Bruja Born by Zoraida Cordova

This book was everything I was hoping for and more!  Lula Mortiz is a high school senior on her way to the big game with her boyfriend when her world turns upside down.  After a horrific bus crash that kills all of her friends and nearly herself and boyfriend Maks, Lula uses her magic in ways that can only lead to devastating consequences.  With the help of her magical sisters, Lula must use all of her strength to save her city, her family, and herself.

This book was amazing!  Lula and her sisters are strong, intelligent, and brave young women who use their wits and combined magical history to save their family and right the terrible wrongs created by a moment of weakness.  The nonstop action combined with Lula’s heartache over Maks and worry for her family’s safety creates a compelling and exciting story.  This hit all the right notes-witches, not-quite-zombies, vampires, hunters and family drama.  Such an amazing story and I really hope there is a book three!

Bruja Born is available now.  You can get your copy, and help support the site, here: 

Bruja Born (Brooklyn Brujas)

By Zoraida Cordova

Buy on Amazon

Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris ***Ebook Sale!***

Midnight Crossroad is only $0.99 on Kindle!  This is a great series that I really enjoyed and for this price, how do you pass it up?

From the publisher because they say it best:

"Welcome to Midnight, Texas, a town with many boarded-up windows and few full-time inhabitants, located at the crossing of Witch Light Road and the Davy highway. It’s a pretty standard dried-up western town.

There’s a pawnshop with three residents. One is seen only at night. There’s a diner, but people stopping there tend not to linger. There’s a newcomer, Manfred Bernardo, who just wants to work hard and blend in. But Manfred has secrets of his own..."

Here's the link to purchase:

Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews

The list of "Automatic Pre-order" authors that I have is pretty short.  Ilona Andrews is top on that list.  Not only is this a new book, it's the start of a new series!  A new series is always, always good news from this amazing writing team, especially since the Kate Daniels series is wrapping up with book 10 this year.  If you haven't read any of the Kate Daniels series, I wouldn't really worry about.  Definitely read it, because it's amazing, but the authors do a a really great job of filling you in on the necessary backstory.  

From the publisher because they say it better:

"The Iron Covenant Book 1
No day is ordinary in a world where Technology and Magic compete for supremacy…But no matter which force is winning, in the apocalypse, a sword will always work. 
Hugh d’Ambray, Preceptor of the Iron Dogs, Warlord of the Builder of Towers, served only one man. Now his immortal, nearly omnipotent master has cast him aside. Hugh is a shadow of the warrior he was, but when he learns that the Iron Dogs, soldiers who would follow him anywhere, are being hunted down and murdered, he must make a choice: to fade away or to be the leader he was born to be. Hugh knows he must carve a new place for himself and his people, but they have no money, no shelter, and no food, and the necromancers are coming. Fast.
Elara Harper is a creature who should not exist. Her enemies call her Abomination; her people call her White Lady. Tasked with their protection, she's trapped between the magical heavyweights about to collide and plunge the state of Kentucky into a war that humans have no power to stop. Desperate to shield her people and their simple way of life, she would accept help from the devil himself—and Hugh d’Ambray might qualify.
Hugh needs a base, Elara needs soldiers. Both are infamous for betraying their allies, so how can they create a believable alliance to meet the challenge of their enemies? 
As the prophet says: “It is better to marry than to burn.” 
Hugh and Elara may do both. 

This book is an amazing start to a new series about respect, redemption, love and loss.  This book hits all the best points of fantasy and romance-strong characters, lots of magic, ancient creatures, and action that keeps the pages turning long after bedtime.  

One of the best parts of this book is the world building.  A castle that was shipped in brick by brick to please the former mistress in modern day Kentucky is now inside a dark magical forest after the magical shift occurs.  There are tunnels under the castle that people don't come back from and no one knows why.  There are druids, shapeshifters, magic, technology, gods, and creatures that are completely unknown.  It would seem chaotic except the authors have made it all make sense and believable.  

