Stacking the Shelves: The April Adult 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.

I have spent way too much money this week on preorders and a variety of other book-related stuff. I really need to slow down, especially since I just found out today that I'll need to get my car fixed soon. Ugh. Stupid cars. Why do they have to be so high-maintenance? Don't they know money is supposed to be for books?      .

First up, I have the French edition of The Crown of Gilded Bones. It may not look super different from the regular US version (except for the title), but on the naked hardcover, there's some pretty foiling. I also accidentally ordered a hardcover of A Shadow in the Ember from Amazon.fr because I thought it would be the pretty foiled edition too. But it turns out that that particularly copy isn't releasing until later this year. I tried to cancel before Amazon.fr sent this version, which I think is the Australian hardback, but I was too late. Thankfully, they refunded me and let me keep the book, as shipping it back to them wouldn't have been worth the price. But I'm sure I can find a fanart dustjacket or two that may need a hardcover, so this extra edition might come in handy.

Next, I have a few of the last three books in Kresley Cole's Arcana Chronicles. I watched Kresley's recent Q&A, and I just couldn't put off buying these anymore, despite making a deal with myself to wait until I'd started my reread of Poison Princess to purchase them. I really don't want to do a reread of all of the first three books in the series before I can find out what happens, but I have to. I don't remember the details, since it's been so long since Kresley last released an Arcana book. Wish me luck with that task. I feel like I'll need it.

And here is Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, which I preordered during a 25% off B&N sale. I also received the April Adult FairyLoot book. And, what the heck did they do to that book?! The original cover is so fun and whimsical! And this just looks so bleh and boring. I haven't read the book yet, but I have a feeling once I do, if I like it, I'll be getting rid of this edition and just buying the regular US hardcover. FairyLoot really made a poor choice this time. Yikes.

And now, I have some Kindle Unlimited books. I, like most of the Booktok community (I don't make videos, I just watch them), have been into hockey lately. So I downloaded some MM hockey books and read them. These are fun, but they are getting repetitive. It's pretty much the same book each time only with two main characters that have different names. Oh, I also read these way out of series order, as Line Mates & Study Dates is book four in the series, and Puck Drills & Quick Thrills is book five. And then I read the spinoff, Egotistical Puckboy, and, after that, I started reading the one below, Foolish Puckyboy, which is book four of the spinoff series. I'm reading that one now. Then, I think I'll need to take a break from the hockey romances, or at least this particular author duo.

And lastly, I have more Kindle Unlimited books. Well, one more that I haven't talked about already. I downloaded What Hunts Inside the Shadows, book two of the What Lies Beyond the Veil series, because I didn't want to forget that I still need to read the rest of the books in the series. Though now, I'm unsure if I'll get to read it before I possibly cancel my KU subscription. Prices are going up to $11.99 next month! I might need to take a break and just read my physical backlist. Lord knows I have enough to get through. It could last me five years at this point.

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

ApollyCon 2023 Recap: Day One

Well, I'm sort of recovered and back together after the craziness that was 2023's ApollyCon, so I decided to write up my recap of day one. Day one includes registration, the Blood Forest event, and a Bookish Box sale on Thursday, April 27th. I won't share much about the flight in on Wednesday, April 26th, just know that I had to get up early, my dad and uncle drove me two hours to the airport, and I packed a bag to check and took a duffel as a carry-on (which was a mistake, as you'll see at the end of this recap series). Once I got to D.C., I waited for a couple of hours to meet my friend at the airport, ate some Dunkin', went to the hotel on a shuttle, unpacked, and then later that night we went to an Italian restaurant nearby that was okay. It wasn't anything special. Oh, but I do need to mention that I packed 11 books to take with me to get signed, and, I thought it was pretty smart of me to pack them in an empty plastic comforter bag with booksleeves, plastic Ziploc bags, and regular plastic bags to protect them from the downpours that were predicted throughout the weekend.

Amazingly, my friend and I didn't have to do anything Thursday morning until registration, which we couldn't line up for until noon. So, we decided to get breakfast at a diner. Again, it was okay. Nothing special. I got a cheese omelet and she had waffles. Your basic diner food. We also prepped a bit to make sure we were ready for the Blood Forest event that night, which we planned to dress up for in your basic Ren Faire attire.

Registration this year was so much better than last year. While my friend and I got there early, since getting there early guaranteed better JLA signing tickets, we didn't really need to. It seemed like things weren't as crazy, and a lot of people decided to just wait and come down for registration later on in the day. It was so much less crowded and chaotic. It helped that my friend and I didn't go to the zoo and get all sweaty/tired beforehand too. That was a bad call for last year. It made us exhausted the entire convention. I ended up getting a JLA signing number in the upper 50s, which was a vast improvement from my 200/300 number from last year's registration fiasco.

