Paladin's Hope - Book Review

 

Paladin's Hope (The Saint of Steel #3)

by T. Kingfisher

What is it about:

Piper is a lich-doctor, a physician who works among the dead, determining causes of death for the city guard's investigations. It's a peaceful, if solitary profession…until the day when he's called to the river to examine the latest in a series of mysterious bodies, mangled by some unknown force.

Galen is a paladin of a dead god, lost to holiness and no longer entirely sane. He has long since given up on any hope of love. But when the two men and a brave gnole constable are drawn into the web of the mysterious killer, it's Galen's job to protect Piper from the traps that await them.

He's just not sure if he can protect Piper from the most dangerous threat of all…

What did I think of it:

This is my favorite in this series so far!

I fell in love with Piper in Paladin's Grace, so seeing him getting his own book in this series made me so happy. Galen is a worthy love interest, and I loved seeing the two pine for each other. They're the sweetest couple yet, imo

I also loved learning more about gnole society, loved the gnole constable who asks Galen and Piper to join him on an investigation, loved seeing Brindle again... well, love for all things gnolish all around!

The overall story was suspenseful and fun. I had a great time with the weird situations they get into. 

All in all a delightful read.

I'll get to the last book soon, I hope.

Why should you read it:

It's a very enjoyable Fantasy Romance

Books Galore

 

I received lots of bookish mail, so let me show everything off.

I received these wonderful early Christmas/Birthday books from Melliane.

Thanks, Melliane!

I received beautiful art prints and stickers from Rebecca F. Kenney.

We have just discovered her books and were just in time to enter a giveaway and were among the winners!

Thanks, Rebecca!

There was more awesomeness, but first it's story time!

The ever amazing Jeffe told me she sent us a package, so of course we were on the lookout for its arrival. Instead of it arriving, we received a message on Facebook from someone asking if we were expecting a package from the US...

It turned out the delivery people mistook the address and delivered it somewhere else!

Luckily the people who got the package managed to find and contact us on Facebook. They turned out to live close by, so they dropped the package off within 10 minutes after confirming it was our package!

We are totally grateful they took the time to find us instead of just sending the package back.

So behold the awesomeness that nearly didn't reach us:

There were lots of books by T. Kingfisher in the package.

Two of them I asked Jeffe to buy for me (paid for them myself), because I wanted that particular version of the book, but the others were given to Jeffe by T. Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon herself as they are friends and Jeffe told her I'm a big fan. They're either ARCs or difficult to get special editions. How awesome is that?!

Just look at these gorgeous sprayed edges.

Just have to show off this absolutely stunning edition of Nettle & Bone.

Thanks, Ursula!

But there was even more in the package

A signed copy of The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst.

Jeffe got it for me when she met up with Sarah Beth Durst on her book tour. (It has got a personal message that makes me love Sarah Beth Durst even more than I already did.)

I'm forever struggling to get US covers when there's also a UK version, so Jeffe got me the US ARC of this book!

And yet another book!

Last but not least a Christmas present we're not allowed to open yet, so it is next to our snow globe, guarded by the Santa Matryoshka dolls.

Thanks, Jeffe!!! 

On this last day of 2019 I wanted to look back on my reading and my bookish adventures.

2019 was the year my owner and I traveled to Dublin to attend Worldcon, and to meet Jeffe Kennedy. The first picture in this post is of me and my owner enjoying our first evening in Dublin, the second picture is me posing for a picture together with Jeffe Kennedy and Kelly Robson.

We had such a great time in Dublin, sightseeing with Jeffe and David, meeting other authors, and attending panels. A complete recap can be found on my other blog. You can bet that I want to go to other cons in the future, even though I retired from all my other traveling this year.



On to my reading.


I set myself two challenges this year: try to finish the Charley Davidson series by DArynda Jones and to read at least one book each month that had been lingering on my shelves for a more than a few months.

I didn't succeed in finishing the Charley Davidson series, but I did read 5 books in this series this year, and have 4 more to go. I'll definitely will finish this series in 2020.

As for Orphaned books, I didn't read one every month, but I had months were I read more than one, bringing my total of Orphans Read at 17 for 2019 (two of those were on my shelves for 6 years). I'll continue to try to get more older books read next year.


My favorite reads of 2019

I have read so many amazing books in 2019, that I made a list of my favorite book for each month (in two cases I really couldn't decide and have more than one)

January
How to Save an Undead Life - Hailey Edwards

February
Phoenix Falling – Laura Bickle

March
The Queen's Resistance – Rebecca Ross

April
Vicious - V.E. Schwab


May
Every Heart a Doorway – Seanan McGuire
The Orchid Throne – Jeffe Kennedy
The Only Harmless Great Thing – Brooke Bolander

June
Chaos Choreography – Seanan McGuire

July
American Hippo – Sarah Gailey

August
Empire of Sand – Tasha Suri


September
Magic for Liars – Sarah Gailey
Middlegame – Seanan McGuire
Gamechanger – L.X. Beckett

October
Gideon the Ninth – Tamsyn Muir

November
The Alchemist and an Amaretto – Annette Marie

December
Break the Bodies, Haunt the Bones – Micah Dean Hicks



All in all my reading year was great and I will continue to read and review in 2020.

That leaves me with wishing you all "Many good books for 2020, and a very happy New Year!"

A New Bookcase

Yesterday we went to IKEA to get me a present for my birthday.
We had french fries at the restaurant. Yum!


And this is what I got:
A bookcase on wheels!


More room for my books.
We immediately began rearranging.


Doesn't it look awesome!?
Because of the wheels it can be easily moved to get to the books in the bookcase behind it.


After midnight we celebrated the start of my birthday.