The Constellation of Moon

Cover Reveal: Catching Stars by Cayla Keenan

Posted on February 9, 2018

Who loves fantasy books? *raises hand*

Who loves gorgeous covers? *hand raised higher*

Who loves cover reveals? *jumps up and down*

If you said yes to it all, you won’t be disappointed today because I am revealing the cover for Catching Stars by Cayla Keenan. This is being published by Of Tomes Publishing.

Ready?

Catching Stars Final Front Cover

Look at that! Isn’t it Gorgeous? Aren’t you excited?

Here’s a short synopsis of it.

Witch. Betrayal. Hunted.

Jayin Ijaad is in hiding. A witch with powerful abilities, she carves out a life for herself in the slums of Pavaal, a city rotting from the inside out. When an old acquaintance tracks her down, Jayin is dragged back into a world she tried to escape — and is determined to escape again.
Maddix Kell is on the run. After two years in prison for crimes he did not commit, Maddix escapes and seeks out a legendary order of witchhunters who are his only chance to find justice.
But all is not as it seems and Maddix soon finds himself on the run from the people he sought as allies. When their paths collide, Jayin and Maddix must put aside their prejudices and forge an uneasy alliance that could crumble at any moment. But if they want to survive in Aestos — a brutal kingdom where magic and corruption lie hand in hand and enemies lurk around every corner — they must first survive each other.

Magnetizing—an intricate, brutal world of sorcery, betrayal, and mystery that will captivate and entice until the very last page. Emily R. King, author of The Hundredth Queen Series.

Exciting right? Be sure to keep an eye out for it and dive into it! I am sure you will enjoy it very very much.Also, feel free to preorder *nudge, nudge*

Catching Stars release day

Book Review

I Am Thunder Review

Posted on February 9, 2018

I received an ARC for this book which I passed on to #ownvoices reader. And then bought my own copy.

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I Am Thunder by Muhammad Khan

Fifteen-year-old Muzna Saleem, who dreams of being a writer, struggles with controlling parents who only care about her studying to be a doctor. Forced to move to a new school in South London after her best friend is shamed in a scandal, Muzna realizes that the bullies will follow her wherever she goes. But deciding to stand and face them instead of fighting her instinct to disappear is harder than it looks when there’s prejudice everywhere you turn. Until the gorgeous and confident Arif shows an interest in her, encouraging Muzna to explore her freedom.

But Arif is hiding his own secrets and, along with his brother Jameel, he begins to influence Muzna with their extreme view of the world. As her new freedom starts to disappear, Muzna is forced to question everything around her and make a terrible choice – keep quiet and betray herself, or speak out and betray her heart?

A stunning new YA voice which questions how far you’ll go to protect what you believe in.

Rating:

It was quite interesting to step into Muzna’s shoes. I am not Muslim but I could still heavily relate to Muzna as a teen. The overbearing parents and the bullying and the shyness and wanting to do something different, all where parts I found interesting.

Moving school helps Muzna realise that she has a voice and I loved that, the way she starts to wonder why she has been doing exactly as she is told and questions things. She comes into herself and slowly figures out who she is.

To say much more would be to spoil the story but I found it interesting and powerful and think everyone should give this a go. However this is more definitely geared to teenagers/young adults in the writing and that is what I took away from it (it is at times a little too much for me).

Moon recommends

The only books in similar league to this are Dear Martin and THUG.

Subscription Boxes

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na Batman! Litjoy Crate Unboxing

Posted on February 7, 2018

January’s LitJoy Crate featured Batman Nightwalker by Marie Lu and had an awesome box.

You can also see my new background jigsaw (and one fo the two pieces missing that Vixy chewed). Starting on the book and going clockwise:

Batman Nightwalker by Marie Lu, this is signed. She curated this box so it was extra special.
Blame the virus, not the fever card, it has the author’s letter on the other side.
Fear Clears the Mind pouch by Evie Seo, a high quality pouch which I am loving.
Two Batman Arkham Asylum Inmate pins.
Rhysand print by Arrabelle.
Batman Nail Polish which I have been wearing this week and it is awesome! Kinda black/purple with sparkle effect.
You can’t see it but there was a Batman call sign pen, and you can see the Call sign here (top of the Lit Joy black box)
Theme card.
Origami Crane necklace. I love the little box and presentation of this necklace.
Batman can/bottle opener keychain.
Two tone candle from A Court of Candles. This one smells delicious and I love that it is dark then light.

