December Wrap-Up & January TBR

It's 2026! I'll pretend to be excited about another year going by, but really, I hate the passage of time, though it is great when a new year of new books is upon us. But, as for life in general, it was good in December. Christmas was nice, work is okay, and I'm ready to get through these next couple of months of cold weather and experience warmth again.

In this wrap-up, I’ll list the books I read, the books I reviewed, the books I bought/received, and my TBR for next month. Now, let’s get this bookish party started!

Books Read in December

We Who Will Die: 3.5 stars (my review)

The Ones We Burn: 3 stars

God of Malice: 3 stars

God of Pain: 3 stars

God of Wrath: 3 stars

God of Ruin: 3 stars

God of Fury: reread

God of War: 3 stars

Kiss the Villain: reread 

I read nine books in December, and it would have been more if the holidays didn't take up so much free time. Of those nine, though, two were rereads, God of Fury and Kiss the Villain by Rina Kent. I'm prepping for the next two Rina Kent releases coming in 2026 by reading the entire Legacy of Gods and the Vipers series. I read through the LoG books so fast that I couldn't really give them super accurate ratings. I think they're all in the 3-3.5-star range, though, except for GoF and KtV. I'd give those 4 stars. In addition to the Rina Kent books, I had one other physical book I read in December. It was The Ones We Burn by Rebecca Mix. The only ebook I read was We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark, which was a NetGalley ARC.

Books Bought/Received in December

I was doing so well with the book buying in the beginning of December, then... all of the B&N sales hit, and I was weak. Overall, I bought 18 books and received 22 in December. I ordered much more than that, though, but thankfully, they won't charge until next year. Whew.

The 22 books I received consisted mostly of preorders that finally arrived and Christmas gifts. They include the Bookish Box box set of the Lady of Darkness series, the Acrylipics A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire 3D-edge edition, the FairyLoot Epic November book Tower of the Tyrant by J.T. Greathouse, the FairyLoot Call of the Forgotten trilogy by Julie Kagawa, the FairyLoot What Fury Brings edition, and the FairyLoot The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy edition. I also got Frankenstein, Dracula, Three Shattered Souls, Four Ruin Realms, Unchained, and the first three books in the Crowns series by Nicola Tyche for Christmas. In addition to those, I also downloaded the free novella, A Crown of Ruin by JLA, and I got Prince of Fortune by Lisa Tirreno via trade credit at my local used bookstore.

Now, for what I bought. I only received six of the 18 books I purchased. That includes Meet Cute with a short story from JLA, Children of Fallen Gods by Carissa Broadbent, Red City by Marie Lu, Kill the Beast by Serra Swift, Terror at the Gates by Scarlett St. Clair, and the FairyLoot Adult book for December, Dawn of the Firebird. All of the non-FairyLoot books were ordered from B&N.

 As for the remaining 12 books, some will be here soon, while others will be a while from now. They include the Aurora Crate editions of two of Melissa K. Roehrich's books and FairyLoot editions of Slaying the Vampire Conqueror, the last two books in the Ashes of Thezmarr series, and The Wolf King by Lauren Palphreyman. The other six books will come from B&N in the next week or so. Those include Game Changers, Heated Rivalry, Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Aspect of Essence, Vicious Fae, and The Bride of Brutal Hearts.

Currently Obsessed With

I am officially out of my Interview with the Vampire obsession and I moved right into my Heated Rivalry obsession. I wasn't too sure about the show at first. It seemed fun, but nothing amazing. Then, the last two episodes happened, and I was hooked. I ordered the books too. Surprisingly, they're like some of the few MM hockey romances I haven't read yet. Weird. Other than that, I've watched the Taylor Swift End of an Era documentary series as well as continuing to watch Grey's Anatomy. I'm on season two now of like five million. Lol. I also watched Home Alone 1 and 2 over the holiday.

