Stacking the Shelves: The Christmas 2022 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 promise I'm going to get back to a semi-regular blogging schedule in 2023. I have quite a few wrap-ups, reviews, and other things I need to post in January, so I'm excited. I've been thinking about some of these for a fairly long time. But for now, it's time to wrap up the major haul of the year⁠—Christmas. I got a lot of fun stuff for 2023's holiday celebration.

First up are the two books I received from one of my book club friends. We do a gift exchange/Amazon wish list Christmas each year. I got The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart and A Court of Honey and Ash by Shannon Mayer and Kelly St. Clare. I'm excited to get to both of them, though I have to get through some ApollyCon books first. That's coming up waaaay too fast.

Next up is the first part of my family Christmas haul. My mom got me a Drogon and Children of the Forest Funko Pop, an FBAA Atlantia pin from Dreamy & Co, the three books I needed in the Covenant series, Covet by Tracy Wolff, and two FBAA/ASITE blankets from the JLA Shop. My older sister also got me two Amazon gift cards that I plan on spending on some ApollyCon books I need. And that's not all. I have more.

My younger sister got me this cart that, to probably no ones surprise, I'm planning to use for books. I'd call it a TBR cart, but I think I'll be using it for multiple types of books. Yes, there will be some TBR books on there, but it will also hold my wrap-up books, like the books I bought in the month and the books I read. It'll make writing my wrap-ups a lot easier. So maybe the top will be for TBR and the middle and bottom for the other two categories. We'll see...

Here, I have the non-book-related presents. I got an air fryer, a small weight-rack holder, and a weighted blanket from my parents. I also got a workout belt/phone holder thing from my older sister. Now, since I'm living with my parents, the air fryer won't be needed right away. Poor thing has to go in storage for a while. Darn. But I've used the blanket, and it's pretty nice.. 

The next thing I have for this week is a copy of Broken Boundaries by Evangeline Anderson. This book has been the bane of my existence for sooooo long. I guess since the Ellora's Cave publisher went out of business, they took all of their titles off Nook/Kindle. This meant the copy I bought just disappeared from my Nook's library one day. Well, I like to reread it every once in a while. So I had to put a notification on eBay for a physical copy, as no one was selling it anywhere. After like six months, one finally popped up, and I nabbed it. FYI, I'm not showing the cover here because it shows a lot of skin.

 

I have more Christmas gifts to share. Turns out two of my gifts didn't arrive until two days after Christmas, much to Santa's (a.k.a. my mother's) displeasure. Now, I have Geralt and Yennefer to add to my Pop collection. Sadly, though, I'm still unsure how I feel about this show with the Henry Cavill news. I asked for these before that announcement came out.

 

My order from Emilie Snaith Art on Etsy came in. I love this FBAA Delano + Cas + Poppy print! I can't wait to see more from the artist. They also sent an ACOTAR bookmark, which is very pretty, and I may actually keep it despite my eh-ness towards Feysand. There's also a small print of Cardan and Jude. The artist has a Zodiac Academy print I've got my eye on, so I hope they have another drop soon.

 

Here, I have the November YA FairyLoot book. Yeesh, this thing took forever to arrive. I got it four days before January! Also, I was excited for this one, as it looked very pretty in spoiler group photos. However, the bottom is all bent, and it's nothing that FairyLoot would likely replace. So I'm sad. It was one I was actually excited for, something that hasn't happened with a FairyLoot YA book in a very long time. Boo...

 

 

Every time I think I'm done writing this post, another package shows up. My Chest of Fandoms TCOGB, AKOFAF, and ASITE orders came in on Thursday. These are the German editions. I ordered them back in like August. Unfortunately, the sprayed/stenciled edges for ASITE were printed wrong, so that one is kind of eh. But the other two look great. However, I think I was supposed to receive a goodie/gift as makeup for this issue, and I didn't. I feel bad contacting them over it, but I think I've seen the free print they gave out floating around, and I reeeeeally want it.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The FBAA Fiesta 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 started a new job this past Monday. And so far, I have mixed feelings. Most days it's a 60/40 split between "What the heck did I do?" and "This is okay. It could be good." And each day varies as to which feeling is in the lead. But, I try to remember that every new job is icky at first, since you don't know anyone or anything. I think I'm going to wait until spring to get a place of my own, though, even though I desperately want my own library. I just want to feel out the new job and see if I like it.

And yes, this haul is going to be an FBAA extravaganza! I've got so much FBAA stuff to share. A lot of my various preorders came in. One of which included the Lug Live exclusive edition. Which technically wasn't even a preorder, it just took a little bit to ship out. But it's very pretty with its gold raised lettering. Also, my replacement from Waterstones of The City of Dusk came in as well.

