Stacking the Shelves: The Second Owlcrate Romantasy 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.

This week has been more hectic than usual. My sister came to visit my parents, so I've been seeing her throughout the week. I also did a couple of trades that I wasn't expecting. Trades are super chaotic. I don't love doing them because they take up so much mental effort. I've also been selling some books to make up for the many expensive purchases I've made. This is pretty funny considering I'm headed to a Barnes & Noble today. Hee hee. I'm actually planning to return a book, but with the paperback romance sale going on, I'm sure I'll buy a book or two while I'm in-store. But anyway, let's talk about books I received this week.

First up in this week's haul, I have the second Owlcrate Romantasy quarterly subscription book, A Forbidden Alchemy by Stacey McEwan. I'm kind of meh about this book. I didn't have plans to buy the regular edition, and I wasn't thrilled to hear it was in this sub, since there are no skips. However, it's not something I'm opposed to reading. I just don't think I'll get to it any time in the near future, and this sub is very expensive, especially since I haven't liked a book pick/design they've done so far. However, I think that will change with the fall book. I hope they're doing the one I've heard rumblings about. It's my favorite read of 2025 so far. I also received my Blackwell's preorder of The Jasad Crown by Sara Hashem. I just finished reading an ARC of this one as well, and loved it! And of course, I had to get a UK hardcover to match the hardcover I bought of the first book. 

 

 

Up next, I have another sub box book, A Dance of Lies by Brittney Arena. This was the Adult sub pick. It's very... plain. There's no redesigned cover, and the naked book is kind of meh too. (It's all very meh this week. Ha ha.) This is another book I wouldn't have picked up myself, so I'm not super excited about it. I just have limited skips, so I thought I'd save my skips for something that I really don't want. I also purchased a decently cheap copy of The Will of the Many deluxe limited edition by James Islington via Amazon. I didn't plan to purchase anything during the Prime sales, but I checked the price of this book, and it was $10 cheaper than normal, so I got it. I also bought three books in one of their deal sales, but I think I'm only going to keep one of them, A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire paperback (not pictured) for my new dust jacket I got last week. I've already returned one of the books, and I might return the other one in the next week or so, so there's no point in sharing what it is just yet. Oh, also not pictured, my FairyLoot replacements for two books in the Beasts of the Briar series came in. I already shared those a while back, so I didn't think there was much point in taking pics for books that are the same, just better quality. XD.

And lastly, I have the lone ebook for the week. It's Smoke and Scar by Gretchen Powell Fox. I downloaded it from Kindle Unlimited. I'm currently reading this one, and it seems good so far. I don't know if it'll be a favorite, but it's a decent read at the moment. The author kept sharing some amazing fan art for it, so I had to push it up my TBR list so I could know who the pretty characters were.

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

Review: The Jasad Crown by Sara Hashem

The Jasad Crown

Sara Hashem

(The Scorched Throne #2)

Publication Date: July 15, 2025

Paperback, 688 pages, Orbit

Genres: Adult, Fantasy

Goodreads

In the thrilling conclusion to the Egyptian-inspired Scorched Throne duology, a fugitive queen may be the key to restoring her lost kingdom of Jasad, but it could cost her everything and everyone she loves.

 

Held deep in a mountain refuge, Sylvia has been captured by the Urabi, who believe she can return their homeland to its former power. But after years of denying her legacy and a forbidden alliance with Jasad's greatest enemy, Sylvia must win the group's trust while struggling to keep control of both her magic and her mind.

 

In the rival kingdom, Arin is caught between his father's desire to put down the brewing rebellion and the sacred edicts he's sworn to uphold. Arin must find Sylvia before his father's army, but his search will call into question the very core of Arin's beliefs about his family and the destruction of Jasad.

 

War is inevitable and Sylvia cannot abandon her people again. The Urabi plan to raise the Jasadi fortress, and it will either kill Sylvia or destroy the humanity she's fought so hard to protect. For the first time in her life Sylvia doesn't just want to survive. She wants to win. The fugitive queen is ready to come home.

