Stacking the Shelves: The July Owlcrate 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.

By the time this pre-scheduled post goes up, I will be in the D.C. area for ApollyCon! So I will be physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted. But, I'll have signed books! Woohoo! I'll be sure to share all about my experience once I'm back, though it'll be after my July Wrap-Up post so you'll have to wait a week or so. But anyway, let's get on to this week's haul.

 First up, I have the July Owlcrate box. After skipping Owlcrate for almost two years, I decided to get this month's box because there was an FBAA item included. Well, sadly, the FBAA item is not something I'm that excited about. The water bottle just isn't for me. One, I prefer sturdy, machine-washable bottles, and two, I already have reliable bottles that didn't come to me covered in dust. So I'm throwing it into my stack of FBAA swag to sell one day. As for the rest of the items, they're okay. The orange body spray does smell good, the pocket mirror (while a little thick) is useful, and the Daevabad pin is already on my pin banner. However, the Iron Fey bowl cozy... *sigh*. I still haven't used the last bowl cozy Owlcrate sent out. But the book is really pretty. It has an exclusive cover and foiled endpapers. That's right. FOILED ENDPAPERS! I'm currently reading it right now to decide if I want to skip another subscription box that's going to have this book in a future box. I'm hoping to finish it before I leave.

Next, I have the newest installment in AMillionWorldsDesign's FBAA dustjacket series. Unfortunately, I don't have an extra TWOTQ hardcover for this one yet, but I'm keeping my eye out for cheap copies online. This jacket isn't my favorite of the series, as I think the queen looks a bit too young and catty here, but I do like that there are some different characters on this one besides just Poppy and Hawke. And the background details and clothing! Those are stunning!

 I also have a Member's Day order from the Bookish Box Shop. I bought their Poppy and Hawke prints to match the Kieran one I got a couple of months ago. I think Poppy looks amazing in this art style! And while I do like the Kieran and Hawke versions, they aren't as amazing as she is. Just look at her!

 

And finally, I have another Prettygalpins tarot character card deck. This set is for the Kingdom of the Wicked series. These character decks are pretty expensive, and the shop artist keeps selling them like once or twice a month on top of some of the pins she also sells, so I'm not sure I'll be able to keep buying them. I'm going to have to start being picky about which ones I go for. I already know there's an upcoming deck that I won't be getting, but then again, I know of another one that's dropping super soon that I will need to buy. Yikes.

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

Review: A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance

Foz Meadows

Publication Date: July 26, 2022

Hardcover, 544 pages, Tor Books

Genres: Adult, Fantasy, LGBTQ+

Goodreads

“Stolen me? As soon to say a caged bird can be stolen by the sky.” 

 

Velasin vin Aaro never planned to marry at all, let alone a girl from neighboring Tithena. When an ugly confrontation reveals his preference for men, Vel fears he’s ruined the diplomatic union before it can even begin. But while his family is ready to disown him, the Tithenai envoy has a different solution: for Vel to marry his former intended’s brother instead.

 

Caethari Aeduria always knew he might end up in a political marriage, but his sudden betrothal to a man from Ralia, where such relationships are forbidden, comes as a shock. 

 

With an unknown faction willing to kill to end their new alliance, Vel and Cae have no choice but to trust each other. Survival is one thing, but love—as both will learn—is quite another.

 

Byzantine politics, lush sexual energy, and a queer love story that is by turns sweet and sultry. A Strange and Stubborn Endurance is an exploration of gender, identity, and self-worth. It is a book that will live in your heart long after you turn the last page.

My Review

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance is the story of an arranged marriage within a fantasy world that has a small amount of magics and a lot of political turmoil. The tone of the book and its writing style make it the perfect next read for fans of Alexis Hall's historical romance books or Everina Maxwell's Winter's Orbit.

