Book of the week - Kings Rising by CS Pacat

 

Kings Rising is the third and final instalment of the Captive prince phenomenon. It started out as an online series, but it got so popular that Penguin bought it and published it. The wait for Kings Rising has been excruciating! I'm talking years here, people! When it was finally released last week, the internet went crazy! Personally, I was excited for the book, but I was also anxious to see if the fact that it was written under big publishing contract would somehow influence the quality/storyline. It's incredibly liberating to write something for yourself and later on for the fans, without any expectation of sales, ratings and royalty statements. It's very different when you write for one of the biggest publishers. And it's even more difficult when you write a gay dystopian fantasy for one of the biggest publishers.

Having read the book 3 times since last Wednesday, I can report back and say that all my fears were for nothing! The book is absolutely amazing and everything I wanted! Damen and Laurent are even more intense together, and the love scenes were just as beautifully done as in the previous 2 books. I didn't feel any censorship at all in any aspect, and I'm incredibly happy about that!

The cover you can see above is the American/European edition cover.  I have to admit I'm not crazy about it.The cover below is the Australian edition cover. How pretty is it??

Here's the whole series together. In my opinion, the Australian ones are gorgeous and I ordered them all from Australia because I need to have them on my bookshelf!

 

Kings Rising didn't disappoint. It was absolutely amazing! I'm not one for rereading books, I can count the books I've reread, ever, on one hand. But this series... God, this series I can read every week. I reread the first 2 before the new one came out and I got the same book hangover as I got the first time around, 2 years ago. Days later, I can't stop rereading my favourite scenes in the whole series and can't seem to pick up anything else. My head is full of Damen and Laurent and I need an intervention.

What's more, I realised when I started rereading the first 2 books that I remembered nearly every scene to the letter! I read a lot and I forget a lot, most of the time I'm lucky if I remember the names of the main characters in a book I've read, but with Captive Prince I knew each scene play by play. The writing is that powerful.

What more can I say about the series? If you haven't read it, do it! You'll thank me later. Or maybe not... I can see a lot of obsessing and Tumblr browsing in your future...

February Reads

February is an awesome month, book-wise! Some amazing books coming out, books I've been waiting to get my hands on for quite some time. I see lots of late night reading in my future...

My hot picks for February are (click on each cover for blurb/info/preorder link):

Strong Signal

Megan Erickson and Santino Hassell

February 15th

Talk about author collaboration wet dream!!! I nearly peed myself with excitement when I heard the news two of my favourite authors have written a book together! And not only that, but it's the first book in a series! I know it'll be amazing, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind about that, and I can't wait to read it!

Kings Rising (Captive Prince 3)

C.S.Pacat

February 2nd

I've been waiting for this book for YEARS! I kid you not. The Captive Prince series phenomenon started as a free read but became so popular that it was bought and re-published by Penguin. In all honesty, I haven't read the republished version of the first two volumes, just the free version that was originally published, and I loved it! I'm a bit nervous about this new book considering it wasn't only published by a big publisher, but also written under contract. I'm afraid that all the freedom that comes from writing something simply for the joy of it will be gone and the magic will be ruined. 

Fingers crossed that's not the case!

On a side note, I'm kinda annoyed at how expensive the ebook is ($9.99). That won;t stop me from buying it, though. I've been waiting YEARS. I guess that's what Penguin are hoping all the fans will say... *sigh*

Catch a Tiger by the Tail

Charlie Cochet

February 5th

The THIRDS series continues with Catch a Tiger by the Tail, Calvin and Hobb's story. I'm looking forward to this book! Great series! I can't wait to read Calvin and Hobb's side of the story!

Out of Nowhere (In the Middle of Somewhere 2)

Roan Parrish

February 29th

In the Middle of Somewhere is one of my all time favourite books! Roan Parrish's debut novel was so amazing that I've lost count of rereads already! The second book in the series, Colin and Rafael's story is coming out soon and I'm so excited! Colin was a total douche in the first book and pretty much everyone who's read it hated him. I'm curious to see how Roan will turn people's perseption of him around. And I have no doubt that she will do just that.

So there you go. That's my list of February books I can't wait to read. Not bad, eh?

What book are YOU looking forward to read next month?

Favourite books of 2015

It's that time of the year again. It feels like yesterday when I typed my Best of 2014 post! This year flew by so fast it gave me a whiplash. Thankfully, I read a ton of amazing books which helped keep me sane when life was getting a bit too crazy.
Here's my absolute favourite books of 2015. Hope you can find something you like among these awesome reads, and super talented authors.

                                          

 

I have to start with one of my all-time favourite authors, Santino Hassell. I've been a fan of his ever since I read ICoS and I was looking forward to reading more books from him. In 2015 he published 3 full-length novels, and all of them were fantastic! I can't recommend Sutphin Boulevard (you can read my full review HERE) and Sunset Park strong enough! 

Santino's Gothic paranormal novel Stygian is an epic read! It's a stand alone, not connected to any series and is just brilliant!

In 2015 Leta Blake and Indra Vaugh wrote a book that blew me away! It's a love story about a priest and a rock star, and I have to admit that I was nervous to read it because religious themes make me uncomfortable. But, man, am I glad I did read it! It's phenomenal, one of the best books I've ever laid my hands on.

I never know what to expect from Heidi Cullinan. Her books are so different, both in writing style and theme. But Carry the Ocean came highly recommended from most of my friends, so I gave it a go.

I fell in love from the very first chapter. Such an amazing book! Everyone should read it at least once in the life.

Varian Krylov is one of the most talented authors I've ever had the pleasure of reading. She uses words to create feelings. Every time I read one of her novels I'm in awe with her talent. The words flow so beautifully... Transmundo: Escape is no exception. It's an amazing novel. You can read my full review HERE.

In the Middle of Somewhere is Roan Parrish's debut MM romance novel and it's fantastic! I fell in love with Roan's writing and I'm pretty sure I'll read anything she ever writes. I can't wait for the next book in the series!

True Brit was the pleasant surprise in the Best of 2015 collection. I read it without any expectations and I absolutely loved it! It turned out to be so much more than what the book blurb said it would be. I can't wait to read more from Con Riley.

                                                     

Kim Fielding is another favourite author of mine. She's incredibly talented and I've never read a book of hers I don't like. She was represented on my Best of 2014 list with Brute - an incredible book that still haunts me. This year I read a lot of Ms Fielding's books, but the 2 that absolutely stood out were Rattlesnake and The Tin Box. Both are fantastic novels, and yet they's so incredibly different! I can't pick between the two to save my life!

I love Adrienne Wilder's writing! In the Absence of Light is an amazing book! Ms Wilder never shies away from difficult themes and this novel is no exception. Absolutely brilliant book!

I'm not a huge fantasy/sci-fi/paranormal fan, but this year I discovered two incredible fantasy series - Whyborne&Griffin is one of them. It's so good that I couldn't stop reading until I devoured the whole series! 

The other fantasy series I loved was Mermen of Ea. I've never read any books about mermen but let me tell you, this series is totally addictive! Highly recommend for fans of fantasy/adventure books!

I've probably - unintentionally - left out lots of books I loved this year, for which I'm sorry, but it was such a good year for the genre that it was difficult to choose just a handful. I'm so excited to see our little genre growing and so many talented authors getting more and more attention, and well-deserved recognition, outside of the MM romance clique. I hope 2016 will be even better and we'll see a ton of MM books in the Amazon Top100!