Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! ;-)

Hey there, my lovelies!

So my blog schedule was a little bit chaotic and erratic those last couple of weeks which was once again mostly due to the fact that I was extremely busy. XD It always seems to happen before Christmas and I’m very sorry I didn’t manage to keep to my two blog posts a week policy. I’ll work on it, promise. *lol* Anyway!

This said: I’m finally on vacation and after studying my butt off those last couple of weeks I can actually take a break and enjoy two weeks of holidays! *lol* I really need them though so I probably won’t be all too active on here until the end of the year. I have no idea if I’ll be able to get up a blog post next Wednesday because I’ll meet my family and friends and probably will be busy with lots of reunions and Christmas celebrations. I’ll definitely get up a post on silvester though, so please stay tuned for that. 😉

After getting this all out of the way I finally just wanted to say THANK YOU for still being on this journey with me! My blog is still growing and I’m very thankful for each and everyone who stuck around with me! No matter if it were just the last couple of months or if it’s ever since I started my blog I’ll always be grateful for all the support I got/and still get from you. May it be by reading my reviews, commenting on my blog posts, for your lovely words that always seem to come at the right time or for clicking that like button. Just thank you! You have no idea how much I appreciate all of you and I really love this bookish community to bits and pieces!

And I’m sure you already guessed it by the title of this blog post: I want to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and an awesome time with your family and friends! No matter where you live, no matter what you’re up to those next couple of days, I wish you all the best and all the health and happiness! I’m sending positive and christmassy vibes your way and I’ll continue to cross my fingers for all of you! I wish you joy, hope, lots of love, luck and most of all I wish you good health!  Have a Merry Christmas, my lovelies and (fox) kits! ;-P

And as always stay healthy and safe!

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox

Review: Into the Drowning Deep (Mira Grant)

Rating:

”It’s beautiful,” breathed Daniel, and while there were those who would have objected to the reverence in his voice, none of them corrected his statement. It was beautiful, in its own terrible way. So many monsters are.

This book was something else and I have no idea how I survived reading this! XD I’m really such a scaredy fox and all I knew about “Into the Drowning Deep” was that it’s about killer mermaids and an expedition to the Mariana Trench. Well, and that there is an f/f relationship in this book because otherwise it wouldn’t have landed on my #Rainboween list. 😉 So far so good, right? Well, yeah, I suppose?! Nothing of those aforementioned things prepared me for the creepy story I was going to read, though. And boy, let me tell you this was quite something!

”We forgot about them, but they never forgot about us. They always knew that somewhere out there they had competition, strange and soft and walking on two legs and defenseless in the water. Most of all, they never forgot that we were delicious.“

I think I could have lived with gory scenes and bloodthirsty sirens, but what made this a really intriguing and exceptional story was the fact that those mermaids were extremely intelligent and had no qualms to use their knowledge to their advantage. They knew what they were hunting (humans in case you wondered) and how to get to it and in contrast to the humans they just took what they craved. Namely, meat and plenty of it. If you want to say it in a drastic way you could also say that the Melusine was some sort of all-you-can-eat buffet for them and you wouldn’t be wrong, because to be entirely honest those humans were basically put on a platter with a nice bow.

”So you think they’re watching us?” Luis glanced over the rail. The water was very dark and very clear at the same time, like looking through a window into infinity. A cold hand seemed to run along his spine, sending chills all through him.
„Mr Martines, I know they’re watching us. The only question is from how far away.“ Dr Toth smiled thinly.

So we have intelligent and ruthless sirens, scientists that want a piece of the cake without either realizing or caring that they ARE actually the cake and all the makings for a journey that will turn into a bloodbath. Nice! What I really liked about this story was the fact that we didn’t just get gory and bloody but also a lot of science and philosophy. Due to all the scientist on board of the ship there are a lot of tests and experiments happening but I think it was never over the top and woven so effortlessly into the tale that it always felt very natural and didn’t disturb the flow of the story. Also the atmosphere in this book was amazing! It was creepy, eerie and oppressive! And it was so suspenseful that it sometimes quite literally had me at the edge of my seat!

”This was not where she belonged. This had never been where she belonged. Humanity had chosen the land over the sea millennia ago, and sometimes – when she was letting her mind wander, when she was romanticizing what she did and how she did it – she thought the sea still held a grudge. Breakups were never easy, and while humanity was hot and fast and had had plenty of time to get over it, the oceans were deep and slow, and for them all change had happened only yesterday. The seas did not forgive, and they did not welcome their wayward children home.”

