Stacking the Shelves: The Upside Down 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 an errand-filled week, but other than that, it's been quiet. Thank goodness. Next week will be a bit more chaotic for reasons I'll share soon. I have been reading a lot lately. I'm actually bingeing a series that has been on my TBR for a loooong time. It was really weird that I even picked it up considering I was in a reading slump for about five or so days (work-related, of course. Yucky). The only book that sounded even remotely interesting to pick up on my TBR was Poison Princess by Kresley Cole, which was a reread. So that's what I did. I re-read books 1-3 and am now finishing the series. I've been trying to motivate myself to read those books for years. It's so weird how strange mood reading is.

 

As for the books I received this week, I have my FairyLoot set of the Kindred's Curse series books 1-3 by Penn Cole. I still have mixed feelings on these covers. While the character artwork is great (ignoring the fact that the mmc is wearing the same outfit on all three covers), I'm not a huge fan of cartoonish artwork on my front covers. As endpaper art, it would have been fine. You can get an idea of my preferred character art style in the next two pics. However, I don't like the regular covers of the Kindred's Curse books either. Nor the covers done by other book boxes. So, here we are. I've settled for the FairyLoot set until something else comes along. 

 

 

 

Up next, I have two books that I've been waiting on for a long freaking time. It's the Aurora Crate editions of books three and four in the Legacy series by Melissa K. Roehrich. Now, when I say a long time, I don't mean that Aurora Crate was late, I just mean that I've been wanting to read these final two books but I've been waiting on my physical copies to arrive and Aurora Crate's shipping timeline was simply "summer." Also, USPS left the package in purgatory at a nearby postal location, so I had to put in a missing mail/email request for the package. It arrived with a hole in the bottom, so I'm guessing that might have had something to do with the delay. Everything inside the box was fine, though. Except that the third book, Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance, arrived with an upside down naked hardcover. It was definitely a printing error. I'm super bummed because this is an international edition, so I'm not sure how the replacement process will play out. I've already sent an email to them. Now, I just wait and see.

 

 

 

And finally, I have two less contentious orders. My preorder from Barnes & Noble of Sorrow & Strangers by Jeanette Rose and Alexis Rune arrived, and my preorder of the seventh book in the Zodiac Academy luxe edition set, Heartless Sky, came in as well. There are only five more books to go in this giant, expensive ZA preorder. That's crazy to think about. I ordered those things back in December 2024 and orders are still trickling in. Of course, right as this set is almost complete, the authors decided to do the spinoff series special editions, so it won't end any time soon. It's very sad for my wallet.

 

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

August Wrap-Up & September TBR

August is over, but it's still 100 degrees out. How rude. I actually did a couple of things last month, which is weird for me. I feel like most of my months have been quiet lately. However, I ended up going to a concert, which I'll talk about in this post. I also bought myself a bookcase, which isn't the most exciting thing ever, but it's fun enough for a boring person like me. Oh, and I got 2027 ApollyCon tickets! Hurrah! 

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 August

Never Ever After: 3 stars

The Chains of Fate: 4 stars

The Shadows of Stars: 4 stars 

The Bargain of Dragons: 4 stars

Swordheart: 4 stars

Daggerbound: 4 stars (my review)

Broken Souls and Bones: 3.5 stars

Kiss of the Black Flame: 4 stars (review to come)

A Bloom in Winter: 3 stars 

The Second Death of Locke: 3.5 stars

Father Material: 4 stars 

I don't know how I managed it, but I read 11 books in August. I think it's because I binge-read three books in a series and had a couple of books that I had to read for review purposes. Six of the books were from my physical TBR: Never Ever After by Sue Lynn Tan, Broken Souls and Bones by L.J. Andrews, A Bloom in Winter by J.R. Ward, The Second Death of Locke by V.L. Bovalino, Swordheart by T. Kingfisher, and Husband Material by Alexis Hall. Only All of these except Swordheart and Husband Material were pre-2026 purchases. Woohoo! As for the ebooks, I actually had to read Swordheart so I could read the companion book, Daggerbound, because I accidentally requested it on NetGalley without realizing it was a sequel. I was approved for it, so I read it after Swordheart. I also read Kiss of the Black Flame by Helen Scheuerer via NetGalley copy as well. Then, another three books were Kindle Unlimited downloads. Those were the three middle books in Samantha Amstutz's Aelfyn Archives series, which I very much enjoyed.

Books Bought/Received in August

August was another insane haul month. I guess I just went crazy since it's my birthday month. Oops again. In total, I purchased 40 books and received 20 free ebooks/preorders that I'd already paid for in previous months. The dollar amount was sickening. That, combined with my ApollyCon tickets, meant for a very, very expensive month. Overall, I added 37 physical books added to my shelves and 26 physical copies I have to add to my ever-growing TBR.