Elara's character is absolutely incredible and mysterious.  The way the authors are able to weave in old mythology with this insanely bonkers world they've created is fascinating.  Elara's character is both beloved and respected by her people for her ability to keep them healthy and safe, but there is a secret that everyone is hiding.  We do get a glimpse of what she truly is, but it's only a glimpse and I hope more is revealed as the series progresses.  

Hugh d'Ambray has spent his life powerful and feared.  Without Roland's magic and support, and now no clear agenda, he falls apart.  All the way apart.  When the opportunity comes along to save his soldiers and himself, he reluctantly takes it.  Hugh's character is such a contradiction-he is feared and brutal but also incredibly loyal to his Iron Dogs.  At one point, he talks over breakfast about how he killed a woman and then later on saves a dog.  I really feel the authors did an amazing job of making his character very slow to like.  It was as if he had to prove to himself that he was worthy of respect before the reader could believe that as well.  

The relationship between Elara and Hugh was also very unique.  It's easy to groan about the arranged marriage trope but this was the farthest thing from trope-y.  Their relationship was built incredibly slowly and all on the basis of respect.  Both characters were fiercely protective of their people and not afraid to do whatever it took to keep them safe.    

I just can't say it enough-this book is amazing.  These authors are amazing.  I can't wait to see what comes next in this series.

Iron and Magic is available June 26th and you can pre-order this book now here: 

Thank you to Netgalley and NYLA for the opportunity to read and review this book-all ramblings and the overuse of "amazing" are my own opinions.  

Also, there are other amazing series from these authors.  May I suggest:

Invasion of the honeybees

The honeybees in their shipping box. 

It started as a 4-H project idea.  The Kid could make an awesome photo display, our fruit trees would get some amazing pollination, and I could make beer from all the amazing honey those little bees were going to make me.  

I didn't realize that my husband would turn this into a borderline obsession.  I bought Beekeeping for Dummies from Amazon, figured I'd get around to reading at some point and we'd figure out as we went.  Instead, the Hubs latched on to that book and he spent the next several weeks reading it out loud to me.  While I was trying to read my own book.  

After several weeks of anxiously awaiting for the bees to be delivered, which are delivered through the Postal Service, we finally got to meet our new Fat Farm residents.  Our mail carrier brought them straight to our house-she really didn't want to handle them anymore than necessary-and we got to work right away.  Translation-everything that could go wrong happened.  We couldn't find the Queen, there wasn't quite enough food, we found the Queen but accidentally dropped her little cage into the bottom of the hive, The Hubs got stung twice, and we missed a phone call by minutes from an experienced beekeeper on how to make the process easier.

I think he just wanted to wear the suit. 

But, we did it.  The bees are doing well and are we can see them all over the yard collecting pollen from every flower they can find.  We found out we can stand right next to the hive and watch them and the bees really don't care.  Even the dogs running around the hive doesn't seem to bother them.    

Now we wait for the bees to do their thing.  

Here's a few things that we found helpful:

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Post-Civil War epic zombie battles that are fought by bad-ass teenage girls? What more do you want?  Justina Ireland has created an amazing world that is both horrifying and inspirational.  

Jane McKeene has a very complicated life. Born to a wealthy mother and pampered as a child, her life takes a dramatic turn when she's enrolled at the Miss Preston's School of Combat in Baltimore.  Training to become a skilled zombie slayer is hard work, made even more difficult by the constant racism and sexism she faces.  Becoming an Attendant, a bodyguard for the wealthy whites, is one way to a better life.  Unfortunately for Jane, her chance at a better life is taken away when she is caught trying to locate the families who have gone missing in the area.  When Jane and two of her friends find themselves on a train headed west, she knows their days are numbered.  What Jane finds next is even more frightening than zombies.  

Jane is such a smart and strong character.  Her determination and will to live is inspiring.  No matter how horrible her circumstances became, she always had a plan to get her through another day.  Much of this was hard to read, not because of bad writing-quite the opposite.  The way that people of color were treated in history, and today, is appalling.  When Jane is acting as an Attendant at a fancy dinner party, she contemplates her future being treated as a piece of furniture-useful, nice to look at, but replaceable and that is not how she wants to spend the rest of her life.  