Fun fact I’ve to mention here: I always wanted to become a marine biologist when I was a kid but my asthma and the fact that I live in a landlocked region kind of killed that dream before it even got a chance to grow. Despite all that I was always fascinated with the sea, the Mariana Trench, reefs and everything else that lives in those depths though. And I think this made me enjoy “Into the Drowning Deep” even more because there is this scientific puzzle and every single person on that ship tries to solve it in their own way. Experiencing the story alongside the scientists and watching them while they made new discoveries and tried to understand those creatures that attacked them so relentlessly was extremely intriguing for me. I was probably as fascinated by them as Dr. Toth was and I wanted answers to how they were able to survive too.

”Dr Wilson is correct: the problem with trying to define nature is that nature is bigger than we are, and nature doesn’t care whether we know how to define it. Nature does what nature wants.”

As for the characters: I really liked most of them and actually prayed that they would survive. *lol* But quite honestly not even the ones I didn’t like would have deserved to die the way some of the mermaids victims did. *shudders* I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Some deaths were really gruesome and caused me to take a deep breath in order to be able to read on. Tory – Victoria Stewart – was one of the likable characters and I really liked that she and Olivia got closer during the journey. Tory was definitely a driven character and I really liked her and the way she tried to find answers to her sister’s death. Olive… Olive was amazing and I think it was great to see an on-page character that was autistic and had social anxiety as well. Olivia’s POV and rep added so much depth to the story and I think we need more representations like that in books!

”If one of the mermaids had taken him – one of those deep horrors, with teeth like daggers and the hands designed to catch and keep – then he hadn’t drowned, because he wouldn’t have had time. He would have died before his body hit the water.”

I don’t think I can say a lot about Theo because he represented Imagine and was actually a pretty blank character. His wife Dr. Jillian Toth however, was awesome and I really loved her dry humour and that she went on the journey knowing full well that she was most certainly going to die. Yet that still didn’t stop her because she wanted to see all her life’s work about mermaids put into practice. I’m pretty certain Dr. Toth would have tried to study the sirens even if they would have chewed and feasted on her already. *lol* Yep, that woman was badass and I really liked her, because despite all her fascination for those creatures she was still compassionate and kind. The twins Holly and Heather and their sister Hallie were all pretty interesting characters too. Every single one of them had their own voice and even though they worked in completely different niches (organic chemistry, deep sea diving, linguistics) they were a family and a lively bunch.

“Do I think they found mermaids? Yes. Of course I do. And I think the mermaids ate them all.”

All told, I really enjoyed “Into the Drowning Deep” and the story’s slow decent into tension, havoc and madness. When the book started I wasn’t all too sure if killer sirens would be able to scare me but once the shit hit the fan and the atmosphere got more and more deadly and dire I couldn’t escape the pull of the book anymore. This was horrifying, suspenseful and thrilling and if there was one thing I didn’t like it was the rather abrupt, horror movie like ending. But I guess you can’t have everything so I’ll take it as it is and be glad I never actually met those lethal sirens. 😉

Review: Verity (Colleen Hoover)

Rating:

Book 33 on My Book List 2022

”My mother used to say that houses have a soul, and if that is true, the soul of Verity Crawford’s house is as dark as they come.”

Trigger warnings at the end of my review!

Okay, I’ll admit it, this book was one hell of a wild ride and CoHo knows how to write thrillers. The sheer amount of trigger warnings I had to write down at the beginning of this review is definitely testimonial to that. I mean nowadays all thrillers seem to have a long list of trigger warnings so I guess CoHo delivered on that front.

As for the trigger warnings themselves: Tread with caution. I get why almost no one bothers to write them in their review because they give away a lot of the plot and will spoil big parts of the story for you. I personally still would have liked to get them because for me some parts were really tough to read. And yes, I felt sick to my stomach when I read some of the scenes and had to put the book down for a little while before I picked it up again. I really don’t want to spoil anything so all I’ll say is: Parents might have a hard time to get through this and if you are a parent you might consider reading the trigger warnings as a heads-up.

”I haven’t read any of them, either. Not since her first book.”
I spin and look at him. “Really?”
“I didn’t like being inside her head.”