The 20 books I received mostly consisted of the preordered books that all decided to arrive in August along with some downloaded ebooks. The prior months' preorders that showed up included A Hunger Like No Other Bad Women Books Romantasy sub edition, Fated Throne King's Hollow edition, The Temptation of Magic (Books-a-Million), Warbreaker (B&N), The Winged Game FairyLoot Adult book, the Locked Library Nevernight set, The Ballad of Falling Dragons FairyLoot edition, and the Black Jewels trilogy from Moonlight Book Box. I also had a book I got from my local used bookstore with trade credit: Defiant by Brandon Sanderson. And then, for ebooks, I downloaded Steal the Wind, Forsaken Mate, Bound to the Vampires, Drawn by Dragonblood, Grayson's Mate, Fae Bound, and The Thorns We Inherit all for free on either Kindle or Nook.

 

Now, for what I bought in August. Of the 40 books I bought, 24 arrived in August. Those included a bunch of books from Barnes & Noble: Vow of Eternal Night, Splintered Kingdom, The Lion and the Deathless Dark, A Bargain So Bloody, Runebreaker, The Poison Daughter, three replacement Meg Cabot books, and two replacement P.C. and Kristin Cast books. I also had one Pango order, Anathema by Keri Lake, and one Mercari order, Bitten & Bound by Amy Pennza. For FairyLoot books, I received my two monthly sub books, The Witch in the Dead of Night and Steelborn. I also had a Book Outlet order for The Silversmith, Veselless, Immortal Dark, A Cruel Thirst, The High Mountain Court, Hell Bent, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Dire Bound. And I ordered a UK paperback of Warrior Princess Assassin from Blackwells.

 As for the remaining 17 books, they include preorders that won't arrive until later in the year. The FairyLoot preorders were for Earthbound, The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy, and the War of Lost Hearts series. Other orders that are coming eventually include Primal of Blood and Bone and Visions of Flesh and Blood Books for Days Crate editions, three FBAA German editions, the Owlcrate edition of Daggermouth, the PR editions of Bonds that Tie books 4-7, The Knave and the Moon, and Tempest.

Currently Obsessed With

Well, the only show I saw besides the season three finale of House of the Dragon was my continued watch of The Middle on Peacock. I also saw Spider-Man: Brand New Day in theaters on the first day of August. It was good. Then, like a week later, I went to a Simple Plan concert. Blink-182 and 3OH!3 were there too. Concerts are not the norm for me. I only go to like one every five years or so, if that. Oh, and when Peacock has been glitching, I've been going back to watching Grey's Anatomy on Netflix. I stopped for a bit because it was getting to be too much, but I'm doing bits at a time now. 

September TBR

This looks so much more manageable than last month's TBR. I really screwed myself over when I requested so many NetGalley books. Right now, I'm behind on two of them: A Viper Among Kings by Sydney Olivia and To Cage a Wild Bird by Brooke Fast. I'm about halfway through The Drakon King by Terry J. Benton-Walker and about 20% through Turncloak by L.K. Steven. Turncloak needs read and reviewed before September 15. I have some time for The Drakon King, thankfully. Other than those books, I'd like to read A Dance of Lies by Brittney Arena because the sequel is on sale soon. I also need to read Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe for book club.

***

Okay, well, that's the month of August, plus some September 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 Knave and the Moon 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 relatively quiet week, but we're in September now, so that's to be expected. I feel like September in general is pretty mellow, with kids going back to school and the weather (hopefully) cooling down. Ugh. I hate this nasty heat. Anyway, nothing big has been happening in my world. It's mostly been work stuff. Lame. So I'm hoping this next week is more about me, especially with Labor Day on Monday. Yay for days off!

 

As for the books I received, it's, thankfully, a very small haul this week. Of course my preorder of Rachel Gillig's The Knave and the Moon arrived. I just got the regular edition, as I ended up unhauling my Barnes & Noble edition of book one a month or two after I'd bought it. I just didn't particularly like the font color and edge choices. I'm glad I decided to stick with the original, as I've heard horror stories from people trying to remove the B&N sticker. Other than The Knave and the Moon, my replacement copy of FairyLoot's The Witch in the Dead of Night by Charlotte Buckley also came in. I don't normally show replacement copies in hauls, but I figured The Knave and the Moon looked lonely. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that I got 2027 ApollyCon tickets! It's the first time I actually was able to snag them myself since 2022!

 

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Moonlight 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.

