Stacking the Shelves: The Series Finale 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.

Not a whole lot going on this week. Mostly the same thing I've been doing since January—trying to read as many ApollyCon authors as I can before the end of April. I've made some progress, but it's still not enough. And binge-reading an entire six-book series that isn't by an ApollyCon author didn't help my stats any.

I actually don't have a lot to share this week, just two Kindle Unlimited books. The first is Follow the River by C.E. Ricci, an ApollyCon author. I read Don't You Dare by this author last weekend, and I was still in the mood for some sports romance, so I downloaded this one too. I didn't get very far before I got distracted, but I'm hoping to finish it before the end of February. I also downloaded the last book in the Bonds That Tie series. Unbroken Bonds was a little disappointing, but the series overall was good. It has really cool worldbuilding.

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

Series I Binged

I couldn't think of a post for today until I thought about the six-book series I recently read and binged, so I decided to talk about other series I've binged. Not all of them, but just a few that come to mind when I think about my collection.

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The Mediator series by Meg Cabot

One of my favorite series I read as a teen. It was a lot harder to binge-read books 10+ years ago, so my definition of "binge" is a little different for this six-book series. I think I ended up reading the first book and I immediately wanted the next five, but I had to wait until I visited my older sister in the city, as she lived close to a Barnes & Noble where I could actually get copies of the sequels. I definitely don't miss those days. I like my instant-gratification of buying books when I want. Though, I think I only waited a weekend or two to devour the whole series.

The Wicked trilogy by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I actually read the first book in this trilogy and then didn't pick up books two and three for a while. Not because I didn't want to, but because the third book's cover change angered me and I was waiting for matching paperbacks. That hasn't happened. But I ended up devouring the ebooks and they helped get me out of a year-long reading slump. Honestly, this Buffy-type fae storyline is what got me back into reading. Jennifer's writing is pretty good for that.

The Beautiful Monsters series by Jex Lane

This is a newer addition to the list. I read Captive and its sequels back in November, and it was addicting. I compare the series to C.S. Pacat's Captive Prince trilogy mixed with Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark. It's definitely a darker read, so trigger warnings for some series stuff, but the paranormal aspects are fantastic. I'm actually sad there's no info about book four. 

Zodiac Academy by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti

I binge-read the first seven books of the Zodiac Academy series after seeing an enamel pin fanart design that just blew my mind. And boy, did I not regret it. The series starts off on a weak note with all the guys being major jerks, but by book three, you're hooked. The banter, worldbuilding, and relationships are A+. I desperately want these books in physical form, but I'm holding off for my birthday or Christmas or something. I also devoured the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac series, which is a prequel to this one, fairly quickly as well. I think I read the five of those books in a month, though, versus the week I read seven of the ZA books (the only ones that were out at the time).

The Daevabad series by S.A. Chakraborty

I read book one in this series and then desperately wanted the sequels, but I had to wait for my FairyLoot versions to arrive. Once I got them, I re-read book one and the rest pretty close together for how large and dense the three installments are. With the exception of the main female character, most of the people in this series are morally gray, which in a world of djinn, means for a great read.

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Alright, there you have it. Some series I've binged over the years. Have you binge-read any series lately? Let me know in the comments.

Stacking the Shelves: The Kindle Credit 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.

Not only was last week terrible because of a stupid emotional breakdown, I also got sick. Ugh. But I'm better now. Just trying to play catch-up after everything went Topsy-turvy. So I'll be trying to get some blog posts scheduled that aren't Stacking the Shelves. Lol. Let's hope I succeed. But until then, enjoy seeing what books I added to my collection over the past seven days.

First up, I have an order I made from Pangobooks, an app for selling secondhand books. I downloaded the app to just peek around and see if I might sell some special editions there later, but Pango give me a $5 credit for signing up that expired in 48 hours. So, being the weak person I am, I went ahead and got the four books from Jennifer L. Armentrout's contemporary NA series, Wait for You, that I was missing. I got Be With Me, Stay With Me, Trust in Me, and Fall With Me. Well, technically I already had a copy of Fall With Me, but mine was a beat up copy from a used bookstore, so it's nice to have one that isn't so rough.

