Stacking the Shelves: The Post-Xmas 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.

Wow. It's almost 2024. That's insane. I feel like the end of the year just flew by. And now onto a new year that I'm not super excited for due to world events. But, ignoring all that, I am excited to start a new year of reading. Right now, I'm trying to shove in all the short books that I can to reach 100 books read in 2023, so I can't wait to just read whatever I want once January hits.

Now, onto books. I had some orders that I picked up at my parents' house while I was there for the holidays. They were mostly preorders from FairyLoot, but there was also the Waterstones edition of Gold by Raven Kennedy. The FairyLoot copies included The Midnight Kingdom by Tara Sim and Fall of Ruin and Wrath by JLA.

Onto the Christmas gifts. Most of them were from my parents. In fact, the only one that wasn't was a metal wall poster my sister got me that has a magical book/castle thing on it. It's pretty. I'm still not sure where I'm going to hang it though. From my parents, I got a fake plant for my house, a small black bookcase, sheets, a gray blanket, a vaccuum, pillows, and a Visa gift card. For bookish stuff, I got Insatiable by Meg Cabot, the newer editions of FBAA and TCOGB, a Solis map blanket and a Delano crispy marshmallow sticker from the JLA Shop, and a Bookish Box FBAA dagger. 

 

There was a Stuff Your Kindle Day earlier this week, so I got a lot of free ebooks. A lot. Those included With Shield and Ink and Book by Casey L. Bond, Queen of Roses by Briar Boleyn, A Pack of Storms and Stars by Olivia Wildenstein, The Hollow Gods by AJ Varna, Of Mist and Shadow by Jenna Wolfhart, Blood of Desiderium by Ali Stuebbe, Shadow and Moonlight by Luna Laurier, Living Legend by Allie Shante, Helfyre by Mariel Pomeroy, and Heavenly Bodies by Imani Erriu.

And finally, the ebooks I downloaded from Kindle Unlimited this week. I got King of Death by Lily Mayne, Knock Knock by Nordika Night, and Prince and Betrothed by Tavia Lark. All of them are sequels to series I've been reading over the past year. I'm currently reading one of them, finished one, and haven't even started another one.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Xmas Eve Eve 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 pre-Christmas book haul. But I have to admit, it's hard to celebrate this year with everything going on in Palestine. It hurts knowing that while I'm celebrating with my family, their own families are being destroyed. I hope our leaders can get a spine over the holidays and end this madness. 20,000 people dead due to greed and hate. It's awful. #CeasefireNow

The only physical item I got this week was my A Soul of Ash and Blood dustjacket from ImaginesBookShop. This took so long to ship out. I think I ordered it back in August? I can't even remember now, it's been that long. But, now that I have it, I have to figure out how I'm going to rearrange my shelves to fit this one in with the other FBAA editions.

And finally, the only ebook I have is a tiny novella in the Kin & Kine series by H.G. Birde. Riverbanks is only 34 pages, and I decided to download it from the author's newsletter when I began panicking about how I was five books away from reaching 100 books read on Goodreads. My goal each year is only 30 books, but I'm so close to 100 that it'll be awful if I can't reach it. After reading Riverbanks, I'm at 96 books read. I can make it! Hopefully...

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

Stacking the Shelves: Another JLA 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. It's been a while. I actually didn't get any physical books last week. Therefore, I decided not to write an StS and just save all the ebooks I got for this post, but I'll get into that in a bit. As for life in general, nothing crazy is going on. I had book club for the first time since our Iceland trip, so that was fun, and I went to visit my parents last weekend.

Now, onto books. My order for the French edition of A Shadow in the Ember came in this week. I was actually surprised it arrived in so quickly. I ordered via Amazon.fr, and I think it came in less than two weeks. Normally international orders take FOREVER. My preorder incentives for A Fire in the Flesh also arrived at my parents' house, so I was able to pick those up when I visited.

I ended up having to make a $40 Barnes & Noble purchase to get free shipping for a Christmas present I ordered, so I threw in a JLA book that I don't own yet. Obsession is the adult spinoff/companion book to her Lux series. I haven't read it yet, but I might do that soon. I need some quick reads to get me to 100 books by the end of the year, and JLA's non-FBAA books are usually pretty fast reads.