I wasn't feeling great yesterday, so I wasn't able to schedule my StS post. I also had to run around today for various tasks, so I'm just now getting around to writing all about this week's book haul. Last weekend was the birthday weekend, so it was busy. My sister got me a small CD player, and now, I need to find all my CDs. I also bought myself a new TBR bookcase. I was going to share a pic, but I completely forgot and I'm too lazy to do it now. I'm sure the display will show up on an eventual blog pic somewhere.

 

As for the books I received, they're all just preorders. I didn't buy any books on my actual birthday because I'd purchased soooo many throughout the month. The Moonlight Book Box editions of Anne Bishop's Black Jewels series did show up on my birthday, though. That was a fun present from past me to open that day. Later in the week, I also got my FairyLoot sub boxes, which include the Adult box's edition of Steelborn by Taylor J. LaRue and the Romantasy edition of The Witch in the Dead of Night by Charlotte Buckley. My Romantasy book's dust jacket had shifted, so it was damaged in transit. I did contact FairyLoot about a replacement, so that should be on its way at some point.

 

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

2026 ApollyCon Recap: Part 4

It's the final 2026 ApollyCon recap post! Right on time for 2027 tickets to go on sale in about two weeks. Woo! Actually, like I said last year, not woo. Trying to buy tickets to ApollyCon is always stressful. I've gotten lucky every year with either resale tickets or actually being able to nab them. Only one year resulted in no tickets, so we'll see how everything goes this time. I have a feeling I'll be on the waitlist once again.

 

I think our first stop was the Bookish Box table to pick up our preorders of their edition of Visions of Flesh and Blood. I was so upset at BB for making this a convention exclusive. I preordered it, just in case, as even if I couldn't attend, I'd have my friend pick it up for me, but thankfully, I was able to go. I still feel bad for those who collect the BB editions and couldn't attend, though. That sucks for them. After that, I think we went to Ravyn Salvador's table so she could sign the book. We had to take it out of the plastic, which proved chaotic. Ravyn is JLA's editor for the Blood and Ash series who worked on this compendium. I should have had JLA sign this one too, but I thought she was limiting what she signed. It didn't really seem like that, though, as her assistants were just pushing books through.

Speaking of JLA's line and signing, the afternoon on Saturday was primarily for the two big-name authors: JLA and J.R. Ward. I didn't really have many others to meet in that upstairs room. I was also exhausted, so those were the ones we had the energy to see plus a few others. The line manager volunteer for JLA told us to hop in line while we were gathering our things off to the side, so we were totally discombobulated by the time we got in line. We had to drag out our many, many copies for her to sign, as she said she'd sign everything that was in the registration bags plus three other items. I was kicking my cart by this point to scoot up the line while I was trying to find all my books for her. I got A Crown of Ruin, the Arcane edition of The Summer King, and the From Blood and Ash ApollyCon edition, Grim Gates ApollyCon edition, and Arcane ApollyCon edition signed. I also picked up a free art print of Cas on his throne and a sticker of Reaver in draken form. You can also see the Poppy, Cas, and Kieran Legos I bought from the JLA/ApollyCon Shop. They were $12 each. Yikes. I bought an ApollyCon T-shirt too.

 

Next up was J.R. Ward who is always amazing. I heard one of the volunteers say something about J.R. Ward in regards to keeping the line moving as we were waiting for her bathroom break about how J.R. said "I want to see all my friends." Aww... She's so sweet. When she was back and I got to her, I think we talked about if she'd be back in 2027, which is pretty much what I talked to her about in 2025. Ha. I got my edition of Crown of War and Shadow signed by her as well as the mass market edition of Lover Unleashed I bought at the B&N shop. I was so glad they had it there, as my copy was a used version that wasn't in the greatest shape. It was nice to upgrade. I also purchased a print of all the brothers. Honestly, J.R. Ward had so many awesome items. There were cool prints and clothing pieces that I wanted to buy but knew I'd already spent too much money and had limited suitcase space.

 

[insert pic of throne from Erica] 

So, this one's funny. I brought my copy of The Wolf and the Witch by Charissa Weaks. Well, it turns out I'd already gotten that book signed by Charissa. Oops. So, while we were in her line, I ended up buying Tales from Tiressia. I think it was the last thing I spent money on other than food. Thank goodness. It was not a cheap weekend. Charissa also had a really cool throne set up at her table, so of course I had to get a pic.

 

At some point, I did stop by Wendy Higgins's table to get my copy of Sweet Peril signed. I also saw Olivia Wildenstein and Nicola Tyche. Both had free prints at their tables. I didn't know Nicola was going to be there, or I would have brought her books to get signed. I was in too much of a rush after learning I got a ticket and I missed her name on the attending authors list. Bummer. I also have some of the swag items I got throughout the con pictured above.

