Time to show and tell! What books will you choose to #SpelltheMonthinBooks?
Let’s get excited about reading! With the many summer holidays heading our way.. now is a great time for finding new authors and books to binge or gift(or keep) for every occasion.
I’ve once again selected books I have already read, recommend, and rated.. as well as books from my tbr that I’m really looking forward to reading.
This tag was so thoughtfully brought to you by @ Reviews From The Stacks. I really enjoy doing this every month and seeing what everyone else comes up with for theirs!
The Rules:
Using books you’ve read or want to read. Spell out the month.. but avoid using ‘A’, ‘the’, ‘and’ so on.
Follow the theme. (Not sure what the theme is.)
Share your post through the linkup Here or in a comment
Have Read:
Publication date: June 2011
Pages: 352
Genre: Novel, Urban fantasy, Fantasy fiction
Series: Book 1 of 12: Mercy Thompson
(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Any purchases made through my links may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.)
Moon Called is the novel that introduced Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson to the world and launched a #1 bestselling phenomenon…
Mercy Thompson is a shapeshifter, and while she was raised by werewolves, she can never be one of them, especially after the pack ran her off for having a forbidden love affair. So she’s turned her talent for fixing cars into a business and now runs a one-woman mechanic shop in the Tri-Cities area of Washington State.
But Mercy’s two worlds are colliding. A half-starved teenage boy arrives at her shop looking for work, only to reveal that he’s a newly changed werewolf—on the run and desperately trying to control his animal instincts. Mercy asks her neighbor Adam Hauptman, the Alpha of the local werewolf pack, for assistance.
But Mercy’s act of kindness has unexpected consequences that leave her no choice but to seek help from those she once considered family—the werewolves who abandoned her…
Five Stars
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
These books were so much fun to read! The male and female lead characters are intelligent, strong willed, and fiercely protective of what’s theirs and because of it, their relationship is better for it. Their wildly different personalities compliment one another brilliantly and it makes for great reading, I found myself chuckling at their antics quite often.
I would recommend this book to any fans of ‘Kate Daniels‘ by Ilona Andrews or Seanan McGuire’s ‘October Daye‘ series.
Publication date: March 2009
Pages: 368
Genre: Paranormal romance, Fantasy fiction, Occult fiction
Series: Book 1 of 14: Guild Hunter
Nalini Singh introduces readers to a world of beauty and bloodlust, where angels hold sway over vampires.
Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux is hired by the dangerously beautiful Archangel Raphael. But this time, it’s not a wayward vamp she has to track. It’s an archangel gone bad.
The job will put Elena in the midst of a killing spree like no other—and pull her to the razor’s edge of passion. Even if the hunt doesn’t destroy her, succumbing to Raphael’s seductive touch just may. For when archangels play, mortals break.
Five Stars
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
What an incredibly original perspective on angels and vampires! I love this series. The author did a brilliant job with her fierce and hard-headed protagonist and the cold, unflappable opposing force that is Raphael. He’s kind of a douchebag but.. our main character handles it pretty well. Action packed and quick paced, I consumed this book in one go.
If you liked Chloe Neill’s ‘Chicagoland Vampires‘ or the ‘Fever‘ series by Karen Marie Moning? This is right up your alley.
Publication date: March 2015
Pages: 328
Genre: Urban fantasy, Fantasy fiction, Paranormal Romance
Series: Book 3 of 6: Steel and Stone
*Spoiler Alert*
This is the THIRD book in this series.
2015 Goodreads Choice Awards – Nominee in Best Fantasy
After surviving a round-trip to hell, Piper figures she can survive anything. After all, she just lived through the devastating loss of her Consul apprenticeship and a torturous stint at boarding school. How much worse could it get?
Well, she wasn’t expecting a group of crazy radicals to burn her home to the ground and take her prisoner.
The Gaians, a.k.a. the crazy radicals, plan to rid Earth of daemons and they want Piper to help them. In exchange for her cooperation, they promise her the answer to all her problems: magic. With her own magic, she could reclaim her apprenticeship, the only future she’s ever wanted. But her magic comes at a price–it could kill her.
With the life she’s always known crumbling around her and her future slipping from her grasp, she needs Ash’s help one more time. But the greatest danger of all lies within her, and no matter what she does, she may lose everything–including him.
Five Stars
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I loved this series! With fun, often troublesome characters that are charming and likable, this book is fantastic. You’ll quickly be absorbed in the whirlwind of danger and intrigue as our heroine finds opposition, and friendship, at every turn. With her undeniably unique writing, story line, and characters.. the author really held my attention. I was completely captivated by her vividly imagined world of both beautiful and deadly supernaturals.
I would definitely recommend this if you enjoy fantasy, adventure, and the supernatural.
It reminded me somewhat of Lisa Shearin’s ‘Raine Benares‘ series.
And here are a few books I haven’t had the pleasure of reading yet, but am excited about, also spelling out ‘May’.
To Be Read:
Publication date: April 2021
Pages: 319
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Psychological thriller, Domestic fiction
Standalone
With the startling twists of Gone Girl and the haunting emotional power of Room, Mirrorland is a thrilling work of psychological suspense about twin sisters, the man they both love, and the dark childhood they can’t leave behind.
