Hello and welcome to another reading roundup.  Since my last roundup I have read two pretty good books which I’d like to share with you. [book-info]I received an Advance Reader Copy of The Poisoned Blade by Kate Elliott at BEA.  It’s been on my TBR for a while, but it’s only recently I read it.  The Poisoned Blade is the second book in a planned trilogy (I believe) and continues the story of Jessamy, a young woman caught between two cult...

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The Blood Mirror by Brent Weeks is the fourth in a planned series of five epic fantasy books.  The series has a wonderfully imaginative magic system in which magic users can turn light into a physical substance. luxin.  Each spectrum of light (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) produces luxin with different properties and uses.  If you’ve not yet started this series, I heartily recommend it.  Go start with The Black Prism.  ...

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Empire of Storms is the fifth and penultimate book in Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass in which a former assassin uses her skills and her magic to save her kingdom.  Being the second to last book in the series, it focusses very much on getting our protagonists into the right place for the finale. What I liked The pacing.  Despite the fact that Empire of Storms is primarily focussed on getting the team into place for the final confrontation...

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Court of Fives by Kate Elliott is a YA fantasy book and one that I found myself being sucked into even in the middle of a reading slump. I found the protagonists engaging and loved the world. I found it had a bit more substance than some YA fantasy novels. What I liked Cultural tensions. This is very much a tale of being caught between two cultures.  Our protagonist, Jessamy, is the child of a Saroese father and Efean mother and struggles to fit...

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Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine is the second in The Great Library series and is the sequel to Ink and Bone, which was one of my favourite reads from last year.  I realised I never did a full review of it.  Bad Evelynne.  Paper and Fire was also one of my most anticipated reads for 2016 and it did not disappoint.  For those of you not familiar with this series, it is a contemporary alternate reality/fantasy in which the Great Library of Alexan...

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Julian Fellowes’s Belgravia is a new book/audiobook/app series from the creator of Downton Abbey.  It is set in the Belgravia quarter of London in 1841 with a prequel set in Brussels in 1815.  The lives of two families, the rich, titled Bellasis family and the nouveau riche Trenchards are brought together at the Duchess of Richmond’s ball and the effects are felt down the years.  It is available in ebook format, as an audiobook and as an a...

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The Wheel of Osheim by Mark Lawrence is the third and final book in his Red Queen’s War trilogy.  It continues the story of Jalan Kendeth as he continues to follow the path upon which fate has set him. The Red Queen’s War trilogy is set in the same world as, and dovetails with, Lawrence’s earlier Broken Empire trilogy.  In some ways that is both a blessing and a curse.  It’s a blessing because the world in which the trilogies are set i...

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A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray is a YA sci-fi mystery in which teenager Marguerite Caine must use technology developed by her parents, the Firebird, to chase her father’s murderer across multiple dimensions.  She finds out that things aren’t as they first seemed. I picked this book up partly because of this concept and partly because I’ve enjoyed books (Star Wars) by Claudia Gray.  Thanks to Amazon’s Whispersync for Voice I pi...

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Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld is the fourth in the Austen Project of modern retellings of Jane Austen’s novels and attempts to bring her classic Pride and Prejudice into the 21st century.  Having read the other three Austen adaptations, I was intrigued to see how Sittenfeld would update the story of Elizabeth, Darcy, Jane and Bingley.  From experience I know that Austen adaptations, when done well, can be wonderful. (check out The Lizzie Benn...

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Now, pretty much anyone who has an interest in popular culture is aware that the first Star Wars movie since 2005, The Force Awakens, was released on December 18th 2015.  Full disclosure: while I consider myself a fan of Star Wars, I have only dabbled in the Extended Universe/Legends supplementary material.  Like many, though, I was anxious to see what J.J. Abrams would make of Lucas’ legacy and booked my ticket to a showing on release day. ...

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How I’d Fix Game of Thrones Season 8 – SPOILERS!
Miscellaneous / May 15, 2019

So guys, I know I’ve not written much lately, but I feel compelled to write given my strong reaction to Season 8 of Game of Thrones.  Full disclosure; this post is being written after the first five episodes have aired but before the series finale.   It’s no secret that the audience reaction to this final season has been less than positive to say the least.  Many of the writing choices made by the showrunners have come under heav...