Next up are The Dusty Shop's FBAA dustjackets. These are way prettier in person than they appear in photos. (Please ignore the plastic wrap around all of them. I don't want to take it off until I have time to put them on my extra hardcover copies.) I think my favorites are actually TCOGB and TWOTQ, which is a shame since Kieran is my favorite character. I just don't think the AKOFAF artwork captured him well. But yeah, the foiling on these is very pretty. Can't wait to see future books get this treatment!

And here are some FBAA prints I ordered. The artist is raye_illustrations on Instagram. That Kieran and Poppy one is sooooooo cute! And so is the wolven Kieran snuggle session! I don't like the white cardstock framing, though. I'll have to carefully cut that off.

And... you guessed it! More FBAA! My Alsaces swag order came in. I got some pins, prints, bookmarks, and an Atlantia train ticket. So fun! Now, I just have to keep these pretty items packed away until I have my own place and can display them properly. Currently, all my crap is crammed in every nook and cranny of my childhood room. Boooooo. 

 

The last thing I got this past week was a Kindle Unlimited copy of Zodiac Academy book eight. It released on Sunday, and I'm only like 52% through. Because it's over 1,200 pages! I'm not loving this book as much as I'd hoped to. I hate when all of the characters in this series are separated, so this installment is tough to get through right now.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Mug 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 believe by the time this post goes up, I'll have all my moving stuff complete. I think. I hope. Ugh. I'm so sore from moving furniture and boxes up and down the stairs. I had to make four 2.5-hour car trips one-way just to get all my books from my apartment to my parents' house. But they were special editions, so I justified the extra driving trips since the cost evens out.

First up is the first three Plated Prisoner Waterstones editions. I'd heard some bad things about Waterstones' shipping lately, but my copies arrived in very good condition. Woohoo! Now, I just need to get my own place and make a library where I can show them off in all their shiny, gold glory.

Next is something I actually didn't buy for myself. Thank goodness, as my wallet is really not happy with me right now. I won a hardcover copy of TWOTQ and a Casteel mug from the JLA Shop for watching the JLA Book Club TWOTQ readalong live. It came with some goodies too. Oh, and I keep forgetting to share that I got Apollycon tickets a month or so ago. So in April, I will be going back to D.C. to collect author signatures and exclusive JLA editions.

And lastly, I have some ebooks. First, is Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim. I downloaded this one off NetGalley, since I know it's going to be in a certain book box. I'm trying to spend less on books, as I noticed while moving that I have too many unread ones. So I want to read this one before that book box sub renews to see if I should skip January's renewal. Also, I downloaded Mortal Skin and Forgotten Vows by Lily Mayne on Kindle Unlimited. These are the first two books in a fae series similar to The Cruel Prince or the Iron Fey series but new adult instead of YA.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Waterstones 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 still in the middle of moving, so I won't be posting a lot. I think I'll only get book hauls/Stacking the Shelves posts out for the next month or so. Although, with the end of the year in sight, I'm hoping to get to all the year-end wrap-ups and anticipated 2023 releases posts. But those will be in January, so I have some time to get settled, thankfully.

First up, I have two random orders I made. I bought the Owlcrate edition of Sorcery of Thorns off of Mercari for pretty cheap. I've had my eye on this edition for about two years now, ever since I read and loved the book. I've been biding my time until I found it for a decent price, though. I also bought The City of Dusk by Tara Sim and Glow by Raven Kennedy from Waterstones, the UK bookstore. It's the first time I've ever ordered from there. Sadly, my The City of Dusk copy came ripped, but they're sending me a replacement.I decided to order from Waterstones because FairyLoot's reveal for their Plated Prisoner editions was very disappointing, so now I'm gonna collect the Waterstones editions. I've got books 1-3 on the way too.

Here is the Indigo edition of ALITF that I preordered. I also got my November Adult FairyLoot book, A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson. I've heard good things about the book, but I'm not sure how I feel about the FairyLoot edition. I don't like the regular cover either, but I think I prefer the black simplistic look to the explosion of red. But I'll read the book before I decide if I truly want the black version or the red version on my shelves.

I had another Prettygalpins card deck arrive. Prettygalpins might as well sign me up for a regular bank withdrawal, because she cranks these things out like once every month or two and my account is feeling it. This month's order is a combination of Laura Thalassa's Four Horsemen series and her Bargainer series. I haven't read the Four Horsemen one, but I did very much enjoy the Bargainer series. I'm actually hoping there are more books in that world in the future.

 

And here, I have the November Owlcrate. I got this box specifically for the FBAA Blood Forest luggage pin. The book, The Luminaries by Susan Dennard, is pretty. It's not one I'd planned on purchasing, but I still think it'll be good. As for the other items, I like the portable toothbrush, the hot hands, and LOTR bowl. But the reading planner and soap dish are items that I'm not sure if I'll use.

 

The last thing I have is the FairyLoot edition of The Dragon's Promise by Elizabeth Lim. It's very pretty. I didn't love the first book, but I did like it enough to get the sequel. And I'm excited to finally have my own library in my new place (once I get one) to show off this special edition and all my other special editions.

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