Book Review | The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

 

 

Publication Date: May 4th 2021 by Titan Books

Format: Netgalley ARC

Target Audience: Adult 

Genre: Fantasy, Mythology,

→ Author's Site

 

Goodreads • Waterstones • Blackwells

Trigger warnings: death, blood, violence, murder, attempted murder, abuse, pregnancy complications, death of a loved one, injury, grief

Synopsis

Angrboda's story begins where most witches' tales end: with a burning. A punishment from Odin for refusing to provide him with knowledge of the future, the fire leaves Angrboda injured and powerless, and she flees into the farthest reaches of a remote forest. There she is found by a man who reveals himself to be Loki, and her initial distrust of him transforms into a deep and abiding love.

Their union produces three unusual children, each with a secret destiny, who Angrboda is keen to raise at the edge of the world, safely hidden from Odin's all-seeing eye. But as Angrboda slowly recovers her prophetic powers, she learns that her blissful life—and possibly all of existence—is in danger.

With help from the fierce huntress Skadi, with whom she shares a growing bond, Angrboda must choose whether she’ll accept the fate that she's foreseen for her beloved family…or rise to remake their future.

Rating

My Thoughts

Down The TBR Hole #32

Current TBR shelf: 3839

Last week's TBR shelf: 3841

The rules   

1. Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
2. Order on ascending date added.
3. Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
4. Read the synopses of the books
5. Decide: keep it or should it go?

Top Ten Tuesday | My Favourite Colourful Book Covers

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature that highlights ten books that all relate to a certain topic and is  hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. 

This Weeks Topic Is...

Colourful Book Covers. I'm here for any topic that allows me to highlight beautiful covers and as you can see, I'm definitely drawn towards books with blue, purple and pink shades. Something about these combinations really capture my eye and I find myself more inclined to pick it up!

 

 

#5OnMyTBR | Love Triangles

This meme was created by E. @ Local Bee Hunter's Nook and you can find the announcement post here. Also, side note, these aren't necessarily books that I own physically but they're all on my Goodreads TBR and they'll mostly be the five most recently added.  

This Week's Prompt is...

Love Triangles. I'm someone who doesn't actually mind a love triangle AS LONG as it's done well and the two love interests aren't copy and paste versions of each other but with different hair colours. They need to be distinct and actually have chemistry with the MC for it to work. It's also nice to keep the reader guessing, you don't want there to be a clear winner too early in the book! Here's a few books with love triangles that I do want to check out... 

 

Down The TBR Hole #31

Current TBR shelf: 3841

Last week's TBR shelf: 3846

The rules   

1. Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
2. Order on ascending date added.
3. Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
4. Read the synopses of the books
5. Decide: keep it or should it go?

Fairyloot March 2021 Unboxing | Frozen Fables ❄

 

My first ever Fairyloot box arrived a couple of days ago and I'm so happy I managed to get my hands on one. This might be a one off for now because I loved March's theme but the next couple of months are books that I'm not overly bothered about. 

Spring may be here but this box had all of the wintery vibes going on and I love it! This months theme was Frozen Fables and everything in here was perfect. Let's get into it...

 

WWW Wednesday | 14/04/2021

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Taking On a World of Words that highlights three questions:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you'll read next?

 

Top Ten Tuesday | These Book Titles Should Be Crayola Crayon Colours

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature that highlights ten books that all relate to a certain topic and is  hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. 

This Weeks Topic Is...

Book Titles That Sound Like They Could Be Crayola Crayon Colours. Honestly, this was such a fun prompt and I genuinely could have kept going for another fifty books! Loved matching up these titles with colours so Crayola, hit me up if you have a job opening!

 

Down The TBR Hole #30

 

Current TBR shelf: 3846

Last week's TBR shelf: 3854

The rules   

1. Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
2. Order on ascending date added.
3. Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
4. Read the synopses of the books
5. Decide: keep it or should it go?

Book Review | Threadneedle by Cari Thomas

Publication Date: May 27th 2021 by Harper Collins

Format: Netgalley ARC

Target Audience: Young Adult 

Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal

→ Author's Site

Goodreads • Waterstones • Forbidden Planet

 

Within the boroughs of London, nestled among its streets, hides another city, filled with magic.

Magic is the first sin. It must be bound.

Ever since Anna can remember, her aunt has warned her of the dangers of magic. She has taught her to fear how it twists and knots and turns into something dark and deadly.

It was, after all, magic that killed her parents and left her in her aunt’s care. It’s why she has been protected from the magical world and, in one year’s time, what little magic she has will be bound. She will join her aunt alongside the other Binders who believe magic is a sin not to be used, but denied. Only one more year and she will be free of the curse of magic, her aunt’s teachings and the disappointment of the little she is capable of.

Nothing – and no one – could change her mind before then. Could it?

 

Rating

My Thoughts

WWW Wednesday | 07/04/2021

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Taking On a World of Words that highlights three questions:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you'll read next?

 

Top Ten Tuesday | Books I'd Gladly Throw Into The Ocean

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature that highlights ten books that all relate to a certain topic and is  hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. 

This Weeks Topic Is...

 

Books I'd Gladly Throw Into The Ocean. I'm guessing this is supposed to be a selection of the worst books you've ever read or books that are just plain awful. I basically just went through all the books I've read and selected all of the ones I'd given one or two stars too. It made me realise that I haven't actually read a lot of books that I truly hated, even some of the ones on this list aren't really bad just not for me. 

 

#5OnMyTBR | Middle Grade

This meme was created by E. @ Local Bee Hunter's Nook and you can find the announcement post here. Also, side note, these aren't necessarily books that I own physically but they're all on my Goodreads TBR and they'll mostly be the five most recently added.  