This is an absolutely amazing book.  I feel like the ending left an opening for another book and I'd really like to see what comes next in this world.

You can get your copy, and help support the site, here:

Dread Nation

By Justina Ireland

Buy on Amazon

The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean

Fun Fact-if you ever want to read a big, complicated book only to realize it's going to be big and complicated, pick up the Young Reader's Edition instead.  That's right, grown up stuff simplified for kids.  

The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean is full of fun and fascinating geek facts about how the periodic table was created and all the drama that went with it.  That's right-fascinating geek facts!

Did you know that there was an amazing scientist named Maria Goeppert?  She was born in 1906 in Germany and was a sixth generation scientist.  She had one problem though, she was a woman which meant that she was repeatedly turned away from universities before finally finding one that would let her earn her PhD.  After World War II, the University of Chicago finally took her seriously enough to give her an office and make her a professor, but not seriously enough to pay her.  She was a professor and didn't get paid!  When she earned the highest honor from the Swedish Academy in 1963, the local newspaper had the headline, "S.D. Mother Wins Nobel Prize."  Now, being a mother is awesome and amazing, but I don't remember ever seeing a headline, "Local Father Wins Big Important Thing."  Just saying.

Ugh.  Maria also went on to discover and develop the nuclear shell model which I don't understand but it's critical for future scientific discoveries about atoms and the structure of the nucleus. 

There are plenty of fun facts found in this book.  Did you know in 1955 there were scientific experiments going on in the middle of night so they wouldn't have to deal with traffic while traveling from one lab to another?  Or how there is a link between the discovery of the double helix model of DNA and how Vitamin C became, falsely, a cure for the common cold. 

Sam Kean does a great job presenting interesting information in a very approachable way.  The book is broken down in to five sections that cover the how the periodic table was designed to how we use the elements and the table today.  There is a periodic table included in the back and like all good nonfiction science books, there is a glossary that I did use once or twice.

Highly enjoyed this book and I'm so glad to have it available to my young readers at the Library.  Or, adults who like their books shorter and easier to read.  You know, like me.

You can get your copy, and help support the site, here:

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Rivalry, Adventure, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements (Young Readers Edition)

By Sam Kean

Buy on Amazon

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

Would you look at this amazing cover!  This is the prequel to the Wayward Children Series that begins with Every Heart a Doorway.  This series came recommended from one of the many book podcasts that I listen to and I can't agree more.  It's an amazing series full of twists and turns, bad fairy tales, and teenage angst.  I found the series very imaginative and compelling and I can't wait to get my hands on this when it comes out in January 2019.  

Ugh.  That's so far away.  

Memorial Day

The Kid has been our best helper when we put out the flags at the graves of our local veterans.  It's fascinating to watch kids do this job.  He makes it a point to read their names, tell us what branch they served, and these days, how old they were when they died.  Our cemetery is very old and there are many graves for infants and young children which has also led to some "grown up" conversations.  After helping for at least the last 5 years, I'm pretty sure he could do this job without our map.  It's also something that I hope he continues to help us with for years to come. 

However you celebrate today, I hope you take a moment to reflect on those who served who are no longer with us.  

Dark Ark Vol. 1 by Cullen Bunn and Juan Doe

I never realized how rough I was on books until I had to show them to other people...

Oh, Dark Ark, you beautifully drawn tale of how the world's worst creatures were saved alongside Noah during the Great Flood.  Picture this:  a massive ark containing vampires, werewolves, minotaurs, and blood thirsty demons.  And unicorns.  Unicorns!

Shrae and his family are on the Ark trying to survive the Great Flood.  Unfortunately for them, they are not on Noah's Ark, they are on the Dark Ark which contains every evil creature alive.  Shrae is doing his best to keep the tenuous peace, but there is no way for that last.  Allegiances between the creatures are tested when a murder occurs and everyone is a suspect.  When justice is dealt out, it becomes even more unclear as to who or what Shrae is, and why is he protecting these creatures?

