Hey Everyone and welcome back to KEEP IT OR CUT IT!
As you know, in a bid to maybe reduce my TBR, I am taking ten books from it and checking to see if I still want to read said book.
It is week three and I have removed a total of five books so far, not a lot but still…
The Method…
In order to find out if I wish to KEEP IT OR CUT IT I will do the following:
- See if the blurb/synopsis still tickles my fancy
- Check out the reviews
- Maybe read the sample
THE BOOKS…
Ohhh, so I have just looked at the ten books that will be in this post today, yang opening the tabs and the likes and I’m pretty impressed with the books on this weeks list, some are a instant KEEP IT for several reasons and one, maybe two, are a instant CUT IT again for certain reasons. However, I have a feeling that I will be keeping most of this weeks list.
BOOK #1
Ivory and Bone (Ivory and Bone #1) by Julie Eshbaugh
Date Added: March 2019
Synopsis:
Two clans. Only one will survive.
The only life seventeen-year-old Kol knows is hunting at the foot of the Great Ice with his brothers. But food is becoming scarce, and without another clan to align with, Kol, his family, and their entire group are facing an uncertain future.
Traveling from the south, Mya and her family arrive at Kol’s camp with a trail of hurt and loss behind them, and hope for a new beginning. When Kol meets Mya, her strength, independence, and beauty instantly captivate him, igniting a desire for much more than survival.
Then on a hunt, Kol makes a grave mistake that jeopardizes the relationship that he and Mya have only just started to build. Mya was guarded to begin with—and for good reason—but no apology or gesture is enough for her to forgive him. Soon after, another clan arrives on their shores. And when Mya spots Lo, a daughter of this new clan, her anger intensifies, adding to the already simmering tension between families. After befriending Lo, Kol learns of a dark history between Lo and Mya that is rooted in the tangle of their pasts.
When violence erupts, Kol is forced to choose between fighting alongside Mya or trusting Lo’s claims. And when things quickly turn deadly, it becomes clear that this was a war that one of them had been planning all along.
CUT IT
Reasons:
- I actually thought I would be keeping this at first thought, the cover is cool and the first line of the blurb was like ohhh, go on…
- Shame it then details a tale of instalove and couple quarrels. Now don’t get me wrong I actually love romance as a genre, more fantasy romance, but I love a good romance. Though they have to be ones that are written well with a foundation and the story has other stuff going on, the blurb to this does not suggest this so alas its a CUT IT.
BOOK #2
The Wolf of the North (Wolf of the North #1) by Duncan M. Hamilton
Date Added: March 2019
Synopsis:
It has been generations since the Northlands have seen a hero worthy of the title. Many have made the claim, but few have lived to defend it. Timid, weak, and bullied, Wulfric is as unlikely a candidate as there could be.
A chance encounter with an ancient and mysterious object awakens a latent gift, and Wulfric’s life changes course. Against a backdrop of war, tragedy, and an enemy whose hatred for him knows no bounds, Wulfric will be forged from a young boy, into the Wolf of the North. This is his tale.
KEEP IT
Reasons:
- Oh the unsuspecting underdog of a hero…I can’t miss that up, I actually love the trope.
- I really appreciate a shorter synopsis/blurb, its gives you just enough to be intrigued. Yes, I am aware that is what they are meant to do but when do they really? They borderline tell you the skeleton of the plot. So, yang this book wins points for that already!
BOOK #3
The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle #1) by Patrick Rothfuss
Date Added: March 2019
Synopsis:
‘I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.
My name is Kvothe.
You may have heard of me’
KEEP IT
Reasons:
- I think David, Cassidee and Daniel would murder me.
- I have actually read near half of this book but had to pause, but I plan to read this again from the start hence it being on the TBR and not reading list. I really enjoyed the what I read but alas work and deadlines meant I had to pause.
BOOK #4
The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson
Date Added: March 2019
Synopsis:
n a world where ash falls from the sky, and mist dominates the night, an evil cloaks the land and stifles all life. The future of the empire rests on the shoulders of a troublemaker and his young apprentice. Together, can they fill the world with colour once more?
In Brandon Sanderson’s intriguing tale of love, loss, despair and hope, a new kind of magic enters the stage— Allomancy, a magic of the metals.
KEEP IT
Reasons:
- Again, David would murder me.
- I have actually read this book, but I read it SO LONG ago and when I wasn’t really that into my adult fantasy, so while I read it, I don’t recall a thing about it baring the first chapter! So it is back on the TBR so I can read and enjoy it having read a lot more adult fantasy.
BOOK #5
The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1) by Brandon Sanderson
Date Added: March 2019
Synopsis:
According to mythology mankind used to live in The Tranquiline Halls. Heaven. But then the Voidbringers assaulted and captured heaven, casting out God and men. Men took root on Roshar, the world of storms. And the Voidbringers followed . . . They came against man ten thousand times. To help them cope, the Almighty gave men powerful suits of armor and mystical weapons, known as Shardblades. Led by ten angelic Heralds and ten orders of knights known as Radiants, mankind finally won. Or so the legends say. Today, the only remnants of those supposed battles are the Shardblades, the possession of which makes a man nearly invincible on the battlefield. The entire world is at war with itself – and has been for centuries since the Radiants turned against mankind. Kings strive to win more Shardblades, each secretly wishing to be the one who will finally unite all of mankind under a single throne. On a world scoured down to the rock by terrifying hurricanes that blow through every few day a young spearman forced into the army of a Shardbearer, led to war against an enemy he doesn’t understand and doesn’t really want to fight. What happened deep in mankind’s past? Why did the Radiants turn against mankind, and what happened to the magic they used to wield?
