September Wrap-Up & October TBR

Well, September was probably the worst month ever in terms of the the craziness happening in this country. But, in my everyday life news, it was nice. I took my trip to D.C., saw JLA again, and read my most anticipated release of the year. There's honestly not much else to look forward to in the next few months other than the holidays, now that that's all over. I need to find some cool things to do, especially before it gets cold.

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

Curse of Shadows and Thorns: 3.5 stars

Silver Elite: 4 stars

Playing Dirty: 3 stars

Saving the Rain: 3 stars

Forging Silver Into Stars: 4 stars

The Hemlock Queen: 4 stars

The Primal of Blood and Bone: 4 stars (review to come)

Five Broken Blades: 4 stars 

I read eight books in September, which is great considering one of them was super long and I also took a trip during the month. I also read some solid reads, so that's good. I don't think I normally give out this many four stars. But anyway, I read four physical books in September and four ebooks, with one of those ebooks also technically counting as a physical copy since I own the physical copies too. The physical books include Curse of Shadows and Thorns by L.J. Andrews, Silver Elite by Dani Francis, The Hemlock Queen by Hannah Whitten, and Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland. The ebooks include Playing Dirty by C.E. Ricci, Saving the Rain by Elliott Rose, Forging Silver Into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer, and The Primal of Blood and Bone by Jennifer L. Armentrout (the book I have both physical and ebook copies of.).

Books Bought/Received in September

September was expensive, but I knew it would be going in. Now, the plan is to tone it down for the next few months. I've already canceled/skipped a couple of sub boxes, so that should be fine. However, there are some special edition sales this month that I'm probably going to purchase. None of them are going to be complete sets, so that's good. Overall for September, though, I bought 36 books and received seven.

The seven books I received consisted mostly of FairyLoot books that I'd ordered in previous months: The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah, Between These Broken Hearts by Lexi Ryan, The Bone Raiders by Jackson Ford, A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle L. Jensen, and Katabasis by R.F. Kuang. The remaining two included a preroder from August that didn't get to me in that month, which was the UK hardcover of Direbound by Sable Sorensen, and I got a copy of Scythe by Neal Schusterman from my local bookstore using trade credit.

  

Now, for what I bought. I only received 19 of the 36 books I purchased. Those included Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross (Waterstones); Never Ever After by Sue Lynn Tan and Metal Slinger by Rachel Schneider  (FairyLoot); The Second Death of Locke by V.A. Bovalino (September Illumicrate); Visions of Flesh and Blood French edition by JLA (FNAC); What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller, Sorrow and Starlight by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti, and House of Bane and Blood by Alexis L. Menard (B&N preorders). I also had six TPOBAB preorders arrive (or in one case, I picked it up for a signing). Those included two B&N editions, two Target editions, one regular hardback I preordered from B&N, and one Walmart edition. I also made an Amazon order for a few books I needed/wanted to replace. Those included Remembrance by Meg Cabot, The Mediator: Reunion, the Mediator bindup of books 1-2, and Warrior Fae by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti (not pictured). Oh, and last, but not least, I bought the Kindle edition of TPOBAB.

 As for the remaining 17 books, some of them should be on their way soon and others won't ship out for a while yet. Those all include the UK editions of the Mediator series; Ink Pages and Autumn Midnights editions of the Flesh & Fire series; the Indigo edition of TPOBAB; the Waterstones edition of What Fury Brings; the September Adult FairyLoot book; the FairyLoot editions of What Fury Brings, Silver Elite, and The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy; and some paperback preorders of Bittern Burn and Bitten.

Currently Obsessed With

I honestly have no idea what to put here. I didn't really watch much of anything in September. Or at least, if I did, I don't remember it at all. So, I guess I'll just say Shrek 2, as I started watching that towards the end of the month. For the most part, I've been scrolling on my phone or watching BookTube videos. I was watching Home Improvement on Netflix for a bit, but I stopped that since I was on the last season.

October TBR

For a third month in a row, I'm not changing my TBR. Mostly because I'm lazy, but also because a lot of the books I need to read are still pictured, like Salt in the Wound by Sierra Simone, The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz, The Two Lies of Faven Sythe by Megan E. O'Keefe, Rain of Shadows and Endings by Melissa K. Roehrich, Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli, and Lightlark by Alex Aster. I need to read We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark, Our Rogue Fates by Sarah Marsh, and To Cage a Wild Bird by Brooke Fast as well. Those three are all NetGalley eARCs.

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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 Primal of Blood and Bone 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've been in recovery mode from my trip, so there's not much to say about life. I came back from D.C. last Friday, and I feel like my butt was kicked. I haven't gone to the gym in like two weeks, and I'm all meh. But, I think I'll be back to normal by this weekend. In the meantime, let's talk about books.

