Stacking the Shelves: The Bookless Jackets 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, as you're reading this, I'm in the trenches of ApollyCon, likely with sore feet and an aching back but a lot of pretty signed books. Next week's StS is going to be insane. Even as I'm writing this, I'm in the middle of prepping for my trip. Packing, primping, and panicking. Haha. Somehow, even though I've had tickets since November and I've been planning for months, this convention still managed to sneak up on me.

First up for this week's haul is something I ordered from Barnes & Noble. I told myself not to buy a hardcover of The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Clarissa Broadbent until I read it on Kindle Unlimited first. But did I listed to myself? Absolutely not. I've heard way too many fantastic things, so, when I was preordering another book on B&N, I decided this was the book to add to my order to get free shipping. I also had two books delivered to my parents' house in the past few weeks that I FINALLY was able to get from them. I received The Pariah by Anthony Ryan and The Blighted Stars by Megan O'Keefe, both of which were sent from Orbit for review.

Next, I have my Clover Crate FBAA dustjackets. Aren't they pretty?! I'm glad some of the dustjacket artists are doing unique things with the covers. Having a dragon (draken) on TWOTQ's, makes me very happy. (Bonus points if you know who that is.) I will say I'm a little confused by the art for AKOFAF and TCOGB, though, as it seems like they should be switched, but, regardless, I'm still very happy with these. Now I just need to get my shelves set up so I can properly display them. The order also came with a few extra goodies. There was a pin, a bookmark, a print, and a sticker. I probably will only keep the bookmark and print, but we'll see.

 

 And lastly, I have a couple of ebooks. Ariana Nash's Violent Mistake is a Kindle Unlimited title I borrowed after I finished the first book, Violent Desire. It's a MM vampire series in the same vein as the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I also have Rebecca Ross's A Fire Endless, the sequel to A River Enchanted. My library hold finally came in for this one, so I'm hoping I can finish it either before my trip or the day I travel to D.C. Lord knows I'm not going to be able to read anything after that. My life will be way too crazy to read until May starts up.

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

Early ARC Review: Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Fall of Ruin and Wrath

Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publication Date: September 12, 2023

Hardcover, 432 pages, Bramble

Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance. LGBTQ+

Goodreads

 

Long ago, the world was destroyed by gods. Only nine cities were spared. Separated by vast wilderness teeming with monsters and unimaginable dangers, each city is now ruled by a guardian―royalty who feed on mortal pleasure.

 

Born with an intuition that never fails, Calista knows her talents are of great value to the power-hungry of the world, so she lives hidden as a courtesan of the Baron of Archwood. In exchange for his protection, she grants him information.

 

When her intuition leads her to save a traveling prince in dire trouble, the voice inside her blazes with warning―and promise. Today he’ll bring her joy. One day he'll be her doom.

 

When the Baron takes an interest in the traveling prince and the prince takes an interest in Calista, she becomes the prince’s temporary companion. But the city simmers with rebellion, and with knights and monsters at her city gates and a hungry prince in her bed, intuition may not be enough to keep her safe.

 

Calista must choose: follow her intuition to safety or follow her heart to her downfall.

My Review

Are you ready to dive into a new JLA adult romantasy series? Honestly, I don't think you're ready. I for sure wasn't. Fall of Ruin and Wrath has very steamy scenes, a powerful love interest, and a cast of characters who are all keeping a lot of secrets.

First off, I devoured this book in a single day, if that tells you anything. JLA's stories are like candy. You can just keep eating and eating until you realize the bag is empty and the overwhelming sadness hits when you realize you still want more. I'm super glad JLA is a writing fiend, because I couldn't wait 1.5-2 years for a sequel. Nope. Not after that crazy cliffhanger.

The main character of the story, Calista, a.k.a. Lis, is somewhat of a seer/mind reader, though she describes her powers as intuition. Lis used to be an orphan living on the street, but now she's the advisor to a local baron. Lis is also, seemingly, bi-sexual. There's no outright label put on sexuality in this book, but let's just say it's pretty obvious. Because boy oh boy, JLA! I did not think you'd go there. So much naughtiness all around. *Fans self.* The spice is real, y'all. Our other main character, and resident JLA sexy main squeeze, is Thorne. Lis meets Thorne in a situation that is the total opposite of meet cute. Let's call it a "meet ugly" for funsies. This meet ugly had me flipping pages so fast. It was a fantastic time. The meet ugly and the ending are the two sections I will definitely be rereading when it comes time for book two to release. I wholeheartedly give all the stars to those scenes!

