Stacking the Shelves: The Cover to Cover 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, the the second week of March is over, and it was not good. I ended up being can't-breathe-through-my-nose sick. Yuck. So there was very little reading done. Very little of anything done, really. I just went home, laid in bed, and scrolled on my phone. I can't concentrate when I'm sick, especially when it's hard to breathe. But, some pretty books did come in this week, so that helps.

For this week's haul, I have a preorder of Cover to Cover's Flesh and Fire series edition. This set is beautiful! However, I do wish it came with dust jackets. I just prefer my books to have dust jackets. I'm not a naked-book girlie. Also, the slipcase the books came in was really pretty. I do hope they sell a Blood and Ash set eventually, though not any time soon. I need to save some money first.

 

 

Next up, I have a bunch of ApollyCon author books I ordered from Amazon. Those include Dawn of Onyx by Kate Golden, Bite of Loyalty by R.L. Caulder, Bright Heart by Emma Hamm, and A Touch of Poison by Clare Sager. I also ordered Servant of Earth by Sarah Hawley from Blackwells, as I wanted the UK edition with a dust jacket. Stacia Stark is another ApollyCon author, but I ordered the Aurora Crate edition of Speak of the Demon from Mercari because it was pretty, not because I'm taking it to ApollyCon. And the last book in this pile is Oathbound by Tracy Deonn. I ordered it from Barnes & Noble.

 

 

The final physical bookish item I have is my Etsy order of this From Blood and Ash dust jacket by WarlockandCo. It's so pretty! Though I have to figure out what edition I need to put it on. I also added Reid, Lou, and Poppy and Cas character cards to my order, and the order came with some FBAA-related stickers.

 

And lastly, I have one ebook I downloaded from Kindle Unlimited, Of Sky and Embers by Claire Butler. I read book one last year, and I liked it enough to continue the series. For some reason, I decided to pick it up this week, even though I have 500 other things I need to read first. That's pretty much the story of my life right now, wanting to read things that aren't on my TBR. 

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

Review: The Bound Worlds by Megan E. O'Keefe

The Bound Worlds

Megan E. O'Keefe

(The Devouring Worlds #3)

Publication Date: June 25, 2024

Paperback, 496 pages, Orbit

Genres: Adult, Sci-Fi

Goodreads

Dying planets, dangerous conspiracies, and secret romance abound in the second installment of the Devoured Worlds trilogy by award-winning author Megan E. O'Keefe.

 

Worlds will collide and fates will be rewritten in the thrilling conclusion to the Devoured Worlds space opera trilogy by award-winning author Megan E. O’Keefe. Naira and Tarquin have found a new home on Seventh Cradle. But the peace they’ve built is short-lived as mysterious assailants ambush the settlement and Naira is haunted by visions of a monstrous future. Catastrophe strikes when Tarquin uncovers a plot to bring about the end of the universe. As humanity races against the clock to prevent their extinction, old secrets come to light and loyalties fracture, and Naira realizes she may be the key to saving the world—or ending it..

 

My Review

After reading this series for two years, it's finally at an end. It's definitely a bittersweet moment. I'm going to miss Tarquin and Naira. But, to be honest, it's kind of difficult for me to review The Bound Worlds. Not because it was bad, but because my experience was a mix of "I love these characters," and "I completely forgot what this is," for 70% of the book. It had just been too long since I'd read the first two installments. So, I was really going off of vibes and my feelings for the two main characters for most of my read.

I kind of hopped into The Bound Worlds with vague recollections, reading but not really comprehending the canus and other sciency specifics. And, unsurprisingly, it was still an entertaining read. So I'm sure adamant sci-fi readers who love space and mind-controlling ethics and experimentation discussions will love this whole trilogy. I do think it's best to read it all close together, though. Don't wait months/years between books or your brief stint as a space-traveling reincarnated scientist-prince or a badass ex-bodyguard will be completely forgotten.

As for the characters, Naira is still being her tough, kick-butt, in-charge self, despite her unfortunate circumstances. And Tarquin is still a fool in love who doesn't get to be as fool-y in this installment due to his elevated status, which was honestly sad. I miss nerdy first-book Tarquin. I also hate when the two main characters are separated. They're more fun when they're together. And, unfortunately, the two were separated about 80% of this book. Oh, and Naira, I need you to never hurt Tarquin again. That was cruel. It hurt my heart.

