Ellie Potts's Blog, page 16

Fall

What is your favorite season of year? Why?

I love fall. I love the cool down after a hot summer. And here in the Central Valley it gets HOT. I love the prospect of a storm, even in most cases it might be dust. I love the chill in the early mornings, and being able to catch a fresh breeze in the evenings. I love Halloween and spooky season. And at the end of fall is my birthday.

Audiobook Review: The Serpent & The Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

The Serpent & The Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent. Okay so I put off listening to this one because vampires are not my cup of tea. But I loved The War of Lost Hearts trilogy, so I got this one on an Audible sale. This does fit in with my love of trial and games, which I think saved it. The banter was okay. The world is interesting, and I liked how the trials were based on the mythos of the vampire goddess. This one I took out pretty fast, but book two took me way too long to finish. I mean almost a month.  But like I mentioned vampires are not my cup of tea. If they are yours I think you will dig this audiobook duology.

The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself.

But winning won’t be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival.

Everything about Raihn is dangerous. He is a ruthless vampire, an efficient killer, an enemy to her father’s crown… and her greatest competition. Yet, what terrifies Oraya most of all is that she finds herself oddly drawn to him.

But there’s no room for compassion in the Kejari. War for the House of Night brews, shattering everything that Oraya thought she knew about her home. And Raihn may understand her more than anyone – but their blossoming attraction could be her downfall, in a kingdom where nothing is more deadly than love.

Audiobook Review: Shield of Sparrows

Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry. It hit Booktok like a storm, and I can see why. I finished this one Saturday. I got it as my free monthly from Amazon music. I liked it cause they are humans. No fae or vampires just humans. The MFC is relatable as the forgotten older sister. There were heart sad scenes that I related with her when she wanted to know what was wrong with her, and why no one ever picked her first. This is a slow burn, but once it hits it hits. The world building was easy leaving me wanting more. It kinda reminded me of Daenerys Targaryen and her life with the Dothraki. I like the monsters and the mysteries introduced in the book.

The gods sent monsters to the five kingdoms to remind mortals they must kneel.

I’ve spent my life kneeling―to their will and to my father’s. As a princess, my only duty is to wear the crown and obey the king.

I was never meant to rule. Never meant to fight. And I was never supposed to be the daughter who sealed an ancient treaty with her own blood.

But that changed the fateful day I stepped into my father’s throne room. The day a legendary monster hunter sailed to our shores. The day a prince ruined my life.

Now I’m crossing treacherous lands beside a warrior who despises me as much as I despise him―bound to a future I didn’t choose and a husband I barely know.

Everyone wants me to be something I’m not―a queen, a spy, a sacrifice.

But what if I refused the role chosen for me? What if I made my own rules? What if there’s power in being underestimated?

And what if―for the first time―I reached for it?

Audiobook Review: Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Red Rising by Pierce Brown was another Booktok recommendation and it’s on Audible plus. I like games and trials, and I love dystopian books so this one was on my TBR list. This book is if Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games had a baby in space. So much happens to our young MMC just in the first few chapters I couldn’t stop listening. It is brutal and backstabbing and the action makes it a great read.

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies… even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

Audiobook Review: We Kept Her in the Cellar by W.R. Gorman

This retelling of Cinderella is a mixture of Brothers Grimm and HP Lovecraft. It grabbed me from the start, and I had to get to see what happens. it is a little gory, and the horror is good. This is a retelling of Cinderella through the eyes of her stepsister, what if there was a reason they kept Cinderella locked in the house. The audiobook was a fun listen, one of my top audiobooks of last year.

There are always two sides to a story. This dark and twisted reimagining of Cinderella, told from her stepsister’s POV, is perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher and Naomi Novik.

Eunice lives her life by three simple rules: One, always refer to Cinderella as family. Two, never let Cinderella gain access to rats or mice. Three, never look upon Cinderella between the hours of twelve and three a.m.

Cinderella has dark and terrifying powers. As her stepsister, Eunice is expected to care for her and keep the family’s secret. For years, Eunice has faithfully done so. Her childhood flew by in a blur of nightmares, tears, and near-misses with the monster living in the cellar. But when she befriends the handsome Prince Credence and secures an invitation to the ball, Eunice is determined to break free.