KEEP IT
Reasons:
- I have this on my shelves and have every intention of reading it. At some point. Its a chunky boy soo…time!
BOOK #6
House of Blades (Traveler’s Gate #1) by Will Wight
Date Added: March 2019
Synopsis:
Simon can only watch, helpless, as his family is killed and his friends captured by enemy Travelers—men and women who can summon mystical powers from otherworldly Territories. To top it off, another young man from Simon’s village discovers that he’s a savior prophesied to destroy evil and save the realm.
Prophecy has nothing to say about Simon. He has no special powers, no magical weapons, and no guarantee that he’ll survive. But he sets off anyway, alone, to gain the power he needs to oppose the Travelers and topple their ruthless Overlord. It may not be his destiny, but Simon’s determined to rescue his fellow villagers from certain death.
Because who cares about prophecy, really?
KEEP IT
Reasons:
- Again, a cracking blurb/synopsis, so that has me interested.
- Also, I’m really keen to see the complete opposite of the standard heres journey vibes.
BOOK #7
Finale (Caraval #3) by Stephanie Garber
Date Added: May 2019
Synopsis:
A love worth fighting for. A dream worth dying for. An ending worth waiting for.
It’s been two months since the Fates were freed from a deck of cards, two months since Legend claimed the throne for his own, and two months since Tella discovered the boy she fell in love with doesn’t really exist.
With lives, empires, and hearts hanging in the balance, Tella must decide if she’s going to trust Legend or a former enemy. After uncovering a secret that upends her life, Scarlett will need to do the impossible. And Legend has a choice to make that will forever change and define him.
Caraval is over, but perhaps the greatest game of all has begun. There are no spectators this time—only those who will win, and those who will lose everything.
Welcome, welcome to Finale. All games must come to an end…
CUT IT
Reasons:
- This is being cut on a technicality.
- I went through a phase of adding whole series’ to my TBR without even reading the first or second book, so throughout this I am going to delete any book that is like that. So while I read Caraval and enjoyed it, I haven’t read book two so I will remove book three and add it if I read book two. Feel me?
BOOK #8
Crier’s War (Crier’s War #1) by Nina Varela
Date Added: May 2019
Synopsis:
Impossible love between two girls —one human, one Made.
A love that could birth a revolution.
After the War of Kinds ravaged the kingdom of Rabu, the Automae, Designed to be the playthings of royals, took over the estates of their owners and bent the human race to their will.
Now, Ayla, a human servant rising the ranks at the House of the Sovereign, dreams of avenging the death of her family… by killing the Sovereign’s daughter, Lady Crier. Crier, who was Made to be beautiful, to be flawless. And to take over the work of her father.
Crier had been preparing to do just that—to inherit her father’s rule over the land. But that was before she was betrothed to Scyre Kinok, who seems to have a thousand secrets. That was before she discovered her father isn’t as benevolent as she thought. That was before she met Ayla.
Set in a richly-imagined fantasy world, Nina Varela’s debut novel is a sweepingly romantic tale of love, loss and revenge, that challenges what it really means to be human.
CUT IT
Reasons:
- Hmmmm, this book just doesn’t take my fancy. I have read the whole revenge romance story way to many times in the past and while this is rated highly by a few people I follow I just don’t feel anything towards it. Nothing makes me want to read it.
BOOK #9
Whitechapel Gods by S.M. Peters
Date Added: May 2019
Synopsis:
TWO GODS-ONE CHANCE FOR MANKIND
In Victorian London, the Whitechapel section is a mechanized, steam-driven hell, cut off and ruled by two mysterious, mechanical gods-Mama Engine and Grandfather Clock. Some years have passed since the Great Uprising, when humans rose up to fight against the machines, but a few brave veterans of the Uprising have formed their own Resistance-and are gathering for another attack. For now they have a secret weapon that may finally free them-or kill them all…
KEEP IT
Reasons:
- I actually remember adding this to the TBR! I saw the cover and was like mmmmm that looks cool, then I read the blurb and I was caught by the idea of a setting in Victorian London, and Whitechapel no less. After reading the blurb again I definitely feel like I would click the good ole ‘to read’ button so yahoo…Imma keep it.
BOOK #10
On Dublin Street (On Dublin Street #1) by Samantha Young
Date Added: June 2019
Synopsis:
Jocelyn Butler has been hiding from her past for years. But all her secrets are about to be laid bare…
Four years ago, Jocelyn left her tragic past behind in the States and started over in Scotland, burying her grief, ignoring her demons, and forging ahead without attachments. Her solitary life is working well—until she moves into a new apartment on Dublin Street where she meets a man who shakes her carefully guarded world to its core.
Braden Carmichael is used to getting what he wants, and he’s determined to get Jocelyn into his bed. Knowing how skittish she is about entering a relationship, Braden proposes an arrangement that will satisfy their intense attraction without any strings attached.
But after an intrigued Jocelyn accepts, she realizes that Braden won’t be satisfied with just mind-blowing passion. The stubborn Scotsman is intent on truly knowing her… down to the very soul.
CUT IT
Reasons:
- So, I still read romance novels, don’t judge me they are my chick flicks of the book world. I always enjoy them and they work really well when I want a little break from longer adult fantasy books.
- Saying that I remember adding this book, I had read my first romance novel and really enjoyed it so I looked up a few of what many posts deemed the better romances and this was on it. Now, I have read a few romances and I know what I like and it very rarely falls in contemporary romance. I still need the fantasy element, a crime element or a paranormal setting and this book has none of that.
There it is! So, this week I have cut 4 books and kept 6.
So my TBR is currently sitting strong still at 536, it is still a big ass list but we are getting rid of a few each week. Who knows one day it might be manageable?
Yeah, my thought too
_ The Book in Hand _ 