My Review

Wow. That's all I can think to say about Sara Hashem's The Jasad Crown. I think I sobbed through the final two hundred pages of this book. If you want an emotional gut punch of a fantasy story with vibes similar to S.A. Chakraborty's Daevabad and Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass series, combined with a tension-filled romance reminiscent of series like Serpent & Dove and The Crimson Moth, then you should definitely pick up The Scorched Throne duology.

Book two starts about where book one left off, with Sylvia's magic and lineage having just been revealed and Arin struggling to deal with the fallout of Sylvia being on the loose and all the political upheaval that creates. Book one stayed in Syliva's POV, but in this installment, we get three additional POVs: Arin's, Sefa's, and Marek's. And honestly, I thoroughly enjoyed each character's chapters. There wasn't a POV that dragged the plot down.

There was also plenty of action. There were badass sword and magic scenes with battles and monsters throughout. There was also pining. I love some pining. Especially when it's paired with actual enemies to lovers. Sylvia and Arin kick the crap out of each other, and I giggle and kick my feet every time. Now, the book did have a slight flaw in that some tasks did seem a bit too conveniently resolved, but I easily rolled with it. I wasn't going to question it too hard when I was having such a good time. The ending was also lovely, though it was abrupt. I wanted more! I guess I'll just have to see what Sara Hashem releases next. Sigh. I hope there's something new soon!

I honestly adored this duology, and I think I forgot how much I loved it because there was a big gap between release dates. In fact, that's probably my only real criticism. I didn't do a reread, so I couldn't remember the world or side character details, like the lands' histories and the monsters. I wish there had been more "refresher" language to subtly remind the reader what happened in book one.

Overall, The Jasad Crown is a fantastic sequel and series finale. If you need a book to destroy you, this is it. Add it to your TBR. But obviously read book one first and book two immediately after. You'll enjoy the journey. I'm actually very excited to reread these books one day and hurt my soul all over again, and that's something I don't say very often after just finishing a book.

*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 Lazy Photos 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 has been a relatively quiet week. I've pretty much been doing the same things I'm always doing. Lots of work, working out, and sleeping. And of course, never enough cleaning/organizing. I'm so behind on that, it's not funny. I doubt I'll be done until winter, at this rate. Yikes. I just need like a month off to go through everything. Or, if someone could just give me their motivation and energy, that'd be swell.

First up in this week's haul, I have something I debated not showing because it's just a replacement for something I already own. It's the Legend trilogy box set. Like I've mentioned in some hauls a while back, I'm taking the time to replace some of my older books that were left at my parents' house, since those weren't stored in the best conditions and older titles in general look aged sometimes. So, Barnes & Noble had this box set in stock, and I had $17 of store credit. I bought this and three other books you'll see in the next photo. And speaking of photos, I was too lazy to actually move things around and display them properly, so you get whatever the heck these photos are. 

 

 

Up next, I have a conglomeration of titles. All but one are from B&N. The lonely one is my Bookish Box replacement copy of Between Fear & Favor by Jess Wisecup. I don't think I even shared the original copy I got because it was dented and Bookish Box makes you send the damaged copies back to them, so here it is for the first time. The books I ordered with the Legend trilogy box set include Eclipse and Avalon High, along with Archangel's Consort by Nalini Singh. Someone said the Nalini Singh mass market Guild Hunter books were going out of print for new editions, but I haven't seen that talked about anywhere else. Just to be safe, I'm slowly going to order the set, even though I've only read book one. I do own like six of them already, so it's fine. Just ten more to go now. Yikes. Good thing mass markets are cheap. Also, I'm not sure I'll keep the Avalon High copy. Now that it's hot and humid out, books are being delivered in icky shape, so I might just keep my original copy that's in about the same condition as this replacement. Lol. The other books I got include The Baby Dragon Cafe by Aamna Qureshi, The Curse That Binds by Laura Thalassa, The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley, The Nightblood Prince by Molly X. Chang, and Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I'm going to return The Nightblood Prince, as BOOK BOX SPOILERS INCOMING, I just got the YA FairyLoot subscription again, and I think that's the pick for July. I don't need two copies of it. I may also return Opal. I'm not loving these new hardcover editions the publisher is releasing. I'm just not sure if I want to keep buying them when better sets will probably come along at some point. 

