#TheReadingQuest Sign Up Post

Hello everyone! In addition to #ARCAugust, I'm signing up for Aentee's #TheReadingQuest, which can be found here. I'm so excited for this challenge because I have been a gamer for ages. Final Fantasy, Dragon Age, Fallout, Bayonetta - I've played many games over the years. RPGs in particular. Favorite character class was always rogues, or dual-wielders, so what better way to pay homage to my gaming ways then by being a rogue?

All artwork in this post is from CW of Read Think Ponder!

Somehow made this without photoshop. Pretty good, no? 

[Review] The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

Rating: 4.5 stars

Format: ARC Paperback

Published: August 25th 2015

Goodreads Synopsis: 

In this asylum, your mind plays tricks on you all the time…
Delia’s new house isn’t just a house. Long ago, it was the Piven Institute for the Care and Correction of Troubled Females—an insane asylum nicknamed “Hysteria Hall.” However, many of the inmates were not insane, just defiant and strong willed. Kind of like Delia herself.
But the house still wants to keep “troubled” girls locked away. So, in the most horrifying way, Delia gets trapped.
And that’s when she learns that the house is also haunted.
Ghost girls wander the halls in their old-fashioned nightgowns. A handsome ghost boy named Theo roams the grounds. Delia finds that all the spirits are unsettled and full of dark secrets. The house, as well, harbors shocking truths within its walls—truths that only Delia can uncover, and that may set her free.
But she’ll need to act quickly, before the house’s power overtakes everything she loves.
From master of suspense Katie Alender comes a riveting tale of twisted memories and betrayals, and the meaning of madness.

My second book for #ARCAugust!

I don't normally read horror. I don't normally watch horror either - I would think them too silly or not scary enough for me.

The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall surpassed my expectations on the horror genre. Coincidentally, I was also watching a Supernatural episode on an asylum the day before I picked up this book, so I guess I had some idea of what I was walking into.

[Review] The Possible by Tara Altebrando

The Possible by Tara Altebrando

Rating: 2 stars

Format: ARC Paperback

Published: June 7th 2017

Goodreads Synopsis:

Some storms rage from within.
What if…a teenage girl could move objects with her mind?
What if…someone turns up at her door asking questions she doesn’t want to answer?
Kaylee lives a normal life with her adoptive parents, and almost never thinks of her birth mother, Crystal, who is serving a life sentence in prison. But the woman at the front door is producing a podcast about Crystal that is about to blow Kaylee’s forgotten past wide open.
What if strange things have been happening Kaylee’s entire life, things she could not explain? What if she’s more like her mother than she ever imagined?
What if the podcast is about to put her on a collision course with Crystal—and her darkest self?

My first #ARCAugust read!

I can't really say much about it, because the book itself was very bland. The entire time we are dealt suspense around the main character, Kaylee, and whether or not she inherited telekinetic powers from her estranged, psychopathic mom, Crystal, who is currently in jail for killing Kaylee's little brother. There's a lot of buildup and not much spark for the reveals. The characters weren't that interesting - Kaylee more or less annoyed me at times. I found myself just trying to finish this book.

#ARCAugust Week 1 Update

Hello everyone!

I started off the first week of #ARCAugust pretty strong, finishing 4 books. Their reviews will come up in the next few days. My reads were mostly suspenseful ones. I ended up really liking two of my reads - Rose Under Fire and The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall. Here are my ratings for my read ARCs.

My next read for #ARCAugust will be - 

What's next on your TBR? 

[Review] The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley 

Series: The Checquy Files #1

Rating: 4 stars

Published: October 16th 2012

Goodreads Synopsis:

Myfanwy Thomas awakes in a London park surrounded by dead bodies. With her memory gone, her only hope of survival is to trust the instructions left in her pocket by her former self. She quickly learns that she is a Rook, a high-level operative in a secret agency that protects the world from supernatural threats. But there is a mole inside the organization and this person wants her dead.
As Myfanwy battles to save herself, she encounters a person with four bodies, a woman who can enter her dreams, children transformed into deadly fighters, and an unimaginably vast conspiracy. Suspenseful and hilarious, THE ROOK is an outrageously inventive debut for readers who like their espionage with a dollop of purple slime.

What I noticed recently becoming a big thing in books (at least, the books I'm reading), is the presence of people with supernatural/otherwordly powers co-existing with people who don't have such abilities. Or maybe co-existing is too light a term.

Therein lies problems - overly done cliches, special snowflakes, and unnecessary romances.

But luckily for me, The Rook bypassed these and fulfilled all my fantasy expectations.