Tuesday, September 27, 2022

ApollyCon 2022 Recap: Day Three

Wow. I'm really milking these ApollyCon recap posts. It's been two months since the event ended, and I'm still trying to explain what I did. Yeesh. Well, I'm almost done. Just one more day to go after this one. Then, I have to recap my Disneyland experience... maybe. I haven't decided on that one yet. But anywho, day three of ApollyCon actually allowed us to sleep in for a bit. Hurrah! But sadly, we had more walking ahead of us. Boo.

The first half of day three was really just my friend and I being tourists. We went to a doughnut shop called District Doughnut, and we ate half of each doughnut we got. So three full doughnuts overall. We had a lovely sugar rush. I believe we got a blueberry, key lime pie, Nutella, strawberry, creme brulee, and an orange one. I liked the Nutella doughnut best. But really, all of them were good except the filling in the orange and creme brulee was too much.


After breakfast, we went to the National Mall area for the first time to visit the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We stayed there for quite a while to look at some taxidermied animals, some replica or real dinosaur fossils (some were real and some were copied), and other cool things. But honestly, I'm not a huge museum person, especially when the museum was getting more and more crowded the longer we stayed. So, we headed out a couple of hours later to visit my friend's favorite restaurant, Halal Guys. And it was fine. It reminded me of a Chipotle or a Subway. Nothing too fancy, which is always nice.


And now, we finally get to more actual ApollyCon stuff. The last major event of the convention was the After Party. This was the event everyone was supposed to wear their pajamas to, but a lot of people didn't, simply because it's difficult to wear pajamas for those who don't stay at the hotel and need to use public transit later. The After Party wasn't a big deal. I think the line for it was the worse part. It got pretty chaotic and at one point, a group of us at the front were worried they'd make us move after we'd already been sitting on the couches hanging out for a very long time. (Not technically in line, but still in line, if you know what I mean.) Jennifer stopped by for a bit to say thank you and such. She looked pretty tired, like the rest of us. Haha. But people still danced to the dj's music and tried to make the most of a weird event. There wasn't a bar or anything due to reasons Jennifer explained later. (It was the hotel's fault.) I don't drink, but it just seemed like a dud of an event.


I'm going to back up a bit and talk about what happened when we first came into the After Party, though. There were just a few tables set up in a giant empty room. The volunteers handed the first 100ish people swag bags. (We each got one. Though I can't even remember what was in them now. Mostly just extra ApollyCon swag and random author items. I think a lot of the stuff pictured above is what came in the bag, though I could be wrong.) And then we nabbed some stickers off the tables. (Not all the stickers, just a couple, because we weren't monsters.)
 
 

  Then, all the sudden, there was a mad rush around us to get to one of the tables that was pushed against the wall. Apparently, somebody had found a box of Bookish Box special editions under the table and like twenty people were crawling all over each other to nab one. Or, in some cases, more than one. Yep, there was a girl who walked away with a whole stack of special editions. And the kicker was, apparently the books weren't even for the attendees. They were left under the table to either give to volunteers later or for Bookish Box to do something with later. I can't remember the whole story. Oops. Maybe they shouldn't have left a box of books unsupervised with a crowd of bored book fans. But anyway, we didn't know any of this info at the time, so one of the people who I was standing with managed to grab a few and all of us passed them out to each other. I originally had Gild by Raven Kennedy, but since it's book three in a series, I gave it to someone else and kept A Deal with an Elf King instead. I feel bad about having it now, but, like I said, at the time, we had no idea they weren't freebies. Nobody was there to say no, and a lot of us didn't even see who grabbed them out from under the table.

After that mad book scramble, my friend and I got in a raffle sign-up line. Thankfully, my friend asked the volunteer if we had to stay in order to receive our prize so we knew we couldn't leave until after the drawing. So, we just hung out and shuffle danced until most people had left and only a small crowd was on the dance floor, with a few others sporadically standing around the room. Then, names were drawn for prizes. However, since a ton of people had left by then, it took a while for winners to actually be called. Eventually, though, my friend ended up winning a set of all four FBAA Bookish Box special editions. (She'd already bought them, so it wasn't something new, but she does plan to sell the set later and make back some of the money she spent at ApollyCon. Haha.)

Then, the last major event of ApollyCon was over and we took the bus back to our AirBnB. But, while the last major event was done for most attendees, we were lucky enough to get tickets to the JLA panel the next day. Amazingly, unlike a lot of attendees, we got one more day of ApollyCon. And hopefully, I can get that recap up in a timely manner... So stay tuned for the ApollyCon Day Five Recap!

