So I had a bit of a disaster last week and didn't end up posting the StS I had already drafted. Why? Well, the last package I received caused some drama. I'll tell you about it below. Right now, I'm gonna recap the last two weeks. April is going by so fast. It's crazy. Only 1.5 more weeks until ApollyCon, and I am 100% not ready. All I did over the past two weekends was organize books, put up fan art, and build bookshelves, but it seems like everything has zoomed by. I also visited my parents one Monday evening as well, but that's not really about books. Ha ha.
As for books, I had a couple of preorders come in this week. The first was the December/January Arcane Society subscription box. It's my first one. And while I'm so happy to be off the waitlist, I'm not super excited about the recent choices, so I've skipped the last two renewals. I hope they have better selections in June. But my first box came with Flames of Chaos and Ashes of Chaos by Amelia Hutchins. They're very pretty. I remember wanting to read this series a couple of years ago, so it's cool I get the chance now. I honestly like the way Arcane picks already-published books for their boxes. It makes it easier to decide which ones I want.
The next preorder to come in was my Illumicrate copies of Rin Chupeco's Reaper duology. These books were my favorite reads of 2023, so I was super happy when Illumicrate announced they were doing special editions. I'm still waiting on Goldsboro to announce they're doing the second book, though. I need a matching version of the first book. I also purchased Zodiac Academy: The Reckoning on Mercari for pretty cheap. I'm slowly going to collect the ZA books from secondhand sellers. I only have seven books to go.
And next, I have my Barnes & Noble purchase. The one that caused oh-so-much drama. I was waiting to get this package last Friday, and my mail doesn't typically arrive until around 5 p.m.. Well, I think I ended up taking a nap or something, and the package sat outside my door for a bit. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, but I guess the ants that used to live outside my door decided it was time to return. So, I unknowingly brought a B&N box in my house that had very small ants on it. Now, I don't actually think there were that many. Maybe five or six total. However, I freaked out. I did not want ants crawling all over my books or my furniture. So I sprayed way too much bug spray in my living room and pretty much fumigated the entire thing, which caused me to have to isolate myself in my bedroom for pretty much the whole weekend. It was ridiculous. I can also still slightly smell the spray as I'm sitting in my living room now. Probably killing brain cells as I type. Ugh. I've opened my window, turned on a fan, and even used cleaning products on areas I sprayed, but there's still a slight after-smell. It's insane. Anyway, I put the books in plastic Ziploc bags to quarantine them, just in case there were any ants inside their pages. Thankfully there weren't. The reason I had to do that is because the box B&N shipped these things in was absolutely terrible! The books weren't stacked on top of each other in a normal, sturdy box. Instead they were laying double side-by-side. Two on top, two on bottom. And one of the books I ordered ended up getting completely wrecked. The replacement should be here for next week's StS. Oh, and the box itself had huge slits on the corners; hence the reason the ants could crawl inside.
But anyway, let's talk about the actual books, shall we? I want to move away from that traumatizing experience... I needed to make a preorder for a special edition that I was worried was going to go out of stock as well as buy a book by an ApollyCon author before I left later this month, so I ordered some stuff. The ApollyCon book is K.J. Sutton's Fortuna Sworn, and the other two are Sire and Broken by Jex Lane (Sire still to come). I also ordered a paperback copy of Visions of Flesh and Blood for my mother, but it doesn't count. It's not going on my shelves. Ha ha.
Moving on to this week's haul, I have an order I made from Etsy for a set of A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire overlays. It's from a Spanish shop, Espada de Valkiria. I made a whim purchase for these. I'm not an overlay person. In fact, I wish people would just sell them as prints, but the artwork on a couple of these are so pretty that I had to have them. The shop also sent a Poppy x Cas magnetic bookmark and a couple of stickers from Crescent City and Fourth Wing.
And finally for the physical books, I have a special edition set from JLA herself. This is the Wicked trilogy set she sold in her JLA Shop. Now, they weren't exactly what I was hoping for when JLA hinted she'd be doing special editions of this series, but they're still pretty. I'm just not a huge teal/green fan when it comes to books. I like my silvers, purples, blues, golds, and blacks. But, again, these are still fancy enough to satisfy the book dragon in me.
And lastly, I have the ebook portion of the haul. There's only one, and it was a cheapy on Nook. Dark Heir by C.S. Pacat was $2.99 yesterday, so I bought it super fast, especially since the wait time for the Libby copy is like 20+ weeks. That's crazy. I read book one Dark Rise, when it came out a couple of years ago, and it was okay. I was a tad disappointed, but still intrigued enough to possibly read the second book. However, I knew I didn't want to buy it until I knew if I liked the series. No sense in wasting more money. So, this is my chance to find out if I need to buy a hardcover.
Well, that's all for me. What books have
you bought/received lately?
Omg, that ants scenario sounds truly traumatizing! I would be freaking out too. We had an any infestation on our mailbox once and it was terrible! Luckily we sprayed it and that was the end of it. But yeah...I hate creepy crawlies on my books!
ReplyDeleteI feel so envious that your B&N orders actually come on Friday! Mine used to, but then starting this year, a sorting center takes days upon days to move them along. It drives me nuts! I feel like this is somehow B&N's fault as when one book that was never picked up by the carrier didn't arrive in the 7+ days or whatever, they resent it and it came directing via UPS. No passing St. Louis to go to Kansas City to then move it onto USPS territory. It just came straight from UPS to me. So they are capable of it! They just send them the slowest way possible that takes my books around the entire state before getting to the sorting center of no return where it sits for a week before finally being sent out. I try to be understanding that the center is likely understaffed, but that's why I blame B&N as they should be sending it to me the fastest way possible since I pay for this membership every year. You'll likely see me ranting about this in my post tomorrow! Lol. You can just skip over that paragraph! ;)
I so so wanted to go to Apollycon this year and last year, but failed spectacularly to get tickets again. It's a freaking nightmare trying to buy those things and I don't think I'll ever be able to go because I'll be stuck in that waiting room of doom and by the time they release me everything is gone! But my absolute favorite author is attending again and I so wanted to go if just to see here again! But alas, I will be having KOMO (knowledge of missing out. I don't get the "fear" version, as I know I'm missing out. I'm not fearful of what I already know! Lol) again.
I debated heavily about JLA's new Wicked series covers, but I guess in the long run...I just didn't care for the appearance all that well. I'm starting to realize I'm collecting wayyyy too many covers again of all her books. And I am trying to dial it back. I loved her Covenant series but I don't even think I'll buy those new covers either. I think my fave-fave in her YA series were the Lux series (and it's unfinished spinoff) and The Dark Elements trilogy. Oh and that one's spinoff! Lol. So those I could see myself "justifying" rebuys if I liked the art enough. Definitely want that new cover of Obsidian that releases in the summer.
The rest of your books are totally new to me ones but I hope you end up enjoying them all! The overlays are really pretty too! But like you, I'd rather have prints!
My StS will be up tomorrow, so stop by then if you can!
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower :)