Stacking the Shelves: The Buffy 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.

Work is really exhausting me. I am not an accountant, and suddenly, I'm having to do accounting things. Plus, continue my writing job. Blugh! If I could just fast-forward through the rest of 2024, that'd be great. I'm so stressed right now. It's actually affecting my daily life. I'm so mentally exhausted that it's hard to go to the gym or even read. I hate it. I hope it gets better soon. Otherwise, I'll just be stuck in this purgatory until January.

On to happier topics: this week's haul. First up, I have my FairyLoot editions of the last three books in the Vampire Academy series. I'm still not overly enthusiastic about these editions, but they are fun. I think it's the front dustjackets that just seem too meh to me. I like the reversible art, but they don't have the titles on them, so it's weird to use those instead. I don't know. I may not end up keeping these down the line, but for now, I have them.

Next up, I have the Arcane editions of Lady of Darkness and Lady of Shadows by Melissa Roerich. These editions are just okay. I'm interested in the books because the author is going to ApollyCon, but I think I'll purchase the paperback version to get signed instead. I'm not a fan of all the foiling on this one. I like simplistic foiling, not whatever this is. The naked book is pretty though. So there's that.

More books! My FairyLoot October Romantasy book came in. It's The Coven by Harper L. Woods. It's not a book I would've bought a physical copy of on my own, as dark academia isn't really something I gravitate towards, especially with professor love interests, but I figured FairyLoot would make a pretty edition so it'd be worth trying out. And I was right. The art is very pretty. My Barnes & Noble preorder of the Onyx hardcover by Jennifer L. Armentrout also arrived. And I also had an Amazon order of two of the Mediator books arrive. I'm thinking about replacing my current mass market paperbacks since they're so old, so I went ahead and got these while they were available. These books are getting harder to find online. Yikes.

And lastly for the physical stuff, I have another Amazon order that actually arrived with the two Mediator books. I didn't know Amazon could combine separate orders like that, but honestly, I'm not complaining. Yay for saving the trees. But yeah, my three Buffy Funko Pops arrived. There's Spike, Buffy, and Angel. And there's another B&N exclusive Spike that I need to get my hands on. I've been waiting for it to be available online, and I haven't seen it there. Boo.

 

As for the ebooks, I have two this week. One is The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch, which was a Kindle Unlimited download, and the other is Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth, which is a library Libby book that I really need to start reading before time runs out. I got this one because Illumicrate has a special edition for sale that I'm tentatively interested in. I just need to determine if the book is worth the price first. 

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Dirty Dustjackets 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... a week. Work is so stressful lately. Ugh. I want it to stop. Other than that, things have been pretty good. A couple of household machine malfunctions have put a wrench in my life, but not anything too terrible. And thankfully, one of them is covered by my landlord. The other one, I need to potentially make a repair appointment for, which will be icky, but doable.

But on to this week's haul. First up, I have the October FairyLoot Adult book, Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy. I just read a review copy of this. Check out my review here. And it was great! I also really like the FairyLoot edition too. It's similar to the regular cover, but the inside artwork is very pretty. I'm honestly not sure if I want to use the reverse dustjacket art or keep it as is. Decisions, decisions.

Next up, I have more FBAA series copies. I impulsively bought the FBAA series off of Mercari, so I could use it for a dustjacket set that will potentially be releasing at some point. (Hurry up, A Touch of Magic Designs! You've been teasing this for like three years!) There was also a used copy of A Light in the Flame on PangoBooks for $9. With shipping and tax it was a little bit more than that, but still much cheaper than a new hardcover. And I definitely needed it. I actually need two more copies of ALITF for all the dustjacket sets I have. Ugh. ALITF and A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire are the hardest copies to find used at a decent price for some reason.

Speaking of dustjacket sets. Here's why I need one of the other ALITF copies. My Dirty Diction Flesh and Fire dustjacket set came in, and they're lovely. The scenery on the backs is my favorite part. I hope DD does an FBAA set sometime. Not super soon, but maybe like end of 2025, beginning of 2026. My wallet needs a break from buying all these extra copies and dustjackets. Please.

