Blogoversary: Top 5 Reviews of 2016

Can you believe that Goldilox and the Three Weres is five years old already? Where has the time gone? We've read and reviewed tons of great books over the last five years but we wanted to do a post where we focus on five of our reviews of 2016 books. So without further ado, and in no particular order, here are Rose Red's top five reviews of 2016 so far.

1. This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

I adored this YA book by Victoria Schwab. It really resonated with me. So much so that my review ended up being a thank you letter to Victoria for writing the book.

2. Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs

Umm... Is it a surprise that I loved the latest Mercy Thompson book?

3. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven King may be the 2016 release but I marathoned the whole Raven Cycle series this year. I am more than a little obsessed with these books and characters now.

4. Allegiance of Honor by Nalini Singh

You all know how much I adore Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series. I've reread the first 14 books five times since last June. It is a series after my own heart. So of course I loves this latest installment. It was an ensemble book that actually lived up to the hype. I can't wait to see where things go in this series from here.

5. The Voodoo Killings by Kristi Charish
Kristi Charish never fails to give us unique urban fantasy stories. This time we get voodoo in Seattle and it is glorious! Like I paid international shipping and ordered myself a copy from Canada glorious.

This Savage Song Giveaway!

Because it's our fifth birthday, we're doing giveaways every day! Today, I'm giving away a signed hardcover of This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab and a violin necklace!

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Blogoversary RTFB Spotlight: The Generation V series by M.L. Brennan

Can you believe Goldilox and the Three Weres is five years old?

In those five years, one of our favorite and most popular features has been Read This F@!%ing Book. In one of these posts, our bloggers or guest contributors get to gush about a book or series they love and think deserves more attention. I found some of my all-time favorite series because someone recommended them in RTFB.

As part of our five year Blogoversary celebration, we're spotlighting one of our favorite Read This F@!%ing Book posts each day this week.

One of my favorite posts that I wrote after joining the blog featured M.L. Brennan's Generation V series. And it's one that I still think more people should be reading. I love Brennan's unique take on the vampire mythos. Check out the original post here. (The headers are all eighties song titles because book three, Tainted Blood, had me singing Soft Cell for days.)




Are you interested in starting this series?
 Did we persuade you to add it to your TBR mountain?
Or have you read it and love it as much as I do?
Let us know in the comments below!

Blogoversary: Five Fave Guest Posts and Mystery Box Giveaway!

Can you believe Goldilox and the Three Weres is five years old already?  

Looking back at five years of posts,  I realized how many of my all-time favorite authors I discovered in that time. I always love it when they post as themselves (or their characters.) And we've had so many great authors visit the blog it's tough to pick a favorite, but I gave it a shot. Here are my top five guest posts and interviews from the last five years.

• Jan Delima's Four Years Ago from Blogoversary 2015

Okay, I admit it. I just love this post because it's full of cute puppy photos. But look at the cute puppy!

• Delilah S. Dawson's TOP 5 CRAZY CHARACTERS THAT HAVEN'T BEEN WRITTEN YET from Birthday Bash 2013

Inspired by creatures you might find in Criminy's Clockwork Caravan, this list is ridiculous and awesome. Delilah's actually been on the blog quite a bit over the years. Her interview with Kitty, the demon from her Southern Gothic YA Servants of the Storm from Goldilox and the Three Scares 2014 is another one of my favorites.

• Patricia Briggs Q&A from March 2014

Patricia Briggs! That's really all I need to say about this one.

• Suzanne Johnson's Mr. Dog and the Pirate: An interview with Alex Warin and Jean Lafitte of the Sentinels of New Orleans series, a Coastal Magic Featured Author spotlight from 2014

I have had this series on my TBR list forever. Looking back at this post reminds me why.

• Goldilox's Interview with Jupe from Jenn Bennett's Arcadia Bell series from Birthday Bash 2012

Jupe is one of my all-time favorite supporting characters and his interview is hilarious.

Mystery Box Giveaway!

