Tag Archive | Rin Chupeco

Stacking The Shelves #1

Apr10


I am now known by many for my Goodreads addiction. I wish I could say that I don’t buy books, or request ARC’s from NetGalley, because I have so many from my Goodreads addiction, but that would be a lie.

I’ve been meaning to start a Stacking the Shelves post for a while now, which is why there are so many books in the photo above, I’ve been saving them in a stack to eventually photograph. I finally did it.

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly thing that Tynga’s Reviews started. You can find out more info on her blog, HERE, and also see other bloggers book stacks.

I’ve also decided to rate the books I receive 1-5.
1 meaning there’s very little chance I’ll ever actually get around to reading this book.
5 meaning unless something else arrives that I HAVE to read, this near the top of the list and there’s a likely chance that you’ll see a review of said book from me at some point.

Come Sundown by Nora Roberts – 3
I’ve never actually read a Nora Roberts book. A lot of people entered for this so I was surprised I won. I likely won’t read it before it’s release date, but I do plan to read it at some point.
Goodreads | Amazon

It’s Always The Husband by Michele Campbell – 4
I remember thinking this one looked REALLY good when I entered. I was pretty happy to win. I’m hoping to read this sooner rather then later. I don’t read enough mystery/suspense novels.
Goodreads | Amazon

Snowbirds by Crissa-Jean Chapell – 3
This cover just doesn’t call to me. I am interested in learning more about the Amish though, and it sounds like it could be a good mystery/suspense/thriller so I’m hoping I get to this one.
Goodreads | Amazon

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco – n/a
Okay, so I actually already read this one through NetGalley. And I LOVED the cover, but the book not so much. You can find my review HERE. I may re-read this in the future if I get my hands on the sequel.
Goodreads | Amazon

Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up by Dan Lyons – 4
Hatchette Books sent the BEST promo kit with this book, it was so fun and creative, I won’t soon forget this one! Plus it sounds really interesting, the real life misadventures of a 50 year old man trying to survive in the new open office style Internet start up. Plus the cover is really fun.
Goodreads | Amazon

Buddhist Economics by Clair Brown – 2
This book actually seems like it could be pretty cool and I do want to read it, but I don’t gravitate toward non-humor non-fiction, so if I’m being honest, I likely will not read it.
Goodreads | Amazon

First Comes Love by Emily Giffin – 2
This is chic lit. I don’t have a very good relationship with chic lit so the odds of me actually reading this one aren’t good. If I end up reading and liking Something Borrowed (which I’ve been borrowing from a friend for year, then I’ll probably read this one.
Goodreads | Amazon

Despite the Ghosts by Dylan Newton – 2
While this book sounds like it might be interesting, the cover SCREAMS low-budget indie book, which makes me think the editing might not be up to par. I may read this one, or it may fall by the wayside. Only time will tell.
Goodreads | Amazon

The Twilight Wife by A. J. Banner – 4
I LOVE this cover! The book itself sounds really good too. I don’t read enough psychological thrillers. This one sounds like it might be right up my alley with a woman who begins having visions (memories?) that lead her to believe the life she’s living isn’t the truth.
Goodreads | Amazon

NOVA by Margaret Fortune – 3
I could love this book or I could hate it. A reviewer I usually see eye-to-eye with gave it a 3.5, so I’m hoping I love it. I’m not sure where it will fall in the priority list. I don’t read a lot of sci-fi, but it is YA, even though the cover doesn’t look YA to me.
Goodreads | Amazon

The Cajun Doctor by Sandra Hill – 3
I don’t read a lot of straight up romance, but if I do have a hankering for one I think this would be a good choice. It takes place in bayous of Louisiana, a place I know nothing about, so I think that might be a fun place to “travel” to. Plus I love the colors/contrast on the cover.
Goodreads | Amazon

The Princess Problem by Teri Wilson – 4
This book is super short. And it has a princess. I’m a sucker for anything with royalty. The cover is super cute too.
Goodreads | Amazon