December TBR

I'm carrying over a whole giant list of TBR books into 2026, most of which, I'm actively reading right now and have been for the past few weeks. I am currently reading Wrath of the Dragons by Olivia Rose Darling, The Wren in the Holly Library by K.A. Linde, Court of Nightmares by K.A. Knight, Three Shattered Souls by Mai Corland, and The Scorpion and the Night Blossom by Amelie Wen Zhao. I'd also like to read Rain of Shadows and Endings by Melissa Roehrich, The Nightshade God by Hannah Whitten, A Feather So Black by Lyra Selene, The Wolf King by Lauren Palphreyman, and re-read Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff. I very much need to start Our Rogue Fates by Sarah Marsh, To Cage a Wild Bird by Brooke Fast, and Blood Bound by Ellis Hunter as well. Those three are all NetGalley eARCs. Oh! And I need to read A Crown of Ruin by JLA.

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Okay, well, that's the month of December, plus some January sneak peeks, all wrapped up into one post. Do you have a wrap-up post for last month? If so, share in the comments!

Stacking the Shelves: The Christmas and New Year's Edition

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

Well, 2025 is officially over. Good riddance. I hope 2026 is better, but I don't know if it will be. Sigh. In happier news, Christmas was good. Saw family, ate food, opened presents, etc. It was also nice just being off of work for a while. I need to take some more time off in 2026. Since I don't have ApollyCon tickets, I think I should be able to do so without any problems.

As for books I got in the past two weeks, I'll start with the Christmas haul. My mom got me quite a few books off my list, including Frankenstein and Dracula, the B&N editions. She also got me Unchained by Jennifer L. Armentrout, Four Ruined Realms and Three Shattered Souls by Mai Corland, and North Queen, Shadow Queen, and War Queen by Nicola Tyche. And she got me the Supernatural box set and a couple of other DVDS. And a new Buffy Funko Pop.

 

 

Next, I have a preorder that's taken a loooong time to get here. It's the Bookish Box box set of Melissa K. Roehrich's Lady of Darkness series. It's very pretty. While the font on the spines annoys me, the colors are very pleasing overall. I'm glad I bought this set, even though I haven't read the series yet. Oops. Because it took so long to ship, Bookish also sent out a free crown with the others. That was nice of them.

 

 

 

And here, I have part of the B&N order I made when they were having their 50% off sale online. I couldn't partake in the 25% off sale in-stores, so I splurged online. And this isn't even all of what I ordered. It's just what came in before New Year's. I got Red City by Marie Lu, Terror at the Gates by Scarlett St. Clair, and Kill the Beast by Serra Swift, but I expect a few more things will arrive soon. 

 

 

 

Here, I have some FairyLoot orders that arrived, and a B&N preorder that came in. My FairyLoot preorder of The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy came in right before the holidays, and I think Dawn of the Firebird by Sarah Mughal Rana also came in around then. It's the December Adult sub pick. Now, Meet Cute, a Valentine's Day anthology featuring a short story by JLA, came in, and I ended up getting a slight refund, as the dumb publisher decided to use stickers to group the individual stories together so you can "open" one each day before Valentine's Day. The stupid sticker rips the pages! I was so mad. I wouldn't have ordered it if I knew that. Thankfully, it wasn't super expensive, so I just decided to keep it and get the 20% refund from B&N for the damage. I'm just super annoyed at whoever thought that was a good idea. At least use stickers that don't rip the pages. Yeesh.

 

For the ebooks, I have one, and it was a surprise one as well. Jennifer L. Armentrout released a novella in the Blood & Ash world, specifically one that has bonus content from her recent release. I downloaded it immediately, but I still haven't read it. I know. I know. It's terrible. But, I'm in the middle of like five other books right now. I really want to finish some of those first. And, I'm really into reading physical copies, so reading on my ebook apps just sounds icky at the moment.

 

Well, that's all for me. What books have you bought/received lately?

Review: We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark

We Who Will Die

Stacia Stark

(Empire of Blood #1)

Publication Date: December 30, 2025

Hardcover, 423 pages, Avon

Genres: Adult, Romantasy

Goodreads

From the bestselling author of the Kingdom of Lies series comes a slow-burn romantasy set in a Roman-inspired world ruled by merciless vampires. Filled with breathtaking combat, vengeful gods, and magical creatures, We Who Will Die is the epic first installment in an enthralling new series perfect for fans of Carissa Broadbent, Jasmine Mas, and Rebecca Yarros.