Evelynne’s Reading Year and Anticipating 2019
Reading Roundup / December 29, 2018

Hello, and I know it’s been a while…  Life caught up with me with new responsibilities at work and home, working towards my CCNA qualification (until said new responsibilities put a halt to it.)  Anyway, enough excuses.  Here I am with my reading review of 2018. 2018 in Stats I use GoodReads as my book tracking application of choice.  I read primarily on my Kindle and since Amazon bought GoodReads the integration works really we...

King of Ashes by Raymond E. Feist – Spoiler free review
eBook reviews / April 22, 2018

King of Ashes is the first in a new series by fantasy author Raymond E. Feist and is the first not to be set in his Midkemia setting.  My thanks to HarperCollins Canada and Raymond E. Feist for the early eArc.  King of Ashes is released on May 8th and as such I will keep this review as spoiler-free as possible. On a personal note, I credit Mr. Feist with reawakening my love of reading; after studying literature at university I couldn...

I’m so excited… and I just can’t hide it!
Miscellaneous / April 5, 2018

Thank you so much to HarperCollins Canada and Raymond E. Feist for the eArc of King of Ashes. I’m SOOOOO excited to read this. I credit Mr. Feist with reawakening my love of reading; after studying literature at university I couldn’t stand to read anything more involved than a Cosmo magazine. Then a friend put a copy of Shadow of a Dark Queen into my hands and I’ve not stopped reading since.  He is a master storytelle...

Doctor Who – Ranking the Regenerations
Miscellaneous / January 1, 2018

Hello, as a Doctor Who fan who has just watched the Twelfth Doctor regenerate into the character’s first female incarnation, I thought it would be a good time to rank them in my estimation.  My rankings are purely personal, and are based on a mixture of the storylines, the performances and the whole caboodle. 14 Sixth Doctor to Seventh Doctor, Time and the Rani 1987 (Colin Baker to Sylvester McCoy)Cause of regeneration: fatally injur...

End of year survey for 2017
Reading Roundup / December 29, 2017

Yes, I know, it’s been quite some time since I posted.  Life has got away with me.  2017 wasn’t the greatest reading year for me; I really struggled to meet my GoodReads reading challenge of 80 books, and just squeezed in by the skin of my teeth. This post is based on a survey that Jamie of the Perpetual Page Turner came up with last year.  there are some great questions here to review my reading year, so I’ll give it a go aga...

Upcoming book releases Autumn 2017
Miscellaneous / August 20, 2017

Hello, now that summer is drawing to a close, we’re coming into prime book release time.  As usual, I have a metric tonne of books about whose release I am super excited.  Some of these are continuations of series in which I am already invested, some are new series from authors I love and some are reissues of old favourites.  So, let’s get into it, shall we? To kick off, I was really excited by the recent news that Raymond E.Feis...

Invictus by Ryan Graudin – Review
Book Reviews , eBook reviews / August 6, 2017

I was lucky enough to receive an advanced Netgalley copy of Invictus by Ryan Graudin – thanks so much to Hachette for giving me a copy.  I ADORED Graudin’s earlier series Wolf by Wolf so I was very excited to read Invictus.Invictus is described as young adult time-travel adventure with a dash of Doctor Who (guys, you already had me at “Ryan Graudin,” no need for overkill) and Firefly.  So without further ado, here’s my r...

Update on the Amazon Echo and Home Automation
Tech Reviews / August 2, 2017

Hello, I thought I’d give you an update into my adventures in the Amazon Echo and home automation.  I’m still really enjoying my virtual assistant.  Since my last post I’ve added a few more items to my home automation setup.  My home now includes two Philips Hue Bloom lights, a Philips Hue Go (thank you, employer, for your rewards program 😀 ) a Harmony hub and a second Amazon Echo Dot for our bedroom.  My husband prefers mo...

Reading roundup – July 29th 2017
Reading Roundup / July 29, 2017

Hello and here I am with another reading roundup.  I must admit I’ve not been doing very well with my reading.  I’m actually three books behind on my GoodReads 2017 reading challenge; 42 books out of 50.  This is due to a couple of things.  I’ve recently become obsessed with playing Assassin’s Creed on my Playstation and watching gameplay YouTube videos.  Sigh.  Honestly, I’m not so violent in real life.  Additionally, ...