 

I keep forgetting to include this in my haul for the week. I received the WarlockCoUA dust jacket for A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by JLA. It's gorgeous, but it did get smashed in the mail. The box it was in was too flimsy for international travel, unfortunately. There are small dents all around it, since it was rolled up tube-like during shipment. My AKOFAF paperback copy is on its way, so I'll see if it looks okay once it's on the book. If not, I may end up ordering another one when/if book three's dust jacket is released. Or I'll see if the Etsy shop will replace it. I feel bad asking since it's all the way in the Ukraine. That's a lot of shipping money. I think it'll be okay if I just keep this one. I'll just beg the shop to use a sturdier box for any future jackets.

And lastly, I have the ebooks for the week. I downloaded The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer on Kindle Unlimited. I didn't realize it was on there or I would have downloaded it a long time ago. I've been wanting to read this book since it released. I've just always had other things going on, and, with sci-fi books, I tend to want to read an ebook version before purchasing a physical copy. I think it's because sci-fi books tend not to have pretty covers like fantasy books. And... right when I was thinking I was done with this post, I got approved for a NetGalley ARC of To Cage a Wild Bird by Brooke Fast. Thanks Avon/Harper Voyager! This book might be in a FairyLoot sub box, so I want to read it before it releases next year. Thankfully, I have until March, as I am really behind on things I want to read in general. There are too many good books and not enough hours in the day. I need to quit my job. Ha ha.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Single Book 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.

July 4th weekend is officially almost over. I hate this holiday with a fiery passion. Pun intended. Fireworks are the worst. I don't mind the big, pretty ones that parks put on. It's the dumb neighbors setting off poppers at random times during the day and then setting fireworks off in the cul-de-sac area at night that I absolutely loathe. I do not like loud noises, especially ones that are often accompanied by sparks that could set fire. It's awful. I wish they were outlawed. But anyway, rant over. Let's talk about books.

I only have one book to share this week. It's Phantasma by Kaylie Smith. I took some books to my new local used bookstore for trade credit, and I felt weird not getting something when I was dropping off like 20 books, so I got this one. I've wanted to read it ever since someone described it as being for fans of Danny Phantom. So, it goes on the TBR shelves to live with all of the other books I haven't read yet. But, the good thing about this one, is that it was kind of free, since I used store credit. #girlmath. 

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

June Wrap-Up & July TBR

We're officially over halfway through 2025. Wow. I thought June would be a quiet month, but like March and April, it decided that quiet was overrated. I had to get unexpected dental surgery, so I've been recovering from that, which pretty much just means taking pain pills and relaxing more than usual. I still have to go to work, though. Lame. Hopefully July is an easier month, but I expect not, given some family activities we have planned.

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 June

The Scarlet Veil: 3.5 stars

Nectar of the Wicked: 3 stars

Heart of Defiance: 2.5 stars

Arcane Academy: 3.5 stars (review to come)

The Shadow Bride: 3 stars

The Night Ends With Fire: 3 stars

Prince of the Arena: 4 stars 

Wrath of the Damned: 2.5 stars

Maneater: 3 stars 

I read nine books in June, which is the same as last month. That's surprising since I lost two days of reading time during my lazy recovery. However, I did manage to sneak two novellas in towards the end of the month, so I counted those as two "books." Overall, though, I read six physical books and three ebooks this month. The physical books include The Scarlet Veil and The Shadow Bride by Shelby Mahurin, Nectar of the Wicked by Ella Fields, Heart of Defiance by Eva Chase, The Night Ends With Fire by K.X. Song, and Prince of the Arena by Elizabeth Helen. The ebooks included a NetGalley ARC of Arcana Academy by Elise Kova and two Kindle Unlimited reads: Wrath of the Damned by Ella Fields and Maneater by Emily Antoinette. I read Nectar of the Wicked and its sequel, along with The Night Ends With Fire to decide if I liked them enough to purchase the special edition sequels going on sale soon. I think I'm going to pass. They were decent reads, but they weren't favorites, and I have to save my shelf space for things I love.

