Ellie Potts's Blog, page 11

It’s not a waste of time if you enjoy it!

How do you waste the most time every day?

I waste most of my time binge watching TV shows and playing on my phone. But it’s not really wasting time, more an adult time out. We are making our way through Black Mirror right now, on top of our weeklies Murderbot, Resident Alien, and Bob’s Burgers.

I use the app TV Time to help keep track of our TV shows. It tells you when the new season comes out and when the next episode is out. If a streaming service will release all the episodes.

And if I’m playing games I am using Mistplay cause the points I get can go to gift cards. Which I use for groceries. So it’s not really wasting time with it is almost like working.

Audiobook Appreciation: The Passage by Justin Cronin

I love post-apocalyptic reads, and this one was a unique one. I usually am not a vampire fan, but the use of vampirism to create the end of the world was different. And the trilogy is an epic journey that spends years. We follow Amy who is special and is tested on by a secret lab. When the virus they create gets out one world ends and another begins. Amy slowly ages and now 100 years have passed and humanity is struggling to survive. You follow a group of young people who over the years are trying to live. Like I said it is an epic read or listen. I read at first, and a couple years later got the audiobooks. I will relisten to them again.

IT HAPPENED FAST.
THIRTY-TWO MINUTES FOR ONE WORLD TO DIE, ANOTHER TO BE BORN.

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. Wolgast is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors, but for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—toward the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

Audiobook Review The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig

The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig is a beautiful gothic fairytale. The concept of the sleepers is interesting. I love the gargoyle. 6’s journey to find her missing sisters kept the story moving. I wanted a little more in the world building and sprites. But it’s book one, so hopefully book 2 will give that to us. It is a slow burn, and the spice level is low. It didn’t distract the story. This book does make me want to listen to One Dark Window.

A gothic, mist-cloaked tale of a prophetess who is forced beyond the safety of her cloister on an impossible quest to defeat the gods with the one knight whose future is beyond her sight.

Sybil Delling has spent nine years dreaming of having no dreams at all. Like the other foundling girls who traded a decade of service for a home in the great cathedral, Sybil is a Diviner. In her dreams she receives visions from six unearthly figures known as Omens. From them, she can predict terrible things before they occur, and lords and common folk alike travel across the kingdom of Traum’s windswept moors to learn their futures by her dreams.

Just as she and her sister Diviners near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral. Rude, heretical, and devilishly handsome, the knight Rodrick has no respect for Sybil’s visions. But when Sybil’s fellow Diviners begin to vanish one by one, she has no choice but to seek his help in finding them. For the world outside the cathedral’s cloister is wrought with peril. Only the gods have the answers she is seeking, and as much as she’d rather avoid Rodrick’s dark eyes and sharp tongue, only a heretic can defeat a god.

Audiobook Appreciation: Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan

I love the Percy Jackson books. I have been a huge nerd for Greek/Roman history. I enjoyed the books so much I got them all on audible so my hubby could listen to them. I was excited we get more books as Percy has to do tasks to get college letters of recommendations. He is a little more grown up and pretty much over this demigod business. Jesse Bernstein the narrator is Percy and I’m so glad he came back for the newer books.

Newest book out now is Wrath of the Triple Goddess

Percy Jackson, now a high school senior, needs three recommendation letters from the Greek gods in order to get into New Rome University. He earned his first one by retrieving Ganymede’s chalice. Now the goddess Hecate has offered Percy another “opportunity”—all he has to do is pet sit her mastiff, Hecuba, and her polecat, Gale, over Halloween week while she is away. Piece of cake, right?

Percy, Annabeth, and Grover settle into Hecate’s seemingly endless mansion and start getting acquainted with the fussy, terrifying animals. The trio has been warned not to touch anything, but while Percy and Annabeth are out at school, Grover can’t resist drinking a strawberry-flavored potion in the laboratory. It turns him into a giant frenzied goat, and after he rampages through the house, damaging everything in sight, and passes out, Hecuba and Gale escape. Now the friends have to find Hecate’s pets and somehow restore the house, all before Hecate gets back on Saturday. It’s going to take luck, demigod wiles, and some old and new friends to hunt down the animals and set things right again.

Audiobook Appreciation: Quicksilver by Callie Hart

I loved Quicksilver by Callie Hart so much after reading it I ended up listening to it on audiobook. And the dual narration helped add to the story. Stella Bloom and Anthony Palmini bring Saeris and Kingfisher to life. And you know it’s all about Carrion Swift. And you know it’s all about I look forward to book 2.

Do not touch the sword. Do not turn the key. Do not open the gate.

In the land of the unforgiving desert, there isn’t much a girl wouldn’t do for a glass of water.

Twenty-four-year-old Saeris Fane is good at keeping secrets. No one knows about the strange powers she possesses, or the fact that she has been picking pockets and stealing from the Undying Queen’s reservoirs for as long as she can remember.

