Saturday, March 9, 2024

Stacking the Shelves: The Shades of Red 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.

Once again, it's been a relatively quiet week. I visited my parents last weekend to eat some food and grab some books from my shelves in my room there, but that's about it. I also cleaned my place a little bit, but that's because a friend stopped by to drop off a couple of books that you'll get to see below.

Now, for the books. They're all pink or red, which I thought was funny. Wish they would've showed up in February. Ha ha. But anyway, the two Bookish Box orders that my friend dropped off include Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout and The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas (reverse dustjacket on display). Because I was working at the time the sub box for BB went on sale, and I knew I wanted to sign up in time to get FORAW, I had my friend sub for me. And she was just now able to deliver them. My Barnes & Noble preorder of Fate Breaker by Victoria Aveyard also came in. I'd totally forgotten I preordered this one, but at least now I can binge the entire trilogy. And my Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff came too. I got the UK version from Blackwells since it's free delivery.

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

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

February Wrap-Up & March TBR

Another month down, and I read twice as many books as I did in January. Which, unfortunately isn't saying a lot. Ha ha. But as for the personal life, I just did the same ol', same ol'. I read a little, scrolled a lot, worked, worked out, and slept. Yay.

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 February

House of Flame and Shadow: 3 stars
A Fate Inked in Blood: 4 stars (my review)

I read two books in February. To be fair, one was an obnoxiously long book. House of Flame and Shadow had no reason to be over 800 pages. Honestly, at least 200 pages could have and should have been cut. And while I thought the third book was slightly better than the second one, I definitely put emphasis on slightly. I am just really disappointed in the direction the CC series has gone, and I'm not really excited about the next installment. I also read Danielle L. Jensen's new book, A Fate Inked in Blood, which I very much enjoyed.

Books Bought/Received in February

Okay, so this month I let myself get a bit carried away. I bought a total of 20 books this month and received 12. And boy, are a lot of the books I bought some expensive preorders.

As for the 12 books I received, a majority of them were preorders. The orders included House of Flame and Shadow, Gothikana by RuNyx, and five copies of Visions of Flesh and Blood (two BN editions, one regular hardcover edition, one Kindle edition, and one Nook edition). I also received my preorder of the Lux series from Imagine Books, but I had to send three copies back because they were slightly damaged, so I only got to keep Opal and Onyx right now. And my FairyLoot January book, The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers, was delivered to me in February, along with my February FairyLoot book, A Fate Inked in Blood. My Bookish Box edition of Between Despair and Hope finally arrived as well. All in all, I got ten physical books this month, and two ebooks. And thankfully, I've already read four of the books, so that's nice.

I paid for six of the 12 books that I received in February within the month of February. Those include the February FairyLoot book and all my VOFAB copies. Other than those, I had 12 other preorders, including five ApollyCon author preorders: A Kiss of Iron and Slaying the Shifter Prince by Clare Sager, Between Wrath and Mercy special author edition by Jess Wisecup, and Broken Bonds and The Crown of Oaths and Curses by J. Bree. I also had one Blackwell's order, the UK edition of Empire of the Damned, which arrived in March. As for special editions, I preordered the Chest of Fandoms German edition of A Soul of Ash and Blood, the Illumicrate editions of the Silver Under Nightfall duology, the FairyLoot edition of The Atlas Complex, and the Bookish Box editions of the Daevabad trilogy. And I have a BN preorder for Fate Breaker by Victoria Aveyard that I completely forgot about until just now.

Currently Obsessed With

I haven't been watching a lot of stuff lately. I've mostly been rewatching The Office reruns. As per usual.

Other than The Office reruns, I've been watching a lot of TikTok. And honestly, I think that's it. It's still the Taylor Swift x Travis Kelce videos. They're cute. I can't help it. It's like a real-life romcom.

March TBR

I don't have any must-reads, just a couple of things I'd like to read. Most of which are repeats and have been on my TBR for sooooo long now. That includes Charm by Tracy Wolff and The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards. I'd also like to read Visions of Flesh and Blood, the FBAA compendium book. It's not a real story, though, just a bible of the world, so it's not something that will take super long or be super interesting. There are a few diary entries and short snippets, but that's it. I also want to finish A Ferry of Bones and Gold by Hailey Turner. I downloaded it on Kindle Unlimited earlier this month, and I'm almost done with it.