Because it's our fifth birthday, I've got a box of five surprise UF/PNR books, at least one of which is signed. I'll also throw in some bookmarks and other swag, some of which is also signed.
 (International)

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Blogoversary RTFB Spotlight: The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie

Can you believe Goldilox and the Three Weres is five years old already? 

One of our favorite features here at the Goldilox blog is our Read This F@!%ing Book feature. Both Rose Red and Gretl were reading these posts way before they started blogging with Goldilox. So in honor of our Blogoversary, we're spotlighting a favorite RTFB post everyday.

Today's Spotlight Post is about The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie!

You can visit the original post here! 

We all have books that the Read This F@!%ing Book feature entices us to buy. My most recent RTFB purchase can be attributed to Gretl's post about this book. It's Pacific Rim without the robots and with Lady Pirates. I'll be honest. I was buying this book as soon as Gretl told us about the Pacific Rim comparison because who doesn't want to read about epic Sea Monster Battles? There's also lots of awesome diversity and girl power everywhere in this book. It's just so good, guys!

Have you read this book?

Did we persuade you to add it to your TBR mountain?

Let us know in the comments below!

Blogoversary: Top 5 Favorite Posts + Giveaway!

Can you believe that Goldilox and the Three Weres is five years old already? 

Where has the time gone? I started this blog all by my lonesome five years ago, sitting in the second bedroom of my apartment, with no header and a spider web for the blog's button graphic. A SPIDER WEB:

Then I nixed the web and went with something more simple, and very boring:

Finally, I asked a graphic designer, and fellow blogger, how much she would charge to create a header and a button for me. Thank goodness! (Shoutout to Mariya!)

And, finally, as you probably already know, I asked her to update Goldilox a little bit. Which led us to what we have representing our blog now:

Yowza! So much has happened in the span of five years! Most notably, that there is more than just me all by my lonesome nowadays. Margaret, aka Gretl, and Jessica, aka Rose Red, have been tremendous saviors for this blog when I needed to step back and recover from the dreaded blogger burnout. 

But enough mushy gushy sentimental stuff - onto the post and, of course, THE GIVEAWAY - which is international!

Today I am sharing with you my Top 5 favorite posts on the blog of all time. This is pretty near impossible. So, as much as these posts are ones I hold very dear and are definitely favorites of mine, I'm sure I could also pick a few others as well. And of course at the end is a giveaway for you guys as a thank you for being here with us!

Top 5 Favorite Posts

Review: Stray by Rachel Vincent

This was my very first post on this blog you guys! On July 31, 2011, I wrote and posted my review for Rachel Vincent's Stray, and the rest is history. It's a little rough around the edges, and the formatting of the review is pretty different from what we use on the blog today, but surprisingly it's not too cringeworthy. 

Read This F@!%ing Book - New Feature and First Post!

This post is special to me because it was the first of the feature Read This F@!%ing Book. I wanted to create an original feature on the blog that would spread the word on books, authors, and series that I loved that I felt weren't getting enough attention. Ironically, my first post was on a series that wasn't really that obscure! But, the feature went on to spread the word about books and series that were more obscure and it continues to be a blog regular!

2012 Netgalley Knockout! and 2013 Netgalley Knockout!

Oh man, I remember doing these two events. In all honesty I should really do another one. The Netgalley Knockout was a pledge to get through as many ebooks for review as you could. For the event, readers and bloggers signed up to finish as many of the e-ARCs from Netgalley, Edelweiss, or directly from the publisher as possible during the time span. 

First Interview and Giveaway With Darynda Jones

Darynda Jones is one of my favorite authors and over time she has become such a good friend of this blog. She's done interviews, guest posts, and giveaways here more times that I can count right now. But this interview was the first. It was also the first big author I had interviewed for the blog and it was a pretty darn big deal to me when I posted that interview. 