And finally, the ebooks. All of these except Violent Secret by Ariana Nash are Kindle Unlimited downloads. I purchased Violent Secret using some Amazon credits. The other KU books include Gold by Raven Kennedy, Villain and the Geek by L.C. Davis, God of Fury by Rina Kent, Until You by Briar Prescott, One by Paulina Ian-Kane, Blurred Lines by Andi Jaxon, and Danger Zone by Brooke Blaine and Ella Frank. Can you tell I was downloading a lot of stuff to try to get out of a reading slump?

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

November Wrap-Up & December TBR

Well, November was the worst reading month of 2023. Yikes. But there were reasons for that. One, was the slump. I just wasn't feeling any of the books I was being forced to read due to my own obligations (e.g., book club, review books, etc.). I also was addicted to TikTok, and current events also make it difficult to focus on reading. #CeasefireNow. Oh, and I ended up getting COVID during Thanksgiving, which meant for two weeks it was hard to focus on anything but trying to breathe through the congestion. Lol.

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 November

Court of Wanderers: 4.5 stars (NetGalley eARC, review to come)

Yep, I only read a single book in November. And it was at the beginning of the month. I literally finished it on November 1st in the wee hours of the a.m. Court of Wanderers by Rin Chupeco was a book I got for review via NetGalley. It would have been one of my most anticipated books of 2024 if I hadn't already read it for review. I devoured this sucker in a couple of days, I believe. It was amazing. I'm so sad the duology is over. I already have my review written, I just have to type it up, but it won't go live until the book actually releases in April. I will say though, this duology will make it to the number one spot on my best-reads-of-2023 list.

Books Bought/Received in November

Only reading one book didn't stop me from buying 14 more in November. Yikes. And of those 14, only five of them arrived within the month. The others were preorders. I also had five other books arrive that were paid for earlier in the year. So that's a grand total of 10 books that actually showed up to my house.

The 14 books I bought included nine preorders that haven't arrived yet. Those consists of my FairyLoot preorders of Fall of Ruin and Wrath and The Dark Elements trilogy by JLA and the Red Rising trilogy by Pierce Brown. I also preordered a special edition of From Blood and Ash from Fae & Flourish and the French edition of A Shadow in the Ember. For the books that I purchased that actually arrived in November, I got an ARC of Blood Passage by Heather Demetrios from Mercari; the FairyLoot November Adult book, Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare; and three books from Barnes & Noble: Fangirl the 10th Anniversary Edition by Rainbow Rowell, Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros, and A Power Unbound by Freya Marske.

 I also received five books that I'd preordered earlier in 2023. My three copies of A Fire in the Flesh arrived, one from Indigo and two from B&N. One was the special B&N copy and the other was the regular hardcover. My FairyLoot copy of The Scarlet Veil by Shelby Mahurin came in, as well as the German Chest of Fandoms edition of A Light in the Flame (not pictured).

Currently Obsessed With

I haven't been watching a lot of stuff lately. It's mostly been a TikTok obsession. Plus, TikTok is very digestible when you're ill and can't really concentrate on anything else.

I honestly don't remember what all I watched in November. I know I've been rewatching The Office when I eat meals, like I always do. And I also rewatched The Wizard of Oz for the first time in probably five or so years. I did finish What We Do in the Shadows season five early on in the month. It wasn't my favorite season, sadly, but it had a few funny parts. It definitely could've been better. I also started a show on Netflix called Never Have I Ever. It's a high school comedy that I don't think I'll continue watching. It's just not grabbing my attention. I wanted something to entertain me while I was sick, but it didn't hit the mark.

December TBR

I need to read nine books in December (as of today) to reach 100 books read overall in 2023. So I'm sneaking in some short books to make sure I can reach my goal. Those include The River of Silver by S.A. Chakraborty; some Lily Mayne titles like A Monstrous Christmas in the Camp, which is also fitting for the holiday season; and Villain and the Geek by L.C. Davis. I also need to finish my NetGalley ARC of Calamity by Constance Fay and start my ARC of A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen. And finally, I'd like to finish Charm by Tracy Wolff. I'm only 200 pages into that one. It's taken 3+ months to get the stupid thing read.