The art is amazing and this story is so well told.  There are twists and turns alongside really dark humor.  I really enjoyed this one and I can't wait to see what volume two holds.  

You can get your copy, and help support the site, here:

Dark Ark

By Cullen Bunn

Buy on Amazon

Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani

This book looks even better on the shelf at the Library!

This an absolutely beautiful graphic novel! 

Priyanka Das lives with her mother in the United States.  I don't think it's ever explicitly stated where-but she flies into LAX and there are palm trees so I think California is a safe bet.  Priyanka, or Pri as she prefers, is dealing with all the usual teenage stuff-school, friends, driving lessons, and family changes. Growing up the only child and with her single mother, Pri found a surrogate father in her Uncle Jatin.  When his wife becomes pregnant for the first time, Pri finds herself spending less time with her uncle and more time questioning her mother about her previous life in India.  When her mother only offers vague answers, if she answers at all, Pri becomes hurt and frustrated.  

One night, Pri offers a selfish prayer to the goddess Shakti.  When her Uncle's baby ends up in the hospital, Pri feels responsible and cuts herself off from the family.  Opening a suitcase found in her closest, Pri comes across items from her mother's previous life in India.  When she tries on a beautiful silk shawl she is magically transported to India.  With two guides, an elephant and a bird, they travel the country taking in all the beautiful sights.  

Seeing the shawl and her new prize money from a comic book contest as a sign, Pri asks her mother to travel to India with her to see the country for real. When her mother refuses, explaining the country isn't safe and beautiful the way Pri believes, Pri feels even more isolated.  After an impulsive call to her sister, a sister she hasn't spoken to in fifteen years, Pri's mother makes arrangements for Pri to visit her Aunt and Uncle in India.  

But real-life India isn't what Pri hoped it would be.  Traffic, poverty, and a stern Uncle make her time in India tense.  Seeking to escape to her magical India, Pri tries on the shawl only to find that it doesn't work now that she is really there.   Distraught, she shows her Aunt the shawl only to have it transport her Aunt instead.  The two women go on to find the mysterious maker of the shawl and learn of it's origins.  Along the way, Pri learns about her birth father and why her mother refuses to speak of him, and how the shawl impacted her life long before she ever laid eyes on it.  

This book is beautifully written and drawn.  I really enjoyed how the art is kept black and white until the shawl transports the character, then the illustrations turn vivid and bold.  The relationship between Pri and her mother and how they both keep secrets to protect each other is very interesting.  

I really loved this book and I can't wait to get in to the hands of all the kids that come in to the Library!

You can get a copy, and help support the site, here:

Pashmina

By Nidhi Chanani

Buy on Amazon

Mean Girls Club: Pink Dawn by Ryan Heshka

THIS COVER!!!!!

This book is not for the faint of heart.  If swearing, drinking, violence and badass women are not your thing-don't pick up this book. 

It's my thing and I absolutely loved it!  I found this book after my boss circled it in one of our independent publishing catalogs we get at the Library.  She knows me well.  

From the back cover-because it's the best:  "The lascivious ladies of the Mean Girls Club have been raising a riot around town, and the cops are onto them.  Prepare for a mad-dash of boozing, skull-busting, and general mid-century mayhem as they deliver a swift stiletto-stab to the crotch of the patriarchy."

 These ladies are done with being used and hurt by others.  When their latest raid on the town gets too close to the Mayor and his pocketbook, the mayor blackmails his mechanic, the beautiful and vulnerable Roxy, to infiltrate the club and help take them down.  All Roxy wants is the vital and expensive medicine that her Grandpa needs to survive.  Left with little choice, Roxy approaches the clubhouse and is met with all the ladies and their guns.  But luckily for Roxy, the club's car Black Betsy was damaged during their last firefight with the police.  After repairing the car and then showing off her fighting skills when she's attacked by Wanda, Roxy spends the rest of the night in a drug and booze filled initiation where she learns all the backstories on the ladies and what fuels their obsession with taking down the patriarchy. 

