Monday, December 31, 2018

2018 Wrap Up: BIG New Year's Eve Post


If every reading year has a word attached to it (2016 was the year of the Indie, 2017 was the year of the ARC) then 2018 was the year of the Surprise. I've read 110 books this year, a record for me but that's not the surprising thing. What surprised me was more than a few of the books I'd earmarked as must-read, highly-anticipated before their releases fell flat for me and the books I loved the most were the ones I had written off ahead of time as "meh, I don't think I'll like this one."

My Top 18 Favorite Books I've Read in 2018:

18. Imber by Tyffany Hackett

17. The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle

16. Pestilence by Laura Thalassa

15. A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

14. Wall of Crosses by Baj Goodson

13. Mary Shelley: The Strange True Tale of Frankenstein's Creator by Catherine Reef

12. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

11. Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman

10. Heart of Thorns by Bree Barton 

9. My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

8. There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

7. See How She Dies by Lisa Jackson

6. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

5. An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

4.Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

3. The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke

2. Broken Things by Lauren Oliver

1. Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand


12 Authors I Discovered & Loved in 2018:

Nicole Castroman

Jay Kristoff


Laura Bickle


Laura Thalassa


Marie Rutkowski


Becky Moynihan


Lauren Oliver


Claire Legrand


Alexandra Christo


Ann Aguirre


April Genevieve Tucholke


Penelope Ward

Top Ten Favorite Book Covers of 2018

1. Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

2. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

3. An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

4. The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke

5. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

6. The Towering Sky by Katharine McGee

7. To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

8. What the Woods Keep by Katya de Becerra
         
9. Reactive by Becky Moynihan

10. Broken Things by Lauren Oliver

Top 5 Favorite Genres of 2018:

1. Horror

2. Post-Apocalyptic

3. Sci-Fi

4. Fantasy

5. Thriller

Top 5 Favorite Audiobooks of 2018:

1. Gentleman 9 by Penelope Ward

2. See How She Dies by Lisa Jackson

3. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

4. Legendary by Stephanie Garber

5. The Towering Sky by Katharine McGee
2018 was truly an amazing year in the publishing world. So many fantastic books came out this year and 2019 looks like it will be just as wonderful.  What were some of your favorite books/new authors of 2018? Let me know in the comments! Let's swap recs! 

Happy New Year Bookdragons! I'll see you in 2019!

Friday, December 28, 2018

F is for Friday - 28 December 2018


F Is For Friday is a weekly meme created and hosted by Nomadic Worlds.


How it Works:
1. Credit the creator of this tag (Nomadic Worlds ) and link back.
2. Answer the four questions to the best of your ability.
3. Most important of all, enjoy yourself!


Questions:
F – Feature your latest book obsession (it doesn’t have to be your current read)
I – Indicate which book/s you are looking forward to reading this weekend.
F – Favorite quote of the week/day
F – Five things you’re happy or grateful for this week.


F- Feature your latest book obsession (it doesn't have to be your current read)


I got this book for Jolabokaflod and I started reading right away... Love it so far!

I – Indicate which book/s you are looking forward to reading this weekend.



My yearly re-read to usher in the new year. I'll probably start Texas Gothic on Sunday.

F – Favorite quote of the week/day
“We could be on opposite sides of the world, but you would still be mine, as I am yours.” ― Nicole Castroman, Blackhearts

Ah sweetness! I haven't gotten to this part of Blackhearts yet but it sounds romantic.

F – Five things you’re happy or grateful for this week.

1. Christmas presents.
2. Warm blankets!
3. Afternoons filled with vinyl and board games.
4. Coffee (always)
5. Sunshine cake.

Have a great weekend Bookdragons!

Thursday, December 27, 2018

COVER REVEAL: Magnolia Road by J. Lynn Bailey

It’s cover reveal day for J. Lynn Bailey’s Magnolia Road. Check it out and be sure to pre-order your copy today!

Title: Magnolia Road

Author: J. Lynn Bailey

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Day: January 29th    

 

About Magnolia Road:

On the outside, Bryce Hayes is satisfied with the structure of her life, her demanding career, and a series of no-strings-attached relationships, but her brother bounces in and out of rehab, her mother thinks she can beat her son’s addiction, and her father is simply doing what he can to keep a semblance of “normal”. When Bryce’s father, Congressman Hayes, orders her to Granite Harbor, Maine, due to a string of threats to their family coming from an unidentifiable source, she doesn’t expect Ethan Casey, the sexy soldier who slept with her, then walked out, without so much as a goodbye, to be her landlord. Ethan’s past is riddled with chaos, bullets, and loud noise. After returning to his small town after the war, he’s determined to get back to his roots. Peace, quiet, and working as a game warden for the Maine Warden Service sounds right as rain. But with Bryce in Granite Harbor, staying in his house on Magnolia Road, Ethan can’t stop thinking about his future—and that includes Bryce. But to make things right with the love of his life, he’ll have to open old wounds…and risk losing her forever.  

Add On Goodreads! 

Exclusive Excerpt:

If silence had a name in this moment, it would be fear. Fear and darkness go together like smothered love—stifling, overbearing, and hard to overcome. But, right now, all I know is that I’d rather feel these things because I’m with Ethan. And I’ll do it the way he wants. If that means as friends or lovers because living without him doesn’t seem like a viable option. It’s not something I think I can do. The strong, willful, never-need-a-man woman that I am has somehow changed, turned. Flipped. This situation could have been avoided. Maybe, if I had ignored Ethan that day in Los Angeles, ignored his long legs and his dark brown eyes and long eyelashes, the vein that runs the course of his left arm, his big hands, maybe this moment wouldn’t hurt so much, knowing it was the beginning of the end. Knowing I made a choice that would shatter my heart because what we did today wasn’t love. We didn’t make love. We didn’t share our deepest secrets. We put bandages on our wounds. I lick my lips before I put my mouth to his chest for a kiss. “I know this is the end, Ethan.”    

About the Author:

J. Lynn Bailey has loved to write since she learned to read, around the second grade. When she isn't running after her children, watching COPS, or on the hunt for her next Laffy Taffy joke, you can probably find her holed up in her writing room feverishly working on her next book. She lives in Northern California with her family.

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | My Website

Enter J. Lynn’s Giveaway:


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Read NIGHT OF TERROR