 Now, the worldbuilding in this series is different from anything JLA has done before. It's not a straight-up fantasy or a modern-day Earth with secret paranormal beings lurking around. It almost seems like a historical fantasy at first, but nope. That's not what it is. I won't spoil anything, but it'll be interesting to see how all of the Hyhborn (angel/incubus beings) plays out for the setup of this world. There's definitely no predicting where JLA will take things. While the setting of Fall of Ruin and Wrath is unique writing-wise, it does have similarities to JLA's Dark Elements/Harbinger world in terms of the angel/demons story arc. Though, like I mentioned, it's more of an incubus/angel combo than a prince-of-hell and archangel Michael thing; however, Thorne is technically royalty, so he does have that in common with a couple of JLA's leading men. A big plus for any JLA fan and/or romantasy reader.

My only nitpick with this book is that it's a very slow build. Similar to the first Blood and Ash book, but slower. You can tell that some major craziness is going to go down in book two, but in Fall of Ruin and Wrath, not a lot happens outside of the beginning, when our two main characters first meet, and the ending, when all sh*t hits the fan—a signature JLA move. There's just a lot of politicking, court conversations, and, yes, spicy scenes, that slow down some of the buildup throughout the middle. But like I said, I read the whole book in basically a single sitting, which means that the slow build didn't really slow me down very much at all.

Overall, this book does have some major From Blood and Ash vibes based on that insane cliffhanger ending, but it stands on its own with a totally different, less stabby protagonist and a main squeeze with a more stoic personality, in contrast to Hawke's roguish charm. I think, if you enjoy series like Laura Thalassa's The Bargainer, Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter, or even Sarah J. Maas's Crescent City, you'll want to pick this one up. It's got the alphahole guy, the bada$$ female MC (though it's more of a mental bada$$ery than a physical one), the immortal beings plotline, and the hidden powers trope to keep romantasy readers thoroughly entertained, especially since Lis and Thorne's story seems like the beginning to what is going to be a wild and steamy ride.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The First Book 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 almost time for ApollyCon! AAAAAHHH! I leave this Wednesday and don't get back until Sunday night, which means my next StS will be written very early in the week, if I even get to it. I'd like to write/schedule one, since I know I have a couple of books that were delivered to my parents' house that they plan to drop off this weekend. I really don't want a backlog of pre-ApollyCon books to add to the stupid number of books I preordered there. I have a feeling it'll be bad enough taking pics of all the those suckers, so adding extras will just be too much for this tired gal. But anyway, enough whining, back to this week's haul.

First up, I have a sort-of, kind-of impulse buy. My original plan was to buy the Bookish Box edition of Untainted by Lilian T. James at their ApollyCon event, but someone was selling it on Facebook for $30, so I grabbed it. And boy, is it pretty! It's definitely going to have a place of honor on the shelves in my room, once I actually get around to moving them, that is. Yep, my shelves are still at my parents' house. I've been focusing on my trip, so a lot of new-home stuff hasn't been done and likely won't be done for a few more weeks. I also want to say that I loved this book. It gave me major SJM Heir of Fire vibes. It's my second-favorite read of the year so far, after Mysteries of Thorn Manor. Oh, and it's also the first book delivery to my new place. That's a big honor, but this book definitely deserves it.

Next are the ebooks. I downloaded three newbies from Kindle Unlimited in the hopes that maybe I'd feel the urge to read them and get out of my reading slump. Did it work? No. I'm still in it. I'm thinking I'll be in a slump until ApollyCon is over. Ugh. The horror! But anyway, I downloaded Blood Mercy by Vela Roth, Of Mist and Shadows by Jenna Wolfhart, and Violent Desire by Ariana Nash.

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

Review: The Bone Shard War by Andrea Stewart

The Bone Shard War

Andrea Stewart

(The Drowning Empire #3)

Publication Date: April 18, 2023

Hardcover, 624 pages, Orbit

Genres: Adult, Fantasy

Goodreads

The Bone Shard Daughter was hailed as "one of the best debut fantasy novels of the year" (BuzzFeed News). Now, Andrea Stewart brings us the final book in this unmissable, action-packed, magic-laced epic fantasy trilogy, The Bone Shard War.

 

 Lin Sukai has won her first victory as Emperor, but the future of the Phoenix Empire hangs in the balance – and Lin is dangerously short of allies.