But a secret is like a knot. Sooner or later, it is bound to come undone.

When Saeris comes face-to-face with Death himself, she inadvertently re-opens a gateway between realms and is transported to a land of ice and snow. The Fae have always been the stuff of myth, of legend, of nightmares… but it turns out they’re real, and Saeris has landed herself in the middle of a centuries-long conflict that might just get her killed.

The first of her kind to tread the frozen mountains of Yvelia in over a thousand years, Saeris mistakenly binds herself to Kingfisher, a handsome Fae warrior, who has secrets and nefarious agendas of his own. He will use her Alchemist’s magic to protect his people, no matter what it costs him . . . or her.

Death has a name. It is Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate. His past is murky. His attitude stinks. And he’s the only way Saeris is going to make it home.

Audiobook Appreciation: Rock My Stars by Me.

I was saving this for a cover reveal of book 2 and a preorder link, but some health issues have set me behind this week. This is my first audiobook and it was an interesting experience. Will I do it again? Yes. Ivy Randall did a great job bringing Tabby to life. We aren’t really supposed to have favs but Rock My Stars is kinda there. Tabby and Spencer were just fun to write.

Rock music is my life.

I don’t play any instrument. I can kinda sing, but I’m not one for being the center of attention. I love being in the crowd. Music connects everyone—the nerds, the jocks, the disillusioned, and the broken. To show my love to the rock gods on stage, I rave about them on my somewhat popular blog, Rockin’ with Tabby.

During the concert of the year, Summer Fest, I have a chance encounter with my music crush, Spencer Tate, head singer of my second favorite band, Suspected Tragedy. He radiates sexy with his silver eyes, growly voice, and giant tattooed arms. And when a drunken kiss turns into more, he offers me a vacation of a lifetime. I might be slightly broken, but as I learn more about the true Spencer, I discover so is he. Maybe together we can fix each other. Until I receive a crushing call that tears me back to real life and the friends I left behind.

This is a stand-alone book with new characters in the Starstruck Universe.

https://a.co/d/7SaIjWK

If interested in reviewing I am giving 5 away! Leave a comment

Audiobook Appreciation Post Pippa Grant

I didn’t know when I saw the Facebook ad for Jock Blocked and one clicked it that it would have found my audiobook security blanket. I read Jock block around 2020, and from there I upgraded to audiobooks for work. Pippa’s writing is an easy read, and will make you laugh out loud. She uses some of the best narrators that bring the characters to life. Jason Clarke, Joe Arden, Aiden Snow,  Jacob Morgan, Andi Arndt, Virginia Rose, Savannah Peachwood, and others. I can go on and on about how much I love her books. I suggest the Copper Valley books dealing with the Hockey players and the baseball players. I love how they are connected. I love owning them so I can listen to my favorites when eYver I feel I need to.

You can visit Pippa’s website to get the reading order

https://pippagrant.com/pippa-grant-reading-order/

I do recommend starting Flirting with the Frenemy.

He’s a hot single dad. A military man with abs of steel. My brother’s best friend. My biggest enemy. And now my fake date to my best friend’s wedding.

Disasterville, here we come…

Mission: Survive my best friend’s wedding, where I must play nice with my ex and his perfect new girlfriend.

Strategy: Bring the hottest fake boyfriend on the planet.

Target: Grady Rock. Master Baker. Dimples. Muscles. The unicorn of fake boyfriends.

Complication: Wyatt Morgan. My brother’s best friend. My sworn enemy. Military man. Sexy as hell single dad. The man I let into my unmentionables for one night after my ex dumped me.

And the man who just scared off that perfect fake boyfriend.

By pretending to be my real boyfriend.

I can roll with this though. What’s the harm in Flirting with the Frenemy if it helps me get the job done?

Complete my mission and move on.

Or so I thought.

Until Wyatt gets too close and I start feeling things I shouldn’t.

The thing about weddings…nothing ever goes as planned.

Audiobook Review: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Madanna

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna is a cozy read. If you’re looking for just a cute mellow read this is it. A witch takes a job helping young witches with their magic. What can go wrong?

A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family–and a new love–changes the course of her life.

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules…with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn’t the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for….

Audiobook Review: Wool by Hugh Howey

Wool by Hugh Howey is also a TV show on Apple TV.  Season 1-2 covers book 1. Apple TV makes great shows if you get a chance to check out some of their content I highly recommend them. Wool has a few mysteries going on. A murder happens in a bunker, and as it gets investigated it kinda leads to who created the bunker and the world outside.

This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

Audiobook Review: Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is another Audible Plus listen. It was so different. It was odd in a good way. And you can’t help but love Gideon. The side characters add to the mystery of the story as you try to figure out what is going on.   The narrator Moira Quirk brought the sas needed. I really don’t want to give too much away on this book because it needs to be experienced. Definitely a great pride read for this month!

The Emperor needs necromancers.

The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.

Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.

Of course, some things are better left dead.