September Wrap-Up & October TBR

September is over. While it was still hot for about 80% of the month, there was a nice 20% that was livable. I was able to walk outside without sweating my skin off! It was very nice. I'm thankful we're really into autumn now, though. I want some 70-degree consistent weather. Other than that, life has been pretty chill. Just eat, work, gym, repeat. 

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 September

Poison Princess: 4 stars (reread)

Endless Knight: 4 stars (reread)

Dead of Winter: 3.5 stars (reread)

Arcana Rising: 3.5 stars

The Dark Calling: 3 stars

Monstrous Serpent: 3 stars

From the Grave: 3 stars

Kings of Quarantine: 3.5 stars

Turncloak: 3 stars (my review) 

I read nine books in September. As you can see, a majority of the month was spent reading Kresley Cole's Arcana Chronicles. The series has been on my TBR for so long, and I was surprised that, during the middle of a reading slump, the only thing that sounded even remotely good to read was Poison Princess. I ended up rereading the first three books so I could finally read the last three books in the series. I also read Kings of Quarantine by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti. That's four physical books that are now off my TBR. As for the ebooks, I read two. I finished my NetGalley ARC of Turncloak by L.K. Steven and also snuck in Monstrous Serpent by E.V. Olsen, which I downloaded on Kindle Unlimited.

Books Bought/Received in September

September was as bad price-wise when compared to the previous month's haul. There were so many books that released in September, so I did have a bunch of preorders come in, but those were mostly regular editions that I got using Barnes & Noble's 25% off preorder sale, so it wasn't too bad. In total, I purchased 20 books and received 19 free ebooks/preorders that I'd already paid for in previous months.

The 19 books I received mostly consisted of the preordered books that all decided to arrive in September along with a couple of NetGalley ARCs and a free ebook. The free ebook was Hide the Witches by Miranda Lyn, which I got on Kindle. The two NetGalley ARCs are Deathsworn by Meg Smitherman and Lightning & Thunder by Sara Raasch. The other 16 books consisted of Heartless Sky (Kings Hollow), The Knave and the Moon (B&N), Tempest (event preorder), the final two books in the Legacy series (Aurora Crate), the Flesh & Fire series Arcane editions, the FairyLoot Kindred's Curse 1-3 editions, Light Wielder (FairyLoot), Fury Bound (FairyLoot), and the second and third Blood & Ash books (Inked Pages).

 

Now, for what I bought in September. Of the 20 books I bought, 13 arrived in September. Those included a bunch of books from Barnes & Noble: Threshing Day, Harbinger, White Raven, Daughter of the Dark, When Lightning Strikes, Eldritch, Bodies of Magic, Dead Beat, The Emperor's Enemy, and Sorrow and Strangers. I also had one order from Blackwells, The Wretched Divine by Adalyn Grace, and one Waterstones order, The Ascended by Bree Grenwhich and Parker Lennox. I also ordered the Target edition of The Emperor's Enemy by Jasmine Mas.

 As for the remaining seven books, those were preorders and my FairyLoot Romantasy sub box. The preorders include the Dance of Death FairyLoot edition, the Kings Hollow Never Keep edition, the Renegade Romance Monstrous 5-7 editions, and the Locked Library Runebreaker edition.

Currently Obsessed With

September, surprisingly, actually had some non-bookish entertainment. I'm still working my way through The Middle show, but I also started rewatching the Look Who's Talking movies. I'm currently on the third one at the moment. I went and saw Avengers: Endgame: Encore in theaters. There are only two additional scenes added to the original film, so I don't recommend it for anybody. Just watch the clips online before Doomsday. And then, the big entertainment piece was Taylor Swift's release of The Encore from her previous album, The Life of a Showgirl. Her "Patient Zero" music video was so good that it made me want to read thrillers! That's crazy for me. But yeah, three of the four songs have been on repeat in my house. Those include "Patient Zero," "Pink Clouding," and "Cleveland!". 

October TBR

This month's TBR is fairly easy compared to the previous few months. I'm still behind on two of NetGalley ARCs: A Viper Among Kings by Sydney Olivia and To Cage a Wild Bird by Brooke Fast. I'm also about halfway through my NetGalley ARC of The Drakon King by Terry J. Benton-Walker. I'm hoping to finish it as soon as I complete the two other ebooks I'm reading: Roguefinder by Amy Pennza and The Reckoning of Starlight by Samantha Amstutz, which are both Kindle Unlimited reads. Other than those, I need to read Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe for book club. I do want to finish Kings of Lockdown by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti as well, but I'm not pressuring myself to get that done anytime soon. It'll happen when it happens.

