Stacking the Shelves: The Lost and Delivered 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.

A lot of stuff has happened since last week. The major thing being I got a nice bonus at work, which I used to purchase some Ikea Billy bookcases. Which meant a whole day trip to St. Louis. And boy, is Ikea's warehouse not a friendly place for people who don't go there often or for people who can't lift seven-foot-long heavy boxes. It was an entire ordeal to get two bookcase boxes out of the store. I was not impressed with the customer service. I plan to build the bookcases this weekend, right now they're just sitting on my floor, staring at me.

Anyway, let's talk about books. I had two preorders arrive this week. The first to arrive was from Barnes & Noble, and it's Slaying the Shadow Prince by Helen Scheuerer. I have two of the books in this interconnected-but-not monster-slaying-romance series by different authors. If I like the two I have, I'll purchase the other three. Next, I have my Waterstones order of The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem. I ordered this one from Waterstones because I wanted the hardcover version. The US just printed a paperback for some dumb reason. I won't be ordering from Waterstones again unless they have an exclusive version, as holy cow was it expensive! I found Blackwell's for free shipping to the US. Thank goodness. Plus, this book got so lost for some reason. USPS truly hates delivering packages to my new address because things just have not made it to me on time. This one got mistakenly returned to sender right when it made it to my city, but went to the capitol and was rerouted back to me. The entire process took an extra week, with no updates on the tracking website to show where it was in the process. It just said Out for Delivery this past Thursday. It also wasn't in the best of shape because of the travel. I managed to fix it, but the corners are still dinged. Boo.

Lastly, I have my only ebook for the week. I downloaded Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross from Kindle Unlimited. I was surprised this one was on there, since it's so new. Good news for me, I guess. I don't know if I'll get to this one before it goes off of KU, but its nice to have the option. I just have so many things to read over the next two months that having the time to read this one seems very unlikely.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The ASOAAB 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 week has been a wild ride, even though there wasn't a ton going on except the major event—A Soul of Ash and Blood releasing. And yes, I've read it. And yes, I've ordered umpteen copies that should be here Friday evening but they may not get here in time for me to update this post, as my older sister is also visiting and wanting to do stuff that evening, so we'll see what happens. If the ASOAAB books are here, then you'll know if I had time to update my post based on whatever picture is below. Haha.

Okay, well, it looks like I had some time. Yay! This is going to be a super long StS, so apologies in advance. Obviously, I have my preordered copies of ASOAAB. I bought two B&N editions and one hardcover, though only one B&N hardcover is in my hands right now. The other was delayed for some reason. Boo. I got the second B&N edition during the 25% preorder sale, since I figured I'll need extras for dust jacket orders in the future. My preorder ASOAAB goodies also arrived from 1,001 Dark Nights. Hurrah!

 

A bunch of other Barnes & Noble orders also arrived this week. This includes Tracy Wolff and Nina Croft's Star Bringer, The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent, and The Struggle and the Spanish paperback of A Light in the Flame by Jennifer L. Armentrout. Star Bringer took forever to get to me. It was two days late from the normal delivery time of B&N/UPS/USPS and then my parents brought it to me, since I had it delivered to their address. I'm not sure why this one took so long when it seems like all my other B&N orders are arriving relatively on time. The delivery companies are having major issues updating their tracking, though. It's super annoying as it's been raining a lot lately, so it's nice to know if I have things to grab off the porch. I'm glad I don't have any major exciting B&N orders after ASOAAB.

Next, I have a sort-of impulse purchase. Illumicrate's Afterlight was selling these editions of Boyfriend Material and Husband Material by Alexis Hall, and I was on the fence about whether or not to get them. While I adored the first book, the second one didn't wow me. It was actually kind of meh with a little ugh thrown in. But, I'm still hopeful book three will give Luc and Oliver a satisfying story arc, so when I saw these pretties, I was torn. I've been spending a lot of money on special editions lately, so I figured I'd skip them. Obviously I didn't, since I have them now. I only got them because Illumicrate gave them a discount during Pride month, which is great, as they shipped from the UK warehouse, so shipping was pricey. I love Illumicrate's non-sub-box editions, but the shipping usually kills any possibility of me buying from them.