As for the plot, things were going fairly well at first. Canus and Naira's issues were the main storyline. However, I did get confused that we seemed to have introduced two new major problems into the last half of the final book. All of the sudden there was time travel and brainwashing. Also, I wasn't thrilled with where Tarquin's storyline went. It felt a bit out of character at points. But, just when I was getting a bit upset and thinking about setting the book down, soooo much happened! There was a lot of action and the ending was crazy. The very, very end seemed a bit rushed, but the solution was satisfying as a lover of these characters. I do think the canus stuff was left a bit unresolved though.

All in all, I'm glad I read this series, and I'm definitely curious about Megan O. Keefe's next series. Space pirates, here I come! As I've said for each book in this series, if you enjoy The Expanse series, J.S. Dewes's The Divide trilogy, or even The Illuminae Files and The Aurora Cycle series, then The Devouring Worlds trilogy is probably a good pick for you.

*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 Pink and Silver 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, the first full week of March is done. Yikes. That went by fast. I've been working, going to the gym, and spending way too much money for ApollyCon, and all of it has sucked the time right away from me. Boo. But, at least I have some cool books to show for it. XD

For this week's haul, I have three physical books. The first is a replacement from Barnes & Noble. I ordered the silver foiled edition of The Reckoning by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti, and my first order came with a bent front corner. The replacement copy came in with a bent back corner, though. But at least it's the back and not the front. If it happens again, I'll cancel my preorders for the Zodiac Academy foiled editions. I'll just buy them from Walmart instead. As for the rest of the books, I have my February Adult FairyLoot book, The Scorpion and the Night Blossom by Amelie Wen Zhao, and Every Last Breath by Jennifer L. Armentrout with the new pink cover.

And lastly, I have the ebooks. I received an e-ARC of Silvercloack by L.K. Steven via NetGalley. They emailed me with the info. I didn't go looking for new ARCs to sign up for. My list is too long for that. Lol. I also downloaded Broken by Daylight by Elizabeth Helen from Kindle Unlimited. I'm about 25% through this one right now, and I'm sad I'll have to wait for book four to release. And then I'll have to wait for book five. Sigh. 

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

February Wrap-Up & March TBR

Wow! While it seemed like February was taking forever because it was cold and icky, it actually went by super fast. I think reading more is what made the time fly by. Whenever I read, I tend to lose days. And while it may seem from the wrap-up that I haven't read a ton, I'm actually in the middle of a bunch of books that I'll probably finish within the first week of March. I was just reading so many things at once, which isn't my favorite way to do things, but I needed to sample books to determine if I wanted to preorder authors' books for ApollyCon.

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 February

A Haven of Brimstone and Darkness: 3.5 stars

Bonded by Thorns: 4 stars

Woven by Gold: 4 stars

The Bound Worlds: 3 stars (review to come)

The Veiled Kingdom: 3 stars

Forged by Malice: 4 stars

I read six books in February, which, is pretty decent for a short month. If I'd had just one more day, I would have likely finished another book. Maybe two. Four of the books I read were Kindle Unlimited copies. One of those was A Haven of Brimstone and Darkness by Lucinda Dark which is the fourth and final book in the Mortal Gods series. It was a fair conclusion, but I feel like the story was missing some relationship and character progression and the ending was a bit rushed. But, I still can't decide if I want to buy the physical books to get signed at ApollyCon. Ugh. Another Kindle Unlimited read was also for ApollyCon, The Veiled Kingdom by Holly Renee, which was fun. I also picked up my FairyLoot copy of Bonded by Thorns by Elizabeth Helen, and I flew through it. It was great. So, I downloaded the sequels via KU and read them. I also finally finished The Bound Worlds by Megan E. O'Keefe. Expect my review soon. But overall, that's two physical books that I read on my TBR in February.

Books Bought/Received in February

Will I ever stop buying more books than I can possibly ever read? Apparently not. In total, I bought 39 books in February and received 12 that I didn't pay for in the month, which basically means they were preorders/books ordered in prior months or free ebooks.

The 12 books I received include 10 I had ordered in a previous month that arrived in February and two free ebooks. The two free ebooks were These Cruel Vows by L.J. Andrews and Prince of the Arena by Elizabeth Helen. I have both on Book Funnel. The 10 I had bought include a replacement copy of Code Name Cassandra from B&N, the A Soul of Ash and Blood French edition, FairyLoot's Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan, FairyLoot's The Starlight Heir by Amalie Howard, the FairyLoot editions of the Soulfinders series by Maria V. Snyder, and the Serbian editions of books 2-4 of FBAA.