A Cowboy’s Wish Upon a Star by Caro Carson – 3
Just like royalty, I like movie stars. It’s that glamorous life I’ll never know that I’m drawn to. If I’m in the mood to read a (short) romance, this might be one.
Goodreads | Amazon

The Best Man by Kristan Higgins – 4
LOOK HOW CUTE THIS COVER IS!!! If I want a cute little contemporary romance I would snag this book up fast based on this cover.
Goodreads | Amazon

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan – 4
Again – royalty! This one is a beast so I probably won’t be reading it very soon, but I absolutely plan to get this one read!
Goodreads | Amazon

 

EBOOKS:

Tainted (Demon Withinn #1) by Ginna Moran – 5
Buying this book was Katie @ Just Another Girl and Her Books fault. I read her review of…. the third book in the series and she really liked them and they’re paranormal and…. it was only 99 cents so I bought the book and I’ll give it a try. (Side note: The cover has been updated on Amazon since I bought the book 9 days ago. I LOVE THE NEW COVER!)
Goodreads | Amazon

Hunter’s Curse: A Destined for Dreams Short Story by Ginna Moran – 3
I always snag freebies from authors I’ve purchased books from. If I like Tainted I’ll quite likely read this one. Plus it’s short.
Goodreads | Amazon

Destined for Dreams by Ginna Moran – 3
See above. If I like Tainted, then I’ll read Hunter’s Curse, then I’ll read this one! (This was also a freebie at the time!)
Goodreads | Amazon

The Nightmare Inflictor: A Destined For Dreams Short Story by Ginna Moran – 3
I actually just found this freebie when I was putting together this post! See above.
Goodreads | Amazon

Royal Day Out: A From The Notebooks of a Middle School Princess e-short by Meg Cabot – 5
It’s Meg Cabot. And a freebie. Of course I’ll read it. Even though it’s for younger kids than I normally read!
Goodreads | Amazon

Shadowland (Mediator #1) by Meg Cabot
I own the paperback but I’ve been waiting FOREVER for a good sale price on this series for my Kindle! $1.99? SOLD! (If you don’t know this one, it’s a fun teen YA about a girl named Suze who can talk to ghosts, then moves across the country and ends up living in a bedroom haunted by a super hot and chivalrous 1850’s Spaniard named Jesse.)
Goodreads | Amazon

Size 12 Is Not Fat (Heather Wells #1) by Meg Cabot
I actually have yet to read this whole series by Meg Cabot, but I listened to the audiobook of the last book first and LOVED it! A former pop princess’ mother steals her fortune and she’s left to live a normal life working at a college. Somehow she always ends up entangled in murder investigations.
Goodreads | Amazon

 

NETGALLEY ARCS:

Watch Me Disappear by Janelle Brown – 5
This is called a “double dip” because I also won it from Goodreads. Hopefully this is a good psychological thriller
Goodreads | Amazon

The Witchfinders Sister by Beth Underdown – 5
I like the historical aspect of this, using a fictional sister to tell the story of a real man from history who tried and killed many women for witchcraft.
Goodreads | Amazon

The Secret of the India Orchid by Nancy Campbell Allen – 5
This cover is absolutely stunning. I had to have the book based on the cover alone, but this is also a historical novel that fatures royalty and spies and romance.
Goodreads | Amazon

The Falconer by Elisabeth May – 5
This looks like a cool YA fantasy series. The bonus for me for this book is that it’s an older title so it counts for my #BeatTheBacklist challenge! The downside is the formatting of the ARC is so wonky I can’t use text to speech on my Kindle at work. 🙁
Goodreads | Amazon

Royal Bastards by Andrew Shvarts – 5
I heard this book was really awesome, but I’m not so sure yet. A bunch of bastards band together and witness a crime. Now they have to prevent a civil war. It could be really good, or it might not be for me. I’ll find out soon. This one releases in June.
Goodreads | Amazon

 

 

 

REVIEW: The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

Mar23

Wow. Time got away from me. I’ve had this book read and reviewed for months, waiting to be posted. And then life happened and before I knew it, this release day had come and gone!

