Stacking the Shelves: The ALITF 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, I'm in the process of moving, and I realized I have a lot more junk than I thought I did. Oof. And of course, this StS just adds to it. Yay. But honestly, these books are big ones, so I can't be too mad. I just have to figure out how to safely transport them 2.5 hours away without damaging them.

My A Light in the Flame copies arrived! I got the regular edition from Amazon, and annoyingly, the first copy I got on release day was nasty. There were black spots that looked like mold on the back page and that same page had been ripped in half. It was weird. But my replacement arrived on Thursday, the same day as both my preorder incentive and my preorder of the B&N special edition. Thursday was just a big ALITF day.

And for some reason, I decided to check out another library book like three weeks before I move. But this is a book I've heard a lot about. The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards is supposed to be really good, and I'm needing a new supernatural/urban fantasy series to fix the hangover I've got from the next series I'm going to talk about.

I downloaded the second and third books in Jex Lane's Beautiful Monsters series from Kindle Unlimited, and holy heck. This series is addicting! I've had some good times bingeing KU books in 2022; this one is one I have to get physical copies of, though. It's just that good! It's so complex and the main character reminds me of Darrow from Red Rising with the worldbuilding of Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark and a relationship similar to C.S. Pacat's Captive Prince. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get in to another series right now because this one had me so engrossed. The hangover is so real after these books and the wait for number four is gonna be torture. I'm crossing my fingers ALITF helps.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Map of Solis 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.

Wow, have a lot of things changed in the last couple of weeks. The biggest change being that I'm moving next month because... I got a new job! And this job, I think, will allow me to rent a place with two bedrooms! That means I can have a library!!!! But, that'll come later. I'm moving back in with my parents for a bit, since they live in the area, and if I like the job, I'll then get a new place. So I may be absent in December and the next couple of months as I try to figure out life. But even though I'm moving and I'll have to pack up all my books, I still have more books coming in. Because I'm an addict.

The three physical books I got include two preorders from Barnes & Noble: Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn and Charm by Tracy Wolff. My FairyLoot copy of These Twisted Bonds by Lexi Ryan also arrived. Will I have time to read any of these? Nope. I probably won't get to them until mid-2023 at this point. Ugh.

Next up is Dreamerwhale's FBAA gadget box. It was basically full of swag items. There was a mug of Poppy and Hawke, character cards, three page overlays, a poster with the same image as the mug on it (not pictured), and a giant Hawke book sleeve. The mug, sadly, isn't my thing and I probably won't keep the art print, since the art style just isn't my favorite. I do like the Hawke book sleeve, but I wish it came as a print instead. The character cards depict the FBAA crew in a unique way, so that's fun. And the page overlays are cute, even though I'm not a huge fan of overlays. I'd rather have a print.

And here is a print I bought from the JLA Shop. It's the Solis map of Jennifer L. Armentrout's FBAA world. It was smaller than I thought it would be, but I'm excited to have it. I'm crossing my fingers that in my new place I'll have room to display it with all my FBAA editions. *Squee!*.

Now on to the ebooks. I randomly decided to download Captive by Jex Lane from Kindle Unlimited. It's got a bit of a straightforward writing style that I wish was slightly more flowery, but it's still pretty addicting. I'm about 20% in right now and I think I'll finish it over the weekend. I also bought The Cottage by Ariana Nash. It's a novella set in the Prince's Assassin world.

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

The 2022 End of the Year Book Tag

2022 is almost over. Holy cow that went by fast! It's been a pretty quiet year overall. Just working, sleeping, and reading. I do have some big life changes happening at the end of 2022, but right now, everything is quiet. 2022, the quiet year. But I did have some fun trips to D.C. and Disneyland in 2022. That's all that matters, right?

We only have a few weeks left, so I thought I’d do the End of the Year Book Tag. Even though it's pretty late. I’m not sure who this tag was created by, but I found the questions on Green Tea & Paperbacks blog. So, let’s get this party started!

Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?

A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin. But I've kind of given up on getting this one done before the end of the year. The other is Wild Lands by Stacey Marie Brown. I may or may not get to this one as well. We shall see.

Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?

It's already autumn, so I'm cheating and basically saying the books that I already plan to read this season that give me autumnal vibes. I feel like rereading A Shadow in the Ember and reading A Light in the Flame by Jennifer L. Armentrout are somewhat autumnal.

Is there a new release you’re still waiting for?

Yes! Zodiac Academy #8, Sorrows and Starlight! Next up would probably be A Light in the Flame. It's not one I'm most excited for, but I think it'll still be a great read.

What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
A Curse of Queens by Amanda Bouchet
A Light in the Flame by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Is there a book you think could still shock you and become your favorite book of the year?

Not necessarily my favorite book of the year, but I might have a couple that make their way to second or third place. Current contenders are Sorrow and Starlight and the Kingdom of the Wicked sequels.

Have you already started making reading plans for 2023?

Yep. I have to finish reading A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin. I already know I'm not going to make the goal of finishing it by the end of the year. I'm on page 800-something out of 1,100-something as of this post, so yeah... Not happening in 2022. I also would like to read the last book in The Poppy War series, The Burning God, as well Broken Bonds by J. Bree. I also want to catch up on my FairyLoot special editions.

***

Alright, there you have it. My End of the Year Book Tag answers. What would your answers to these questions be? Let me know in the comments below!

October Wrap-Up & November TBR

October wasn't nearly as chaotic as September, thankfully. But it still wasn't the best month ever. I'm just kind of behind on everything lately. I am excited that I've gotten back into reading, though. Now, I just need to read more books that I actually own and not ones that are on Kindle Unlimited.

In this wrap-up, I’ll list the books I read, the books I reviewed, the books I bought/received, and my TBR for next month. Now, let’s get this bookish party started!

Books Read in October

Frostbite: reread

The Emperor of Evening Stars: 4 stars

Prince and Assassin: 3.5 stars (KU ebook)

Prince in Disguise: 4 stars (KU ebook)

King of the Dark: 4 stars (KU ebook)

Reign of Darkness: 4 stars (KU ebook)

Curse of the Dark Prince: 3 stars (KU ebook)

The Cottage: 3 stars (KU ebook)

I read six books and two novellas in October, which is a lot better than last month and the month before. I think I may be getting my reading groove back. Woohoo! Only two of the books/novellas were physical copies, Frostbite by Richelle Mead and The Emperor of Evening Stars by Laura Thalassa, the novella set in Laura Thalassa's Bargainer world. Frostbite was a reread for my book club and to prep for the TV show, which I've decided I don't think I'll ever actually watch. It looks so bad compared to the books. Now, as for the rest of the books, five in total, they were all Kindle Unlimited reads. This includes Prince and Assassin and Prince in Disguise by Tavia Lark and King of the Dark, Reign of Darkness, and Curse of the Dark Prince by Ariana Nash. I also had to purchase the novella that's set in the same world as Ariana Nash's Prince's Assassin series on Kindle. It's called The Cottage. So counting everything, I read eight books/novellas. None of which I owned prior to 2022 (not counting Frostbite, since it's a reread). But, I think it was good for me to get back into reading by just bingeing some fun books vs. trying to force myself to read stuff on my shelves. Even though I know there's some good books stacked there; they just weren't what I was in the mood for.

Books Bought/Received in October

I didn't buy a ton of books in October, but a lot of preorders did come in, some of which only charged this month. So... I guess I did buy a lot. In October, I bought 11 books, two were ebooks and nine were physical books. The Kingdom of the Wicked boxset and the Red, White, and Royal Blue collector's edition were both preordered from Barnes & Noble, which means I was charged in October. Same for A Curse of Queens, which I preordered from Amazon. Amazon.fr (French), charged me for FBAA in October too. I also have my October YA FairyLoot book that I was charged for in October. As for ebooks, I bought The Cottage novella as well as Hell Hath No Fury, an anthology featuring a story from the authors of the Zodiac Academy series. Oh, and I preordered the FairyLoot Crescent City editions that won't arrive until next year.

