Book Review: Hit Me With Your Best Scot by Suzanne Enoch

Hit Me With Your Best Scot by Suzanne Enoch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*Arc sent for review

Hit Me With Your Best Scot...um...see…

*taps mike* Hello, My name is Brittany B, and...and...and I’ve fallen in love with Coll MacTaggert and I want to marry him.

So yeah...Coll MacTaggert, the Viscount of Glendarril...tall. Hot as hell. Talks in a deep brogue. I can’t understand half the stuff he’s saying, but I don’t care...I can listen to him talk all day and never get bored whatsoever. And he fights with his hands, which is a good thing. But what does a Highlander like him do when he walks backstage during a play and falls for an actress named Persephone Jones?

Basically: “Och,Máthair,I’m going to marry her!”

*cue gasps and groans and omg whys*

BUT it actually works out with them, because they fall in love...after finding out that Persephone is being targeted for something, and honestly, it’s pretty stupid really, and then we find out that Persephone Jones is Temperance Hartwood, a woman who was once supposed to get married to an old man, but he was horrible so she left and became an actress.

And somehow, someway...someone is trying to kill her.

Maybe because of the Shakespearian characters she plays….or because she’s the daughter of a lord...but whatever it is, someone is trying to kill her. Coll, even though he’s supposed to be looking for a wife, is actually trying to help her figure it out before he actually finds one, actually falls in love with her, and the two are about to get married at the end (or announced that they are)

I loved this book so much that glad that I’ve gotten an arc because the book was SO GOOD. I loved the characters and action and everything (yes, including Coll. Did I mention him? No? Okay, then I’m mentioning him again because HE’S MY HUSBAND NOW OKAY I LOVE HIM SO MUCH.)

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Book Review: The Heart Forger (Bone Witch #2) by Rin Chupeco

The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Okay...book two…you had me at book one. I loved book one. BOOK TWO, YOU GOT ME INVESTED.

Book two continues from Book One, where Tea and her friends are going to the Kingdom of Daanoris, trying to find the Heart Forger, who is missing. And on top of that, people, including Prince Kance, are falling into some kind of sickness. So they go to another kingdom to find the Heart Forger, but when they get there, they find out about so many things…

One, is that the Emperor, Emperor Shifang, wants to marry Princess Inessa, even though Princess Inessa is currently with Fox. Two, that Tansoong may or may not be working with the Faceless, but it turns out that he’s innocent, and that Bayzoi was actually working for the Faceless, and three….and this is important….Mikaelya’s heartsglass was with King Telemaine the WHOLE ENTIRE TIME.

I mean, Tea tried to ask King Vance where her heartglass is, and they started asking random questions, where he would say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. But the shocking part out of all of this was when Aneah and King Telemaine appeared, pretty much revealing that they were lovers and they wanted to kill everyone in that room. But they didn’t, and Tea got her revenge on the king by making him insane, thus making the prince exile Tea from doing what she did.

But once again, the world building of this book is pretty damned good, I must say. Each place she describes in this book are places I would like to go someday. I’ve also loved the little romances in the book, though the one that shocked me the most was Kalen and Tea. The reason why they shocked me because Kalen is a Deathseeker, and I thought he really didn’t like Tea, but it turns out that he does like Tea and even kisses her. He even goes out of his way to be exiled with her (I think he does), which I think is so cute.

I didn’t like the fact that she had her azi taken from her, but at the end the azi pretty much listens to Tea now without her controlling her or anything. I found that pretty darn awesome actually, and it sucks that now she’s not going to be in Ankyo anymore. I mean, Ananeah and the stupid king deserves what they did to Mikaelya, I’m sorry.

Still love this book series. I’m going to read the last book and cry because this book series is! So! Good!

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Book Review: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: Collected from American Folklore by Alvin Schwartz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This would be the first time that I’ve ever read this book, and I have to say that it was very interesting to read a book of scary stories. None of the scared me though, I do have two favorites-the Hearst Song and Me Tie Dough-Tie Walker!. But the art in this book was fantastic. I loved every single picture I saw. I have listened to the Hearst Song about four times, and I have sung it before (actually sung it tonight now that I think about it, and I enjoyed it).

I do have a couple favorites that I liked in this book. My favorite stories from this book are:

Me Tie Dough-Tie Walker!
The Hearst Song
The Wendigo
The Viper
Aaron Kelly’s Bones
The Big Toe
The Haunted House

Since this book review is short, I really do recommend this book because one, though it’s not that scary when you get older, it’s a pretty damned good read and two, because it’s a pretty damned good read.

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Book Review: Siege and Storm, a Grishaverse Novel by Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book two of the Grishaverse, something I really wanted to read, and on top of that the cover of this book is really beautiful. I’ve missed these characters so much (also Daddy Darkling...I mean, that’s why I’m reading this book series, right? No? Is it just me? Yes? Alright…) And I really don’t want this book to end...I really, really don’t. Thank god for the third book and the other books, am I right?

I picked up this book again after reading an amazing fanfic called ‘Out of Time” by Destinies (it’s on A03...READ IT IT’S SO GOOD) and this book introduced me to my love and best boy Nikolai Lanstov, the youngest prince of the Lanstov royal family. He’s introduced as Strumhond as first when Mal and Alina first met him, and then once they returned to Os Alta and revealed himself, that’s when things started to go wonderfully.

For one, Alina and Mal are running from the Darkling, and he caught them and took them on Stumhond’s boat, where they ran away from the Darkling and went to the Fold, where Alina started to see the Darkling, and she wouldn’t even tell Mal or anyone about seeing the Darkling, as if he was real. This book also introduces Tamar and Toyla, two Grisha working under Strumhond/Nikolai and became her guards when they reached Os Alta and Alina decided that she was going to fight the Darkling, using the First Army to do it.

They also, in this story, find the second amplifier of Morozova, and they kept mentioning Sankta Ilya (to the point that I preordered the Lives of Saints book and I need to read his story) and how he has three amplifiers-something that is totally different from the ‘Grisha have one amplifier’ rule.The first one is Morozova’s Stag, second is the water dragon, and third is the firebird. Now this firebird sounds like a Phoenix, and Mal keeps dismissing it, saying that it doesn’t exist, and also I’ve realized that Alina’s a bit power hungry, now that she has the fetter and the collar. I think it’s because she wants to fight the Darkling and beat him, but I found that interesting that she’s power hungry to get all three.

BUT THE ENDING.

Holy moly.

The fight between Alina and the Darkling, and her pretty much taking his nichvo’ya and turning them around to the Darkling before she was torn from him and then they had to go the White Cathedral, where the Apparat and his followers were waiting for her. And when she rested and looked at the mirror...her hair is snow white, and...and she has no more magic.

Oh...no.

What will happen next in the next book? I don’t know, but I’m going to be reading the last book and i’m probably going to be sad afterwords once this book series is over.

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Book Review: North of Laramie: A Buck Trammel Western by William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone

North of Laramie by William W. Johnstone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This would be my third western of William A. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone’s books. I have to say, I quite enjoy them. They have surprised me more than one, and on top of that, I get so immersed in this world that sometimes I don’t want to leave.

Buck Trammel is one interesting character-one I really would like to fall in love with since he’s tall (Tall men + Brittany=Brittany Bait). But he is traveling with a man named Adam Hagen, which I’ve kept an eye on because one, there’s something about him that I don’t like. Yes, he’s a drunk and a gambler, but behind all of that is a schemer. I don’t know what it is about Adam Hagen that I don’t like, but I just...don’t...like...him.

And on top of that, the Bowman gang is coming after the both of them after Trammel killed two of their kin (which sucks, by the by). I understand you want revenge on the men who killed your family, but come on now. It is NOT that bloody serious (I mean, two people dying, yes. Getting revenge? Stupid as hell. At least, on my side of things). And they’re trying to make new lives in Laramie-Adam’s a hotelier and Trammel’s a sheriff after the other one just up and left and died after swearing him in.

I do like the characters in the story-Buck, Adam, Emily (I actually ship them). But my favorite parts have to be when we stay alone in Trammel’s mind and him trying to figure out if he wanted to stay being the law after being a Pinkerton man, then being in The Golden Lilly in Witchita as the bodyguard. I found those parts interesting, almost as character development because he’s trying to figure out if he wanted to stay being the law, or settle down somewhere, get married, have a couple kids. But with the Bowman gang after him, he didn’t think that he would, though I wish he did because he deserves everything (Adam doesn’t, but that’s another story for another time).

My least favorite would have to be Madame Peachtree (ha ha) and her men, because she wanted Trammel to look the other away while she did what she wanted to do (opium, her saloon), but he arrested her and her men, but then he found her leger that only Adam and Emily can read...oh BOY that’s all I have to say. OH BOY. That’s when I have to keep my eye on Adam, because it seems like the Bowman gang is in the background, and he’s working his own plans in the front of the story.