 

As her own governors plot treason, the Shardless Few renew hostilities. Worse still, Lin discovers her old nemesis Nisong has joined forces with the rogue Alanga, Ragan. Both seek her death.

 

Yet hopes lies in history. Legend tells of seven mythic swords, forged in centuries past. If Lin can find them before her enemies, she may yet be able to turn the tide.

 

 If she fails, the Sukai dynasty – and the entire empire – will fall.

My Review

It's here. The final book in The Drowning Empire series. I'm super glad I was able to binge the entire trilogy because I don't know how I could have waited an entire 17 months. That's just crazy. I'd have gone through extreme Mephi withdrawals. I'm already going through them now that the series is over. It's terrible.

I do have to be honest, though, The Bone Shard War does something I do not like in fantasy books. It makes use of the dreaded time jump. Small time jumps of a month, two months, maybe even six months, are okay. But when you start getting into the two-year mark like this one, I get very sad. I really wanted to see the events Andrea Stewart described play out on-page. It was weird hearing how certain terrible things had happened to one of the major characters and never really getting enough emotion to feel for Jovis's predicament, especially as his events played out towards the end of the book. I had a hard time connecting to his actions.

Despite the time jump, I felt that the other four major characters, Lin, Phalue, Ranami, and Nisong stuck pretty true to their earlier characterizations. It was just Jovis that I had a hard time with, though his chapters were still my favorite. Him and Mephi are my favorite relationship of the whole series. I love that little creature, and I'm so jealous of Jovis for having an ossalen when I don't. I will say, however, that Lin's actions as emperor did get a bit repetitive. She seemed to be making the same mistakes and nothing would change. The ending kind of reflected this, but that's another issue I had. The ending flip-flopped some of our bad guys, and it felt a bit like a copout, sadly.

Now, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy this book. But I am saying it was one I think readers will have to sit with for a while. Things happen to the major characters that aren't your happily-ever-after story, so don't go expecting that. And there are innocent and lovable creatures that didn't deserve any of the abuse the characters put them through. I'm still very mad about some of the animal abuse in this book. It was terrible. I'm also just trying to wrap my head around what happened to some of those creatures at the very, very end. I cried. It was not pretty.

Honestly, I think this is a book that you just have to sit with. It reminded me a lot of Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen series' ender, War Storm. I very much did not like the unsatisfactory ending of that series, but as time went on and I had some distance to reflect on the storyline, I found myself appreciating it more. And now that I've given myself time to think about The Bone Shard War's events, I can appreciate the book a little more. I still think the action scenes went on a tad too long, but some of the smaller nitpicks I had about major characters being separated from each other and having fewer fun scenes with Mephi kind of faded so I could focus on the overall storyline. And I still really liked the series as a whole. Even with an ending that I just wasn't sure about at first.

All in all, I think fantasy readers who appreciate authors writing bittersweet, more realistic endings will be pleased with this one. It's definitely for fans of The Poppy War and The Daevabad series (as I've repeated quite a few times by now, sorry), but if you like sweeter finales, be prepared for some torment with this last installment. It'll get you right in the feels.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Still Moving 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 process of moving and setting up all my stuff. I've found out that I have a lot of cool gadgets and gizmos, but not enough furniture to actually put them on, especially with my bookcases still at my parents' house. I also still have my mail going to their house, at least for the packages. So, it might be a couple of weeks before I get any physical books.

I have two Kindle Unlimited downloads to share today: Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha J. Tuli and A Dawn of Onyx by Kate Golden. There are Midnight Whispers special editions coming out for these books, so I'd like to read them to see if I'm interested in buying copies. The Kate Golden one is already sold out, but there's a chance to get one of the extras later on. In a way, I hope I don't like either of the books, so I won't be interested in spending more money or fighting to buy the leftovers.

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

March Wrap-Up & April TBR

I know, I know. This post is almost two weeks late. But, in all fairness, I've been busy the past two weeks. If you didn't see my previous post, I got my own place and moved in. Yay! Now, I can have my own library! Once I buy some good shelves, that is. Right now, all of my books are either in boxes or still waiting at my parents' house until I have the time to box them up and drive them 30 miles to my new place. Ugh. I love my books, but I also hate them at times like these. But anyway... let's get on with the post.