Now, I do have some preorders that arrived that I paid for in earlier months. Those include FairyLoot's edition of The Blood Traitor and their September Adult Book, Spells for Forgetting. Also, I ordered a copy of The Power on eBay that turned out to be an ARC and not a finished copy. I contacted the seller and they gave me my money back. I still have the ARC, so I need to figure out what I'm going to do with it. My replacement edition of Illumicrate's TWOTQ and my five-months late LitJoy Twin Crowns copy also arrived. In total, I received 14 books this month. But I did buy 11 books in October overall, some just won't arrive for a while.

Currently Obsessed With

Well, I finished my rewatch of The Office, so I decided to rewatch Parks & Rec next. I've watched it a couple of times already, but it's been a couple years since the last rewatch. But I actually have been watching a lot of new TV shows and movies, which is very exciting for someone who barely watches anything new anymore.

Well, first off, I'm going to start with the bad. I could not finish Hocus Pocus 2. I got halfway through and gave up. It was awful. I'll just pretend it doesn't exist. However, season one of House of the Dragon ended in October, and I found that to be awesome! I have a few minor issues with the season overall, but nothing that detracts from my anticipation of season two. Unfortunately, it's gonna be a looooong wait. As for new shows, I binge-watched The Legend of Vox Machina early on in the month. This was a fun adult cartoon based on Critical Role, which I barely know anything about. I think it's a podcast group that plays D&D...? Anyway, season two comes out in January, so that's exciting. I also went and watched Black Adam with my parents. It was fun. Nothing new, but it was a decent addition to the DC superhero lineup. Sadly, DC's League of Super Pets, also starring Dwayne Johnson, was not good. At all. It was a terrible film, even for kids. Yikes. It was another one I watched with my parents, but on HBO Max instead of in theaters. And before those two, I watched The School for Good and Evil on Netflix with my mom. It was good. Could've been better.

November TBR

More repeats in November's TBR. Oops for the umpteenth time. I'm just not good at TBRs this year. For book club purposes, I need to read Amanda Bouchet's A Curse of Queens. I also still need to read my NetGalley ARC of Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah, which I actually needed to review back in September. Shame on me! I also need to reread A Shadow in the Ember, so I remember what happened when I read A Light in the Flame when it releases later this month. Oh, and I have some library books to read. They include Lightlark, Ledge, and You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince. I would like to finish The Bargainer series as well. I'm currently reading the last book in my giant omnibus. And, I want to reread Kingdom of the Wicked so I can read the other two books in the trilogy. I am also continuing, and failing at, my year-long read of A Storm of Swords.

***

Okay, well, that's the month of October, plus some November sneak peeks, all wrapped up into one post. Do you have a wrap-up post for last month? If so, share in the comments!

Stacking the Shelves: The October FairyLoot 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.

Halloween weekend! Woot! Woot! I have absolutely no plans other than to tidy my apartment, read books, eat candy, and watch Hocus Pocus. It's been a chaotic week for weird reasons, so I'm very glad it's the weekend. But I am sad that it's getting darker out. I always forget how icky the darkness is. It's a good time for reading though, since going outside isn't as appealing.

I have some more FBAA stuff that came in. Shocking, I know. The French collector's edition of FBAA arrived early this week, and my replacements for LitJoy's Kieran standee and Illumicrate's TWOTQ also arrived. The TWOTQ copy has striations on the spine, so I don't think it's any better than the original version I was sent. But I'll just live with the two versions I have. No biggie.