When her younger sister, Hortense, steps up to care for Cinderella, Eunice grabs her chance to dance the night away—until Cinderella escapes. With her eldritch powers, Cinderella attends the ball and sweeps Prince Credence off his feet, leaving behind a trail of carnage and destruction as well as a single green glass slipper.

With Cinderella unleashed, Eunice must determine how much of herself she is willing to sacrifice in order to stop Cinderella. Unsettling and macabre at every turn, this page-turning horror will bewitch horror fans and leave its readers anxiously checking the locks on their cellar doors.

#WPPrompt My SO and my work crew.

Who do you spend the most time with?

If I’m not at work with my work crew. I’m hanging out with my hubby. I’m trying to spend as much time as I can, because truthfully I have no idea how much time we will have. My hubby has heart failure. Right now we are waiting on Stanford. He had an aortic metal valve put in 2010. In 2016 he went into AFib and was shocked into rhythm in 2019. He went back into AFib 2023, early 2024 he went in to have a procedure done but it didn’t work. So they had to do a cardio version. This messed up his heart and now he had a partial heart block. We left the hospital with a pacemaker. About March he was feeling weird. They turned off the pacemaker because of a line issue. For a week he was in heart attack mode. We had the lead fixed, but still something was wrong. The heart block fixed itself but his AFib was back. We have been waiting for Stanford to see what they can do for him.

Audiobook Review: Trial of the Sun Queen

Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha J. Tuli is the first book of the book in the Artefacts of Ouranos series. This one is also on Audible Plus. I love books with trials and games, and this book was kinda like the Bachelor mixed with the Hunger Games. It is a dual narration, Soneela Nankani and Corvin King were new to me but they did a good job. An audiobook needs to be a good one to get me to grab the next in series. And this one did. They are also on Kindle Unlimited which is how I’m reading book 3. I give it a 4.5* It is a slow burn Romantasy. It kinda gave me Lightlark feels, but I feel this series is much better. And from what I can see it’s four books open to close. This would be a great summer listen.

Ten women. A deadly contest. Only one can win the Sun King’s heart.

Lor has endured twelve long years of torment under the Aurora King’s rule. Her only desire is to escape and pay him back for every moment of misery she’s endured.

When a surprise release finds her in the hands of the rival Sun King, Lor is thrust into the spotlight as she competes against nine other Tributes for the role of queen. If she wins his heart, she’ll earn her freedom and finally get her revenge.

But Lor doesn’t belong in the Sun Queen Trials. Not only does she not understand why she was freed, she isn’t a citizen of the Sun King’s court. The other Tributes resent her presence and will stop at nothing to ensure Lor is removed from the competition, permanently.

Now Lor must win, because if she loses, she dies. Or worse, she’ll be returned to the evil—and now vengeful—Aurora King.

Audiobook Review: The War of Lost Hearts Trilogy by Carissa Broadbent

This was considered an under-hyped Booktok trilogy. And certain Booktok books with all the hype have not been my cup of tea. This audiobook trilogy is completed and available on Audible Plus until 7/1. I went in weary, it surprised me, and I binged it. The world building is great, and the story flows well. I had a slight issue with the male narrator but he grew on me. The feels I had for Tisaanah and Max had me ugly cry a few times. The surprises that were thrown at me even though I felt it coming broke my heart yet intrigued me.

Daughter of No Worlds book 1
A former slave fighting for justice. A reclusive warrior who no longer believes it exists. And a dark magic that will entangle their fates.

Ripped from a forgotten homeland as a child, Tisaanah learned how to survive with nothing but a sharp wit and a touch of magic. But the night she tries to buy her freedom, she barely escapes with her life.

Desperate to save the best friend she left behind, Tisaanah journeys to the Orders, the most powerful organizations of magic Wielders in the world. But to join their ranks, she must complete an apprenticeship with Maxantarius Farlione, a handsome and reclusive fire wielder who despises the Orders.

The Orders’ intentions are cryptic, and Tisaanah must prove herself under the threat of looming war. But even more dangerous are her growing feelings for Maxantarius. The bloody past he wants to forget may be the key to her future… or the downfall of them both.

But Tisaanah will stop at nothing to save those she abandoned. Even if it means gambling in the Orders’ deadly games. Even if it means sacrificing her heart.