And here we go. I bought sooooo much. Again. However, if ApollyCon wasn't coming up, this wouldn't be so bad. Though, after ApollyCon, I am 100% limiting my physical book purchases until I read more off my TBR. I can't justify buying this many books if I'm not reading them. But anyway, like I said, I bought 39 books in February. There were 15 that I bought in the month that actually arrived to me within the month. Those include The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune (B&N), Dark of the Moon and Moonlight by Rachel Hawthorne (B&N), Blood of Hercules by Jasmine Mas (B&N), The Ever King books 1-3 by L.J. Andrews (Walmart), The Merchant of Death and The Never War by D.J. MacHale (Pango, not pictured), Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli (B&N), The Reckoning by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti (Walmart), Ransom My Heart by Meg Cabot, Iron Gold and Dark Age, and Slaying the Frost King by Candace Robsin (Amazon).

For books that were either preorders or ones that won't arrive until March, I have 22 of those. There were ten ApollyCon preorders, and they include the Titan series 1-4, Wraithmarked, The Curse of Ophelia, Till Death, The Umbra King, Court of Nightmares, and Racing Hearts. The others include my FairyLoot Adult and Romantasy subscription books, the third book in the Zodiac Academy series with new foil cover, a Renegade Romance preorder of books 1-5 of the Monstrous series by Lily Mayne, the Eternal Embers Green Creek special edition set of books 1-4, and the last two books in the Lux series Books for Days Crate editions.  

Currently Obsessed With

As for TV/films, it's not super exciting for February. There were a few new things compared to previous months, but nothing really obsession-worthy. 

I watched Netflix's Night Agent season two with my parents very early on in February. I think it was the first weekend that we all binged it. It was interesting, but season one was definitely better. Other than that, I was rewatching House, M.D. episodes until I got bored, and then I moved on to Home Improvement, which is on Netflix right now. I'm also watching Into the Woods in 10-20-minute segments while I walk on my walking pad.

March TBR

It's a new month, but there's some overflow for books I still need to read. I need to read Dragon Rider by Taran Matharu, The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson, The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig, and Arcana Academy by Elise Kova. I also would like to read/finish Worthy of Fate by A.N. Caudle, Blood of Hercules by Jasmine Mas, Heavenly Bodies by Imani Erriu, Lore of the Wilds by Analeigh Sbrana, The Ever King by L.J. Andrews, Lady of Darkness by Melissa K. Roehrich, The Serpent & the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent, and A Fate of Wrath and Flame by K.A. Tucker. Most of these are for ApollyCon.

***

Okay, well, that's the month of February, plus some March 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 Grover 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, it's officially March. I am both excited and not. Work life is crazy right now with deadlines, but I am very excited for the changing weather and to go to ApollyCon in April. Which, speaking of, is taking up a lot of my time and money. I've been attempting to read more attending authors before preorder deadlines and the event itself. I'm making some decent progress. I've also been preordering A LOT of things. It's not good. The wallet is suffering.

But, on to this week's haul. First up, I have only ONE physical book. Hurrah for small haul weeks! Technically, it was supposed to be two, but the other one came damaged, so I'm waiting on a replacement before I share. This is the Barnes & Noble edition of Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli. I didn't love book one, but it was good. I'm hoping book two is better. If not, I may end up unhauling this duology. My sister also picked up this Grover bookmark for me from B&N when I asked her to.

And lastly, I have the ebooks. I downloaded The Hunted Heir by Holly Renee from Kindle Unlimited after finishing book one in the series. It was an ApollyCon author read, and I found the book pretty fun. The male love interest is a bit of an ass and the characters are a bit dumb, but it was a fun, quick read, so I might get to book two and three eventually. I also received freebie downloads on Book Funnel. One was Prince of the Arena by Elizabeth Helen, a Beasts of the Briar novella, and These Cruel Vows by L.J. Andrews, a novella from one of her series that I haven't read yet but plan to. 

