booktalkwithashlee-blog

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New Owlcrate subscriber

I just subscribed to Owlcrate!! I’m so excited to get March’s box!

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What had human beings become?

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Septys

My heart goes out to all of those who lost their lives at the hands of Stalins missels which were torpedoed into the Wilhelm Gustloff. 😭 this was no tragedy, it was murder. Thats all there is to it.

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his smile is everything

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My Plain Jane Review

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Half way into "My Lady Jane", I searched "My Plain Jane" and at first glance this book looked amazing! What really drew me in to want to read My Plain Jane is #1 My Lady Jane had me hooked and, #2 A gothic version of Jane Eyre?? Umm who in their right mind would say no to that????

To put it simply this book did not live up to my expectatioms of it.

I'll get the bad comments out of the way first. Okay so reasons why I did NOT like this book are as follows.

1. I generally find murder mysteries boring however I loved My Lady Jane so I figured this one would be worth reading.

2. I found the book to be really dull which took me by surprise because My Lady Jane was so full of spunk! This one was just..well...plain.

3. The characters have a bad habit of repeating themselves. Honestly, they sound like broken records.

Now that the worst is over, here are the reasons why I liked this book and ultimately why the book earned its 3 star rating from me.

1. The writing and over all story line was great! I could imagine out all of the scenes, it was witty and, it was humorous.

2. As stated earlier, the theme was definitely amazing!

3. Jane and Charlotte. I know earlier I called the characters dull but, these are the two I actually liked.

4. The ghosts!! I lobe ghost movies, legends, and stories so obviously the ghosts had my interest.

So you see I dont think ot was horribe, I just did not see this book as one of the bests and deapite me not being impressed with this one, I am still lookimg forward to readimg My Calamity Jane.

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Ghosts, murder, and romance? I'm diving into this faster than I did "My Lady Jane" 🖤🕵💀👻🖤

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Where to possibly begin with this one?

A young yet bold king Edward, an opinionated, book loving Jane Grey, and a magical horse who happens to be Jane's husband but is actually a charming young man.

Not to mention we have our villains but I can't say who they are or it will spoil it. (Unless you have already read the book)

Let me just say I LOVED this book so much!!!!

Like really loved it! It had history which included not only the overall plot (because hello this is a retelling of Jane Grey and her execution), a funny narrative, romance, swordsmanship, magic, and did I mention it's a retelling of Jane Grey??? Like holy cral I am surprised I waited so long to read this.

Never have I ever read a book full of so much laughter, gasps, and tears! Ugh my heart is still pounding from this beautiful story.

Okay I am totally fangirling over this. I promise I'll stop now. Feel free to share your thoughts.

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My brother bought me this book for Christmas and boy am I happy he did! I'm only 100 pages in atm but, I have a theory about how this book may turn out.

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I just spent the last two hours of my evening finishing up the last couple hundred pages of “The Black Witch” while I greatly enjoyed this book and thought the story itself was absolutely beautiful and well written, I am left with questions which I hope will be answered in the next book “The Iron Flower” such as..

1. Is Fallon or Elloren the black witch? The book never did actually specify this although everyone believes Fallon to be the black witch, many also believe Elloren to be the black witch but, it appears only the Icarals can sense it about her. So what gives?

2.What is this buried power of Elloren’s that she and Lukas keep bringing up? More than once the book mentions that Elloren has her grandmother’s power in her veins/blood just waiting to be released and through out the entire book, I was literally waiting for the moment we finally got to see that power but, sadly Elloren is POWERLESS throughout the entire book other than her insight to wood which she mentions she’s part fae and even that was not clarified. 

3.Will we see Rafe join the Lupine pack? We saw Rafe run off into the wilds declaring he was joining the lupines, but when he reappears he is still a Gardnerian and nothing more was mentioned of it. 

4. What is happening between Yvan and Elloren? We have gotten so close with these two and were eagerly awaiting something to happen then when something almost did happen it didn’t. WTF!!!?? There was really no explanation to what Yvan saw/felt during that scene that made him pull away so fiercely from Elloren. 

Okay, those are the only questions I have so far. I’m sure I’ll think of more that I have as I think of the book but, what do you guys think? What are your thoughts and theories on what is to come in “The Iron Flower”?

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Hello again my precious readers! I promised you a review on these cute, feather shaped bookmarks I recently purchased from Amazon and, here it is!

I have been using one of my favorites out of the bunch for my current read, “The Black Witch” by Laurie Forest and it is just as durable as any $4.00 bookmark you get from your local bookstore. 

The thing about this set of bookmarks I really like aside from the appearance and curability is the price and quantity of the purchase.In this package you will receive 30 handmade bookmarks which come in their own little box for a mere $6.00 plus tax. Now if you bought 30 bookmarks from a retailer, well just think of how much that would cost! For those of you like myself who have a hobby of not only reading but also collecting bookmarks, this is a great purchase and a great addition to your collection! 

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Fairytale retellings, ladies, and witches

Have any of you read these books? I'm excited about "My Lady Jane" as it seems to have a lot of popularity. Reading the synopsis, I find that it looks rather quirky. I dont generally read quirky books however this one seems to be quite promising.

Due to my love of witches and curses, I am also eager to start reading "The Deepest Roots". I am currently reading "The Black Witch" and I feel TDR will hold me over until I can buy "The Iron Flower". Or should I read ine of the other two first?

You can find these lovely feather bookmarks on Amazon! Stay tuned for my review post on them which will also include the link!

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Got a new bookshelf sooo these babies have to stay scattered until tomorrow when my new shelf will be put together.

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Happy holidays!! Show me your books in the comments! All of these are books I have purchased for myself over the past month excluding the bottom 4. I just recieved those for Christmas 🖤🖤

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No woman asks to get raped.

I recently finished reading a book called "Asking for It" by Louise O'Neil. Unlike most books involved in rape culture where the narrator is quite likable and innocent, this one is more realistic and has a narraror who is the popular girl, rich, vain, and very self centered. She steals and treats her friends like shit and dresses very provocatively. She goes to a party and is gang raped by 4 guys. It doesn't stop there though. These 4 boys took photos and videos of the whole event and even though everyone knows it was rape, they are siding with the rapists and blaming the victim. This makes our narrator feel that the rape was her fault and she falls into quite a deep depression and actually stops functioning as a member of society. Now I'm going to stop there. I am not going to tell what happened but I am going to say this and I hope everyone reads it....

NO WOMAN ASKS TO BE RAPED and no woman deserves to be raped. Yes some girls dress provocatively and drink and go to parties and flirt with boys but that IS NOT consent to advance. That does not give any man the right to touch her. That does not make her asking for it nor does that make the assault her fault in any way shape or form.

I actually had to put this book down due to how infuriating it was. The way the press, her peers, and even the community were treating her was just too much she dis not deserve any of what happened to her and the thing that pisses me off is I know that this stuff actually happens. Emma's story is the story of 1 in 3 women whi are sexually assaulted.

Okay so that is my rant and I'm done now

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My December reading list :) Let’s see how many of these I get through before January 1st! 

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Reading Slumps: Do they have a cure?

Yes I am really asking if there is a cure for a reading slump. I have bought so many books for such great bargain prices yet, I am in no mood to read any of them! I can’t seem to find one I love and get drawn into and gah it’s just so frustrating! What do you do when you have a reading slump? How do you get out of it?