I mentioned a few weeks back in my DNF book chat that I had THINGS TO SAY about Merrie Destefano's alien invasion debut, Valiant. That time has come...
Big thanks to Entangled Teen for sending me a copy of Valiant. Though I may not have liked it, that doesn't mean you won't -- it hits stores next week, if you want to find out for yourself!
VALIANTby Merrie Destefano
Science Fiction (sort of)/post-apocalyptic (sort of)/adventure (sort of); 304 pages
Expected publication: December 4th 2018 by Entangled: Teen
The Valiant was supposed to save us. Instead, it triggered the end of the world.
Earth is in shambles. Everyone, even the poorest among us, invested in the Valiant’s space mining mission in the hopes we’d be saved from ourselves. But the second the ship leaves Earth’s atmosphere, our fate is sealed. The alien invasion begins. They pour into cities around the world through time portals, possessing humans, forcing us to kill one another.
And for whatever reason, my brother is their number one target.
Now the fate of the world lies in the hands of me, a seventeen-year-old girl, but with the help of my best friend, Justin―who’s suddenly starting to feel like more―maybe if we save my brother, we can save us all…
Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored video, though these books were sent to me for review consideration purposes. All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.
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I've been craving both thrillers AND contemporary reads lately (I know - who even am I?!), so BORROWED by Lucia DiStefano fits the bill! Here are my initial thoughts, as well as a sneak peek of the book — let me know your thoughts, and if this is one you plan on reading!
Text copyright Lucia DiStefano and Elephant Rock Books, 2018.
Borrowed by Lucia DiStefano
Contemporary/Thriller, 264 pages
Published November 1st 2018 by Elephant Rock Books
Love, mystery, and danger collide in this new literary thriller with the dark heart of a Gillian Flynn novel and the lyrical prose of Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You the Sun. A triumph of authenticity, grace, and nail-biting suspense, Lucia DiStefano’s ingenious debut is an unflinching, genre-bending page-turner. As seventeen-year-old Linnea celebrates the first anniversary of her heart transplant, she can’t escape the feeling that the wires have been crossed. After a series of unsettling dreams, inked messages mysteriously appear on her body, and she starts to wonder if this new heart belongs to her at all. In another Austin neighborhood, Maxine braces for a heartbreaking anniversary: her sister Harper’s death. Between raising her brothers and parenting her grief-stricken mother, Max is unable to ignore her guilty crush on Harper’s old flame or shake her lingering suspicion that her sister’s drowning wasn’t really an accident. With Harper as the sole connection, Linnea and Maxine are soon brought together in fantastic and terrifying ways as the shocking truth behind Harper’s death comes to light. Author’s bio
A former high school English teacher, Lucia DiStefano currently works as an editor, ghostwriter, and writing coach. First-generation Sicilian-American and daughter of an olive farmer, she admits to having recurring pasta dreams. Hailing from central Connecticut, Lucia lives near Austin, Texas with her husband and an old bloodhound named Waffle.
Like Elephant Rock on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @ElephantRockBks for book and blog tour news and updates!
Disclaimer: a review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for honest review consideration/coverage. Affiliate links are used in this post. Thanks for helping support this blog!
*I realized after the fact that I had a couple of the books swapped in the final filming of the poem, so... oops!
But I'd love to hear/see YOUR autumn-inspired book spine poem! Snap a pic and tag me on insta (@bookishmisty) or twitter (@TheBookRat)!
THE POEM: The November Girl
The splendor falls,
strands of bronze and gold,
brightly woven amid stars and darkness.
Dark wood, uprooted,
lies beneath frost.
The last harvest,
tender morsels,
lost.
After the woods,
darkness falls;
the dead and the buried:
secrets in snow.
Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored video, though some of these books may have been sent to me for review consideration at one time or another. All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own. Affiliate links used where possible. Thanks for helping support my channel!