Meanwhile, we learn that the disgusting Mayo Schlomo is in league with two cult leaders who are brainwashing the town's young girls into being subservient slaves.  When the cult leaders and the mayor set up a decency league called Reclaim Our Town, or R.O.T., the Mean Girls know they have to step in and do something.  Unfortunately, it's a trap and Roxy helped set it.  The Girls aren't led away quietly, in fact, Wanda's lines on page 58 are pretty amazing.  

The Mean Girls are now lined up in the execution chamber on display for the town to see.  At the same time, sick over her actions against the Club, Roxy finds herself at the clubhouse drinking away her grief.  When she stumbles upon the journal that tells of the club's beginnings, Roxy knows she has to do something to save the women. 

This book is so intense!  These women are not holding back anything.  The art and the writing are amazing and it's very tempting to buy another copy so I can cut some pages out and frame them.  

It's so good!

You can help support the site, and get your copy here: 

Mean Girls Club: Pink Dawn [Graphic Novel]

By Ryan Heshka

Buy on Amazon

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

I love putting great books on the shelf!

Poor Prince Sebastian, his parents want him married and he is far from interested.  

Frances only wants to become the hottest dress designer but her designs are too daring for the public to handle.  After creating a party-stopping dress for a client, her job is threatened.  But there is one person who loved her design and comes to Frances with an offer that it is too good to be true.  And it turns out, it is too good to be true.  Her new client is Prince Sebastian!

Sebastian just wants to wear dresses and take Paris by storm as his alter ego Lady Crystallia.  With Frances as his new dressmaker, the two of them go to lavish parties where Lady Crystallia is the center of attention.  But Sebastian is still a Prince and his parents don't know about his secret night life.  Also, Frances can't tell anyone that she is the one designing all these amazing dresses because she has to safeguard Sebastian's secret.  

When the stress of society's expectations become too much for everyone, the friendship between Frances and Sebastian is put to the test. 

This story is beautifully told and is so engaging!  Since The Kid is only reading graphic novels these days, we have read a really wide variety and this one had him talking him the most.  Frances and Sebastian have such a supportive and accepting friendship.  It's one of those relationships that we need more of.  The art is beautiful and the colors are amazing and I can't wait to see more from Jen Wang.

You can get your copy here:

The Prince and the Dressmaker

By Jen Wang

Buy on Amazon

Jackaby by William Ritter

If you took Sherlock Holmes and crossed him with Newt Scamander you'd get Mr. R. F. Jackaby. 

This book was pure fun!  

It's 1892 and Abigail Rook has left her boarding school to follow in her father's footsteps and join an expedition to the Carpathian Mountains.  But her dreams of finding new dinosaur species are quickly dashed and instead, she spent months digging holes and living in uncomfortable conditions.  When she finally has enough, she leaves the mountains and tries to find passage home only to realize that her ship is going in the wrong direction.  Now in America, Abigail needs to find a place to live and a job to help buy time before she has to face her parents again.  Not long after leaving the ship, Abigail encounters an unusual gentleman who appears to know more about her than he should.  

After a fruitless job search, Abigail sees an interesting job posting for an assistant at a detective agency.  Why is she not to stare at the frog?  Because staring at the frog makes him mad causing a foul smelling gas cloud.  As the cloud becomes more dense, the mysterious man is back and on his way out the door.  Chasing after him to both collect more information and outrun the gas, Abigail learns that our mysterious man is the detective R. F. Jackaby.  Having a job interview while investigating a crime scene is quite the experience for Abigail.  But Abigail isn't easily scared and does her best to impress her potential new boss.  But it's the boss that impresses Abigail.   Jackaby claims he can see mysterious and unusual creatures and seems to have a strained relationship with the police.  After seeing the condition of the murder victim, strange creatures are the only option for murder suspect and Abigail goes on to meet a ghost, a duck who used to be a man, a werewolf, and a woman who no one can see but them.  Trying to solve this crime puts everyone in danger and Abigail finds herself way in over her head. 