***

Okay, well, that's the month of November, plus some December 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 FBAA 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.

Ugh. So, it's been a rough couple of weeks for me. Unlike most people who were celebrating the holiday, I ended up being alone on my couch because I was sick with COVID. Yuck. I'm still recovering even now. The congestion is unreal. But, thankfully, it's better than it was the previous week.

Now, onto books. I have been reading very little, especially since COVID kind of shot my concentration, but the book orders do keep rolling in. First up, I have my Barnes & Noble preorder of A Power Unbound by Freya Marske. I also have three FairyLoot orders: The Scarlet Veil by Shelby Mahurin, Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare (the November Adult book), and Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder. Fire Study is my replacement copy for the damaged one that came in originally. I'm also mad that The Scarlet Veil is taller than the original FairyLoot Serpent & Dove books. It's very irritating. I'm glad I got the regular hardcover too so my copies actually match.

 

Something I've been eagerly anticipating finally arrived this week. My Prettygalpins Jemlin FBAA tarot card deck arrived. And they are gorgeous!!! I think my favorites are Poppy, Vonetta, Isbeth, Kieran, Casteel, and Sera, though they all look awesome. Reaver is showing a lot of skin, though. Lol. 

 

And next, I have the replacement dustjacket for the FairyLoot edition of Kingdom of the Feared. I think I added myself to the list to get this replaced like a year ago at this point. It's insane how long this whole process has taken. But I'm glad it came in, as the spine does not match the previous two books in the series at all. I was supposed to get a replacement for A Dragon's Promise too, but it wasn't in the tube, and I've already emailed FairyLoot about other things, so I'm just not going to worry about it. I don't care enough, since I don't own the other duology by the author and it's just a matter of silver versus gold font.

 

I also almost forgot to share the A Touch of Magic Designs order I received. It arrived in a relatively timely manner, so I'd already taken a pic and put the Vampire Academy bakery pin on my pin banner. I was too sick to take the artwork out of the plastic sheets, so sorry about the mediocre photo. I ordered the two FBAA pieces. The Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac magnet and Fourth Wing piece were freebies.

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

Review: Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love

Lex Croucher

Publication Date: November 28, 2023

Hardcover, 416 pages, Wednesday Books

Genres: YA, Historical Fiction, LGBTQ+

Goodreads

Heartstopper meets A Knight’s Tale in this queer medieval rom com YA debut about love, friendship, and being brave enough to change the course of history.

 

It’s been hundreds of years since King Arthur’s reign. His descendant, Arthur, a future Lord and general gadabout, has been betrothed to Gwendoline, the quick-witted, short-tempered princess of England, since birth. The only thing they can agree on is that they despise each other.

 

They’re forced to spend the summer together at Camelot in the run up to their nuptials, and within 24 hours, Gwen has discovered Arthur kissing a boy and Arthur has gone digging for Gwen's childhood diary and found confessions about her crush on the kingdom's only lady knight, Bridget Leclair.

 

 Realizing they might make better allies than enemies, they make a reluctant pact to cover for each other, and as things heat up at the annual royal tournament, Gwen is swept off her feet by her knight and Arthur takes an interest in Gwen's royal brother. Lex Croucher's Gwen and Art Are Not in Love is chock full of sword-fighting, found family, and romantic shenanigans destined to make readers fall in love.

My Review

If you're missing the fun of BBC's Merlin show or want a book similar to Alexis Hall's writing style, then Gwen & Art Are Not in Love might just be for you. It has some hilarious and disaster characters, along with some crazy situations with a bunch of young people just trying to find love. It's a lighthearted historical fiction comedy with romance and sword fighting thrown in.