Next up is the October YA FairyLoot book. I actually know very little about this title, so it's kind of exciting to go into a book blind. However, this copy is kind of ugly. Or at least, not pretty, especially when you consider FairyLoot's usual caliber. The solid dark green edges are meh, and the cover overall is just boring, though that's the publisher's fault.

And here we have a library copy of Ledge by Stacey McEwan. I've heard good things about this one, but I'm trying not to buy books by authors I'm not familiar with, hence, the library copy. Also, my Binx Funko Pop came in. Or, more accurately, was left at the UPS office that I had to visit twice because they said my package wasn't there the first time when it actually was. Grr...

Now on to the ebooks. Hell Hath No Fury is an anthology that I preordered mostly for the Zodiac Academy prequel short story. I have no idea what other authors contributed. I just wanted more ZA. I also read a lot of books on Kindle Unlimited over the past two weeks. The first two are Prince and Assassin and Prince in Disguise by Tavia Lark. They both were quite cute. I'm excited for the third book to release in January.

Three more books I have read/am reading on Kindle Unlimited are King of the Dark, Reign of Darkness, and Curse of the Dark Prince by Ariana Nash. It's a pretty good series, though I've found it to be a little repetitive at times. I also didn't realize until book two that I'd read another series by this author that I binged back in 2020. I guess I've found a new author to follow.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Christmas in October 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'll actually be at my parents' house by the time this post goes live, so I'm writing this pretty early. It's only Tuesday! Because it's only Tuesday, I can't really say if my week has been bad or good yet. It's fine so far, but who knows what the rest of the time could bring. But I do have a fairly decent haul!

I have a bunch of FairyLoot preorders that will be coming in in the next couple months. First up, is Lynette Noni's The Blood Traitor, which I already read and enjoyed. I'm also crossing my fingers for a spinoff book or two for this series, but we'll see. Oh, and my replacement Tamlin card from Prettygalpins came in too.

Next, I have a couple of library books. I requested Lightlark by Alex Aster and You're a Mean One, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky. I know, one of these is a Christmas book and it's only Halloween, but I figured I'd read it after Halloween, in early November. I want to read these as library copies before I decide if they're worth buying physical copies of.

And lastly, I have an Etsy order I made from Enchantedbooks. I mostly made the order for the Kieran magnetic booksmarks that match my Poppy and Hawke ones, but I also bought the cute mask and the Serpent & Dove print. The sticker and other print were freebies.

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

Review: Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble

Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble

Alexis Hall

Publication Date: October 18, 2022

Paperback, 368 pages, Forever

Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ+

Goodreads

 

From the bestselling author of Boyfriend Material comes a sweet and scrumptious romantic comedy about facing your insecurities, finding love, and baking it off, no matter what people say.

 

Paris Daillencourt is a recipe for disaster. Despite his passion for baking, his cat, and his classics degree, constant self-doubt and second-guessing have left him a curdled, directionless mess. So when his roommate enters him in Bake Expectations, the nation’s favourite baking show, Paris is sure he’ll be the first one sent home.

 

But not only does he win week one’s challenge—he meets fellow contestant Tariq Hassan. Sure, he’s the competition, but he’s also cute and kind, with more confidence than Paris could ever hope to have. Still, neither his growing romance with Tariq nor his own impressive bakes can keep Paris’s fear of failure from spoiling his happiness. And when the show’s vicious fanbase confirms his worst anxieties, Paris’s confidence is torn apart quicker than tear-and-share bread.

 

But if Paris can find the strength to face his past, his future, and the chorus of hecklers that live in his brain, he’ll realize it’s the sweet things in life that he really deserves.

My Review

Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble has a really long title for such a quick read. It's also the second book in a companion series, which I didn't know when I requested it for review. Thankfully, though, you don't need to know anything about book one to enjoy book two. So if you like baking, complicated romance, deep topics, and reality TV shows, Paris might be for you.