This Week's Prompt is...

Middle Grades. I'm a big fan of midde grades but I seem to struggle fitting them into my reading schedule. I tend to gravitate towards fantasy and magical themes because they're a bit lighter then YA or adult which is perfect for me. These five have me very intrigued. 

 

Down The TBR Hole #29

Current TBR shelf: 3854

Last week's TBR shelf: 3861

The rules   

1. Go to your goodreads to-read shelf.
2. Order on ascending date added.
3. Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
4. Read the synopses of the books
5. Decide: keep it or should it go?

Stacking the Shelves | March 2021

 

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality that highlights all the books you've recently added to your shelves. Here's all the books I hauled in March!

 

 

 

The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

 

Angrboda's story begins where most witches' tales end: with a burning. A punishment from Odin for refusing to provide him with knowledge of the future, the fire leaves Angrboda injured and powerless, and she flees into the farthest reaches of a remote forest. There she is found by a man who reveals himself to be Loki, and her initial distrust of him transforms into a deep and abiding love.

Their union produces three unusual children, each with a secret destiny, who Angrboda is keen to raise at the edge of the world, safely hidden from Odin's all-seeing eye. But as Angrboda slowly recovers her prophetic powers, she learns that her blissful life—and possibly all of existence—is in danger.

With help from the fierce huntress Skadi, with whom she shares a growing bond, Angrboda must choose whether she’ll accept the fate that she's foreseen for her beloved family…or rise to remake their future. From the most ancient of tales this novel forges a story of love, loss, and hope for the modern age.

Published on 4th May 2021. So excited that I got approved for this on Netgalley. I mean, a witch who falls in love with Loki? Sounds amazing! 

 

Foretold by Violet Lumani

 

Cassandra sees death and devastation all around her. In vivid detail.

It’s the price of living with her OCD and extreme anxiety. In every situation, Cass imagines the worst possible fate for everyone in her life. Her dad in a pool of blood after a break-in. Her beloved older neighbor, homeless. A splinter in her finger turned to gangrene.

But this time, it’s not her imagination. The boy next door, Colin, is destined to die. Cass has foretold a real death before; she knows this is a true vision.

Desperate to save Colin's life, Cass immerses herself in a secret organization of soothsayers that promises to teach her how to change the future she foresees. But as she descends into their hidden world of divinatory magic and predictive technology, she discovers there's always a price to pay for unraveling fate's strands. And cheating death will cost her everything.

Published on 20th July 2021. This was available to read on Netgalley and after reading the synopsis, a girl with OCD who can predict death and there's magic involved, I couldn't help but download it. 

 

For World Book Day on the 4th of March, Apple books released a ton of middle grade's and children's books for free on their app so I took full advantage and got ten of them. Some of these I've wanted to read for so long so I really hit the jackpot!

 

• The Highland Falcon Thief (Adventures on Trains #1) by M.G. Leonard & Sam Sedgman

• Malamander (The Legends of Eerie-on-Sea #1)  by Thomas Taylor

• Tilly and the Bookwanderers (Pages & Co #1) by Anna James

• Agents of the Wild: Operation Honeyhunt by Jennifer Bell & Alice Lickens

• Willow Moss and the Lost Day (Starfell #1) by Dominique Valente

 

• The Good Hawk (Shadow Skye #1) by Joseph Elliott

• The Falcon's Malteser (Diamond Brothers #1) by Anthony Horowitz

• Theodora Hendrix and the Monstrous League of Monsters by Jordan Kopy & Chris Jevons

• Roxy & Jones: The Great Fairytale Cover-Up by Angela Woolfe

• The Nothing to See Here Hotel by Steven Butler

 

I also can't resist when Amazon or Apple books have those little 99p sales cause I'm a sucker for a bargain 🤷

 

• Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu

• The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

• Lies We Bury by Elle Marr    

• The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

• Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano

• Writers & Lovers by Lily King

 

I also downloaded the Faraway Collection that's available for free on Prime Reading cause why not? They're only short and I love myself a fairytale.

 

• Hazel and Gray by Nic Stone

• The Prince and the Troll by Rainbow Rowell

• The Princess Game by Soman Chainani

• The Cleaners by Ken Liu

• The Wickeds by Gayle Forman  

I also got S.T.A.G.S as a free audiobook on World Book Day and I decided to get the free trial of Audible which gets you two credits to use and I'm pretty happy with my choices!   

• S.T.A.G.S. by M.A. Bennett

• Locke & Key by Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez

• The Project by Courtney Summers  

I've been good with not buying any physical books for the last few months particularly with the charity shops closed so the only book I've acquired recently is this one that my dad lent me. The Damage Done: Twelve Years of Hell in a Bangkok Prison by Warren Fellows is a non-fiction book about the author's experience in a prison in Thailand. Not something I usually pick up but my dad does have good recommendations so I'll try and get to it soon. 

 

That's everything! It's actually more then I thought I'd hauled but I'm happy with some of the steals I managed to get. What have you hauled over the last month or even week? Leave a comment or leave a link to your own hauls down below. Happy Reading!

March 2021 Reading Wrap Up

The month of March has been fairly up and down, the past few weeks i've definitely been reading but just at a slower pace then normal. I've read 8 books this month with a decent amount of three and four star ratings and then came the bang at the end of the month! Small victories though because I managed to read all three books in the Shadow and Bone trilogy this month! This is in preparation for the Netflix series coming out in April and I'll be tackling Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom before the release date.  

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