Saturday, May 18, 2024
Stacking the Shelves: The Salty Surprise Edition
Saturday, May 11, 2024
Stacking the Shelves: The Rare Edition
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
April Wrap-Up & May TBR
Well, I'm in my post-ApollyCon what-is-the-meaning-of-life phase. Why can't we just be surrounded by books, authors, and fun all the time? Why does real life have to ruin everything? Ugh. I don't have a lot to talk about in terms of April's shenanigans. The entire month was primarily about prepping for and volunteering at ApollyCon. I did end up getting sick from it, though, so that's been a great start to my May. Yuck.
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 April
I only read two books in April, which is sad because I wanted to read a lot more. I was finally getting out of my reading slump after finishing The Last Sun, and I desperately wanted to read the sequels right after, but ApollyCon came up and distracted me from everything. Hopefully once I feel better, I can get back into reading quickly. Right now, it's taking too much effort just to hold a book up. But anyway, the good thing about the two books that I read is that they were both on my physical TBR list and my owned-prior-to-2024 list. So I've made some progress there. Huzzah!
Books Bought/Received in April
Obviously, this month's haul is going to be huge because of ApollyCon, but I also had a lot of preorders arrive as well. And I, frankly, have no self-control and I bought way too many things in April, even though I knew ApollyCon was coming up. Altogether, I bought 18 books in the month of April, three of which were purchased at ApollyCon, and I received 36 books, 17 of which were given to me for free at ApollyCon. That's a total of 51 books I actually physically received in the month altogether.
I'm gonna start with the 13 non-ApollyCon books I received in April, which means I didn't buy them in the month of April. They include the Arcane editions of Flames of Chaos and Ashes of Chaos, Illumicrate editions of Silver Under Nightfall and Court of Wanderers, the JLA Shop Wicked trilogy editions, The Tales of the Celestial Kingdom FairyLoot edition, A Feather So Black from the March FairyLoot box, Zodiac Academy 3 from Mercari (ordered in March, arrived in April), and three books ordered from Barnes & Noble in March that arrived in April, Sire, Broken, and Fortuna Sworn.
As for the 15 books I actually bought in April, there are too many. The 10 non-ApollyCon bought physical copies include the April FairyLoot Romantasy book, Lore of the Wilds, a PangoBooks order for Wolfsbane, a Hello Lovely purchase for their Wicked trilogy, and B&N orders for Dragon Rider and Zodiac Academy 9. I also purchased two ebooks, Dark Heir by C.S. Pacat and Of Sands and Silk by Claire Butler. There are three books that I preordered that haven't arrived yet, as well. Those include The Crown of Gilded Bones and A Fire in the Flesh ApollyCon editions via the JLA Shop and the April Adult FairyLoot book. (Also, ignore the K.D. Edwards books. I technically got them on May 1, so they shouldn't be in the photo.)
I got a lot of books at ApollyCon; 26 to be exact. Most of them were freebies, and I don't know if I'll keep all of them, but for now, they're living on my shelves until I do an unhaul. The 17 freebies include A Fire in the Flesh and Half-Blood by JLA, The Crown of Oaths and Curses ApollyCon edition, A River Enchanted, Songbird, The Origin, Desire of the Blood, House of Ash and Shadow ARC, Ocean's Echo, Revolt, To Snap a Silver Stem, To Flame a Wildflower, Breakaway, Saved by Wolves, Terror, Do Your Worst Afterlight edition, and After. Then, I picked up six books I'd preordered earlier in the year: Broken Bonds and The Crown of Oaths and Curses tour editions, A Kiss of Iron, Slaying the Shifter Prince, Blood Mercy special edition, and Between Wrath and Mercy special edition. And thankfully, I only purchased three books at ApollyCon: Rabid special edition, What Hunts Inside the Shadows special paperback edition, and The Prince's Poisoned Vow.
I started Anne with an E on Netflix. Anne is very dramatic and sometimes annoying, but it's still a cute show. It also only has three seasons, which I feel like is a good thing since I can't commit to shows right now. I just needed something to binge to get my mind off of everything else. Right now, I'm on season two, so I should have the show finished by the end of May. I'm also still watching Everybody Hates Chris, so I'll pick that back up once I finish Anne.
May TBR
No surprise that there are repeats from last month in my May TBR, especially considering I only read two books in April. The repeats include Charm by Tracy Wolff, Visions of Flesh and Blood, and Dragon Rider by Taran Matharu. The newbies include Zodiac Academy 9 and the sequels to K.D. Edwards's The Last Sun.
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Okay, well, that's the month of April, plus some May sneak peeks, all wrapped up into one post. Do you have a wrap-up post for last month? If so, share in the comments!
Saturday, May 4, 2024
Stacking the Shelves: The ApollyCon 2024 Edition
Saturday, April 20, 2024
Stacking the Shelves: The Wolfsbane Edition
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Stacking the Shelves: The First Arcane Society Box Edition
Thursday, April 4, 2024
March Wrap-Up & April TBR
Sigh. Well, the good news is March wasn't any worse than February reading-wise. The bad news is is that it wasn't much better, either. Maybe one day I'll get out of this slump. Honestly, though, I truly think it is because of the blah books being published right now. Everything sounds the same. I think this slump cycle happens to readers who have read too much and just want something different. But, other than not reading, I've done the same ol' things each day. The only new things I did was spend a bunch of money on new bookcases. Teehee.
