The Map Shop

  I am an affiliate with Z Publishing House. For more information, see the bottom of this post. I knew going into this month I probably bit off more than I could chew. By some miracle, I'd read 18 books in April and I thought I could do it again this month. No such luck, unfortunately. My digital pile of ARCs from NetGalley is still far too large and I'm struggling to make my way through it all. Have you ever felt like you might disappoint someone if you didn't get through all of the "for fun but sorta assigned" reading? No? Maybe it's just me. If you're interested, I'll make a running list for all the ARCs I need to read but haven't been able to get to yet.  In May, I read a total of  13 books, with two DNFs, for a total of 3,269 pages read this month. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle Again, but Better by Christine Riccio Princess Academy by Shannon Hale Death of a King by Andrew H. Vanderwal Sold by Patricia McCormick ...

  Special thanks to NetGalley for a copy. I am an affiliate with Z Publishing House. For more information, see the bottom of this post. The Voice in My Head by Dana L. Davis is published by Inkyard and will be available for purchase on May 28th. Davis is the author of Tiffany Sly Lives Here Now. The Voice in My Head is a young adult, contemporary novel about family and illness. Trigger warnings for depression/anxiety, suicide, terminal illness, dysfunctional families. Oh my goodness. I cried so many times while reading this book. Indigo Phillips attempts suicide the night before her terminally ill twin sister, Violet, is supposed to die via doctor assisted death. When the voice, claiming to be God, speaks to her, Indigo decides not to kill herself and instead has to convince her sister and their entire family to go to the Wave which is a rock formation in the painted desert in order for her sister to live. What follows is a dysfunctional family's struggle to understand e...

  Special thanks to NetGalley for a copy. I am an affiliate with Z publishing house. See the end of this post for more information. Again, but Better is the debut novel of Christine Riccio, Published by Wednesday Books and available on shelves on May 7th. Riccio is known as polandbananasBOOKS on youtube. She is a well-known booktuber and a member of the BOOKSPLOSION crew. This is her first published book. Again, but Better is a New Adult/YA contemporary romance. This book follows Shane, a twenty-year-old premed student who has decided she is doing college wrong so she will go study abroad in London for a semester. One problem is she is going to study writing, not premed. Problem number two is her overbearing and controlling parents don't know. Trying to break out of her antisocial habits, she goes out of her way to interact with her flatmates and then develops a crush on one of the boys, Pilot. They flirt back and forth throughout the semester, go on trips across Eur...

  Special thanks to NetGalley for a copy. I'm an affiliate with Z Publishing House. See the bottom of this post for more information. Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen is the first in a new YA series being published by Tor Teen. This book will become available on May 7th, 2019. Jensen is also the author of the Malediction Trilogy and The Bridge Kingdom series.  Dark Shores is a fantasy based on Ancient Rome and the Aztec Empire (possibly, it's unclear which culture inspired this second empire so I have to guess on this part based on location and some little cultural hints that I could be getting completely wrong). There are some trigger warnings for torture, murder, war. Dark Shores follows Teriana, a seventeen year old second mate of a seafaring, merchant society called the Maarin, and Marcus, the Legatus of the Thirty-Seventh Legion who is known for his strategies in battle as well as his ruthlessness as they are threatened and blackmailed by a power hungry se...

  Special thanks to NetGalley for a copy. I am an affiliate with Z Publishing House. See the link at the end of this post for more details. The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston is the second book in the Once Upon a Con series, though this can also be considered a stand-alone. Poston also wrote Geekerella. It was published by Quirk Books in the beginning of April. This is a YA contemporary romance retelling of the Prince and the Pauper tale with LGBTQ+ characters. The Princess and the Fangirl takes place at a con where Jessica Stone, actress playing a princess in a rebooted sci-fi series is just trying to survive the interviews and panels at the con as she is trolled online for her character in the series while also trying to get out of playing the character in a sequel. At the same time, Imogen Lovelace, a fangirl who grew up in cons, is trying to convince the production company to revive Stone's character so she can have a better story arc. The two girls me...