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

Saturday, March 2, 2024

Stacking the Shelves: The Visions 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. I finally have some books to share. I haven't been posting many Stacking the Shelves simply because I haven't received anything. That all changed this week. It's actually quite bad. My poor wallet. Other than looking at my dwindling shelf space, I've mostly been working, sleeping, working out, lamenting over awful current events... you know, the usual.

Now, onto books. The biggest thing that came in this week was my preorder of Visions of Flesh and Blood. Barnes & Noble/UPS/USPS took almost an entire week to get all three copies to me, versus the four days it normally takes. I'm truly getting tired of this. Why won't B&N ship their preorders a day or two earlier? It's so ridiculous. I preorder because I want my book delivered during release week. Ugh. Anyway, I bought one of the regular VOFAB copies and two of the B&N copies. I didn't remember preordering two, but I guess I did. I usually preorder an extra when they're on sale just in case I need one for replacement dust jackets later on. My preorder incentive bookmark and temporary tattoo also came on the same day all these showed up. So that was fun.


Another package that came on the same day was my preorder of Imagine Books Shop's Lux special edition set. Unfortunately, three of my books were slightly damaged, so I'm shipping them back for replacement copies. The box was completely ripped open on one corner, so I'm actually impressed they looked as good as they did. However, Onyx and Opal made it alive and well. The box also came with a bookmark of each cover character, two replacement pages for a mix up in the printing process, one page overlay, five JLA signature bookplates, and a Daemon and Katy sticker. Overall, I'm really happy I ordered this set. The inside character art foiling looks great. I honestly can't decide how I'm going to display these. I'm kind of glad I can wait until the replacements get here before really thinking about it. 
 

I had a drop off of mail from my parents. I need to change my address for my FairyLoot subscriptions, but I'm going to wait until after I go to ApollyCon. I already think I'm going to have a few orders arrive right when I'm out of town. Boo. But, that's what sisters are for. To pick up your mail for you. Ha ha. Anyway, my February Adult FL box came. I've actually already read and reviewed this book, A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen, and I very much enjoyed it. At first, I didn't love the FL cover redesign, but I actually like it now. I didn't like the original cover, so this one is nice.


And this is my last physical book for this week's StS. It's also one that my parents dropped off. This is the Bookish Box edition of the second book in Jess Wisecup's The Divine Between series, Between Despair and Hope. I read the first book last year and enjoyed it, so I got the pretty BB edition and, when it was available to preorder, I got the second book too. I think I preordered this back in August of last year, so this has taken forever. BB needs to pull themselves together. 
 

And finally, it's time for the ebooks. I actually forgot to cancel my Kindle Unlimited sub, so I still have that for another month after my free one-month grace period ended. So I went ahead and downloaded Villain and the Geek (book seven in The Wolf's Mate series) and Prince of Agony by Tavia Lark. I also downloaded The Bastard and the Heir by Eden Finley and Saxon James, but the cover is a little naughty, so I decided not to share it here. Heehee. I also hadn't realized I'd already preordered the Kindle edition of VOFAB and I ordered a Nook copy too, using B&N reward money. I'm just a mess. But, whatever, I now have two ebook copies and three physical copies of the same book. Nothing obsessive and crazy about that, right?.

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

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Review: A Fate Inked in Blood

A Fate Inked in Blood
(Saga of the Unfated #1)
Publication Date: February 27, 2024
Hardcover, 432 pages, Del Rey
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance
 
A shield maiden blessed by the gods battles to unite a nation under a power-hungry king—while also fighting her growing desire for his fiery son—in this Norse-inspired fantasy romance from the bestselling author of The Bridge Kingdom series.

Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back.

Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son, Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: She possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. It was foretold such a magic would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate.

Believing he’s destined to rule Skaland as king, the fanatical jarl binds Freya with a blood oath and orders Bjorn to protect her from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. The greatest test of all, however, may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny but the fate of all the people she swore to protect.

My Review

Do you miss shows like Vikings or The Last Kingdom? Are you craving magical worldbuilding with battle axes, shields, and mischievous gods? Then pick up A Fate Inked in Blood.

A Fate Inked in Blood starts out a bit slow, as it's setting up the main character, Freya's, bleak life as a fishmonger's wife. And boy, is it depressing. But the story picks up pretty quickly when the jarl come to mess things up and expose all of Freya's secrets. And of course, that's when she meets Bjorn, the fire axe wielding son of the jarl
.

