Befriending the Beast + Fanny's Hope Chest

Severe sickness with allergies + a possible job change with ten billion forms to fill out = finishing up Indie April almost a month late. (But better late than never, right?) I hope you all will get these wonderful books I've reviewed over the 'month' and enjoy them as I have.

The Innocent

Cover retrieved from 
Goodreads page

The Innocent is a western YA romance novel.

My Goodreads review can be found here.

My Amazon review can be found here.

As per usual, anything that does not directly relate to the topic at hand will be written in this color.

*Please excuse the weird formatting. Google does google things when I format this one and this one only; no matter how many times I delete and do a new post it still won't format correctly*

Perception

Cover retrieved
from Goodreads

Perception is a Jane Austen's Persuasion retelling set in the 1930s.

My Goodreads review can be found here.

My Amazon review can be found here.

As per usual, anything that does not directly relate to the topic at hand will be written in this color.

This is a unique story as it is both a stand-alone, but is also a part of the Vintage Jane Austen series. This series has retellings of Austen's six major stories as standalones and then an anthology book with, I believe, short stories also retelling those major six stories. 

Where Trains Collide + Carrie Mouse and the Giant Garage

 Welcome to Indie April everyone! 

If you're new here, Indie April is where we highlight books that are published independently of major publishing houses; basically, if you can see it in a major bookseller, such as Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, etc., it's not an indie book. 

I personally consider pay-to-publish and micropublishers part of the indie umbrella due to the hold traditional publishers have on the market (as in there are now only three or four major publishing houses because one bought out the competition and made it in imprint around February/March 2021), but for the sake of this month's reviews I'm keeping it simple with actual "indie published" books.

You guys ready?

The Rise of the Altereds

Cover retrieved from
Goodreads page

The Rise of the Altereds is a YA Sci-Fi/Dystopian sequel to The Unadjusteds

My Goodreads review can be found here.

Though I received the book early, I bought it directly from the author so this has an Amazon review here.

As per usual, anything that does not directly relate to the topic at hand will be written in this color.

All right, ladies and gentlemen, buckle up because I have Thoughts™.

The Viking Throne (or, Why Putting In the Work Is Extremely Important For Indie/Micro-Published Authors)

Cover retrieved from
Goodreads page

 The Viking Throne is an Adult Dystopian Adventure. 

 My Goodreads review can be found here.

 There is no Amazon review as I received this as a gift from the author and Amazon  is finicky about that in their reviews.

**Please excuse any weird formatting on this post. Google was doing Google things and messed it up. Somewhat normal formatting will resume next month**

  As per usual, anything that does not directly relate to the topic at hand will be written in this color.

 This will be a little bit different than my other reviews. The first part will be a discussion about why putting yourself out there, even when it's not 'perfect,' is so important for Indie authors and how it can affect how your readers view you and your future stories. The second part will be an actual review of the story.

Top Five of the Hot Mess Known as 2020

We made it, ladies and gentlemen. 2020 is over and finished. While I didn't read as much as previous years, I did read a lot. Most of them were average (with ratings of 3 stars), but there were a few that I really enjoyed/stood out.

**Note: They are in no particular order of enjoyment, just in the order I read them**

Cover Reveal: The Void - Morgan Elizabeth Huneke

 Hello everyone! Today I'm doing a cover reveal for Morgan Elizabeth Huneke.

Romanov

Cover retrieved from
Goodreads page

Romanov is a YA magical retelling.

My Goodreads review can be found here.

My Amazon review can be found here..

Note: I originally got this as an e-ARC from Netgalley. However, I later bought this book as a hardback so that is why my Goodreads review has the Netgalley requirement but this does not.

As per usual, anything that does not directly relate to the topic at hand will be written in this color.

So I originally had not planned on reading this book for quite some time. I had a lot of Goodreads friends who knew of Nadine Brandes and had enjoyed her books, so Romanov was on my radar; since I added other books of hers on my TBR, I thought I should read those first.

However, I was looking through NetGalley and saw that it was available. Since I had never used NetGalley before, I thought I would put my name in just to see how NetGalley works. I honestly thought I wouldn't get it because it was my first time. Four hours later, I got an email stating that I had been approved for e-ARC.

This ended up being one of my favorite reads of 2019.

Admirable + Waltz into the Waves

Today I'm reviewing two short stories by the wonderful Sarah Holman!