This book is full of adventure, mysterious creatures and even more mysterious people.  I really liked the characters and how there is not a love story between Abigail and Jackaby.  It's nice that her character didn't start swooning over the first guy who was nice to her. 

Jackaby's house is a character in it's own right-there is a pond on the third floor.  Like a real pond.  It's also home to a ghost and a duck that used to be Jackaby's assistant Douglass.  I'm sure there's even more that we'll learn about as the series continues.  And Jackaby is so used to his wacky way of life that he completely forgets to introduce Abigail to his housemates and doesn't explain anything.   It's a great book and amazing start to a series! 

You can get your copy here, which also helps support the site:

Jackaby

By William Ritter

Buy on Amazon

Ghostly Echoes: A Jackaby Novel

By William Ritter

Buy on Amazon

The Dire King: A Jackaby Novel

By William Ritter

Buy on Amazon

Her Body and Other Stories by Carmen Maria Machado

My library hold finally came in!  This one seemed like a really well-loved copy.

This book is scary, sexy, stunning, and spectacular!  Her Body and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by Carmen Maria Machado that tell of the different ways that women deal with violence against their bodies.  

In "The Husband Stitch,"  a woman meets her husband at a party while they are still young.  When he asks about her green ribbon that she wears around her neck, she only answers that it is hers and he can't touch it.  Throughout the story, the husband asks over and over again to touch the ribbon only to be denied.  In the end, after becoming a mother and seeing her son off to university, the husband asks about the ribbon again. This time, the wife allows him to untie the ribbon and her head falls off.  Ouch.  

The story "Inventory,"  is one of the most unique stories I've ever read.  A woman is recounting her past lovers and their experiences, but it's through these that we learn a plague is affecting the world.  It's wild-in a very good way.  

In "Eight Bites," a woman and her daughter deal with the consequences of weight loss surgery and how they view each other's bodies.  This one really made me think about how family encouragement can also be taken as criticism.  

There are eight stories total and each of them is incredibly unique.  In many of them, you can feel that something is just slightly off but you don't realize how far off until the very end.  

Amazing collection of stories and I highly recommend for those with strong stomachs. You can get your copy here, and help support the site all at the same time:

Her Body and Other Parties: Stories

By Carmen Maria Machado

Buy on Amazon

Circe by Madeline Miller

The amazing cover for Circe by Madeline Miller.

Growing up, my local Library had a set of books about Greek and Roman mythology.  I remember they were blue and illustrated, and I probably checked them out a dozen times each.  Can't tell you the author or publisher, but they were blue. I have always found Greek mythology fascinating.   How anyone could keep that many Goddesses, Gods, Demigods, Titans, Olympians, etc. straight is beyond me. The way all the main players are intertwined by birth or marriage and how they love and hate each other creates for a never ending line of stories.  

Circe by Madeline Miller is about Circe, daughter of the God Helios and the Nymph Perse, and how she becomes one of the first witches.  Circe tells her story from the beginning, of how as a child she was very different from her siblings. Told from the very beginning that she is ugly and told to never speak, we learn Circe looks and sounds human.  With no obvious power, it takes years for Circe to discover that her powers lay in witchcraft. After she transforms a childhood enemy into a horrific monster, Zeus banishes her to an island to live her immortal life in exile.  

Circe, now completely alone on her island, must learn to provide for and protect herself.  Devoting her time to spells and potions allows her to protect herself from the unwanted attentions of sailors who find themselves stranded on her shores.  

I loved how she turned the sailors into pigs. Literal pigs.  Then she kept them in a pigsty.

She also has to protect herself from the island's creatures.  Early on, she encounters a wild boar.  "His pig-eyes said:  I can break a hundred youths and send their bodies back to wailing mothers.  I will tear your entrails and eat them for my lunch.  I fixed my gaze on his.  'Try,' I said." 

When the boar wanders away, CIrce leaves us with this: "I tell you, for all my spells, that was the first time I truly felt myself a witch."

I think Try would make for a great tattoo...