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Additional Zodiac 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, this week has been weird. First, I cleaned my place to prep for my couch delivery, then because of the cleaning and moving, I ended up injuring my neck/shoulder which meant rest instead of working out. And then it snowed. Like SNOWED snowed, so I didn't go into the office for multiple days. It was nice, but it's thrown off my week a bit. And I still haven't gone back to the gym yet. I do plan to. It's just been so cold and disgusting, on top of the injury, which is better but still a little sore.

 

But, on to this week's haul. First up, I have the new foiled edition of Ruthless Fae by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti. It's the second book in the Zodiac Academy series. I already own this series in the old covers, but the foiled editions have bonus chapters that I want. The ebooks apparently have this bonus material too, but I don't own all of those, just a couple. So, I figured I might as well just own the actual physical copy, even though the books will take up so much space on my shelf.

And next, I have a random Amazon purchase. I think I had some store credit due to some previous returns, and I noticed that the Pierce Brown books were super cheap, so I grabbed them because my other copies were damaged. I also got Ransom My Heart by Meg Cabot and Slaying the Frost King by Candace Robinson and Elle Beaumont. Slaying the Frost King is the third book in an interconnected world of standalone books by different authors. It was also really cheap. I think I own all of the "series" now in hardcover except one, which seems to be out of print. Ugh.

And lastly, I have the ebooks. I downloaded from Kindle Unlimited. I finished the second book in the Beasts of the Briar series by Elizabeth Helen, so I kind of started book three, Forged by Malice. However, I have some ApollyCon and review books that are taking priority, so I'll only be reading this one when I have free time or feel like I'm in a slump. I also need to read The Veiled Kingdom by Holly Renee in the next week, as that's when her preorder for ApollyCon closes. Yikes. And then I downloaded Speak of the Demon by Stacia Stark and The City of Gods and Monsters for funsies. 

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Second Study 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, it's been another week of snow and ice and cold and ick. Yuck. I was just getting back into the groove of being a productive human being again, and now, I don't want to leave my blanket nest. But, I am getting a new couch set today, so that's exciting. And because of that, I've had to clean things I've been putting off, like sweeping under my old couch. Lol.

 

But, on to this week's haul. First up, I have the FairyLoot Romantasy book for January, The Starlight Heir by Amalie Howard. I abhor this cover and the entire design overall. It's such an ugly looking special edition. And the edges look fuzzy and dull. I was honestly really disappointed in FairyLoot for this one. I'll read the book to see if I like it, but I definitely won't be buying any sequel versions they make. 

 

 

 

And next, I have the second set of Study books by Maria V. Snyder: Shadow Study, Night Study, and Dawn Study. I haven't read the first three books in this series yet, but I have a feeling it'll be a decent read. Therefore, I splurged on the FairyLoot editions. Is that a surprise to anyone? I doubt it. I've splurged a lot lately. I need to actually figure out how to not splurge.

 

And lastly, I have the ebooks. I downloaded both of these from Kindle Unlimited. I recently finished the first book in the Beasts of the Briar series by Elizabeth Helen, and I want to read book two, Woven by Gold. However, I'm debating on waiting until the FairyLoot editions release or even just until closer to the release date of book five. I'm not sure I can wait that long, though. Bonded by Thorns, book one, was the first book I'd read in a while that I devoured in just two days. It would've been only one day if I had started it on a weekend. The other book I downloaded was Of Sky & Embers by Claire Butler. It's the sequel to a book I read last year. I'm going to try to get to this one soon so I can remember at least some of the events from book one. 

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

January Wrap-Up & February TBR

One month of 2025 down, 11 to go. Not that I have any particular reason for the year to go by quickly. I'm more so looking forward to warmer weather than anything else. January wasn't a big month for me. I ate, I slept, and I wasn't as productive as I should have been. I also spent a lot of money on books and new furniture that's coming soon. Other than that, life hasn't been too crazy.

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 January

Kingdom of the Wicked: 4 stars (reread)

Kingdom of the Cursed: 4 stars

The Blood of Gods and Monsters: 4 stars

Kingdom of the Feared: 3 stars

I read four books in January, which, once again, isn't a ton, but, three of them have been on my physical TBR for a couple of years now, so that is good progress. Yes, that's right. I finally read the entire Kingdom of the Wicked trilogy by Kerri Maniscalco. I think the first book is still my favorite in the series. Book two starts out good, but goes a little wonky towards the end, and book three is like a fever dream. I love the demony vibes of Kingdom of the Feared, but, honestly, it made very little sense. I also read one ebook, The Blood of Gods and Monsters by Lucinda Dark. It's the third book in the Mortal Gods series. I enjoyed this one. I'm reading the series to prep for ApollyCon, so now I have to decide if I want to buy the books in physical form to get signed. I'm on the fence. I might have to decide when I get there.