 Freya is a complicated character. She wants to be a warrior, but she's forced into terrible positions by the men around her due to her loyal nature and desire to protect her undeserving family members. Bjorn, meanwhile, is secretive, but suave. He's got that Hawke/Rhysand personality, but he's a tad more patient; he waits to see how things work out before acting on anything. It was quite frustrating when you are constantly hoping he'll come in and save Freya from all of the terrible situations she's put in. But, he just bides his time. His power is pretty cool, though. I want a fire axe. Freya's shield power is cool too, but it's still a bit of a mystery how her power plays into the king-making prophecy, though I do have some theories for book two.

The side characters in this story don't have a ton of dimension to really make them stand out. Snorri is the corrupt jarl. Ylva is the evil, jealous stepmother type. And Geir is the worthless brother. Everyone else is barely in the story enough to really care about them, which is fine. It's a fantasy romance story, so that makes sense.

As for the worldbuilding itself, while Jensen used existing Norse gods and concepts, like Thor, Loki, and Valhalla, I think it could've been relatively easy for her to not use them at all and create her own god system. I would have preferred that, honestly. It was a little jarring seeing Thor mentioned midway through the story. I do love the idea of having people blessed with powers given to them by the gods, though. It's really interesting to learn about the different abilities. And the action that results from those powers is intense too. I hope it gets even more ramped up in the sequel.

All in all, if you like books like Adrienne Young's Sky in the Deep, Jennifer L. Armentrout's Fall of Ruin and Wrath or From Blood and Ash, or Tricia Levenseller's Warrior of the Wild, then A Fate Inked in Blood is the book for you. There's a solid hate to semi-friends to lovers storyline mixed with forbidden lovers and a very chaotic ending. I'm super excited to see what happens next.

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

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Stacking the Shelves: The Untitled 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.

I can't believe February is already almost halfway over when January took 8,000 years. Like last week, I don't think I did much. Just worked, worked out, slept, ate, rinse and repeat. I'm ready to decompress this weekend, though. I plan on finishing up House of Flame and Shadow and taking many naps.


My FairyLoot January Adult sub was delivered to my parents' house, and they came by this week and were able to drop it off. The book is The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers, which has an awful cover. Honestly, I think it's just the shiny font. It's giving "Graphic design is my passion." Honestly, the regular cover is prettier, so I'll be turning this one inside out to show the reverse dustjacket. 
 

I downloaded what will probably be my last book from Kindle Unlimited, Phoenix Chosen by Ashe Moon, this week. I canceled my KU sub and it ends February 14, I believe. So I need to read this one quickly if I want to get it done before then. I need to read some of my physical books and Amazon is a shady company, so I thought it'd be better to just cancel. If I want an ebook, I can just buy it. 
 
Well, that's all for me. Let me know what books you have bought/received lately.

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

January Wrap-Up & February TBR

Well, the first month of 2024 has officially ended, and I feel like I barely did anything worthwhile. I basically just worked and vegged out the entire time. There's more sunshine out now, though, so hopefully that motivates me to get things done. I definitely feel less energized when it's dark outside.

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 January

Gold: 4 stars

Another month where I only read one singular book. Good grief. To be fair, it was a long one, but I really need to pull myself together. I've just had such a terrible time with finding books that actually interest me. I want stuff similar to Silver Under Nightfall, Crossing Acheron, and/or the Beautiful Monsters series, but there's nothing really like that that I've been able to find. Again, to be fair, I haven't looked very hard, though. I've been too distracted by TikTok.

Books Bought/Received in January

I don't have a ton to talk about this month, thankfully. I've been pretty good at limiting my book orders so far this year. I hope it stays that way, but now that I'm going to ApollyCon, I'm not sure what will happen. I'm volunteering, but still... There's potential for financial disaster. In total in January, I bought four books and received four books, all of which were physical copies.

All of the books I received in January were FairyLoot preorders. They included the Red Rising trilogy and the December Adult book, Faebound by Saara El-Arifi. I didn't receive any of the books I ordered in January within the month of January, however. They either came in February or are set to come at a later date. Those include two Barnes & Noble orders, Gothikana by RuNyx and House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas, and two FairyLoot orders The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers, and Tales of the Celestial Kingdom by Sue Lynn Tan. The City of Stardust was the January monthly book and Tales of the Celestial Kingdom was a preorder. Oh, technically I guess I did receive a copy of Gothikana in January, but it was water damaged, so the replacement version didn't arrive until February.

Currently Obsessed With

I actually have new things to talk about this month! Woohoo! Though I am still watching The Office reruns. No big changes there.