But Circe isn’t alone for long.  She finds herself surrounded by the disgraced daughters of kings.  She meets the famed Daedalus before he meets his fate with his son Icarus.  Odysseus stays on her island for nearly year and leaves behind the most precious gift, a son that he won’t know of for nearly 20 years.  

Within Circe, we get all the best of Greek mythology:  drama, heartache, deception, and fantastical creatures.  Circe is sensitive by nature and becomes strong by circumstance.  Miller takes us on an incredible journey to watch Circe grow into her craft.  Also, watching Circe really struggle at motherhood was completely relatable.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  The writing was incredible and the pacing was fast enough to keep your interest.

You can order your copy, and help support the site, here: 

CIRCE (#1 New York Times bestseller)

By Madeline Miller

Buy on Amazon

Circe by Madeline Miller is available now from LIttle, Brown.  

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all!  I hope everyone's day is filled with peace, love, and amazing books! 

Amal Unboud by Aisha Saeed

I love the cover of this book!

This is one of the best covers I have seen for a middle grades novel!  It's bright and bold just like the writing. After seeing this on the new release calendar, I just couldn't get the cover out of my head.  So I naturally ordered it for the youth department.

And not going to lie, I was disappointed that a cataloging record wasn't immediately available but that also meant I could sneak it home and read it before the kids.

This book is wonderful.  I finished it in one sitting because I had to know if Amal was going to be o.k. in the end.  Our story is told by Amal, the daughter of middle class parents in Pakistan. She's passionate about her studies and wants to become a teacher after attending university.  After her mother gives birth to a daughter and closes herself off from the family while battling postpartum depression, Amal is left in charge of the household and her studies are put on hold.  Amal does her best to take care of her sisters while trying to keep up with all her household chores. After a particularly long day, Amal leaves for the market for a few minutes of peace by herself.  Upon leaving, she is struck by car and is confronted by one of the passengers. At first he seems helpful, offering to take her home. But his tone quickly changes and Amal feels that something is off with him.  When he tries to take the pomegranate that fell from her bag, the last in the market, Amal takes it back and asks how he can hit her with a car and then try to take her things?

What Amal doesn't know, is the man is Jawad Sahib, a powerful business man who the entire neighborhood is indebted to.  Including Amal's family. When Jawad confronts her father about Amal's behavior, her father is forced to give Amal to Jawad act as a servant as punishment for her disrespectful behavior.  Amal's dreams of school, teaching, and being with her family are now gone.

Once Amal enters Jawad's household, she has even more obstacles to overcome.  Amal wasn't raised to be a servant and to be treated like an object is very new to her.  When she is informed that she will be personal maid to Jawad's mother Nasreen, Amal believes her time there will be easier.  Unfortunately, another maid repeatedly sets her up for failure. Not only that, Amal has no way to contact her family or friends and is cut off from her books.  Eventually, Amal is given the opportunity to not only change her life, but the lives of those around her.

This book was amazing.  The story was fast paced with well developed characters.  I spent the whole book hoping there would be a happy ending for Amal, but the story really keeps you guessing about how it will end.   Amal's character is not only strong and brave but she really shows how important perseverance can be.

Amal Unbound

By Aisha Saeed

Buy on Amazon

Blood Fury by J. R. Ward

Book #3 in the Black Dagger Legacy series.

Back when my son was a baby and it seemed too big of a hassle to keep him quiet in a library so I could select books, I discovered my library's collection of ebooks.  Scrolling through thousands of choices can be very overwhelming but I have always been a science-fiction, fantasy, and paranormal fan.  I found a random vampire book and checked it out.  That book was Dark Lover, book one in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series and I was instantly hooked.  

There are now 18 books in the Brotherhood series and Blood Fury is the third book in the spin-off series, Black Dagger Legacy.  

I own them all.  Even the Bourbon Kings and Fallen Angels series.  J. R. Ward knows how to do vampires. 

