read – Author Gail Marie

Book Review-Poetry Collection – The Sun and Her Flowers – Rupi Kaur

This was my first poetry collection by Rupi Kaur. This was an intimate anthology with loss and heartache nm bounds. While I can say that not all of her poems resonated with me on a personal level, the rest of them did. This collection took some courage from her. Letting us see all of her worst moments. I enjoyed her comments with regards to the way women are expected to live our life without tempting the men with our dress. That because her parents risked it all to come to America for a better life, she is the first generation of women in her family that gets to choose her life. She has the freedom of voice, none of them are allowed.

I also respond heavily with her learning to love herself again. It’s an important aspect of our lives that not many of us manage but we must always be working toward it. She also has a chapter dedicated to her parents, who are immigrants. They left India for America to give them a better life. They did created beautiful children after knowledge and higher learning opportunities. I gave this a 4/5 and suggest this for your reading list.

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Book Review – Three Mages and a Margarita (The Guild Codex Spellbound Book 1) – by Annette Marie

This is my first Annette Marie book. This is set in an urban fantasy world. The MC stumbles into an unknown world of magic. This was a delightful read with great supporting character. I advise you to give this story a shot. This was the first book of the series and I plan to add the 2nd to me TBR. I gave this a 3/5 rating.

**Spoiler Alert**

Our main character, Tori, first gets fired from her job as a waitress. Upon job searching for a new one, she finds the Crow and Hammer establishment. In it, she discovers the hidden world by accident. On top of that, the Crow and Hammer is considered guild headquarters for them. Even though she isn’t supposed to be working for them as a human, they give her a temporary period to begin until proper paperwork for her employment can begin.

Her shifts as a human bartender must be supervised by a trio of mages, Aaron, Ezra and Kai. One of the nights Aaron walks her home after her shift, a squad of rogue guild members attempt to abduct Aaron for ransom from his rich family. Tori rushes into the melee with an umbrella and manages to rescue Aaron until help can arrive. Amidst betrayal within their own guild ranks, and open hostility from guild members who don’t want her there, they have to keep an eye on each other. Loyalty to each other is all that matters.

I loved reading about Tori. Despite her human status, she had some fighting training and never backed down when it mattered. Even when she was handily overmatched. On to book 2!

Book Review – Uncharted – by Alli Temple

This was my first Alli Temple book. Her work in Uncharted was a good assortment of adventure, with Kings and Queens and Pirate ships. The plot was well executed and the characters were well developed and progressed nicely. I never felt like the pace was too fast or too slow. The dialogue between characters felt in line with their character. I gave this book a 3/5 star rating. It’s worth adding to your TBR.

**Spoiler Alert**

We meet our main character, Georgina as part of a resistance group against the current King and Prince of Redmere. Shortly after. the prince declares he will marry her and recalls her to the castle. She is gifted a maid, Rosie and a new wardrobe while she has a mere seven days to prepare for the wedding. Unfortunately, she uncovers her new ‘husband’ plans to kill her shortly after marrying her. Fortunately, before the wedding can commence, she is abducted by pirates.

Among the seas she is taken to the ship of a fearsome Pirate Captain, Cinder. She soon discovers Cinder to be none other than a childhood friend that she had assumed died at sea many years ago. But it is difficult to reconcile the new harsh beauty and her childhood friend, within the same woman. A beautiful love story between Cinder and Georgina emerges amidst the chaos to survive the unbendable prince from reclaiming his bride.

Book Review – Rise of the Ranger – Philip Quantrell

This was my first Philip Quantrell Book but it did impress me beyond all expectations and sets the stage for the remaining of the saga. I gave this book an easy 4 out of 5. Despite the fact that he is self published, the writing is in no way lacking. I was immediately invested in his character and the political intrigue of the story.

**Alert Spoilers Below**

In this epic story line we have some of the typical players. A powerful race of elves, hell bent on destroying the human race that is wholly unsuspecting and unprepared for the coming invasion. An unseeingly group of wayward travelers that begin the book off by hating their differences. Even with these elements. The book was a masterful read in now way detracted from Phillips great storytelling. I stayed up late finishing this.

Asher is an assassin trained by the mysterious Arakesh, world’s best assassins, though he turned form this path to forge his own way 14 years ago. He is also an outlander and a ranger who assists cities and towns by killing monsters for pay. Nathaniel is an mid aged man employed by the Graycoats of the realm. Here they are a group of highly trained peace keepers that are not allowed to marry or have families.