And here I have the third book in Brandon Sanderson's Kickstarter campaign. I think I was one of the first people to get my copy, as I didn't see a lot of posts about it anywhere. Unfortunately, it was delivered to my parents' house, so that didn't matter in the long run, as it took me another week to actually go to their house to get it. Haha. I'm not as big of a fan of the design and subject matter of this one when compared to the first two. This one is almost manga style, and that's just not typically my jam.

 

Up next is my A Touch of Magic Designs order that FINALLY arrived. Lord, was I heated over this order. I made this order back in May, and it kept saying "shipping label created" for over a month. I tried many times to contact ATOMD. I finally managed to get a hold of them only for them to tell me my order had shipped and it seemed to be lost. They sent a replacement, but the KOTW print is the wrong one. They said they'd hold one for me to add to my next order, whenever that will be. Honestly, my orders just depend on the bakery pin of the month. But yeah, it's so hard to contact ATOMD that my orders are becoming fewer and farther between these days. 

 

Here's the box for the July FairyLoot Adult Fantasy sub. I'm actually selling this book, as I am 100% not interested. I've read this author's debut, and her writing style is not for me. Therefore, this book is going bye bye. I already have a buyer lined up, but I'm selling it for less than I paid for it because it's too hard to sell monthly FairyLoot books anymore. I honestly wish I could've skipped, but I've already used three of four skips and I want to keep my sub until FairyLoot's Romantasy box comes along. I'm canceling the Adult sub immediately once I've secured that Romantasy subscription. I figure I can purchase any Adult sub books secondhand instead of spending extra money on books I'll never read.

 

 As for ebooks, I only have the one. Yep, I bought the Kindle edition of A Soul of Ash and Blood. This was actually the version I read, since I don't have a B&N near me and it takes forever for my book orders to deliver. I couldn't wait until late Friday night/Saturday night to read this thing. It would have killed me, so I preordered the ebook. I read this as soon as it dropped at like 11:30 p.m. Monday night, and I took the day off work Tuesday to finish it.

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

Review: The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem

The Jasad Heir

Sara Hashem

(The Scorched Throne #1)

Publication Date: July 18, 2023

Paperback, 523 pages, Orbit

Genres: Adult, Fantasy

Goodreads

Ten years ago, the kingdom of Jasad burned. Its magic outlawed; its royal family murdered down to the last child. At least, that’s what Sylvia wants people to believe.

 

The lost Heir of Jasad, Sylvia never wants to be found. She can’t think about how Nizahl’s armies laid waste to her kingdom and continue to hunt its people—not if she wants to stay alive. But when Arin, the Nizahl Heir, tracks a group of Jasadi rebels to her village, staying one step ahead of death gets trickier.

 

In a moment of anger Sylvia’s magic is exposed, capturing Arin’s attention. Now, to save her life, Sylvia will have to make a deal with her greatest enemy. If she helps him lure the rebels, she’ll escape persecution.

 

A deadly game begins. Sylvia can’t let Arin discover her identity even as hatred shifts into something more. Soon, Sylvia will have to choose between the life she wants and the one she left behind. The scorched kingdom is rising, and it needs a queen.

 

In this Egyptian-inspired debut fantasy, a fugitive queen strikes a deadly bargain with her greatest enemy and finds herself embroiled in a complex game that could resurrect her scorched kingdom or leave it in ashes forever.

My Review

The Jasad Heir is an immersive fantasy filled with frustrating, untrustworthy, unpredictable, morally-gray characters, which makes for a super entertaining read. Yep, that's right. None of the characters are particularly "good," so this is a perfect book for readers who don't want the typical hero trope.

The main character, Sylvia, is keeping so many secrets, including the biggest one of all—she's the Jasad kingdom's presumed-dead heir. She's also a magic user, which is a big no-no. Her entire family was killed because of their magic. And boy, does Sylvia make some crazy decisions to keep herself safe. I don't necessarily blame her for those decisions; they're just not particularly noble or heroic, if you're into that type of main lead. She has her moments, but she's really out to keep herself alive at all cost, which does make her pretty badass.