I started watching The Last Kingdom on Netflix in mid-January. I'm on the last episode of season one, I believe. I think there are four seasons in total, so at least I have something to watch for a bit. I also binged the entirety of Netflix's The Night Agent with my parents on a random Saturday. We started episode one in the morning and didn't stop watching until we'd finished episode ten at 8 p.m. that night. Oh, and the night before, I'd watched a bit of Queen Charlotte with my mom. She hadn't watched it, so I just introduced her to the series.

January TBR


Super big surprise, Charm by Tracy Wolff is on this list. Yes, I still haven't finished it even though it's been like six months. Ugh. I'm going to read it, it's just not calling to me right now. I also need to read A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen, as it's a NetGalley review ARC, and I need to read House of Flame and Shadow for my book club. The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards is a book I started during a reading slump that I'd also like to finish. I'm almost 100 pages into it.

***

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

Saturday, February 3, 2024

Stacking the Shelves: The HOFAS 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.

It's been two weeks since I actually received a book in the mail. That's pretty good. Honestly, I'm hoping to slow down my purchasing a lot in 2024. I don't think that's super realistic for me, but I'm going to pretend to make a good effort at it. As for my regular life, nothing amazing to note there. Just chugging along. Though I was selected as an ApollyCon volunteer for 2024, so that should be fun.
 

So I kind of lied. I did actually get a book last week, but it was damaged in transit (stupid, rain), so I had to get a replacement. That was Gothikana by RuNyx. My copy not only was completely soaked through, but it also had a major dent on the bottom that had likely occurred before the book was even packaged. Yeesh. B&N, pull yourself together. But, they sent me a replacement that looks great, so I can't complain too much. My copy of House of Flame and Shadow also arrived. It's freakin' ginormous. Ugh. I don't even want to read it just because it's so long and I know it'll take SJM five more years to get book four out. Boooooo...
 
Well, that's all for me. Let me know what books you have bought/received lately.

Sunday, January 21, 2024

Review: Calamity by Constance Fay

Calamity
(Uncharted Hearts #1)
Publication Date: November 14, 2023
Paperback, 320 pages, Bramble
Genres: Adult, Sci-Fi, Romance

Bramble's inaugural debut is equal parts steamy interstellar romance and sci-fi adventure, perfect for fans of Firefly and Ilona Andrews.
 
She’s got a ramshackle spaceship, a misfit crew, and a big problem with its sexy newest member…
 
Temperance Reed, banished from the wealthy and dangerous Fifteen Families, just wants to keep her crew together after their feckless captain ran off with the intern. But she’s drowning in debt and revolutionary new engine technology is about to make her beloved ship obsolete.
 
Enter Arcadio Escajeda. Second child of the terrifying Escajeda Family, he’s the thorn in Temper’s side as they’re sent off on a scouting mission on the backwater desert planet of Herschel 2. They throw sparks every time they meet but Temper’s suspicions of his ulterior motives only serve to fuel the flames between them.
 
Despite volcanic eruptions, secret cultists, and deadly galactic fighters, the greatest threat on this mission may be to Temper’s heart.

My Review

Constance Fay's Calamity is a good book for fans of Meagan Spooner and Amie Kaufman's Starbound trilogy as well as some of the cheesier Sy-Fy space television shows that are addicting but ridiculous at the same time. Unfortunately, Calamity for me was a bit of a miss, but I could see some people having fun with it, especially for readers who like lighter romances with a decent amount of worldbuilding.

So the main character, Temperance Reed, has been kicked out of her rich family and is now the captain of a ship. Her and her crew take on an odd job involving another rich family, and one of the sons of said family, Arcadio, tags along for the trip. Temperance's personality wasn't super mature. Her inner dialogue and even conversations with other characters just weren't funny. The banter was really juvenile, in my opinion. And I feel like that's what the story and the romance was leaning on: being a light-hearted, funny, space romance. Honestly, it was just kind of weird and awkward. Arcadio also never really got a chance to move beyond "hot solder" designation. The supposedly "romantic" and "sexy" scenes did not hit.

The action for this story was decent. The conflict between the main characters and the cult group and another evil rich family was intriguing, but it didn't make up for the lackluster chemistry between the two leads. There was no real tension between the two; it was a bit insta-lovey/lusty. With some cheesiness thrown in. Some of the descriptions towards the end were also a little hard to follow. The writing got a little clunky.

Overall, Calamity didn't hit like I thought it would. I expected worldbuilding on the scale of The Expanse with a romance story similar to ACOTAR or FBAA, as this is published by a sci-fi/fantasy romance imprint. I think my expectations were too high. However, don't let that stop you from reading it. It could be a nice palette cleanser between heavier romantasy stories.


