Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarros

Threshing Day - 204 pages

Rebecca Yarros

Summary (From Goodreads)

Welcome to Threshing Day, the brutal, high-stakes trial where would-be riders at Basgiath War College fight to earn the bond of a dragon or die trying. Amid ruthless competition and dragon fire, these thirteen cadets must survive a battlefield where desperate rivals will do anything to gain an advantage and dragons decide one’s ultimate fate―and where a single choice can forge a rider…or destroy them.

Xaden Riorson, the powerful leader. Rhiannon Matthias, the clever friend. Dain Aetos, the dutiful rule-follower. Liam Mairi, the kindhearted protector. Ridoc Gamlyn, the jokester. Sawyer Henrick, the underdog. Garrick Tavis, the dependable aide. Imogen Cardulo, the impulsive fighter. Bodhi Durran, the second-in-command. Mira Sorrengail, the fearless rider. Brennan Sorrengail, the brilliant tactician. Aaric Graycastle, the restless royal. Sloane Mairi, the determined sister.

On Threshing Day, there’s only one rule: don’t die.

Review

This was a short and engaging read with some gorgeous full-color illustrations.  I thought it added some much-needed depth to a lot of this series' secondary characters.  I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series, whenever it may arrive!  

MY LADY JANE by CYNTHIA HAND, BRODI ASHTON, JODI MEADOWS

 MY LADY JANE by CYNTHIA HAND, BRODI ASHTON, JODI MEADOWS (Pgs 474)

Goodreads Review:

Goodreads Choice Award

Nominee for Readers' Favorite Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction (2016)

This comical, fantastical, romantical, New York Times bestselling, (not) entirely true story of Lady Jane Grey is “an uproarious historical fantasy that’s not to be missed” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

In My Lady Jane, coauthors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows have created a one-of-a-kind YA fantasy in the tradition of The Princess Bride, featuring a reluctant king, an even more reluctant queen, a noble steed, and only a passing resemblance to actual history—because sometimes history needs a little help.

At sixteen, Lady Jane Grey is about to be married off to a stranger and caught up in a conspiracy to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But those trifling problems aren’t for Jane to worry about. Jane gets to be Queen of England.

Like that could go wrong.

The Darkest Summer by Bill Sloan

 The Darkest Summer: Pusan and Inchon 1950 by Bill Sloan -385 pages

The onslaught of the North Korean army into South Korea in late June 1950 caught the U.S. by surprise and at a time of deep cuts to the military. Following World War II, many short-sighted officials were calling for the elimination of the Marine Corps as a fighting force. The desperate battles in the summer and fall of 1950 along the Naktong River and the successful amphibious landing at Inchon not only crushed the North Korean forces, but clearly demonstrated the Marine Corps' continued combat value at a time of general apathy in the military and political structure at home. Further misjudgments at the top led to a broadening of the conflict with China. This is an excellent book on the Marines' actions in the first months of the Korean War. The essential role of air support in these campaigns would also be of interest.  

The Petroglyphs and Pictographs of Missouri by Carol Diaz-Granados & James R. Duncan

The Petroglyphs and Pictographs of Missouri 
by Carol Diaz-Granados and James R. Duncan 
360 pages

Goodreads:

This comprehensive guide to the rock art of Missouri presents major design motifs and links those images to Native American beliefs. Images on rocks depicting birds, serpents, deer, and other designs are haunting reminders of prehistoric peoples. This book documents Missouri's rich array of petroglyphs and pictographs, analyzing the many aspects of these rock carvings and paintings to show how such representations of ritual activities can enhance our understanding of Native American culture. Missouri is a particularly important site for rock art because it straddles the Plains, the Ozarks, and the Southeast. Carol Diaz-Granados and James Duncan have established a model for analyzing this rock art as archaeological data and have mapped the patterning of fifty-eight major motifs across the state. Of particular importance is their analysis of motifs from Mississippi River Valley sites, including Cahokia. The authors include interpretive discussions on iconography and ideology, drawing on years of research in the ethnographic records and literature of Native Americans linguistically related to earlier peoples. Their distribution maps show how motifs provide clues to patterns of movement among prehistoric peoples and to the range of belief systems. Rock art is an aspect of the archaeological record that has received little attention, and the art is particularly subject to the ravages of time. By documenting these fragile images, this book makes a major contribution to rock art research in North America.

