Bloodwitch – Wonderfilled Reads

2019 End of Year Survey

2019 was a solid reading year for myself, if not as great as I was hoping it would be. However, I did get to read some amazing books and find new favorite authors so I can’t complain too much. I can’t wait to look back on everything that I’ve read over the past year!

If you wish to participate in the survey, please link back to the original creator – Jamie @ The Perpetual Page Turner.

2019 Reading Stats

Number Of Books You Read: 64
Number of Re-Reads: 2
Genre You Read The Most From: Fantasy

Best in Book

Best Book You Read In 2019?

Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?

Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?

Best series you started in 2019? Best sequel of 2019? Best series finale of 2019?

Favorite new author you discovered in 2019?

Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?

Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?

Book You Read In 2019 That You Would Be MOST Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

Favorite cover of a book you read in 2019?

Most memorable character of 2019?

Jude is a total badass and no one can say otherwise.

Most beautifully written book read in 2019?

Most Thought-Provoking/Life-Changing Book of 2019?

Book you can’t believe you waited until 2019 to finally read?

Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2019?

“By you, I am forever undone.” – The Queen of Nothing

Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2019?

Book That Shocked You The Most

OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)

Jude and Cardan… I think it’s pretty easy to see how I feel about this book.

Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

Morrigan and Hawthorne crack me up with their friendship. She’s cynical and he is Mr. Get-Into-All-of-the-Trouble.

Favorite Book You Read in 2019 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

Best Book You Read In 2019 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure/Bookstagram, Etc.

Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2019?

I will always go for the moody and brooding guys, especially ones with a bit of darkness in them like Nathaniel.

Best 2019 debut you read?

Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?

Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2019?

Hidden Gem Of The Year?

Book That Crushed Your Soul?

Most Unique Book You Read In 2019?

Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?

Your Blogging/Bookish Life

New favorite book blog/Bookstagram/Youtube channel you discovered in 2019?

I have done a terrible job keeping up with the bookish community this past year. Maybe that’s why I was affected by so many reading slumps – I wasn’t keeping myself hyped up.

Favorite post you wrote in 2019?

If You Liked That…Read This: Historical Fiction Edition

Favorite bookish related photo you took in 2019?

Ummm, I did not take one. Oops!

Best bookish event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, etc.)?

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it to BookCon this past year but I was able to participate in the blog tour for Songs from the Deep!

Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2019?

Probably when I finally reach over 1000 followers on my blog. I don’t really promote it a whole lot so it’s been nice to see it grow so much this year.

Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?

My reading life took a bit of a hit this year from going into so many random reading slumps, which has really affected my will to actually post regularly. It’s something I’m really hoping to not have an issue with this coming year.

Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?

The 5 Most Disappointing Books of 2019

Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

Top 5 Audiobook Recommendations

Best bookish discovery (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?

I don’t think I really have one this year.

Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?

Hahahahahaha… Nope, didn’t finish either of one. Epic 2019 fail.

Looking Ahead

One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2019 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2020?

Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2020 (non-debut)?

2020 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2020?

One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2020?

Keep away from the dreaded reading slumps and try to consistently blog post.

How did you reading year go in 2019? What was a book that surprised you the most? Did you read a hidden gem of a novel? Did any books disappoint you? Please leave a link to your reading survey in the comments below!

February Wrap-Up: Reviews, Reading Challenges, etc.

Woohoo, I had a great reading month in February! I’m super back into the reading groove and I even notice that affecting me in general. I’m back into watching Booktube, I browse Goodreads pretty much every day, and I’ve even started listening to podcasts about books. So yeah, I’m feeling really good right now. I also got back into working out at the gym and I can feel such a difference in how I feel physically, especially in regards to my sleeping habits. So yeah, if you’re having trouble falling asleep or sleeping straight through the night on a regular basis, I totally recommend doing some sort of physical workout or even yoga at night before going to bed… And that is my tip for the day! Haha!

Books Read

A Curse So Dark and Lonely (A Curse So Dark and Lonely, #1) by Brigid Kemmerer – physical book, Review
Reign of Mist (The Oremere Chronicles, #2) by Helen Scheuerer – audiobook, 4/5 Stars
Bloodwitch (The Witchlands, #3) by Susan Dennard – physical book, Review
Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte – physical ARC, Review
The Kingdom of Copper (The Daevabad Trilogy, #2) by S.A. Chakraborty – physical book, Review
Pride by Ibi Zoboi – physical ARC, Review

Total Books Read: 6

Overall in 2019: 16

Reading Challenge Updates

POPSUGAR

A retelling of a classic – Pride

Goodreads Challenge

Total: 16/75

Previous Total: 10/75

Blog Posts

Book Reviews

WWW Wednesday

Discussions/Misc.

Did you get a lot of reading done in February? Were you able to read all of the books on your TBR? Did you read any new favorites? What book did you like the least? What do you plan on reading in March?

Book Review: Bloodwitch (The Witchlands, #3)

Let me preface this by saying that two years is too freaking long to wait between releases for a fantasy series. Luckily, I enjoy this series too much that I won’t hate on Susan Dennard for pushing back Bloodwitch (The Witchlands, #3).

Fans of Susan Dennard’s New York Times bestselling Witchlands series have fallen in love with the Bloodwitch Aeduan. And now, finally, comes his story.

High in a snowy mountain range, a monastery that holds more than just faith clings to the side of a cliff. Below, thwarted by a lake, a bloodthirsty horde of raiders await the coming of winter and the frozen path to destroy the sanctuary and its secrets.

