Happy Reading Lately Friday friends! I hope the last week of January (what?!?) has treated you well. If you are here to get a linking; scroll down to the bottom and add your link to it. I’m so glad you are here! If you are not linking up, I’d love to hear what books you enjoyed in the comments.

January started really slow for me reading wise. I had started Shards of Heaven on my Kindle app and just didn’t seem to have time during lunch or when I was out and about. Then at home I was reading two books that took a lot of brain power to read (but SO worth it). Then of course I did a bit of a sprint this week by finally finishing Shards of Heaven and The Seventh Bride.

The Black Wolves by Kate Elliott: Kate Elliott can do no wrong in my eyes. She is one of my favorite authors (the other being Brandon Sanderson). This book didn’t disappoint. The characters are fantastic and the plot moves and twists. The thing that I love about Elliott’s writing is that the characters are deep. There are no flat main characters here. The only thing that I can say is sort of bad it that you start off at one point in time the first chapter (or two) then you jump ahead 44 years. I had to keep looking back to try and remember if characters were the ones we already met or if they were new ones. But seriously, there are large eagles that some people are “jessed” to, demons (that may or may not be bad), and all sorts of cultures clashing. An all around fantastic book.
   Rating 5 out of 5  

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson: This book kept me up far too many nights. I got to the point of no return one night and just had to finish (does that ever happen to you?). After I finished, I was in shock. I might of even said “holy sh*t” out loud to no one except my dogs. I even had to go back and read the last chapter to make sure I had read it right. I seriously wanted to start the re-read right away to try and pick up things I missed. If that doesn’t show that it is a 5 star book, I don’t know what does. If you love fascinating characters and geopolitical fighting,  you will love this one. Did I mention that the main character is an female accountant? #awesome
   Rating 5 out of 5  

The Shards of Heaven by Micheal Livingston: This book is based in Egypt and Rome after the Julius Caesar era. It follows his adopted sons as well as the prince and princess (or whatever titles you give them) of Egypt. It focuses on the magical powers of items from the time before (aka Poseidon’s Triton and the Ark). It was an interesting focus for a story that many of us know. The blending of religious artifacts with the struggle of getting revenge makes for a fun plot. Plus I love the storyline of Cleopatra’s daughter, who is around 10 at the time. She is pretty awesome. Plus, Pullo and Vorenus always steal the story. How can you not love those two? I did enjoy the blending of all the different religions of the time – from Rome, Egypt, and even Judaism plays a part. But there was something that pulled this book down. I’m not sure what it was, but it didn’t pull me in like other books that I love do. It could be that this book competed with two 5 star books. But overall, it is still an interesting take on that time in history.
   Rating 3 out of 5  
   c/o Netgalley

The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher: I finished this book in no time flat. But looking back, it wasn’t super fantastic. The bad guy is more or less in the background, with just hints of what he does. I think it is more about the growth of the main character and the relationships that she builds in the short time. Not a bad book, but there seems to be holes within the plot that I couldn’t quite overlook.
   Rating 3.5 out of 5  
   c/o Netgalley

PS: I’m on Goodreads! If you are too, lets be friends! Anyone else set a reading goal? I’m finally back on track with mine 🙂

PPS: You still have a chance to enter the $145 paypal giveaway! Just go to this post and enter to your heart’s content.

Here are the ground rules for the link-up:

1. On the last Friday of every month, create a post about what you’ve read over the last month.
2. Grab the button and include it in your post or include a text link back to the link-up.
3. Comment on at least one other blogger’s post from the link up.
4. Feel free to share on Instagram with the hashtag #ReadingLately.
5. Enjoy!

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