This out of the way let’s get to the actual review and what the book is about: Well, the plot is easily told. Lowen a struggling writer gets the offer of a lifetime when she is called by her agent and asked to come to New York. After her mother’s death Lowen is in no good mental state, bills are piling and she’s afraid of losing the roof above her head. So all of this ultimately leads her to accept the deal of finishing Verity Crawford’s book series who has become a nursing case after a car crash. Lowen moves into Verity’s house in order to collect all the important notes and doesn’t just find Verity’s autobiography but also falls for Jeremy – Verity’s husband. Yep, and that’s basically all you know when you dive into the book.

”What you read will taste so bad at times, you’ll want to spit it out, but you’ll swallow these words and they will become part of you, part of your gut, and you will hurt because of them.”

This book. Honestly, it was a mindf*ck! All the characters were extremely dislikeable and I just couldn’t find myself pulling for any of them? Well, okay I liked little Crew and the twins so I guess there’s that. But Verity, Lowen and Jeremy?! Phew. I don’t even know where to start. Everything we find out about Verity is horrible but truth be told I couldn’t even be team Lowen because the mere fact that she has the hots for Jeremy was revolting!? I mean okay, you do you, Lowen, but the way she lusted after him was so urgh. No words. Then again the same could be said about Verity and the thoughts we read in her autobiography. I think someone has to address the big elephant in the room: What exactly is so special about dear Jeremy that two women are so crazy about him?! Is he made of gold? I didn’t get the appeal of Jeremy AT ALL, I mean he seemed to be a handsome nice guy and a good father but nothing that would qualify this kind of obsession and to be honest I think he’s at least as f*cked up as the two women in his life. You gotta be if you’re with people like that, right?!

”Maybe guilt is why I’m writing it all down.
Because Jeremy needs to know the truth. Someday, somehow, he’ll find this. And then he’ll realize how much I fucking loved him.”

The most interesting thing in this book was the eerie atmosphere though. From the moment Lowen enters he house you can feel that something is off and all the incidents are piling up while our nice MC works through Verity’s notes and her autobiography. Which was extremely nosy btw. Not that I probably wouldn’t have read the manuscript as well, but Lowen if you decide to be a nosy witch that has no sense for boundaries could you at least do it fast?! *lol* I mean if I would find such a disturbing autobiography I would have read it in a night! Lowen however takes her sweet time and tries to seduce Jeremy while reading his wife’s unsettling words. I personally would have left that house as fast as I could, but I’m obviously not Lowen so what do I know? Like I said, none of the characters was likeable, not even Verity’s nurse that seemed to have a permanent scowl on her face.

This said I still paged through this book and wanted to know how it ends. I can’t say I enjoyed it because can you ever enjoy something that disgusts you so much? I think I’ll just settle for saying it was a page turner that made me think and feel, mostly emotions of revulsion but they are still valid feelings so we’ll just go with it. Terrifying, appalling, revolting, creepy, nauseating and bloodcurdling. All words that describe the unrelenting tale of “Verity” Crawford to a T. I guess it’s up to you if you decide to enter that world or not. I did my best to warn you though, didn’t I? 😉

Trigger warnings:

attempts to initiate a miscarriage, death of children, grief, murder of a child, attempted murder, attempted suicide, obsession over a loved one, murder, mistreatment of a person who is a nursing case, adultery, child abuse, descriptive car accident

My 4th Bloggiversary! – Wow, how time flies by!

Hey there, my lovelies!!

Can you believe it’s been 4 years I started this blog? Well, I can’t! It’s been quite a couple of crazy years and I’m really glad I started my own blog in 2018! Blogging taught me a lot of things which is great because now I can use some of my knowledge for my BookTube channel as well. *lol* I never thought I’d get this much into social media but apparently I did and I have no regrets. XD

This said: It’s not easy to provide you with good content and I’m really trying my best to give you solid and good posts! Some of you might have realized that I skipped a couple of days on which I was supposed to post (I usually post on Wednesdays and Saturdays) but my life has been pretty busy lately and sometimes it’s tough to get up a post in time. So before I give you something half-assed, I don’t give you anything at all. Does that make sense? *lol* Also I apologize for 2 posts going up only halfway done because I forgot to reschedule them. >_< I use the schedule function … A LOT! So sometimes when I’m ill or too stressed I forget to reschedule and then it happens that a post goes up that isn’t even ready yet. I’m really sorry about that but uff life just doesn’t care about me being punctual with my posts. How dare you life?! *lol*

This said I really want to thank everyone who’s been following my blog journey! Without you guys I wouldn’t have even dared to start my own BookTube let alone my Instagram! ❤ Your support throughout the years means the world and I’m always thankful for every new follower on here! I see you and I thank you for reading my blog posts and sometimes even liking them. ;-P