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance follows two main characters: Velasin, the third son of a noble from Ralia, and Caethari, the only son of the leader in Tithena. The writer does something interesting with the perspectives for these two main characters. Velasin's point of view chapters are told in first person, while Cae's are told in third person. It was a shift that allowed for less confusion between POV switches, but it did kind of baffle my mind once I realized that's what was happening. Velasin, as the first person POV, is very hard on himself and has experienced a trauma early on in the book, while Cae is a soldier who doesn't really want to rule and would rather leave that task to his sisters.

Now, my big complaint with this book is the writing style. It's just too darn dry. It's a very formal style. Though I did get used to it eventually, it's easier to get attached to the characters, in my opinion, when it's not written like an Austen novel or an old-time fantasy book. This style also made following some of the logic in the plot-based discussions very difficult. Like when everyone was trying to figure out why someone was attacking a certain group of people. My brain fried trying to keep track of their discussion. Also, some terminology could have been more organically introduced, like the terms for royalty and regular people (tiern and ren, if you were curious).

Another gripe for this book is that major revelations happened pretty early on, making the story rather anticlimactic in the first half. It left little tension between the two main characters that would've been better served if it remained in place a while longer. However, about halfway through the book, Cae and Velasin's relationship turned into a cuter, more awkward domestic arranged marriage. So while I was hoping for more romantic tension, secrets, and pining, the awkwardness was adorable at times. I felt very much like Markel, Velasin's friend, in those instances, smiling at the pair. Oh, and speaking of Markel, there's deaf representation as well as queer representation in the book. I'd hope by now that every fantasy would have this sort of real-world representation in their stories, but alas, that's not always the case. So it's fantastic to see here. And the terminology for titles and gender identities was clever too, though it did get confusing trying to juggle all of them. I think this book could've benefited from a breakdown of terms in the frontmatter.

Okay, so I'm not done griping. I do have to say, that it's just weird that there were no bodyguards assigned to any of the royals. In fact, a lot of the plot developments in terms of the assassin storyline just didn't make sense. Why did the father (the ruler), just let his son and his husband roam around without any kind of protection? And the characters are also weirdly naive considering a murder spree is going on. They're all "Oh, let's just go visit the shop by ourselves, surely nothing bad will happen!" And perhaps the weirdest development of all, the Tithenai people are very lackadaisical about killing. "Ope someone's been stabbed. Oh, well, let's party!"

Other than some naivety, the ending of this book was fun and dramatic. I suspected pretty early on who was responsible for everything, but it all played out in a twisty manner that had me flipping pages fairly quickly.

 All in all, A Strange and Stubborn Endurance, is a good book for fans of political maneuvering, diverse characters, and good representation. I wouldn't suggest the book for all romantasy readers though, as it is a dry tale. But I think some readers who have an appreciation for that old-time fantasy feel will really enjoy this one.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Bookish Box/FairyLoot 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 an odd week. My parents and sister came to visit this past Saturday and then my parents showed up again on Tuesday. It's kind of thrown my week off a bit. I also haven't been reading a lot. I've finished one book that took me almost 2.5 weeks to read. I hate reading slumps, but hopefully, that's over now. However, I have ApollyCon next week, so who knows how I'll feel about reading after that. Haha.

Time to talk about this week's haul though. First up, I have a couple of things that aren't books, but they are book-related. I bought this B-E-A-UTIFUL FBAA Atlantia pin off of Etsy (NoOnedesignsShop). It's way larger than I thought it would be, and I love it. I'm going to have to rearrange my whole FBAA pin collection now, just to find the perfect spot for this piece of art. I also impulse-bought the ALITF pin that was on the JLA shop. Unlike the Atlantia pin, this one was smaller than I expected. Boo... It's ridiculously tiny, and I have no idea how it's going to look in my pin display.

Next, I have one of the most random purchases I feel like I have ever made. I bought some FBAA dustjackets a while back off of Etsy, even though I didn't have extra copies of the hardcovers. Well, my original plan was to wait for B&N to have that end-of-year-50%-off sale they had last year for their hardcovers and nab extra copies. But I was browsing eBay and I came across these used copies! They don't have dustjackets, so they're perfect! I've already put my others on, and they look fabulous!

