Book Review - Angel Mage

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

What’s this? I don’t start with my usual bulletpoints of information and affiliates. Ok, stay with me. I had plans to buy this. I honestly did! I preordered it and EVERYTHING! So it came as a huge surprise to me when I got an email from Gollancz, asking if anyone wanted to be involved in a blog tour. I jumped at it as I am a huge fan of Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom series and Keys to the Kingdom series. What came as a surprise was when the publisher said “We’re sending you a book for review for the tour”. Now, I don’t normally do reviews for tours as you all know and I had preordered my copy of the book already. But I went “Sod it!” and decided to be involved. Unless something unspeakably awful happened in the book, I was going to be involved in this tour. 

And with that out of the way, let’s talk Angel Mage, shall we? 

• Title And Author: Angel Mage by Garth Nix
• Publisher: Gollancz
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Physical
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by publisher in exchange for an honest review/reaction
• Length: 560 Pages

Over a century ago, the country of Ystara fell to the Ash Blood plague. If anyone came into contact with the magic of an angel, regardless of the angel’s level, their blood will turn into ash or the person will transform into a terrifying beastling. 

It’s been over a century since Liliath crept into the empty sarcophagus of Saint Marguerite and slept, waiting. But now she is awake, and she has a plan. She still is nineteen, she still looks beautiful and she still is as singleminded as she was before her sleep. She is determined to find the missing archangel of Ystara, Pelleniel. 

But for her plans to succeed, her quest centres round four young Sarancians, each so different and yet, share something important. But what connects the doctor-in-training Simeon, the fortune hunter Herni, the musketeer Agnez, and the scholar and icon maker Dorotea? 

When the four meet by sheer chance, they feel the kinship between them instantly, though they have no idea why. Only Liliath knows why they are so important and she has plans to manipulate the Queen, her musketeers and everyone around her to achieve her ends… 

So… where do I begin?

Audiobook Review - Murder on the Ballarat Train

• Title And Author: Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Green
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press/C&R Crime
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from local library via BorrowBox
• Length: 162 Pages or 4 Hours 48 Minutes

I tried to audiobook the first book in the Phryne Fisher Mystery (or the Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, if you are a fan of the TV show via Alibi or Netflix), Cocaine Blues, a few months back but due to my hay fever headache and me not warming to the first few chapters (I don’t think I got halfway through chapter 3), I DNFed it. So, why did I decide to try the third book in the series? I wanted something light and quick after audiobooking Eragon, which I struggled with. 

All Phryne Fisher wants is a week of fabulousness in 1920s Ballarat, and going by train should be fun. Expect she woke up with the first class carriage filled with chloroform. Soon, she finds herself in the middle of several investigations: the murder of an elderly woman whose body was dragged up out of the window, a girl with no memory and rumours of white slavery with young girls rumoured to be sold into prostitution. But Phyrne will get to the truth before a possible second murder happens, and if she can have a discreet dalliance with a young man, so be it… 

I'm Crazy For You

The Pewter Wolf's going all green with this stop on the Crazy for You tour! yes, T.S. Hunter and Red Dog are back and they want to let you know about the fourth book in the Soho Noir series, Crazy for You. 

Now, the plan was for me to read the first and second instalments - Tainted Love and Who's That Girl - before this stop actually happened. I read the third - Careless Whisper - a few months back. August, I believe. And I had such a fun weekend reading it (link to that reaction post is here). But real life and near reading slumps threw me through the ringer this month so bear with me as I try and tempted you with this. 

London's Soho in 1987 is in the grip of another hot summer, and while temping at his local pub, The Red Lion, Joe somehow finds himself agreeing to find the missing girlfriend of Tony "The Lizard" Lagorio. It's Tony's daughter, Antonia, who comes to Joe, fearing that daddy's girlfriend has been kidnapped by a rival gangster. 

But it looks like the girlfriend's very rich father is already asking Joe and business partner, Russell, to find his daughter via his client (and Russell's maybe boyfriend), Freddie Gillespie. It looks like everyone wants to keep this out of the public eye. 

But as Joe and Russell try and the find the missing girlfriend and stop a gang turf war from happening, a face from Freddie's past has appeared and could easily make Freddie lose his job and his relationship with Russell... 

Everyone needs to watch their step. It's a very thin line between love and war... 

I am thrilled that Red Dog asked if I could show an extract of Crazy for You. As you can guess, I am trying to go into this series blind and I heard rumours that there might be a physical bind-up of the whole series out in time for Christmas as I am thinking of treating self to this beast! 

