Stacking the Shelves: The Glossy vs. Matte 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 don't have a giant pileup of items to show you this round! I'm so proud of myself for getting this done before I had too many photos to share. Though, I do have to admit, I've still gone a little overboard and overestimated my ability to read things quickly.

First up, I've got two library books and an Amazon purchase. The library books are Aurora's End by Kristoff and Kaufman and A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske. I'm excited to read both of these, but they're due back to the library on December 9, so I need to read quickly. This is why I don't like borrowing new releases from the library. There just isn't enough time to get to them. The Amazon purchase, Gild, I've already read, as it's the November book club read. We may or may not end up also reading books two and three in the series, which means even more I need to read in a short period of time.

We can't let a week go by without any FBAA items in the haul, can we? So, here's my shame pile. Barnes & Noble was having a 20% sale for orders over $60, so I decided to go ahead and treat myself to the original hardcovers. I kept putting off buying them because I wasn't sure if I wanted to get custom sprayed edges. Alas, I am cheap, so I decided to nix that idea. However, as many of you probably know, there's a current paper shortage affecting the publishing chain. So the AKOFAF copy I originally received came with a glossy cover, not the matte version it's supposed to. I had to take the glossy version to my local B&N and trade it for a matte one. I was super happy they even had a version in stock. I was worried I'd have to locate a secondhand copy online somewhere. Now, I'm just hoping I don't have to repeat the process when my FBAA copy arrives. For some reason, it was shipped separately.

Next, I have a free ebook I downloaded on Kindle. Nightfall by L.H. Cosway. I have no idea what this one is about. It just a had a pretty cover, and someone on Instagram shared that it was free. So yeah. I'm a simple creature.

And last, we have If the Fates Allow by Rainbow Rowell, a companion novella to Fangirl, one of my favorite books of all time. I don't know much about this other than it follows Cath's now-older college roommate. I would've liked to have reread Fangirl before diving into this, but I think Kindle has this one on some sort of borrow period for Prime members, if you want to read it for free that is. I could just buy it for like $2, but I'd rather not until I know if I like it. Like I said earlier, I'm cheap.

Well, that's the end of this Stacking the Shelves. I have quite a few more things on the way, some of which might already be here by the time this post goes up. My November FairyLoot, FBAA hardcover, some character prints and pins, and maybe even the second and third installments in the Plated Prisoner series. We shall see...

What books have you bought/received lately?

Stacking the Shelves: The Pile Up 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 have got to stop waiting so long to post a new StS. Things pile up and it makes coding these blog posts super irritating. Well, not super irritating, but tedious. Very tedious. I truly hate the new Blogger format. It was so much easier when I could just copy/paste from my Microsoft Word template. Curse you, Blogger! But anywho, here's the stuff that I spent money on/received in the past few weeks. 😁

I acquired quite a few ebooks since my last haul. Fortunately, two of them are borrowed from my library's Libby app, so yay free reading! I've actually already read and returned Heartstopper, and I'm trying to get to Abaddon's Gate now. I also bought two ebooks, the first of which is Hostile Takeover by Lucy Lennox. It was super cheap on Kindle, so pre-ordered it back in October.

The second ebook I bought in October was A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L. Armentrout, which I...brace yourselves...didn't love. I have very mixed feelings when it comes to this book. I kind of just wish JLA had focused on writing The War of Two Queens and not tried to write a prequel series. But, who knows, maybe I'll enjoy the second book in this series more or even like this one more once I re-read it. That's the pattern I've noticed for myself when it comes to this fantasy series.

Oh, what do you know? More JLA books. Haha. These are my FairyLoot FBAA replacements. Two of the three arrived damaged, so FairyLoot sent me non-damaged copies. I thought it was funny that I got replacements for the two books I don't like as much versus my favorite in the series, A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire. So at least that one arrived in perfect condition.

Up next we have the October FairyLoot box. Now, I was not thrilled with this box. I still am quite miffed that FL decided to put a spinoff book into their monthly subscription. It's so strange to me that they did that. Now, I have to read Caraval and its sequels before I can even get to this one. Ugh. As for the goodies, I love the character cards! I wish FL would include these for every book they do! They're the kind of extras I want in a box! Not trinket dishes and too-pointy keychains. Seriously, if you're going to make a keychain, don't make it pointy enough to potentially stab and rip someone's bag. The KOTW blanket is cute, but it could've looked better. Overall, it was a meh box, just because I'm not in the Caraval fandom, but I'm really looking forward to November's box!

Please don't judge me for the next few photos. Yes, I've gone overboard once again on the JLA fan art. And no, I don't think I can stop. Yikes. Above, you'll see my ASITE pre-order incentive came in. It's the bookmark and the temporary tattoo. I need to buy some original cover FBAA hardcovers and put the tattoo in the book. A lot of people have done that, and it looks great. The other prints are from Redbubble. That snuggling baby Kieran and Cas is EVERYTHING!

And next, we have a more spicy order from Talia Nobel on Etsy. She finally opened her shop after taking a long break, and I jumped on it at like three a.m. I wanted that specific print from that specific AKOFAF scene. It's my favorite scene of the entire series. If you read it, you know what I'm talking about. 😉

Here we have some baby FBAA magnetic bookmarks. There's Kieran, Hawke, and Poppy. Aren't they adorable?! This and the next couple of photos are all from Alsaces_art. I spent waaaaay too much money on her Etsy shop. I've had to sell a lot of extra stuff to make up for these orders.

Here are some other JLA characters and baby Cassian and Nesta. Fun fact: The Harbinger and Dark Elements bookmarks of Trinity, Zayne, Layla, and Roth all came a day after I finished the final book in the Harbinger trilogy, Grace & Glory, which I did not like. So I think the mailman was just trying to rub my face into the fact that one of my more anticipated 2021 releases majorly disappointed me.

And last, we have one of my stupider purchases, not because I bought it. I'm happy with the quality, for the most part. (There were a couple that came a little faded/off-color, but most were fine.) I was so excited when Alsaces dropped these bookmarks in her Etsy shop, so I was ready to make an order ASAP. Unfortunately, her shop isn't easy to navigate and some of it's in Spanish. I have no problem with that, I just wish I had calmed down enough to not add multiples of items to my cart by accident. Now I have four Hawkes, two Maidens, two Red Dress Poppys, two Poppys, and two Red Outfit Hawkes. *sigh* Needless to say, this was a very expensive order. But at least I have some extra gifts for my book club friends.

What books have you bought/received lately?

October Wrap-Up & November TBR

Well, spooky season is over. We're now getting closer and closer to winter. Ick. I hate it. I love fall vibes and weather (normally, when it's not raining every single day), but I am not a fan of cold. I'll take summer heat any day of the week over freezing temperatures. But anywho, let's talk about books.

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 October

Empire of the Vampire: 4 stars
Rage & Ruin: re-read
Grace & Glory: 3 stars
A Shadow in the Ember: 4 stars (ebook)
Hostile Takeover: 3 stars (ebook)

I read five books in October. Three were physical books: Rage & Ruin, Grace & Glory, and EOTV, and the last two were ebooks, A Shadow in the Ember and Hostile Takeover by Lucy Lennox. So three JLA books this month. Wow. Of course, Rage & Ruin was a re-read to prep for Grace & Glory, which I did not love, btw. It seriously disappointed me. I also was very meh about ASITE and EOTV. This year just hasn't been a good reading year. Hopefully, I'll pick up a 4.5 to 5 star read sometime between now and the start of 2022. Oh, and unfortunately, none of the books I read in October were books owned prior to 2021. But I'm hoping my November TBR can help with this.

Books Bought/Received in October

In total, I bought three books this month: ASITE and Hostile Takeover by Lucy Lennox, the two ebooks that released this month, and I pre-ordered FairyLoot's edition of Iron Sword by Julie Kagawa, which won't arrive until February. However, I did receive five pre-ordered physical copies in October. The October FairyLoot box with Once Upon a Broken Heart came in as well as my replacement FairyLoot edition of Gods & Monsters after the first copy arrived damaged. Earlier in the month, Dark Rise arrived from a B&N order. And, my parents brought me my August FairyLoot box, so I now have These Hollow Vows and Afterlove. I won't be keeping Afterlove, as I just don't think it'll be something I'm into, but the copy does have pretty pink edges.

Currently Obsessed With

Like September, I don't have much I'm obsessing over. I did get a little into the spooky season and watched some Halloween movies, though. And of course, I had to watch my favorite...

Yep. Hocus Pocus is my all-time favorite Halloween film, as I'm sure is the same for a lot of people. It's just so good. It's witchy with talking cats and magical books, but it also has amazing humor and wacky vibes I love. I don't care for scary Halloween movies. I don't really like horror films. I'm more of a Hocus Pocus, Halloweentown, and Casper kind of girl. Other than HP, I watched Underworld one and two as well as continuing with season three of What We Do in the Shadows.

November TBR

Only one repeat in this month's TBR! Yay! I'm so excited that I managed to knock those Harbinger books off my TBR. That was really bumming me out. But now, onto reading some books I've owned prior to 2021. I checked to see how many books I've read of the physical copies I owned prior to 2021, and it wasn't looking good. So I'm trying to get through some of these before the New Year. Will I get through them all? Nope. But I'm hoping for at least three. Maybe five. I'm also continuing to read A Clash of Kings and I'd like to get to These Hollow Vows, a 2021 acquisition.

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