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love follows two POV characters, Gwen, the current king's daughter, and Arthur, a descendant of King Arthur with none of his capabilities. Against their wishes, the two are engaged, even though Gwen likes a certain female knight and Arthur is very into men. So, they agree to make each others' lives easier and keep their secrets. What's entertaining after that is watching them become enemies to allies to sort-of friends. Both characters are complete messes.

I will say that in addition to the two protagonists, the other side characters, such as Bridget Leclair, the knight, and Arthur's friend, Sid, all are pretty flushed out characters. Bridget reminds me of Brienne of Tarth in personality, not appearance, which was very fun to read. However, I don't think the members of the royal family truly got a lot of development. I would've liked to have seen more, especially from Gabriel, Gwen's brother, and the king and queen. They felt a bit like afterthoughts at times.

Now, though I did enjoy this book, it took some time to get into. I think I had to get about 15% into the story before I truly immersed myself into the world, especially since I thought this was going to be an actual King Arthur retelling, just with gay characters, and instead it ended up having very little relevance to King Arthur at all. Honestly, that whole plot point could have been taken out. But anyway, I guess I should have read the description more closely. The plot overall, is very fun, though. Gwen and Art are trying to figure themselves out while fitting in some romance, and it's a wild ride. But the ending. I was not expecting the action that happened. Just when you think you're in a fluffy historical fiction book, BAM! Everything goes crazy! My eyes were glued to my Kindle.

All in all, Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is simply a cute, entertaining read. It will give you all the feels and make you wish to live in an age of knights and princesses. Just don't go into it thinking you're getting the actual tale of King Arthur, and you'll be all set for a quick, cheery read.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Priority ARC 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.

Wow. It's almost Thanksgiving. Where the heck has November gone? I have so much to do before the holidays and absolutely no energy to do it. It doesn't help that I've been completely integrated into the world of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. Yes, it's become a huge problem. They've suckered me into their various fields, and I hate it. But I also love it. Ugh. I didn't have become-obsessed-with-a-celebrity-romance on my 2023 bingo card. Also, #CeasefireNow.

Now, onto books. I haven't been reading very much at all. Again, the TnT situation has taken over my life and all romance books (which is primarily what I read) pale in comparison. I still have preorders coming in though, and one major buy that has made me extremely happy. My Indigo order for A Fire in the Flesh by JLA arrived this week. It took way longer than my Indigo orders normally take. It got stuck in Canada for an extra week. My Barnes & Noble preorders for Iron Flame and Fangirl, the 10th anniversary edition, also came in. The Fangirl copy is so cute! It has pink and white stenciled edges. But the big news for this post is the ARC of Blood Passage by Heather Demetrios. I've been trying to find an ARC of this book for sale somewhere at a decent price for about two years now. And someone was selling it on Mercari. Gah! The hardcover got a cover change, but I loved the original cover design, so I wanted this copy, as this series is one that really inspires me when it comes to daydreaming about writing my own fantasy worlds..

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

October Wrap-Up & November TBR

Well, October was probably my worst reading month of the entire year. Which isn't surprising. My vacation took up a full week of the month, and then after, I needed to catch up on life and decompress. Also, the world is on fire right now, so reading has just been difficult overall. I'm hoping November will be better, but holy cow, it isn't starting off great. #CeasefireNow.

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 October

Devil's Dance: 3 stars (KU)

Saint's Song: 3 stars (KU)

The Fall of the Orc: 3.5 stars (eARC, my review)

Violent Demand: 4 stars (KU)

I only read four books in October, and all of them were ebooks. Three of the books were Kindle Unlimited downloads: Devil's Dance and Saint's Song by Garrett Leigh and Violent Demand by Ariana Nash. The other book was an eARC sent from author Finley Fenn for me to review her book The Fall of the Orc. It was one of my most anticipated books for the remaining of 2023, so I'm glad I was able to get it a bit early.

Books Bought/Received in October

I thought October was pretty chill, but there was actually a lot of stuff added to my shelves this month. I bought 12 books, and of those I bought in October, I received seven of them within the month. And in total, I received 15 books, which includes those seven.