SO... I was so worried about Virginia Boecker's last name that I got her first name wrong... 🤣 Oops. SORRY VIRGINIA! (Also, I was right, it's "Baker")
It's time for another in my BACKLIST LOVE series, and omggg, I just fell right into these books. So good!
If you've read any of them, or have recommendations of similar books, definitely let me know in the comments! And if you have some backlist love titles of your own, I'd love to hear 'em!
Stolen Songbirdby Danielle L. Jensen
For five centuries, a witch’s curse has bound the trolls to their city beneath the ruins of Forsaken Mountain. Time enough for their dark and nefarious magic to fade from human memory and into myth. But a prophesy has been spoken of a union with the power to set the trolls free, and when Cécile de Troyes is kidnapped and taken beneath the mountain, she learns there is far more to the myth of the trolls than she could have imagined.
Cécile has only one thing on her mind after she is brought to Trollus: escape. Only the trolls are clever, fast, and inhumanly strong. She will have to bide her time, wait for the perfect opportunity.
But something unexpected happens while she’s waiting – she begins to fall for the enigmatic troll prince to whom she has been bonded and married. She begins to make friends. And she begins to see that she may be the only hope for the half-bloods – part troll, part human creatures who are slaves to the full-blooded trolls. There is a rebellion brewing. And her prince, Tristan, the future king, is its secret leader.
As Cécile becomes involved in the intricate political games of Trollus, she becomes more than a farmer’s daughter. She becomes a princess, the hope of a people, and a witch with magic powerful enough to change Trollus forever.
StarCrossedby Elizabeth C. Bunce
16-year-old Digger thrives as a spy and sneak-thief among the feuding religious factions of Gerse. But when a routine job goes horribly wrong and her partner and lover Tegen is killed, she disguises herself in a group of young nobles and sneaks out of the city. Accepted as a lady-in-waiting at the stronghold of the powerful Nemair, she finds new peace and friendship (and some new targets). But when an old client from the city comes to the castle, she realizes her hosts may be planning the ultimate uprising against the king - and rather than true peace, she may be at the heart of the rebellion.
The Witch Hunterby Virginia Boecker
The magic and suspense of Graceling meet the political intrigue and unrest of Game of Thrones in this riveting fantasy debut.
Your greatest enemy isn't what you fight, but what you fear.
Elizabeth Grey is one of the king's best witch hunters, devoted to rooting out witchcraft and doling out justice. But when she's accused of being a witch herself, Elizabeth is arrested and sentenced to burn at the stake.
Salvation comes from a man she thought was her enemy. Nicholas Perevil, the most powerful and dangerous wizard in the kingdom, offers her a deal: he will save her from execution if she can break the deadly curse that's been laid upon him.
But Nicholas and his followers know nothing of Elizabeth's witch hunting past--if they find out, burning at the stake will be the least of her worries. And as she's thrust into the magical world of witches, ghosts, pirates, and one all-too-handsome healer, Elizabeth is forced to redefine her ideas of right and wrong, of friends and enemies, and of love and hate.
Virginia Boecker weaves a riveting tale of magic, betrayal, and sacrifice in this unforgettable fantasy debut.
Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored video, though these books were sent to me for review consideration purposes. All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.
Affiliate links used where possible.
Thanks for helping support my blog!
If you missed it, I've already unboxed a big old package of 2019 releases from Macmillan in mid-October, but that's not all that came in my mail in the month of October.
Let me know your thoughts on these books, what you'd like to see, and what you added to YOUR shelves last month!
Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored video, though these books were sent to me for review consideration purposes. All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.
Affiliate links used where possible.
Thanks for helping support my channel!
It's been awhile since we had a good ol' fashioned Book Chat around here, so I thought we'd sit down and talk about books I've DNFed this year, and reasons why I tend to give up on books.
Let me know your thoughts, and topics you want to see on Book Chat, in the comments!
A rant on VALIANT will be coming closer to its release date.
Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored video, though these books were sent to me for review consideration purposes. All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.
Affiliate links used where possible.
Thanks for helping support my channel!
VALIANT by Merrie Destefano