Review: Sacrificial Magic by Stacia Kane

Hello my name is Christen...er, Goldilox...and I'm an addict. I'm addicted to the Downside series by Stacia Kane. And Sacrificial Magic was the first book in the series that I read after beginning the blog so it was the first in the series that I could review here on the blog. For some reason this series just resonates with me in a way no other series ever has and I still adore it to this day. It's one of the few series that I actually reread. 

Now, onto the giveaway!

To celebrate five years of Goldilox and the Three Weres, I'm giving one lucky winner any book, or books, of their choice, up to $20, from the Book Depository, meaning this giveaway is international!

You must be 13 or older to enter and you must live in a place that Book Depository ships to...and that's it! 

Enter on the Rafflecopter form below and good luck!

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Owxcrate Unboxing (July): Reviewing Book Subscription Boxes #1

Special Delivery!

Margaret (Gretl) and I have been talking about book subscription boxes lately and we decided to try some out. We'll be sharing our unboxings and reviews of a handful of these subscription boxes over the next several weeks so keep a look out!
(We are purchasing all subscription boxes ourselves and are in no way sponsored by any of these services)

Today, I am unboxing and reviewing:



Owlcrate is by far the most popular monthly book subscription service, especially if you're a fan of YA. The book that comes in each month's box is always Young Adult and the other bookish items that come in each box go along with a theme that matches that book. Their price is comparable with other boxes, the themes are fun, and everyone receives a few slightly different items in their box in order to give a good reason for some discussion and sharing. I was very impressed with my first Owlcrate box.

Check out my unboxing and review below!

Owlcrate Unboxing | July 2016 | Good vs. Evil

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You can also view more videos on the channel by clicking here: 
Goldilox's Booktube Channel

Early Review: Thunder Road by Sierra Dean

Thunder Road
(Rain Chaser #1)
Sierra Dean
Release: July 26, 2015
Goodreads Amazon

Being Chosen was supposed to be a gift.

That’s what Tallulah Corentine’s parents told her when they handed her over to the Rain Chasers on her seventh birthday. It was an honor to be born with a destiny, to be hand selected by the gods before taking her first breath. She should be overjoyed.

Twenty years later, Tallulah is still waiting for the gift. She might have the power of the storm at her fingertips, but she’s spent her whole adult life living under a cloud.

A cross-country trip to find the wayward son of Seth, god of the storm, turns into a fight for her life when she dupes Death out of a valuable treasure. With only a wily con man, a dangerously handsome bad-luck priest, and a lot of lightning to help her, can she deliver the package and keep herself out of an early grave?

Or will Seth be looking for a new Rain Chaser before it’s all over? 

Review:

So two people are driving across the U.S. blasting Bon Jovi from a classic muscle car. No, it's not the Winchesters, though their influence is certainly felt. One of those people looks a lot like Frank Castle. He's Cade, servant of Ardra the goddess of bad luck. The other is Talulah, the North American Rain Chaser, servant of Seth the storm god. She's sassy, foul mouthed, and eats like a teenage boy. And, oh yeah, she can channel the power of storms.

In this world, ancient gods are still worshiped, though in a modern way - you can get blessings from a vending machine. They still have temples that serve as headquarters for the humans who are chosen to serve. They still occasionally consort with humans, leaving illegitimate demi-god children all over the world. And they still don't always play nicely with the other gods and goddesses.

Talulah has pissed off the wrong goddess and now Manea and her minions are looking for Seth's son to exact their revenge. Seth sends Talulah and Cade to get the "child" first, but the rest of the gods aren't going to make it easy for them. I felt like there were shades of Percy Jackson in addition to Supernatural on their journey. But road trip stories are one of my very favorite things, so I loved very minute of it.

I liked the blending of mythologies from all over the world and the fact that Dean incorporated some deities, like Ardra, that I wasn't familiar with. And I love that the pop culture influences are just as strong as the classical ones.

Thunder Road is a fast read and a fun ride and I can't wait for more.

Recommended for fans of: Supernatural, road trip stories, mythology

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley

    

4  stars