Even if it means wielding death itself.

Check it out if you like Romantasy and fantasy books.

The best were kinda sad…

Do you remember your favorite book from childhood?

I think it started when our teacher started reading us Summer of the Monkeys. We went from cute picture books to chapter books that held real stories. And stories about kids around our age. She would read a chapter a day, and as we tried to sneak to the school library to read more the Librarian had told us our teacher said we couldn’t get the book.

The story follows fourteen-year-old Jay Berry Lee as he encounters a group of escaped circus monkeys in the Ozark Mountains of Oklahoma. Driven by a desire to earn money for his own pony, Jay Berry embarks on a summer-long adventure to capture the monkeys and collect the reward.

Fourth grade up had some great books. And we couldn’t judge a book by its cover because they really took us on a journey.

Like Bridge to Terabithia (which was a banned book) our teacher had us read it. It fits that it’s okay to have an imagination, but at the same time gave a look into death and grieving. No matter the age accidents happen.

Jesse, a shy and artistic boy, befriends Leslie, a new and tomboyish girl in his class. They spend their time in the woods behind Leslie’s house, creating the magical kingdom of Terabithia.

Tuck Everlasting gave us a look into what if we could live forever. Again this gave us that complexity of human emotions we were just getting to explore. Freedom and love, and the reality of life and death

Winnie Foster, a young girl who discovers the secret of eternal life after encountering the Tuck family, who have been drinking from a magical spring.

But then we got to deal with more realistic stuff. Like siblings who want to eat our stuff! Tales of a Fourth Grader hit home. I had 2 younger sisters who got into my stuff all the time.

Life with his little brother, Fudge, makes Peter Hatcher feel like a fourth grade nothing. Whether Fudge is throwing a temper tantrum in a shoe store, smearing mashed potatoes on the walls at Hamburger Heaven, or trying to fly, he’s never far from trouble. He’s an almost three-year-old terror who gets away with everything, and Peter’s had it up to here! When Fudge walks off with Dribble, Peter’s pet turtle, it’s the last straw. Peter has put up with Fudge for too long. Way too long! How can he get his parents to pay attention to him for a change?

Did you read any of these? Do you have any fond memories of them?

Audiobook Review: Dungeon Crawler Carl Series

Dungeon Crawler Carl is a popular LitRPG (Literary Role-Playing Game) book series by Matt Dinniman. Carl, a Coast Guard veteran, and Princess Donut, his ex-girlfriend’s cat, find themselves forced to participate in a deadly, intergalactic game show where Earth has become a massive dungeon crawl. The series is full of dark humor and will make you laugh out loud. The excellent writing draws you into the story, making it hard to put down. Jeff Hays, the narrator, is amazing, and gives each character their own voice. I ate this series up, and I am glad I own them so I can re-listen to them because I will. I’ve read some series that people said left them emotionally damaged, but I was disappointed. The excellent writing in some of these book scenes made me ugly cry. I am not okay, and I finished book 7 Monday and already miss Carl, Donut and the gang.

A man. His ex-girlfriend’s cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible.

In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth – from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds – collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.

The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.

Only a few dare venture inside. But once you’re in, you can’t get out. And what’s worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it’s game over. In this game, it’s not about your strength or your dexterity. It’s about your followers, your views. Your clout. It’s about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.

You can’t just survive here. You gotta survive big.

You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that “it” factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That’s the only way to truly survive in this game – with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy.

They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it’s anything but a game.

“The training levels have concluded. Now the games may truly begin.”

The ratings and views are off the chart. The fans just can’t get enough. The dungeon gets more dangerous each day. But in a grinder designed to chew up and spit out crawlers by the millions, Carl and Princess Donut need to work harder than ever just to survive.

They call it the Over City. A sprawling, once-thriving metropolis devastated by a mysterious calamity. But these streets are far from abandoned. An undead circus trawls the ruins. Murdered prostitutes rain from the sky. An ancient spell is finally ready to reveal its dark purpose.

Carl still has no pants.

They call it Dungeon Crawler World. For Carl and Donut, it’s anything but a game.

Welcome to the Gun Show!

The top 10 list is populated. The sponsorship program is open. The difficulty is ramping up. The first three floors were nothing compared to what Carl and Donut now face.

