Comic Book Tuesday #24: Monstress Vol 2 by Marjorie M Liu, Sana Takeda

Author: Marjorie M. Liu, Sana Takeda
Series: Monstress (Collected Editions) #2
Audience: +18
Genre:Comic Book
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: July 11th 2017
My Rating: 5 Cups
Source: Edelweiss
Blurb (from Goodreads):

The Eisner-nominated MONSTRESS is back! Maika, Kippa, and Ren journey to Thyria in search of answers to her past... and discover a new, terrible, threat. Collects MONSTRESS #7-12

*Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book from Edelweiss and Image Comics in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.

I've been waiting for a long, long time for this volume to come out, and it was just as fantastic as I'd hoped and imagined it would be.

Let me start by saying that the art is just as fantastic and amazing as it was in the first volume, if not even more gorgeous. The tone in some drawings changed a little bit, with some panels being more colorful than usual, and even more detailed than before. I love how dynamic the art looks, you can almost imagine the drawing moving. The entire time I was reading this book I could almost see the characters moving, speaking, the smell of the ocean and the sounds of the city, every little detail was present in those panels in such a way to make me imagine the story and see it in my head much like I would watch a movie.

The story picks up right where volume 1 ends, and we get to learn more about Maika, and why she's so dark and tough, especially with Kippa, all the time. I liked the glimpses we got into Maika's childhood, as it made me understand her more. I am curious to see how her story ends and if she'll find the closure she needs. Kippa, as always, was fantastic. She grew from being the little fox-child needing protection from everyone, to making choices and being braver than in the previous volume. This is also probably due to Maika's form of tough love, but also because Kippa is a brave character. Master Ren is still the snarky cat I remember, but he's taking a few risks I didn't imagine him taking in this story. I really want to understand what his angle is though, what's his endgame.

It seems to me that somehow everyone knows something about Maika that she isn't aware of herself, which is kinda sad and infuriating, because I wonder if everybody has a hidden agenda here.

The story is completed by the lectures of professor Tam Tam, and they offer a glimpse into some stuff that Maika is definitely not aware of, or so I believe. We also find out more about the monster inside Maika, her backstory, and how she ended up inside Maika, as well as more about Maika's family.

I loved this story so much, and I am impatiently waiting for the next installments, especially after that ending, although I will be completely honest with you, I am not ready for the story to end! Not at all!

Top Ten Tuesday #14: Ten book recommendations for Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Lovers

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

Hey there! Happy Tuesday! For today's topic I'm going to share some of my favorite top ten book recommendations for paranormal/urban fantasy lovers. Immortals After Dark, Demonica, Dark Hunter, Alien Huntress, Southern Vampire Mysteries, and many, many others, I know you've heard of them. I've definitely enjoyed reading them. But this post is about those series and books that are either just starting out or that I haven't seen being talked about as much as it should. These are books and series that I discovered in the last two years that I feel need some love and appreciation, because they are awesome. So, here we go:

1. Dog Eat Dog World by Hailey Edwards - It's no secret that I adore all 4 connected series that make up the Dog Eat Dog mega-series. I love how they each reveal a little piece of the puzzle, and just when you think you've got it all figured out BAM! Another surprise comes along. I hope this series never ends. You can start reading this series with the Black Dog series.
2. The Becoming by Jeanne C. Stein - I wouldn't be me if I didn't include at least one vampire book in this list. This book reminded me of the older urban fantasy books I've read, back when the plot was much more connected to mysteries and crime, when it felt like a mystery novel with a supernatural twist. I liked that. I liked that a lot.
3. Guardians of the Realms by Setta Jay - This series, among others, reminds me why I love paranormal romance. If you haven't tried it, you must. There's no limit to the creatures you're going to read about, each with different strengths and weaknesses, and the sex is hott, with a double t because trust me, it is off the charts.
4. Hell To Pay by Jillian David - This series was one of those unexpected discoveries that I am so happy I got to read. I'm even more happy for the fact that there's a spin-off, one that gets my imagination running wild.
5. Bayou Heat by Alexandra Ivy & Laura Wright - This series reminds me of my very first paranormal series, Lora Leigh's Breeds. And I love this series for it. While the tone, the stories, the plots, all are very different, the feel is the same, and I can't help falling more and more in love with this series with each book I read.
6. Legal Wolf's Mate by Eve Langlais - This was a fun story, one with werewolves and werecats and I was very happy to see it was part of a series. Will definitely check out the rest of the books
7. Reborn by Anna Durand - I'm obsessed with all things Ancient Egypt, so it's no wonder I like this story about soulmates, love that lasts forever, reincarnations and centuries old curses. 
8. Caress of Pleasure by Julie Kenner - Phoenixes. Do I need to say more? I don't think I've read a lot of stories about phoenixes as main characters, and this story, part of the 1001 Dark Nights series, was super fun. I am definitely going to read all the books.
9. Muse Chronicles by Lisa Kessler - Yet another fantastic series about ancient gods, more accurately the daughters of Zeus and their reincarnations. I love it, each book shows you another little piece of the puzzle. Definitely a must read.
10. Eternal Guardians by Elizabeth Naughton - Greek gods, myths, legends, ancient creatures, and, most importantly, Sirens. I need to go back to read this series from the beginning, but I'm hooked.

I feel that I should have nominated at least at least 5 or 100 other books and series in these genres, but I fear my post would never end. What is your list? What are 10 books you'd recommend to someone?

Obsessed With Covers #41: Children Of Blood And Bone, Winter Glass, The Wicked Deep

Y'all know how much I love a pretty cover. I think about...40% of the books that end up on my shelves (be they physical or digital) do so because of the covers. Call me shallow but you have to admit that a pretty, shiny cover will catch your eye faster than a dull, boring one. Two, simple rules that I'll follow:

• 1, 2 or 3 (no more than 3, though) covers per week;
• books should be new-ish; no more than 2 years old.

Oh, before I share the covers that made me drool or want to stare at them for hours and hours, I have to say something. This is a semi-original idea. Why semi? Because almost every book blogger has something similar. The only thing I came up with was the title. If by any chance there's another blogger with a similar feature with the same title, I assure you I'm not stealing your idea. I'm just THAT bad with titles. Believe me, I'd love to be smarter and have a witty name for this feature, but I don't. So, no copyright infringement/theft/steal or anything of the sort was desired. All I can say is sorry :P

So, here are the prettiest covers I've seen this week.

I adore this cover. Ever since I saw it I was in love with it, to be honest. What's not to love? The hair is my ultimate favorite hair color and if I could pull it off, I'd give up being a redhead in a heartbeat. I love how the hair is made to look like flames or like it's floating in water or something. There's something going on with that hair and I want to know what!

Then there's the model herself/himself. The markings/drawing on the model's skin are very interesting and I wonder what they represent. I'm sure it has some meaning and I wonder what it is and if we'll find out about it. The eyes are gorgeous and they seem to be looking straight at you, which is scary and awesome at the same time.

I can't wait to get my hands on this book.

Children of Blood And Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

If the first cover in this series was gorgeous, this one is even more so. I love how Sleeping Beauty's castle is frozen here. I love the shields and the spears, they look like they're protecting the castle. And that squirrel is so cute!! I also see what seems to be Cinderella's glass shoe hanging from the title, so I wonder how that plays out. Basically the entire cover is made of awesome!

Winter Glass by Lexa Hillyer

This cover looks hand-drawn and it is simply gorgeous. The thing about it is it makes it look like a really scary book, probably due to looking like a drawing. A really good drawing, mind you! I really want to know the meaning of the cover and how it ties into the story. And I really want to see more of the cover artist's work. It reminds me of Ruthie's instagram (who if you're not following GO NOW AND FOLLOW HER BECAUSE SHE'S AMAZING!!!).








The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw


That's it for today, guys! Tell me which covers you've recently seen that are gorgeous.