Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Dads In Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week participating bloggers can create lists of topic given by the host, and share them with others!
This was quite difficult topic because when I started really thinking about it, most of the fathers in YA and LGBT romance (which I mostly read) are either absent or pretty much dead beat. Even some of the ones I chose can be questionable and I feel like many won't agree with me, but these are fathers who I liked and felt like they had redeemable features even if they weren't perfect.
I just wish that the tide will change and there would be more awesome dads in YA and LGBT themed books! Some great dad appreciation would be fantastic overall. Anyway, here's my picks:
Marcus from Half Bad by Sally Green Let's start with a little bit controversial one. Marcus is the main character Nathan's dad and he's Black Witch - more than that, he's the most notorious Black Witch because he has killed so many, just to gain their powers. Marcus is ruthless and he doesn't show mercy, except when it comes to his son. True, he's mostly absent from Nathan's life but he's there when Nathan really needs him. Marcus loves his son, and I just felt like he wasn't bad father for Nathan even if he wasn't most conventional of dads. 

Poseidon from Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan Again we go with an absent father, but then again all of the godly parents in this series are more absent than not, mostly because it's part of the rules not to favour their children (even if they totally do it). I just always liked Poseidon, he was mostly chill dad and not a bad father for Percy. I mean, Poseidon listened Percy and cared for him. He totally is the cool dad type.

Hades from Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan Of all the godly parents from Riordan's various series, I feel like Hades actually have been more present in his children's life than most - well, mostly in Nico's life. In a sense he's an absent father, yes, but Nico actually spend time plenty of time with him. Overall the small glimpses of Hades and his interactions with his children always showed me that he cared for them: he tried to protect them and he helped Nico when he could, and he was proud of his son.

Mr Bennett from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Mr Bennett was quite awesome dad: he sided with Elizabeth when it came to marriage with Mr Collins, and overall I just loved his sarcasm and how he loved his daughters.

Jack Spier from Simon Vs Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli Jack's the main character Simon's father, and he's just so cool, accepting, funny and overall just really awesome dad!

James Potter from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling I know he never really got a chance to be father for Harry because James died so soon and we didn't get to really see what kind of father he would have been (or what kind of father he was during the fifteen months of Harry's life that James was alive). But he died trying to defend his family against a very powerful wizard - and he tried to do so without his wand - that tells me everything I need to know. James wasn't perfect, especially during his school years in Hogwarts, but I still always saw him as a good father.

Beauty and the Beast Book Tag

I'm so late with this tag, which was created just before the live action Beauty and the Beast movie came out. But I'm finally doing it! I love the movie - both original and the new one - and this tag just sounds so much fun.

The tag is originally created by Amber Elise @ Du Livre.

A villain you can't help but love

This is actually a difficult choice because I really like villains, and certainly love many of them. But I'm going with the Malfoy family, especially Draco, because they're the ones I have loved longest (if Disney villains aren't included). I mean, Draco is my favourite from the whole cast of HP and I've always rooted for him! I do like Lucius and Narcissa too, and I absolutely fell for Scorpius because he's so adorable.

Your OTP

I have plenty of OTP's but no other pairing makes me both so incredibly happy, makes me swoon every time they share a moment, and make me cry my heart out because of how tragic their story is, than Achilles and Patroclus from The Song of Achilles. They both broke my heart and mend it, and it's beautiful.

A character that's destined for bigger things

Definitely Nico di Angelo from Percy Jackson & Heroes of Olympus & Trials of Apollo. Nico has done a lot of heroic things but I always feel like he doesn't get enough credit for the things he has done. He's certainly capable of doing more than he has been given a chance, and I feel like he could be really great.

(And really, Nico needs a spin off series of his own.)

A book that makes you hungry

Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. It totally made me crave Oreos like nothing else!

Opposites attract
This basically describes all of my OTPs. I'm sucker for opposites attract as a trope because there's the special kind of spark in those relationships. I'm going with Nathan and Gabriel from Half Bad by Sally Green; while Nathan and Gabriel have some similarities, especially when it comes to their moral compass, they are opposite in many aspects. Nathan's broody while Gabriel's more relaxed; Nathan's antisocial to Gabriel's more social side, and the list goes on. But still, they are perfect together.

Waiting on Wednesday #49

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's cannot-wait book is:

Because You Love To Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy anthology!

Because You Love To Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy anthology

Published by Bloomsbury

Expected publication: July 11th 2017

YA, fantasy, anthology, short stories

Leave it to the heroes to save the world--villains just want to rule the world.

