Stacking the Shelves: The Fancy 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 been a weird week. In a good way, but also in a bad way. Work has gotten stressful, with deadlines oh-so-close, but my book-collecting life is thriving. Though my bank account is not. It is very much dwindling. Rapidly. I plan to actually sell some books after the holidays. I'd do it now, but there are some things I still might want to trade for, so I'm holding off for a bit. Speaking of trades, I have something ultra exciting coming this Saturday that should be in next week's haul. I can't believe I was able to trade for it. Gah!

 

But on to this week's haul. First up, I have the fancy Blood and Ash Acrylipics set. Those edges are so bright and pretty! And the box the set came in is gorgeous as well. I'm definitely going to be displaying it on my FBAA shrine. The set also came with page overlays. They're the same art as the front dustjackets. Unfortunately, my FBAA copy was misprinted, so I reached out to Acrylipics for a new one. We'll see how that goes. So, that's why I didn't share any up-close pics of the dustjackets. I'll have some on my Instagram later, though, once the replacement arrives.

Next up, I have some Barnes & Noble preorders that arrived. Man, October has been a crazy release month. My poor wallet. Good thing I only really order regular editions during the 25% off preorder sale, otherwise, this would be killer combined with my special edition addiction. Anyway, the books I got include Never Keep by Susanne Valenti and Caroline Peckham, Legend of the White Snake by Sher Lee, and the new The Bridge Kingdom paperback by Danielle L. Jensen. I'm still mad about this cover change, btw. I'm tired of indie books getting picked up and changing covers when I've already collected the originals. It makes me want to stop buying physical copies until all books are released. Congrats to the authors, but boo on the publishers for making my life difficult.

And lastly, I have one lonely Kindle Unlimited ebook. This one is the sequel to a book I read a few months ago. It's The Rebel King by L. Eveland, and it has a much better cover than the first book. The first one was way too risque. I'm excited to get to this, but it may be a while. I'm not in a reading slump necessarily, but I'm finding it difficult to pick up a book while my work life is so busy. It's almost like a weird minor anxiety/mind game thing where I think I don't have time to read and that I should be doing other things instead of reading, yet I have time to scroll TikTok for hours on end. Ugh. Hopefully, that feeling will end soon. 

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Final Goldfinch 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 been getting darker and colder lately, and, while I love fall, I feel like we just went straight from summer weather to freezing cold. There was no nice 60-degree in-between. I've already had to dig out my space heater, and I don't like it. I can live with the darkness. Weirdly enough, it's actually made it easier to get up in the morning for me, but the bone-deep cold is killing me. Ugh. It's gonna be a long winter...

But on to this week's haul. First up, I have some Barnes & Noble preorders that arrived. There's the new cover of Stone Cold Touch by JLA, The Stars Are Dying by Chloe C. Penaranda, and Swordcrossed by Freya Marske. Swordcrossed is one of my most anticipated releases of this year, so I'm excited. Though it might be a while before I get to it. I'm prioritizing review books and ApollyCon authors right now.

Next up, I have the last copy of the Plated Prisoner series. I bought the Walmart exclusive paperback version, but this is the true last version for me. I started collecting the Waterstones copies a couple of years ago, and they're so much better than the US hardcovers. The shiny foiling is gorgeous. I don't plan on buying any other editions of this series, so this may officially be the last Plated Prisoner copy I buy. Unless Raven Kennedy releases that one character's book. No spoilers, but I really hope she does.

And lastly, I have one lonely Kindle Unlimited ebook. I was looking for something to read by an ApollyCon author, and this one stuck out to me. It's A Sword of Shadow and Deceit by Lucinda Dark. It's actually pretty good so far. I'm about 21% in. It's quite a bit darker than I expected, so that'll be interesting. The cover is also really pretty, so this one may be a book I buy to get signed at the event. 

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

Review: Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy

Sorcery and Small Magics

Maiga Doocy

(The Wildersongs Trilogy #1)

Publication Date: October 15, 2024

Paperback, 416 pages, Orbit

Genres: Adult, LGBTQ+, Fantasy

Goodreads

 

Desperate to undo the curse binding them to each other, an impulsive sorcerer and his curmudgeonly rival venture deep into a magical forest in search of a counterspell—only to discover that magic might not be the only thing pulling them together.

 

Leovander Loveage is a master of small magics.

 

He can summon butterflies with a song, or turn someone’s hair pink by snapping his fingers. Such minor charms don’t earn him much admiration from other sorcerers (or his father), but anything more elaborate always blows up in his face. Which is why Leo vowed years ago to never again write powerful magic.

