Book recs based on your favorite character in Hades

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS:
HADES EDITION

During quarantine, I decided to invest in a Switch. I mean, what else is there to do stuck indoors except invest a lot of time and money in fictional stories and characters? (Wait, I just realized that that sounds very similar to books. Huh… who would’ve thunk it.) It seemed like a good idea at the time. In fact, it was such a genius idea that all of the US decided to join in on the fun. It was virtually impossible to find a Switch, and it took me a few months to get my hands on one.

Now that I’ve got one, I’ve become super obsessed with this little game called Hades. You might’ve heard of it. It won The Game Awards for Best Independent Game and Best Action Game in 2020. While I don’t know much about The Game Awards (or care, to be frank), I can understand why it won. It’s a super fun game, and it has fantastic artwork. If you’re looking to take a break from gaming, but want something Hades related, this is the place for you. If you’re looking for book recommendations in general, this is also the place for you. We welcome gamers and non-gamers alike here.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston | book review

✧ This review is spoiler-free! ✧

“History, huh? Bet we could make some.”

Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

Title: Red, White & Royal Blue
Series: standalone
Author: Casey McQuiston
Published: May 14, 2019
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin 
Category: adult
Genre: contemporary, romance, LGBTQ+
Pages: 421
My Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.5)
Goodreads page

─────────────────── ●⚫● ───────────────────

Synopsis

A big-hearted romantic comedy in which the First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales after an incident of international proportions forces them to pretend to be best friends…

First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations.

The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. Alex is busy enough handling his mother’s bloodthirsty opponents and his own political ambitions without an uptight royal slowing him down. But beneath Henry’s Prince Charming veneer, there’s a soft-hearted eccentric with a dry sense of humor and more than one ghost haunting him.

As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. And Henry throws everything into question for Alex, an impulsive, charming guy who thought he knew everything: What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?

[ This synopsis was taken directly from Goodreads. ]

Valentine’s Day lovers and haters book recommendations

Romance and no romance book recommendations

Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and people usually have one of two reactions. Either you get excited thinking about it or you just rolled your eyes at me. Either way, I have book recommendations for whether you’re a romantic at heart (like myself) or not.

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett | Book Review

“All things have a value. Sometimes the value is paid in coin. Other times, it is paid in time and sweat. And finally, sometimes it is paid in blood. Humanity seems most eager to use this latter currency. And we never note how much of it we’re spending, unless it happens to be our own.

Foundryside, Robert Jackson Bennett

This review is spoiler-free.

Title: Foundryside
Series: The Founders Trilogy, #1
Author: Robert Jackson Bennett
Published: August 21, 2018
Publisher: Crown
Category: adult
Genre: fantasy
Pages: 505
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Goodreads page

──────── ●⚫● ────────

Synopsis

Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne’s docks, is nothing her unique abilities can’t handle.

But unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic–the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience–have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims.

Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them.

To have a chance at surviving—and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s under way—Sancia will have to marshal unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact’s power for herself, and undergo her own transformation, one that will turn her into something she could never have imagined.

[ This synopsis was taken directly from Goodreads. ]

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab | book review

✧ This review is spoiler-free! ✧

“You know,” she’d said, “they say people are like snowflakes, each one unique, but I think they’re more like skies. Some are cloudy, some are stormy, some are clear, but no two are ever quite the same.”

V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Title: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
Author: V.E. Schwab
Published: October 6, 2020
Publisher: Tor Books
Category: adult
Genre: historical, contemporary, fantasy, romance
Pages: 442
My Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.5 stars)
Goodreads page

─────────────────────────── ●⚫● ───────────────────────────

Synopsis

A life no one will remember. A story you will never forget.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

[ This synopsis was taken directly from Goodreads. ]