I’m feeling a little bit under the weather today so I think I’ll wrap it up here. I wanted to write some more but since I’m typing this on my actual blog anniversary this short post will have to do. I just wanted to let you know that you are appreciated and that I thank you for all your support! XD

Last year I asked you about your assumptions about me, but this year I’ll just refer to my „Giveaway!“ Which is still ongoing btw! 😉 You can still throw your name into my bowl and have the chance to win either „Caraval“ or „Sorcery of Thorns“! So please consider taking part in it! After all I’m doing this to thank you guys! ❤

So what about you? Do you enjoy my content? Do you use the schedule function as well? How long have you been on WordPress? Longer or shorter than me? XD What kind of content would you like to see more of? Talk to me and let me know!

And as always: Take care! And stay healthy and safe!

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Love That Were Written Over Ten Years Ago

TTT was created by The Broke and Bookish and moved to That Artsy Reader Girl (click here for upcoming TTT topics!).

Today’s Topic is: Books I Love That Were Written Over Ten Years Ago (Now this is going to be interesting because I have no idea which books are older than 10 years. *lol* Let’s see if I can find some. XD)

1.) „Legend“ by Marie Lu

So I only started to read this series about two years ago but it’s definitely among my fave series ever and I really love Day and June!! I guess since the first book „Legend“ was released in 2011 it actually counts as a book older than 10 years. *lol* Honestly, though! I can’t believe this was written 11 years ago! How is this gem 11 years old already? I still need to read „Rebel“ (book number 4) but I’m sure I’ll love it as well.

2.) „Shatter Me“ by Tahereh Mafi

Ahhh if you know me, you also know that I love the „Shatter Me“ series!! (Only the original trilogy though because book 6 doesn’t exist! At least not according to me! ;-P) I gobbled the first trilogy up like nobody’s business and Aaron Warner is number one of my book bfs! I mean yeah, he has to share first place with Will Herondale but still! This series is great and the first book came out in 2011 so it counts!

3.) „Wicked Lovely“ by Melissa Marr

Okay, so the first book „Wicked Lovely“ got released in 2007 so it’s way older than 10 years but I still love this series so much! I dunno what it is about this series but ahh I adore so many of the characters and I just love the way the faerie courts are represented. It’s one of the best faerie series ever and I adore it. Period! Irial, Niall and Seth have my heart and soul! ❤

4.) „The Fellowship of the Ring“ by J.R.R. Tolkien

I admit it, „The Fellowship of the Ring“ is way older than 10 years, because it was first published in July 1954. But I think we can all agree that LotR is one of the best fantasy series ever! It’s a classic and everyone and their grandma knows this trilogy, right?! I mean if you haven’t read all three (super thick books) you at least have watched the movies or heard about the movies so yep, LotR! =)

5.) „The Name of the Wind“ by Patrick Rothfuss

Just to get it out there into the world: This book is amazing and a masterpiece and I love it so damn much you have no idea! It was released in 2007 and I think I only read it way later on but it really sneaked its way into my heart. Still if I’m talking about Pat Rothfuss I also have to say that I’m still waiting for book 3 of this trilogy! (Which probably will never come out and this totally sucks.) So if you want to read „The Name of the Wind“ you’ve to be aware that you’ll probalby never get to read the ending of this series. Just saying. *lol*

6.) „Divergent“ by Veronica Roth

I can’t believe „Divergent“ was released in 2011. I really loved this first book so much! It was great, it was amazing, it was something different and I really loved to dive into this world. Unfortunately book 2 and 3 didn’t really do it for me and I came out of this series only loving the first book. It’s a shame but it is what it is. >_<

7.) „Clockwork Angel“ by Cassandra Clare

This series is among my favourite series of all times as well! I mean „Clockwork Angel“ was released in 2010 but I’ve reread „The Infernal Devices“ about a gazillion of times ever since and it’s just… I adore all those lovely characters and Will Herondale! Ahhh Will! AKDFAKSDFKASDJ! Also Jem and Tessa and damn! I have so much love for this series and its characters I can’t put it into words. ❤

8.) „The Passage“ by Justin Cronin

I can’t believe I read „The Passage“ in 2011 absolutely loved it and then never continued to read the rest of the series. *lol* What is wrong with me? I suppose one of the reasons is that it took a very long time for me to get book two and three and once I had all of them I knew I’d have to rearead book one to get back into the swing and it’s just so… huge. Haha! 766 pages. Uff. I will reread it one day though and then I’ll finally continue with the rest of the series. =)

9.) „The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo“ by Stieg Larsson

Now this is a series I read a couple of years ago and I think I even read it when it was hyped so I definitely must have read the first book in 2008. This book was brutal, unapologetic, bloody and so unlike anything I ever read before and I kinda enjoyed the hell out of it? *lol* I think it spoke to my dark side back then and I never regretted picking it up. You should definitely check the trigger warnings for this one before you go into it though.

