Welcome to Litsy!

A well constructed epic fantasy with a strong protagonist. The magic system is not quite fully developed and there are a few dated comments, but I did really enjoy the story and look forward to continuing the series. 4⭐️

This a was a good fantasy that kept me engaged from the beginning, I always struggle with first in series but this one got from the beginning I will definitely continue the series

It was touch and go for a while, I kept going from a so-so to a soft pick, but it won me over completely in the end. For a while I didn‘t care about what might happen in book 2, but now I definitely want to find out. The MC drove me nuts at times, as did all the characters around her, but they, too, won me over. They all had great character arcs. There are some heart wrenching scenes and a bit of magic. There‘s betrayal but also fierce loyalty.

“‘Do you believe it‘s true?‘

‘No.‘

‘Then why did I have to read it?… what was the point?‘

‘To know your enemy, Kelsea. Even a book can be dangerous in the wrong hands, and when that happens, you blame the hands, but you also read the book.‘”

For the most part, I‘m enjoying the story so far. But it‘s annoying me that everyone keeps referring to the MC as “plain,” including the MC herself. Only 128 pages in, and it‘s mentioned a lot 🫠

A little me time in the car line for school pickup (parked, not moving). Iced coffee cause it‘s blazing outside… Florida doesn‘t believe in Spring lol.

I really didn‘t know what I wanted to read next, so I picked one that‘s been sitting in my TBR pile for a good while.

I enjoyed this novel so much. The magic and inner strength. The becoming. The power behind a girl who is not held back by youth, by innocence/naivity , or by love. But honored for it in a kingdom where all three are lacking until her arrival. Also, the daughter/mother rift was comforting to me for selfish reasons. It‘s difficult for me to connect with books with solid m/d relationships.
Amazing read. On to book two now!

" Shit," she muttered. She'd heard the word from her guard many times, but only now did she understand the real use of profanity. That one word said exactly what she was feeling, said it better than a hundred other words could have done."

This world and all its obstacles really. Utopia is but a fool's dream but still a dream indeed.

#ConflictedWorlds @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs
#Insecurities

First book that came to mind because I found the character of Kelsea to be very insecure.

Very intriguing world building, excellent character development. Great strong female lead character. Excited to read the sequel!

ᴛɪᴛʟᴇ: ᴛʜᴇ Qᴜᴇᴇɴ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴇᴀʀʟɪɴɢ
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ: ᴇʀɪᴋᴀ ᴊᴏʜᴀɴꜱᴇɴ
ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ: ᴛʜᴇ Qᴜᴇᴇɴ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴇᴀʀʟɪɴɢ

I haven't been very active this past week. Vacation time means family time 😊

I liked this one but I think a reread will be in order with the physical book. So much going on and I think large worlds get lost in the audio.

14hrs #LittenListen
#BookspinBingo #Audiobingo

@aperfectmjk @TheAromaofBooks

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I started rereading this trilogy because I saw she wrote a new book in the world (while I was WANDERING THE RECENTLY REOPENED LIBRARY 💃🏻) and omg I forgot how interesting the premise was. I‘m super enjoying my visit to the Tearling.

📙 Queen of the Tearling, The [by Erika Johansen]
👩‍💻 Quackenbush Robert
📽️ Quantum of Solace [2008]
🎼 Queen
🎶 Queer [by Garbage]

#ManicMonday #LetterQ @JoScho

#manicmonday @JoScho #LetterQ

📚 Tagged
👩 Amanda Quick
🎞 The Queen of the Nile
🎤 Queen
🎵 Queen of the Hearts

I loved this book and can‘t wait to read the next one!

Kelsea is fierce, with very real internal issues and strengths. Johansen references fantasy tropes (a sheltered heir, magical gems, evil queen, etc.) then flips most of them. Engaging writing, tho some of the Mort Queen's POV just underlines that the Evil Empire of Evilness is Evil. TW: Violence & sexual violence typical of gritty medieval fiction (rarely explicit, blessedly not framed to thrill). The creepy albino trope appears for no reason.

3⭐️- my complaint i had through the book about the vanity and body image is why this is a 3 star book I probably would have made it 5 because the story and characters are good and there is growth and its a good setting of the stage for the series but the vanity of it all along with the confusion of the time period and the weird graphic parts really lowered my enjoyment. But i do recommend it just dont have super high hopes

I thought Kelsea was growing from her vanity but this quote is the most damaging body shaming quote i have ever read. It‘s just heartbreaking that this is everywhere in this novel. Because the story and world is interesting i just can‘t get over this.

Alright that trope i brought up before about kelsea being “plain” is constant every new character we meet makes a comment about how “plain” she is. I dont know what that means when she was first described she sounded pretty but apparently thats plain. Again i hate this trope it describes her as slim but also big and she has dark skin-tan- which is apparently bad. As i said i think this is a damaging to describe a character in a young adult novel

My next read is the queen of the Tearling ummm... I‘m ten pages in and the author has already used the trope the main character isnt tall skinny and blonde so they cant be pretty for me this is a very damaging trope especially for the intended audience(teenagers) im hoping to move past that and the storyline will be good but that definitely will drop my rating and enjoyment of the book

HELP LITSY🙏🏽 This series is on sale for 5.99 each on Chirp. Would you recommend the series? I see there‘s is a different narrator for each audio book just curious if anyone has listened to all three.

