Sunday Share 9: Faking Fall, A Darker Shade of Fiction, Reading Updates

 

 

 

 

Happy Sunday everyone! As I sit here typing this I’m drinking tea from my new Jack Skellington  and watching the sun pour through my blinds. It’s mid September but her in Los Angeles it feels like summer hasn’t left us just yet! Fall is one of the only seasons I miss from my East Coast upbringing. Yet fall can also be felt through traditions and rituals.

 

Here are some of my favorite Fall Rituals that I’m enacting despite the heat:

 

 

Cinnamon Brooms

I get so excited when these pop up at my local Albertsons! These brooms make great decorations and infuse your home with a wonderful fall smell. I will probably buy two or three of these this year and I always buy one for my friend to decorate her house with, its been a tradition for the past four years and she keeps them year round :) 

OREOS

Maybe its the food coloring but I always find Halloween Oreo’s much tastier than the regular ones!

 

Scary Movies

 

 

 

I usually spend most of October watching some of my favorite horror films but I couldn't resist Friday’s Jason marathon on SyFy. It was interesting rewatching the films but I really didn't enjoy the later ones at all. Parts One and Two will always be my favorites.

 

Scary Shopping

Like Christmas Decorations I can’t resist buying a few things for Halloween year after year. I scoped out some goodies at Michael’s craft shop but I'm waiting for more markdowns. I did get this awesome kit for $4.00:

 

 

What I loved about this kit was that it looked like an evil Blender! The Doctor Dreadful line are kits that let you make gross looking but edible drinks. I’m looking forward to trying this out!

 

Dark Fiction

Fall has always meant adding A darker shade of reading to my TBR pile: Horror, Thrillers, Mysteries, Gothic Romances, they all just fit wonderfully with the season. I’m participating in these challenges:

 

 

And will spend the entire month of October reading and reviewing darker themed books for my HallowREADS event.

I recently completed these two books that really fit into my themed reading:

 

 

I’ve also signed up for the blog tour of this book:

Though it isn’t horror it is a book of rivalry and villainy!

 

Reading Stats

I’m at 265 books Read

That's 10 books from my Goodreads goal!

Though Goodreads does count novellas as books which isn't really fair:) So once I meet 275 I’ll do a break down of books vs novellas to get a true feel for my yearly progress.

 

Happy Fall & Happy Reading!

Review: Firebrand by Gillian Philip

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for a review.

PUBLISHER:
TOR

Tor is always the giver of awesomeness in my mailbox! Firebrand grabbed me by it’s cover and when I casually opened to the first page I couldn't put it down. There are a lot of great elements to this story: an interesting take on the Fae, the paranoia and religious upheaval of sixteenth century England, and political machinations on both side of the veil between Humans and Faeries. All of this would mean nothing without fabulous writing and a complex character to guide us: Seth Macgregor. 

We meet Seth at a pivotal time in his live. He is on the cusp of adulthood, living with a clan that mostly ignores him except for his older half brother Conal. As Seth grows we learn about his precarious position in the Fae hierarchy and the   fierce love he has for his brother. The two should by all rights be rivals. Seth is the product of an affair between Conal’s father and Lilith advisor to the Fae queen Kate. That love  leads Seth to follow Conal into exile into the human world.

This is my first book by Gillian and I’m so looking forward to the second book in this series! fantasy novels are one of my favorite genres and nothing is better then being guided through a new fantasy landscape by a stellar author. I devoured this book in two days and now the wait begins for book two. Highly recommend this ! This book may have slipped below the radar for a lot of potential readers so I’ve decided to be a champion of this book! Look for update posts as we move forward to the USA  release of the next volume!

Two Masters, Two Must Read Books: Joyland & The Ocean at The End of The Lane

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Masters released two books this summer that toped my best of summer reading experiences.

 

Joyland

Everything about Joyland is an experience: From the noir influenced cover, the little Hard Case Crime logo, to the actual experience of holding and turning the pages, since the book is only available in print format. Yet like all of King’s books there is more to this story underneath the surface. Joyland is the first person narrative of  college student Devin Jones. Devin is spending the summer working at Joyland.  The work days are long and hot yet Devin somehow thrives, he makes to wonderful friends, finds a hidden talent for entertaining while wearing the ‘fur” and he experiences the deepest heartbreak of his young life when his girlfriend breaks up with him right before a planned reunion.

 

Devin decides to take a year off of school and work full time at the park. During this time the pleasant facade of the park begins to tear apart and a deep secret is revealed. I loved this story! It was a snapshot into a different time and wonderfully creepy . There is also the classic Kingesque young boy who “knows” things. A perfect summer or Fall read :)

 

The Ocean at The End of The Lane

I kept this book for over a week before I read it. I knew from the description of the book i would love it. Ocean is a story of childhood and memory. As the protagonist of our story returns to his childhood home the doors to his memory swing open and he remembers a series of events long forgotten and a girl with her own personal ocean. I loved everything about this story. The characters and situations resonated with me for days, pure joy in every page .  

 

Highly recommend both of these books!! Happy Reading!