The Iron Tangle. An impossibly complicated subway system built out of the world’s subterranean railway systems, all combined and then tied together into a knot. Up is down. Down is up. Close is far. The cars are filled with monsters, the railway stations are less than safe, and the exit is always just a few stops away.

But there is hope. For the first time, the crawlers are all working together. The loot is better than ever. And the secret to unraveling it all may be hidden in the pages of a seemingly useless book.

Welcome, crawlers. Welcome to the fourth floor of the dungeon.

New achievement! Total, utter failure.

You failed a quest less than five minutes after you received it. Now  that’s  talent.

A floating fortress occupied by warrior gnomes. A castle made of sand. A derelict submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines. A haunted crypt surrounded by lethal traps.

It was supposed to be easy. One bubble. Four castles. Fifteen days. Capture each one, and the stairwell is unlocked.

Here’s the thing. It’s never easy. Carl and his team can’t go it alone. Not this time. They must rely on the help of the low-level, I-can’t-believe-these-idiots-are-still-alive crawlers trapped in the bubble with them. But can they be trusted?

Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the fifth floor of the dungeon.

Attention. Attention. The gates are down. The hunters are loose.

Run, run, run.

A lush jungle teeming with danger. Savage dinosaurs seeking blood. A fallen princess intent on vengeance. A mysterious, end-of-floor celebration for the top crawlers, dubbed “The Butcher’s Masquerade”.

The sixth floor. The Hunting Grounds.

As the remaining crawlers battle for their lives, a new, terrible threat looms. Outside, tourists are finally allowed to enter the game, and they are here and ready to hunt. Among them is Vrah, a famed and veteran hunter, intent on collecting the biggest trophy of her career.

But their prey is far from harmless, and this season they are fighting back.

A pantheon of forgotten gods. An old grudge between a talk show host, an heiress, and the man they shattered along the way. A rapidly deteriorating AI system. An inconvenient tiara upon the head of a friend.

It is bedlam on the eighth floor.

As management reels from the unexpected conclusion of the seventh level, the surviving crawlers stumble onto the eighth and find themselves scattered. It’s a map based on Earth’s final days before the collapse, where ethereal, intangible ghosts of humanity go about their lives, oblivious of the impending doom. Living amongst these ghosts are monsters based in Earth lore. “Legendary” creatures tied to the geographical location they inhabit.

Each team of crawlers is given a task: find and capture six of these beasts. The captured monsters will be turned into cards. Cards that can be summoned into battle again and again. The stronger and deadlier the better.

At the end of the floor, the bad guys will also have decks, and they will have some of the most powerful cards available. So it’s crucial to assemble the toughest squad possible.

But like always, there is a catch. There’s always a catch.

As Carl and Donut know all too well, just because someone is captured, it doesn’t mean they have been tamed.

Her name is Shi Maria. She’s easily the most powerful monster in their area. If they want to survive, they must capture her. But she is no ordinary beast. She’s intelligent. She was once married to a god, a god who is now missing. Her special attack is known to drive one insane. They call her the Bedlam Bride.

“Beware, beware. Beware the eye of the Bedlam Bride.”

They call it Faction Wars.

The ninth floor.

Nine armies, each led by rich and powerful aliens from across the galaxy. Each team has one objective: to capture and hold the castle at the very center of the battlefield. Strategy, alliances, pitched battles, and, of course, betrayal … It all makes for great fun and even greater television.

After all, none of these powerful aliens really die when they’re playing war.

Except this time. This time, winner takes all. Those who fall, stay in the ground.

As the AI continues its rapid decline, Carl and company take advantage of the chaos. For the first time ever, the crawlers are fighting back. They are now one of the nine teams. And this season, there’s a tenth army on the playing field. The NPCs, who are normally used as nothing but cannon fodder, have become fully self-aware and formed a team of their own.

For Donut and Katia, the stakes are even higher. Only one of them will be allowed to leave this level.

If they all want to survive, they’re going to need a little help from a veteran or two.

This is it.

This is what they’ve been fighting toward.

This is war.

This inevitable ruin.

Spend the credits and buy the books!1

https://www.audible.com/series/Dungeon-Crawler-Carl-Audiobooks/B0937JMKYV