10.) „The Hunger Games“ by Suzanne Collins

Funnily enough „The Hunger Games“ must have been released around the same time as „The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo“ so in 2008. I really liked all of the books and they were so well written. =) Suzanne Collins broke my heart multiple times throughout this series and I still think that Peeta is one of the most precious souls. The ending… well it’s been years and I still dunno how I feel about it. It was realistic but also so bittersweet and kinda sad. >_<

So what about you? Which books were written over 10 years ago but you still love them? Do we have some in common? Did you have troubles to think of books that fit the prompt or was I the only one. (The most recent ones were the first to pop into my mind. *lol*) Did you count series into it as well?

Talk to me and let me know!

And as always take care and stay healthy and safe! 

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox

Hugs’n’Kisses OR Dismissed by the Missus/Messrs

Hey there, my lovelies!

Holy moly!! The last time I did this was more than a year ago! I can’t believe it took me so long to go for another round of my blog meme, but here I am. *lol*  Funnily enough I still got closer to my TBR goal even though I didn’t do the meme?! Maybe that’s because I read a lot of the books from my TBR? Who knows! Anyway! Let’s blow the dust away and go for another round! ;-P

The rules:

1.) Link back to the original post @ The Sassy Library Fox (I really want to know if it works out for you and I’m curious about your book choices! ;-))

2.) Choose 3 random numbers from 1 to the end of your TBR list. (In my case it are 3 random numbers from 1 – 288, so for instance I’ll pick 33, 172 and 253)

3.) Take a look at the 3 books on your TBR. (33 – Chain of Gold , 172 – An Ember in the Ashes , 253 – The Hunt)

4.)  Then you follow the rhyme:

One to hug and read, (An Ember in the Ashes: Okay, I wanted to read this one for ages and it’s actually on my 2022 or 2021 TBR? So that’s the perfect chance to actually go for it and to finally read the book.)

One to kiss and keep, (Chain of Gold: That’s a no-brainer because I definitely want to read the series. Just not yet. I need to read „Queen of Air and Darkness“ first and then I can continue. So I’ll get to this one, it just takes some time.)

One to dismiss and weep! (The Hunt: An assassin story and it actually sounds pretty good. The rating of 3,98 stars on goodreads doesn’t sound all too persuading, though. Well, for now I’ll dismiss this and weep. It’s been on my TBR since 2020 and I even forgot that it was on there so no good markings in favour of the book. *lol*)

5.) Read the book you hugged and kept within a month and repeat the process as often and as frequently as you like. (I’ll do this once a month and hopefully it will help me to reduce my TBR ;-P)

I’m currently at 288 books which is pretty good considering it used to be around 295. I’m still not all too close to my goal of reaching 280 books or so, but I’m getting closer and that’s at least something! =) I think I’m on a good way.

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox

March Wrap-Up

Considering everything that happened in March I’m actually surprised I managed to read 5 books? *lol* Okay one of them was a manga, two were rather short and the last one I read for about a year but finally finished in March so I guess when you break it down to the basics… I didn’t really read THAT much. XD But we’ll just roll with this and say I did splendidly in March! ;-P

Anyway! March was a very intense month for me because at the begining of the month there happened something that forced me to rethink my current life situation and what I actually want from my life. To stop in your usual tracks and to actually and actively think about what you want is never easy and it’s always easier to just let things run the way they always did. So yeah, to realize I had fallen into a pattern and to actually break out of it took a lot of energy from me. But the only person who can change something about your life situation is yourself so I had to do it.