Well, better late than never, right?

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

Series: The Bone Witch #1

Read: January 8-15, 2017

Format: E-ARC (NetGalley)

My Book Rating: 3.5 Stars

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Release Date: March 7, 2017

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pages: 400

Challenges: 2017 YA, Flights of Fantasy 2017

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

The beast raged; it punctured the air with its spite. But the girl was fiercer.

Tea is different from the other witches in her family. Her gift for necromancy makes her a bone witch, who are feared and ostracized in the kingdom. For theirs is a powerful, elemental magic that can reach beyond the boundaries of the living—and of the human.

Great power comes at a price, forcing Tea to leave her homeland to train under the guidance of an older, wiser bone witch. There, Tea puts all of her energy into becoming an asha, learning to control her elemental magic and those beasts who will submit by no other force. And Tea must be strong—stronger than she even believes possible. Because war is brewing in the eight kingdoms, war that will threaten the sovereignty of her homeland…and threaten the very survival of those she loves.

REVIEW

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

 

Oh Bone Witch, where do I start? Where do I start….

I expected this book to be about a young woman who discovers her powers as a necromancer after accidentally raising her newly dead brother from his grave. I expected her to go on and learn to use her powers and have adventures along the way.

What I got was a book about geisha training.

Seriously. At least half of this book described all the lessons our heroine, Tea, had to endure on her road to becoming an Asha. (Asha = Geisha. They even sound similar.) During this large portion of the book very little happens. I wish I was kidding.

If I wanted to read a book about geisha’s, I would have read a book about geishas.

Now, all that said, there were a lot of good things about this book. You just have to wade through the boring geisha—sorry, Asha—lessons to get there.

For starters, this book is dual POV in a very unconventional way. We start with a nameless bard finding Tea on a seashore full of bones. He convinces her to tell the story of how she came to be there. The other POV is Tea, the Bone Witch on the beach, telling the bard the story of how she came to be there. So, that was cool.

I also really liked the lore in the book. I liked the idea of the False Prince and his Daeva (monsters that never truly die). I liked the magic and powers. I thought all that was developed nicely… it was just overshadowed by too much geisha-Asha mumbo-jumbo.

On the other hand, the “big twist” near the ending sort of came out of nowhere. There really wasn’t any direct build up for it and it took me a moment to figure out what the heck was really going on. There were clues throughout the story, but they read more like backstory than anything that was actually relevant. It was…. strange.

I also had a hard time connecting to any of the characters. The servant girls at the Asha house were pretty interchangeable in my head. I couldn’t tell you the name of most of the other characters either.

The very end of the book leads me to believe there may be a promising sequel. If the author can cut down on the training and get to the action, I think it could be a good book.

So, should you read it? If you are looking for a good dose of magic and action and adventure you will be sorely disappointed. If you are looking for an interesting and unique world and can look past long periods of nothing happening while our heroine goes through training, then you might just like this one. Oh, and if you’re really into geisha you’ll probably love it!


Get the Book here:

Amazon | Nook | iBooks | Kobo

~ Add to Goodreads ~

QUOTES

Had I known the color of my heartsglass sooner, I might have been better prepared.

They said bone witches gave sleeping sicknesses to innocent princesses with the prick of a finger, and they said bone witches ate the hearts of children who strayed too far into forests.

Asha means two things in old Runic. The first is ‘truth’; the second, ‘spellbinder.’ That is what we must do—we bind the magic and force it to do as we command.

“You knew; still you were affected by the charms I wear. Now imagine the subtlety it can wreak on an unsuspecting world.”

I was trapped between two minds, and at that moment, I was a part of the creature just as it was a part of me.

“If there is one thing I have learned from both our trades, it is that we must always be in the business of forgiveness, lest we become consumed by our anger.”