Asher and Nathaniel’s paths diverge after King Rengar requests an audience with Asher. Nathaniel is sent to retrieve Asher with a Graycoat trainee in tow, Elaith. When they all return to Verda, Asher’s services are requested by the King. An Elf envoy with their Princess is due to land soon and he and the Graycoats are tasked with returning them to the keep in one piece.

Once the Elves enter Verda, their posse is attacked by a large party of Arakesh assassins. With Asher’s help, they dispatch them and eventually return to Rengar with no casualties. The Elf Princess, Reyna, along with Faylen and Mörygan present themselves as ambassadors to their nation, to create an alliance. Their true task is to spy for her father so they can coordinate the Elf invasion.

In the back ground, Rayna’s betrothed, Elf match, is in charge of the other half of the invasion, which includes aligning themselves with a dragon. His team advances on the mage school of Korkanath. Galanor’s team walks through the school leaving behind death and destruction. Eventually, they recover a grimoire that releases Malliath, a huge black dragon, from his enslavement. As Malliath tries to flee, Galanor and Gideon, one of the last surviving mages, secure a ride along his scale system.

Malliath flies them to a prison of both dragons and the elf Queen, Adilandra. The dragons escape and fly away leaving the trio to fight their way free of complex. In the huge Darkakin city, Malaysai, they discover an enormous army that is set to invade their neighbors, Illidan. Adilandra decides to follow the dragons the way they excited the city, in the hopes they can meet the dragons and fight with them against Valanis. She also hopes that by having their help, she can talk her husband out of his stubborn war that he has slated for men. Before they can depart, she is taken prisoner and this forces Gideon and Galanor to search for the dragons on their own. Dragon’s Bravog and IIlargo save them from their desert ascent and they discover Dragon’s Reach and the last Dragon Rider. Adriel.

Back in Illidan, Reyna and Faylan’s company take refuge at West Fallon, a Graycoat stronghold fortress. Asher is forced to be kept in a cell as the natural enemy to the Graycoats. Meanwhile, Alidyr,Valanis’ general, marches 500 Arakesh to West Fallon in the bid to retrieve Pandora’s Gem, which Asher was gifted in his childhood. Asher, Reyna, Nathanial and Faylen make a last stand with the Graycoats. After victory they decide to attempt to kill Valais while he sleeps under the amber enchantment with Asher’s gem portion.

They make it to where Valanis’ body should have been to find it except they find Alidyr alive and well, instead. It is here that Asher finally remember his childhood and he was gifted the gem before the Amber Spell was cast but he was inside it for a thousand years, before the gem cracked it open. A battle ensues, but Alidyr is too strong for them and takes Asher’s ring.

The ending fits nicely into the beginning of the next book which I will be reading soon.

Book Review – Taken (The Harvest Series 1) – M.A. Church

This was my first M.A. Church book. This is the first of the series set in a Sci Fi world and Earth. I did have issues with the plot and main character for this book, which I will explain below. I had to give this a 2/5 for those reasons even though it did appear they put effort into the more technical sides of space and planets. I just can’t recommend this one to anyone.

**Spoiler Alert**

We meet our main character, Dale, in the beginning as he is being abducted from his home for a program called: The Harvest. It is a bond between the Alien race’s people and Earth’s governments, to collect mates from the population. It’s meant to help the alien’s dying race become viable again. Dale becomes the “chosen mate” of Captain Keyno Landium Shou of a Tah’Narian starship. Human’s are implanted with the Alien’s DNA, allowing them to bear their children.

After this, it’s expected that Dale will simply be OK with this, after being kidnapped from everything he loves on Earth. He won’t be allowed to return. To Dale’s credit, he does put up a ‘bit’ of a fight, as would be expected in this situation. I think I would find it impossible to feel anything but hate for the thing that did that to me, but Dale ad Kenyo end up in a relationship way too quickly, or at all. I just didn’t like this aspect of the plot. Kidnappees expected to be mates of their kidnappers. Too stockholmy for me.

If you can get past the plot points of the kidnap situation, you may enjoy this. Good luck.

My TBR in Honor of June and Pridemonth

1 – The Priory of the Orange Tree – Samantha Shannon

A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens. The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

2 – Taken (The Harvest series Book 1) – M.A. Church

We are not alone. In the year 2050 mankind’s never-ending quest for proof life exists in the universe is answered—in the form of massive space ships that appear without warning above the capitals of all major nations. The name of their planet is Tah’Nar—and is dying. The United States sets up a lottery system, and each young man between the ages of twenty-three and twenty-eight is assigned a number. Once a year, for the next five years, numbers will be drawn and a new set of one thousand males will be collected. The media coined the expression ‘The Harvest’ for when the Tah’Narian’s collect these young men.

Captain Keyno Landium Shou is a Tah’Narian starship captain who has been granted the right to take a mate, any mate, he wants during the last harvest on Earth. Dale was seventeen when the aliens first appeared. His parents assumed he’d be safe since the final collection would be done before he turned twenty-three. He didn’t fall within the guidelines established, so they took for granted he had nothing to fear.

They were wrong.

3 – Uncharted – Alli Temple

Treacherous storms. A mysterious pirate king. The prince’s unrelenting pursuit. Georgina and Cinder can only escape by following the uncharted course of their hearts. But just as a future together is within their grasp, Cinder’s past threatens to drag them both to the deep.

4 – Princess of Dorsa (The Chronicles of Dorsa Book 1) – Eliza Andrews

Rebellious Princess Natasia has always known that her fate is to marry a man her father can shape into his heir. But everything changes after a would-be assassin nearly takes Tasia’s life. Someone with means and connections is obviously trying to destabilize the Empire, but who? No noble family is above suspicion, so the Emperor takes the extraordinary step of naming his daughter his true heir.

Tasia suddenly finds herself saddled with learning to rule an entire Empire. But there are enemies on every side, threatening to disrupt the Empire’s fragile peace — there’s the long-standing and deeply unpopular war in the East, disagreements amongst her father’s closest advisors, angry lords threatening their defiance, and rumors of a faraway kingdom trying to sow discord.

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Happy, Happy Easter!

I can’t believe we are a quarter of the way through 2021, but, here we are. As an adult that never grew up, I always take part in the egg dying options. I am also peep’s fiend with all that wonderful marshmallow goodness.

I do enjoy the way we celebrate Easter in the US but my search through worldwide celebrations was craziness. My favorite was the Easter Crimes week in Norway. They spend that time reading and watching stories about crimes. I may not live there but I can certainly participate in solidarity! Lol, I love the idea of group reading as a holiday.

However you celebrate Eater, I wish you the all the best! After the last year, we deserve it.

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Book Review – The Blade Itself (FL #1) – Joe Abercrombie

This was my first book from Joe Abercrombie and has been on my TBR pile for quite some time. Definitely a shame since this was a beautifully told story and I can’t wait to continue through the other books of this world. I gave this book an easy 4/5. You should definitely take the plunge if you are considering it.

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**Spoilers Below**

Our main characters are Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, Nobleman Captain Jezal dan Luthar, Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, and the wizard, Bayaz. Set forward into an epic fantasy land outfitted with swords, war and great palaces, we get to ride along with each of them as the threads of fate untwine.

Logan has decided he wants to try to be a better man after a lifetime of brutal killing but his past just wont die. In the first few pages we discover he was with a crew of other nortthmen, who had all gone rogue against the self declared King of the North, Bethod. While camped in the countryside, they are attacked by undead creatures named Flatheads. Logan is forced to jump off a cliff face to surviv, falling into an icy river and seperated form his group.

When he wakes in the river and climbs back to the hilltop, it appears his friends were all killed. Alone with his pot, he decides to keep moving on, hunting as he needs to for food. At one junction in the forest, he calls fire spirits for company and they notify him that a magi looking for him is just ahead of him. Here he meets Quia, the First of the Magi’s apprentice and summons him to Bayaz.

Bethod comes to visit them and demand the Magi kneels for him, but he refuses and means to declarer war on the Union. Bayaz leaves his fortress and takes his apprentice and Logen to Aldua, the capitol of the Union. In Aldu, their reception is one of disbelief since he hasnt made an appearance in literal ages of men. The closed council holds a ceremonial extra chair just for him, but no one believes the Magi is who he claims to be.

Gllokta works for the Inquisition office under, under Arch Lector Sult, and is tasked with finding a way to disprove that Bayaz is who he says he is. Unique to Glokta’s POV are italics that outline what he would rather say after he says the proper thing. I did enjoy his part very well as he makes the most of his life with his ruined body and missing teeth.

He delves into the library hoping for some information on the Magi and uncovers the Master Maker tower that has stood empty and sealed up for centuries has a key, and Bayaz, if he is real, should have it.

Meanwhile, Lothar, spends all of his time training to win a famous fencing competition that Aldua puts on every year. He also falls into lust with his friend and army mate, Colleum West. West suspects them and begs Lothar not to see her.

The day of the contest finds Bayaz, Quia, and Logan in the crowd watching. Lothar makes it to the end match but it badly outmatched by a outlands opponent, Georst. He is within his last mark when Bayaz bewitches him and forces out a victory instead. The evening of his celebration, Glokta arrives and notifies Bayaz that he can verify his identity by providing the key to the Maker’s Tower, which he does. He takes Glokta, Lothar, and Logen on a tour of the tower after he opens the base.

More intrigues abound within it’s pages but do keep in mind while this is an amazing read, it is not a happy book. I would call his style a cross between Tolkien and Stephan King. I still recommend it for reading!

New Year’s Resolutions Anyone?

Well, here we are again at the beginning of January with the winter wonderland around us. It’s that time of year again, to review our goals or resolutions and see how well we did last year. I am one of those people who prefers to call them goals instead of resolutions. I feel like I do better with them if I keep them in that mindset.

My goals were to read and write more than I did in 2019. I apologize if yours were based more in reality and the pandemic special of 2020, wreaked havoc on many of those types of goals, I am sure.

Reading is an easy one to measure since I have been religiously tracking my reading habits on Goodreads since I finally made an account there. (Profile is:https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/117151645-gail-marie, if you want to add me). My books read in 2019 was a sad, 16 with many from the same author. I managed a respectable 55 this year from a much wider genre base. This year, I am planning to up this to 60 and hope I can squeeze in a few more. There are so many great books out there I am looking forward to.

Writing is harder to measure and requires me to be honest with myself about my goals. With the COVID pandemic forcing us into quarantine early this year, I did manage to create a quiet second space I can lock myself into with only Wattpad and my google docs to keep me focused on my writing. I won’t deny I have issues procrastinating and they usually involve wasting unnecessary time on Twitter and Pinterest. So for 2021, I want to write more but also more predictably. The goal is always everyday, so I will work towards that.

How did your goals for this year go? Were they writing or reading related?

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Favorite Book of 2020

This work by K.F. Breene, surprised me. This was my first of hers, and quickly became an appreciation of the story. I was invested in Reagan as a bounty hunter and swiftly spent the next two books within this series, skipping sleep and my daily writing grind. Reagan is one of the strongest female characters we get to meet. Reagan called to me as a great example of fearless female heroine. She is proficient in weapons, fighting, shooting and her own breed of magic. In this book, we discover that beneath her bounty hunter appearance is an heir to Lucifer himself.

Her world building was beautiful. It was set in present day life but with areas of magical law enforcement that kept the magical community secret from the human population. I enjoyed that her version of werewolves shifters that turn into wolves are other prey animals at will. They are not ruled by the full moon. We also discover the existence of another realm attached to the brink (present day human world).

Reagan meets Darius after he intercepts her attempt to seize a mark rumored to be selling blood, though what kind we don’t discover for some time. A scuffle ensues and elder vampire, Darius, makes off with Reagan’s mark. Reagan eventually must work with the vampires to bring justice to a league of unicorns within their protection. The vampire creation elixir is made from it’s blood and a betrayer to the vampire life, is selling unicorn blood to mages to boost their magic, though temporarily.

The initial unicorn investigation and her unwillingness to reveal her true self to Darius, forces her near death and destroys her sword. While Darrius attempts to replace the sword using a Callie and Dizzy, Reagan discovers they knew her mother before she fled the public eye to keep Reagan safe from magical prying yes.

Reagan and Darius undercover a high powered mage, playing host to a powerful demon, had orchestrated the entire thing. The demon suspected Reagans true heritage and kidnaps Darius in an attempt to force her hand and work together with them. They underestimate the power within her, and she soon destroys his many followers and frees Darius with plenty of help from Callie and Dizzy.

I gave this book a 5/5 rating and highly recommend it for your next urban fantasy read

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