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I have read so many fantastic books in 2019, both SFF and nonfiction. What books did I pick out of my TBR pile this year? Check out the video, and the links below!
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 When Jacob is a child, his grandfather tells him wonderful stories of Miss Peregrine's island home where he had spent his childhood during the 1940s, with the levitating girl and the boy with bees in his stomach and the girl who could lift anything. It was a place safe from the monsters that his grandfather later fought and vanquished.
Jacob grows up and the stories become just that--stories--until Jacob's grandfather is violently murdered by a frightening creature that only Jacob can see. Jacob's search for real answers draws him to the island where Miss Peregrine's home lies in ruins. But peculiar things await Jacob on the island, things that force him to realize that he and his grandfather are more alike than he realized--and that the monsters of his nightmares are real.  Currently free on Kindle! When Susan is driven by some strange unease to find quiet in the attic her husband Mark created as her refuge for her, she accidentally--or not so accidentally?--is transported to a world where her soccer-mom existence quickly disappears.
There she observes a lethal sword-match between two enemies--concerning a crime she does not yet understand--and finds herself at the mercy of warriors who distrust her as much as she distrusts them. The People of the Verses rely on their archaic weapons and the truth of the Verses to defend them against danger that crowds upon them from neighboring kingdoms. But their enemies possess long-distance killing rays and war machines.  Warning: If you haven’t read the previous stories of the Queen’s Thief series, this review may contain some spoilers for you. Read at your own peril. ;-)
Sophos does not expect to be kidnapped. Then again, he is the next in line for the throne, after his uncle, the king of Sounis. As Sophos struggles to escape, aware that the slightest misstep might mean his death, he realizes that the nation is on the brink of war, undermined from within by enemies of Sounis. Saving the nation may mean making alliances with those who seem to be enemies, and making enemies of those who seem to be friends. And, most of all, it may mean becoming a man that Sophos never expected to be—the king of Sounis. As of this writing, the Kindle book of Daughter of Light is free on Amazon. Click here to get your copy.  Ever since Rowen had a terible illness, she has had the mark—a white mark on the skin of her right hand. And when she touches others with her marked hand, she sees things that she never meant or wanted to see. Forced to flee her village, Rowen becomes the varor of Lady Astrea. But as war with the neighboring nation of Temanin embroils the White City in a bitter struggle for survival, a long-forgotten evil resumes its own war—the war against the followers of the Word and the ancient guardians who once kept the Lands safe.
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Cyrus’s dreams come true when he becomes an apprentice Hero to Reginald, aka “The Crimson Slash.” As Cyrus learns the rules of True Heroism (e.g. “Always fight Climactic Duels in Ridiculous Locations”), his path crosses with that of Voshtyr Demonkin, a Villain more devious, dastardly, and dangerous than the world has seen since the Twenty-Minute War. Or perhaps, since ever. Cyrus’ life soon becomes very tangled, involving a sharp-tongued cat-featured Katheni girl; a horrific P.L.O.T. device; confusing magic controlled by Arbitrary Numbers and Capital Letters; and a struggle to understand the mysteries and meaning of the Universe. Can Cyrus defeat Voshtyr—or will Voshtyr defeat him? The Kindle version of A STAR CURIOUSLY SINGING is currently free on Amazon.com!  Summary
Sandfly is a debugger, his life limited to finding and fixing malfunctions in the equipment of the Abduls. Any thought outside approved ranges results in instant pain for Sandfly. When he is sent to debug a robot on the mysterious space vessel known as DarkTrench, he unearths few answers, but many questions. What did the robot encounter near the star Betelguese that made it disassemble itself? What is the crew of DarkTrench hiding from him? And what was in the powerful, unearthly transmission that Sandfly begins to hear? Summary Everything changed the day that Sir Gavin offered to train Achan, a lowly stray, as a squire. Achan begins to hear voices in his head, calling out to him, asking his name. Among these is the Voice, which tells him things he cannot yet understand.
Vrell is a runaway, disguised as a boy in order to avoid marriage to self-centered Prince Gidon. One day, two knights arrive to claim Vrell as a new apprentice to their master, who has sensed in Vrell the ancient gift of bloodvoicing. The journeys of Achan and Vrell lead them to the very doorstep of the Evenwall, which separates the sunlit lands from the lands trapped in a veil of Darkness. It is there that a deep and treacherous secret is revealed, and Achan must choose: Will he retain the safety of a stray, or will he leave that past forever for unknown dangers, and go where the Voice leads him? Do you like free books? Me too! This summer, Enclave Publishing has been releasing a number of books for free. I've read one so far (BY DARKNESS HID by Jill Williamson) and have several more on my Kindle to read. (Guess who's gonna leap at the chance to run on the treadmill in order to read some new fiction?)  Of course, many of these books are the first in a series, hence the giveaway. "Like the first book? Buy the rest of the series!" Which I'm happy to do if I like the first book, so there's no problem there for me.
Here's a sampling of the titles available for free: Summary Every two hundred fifty years, the OnOff star relights. During its period of warmth, the Spiders who live on the planet below emerge from their Deepnesses and rebuild their world for the few decades before the OnOff star falls back into the darkness of its dormancy. This Lighting, however, is different. Two star-faring human races—the trade-loving Qeng Ho and the crafty Emergents—await the event, each hoping to be the first to contact the Spiders at the appropriate time. But before long, treachery threatens their very existence, and a web of deceit and plots tangle toward a final confrontation in which the Spiders themselves play a major role in the fate of all.
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