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Tag: 4 stars

Rock Stars on the Record by Eric Spitznagel

Rock Stars on the Record by Eric Spitznagel


Rock Stars on the Record: The Albums That Changed Their Lives by Eric Spitznagel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher, HighBridge Audio, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What’s a song that changed your life? One that moved you, inspired you, broke down a wall within you and helped you grow? What song can bring back a memory as sharp as a snapshot, bringing you back to a time and place and smell and one prismatic moment any time you hear the first notes playing through a speaker? I don’t think any other art form on the planet can so deeply evoke sense memories and wildly variant emotions that music. While I love books with every fiber of my being, it’s music that has the most power to move me. And I think this is true for far more people than realize it. Music is the language of the soul, and it’s fascinating to see what speaks to the hearts of different people. Especially those who move others with their own music.

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Book Review: Grievar’s Blood (The Combat Codes Saga, #2) by Alexander Darwin

Book Review: Grievar’s Blood (The Combat Codes Saga, #2) by Alexander Darwin

I have a Booktube channel now! Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/petrikleo

Review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Grievar’s Blood by Alexander Darwin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

eries: The Combat Codes Saga (Book #2 of 3)

Genre: Science fiction, Dystopia, Martial Arts

Pages: 340 pages (Kindle edition)

Published: 28th January 2020 by Insight Forge Press (Self-published)


Grievar’s Blood is a daring sequel to The Combat Codes. The cast is bigger and the stakes are higher than before.

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Audiobook Review: Ever Winter by Peter Hackshaw

Audiobook Review: Ever Winter by Peter Hackshaw

I received a copy of the audiobook from the publisher, Monolith Books, in exchange for an honest review.

 

Ever Winter by Peter Hackshaw (Narrated by Dan Stevens)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars/

Genre:  Dystopia, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi

Published:  9th Jan 2020 by Monolith Books, & 26th Jan 2021 by Podium Audio


Ever Winter is a great revenge story that starts slow, but engages with the gritty realism of its wintry post-apocalyptic dystopian setting.

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Book Review: The Combat Codes (The Combat Codes Saga, #1) by Alexander Darwin

Book Review: The Combat Codes (The Combat Codes Saga, #1) by Alexander Darwin

I have a Booktube channel now! Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/petrikleo

Review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Cover art illustrated by: Felix Ortiz

Cover art designed by: STK.Kreations

The Combat Codes by Alexander Darwin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Combat Codes Saga (Book #1 of 3)

Genre: Science fiction, Dystopia, Martial Arts

Pages: 410 pages (Kindle edition)

Published: 31st October 2015 by Insight Forge Press (Self-published)


Fun, tense, and entertaining; The Combat Codes is an MMA-inspired sci-fi debut with heart and well-written combat scenes.

“A perceived weakness is strength, and a flaunted strength is weakness.”

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Book Review: Outlawed by Anna North

Book Review: Outlawed by Anna North


Outlawed by Anna North
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Outlawed is an alternate history in which a Great Flu wiped out 9/10ths of the U.S. population, the country fell apart, and now a woman who can’t pop out babies to rebuild that population is branded a witch and hanged. As a barren woman myself, this premise hit incredibly close to home for me. I loved seeing how all of these women dealt with such superstition and blatant inequality.

“People cry witchcraft whenever they don’t understand something.”

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Book Review: The Pale Horseman (The Last Kingdom, #2) by Bernard Cornwell

Book Review: The Pale Horseman (The Last Kingdom, #2) by Bernard Cornwell

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The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Last Kingdom (Book #2 of 13)

Genre: Historical fiction

Pages: 432 pages (Kindle edition)

Published: 3rd October 2005 by HarperCollins


Another great installment about loyalty, power, faith, friendship, and ambition.

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Book Review: Pawn’s Gambit (Mortal Techniques) by Rob J. Hayes

Book Review: Pawn’s Gambit (Mortal Techniques) by Rob J. Hayes

I have a Booktube channel now! Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/petrikleo

ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Cover art illustrated by: Felix Ortiz

Cover art designed by: STK.Kreations

Pawn’s Gambit by Rob J. Hayes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Mortal Techniques (Book #2)

Genre: Fantasy, High fantasy, Wuxia

Pages: 315 pages (Kindle edition)

Published: 26th January 2021 by Rob J. Hayes (Self-published)


A great Wuxia adventure with an empathizing redemption arc.

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Book Review: Why She Wrote by Lauren Burke & Hannah K. Chapman, Illustrated by Kaley Bates

Book Review: Why She Wrote by Lauren Burke & Hannah K. Chapman, Illustrated by Kaley Bates

ARC received from publisher, Chronicle Books, in exchange for an honest review.

Why She Wrote: A Graphic History of the Lives, Inspiration, and Influence Behind the Pens of Classic Women Writers by Lauren Burke, Hannah K. Chapman, Kaley Bales (Illustrator)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Genre: Non-fiction, women’s history, biography, graphic novel, classics

Publication date: 20th April 2021 by Chronicle Books


As I continue my endeavour to read more classics and heading into the new year with fresh reading resolutions, Why She Wrote couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. I wasn’t aware of this book until my co-blogger, Celeste, read and reviewed it most favourably. Furthermore, the first book we picked up in 2021 was Anne Bronte’s debut, Agnes Grey. Knowing that all the Bronte sisters were featured, I thought it would be interesting to read this title in tandem.

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Book review: Blood Heir (Aurelia Ryder #1) by Ilona Andrews

Book review: Blood Heir (Aurelia Ryder #1) by Ilona Andrews

Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Aurelia Ryder #1

Genre: Urban Fantasy

To be published: January 12th 2021

 

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest opinion. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This review is part of the Blood Heir Blog Tour, kindly organized by Mihir (Fantasy Book Critic). #BloodHeirKD

 

Back to Atlanta.
Back among old friends.

 

“To the fans of Kate Daniels World who refuse to let it go.”

Aww look, I just got my first and very apt book dedication!

Joking apart, Kate Daniels’s crazy world, her dysfunctional Atlanta and her colorful friends and foes alike aren’t things I am ready to let go. If there is more, I will read it. If there isn’t, I will reread the existing stories over and over again. But Blood Heir, however, is not a book about Kate. is a book (and the first installment in a new series) about Julie, Kate’s protégé and probably my least favorite regular character. Did I care? May be a bit, may be at first, but not enough to make me consider walking away. As long as it was set in Atlanta, the mere chance of seeing some of the old cast was incentive enough to pre-order the book months in advance and pounce on the opportunity to read it early.

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Book Review: The Councillor by E. J. Beaton

Book Review: The Councillor by E. J. Beaton

I have a Booktube channel now! Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/petrikleo

ARC provided by the publisher—DAW Books—in exchange for an honest review.

Cover designed by: Adam Auerbach.

The Councillor by E.J. Beaton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Councillor (Book #1)

Genre: Fantasy, High fantasy, Mystery

Pages: 448 pages (US Kindle edition)

Published: 2nd March 2021 by DAW Books


The Councillor is a Machiavellian fantasy novel I didn’t know I wanted.

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