Title: Siege and Storm Author: Leigh Bardugo Series: Shadow and Bone Trilogy #2, Grishaverse #2 Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect) My Bookshelves:Fantasy, Magic, Young adult Dates read: 4th September 2021 Pace: Fast Format: Novel Publisher: Square Fish Year: 2013 5th sentence, 74th page: The wound in my shoulder felt like it was on fire, but I was unhurt and my whole body was thrumming from using my power again.
SOLDIER. SUMMONER. SAINT.
Alina Starkov’s power has grown, but not without a price. She is the Sun Summoner – hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Shadow Fold. But she and Mal can’t outrun their enemies for long.
The Darkling is more determined than ever to claim Alina’s magic and use it to take the Ravkan throne. With nowhere else to turn, Alina enlists the help of an infamous privateer and sets out to lead the Grisha army.
But as the truth of Alina’s destiny unfolds, she slips deeper into the Darkling’s deadly game of forbidden magic, and further away from her humanity. To save her country, Alina will have to choose between her power and the love she thought would always be her shelter. No victory can come without sacrifice – and only she can face the oncoming storm.
Ever since reading Shadow and Bone, I’ve been seriously wondering what was going to be thrown in Mal and Alina’s way this time. And, you know, when the Darkling was going to reappear. He’s a great villain – I don’t really get the sexy vibes off him that others have claimed, but he is dark, mysterious and undoubtedly evil. A wonderful combination for a villain in my opinion.
Even though I think Mal is a wonderful lead love interest, he’s also kind of a knob. I mean, he’s got a woman who is obviously being thrown into a situation she’s not comfortable with. But instead of trying to communicate and support her? He runs. And just acts… well, knob-like. By the end of the book I was finding him to be a bit much and a bit frustrating in this area… im hoping Ruin and Rising will redeem him a bit more…
The build up that Bardugo creates in this story is wonderfully and seriously intense. Not only is there the clash between Alina and the Darkling, but there’s now royalty and a cult… I mean, if that set of trials and tribulations isn’t gearing up for a massive one, then what is?
I honestly couldn’t put this book down. Even in the moments that I wanted to cringe and look away, I just… couldn’t. The majority of this was read in one sitting. Late at night. When I should have been sleeping. Always a good recommendation for a book in my eyes…
Duration: 1st October – 31st December 2021 Number of books: 8 Hosted by: Bookworm Bitches
4th Quarter 2021 Duration: October 1, 2021 – December 31, 2021 Rules: ~Books must be read during the selected time period. ~Post a link to the book, date you finished and rating ~All books read for challenges can be used for more than one challenge. ~Books can be either Fiction or Non Fiction. Your choice. ~If you don’t have a book that matches the option on the list, pick any book on your TBR. ~Copy the blank template below and paste into a new comment to start your challenge. Update as necessary.
Completed 7/8
1. Read the oldest book on your TBR 2. Read a new to you author – When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi 3. Read a book a spooky or winter themed book – My Kind of Christmas by Robyn Carr 4. Read a book with sky on the cover – Marry in Secret by Anne Gracie 5. Find a random number generator and read that book. – How to Grow a Baby by Clemmie Hooper 6. Read an author whose name starts with O, N, or D – The Tea Dragon Tapestry by Kay O’Neill 7. Read your newest acquired book (bought or borrowed). – Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales 8. Catch up on a Bookworm Bitches selection or read a book you have been meaning to read for a long time – Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas
Rules ~Books must be read during the selected time period. ~Post the date you finished the book. ~All books read for challenges can be used for more than one challenge. ~Books can be either Fiction or Non Fiction. Your choice. ~At the end of the challenge, it will be closed for commenting and moved to the archives folder ~Use the add book/author tool to tag your book within your challenge.
Duration: 1st October – 31st October 2021 Number of books: 9 Hosted by: My Vampire Book Obsession
Welcome to Night Spawn BINGO. Each month a new BINGO game will be posted with new tasks to complete. Get three in a row (Horizontal, Vertical, or Diagonal) to receive your Vampire Heart.
Rules: Complete three tasks to get the vampire heart All genres welcome Rereads welcome No minimum page count One book per task
Read 3 books that have one of the following (Must be in a Horizontal, Vertical, or Diagonal pattern).
Top Row:
Read a book with an Orange cover~ Read a book with a Pumpkin/Jack-O-Lantern on the cover~ Read a book that has a title beginning with a letter in ORANGE~ Engagement and Espionage by Penny Reid
Middle Row:
Read a book that takes place during Halloween~ Read a book whose author’s first or last initials can be found in HALLOWEEN~ Read a book in which a character decorates for Halloween~
Bottom Row:
Read a book with a sweet treat on the cover~ Read a book with a title beginning with a letter found in CANDY~ Read a book in which someone goes trick or treating~
Duration: 1st October – 31st October 2021 Number of books: 11 Hosted by: My Vampire Book Obsession
⁍ Duration Starts: October 1st Ends: October 31st
⁍ How It Works Ten books each month is a lot, so there will be 5 different levels. So pick which level you want to do and that’s how many items you will need to check off.