Entities to Lovers by Mallory Marlowe

Entities to Lovers by Mallory Marlowe -- 368 pages

Paranormal medium Rory Woods spends her days offering psychic readings at Ye Olde Spirit Shop and nights haunting the streets of Boston as a ghost-tour guide. Sure, business could be better, but she’s proud of the shop she runs with her mom.

Enter Ezra, adjunct history professor, noted thorn in Rory’s side, and—though she’d only admit it under threat of medieval torture he surely knows too much about—a distractingly handsome, charismatic coworker. Rory can’t stand Ezra’s know-it-all, show-offy behavior. Ezra loves to tease the gorgeous, brilliant medium at the shop. And when the two are forced to host a tour together? It’s no wonder they end up hexed after disturbing a matchmaking ghost.

Saddled with perpetual bad luck unless they’re physically near each other, Rory and Ezra will try anything, from séances to kissing, to stop the jinx from wreaking havoc on both their lives. But in their quest to appease the spirit, they realize that growing closer might not be the curse they once thought it was.

A Twisted Love Story - Samantha Downing

 

A Twisted Love Story - Samantha Downing - 400 pages

Wes and Ivy are madly in love. They've never felt anything like it. It's the kind of romance people write stories about.

But what kind of story?

Because when it's good, it's great. Flowers. Grand gestures. Deep meaningful conversations where the whole world disappears.

When it's bad, it's really bad. Vengeful fights. Damaged property. Arrest warrants.

But their vicious cycle of catastrophic breakups and head-over-heels reconnections needs to end fast. Because suddenly, Wes and Ivy have a common enemy--and she's a detective.

There's something Wes and Ivy never talk about--in good times or bad. The night of their worst breakup, when one of them took things too far, and someone ended up dead.

If they can stick together, they can survive anything--even the tightening net of a police investigation.

Because one more breakup might just be their last…

This was the only book I hadn't read by this author so I thought I'd give it a try.  I liked all her other ones so thought this may be more suspense/thriller than love story...I was wrong.  I know, I know, Love Story is in the title so I should've known better, but Twisted is also in the title so I hoped it would lean more to the twisted side.  I found the whole back and forth of on again/off again tiresome.  I kept reading because I hoped it would get better but it did not.  I didn't hate this book, it was ok, it definitely is my least favorite by this author.  

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

 

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier - 311 pages

This is the story of three best friends: one who was murdered, one who went to prison, and one who's been searching for the truth all these years . . .

When she was sixteen years old, Angela Wong—one of the most popular girls in school—disappeared without a trace. Nobody ever suspected that her best friend, Georgina Shaw, now an executive and rising star at her Seattle pharmaceutical company, was involved in any way. Certainly not Kaiser Brody, who was close with both girls back in high school.

But fourteen years later, Angela Wong's remains are discovered in the woods near Geo's childhood home. And Kaiser—now a detective with Seattle PD—finally learns the truth: Angela was a victim of Calvin James. The same Calvin James who murdered at least three other women.

To the authorities, Calvin is a serial killer. But to Geo, he's something else entirely. Back in high school, Calvin was Geo's first love. Turbulent and often volatile, their relationship bordered on obsession from the moment they met right up until the night Angela was killed.

For fourteen years, Geo knew what happened to Angela and told no one. For fourteen years, she carried the secret of Angela's death until Geo was arrested and sent to prison.

While everyone thinks they finally know the truth, there are dark secrets buried deep. And what happened that fateful night is more complex and more chilling than anyone really knows. Now the obsessive past catches up with the deadly present when new bodies begin to turn up, killed in the exact same manner as Angela Wong.

How far will someone go to bury her secrets and hide her grief? How long can you get away with a lie? How long can you live with it?

This was a pretty good story, Geo is a tiny bit annoying but to so much that I didn't like the book.  Overall a good interesting tale.