Cat lives in Los Angeles, far away from 36 Westeryk Road, the imposing gothic house in Edinburgh where she and her estranged twin sister, El, grew up. As girls, they invented Mirrorland, a dark, imaginary place under the pantry stairs full of pirates, witches, and clowns. These days Cat rarely thinks about their childhood home or the fact that El now lives there with her husband Ross.
But when El mysteriously disappears after going out on her sailboat, Cat is forced to return to 36 Westeryk Road, which has scarcely changed in twenty years. The grand old house is still full of shadowy corners, and at every turn Cat finds herself stumbling on long-held secrets and terrifying ghosts from the past. Because someone—El?—has left Cat clues in almost every room: a treasure hunt that leads right back to Mirrorland, where she knows the truth lies crouched and waiting…
A twisty, dark, and brilliantly crafted thriller about love and betrayal, redemption and revenge, Mirrorland is a propulsive, page-turning debut about the power of imagination and the price of freedom.
Publication date: February 2016
Pages: 305
Genre: Mystery, Psychological fiction, Young adult fiction
Standalone
Would you risk your life to save your best friend?
Julia did. When a paroled predator attacked Liv in the woods, Julia fought back and got caught. Liv ran, leaving Julia in the woods for a terrifying 48 hours that she remembers only in flashbacks. One year later, Liv seems bent on self-destruction, starving herself, doing drugs, and hooking up with a violent new boyfriend. A dead girl turns up in those same woods, and Julia’s memories resurface alongside clues unearthed by an ambitious reporter that link the girl to Julia’s abductor. As the devastating truth becomes clear, Julia realizes that after the woods was just the beginning.
Kirkus calls After the Woods “A riveting exploration of what it’s like when the enemy is much closer than you suspect.” (starred review, Nov. 1, 2015)
Publication date: December 2017
Pages: 419
Genre: Suspense, Thriller, Dystopian fiction, Paranormal fantasy
Series: Book 1 of 3: Chronicles of the One
A stunning new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts—Year One is an epic of hope and horror, chaos and magick, and a journey that will unite a desperate group of people to fight the battle of their lives…
It began on New Year’s Eve.
The sickness came on suddenly and spread quickly. The fear spread even faster. Within weeks, everything people counted on began to fail them. The electrical grid sputtered; law and government collapsed—and more than half of the world’s population was decimated.
Where there had been order, there was now chaos. And as the power of science and technology receded, magick rose up in its place. Some of it is good, like the witchcraft worked by Lana Bingham, practicing in the loft apartment she shares with her lover, Max. Some of it is unimaginably evil, and it can lurk anywhere, around a corner, in fetid tunnels beneath the river—or in the ones you know and love the most.
As word spreads that neither the immune nor the gifted are safe from the authorities who patrol the ravaged streets, and with nothing left to count on but each other, Lana and Max make their way out of a wrecked New York City. At the same time, other travelers are heading west too, into a new frontier. Chuck, a tech genius trying to hack his way through a world gone offline. Arlys, a journalist who has lost her audience but uses pen and paper to record the truth. Fred, her young colleague, possessed burgeoning abilities and an optimism that seems out of place in this bleak landscape. And Rachel and Jonah, a resourceful doctor and a paramedic who fend off despair with their determination to keep a young mother and three infants in their care alive.
In a world of survivors where every stranger encountered could be either a savage or a savior, none of them knows exactly where they are heading, or why. But a purpose awaits them that will shape their lives and the lives of all those who remain.
The end has come. The beginning comes next.
How do you choose what book to read next?
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Clever theme. I never saw this before, but I like it. I’d have to think of what I’d used to “spell the month in books.”
I do know that Mirrorland is on my read list. That one looks really good!
That’s how it starts and, next thing you know, you’re doing it every month. 😆
Thanks so much!
And I’ve heard so many great things about Mirrorland.. it should be interesting! Hope we both get a chance to read it soon!
It would be challenge, definitely, but I will pass on these books.
I’ve read many years ago lots of Nora Roberts, but at some point I got bored with that type of fiction, not a fan of romance novels, too. Maybe After the woods could be readable for me, but that’s if I had run out of more realistic novels which still can have a lot of intrigue.
You are doing such excellent job in popularizing books and reading.
I’m waiting impatiently when we reopen in Ontario, I love only real books. I cannot and do not want to read online or on any device. I’ve been always a bookworm, but I am happy only with printed books.
Anyway, we should read frequently and everywhere. That widens one’s world enormously.
What do you like to read? I have a tendency to try a little of everything.. but, I do agree about paper books, there’s nothing like curling up with a physical book and losing yourself in it. Quarantine has made it almost impossible to go out for them though so.. I’ve finally broken down and now read ebooks as well.
Lord willing the restrictions will lessen for you soon and you can restock your shelves!
I need to check out Steel and Stone -always on a lookout for good urban fantasy.
Great post!
Omgosh, that series is So addictive, I’d definitely recommend it if you’re into urban fantasy!
And thank you!