Okay, enough of being cryptic. XD I’m sorry I can’t be more precise but this story needs to be told on another day. Maybe in my next wrap-up. 😉 For now I’ll just let it stand the way it is and focus on the good things of last month. Like for instance spring! It finally came and I already spent one or two afternoons at my parents garden house. =) I swear it’s so nice to be out and to feel the sun on your skin. *lol* And because I’m ARMY and you all know it, I’ve to say that I’m so glad Hobi and JK recovered from Covid and are healthy again! ❤

So on that happy note let’s jump right into my monthly Wrap Up, shall we?! 😉

Books read: 5 (5 books & 1 webcomic, Let’s just say I did fine?! Okay? Okay! ;-P )

Pages read: 1.940 („Sorcery of Thorns“ and „A Court of Silver Flames“ certainly added to that pages count.)

Average rating: 4,20 (So many of those books were 4 paws so I’m not surprised about the high rating)

Books that were on my reading list: 2 ( 0 from 2019, 1 from 2021 and 1 from 2022. I finally managed to read two books from my TBR and considering I only read 5 books last month this is an achievement. XD)

March Reads:

          

     

White Fox:

This book was so nice to read and I loved that it was told from the POV of Dilah the fox. =) You don’t read books about foxes all too often. XD Also this was a typical middle grade book with super beautiful illustrations by Viola Wang and they definitely added to my enjoyment. I guess my favourite character was Ankel, the weasel, because he was such a great character and never hesitated to stand up for his friends. This was sometimes very sad but still lovely!

Sorcery of Thorns:

„Sorcery of Thorns“ is a five paws read and it’s a five paws read! Like it’s one of those books that got five paws from me but would have deserved even more?! You know what I mean, right?! *lol* I loved this book so much and I actually mourn the fact that it’s just a standalone and not an entire series. T_T The characters in this were everything! I absolutely loved them all! Elisabeth and Nathaniel were great but the secret star of the book is definitely Silas! ❤ Gosh I love him so much!!! AKDFASJDFSAKDFJAS I need a second book about Silas! *dies* Oh, and the world building was excellent too. *dies again*

Blue Flag:

All I can say about „Blue Flag“ is that it was super cute and that I can’t wait to read the other volumes. Futaba kind of reminded me of Tohru from „Fruits Basket“ and Taichi was annoyed by her clumsiness but still liked her so there’s that. *lol* Very curious how the entire thing with Taichi is going to work out, not to mention Futaba’s bestie. I’m ready to find out how this complicated love quadrangle will unfold. XD

Almond:

I read „Almond“ as a buddy read with my BookTube friend Katja as one of the book prompts for the #Koreadathon2022! =) We chose it for the challenge: „Read a book recommended by a Korean celebrity“ because RM as well as SUGA from BTS read it during their show „In the Soop“! It was a really thought-provoking and interesting book and I enjoyed it a lot. I still have to write my review about it though so yeah, it will find it’s way on my blog sooner or later. 😉

A Court of Silver Flames:

I can’t believe it took Jello, Kaitlyn and me an entire year to buddy read this book but it did?! WOW! We started to read this on April 3rd 2021 and finished it on March 27th 2022. *loool* Oh boy, I think this was the longest buddy read ever. XD We probably broke a world record with that. Haha! Anyway, I enjoyed the book a lot and I really liked Nesta’s character ARC and how Sarah tackled all those important topics. For my taste there was a little bit too much smut (I KNOW!! V. too much smut, are you kidding me?! There can never be enough! Who are you?! *lol*) and too little of the actual plot. Don’t get me wrong, I love smut, but in this case I really would have liked to get more of the plotline and world building hence the four paws instead of five. I’ll make sure to write a very elaborate and long review about this book so please keep your eyes peeled for it.

This said: How was your March? Was it a good reading month? Did you read any of the books I spoke about in my wrap up? =) And if you read ACOSF, how long did it take you to read this monster of a book? (Hopefully not as long as it took us to finish it. *lol*) Did you take part in the Koreadathon as well and if yes, which books did you read?

Talk to me and let me know! 

And as always take care and stay healthy and safe!

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox

February Wrap-Up

February was probably the fastest month in all history of fast months. *lol* I swear it was over before it even began. XD Maybe it was because I was way too busy with everything going on. Work, my family, my besties birthday, my own birthday and everything else kept me from reading and in the end I realized that I only managed to read 4 books?! I kinda miss the times I was able to read 6 – 8 books a month but as it seems 4 – 5 books a month is my new reality. >_<

So after two months in 2022 the quintessence is: Still too much stress, still too many things keeping me occupied and still not enough time to deal with everything. *lol* If anyone could sent me a time turner I’d really appreciate it. ;-P Also my allergies have been acting up again and even though my asthma got way better than it was before (thank you therapy 😀 ) the constant onslaught of pollen and everything that blooms in spring is still taking its toll on my body. So yeah, I’m kinda suffering from constant exhaustion and the fact that I’m typing this with a massive headache isn’t helping.