The final event for Saturday was the After Party. The theme for it was Villain's Ball. Thankfully, I already had a black dress from last year's JLA event, so my outfit was secured. Unfortunately, the event turned out to be a bit of a bummer. I'm never a big fan of the after party in general, as it's mostly just dancing and drinking. This time, though, was super interesting, as it was held in the hallway. Super odd. But, we got a freebie bag with a free book, The Rose Witch by Chandelle LaVaun. We ended up leaving the event pretty early to finish packing up and then go to bed before heading home tomorrow. I had to pack one box to ship back via FedEx, and that was an experience. The FedEx worker was late the next morning, so it was not a fun time waiting for him to get things going.

 

The last event of ApollyCon is always the Sunday Brunch. It's typically a conversation between JLA and various authors. This year, the author was Rebecca Yarros. I couldn't stay for very long, though, as my flight was at a terrible time. It always is, so I only go to the brunch if I really want to see the author. I was able to get my brunch bag on my way out, and it had a signed paperback contemporary from Rebecca, which I left on a counter for someone to pick up, and Blood Bound by Ellis Hunter. I kept that one. I also gave the bag to my friend, as it was stiff and weird. I just didn't need to keep it. I have so many bags.

  

Well, I think that's all for ApollyCon 2026. There were a lot of new experiences this year due to being an aid, staying in a room with three other people, and not attending with my usual friend. It wasn't bad, just different. I hope I can get tickets for 2027, but, like always, we shall see.

Review: Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher

Daggerbound

T. Kingfisher

(Swordheart #2)

Publication Date: August 25, 2026

Hardcover, 448 pages, Bramble

Genres: Adult, Romantasy, LGBTQ+

Goodreads

New York Times bestselling author T. Kingfisher returns to the charming fantasy world of Swordheart in this delightful and unexpected new romantic adventure.

 

Learned Edmund, a disillusioned scholar, is transporting yet another precious relic from one stuffy temple to a different stuffy temple. Another great adventure for the ages…

 

But when Edmund is set upon by bandits, in desperation, he breaks the cardinal rule and grabs for the relic, an ancient sword. To his surprise, instead of unsheathing a rusty, ancient weapon, an alarmingly handsome man appears, wielding daggers of blue steel and cutting the thieves down.

 

This man is the Dervish, an immortal warrior who’s been trapped for centuries in a sword of enchanted steel, and is angry as hell about it. He hates the curse that put him there, and he wants to hate Edmund, just as he has hated every wielder before him.

 

But the damned scholar is just so sweet and clever and kind. And while the Dervish may be able to protect Edmund from bandits, cultists, dragons, and strange inhuman diplomats, he may find it much harder to protect his own heart.

My Review

If you miss the whimsy and fun of fantasy but still want adult romances, adventures, and themes like overcoming trauma and finding your place in the world, then the interconnected Swordheart series is for you. It has cute badger-like creatures called gnoles, cursed swords with trapped warriors, and relatably awkward protagonists. Both the first book and Daggerbound had me flying through chapters to see what crazy shenanigans the characters were going to get into next.

Daggerbound starts out similarly to book one, Swordheart, with an awkward human in danger drawing a magical warrior-possessed sword. Edmund is a scholar who's leaving his order and has a ton of random knowledge about ants, trees, gnoles, and all kinds of odd things. He also loves books. (Very relatable.) The Dervish, our second protagonist, comes out of the sword and is forced to protect Edmund because of his curse. The Dervish is suave and handsome, despite his past trauma, and boy, does he know it. Edmund, on the other hand, is adorable but seemingly oblivious to the obvious. They make a great pair. 

Edmund and The Dervish (yes, that's his actual name, and yes, that's my biggest pet peeve of the book) stumble along two companions on their journey to the city of Archon's Glory. Those two, without giving away spoilers, do make the story very entertaining. If you were a fan of Brindle in Swordheart, I think you'll be happy with these new characters.

The worldbuilding in this series is interesting. Swordheart and Daggerbound take place in a world that seems to be based on the orders of different religions and their respective devotees, yet the book doesn't focus on those dynamics. It focuses on random groups of people/beings traveling for fairly low-stake reasons when compared to high fantasy's usual "save the world" storyline. Essentially, it's just a long adventure walking from one city to another with strange fantastical happenings along the way. The series reads like a cozy romantasy. It's light-hearted and fun, despite its darker moments.

All in all, I thought Daggerbound was a great sequel to a laugh-out-loud first book. I don't think there's even a slight chance book one readers won't enjoy this installment. It has the same amount of heart and atmosphere, just with a new romance to root for. I'm excited to see what chaos is in store for book three.

*Note: I received a copy of this book to review from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affected my opinion/review.