1. Nerds: Read a book with a colorful cover or has multiple perspectives – The Summer Garden by Sherryl Woods 2. Candy Corn: Read a book that is part of a trilogy or has characters with opposite believes – Marry in Secret by Anne Gracie 3. Twizzlers: Read a book that has a rope or braid on the cover or read a book that has a dark version, example: a dark witch. – Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas 4. Gummy Bears come in many different varieties like snakes and sharks: read a book with shifters or a character who can be described as a teddy bear. – Engagement and Espionage by Penny Reid 5. Sour Patch Kid: read a book that has a situation you don’t like, or a character turns to the dark or bad side. – When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi 6. Dum Dums: read a book where a character does a stupid thing, or read a book tagged mystery. – Beard with Me by Penny Reid 7. Cookies & Cream: read a book where characters who are opposites attract, or read a book where the light fights the dark. – Beard Necessities by Penny Reid 8. Laffy Taffy: read a book with a character who is funny, or read a book tagged humor. – Up the Duff by Kaz Cooke 9. Skittles: read a book set in a tropical location, or rainbow in the text. 10. Payday: read a book with a wealthy character or read a book where a character has money problems. – Marriage and Murder by Penny Reid Bonus: King Size Candy Bar: Read a book over 500 pages or a book with a king.
Duration: 1st October – 31st October 2021 Number of books: 6 Hosted by: My Vampire Book Obsession
Collect a Funko Vamp each month by completing at least 2 tasks from a set of 6. A new set of tasks with a new Funko Vamp will be posted each month.
The dolls you collect will be in your Vampire Heart thread. Don’t have a thread? You can still do the challenge if you want 🙂
Rules Complete at least two tasks to get the vampire heart All genres welcome Rereads welcome No minimum page count One book per task
October Read a book with a red, orange, or yellow on the cover. – Up the Duff by Kaz Cooke Read a book with a title starting with any letter in CLOWN. – When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi Read a book set at Halloween. Read a book with a haunted house in it. Read a book with a character that can see or talk to ghosts. Read a book with tagged horror, suspense, or mystery. – Engagement and Espionage by Penny Reid
Duration: 1st October – 31st October 2021 Number of books: 6 Hosted by: My Vampire Book Obsession
Duration: 1 – 31 October
Rules Complete at least two tasks to get the vampire heart All genres welcome Rereads welcome No minimum page count
All Tasks in Honor Of Halloween:
1. Listen to a book with dark/darkness/darker or something similar in the title 2. Listen to a book published in October – Up the Duff by Kaz Cooke 3. Listen to a book with magic on the cover or an MPG of magic – Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas 4. Listen to a book with a orange, purple or green cover 5. Listen to a book with a vampire in it 6. Listen to a book with all the letters of souls in the title
FALL 2021 SPELL CHALLENGE : THE IVY LEAGUE DURATION : September 21 – December 20, 2021
This complements Suzanne’s Ivy League and Seven Sisters challenge. Choose one or more of the following related words and spell them using the author’s first or last initial or the first letter of a book’s title (disregard A, An and The). When using the author name to fill a spot, please remember to include a link to the author’s GR page. Our usual spelling rules apply (see below). Because this challenge is 3 months long, we encourage you to choose words that add up to a minimum of 15 letters .
CHALLENGE RULES : See this thread for more detailed rules for all CCC challenges.
♦ If you want to participate in this challenge, please sign up by posting the word/s you intend to spell. This gives us a post to link you to, which you can use to update your books as the challenge progresses. No link will be created for you until you post your choice/s.
♦ Unless otherwise noted, books must be at least 150 pages long. (See the link above for rules regarding graphic novels.) Books may only be used for one task in this challenge, but cross-challenge posting is encouraged 🙂 Re-reads are allowed, as long as you read the entire book. You must read at least 80 pages of the book AFTER the challenge begins in order to count it for this challenge.
♦ You may use the first letter of the first word in the book’s title (disregard A, An and The) or the author’s first or last initial (middle names or initials can NOT be used.). * In the case of a hyphenated first or last name (i.e. Sarah-Kate Lynch, Kate E. Dyer-Seeley, the first letter of the hyphenated name may be used (not the second initial directly following the hyphen). * If an author uses what appears to be two last names, i.e. Kathy Hogan Trocheck, the last initial of the two names counts. * For books by authors like Menna van Praag and Tatiana de Rosnay, use your library’s shelving method to determine whether to use the book for a V/P or D/R spot, but be sure to tell us how your library shelves those books.
♦ A, AN and THE should be disregarded if they are the first word in the title. If reading a book whose title is in a language other than English, the articles equivalent to these words should be disregarded.