 

Life in the perilous Thorn district is a constant battle for Arvelle and her younger brothers. And the vampire standing on her doorstep is about to turn their world upside down.

 

Faced with an unthinkable choice, Arvelle makes a magically binding vow to do the impossible: kill the emperor, an ancient vampire created by the god Umbros. But first, she must enter the Sundering—an arena where only the fastest, strongest, and deadliest survive long enough to be selected for the emperor’s elite guard.

 

She quickly draws the ire of the Primus, the powerful figure charged with protecting the emperor. But the vampire under the armor is the last person Arvelle expects to encounter in the emperor’s court.

 

With her brothers’ lives in the balance, Arvelle has no choice but to ally with the man who once shattered her heart… and with the emperor’s sadistic son, Rorrik—two vampires whose motives are impossible to pin down. Rorrik holds the key to understanding the powers Arvelle is developing—abilities that would put a price on her head if discovered by the emperor.

 

To survive the arena and complete her mission, Arvelle must get to the bottom of a conspiracy that will change everything she thought she knew about herself—and the two vampires who are deeply entwined with her destiny…

My Review

Vampires in a gladiator/Ancient Rome-inspired magical fantasy setting? Sounds amazing! Written by Stacia Stark, author of the Kingdom of Lies series? Even more amazing! We Who Will Die is a fun time, and its comparison to The Vampire Diaries universe is definitely adequate. It has prime CW-level qualities. Honestly, it gives True Blood vibes too with all of the creatures. But the romance. That's TVD all the way.

I will say that I was hoping for a bit more vamp lore and gritty times. That's my own fault because this book is not dark and gritty. Even though there are sad moments, it's a really high-vibes type of book. Like, people are dying and we're kind of just breezing past it. I did really enjoy Arvelle's relationships with her brothers and her friends, though. As the female main character, Arvelle herself isn't very unique as a protagonist and she makes some dumb decisions. Those dumb decisions are explained later on, but still... I guess she makes the story interesting. For the other two main characters, those are the male love interests. One more so than the other at this time. Now, their dynamic kept me reading. I loved the vamp and spoilery relationship between the two that was revealed towards the end. It was a good bit of drama. And I think towards the end is really when everything comes together for these characters. They're seemingly working together versus keeping secrets constantly, so things started clicking.

My main criticism towards this book was honestly the middle. It was a bit underwhelming compared to the beginning and the ending. The middle just seemed like events were happening one right after another with no pause for the reader to care why they were happening. It was like BAM! Arena fight scene. BAM! Party to celebrate! BAM! Dramatic murder! It all needed to slow down for some character reflection or scenery description. For example, during the party scene, Arvelle has a conversation with like four characters back-to-back in less than five pages. That whole party scene should have taken up one long chapter with descriptions of the scenery, Arvelle's dress, the food, other characters' outfits, etc. But it was all glossed over. But again, that's simply what I would have preferred. And, like I said, the beginning had a lot of fun introducing readers to the world and characters and the ending was fun because everything kind of blew up and secrets were revealed. I definitely still enjoyed the story, even though the middle was a bit underwhelming.

All in all, if you're looking for a fun, angsty romantasy, then We Who Will Die is 100% for you. It has vampires for the paranormal lovers, griffons and gorgons for the mythology lovers, and strange deaths for the murder-mystery readers. It's a good time with the promise of an even better time when book two comes out. I am pretty excited to see how all that drama unfolds.
 

*Note: I received a copy of this book to review from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affected my opinion/review.