And finally, I have the Bookish Box and FairyLoot books. The Prince's Poisoned Vow is Bookish Box's June adult book, and The Undertaking of Hart & Mercy is July's adult book. I think FairyLoot's copy is very cute, and I'm intrigued, even though its not a title I think I would normally gravitate towards. As for TPPV, I'm very interested in reading this one! However, I don't really care for BB's edition. I just started my subscription with them, but I don't think it's going to last long, honestly. I love the titles they pick, but their editions are so... odd. I might keep my sub until their Black Friday sale, just in case they put leftover Zodiac Academy editions up (after I see what they look like from other people's unboxings). But after that, I think I'm going to give up on BB and only buy their editions when its a title I really, REALLY, REALLY want.

What books have you bought/received lately?

Review: Heat Wave by TJ Klune

Heat Wave

TJ Klune

(The Extraordinaries #3)
Publication Date: July 19, 2022

Hardcover, 384 pages, Tor Teen

Genres: Young Adult, Sci-Fi, LGBTQ+

Goodreads

Heat Wave is the explosive finale to the thrilling and “uproariously funny” (Sophie Gonzales) Extraordinaries trilogy by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author TJ Klune!

Nick, Seth, Gibby, and Jazz are back in action bringing justice, protection, and disaster energy to the people of Nova City.

An unexpected hero returns to Nova City and crash lands into Nick's home, upturning his life, his family, and his understanding of what it means to be a hero in the explosive finale of the thrilling and hilarious Extraordinaries trilogy by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune..

My Review

TJ Klune once again delivers a cute and hilarious installment in his fun and unique YA series about teen superheroes. There are twisty mind games, laugh-out-loud "talks" with parental figures, and an adorable romance to keep readers on their toes.

At the end of book two, Flash Fire, Nick and co. were in a somewhat stable place. Yes, the bad guy was still out there doing bad guy things, and yeah, his traumatic past was still coming back to mess with him in more ways than one, but all four characters—Nick, Seth, Jazz, and Gibby—were working together to figure it out. Now, they're trying to figure it all out while also attempting to make the most of their last high school summer together. 

And boy do those plans get derailed. There is a huge twist in the plot development from book two to book three that I did not see coming. I thought Klune had gone with a very familiar, overdone trope at the end of book two, and instead, he shook it up and made it something completely different. I give major kudos to that. I'm not going to go into any details for fear of spoilers, but just know that everything is not as it appears...

As for our main cast of characters, Nick is still an adorable and awkward disaster. Seth is a solid and reliable guy. And Gibby and Jazz are a great support system for their hero companion and Nick's antics in general. I will say that I'm a little sad we didn't get more Seth and Nick fluffy, domestic scenes. They are a very cute couple, and they only get a few on-page moments together. Though the ones they did get were awwwww-worthy. Also, the plot wrapped up really nicely with this final book. There weren't any open endings or confusing climaxes. Though, I do think some of the political elements, while not overbearing or wrong to include, did take me out of the moment sometimes. Nothing major, but it did happen once or twice.

Overall, The Extraordinaries trilogy is a perfect read for young readers—queer, straight, unsure, or questioning—to not only possibly see themselves in a superhero story, but to see a loving and caring family dynamic fight crime together versus one vigilante taking on the world. Everyone needs help now and then, and the parents in The Extraordinaries make sure their kids know they have their backs! I think every junior and high school library should have this series on their shelves.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Avril 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.

Man, it's been a tiring week. I guess because I'm getting back into my workout routine and the heat + running = exhaustion. It's been so hard to read. I just want to sleep as soon as I finish my workouts, which I typically do after I come back from working all day. Ugh. But anyway, I have a few things this week to share. I've got some swag from the Avril Lavigne concert I attended last weekend and some books I accrued from various places.

The first book I got was Nightchaser by Amanda Bouchet. It was at my local used bookstore. I also traded my FairyLoot edition of Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard for the regular version. I actually like the font design on the US edition way more than the FairyLoot one and I don't want to keep buying expensive sequels, so I decided to trade with my friend. And finally, I have Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver. This was at Books-A-Million, which my friend and I went to when I visited her in KC to attend the concert. The hardcover edition was less than $8, so I nabbed it! Oh, and I bought a Yennefer Funko Pop from Amazon. I've started getting into Pops again, which is a bad idea when combined with my fan art and book shopping addiction.

At the Avril concert, I picked up a tour shirt and a CD. I haven't bought a CD in so long, but I've collected all of Avril's except the one before this most recent album, so I figured why not buy it as a souvenir. Unfortunately, the plastic case on mine got a little cracked. I don't know if it was that way when I bought it and I didn't notice or if it got that way on my drive back home. Oh well...

What books have you bought/received lately?

A Quick Recap of the KC Avril Lavigne Concert

So as you probably know by now if you read my last Stacking the Shelves post, I went to an Avril Lavigne concert this past weekend in Kansas City. Well, technically, it was a Machine Gun Kelly concert that Avril Lavigne had a set during. But as I'm not an MGK fan, I am choosing to call it an Avril concert. It was my first large non-work event since before COVID. And it was also my first concert since a Carrie Underwood one in my freshman year of college. Wow.

 

The opener for the concert was someone I'd never heard of before and likely won't hear of again, simply because I'm not into his type of music. His name is Iann Dior. I honestly couldn't remember a single one of his songs. But after him, Avril showed up.

We were pretty far away from the stage, in the raised seating section behind the floor area. That means most of my pics and videos are focused on the jumbo screens versus the actual stage. The stage was way too far away and the lights and fog too crazy to clearly see someone as tiny as Avril very clearly. But that was totally fine, as I knew going in that the stage wouldn't be super close. My friend and I paid for pretty cheap tickets.

She ended up playing eight songs solo, including Girlfriend, Bite Me, What the Hell, Complicated, My Happy Ending, Love It When You Hate Me, Sk8ter Boi, and I'm With You. She also came back on stage when MGK was performing to sing her song Bois Lie with him. After that, my friend and I left, because we weren't into MGK. We had to stick around for around a dozen of his songs before they ended up performing Bois Lie, though. However, we still got out of there before the traffic got all congested, thankfully.

 

Sadly, I was going to share a video or two with you from the event, but Blogger just will not let me upload them. And I really don't feel like doing any major editing to get these things posted, so instead, I'm just going to share the Youtube video of my favorite one of the songs she sang off her new album.

  Well, that's pretty much the event. I paid for a $6 bottle of water that I only drank half of because they had to pour the bottle into a plastic cup (something about people throwing bottle caps) but someone ended up touching my cup so I was only able to drink half of it. I truly don't see how they can legally not allow people a bottle when concerts could be kind of dangerous, especially with alcohol being served. Lots of potential to go wrong there, in my opinion. But yeah, other than that and some idiots smoking in the arena, it was fun. I damaged my hearing and my voice for the night, bought a t-shirt and CD, and, now, I need not go to a concert for another five to ten years. Haha. 

 

Oh, and before I forget, I did hang out with my friend for a couple of days too. We ate at some good restaurants and planned our ApollyCon trip later this month. It was a good time. I just wish the drive was shorter so we could hang out more often.

Stacking the Shelves: The Double Tarot Cards 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'm writing this post a bit early this week, as I am going to an Avril Lavigne concert Friday night and staying with a friend through Saturday. It will be the first concert I've been to since I was in college. Wow. It'll also be the first personal/non-work event I've been to since 2020. It'll be weird being in a group of people again. I may end up hating every second of it.

Back to talking about books, though. First up, I have my second set of tarot cards from Prettygalpins. These are of the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac characters. There's Elise, Gabriel, Leon, Ryder, and Dante. Funny story, I also was going to haul this book, Dark Fae, which is book one in the Ruthless Boys series, but the spine font is all messed up, so I'm going to return it.

The Ruthless Boys tarot card deck also came with my order of Crescent City cards. There's Lydia, Ithan, Tharion, Ruhn, Bryce, and Hunt. Now, I have mixed feelings about this set. Everyone looks good, but Bryce and Hunt don't look like what I picture when I read the series. It's still pretty art, just not what I would consider accurate in my opinion. And other people may disagree, which is okay.

 

And finally, I have the sole book in my haul. Or at least, the sole book that I'm keeping. It's Broken Bonds by J. Bree. J. Bree is an ApollyCon author and I've heard good things about this reverse harem series. Therefore, I bought the book to get signed. I also bought Khal Drogo because he was like $5 on Amazon.

What books have you bought/received lately?

June Wrap-Up & July TBR

So June was not my month. And so far, it's bleeding into July too. Mostly it's unrelated health things. Starting with a chest cold, then a back injury, and now a dental crown falling out on my three-day holiday weekend. Ugh. All that, plus the Roe v. Wade news is really managing to put a dent in my summer. But book-wise, June was pretty good, so at least there's that.

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 June

The Maid and the Orcs: 3.5 stars (ebook)
King of Battle and Blood: 2 stars (ebook)
A Taste of Gold and Iron: 3.5 stars (NetGalley ARC, review to come)
The Prison Healer: 4 stars

The Gilded Cage: 4 stars

Glow: 3.5 stars (ebook)

Savage Lands: 4 stars

Wretched: 2 stars (ebook)

I read eight books in June, five of which were ebooks. The ebooks included The Maid and the Orcs by Finley Fenn (KU), King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Clair (library), A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland (NetGalley), Glow by Raven Kennedy (KU), and Wretched by Emily McIntire (KU). The three physical books I read were The Prison Healer and The Gilded Cage by Lynette Noni and Savage Lands by Stacey Marie Brown. Savage Lands was an ApollyCon prep read. I believe of the physical reads, The Prison Healer is the only one I owned prior to the start of 2022.

Books Bought/Received in June

I didn't realize how many books I'd received until I started stacking them up to take a photo. In total, I received 13 books this month, eight of which I bought in the month of June. However, I did technically buy 12 books in June, since I made four preorders/book box orders.

 The physical books I bought in June and received in June are Dragon Wytch by Yasmine Galenorn (used bookstore), The Bridge Kingdom books 1-3 by Danielle L. Jensen, Foxy Tales by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti, Heart on Fire by Amanda Bouchet (Amazon), and Blade Breaker by Victoria Aveyard (B&N preorder). As for ebooks I bought in June, I just have Sapphire Sunset by Christopher Rice, which is one I need to read before ApollyCon at the end of July. It was a cheap Kindle purchase. Oh, and I did pay for two books that I'll receive at ApollyCon. I'll get to show you those in next month's wrap-up. And I also paid for July's Adult Bookish Box book and my FairyLoot Kingdom of the Feared preorder.

I received five books I didn't purchase in June, which are essentially preorders that came in. Owlcrate's Book of Night edition arrived. I also got June's FairyLoot, which I paid for when I bought my six-month subscription back in February. There were two books in the June FairyLoot box, so I got Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber and This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede. I also got Tanvi Merwah's Monsters Born and Made from NetGalley, as well as the short story ebook preorder incentive from Danielle L. Jensen called The Calm Before the Storm.

Currently Obsessed With

I finished Modern Family, so now I'm trying to find a new filler show to watch. But I've mostly gone back to rewatching The Office now that I have Peacock. There are a few new seasons of shows I've been watching, though. So that's exciting.

The Boys season three is out, and I've been watching it every week. While I like the weekly release model because it allows for more time to enjoy the show, I do hate the wait between episodes, especially now that Jensen Ackles is in it. Other than that, I started Fate: The Winx Saga on Netflix, but I haven't gotten very far yet, simply due to other life distractions. Oh, and I binged Love, Victor season three. It was an okay finale season. Too many of the main characters got together, in my opinion. And finally, I finished Stranger Things Vol. 2, but I technically did that at the beginning of July. I just wanted to squeeze it in here in case I forget to mention it during next month's wrap-up.