The world itself is Egyptian-based, and that was exciting, as I've never read an Egyptian-based fantasy before. Everything was pretty much brand new to me in terms of clothing and food descriptions. All of the details about the culture of the characters and the people around them really helped to solidify the fictional world in my mind. My one issue, though, is that it was hard to follow the countries' names and leaders at first, probably because my ARC didn't have a map since it wasn't the finished book. But the countries weren't introduced in a very memorable way, so 100% make sure to look at the map when you read this book!

Now, to get to the good stuff, the romance. The Nizahl heir, Arin, hunts Jasadi magic users. When he ends up finding out that Sylvia has magic, he uses her for his own gain and has her compete in a tournament for him. Do I have major mixed feelings about Arin? Absolutely. On the one hand, his backstory and compulsive organization were super endearing, and he's even protective of Sylvia in his own unique way, but on the other hand, it just wasn't enough to make up for his decisions a lot of the time. I mean, he's hunting, locking away, and sending people to their deaths because they have magic. Even innocent bakers aren't exempt! It's hard to forgive and forget that. And, like I said, I don't trust him right now, which makes for a very interesting story, as I never really know how he's going to react. Similarly, my biggest nitpick with this book was just how much the hunting topic was kind of sidestepped/ignored. Every time it was brought up, it never felt like the characters were having a real conversation about it. They never got to the heart of the matter, and they just danced around it for the first half of the book. I wanted Arin to emotionally suffer and for Sylvia to put him in his place and make him see the error of his ways. Maybe that'll happen eventually....

Overall, The Jasad Heir captivated me. It has action, betrayals, magic, and enemies to reluctant allies to lovers to... well, you'll just have to see. ;) This book has all the vibes of S.A. Chakroborty's Daevabad trilogy mixed with Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass and Shelby Mahurin's Serpent & Dove series. It's a fantasy you won't want to miss if you're a fan of any of those. And, even though the characters aren't your typical heroes, I can't wait to see what terrible decisions they'll make in book two.

*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 It's Almost ASOAAB Time 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 the last week before A Soul of Ash and Blood releases, and I just want the world to speed up for the next few days. Please! I need it so badly! Ugh. Otherwise, things have been quiet. My older sister is visiting this weekend, so I've been cleaning my place in case she stops by. I've also bought a lot of home items that, combined with all my book orders, was not a great financial decision for the month. But other than that, it's been a normal week.

 

I only have two physical books to share for this Stacking the Shelves, though I know I have a couple of different books waiting for me at my parents' house. I'll share those next week. I also think a couple copies of A Soul of Ash and Blood will be delivered there as well, which means I'll have to wait to take pics of those. Boo... But anyway, my Amazon replacement of Six Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent arrived, as well as an eBay order of the hardcover of A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire. Yes, this is my umpteenth copy, but I needed another one for a dust jacket set and eBay had the cheapest one I could find. Thankfully, I'm now caught up on having hardcovers for all my FBAA dust jackets, so that's good. I just hope there aren't any more versions that release in the near future. I haven't been able to find a lot of used copies for cheap anymore. Everyone suddenly wants $25-$30 for a used hardcover book. I could get a brand new version for that price, crazies. I guess I'll have to do that cardboard-book method if there are any new dust jacket sets in the future.

Next, I have my ebooks. My hold for Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare came in from the library Libby app, which is terrible timing because I've been really into re-reading Crave by Tracy Wolff with the anticipation of bingeing that entire series after. Alas, now I have to take a break to read Chain of Gold since I want to decide if I should keep my FairyLoot special edition order or sell the set, as I don't really feel like buying the new The Mortal Instruments editions that were revealed but I have to have a matching set if I end up falling in love with the Shadowhunter world again after letting it go a few years back. Ugh. The book collector dilemma. I also downloaded Prose Edda: Viking Lore Unveiled from Kindle Unlimited. My friends and I are visiting Iceland later this year, and we want to read a book set in or based on Iceland. This was one I found that sounded interesting, as the sagas inspired works like LOTR and A Song of Ice and Fire.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Spicy 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.