Stacking the Shelves: The 3D-Edge Edition

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

Another week of 2025 over with 2026 on the horizon. It's also almost Christmas, for those who celebrate. I still have one person's presents to go, but after that, all presents will be complete. I'm not too pressed about the holidays this year, truly. I just want to be off of work and maybe get a few good books. A Barnes & Noble gift card would be nice too, but just books works for me. XD

As for books I got this week, I only have one physical edition to show off. I purchased the 3D-edge A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout from Acrylipics. After many months, it finally arrived. I honestly don't really care much about the edges, I just like alternate dust jackets more than anything. I do need to stop buying so many Blood and Ash special editions, though. I'm officially running out of room and there are at least two more books set in the world to go, which means multiple editions of each of those books to complete sets. Eek. The shelf space is getting very crowded, so I don't know if future 3D-edge versions will make the cut. The Kieran one probably will. Not sure about the others after that.

 

I also have one ebook to share this week. It's Blood Bound by Ellis Hunter, and it's a NetGalley ARC from the publisher. I told myself to not go on NetGalley and request books anymore because I was having a hard time reading anything. But, now that my slump has seemingly died off, I'm interested in requesting all of the things. I hope my TBR can handle it.

 

Well, that's all for me. What books have you bought/received lately?

Stacking the Shelves: The Misaligned Dust Jacket Edition

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

Another week of 2025 gone. Dang. As for my life, it's been quiet. Nothing crazy happening once again. I'm trying to get back into reading my books instead of just devouring fanfiction, and I've also been watching some new shows instead of just scrolling on my phone. Hurrah.

As for books bought, I have three this week. Well, two were bought, one was acquired through store credit at my local used bookstore. That was Prince of Fortune by Lisa Tirreno. I also had one Barnes & Noble preorder, Children of Fallen Gods by Carissa Broadbent. My FairyLoot Epic November sub box also arrived. It's Tower of the Tyrant by J.T. Greathouse. I was extremely disappointed in this one. Not because of the design. It's very pretty. But because the spine was not centered. They folded my dust jacket wrong. Now, I don't know if it's like that for everyone, but it drove me absolutely insane. Insane enough that I had to fix it, which left a wonderful crease line on the right side of my front cover. Ugh. If I end up liking the book, I'll see about acquiring a copy that doesn't have a misaligned dust jacket. Honestly, FairyLoot's quality control is just not great lately.

 

I also have one ebook to share this week. It's Three Shattered Souls by Mai Corland, which I borrowed from Libby. After the events of the second book, I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue with this series or not, but I found out there'll be more books in the series eventually. Or a spinoff or something, so I'm curious enough to continue.

 

Well, that's all for me. What books have you bought/received lately?

November Wrap-Up & December TBR

The year is almost over. The holidays are almost upon us. And I hope I get many, many books. Ha ha. Or at least plenty of gift cards so I can purchase the books I have in my Barnes & Noble cart. Last month, I had a good time being off for the Thanksgiving holiday, so I'm excited for more time off this month. I need some quiet days.

In this wrap-up, I’ll list the books I read, the books I reviewed, the books I bought/received, and my TBR for next month. Now, let’s get this bookish party started!

Books Read in November

The Nightblood Prince: 3 stars

Savage Blooms: 2 stars

Mate: 3 stars

I read only three books in November, and it was a pretty mediocre reading month in general. I don't have the attention span to designate towards a book in a series. I'm mostly just getting through standalones or books that I don't think I'll love, which is a weird thing to do, but it's my headspace at the moment. All three of these did get them off of my physical TBR, though. I read The Nightblood Prince by Molly X. Change, Savage Blooms by S.T. Gibson, and Mate by Ali Hazelwood.

Books Bought/Received in November

November was another bad month for spending. I'm doing better in December, though. I think. We'll see at the end of the month if that still holds up. Overall, though, I bought 20 books and received 17.

The 17 books I received consisted mostly of preorders that finally arrived. They include the Books for Days Crate Blood and Ash set, the Mondlicht German Flesh and Fire set, the last two books in the Books for Days Lux set, the Mondlicht Zodiac Academy edition, the Kings Hollow author editions of Origins and Ruthless Fae, and the FairyLoot edition of The Nighshade God. The UK Blackwells edition of The Wrath and the Fallen by Amber V. Nicole also came in, and I got The Road of Bones by Demi Winters from my local used bookstore with trade credit.