WORD LIST : Annie Nathan Meyer Barnard College Benjamin Franklin Brown University Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Cambridge, Massachusetts Colonial College Columbia University Cornell University Dartmouth College Eleazar Wheelock Elihu Yale Ezra Cornell
Frederick Barnard Hanover, New Hampshire Harvard University Henry and Pauline Durant
In God We Hope Ithaca, New York Ivy League John Harvard
Light and truth Mary Lyon Matthew Vassar New Haven, Connecticut New York City Northampton, Massachusetts
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Poughkeepsie, New York Princeton, New Jersey Princeton University Radcliffe College
Seven Sister Schools Smith College Sophia Smith South Hadley, Massachusetts
University of Pennsylvania Vassar College Wellesley College Wellesley, Massachusetts Yale University
Duration: 1st October – 31st October 2021 Number of books: 10 Hosted by: Crazy Challenge Connection
OCTOBER 2021 Scavenger – Fun Facts About…POPCORN! Everything you wanted to know about popcorn (but were too busy eating it to ask). Timeframe: 10/1/21 to 10/31/21
1. Popcorn is a whole grain maize product and originates from a wild grass. The kernel is the seed of the grass and is made up of three main components: endosperm, germ and pericarp (also known as the hull). The endosperm is always white or yellow in color. This is why, even if the hull is red or black, the popped kernel will always be yellow or white. 🍿 Read a book with a predominantly white or yellow cover (show us the cover) – or – a book by an author who has written books in more than one genre (tell us the genres the author has written, and the genre of the book you read). – Up the Duff by Kaz Cooke
2. The majority of popcorn sold worldwide is grown in the Corn Belt states of the U.S. It resembles corn-on-the-cob in appearance and cultivation. There are four basic types of corn (field, flint, popcorn, and sweet corn), and they all have distinguishing traits and uses. You can’t pop sweet corn and you wouldn’t want to eat boiled field corn. The average person may not be able to tell the difference between the various types of corn by looking at them growing in the field, but a grower certainly can. 🍿 Read a Series #4 book (tell us the series) – or – a book set in the Corn Belt of the United States (Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, or Kansas; tell us where).
3. Flint corn, also known as Indian corn, has a hard outer shell and is distinguished by a wide range of colors. It is mostly used for decoration. Popcorn is a type of flint corn, with a hard exterior shell and a soft starchy center. When heated, the natural moisture inside the kernel turns to steam and builds up enough pressure that it eventually explodes. Other types of dried corn may burst open slightly when heated, but not like popcorn. 🍿 Read a book that has multiple colors on the cover (at least 4 distinct colors; show us the cover) – or – a book in which an explosion occurs (briefly tell us what). – The Summer Garden by Sherryl Woods
4. If you made a trail of popcorn from New York City to Los Angeles, you’d need more than 352,028,160 popped kernels. Americans consume 15 billion quarts of popcorn annually, which equals 47 quarts per person. 🍿 Read a book with 3 of these numbers in the total number of pages (0,1,2,3,5,6,8; tell us how many) – or – a book set in New York or California. – Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales (350 pp.)
5. Popcorn is a whole grain that is 100-percent unprocessed, with no artificial additives or preservatives, and is sugar-free. It provides energy-producing complex carbohydrates. Popcorn is naturally low in fat and calories. Air-popped popcorn has only 30 calories per cup, while oil-popped popcorn has only 35 calories per cup. It contains a number of essential vitamins, as well as fiber, providing roughage the body needs in the daily diet. 🍿 Read a book that is “light” (between 150 and 200 pages, tell us how many) – or – a book with the letters A-I-R or O-I-L somewhere in the title, in that order but not necessarily in the same word. – When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
6. In the popcorn industry, a popped kernel of corn is known as a flake. Two shapes of flakes are commercially important. Butterfly flakes are irregular, with protruding wings. Mushroom flakes are ball-shaped, with few wings. Butterfly flakes are considered to have better mouthfeel, with greater tenderness and less noticeable hulls. Mushroom flakes are less fragile and are therefore often used for packaged popcorn or confectionery, such as caramel corn. 🍿 Read a book whose title starts with a letter in FLAKE (disregard A, An, The) – or – a book with some sort of sweet food item on the cover (show us the cover). – Engagement and Espionage by Penny Reid
7. Popcorn smell has an unusually attractive quality for human beings. This is largely because it contains high levels of the chemicals 6-acetyl-2,3,4,5-tetrahydropyridine and 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, very powerful aroma compounds that are often used by food and other industries to make products that smell like popcorn, bread, or other foods containing the compound. 🍿 Read a book with a 7-letter word in the title – or – a book with a “6” in the original publication YEAR (tell us the year).
CHALLENGE RULES: ♦ Please sign up by posting at least a partial list of the challenge requirements. This gives us a post to link you to, which you can use to update your books as the challenge progresses.
♦ Unless otherwise noted, books must be at least 150 pages long. (See the link here for rules regarding graphic novels.) Books may only be used for one task in this challenge, but cross-challenge posting is encouraged 🙂 Re-reads are allowed, as long as you read the entire book and not simply skim through it.
♦ For each book you read, please post a link to the title, and indicate the author and the date you finished reading it. * If you don’t know how to post a link to the book title, cover or author, see the instructions here: Add a link to the book title, book cover and/or author
♦ When you complete the challenge, please post your entire list as a new message to make it easier for everyone to see what you’ve read 🙂 If you don’t repost your list, your name will not be added to the list of those who have completed the challenge.
Earth and Skye 