 

That is, until a mix-up involving a forbidden spell binds Leo to obey the commands of his longtime nemesis, Sebastian Grimm. Grimm is Leo’s complete opposite—respected, exceptionally talented, and an absolutely insufferable curmudgeon. The only thing they agree on is that getting caught using forbidden magic would mean the end of their careers. They need a counterspell, and fast. But Grimm casts spells, he doesn’t undo them, and Leo doesn’t mess with powerful magic.

 

Chasing rumors of a powerful sorcerer with a knack for undoing curses, Leo and Grimm enter the Unquiet Wood, a forest infested with murderous monsters and dangerous outlaws alike. To dissolve the curse, they’ll have to uncover the true depths of Leo’s magic, set aside their long-standing rivalry, and—much to their horror—work together.

 

Even as an odd spark of attraction flares between them.

My Review

Sorcery and Small Magics was a perfect fall-transition book. It's light and fluffy with plenty of magical hijinks and strange magical creatures. Plus, Leovander Loveage is never boring. His inner thoughts and resulting actions made him a fairly dramatic main character, not that he didn't have adequate reasons for his dramatics, but things did get quite out of hand no matter what decision he made.

Leo is a hot mess 99% of the time, but Sebastian Grimm, his nemesis, is the stoical grump to Leo's sunshine. And when they unintentionally get stuck together, it's honestly a great time. The few chapters that didn't have Leo and Grimm interacting, while still important to the story, were my least favorite. The banter between the two main characters was what I lived for. The academic "rival" tension was just too good. I wanted more. Leo was so good at pestering Grimm.

I will say that the story skewed a bit from what it originally started out as. And while that's in the synopsis, I still wasn't expecting it to take up a large portion of the book. The spell Grimm and Leo unintentionally casts that gets them stuck together means they have to go on a quest of sorts to get it fixed. So we go from a magical academy setting to a magical forest one instead. They go into this forest and all sorts of random antics ensure. There are bandits, musically-obsessed creatures, enchanted towers, and a good-boy wolf monster. Grimm and Leo have to work together to make it through all of this and get their curse undone, and I had a great time following their journey. I also was surprised to find that this book isn't a standalone. It actually ends with quite a few things unresolved. I guess I'll have to (im)patiently wait for book two to get my answers.

All in all, if you like TJ Klune's whimsical stories, Rebecca Ross's musical magic in A River Enchanted, or Freya Marske's The Last Binding series, then Sorcery and Small Magics just might be for you. It's a light-hearted fantasy with two main characters that have zero idea what they're doing, and watching them bumble their way through the problem they created is quite entertaining. I'm excited to see what book two has in store.

*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 Bride 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.

Man, I've been exhausted this week. Not for any particular reason. My body is just weary. Working out, going to the 9-5, and doing household stuff has just been so tiring lately. Maybe it's the weather change? Or maybe I need to eat better food and sleep more? Nah, that can't be it. Lol.

But on to this week's haul. First up, I have a copy of Bride by Ali Hazelwood that I ordered off of PangoBooks. I specifically wanted the Target exclusive edition because of the bonus material in the back, and I guess Target doesn't carry them anymore. So I got this one for $8 plus shipping. My Sallteas Bride pins also arrived with a couple of bookmarks and a small card print. Two are of Bride characters and the other is from A Fate Inked in Blood, I think...

 

Next up, I have my LitHaven preorders of King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Claire and The Book of Azrael by Amber V. Nicole. And wow. It's been like a year or more since I ordered these. They're pretty, but I've kind of moved on to other things, so I'm not sure if I'll keep purchasing the sequels once they come out or just stick with the regular editions. Well, for the Scarlett book, I don't know what I'll do, as I wasn't a huge fan of the first book when I read it. I'm just a sucker for a pretty cover and books about vampires. I might try the sequel, just to see if it grips me more than the first installment did.

And here we have some Barnes & Noble orders. My copies of World After and End of Days by Susan Ee were looking a bit old and the pages were turning color. It was very weird, like they were made with cheap construction paper or something. So I got rid of them and decided to replace them since I had a gift card I could use. I really want to reread this series one day. It was so good. I also received my preorder of the hardcover edition of When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker.

And here I have an A Touch of Magic Designs order I made. And honestly, I have no idea why I bought those shelfie standees. They're characters from Zodiac Academy, which I love, but I don't need these shelfies. I definitely regret buying them and the other two I have plus the Fourth Wing ones. Ugh. I don't regret the pins though. I am collecting the bakery pins I like, so those are fine. I bought one for The Serpent & the Wings of NIght, Narnia, and Fourth Wing. The order also came with a Xaden magnet, which is now on my fridge.

