#WWW Wednesday – 21 September, 2016

It’s time for WWW Wednesday! This is a blog hop hosted by Sam over at A World Of Words. Link up with us by commenting on Sam’s post for today, and just answer the three questions.

(I have to apologise for being fairly useless at returning comments and visiting other blogs last week. I’ll do better this week! :D)

What have you recently finished reading?

I finished The Dragon in the Garden by Erika Gardner, and it managed to not become a complete mess! I enjoyed it in and of itself, but I don’t feel compelled to read the sequel whenever it comes out. I posted my review here, along with my review of The Mysterious Adventures of Becca Carlisle by Cate Morgan, which also went up this week.

What are you currently reading?

I started reading The Life Assistance Agency by Thomas Hocknell. This is the one I requested on NetGalley last week, and since it has just been released, I thought I should try to get it reviewed soonest. I’m also listening to Little Brother by Cory Doctorow on audio. I’m enjoying them both, though in both cases I am finding the lead characters are both really standard male characters (one’s that goofball, kind of loser stereotype and the other is a “hot-blooded” 17-year-old) and there aren’t very many women around in either one. The stories are both good, though, so I’m trying to let that slide.

What do you think you’ll read next?

On October 1, I am going on a cruise for a week and I plan on taking The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss with me. I am not taking any devices other than my phone (for camera purposes, I’m not getting international roaming), but this should keep me going for eight days. Depending how quickly I finish the other stuff, I might read The Ill-Kept Oath by C. C. Aune before then.

Let me know if you’ve any thoughts on any of these! 🙂

See you all later!

Book Review: The Dragon in the Garden by Erika Gardner

Title: The Dragon in the Garden (The Watcher Rising Series #1)
Author: Erika Gardner
Genre: NA/Fantasy
Date Read: 10/09/2016 – 16/09/2016
Rating: ★★★☆

Review:

This book had the potential to get very messy, as it had a lot going on. Fortunately, it managed to never fall off the rails.

Siobhan has been able to see through lies and illusions all her life. When she was five, she had a conversation with a dragon statue in her grandmother’s garnde. When she inherits the house after her grandmother’s death, she discovers the reason for these powers, that she has been chosen to decide the fate of the world in a battle between good and ultimate evil.

The main battle that is going on in this book is between dragons and Lucifer and his band of fallen angels. There is also another group of angels, the Two Hundred, who have fallen for different reasons but fight on the side of good. On top of that, the Fey are also involved, and in the big battle at the climax of the book, many other supernatural creatures also converge to take sides in the battle for Earth. However, it kind of made sense, as many of these creatures were part of myths that pre-date Christianity, and it was Those Who Came Before against the Angels of Hell.

Siobhan was a well-drawn character, though sometimes she did go on a bit about her fate as the Chosen One (I know, I’d probably go on about it, too, but it gets repetitive for a reader). Apart from her, there were four central characters that featured: Turiel, one of the Two Hundred, who acted as both mentor and love interest, Nefta, a Valkyrie, Alex, Siobhan’s brother (I liked him, he was a lot of fun but with a typical brotherly protective streak), and Tim, Siobhan’s exboyfriend, who was a bit entitled at times, but grew on me by the end.

The plot was well-paced for the most part, but it did take a little while to get going. With so many parties involved in the conflict, there was a fair bit of explaining to be done, but mostly this was explained through dialogue with Turiel, and managed to avoid info-dumping for the most part.  Speaking of Turiel, I also thought his relationship with Siobhan progressed a bit too quickly; they had only known each other for a few days. This is fine, I guess, but I prefer a slow-burn romance myself.

While there is still story to be told, I have to admit that when I got to the end, I didn’t feel especially compelled to add any follow-up books to my TBR. This was an enjoyable read, but it was enough on its own.

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(Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for a review)

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#WWW Wednesday – 14 September, 2016

It’s time for WWW Wednesday! This is a blog hop hosted by Sam over at A World Of Words. Link up with us by commenting on Sam’s post for today, and just answer the three questions.

What have you recently finished reading?

I finished The Birdman’s Wife by Melissa Ashley and posted my review here. I ended up quite enjoying it for the most part. I also read The Mysterious Adventures of Becca Carlisle by Cate Morgan, which is the second in a series of steampunk novellas. This one was less steampunky as it dealt more with the Carlisle family’s legal matters and building a case against their enemy, but as with the first one, the characters were vibrant and fun and it was a quick read. In related news, my review of Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine also went up this week.

What are you currently reading?

The Dragon in the Garden by Erika Gardner, which I also got from NetGalley. I’m almost halfway through it. Not  much has happened so far, but the world-building and characters are interesting. I’m a bit worried it might get messy, though, as we already have fallen angels and dragons, and the fey are apparently going to start showing up, too.

Still going with Shadows in Bronze by Lindsey Davis on audio. I haven’t had as many opportunities to listen to it but luckily I was able to renew it so I should be able to finish it before it gets returned.

What do you think you’ll read next?

I want to try to read The Ill-Kept Oath by C. C. Aune in time to get a review up around its release on September 27. This is the one I accidentally-on-purpose requested from NetGalley last week. I have another one I that I requested in the same manner this week. Still waiting on approval for that one, but fingers crossed! After finishing the Birdman’s Wife and getting through Dragon in the Garden quite quickly, I feel a bit better about having a few ARCs sitting around.

I’m going to love you and leave you on that note, and try to do something that involves moving about. I thought I would try a new class at the gym yesterday, but it turned out to be well beyond my abilities, and  unlike the one I normally go to, didn’t really have different levels for those of us who are beginners. As a result, 36 hours and a massage later, I am still stiff and sore, but it wears off a bit when I move around.

See you all later!