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

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

My Most Anticipated 2024 Sequels

There are A LOT of 2024 book releases I'm looking forward to, and my top 10 changes each day based on what genre I'm in the mood to read. But I also noticed a lot of my most anticipated books are sequels, so I'm making two separate posts for my most anticipated books (similar to what I did last year). This is the list of sequels. Later, I'll post my list of books by authors I haven't read before/new releases/start of series by authors I've read before. It's a working title. Ha ha.

For your reading pleasure, here are my ten most anticipated sequels of 2024. There are a few honorable mentions that I couldn't fit in the list. They include Father Material by Alexis Hall (disappointed with book two, so this didn't make it higher on the list), The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah (just didn't fit in the list), Red God by Pierce Brown (skeptical this will release in 2024), and Court of Wanderers by Rin Chupeco (already read and reviewed).

***

The Relentless Legion by J.S. Dewes

Honestly, I had to take The Ashfire King out of the Top 10 when The Relentless Legion was officially announced in December. Literally days after I'd just wrote my Most Anticipated list. Ugh. Why does that always happen? But yeah, I forgot this series is still ongoing. I loved book one, and book two, The Exiled Fleet, was good, but it's been so long, I just hope I remember everything for The Relentless Legion.

Serpent Sea by Maiya Ibrahim

This is the only YA book on my list. Wow. That's so weird to think about. But Serpent Sea is the sequel to Spice Road, which I loved back when I read it in 2022. It's taken forever to get the sequel, so I'm excited that it seems like it'll actually release in 2024.

Kingdom of the Forgotten & A Gods' War by Charissa Weeks

The fourth and fifth books in the Witch Walker series are both supposed to release in 2024. Will they? Who knows. Kingdom of the Forgotten comes out in April, though, so it should release then for sure. I've read books one and two, so I'm just waiting for the rest of the series to come out before re-reading and bingeing.

The Dawn Throne by Tara Sim

I'm honestly not sure if this book will release in 2024. Goodreads says it will, but I believe The Midnight Kingdom was also supposed to release within a year of the first book, and it got pushed back. I'm hoping this one won't, because I would like to reread book one and then binge the entire trilogy. No cover yet for The Dawn Throne, FYI.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune

Book one, The House in the Cerulean Sea, was one of my favorite reads a few years ago, so I'm excited TJ Klune wrote a sequel. I am super nervous, however, that it seems to follow Arthur's POV instead of Linus's. I don't like POV shifts in series unless they're companion stories.

Goldfinch by Raven Kennedy

This is the last book in the Plated Prisoner series. Have I read Gold, book five, yet? Nope. Do I know the wait for this one will be hard on my nerves? Yep. I'm fairly sure Raven Kennedy is going to write a spinoff book about some of the characters, from what she hinted at in a livestream once. But I'm not sure which characters that will follow. So yeah, Goldfinch will be bittersweet.

Honey Cut by Sierra Simone

I read the first book, Salt Kiss back in September, and it was absolutely addicting. I couldn't stop reading. I am worried, however, because the first book followed one character's POV, and the sequel switches POV. I hope the other character gets some chapters, though. I don't like the female main character as much as I like the narrator from book one. I'm also worried because I read another series by this author and things started getting wonky in book two, so I DNF'd the entire series after that. I hope that's not the case for this trilogy.

Hare Underneath by H.G. Birde

I read Crossing Acheron this past summer, and it was awesome! So addicting, with a dubious dark romance and wicked paranormal creatures. I'm very excited for book two which I think is supposed to release in June 2024. But, like all of my top three, it doesn't have a cover yet.

Zodiac Academy 9 by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti

GAH! This series! It's so frustrating and addicting, and I just want more, but I don't want it to end, but I also do want it to end with happily ever afters for everyone. Ugh. This last book is supposed to release in April, so if I can't go to ApollyCon, at least I can read a book in one of my favorite series as consolation.

Visions of Flesh and Blood & Primal of Blood and Bone by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I'm cheating and putting two books because Visions isn't a full book. It's a compendium of series information. Also, it's my most anticipated book for the first half of 2024, while Primal (no cover yet) will likely be my most anticipated for the last half. If it releases this year. It's supposed to be the final book in the Blood and Ash world through Poppy's POV, but I don't think that'll be the case. JLA said that for the third book in the Flesh and Fire series too, and look how that turned out!

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Alright, there you have it. My most anticipated 2024 sequels. What 2024 books are you looking forward to? Let me know in the comments section.