A Banner Day!

 

I've been struggling to catch up with my reading goals.  I set lofty goals because of how well I did last year and this year has had a slow start that's gotten me 15 books behind (according to GoodReads.)  But today, today was a Banner Day!  I finished two books today, one paperback and one in audio.  The first book was a short book by Haidji called Ines' Words.  This is an author I found on TikTok, and not because someone recommended her, but simply because I found her!  Which is totally awesome by the way.  The book was a sort of retelling, or perhaps continuation on a European tale that I'd never heard of.  The following is my review...   

Ines' Words by Haidji

With beautiful writing, and excellent poetry and prose, Haidji tells the tale of love and possibility that crosses the ages.  I had never actually heard the tale of the "Death Queen" before and so I loved that there was an introduction telling the history and legend of this tale.

One of the powerful quotes that stuck with me was: 

Believe in deeds and not just words.

In acts we see who persons are

In words we see only

who they would like to be.

I love the hope that this story instills in the reader.  In love everlasting and finding your true soul mate, but also in knowing that nothing can truly part two souls in love.  

The next book I finished was an audiobook.  I had just listened to Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard and found out that there was actually a couple of prequel novellas.  Luckily, I was able to find an omnibus of sorts with the two novellas on my Libby app.  (Have you heard of Libby?  You can check out ebooks or audiobooks for free using your library information!)  So, another short one, but it was very good and has me even more excited for book two in the series (which I also put on hold on Libby!)  The following is my review for that...  

Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard  

This book is a bundle of the two prequel novellas in the Red Queen series.  I had just finished Red Queen when I came to know about the prequels and wanted to read them as soon as possible.  

The first of the two was the story of Coriane who, if you have read Red Queen, you'll remember is Cal's mother who has passed away.  Learning of her romance with Tiberias and her growing madness was an emotional ride for sure.  There is a certain character in Red Queen who I abhorred, and in this prequel I learned that I didn't know the half of it.  I definitely think this is a bit of background that we really needed to truly understand the rest of the story.

In the second of the prequels, we get to know Farley a bit better.  Farley is one of those characters who I'm just not sure if we should trust her or not.  While I agree with her cause, there were moments in Red Queen that I questioned the ways she went about doing things.  One thing I was really fascinated about, was the relationship between her and Mare's brother.  

I also loved getting the sneak peek into book two of the series.  I can't wait to get my hands on that!