Happy Friday Junion, and Backlist Blast day! It’s been a week since Milana from A Couple Reads and myself launched Backlist Blast, but I’m still super excited about it. It’s still got that new and shiny feeling, haha. In case you haven’t seen the info page for this meme yet, we have a number of banners (like the one above) for participants to choose from, and I’m already getting ideas for more of them! The main point of Backlist Blast is for us to showcase backlisted books, and also to encourage ourselves and others to tackle that backlist TBR! We hope that you will join us! And if you decide to make a post of your own, please be sure to comments on my post or Milana’s with a link to your post!

Backlist Blast is a meme that is meant to encourage book bloggers to feature and talk about backlist books (meaning books that were published 6 months ago, or earlier). We all get excited about all of the newest books coming out, but many of us also have a looming TBR of books published 6 months ago or earlier that we still need to read! The main purpose of this meme is to talk about those books, and remember why we wanted to read them in the first place. Another purpose is for readers to find out about awesome backlist books that they might have never heard of before! For more information on the meme, and for optional themes, please see the info page here.

– My Backlist Blast Choice –

The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli

Note: If you haven’t had a chance to get a copy of this book yet, Milana from A Couple Reads is currently hosting a giveaway for a hardcover copy on her Instagram! You can enter the contest here! (The giveaway is for those residing in Canada or the U.S., and ends on March 6th. Book provided by Indigo Books & Music Inc., and will be shipped from Milana, by Milana)

To see the other pics for this meme, go follow me on Instagram!

Thank you Indigo Books & Music Inc. for providing me with a copy of The Last Namsara!
The Last Namsara was one of the Indigo Teen Staff Picks of last year.

It’s so embarassing to me that I haven’t been able to read this book yet! It really goes to show how insane my reading schedule is (and how insane I am for keeping one like it), that I can’t really fit in a book that wasn’t “scheduled” in. Sigh. I’ve even met the author now, so the shame has just gotten more pronounced. Soon! I’ll read it soon!

– About the Book –

Title: The Last Namsara
Author: Kristen Ciccarelli
Type: Fiction
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Publisher: HarperTeen (HarperCollins)
Published: October 3, 2017
Source: Indigo Books & Music Inc.

In the beginning, there was the Namsara: the child of sky and spirit, who carried love and laughter wherever he went. But where there is light, there must be darkness—and so there was also the Iskari. The child of blood and moonlight. The destroyer. The death-bringer.

These are the legends that Asha, daughter of the king of Firgaard, has grown up learning in hushed whispers, drawn to the forbidden figures of the past. But it isn’t until she becomes the fiercest, most feared dragon slayer in the land that she takes on the role of the next Iskari—a lonely destiny that leaves her feeling more like a weapon than a girl.

Asha conquers each dragon and brings its head to the king, but no kill can free her from the shackles that await at home: her betrothal to the cruel commandant, a man who holds the truth about her nature in his palm. When she’s offered the chance to gain her freedom in exchange for the life of the most powerful dragon in Firgaard, she finds that there may be more truth to the ancient stories than she ever could have expected. With the help of a secret friend—a slave boy from her betrothed’s household—Asha must shed the layers of her Iskari bondage and open her heart to love, light, and a truth that has been kept from her.

– About the Author –

Kristen Ciccarelli hails from Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula where she grew up on her grandfather’s grape farm. She’s made her living as a baker, a bookseller, and a potter, but now writes books about bloodthirsty dragons, girls wielding really cool weapons, and the transformative power of stories. You can learn more at www.kristenciccarelli.com or by following @kristenciccarelli on Instagram.

THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING MY BACKLIST BLAST POST! HOW HUGE IS YOUR BACKLIST TBR, AND WHICH BOOK/BOOKS DO YOU THINK YOU’LL GET TO FIRST? WHY? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!