The 12 books I bought include five preorders that haven't arrived yet or just didn't arrive until early November. Those include my FairyLoot preorders of The Scarlet Veil and The Midnight Kingdom, as well as my Indigo and B&N orders of A Fire in the Flesh. I purchased the regular and B&N edition from B&N. I had seven orders that were actually delivered to me within the month or were directly purchased in the store. Those include Night of the Witch and 10 Things That Never Happened from B&N, Throne of the Fallen from Blackwells, two copies of The Hurricane Wars (Waterstones and FairyLoot editions), the FBAA Walmart edition, and a fairy book I purchased in an Iceland Christmas shop on Rainbow Street.

 I also received eight books, either from preorders or review copies. They include four FairyLoot editions: the first three books in the Vampire Academy series and Sun of Blood and Ruin, the September adult book, which I paid for in September but didn't arrive until October because it was shipped to my parents' house while I was on vacation. My B&N edition of The Scarlet Veil also didn't arrive until I was on vacation, though I was charged in September, and the last book in Brandon Sanderson's Kickstarter, The Sunlit Man, arrived this month as well. I paid for that last year. Other than those, I had two ebook review copies. One was The Fall of the Orc by Finley Fenn, which I received from the author, and the other was Court of Wanderers by Rin Chupeco from NetGalley.

Currently Obsessed With

I've been watching a rollercoaster of things this month. It's been crazy. There's been a lot of movies and shows to take my attention off of everything I need to do. It's also taken away from my reading a bit.

Like I mentioned in last month's wrap-up, I've been really into the Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce romance. This lead to me going to see the Taylor Swift Eras Tour film on its Thursday opening night. There were only two other people there since most people already had tickets for Friday's original release showing. I also watched a couple of her other streaming films. One was the Reputation tour and the other was the Miss Americana documentary. I also finished my rewatch of Schitt's Creek, and I moved back to The Office. I did finish season two of The Wheel of Time as well. I slowly made my way through season five of What We Do in the Shadows too (I finished it in early November). My family (mostly my mom and sisters) watched the Barbie movie too. It was... something. I was disappointed. I don't think I mentioned this in last month's wrap-up, but I also watched Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves on Prime in September as well.

November TBR

Only one new TBR book for the month. The other two are repeats from last month. No surprise there. The newbie is A Fire in the Flesh, since that just released last Tuesday. The other two include my NetGalley ARC of Calamity by Constance Fay and Charm by Tracy Wolff. I'm only 200 pages into that one, and it's taking me forever to get through it because I liked the side characters and they're not really in this installment, sadly.

***

Okay, well, that's the month of October, plus some November 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 AFITF 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, October is over. It's Christmas season! While I do love the Christmas festivities, I do not have the energy to buy presents this year. Ugh. People may just be getting gift cards from me. As for the most recent holiday, I did nothing special for Halloween. I just ate candy in front of my TV in my pajamas. It was very attractive. Lol.

As for books, I had two Barnes & Noble deliveries, neither of which should be a surprise. My preorders for the regular hardcover and the B&N hardcover of Jennifer L. Armentrout's A Fire in the Flesh arrived Friday. I really wish B&N had some faster shipping. I don't like ordering books from Amazon unless I just have to (e.g., independently published), but B&N takes sooo long. At least I'm not as excited about the Flesh and Fire series, so I don't have to worry about downloading the ebook to read this one day-of like I do with the regular Blood and Ash series. My Chest of Fandoms German order for A Light in the Flame also arrived. Well, technically, it was delivered to my parents' house and they dropped it off.

 As for ebooks, I have two for the week. I downloaded Blurred Lines by Andi Jaxon and Danger Zone by Brooke Blaine on Kindle Unlimited. Blurred Lines is the sequel to a MM hockey romance book I read earlier this year. I think it follows a different couple though. Also, this is a special edition cover. The regular cover is a bit spicy. Not terrible, but more skin is showing for two characters than I normally show on my blog. I think... I honestly can't remember if I've shared other spicy book covers here or not. I've been blogging for so long. Danger Zone's cover is on the edge a little too, but I figure most everything is in shadow. Plus, it didn't have another US cover.

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

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?