July TBR

I have a list of library books and a list of ApollyCon books to get through this month. The library books include A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy, The Blood Traitor by Lynette Noni, and The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi. For ApollyCon, I need to read Oath Taker by Audrey Grey, With Shield and Ink and Bone by Casey L. Bond, Sapphire Sunset by Christopher Rice, Broken Bonds by J. Bree, and Riven by Roan Perrish. I'd also like to read some more of the Savage Lands series before ApollyCon. However, I have to buy the sequels, since they're not on Kindle Unlimited, so I may only get to one or two of them this month. Other than those, I need to re-read Vampire Academy for my book club in preparation for the TV show coming out, and I need to finish Only a Monster by Vanessa Len, which I started reading in June.

***

Okay, well, that's the month of June, plus some July 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 June FairyLoot 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, the last couple of weeks have been pretty crappy. Women just lost a ton of rights and bodily autonomy, and SCOTUS is on the warpath to do even more damage. Yeesh. I hope this gets fixed soon, otherwise a lot of people are screwed. But I guess I'll try to keep it light and breezy here for now and just talk about books. I missed last week's Stacking the Shelves because I only had one book and I didn't feel like creating a whole post for it. So, I'm back now with a mega haul!

First up, I have the book I got last week, The Inadequate Heir by Danielle L. Jensen. I ordered this one from Amazon and the original version that came was all mushed on the spine because they shipped it in a mailer bag instead of a box. Thankfully, my replacement was fine, even though it too was shipped in a mailer bag. (Get it together, Amazon. Gosh.) And just this past Thursday, my B&N preorder of Victoria Aveyard's Blade Breaker came in. I still haven't read the first book, but I will. One day... I'll honestly probably just wait until all the books are out to binge it at this point. No sense in torturing myself with cliffhangers now.

Next are a couple of library books. I have Lynette Noni's The Blood Traitor and Brian D. Kennedy's A Little Bit Country. I own the first two books in Lynette Noni's Prison Healer series, but they're all FairyLoot editions. And the FairyLoot preorder for book three won't ship out until October. That was too long to wait, so I borrowed the library copy.

And this is definitely my biggest disappointment of the month, if not the year. I started collecting Sallteas's character pins back in 2021. I have the FBAA, Serpent & Dove, and TFOTA characters, which are all of the ones she's done so far. Therefore, I immediately ordered Wrath and Emilia from Kingdom of the Wicked when she had the preorder listing up. Well... They arrived. And they're smaller than the other pins, which means my entire display now doesn't match. I'm so bummed. I don't even know what to do with these tiny things. They look ridiculous next to my larger pins. Ugh. The preorder also came with this bonus print. While I like the art style, I'm not a huge fan of the fantasy characters reading a modern-day book like The Hating Game. So I'm not sure if I'll end up keeping any of this stuff, and I'm crossing my fingers the artist sells larger version of the pins some day.

June's FairyLoot box arrived! Woohoo! I actually like most of the items in this month's box. The Twin Crowns paperback is pretty, though mine came kind of dinged up. However, I don't think it's worth getting a replacement, as I have a LitJoy hardcover edition of Twin Crowns on the way too. This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede is very... yellow. I love the inside of the book, including the naked hardback, but the mustard yellow is meh to me. I do like the character art it came with, though. I also like the LOTR sticky tabs and The Atlax Six booksleeve, even though I have way too many unnecessary booksleeves, this one isn't as flashy as some of the others, so I could actually use it. As for the trinket dish, well, it's another trinket dish. I do like Rin from The Poppy War, but I just do not need another decorative dish. I'm not sure what FairyLoot is thinking with this collectible line. It's useless. But anyway, on to the best item in the box. It honestly made my six-month full box subscription 100% worth it--the FBAA tarot cards! Just look at Poppy, Hawke, and Kieran! They're gorgeous! AAAAAAAAHHHHH!

And lastly, I have a couple of ebooks. First is Tavia Lark's Prince and Assassin. I don't know much about this, and I can't remember where I heard about it. But it was free on Kindle Unlimited, so I downloaded it. My incentive for ordering The Inadequate Heir also arrived. It's the novella of The Calm Before the Storm by Danielle L. Jensen.

 

What books have you bought/received lately?