And boy, was I right-when they came into Laramie, and Lefty showed up to try and kill Buck, Adam went to talk to Lucien Clay, striking up a deal with him (and basically using Buck was a bargaining chip) which he didn’t like in the end. There was a gunfight between Buck and Lefty and his men, and he killed them all in self-defense. Then the end, when Hagen told him what he wanted to do in Blacktown (turn it into a Opium den) in which Buck downright refused to let happen.

I did enjoy this book so much and I want to read more! In! This! Series!

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Book Review: The Oracle Queen by Kendare Blake

The Oracle Queen by Kendare Blake
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So...lemme get this straight….

A Queen named Elsabet is drugged every single day, not being able to use her god-given powers, right? And her husband is cheating on her left and right in front of her, and the one doing it, the poisoner, is watching from the back, pulling some strings so she can do it? Really? And on top of that the bad guys won?

What????

Basically this is my first time reading something from Kendare Blake, and I have to say, this book shocked me. One because you think that the Queen was going to win, she was going to dump her husband and that’s it, she’s still on the throne, nothing bad will ever happen to her, and she’ll be fine. But NO. It seemed like throughout the story, she was going to be betrayed by her Black Council, who locked her up (W...TF) and killed all of her subordiantes (once again...W...TF), and also killed the painter (W...TF) also accidentally killing the maid (for the people in the back...WTF).

So basically this whole entire short novella was about a queen falling from grace, getting locked up by her people, and her husband basically cheating on her. I did enjoy it, but I loved the world building the moment I started reading the first page. It was really good and I wanted to read more, even though the ending shocked the hell out of me. I fell in love with this world, and I wanted to read more (so I’m gonna read the Young Queens, because it turns out...The Young Queens is first, then The Oracle Queen, then the rest of the series…) because yes I would read the first book of the series, but I wanted to read the novella first, to see how they are before I throw myself reading the rest of the series.

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Book Review: The Bone Witch (The Bone Witch #1) by Rin Chupeco

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Bone Witch would have to be one my favorite witchy books of 2020. I have never read a book like this before, and I enjoyed every bit of it.

So, Brittany, what is it all about?

Well it’s about a girl named Tea, who one day resurrects her dead brother from the grave without even thinking about it. Then a bone witch, or a Dark asha, named Lady Mykaela, comes into her village and takes her and her brother Fox, which is now Tea’s familiar, to a village where she will learn how to become a Dark Asha. At first, she pretty much had to work for a woman named Mistress Parmina and it was brutal, hard work, though it was simple enough. I never really liked Mistress Parmina because of how hard she was and how much work she made Ta do before she became an apprentice. Then one night someone told her to go to a tea house to deliver something...and that’s when things got bad.

Zoya, the princess, I believe, kept taunting her, and Tea got really mad to the point that she summoned bone mice and the skeleton of a long ago dead king, right in front of Prince Kance and Kalen. Tea pretty much blacked out after it happened, and then when she woke up, she found out that she will be an asha-ka in training (or i’ve gotten it backwards, and she’s already an asha-ka in training already).

And she takes classes like defense, singing lessons, dancing lessons, even fighting lessons, She even learned how to block Fox out of her mind, which made him worry and make him pound on the door, because he thought she was trouble. Tea also have another familiar, a horse she named Cloud, I think, and the two share her mind-her brother and a horse. Then came the time she put down a daeva-well, actually she told it to go away once it came towards Lady Mykaela, since she wanted to protect her.

Once the dragon daeva flew away, her brother Fox called her foolish, but was glad that she was alright. Then she called in front of the Elders, and she took their test and passed, though she thought she failed (same, I think that each time I take a test.) Then she had to go to parties for three months, but the dragon deva, the azi, was still out there, still alive, so she and her friends and her brother went out to go and kill it, but Tea got into it’s mind and made it obey her, and it did, and then it flew off into the water.

But the shocking part was when she had to confront the Faceless, which turned out to be a maid named Fahi, who’s real name is Anaeha. She tried to control Fox, only to fail when Chief came in through the door and knocked her down. Now she has four familiars-Fox, her brother, Chief, her horse, the azi and Anaeha. But what I loved the most about this book was the world building. It was so good that I got sucked in immediately and wanted to be a asha-ka myself (in my heart, I will be…) The narration was fantastic, and I enjoyed myself reading this book so much.

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