All in all I absolutely loved this box. It made my day and I really liked most of the items 🙂

Wrap-ups and Tags

Hocus Pocus Tag

Posted on February 6, 2018

So I was tagged by Nikki, my bookish partner in crime, so here we go.

The Rules

There are no rules. It’s YOUR blog. But it would be nice if you linked back to Never Not Reading (tag creator), and maybe the person who tagged you too. Share the love, folks. (Feel free to use the GIFs used by Never Not Reading, the graphics made by Flavia the Bibliophile if you would like, both, or make and use your own visuals!)

Questions

1. THE SANDERSON SISTERS: A GREAT TRILOGY

This is such a hard choice. I love Mistborn, and then there’s ADSOM, and Crystal Singer…

2. WINIFRED SANDERSON: A BOOK WITH A TRULY AWFUL FEMALE VILLAIN

Awful as in person I am guessing… Dolores Umbridge is an awful villain (sorry it is the first one that comes to mind even if it isn’t the only one and I’ll probably remember a lot of them once I have published this because yeah… that’s my brain for you).

3. SARAH SANDERSON: A BOOK THAT UNCANNILY ATTRACTS CHILDREN

Like Harry Potter? Or say one of Roal Dahl’s. Fairytales are definitely attractive to children…

4. MARY SANDERSON: A BOOK THAT IS JUST PLAIN SILLY

I recently read The Princess and the Pony and it is silly in a good way so this would be it I guess.

5. MAX: A BOOK THAT IS TRYING REALLY HARD TO BE COOL BUT DOESN’T ALWAYS SUCCEED

I think that would be SJM books. Specially the most recent ones since apparently it is trying much too hard. (Guess who isn’t a fan here…)

6. DANI: A BOOK THAT ISN’T AFRAID TO TELL IT HOW IT IS

After The Fire by Will Hill. And Dear Martin by Nic Stone.

7. BINX: A BOOK SERIES THAT JUST WON’T DIE

Anything by Cassandra Clare or SJM.

8. ICE: A BOOK WITH A CHARACTER AS DUMB AS A ROCK

Terry Pratchet books? 😛 But they are amazing because of that… It’s hard to pick just one from the Discworld series.

9. THE BLACK FLAME/CANDLE: A SERIES YOU WISH YOU COULD RESURRECT

The Dreamhunter Duology by Elizabeth Knox. I loved the books and it is such a shame that almost no one has ever heard of them.

10. HEADLESS BILLY BUTCHERSON: A BOOK THAT ISN’T AS BAD AS IT’S MADE OUT TO BE

This one is tricky, not entirely sure since I usually don’t like bad books but who knows…

11. WINIFRED SANDERSON’S SPELL BOOK: A BOOK WITH A MIND OF IT’S OWN

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. I mean with AIDAN, I had to pick this.(And I had to steal this from Nikki because yeah)

12. GARRY MARSHALL: A BOOK WITH A CAMEO

Oh gosh, this one is making life hard. I like the Virals since they have Tempe in them.

I’m tagging:

Maja (Bookish Addicted)
Helen (Watching Sparks)
Beth (BooksNest)

Though feel free to steal if you want to have a go!

Book Review

Windfall Review

Posted on February 5, 2018

This was lent to me by Nikki and I grabbed it last weekend for a quick read. It did not disappoint on that front.

Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith

Alice doesn’t believe in luck—at least, not the good kind. But she does believe in love, and for some time now, she’s been pining for her best friend, Teddy. On his eighteenth birthday—just when it seems they might be on the brink of something—she buys him a lottery ticket on a lark. To their astonishment, he wins $140 million, and in an instant, everything changes.

At first, it seems like a dream come true, especially since the two of them are no strangers to misfortune. As a kid, Alice won the worst kind of lottery possible when her parents died just over a year apart from each other. And Teddy’s father abandoned his family not long after that, leaving them to grapple with his gambling debts. Through it all, Teddy and Alice have leaned on each other. But now, as they negotiate the ripple effects of Teddy’s newfound wealth, a gulf opens between them. And soon, the money starts to feel like more of a curse than a windfall.

As they try to find their way back to each other, Alice learns more about herself than she ever could have imagined . . . and about the unexpected ways in which luck and love sometimes intersect.

Rating:

On the quick read front, if definitely was a quick read, and easy to read. Nothing complicated, nothing too difficult. On the other hand, there wasn’t anything wow to leave me wanting more or really anything like it.