Books Bought/Received in January

Will I ever stop buying more books than I can possibly ever read? Apparently not. In total, I bought 49 books in January and received 14 that I didn't pay for in the month, which basically means they were gifts or preorders/books ordered in prior months or free ebooks/review copies. Altogether, 38 of the books actually made their way to me in January, and the rest will come later.

The 14 books I received, were, like I mentioned, a mix of gifts, preordered books, ARCs, and ebooks. The gifts include paperback copies of Quicksilver by Callie Hart and Fireborne by Rosaria Mundo. Technically, I wasn't supposed to open these yet since they were for book club Christmas, but it got very delayed for reasons. I couldn't wait any longer, though, as I needed to make sure I didn't order things twice. I can pretend to be shocked though, right? I also got my Amalie Hutchins Arcane books 3-5 after they were originally returned to sender for a label issue. And my Owlcrate copies of The Songbird and the Heart of Stone and Six Scorched Roses, my panic order of Born of Blood and Ash Primal of Life hardcover edition from the JLA Shop, and my Waterstones preorder of Monsoon Rising by Thea Guanzon also arrived. For review, I received a NetGalley ARC of Arcana Academy by Elise Kova and physical ARCs of The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig and The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodson. And, for free Kindle ebooks, I downloaded Blood Laws by Lexi C. Foss and The Lost Siren by Raven Storm.

And here is where things go crazy. I bought sooooo much. A lot of which was book box special orders/ApollyCon preorders. Icky. The 24 books I bought and actually received in the month include An Ember in the Ashes 1, 2, and 4 (B&N); Cruel is the Light by Sophie Lark (Waterstones); Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (B&N); Lightfall by Ed Crocker (B&N); A Beautiful Darkness trilogy, Snow Likes Ashes, and Forever (Pango);  Sanctuary, The Blood Trials, The Discord of Gods, Lover Avenged, Conquer the Kingdom, Tear Down the Throne, Murtagh, A Sky Beyond the Storm, The Lost City of Faar, The Never War, and Archangel's Light (Book Outlet); and A Fire in the Flesh and A Light in the Flame (eBay).

For books that were either preorders or ones that didn't arrive until February, I have 25 of those. They include the French edition of A Soul of Ash and Blood (FNAC); the Flesh & Fire series 1-4 from Cover2Cover; the FairyLoot edition of Cursebound by Saara El-Arifi; Stacia Stark's ApollyCon set 1-4 of Kingdom of Lies; Melissa Roehrich's ApollyCon preorder for Lady of Darkness and Rain of Shadows and Endings; Bookish Box's edition of Jess Wisecup's Between Fear & Favor; Books for Days Crate edition of FBAA 1-5; the Serbian editions of FBAA 2-4; the FairyLoot Romantasy book, The Starlight Heir; the FairyLoot Adult book, Immortal; a B&N replacement copy, Code Name Cassandra; and the Iridescent Fairytale ApollyCon copy of FBAA.  

Currently Obsessed With

As for TV/films, it's not overly impressive for January. 

I just stopped my watch of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as I was running out of decent episodes. Now the cast members are unrecognizable and I'm kind of over it. So, the new show to rewatch is House, M.D. I started from season four, as that's about when I stopped my rewatch last time. I hate the new cast members, so that's why I stopped. I'm not sure I'll keep going. The old dynamic was so much fun. The new characters are a little lame. That's pretty much all I can remember watching, sadly. January was a quiet month.

February TBR

It's a new month in the new year, but there are a couple of books still holding on from my 2024 TBR. I still need to read Dragon Rider by Taran Matharu and The Bound Worlds by Megan E. O'Keefe for review. Now, I have to add The Raven Scholar, The Knight and the Moth, and Arcana Academy to that list as well. I need to stop requesting books for review. Lol. I also need to read Worthy of Fate by A.N. Caudle to decide if I want to purchase her special edition for ApollyCon. I'm about 10% in right now, and it's looking like a no so far.

***

Okay, well, that's the month of January, plus some February sneak peeks, all wrapped up into one post. Do you have a wrap-up post for last month? If so, share in the comments!