Near-future upcoming releases, and such

Hello to my readers, as bizarre as that looks to write.

Since my last update I've obviously been reading a lot, but it being the holidays and all I didn't have time or inclination to update CBR.  That has been taken care of as of today and I'm happy about it.

Cupcake girls was really good. It had as the hip people say today "All the feels".  I mean holy crap.  Can't recommend that series enough.

That being said we have some much-anticipated sequels coming out starting tomorrow so I'm going to throw them out.

•  Path of Ascension 2 - Tomorrow Feb 7th! https://www.amazon.com/Path-Ascension-LitRPG-Adventure-ebook/dp/B0BGJN8BV8
• Revealed (Jade Phoenix 2) - Thursday the 9th!   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BTPRRK4K
• Unbound Book 6 - February 15th   https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BN6S7Q5P
• Battle Mage Farmer 4 - Feb 21st   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BL8YD7LL
• Mark of the Fool 3 - April 11th
• He who Fights with Monsters 9 - April 18th
• Apparently the Firewall series is up to 3 books, if I find time I'll try book 2.

Review: Cupcake Girls

Title: Cupcake Girls: Part 5 of The Vixen War Bride Series

https://smile.amazon.com/Cupcake-Girls-Part-Vixen-Bride-ebook/dp/B0BRVQMFML/

Author: Thomas Doscher

Rating: 5/5

Comments: So yeah, this book was an emotional roller coaster.  I laughed, I felt revulsion, anger, sadness, and may have come close to shedding a tear.

I had to read this in bites, because I had feared that I knew where things were going with it, and in some instances I was right.  It was the reading equivalent of watching a movie through your fingers because you just know something bad is going to happen.  And it does.  There's also a lot of good things that happen, and some surprises that we didn't see coming.

It was excellent.  I'm so glad I bought it.  I know some other people have been promoting it on their platforms and it's well deserved.  I didn't even mind the POV switches.

I look forward to the conclusion in book 6.  

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: Heart of the Son

Title: Heart of the Son (The Seven-Fold World Book 1)

https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Son-Seven-Fold-World-Book-ebook/dp/B0BRZMF56P

Author: Erik Roman

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments: Another book one by another author with a new penname.

This is a great start to the story, and the world building is first-rate.  There's a lot of mysteries thrown out, some solved, some not.  If I had one issue with it, there is a little bit of navel gazing which gets tiresome.  It's necessary to show the growth of the character, but dang he's annoying at the start.

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: Antecedent's Legacy

Title: Antecedents' Legacy

https://smile.amazon.com/Antecedents-Legacy-Daniel-Schinhofen-ebook/dp/B0BRVP55TS/

Author: Daniel Schinhofen

Rating: 4/5

Comments:

It's a DJS story, with Mechs.  First off, it's a good book.  DJS has a gift for making his characters relatable, and have some heft to them.

That being said, if I had started reading it and didn't know it was a DJS book, I would have figured it out before the half-way point.  There's a lot of structural similarities between this book and his other book 1's.  This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your view.  Based on it having over 1500 ratings on Amazon so far, I would say his fan base has established it's a good thing.

Bedroom Activities: Explicit

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Review: All the Skills

Title: All the Skills: A Deck Building LitRPG: All the Skills, Book 1 

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BM51RQR8/

Author: Honour Rae

Rating: 5/5

Comments: This is one of those rare books for me that just grabbed me and kidney punched me until I finished it.  As a book one from an author with no other books out, that's exceptionally rare.  I strongly suspect this is a new pseudonym for an established author, and I certainly hope to see more from them.

The magic system is a new take for me, so that's entertaining.  There is a lot of emotion packed into the story and it's amazing how well it all ties together.

For this update this is easily in the top 3.