Books Bought/Received in June

I thought June would have fewer books than May. Ha! I should know better by now. I have a problem. I'm now like 20 books behind on my goal to read as many books as I bring in. Sigh. I need to read some short books to catch up, but, unfortunately, I requested a bunch of large tomes to read and review. Silly me. Overall, though, I bought 26 books in June, and I received 22 books.

The 22 books I received in June that I didn't pay for in the month consisted primarily of preorders that arrived. I did have one Orbit ARC arrive, though. It was Voidwalker by Sara MacLean. I got a NetGalley e-ARC too, Our Vicious Oaths by N.E. Davenport. The preorders included Slaying the Vampire Conqueror by Carissa Broadbent, the Green Creek Eternal Embers set 1-4 by TJ Klune, the Covenant Books for Days Crate 1-5 set by JLA, The Devils by Joel Abercrombine (FairyLoot's May Epic sub book), Blood of Hercules by Jasmine Mas LitHaven edition, books 2-4 of the FairyLoot editions of the Beasts of the Briar series by Elizabeth Helen, and the Acrylipics set of the Flesh & Fire series by JLA. My sister also gave me a copy of Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.

Now, for what I bought. I only received 16 of the 25 books I purchased. Those included The Rivers of Zadaa by D.J. MacHale (eBay), The Butcher and the Blackbird by Brynne Weaver (local used bookstore), Phantasma by Kaylie Smith (local used bookstore, purchased with trade credit, not pictured), Cursed and The Dead List by JLA (JLA Shop), What Fury Brings ARC (I just paid for shipping my trade book), Prince of the Arena by Elizabeth Helen, Echo Fort and Fated Throne by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti (B&N), The Summer Palace by C.S. Pacat (Amazon), Psycho Shifters by Jasmine Mas, and the Hunger Games five-book boxset (B&N).

 As for the remaining seven books, some of them should be on their way soon and others will be a little bit from now. The ones on their way include Rose in Chains by Julie Soto, the June FairyLoot Romantasy book. Others that might take a bit longer include my order of The Chaos Wielder by A.E. Cosby omnibus from Yo Leo Sola, Arcane Society's Penn Cole set, the FairyLoot edition of Between These Broken Hearts by Lexi Ryan, and Feathers from the Sky and Thorns from the Fall by Jess Wisecup.

Currently Obsessed With

There isn't too many new things to talk about. The biggest things I watched this month include Wicked, which I watched at my parents' house with my mom, and Karate Kid: Legends, which my dad randomly decided to watch in theaters one day. Other than those, I've just been re-watching Home Improvement episodes.

July TBR

I'm making progress on my TBR, but I keep adding review copies to it. That needs to stop. I have too much to read, and it's stressing me out. I just want to read fun KU books at this point. Lol. The biggest thing I need to get to is The Jasad Crown by Sara Hashem. It's releasing soon, so I need to get my review ready ASAP. I also need to read and review Voidwalker by S.A. MacLean and Our Vicious Oaths by N.E. Davenport. I also need to read and review Megan E. O'Keefe's new book, The Two Lies of Faven Sythe. I don't know if I'll get to it this month. I'm going to try, but no promises. Now, some things I would like to get to for my own enjoyment include What Fury Brings, The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten, and the last book in Kingdom of Lies series. Oh, and my sister wants me to read Project Hail Mary.

***

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