Next is S.A. Chakraborty's The River of Silver, FairyLoot edition. This was supposed to have shipped a long time ago, but my order ended up going poof somehow and never made it out of the warehouse, so I had to wait while FairyLoot sent another one. Unfortunately, when I finally did receive it, I got a copy with a lovely black mark through the middle of the cover. You can only see it at certain angles, but it's definitely there. Now, I'm waiting on a replacement. Sigh. One day I'll have a nice version of this book to sit on my shelves.

 

Right as I was thinking this book wasn't going to make it into this week's post, it showed up. I pre-ordered Blood & Steel by Helen Scheuerer from Barnes & Noble during their 25% pre-order sale last month. It's one I kind of ordered on a whim. I think I'd only heard of it a week or two before I made the order. I pre-ordered a lot during that sale, though, so this isn't the last B&N book you'll see.

Lots of Kindle books this week. I ended up downloading books 2-5 of the Bonds That Tie series on Kindle Unlimited after I started book one last Saturday. I'm already almost finished with #5. It's a decent and addicting series, though it's gotten quite repetitive towards the end. And, to help me go straight to some ApollyCon preparation, I downloaded Sarah A. Parker's To Bleed a Crystal Bloom and C.E. Ricci's Don't You Dare. I'm hoping to dive right into these two once I'm done with the Bonds That Tie. Only 1.5 books to go!

 

 

I also ended up downloading/purchasing some non-Kindle Unlimited books since I had Kindle credit. I don't fully know the rules for the Kindle credits. I just know that I had like five-ish dollars to spend on ebooks that expired within six days. So I got JLA's Summer King short story collection for free through the credits and only paid $0.74 for her Dream of You novella.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Gold Foiling 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.

This last week has been terrible. Like existential crisis and complete emotional breakdown bad. Ugh. I need some soft pillows, yummy chocolate, and my favorite TV episodes to comfort me through this weekend and make things better. There's been way too much crying lately, and I just want to wipe the past seven days from my mind.

The only highlights of this week have been the items I got in the mail. First up, my January YA FairyLoot book arrived. Look at it! It's so pretty! I really enjoyed this book, so I'm happy to have a special edition. It, sadly, may also be my last YA FairyLoot box, though. I think I'll be canceling soon, as I'm down to skip one or two, and once I've skipped enough, my subscription goes poof.

Next is part two to the Kingdom of the Wicked series tarot character cards by PrettygalPins. There's only five of them, but they're expensive little suckers. They're so pretty though! And there's gold foiling everywhere! I still haven't read the KOTW sequels, so I haven't met the Cerebus puppy yet. Boo. I need to get on that.

Lastly, I have some ebooks. I downloaded Tavia Lark's Prince and Pawn on Kindle Unlimited, and A Kingdom of Gods and Ruin was a free ebook novella Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti gave out for their upcoming release. The cover is kind of fuzzy, as I couldn't find a good image of it and it wasn't even on Goodreads yet. I hate it when books aren't on Goodreads when I want them to be.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Stop Requesting Things 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 February! Which means we are one step closer to spring! I can't wait to not be cold anymore. While I love the soft sweaters and boots weather, I'm tired of my fingers constantly being cold. Bring on the heat. But not too hot. Not summer hot.

Are you even surprised there's FBAA merch in this haul? Because I'm not. I think I just need to come to terms with the fact that pretty much every single post will have an FBAA item in it. It's unavoidable at this point. These items in particular are from Dirty Diction Designs, and there's a print of the main trio and two bookmarks of my favorite wolven. My FairyLoot copy of Heart of the Sun Warrior also arrived. Not loving the orange. Not because I don't like orange, but because it doesn't look great next to the first book, which has a navy blue spine.

Next are the ebooks. The Scepter by J. Bree is a prequel story for her new fantasy book that was free to download if you signed up for her newsletter. So I did. And I got my ebook. I also, stupidly, requested more things on NetGalley, despite not having a lot of non-ApollyCon reading time this month. Thankfully, The Blighted Stars by Megan O'Keefe isn't out until May, so I can wait on that one, but A Door in the Dark comes out in March. So I need to get on it. Ugh. Why do I do these things to myself? I am excited to read these though. I just hate the pressure. Thank you to the publishers for approving my requests!

