The Whimsical Mama

<3 Such is the life of a stay at home mommy and Army wife (:

Waiting on Wednesday #87: The Fallen Kingdom by Elizabeth May April 5, 2017

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Waiting on Wednesday” is a weekly event hosted by Jill at the Breaking The Spine. It showcases upcoming releases we’re anticipating!

My pick of the week is:

 

The Fallen Kingdom (The Falconer #3)

By: Elizabeth May

Coming: 15 June 2017

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Summary:

My name is Lady Aileana Kameron.

First the fae murdered my mother. Then they destroyed my world.

Then one of them killed me.

Now I’m fighting for more than revenge.

 

Why I’m excited:

I absolutely loved The Falconer when I read it. I featured it on Waiting on Wednesday and I have also posted a review. It was easily a favourite read of 2014. I was so excited about The Vanishing Throne and disappointed when the release dates were pushed back and so far apart as far as UK/US. It released back in November in the UK, but I just haven’t had a chance to get it yet. And with my lull in blogging and it coming out next week, I thought it would be the perfect feature! I can’t wait to do a reread and then read later this summer!

Why I need you to be excited:

I think this is as great under the radar fantasy. The Falconer was a quick read and though I hate them, it ended on a spectacular cliffhanger that leaves you panting for more! It’s going to be a fast paced ride of a second book!

 

Waiting on Wednesday #84: ACOTAR 3 by Sarah J Maas March 15, 2017

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Waiting on Wednesday” is a weekly event hosted by Jill at the Breaking The Spine. It showcases upcoming releases we’re anticipating!

My pick of the week is:

Untitled (ACOTAR #3)

By: Sarah J Maas

Coming: 2 May 2017

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children

Summary:

 

Why I’m excited:

 

Why I need you to be excited:

 

 

Waiting on Wednesday #82: Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare March 1, 2017

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Waiting on Wednesday” is a weekly event hosted by Jill at the Breaking The Spine. It showcases upcoming releases we’re anticipating!

My pick of the week is:

 

Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2)

By: Cassandra Clare

Coming: 11 April 2017

Publisher: Margaret K McElderry

Summary:

The streets of Los Angeles are dangerous even for Shadowhunters as skilled as Emma Carstairs and her battle partner, Julian Blackthorn. Emma and Julian have slain hundreds of demons together, but their personal battles and desperate attraction to each other threaten their longstanding friendship, as does the presence of Julian s older brother, Mark. Mark was kidnapped by the faeries brutal and bloodthirsty Wild Hunt five years ago. He defied the fey to remain with his family, but the faeries do not relinquish a captive easily.

With a new enemy on the horizon and a new mystery to solve, Emma, Julian, and Mark must find a way to come together to defend everything they hold dear before it s too late.

 

Why I’m excited:

 

Why I need you to be excited:

 

 

Top Ten Tuesday #101: Ten Books That Have Been On Your Shelf (Or TBR) From Before You Started Blogging That You STILL Haven’t Read Yet August 23, 2016

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Each week, the girls over at The Broke and the Bookish think up a fun theme for the week and participating bloggers around the net join in. The theme for this week is:

Ten Books That Have Been On Your Shelf (Or TBR) From Before You Started Blogging That You STILL Haven’t Read Yet

  1. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

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2. The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith

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3. Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin

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4. Eragon by Christopher Paolini

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5. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

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6. The Book of Dreams by OR Melling

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7. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

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8. Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer

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9. Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

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10. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

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Top Ten Tuesday #99: Top Ten Tuesday REWIND – Villains/Criminals/Other Nasties August 9, 2016

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Each week, the girls over at The Broke and the Bookish think up a fun theme for the week and participating bloggers around the net join in. The theme for this week is:

Top Ten Tuesday REWIND – Villains/Criminals/Other Nasties

Rhysand from A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas 

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Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter by JK Rowling

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Bellatrix Lestrange from Harry Potter by JK Rowling

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Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter by JK Rowling

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Loki, God of Mischief from Thor

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Black Knife from The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows

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Khalid from The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

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Arin from The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

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The Darkling from Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

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Sturmhond from Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

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Top Ten Tuesday #98: Ten Books You’d Buy Right This Second If Someone Handed You A Fully Loaded Gift Card August 2, 2016

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Each week, the girls over at The Broke and the Bookish think up a fun theme for the week and participating bloggers around the net join in. The theme for this week is:

Ten Books You’d Buy Right This Second If Someone Handed You A Fully Loaded Gift Card

  1. Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory

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2. Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

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3. Lament by Maggie Stiefvater

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4. Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater

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5. Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

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6. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

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7. A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard

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8. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

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9. Kiss Me Deadly by Trisha Telep

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10. Slasher Girls & Monster Boys by April Genevieve Tucholke

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What would you buy? I need all of these except Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory for YALLFest in November! haha.

 

Top Ten Tuesday #96: Top Ten Books Set Outside the US July 19, 2016

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Each week, the girls over at The Broke and the Bookish think up a fun theme for the week and participating bloggers around the net join in. The theme for this week is:

Top Ten Books Set Outside the US

I decided to go with actual locations other than fantastical realms for this week.

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  1. Die for Me by Amy Plum. Oh, Paris. I love you.

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2. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. This book only strengthened by desire to visit Prague!

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3. My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows. Historical (fantasy) England, but England nonetheless!

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4. Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz. Various locations around Europe, South America, and even Tartarus.

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5. The Falconer trilogy by Elizabeth May. Victorian Scotland!

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6. Harry Potter series by JK Rowling. England and Scotland (with visitors from other nations too)

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7. Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. Ireland, England, Russia, and some other locations too!

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8. Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Scotland and France!

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9. His Fair Assassin trilogy by Robin LaFevers. Duchy of Brittany and France.

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10. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. Beijing, France, Africa, the Moon.

 

Where have books taken you?

 

 

 

In My Beach Bag July 18, 2016

The kiddos and I are beach bound to Tybee Island this month and I’ve been thinking about what books I’m going to take with me. When we went to Virginia earlier this month, I had books planned too. I always try to have a kindle or physical book on me at all times! You never know when it’ll be needed! So I thought I would write up a post about my beach read choices! I’ve posted about my recommendations, but now I’ll share what’s actually making it in the beach bag. The kiddos have their kindles loaded up with books, games, and movies, so I’ll be able to listen to an audiobook on the drive down again this year. Or even better, I may have the car to myself if they sneak over into Grammy and Grandpa’s car! Whatever the driving arrangements, they’ll have headphones on so it will be blissfully quiet.

First up, I’ll recap what I picked as my reads for Virginia. My hubby’s family lives in Northern Virginia and it’s about a 6-7 hour drive depending on how many stops we need to make. I think it took us closer to 7-8 this year cause we kept getting caught in traffic. So many wrecks! Hubs is big into adult epic fantasy, but sometimes I get him talked into a YA audiobook. This trip, I talked him into:

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The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

I honestly thought he would enjoy it. It was easily a five star read for me when I read it last summer. I was going to continue on with The Infinite Sea, but decided to wait til The Last Star came out. Now I needed a refresher and I thought hubs would like it. He made it about halfway through before declaring there wasn’t enough action and he wanted to listen to something else. Poo on him. Anyway. I ended up finishing on my own through audio and on ebook. Since he bailed on me, he had me look through my ipod for something else to listen to. He chose:

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Aftermath by Chuck Wendig

I was so excited for this trilogy. I really was. I hated every minute of this book I listened to. I may enjoy it if I read it, but the narrator’s voice got on my ever loving nerves!

We didn’t spend as much time at hubby’s grandfather’s beach cottage as originally planned, so I didn’t do as much reading as I thought I would. I also brought along:

A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

I intended on re-starting A Torch Against the Night and reading A Court of Thorns and Roses as a back up, but the mood to go ahead and start ACOTAR hit. I only read about 100 pages though.

Now that we’re Tybee bound and I’m packing our things, it’s time to decide what I’m going to take with me. It’s about a 7 hour drive, so it’ll probably be on the 8ish side with the kiddos and needing to stop for gas. Potentially stopping for my mom to stretch her back some too. She tweaked it recently and it’s still a smidge tender! The kiddos have been with me at the office some and have asked for music in the car instead of one of Mommy’s books, so I haven’t listened to anything since we got back from Virginia. Right now, my plan is either:

The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey or The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

I’m really torn on this decision! I should’ve finished The Raven King when I started it, but I got distracted and now I have to start over. Thankfully I’m not too far into it! One of those will be my audiobook. I may be able to swing both of them! At least probably all of The Infinite Sea and part of The Raven King. I need to check times on them.

I also plan on taking:

Gotta have a physical book or two for beach side reading!

If you’re interested in what the kiddos have picked to take with them, you can check it out here!

 

Also! Continuing my three year blogging anniversary celebration, I have another giveaway for you! This giveaway will be international as long as Book Depository delivers to your country. Up for grabs is any 2016 young adult book! It can already be out, or you can pick one to pre-order! I have two more giveaways planned to reveal soon too. Potentially a third! I’m getting so close to 1k followers on Twitter and there will be a giveaway to celebrate that as well! (:

Giveaway!

This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL (and only open to the countries where Book Depository delivers to) Entrants must be at least 13 years old to enter. Those entrants under 18 MUST have parental consent. Giveaway is open July 18th 2016 (12am EST) through August 20th 2016 (12am EST). No giveaway accounts. I reserve the right to disqualify entries in violation of my giveaway policies (Please see my Site Polices for full polices). All entries WILL be verified. Winner(s) have 48 (FORTY-EIGHT) hours to respond to email/tweet. Good luck. May the odds be ever in your favor! (:

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Required Summer Reading & Giveaway July 14, 2016

Honesty moment: I HATE required readings. I despise being told what I have to read. I think the only thing in school that I actually read when I was SUPPOSED to read it was my senior year readings. And I didn’t even read all of them! haha. Most things I knew I would have to read a grade or so ahead of time and would read them early. I was big into fanfiction in junior high and high school. I read one about Lily and James during Hogwarts and they did an international magical acting competition. Hogwarts did The Crucible. Enough of it was thrown into the story that I wanted to read the whole play. Eight grade me begged my dad to take me to Barnes & Noble to go pick it up so I could read the whole thing. I did. Not sure if it was over a break or what and my eighth grade English teacher asked if we’d read anything interesting lately. I said The Crucible. She asked if I understood the historical background and all that. (Not only the Salem Witch Trials, but the communism hunt) I did. She was impressed and said a lot of high school juniors didn’t understand it. My thought? They’re idiots! Anyway. That’s one example of one I read beforehand. Others I knew enough about that I could fake my way through it.

Punk is going into kindergarten. He has a required reading list for the summer. Seriously. I was like….. wut? Anyway. While looking at it, I came up with the thought of wondering if I could match YA/MG/Adult books to his list. His are all topics so you could match children’s books to it. I have to admit, this was much easier than I expected except for one topic! Anyway. The topics are Bears, Friends, ABC, Frogs, Fairytales, Ocean Animals, Pets, and Free Choice (this one had me spazzing for a minute until I realised it was whatever book Punk wanted, not literally about free choice!)

Here’s my required summer reading list based off of Punk’s kindergarten list.

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The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Bears: This was literally the first book that popped into my head. Probably due to me having just finished it when I had this idea. A big theme throughout the book is Sammy’s bear.

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Open Road Summer by Emery Lord

Friends: Again, literally the first book I thought of. Reagan and Lilah’s friendship is amazing as is this book. Emery Lord has such an incredible way with words! *sings Emery’s praises for days*

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ABC: This was the one that gave me a the most trouble. I initially thought to leave it at All Fall Down since it’s a children’s rhyme. Then I decided to do books with an A, B, and C in the title. I do have to admit, I haven’t read two of the three of these! I absolutely adore Code Name Verity though. It ripped me to shreds in all the right ways.

All Fall Down by Ally Carter

The Body Electric by Beth Revis

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin

Frogs: Okay, admittedly harder than the others, I finally came up with this one. I remembered the bannerman’s kids who come to join Bran as being from the swamp like area. And I’m pretty sure the boy was good at catching frogs. Or their sigil is a frog. Or something. Anyway. Swamp = froggy in my mind!

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The Hunter’s Moon by OR Melling

Fairytale: Yes, it was incredibly easy to jump to the Cinder conclusion, but I opted to go for a lesser known fairytale series. Woot for Celtic mythology!

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Waterfell by Amalie Howard

Ocean Animals: Obviously I would go for Waterfell! Though it also deals with animals, it talks about the Marianas Trench and various animals in the ocean. Win.

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Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

Pets: Pandoras count as pets, right? I mean, they’re pets in a way. At least companions, and let’s face it, cats are not pets. They’re companions at best and definitely supreme overlords.

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A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

Free Choice:  Okay, so this one totally fits my initial thought of Free Choice. Feyre is faced with the choice of death or living in Prythian. She’s free to choose. Ha! This also fits free choice as in whatever I want to pick so I went with what I’m currently reading. Double win!

 

Thanks for making it through my post! Also, thank you for three wonderful (crazy) years of blogging. My blogging anniversary was actually on the 9th, but it snuck up on me and I forgot to write up a post. It’s definitely been a rollercoaster ride! Anyway, to celebrate my blogiversary, I have several giveaways I’m going to be hosting in the next few weeks so keep your eyes peeled! Up first is a giveaway for any book I have reviewed in the last three years. But! There’s more! I have a list of upcoming reviews that will be posted and those books will be included too. Check out my Reviews tab for a full list of books! Right now there will be one winner, but I might add more winners, so make sure you keep your eyes peeled for that too.

Giveaway!

This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL (and only open to the countries where Book Depository delivers to) Entrants must be at least  13 years old to enter. Those entrants under 18 MUST have parental consent. Giveaway is open July 14th 2016 (12am EST) through August 20th 2016 (12am EST). No giveaway accounts. I reserve the right to disqualify entries in violation of my giveaway policies (Please see my Site Polices for full polices). All entries WILL be verified. Winner(s) have 48 (FORTY-EIGHT) hours to respond to email/tweet. Good luck. May the odds be ever in your favor! (:

 

 

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Top Ten Tuesday #93: Freebie (Summer TBR) June 28, 2016

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Each week, the girls over at The Broke and the Bookish think up a fun theme for the week and participating bloggers around the net join in. The theme for this week is:

Top Ten Books on My Summer TBR

Here’s what I’ve selected on previous TBR lists: Winter 2013 6/10 Fall 2013 3/10 Spring TBR 2014 6/11  Summer 2014 3/10 Fall 2014 2/10 Winter 2014 6/10 Spring 2015 5/10 Summer 2015 6/10 Fall 2015 6/10

This week is actually a freebie, but I decided I would share my Summer TBR since I haven’t shared one since back in the fall. Here’s hoping for a 10/10!

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  1. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas

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2. My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

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3. The Last Star by Rick Yancey

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4. Lois Lane Fallout by Gwenda Bond

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5. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

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6. And I Darken by Kiersten White

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7. This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

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8. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne, & John Tiffany

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9. DC SuperHero Girls: Finals Crisis by Shea Fontana

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10. Aftermath by Chuck Wendig

What are you planning on reading this summer?