Saturday, September 24, 2022

Stacking the Shelves: The Post-Disneyland 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 went to Disneyland last weekend, so forgive my lack of a post. Plus, work was crazy the entire two weeks after Labor Day. It was difficult for me to make myself stare at a screen to write up anything after I'd just been staring at my work screen for 8+ hours each day, including the weekends. But let's get to the fun stuff. Books! And Disney swag!


I actually didn't buy that much at Disneyland. I knew that I wouldn't when I was looking up their popular for-sale items online. I just never saw anything I truly wanted. So I decided I'd get a pin and a T-shirt. The pin is of characters from The Sword in the Stone. It was relatively easy to find, but I would've preferred a pin of the actual Sleeping Beauty Disneyland castle. They didn't have one of those for some stupid reason. As for the shirt, that was really hard to find. I didn't know what kind I wanted going in, but holy cow does Disney have some ugly T-shirts. I ended up seeing a guy with a Pizza Planet shirt walking around and, once I realized there weren't any good regular Disney shirts, I decided the Pizza Planet shirt would be cool. It's also red. I don't have a lot of color in my clothes, so that's nice for my wardrobe.

Next, my Plated Prisoner cupcake pin from A Touch of Magic Designs came in along with my print order of Poppy from FBAA. They're very pretty. ATOMD also sent along stickers of Poppy and Hawke. I don't own the shelfie versions of these characters (mostly because Hawke doesn't look right, imo), but I'm glad I have them in sticker form now at least. And that they were free. I'm also glad I didn't end up with another SJM couple like the Elain and Azriel ones I got last time. Nothing against SJM, but I get tired of seeing all the freebie SJM items in my purchases.


My August Adult FairyLoot box came in last week. And wow! This book is beautiful! I didn't think it was that pretty when I saw photos online, but in person, it's amazing! I'm nervous about Babel, as I have mixed feelings about R.F. Kuang's Poppy War trilogy so far. I'm definitely hoping this one has less violence and constant battle scenes. Fingers are crossed I love it.
 

The Bookish Box sent a dustjacket replacement for their What Lies Beyond the Veil edition. I didn't think anything was wrong with the first version, but apparently there wasn't foiling on the inside reverse dustjacket (pictured here). Now though, I have an extra dustjacket for a book I don't even think I'll keep. Ugh.
 

And finally, I have a copy of The War of Two Queens that I won in a giveaway. Woohoo! It's an extra copy I plan on using for my alternative dustjacket orders. I also have a copy of Shadows that I found online for extremely cheap. It was less than $9. On Mercari, people were selling it for $30+, but gotta love those eBay small bookstore/shop sellers. They have no idea how valuable certain books are.

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

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Review: Bone Weaver by Aden Polydoros

Bone Weaver Publication Date: September 20, 2022
Hardcover, 448 pages, Inkyard Press
Genres: YA, Fantasy, LGBTQ+
 
A haunting fantasy following Toma, adopted daughter of the benevolent undead, making her way across a civil war-torn continent to save her younger sister as she discovers she might possess magical powers herself.
 
The Kosa empire roils in tension, on the verge of being torn apart by a proletarian revolution between magic-endowed elites and the superstitious lower class, but seventeen-year-old Toma lives blissfully disconnected from the conflict in the empire with her adoptive family of benevolent undead.
 
When she meets Vanya, a charming commoner branded as a witch by his own neighbors, and the dethroned Tsar Mikhail himself, the unlikely trio bonds over trying to restore Mikhail’s magic and protect the empire from the revolutionary leader, Koschei, whose forces have stolen the castle. Vanya has his magic, and Mikhail has his title, but if Toma can’t dig deep and find her power in time, all of their lives will be at Koschei’s mercy.

My Review

Bone Weaver is the atmospheric tale of a young necromancer and the two boys she meets on her journey to save her sister. It has a whole host of creepy creatures that are all ready to take a bite out of anyone they can get their hands on, as well as some friendly monsters that are just misunderstood. This book combined the power elements of Shadow & Bone with sentient undead to make a unique world based on Russian/Slavic folklore.

Now, while Bone Weaver did have some unique elements, unfortunately, it didn't start off on a strong note. Why? Because I didn't know the protagonist, Toma, was a girl until 10% into the book. (I hadn't read the synopsis since I requested the book months ago.) I was so disoriented when it was finally revealed. That's the issue with first-person POV, it's hard to establish the main character outside of their thoughts. Toma is kind of a necromancer, but not. She weaves thread that helps put her dead family members—who are kind of like sentient zombies called upyr—back together when they start falling apart. When Toma's sister is taken, she meets two boys on her journey to rescue the little upyr. One is a serious prince, Mikhail, and the other is a not-so-serious commoner, Vanya.

I know what you're thinking, a love triangle is about to happen. But actually... no. This storyline had the potential to be a TRUE LOVE TRIANGLE. Meaning there's attraction between all three characters. Sadly, the relationships don't really go anywhere over the course of the story (so if you're reading it for the romance, you might want to bow out), but it was refreshing to see a love triangle done right, nonetheless. Unfortunately, the characters weren't as developed as they could've been, either. They lacked depth and were just kind of... there... in my opinion. I felt no connection to them.

As for the plot of the book, it was pretty straightforward and easy to follow until the worldbuilding got involved. Every time a fight scene was explained that involved some sort of political situation or the various locations or creatures were mentioned my brain just could not follow. During one particular mid-book fight scene, I had no idea why certain characters were doing certain things. Why were the townspeople fighting? What were their motivations? Why did the main characters get involved? It just wasn't very clear, even though it had kind of been discussed by the protagonists. Some descriptive element of scenes like this one were just missing somewhere. Until the ending, that is. Towards the end, things got a little better, but by that point, the book was over.

All in all, the political factions and random creature name drops made this a hard book to wrap my head around for quite some time. Bone Weaver had potential as a series. However, I'm not sure if it has a sequel coming out or if it's a standalone. The ending to this one was left pretty open, since not a lot was truly settled.
I would say try Bone Weaver out if you're looking for something a bit creepier and different in your YA fantasy stories, but be wary of that potentially unsatisfactory finale.

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

Saturday, September 10, 2022

Stacking the Shelves: The French 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.

Oh boy. Work is going crazy right now. I have a ton of deadlines next week. Plus, I have to plan for a trip to California. I'm going to a friend's wedding and Disneyland! But I haven't had time to plan any of it because of stupid work. It's very irritating. I only have a day at Disneyland, so it's not like I could do everything anyway. It would've been cool to make the most of my time there, though. But oh well... I'm sure it'll be fun without planning it all.


On a lighter note, I have three books to show off this week. First, I have Belladonna by Adalyn Grace. I preordered this from Amazon, as I wanted the white first edition design on the naked hardcover. I also have the French edition of A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire. This one has a very pretty embossed design on the naked book. I'm hoping I can get my hands on FBAA when it's restocked too. Though I always shake my head at myself when I buy foreign copies, since I can't actually read them. And finally, I have Reforged by Seth Haddon, which is a library copy. I'm currently reading this one now, and it's good, but I'd hoped for more.
 
What books have you bought/received lately?

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

August Wrap-Up & September TBR

August has been a mess. It's been very stressful at work, so I haven't been reading a lot compared to the earlier months of the year. This month, I've mostly been coming straight home from work and vegging out. My brain can't process doing much else. However, I think once mid-September rolls around and all my deadlines are in the past, I'll have an easier time reading.

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 August

Boyfriend Material: a reread
Husband Material: 3.5 stars
Vampire Academy: a reread
Till Death: 3 stars
A Strange Hymn: 4 stars

I read five books this month. All of which were physical copies. Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall was a reread in preparation for the sequel, Husband Material. Sadly, Husband Material was a slight disappointment compared to the first book, so I'm crossing my fingers the third installment is better. Then, I reread another book, Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. This was in preparation for the TV show, which I don't think I'm going to watch, as it doesn't appear to follow the books very well. (Why isn't Dimitri Russian!?!). And, for my birthday week, I decided to read whatever book(s) I wanted to, and for some reason, Jennifer L. Armentrout's Till Death stood out to me. I guess because I wanted something quick. I then read A Strange Hymn by Laura Thalassa out of my Bargainer series omnibus edition. So in total, I reread two books I already owned pre-2022, read two books I bought in 2022 (Husband Material and A Strange Hymn), and read one book I bought in 2021 (Till Death).

Books Bought/Received in August

Another giant haul this month, so I'm going to separate it into two sections again. This time the sections are non-FBAA books and FBAA books. Simple, right? Haha. For the non-FBAA books, I have 17 that I bought/received this month. (Technically 18 if you count August's YA FairyLoot book, but because I'm getting rid of it, I'm not counting it.) One of the books I got this month was a NetGalley review e-copy, Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall. The remaining 16/17 were all physical copies.