In this unique YA anthology, thirteen acclaimed, bestselling authors team up with thirteen influential BookTubers to reimagine fairy tales from the oft-misunderstood villains' points of view.

These fractured, unconventional spins on classics like "Medusa," Sherlock Holmes, and "Jack and the Beanstalk" provide a behind-the-curtain look at villains' acts of vengeance, defiance, and rage--and the pain, heartbreak, and sorrow that spurned them on. No fairy tale will ever seem quite the same again!

Featuring writing from . . .
Authors: Renée Ahdieh, Ameriie, Soman Chainani, Susan Dennard, Sarah Enni, Marissa Meyer, Cindy Pon, Victoria Schwab, Samantha Shannon, Adam Silvera, Andrew Smith, April Genevieve Tucholke, and Nicola Yoon

BookTubers: Benjamin Alderson (Benjaminoftomes), Sasha Alsberg (abookutopia), Whitney Atkinson (WhittyNovels), Tina Burke (ChristinaReadsYA blog and TheLushables), Catriona Feeney (LittleBookOwl), Jesse George (JessetheReader), Zoë Herdt (readbyzoe), Samantha Lane (Thoughts on Tomes), Sophia Lee (thebookbasement), Raeleen Lemay (padfootandprongs07), Regan Perusse (PeruseProject), Christine Riccio (polandbananasBOOKS), and Steph Sinclair & Kat Kennedy (Cuddlebuggery blog and channel).

Add on Goodreads.

ARC Review: Broke Deep by Charlie Cochrane

Broke Deep (Porthkennack, #3)
by Charlie Cochrane
Published by Riptide Publishing
eARC (received via NetGalley)
Adult, LGBT, contemporary, romance

Morgan Capell’s life is falling apart by small degrees—his father’s dead, his boyfriend dumped him, and his mother’s in the grip of dementia. His state of mind isn’t helped by his all-too-real recurring nightmare of the wreck of the Troilus, a two hundred year old ship he’s been dreaming about since his teenage years.

The story of the Troilus is interwoven with the Capell family history. When amateur historian Dominic Watson inveigles himself into seeing the ship’s timbers which make up part of Morgan’s home, they form a tentative but prickly friendship that keeps threatening to spark into something more romantic.

Unexpectedly, Dominic discovers that one of the Troilus’s midshipman was rescued but subsequently might have been murdered, and persuades Morgan to help him establish the truth. But the more they dig, the more vivid Morgan’s nightmares become, until he’s convinced he’s showing the first signs of dementia. It takes as much patience as Dominic possesses—and a fortuitous discovery in a loft—to bring light out of the darkness.

I loved the first two installments in the Porthkennack series, and I had high hopes for Broke Deep, especially since the premise sounded so fascinating - I'm a history student so the aspect of researching local and family history and shipwrecks was really something I looked forward to read about. However, Broke Deep didn't meet my expectations and I had hard time connecting with the characters, and overall I was quite disappointed with the story.

To me, the story and its characters felt quite one dimensional as there wasn't much to hold onto or to identify with. The beginning of the book was promising: there was some strong feelings as Morgan had just been dumped by his insensitive ex-boyfriend while he was still dealing with his mother's early dementia, and Dominic seemed really enthusiastic about the research of the shipwreck. However, from then on it was a downhill for me, because the ship and plot surrounding it got lost among the all the long heart to heart talks. And despite all those long conversations between Morgan and Dominic, the reader don't learn anything new about the characters, their past and aspirations beyond what the first chapters told. For example, Dominic's career choice was mentioned once and there wasn't really anything about his family or living situation, other than he was mainly living in London. All of that made the characters bland and they just lacked any personalities. Most prominent characteristic that Morgan had was that he was really selfish most of the time, and Dominic was way too forgiving. I just couldn't connect with either of the characters and it all just felt so bland, especially since even the romance lacked a lot of any sort of heat.

Broke Deep just didn't seem to go anywhere, and all the major things were left unsolved: the budding relationship, the shipwreck, Morgan's fears of dementia. There were also plenty of telling but not really showing how the characters felt. The story had a lot of potential because the premise was very interesting and even the beginning of the story had potential to be as good as the previous books in the series. In the end it just didn't work for me because by the end I just didn't care about the characters or the plot.

If you're into long heart to heart conversations and romance that's slow burn and doesn't really have any steamy scenes and you find the premise interesting, then Broke Deep might be for you. I just didn't click with the story. However, I can wholeheartedly recommend the two previous books (Wake Up Call and A Gathering Storm) in Porthkennack series.