Well, this week has been really tame in comparison to last week, when I was under deadline stress. The only stressful part of the week has been the god-awful fireworks that go off in my neighborhood, typically right behind my house because my neighbors are terrible. Why do people like making loud banging noises for hours on end? It's ridiculous. But anyway, here's this week's haul.

I don't have any physical books to share. Well, correction. I would have had physical books to share but Amazon sent me dented copies of the books I ordered, so that was a bust. They should be sending replacements soon, and those will be in next week's Stacking the Shelves post. Here though, I have the FairyLoot Spice Road tarot cards. I've wanted these for a while, and someone offered me a deal on Mercari, so I took it. I'm happy that I haven't seen any more FairyLoot tarot cards in their YA boxes that I need to get. I really need to save money now that student loans are returning. Yuck.

Next, I have my Kindle Unlimited ebooks. I downloaded Seraph by Lily Mayne and Per Sunguinem by Ashlyn Drewek. Seraph is the sixth book in a MM apocalyptic monster series that I've binged over the past few weeks, while Per Sanguinem is a MM vampire story. I finished Seraph, and now I'm taking a break from the series. The next book is a collection of stories from all the main couples, so I figured where I ended was a good place, since I'll have a good refresher before jumping into the next installment and then the new release set to come out later this year. As for Per Sanguinem, it's leaving KU soon, so I wanted to read it before then.

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

June Wrap-Up & July TBR

Well, the year is officially halfway over, and it's officially summer. Yuck. The heat is disgusting. July, August, January, and February are just the worst. I do not like extreme heat and I do not like extreme cold. Other than the weather, June hasn't been terrible. I've had another major work deadline that's kept me too stressed and busy, but that's over now, thankfully. Now, I'm hoping to get caught up on some 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 June

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches: 3.5 stars (ebook)

The Beauty and the Orcs: 3.5 stars (KU)

The Awakening As Told by the Boys: 3 stars (KU)

Bound by Firelight: 3 stars

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love: 4 stars (NetGalley ARC, review to come)

Soul Eater: 3.5 stars (KU)

Edin: 3.5 stars (KU)

The Rycke: 3 stars (KU)

Lot 62: 3.5 stars (KU)

The Jasad Heir: 4 stars (review to come)

Gloam: 3 stars (KU)

I read 11 books in June, which is pretty good, if I do say so myself. And I even managed to get two physical books off my pre-2023 TBR. Those were book 1.5 in the Zodiac Academy series, The Awakening As Told by the Boys, and Bound by Firelight by Dana Swift. Technically, I read ZA 1.5 as a Kindle Unlimited ebook, but I do actually own a physical copy, so it counts as a physical book when I cross it off my TBR. Haha. I also read one physical ARC that I received from the publisher, Orbit, and it was The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem. It was definitely my favorite read of the month. The rest of my reads for June were all ebooks. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna was an ebook I borrowed from the library, and Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher was a NetGalley ARC. My review for it will go live in November, closer to the US release date. Other than those, everything else was read via KU. This included The Beauty and the Orcs by Finley Fenn, the first four books in the Monstrous series by Lily Mayne, and Lot 62 by Nordika Night.

Books Bought/Received in June

I didn't realize I'd accumulated so many books this month. Most of them were preorders or regular orders that just so happened to arrive in June (or very late May, but I didn't pick them up from my parents' house until June, so that's when I count it). In total, I purchased seven books in June, and I received 21 books total within the month.

The books I bought and actually received in June include two physical books and two ebooks. The physical books I bought in the month included the Bookish Box edition of Between Wrath & Mercy by Jess Wisecup and the From Blood and Ash ApollyCon reprint edition, which were both Mercari orders. I also bought two ZA ebooks this month: Beyond the Veil and The Awakening. As for books I ordered in June and haven't received yet, those include the FairyLoot edition of Fourth Wing, the Ukraine edition of FBAA, and the Bookish Box edition of The Spanish Love Deception (which I only got a subscription for so I could make sure I got the FORAW edition they're doing in September, though who knows when the book will actually be delivered with how far behind BB is). In total, I bought seven books in June.

