who must team up with a handsome stranger to help protect her village from an otherworldly force--but will she be able to protect her heart?

It's Magic When You Meet Your Match

In her teenage years, lovelorn Jessica Gold cast a spell that went disastrously wrong, and brought her all the wrong kind of attention--as well as a lifetime ban from the World Council of Witches.

So no one is more surprised than Jess when, fifteen years later, tall, handsome WCW member Derrick Winters shows up in her quaint little village of West Harbor and claims that Jess is the Chosen One.

She's the Chosen One

Not chosen by West Harbor's snobby elite to style them for the town's tricentennial ball--though Jess owns the chicest clothing boutique in town. And not chosen finally to be on the WCW, either--not that Jess would have said yes, anyway, since she's done with any organization that tries to dictate what makes a "true" witch.

No, Jess has been chosen to help save West Harbor itself . . .

As Summer Ends, Her Power Grows

But just when Jess is beginning to think that she and Derrick might have a certain magic of their own--and not of the supernatural variety--Jess learns he may not be who she thought he was.

And suddenly Jess finds herself having to make another kind of choice: trust Derrick and work with him to combat the sinister force battling to bring down West Harbor, or use her gift as she always has: to keep herself, and her heart, safe.

Can she work her magic in time?
The Academia, once an elite proving ground for the rulers of the world, has been frozen for centuries. Now its strange slumber has ended, and a new Chancellor, an orange-eyed dragon, has reopened its lecture halls and readied its dorms. In order to thrive once more, however, the Academia needs fresh blood—new students with a passion and talent for learning.

One such student, Robin, has the perfect recruit in his friend Raven, an orphan who lives in the dangerous Warrens. Robin grew up in the Warrens, and he wouldn't have made it if not for Raven. He knows she'll be safe at the Academia, where her unusual gifts can be appreciated.

But when students start turning up dead, the campus threatens to collapse completely. Raven and Robin will not let that happen to their new home…if they can survive long enough to figure out who—or what—is trying to kill them.

Saturday, July 29, 2023

Week 30 Review: Chilling Effect

From Goodreads:
A hilarious, offbeat debut space opera that skewers everything from pop culture to video games and features an irresistible foul-mouthed captain and her motley crew, strange life forms, exciting twists, and a galaxy full of fun and adventure.

Captain Eva Innocente and the crew of La Sirena Negra cruise the galaxy delivering small cargo for even smaller profits. When her sister Mari is kidnapped by The Fridge, a shadowy syndicate that holds people hostage in cryostasis, Eva must undergo a series of unpleasant, dangerous missions to pay the ransom.

But Eva may lose her mind before she can raise the money. The ship's hold is full of psychic cats, an amorous fish-faced emperor wants her dead after she rejects his advances, and her sweet engineer is giving her a pesky case of feelings. The worse things get, the more she lies, raising suspicions and testing her loyalty to her found family.

To free her sister, Eva will risk everything: her crew, her ship, and the life she's built on the ashes of her past misdeeds. But when the dominoes start to fall and she finds the real threat is greater than she imagined, she must decide whether to play it cool or burn it all down.

My Review:
I had a wonderful time reading this book! From the jump, it's straight into event after event, running for their lives, and it was so much fun to read! I really enjoyed getting to know these characters and this world, as she tried to rescue her sister.

There's a few authors now that I enjoy that go on wild romps, that chaos is the name of the game, and Valerie Valdes isn't quite to the same level of chaos, she's one that I can add to the roster, for sci fi, which is great, because I didn't have any in that genre yet! I mean, the whole thing with the emperor, yeah, that was wild.

This book was basically at break-neck speed. She had situation after situation, lots of action, and a lot of reacting instead of acting, which put her on the back foot for a good portion of the book before thoughts and plans. 

I was really excited to see how it was going to wrap up, to find out what was really going on. And it did a really good job, and I am looking forward to the sequel. I have no idea where it's going to go, but I am anticipating finding out! 

Loved reading this book and I can't wait to continue the series! 

Author: Valerie Valdes
Series: Chilling Effect #1 
Read: July 26th, 2023
Source: Library/Bought 
Reason Why: Sounded really great, and it's a DAC Book and a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2023 Book! 
Publisher: Harper Voyager 
Published: September 17th 2019
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars