July Wrap-Up & August TBR

July was a nice month. I miss it already. I was on vacation, my place was nice and clean, and I could read whenever I wanted. Now, we're back to the same ol' grind. Ugh. Being an adult is the worst. There's not a ton going on in August. I think I might get some furniture, but that's about it for excitement. There are also a few cleaning tasks I haven't completed, so I'll get to those sometime too. Maybe. 

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 July

Tempting Venom: 3 stars

Kill the Beast: 3 stars

Mistress of Lies: 3.5 stars 

Fake Shot: 3 stars

The Shadows that Listen: 4 stars (review to come)

Starside: 4 stars

Unrelenting Winds: 3.5 stars

The Aspect of Essence: 4 stars

Stolen by Shadows: 3 stars 

Like I said, I was on vacation in July, so I was able to read a lot. I read eight books and one novella in July, which was great. I got seven books off my physical TBR. Most of them were added in 2026, but still, they're read! The physical books included Kill the Beast by Serra Swift, Mistress of Lies by K.M. Enright, Starside by Alex Aster, Unrelenting Winds (the novella) by Melissa K. Roehrich, and The Aspect of Essence by Samantha Amstutz. However, Tempting Venom by Rina Kent is also a book I own a physical copy of. I just downloaded the Kindle Unlimited version so I could read it on release day instead of waiting for my preorder. I also read The Shadows that Listen by Louisa Carmody, which I received as an ARC from Orbit. My review will be posted on release day, August 18. As for the ebooks, I finished Fake Shot by C.E. Ricci and then later in the month read Stolen by Shadows by Elizabeth Helen, both on KU.

Books Bought/Received in July

July was not a low-quantity book month, unfortunately, I piled books high. I did get rid of some, though, so at least I'm making room. In total, I purchased 22 books and received 12 titles for review or from preorders that I'd already paid for in previous months. The dollar amount wasn't as insane as previous months, but it was a lot of books, with 33 physical books added to my shelves and 22 I have to add to my ever-growing TBR.

The 12 books I received mostly consisted of the preordered books that all decided to arrive in July along with a couple of review copies. The Shadows that Listen was the only physical ARC I received, but I did get a NetGalley ARC in July: Kiss of the Black Flame by Helen Scheurer. Orders from previous months that arrived in July included Tempting Venom, The Proposal by Meg Cabot, books 1-2 of the Blood and Ash series Inked Pages editions, The Mortal Trials by Megan Shunmugan Allurial edition, and the FairyLoot editions of Broken Dove, The Tapestry of Fate, and the first two books in The Shards of Magic series. I also got Furysong by Rosaria Munda from my local used bookstore with trade credit.

Now, for what I bought in July. Of the 22 books I bought, 14 arrived in July. Those included a bunch of books from Barnes & Noble: Ravenous by Kresley Cole, Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe, City of Souls and Sinners by Kayla Edwards, The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy by Brigette Knightley, and the Spanish edition of A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire. I also got one book in-store: Hopelessly Necromantic by Shiloh Briar. As for non-B&N orders, I have the Kindle edition of The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan, Swordheart by T. Kingfisher from Books-a-Million, Duskbound Waterstones edition by Bree Grenwich and Parker Lennox, What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller UK paperback, and the Silk & Steel books 1-3 from eBay. I also got the FairyLoot Romantasy book, The Lure of Whispers and Wolves.

 As for the remaining eight books, they include preorders that didn't arrive in August or won't arrive until even later in the year. The FairyLoot preorders were for Heir of Twisted Lies, The Sea Spinner, Daggermouth, and the Adult FairyLoot book. Other orders that are coming eventually include Born of Blood and Ash Bookish Box edition, The Temptation of Magic, Warbreaker, and the Lilac Library Brimstone edition.

Currently Obsessed With

It's House of the Dragon season. This is the third season in six years, which is crazy to think about. It feels like the first season happened yesterday. I think there are only two episodes left, which means another two-year wait for the fourth, and possibly last, season. Boo. Other than that, I watched the finale of The Vampire Lestat, the last few episodes of Daredevil: Born Again season two, and I'm continuing to watch The Middle. 

August TBR

My TBR is primarily review copies. I'm so behind right now. I have four review books to read by September 22. Two need read and reviewed by August 25. Yikes. I don't think I'll make it, but I'm going to try to get at least two of the four read and reviewed on time. Three would be great. Those include: A Viper Among Kings by Sydney Olivia, Turncloak by L.K. Steven, Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher, and Kiss of the Black Flame by Helen Scheuerer. I have to read Swordheart before I can read Daggerbound, though, which is my own fault for accidentally requesting a sequel to review when I haven't read book one. I also need to read The Drakon King by Terry J. Benton-Walker for review, but it's due in November, and then To Cage a Wild Bird by Brooke Fast is one I'm like four months behind on. I'm also trying to start Kiss of Iron by Clare Sager, finish the fourth book in The Aelfyn Archives by Samantha Amstutz, and finish This Monster of Mine by Shalini Abeysekara.

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Okay, well, that's the month of July, plus some August 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 Green + Mauve 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.

My vacation is over and I'm back at work and life is stressful again. Ugh. I need a job that lets me sit around and read all day. Anyone know any jobs like that? Other than work, there's not much going on this week. It's still hot out, so I'm spending a lot of time in the air conditioning. I've also been reading like five different books at the same time, so that's interesting. I have multiple NetGalley and Kindle Unlimited copies in progress. I don't particularly like that reading method, but, what are you gonna do? That's what happens when you request too many ARCs that all need reviewed in a one-month span.

As for the books I received this week, I have some very pretty ones. I'm not sure exactly what color combo these four books are, but I like to think it's a green and mauve combo. My FairyLoot set of the first two books in Sarah Hawley's The Shards of Magic series arrived and so did my July Romantasy book, The Lure of Wolves and Whispers by Amanda Conolly. I'd also preordered Duskbound by Bree Grenwich and Parker Lennox from Waterstones. It's very pretty. This one is more of a light purple, but with my terrible lighting, it looks mauve in person.

 

 

 

Next up, I have three black covers. Not sure how that worked out, but it did. Two were Barnes & Noble preorders: Ravenous by Kresley Cole and Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe. I'm a little nervous about the Kresley Cole book. I haven't read a new non-Immortals After Dark series by her in years, so I'm hoping it doesn't disappoint. I also received my FairyLoot edition of The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty. It's book two in the Amina al-Sirafi series. 

 

And next, I have the lone ebook I received. I was looking at the half a dozen Kindle books I'm currently in the middle of and saw that The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan was on sale for $1.99 or $0.99. I can't remember which. I decided to just go ahead and buy it. It was one of my most anticipated books a few years ago. I just never got around to it or had the drive to purchase it. Now, I can get to it one day whenever I feel like picking it up.

 

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

2026 ApollyCon Recap: Part 1

Yikes. This post is late. Like late late. I thought 2025's ApollyCon recap post was delayed, but at least I managed to get that up in June. I didn't even start this one until the end of July. Terrible. So terrible. And this is just Part 1. There will be at least 2-3 more. Sigh. It might be hard for me to remember some details, since I waited so long to write this, but at least it'll be done. I don't even know if anyone reads these recaps, but I like to go back and look through the memories every once in a while.

 

First, I need to mention the whole ticket fiasco. I was planning to go as an aid for a friend of a friend, but I ended up getting an Ascended-level ticket literally a day before the ticket sales closed. It was insane. I was ecstatic, though! And I got to help my other friend out as an aid while still having a ticket, so that was nice. I hadn't planned on bringing that many books when I was just going as an aid, but once I got a ticket, I threw together every book I had that I could reasonably get/wanted to get signed. I decided to take Sweet Peril by Wendy Higgins; The Traitor Queen indie paperback and the new hardcover; the Aurora Crate edition of Speak of the Demon by Stacia Stark; Prince of the Arena by Elizabeth Helen; the hardback, UK ARC, and US ARC of What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller; Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros; and the 2024 ApollyCon Arcane Society edition of From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I also took the Arcane Society editions of Wicked and Torn by JLA, but I think I only managed to get one signed. Maybe. I should probably go check... You can also see the books I brought back with me in this pic too, but I'll get to those throughout the recap posts. 

This year was a lot different than previous years, since my usual friend I attend with didn't go. I ended up sharing a room with three other attendees, one of whom was the friend I was aiding for. It was wild. I'd never stayed with that many people before. Everyone was cool, though. It was just a crazy time with a lot less space. The first event for the convention is always registration on Wednesday. Because I was an aid, I got to stand in the shorter line, so we got out of there a lot faster than others. I got my two lanyards, one for my ticket tier and the other for my aid status (the red one). My Ascended bag also came with some swag, five random books, and, of course, the From Blood and Ash special edition hardcover. JLA also surprised everyone and put a paperback edition of A Crown of Ruin in the bags as well. That was amazing! I loved that so much, especially since JLA said there were no plans to put this novella in paperback any time soon. Of the five other books I received in my bag, I only kept two: A Darkness So Sweet by Emma Hamm and The Midnight Arrow by Zoey Draven.

