From Fire and Shadows by J.F. Baptista --> Starting August 22nd, 2020

[Aly]

A girl with a dangerous power.
A warrior they call the shadow of death.
A world divided and slowly dying.

Six-year-old Theodora grew up at the House, a place for girls born without power. Abandoned as a baby, she has no memory of her past beyond the melody that invades her dreams. So when an ancient presence starts whispering in her ear, she answers.

The reward is fire; the price is the destruction of the only life she has ever known. Yet from the loss comes a chance at a better future… if she can learn to control a power that no one seems to understand.

Across the ocean, Death's Arm warrior Kai struggles with the changes forcing him out of the shadows. With the neglect of those in power breeding dissent, he is called to do his job as their occasional assassin: cut it at the root.

But when a strange restlessness makes him question an order for the first time... he finds himself on the path he never wanted, but can no longer avoid. After all, he may be the only one capable of stopping what is coming—a war where death is just the beginning.

[Alaina]

I'm a little behind on this but will definitely jump into this book either tonight/tomorrow

[Aly]

Same! I'm trying to finish the Curse of the Gods series

[Alaina]

Aly wrote: "Same! I'm trying to finish the Curse of the Gods series"

lol sounds good!

[Alaina]

I think this is gonna be a September read for me lol. Will definitely see if I can dive into it tomorrow though

[Kelly]

I'll be starting this today.

[Kelly]

20% - (view spoiler)[I'm liking it so far. It's a little surprising to have two main characters with such an age gap, her being six years old and that warrior is about 300 I think. I still don't have a big picture of this world or how the systems work since Theodora doesn't really know either. Sometimes I feel like she's older than six ^^ (hide spoiler)]

[Aly]

I started this! 13% (view spoiler)[ So there are 3 types of magic people and Theodora is the earth magic kind, but also sort of different? I don't know about Kai yet, need more information.
It's really sad that Theodora accidentally killed those girls, how terrible (hide spoiler)]

[Kelly]

Aly wrote: "I started this! 13% ."

(view spoiler)[Yeah it's also sad because she keeps wanting to talk to her best friend knowing she accidentally killed her :( (hide spoiler)]

[Aly]

Kelly wrote: "20% - [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ she seems much older than six and I feel like it's a writing issue from the author. I'm looking forward to learning about the world because right now I don't understand much (hide spoiler)]

[Aly]

25% (view spoiler)[ I get the 3 different types of magic users, but I'm not sure where the story is going. Also, is the Death Army bad or not? What is this meeting they're talking about? So many questions still (hide spoiler)]

[Kelly]

Aly wrote: "25% [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[Yeah I don't know the direction yet either. I prefer the girl's chapters to his but maybe because I don't care enough about him just yet. (hide spoiler)] I've been reading slowly but I really want to get it finished.

[Aly]

Kelly wrote: "Aly wrote: "25% [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed] I've been reading slowly but I really want to get it finished."

I agree. I have so many NetGalley books to read that I just want to push through it. Luckily I have a lot of time this weekend

[Kelly]

Aly wrote: "Kelly wrote: "Aly wrote: "25% [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed] I've been reading slowly but I really want to get it finished."

I agree. I have so many NetGalley books to read that I just wa..."

I have too many arcs. I'm at 60 right now.. with 30 past their publication date. I'm so ashamed lol. And since I read ebooks slower than I listen to audios I bought the audios that were available.. at least I had some credits left on audible ^^' That way I should make good progress quickly.

[Aly]

That's a good idea. Maybe I'll see if some of mine are on audio too

[Alaina]

Starting this now!

[Alaina]

19%: (view spoiler)[Okay, I'm intrigued and I feel like I need a dictionary or a key word list for all these damn words. I don't understand them and my poor brain is just going to keep making up words for them all. I'm also wondering what the threat is for her and her dreams.. also why is this rando saying it's him? (hide spoiler)]

[Alaina]

30%: (view spoiler)[...I mean, I wouldn't say no to a water dragon either if I'm being honest. (hide spoiler)]

[Alaina]

48%: (view spoiler)[I feel like I have been reading this for hours and I'm only almost near the halfway mark. Yikes, this book is slow for me. I also feel like nothing is really happening right now. I'm hoping it picks up soon. (hide spoiler)]

[Alaina]

61%: (view spoiler)[Slowly but surely moving along in this book... so she has fire, water, and earth - she's an avatar right? (hide spoiler)]

[Alaina]

100%: (view spoiler)[Omg, I did it. I finally did it. This book was so hard to get through and it did have some interesting parts but oh lord.. it took forever to get into it. I honestly don't even think anything really happened in this book.. (hide spoiler)]

[Aly]

Alaina wrote: "19%: [spoilers removed]"

I agree, the words are impossible to pronounce and there were too many of them which made me confused

[Aly]

Alaina wrote: "48%: [spoilers removed]"

I know! I felt the same way

[Aly]

48% (view spoiler)[ too slow, part 1 felt like it took forever. I'm also confused, did the ghost get Thea to help save Kai? (hide spoiler)]

[Aly]

80% (view spoiler)[ I know Thea caused everyone to fall asleep, but were they attacked by an outside army or did Thea do that too? I don't know why she's staying as a prisoner to the queen or whatever she is. (hide spoiler)]

[Aly]

Alaina wrote: "61%: [spoilers removed]"

Ha! Love it

[Aly]

finished (view spoiler)[ I didn't like all the time jumping, it felt like nothing was happening if we can just jump 10 plus years without missing anything. Maybe the next book will be better once she meets up with Kai? (hide spoiler)]

[Kelly]

ok, I'm finally going back to this book to finish it :)

[Alaina]

lol welcome!

[Kelly]

I'm dragging my feet seeing your 2 and 3 stars reviews ^^

[Aly]

It just felt like an opening that introduced everything and not much happens. Hopefully book 2 is better

[Kelly]

Alaina wrote: "30%: [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ A water dragon does sound pretty cool. (hide spoiler)]

[Kelly]

Aly wrote: "48% [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[I feel the same way about the slow pace. I'm wondering who that ghost is. At first I thought he was bad news but maybe not. (hide spoiler)]

[Alaina]

Kelly wrote: "Alaina wrote: "30%: [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

YEAH IT DOES!

[Kelly]

Finished - (view spoiler)[ I agree, the jumping around was frustrating. I do feel like this book had good ideas but the execution could have been better. After reading one of your comments I knew they weren't going to meet in this book but I would have been waiting for it otherwise.

I kept feeling like it was inspired by The Witcher somehow ^^ (hide spoiler)]

[Alaina]

Kelly wrote: "Finished - I agree, the jumping around was frustrating. I do feel like this book had good ideas but the execution could have been better. After reading one of your comments I knew they weren't goi..."

oo I like the witcher

[Aly]

Oh I need to watch The Witcher.

[Alaina]

Aly wrote: "Oh I need to watch The Witcher."

Same! I just want to finish the series before I dive into it.

[Kelly]

I only watched the show (I liked it) and know the games but I haven't tried the books yet.