Hi,

I’ve decided to take part in this challenge. I’ve been seeing it pop up all over the place and it look like a lot of fun.

I’ll be uploaded a post every fortnight or so to share with you both my most memorable titles and the books that are still on my TBR which corresponds to each letter of the alphabet.

I’m not sure who the original creator on this challenge it — if you know please let me know! But I’ve see the challenge on Sofii from A Book. A Thought‘s blog and Sahi’s blog My World of Books. I really love their blogs, so if you haven’t checked them please do so!

All these books I rated 4 – 5 stars so I highly recommend them

On to the books!

Previous Letters

||A||

 

Memorable Titles Starting with ‘B’

 

Branded by Fire (Psy-Changeling #6) by Nalini Singh

This is the 6th book in the series that I am obsessed with so no surprise that this book is on the list. I won’t go into too much detail because spoilers. This is the pack crossover book I never knew I needed. We follow DarkRiver leopard sentinel,Mercy Smith ,and SnowDancer wolf lieutenant, Riley Aedan Kincaid. This book does that whole hate-to-love trope fantastically! Basically, I adore this series and this book is no exception.

 

The Blood Prince (Sovereign #3) by Josie Jaffrey 

The Blood Prince is the conclusion to Jaffery’s Sovereign series. This is a great conclusion, everything was resolved but at the same time I still want more for this world and these characters. We are told the story is dual point of views, from human servant girl, Julia and Silver Invicti, Cam. As the pair travel more and more of the world is revealed. The identify of The Blood Prince was a surprise to me. Jaffery leaves the series on a hopeful note. Change can happen. When it does happen it feels far sweeter than any fairy tale or dream you could imagine.  I’m not a fan of dystopian fiction and I adore this series. Highly recommend!

Full review

 

The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson & The Olympians #4) by Rick Riordan

This is the penultimate book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Percy Jackson hurried to Camp Half Blood when demonic cheerleaders invade his high school. From there Percy, Annabeth, Grover and Tyson set out on a quest through the Labyrinth, is hopes of keeping the Titan lord, Kronos from destroying camp. Like always I love the way Riordan modernises mythology, it’s highly engaging and also educational.

 

Blood Queen (Blood Queen #1) by Joanna Courtney 

This is the first real look I’ve had at the history of Scotland and looks a the real life people who inspired Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. Cora, Lady Macbeth, is a complex character who has gone through every traumatic experience imaginable. It’s harrowing to read and she copes with these events by clinging to to her rage and her revenge. The only thing that seems to soften her rage is Macbeth. Macbeth is the my new book boyfriend. I love him so much! I also enjoy that we get to see from Sybil, Prince Duncan’s wife, so we do get to see the war from both sides of these feuding families.

Full review

 

Breath of Fire (Kingmaker Chronicles #2) by Amanda Bouchet 

This is the second book in the Kingmaker Chronicles. This series follows Kingmaker, Cat and war lord, Griffin. I picked this book up as I hear it was a Hades and Persephone retelling. I find Cat’s character very relatable, which is great because we are in her first person perspective. I still cannot get over how Bouchet is able to twist these greek characters to fit into her fantasy world.

Series review

 

Beautiful Revolutionary by Laura Elizabeth Woollett 

Beautiful Revolutionaryfollows the devastating story of The People’s Temple and Jim Jones. We follow Evelyn Lynden. How she got wrapped up in The People’s Temple and how she become Jones’ mistress. While she is the main character, we do get to see the point of view of other temple people including Jones’ wife and temple Mother, Rosaline. Through this perspectives we see just how one man affected so many people’s lives and all in different ways.

Full review

 

The Boy Made of Snow by Chloe Mayer

I adore this book, which was a big surprise for me since I’m not a fan of WWII fiction. But Mayer’s writing is stunning. I found myself slowing my reading pace and rereading paragraphs just so I could savour it. This a beautifully crafted novel that takes the dangers of living during WWII, twists them with the whimsy of fairytales and lets you deep inside a broken family who are trying to hard to be ‘normal’.

Full review

 

Bloom by Beau Taplin

Beau Taplin is a poet and songwriter from Melbourne, Australia. There is something about his poems that just speaks to me. He has this way of summing up all those confusion thoughts and feelings beautifully. I been a fan of his work since he was the songwriter for local band, For Our Hero. He manages to give a positive and fresh look at age-old topics (ie. grief and love) and offers great advice for how to learn from the experience. I have included some examples below.

 

 

The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy #1) by Katherine Arden 

I loved getting a look at Russian folklore. Vasilisa’s character is head strong and I love how she works to defy her stepmother and continue honour the sprits. Arden explores the tension between the old faith and the church wonderfully. This book is writing in a lush and lyrical fashion, it was easy to lose yourself in the narrative. The way Arden is able to describe winter in so many different ways is amazing.

 

Bad News: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship by Anjan Sundaram

This is one of the few nonfiction books I’ve read, which is shame and I need to correct that. But any Bad News tells the story of Anjan Sundaram’s time running a journalist’s training program out of Kigali, the capital city of one of Africa’s most densely populated countries, Rwanda. He gives us insight into a country still feeling the political and social unrest of the 1994 Rwandan genocide that shocked the world. What is the price of knowledge? Or free speech? In our Western world these are fundamental rights we take for granted. Bad News shows us just what that price is.

Full review

 

Bloodline (Wars of the Roses #3) by Conn Iggulden 

This is Iggulden’s third book in his Wars of the Roses series and it might be my favourite book of the whole series. I flew through the book, Iggluden’s writing is vivid and visceral that I could easily see the story unfold like watching a movie. I enjoyed Edward IV’s character and that Warwick was shown in a different light – Iggluden is sympathetic to him and instead of Warwick being a power-hungry villain we see that his a man being pushed to the edge and forced to react.

 

The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night by Jen Campbell 

Her writing still contains the rhythm and melody of her poetry. The best thing about this collection is huge variation of structure. We get a script (The Beginning of the World of the Middle of the Night), a letter (Jacob), flash fiction (Little Deaths) and stories that include coding (Plum Pie. Zombie Green. Yellow Bee. Purple Monster.). These 12 stories are a collection of haunting mix of magical realism and fairytales for the modern day adults filled with all the magic, horror, hope, lost souls, humour and love. My favourite stories were Animals, Little Deaths, Aunt Libby’s Coffin Hotel, Jacob and the title story.

 

Between Earth and Sky by Amanda Skenandore 

This is a stunning and harrowing book, which looks at America’s attempt to ‘civilize’ the Native Americans during the 1800s. Told through the eyes of a young white girl, Alma, who growing up saw no different between the two races and believed they could be friends. She believed in the propaganda of the time that through this re-education Native America and White American could live together in harmony. This book tore me apart and one I won’t forget for a long time.

Full review

 

Books Starting with ‘B’ on my TBR

 

I’m not going to talk about them individual because it would just be me rambling about how excited I am to get to these books and I’m sure you have more enlightening things to do with your time.

 

That’s it for me. Comment down below and let me know what your most memorable read starting with ‘B’ is.

Until next time, happy reading!
Dearna