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

October Wrap-Up & November TBR

I am too tired to really do a meaningful introduction to this wrap-up, so you get me babbling for a while. This week has been crazy with major work deadlines, so my personal life kind of went non-existent for a couple of weeks. No good gym workouts, no reading. But! I did manage to do a cleaning/organizing task I'd been putting off for so long. Yay!

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 October

Tryggred by the Orc: 4 stars (ebook)

Fortuna Sworn: 2 stars

Goldfinch: 4 stars

Sorcery and Small Magics: 4 (my review)

I only read four books in October, and they were all read in the first two weeks of the month too. The last two weeks were just too crazy at work, so I had to watch mind-numbing videos on my phone to clear my head. But, hopefully now that the deadlines are done, reading can commence once again. As for the books I read, two of them were Kindle Unlimited reads: Tryggred by the Orc by Finley Fenn and Goldfinch by Raven Kennedy. However, Goldfinch I technically own copies of, so that counts as a physical book I checked off my list. Lol. Then I slogged through Fortuna Sworn for book club. Ugh. It was just not my vibe. I also read Sorcery and Small Magics for review, and I really enjoyed it. Both of those two books were physical copies, so yay! Knocking books of my physical TBR one at a time.

Books Bought/Received in October

Well, here's the icky math part of the post. Gosh. I don't even want to know the damage this has done me. I'm for sure going to have to sell some books because this is nuts. I bought a total of 42 books in October and received 14 that I didn't pay for in the month, which basically means they were preorders/books ordered in September. Altogether, 30 of the books actually made their way to me in October.

For the 14 books I received, they were all preorders or orders that just didn't get delivered until this month. They include the Waterstones editions of Goldfinch, the FairyLoot edition of The Half King by Melissa Landers, the LitHaven editions of King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Claire and The Book of Azrael by Amber Nicole, Arcane's The Ever Seas duology, the Spanish editions of the first three books in the FBAA series, and the five books in the Acrylipics FBAA set.

This is where it gets unbelievably ugly. I bought sooooo much. As for the 16 books I bought that I actually received in October, those consisted primarily of my 14 Barnes & Noble preorders/orders: Bloodguard by Cecy Robson, The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen, Legend of the White Snake by Sher Lee, Never Keep by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti, Frigid by JLA, World After and End of Days by Susan Ee, Swordcrossed by Freya Marske, When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker, Stone Cold Touch by JLA, and The Stars Are Dying by Chloe C. Penaranda. Three others were from trades. Those included Arcane ApollyCon editions of The Crown of Oaths and Curses by J. Bree and FBAA and the Primal of Life BOBAA edition. And then I have two Pango purchases: Oblivion by JLA, which isn't in the greatest shape, so I'm likely going to get rid of it, and Bride by Ali Hazelwood, the Target edition.

 My preorders for the month/books that haven't arrived yet is where things get out of control. The list includes 27 books. Yikes. The preorders consist of the Arcane editions of FBAA 1-5, the ApollyCon Books for Days Crate preorder for A Shadow in the Ember and Kingdom of Crowns and Daggers, the two Arcane sub books for the month, the Bookish Box Lux editions books 1-2, two Owlcrate Carissa Broadbent books, and the author lux edition of Zodiac Academy book one. The remaining books are just ones that will arrive soon, if they haven't already. They include the FairyLoot Adult and Romantasy sub books, my B&N signed and unsigned editions of ASITE, a Pango used copy of ALITF, the B&N editions of Rachel Gillig's Shepherd's King duology, used Mercari copies of FBAA 1-5 for new dustjackets, and Harper L. Wood's special paperback edition of What Lurks Between the Fates.  

Currently Obsessed With

As for TV/films, I watched something new in October!