With all of the variations in vampire lore, there is a vampire for everyone.  Mine don't sparkle.  My vampires are 6' 5", 350, and carry daggers.  They have psychic gifts, fighting skills, and more money than they will ever be able to spend in their incredibly long lifetimes.  They also turn in to puppies when they're mates are around.  They have a complex set of social rules and expectations and are led by their King, Wrath son of Wrath.  Wrath is protected by the Black Dagger Brotherhood, a tight knit group of warriors who protect the King and all vampires from their deadly enemy the Lessers.  The Brotherhood live mostly together in the mansion filled with servants, a medical wing and a training facility.  The Legacy series focuses the younger vampires who are participating in the new training program for Brotherhood recruits. 

I love how the books are structured-each book containing multiple story lines that intertwine and pick up in later books.  However, that also makes summarizing the books tricky.  Each book has it's focus couple, and for this book, it's Peyton and Novo.  

Peyton is part of an aristocratic family with one duty-mate a suitable female and get her pregnant.  But the hard partying playboy has one woman on his radar and she fell in love with another man.  After a wrong decision in a battle with the Lessers that causes his fellow trainee Novo to nearly die, he realizes that it's time grow up and reassess his life.  

Novo has her own family drama to deal with.  After leaving home to prove herself in the Brotherhood's training program and keeping herself isolated from her family and peers, she is dragged back in to the family drama with her sister Sophya's  upcoming wedding.  Not only did her sister ask her to be the maid of honor at her wedding, a human style wedding, but Sophya is marrying Novo's ex-boyfriend.  The ex-boyfriend who also got Novo pregnant and left her to deal with the unplanned pregnancy and the sudden miscarriage all on her own.  Novo and Peyton are brought together after Peyton finally realizes he’ll never have Paradise, his best friend, and he nearly kills Novo.  While recovering from her injuries during the disastrous battle with the Lessers, Novo needs blood to speed her recovery.  Guess who has the magic blood that makes everything all better?  Yep, Peyton.  Guess who gets hit by the love freight train?  Peyton again.  

Unfortunately for the two of them, their relationship does not develop smoothly.  Past hurts, family drama, and social expectations get in the way.  Peyton learns that his father has secured an arranged marriage for him.  Luckily for him, his bride-to-be is not interested in getting married and gives Peyton the heads up he needs to try to make it all go away.  Meanwhile, Novo is still trying to heal from her injuries while her sister guilt trips her into helping with the wedding planning. 

Throughout all the pain and deception, the two do find love.  It’s an amazing ride full of twists, forgiveness, and self-discovery.  

Alongside this story, we finally get the HEA for Saxton.  Oh, Saxton, the hot and sexy lawyer for the King.  He had once found love with Blaylock only to have his heart broken when Blay was able to reconcile with Qhuinn.  When Blay asks Saxton to look into a legal matter for a friend, Saxton is reluctant to work any more closely with Blay than needed.  But after hearing the tale of a lonely widow being harassed by a local developer, Saxton can’t help but step in.  When the situation turns dangerous, the King appoints Ruhn to be his bodyguard.   Ruhn spent much of his life enslaved as a fighter and has worked hard to overcome the trauma.   Ashamed by his lack of education, Ruhn tries hard to fit in at the mansion and be useful, and the role of guard is the first chance he has to prove himself.  Mistaking Saxton’s interest as disapproval, Ruhn is hurt further by the confusion he feels at his own feelings towards Saxton.  Luckily, the two man have one passion in common-old houses.  Remember the widow being harrassed by developers?  

J. R. Ward writes some very steamy books and this one is no exception.  I do think that she doesn’t give fair play to the gentlemen in this one.   I just think that Saxton finally getting the man of his dreams should include more of the fun times.  
But that’s me. 

This is an amazing series with great world building and characters.  It’s an automatic preorder for me.  I know, this book came out in January and I’m just now writing about it.  It’s my absolute favorite series of all time and I waited four months to read it.  Ward also only publishes one book a year.  That’s a long time to wait for the next book, especially after I stayed up late so I could read it all in one sitting.  

It’s that good.  

Fair warning, these books are very explicit in language, sex, drug use, violence, you name it.

You can get your copy here:

Blood Fury: Black Dagger Legacy

By J.R. Ward

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