Paris, unsurprisingly, follows the main character Paris Daillencourt, a university student, as he goes through a popular baking show competition. Unfortunately for Paris, his insecurity, accident-proneness, and tendency to overreact and overthink things leads to some chaotic times. But all this chaos does lead to Paris having a fun meet-cute with a certain fellow baking competitor, Tariq. Tariq is kind of a ball of sunshine and positivity.

Despite this book being classified as a romcom, it does have its deeper moments between the two main characters, as well as between Paris and his family and friends. So if you're looking for a purely happy book, this one may not be for you. Paris does have a lot of anxiety, and, honestly, if I'd been in a bad headspace while I was reading this, I could've seen myself spiraling a little. So trigger warning there. However, some of the relationship drama that plays out I don't think is entirely Paris's or his anxiety's fault. Tariq has his mess-up moments too..

All in all, though, if you liked Boyfriend Material or any of Alexis Hall's other stories, this is a nice one to add to your TBR, as long as you're in the right state of mind to read it. It's quick, full of goodies that'll make you crave sweets of all kinds, and layered with a story about mental health and an emotionally complex romance to lead to a semi-happily ever after.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The May LitJoy Edition...Finally!

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

Well, it's been an okay week. Nothing crazy has happened, good or bad. However, I haven't been able to work out as much this week, so I really need to get back into that. I did manage to get some cool packages this week, though, so that's been fun. I have some cool stuff coming in next week too. Yay!

First up, I have my looooooooong awaited May LitJoy Crate box. This thing took forever to arrive. And I didn't even order it for the book. I actually ordered the box because of the cool add-ons, which are pictured below. I am excited to read Twin Crowns, though. It looks cute. I think it's getting a sequel now, which makes me more excited to read it. I like standalones, but series are so much better.

Here we go. The add-ons. Finally! Whenever LitJoy announced that they were selling FBAA add-ons, I knew I had to order the box, just to get them. And they're very pretty, except for the fact that all three of them arrived with scratches. Kieran's was the worse. And what sucks even more is LitJoy makes you destroy the replaced version. I HATE waste like that. I think I'll just slash the Kieran one and live with the other two being slightly dinged up.

My FairyLoot Adult September book arrived, Spells for Forgetting. And it's...not very pretty. I wasn't super excited about the book choice in general, but I'd hoped FairyLoot would give it a little more razzle dazzle than the minor customizations they decided to do. I mean, I guess they did do a lot of customizations, but they're so...blah and dreary. I also ordered The Power from eBay for cheap, only to get an ARC instead of a finished copy. Ugh. Thankfully, the seller refunded me, but I was so disappointed. Eventually, I'll manage to nab all the Titan books for cheap. Only four more to go.

 

And here, I have the Barnes & Noble boxset of the Kingdom of the Wicked trilogy. I decided to buy these once I knew there wasn't going to be that ugly James Patterson line across the top. Like who decided it was a good idea to put ugly lines across the top of books? It's worse than a sticker, in my opinion. Which, I also need to take the sticker off of the KOTF copy. Ugh again. But anyway, moving on, I'm going to try to binge read this trilogy in October, since it gives spooky vibes.

 

The last thing I have is the collector's edition of Red, White, and Royal Blue. I thought it'd be a bit more special looking, but it's still fun. And I'm hoping to read the bonus material soon. Just have to do a reread of the whole book first. Ick. I'm really bad at rereading lately.

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

ApollyCon 2022 Recap: Day Four

I am finally done writing ApollyCon recap posts! Huzzah! And this one is the biggest one! Not in terms of how much happened. That was Day Two. No, this was just the biggest because it was, in my opinion, the best of all of the events.

So we actually got to sleep in a bit on Sunday too. Yippee! Though there was still more walking. But most of that came later. Our first stop, though, was the last and best event of the convention: The JLA panel. We didn't get the brunch tickets to get the swag bag with the exclusive book and the early breakfast brunch, but it was all okay. (I'll explain later.) So we basically just chilled outside the panel room until it was time to line up for the event. My friend and I took some photos together to commemorate the trip, and after an hour-plus of waiting, we finally were in.