 

After registration, we waited in another line for the JLA and J.R. Ward opening panel. I don't remember everything they discussed, but I do know J.R. Ward talked about how Lover at Last ended up going #1, even though it was a MM paranormal romance book. It was the first one to do so. I didn't know that. J.R. Ward also made fun of the name Roth, and of course, JLA let her know that she has a character named Roth, so that was a funny moment. Those are the two major things I remember, other than the event starting late because registration took so long. J.R. Ward stalled for time by asking attendees why they were there or why they liked romance or something like that, so of course she was running around in the audience with the mic, as she does.

 

I almost forgot that after the event, volunteers/staff handed out goodie bags. The bag came with a teal/blue water bottle and set of the Prettygal Pins Black Dagger Brotherhood cards. I was ecstatic to get these! I already head Rhage and Wrath, but I didn't have Zsadist. And of course, Vishous and Phury were new. Funnily enough, we got like two more of these goodie bags during the con. I guess they had ordered too many of them, so they were just handing extras out to everyone throughout the con. Our hotel room ended up leaving like eight bottles lined up on the table of our room. I took one back to give to my friend who couldn't attend, but I couldn't keep the others. I had no space in my suitcases. I did keep a second PGP card set, though. The third bag I got didn't come with extra cards. I don't know what I'll do with the extra set yet.

 

For Day 2 of ApollyCon, we attended panels in the a.m. The first panel we went to was the Forged in Fire & Fate: Romantasy panel at 9 a.m. Gina Maxwell, Rebecca Yarros, Morgan Gauthier, Jen L. Grey, Sariah Wilson, Amanda Bouchet, and Stacia Stark were the attending authors. I only remember that Amanda Bouchet made a comment about killing, but not really killing, the animal companion in her new book. We all gasped when she first said it. I think Rebecca also teased her Threshing Day book as well, but that's old news at this point.

Panel number two was Horns, Hearts & HEA's: Monster Romance. The authors on that panel were J.R. Ward, Regine Abel, Kait Ballenger, Jenna Wolfhart, Kalista Neith, Juliette Cross, Lexi Foss, and Emma Hamm. I don't remember much from this one except that the mics went out. I think. Once that was over, I think we got some food and just kind of hung out until the JLA Welcome to the Capital event that evening, which I'll share in Part 2. It deserves a full post.

 

I almost forgot to mention that I took pics with the Jemlin Cas and Kieran cutouts that were set up in the hall. I ended up taking pics multiple times throughout the event. I just wanted to make sure I got good ones in different outfits. Honestly, I just wish I could have taken these two cutouts home with me. I would've paid for them. Lol. Speaking of that, I did end up trading with another attendee so I could get her Cas and Kieran Jemlin cards. The cards only came in the Primal bag, so I had to figure out a way to get my own set. Luckily, I have a friend who loves helping people with trades and was able to hook me up. If that hadn't happened, I think my con might have sucked. At least, it would've sucked until I could go home and purchase a set online for high resale prices. I totally would've done it if I had to. I'll share a pic of those with my Jemlin/Gremlin Gates signing day stuff. 

 

Well, that's all for the first day and a half of ApollyCon. Above is a pic of me with my lanyard and another when my roommates and I took a walk around the hotel area. Part 2 will be the JLA event recap and Part 3 will be the signing day. I'm hoping I can get all the signing stuff in one post, but I think I'll have to split that up if I want to include the Friday night and Saturday morning stuff too. I'm planning to schedule a part every week, so stay tuned!

Stacking the Shelves: The Cleaned Out 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, my vacation is almost over. Sigh. It was nice while it lasted. I did manage to get a lot done, but I am officially cleaned out. Every muscle on my body is sore from the organizing and scrubbing. I have a few more projects I'd like to work on that I didn't manage to start this past week, though. That includes dusting my bookshelves. That will take days and days, however, so my plan is to do one bookcase every weekend, I think.

As for the books I received this week, I only obtained one physical book as of the time I'm writing this. I expect I'll have a few more by Friday night, but I'm writing this up Friday morning so they'll get pushed to next week's StS. The one book I did get was City of Souls and Sinners by Kayla Edwards. I haven't read book one in this series yet, but I'm expecting to enjoy it, so I've preordered the sequels already. Although, I just learned this will be a seven-book series and only four have been written so far. I think that means I'll be holding off reading them until closer to the final two books' release dates. Also, I was too lazy to take a photo of just one paperback book, so you get the cover image this week even though I have a physical copy. I'll return to my regularly-scheduled photos next week. :)

 

And next, I have the ebook I received. It actually isn't the lone ebook I got, but the other ones were Kindle Unlimited copies, and I just decided recently that I'm not sharing those on my StS posts anymore, simply because I download so many KU books in a short span of time. It's easier just to mention them in my wrap-up posts if I actually end up reading them. Anyway, the ebook I received was Kiss of the Black Flame by Helen Scheuerer via NetGalley. I'd requested this one on NG, but I ended up getting an email from the publisher to download it. I think that's the first time that's happened to me. Usually, I only get a publisher email if I haven't requested the book. Very interesting. I'm super excited for this one. I do need to speed up my NG reading, though. I have four to finish in the next 5-9 weeks.