As for what I received in June, it's more than I thought. My preorders arrived for the Chest of Fandoms German edition of The War of Two Queens, the Red Queen LitJoy set,  the five books in the Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac series (Mercari May order), The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England from Brandon Sanderson's Kickstarter, the The Cursed Saints (May Adult FL book), and Cherish by Tracy Wolff (a B&N preorder). I also "bought" some free Kindle books. Those include The Demon Prince by Amanda Aggie, Gravebriar by Casey L. Bond, and Empath's Lure by Jen Lynning. And for review, I received two NetGalley ebooks, Enchanted to Meet You by Meg Cabot and Calamity by Constance Kay. I also got a phyiscal ARC of The Jasad Heir from the publisher. Altogether, that's 20 books received (not paid for) during the month of June. That makes 24 books received total in this month. Wow. It really didn't seem like that many, though I think the Red Queen and Ruthless Boys sets make up most of it.

Currently Obsessed With

I don't think I have very much to talk about this month when it comes to shows. It was mostly just me rewatching The Office. Again.

I guess the only major thing I watched was The Flash, and that was only because my dad wanted to see it. I didn't really want to support that movie at all. Plus, I'm really kind of over superhero films. They're mostly just CGI messes at this point. Oh, I do think I rewatched some Buffy episodes, if that counts. I think I've seen the musical episode at least 50 times by now. Lol.

July TBR

Okay, so first I have to talk about the big one. A Soul of Ash and Blood releases in July, so that will be read numero uno. I've already taken off work for the day to read it. But otherwise, it's another month of repeat TBR books with a few newbs thrown in. First up, the books I need to review. That includes The Pariah by Anthony Ryan, Enchanted to Meet You by Meg Cabot, and Calamity by Constance Fay (NetGalley ARCs). I'm also currently reading Beyond the Veil and the sixth book in the Monstrous series, Seraph as ebooks. And then, I have a couple of others I want to re-read, like Crave, Poison Princess, and Kingdom of the Wicked so I can finish bingeing the rest of the series. And finally, I want to read Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen (ebook), The Burning God by R.F. Kuang, The River of Silver by S.A. Chakraborty, and An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. Will I get to even one of those? Probably not, but I'd like to pretend I'll try. Oh, and on top of all of that, I need to get back into reading A Storm of Swords. I was a little over halfway when I stopped last year, so I need to pick it up again.

***

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 Kindle Downloads 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 post is a wee bit later than normal. I didn't write it until Saturday morning. Oops. To be fair, I've been in the midst of a major work deadline, so I didn't have the mental energy to sit in front of a computer and type this up until after I'd had a good night's rest. But I also don't have any physical goodies this week, so it's a pretty meh haul regardless.

The major highlight of the week is getting Zodiac Academy: Beyond the Veil. But even though it is party of the ZA series, it's a bridging novel, so it's not what I really want to read in the series right now. I'm excited to read certain chapters in the book, but I feel like there'll be some POVs that I just don't care for. I did actually purchase the ebook for this one, since preordering a copy meant I could enter into the mega giveaway the authors were having and also get a couple of free stories. I also got Empath's Lure by Jen Lynning and Gravebriar by Casey L. Bond as part of the stuff-your-Kindle free ebook day thing that was going yesterday.

Next, I have my Kindle Unlimited ebooks. I downloaded Gloam and Moth by Lily Mayne. They're sequels in a post-apocalyptic MM monster romance series. I'm getting a bit burnt out with the stories, but for some reason, I just can't stop reading them. I also got the fourth installment in the Bro and the Beast series by L.C. Davis. I'm reading it now. And then, lastly, I have The Last Dragon King by Leia Stone. I've heard rumors this is going to get a FairyLoot special edition set, so I thought I'd give it a try. I haven't heard great things, but I'd still like to read it, since it is pretty.

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