I also bought something cool from Mercari, and I was good and held off until the seller gave me a deal. Yay for not making impulse purchases! I bought the Nite of the Rite wolf mask that the volunteers were wearing at JLA's FBAA ApollyCon event. I wasn't volunteering that night, so I didn't get one, but now, I have it! I also bought the NotR blanket with Poppy and Cas on it, but it started spewing fuzzy stuffing in the dryer, so I'm not sure what to do with it. The order also came with the Gods & Monsters event bag. I think I have one of these already.

And lastly, I have one lonely ebook. It's an impulse book I saw in a Facebook group. It's called Blood King by JP Sayle. I'm reading it now, and it's not bad. It definitely has an indie vibe, but I'm sticking with it. The mystery of one of the character's origins is intriguing. Oh, and I also downloaded two bonus novellas from two different series. One was a Zodiac Academy preorder reward and the other a freebie from the author's newsletter. It's a bonus epilogue for Tryggred by the Orc. 

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

September Wrap-Up & October TBR

I finally decided to write this wrap-up. For some reason, I just couldn't make myself pick up my laptop to actually do it. I had all the pics ready to go, but typing everything out sounded super exhausting. I think it's because I'm doing a lot of stressful writing for work this month, so my blog is suffering because I don't want to come home and stare at a screen.

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

Fair Catch: 4 stars

Bite of Betrayal: 3 stars

Bite of Vengeance: 3 stars

Pucking Around: 4 stars

Pucking Ever After: Volume I: 3 stars

Don't Puck With My Heart: 2.5 stars

I read six books in September, which wasn't terrible considering my reading slump peeked its head in a couple of times over the month. All of the books were Kindle Unlimited reads, though. I didn't get anything off of my physical TBR. Three of the authors are all ApollyCon attendees though. So yay! Those include R.L. Caulder's Bite of Betrayal and Bite of Vengeance, Emily Rath's Pucking Around and the novella bind-up Pucking Ever After: Volume I, and Sarah Blue's Don't Puck With My Heart. I'm still undecided if I want to buy physical copies of Pucking Around and R.L. Caulder's Blood Oath books to get signed at ApollyCon. They were decent reads, but nothing life-changing, and I'm trying to save shelf space. Ugh. The book hoarder dilemma. I also read C.E. Ricci's newest release, Fair Catch. In case you haven't noticed, I read a lot of sports romance in September. I needed light and fluffy, I guess.

Books Bought/Received in September

Well, here's the math part of the post. I bought a total of 25 books in September and received 11 that I didn't pay for in the month, which basically means they were either sent to me for review, they were preorders/books ordered in August, or they were free ebooks. Altogether, 27 of the books actually made their way to me in September.

For the 11 books I received, I got one free Kindle ebook, two review copies from the publisher, one gift, and seven preorders that arrived. The free ebook was Brutal Titan by E.V. Olsen. Orbit sent me two books I requested to review: Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy and The Bound Worlds by Megan E. O'Keefe. My sister also gave me her copy of Happy Place by Emily Henry because the weirdo doesn't keep books after she reads them. And finally, the seven preorders that arrived this month were three FairyLoot books, Beneath the Cursed Stars by Lexi Ryan, When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker, and Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan; the Bookish Box editions of the first three books in the Flesh & Fire series; and the Ukraine edition of A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I'd ordered AKOFAF in late August, but it arrived in September.

This is where it gets ugly. I bought way too much. As for the 16 books I bought that I actually received in September, those consisted of my Barnes & Noble preorders: Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune, The Games Gods Play by Abigail Owen, Six Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent, Sentinel by Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Fear the Flames by Olivia Rose Darling. I also got If There's No Tomorrow and the FBAA Juniper five-book set from Mercari. I bought a copy of the Walmart Goldfinch edition, the first two books in the Titan series from the JLA Shop, and the French edition of A Light in the Flame from FNAC. And my FairyLoot Adult sub book, The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart, also arrived in September.

 My preorders for the month/books that haven't arrived yet include nine titles: FairyLoot's September Romantasy sub book, FairyLoot's Powerless set, FairyLoot's Serpent Sea by Maiya Ibrahim, the Waterstones Goldfinch edition, and the first three FBAA books in Spanish, which I bought from a Facebook BST group.  

Currently Obsessed With

As for TV/films, it's the same as last month. I've only watched one.

That's right. I'm still on my Law & Order: Special Victims Unit binge. Or at least, I was in September. I've slowed down a lot in October, but we'll talk about that in next month's wrap-up. I think the only other show I watched was a bit of Bridgerton season three with my mom when I visited. I also rewatched The Martian with my parents. It was their first time seeing it.