Obviously, it was The Primal of Blood and Bone release week last week, so my crazy amount of preorders came in. I preordered two Target editions because I thought if one came damaged, it would be good to have the extra, since I don't have a Target near me. Both came in fine condition, though. My Walmart edition kind of came with a small dent on the dust jacket, so I went to the store to trade for a new one. That was a whole process. Like all of the editions there weren't in the best condition. I had to take a dust jacket off of one book and put it on another to get the best sprayed edges. Ugh. I also went to the Fairfax, VA, Barnes & Noble signing event, so one of the B&N editions is from there. The other two copies are preorders from B&N that include one regular hardcover and one B&N edition. The B&N edition came beat up to holy heck, so a replacement is being sent. I get to keep the damaged one, so I'll use it for any extra dust jacket sets that come out. The regular hardback also came kind of damaged, but I only got a 20% refund for it, since the dust jacket was just crunched in the corner. I have another regular edition coming soon from one of the bookstores JLA did a signing for, so I'll include that. It may even be coming before this haul goes live. So, if you see it in this post, then you'll know it did. 

 

 

 

 

Up next, I have some TPOBAB goodies. (Ignore the B&N copy, I included that in the above pic too.) I received the spoiler card for TPOBAB JLA Shop box. Mine was missing in my box that I got a couple of weeks ago, so the JLA Shop was nice enough to send me one of their extras. My preorder incentive bookmark and temporary tattoo also arrived from the publisher, and you can see the swag that came with the B&N Fairfax event. There were character cards, a bookmark, and a small tote bag.

 

 

 

And here, I have the French edition of Visions of Flesh and Blood by JLA. I've been kind of reluctant to buy the French hardcover editions of this series, just because they typically aren't that different from the regular hardcovers. They just have colored endpapers, for the most part. But, the publisher went all out for Visions. It has sprayed edges, a ribbon bookmark, and a leathery/diary-type feel to the naked hardback. So, I got it. We'll see if I keep collecting the rest, though. I'm running out of room on my shelves.

 

And here we have some things that just arrived via Barnes & Noble. I preordered Bitter Burn by Sierra Simone as soon as it was announced. So I'll probably end up picking this one up fairly soon. I also preordered Bitten by Jordan Stephanie Gray. I love the color and design for the cover. My copy came with a small ouchie on the front, though. It's not anything I could get a refund for. It's just an annoying dent dot. I don't even know how it happened. I don't think it'll be super noticeable when it's on my shelf, at least. (Note: These two books arrived in October, along with the Mediator ones mentioned below, so they won't be listed as books bought in September in my upcoming September wrap-up post, in case there's any confusion.) 

 

 

 

And, miraculously, I have books that aren't JLA-related. My September Illumicrate book, The Second Death of Locke by V.L. Bovalino, was delivered right before my trip, and my B&N preorder of What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller arrived while I was gone. My sister picked it up for me so the packages didn't sit on my porch for two days. She had to do the same for all the TPOBAB editions that arrived while I was away. Oops. And my FairyLoot September YA book, Never Ever After by Sue Lynn Tan and my preorder of A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle L. Jensen were also delivered to my parents' house, so I took those home after my trip.

 

 

 

Next, I have something that I kept forgetting I even ordered. I bought them on somewhat of a whim. Kind of. I'd been looking at the UK Mediator books for a long time, as I have been trying to purchase newer printings of the US mass market copies with eh luck. I'm still missing two. (To be fair, I do already have a set in their original printing, but they're very old, so I'd like newer versions.) Last month, I got tired of not having these, so I just decided, "Screw it. I'm buying them." Despite knowing how much money I was going to be spending on all the books and bookish things going on in September. But, I do really like these. They're very pretty.

 

And finally, for ebooks, I have Four Ruined Realms by Mai Corland. I downloaded it off of Kindle Unlimited after finishing the first book, Five Broken Blades. I enjoyed book one, but I'm not sure if I want to purchase the remaining two books. So, since they're on KU, I'm going to read them first, then decide. If I want to buy them later, I can do it when B&N has one of their online hardcover sales. 

 

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

Stacking the Shelves: The FairyLoot Romantasy Edition

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

I am writing this post super early, so the week hasn't even really started yet. By the time it goes up, I'll have taken my trip to DC to see Jennifer L. Armentrout during The Primal of Blood and Bone Barnes & Noble event. And, by the time this goes live, I may or may not have included the stuff I got during my trip. I get back Friday evening, so if I have the energy, it'd be great to post everything. But, I'm saving myself some effort, just in case I'm too tired to function. XD

As for books, there are a few I got over the weekend that I wanted to share so next week's haul isn't as insane. I got Scythe by Neal Schusterman from my local used bookstore with trade credit. I just traded in some older copies of books I'd replaced recently. I've heard a lot about Scythe, so it's been on my radar for a long time. I was kind of waiting for a less yellowy cover, though. The covers of the series aren't bad, but I'd prefer a white or black background versus that cream yellow background. 

 

 

Up next, I have my FairyLoot copies of The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah and Metal Slinger Rachel Schneider. Metal Slinger was the Romantasy sub box pick for September. I know some people aren't impressed with the cover, but I kind of like it. Granted, I haven't read the book yet, so I have no idea if it matches the actual story's vibes. As for The Ashfire King, this book has taken way too long to release. I'm going to have to do a reread of the first one before getting to this. I also don't know if it's a duology or a trilogy, so I need to do some research.

 

Oh, and before I forget, I did preorder the Kindle edition of The Primal of Blood and Bone, so I should have that by the time this post goes up. I'll be reading it on release day. I took off the entire day to do just that. Matter of fact, that would be all I'd be doing that day if I didn't also have to pack for my trip.

 

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Too Tired 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 am tired. Life and the world are both not good. Work is very busy, and I don't want it to be busy. And of course, we're headed into a very dangerous place in the U.S. right now. Not good. But, the good news is, I'll be traveling soon, and I need some time away from things to not think about all these other insane events. Just gonna take a mental break, please and thank you.

As for books I got this week, there were a lot. I wasn't expecting to get this many, honestly. I ordered Remembrance by Meg Cabot because I was sick of not having it. I also didn't realize the eighth Zodiac Academy book, Sorrow and Starlight, was being shipped out. I'm so glad all my preorders for the new foiled paperback of this series is almost done. I'm tired of hauling them, and they aren't that pretty. I just want the bonus chapters. Ugh. My Waterstones preorder of Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross also showed up, along with the August Epic FairyLoot book, The Bone Raiders. I'm really disappointed in this one's cover. I'm pretty sure I'll cancel this sub soon. I'll give it one more chance, I think. I also got my FairyLoot edition of Between These Broken Hearts by Lexi Ryan. 

 

 

Up next, I have my The Fallen & the Kiss of Dusk dust jacket. I bought this because it matches the ones I ordered during ApollyCon. I haven't put them on any books yet, though. I'm on the fence if I'll keep them. I really need to read the books first before I decide.

 

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

A Summer 2025 Unhaul

I've been meaning to write this post for oh-so-long. I've just been putting it off and putting it off, and now, my unhauled books have kind of gotten out of control. I don't even think this is all of them, it's just the ones I remember getting rid of and/or remembered to take pics of. I also have another stack of books I'll be getting rid of soon as well, but I'm waiting on a few things to be delivered first. I'm replacing a couple of older books with newer editions, so I want to make sure I get my new copies before tossing the new ones. Ha ha. JK. I'd never toss them. They either went to someone via resale or to my local used bookstore.

 

First up, I sold my Arcane Society editions of Penn Cole's Kindred Saga books 1-2. I wasn't a huge fan of the design, so I was fairly certain I was going to sell anyway, but when Arcane said book three would be $75, shipping not included, I was 100% sure it was going bye-bye. I don't even know if I officially hauled these. I just took pics to post for resale, and that's it. 

 

 

I took a couple of books to my used bookstore recently. Those included Teacher of the Year and Looking for Group. Ignore The Love Hypothesis in the middle. I apparently forgot to take a photo of just the two I got rid of, so you get the pic I took when I hauled them instead. I read Teacher of the Year, and it just didn't impress me enough to keep it. I tried to read Looking for Group and it was written almost entirely in gamer-code speak, so I DNF'ed like three pages in. It's a beautiful cover, and I typically like Alexis Hall's stories, but the writing style wasn't for me this time.

 

 

 

This is a giant list of books I mostly took to my local used bookstore. There's one in there I'll explain later on, though. I've read a majority of these. I just didn't feel the need to keep them and/or I have multiple copies. They include Heart of Defiance by Eva Chase, four books in the Pendragon series by D.J. MacHale, Goodess by Josephine Angelini, three books in the Titan series by JLA, a beat up copy of Lothaire by Kresley Cole, The Goddess Test series by Aimee Carter, A Touch of Poison by Clare Sager (damaged edition), The Bound Worlds by Megan E. O'Keefe, and The Emperor and the Endless Palace.

 

 

 

 I got rid of my Barnes & Noble edition of The Knight and the Moth by Rachel L. Gillig. I just like the regular edition more. It's not as heavy, and the silver lettering is much prettier than the blue foiling for the B&N edition. My regular edition is also signed, so that's a plus. This edition is not.

 

 

 

Now this, is a fairly decent stack of FairyLoot editions I just did not want anymore. I got tired of having them in my house, since it didn't seem anyone was interested in purchasing them secondhand, so they went to my local used bookstore. They include Witches Steeped in Gold, Blood Scion, Forest of Souls, Lore of the Wilds, Nectar of the Wicked, and Spells for Forgetting. 

 

 

 

I also got rid of a couple of K.A. Knight books. Fun fact: This is the second time I've unhauled a copy of Revolt. I got a free copy during the 2024 ApollyCon, and I did a major unhaul of books I didn't think I'd read. Well, I got another free copy in 2025's ApollyCon swag bag. I should have left the extra copy for someone to have at the event hotel, but I just convince myself I'll read it every time. But, I know myself. I won't. I also read Racing Hearts, and I didn't adore it enough to keep it. They're both signed copies, so I sold them. 

 

And next, I have a few special editions I sold. The first is an international edition of A Fire in the Flesh that I accidentally ordered a duplicate copy of. I think it's the Dutch edition. The middle one is Exquisite Ruin, which is Owlcrate's first Romantasy book. I bought that thing in the subscription for like $45 and sold it for less than $20. Ugh. I'm pretty sure I'm canceling that sub after October's box. The picks just aren't worth it. I also sold my UK hardcover of Red Rising. I just didn't need it when it pretty much looks exactly like the regular hardcovers just with fancy foiling on the naked book. It's too expensive to get special editions that aren't really special.

 

 

 

No, I did not get rid of the Zodiac Academy book. But, I did get rid of Psycho Shifters and, like I talked about earlier, this is the only photo I have of it and I'm too lazy to crop Fated Throne out of the pic. But, anyway, I got rid of this book because, while I thought the first two in the trilogy were fun, book three was a disaster. So much so, that I didn't even want to keep the first book on my shelves anymore. I'm super glad I was smart enough not to preorder the sequels until I'd read the sequel books on KU.

 

 

 

Here we have the FairyLoot edition of Fourth Wing. I've had this since it released, and I never bought the sequels because I just didn't care. The covers are almost identical to the regular editions, so there was no need to purchase the others. Well, I ended up finally trading this book for an ARC I really wanted. At least my impulse purchase was useful in the end.

And lastly, I have something that doesn't really matter in the long run, so I don't know why I'm including it, but I am because I can. I bought a box set of the Legend series by Marie Lu to replace my old set. So, technically, I'm not really unhauling anything here, as I already hauled the replacements. But, oh well. I wanted to share, so I shared. XD

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Have you unhauled any books recently? Let me know in the comments below!

Stacking the Shelves: The Stuffed Cat 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'm finally getting back into the swing of things. Just in time for the world to fall apart. Lol. Not really. It just feels like it most days. It's so weird to blog about books when there are awful things happening day after day. But, I've got to keep my sanity somehow, so books have been assigned that task. As for my actual life and not just my doomscrolling life, it's pretty much the same. I'm getting back into my regular workout schedule, and it feels good. Now, I've just got to keep it up.

As for books I got this week, there's actually only one physical edition. It's House of Bane and Blood by Alexis L. Menard. This was a Barnes & Noble preorder. I'd heard great things about the self-published version, so I decided to preorder the traditionally-published paperback. I'm hoping to read it before the sequel officially releases, so I can decide if I want to preorder book two as well. 

 

 

Up next, I have my JLA Shop The Primal of Blood and Bone box. This basically was just a goodie box JLA sold to coincide with the TPOBAB release this month. Honestly, I was surprised it was shipped out so early. I expected it to come around the 23rd, but I'm happy it's here now. I'd rather it come when I'm not getting ready for a trip. The box came with a pretty blanket, Cas's crown, a signed bookplate, an art print with the blanket art, a stuffed cave cat (if you know, you know), and an acrylic standee of Poppy, Cas, and Kieran. The whole box makes me even more excited for TPOBAB. Gah!

 

As for ebooks, I have one this week. It's Kresley Cole's Shadow's Heart. I've been putting off buying this because I couldn't decide if I wanted the paperback or ebook, but I had some Kindle credit that was expiring, and I couldn't decide on what else I wanted to purchase, so I panic-bought Shadow's Heart. Will I probably get the paperback eventually? Maybe. But at least now I can read the book whenever I want.