It is a brilliant filler and a good “I don’t want to think and just need a nice book to read, thank you very much”.

Teddy wins the loterry thanks to a ticket Alice gets him, and as much as the premise here says about an adventure, most of the book isn’t exactly that. It is more a “we are all trying to figure ourselves out because this whole money thing has changed things and also college and life”.

One of the things that frustrated me a little is that I didn’t really want Alice to end up with Teddy. As Swayer says, he doesn’t deserve her. And it was frustrating to see him hurt her then apologise and everything is fine and all good. No, that is not good, that can become toxic, please don’t do that.

However, one of the things I really liked is the relationships between all characters. Teddy and his mother, Teddy and his gambling father. Alice and her uncle and aunt. Alice and Leo. Leo and Max. It is interesting.

Moon recommends

This book felt a little along the lines of Here We Are Now or Everything, Everything, easy reads that are more about relationships between family and friends or boy/girl so any fo them will do nicely.

PS. I don’t have lottery tickets so YALC queue tickets is all I had…

Subscription Boxes

Geeks Unite Book Box Club Unboxing

Posted on February 3, 2018

I am a geek, you are a geek, we are all geeks… Who’s a geek with me?

January’s Book Box Club was all about being geek and of course I had to collaborate with their little project. So let’s do the unboxing starting from the theme card and going clockwise:

Theme card, in a bright set of Super power colours.
Brains are the New Black tote bag by Newton and The Apple. It made me smile when I saw it, now I want a T-shirt with this on it…
The Fandom by Anna Day. I actually have an ARC from this that I started and didn’t complete (because sometimes I just am not in the mood for it not because of the book).
A Book Box Club badge/pin that is a thank you for buying 10 or more boxes, which I love. It is on my coat now.
Fangirling candle by Bookworm Candles, their candles usually come with a cute crocheted ring.
Scrolled Clubhouse invitation.
I am a badass magnet by Book Box Club.
Boom Pow Nail Wraps by Dinkibelle, which look pretty cool and I’ll probably mess up (I suck at this).
And a geeky calendar with wonderful artworks by 12 artists, which is such a lovely little thing to include.

I am excited to see what’s next plus they just revealed their March topic.

Discussion

Backgrounds for your pictures

Posted on February 1, 2018

“So Moon, what do you use for your background?”

Since I keep getting this question a lot, I am now making a full post about it. And as I am sure you’re eager to know the answer here is the short version of it: a puzzle.

Yes, you read that right! Currently it has been The Bizarre Bookshop 2 by Ravensburger/Colin Thompson. I also have a few pictures with The Bizarre Bookshop (the first one).

And how did this cleverness occur? By pure chance. I had bought a cheap low coffee table for my artwork because I am into biomechanics and trying to control pain in my body (but that is a story for another day), and I found the white table boring.

I love puzzles (either thinking puzzles or jigsaw) so I bought one and used it as my new “decoration”. I had initially intended to glue it to the table but that never happened because I loved the first puzzle so much I went out and bought a second one.

And after payday this month I treated myself to two more puzzles because I was bored of my current puzzle background. (So expect new “theme” without being on purpose).

So by chance I had to take unboxing pictures and other kinds of pictures and the table was the best place to do so, and well, they looked nice so I kept doing it, and it set a theme.

It is a relatively cheap way of doing a background (you can go to a charity shop and get a puzzle for almost nothing) and it is also a fun distraction. jigsaw soothe my mind and my anxiety and are of the few things that actually mean my brain isn’t doing ten thousand things at the same time. Once I start one, that is all I am doing.

So if you feel creative or you like jigsaw (and if you don’t maybe you know someone who does and can solve the jigsaw so you have an awesome background, you can probably convince (bribe) them with books or cake or cookies… chocolate is a good option too).

Book Review

The Girl in the Tower Review

Posted on January 30, 2018

As you know I loved The Bear and the Nightingale, so here we go on the next book.

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

The magical adventure begun in The Bear and the Nightingale continues as brave Vasya, now a young woman, is forced to choose between marriage or life in a convent and instead flees her home—but soon finds herself called upon to help defend the city of Moscow when it comes under siege.

