"To find out what a story's really about,' the Librarian said,

'you don't ask the writer. You ask the reader."


- SNOW & ROSE by Emily Winfield Martin


Saturday, September 15, 2018

My AUGUST Book Haul and Wrap Up, and my SEPTEMBER TBR 2018


Hello, friends!!! 

School has finally started for us and our schedule is BUSY!
But, it's a schedule and I can finally fit in a bit of "me time" and I am SO extra happy about it, lol! It's not easy to have to "adult" all the time - no one can ever prepare you for all of the responsibilities you will one day be in charge of. Thank goodness for books!!! 

Now, let's talk about BOOKS!!!


*My AUGUST Book Haul*

*REVIEW BOOKS:

- KEEPER OF THE BESS by Meg Kassel (YA/HB) from Entangled Teen
SEE ALL THE STARS by Kit Frick (YA/HB) from Simon and Schuster 
- FIERCE FAIRY TALES: Poems & Stories to Stir Your Soul by Nikita Gill (A/PB) from Hachette Books 


From Disney-Hyperion Books:
- HIP AND HOP IN THE HOUSE!: A Free-Flowing Tortoise and the Hare Collection by Jef Czekaj (C/HB) 
- 1 GRUMPY BRUCE by Ryan T. Higgins (C/Board Book) 
- SANTA BRUCE by Ryan T. Higgins (C/HB) 

From Book Sparks: 
THESE REBEL WAVES (Stream Raiders #1) by Sarah Raash (YA/HB) from Book Sparks
- SEA WITCH by Sarah Henning (YA/HB) 
- THE LEAVING YEAR by Pam McGaffin (YA/PB) 
- SCHOOL TALES by Sharon Myrick (A/PB) 

From Peachtree Publishers:
AM I YOURS? by Alex Latimer (C/HB)  
- THE SOMEWHAT TRUE ADVENTURES OF SAMMY SHINE by Henry Cole (MG/PB) 
- THE BOOKSHOP GIRL by Sylvia Bishop (MG/HB) 
- EBENEZER HAS A WORD FOR EVERYTHING by Chelsea H. Rowe (C/HB) 
- HANSEL & GRETEL by Bethan Woollvin (C/HB) 
- LITTLE WHALE by Jo Weaver (C/HB)  

*BOOKS I RECEIVED AS GIFTS or in GIVEAWAYS - Thank you!!!
- SHADOW OF THE FOX by Julie Kagawa (YA/ARC) 
- ENDLESS WATER, STARLESS SKY (Bright Smoke, Cold Fire #2) by Rosamund Hodge (YA/ARC) 
- A GIRL OF WHITE WINTER (Dark Glass #3) by Barb Hendee (YA/PB) - from Kensington via TLC Book Tours IG giveaway 

*BOOKS I PURCHASED
SPINNING SILVER by Naomi Novik (A/signed HB) - Goldsboro Edition 
- CATWOMAN: SOULSTEALER (DC Icons #3) by Leigh Bardugo (YA/signed HB) 
- TEMERAIRE by Naomi Novik (A/PB) - UK Edition 

*KINDLE EBOOKS I PURCHASED:
NOBODY SAID IT'D BE EASY by Patty Blount (A/eBook) 
- ROSEMARY AND RUE (October Daye Series #1) by Seanan McGuire (A/eBook) 

*What I read in AUGUST*

- SOMEONE I USED TO KNOW by Patty Blount (YA/eARC) - 4 stars
- THE KISS QUOTIENT by Helen Hoang (A/HB) - 4 stars 
- GRACE AND FURY by Tracy Banghart (YA/ARC) - 3 stars 
- BROKEN THINGS by Lauren Oliver (YA/ARC) - 4 stars
- NOBODY REAL by Steven Camden (YA/ARC) - 5 stars
- THE GIRL WITH MORE THAN ONE HEART by Laura Geringer Bass (MG/HB) - 4 stars
AM I YOURS? by Alex Latimer (C/HB) - 5 stars
- STAY SWEET by Siobhan Vivian (YA/HB) - 3 stars 
- FIERCE FAIRYTALES by Nikita Gill (A/PB) - 5 stars 

*My SEPTEMBER TBR*

First, I hope to finish reading
- THE SISTER'S OF THE WINTER WOOD by Rena Rossner (A/ARC) 
- KEEPER OF THE BEES by Meg Kassel (YA/HB) 
- THE CHRISTMAS SISTERS by Sarah Morgan (A/ARC) 

And then, I hope I have enough time to read these too
- BLACK WINGS BEATING by Alex London (YA/ARC) 
- BLANCA & ROJA by Anna-Marie McLemore (YA/ARC) 
- SHADOW OF THE FOX by Julie Kagawa (YA/ARC) 
- LOVE YOU MORE by Gary Urda (C/HB)  
- THE SOMEWHAT TRUE ADVENTURES OF SAMMY SHINE by Henry Cole (MG/PB) 
- HIP & HOP IN THE HOUSE! by Jef Czekaj (MG/HB) 
- GIRAFFE PROBLEMS by Jory John (C/HB) 
- EBENEZER HAS A WORD FOR EVERYTHING by Chelsea Rowe (C/HB) 
- THE BOOKSHOP GIRL by Sylvia Bishop (MG/HB) 
- I LOST MY TOOTH! by Mo Willems (MG/HB) 

Please let me know in the comments what you're reading... 
and leave your blog or book haul links too - I'd love to visit and see what you all have been up to!