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 March
I read three books in March. And, sadly, one was a reread, so it doesn't really count towards any big goals of reading TBR books. A Ferry of Bones & Gold by Hailey Turner was my first read of the month. I got it through Kindle Unlimited. It was decent, but I don't think I'm gonna continue with the series any time soon. To help me with the slump and to help me not fall behind on my reading goal, I reread Shadow's Seduction by Kresley Cole. I reread this book once every year or two. I love it so much. I always wish it was a full-length book, and not just 200 pages. And then, the night before the month ended, I managed to finish We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian, which was a cute historical MM romance. I actually read a physical ARC I got from last year's ApollyCon, so this counted towards reading my physical TBR! Woohoo!
Books Bought/Received in March
Okay, so this month I let myself get a bit carried away. I bought a total of 15 books this month and received 13. I just spent way too much money.
As for the 13 books I received, a majority of them were preorders. Those nine preorders were also all physical copies. They included the Bookish Box orders The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas A Soul of Ash and Blood and Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout; the FairyLoot edition of The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake; the three replacement Lux books from Books for Days Crate; Fate Breaker by Victoria Aveyard from Barnes & Noble; and the UK edition of Jay Kristoff's Empire of the Damned from Blackwells. I got four ebooks this month. Two were NetGalley eARCs: Dragon Rider by Taran Matharu and The Sins on Their Bones by Laura A. Samotin. And the other two were freebies: Twisted Pretty Things by Ariana Nash on Kindle and Priest by Sierra Simone on Nook.
I paid for 15 books in March. Yikes. Most of them are preorders, so I won't see them until next month or later. Actually, zero of the books I bought in March arrived to me in the month of March. How odd. But anyway, I bought the Wicked trilogy special editions from the JLA Shop, the Fire and Flesh series 1-3 through BB, The Crowns of Nyaxia duology from FairyLoot, and the monthly adult FairyLoot book, A Feather So Black by Lyra Selene. For ApollyCon, I also preordered Salt Kiss by Sierra Simone and Blood Mercy by Vela Roth. Towards the very end of the month, I made two online orders. One with Mercari for the third book in the Zodiac Academy series, and the other with B&N for the last two currently-released books in Jex Lane's Beautiful Monsters series and Fortuna Sworn by K.J. Sutton, a 2024 ApollyCon author.
Currently Obsessed With
Once again, I haven't been watching a lot of stuff lately. I did start a new rewatch show though, so yay for progress.
I pretty much finished my 999th rewatch of The Office, so, to occupy my brain while I eat and do mindless tasks, I've been putting Everybody Hates Chris on. It was a show I used to watch reruns of on Nick at Nite as a kid getting ready to go to sleep. Other than that, I did watch Brokeback Mountain for the first time. The movie was not what I expected. I guess it was groundbreaking for its time, but I feel like it was too short to really make me like the two male leads together. Or maybe they were supposed to be that toxic. Idk.
April TBR
I have so many books that I'm in the middle of/just started right now. I've been trying to get out of my reading slump, so I've been picking up all kinds of things to try to get out of it over the past couple of months. Well, now I'm forcing myself to finish those books. I don't want to put them down and never read them, as they are actually pretty good. That includes Charm by Tracy Wolff, The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards, and The Curse of Saints by Kate Dramis. We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian is pictured because I didn't think I'd finish it before the end of the month, but I did. So yay! I'd also like to finish Visions of Flesh and Blood, the FBAA compendium book. It's basically just a textbook of the FBAA world, so it's not something I need to rush to get through. I also need to read two NetGalley ARCs: The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin and Dragon Rider by Taran Matharu. Oh, and the last Zodiac Academy book releases later this month, so that's 100% a must-read.
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Okay, well, that's the month of March, plus some April sneak peeks, all wrapped up into one post. Do you have a wrap-up post for last month? If so, share in the comments!
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Review: Court of Wanderers by Rin Chupeco
My Review
Court of Wanderers was going to be one of my most anticipated books of 2024, but I got to read an ARC in October!!! And since this is only a duology, I was able to finish this amazing series in less than one year! It's such a bittersweet moment, and I'm going to miss Remy, Zidan, and Xiaodan. Ugh. That's the sad part about duologies and bingeing series, the magic is over too quickly. But, these books have captured my vampire-loving, fantasy-obsessed heart, so a reread may come in the very near future.
The three main characters are all back for this sequel, and they're trying to navigate their new relationship while dealing with bad vampires and undead monsters. Remy, as always, is a cinnamon roll in knight form, and I LOVE that his is the only POV we get. Too often authors use dual POV and it takes away from the mystery of the other characters, especially when it comes to romantic tension. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a romance. It's a fantasy similar in vibes to The Witcher, Empire of the Vampire, and even Van Helsing, the Hugh Jackman gothic paranormal film (not the original Dracula character). But all of those also have some interesting romances within the overarching storyline, and there's plenty of action, politics, and scheming to keep everyone entertained.
As for our other two characters, Zidan and Xiaodan, they're trying to figure things out. Zidan with leadership thrust upon him, and Xiaodan with her unreliable powers. I just adore these three characters' dynamics. One kind-of human, two vampires, and a lot of trouble.
With the plot, everything was so fast-paced, in a great way. I devoured it all. And even though I did forget a few details between reading book one and book two, it was very easy to get back into the world and story. It's a digestible fantasy. I will say that the ending was a little crazy and convoluted. Nothing terrible per se, but I would have preferred a little less chaos in that last 10%, or at least another chapter or two to settle things down after the craziness. There were also a few too many villain monologues, which made those last chapters a bit cheesy. Still loved the book, however.
All in all, I read Silver Under Nightfall in August of 2023 and got to read Court of Wanderers in late October, and now I feel like no other book will live up to this story. I want more! Ugh! Just give me domestic Remy, Zidan, and Xiaodan scenes, Rin Chupeco. Please! But anyway... Trust me, if you're a fan of The Witcher, Empire of the Vampre, Van Helsing, From Blood and Ash, or any other vampire paranormal story, this duology should be your next read.