Orphaned and cast out as a witch by her village, Vasya’s options are few: resign herself to life in a convent, or allow her older sister to make her a match with a Moscovite prince. Both doom her to life in a tower, cut off from the vast world she longs to explore. So instead she chooses adventure, disguising herself as a boy and riding her horse into the woods. When a battle with some bandits who have been terrorizing the countryside earns her the admiration of the Grand Prince of Moscow, she must carefully guard the secret of her gender to remain in his good graces—even as she realizes his kingdom is under threat from mysterious forces only she will be able to stop.

Rating:

There is so much I’d like to say about this book but a lot of it would be spoilers, so instead I can insert lots of squeals and excitement. Some of the things that were left as question marks (like that gem Vasya has hanging around her neck) get answers, but some new things show up.

We also get to see what happened to Sasha and Olga, and it was interesting to see how their personalities and them as characters developed once they moved to their new environment.

Konstantin is still being annoying and part of me wishes he’d just disappear but then again he does add a lot to the story in his own weird way, wreaking havoc wherever he goes. Poor man.

And of course Solovey is still there as are new characters, and Morozko, the sweetheart nis still there too.

Moon recommends

To read this book, if you haven’t read The Bear and the Nightingale, then read that one first then this one. Come back and despair with me that we have to wait until August to read the conclusion book.

Subscription Boxes

January Fantasy Leafer Box Unboxing

Posted on January 28, 2018

This is the other cheap (as in price) book box out there and it is like a complimentary sibling of Wildest Dreams, as it doesn’t do the Young Adult genre.

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I usually get a combo of sci-fi and fantasy but this time I just felt like having Fantasy and not both. So let’s have a look at the contents:

Oak and Mistletoe by J.Z.N. McCauley. I like the cover and it looks interesting.
A celtic charm necklace
A shamrock/clover keychain, quite cute.
A tiny tartan bow badge/pin which I think was so quite charming.
Chocolate, this time a peppermint one that I devoured.

Not a bad box at all, so if you are interested in getting you can use code KESTREL10 to get 10% off.

Book Review

Nana Volumes 1-5 Review

Posted on January 26, 2018

One of the things I love to read and haven’t actually reviewed much here is manga/graphic novels.

And for me Nana is a classic that I have slowly been buying to complete my collection. I am using the Wikipedia summary rather than the one from GoodReads just because this is a bundle of volumes being reviewed rather than just one.

Nana Volumes 1-5 by Ai Yazawa

Nana Komatsu has a habit of falling in love at first sight all the time, and depending on other people to help her. When her friends, and then her boyfriend, leave for Tokyo, she decides to join them a year later after having saved enough money at the age of twenty.

Nana Osaki, the other Nana, is the punk-styled lead vocalist of a band called Black Stones (BLAST for short). She had lived with her boyfriend, bassist Ren Honjo since she was 16, but when Ren is offered a chance to debut in Tokyo as a replacement member of a popular band called Trapnest, Nana chooses to continue on with BLAST and to cultivate her own career instead of following Ren, as she has too much ambition to be relegated to a rockstar’s girlfriend. She eventually leaves for Tokyo at the age of twenty to start her musical career.

The two Nanas meet on a train by chance, both on their way to Tokyo. After a string of coincidences, they come to share an apartment. Despite having contrasting personalities and ideals, the Nanas respect each other and become close friends. While BLAST begins to gain popularity at live gigs, the two Nanas face many other issues together, especially in the areas of friendship and romance. The story of Nana revolves heavily around the romance and relationships of the two characters as one seeks fame and recognition while the other seeks love and happiness.

Rating:

This is a manga that has been close to my heart since I first fell for it (as a teenager, quite a few years back when I had to wait until the next translated chapter came out to keep up with the story).

I hate to admit that I used to identify (and in some ways still do) with Nana Komatsu “Hachiko”. And I did use to have a lot of crushes but nothing serious. Yet, the way this manga explores not only the way relationships work and how one becomes an “adult”, it also ponders what success means. The first five volumes introduce you to most of the main characters that will be seen all throughout the story and it is being narrated by Nana Komatsu, so it has some of her thoughts, and sometimes you can see she is looking back and thinking “why did I do that?”.

The artwork has always been inspiring for me. The fashion and details Ai Yazawa has on it are wonderful and I have loved the close relationship that happens between two strangers that want to rent the same flat and have the same name.

Moon recommends

Definitely reading Nana. Another good one is Paradise Kiss (also by Ai Yazawa) which focuses more in fashion than music, but it is still a wonderful story. Both the manga and anime. And also I recommend the anime for Nana.