Enjoyed! It was a little long and meandering and the ending was annoying but overall enjoyed and will probably eventually read #2.
#fantasy #sff #highfantasy

#7covers7days #covercrush Day 1

Thanks for the tag @Laughterhp! I've been off Litsy a while so I hope a challenge will help me get back in the swing. 🎈

This was soooo gooooood!! 😍 A bit heavy on centering White Christian culture, and it got annoying to constantly read about how “plain” the main character was, but besides those two things I absolutely loved this book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I enjoyed this a lot - introspective heroine, more politics than than battles, making tough calls. I'm still confused by the setting though... It's very medieval, but it's supposed to be set in the future??? Transportation is all horses and carts, but there's a JK Rowling shout out? I don't understand that choice..it doesn't seem to add anything. Maybe it will come later? Does anyone have any insights?

Finished this last night on audio. Really enjoyed the writing and characters. Great plot lines. Looking forward to starting the next one today.
🌟🌟🌟🌟

All of us Littens are guilty😂😂😂

This handsome guy is my reading buddy today😁 He missed me while I was camping.

3.8/5 because it wasn‘t as action packed as I thought it was going to be. The story began pretty slow but then became more interesting. That being said I will be reading the rest of the series because I found the story enjoyable.

I really enjoyed this book the concept was just awesome and all,but it totally lacked in something.So first of all I just adore Kelsea as a main character she loves to read and hates the idea of burning books,which I also hate as well.But everyone ships Pen with Kelsea but I hardly know nothing about him at all,I need to learn more about his personality in the second book,Overall really enjoyed! My Rating-⭐️⭐️⭐️

I tried to read this a few years ago and couldn‘t get into it. This time, however, I enjoyed it much more! The story follows Kelsea on her journey to take her rightful place as the Queen of the Tearling. But people, including her own uncle, have a vested interest in not letting her rule and will stop at nothing to make sure she never makes it to the throne. I definitely enjoyed it enough to want to read the sequel

#Day 8 in the #BookFitnessChallenge @wanderinglynn

I made my target steps by a hair. The distance walked was 3.99 miles. I would like to do at least 4 miles everyday despite my goal being 8K steps. I think I'll start working on picking up the pace some.

For my audiobook part of the challenge I am continuing with The Queen of the Tearling (tagged).

Drinking some ice coffee while reading The Queen of the Tearling it‘s so amazing so far! Can‘t wait to read even more!
Happy Reading!!📚📚

#BookFitnessChallenge @wanderinglynn #Day6

Today's total walking time and I finished book 4 in the MurderBot Diaries Exit Strategy. I was able to just start the Tagged book before I had to quit and fix dinner.

Pretty good

Happy Sunday Littens! Over the weekend I finished Good Omens (loved it) then started and finished The Rules of Magic in one day (really loved it). Reviews forthcoming for those! Now I‘m diving into The Queen of the Tearling. I tried reading this a few years ago and got about 100 pages in, but it just didn‘t grab me. This was my pick for Transfiguration in the #OwlsReadathon2019 so here‘s to hoping I like it this time around 😂

I FINALLY FINISHED A BOOK!!!! This one took me forever to finish but not because it was bad. I just couldn‘t get myself to read for some reason. I enjoyed the beginning of this world and the action of the story. I have already downloaded the next book but have another to read first. 4🌟

So I actually liked Kelsea way more than I did in my past reads of this. It just dawned on me that this book is actually quite big and yet I still feel like it's quite a fast read. My favourite part is her relationship with the guards and her absolute stubbornness. She knows what's wrong and right and that she's gotta be ready to anger the status quo. Also, her having struggles with her weight is so damn relatable to me rn

It's been years since I read this and I really want to finish the series so time for a reread so I can refresh my memory of Queen Kelsea

Love a good fantasy novel! The first of three and a solid entry into Tearling and the one true queen. For the rest of the month, I‘m focusing on reading Black authors so will take a break from this world until March, but definitely looking forward to it!

Thank you so much @sammisho !!! This was a nice surprise after a not so fun day. I‘ve heard such good things about this one. I‘m looking forward to reading it! ❤️😽
#kindlitsy

⭐️⭐️. The story was good but there were several things that bothered me.
1. Do we really need to be that vulgar? You can get your point across without vulgarity. This ruined the whole book for me.
2. This author has an agenda. It was very blatant what they thought of church and state. This was a fantasy but I could pinpoint all of this author‘s political views.
3. Is in the comments.

This is my next audiobook. It sounds interesting. We shall see!

🍁 Book: The Queen of the Tearling
🍁 Movie: Quigley Down Under (not actually a particular fave but gave me the name of my dear departed dog, Quigley ♥️)
🍁 Food: Queso dip

#manicmonday #LetterQ @JoScho

I loved this! I thought the first part of the book was a bit long but it didn't matter because the rest of the story was so strong. Many of the characters had to make tough choises between the right and wrong. This story has many interesting characters. These kind of stories always make me think if worse comes to worst could real people make the right choises? Could they really be as courageous as charcters in books or movies? 🤔

Carlin and Barty's story breaks my heart. 💔 Just when I thought this story couldn't possibly get any deeper in human emotions and the sence of justice in human beings.