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Okay, well, that's the month of September, plus some October 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 Threshing Day 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 was crazy for a variety of reasons, but it's finally the weekend, and I'm so excited to relax. I'm hoping to get some cleaning done, but I doubt much happens. I'm feeling like I need a cuddle-up-and-read weekend. I have so many good books on my shelves and I'm in the mood to read sooooo many of them, but work and life keep getting in the way. Grr...

As for the books I received this week, I have a very large stack. September has been a crazy release month, and FairyLoot preorders haven't been helping my packed bookcases. Those FairyLoot editions include edition of Light Wielder by Rachel Schneider and Fury Bound by Sable Sorensen. I also ordered the UK edition of The Wretched Divine by Adalyn Grace from Blackwells and The Ascended by Bree Grenwich and Parker Lennox from Waterstones. And, of course, my preorder of Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarros arrived as well. It's so skinny compared to the other massive books in the stack.

 

 

 As for the ebooks, I have one, though I did download a couple of anticipated titles on Kindle Unlimited as well. I just don't share those on my haul posts anymore because I download books there so frequently. But anyway, the one ebook I have for the week is a NetGalley ARC of Deathsworn by Meg Smitherman. I requested this a few months ago, so I'm surprised I was approved now. Luckily, it doesn't have to be reviewed until 2027, so I have some breathing room. While I'm caught up on all but two of my more recent NetGalley ARCs, I am taking a major break from requests right now. I got pretty overwhelmed in August/September. I am excited for this one, though. It sounds really good.

 

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

Review: Turncloak by L.K. Steven

Turncloak

L.K. Steven

(Silvercloak Saga #2)

Publication Date: September 15, 2026

Hardcover, 544 pages, Del Rey

Genres: Adult, Fantasy, LGBTQ/Queer

Goodreads

Three rival mages race for power, vengeance, and the fate of Atherin in the epic second installment of the Silvercloak Saga, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Our Infinite Fates.

 

Revenge drove Saffron Killoran to go undercover in the Bloodmoon gang. But now, with any chance of retribution gone, she sees only one path forward: harnessing a long-dormant power to fix her ruinous mistakes.

 

Meanwhile, the new kingpin of the Bloodmoons has discovered Saffron’s true identity as a Silvercloak—and her ultimate goal of bringing his empire down. As old wounds resurface and fresh enemies close in, he finds himself torn between the cause to which he has devoted his life and the fate of the traitorous mage he loves.

 

Hot on their heels is an ambitious rookie detective sent to stake out the Bloodmoons’ growing rivals. She will stop at nothing to destroy both gangs—and anything or anyone who dares to stand in her way.

 

Caught in a cat-and-mouse game of trust and betrayal spanning continents, Saffron must choose where her loyalties lie—and determine if her quest to unmake time itself is worth becoming a villain to the whole world.

My Review

I said book one, Silvercloak, was for adults who are missing the magic of the Wizarding World but also want a darker fantasy story reminiscent of Six of Crows and A Darker Shade of Magic, and I stand by that description for the second book in the Silvercloak Saga. The series has a wand-based magic system that the wizards fuel with pain and pleasure, but there's also time travel, mafia, detectives, queer-normative relationships, and a good-boy wolf to contribute to the worldbuilding. And in the sequel, you also get plot twists, betrayals, and secrets.

Now, I have to confess, this book took me a long time to get through. I think I read it over the course of an entire month. The same thing happened with the first book, especially for the first 75% of the book. It was just very slow-paced. Seemingly intentionally, so, with the criminal enterprise happening and laying out all the threads for the ending. It takes time and energy to pull off the setup for where L.K. Steven decided to take the story. Unlike book one, however, when my issue was the narration style, this time, it was the addition of a few new POVs. It seemed like every time I was getting into the groove of this story, there'd be a POV change that slowed the pacing down. So, I'd put the book to the side. This kept happening until the very end of Turncloak, when those elements finally paid off. However, I'm still not sure Auria's POV was necessary. Auria is a fellow detective from Saffron's cohort. I think Saffron's, Levan's, and the one mystery character's POV would have been sufficient to smooth the pacing and maintain the events of the story.

Saffron Killoran, the main character, is still undercover in the Bloodmoon organization, though no one from the Silvercloaks really knows that's the case. She's also still in a complicated romantic relationship with Levan Celadon, the new Bloodmoon kingpin. Saffron and Levan's relationship was the strongest part of Silvercloak, so I was glad they were still working together in this book, whether they truly wanted to or not. I am a little confused about how two grown adults are still obsessed with their parents' deaths, though. Like yes, it's extremely traumatic and awful, but they spent more time alive without their parents than with them. Plus, two adults should realize the repercussions of the paths they're on. So, I guess I just find that plotline a little head-scratching. I mean, humans do stupid things, but I had to suspend disbelief a bit to really follow their motivations.

As for the plot, like I said, it was slow going. The first half of the book is primarily about the characters' responses to the end of book one, but then the latter half of Turncloak starts to focus on the new plotline. I guess, technically, it isn't new, but it felt different from book one. This time, the characters' traveled outside the city, and other countries suddenly became relevant to the story. As someone who only remembered the major plot points from book one and not the minor details, it was a bit confusing to have these countries name dropped on me without much backstory. I think having a physical copy with the full map will definitely help readers keep those things straight. But, like I mentioned, L.K. Steven did manage to bring the world expansion and the POV elements together to craft a decent cliffhanger ending that has me intrigued for book three. I just know now that I'll have to dedicate a month to reading the final book in the series. I might also have to do a re-read or find a summary of the prior books as well, as I doubt I can remember all of the craziness from prior installments.

All in all, I have mixed feelings about this one due to how long it took to get through. I think the Silvercloak Saga is for readers who love the payoff of intricate detective shows and hardcore fantasy worlds, and it's not for the easy-breezy fantasy reader, which, depending on the day, I could put myself into either category. At the point in time I read Turncloak, I was more of an easy-breezy reader that found it difficult to keep going. It's just not a book you pick up if you don't have the headspace for heavy worldbuilding and a plot-centric story. I do think there are a lot of readers who will love how unique the story is, though, especially when it seems like dragons, fae, and vampires are taking over bookstores. Not that there's anything wrong with dragons, fae, and vampires. This is just something different to entertain the masses.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Harbinger 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 fairly quiet for everyday life, but, Taylor Swift came out with four more songs, so the week of theorizing ahead of time and then listening to the songs on Friday made it an interesting five days at least. I will say, the songs aren't what I expected. There are also only four of them, so I've heard them so many times now that they're getting repetitive. I need a break. Lol.

 

As for the books I received this week, The Inked Pages' editions of Blood & Ash books three and four arrived. I was wondering what this was when I looked on Informed Delivery. I didn't receive any tracking emails for it or have any clue that it was shipping. I don't really like that, but I'm glad it made it to me safely. I do really like these editions, though, with the minor exception of the gold foiling that's all over them. I think Inked Pages could have toned that down just a bit. The prints are a nice addition to the box too. Very pretty.

 

 

 

Up next, I have my Barnes & Noble preorder of Harbinger by Geneva Lee. I'm really excited for this one. I doubt I get to it for a while, but it sounded good when I first read a snippet of the synopsis. I don't really remember what it's about now, but at the time, I thought it sounded great. Also, my copy arrived fairly dinged up. I thought about asking for a replacement, but I just didn't want to go through the effort of returning it. I think I'll just read it first then decide if it's worth it to purchase a better copy. I might try to get it on Book Outlet or when B&N has their sales.

 

 

 

 And finally, I have a preorder incentive for Jasmine Mas' The Emperor's Enemy. I was really looking forward to this one. That artwork on the print is amazing! I need to get to this book soon because it sounds so good, but that the same time, who knows when book two will be out. I've definitely become one of those people who prefers to binge my series now. I think it's because there are so many books releasing now versus five years ago when it was easier to remember storylines because you got 1-2 good releases a month, whereas today it's more like 10-15. That's a conversation for another day/post, though. Oh, and I did want to mention that I received the Target edition of Raven Kennedy's The Sweetest Fiend, but it arrived destroyed, so I have a replacement on the way. I'm crossing my fingers it's not damaged.

 

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

Review: Kiss of the Black Flame by Helen Scheuerer

Kiss of the Black Flame

Helen Scheuerer

(The Bookbinder's Bargain #1)

Publication Date: September 22, 2026

Hardcover, 464 pages, Atria Books

Genres: Adult, Romantasy

Goodreads
 

Some bargains are sealed with blood...Others with fire...The deadliest are sealed with a kiss...

 

Saige Grayson has always believed stories could heal—even when her own body refuses to. As the most promising bookbinder in the capital, she’s learned to work through chronic pain and crushing debt, restoring other people’s treasures while trying not to fall apart herself. But when the man she owes decides her rare talent is worth more than her payments, Saige is traded to the Azkari—an immortal race forged by the gods for war—and imprisoned in their ancient stronghold.

