I have been planning on doing the Try A Chapter Book Tag for quiet a while now! As you may know, I have a lot of unread books on my shelves. Recently I got new bookcases and rearranged everything. I thought that would be a good moment to take a good look at my books and maybe unhaul some of them. You might remember this post, about my unread Fairyloot books. While I’m still interested in some of them, I think most of them won’t be ones I’ll read anytime soon if at all. So this Try A Chapter Book Tag seems like the perfect thing so figure out which of these book will stay and which will go.

The tag is super easy, you pick some books, you read up to the first chapter including the prologue and you decide which book will be your next read. Or in my case, which books to unhaul. Let’s take a look at the books I picked.

With every book I also mention which Fairyloot I got it in, or at least when I think I got it haha. And how many pages the first chapter is. There is quite some difference between length so that will be interesting!

State of Sorrow – Melinda Salisbury
March 2018 FL
22 pages

Beyond a Darkened Shore – Jessica Leake
April 2018 FL
9 pages

Onyx & Ivory – Mindee Arnett
May 2018 FL
16 pages

Grace & Fury – Tracy Banghart
June 2018 FL
6 pages

Heart of Thorns – Bree Barton
July 2018 FL
12 pages

These Rebel Waves – Sara Raasch
August 2018 FL
31 pages

Mirage – Somaiya Daud
September 2018 FL
14 pages

Like I said, I’m interested in some of these, but others I’m pretty sure I’ll unhaul. As you can see, these are the March – September 2018 Fairyloot books. After that I stopped my subscription. I have read hardly any of the books I got in these boxes and that just seems like a waste of money. Today we’re making changes though! I’m reading the first chapter for all of these and will then give you a short opinion and my final decision!

State of Sorrow – Melinda Salisbury

I’m pleasantly surprised by this one! We start of with a prologue, something I usually enjoy. And I did enjoy it here as well, I immediately got some extra information about the world. I don’t really know where the story is going yet but I did want to continue reading. The main character seems interesting and I enjoyed the writing. I really liked the two previous books I read by this author and this first chapter convinced me to keep the book for now.

Decision: Keep

Beyond a Darkened Shore – Jessica Leake

I’m only on the second book and I’ve already come to realize just one chapter is very little to base a decision on haha. This was not the book I was expecting to receive so I remember being quiet disappointed. However, some of my friends absolutely devoured it and can’t stop recommending it. And I have to say I enjoyed the first chapter. It involves some ponies, always a good thing. I already have some questions and I enjoyed the main character. So I guess this will be another one to keep haha.

Decision: Keep

Onyx & Ivory – Mindee Arnett

Well, this is just great. This book just managed to make me cry in the first chapter haha. And once again it had to do with a horse! If I’m being honest, this was one of the books I was least interested in. And this first chapter doesn’t give me any idea as to where the story is going. But it did give me some insight into the world and I really like what I read so far. There seems to be an interesting magic system and by night the world is terrorized by drakes. I definitely want to know more about all of this.

Decision: Keep

Grace & Fury – Tracy Banghart

I cheated a little bit for this one. Instead of one chapter, I read two. The first chapter was super short, only 6 pages and since we have two main characters it made sense to read one chapter with each of their POV’s. If I would’ve stuck to the first chapter, I think I might’ve decided to unhaul this one. But based on the second chapter, I think I will give it another chance. I believe this is supposed to be a feminist book and I’m curious to see how it will play out. Women aren’t allowed to read in this world and nothing can make me more angry. So I will give this one a couple more chapters. But I will give myself permission to DNF it if it turns out not to be my kind of book.

Decision: Keep

Heart of Thorns – Bree Barton

I’m beginning to see this as a failed experiment haha. But this was another interesting first chapter. We hear a little about the magic in this world and I would love to read more about it and see it at work. The main characters seem interesting and have potential to be pretty good ones I think. I already have some theories and I’m excited to find out if I’m right about them. So another one on the keep pile!

Decision: Keep

These Rebel Waves – Sara Raasch

I really liked Sara Raasch’s other series Snow Like Ashes so I was excited for this. Recently however, I’ve come across some disappointing reviews unfortunately. I think the main thing was that this was marketed as gay pirates and that it apparently not the case. Since I’m going in with different expectations, I’m hoping this won’t bother me. So far, I’m really enjoying it. The magic is quite different from what I usually read and I like the three main characters. I’m happy we got a prologue, but I’m also hoping for some flashbacks as that gap of six years seems to span some pretty big events. Another one I’m keeping for now.

Decision: Keep

Mirage – Somaiya Daud

The last one! I think I was most excited for this one and that will probably be the reason for my decision. There is a short prologue and then the first chapter. Compared to the other books, these first pages weren’t anything special and I can’t say they got me super excited for the story. However, I thought this was fantasy but it’s also very much science fiction. And I’m enjoying sci-fi a lot lately, so pair that with an interesting synopsis and you have a keeper! I think this will be an enjoyable read but out of the 7 books, this wouldn’t be the first one to pick up for me.

Decision: Keep

Final Result:
Keep:  7/7  100%
Unhaul: 0/7  0%

So this little project might have failed a bit haha. I was planning on unhauling some of these books and in the end I’m keeping all of them. At least for now. I am a lot more excited about reading these books so that’s a good thing. Hopefully they can live up to the expectations the first chapter set 😉 I definitely plan on doing another Try A Chapter Tag because it was a lot of fun! Have you ever done this tag? And have you read any of these books? Talk to me in the comments!