Well, technically it's not entirely new. I watched previous seasons of the show before, but the third season released. That counts as new then, right? Anyway, the third season of Heartstopper came out, and I watched it all. Other than that, I'm mostly watching Law & Order: SVU and the Eras Tour livestreams on weekends. I did watch Hocus Pocus with my sister. She came over to have a Halloween movie night with brownies and pizza about two weeks before Halloween actually happened. Ha ha.

November TBR

I didn't read like half the books on my TBR, so, surprise, surprise, there are a lot of repeats. I still 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 The Bound Worlds by Megan E. O'Keefe 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 an ApollyCon read and Bloodguard as a book club pick. And I'm currently reading Lucinda Dark's A Sword of Shadow and Deceit on Kindle Unlimited.

***

Okay, well, that's the month of October, plus some November 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 Holy Grail 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 busy week. Work has really sucked. Stupid deadlines. But, the major ones are over now, so my anxiety has settled down a bit. Hopefully, that means I can read more over the next few days. I was really feeling the brain fog this week. But, some amazing stuff arrived, and I can't believe my life right now. Gah!

So on to this week's haul. First up, I have something I never thought I'd be able to get my hands on. Ever. Somehow, someway, I managed to trade my Red Rising FairyLoot set for the super limited paperback Primal of Life Born of Blood and Ash book. How?! I don't even know. The day JLA hinted that maybe something was coming to the JLA Shop with these covers (details still to come, but it looks like fancy-edge hardcovers), someone commented on my ISO Facebook post wanting to trade. I was wary at first because I didn't want to give away my life savings, and I figured someone was just reaching out because they saw the JLA announcement, and they were trying to get their money's worth while they still could. But no. It was just a Red Rising fan who wanted that set more than she wanted to keep a BOBAA ARC. So I got it! My holy grail! EEEEK! Now, I just have to get my hands on the Primal of Death version somehow. Sigh.

Next up, I have another exciting book, Bloodguard by Cecy Robson. I've only had this book preordered for like two years. I'm glad it actually got released. It kept getting pushed back over and over again. This one always excited me because it's a gladiator-esque romantasy with a male POV and the cover reminds me of Red Queen. I can't wait to read it. I also received my Barnes & Noble preorder of the new cover of Frigid by Jennifer L. Armentrout. It has blue sprayed edges. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of sprayed edges on paperbacks. It doesn't look bad, but they don't really do anything for me aesthetic-wise. My FairyLoot September Romantasy book finally reached me too. It was delivered to my parents' house not very long ago. I guess the book, The Half King by Melissa Landers, got delayed for US customers.

 

 

Oh look, another B&N set of preorders arrived right as I was typing this up. Of course. Man, October releases have been insane. I can't wait for things to calm down book-buying-wise now that it's late fall/almost winter. Though book boxes don't seem to have the same schedule as regular publishing companies because Books for Days Crate is just determined to steal my money. But anyway, the Rachal Gillig B&N exclusive The Shepherd King duology set arrived today. I still haven't read my FairyLoot copy of book one, but book two sold out and I didn't buy it, so this was the next-best thing. My friend told me she really liked this duology. So I invested. It takes very little arm-twisting for me to buy books, though. Lol. The B&N exclusive A Shadow in the Ember also arrived. It's not a terrible copy, but it seems like the spine is a little loose and the dustjacket is just a tad off. I have another signed copy coming, so I don't really have to worry about it too much. I just hope the other one is packaged well.

And lastly, I have the Juniper Flesh & Fire series dustjackets. These things are stupid expensive. But, thankfully, Juniper was having a sale, so I just grabbed them to get it over with. Boy oh boy, do I need to stop doing that. October was an extremely expensive book month. I'm very scared to do my monthly spending roundup. Yikes. But anyway, I got the five dustjackets for each book in the series and the compendium, Visions of Flesh and Blood. I didn't take a picture of them all, though, because, besides the spines, they all pretty much look the same, as you can see. 

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

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?