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

August Wrap-Up & September TBR

August is over, which means summer is also almost over. That's crazy to think about. I don't think August really had any super exciting happenings. There were some fun things, like my birthday, seeing some movies, prepping for my upcoming trip, and such, but overall, it was a quiet month. I think I needed that since work has picked up a bit now.

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

Voidwalker: 2.5 stars (my review)

Psycho Shifters: 3 stars

Psycho Fae: 3.5 stars

Destroy the Day: 3.5 stars

Teacher of the Year: 3 stars

Fear the Flames: 4 stars

Our Vicious Oaths: 3.5 stars 

I read seven books in August, which is surprising considering I felt like I was in a bit of a reading slump the entire time. I guess it helped that I had ebooks on hand to assist in pushing me through the slog of trying to find a great read. Because of that, I only read four physical books: Voidwalker by S.A. MacLean (ARC), Psycho Shifters by Jasmine Mas, Teacher of the Year by M.A. Wardell, and Fear the Flames by Olivia Rose Darling. I also read one NetGalley ARC, Our Vicious Oaths by N.E. Davenport, and one library ebook download, Destroy the Day by Brigid Kemmerer. Psycho Fae by Jasmine Mas was actually the only Kindle Unlimited book I read in August. That's crazy to think about. I'm getting better at not just reading KU books all the time. Not that there's anything wrong with KU books. I just need to read the books I buy too.

Books Bought/Received in August

August did some monetary damage, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been, so I'm okay with what I spent. Now, I know September will be bad because of the new JLA release, so I'm making peace with that now. After that, though, I must slow down once again. Overall, I bought 20 books in August and received 14.

The 14 books I received included mostly books that I'd ordered in previous months: Feathers from the Sky and Thorns from the Fall by Jess Wisecup (author website order), The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley (July Illumicrate order), Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout Bad Women Books edition (sub that I'd paid for back in April), Rose in Chains by Julie Soto (June FL book), and the first four books in the Bridge Kingdom series from Arcane. The others included two NetGalley eARCS, We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark and Our Rogue Fates by Sarah Glenn Marsh; Mooncalled by Patricia Briggs, a used bookstore purchase with trade credit; a UK ARC of What Fury Brings I traded for; and Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood, which my sister gave me.

Now, for what I bought. I only received eight of the 20 books I purchased. Those included Immortal Consequences by I.V. Marie (FairyLoot YA), Warrior Princess Assassin by Brigid Kemmerer (FairyLoot Romantasy), Broken Throne by Victoria Aveyard (Amazon - replacement for old copy), Heartless Sky by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti, The Fallen and the Kiss of Dusk by Carissa Braodbent, Kiss the Villain by Rina Kent, and Bespelled and Bewitched by Laura Thalassa (BN preorders).

 As for the remaining 12 books, some of them should be on their way soon and others won't ship out for a while yet. The ones on their way include the FairyLoot August Adult and Epic subscription books, the Waterstones edition of Dire Bound, the Acrylipics edition of A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire, the German set of the Flesh & Fire series, and the FairyLoot edition of Wild Reverence and three books in the Iron Fey spinoff series.

Currently Obsessed With

The month of August had a few surprises thrown in for films. TV shows were about the same, though. I rewatched Home Improvement episodes once again. I'm almost done with that, so I'll find something else to watch soon. I'm thinking Parks & Rec sounds like a good rewatch. It's been a while. I also watched a few episodes of The Kingdom on Disney+. It's the Chiefs football documentary. I'm not a big football watcher, but the Taylor and Travis relationship has me feeling like I'm watching a romcom, so I went ahead and watched it. I also saw Fantastic Four: First Steps in theaters with my dad and sister, and then I watched KPop Demon Hunters on Netflix over the holiday weekend. Both films were fun. I will say, the KPop Demon Hunters hype was a little bit over-the-top, but it was still fun.

September TBR

Honestly, the TBR hasn't changed much since last month. Voidwalker is the only thing that I finished from the physical copies list. I'm still about 60% done with Of Sky & Embers by Claire Butler (ebook), and I'd like to finish Salt in the Wound by Sierra Simone. Other books to read include The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz, The Two Lies of Faven Sythe by Megan E. O'Keefe, Rain of Shadows and Endings by Melissa K. Roehrich, The Hemlock Queen by Hannah Whitten, Silver Elite by Dani Francis, Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli, and Lightlark by Alex Aster. I need to read We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark, Our Rogue Fates by Sarah Marsh, and To Cage a Wild Bird by Brooke Fast as well. Those three are all NetGalley eARCs. OH! I can't believe I almost forgot! I have to read The Primal of Blood and Bone when it releases on September 23! That will be all I do that day. I took the entire day off work to read it.

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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!