Stacking the Shelves: The FairyLoot Overload 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 having an interesting time right now. I've been on TikTok watching Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce videos practically 24/7, but I did manage to finally read something that I liked. Hopefully that means I'm getting out of this godawful reading slump. Oh, my older sister came to visit this past weekend too, that's why I didn't post an StS. I also only had one ebook to share, so it wasn't worth the effort.

I had quite a few deliveries show up at my parents' house while I was on vacation that I was just able to pick up this past weekend. It's some good stuff too. My FairyLoot order of the first three Vampire Academy books arrived, along with the September and October Adult books. They're all very pretty, though I think I prefer the Waterstones edition of The Hurricane Wars, which you'll see below!

And next up is the Waterstones edition. I just like the lighter color scheme of this one versus the FairyLoot edition. I actually think I might sell the FairyLoot copy since I like the Waterstones one so much better. But, I'll wait until I read it to officially decide. I had a Blackwells order of Throne of the Fallen by Kerri Maniscalco arrive and a B&N preorder of Night of the Witch by Sara Raash and Beth Revis as well. And 10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall was a B&N preorder that was actually delivered to my place instead of my parents'. Yay for progress! My JLA FORAW preorder incentive bookmark was shipped to my parents' house though. Sigh. One day I'll get all my orders to go to my own house. Maybe.

Next, I have the last Brandon Sanderson box for the year: The Sunlit Man. Have I read any of the books from Sanderson's Kickstarter yet? Nope. Will I one day? I hope so. I think I'm going to wait until the first five Way of Kings books are all out, so then I can get into the overall Cosmere story without having to read Mistborn. I read the first book and it was fine. I just don't want to reread it anytime soon to finish up the trilogy + spinoffs.

 As for ebooks, I have three. I downloaded Violent Demand by Ariana Nash on Kindle Unlimited, and it's been the book that's helped get me out of a slump a bit. Thank goodness. I was sent The Fall of the Orc by Finley Fenn for review, and it was good. I also was able to get a copy of Rin Chupeco's Court of Wanderers on NetGalley!!! I plan to read it as soon as I finish another NetGalley book that's releasing very soon. Ugh. I'm so behind on reviews.

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

Review: The Fall of the Orc by Finley Fenn

The Fall of the Orc

Finley Fenn

(Orc Forged #2)

Publication Date: October 20, 2023

Kindle, 323 pages

Genres: Adult, MM, Romance, Fantasy

Goodreads

The orc broke him in battle. Now he’s aiming for his heart…

 

In a world of warring orcs and men, Lieutenant Aulis Gerrard can’t afford to lose one more battle. But when he faces off against the biggest, most brutal berserker in the orcs’ war-band, he knows he’s met his doom…

 

Until the deadly orc drops his axe. Draws Gerrard close. And orders him… to run.

 

In the heat of the moment, caught in the orc’s inexplicable thrall, Gerrard obeys — but the fallout costs him his rank, his position, and his pride. With little left to lose, he decides to hunt down the brazen brute in the forest, and demand a rematch.

 

But the orc doesn’t want just a rematch. He wants to court the pretty human lieutenant. To convert him. To conquer him…

 

But Gerrard would never yield to high treason with an orc… right? Even if the devious devil offers up gifts, sweaty sparring-matches, and sweet surrender in the dark. Because fraternizing with a fearsome, fallen enemy might destroy everything Gerrard has left… and leave his heart shattered, too.

My Review

The Fall of the Orc is the second book in Finley Fenn's Orc Forged series, which is a spinoff/prequel to the Orc Sworn series. You don't have to read the other series' books to enjoy this one, though. I know I've had a great time picking and choosing which Orc books to read based on my interests and mood.

For this installment, we have Gerrard, the POV character and a lieutenant in the human army fighting against the orcs. He's kind of broken whenever the book first starts, which was really fascinating to see play out. And, at first, you think he'll be a baby cinnamon roll, but he gets to have his major badass moments. And his orc love interest—because of course there has to be an orc love interest in an orc series—is Olarr, an enemy orc keeping secrets. Honestly, I liked Olarr, but he didn't have as much personality as I feel the other orcs in the series portrayed. He was still fun, but I wanted more. I always want more with Fenn's books, so that reaction is consistent.

The way the story played out, with the two characters meeting on the battlefield, was awesome! We love a good enemies-to-lovers arc here! But, things moved pretty fast after that. I wanted a bit more tension than I got. I know that's not typically this author's style, I just think, in this particular story line, it would've worked well. Not to say the whole book wasn't a fun time, it totally was! There were lots of spicy and kinky moments and sword swinging of all kinds. *Wink* I simply love me some major angst and tension buildup. I also didn't understand why Olarr couldn't have attempted some of the tasks Gerrard ended up taking on. It was a little confusing to me.

All in all, I was really excited for this book once I learned of Olarr and Gerrard's existence in the previous Orc Forged installment, but I think world events also played a factor in my enjoyment, through no fault of the book besides the things mentioned here. So, I do plan to come back to it one day and reread with a fresh state of mind. I love Finley's Orc world, and I'm excited to see whose story is next.

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

September Wrap-Up & October TBR

I'm back! Yay! I know I've already said it in my last post, but it is nice to be back to the regular routine. My trip abroad has definitely confirmed that I'm definitely an introvert. As I mentioned, I went on a vacation at the end of September/beginning of October. My friends and I went to Iceland for 1.5 weeks. And it was great! Hectic, but great. I might share some pics in a post later. I haven't decided yet. It's been tough to get myself to blog or even just read lately. But anyway, my vacation is the reason this wrap-up is so late.