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

January Wrap-Up & February TBR

January wasn't the best reading month ever in terms of quantity, but it wasn't the worst, either. I feel like I had decent quality, though, so at least there's that. As for the personal life, I'm still just settling into the new job and living with the 'rents again. I think I decided to stay with them for a year and then get my own place. My friends and I have a pretty expensive trip coming up in the fall, so might as well save some money until then and crash with them. But now, onto the 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 January

A Court of Honey & Ash: 2 stars

The Witch Collector: 4 stars (ebook)

Dowry of Blood: 3.5 stars

City of Ruin: 4 stars

Sins of the Orc: 3 stars (KU ebook)

The Book of Azrael: 4 stars

I read six books in January, which isn't a ton, but it's not bad. Four of the books were physical copies. Those include A Court of Honey & Ash by Shannon Mayer and Kelly St. Clare, Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson, City of Ruin by Charissa Weaks, and The Book of Azrael by Amber Nicole. Dowry of Blood is the only book I owned prior to 2023. I also read two ebooks: The Witch Collector by Charissa Weaks and Sins of the Orc by Finley Fenn.

Books Bought/Received in January

It felt like I was getting a package every day for a couple of weeks this month. It was nuts. However, I only bought twelve books in January, with four of those being preorders that won't arrive until later this year. In total, though, I did receive 14 books since some preorders did arrive.

The books I bought in January include one ebook I ordered via Kindle (The Witch Collector by Charissa Weaks), seven physical books that arrived in January, and four preorders. The physical books include The Book of Azrael by Amber Nicole, City of Ruin by Charissa Weaks, The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards, and The Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson, all ordered from Amazon, and the Wicked series by Jennifer L. Armentrout ordered from Mercari. The preorders include a German special edition of TWOTQ, The Witch Collector and The Wolf and the Witch paperback I preordered for ApollyCon, and the January YA FairyLoot book that has yet to arrive. 

As for what I received in January, I had two FairyLoot preorders show up: Kingdom of the Feared by Kerri Maniscalco and The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake. For review, I got two physical copies, the second (paperback) and third book (ARC) in Andrea Stewart's Drowning Empire trilogy, as well as Gwen and Art Are Not In Love by Lex Croucher from NetGalley. I also received a free novella ebook called The Scepter from J. Bree for signing up for her newsletter.

Currently Obsessed With

Well, I'm still rewatching The Office, but I, surprisingly, also have quite a few other shows and movies I watched in January.

At the beginning of the year, I watched the Witcher: Blood Origin Netflix show. It was good, but it could've been better. They rushed a lot. I did love the overall fantasy aesthetic, though. I also watched three movies: Glass Onion, Battle of the Super Sons (an animated movie about Batman and Superman's sons, Damian and Jon), and Violent Night, the Santa film with David Harbour. It could have been a lot better. I ended up getting bored of the repetitive violence halfway through. I'm also watching and enjoying That 90s Show on Netflix. I didn't think I'd enjoy it since I really like the original show, but it's not bad. I wouldn't mind if it got a second season. And I watched episode one of Sarah Michelle Gellar's new show, Wolf Pack, with my mom. (Technically I watched almost all of these with my mom and/or dad.) It was weird. I was hoping for a good werewolf show, but I don't think Wolf Pack is going to be one. I also binged the last season of Animal Kingdom on Amazon Prime. It was about what I thought it would be considering how terrible all of the characters are. Haha.

February TBR

In February, I'm continuing to read books by 2023 ApollyCon attending authors. Some examples include House of Beating Wings by Olivia Wildenstein, What Lies Beyond the Veil by Harper L. Woods, Frost by C.N. Crawford, and An Heir Comes to Rise by C.C. Penaranda. I also need to read The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart, since I got books two and three from the publisher for review. While I'm really excited about attending ApollyCon, I will say the stress of trying to read as much as possible before the event is not my favorite thing. I'm excited to read whatever I want once April is over.

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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!