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 March

Untamed: 4 stars (KU ebook)

Between Wrath & Mercy: 3.5 stars (KU ebook)

Follow the River: 3 stars (KU ebook)

After Rain Falls: 3 stars (KU ebook)

Hidden Scars: 3.5 stars (KU ebook)

A Cursed Kiss: 3 stars (KU ebook)

Take Me Apart: 3 stars (KU ebook)

Iced Out: 3.5 stars (KU ebook)

The Bone Shard Emperor: 4 stars (my review)

I read nine books in March, which is great considering how much I've had going on lately. Only one of the books I read was a physical copy, and it was actually the last book I read in the month, The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart, book two of The Drowning Empire series. The rest of the books were all from Kindle Unlimited and those included Untamed by Lilian T. James; Between Wrath & Mercy by Jess Wisecup; Follow the River, After Rain Falls, and Iced Out by C.E. Ricci; Hidden Scars by Andi Jaxon; A Cursed Kiss by Jenny Hickman; and Take Me Apart by Brea Alepou and Skyler Snow. None of these books were ones I owned prior to 2023, so I didn't cut down on my physical TBR backlog very much, I did read quite a few ApollyCon books, though, so woohoo!

Books Bought/Received in March

I didn't get a ton of books in March. Instead, I just preordered everything I could get my hands on, it seems like. In total, I bought 17 books and received 10 total books.

The books I bought in March include seven ApollyCon preorders that you'll see in next month's Wrap-Up post. The other physical books I bought and actually received in March include A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen from B&N and Heartsong by TJ Klune from eBay. The eight other non-ApollyCon preorders include March's adult FairyLoot book (which I received in April), a Bookish Box edition of Raven Kennedy's Cupidity, LitJoy Crate's Red Queen set, and the Italian edition of FBAA. 

As for what I received in March, besides A Door in the Dark and Heartsong, I had one FairyLoot order show up, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty, which was February's adult book. I also received an early copy of Fall of Ruin and Wrath from the publisher, Tor. I used to work there, so I begged an old co-worker for it. My Kickstarter preorder of Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson finally arrived as well, along with my order of the Russian edition of FBAA, which isn't pictured. Sorry! I also received a copy of Zodiac Academy #4, Shadow Princess from my dad. And I got three free ebooks. Two novellas were for signing up for the authors' newsletters: The Sword by J. Bree and Pearl and the Dread King by Jex Lane. Lastly, I downloaded You & I, Rewritten by Chip Pons for free on Kindle.

Currently Obsessed With

Just like last month, I'm still rewatching The Office when I eat or need something to play in the background. And March consisted mostly of The Office rewatch and ending a few shows I started earlier this year.

Sarah Michelle Gellar's, Wolf Pack, was a show I was watching with my mom, and the season ended in March. I'm interested in season two if it happens, but it's not a huge priority if it doesn't get a second season. I also watched the rest of the The Rings of Power LOTR show on Amazon Prime. The relationship between some characters at the end of season one made me ugly cry. I won't spoil anything, but ugh. The emotions. I also finished watching The Last of Us with my mom. It was decent. Kind of a predictable and rushed ending, though. And, I went to see Shazam! Fury of the Gods with my dad. It was decent because of the gods elements, but I don't like Zachary Levi's acting, I much prefer the child actor, who wasn't in the movie long enough, in my opinion The family dynamics is what makes the story better, and Zachary Levi is too joke-y to bring out those emotions. Oh, and I started and finished Daisy Jones and the Six with my mom as well. It was good. Not something I would normally watch, but still entertaining.

April TBR

In April, I'm reading some more ApollyCon books, like A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross, which I just finished and very much enjoyed. It's also my April book club pick. I just put the sequel on hold at my library too, so maybe I'll sneak that in before ApollyCon as well. I'm also currently reading Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I expect to be done with that one by the time this post goes live. And before those, I finished The Bone Shard War, the last book in The Drowning Empire series. Review to come. I'd like to read A Door in the Dark, since I got a NetGalley copy to review as well; What Lies Beyond the Veil by Harper L. Woods and River of Shadows by Karina Halle for ApollyCon; and The Blighted Stars by Megan E. O'Keefe for review via NetGalley.

***

Okay, well, that's the month of March, plus some April 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 New Place 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, a lot has happened since I posted last. The major thing is... I moved to my new place. And while I was super excited about it, sadly, not two hours ago, on the Thursday night I'm writing this, I found out my shower isn't draining and my smoke detector is running low on battery power. Cue the beeping. And both happened at the exact same time. Ugh. But I'm happy to have my own space, once maintenance comes out to fix everything, that is. I am still in crisis mode a bit, wondering if I made a poor life decision, since living with my parents was free. Lol. The personal freedom does make up for it, however. Plus, I just have to remind myself that the unpacking, buying new stuff, and figuring out where things go is the worst part. Once that's done, it will actually feel like my space.      .