I ended up taking quite a lot of photos and videos, and for some reason, the photos all look terrible. But, anyway, Jennifer was on a panel with the two 1,001 Dark Nights publishers she works with, Jillian and Liz (I think that may be her name...?). Most of the information JLA shared in this panel was stuff I'd heard before, like writing advice (my least favorite question ever for authors), how she came up with FBAA (the summer olympics), and the inspiration for characters' names (Poppy = Poppy from L.J. Smith's Night World and Cas = Castiel, just the name inspiration, not the actual personalities/looks). The big reveals she shared included the new Adult fantasy book that she'd talked about in her Facebook group a little bit but not a lot. It's going to be published with Tor and she's had to rewrite it multiple times. Also, a compendium book/bible for the FBAA world will tentatively release in May 2023. It will be told in Miss Willa's narrative voice, and it will have a sneak peek of book five. Also, a Kieran POV might be included. And JLA also talked about adaptation rights and how there will be some news soon.

After the panel, the staff/volunteers announced there would be limited brunch bags on sale So my friend and I booked it to wait in the last line of the convention. Thankfully, we were successful, all because we had cash! If you had cash, you got to go in a much shorter line. So I got my FBAA ApollyCon exclusive edition and the swag items for $50. I was so happy. And now I'm so sad that I didn't manage to get tickets to the 2023 ApollyCon. Getting the matching sequels off of resellers is going to be a bummer. I hope I can snag an extra on sale in the JLA Shop instead.

And after the bag purchase, ApollyCon was officially over. Which was both sad because the fun was gone and happy because my feet couldn't take another day. My friend and I went back to our AirBnB to drop off our stuff, change our clothes, and rest up a bit before we did the major D.C. touristy stuff. Then, we took the metro back to the National Mall and saw as many sights as our feet would allow. First up was the Washington Monument. It's very tall. Oh, and it was raining. I don't want to forget that detail, as it becomes very important later on.
 

  The Lincoln Memorial was next, though of course we did walk by the World War II Memorial, I just didn't take pictures of it. It seemed disrespectful. I did take pics in front of Lincoln, though. Because it's a giant Lincoln. The rain wasn't terrible at this point, but my umbrella had just gotten a workout trying to swat mosquitos and gnats away from me as we walked by the water.

And this is me posing in front of the White House. We didn't get any closer than that, as 1) our feet were killing us, and 2) it started pouring. We were so soaked on the walk back that the insoles we'd padded our shoes with had started getting weird white soapy looking stuff all over the outside of our shoes. Well, it was either the insoles or poorly rinsed socks from the washing machine. Either way it was icky and wet.

On the metro ride back, I ordered us a margherita pizza that we ended up not being able to finish, sadly. Though I do believe I had a piece for breakfast the next morning. But to end the day, we just packed up our stuff and set our alarms for the next morning. When we did get up, it was to carry our box of books to the post office to ship home, and then we arranged a Lyft to the airport. Unfortunately, I had to stay at the airport for quite a long time, as my first of two flights wasn't until later in the day. I even tried to get on two earlier flights, but I just didn't make it. I did manage to get on a 3 p.m. instead of a 5 p.m., so that was nice. My connecting flight was still around 8 p.m., though.

Well, that's all. It was six days of utter chaos. Four at ApollyCon and two for travel. I can't believe I made it out of all that tourist-y walking stuff alive though. My feet hurt just thinking about how much walking we did. But it's all good now. I came back and all of my shipped books arrived (as you can see by my lovely FairyLoot packaging). None of the books I packed in my bags were damaged, and nothing got lost either. Overall ApollyCon 2022 was a success! Even though I do wish I'd gotten a better pic with JLA. Boo. I'm planning on it for 2024, though. If nothing else, getting a good photo with her will be the #1 priority.