Happy reading!!!

Friday, September 14, 2018

Blog Tour (Excerpt/Giveaway): KEEPER OF THE BEES by Meg Kassel (YA)


Black Bird of the Gallows #2
by Meg Kassel
Release date: September 4th, 2018
Published by Entangled Teen
Genre: Young Adult - Paranormal/Fantasy
Format: Hardcover, eBook


SUMMARY

*PLEASE NOTE: 
Keeper of the Bees is the second book in the companion series to BLACK BIRD OF THE GALLOWS. However, as per the publisher, you do not need to read BLACK BIRD OF THE GALLOWS before KEEPER OF THE BEES in order to enjoy them both.

"Beauty and the Beast like you've never imagined!"
- New York Times bestselling author Pintip Dunn

KEEPER OF THE BEES is a tale of two teens who are both beautiful and beastly, and whose pasts are entangled in surprising and heartbreaking ways.

Dresden is cursed.
His chest houses a hive of bees that he can't stop from stinging people with psychosis-inducing venom. His face is a shifting montage of all the people who have died because of those stings. And he has been this way for centuries - since he was eighteen and magic flowed through his homeland, corrupting its people. 

He follows harbingers of death, so at least his curse only affects those about to die anyway. But when he arrives in a Midwest town marked for death, he encounters Essie, a seventeen-year-old girl who suffers from debilitating delusions and hallucinations. His bees want to sting her on sight. But Essie doesn't see a monster when she looks at Dresden.

Essie is fascinated and delighted by his changing features. Risking his own life, he holds back his bees and spares her. What starts out as a simple act of mercy ends up unraveling Dresden's solitary life and Essie's tormented one.

Their impossible romance might even be powerful enough to unravel a centuries-old curse. 

ORDER LINKS can be found HERE!


EXCERPT from KEEPER OF THE BEES

     She closes her eyes. Her breath hitches. Then, she does the improbable and throws herself against me, wrapping her arms around my waist.

     I am paralyzed. Motionless, breathless in my first embrace in a millennium. To be touched... my eyes close as I tremble from head to toe. The pain is glorious, excruciating.

     "Thank you," she breathes against my chest. "You calm my mind. Why is that?"

     "I don't know." Speech takes an unbearable effort. I'm overwhelmed in every single possible way - destroyed on a level she can't begin to comprehend. My arms hover, uncertain how to return her embrace and unsure if I should. Unable to push her away. I feel as though I will shatter if I move, but my arms slowly close around her. One of my hands falls on her hair, where the elastic has loosened. The thin band slips from her hair and falls into my hand. My fingers close around it. 



READ the first book to the companion series NOW!!!

BLACK BIRD OF THE GALLOWS
by Meg Kassel
Release date: September 5th, 2017
Published by: Entangled Teen


SUMMARY to BLACK BIRD OF THE GALLOWS

A simple but forgotten truth:
Where harbingers of death appear, the morgues will soon be full.

Angie Dovage can tell there's more to Reece Fernandez than just the tall, brooding athlete who has her classmates swooning, but she can't imagine his presence signals a tragedy that will devastate her small town. When something supernatural tries to attack her, Angie is thrown into a battle between good and evil she never saw coming. Right in the center of it is Reece - and he's not human.

What's more, she knows something most don't.
That the secrets her town holds could kill them all.
But that's only half as dangerous as falling in love with a harbinger of death.


*GIVEAWAY*

a Rafflecopter giveaway
*Bumbles and Fairy-Tales is not responsible for any lost, damaged, unclaimed, etc. prizes.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Meg Kassel


Meg Kassel is an author of fantasy and speculative books for young adults. 

A graduate of Parson's School of Design, she’s been creating stories, whether with visuals or words, since childhood. 

Meg is a New Jersey native who lives in a log house in the Maine woods with her husband and daughter. 

As a fan of ’80s cartoons, Netflix series, and ancient mythology, she has always been fascinated and inspired by the fantastic, the creepy, and the futuristic. 

She is the 2016 RWA Golden Heart® winner in YA and a double 2018 RITA® finalist for her debut novel, Black Bird of the Gallows.

GOODREADS / WEBSITE / TWITTER / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK / AMAZON 

 
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