 

Her only chance of survival lies with Archer, a fallen Azkari general imprisoned beside her —cursed, dangerous, and impossible to ignore. He offers her a way out, and in return, Saige must help him retrieve and restore an ancient book. But the book is made of living magic, powerful enough to stop a great evil—or unleash it. And as Saige works with Archer, the tome begins to awaken something dark and dangerous—both in the realm and within her.

 

As their enemies close in and buried memories resurface, Saige and Archer must decide what they’re willing to their freedom, their fragile trust…or the spark that could ignite the world.

My Review

Kiss of the Black Flame felt like a mix of today's romantasy stories combined with old-school paranormal romance books like Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark and Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld. It has a female main character with chronic pain, a mysterious sexy, warrior with a chip on his shoulder, and elemental powers that have unique, devastating features. 

Saige Grayson is a bookbinder who can't figure out why her body betrays her with debilitating pain, so she goes looking for answers that get her into trouble. That's where Archer, the ancient Azkari general comes in. He is imprisoned in the same stronghold Saige is dumped into, and he hasn't had access to his powers for years. Until Saige comes along, that is. Then, his black flames return and he's able to escape after making a bargain with Saige. The two characters had pretty good chemistry, but I was wary at first. Archer is very cranky. I mean, he sort of has a reason for it, but still, he's angry. The two did grow on me though. Saige is very sweet to Archer, which manages to break down his walls. It was all very adorable.

The plot was also fun. It felt like a love letter to book re-binders and book lovers overall, since the entire story revolves around finding and repairing a book. It also had a few twists I wasn't expecting. At first, I wasn't thrilled by one of them, but after a while, I was 100% on board. It made me very excited for book two. Unfortunately, one of the other plot twists had me cringing. It felt a bit wrong and uncomfortable. No spoilers here, but I truly don't know how Saige and Archer will navigate that situation. Good luck to them! 

As for worldbuilding, Helen Scheuerer created a world with a light-hearted atmosphere (Hello, slutty glasses, comfy socks, and loyal dog), yet the story still has the foreboding tone of a potential big bad being on the loose. Honestly, the worldbuilding kind of gave me small Sauron/LOTR bad guy vibes combined with the aforementioned IAD and LOTU character and romance dynamics. It also feels like T. Kingfisher's Swordheart series. After all, there's a trapped warrior, a woman who frees him, and a journey with unexpected obstacles.

All in all, I really enjoyed Kiss of the Black Flame, minus some hiccups along the way. It definitely felt like I'd time traveled back 15 years and was reading the most recent Kresley Cole release. I loved it. The brooding hero with wicked powers, the female main character with a soft nature and witty comebacks, and the conglomeration of all my favorite fantasy elements made for a book that was hard to put down. I can't wait to pick up the sequel, and I'm looking forward to reading Helen Scheuerer's backlist too.

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

Recap: Victoria Aveyard's St. Louis Tour Stop

I've been pretty picky about which author events to attend lately. Mostly because a two-hour drive, on top of the $40 for the book and ticket price, are all just too much to commit to more than once or twice a year, especially with me attending ApollyCon annually as well. Not to mention my terrible habit of buying too many books in general. So, I only go to author events that I'm really, really interested in. Victoria Aveyard is one of those authors who made the cut. She visited my area for her St. Louis Tempest tour stop, and I decided to go.

 

I got to the St. Louis County Library space around 6:15 p.m., where I chilled until the event started at 7 p.m. I thought I'd been to the event space before for another Victoria Aveyard signing (along with many other signings) back in the day, but the space was a lot bigger and more modern than what I remembered, so maybe it wasn't the same space...? Or they did some major upgrades since. It had probably been 10 years since I'd attended an author event in that area. (Edit to add: I found out it's not the same space. The name was just similar.) But anyway, when I got there, I picked up my pre-signed copy of Tempest, and I got a card with my signing group number on it. I was in Group 4. I'm a little confused about how that happened, as I was fairly early. I should have been 2 or 3, so maybe I went to the wrong side of the table and the lady I got my book from had the higher signing numbers. But, it didn't matter in the end. The signing line went pretty fast. Oh, and before the panel began, I got to see Jessica from A Great Read! That was cool to see her face-to-face after talking online so much.

 

Victoria's podcast co-host and fellow author friend Soman Chainani was the host for the conversation at the St. Louis tour stop. They were both pretty funny together. Unfortunately, my camera did not like the lighting, so my pics are the lovely quality you can see here. The yellow tone just doesn't mix with my phone. I did get a good pic before they dimmed the lights, though, but no one was sitting in the chairs then. XD 

  

 

Soman and Victoria apparently recorded the entire conversation so it could later be posted on their podcast, Plot Twist, which is kind of cool. Now, I'll always be able to go back and listen to it and remember the time I saw them in person. They talked about Victoria hitting the NYT bestseller list, since it was the second Wednesday after her book released. They also discussed how Tempest was originally supposed to be a standalone but was too big, so it had to be revised into a duology. It was also supposed to originally be a sub-plot of another project Victoria was working on, but she thought it would work better as its own story.