The Prior Quest + Deal

Welcome to week two of Indie April! This week, I'm reviewing The Prior Quest by Kendra Ardnek and Deal by Tricia Mingerink.

Twisted Dreams

Cover retrieved from
Goodreads page

Twisted Dreams is a YA Sleeping Beauty retelling.

My Goodreads review is here.

My Amazon review is here.

As per usual, anything that does not directly relate to the topic at hand will be written in this color.

The Unadjusteds

Cover taken from
the Goodreads page

The Unadjusteds is a YA Sci-Fi/Dystopian novel.

My Goodreads review can be found here.

I don't have an Amazon review because Amazon is starting to get finicky about having reviews from ARCs.

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC for free from the author, Marisa Noelle, on behalf of the publisher Write Plan. All thoughts about this book are my own.

As per usual, anything that does not directly relate to the topic at hand will be written in this color.

Because I reviewed Crimson Ash and Her Crown of Fire, my name was on the list of reviewers for WritePlan Publishing and I was able to get an e-ARC for this. I'm really glad that I was able to read it.

Her Crown of Fire

Her Crown of Fire is a New Adult Fantasy Novel.

My Goodreads review can be found here.

I don't have an Amazon review because Amazon is starting to get finicky about having reviews from ARCs.

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC for free from the publisher Write Plan. All thoughts about this book are my own.

As per usual, anything not directly on topic will be found in this color.

I read Haley Sulich’s book, Crimson Ash, last year; because of this, Ms. Sulich reached out to me to review the first two books published by her publishing/editing company WritePlan. Her Crown of Fire is the first book I’ll be reviewing and then next month I'll be reviewing the second one.

HCoF is interesting in that its strengths can also be its weakness. But first, let’s talk about what I liked.

Top Ten of 2019

It's the (literal) end of the year, which means that it's time for me to talk about my top ten favorite books that I read in 2019. 

Please note: These are in no particular order. There are also some 3 & 4 star reads on this list and there are some 5 star reads that I have not included on this list. This list is the top ten books that I enjoyed reading in 2019.

Time Captives Series (New) Covers Reveal + Giveaway!

Good morning everyone! Today I have the honor of being part of presenting the new covers for Morgan Elizabeth Huneke's Time Captives Trilogy.

Heaven Shining Through

Cover retrived from
Goodreads page

Heaven Shining Through is an Adult novella. It is published through Xulon Press; though it is not a micro-publishing company, it is technically a self-publishing company and therefore a good fit for Indie April.

My Goodreads review is here.

My Amazon review is here.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my thoughts/opinions on this book.

As per usual, anything that does not directly relate to the topic at hand will be written in this color.

GoScribbler March 2019 Box Unboxing - Relationships/Why This Company is Great Heading Into Camp NaNoWriMo

Hi everyone! Back again with an unboxing of GoScribbler's March box for my first post of #IndieApril.

In case you missed last year's post (if you read it last year, skip to Part One), GoScribbler is a monthly subscription box created by Lindsay Cummings and Victoria Scott that focuses on teaching writing from experienced authors. For the main focus of the box, you receive a writing passport that is written by a guest author that specializes on a specific part of writing. You also receive a book from the author of the passport of that month.This particular box's theme is relationships.

Pricing of the box itself is pretty good at a monthly rate of $29.99 (and a little less for 3 month and 6 month prices), but it's the shipping that gets you. The total for me, as someone who lives in Georgia USA, ended up being $38.56(ish). However, I ended up getting a lot more things than I thought I would, so it was worth it for me.

Also, it's automatically renewed on the 28th of each month, so if you only want a few boxes a year, you have to go in and manually cancel and then renew your order before then.

The company is located in Texas, so it originally was only going to be for residents of America, but they can now ship to a lot of places around the world

They announce when orders are ending for the month, so keep an eye on their Twitter for when they open and close.

So that's the boring stuff. Now for the fun unboxing!

The Queen's Rising

Cover taken from
Goodreads page

The Queen's Rising is a YA fantasy novel.

My Goodreads review can be found here.

My Amazon review can be found here.

As per usual, anything not directly on topic will be found in this color.

Zenith

Cover from book's
Goodread's page.

Zenith is an upper YA/NA SciFi story.

My Goodreads review can be found here.

My Amazon review can be found here.

As per usual, anything that is a side note or not directly on topic will be written in this blue.

Ok guys, buckle up; it's gonna get rough.