Let's talk about books, though. First up in this week's haul is Heartsong by TJ Klune in the original paperback. I was looking out for this one on eBay and other secondary markets, since it's the only original copy of the series that I don't own and it's not widely available anymore. And I do not like the hardcover redesigns. The puppet wolves just don't do it for me. So yeah, when this one popped up on eBay, I nabbed it, even though I did not need to spend anymore money. Oh, and I also have two Redbubble prints (technically these are postcards, since I like the 5"x7" size better) of characters from A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I don't normally collected ASITE art, but you'll see why I got them soon.

Next, I have the rest of the Redbubble order. AKA, soon. Haha. Redbubble was having a 30% off sale, so I made a small order of some fanart I've wanted for a long time. These three are of FBAA characters: Vonetta, Poppy and Cas, and Kieran. This is the first artwork of Vonetta I've ever had. Yay! Unfortunately, Redbubble didn't have these in a 5"x7" postcard size, so I had to figure out a way to get them without spending a ton of money on the print versions. So, I got large stickers! I think they'll work pretty well for any display I plan to do now that I have my own place.

And next is something that has taken a very long time to arrive. It's my copy of Tress of the Emereld Sea by Brandon Sanderson, from his Kickstarter campaign. I purchased the quarterly hardcover and ebook option, and the hardcover was supposed to arrive back in January. Oops. Though I get that paper and foiling and just warehouse packing stuff in general are hard to come by right now. The box came with some other goodies too. I wasn't expecting that. I don't remember if they were listed on the campaign info either. I should've paid more attention to where my money was going. Haha. But don't let my horrible photo quality fool you, this book and the goodies are gorgeous. I'm not a big fan of green, but I do like this book. It's very pretty.

And now, I have the second book (I think?) in my 2023 Barnes & Noble 25% off preorder sale purchase. This one is A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen. This was kind of a whim purchase. It sounded decent, so I preordered it while it was cheap. I also got a NetGalley copy not too long ago, but I couldn't open the file, so it's good I have a physical copy to read and review.

Another book that was supposed to arrive earlier this year and didn't. Yep, that's right. Throwing some shade to FairyLoot. I love you, FairyLoot, but every book this year has been late. March's Adult book pick, The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten arrived in early April. And I'm not super impressed. While the edges are amazing, I don't like the fuzzy, pink title on the front. I actually prefer the original cover. I like the naked book, though, so maybe I'll take the dustjacket off. For now, the dustjacket will stay on until I read the book, though. No point in getting too ahead of myself.

 

Ebooks! Yep, I got some of those too. The first two are from the library: Defend the Dawn by Brigid Kemmerer and A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross. And I downloaded Head Above Water by C.E. Ricci on Kindle Unlimited. All three of these authors are going to be at 2023's ApollyCon. And, speaking of ApollyCon, I bought brunch tickets for the event AND I was able to sell my extra Q&A tickets. That means I get the exclusive brunch bag at the Sunday event! Woohoo!.

 

Here, we have the room in my new place that will house a majority of my books. That's right, this will be the library! I'm hoping to buy some nice white Billy bookcases from Ikea, so I can utilize all the space in the room. For now, though, it's just holding some random stuff I don't have a place for yet. Also, like 99% of my books and bookcases are still at my parents' house. It's going to take multiple summer weekends to get all those safely packed up and transferred here. My back hurts just thinking about it. I love my books, but moving them is torture.

 

I'm almost done, I swear. This is the pin of Poppy's dagger I ordered from Enchanted Oddities when it was, thankfully, on sale. Isn't it beautiful? I have a couple of pins of the dagger, but they're all kind of cartoonish. This one looks like it could be real. And it's shiny! It also came with a free sticker and a cute star-covered bag.

 

 

Now, here's the final, mega special part of the haul. I definitely saved the best for last. Me, with all my Tor connections (I used to work there, in case you didn't know, and by all, I mean the one person who still works there that I begged for a copy), managed to convince my old co-worker to send little ol' me an early copy of JLA's Fall of Ruin and Wrath. And I think I have this before even JLA got her copies! That's both weird and exciting! Unfortunately, I haven't started it yet, as I'm in the middle of two large fantasy books, but you can bet your bottom I'll be reading this right after those, especially since I want to have it finished by ApollyCon, where I'll for sure be getting this puppy signed.

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