Let’s hope once all the pollen are gone I will be able to enjoy spring! Because quite honestly I can’t wait for warm weather and to be outside again. Winter has been way too long again. And this even though the months passed by quickly. I guess I’m just tired of the cold. *lol* Anyway enough talk about the weather let’s talk about books! ❤

Books read: 4 (4 books & 1 webcomic, I won’t talk about „Chakho“ though because I already spoke about it last month)

Pages read: 1.593 (It was so bad I didn’t even manage to read 1.000 pages. *lol*)

Average rating: 3,88 (I guess „The Cousins“ is responsible for that. XD)

Books that were on my reading list: 0 ( 0 from 2019, 0 from 2020 and 1 from 2022. I can’t help being a mood reader, but I’m getting better! )

February Reads:

       

The House of Hades: ,5

This was probably the darkest of Uncle Rick’s books so far! But I really enjoyed it and if possible the characters grew even more on me! I love my three golden boys and Percy, Leo and Nico will always be my faves! As for the girls: Hazel and Annabeth for the win! Those two rock! <333 I’m very curious how book 5 will end because right now the situation looks really dire! If our heroes survive this they definitely deserve a vacation. XD

The Ocean at the End of the Lane:

This was such a strange book but also a good one?! The more I think about it the more I come to the conclusion that it was actually pretty good. For me The Ocean at the End of the Lane  felt like an old fairy tale and I’m pretty sure this was part of what Neil Gaiman aimed for. The perspective of a young boy who sees the adult world through children’s eyes only added to that impression and even though the book was creepy and gross at times I still enjoyed it.

The Cousins:

So this was a three paws read because it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t really good either. There were a couple of plot twists I saw from miles away and the characters felt way too similar to those of in „One of Us is Lying“. I mean the book was nice to read but it wasn’t something I will remember for long and I know for fact that Mc Manus wrote better books than this one. So yeah. Fingers crossed her next book will be better again. =)

The Gilded Ones:

I only finished this recently and I already know „The Gilded Ones“ will be difficult to review. The first about 40 – 50% of the book reminded me of a lot of other YA books I read over the years and then I got over the 50% mark and suddenly the book picked up pace and got its own voice so umm yeah. I dunno where that leaves me but I’ll make sure to write a proper review to dive a little bit deeper into my reasoning for 3,5 paws which I ultimately rounded up to 4.

How was your February? Was it too short too? Did you read more books than I did and if yes, which books did you read? Did you read any of the books I spoke about in my wrap up? =) Am I the only one who suffers from allergies?! (I can’t be the only one, right?! *lol*) How come all the books I read last month started with „The“?! And are you looking forward to summer too?

Talk to me and let me know! 

And as always take care and stay healthy and safe!

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox

My 3rd Bloggiversary!! & Your Assumptions About Me!? ;-)

Hey there, my lovelies!!

I can’t believe I’m actually typing this but as my WordPress notifications pointed out to me I had my third bloggiversary yesterday! Wow! I don’t even know how that happened but apparently it did? *lol* I can still remember how hesitant I was to start my own blog because I knew it would be a lot of work and I wasn’t really ready to commit to it. But then a lot of you guys and my goodreads friends told me that you’d definitely read what I write so I gave it a shot and I never regretted it! XD

Still, I can’t believe it’s three years already. By now I even have my own BookTube channel and without all the support I got from you guys over those last three years and without my goodreads friends I never would have started my own channel either. So yeah! I want to use this blog post and chance to give you a huge THANK YOU!!! ❤

Thank you to everyone who followed my blog ever since I started in 2018!

Thank you to everyone who only joined recently and decided to click that „follow“ button!