After the panel, I waited about 30 minutes to get my books signed. I'd brought eight total since the last time I'd since Victoria was when Glass Sword had been released and she was signing with Sophie Jordan. That was when I was still in college! I had two tote bags full of books, as Victoria's are all 300+ pages. Some are more like 500+. I took the collector's editions of the first two Red Queen books, the last three books in the Red Queen series, and all three Realm Breaker series hardcovers. We were only allowed to get one book personalized, so I chose King's Cage. Victoria even mentioned that I'd have to come back next year to get War Storm signed to complete the whole set. I think I gave her a weird look when she said that. My brain wasn't working, so it took me a minute to process what she said. Also, this sounds stupid, but she used hand sanitizer right before signing my second stack of books, so it made me a bit self-conscious about if my books (or just me in general) appeared dirty or something. I think she likely was just being proactive after signing so many things, but it caught me off guard to have it happen during the middle of my signing experience. I still smiled and said thank you, though. She was very nice. I'll just have to stop overanalyzing the sanitizer experience. Lol. 

 

 

 

They didn't do posed photos, just the signing line pics, so I have many photos of the back of my head. The one I have that's from the side has me looking a tad doofus-like, so I'll keep the one I share here to the back of my head. But overall, it was a good experience. I got to leave work two hours early, I ended up stopping at Barnes & Noble before the event started, and I got books signed. What more could I bookish girl ask for?

Stacking the Shelves: The Incentives 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 less reading-filled and more activity-filled. Work, gym, cleaning, and going to a signing event that I'll discuss in a bit. I'll also have a mini-recap up on the blog at some point. Hopefully soon, but knowing me it'll be a month from now. Oops.

 

As for the books I received this week, I have a very large Barnes & Noble preorder stack. Those include Dead Beat by Leigh Bardugo, The Emperor's Enemy by Jasmine Mas, The Ice Beyond by Olivia Wildenstein, Eldritch by Keri Lake, Daughter of the Dark by R.J. Valldeparas, Bodies of Magic by Freya Marske, and Vanished by Meg Cabot, which is a repackage of the 1-800-Where-R-U series. I also went to a Barnes & Noble store in person and picked up White Raven by Stacey Marie Brown. She's going to ApollyCon in 2027, so I need to read her newest release and get caught up on her backlist. 

 

 

 

Up next, I have another edition of The Emperor's Enemy. I think there's a B&N edition too. I really need to read the book to decide if I want to own all three editions. I doubt it. I'm already swimming in multiple editions of books as it is. The other book is from the signing event I went to. Victoria Aveyard had a Tempest tour stop about two hours away from me, and I went. Now, I have a signed copy for my shelves.

 

 

 

And finally for physical copies, I have my Arcane Society Flesh & Fire editions. These are so pretty. What angers me about them, though, is I like both the reverse and the front dust jacket. I can't decide which side to use. I wish Arcane would've given buyers art prints of the reverse jackets, just so I could display both. Lol.

 

 

 

 Here, I have a preorder incentive that I didn't remember filling out a form for. I believe it's for Gretchen Powell's Shadow and Son book, as that looks like Cedric to me. The keychain is very cute. I have no idea what I'll do with it, but he's adorable. I'm also not sure if I'll put the signed bookplate in my book, as there might be a chance I'll meet Gretchen in person one day. Maybe. I have no idea when that would be. But still, it's a cute preorder incentive overall.

 

 

 

The second preorder incentive I received this week was for The Lion & the Deathless Dark by Carissa Broadbent. And, once again, it was an incentive I didn't remember. When a tube showed up in my mailbox, I was very confused. I'm also not sure what I'm going to do with this very shiny dust jacket. I don't have multiple copies of this book—I'm trying to cut back—so this will likely live in a plastic bin for a while until I decide what to do with it.

I have two ebooks this week. The first I received was Lightning & Thunder by Sara Raasch, which was a NetGalley approval. I'm behind on my NetGalley ARCs, so I have mixed feelings about being approved, though I'm super grateful and will definitely read and review it. I just need to get caught up first. I have a couple of months, though, thankfully. The other ebook was Hide the Witches by Miranda Lyn, which I got for free on Kindle.

 

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