 

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

My Most Anticipated Releases for the Rest of 2026

I did a full Top 10 Most Anticipated Releases post like six months ago, but things have changed since then. Some of the books I had listed already released, new titles came to my attention, a couple of books had release date changes, and some new books were just announced. I've also already read some of the titles I originally listed, so I've decided to not include those. Sorry, Soul Sworn and Captive Traitor King! But anyway, it's time to share my most anticipated releases for the rest of 2026. Also, none of these are in any particular order except for #1.

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Daughter of the Dark by R.J. Valldeperas

I keep seeing character art of this book, and it's messing with my brain. I always think the book has already released, and I want to go purchase a copy only to realize, 1) it's not out yet, and 2) I've already preordered it via Barnes & Noble. So yeah, I'm excited for this one. I'll also say here that I couldn't fit a couple of titles on this list. Those include Ravenous by Kresley Cole and Bodies of Magic by Freya Marske. I'm anticipating both of those too.

The Emperor's Enemy by Jasmine Mas

I was not looking forward to this book at all after I recently read the Psycho Shifters trilogy by this author and wasn't super impressed with Blood of Hercules. However, I finished Bonds of Hercules a couple of months ago and I really enjoyed it. I'm hoping this book, which starts a new series by the author, is more like Bonds and less like the others.

The Knave and the Moon by Rachel Gillig

The second book in the duology is releasing in September. I got an ARC of book one, so I'm curious if I can be lucky enough to get an early copy of this one as well. Fingers crossed. I'm mostly in it for Bartholomew though. He is the main character. This cover is also very pretty. (Note: I just used the same description I had from earlier this year. ARCs are super limited for this title, so I definitely don't expect to get one.)

Monstrous Serpent by E.V. Olsen

This is another book that's haunting me. I want it to be out so badly. It seems like such an easy book to get me out of a reading slump. It has Rina Kent Legacy of Gods/Vipers vibes, which is just what I want right now. Rina's books aren't hitting like they used to, so I'm hoping this one gives me all the dark feels with the MM characters.

Roguefinder by Amy Pennza

I read two books by Amy Pennza in 2026. One was Dhampira and the other was the first book in this series, Wolfseeker. I liked Wolfseeker at the time, but didn't think much of it. I LOVED Dhampira, though. Well, a couple months later, and Wolfseeker somehow managed to stick in my brain. I now need the sequel. Thankfully, it comes out next month, which is good news for me. I also need to read Pennza's backlog at some point. She has a couple other books I'd like to read.

Earthbound by Saara El-Arifi

This is the third and final book in the Faebound trilogy. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the first two books in the series back when I read them last year. My friends weren't super impressed, but the twist in book one blew my mind. It's probably the only book that's every done that to me on that scale. I was shocked.

Defy the Dusk by Danielle L. Jensen

Danielle L. Jensen's new dystopian romance book wasn't really on my radar beyond knowing that I'd buy it and get to it one day. Lately, though, I've been wanting this book more and more. I think the hype of the dystopian romances in general has managed to rub off on me. I just hope it doesn't impact my enjoyment. The hype can sometimes get to be too much.

Kiss of the Black Flame by Helen Scheurer

Helen Scheuerer continues to share character art and snippets for this book, and it's starting to affect me. I honestly don't know very much about it beyond there being a book involved, but I do know what the MMC looks like for sure. Sexy. Lol.

Bloodgrove by Elisabeth G. Mark

This is a new addition to my 2026 releases, but it's one I'm obsessed with and want right now. It's out in early September, so I don't have to wait long, but it just sounds sooooo freaking good. It's why choose but one of the MMC's is the POV character. I love that! It also has vampires and gods, so I'm sold! 

Crowned by Roses by Elizabeth Helen

The sixth and penultimate book for this series comes out today, when this post goes live, so I'll be reading that on KU. However, Crowned by Roses, the last book, isn't out until October! Ugh. It's so far away but at the same time, it's too soon. I don't know what I'm going to do once there's no more Beasts of the Briar books. It's like when Zodiac Academy ended. That series was so crucial to the enjoyment of my reading in 2021, and Beasts of the Briar was the same for 2025. It made reading fun again. I just hope this book is a satisfying finale.

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Alright, there you have it. My most anticipated 2026 releases for the last half of  the year. What books are you looking forward to? Let me know in the comments.