The Reading Quest

Hey all,
So if you haven't heard already, there is a really cool reading event that is about to take place! It's called The Reading Quest, and it's a reading challenge based on RPG style video games. Since I am a human who has played far too many of those, it would be a shame if I didn't take part!

This challenge is being hosted by Read at Midnight (click here for the post) and all of the artwork was done by CW of Read, Think, Ponder.

Here is the quest board:

I am going to be following along the Rogue path to start!

 For a Banned Book, I am going to read Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, which is a book I've been meaning to read for a long time. It covers a fairly taboo subject, which is why it has been banned in so many places, but I've heard such great things about it that I want to give it a chance.

For a cover with a partially obscured face, I intend to read Truthwitch by Susan Dennard. Again, this is a bookt hat I've just been hearing nothing but amazing things about, and it's one of the few books that I currently have with me. I've been meaning to read it since it came out because I have a feeling that I'm really going to enjoy it!

For a book with less than 500 reviews on goodreads, I intend to read Traitor's Masque by Kenley Davidson. This is a self published novel with around 400 reviews, currently, on goodreads. It is supposed to be a retelling of the Cinderella story with some fantastical twists, so I'm really looking forward to diving into it.

For a book published by a small press I want to read Flame by E. Latimer, which is the second book in her Frost Chronicles series which is being published by Patchwork Press. I read the first book last year and really enjoyed it, so I'm looking forward to diving into this one.

And finally, for a book with a one word title, I want to read Rooms by Lauren Oliver. I have loved both of the books that I've read by this author in the past, and this book is also fairly short, which is nice! I'm hoping that I'll love it just as much as her other books and that I'll fly through it!















So those are all of the books I'm currently planning on reading! Are any of you guys taking part? You should let me know! I would love to keep up with your progress. I'm going to be posting at least once a week on here with my updates, mostly because I think it will help me keep track of everything!

Good luck, and happy reading,
Helen.

The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett

Title: The Nightmare Affair
Author: Mindee Arnett
Series: The Arkwell Academy Book One
Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.

Literally.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy, is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder.

Then Eli’s dream comes true.

Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target. - Goodreads

The Nightmare Affair is a quick and fun paranormal read that had me flipping the pages as quickly as possible to find out what was going to happen next. This book took me by surprise with how much it dragged me in and wouldn't let me go. I had so much fun while reading it that upon finishing it, I found myself wishing that I owned the rest of the trilogy so that I could simply marathon my way through it, but alas, I do not, and so the marathon will have to wait.

While I did, obviously, love this book, it does have some flaws, most of which didn't take away from my over all enjoyment of the story. The two flaws that immediately stand out to me are some aspects of Dusty's personality, and how predictable one of the plot twists was. 

To elaborate on those points, there were times when I found Dusty to be a bit annoying. She takes everything at face value and doesn't stop to think about things before she acts. Of course, this is what leads to the vast majority of the events that happen in this book, but it would have been nice to have her doubt some of the things being told to her, at least a little bit. Or to have her be a bit stronger in her convictions. As for the plot twist, I'm not going to go into it because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read this book yet, but I will say that I did guess at least one of the people who had a hand in the murders fairly early on. This part, in particular, didn't necessarily take away from my experience of the book, but it did make a lot of the things that this character did throughout the story seem far less genuine than they were supposed to feel at the time.

So, long story short, I liked this book a lot despite its short comings, and I am really looking forward to picking up the rest of the trilogy in the future. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a quick, fun read, or someone who wants a fun paranormal book centering around a type of creature who doesn't get a whole lot of spotlight in current media. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

Purchase: Amazon (Available in e-book, hardback, and paperback editions)

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Shelved on Goodreads As: Read, Books of 2017

So it's been two years...

Hey all, How you doin'?
Okay, there's no getting around this. It's been two years since I've posted on this blog. I don't even have an excuse. I loved running this blog, and I loved writing the book reviews that I used to post on here, among the other things.
I've been having a lot of trouble lately keeping up with my youtube channel. I don't have as much time as I used to any more, so filming and editing videos is difficult. I'm hoping to make up for some of that lost content on here, as finding an hour to set aside to write a blog post is much easier than finding 3-8 hours to make a video.
I'm hoping that I'll be posting on here again, soon. Keep an eye out, and try to hold me accountable.

Ciao for now,
Helen.