TTT: The Last Books I Abandoned

Looks like it's time for another Top Ten Tuesday: Brought to you by That Artsy Reader Girl. If you're participating this week let me know in the comments, I would love to hear what you picked for this weeks TTT !

The Last Books I Abandoned

I really don't DNF many books at all, so I'm scraping the barrel here, going back some years even, to find books that I didn't finish. I guess maybe I'm a bit OCD about finishing books, which is not always a good thing. I gave up on these books for various reasons, often because something bad happens, like the bad guy is too psychotically evil, or somebody gets killed unnecessarily, or because the book just wasn't what I thought it was going to be. 

Here they are:

April Wrap-Up/May TBR

IT'S UPDATE TIME

I'm only a few days late with this, right?

So, during April I had a go at the OWLs Magical Readathon, (an amazing HP themed readathon organised by the lovely Book Roast, and you can find out about it here.)

I actually managed to finish the readathon, yay! I wasn't sure if I would make it. To be fair, I finished a few days late, but then I started about a week late, so I'm counting it! I read a total of 5 books for this challenge, and I managed to complete the requirements for the Magizoologist profession, as well as the Dragon Taming Seminar (which was totally by accident, I didn't expect there to be dragons featuring in that extra book I picked up just for fun).

April Book Reviews: (covers link to my review)

Reviews to Come:

MAY TBR:

TTT: Things I'd Have At My Bookish Party

Looks like it's time for another Top Ten Tuesday: Brought to you by That Artsy Reader Girl. If you're participating this week let me know in the comments, I would love to hear what you picked for this weeks theme!

Things I Would Have At My Bookish Party

I love this theme! This is something that I would totally love to do but would never actually do, so thanks Jana for thinking of this!

My first thought for any party is the food, duh, so I will be making cupcakes using recipes from the Cake in a Cup bakery, featured in the book Cupcakes, Trinket and Other Deadly Magic. If you haven't read this book, you definitely should! Recipes by the author here.

“That’s a Vixen in a Cup. Chocolate gingerbread cake with a salted caramel icing.”

Next is drinks. I'll have literary inspired cocktails from my book Tequila Mockingbird.

Air Awakens by Elise Kova

Air Awakens by Elise Kova
Air Awakens #1
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A library apprentice, a sorcerer prince, and an unbreakable magic bond...

The Solaris Empire is one conquest away from uniting the continent, and the rare elemental magic sleeping in seventeen-year-old library apprentice Vhalla Yarl could shift the tides of war.

Vhalla has always been taught to fear the Tower of Sorcerers, a mysterious magic society, and has been happy in her quiet world of books. But after she unknowingly saves the life of one of the most powerful sorcerers of them all—the Crown Prince Aldrik—she finds herself enticed into his world. Now she must decide her future: Embrace her sorcery and leave the life she’s known, or eradicate her magic and remain as she’s always been. And with powerful forces lurking in the shadows, Vhalla’s indecision could cost her more than she ever imagined.

Amazon US | Amazon AU | Book Depository | Available in KU

A library, an injured prince and a sorcerer, this book had me hooked from the first chapter. I actually couldn’t put it down, why did I wait so long to read this? The writing flows so well, I really struggled with putting this one down when I had to go to work. I love the sword and sorcery setting, and the magic system and everything. I think this might become one of my new favourite series.

"Too curious for her own good, the master had always scolded. Magic was dangerous."

I love the main character Vhalla, she is a library apprentice at the palace, and while I do get Sorcery of Thorns vibes from her character, the rest of the story is totally different. She is intelligent, and very well read, although is a bit lacking in real world experience. When she finds out she is actually a sorcerer, she does not take it well, and kind of goes into denial about the whole thing.

"Are you going to be the sorcerer who could have saved lives but chose instead to be no one?"

Sparkle Witch by Helen Harper

Sparkle Witch by Helen Harper
The Lazy Girl's Guide to Magic #3.5
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Snow. Santa. Snuggles... Stress.

You would think December would be Ivy's ideal time of year. After all, festivities abound and witches everywhere are encouraged to put their feet up and relax. That's not quite the case when she has various Order members attempting to finagle her into Christmas activities and a special artifact from the top of the Christmas tree goes missing. Either someone is attempting to sabotage Winter or something very strange is afoot indeed.

This is a short holiday novella.

This will be a short review, because it is a very short book. I'll admit, I was hoping for more, because I really loved the original trilogy (reviews to come soon). The series starts with Slouch Witch. This was just a bit of fun, short and sweet. It was a bit cheesy too - I guess I should have read it at Christmas time, but I figured Ivy Wilde is good any time.

"There will be mistletoe. There will be snuggles. There will not be evil witches causing curse-filled mishaps and interrupting our holiday."