Now, for what I bought. I only received 11 of the 20 books I purchased. It's kind 12 of 21 if you include the Indigo POBAB edition, but since I just paid for someone to ship it to me, it's kind of just an oddball book this month). The 11 books I received include two of the POBAB character editions (one needed to be replaced so I sent it back to the JLA Shop/ApollyCon Shop), The Strength of the Few by James Islington (B&N preorder), Empire of the Dawn by Jay Kristoff (Blackwells), The Bridge Kingdom deluxe hardcover by Danielle L. Jensen (B&N), To Cage a Wild Bird by Brooke Fast (FairyLoot Romantasy), the dragon hardcover and the regular hardcover of Hollow by Caroline Peckham and Suzanne Valenti, The Wolf King by Lauren Palphreyman, The City of Brass deluxe edition by S.A Chakraborty, and Sweet Venom by Rina Kent (all B&N).

 As for the remaining nine books, they probably won't arrive any time soon. They include the Tome Tunnel edition of A Shadow in the Ember, the Ink Pages editions of the final two books in the Flesh and Fire series, the Bad Women Books quarterly sub pick, the Arcane Society Nalini Singh Guild Hunter series (books 1-3), and the FairyLoot November Epic book and my Kieran POBAB replacement, which may be the only ones that get to me before the end of 2025.

Currently Obsessed With

I watched three "new" shows in November. One was an episode of Grey's Anatomy. I've seen a ton of clips online, but I decided to just go ahead and watch the entire thing. I also watched two episodes of the second season of Wednesday on Netflix, and the new Heated Rivalry show on HBOMax. I'm still living in the Interview with the Vampire world, though. I'm reading fanfiction for it, watching videos, collecting fanart, etc. It's my personality at this point.

December TBR

Yikes. My TBR barely changed at all from November to December. I am currently reading Wrath of the Dragons by Olivia Rose Darling, The Wren in the Holly Library by K.A. Linde, Court of Nightmares by K.A. Linde, and The Ones We Burn by Rebecca Mix. I'd also like to read Blood & Steel by Helen Scheurer, Rein of Shadows and Endings by Melissa Roehrich, The Nightshade God, and re-read Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff. I very much need to finish We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark, and start Our Rogue Fates by Sarah Marsh and To Cage a Wild Bird by Brooke Fast as well. Those three are all NetGalley eARCs.

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Okay, well, that's the month of November, plus some December sneak peeks, all wrapped up into one post. Do you have a wrap-up post for last month? If so, share in the comments!

Stacking the Shelves: The Libby Edition

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

2025 is almost over! I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to it or dreading it. The world was looking up back in November, but it seems it's still on the rocks right now. Yuck. As for my life, it's been fine. Nothing crazy going on. I've just been reading a lot of fanfiction instead of the hundreds of unread books I own. Whoops. I'd like to reach 70 books read before the end of the year too, and I'm like three books behind. I'm in the middle of five, so I think I can make it if I just stop scrolling on my phone and finish them. Ugh.

As for books bought, it's been a little quiet. I had some FairyLoot preorders come in, but that's it beyond my FairyLoot sub renewals. The preorders that came in included What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller and the Call of the Forgotten trilogy by Julie Kagawa. Now, I just need FairyLoot to do the The Iron Legends short story bindup. Please!? Also, my The Iron Warrior came in damaged so stay tuned to see if FairyLoot grants me a replacement copy. I've been having bad luck with the damages lately. Hopefully that stops.

 

Next, after weeks of not having any, I finally have an ebook to share! I randomly decided to get on Libby and do some damage there with a few holds that I know will all come through at exactly the same time. But I also borrowed Carving Shadows Into Gold by Brigid Kemmerer. I need to get caught up on this series. I think the last book comes out early next year. Then, I need to decide if I want to go back and finish the prequel series or not. Haha. I read book one but not the other two.

 

Well, that's all for me. What books have you bought/received lately?