Now, before I hand you over to the extract, I want to thank Dylan at Red Dog for asking if I wanted to be involved (hell yeah!). If you want to know more about TS, you can pop over to his Twitter - @TSHunter5 - or bark at Red Dog Press at @reddogtweets. If you want to know more about Crazy for You or the rest of the Soho Noir novellas, pop over to Red Dog's website. 

Now, over to TS!

Audiobook Review - Eragon

• Title And Author: Eragon by Christopher Paolini
• Publisher: Random House (Corgi)
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from local library via BorrowBox
• Length: 528 Pages or 16 Hours 22 Minutes

At the beginning of the year, I said I was going to try and read the whole Inheritance Cycle and His Fair Assassin series. I failed. I fully accept that I sucked that sticking to my reading plans (hence why I NEVER do “This is my TBR for the month” list). But I did want to try and read this series all the way through. I have read Eragon years ago and I did enjoy myself hugely with it. So, when I was on my library audiobook app and I saw this, I requested it. 

When Eragon finds a polished blue stone, he thinks it’ll be worth something. Maybe he could sell it for meat. But he can’t and, almost overnight, his simple farm boy life is shattered as the stone isn’t a stone but a dragon’s egg. Soon, the egg hatches and, as Eragon and the dragon (who he needs Saphira) bond, both are thrown into a dark world beyond the farm…

eBook Review - Wolf Brother

• Title And Author: Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver
• Publisher: Orion Children’s Books
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
• Length: 256 Pages

I’ve been quite excited over the recent news that Michelle Paver is writing new instalments in her Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series. I’m not sure why but I had the funny feeling I had read the first book in the series, Wolf Brother. So, when I saw that the collection of the six books published so far was on Kindle for less than £4, I jumped at it and decided to reread Wolf Brother and, if I enjoy it, try and read each instalment every month before the newest, Viper’s Daughter, is published early next April. (FYI, I hadn't read Wolf Brother before so no idea why I thought I had!)

Thousand of years ago in the Stone Ages, in the Forest, 12 year old Torak has just seen his father being murdered. Murdered by a bear, which isn’t a bear at all, but a demon possessing the bear’s body. With his dying breath, Torak’s father makes Torak swear a vow: lead the bear to the mountain of the World Spirit and beg for its help. 

But Torak has no idea where the Mountain is or what he will have to do to get the World Spirit’s help. All he knows is that his Guide will help him. But can a small wolf cub, who’s whole pack died in a flash flood, really be Torak’s guide?

Audiobook Review - First Test

• Title And Author: First Test by Tamora Pierce
• Publisher: HarperVoyager
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from local library via BorrowBox
• Length: 212 Pages or 5 Hours 21 Minutes

You would think I would focus on the one Tamora Pierce series that I started to read a few months back - Wild Magic, the first in the Immortals series (I have the second and the third on my kindle, as well as Tempests and Slaughter) - but when I was randomly searching my BorrowBox app for a short audiobook (I wasn’t ready to dive into the two long audiobooks I bought several months back…), I spied First Test and went “Ooooh!” then requested. Only to discover afterwards that BorrowBox only had this and Wild Magic as audiobooks so if I liked what I heard, I would have to find a way to continue the series! 

Keladry of Mindelan is the first girl who dares to take advantage of the new law of Tortall, allowing females to train for Knighthood. After growing up on the Yamani Islands, she knows women can be fearless warriors and she wants to be one. But Lord Wyldon, the training master, is dead against the idea of girls becoming knights and forces the king to say that Kel must do a year’s trial - something no boy has ever done. Kel is determined to prove herself, just to be seen as equal…

Psycho-Logical

Am back from my little holiday with a blog tour! I know! Blogging never sleeps (though I am writing this while feeling quite jet lag so once I've written and amended this, I shall!) and this title might tickle your fancy, hence why I wanted to be involved in the tour!

Pyscho-Logical is an Audible Original that sees Dr Dean Burnett, neuroscientist and best-selling author, look at mental health and ask the question "why?". Why are some conditions such as depression and anxiety so common? Why do so many mental health problems have physical symptoms? Why, when mental health is so common, do people need to be made aware of it? And why is there still so much stigma and confusion when it comes to mental health? 

I am thrilled that Dean is writing a small guest post for the blog tour and I am able to host it! Mental health is important and as someone who thinks he doesn't always have the right balance when it comes to my mental and emotional health (as you can probably guess, I have a tendency to panic), I think we all need to learn to be better on ourselves and look after ourselves and be more aware of the world around us. 

So, before I hand you over to Dean, I just want to thank Dean for finding time to write this post and to Anna at Midas who thought this would be right up my street. If you want to know more about Dean, you can pop over to his website - deanburnett.com - or say hi to him on Twitter at @garwboy. If you want to know more about Pyscho-Logical, go to Audible.co.uk and have a listen to the samplers. That should explain this better than I did up above. 

Now, over to you, Dean!

Audiobook Review - Evidence of the Affair

• Title And Author: Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Publisher: Amazon Original Stories
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
• Length: 1 Hour 19 Minutes

Ok, this was a bit of a curveball. After audiobooking The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and totally enjoying myself with it, I was going to read Daisy Jones and the Six. I even bought the hardback for a £5 when it was on offer. And I have every plan to read this. Plus, with the past few months reading more “grown-up” reads and, every now and again, feeling a bit uncertain of the Pewter Wolf, its future and whether I still am a YA book blogger and am now more an adult book blogger (I am in my 30s, after all), I was planning to have a month or two reading whatever the **** I wanted. 

So, why did I decide to audiobook this? Well, I requested it on Amazon’s Prime Reading (don’t ask how I discovered this - I have Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine on this and, from everyone’s reaction, I need to read this soonish…), then changed my mind but, somehow, I downloaded and kept the audiobook version and, one day, after a long day at work and knowing I had a bit of a drive home (for once I drove to work, not car-shared), I popped this on as wasn’t in the mood for music and had caught up with my podcasts & audiobooks (*coughs* You haven’t listened to Kings of the Wyld and Great Small Things yet, Andrew *cough*). 

It’s 1976 and David Mayer receives a letter from Carrie Allsop, a woman he has never met. In the letter, Carrie reveals that she’s discovered that her husband and David’s wife are having an affair. From their correspondence, the two reveal their shock, hurt and the painful details about their spouses’s affair. And therough their letters, the pair comfort each other as they try and figure out what they are going to do next…

Audiobook Mini-Review - Norse Mythology

• Title And Author: Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from local library via BorrowBox
• Length: 277 Pages or 6 Hours 29 Minutes

I won an Advance Reader Copy of this from the UK publisher, Bloomsbury, YEARS AGO. And I was super excited to read it. So much so, every time I picked it up, I was overcome by The Fear. You know which Fear I mean. The Fear of you hyped a book so much in your head that there is no way it’s going to live up to it. 

So I waited. And waited. And one of my friends (who has read it) was surprised I haven’t read it. So more waiting. Till I saw it on my library’s audiobook app (or BorrowBox) and went “If I’m going to do it, I going to do it now”. 

This is a reimagining of Norse Mythology, told in Neil Gaiman’s wit and style. There’s no other way to explain it. 

This is accessible retelling of some of the Norse Myths (I know most of lost, but I can’t believe these were all the myths). Plus, with this retelling, all the incest and rape was removed. This might not be a bad thing as, with Greek mythology, it’s everywhere. I mean, Zeus is a rapist. Let’s call a spade a spade, he is. 

I feel that this is aimed for a younger reader, those who are curious over Norse due to Marvel and it will come as a surprise how Odin, Thor and Loki are in Norse mythology compared to the Marvel films and graphic novels. 

But this is fun and I am curious to learn more about mythology. Plus, got a ton of Gaiman on my kindle, waiting to be read, so this might be a nice way to ease self in, but we shall see… 

eBook Review - Rough Terrain

• Title And Author: Rough Terrain by Annabeth Albert
• Publisher: Carina Press
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction
• Length: 384 Pages

At the end of August, I wanted to have a small reading blitz to get myself up straight for my Murder Month, but I hit a bit of a reading slump. Though, not exactly. I had binge read The Witch’s Blood by Elizabeth and Katherine Corr and, while I did want to read a crime-y book, I just wasn’t in the mood. Plus, I wasn’t feel great due to the last of summer’s hayfever and its headaches. So, I just wanted something before I attacked the last few reads for Murder Month. So, in a moment of skimming my NetGalley, I saw this and went “You. I’m in the mood to read you.”

In the seventh instalment of the Out of Uniform series, Navy SEAL Renzo “Rooster” Bianchi has a soft spot for a cashier at the smoothie place. So when Canaan asks Renzo for a favour - to be his boyfriend for a weekend camping with his friends - Renzo accepts as there’s a spark between them. But what starts as a weekend con could be more…