2 of 5 stars

Add on Goodreads

Thank you, Riptide Publishing, for giving me a chance to read and review Broke Deep!

(A copy of this ebook was provided in return for an honest review.)

Top Ten Tuesday: YA Books That I've Recently Added To My TBR List

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week participating bloggers can create lists of topic given by the host, and share them with others!
Here we go with ten YA books I have recently added to my TBR list. I didn't specify any genres among the YA so there's a mix of fantasy, contemporary and dystopia.

Stacking the Shelves (60)

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews, and is all about sharing the book you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Purchased

 

  

For Review

 

Release Day Blitz: Mature Content by Megan Erickson & Santino Hassell

Mature Content (Cyberlove, #4)
by Megan Erickson & Santino Hassell
M/M contemporary romance

My life plan is to be brutally honest all the way to the bank. Don't believe me? I run a popular YouTube channel called TrashyZane, and my claim to fame is oversharing about every aspect of my personal life. Sometimes while tipsy. Not everyone loves my style, but I have a long history of icing out people who can't handle me. I have no time for judgmental foolishness.

Except, apparently, when it comes to Beau Starr. His channel is the polar opposite of mine, and so is he. Wholesome, inspirational, and clean-cut. Everything about him should turn me off, but when we hook up following a confrontation at a convention, my world flips upside down. Not only does Beau Starr turn me on, he uses the exact combination of dirty talk and roughness needed to turn me out.

But we still hate each other. I think.

Amazon  | BN | kobo | iBooks | Indigo | Angus & Robertson Book World | Mandadori Store

Excerpt

 “You want to talk now that Ian is gone?” Jesse asked knowingly.

I flicked the seam of my pillow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re being weird, and I’m not sure if it’s because of Zane or something else.”

“It’s not because of Zane. Well, some of it is, I guess.”

“Ah.” He grinned. “Does that mean there is a thing with Zane?”

I stood up and ran my hands through my hair, which had a life of its own due to the amount of grease in it. “Fine, yes. Okay? We fucked at NerdCon. It was amazing, but we still hate each other, so it’s not happening again.”

Jesse’s eyes were huge. “I’m…not sure what to say right now?”

I wasn’t either. All our lives, I’d been the bossy one, the leader, and Jesse had been the follower. I was the ambitious one, the person with answers and advice. And now the shoe was on the other foot. Jesse had a career and a happy life, and I was a goddamn mess. But maybe I’d always been a mess. I was just excellent at covering it up with a smile.  

Author bios

Megan Erickson is a multi-published romance author with Avon, Berkley and Entangled. RT Book Reviews said her debut LGBTQ romance was “a coming out story for a new age.”

Website

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Santino writes queer romance that is heavily influenced by the gritty, urban landscape of New York City, his belief that human relationships are complex and flawed, and his own life experiences.

Website

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Twitter

Wrapping the Month: May

What's greater way to start new month than taking a look at previous one?

As you might have noticed, May was pretty quiet on the blogging front for me. I had all the intentions and plans for posts but I always ended up, well, doing something else. First it was exams (and procrastination because of those exams, which naturally meant I spend the time reading Drarry fanfiction because nothing soothes my nerves better) and when the holidays officially started, I got a little bit crazy and basically did nothing besides binge reading books for two weeks. BUT. I'll do better in June, I promise! For one, I want to write and post all the reviews for the amazing books I read in May and then there's some super exciting book tours/blitzes and few new releases that I'm really excited about. So I'll get out of this flunk of not blogging and getting back to the game!

May was all for new releases and few eARCs which I was so excited for! I did use some bookstore points to get few other books, and I'm especially starting to get some books from authors I want to meet at YALC this summer, and now I just really need to start reading them before end of July!

I just had to put extra photo of these hardcovers because the covers are stunning!

May's reviews:

Concourse (4 stars)

Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor (4 stars)

May was absolutely brilliant when it came to books I read: all of them were either five or four stars, and there's some new favourites there (I absolutely fell in love with The Love Interest, and Riordan's Apollo series is brilliant and I need more right now). So I'm super happy with all the six books I read!

  

  

In June I just hope I'll get actually more blogging done, although the midsummer may slow things a bit because I'm going back to Finland then to enjoy the midsummer fest with family. But I'm planning to write posts before I go there so that I'll have posts going up if the internet connection is bad on the cottage at the island where I'm going.

Hugs,

Henna