Bedroom Activities: None

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Review: Monster Girls Unlocked 2

Title: Monster Girls Unlocked: End Game (Bawdlin Virtual World Book 2) 

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BTCCKCPH/

Author: Justin Trublood

Rating: 4/5

Comments: As with the other Trublood books I have read, this is not a serious story, it's meant to entertain and fly that freak flag so to speak.  It does accomplish both of those goals.  Book one was a bit of a surprise in that it was a decent story, and really I think the second is just as good.  His magical carry-over between the digital world and meat space isn't explained nor even justified, but it's there, and it doesn't break the story, much.  Anyway, if you liked book 1, book 2 is worth it.  If you didn't, well I would advise you to keep walking.

Bedroom Activities: Explicit

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Review: An Outcast in Another World 4

Title: An Outcast in Another World 4: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Book 4 - Ascendant Insanity)

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BPT7V53L/

Author: KamikazePotato

Rating: 4.7/5

Comments:  Not really much to say, if you have made it this far in the series, there's no reason to stop.  Rob has some antics that you just won't believe.  Lots of fun, and some trauma, plus a bonus short story at the end.

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: Mark of the Fool 2

Title: Mark of the Fool 2: A Progression Fantasy Epic

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BFCD4LM5/

 Author: J.M. Clarke

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments:

I read a fair number of "progression" or "cultivation" books, but honestly I am not sure why "progression" is a genre, since generally you want your protagonist to progress from his starting point to some better version of him or her self, otherwise, why are we reading about them?  Anyway, one of the pitfalls of this type of book is "How fast do they grow?"  Too fast and it seems to be too easy, and it's boring.  Too slow and too hard, and it is tedious.  Mark of the Fool hit the sweet spot and hit it hard.  Book 2 is also right in the zone.

Tons of fun, and some really good characters to care about.  Read it!

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: Welcome to Midgard

Title:Welcome to Midgard (Contender Saga Book 1)

 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BRGDW9MR/

Author: Dave Willmarth

Rating: 4.25/5

Comments: I have a bit of a mixed track record with Mr. Willmarth, so I picked this up with some caution.  In premise it's your basic Isekai type story, but he manages to make the action and characters interesting enough that it works.  I'll read the next one, and hopefully it continues to be good.

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: A Girl From Nowhere

Title: A Girl From Nowhere (The Firewall Trilogy Book 1)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZJ2Y771/

Author: James Maxwell

Rating: 3.9/5

Comments: This is a new author, new series for me and generally it was pretty good. It didn't grab me and refuse to let me put it down, but I blew through it pretty fast.  

The story is set in a wasteland where water is scarce and there is a wall of "fire" that borders the wasteland.  We don't learn much about the why or how of the wall during the first book, but that may change in book 2.  The characters are good, but I didn't quite connect with them.  Probably a "me" issue.

I'm not searching for a release date of book 2, but if I happen across it I'll read it.

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: He Who Fights with Monsters 8

Title: He Who Fights with Monsters 8: A LitRPG Adventure

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BBWK3T9T/

Author: Shirtaloon

Rating: 4.375/5

Comments: Some have called this an "emo" book, but I don't find it excessively so.  It deals a lot with the psychological toll that all of his adventures have extracted from Jason, and his start on the road to recovery.  I think that the psychology angle of books is regularly neglected; because, really who wants to read about the icky bits when there is derring-do to be done.  But in this case it helps humanize someone who is becoming increasingly inhuman and unrelatable.  While all that is happening, he cracks jokes, has cook-outs, and is generally very Jason-ey.  A good ride, but all the cool characters makes things drag because Shirtaloon wants to give them all some screen time.

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: Unbound book 5

Title: Threshold: A LitRPG Adventure (Unbound Book 5)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BG15B4ZZ/

Author: Nicoli Gonnella 

Rating:  4/5

Comments:  One of the hazards of reading a lot and blogging a little is you forget the details of the oldest book in the queue.  Fortunately I have my Discord where I make comments as I read stuff.  Unbound was generally up to the quality of the previous books in the series, and it unveiled a lot of stuff, but it had a side plot that didn't do much other than slow things down for little benefit.  It also left a lot of things hanging at the end of the book.  Not epically loose like the infamous Brambles and Thorns, but more of a Han is frozen in carbonite and we don't know what happens to him way.

Bedroom Activities: None

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