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 September

The Tragedy of Felix and Jake: 3 stars (KU)

Gravity: 3 stars (KU)

Salt Kiss: 4 stars (ebook)

Wayward: 3 stars (KU)

American Queen: 3 stars (ebook)

American Prince: 2 stars (ebook)

The Fractured Dark: 3 stars (NetGalley, my review)

I read seven books in September which is actually way more than I thought I had read, considering how busy I was. All of them were ebooks, though, so no checking any off my physical TBR. Sigh. Three of the books were Kindle Unlimited downloads: The Tragedy of Felix and Jake by J. Daniels, Gravity by Tal Bauer, and Wayward by Mary Calmes. Three others were ones I bought on Kindle: Salt Kiss, American Queen, and American Prince by Sierra Simone. And the final read of the month was completed right before I left on my trip so I could squeak in a review last minute. That was my NetGalley ARC read of The Fractured Dark by Megan E. O'Keefe.

Books Bought/Received in September

September had a lot of special edition preorders come in. And I was too busy to really appreciate them all. But they're all very nice looking. I also bought too much. Big surprise there. Not. Anyway, I bought 21 books and received a total of 13 books in the month, but while I say I "bought" 21 books, a lot of them were free.

The 21 books I bought include seven preorders that haven't arrived yet or just haven't received yet. Those include the September FairyLoot adult book, a special edition preorder of the Lux series (five books), and the Bookish Box edition of ASOAAB. Oh, and I also didn't technically receive The Scarlet Veil until October, so it falls into this category as well. The other other 13 books include three editions of Fall of Ruin and Wrath (regular, BN, and Indigo), A Fire Endless paperback from BN, and Salt Kiss from Amazon Kindle. Now, the remaining books were all free for a variety of reasons. I got three books for free using Amazon return/reward money. Those include American Queen, American Prince, and Slippery Creatures. I also downloaded four ebooks during the Stuff Your Kindle freebie sale and got Blood Price, On These Black Sands, Kingdoms of Shadow and Ash, and Moon Touched. I also got Immortal Reign from Amazon for free since my physical paperback came damaged. They didn't make me return it. In total, I received 26 books in the month of September.

 Now, I also received 13 books, either from preorders or review copies. They include seven FairyLoot editions: Fourth Wing, the Poison Study trilogy, and The Drowning Empire trilogy. I also received my Owlcrate copy of FORAW and my Russian edition of AKOFAF. I even had a BN August order come in September, so it doesn't count towards the September "bought" category. That order had A Restless Truth, the RWRB movie edition, and Captive in it. And lastly, I had a surprise ARC of Sword Catcher show up.

Currently Obsessed With

Last month, I had a lot going on, so I mostly mindlessly scrolled through videos on TikTok. I did manage to squeeze in a few shows though.

Okay, so I've been unhealthily obsessed with the T&T relationship. It's just so romance-book coded! I'm not even a KC Chiefs fan, though I do live in the same state. And I'm probably an average Taylor Swift fan. I don't know all her albums and songs (though that's changing in October, as I've been watching her various tour documentaries on streaming). But I've been watching TikTok videos of the couple like crazy! Ugh! I'm also rewatching Schitt's Creek when I eat or work, and I started The Wheel of Time season two in September (I finished it in October), and I'm making my way through season five of What We Do in the Shadows.

October TBR

Since it's already mid-October, I don't have a lot of time left to read everything, but there are a couple of review books I'd like to start/finish this month. They include Calamity by Constance Fay, Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare, and The Fall of the Orc by Finley Fenn, which I'm about 70% through right now. I also want to finish Charm by Tracy Wolff. I'm only 200 pages into that one, and it's been rough trying to get through it.

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Okay, well, that's the month of September, plus some October 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 Return 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'm back in the US, which sadly means I went back to work this week. Boo... But I had fun on a 10-day trip around Iceland (the whole vacation was a little longer, but it's hard to count the travel days since those are just spent in airports and on the road). My friends and I hiked a glacier, explored a lava tunnel, and spent a lot of money on food and activities. I might share some pics later, but for now, on to the books.

My Barnes & Noble edition of The Scarlet Veil by Shelby Mahurin arrived when I was about three days into my Iceland trip, so I had my sister come get it. Or, well, she was supposed to. Turns out, she forgot about it and didn't tell me until I got back that she only picked it up when she picked up another package for me later on. I'm just glad it didn't rain since it was left on the front porch that whole time. And, after driving four hours from my friend's place at four a.m., I also stopped by my local Walmart to check if they had the new FBAA edition. They did! Success! It was the last one there. Whew! I was so upset that JLA announced this edition's release the day before I left on my vacation, but everything worked out. Thank goodness.

And next up is the other package I had my sister pick up for me, the Fall of Ruin and Wrath JLA Shop box. It came with a blanket, shirt, mug, some prints and character cards, a reading light, sticky tabs, a standee, and a necklace. Overall, I'm happy with the contents. I didn't buy the A Fire in the Flesh box though, I just don't love the F&F series as much as the B&A one, so I couldn't justify spending the money right before my trip. Hopefully if there's anything cool I miss out on, it's available later.

And lastly for physical books, I have my big Iceland souvenir, other than rocks, chocolate bars, and a shirt. I got this very pretty illustrated fairy book from a Christmas store on Reykjavik's Rainbow Street, and, surprisingly, it held up through two plane rides without any major damage. Success again!

 As for ebooks, I downloaded two books in the Rebel Kings series by Garrett Leigh on Kindle Unlimited. While I read the second book, Saint's Song, I'm currently in the middle of Forgive Me Father, book three, and I think I might DNF the series. I'm not feeling the relationship in this one and the politics of the Russian and Italian mafia combined with the UK Biker gangs is a little too much for me when I just really want more of the romance. I like romances with plot, but this one is a bit too much plot, too little smooshy stuff.

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