The Bloodwitch Aeduan has teamed up with the Threadwitch Iseult and the magical girl Owl to stop the destruction. But to do so, he must confront his own father, and his past.

I just need to say how beneficial it would be for readers if publishers put series summaries at the beginning of each book. When there are such long gaps between book releases, it is so easy to forget all of the important parts that have happened in a series, especially fantasy series which are so complex. Because of this issue, I will say that for the majority of this book, I didn’t remember a damn thing that had previously happened which took away from some of the enjoyment. I was too busy wondering who so-and-so was and why they were doing such-and-such. The only characters I remembered were Iseult, Safi, Merik, and of course, Aeduan. Everyone else? Yeahhhhh…. it took me the majority of the book to vaguely remember who they were.

With that being said, Dennard continues to fascinate me with how she is able to have so many different storylines consistently move seamlessly in the same direction. I loved seeing how everyone was dealing with being split up and having to navigate their own adventure. I think it definitely kept the plot engaging and fairly quick-paced. The only time I felt my concentration lagging a bit was during Vivia’s chapters. She’s never been my favorite character and I think that probably had something to do with my lack of focus. I will say that this was definitely Aeduan’s and Iseult’s book more than anything and I am definitely not complaining about that.

Iseult and Aeduan are goals. Seriously. It was wonderful to see how their relationship changed over the course of the book. Iseult was still her cool self, but you could see how being around Owl and Aeduan was bringing her out of her shell. She was more engaging and showed some personality, that we haven’t gotten to see much of in the previous books. I thought Owl did a great job of bringing that out of her (mostly by just being a little brat, haha!). I don’t want to spoil too much, but it was also interesting to see her and Aeduan almost do a role reversal due to some unforeseen circumstances. But as obvious by the title, this was really about Aeduan’s personal journey. He had the most development of any of the characters. I liked seeing this vulnerable side to him, as it was able to give him a new perspective to do some self-reflecting. And of course, Safi was her usual spunky self. I really enjoyed seeing her take charge and learning to follow her gut, rather than always relying on or thinking about what Iseult would do in her situation. Then poor Merik… Other than Aeduan, Merik definitely had the roughest storyline in this book. I can’t say too much about him other than that. And oh my gosh, I have to know what’s going to happen to him next!

Like I previously stated, I think the only issues that I had with this story was due to the length of time since the previous book. There’s so many different plots in this series, that it’s very hard to be able to keep track of and remember them all. This caused me to take a longer time really getting into the story, as I was fairly lost for the first 100-150 pages (yes, really that long). I highly recommend doing a reread or recap of the first two books in the series before picking up this book. It’s also probably a good idea to read Sightwitch as well since the story in that novella actually affects the overall plot, which isn’t always the case when it comes to novellas. I know I’ll definitely have to do an entire reread of the series before the next book is released next year… not that I’m complaining!

Final Verdict: 4/5 Stars

Have you read Bloodwitch yet? If so, what did you think of it? Did you have a hard time remembering what had happened in the previous books like I did? Which POV did you enjoy the most?

WWW Wednesday – February 27th, 2019

Welcome to WWW Wednesday which is currently being hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words. It’s really just a place to do little update on what all you’ve been reading lately. Anyone is welcome to join, just leave a link to your post in the comments and be sure to give the appropriate credit to Sam!

The Three W’s are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

Whiskey When We’re Dry by John Larison – audiobook
The Fever King (Feverwake, #1) by Victoria Lee – eARC
Sleeping Giants (Themis Files, #1) – physical book, buddy read

I’m going really slow with Whiskey When We’re Dry as it’s a literary fiction and that makes for a much slower read, even as an audiobook. I’m doing a buddy read of Sleeping Giants with my friend, Britt @ Geronimo Reads. We are going slow with it as well, reading 50 pages at a time. It’s really interesting so far and I’m definitely excited to see where this story is going to go next. I’m a little over a quarter way through The Fever King and I’m pretty obsessed so far. I love this dystopian/fantasy futuristic version of the United State. I also like how there’s an air of mystery to the entire plot that just makes it so hard for me to put down this book. Sooo good!

What did you recently finish reading?

Bloodwitch (The Witchlands, #3) by Susan Dennard – physical book, review scheduled
Pride by Ibi Zoboi – physical ARC, review to come

Let me go ahead get this off my chest…. Pride just wasn’t very good. I really enjoyed how Zoboi weaved modern themes like class and gentrification into this retelling of Pride and Prejudice, but the characters were not good. Zuri is just a bitchy version of Elizabeth Bennett and her only redeeming quality was her loyalty to her family. She is definitely not someone I’d want to be friends with. I really just wanted to slap her the entire book and really took away any enjoyment I was getting from the story.

Bloodwitch was a great installment in The Witchlands series. The only issue I had was that due to the two years time lapse since the previous book, I remembered almost zero percent of the plot which made it hard for me to really get into the story from the beginning. Luckily, it was full of action and PLENTY of our fave, Aeduan. I’m really hoping the finale comes out next year or I will freaking riot!

What do you think you’ll read next?

Immortal Reign (Falling Kingdoms, #6) by Morgan Rhodes – physical book
Rabbit & Robot by Andrew Smith – physical ARC
Jade City (The Green Bone Saga, #1) by Fonda Lee – physical book

What are you currently reading? What books did you finish this week? What are you planning on reading next? Have you read any of the books on my list? If so, what did you think of them? Leave a link to your WWW Wednesday post in the comments below!