Thank you to everyone who still bothers to read my long-ass reviews! *lol*

Thank you to everyone who wrote me supportive messages, comments and tagged me over the years! =)

Thank you to everyone who still reads and likes my crappy poetry! XD

Just THANK YOU!!! ❤

It means so much to me that I became a part of this community and that my blog is still going strong. It’s my baby and quite honestly I never would have expected it to grow that much! I might even hit the high number of 450 followers soon so that’s about 400 more followers than I ever expected this blog to have. *lol*

If I actually hit that number I might go for another giveaway! I guess we’ll see and find out, because I have quite a couple of achievements to celebrate and might include my subscribers on BookTube too. Mhmm! I’ll have to think about it! XD Anyway what I wanted to say is THANK YOU! ❤ I hope you’ll continue on this journey with me and I’ll do my best to keep things interesting. 😉

So for now to celebrate my three year anniversary I thought it might be fun to collect your assumptions about me! I recently saw this on BookTube and it sounded like fun! *lol* So what are your assumptions about me? Write them down in the comments and I’ll answer them in one of my next blog posts! I’m sure you guys all have assumptions about me so I’m very curious to see what they are! XD

So what about you? Do you enjoy my content? How long have you been on WordPress? Longer or shorter than me? XD What kind of content would you like to see more of? And which kind of assumptions about me have you collected over the years? Talk to me and let me know!

And as always: Take care! And stay healthy and safe!

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox

SASSY Saturday

Hey there my lovelies!

Welcome back to the second round of my new montly blog meme „SASSY Saturday“!

How does it work? Well, that’s easy! 😉

All you have to do is to follow those three golden rules:

1. Credit the creator of this tag (The Sassy Library Fox) and link back. (so I can see all your amazing answers!)
2. Answer the 5 questions below!
3. AND enjoy doing the blog meme! 😛 

„SASSY Saturday“ is planned to be a monthly meme but if you want to do it more often feel free to go for it! This meme was created to get to know other bloggers, their new obsessions and to reflect on your own last month! Above all it was created to have fun though! 😉 If you want you can also use the banner I created! This said let’s head to the good part:

S – Series you loved this month

I don’t know how long this series has been on Netflix already but I just discovered „Soundtrack“ and I loved it! I’m such a sucker for musicals and musical series in general and I’ve been looking for something new ever since I saw the last episode of „Glee“. *lol* Okay, the actors don’t really sing in this one and only lip-sync but still! They dance and the music was great and the story was so heart-warming but also very sad. I loved how it has all those different characters and their lives overlap with time! ❤ Plus the mixture of songs was awesome, from Kelly Clarkson to The Weeknd, right to Etta James and then back to Ray Charles and Judy Garland. Okay, I think you can already tell how excited I’m about this. XD

A – Author you discovered

Sebastien de Castell! I just finished reading „Traitor’s Blade“ the first book in the „Greatcoats“ series and I’m surprised about how much I enjoyed it. XD This read really fast and was very entertaining so I’m pretty sure that I’ll read the rest of the series as well. 🙂 So definitely a new author I just discovered.

S – Song you couldn’t get enough of

Brandon Flowers  – Between Me and You

I swear this song has been stuck in my head ever since I discovered „Soundtrack“ on Netflix. I love the lyrics and that it’s so slow! Brandon Flowers knows how to get his message across! ❤ (P.S: I’m a huge „The Killers“ fan too!)

S – Surprise – Something that totally caught you off guard

The kindness of the staff at my favourite Running Sushi restaurant! Over here our restaurants were allowed to open on the 15th of May (after 6 – 7 weeks) and now that they are open again (with lots of rules and restrictions) barely anyone eats at the restaurants. So my bestie and I almost sat there alone and even though it was pretty cool for us because usually the reastaurant is packed it still made us sad to see that our fave eating place struggled so much. So yeah, we started to talk with the cook and the waiters and it was so nice to interact with them. They all knew us because we’re regulars and they were so happy we came! Before we even knew it they asked us if we had a special wish and if they could cook it for us. This was so sweet! The cook was so happy to have someone to cook for and my bestie and I were in food heaven! ❤ The food kept coming, even new creations they wanted us to try out. I never experienced anything like this and I’m so glad we decided to eat at their place and to give them a chance to get back on their feet. The world needs more amazing places and people like them and we’ll definitely visit them again soon! ❤

Y – Your fave blog post of another blogger

The Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus Character Book Tag

The „forever and everly“ amazing May created her own original book tag and of course it’s about Percy Jackson and the „Heroes of Olympus“ series! I did this tag recently and I loved it so much!! ❤ May really put a lot of work into it (16 hours!!!) and created all the artwork/graphics herself! Which is more than just awesome! And because I love PJ AND May I’m using my own blog meme in order to shamelessly promote her awesomeness! *lol*

What do you think about „SASSY Saturday“? Would you like to join the fun? Did you discover a new author and what was your favourite song?

Talk to me and let me know! 😉

*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox