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Book Review: Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate

Title: Seven Ways We Lie
Author: Riley Redgate
Format: eBook
Publisher: Amulet Books

I recently finished this book for Bibliothon. I finished the book basically in one day. No not one sitting, I did have to put it down. I also wasn't that far into the story when I put it down to take care of and do other things. When I picked it back up again though, I couldn't put it down.

This book follows several high school kids, specifically seven kids, and how they are dealing with their specific situations. The fun is their situations start to overlap. And it becomes how they are all dealing with this one thing, while dealing with their other crap that life is throwing at them.

In my Bibliothon wrap up video I couldn't articulate or really understand what had me glued to this book. I think it was all the emotions I was experiencing while reading. And as I read I thought about how much life hasn't really changed from high school. (I know that is a depressing thought, especially for high school students. Yep that's right. Life doesn't really get better. Just different and possibly worse stressors.)

I gave this book 5 stars on amazon and Goodreads. For me though, 5 stars means it can pull me from a reading slump. So I have to ask myself, could this book pull me out of a reading slump, or would this be more four point something stars? The answer? It's 5 stars.

Part of what pulls me out of a reading slump, is a book that makes me think, and relates to my real life and what is going on. This book covers that. It may have only been about a week since I finished, but I've already recommended this book to several friends and work acquaintances. If you haven't read this book yet, I definitely recommend you check it out.

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COYER Update

The first part of COYER is over, during which I participated in The List. Between December 16, 2017, and January 12, 2018 I managed to get through 4 books on my list, and started a 5th.

Three of the books I read were audiobooks, and the last was an eBook. The audiobooks were:

• Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch
• My Sister's Grave by Robert Dugoni
• The Red Sword by Michael Wallace

The eBook was Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller.

Of those books, My Sister's Grave and The Red Sword were Kindle Unlimited books, Snow Like Ashes is a book I've had for a while and purchased the audiobook of recently so I could sneak it in. Mask of Shadows was a book I received for review through NetGalley.

Overall, I feel like I should have been able to get more than this, but I realize I also wasn't that motivated to read Mask of Shadows. Since I didn't want to start another eBook before finishing this one, and I was reading slow since I wasn't exactly excited about reading Mask of Shadows, and for some reason I didn't put any physical books I own on the list, so I didn't read much.

I also haven't been listening to audiobooks much while at the office. This has cut down my reading since this is where I would get most of my reading done; I'd spend about 8-9 hours each day there.

Now, we've entered a new area of COYER, and I chose to participate in The One with a Twist, where I've chosen to read eBooks. So far I've read 1, The Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate which I also read as part of Bibliothon. A story I enjoyed so thoroughly, days later I'm still recovering from the emotions felt while reading.

This means from the start of COYER I have read a total of 5 books. Bibliothon is still going though, and I still have one more eBook on my TBR for this readathon. Anything can happen. :-)

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Book Review: Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller

Title: Mask of Shadows
Author: Linsey Miller
Format: eARC
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

*I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book was advertised as being for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo. I haven't read any Leigh Bardugo, but I have read Sarah J. Maas. I don't see the connection other than some minor plot points like the need to kill.

A Sarah J. Maas book is a book you do not want to put down. The plot here is quite slow and has a way of making me tired. There is no wondering how something is going to happen here.

The main character is a gender fluid character, meaning they don't identify as either male or female, named Sallot Leon. A former thief, out for revenge for their people. People in a country left to die so those in another country could live. Now the opportunity has presented and Sallot becomes 23 in hopes of becoming the new Opal, one of four assassins who works for the Queen, killing her enemies.

The auditions to become Opal are intense. The auditioners can kill each other. In fact, that is how they are limited down to who will be in the final running. You'd think there would be suspense here at the unknown attack and when it would happen. Somehow, this did not get through. I was very relaxed reading this, and sometimes a little too relaxed and would need to put it down to take a nap.

The plot was good, but the writing could use some work. If this were a Sarah J. Maas book, the suspense that should have been there, would have come through. I found this to be kind of just meh, and rated this as a 3 of 5. This wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either.

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Book Review: Fall of the Dragon Prince

Title: Fall of the Dragon Prince
Author: Dan Allen
Format: eARC
Publisher: Jolly Fish Press

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This story is about a kingdom, or rather several kingdoms, united by one man who became the king of all. To help ensure their good fortune, he had a child by a woman belonging to each kingdom. The problem is the king is now dead, and his heirs have not come forward to claim the throne. The throne currently sits empty.

Some of his heirs know who they are, or have figured it out at one point or another. Others do not know who their father was, and don't realize they are royalty. The story follows two of the many kingdoms, and two individuals from those kingdoms. One is a servant on a quest to remain in the castle or to find a better life for herself. Along comes a gentleman, seemingly innocent enough, and is trying to find the heirs of the great king. The other is in a fight for his own kingdom, and to become the next chief by winning the dragon race. The winner of the race also gets to choose his wife from the eligible women. One dragon rider is very interested in winning and is out to sabotage the main character we follow from this kingdom.

The writing by itself I found to be good. There were complexities of the story that were well played out. The story itself however, I found on the slow side. Or if there was action, there wasn't a lot of suspense. This is still a book I would recommend to you, and my close friends and family. Overall I give this a 3.5 of 5.

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Book Review: My Sister's Grave by Robert Dugoni

Title: My Sister's Grave (Tracy Crosswhite #1)
Author: Robert Dugoni
Format: Audible
Narrator: Emily Sutton-Smith
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

My Sister's Grave actually had me crying. I don't remember the last book I read, where my eyes even watered.

The story follows Tracy as she tries to find what happened to her sister almost 20 years ago. One night Tracy goes off with her boyfriend and leaves her sister Sarah to drive home alone. The night was dark, and storming; the back roads were treacherous. Tracy's truck is found abandoned, and no sign of Sarah. Afterwards a great manhunt begins trying to find who took Sarah and where her body is.

The main suspect claims he didn't do it. Tracy does her own digging because she also needs to know what happened to her sister and wants to make sure the right person pays, and she'd love it if she can get her sister back. Now, after 20 years, they've finally found Sarah's body and have the evidence Tracy needs to reopen her sister's case and maybe finally find some answers.

In the story, you think you know what is going to happen. Then you crash in a wall because whatever you think is going to happen is not what happens. Everytime I thought the story was going right, there was a left turn, or worse, a u-turn. While slow, this book kept me on the edge of my seat because I couldn't see where it was going. Every time I got comfortable in the rhythm, the beat of the music being played changed.

I really enjoyed this book and would give it a 4.5 out of 5.

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Top 5 Books Read in 2017

2017 I read a lot of books; way more than usual. Usually I'm around 52-60. This year I blew that out of the water with over 100 books read!! I absolutely surprised myself. Now, most of these were audiobooks, so I wasn't physically reading which helped as I am a slow reader. (Trying to get faster at reading because there are soooo many books out there to be read. Including the close to 100 on my TBR.)

5.

Balanced on the Blade's Edge
By Lindsay Buroker

I don't remember when I read this, but I do remember the story. It has stuck with me it was that good. I was also grateful I had the next 2 books in the series because I jumped right to them when I was done.







4.

The Hundredth Queen
By Emily R King

I would not want to be a girl living in this world. But the writing was just fantastic! I will have to give in and get the second book soon because I'm not going to be able to wait much longer. I've been trying to be good though since my TBR is probably close to 100 books and I don't own the second book. The problem is not knowing what happens next is slowly eating away at my soul!





3.

Fledgling (Dragonrider Chronicles: Book 1)
By Nicole Conway

I listened to the audiobook of this back in April and just about died it was so good! I attempted to find another book to listen to but couldn't. I just had to see what happened next. I ended up getting and listening to all 4 books in the series back to back and marathoned the books. The raving in the YouTube video, possibly videos, yeah that was real. I loved them that much!





2.

Firstlife
By Gena Showalter

This is one of the books I listened to while training for a 5K run. I was still listening to this when it came time for my first actual 5K race. I was so distracted by the story, I didn't realize I ran most of the 5K!! I had never even done that while training. The story was so unique to me I think it allowed me to keep the perfect pace for myself and allowed me to run most of the race. This book will always hold a special place in my heart.




1.

Secondborn
By Amy A. Bartol

I very much enjoyed this book. I hadn't read something like this before. I did not want to put this book down. There were times I had to for meetings or because I was working on something a little more complex, but I didn't want to. I wanted to be a like a child again and put off the things I had to do and just read. (When I was younger I never wanted to read, but I also didn't want to do my homework.) I look forward to reading the next book when it comes out in April of 2018.



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