What Lies Beyond the Veil by Harper L. Woods, which was July's Adult Bookish Box book, as well as August's YA FairyLoot book, are both copies I received but paid for in the previous month(s). And Husband Material and The King Will Kill You by Sarah Henning were both B&N preorders. Aurora Burning and Aurora's End by Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff were from B&N as well, but my parents bought them for me as birthday gifts at the store. Now the other 11 are all from my local used bookstore. I had a dentist appointment, which is near the store, so I got a bunch of Kresley Cole, Rachel Vincent, Nalini Singh, and Yasmine Galenorn books for like $23 total.

And this is random, but I don't think I ever included my ebook copy of Wild Lands by Stacey Marie Brown in a haul/wrap-up. So, I also bought that around June/July.

I had a lot of FBAA books arrive in August. First, my Illumicrate preorder of the three latest installments in the series came in. And these are so beautiful! I love them so much. My preorder of the Bookish Box TWOTQ also arrived. As for the rest, I have two FBAA copies, one TWOTQ, and one ASITE that I bought off of either Depop, eBay, or Mercari for cheap. I'm snatching up cheap copies so I can use them for alternative dustjackets. So, in total, I bought 17 books this month that actually arrived in August, while I technically bought 22 in August overall (this includes preorders that charged but won't arrive for a bit and the late August Adult FairyLoot box). In total, though, I received 26 books with all the titles included, even the FairyLoot YA one.

Currently Obsessed With

I've mostly been rewatching The Office... again. However, like a lot of fantasy lovers, I had to watch a certain prequel show.

House of the Dragon started the day before my birthday (so an early present to me!). I was pleasantly surprised by both the first and second episodes. I still don't think it has the same gravitas and overall presence that GoT has, but I am enjoying the show. I do think it'll be weird when the young actress is switched out for an older actress to portray the time jump, however. I'm not sure how I'll feel about that.

September TBR

There are a lot of repeats on this month's TBR. Oops. Like last month, I have some books that I still need to get to for review/book club purposes. They include rereading Frostbite, Vampire Academy book two, for my book club and reading/reviewing three NetGalley books, Bone Weaver by Aden Polydoros, Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah, and Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall. I also, once again, need to catch up on reading A Storm of Swords. Then, I want to read A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown and Nevernight by Jay Kristoff. But those two are just for funsies. I'd also kind of like to get finish off the Bargainer series as well.

***

Okay, well, that's the month of August, plus some September 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, September 3, 2022

Stacking the Shelves: The Late Birthday 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.

Technically, my birthday was almost two weeks ago, but my parents just visited this past Sunday. Since I only received their gifts recently, this is my birthday haul. Plus some extras. I'm also kind of hoping my hauls slow down over the next couple of weeks. Not because I don't want more books, but because I need to stop buying so much stuff. Gotta save money. Boo...


My parents took me to a few different places, like the mall, Black Sheep Burgers for food, and Barnes & Noble. At Barnes & Noble, I got two books, Aurora Burning and Aurora's End, both in paperback to match my copy of Aurora Rising. I actually wanted to get the first two books in the Zodiac Academy series, but B&N was sold out, unfortunately. At least I finished my collection for this series. I also received my last Bookish Box adult subscription book, What Lies Beyond the Veil. I only kept the sub for two months. I'm just not a fan of the look and feel of their books, though I do like the titles BB chooses.

Here we have my other birthday present from my parents, a small black bookcase that was like $22 at Walmart. I only need one more taller/larger bookcase to completely fill all of the remaining wall space I have left. Yikes. After that, I'll either have to move to a bigger apartment or get rid of a lot of books. Both are not good options. Oh, and it's not pictured, but my older sister did get me a gift card to Amazon. So at least some of my future preorders will be free. Woohoo!


And this is another big expense. I preordered the ACOTAR tarot deck from Prettygalpins around the end of July, and they arrived this week. They're very pretty, though my Tamlin card did come a little messed up at the bottom. I'm hoping I can get a replacement. Eventually, I'm going to have to figure out how to display these character tarot decks. I have sets for ACOTAR, Crescent City, Kingdom of the Wicked, Zodiac Academy, and Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac right now, and they all need a place to be shown off.
 

And finally, I have my replacement dustjacket for BB's TWOTQ. I wasn't happy that BB's TWOTQ edition came with a dustjacket that had been flattened on the spine so badly, especially as my original set of the first three FBAA books have rounded dustjacket spines. So, I emailed BB, and they sent a replacement. Now, I have to find the time and the energy to fit this thing on my naked book. But that seems like a task for the end of September. Life's too crazy to do it right now.

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