October TBR

I was a bit ambitious with this month's TBR, though I will say that two of these, I've already finished in this first week of October. Those are Fortuna Sworn by K.J. Sutton and Goldfinch by Raven Kennedy. However, full disclosure, I'd started reading them in previous months. So I cheated there. Other than those books, I need to finish The Prince's Poisoned Vow by Hailey Turner and Salt in the Wound by Sierra Simone. I started these a couple of months ago and never picked them back up even though I want to finish them. Ugh. I also need to read and review Sorcery and Small Magics, The Bound Worlds, and Dragon Rider by Taran Matharu, which has been on my to-review list for months now. Oops. And then I added Fear the Flames as a mood read.

***

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 Double Arcane 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 been a pretty chill week. I didn't go to the gym as much as I should have, I haven't cleaned as much as I should have, and I haven't finished Fortuna Sworn like I should have. Ugh. That book is taking me forever to read. I'm almost done, though. Two more chapters. Other than that, life's been pretty simple.

But on to this week's haul. First up, I have my second Arcane subscription set. This is for The Ever King duology by L.J. Andrews. I'm very interested in the story, but I'm not overly enthusiastic about the designs here. I think I like the original covers better. The blue of the originals gives me sea and pirate vibes more than the red of this set. But, I want to read the books before I decide to keep or get rid of them. Luckily, L.J. is an ApollyCon author, so I'll probably read book one at some point in the next few months.

 

Now these books are also from Arcane. If you remember that trade I talked about last week, this is what it was for. The first book is From Blood and Ash and the second is The Crown of Oaths and Curses by J. Bree. Both are ApollyCon exclusives. So, the story here is that Arcane was going to reprint the FBAA edition in a whole series set for purchase. But, their original artist backed out, so some of the inside artwork, including the rever dustjacket and pages won't be the same for the new editions. And I couldn't let that slide. I needed that original artwork, so I traded some Prettygal Pins card decks for it and the J. Bree book. This is was my first time doing such a risky trade, so I'm glad it worked out.

Next up, I have the September Adult Fantasy FairyLoot book, The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart. I loved Andrea Stewart's Drowning Empire trilogy, so I'm excited about her new series. I don't plan to read it until all the books are out, though. I did that with her first trilogy, and I really liked that experience. I will say, this edition isn't super impressive. It's nice, but I think it could've been better.

And for the last physical books, I have a set of Spanish FBAA editions that I bought on a BST Facebook group for pretty cheap. $50 for all three when normally they're $25 each. Now, I will say that I was devastated when I first opened them. Not because the seller did anything wrong, but because I immediately dropped A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire and damaged the top of the spine. I wasn't feeling good, and I was super tired and shaky, so I know why I dropped it, but honestly, I almost cried. It was emotionally devastating. I did buy some Mod Podge, though, so I'm hoping I can seal up the damage. You can't even really see it in these pics, so I don't think it'll bother me unless I'm up close.

 

And here's another tale of devastation. I had ordered two different pin sets from Sallteas, one for Fourth Wing and one for Bride by Ali Hazelwood. Well, she accidentally sent me two sets of Fourth Wing pins instead of one of each. That meant I had to use my lunch break to run to Staples and return the extra set before she would ship my Bride order to me. I get why she did it that way, but, again, I wasn't feeling well, so it was irritating that I had to use my time and energy to fix something that wasn't my fault. She was nice about everything and plans to include extra stuff in my Bride order to make up for it, so that's good. I'm glad it's over, though. I also feel better now, so I'm not as irritated about everything.

 

And now I have my Imagine Books dustjacket order for the Flesh & Fire series. There's one set that was created by Gonzolam and the other by Jemlin. It seems like the Jemlin one isn't going to be continued... Maybe? I'm honestly not sure. I never planned to get dustjackets for this series, but after reading the last book, I just had to have all of them. The Gonzolam ones do match my FBAA set, though, so I'm glad I only technically bought one "new" set. Though I still have to find some cheap copies of the hardcovers to fill three of these. Oh, and with that order, I got two replica daggers. One is Poppy's and one is Sera's. The handles are a little glittery, so I'm hoping they don't shed. It'll be another good use for my Mod Podge, though.

And lastly, I have the ebooks. These are both Kindle Unlimited downloads. I've been really wanting to read Tryggred by the Orc by Finley Fenn. I only read select books from this orc series, but whenever one calls to me, I immediately want to read it. And I read this one in one sitting. It was cute and fun. Eben is adorable. I also downloaded Punished by the Vampire King by Darcy Fayton. I don't know much about this one except it's very dark, and it's a standalone within a larger series. 

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