Favorite line:
"And what IS your method?"-Skrull lead geneticist
"MADNESS!"-Deadpool

Soul Siphon by T.L. Branson is a short story that is inspired by the world and characters of the upcoming release of the first book in the Soul Stones series, Soul Render.

While short, this story is action packed and very well written! I will definitely be keeping my eye out for more releases from this author!

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.

First of all... how interesting is that cover?! That drew me in immediately!

As for the novel, I have to say that I'm not usually a huge fan of short stories. However, I was totally captivated by this one! The storyline itself was very intriguing and perfectly paced, and the whole thing was also so wonderfully written.

I loved learning a bit about the setting and the characters of the series. While lacking a bit of world building and explanation, I thought what the author did here was absolutely brilliant! He gave you just enough information to really draw you in. The lack of information, rather than irritating me, just made me antsy to get my hands on the next book so I could learn more!

The characters were also interesting, though we didn't get the chance to really get to know them just yet. I do hope to see more of Callum and Drygo in the upcoming series! *fingers crossed*

This author has a wonderful way of describing things. As I was reading, I could not only picture things, but I could also hear all of the sounds that were being described in my head. This truly hasn't happened for me in quite a while!


My favorite passages:
The shing of swords being drawn and the heavy pounding of boots filled the room.

Drygo steeled himself and slid his sword from its sheath, gripped its solid hilt in both hands, and prepared for the coming onslaught.

Flames rose up above city rooftops. Black smoke billowed high into the sky. The metallic smell of blood mixed with that of burning wood.

His face contorted in anger, an ache in his heart.

My final thoughts:
I loved this short story! I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on Soul Render so I can dive back into this world!

If there was one comic that could sum up Deadpool...this would be it. It was just so ridiclous, it was perfect.

There were a few different shorts included in this issue.

The first story- is modeled after Make Way For Duckling. Deadpool and Blind Al wandering around the city causing the usual chaos.

The second story-
Captain America and Deadpool give a lesson in manners, which super short and hilarious.

The Third story-
Deadpool and Blarney the Dinosaur have a very rough day... Similar to the theme in ALIVE, Deadpool ends up eating poor Blarney to survive the few hours that he is left in the mountains.

The other bits of the book include-a dress-up for Deadpool, an alphabet with great drawings for each letter, and a paint by number.

Favorite lines:
"[Spider Man] who took off his mask on National TV and, like, totally got me off the hook for throwing him out of a moving car on the Queensborough Bridge!"-Deadpool

"Weird, how could he read my captions like that?"-Deadpool

"Takes a thief to catch a thief."-Deadpool
"And it takes a politician to make a law that works for no one."-Cable

"This would get me my own solo book. Or better, my own movie."-Deadpool

"Sweet Christmas, I'm gonna get a whupin'!"-Deadpool

When I saw one of my favorite book bloggers, Lauren of Always Me, review this book, I immediately wanted to give it a go!

Click here to check out Laurens review.

Luckily, soon after I had commented on her blog, the author reached out and offered me an honest review exchange. Needless to say, I in as soon as I could!

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.


My thoughts:
I have to admit, it took me quite a while to really get invested in this story...

But when I hit the 50% mark, I could not put this book down! I did not see the turn that was going to be taken, and it totally threw me. To be totally honest, I wasn't planning on reading the rest of the series until that point. But now, I definitely need to know what happens next!


Beware, the negatives:
Three quick things (all of which could simply be a result of my busy personal life, I'll have to reread sometime to figure that out!):

1) Like I said above, the first half of the book was a little slow to me.
2) I found the writing to be a bit repetitive, especially when it came to explaining Aaru.
3) I felt a bit of a disconnect with the dialogue; to me it seemed a bit forced rather than totally natural at times.


My favorite passages:
…being together started to feel easy. It was these moments of tranquil serenity that Rose liked best- the times when Franco let his guard down and allowed her to get a glimpse of what was inside.

There was no point in wasting her breath. She could read her parents like painted signs. They wanted this and were determined to turn a deaf ear to any complaint…

It was a cool morning with lingering fog, but it was not at all unpleasant. It was one of those mornings that contained an underlying promise, an aura of hopefulness that Koren could just tell, will be realized in a glorious, sunny day.


My final thoughts:
The main storyline of this book will definitely stick with me for quite some time! I highly recommend this for readers that enjoy slow-burning stories that suddenly take a sharp twist that will totally captivate you!

And phew, what a good series opener this is! I am quite excited to see where the rest of the series goes!

In this issue, Deadpool and baby Cable have gone back to the reality they started in. The lab discovers that each of the realities that they visited showed different aspects of cables identity, which is why baby Cable is still a baby. Using the teleport harness they think that can merge the rest of his identities to bring him back to his adult form. However, because of the brain scrambling that was done to Deadpool, he tries to kill Cable even though he really doesn't want to. He has no control and when Syrin and Cannonball step up to stop him, Deadpool shoots himself. When he wakes up, his team has discovered that he was brainwashed and in order to fix him, Cable must go through a painful process of getting his other identities and memories back...then he can help "fix" Deadpool by filling the holes in his brain. When the process is finished, Deadpool appears to be back to "normal."

The Razvak Hunter by Arel B. Grant is a refreshingly unique fantasy novel featuring magic, fantastical creatures, and absolutely wonderful characters.

I'm so happy that this is the first book in the Razvak Series. I cannot wait to get my hands on the second book!

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.

My goodness, this was such a fun read!

This is an author that I will definitely be keeping my eye on. Her writing style is so lovely. It's beautifully descriptive, but never goes overboard. Her character development and their dialogue is excellent. And the world that she has created here is so interesting.

As you all know, I'm not usually a fan of varying perspectives and timelines, but each storyline here were both really wonderful! It did take a bit of time for me to get used to the flow, and because of the way the chapters were organized, it was a little repetitive at first. But once I got a quarter of the way into the book, I could not put it down!

Not only was each storyline written so wonderfully, the overall organization of the book was also very well done! I LOVE books like this. Though to avoid any spoilers, I will unfortunately have to leave it at that.

I loved the characters! Whether they were main character or side characters, they all seemed so realistic. Aelwyd was a very intriguing female character. I loved the way her storyline was introduced because it forced me to be patient and wait to learn more about her slowly as the book progressed. And Dalbran was so wonderfully funny! He could have easily been a very dark character, but I'm glad he kept his humor! Even the fantastical beasts were really interesting! I hope to see more of them in the second book.

From the magical standpoint, I thought the various elements were all really interesting! Though there were a few that I wished were explained in more detail. The main element, the power of the Rose of Vallenthar, was really neat!

Beware, the negatives:
Like I said above, I thought the book was a bit repetitive at first. Specifically when it came to explaining the Fairest One and her looks and power. But per usual, that is just one of my personal reading irks.

My last slight complaint is that there were many instances where the wording was wrong.
For example:

“He’d always felt strange sense of peace among these three’s.”
The word “threes” should be “trees.”

“Didn’t you now, fairest one?”
The “now” should be “know.”

However, the rest of the writing was so wonderful that I was able to look past these elements and not let it hinder my reading progress.


My favorite passages:
This is my home. She savored those words as the morsels they were. She never had a home before. Not really.

Inside the Border Forests everything was bigger, meaner, darker. It was like the whole place was warped somehow, part of a universe that wasn’t all that right. And yet, he’d always felt a strange sense of peace among these trees. Like this was where he belonged.

Don’t travel in packs, huh? He was going to find the author of that study and make him shove his useless research into a very uncomfortable place. I’ll never trust stupid book again!

Today, she leaned over the wooden railing of the balcony, looking up to a sky patched with thousands of quiet lights.

“I know what you are thinking, it must have taken a great deal of practice to achieve such mastery, right? Well, you’re correct. It’s a skill that takes years to develop. I, personally, elevated the ability of talking to oneself to the category of art. I can do it for hours. Never gets boring. Comes in handy too. When the only creature you can talk to are spiders, roaches and rats, you have to be eloquent and your monologues, otherwise there’s the risk you’ll run out of topics to discuss with yourself. I’m telling you, it’s tricky stuff.”


My final thoughts:
If you're like me and are feeling pretty burnt out when it comes to fantasy reads, trust me, you'll want to give this one a go! It's so refreshingly different!

Even though I had a few issues with the wording here and there, I really enjoyed this book overall! The storyline, the characters, the world... it was all so wonderful! I will definitely be picking up book two of the series, Elven Princess, as soon as I can to see where the author takes us!

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart is a fantastically addictive read, but also a terribly sad story about a young girl and a summer that changed everything!

To put it best, "There’s not even a Scrabble word for how bad I’m feeling right now…" but not in a negative way! This book just really hit hard, even though this was my second read through!

I read this for the first time with a friend, knowing absolutely nothing about it when I dove in. I highly recommend doing the same if you can!

When this book was picked for our first book club read, I was so excited to read it again! When I got home from our meeting, I immediately went to Amazon and ordered myself a copy.

My thoughts:
So to start, I just have to mention the construction of the book. I really love the bokeh print end papers and the silver foiled spine with the textured edges!

I also appreciate that the author included a map of Beechwood Island, Massachusetts. This is such a great visual and helps the reader really imagine the island while reading. And so clever that the illustration of the Claremont house appears in the family tree page.

Reading the first chapter, I had the same reaction with each read; I thought it was incredibly off-putting. But boy does it set the tone of the book perfectly!

A really interesting element, is how often "three" pops up throughout the novel. If you watch, you'll see it everywhere! Whether that is in the sentence structure, line breaks, or the description of something. You'll see it when the narrator, Cadence Sinclair, describes her cousins:
Johnny- bounce, effort, snark
Mirren- sugar, curiosity, rain

A few other areas where the mention of three really stood out include:
The three aunties
The three daughters in the fairy tales
The three flowers her grandfather picks
The three ice cream bar flavors
The three jellyfish caught
The three colors of the tomatoes

Overall, I really enjoyed the writing! It all flowed well, even through there were many time jumps. The organization of the storyline really helped add to the mystery.

The characters were very well developed and all seemed so real. The author really nailed the personas of each of her characters! The dialogue especially seemed very realistic!

I usually hate repetition. But this is one of the very few books where I actually loved that certain passages and phrases were repeated throughout the story.

And the last quick thing I wanted to mention is that I also loved that the book circled back and ended in a similar format to the second chapter.


My favorite passages:
I own a well-used library card and not much else, though it is true I live in a grand house full of expensive, useless objects.

Granny Tipper’s mouth made a straight line. Then she showed all her teeth and went forward.

His nose was dramatic, his mouth sweet. Skin deep brown, hair black and waving. Body wired with energy. Gat seemed spring loaded. Like he was searching for something. He was contemplation and enthusiasm. Ambition and strong coffee. I could have looked at him forever.

We looked at the sky. So many stars, it seemed like a celebration, a grand, illicit party the galaxy was holding after the humans had been put to bed.

His thumb rubbed the center of my palm. All my nerves concentrated there, alive to every movement of his skin on mine.

Just think before you complain about stuff other people would love to have.

There is not even a Scrabble word for how bad I feel.


My final thoughts:
I really enjoy this book! The first time I read it, I gave it four stars. But on this re-read I bumped it up to five stars because I would happily re-read again!