At registration, we got to pick up out Titan bags, which are filled with the main draw of the convention--the ApollyCon edition of A Light in the Flame. But surprisingly, the Titan bag also came with a lot of other books, some we knew about in advance and some we didn't know about. I knew about the gorgeous edition of The Longing of Lone Wolves by Lana Pecherczyk and the paperback of Magical Midlife Madness by K.F. Breene, since they'd shared the info in the ApollyCon Attendees Facebook group. However, I didn't know we'd have a bunch of other books in the bag. Honestly, it was so many that I had to leave some behind at the hotel. The ones I decided to keep were My Lucky #13 by Piper Rayne, We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian, A Court This Cruel and Lovely by Stacia Stark, and A Dragon's Promise by Katee Robert. The bag also came with a booksleeve and some other goodies. Oh, and I almost forgot! Before registration, we did stop by the Barnes & Noble room. I bought the foiled edition of A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire. I wanted to buy all three of the foiled ones they had for each of the first three books, but I knew I didn't have enough space in my suitcase for that.

We got through registration pretty fast, so the only things left to do before the Blood Forest event that evening at 6 p.m. was to eat and pick up the cart we were borrowing from a fellow attendee. We ended up dropping our Titan bags back at our hotel, which was a short walk away from the convention hotel, the Hyatt, since we had to kill some time, and then we walked back to the Hyatt to pick up the cart later. Cart secured, we then went back to our hotel (lots of walking back and forth this day) to get dressed up and ready for the event.

  We waited in line at the event and it was warm, but it wasn't nearly as bad as some of the lines we'd experienced in 2022. Those things were sweaty to the max. Plus, the staff was handing out water bottles throughout the entire weekend, so that was nice. We didn't have to purchase any more water than the large bottles we bought at CVS on Wednesday evening. The Blood Forest event was the one I was most excited for, as FBAA is my favorite series right now, if you couldn't tell by my numerous posts about it, so I was happy I didn't have to get sweaty waiting in line. And when we walked in, it was pretty cool. The walls were covered in the Blood Forest scenery and the cutouts of the main trio with Delano and Vonetta as wolven were there, just waiting for us to take pics. My friend and I got two photos together for each side first, but we went back later to get individual shots with each person character. I won't show the shots with her in them, just to respect her privacy, but they were decent photos. I like the one-on-one versions better, though.

They also had funny cutouts for head placement. Now, I tried to put my head in these things, and I just looked so dumb. So I'm not going to share those photos here, either. But you can see the empty versions. They are really cool, though, and Jemlin did an amazing job with the art. I honestly wish I could have prints of the versions without the holes in their faces. I do have shelfie/standee versions of the regular cutouts, but I'll show those later on. I'd like versions of these too because I'm greedy, though.

There were also cupcakes, but they were small and I got one that wasn't very fresh. My friend said hers tasted fine, so I think I just grabbed a bad one. But that's okay. I wasn't really there for the cupcake. After taking a few more pics of the scenery, my friend and I grabbed a seat to watch the JLA panel. We ended up getting a pretty decent spot, despite taking some time in the photo line earlier, so that was good. We also took a couple more photos up front as well.

JLA's panel was only an hour long, so she didn't get into too much I hadn't heard before. But, as always, her and the 1,001 Dark Nights/Blue Box Press publishers make for a great time. They're always funny and passionate about the series. I'm just glad that someone asked a Kieran question in the Q&A portion, and JLA confirmed we'll see more/a different side of him in A Soul of Ash and Blood..

Once the panel concluded, my friend and I went back to the cutouts to take some more photos while every one else was in line for their goodie bag. We were alone for a while, but then a crowd started coming, but we didn't let that deter us from getting a one-on-one photo with every character. I just had to do it. Sorry to everyone who had to wait. Lol. But after that, we took a couple of photos with the faceless cutouts too. Again, I'm not sharing those. They look so dumb. And then, we filed out of the event and got our bags.

Inside each Blood Forest event bag was the ApollyCon edition of A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire, a mug (which sadly didn't make the cut on the way home. It was too heavy to try to get back into my cramped bags), and a small box. The small box was supposed to have a gummy in it that represented something that happened in The War of Two Queens, but sadly, mine didn't have the gummy in it. Not that I would have eaten it, but it was just kind of disappointing. We also got a hooded Blood Forest blanket! Now, while I do love the blanket, and I plan to use it, it wasn't a very practical choice to include as a free gift, since trying to get it back for the people flying in is a little difficult. But, I've already decided that next year, if I get tickets, I'll have to bring the carry-on suitcase, not just a small duffel, in addition to the giant checked suitcase. Ugh. 

With my favorite event over, we then went to my second-least favorite event. Well, technically, it was an event I was actually looking forward to that ended up disappointing me completely. The Bookish Box event was advertised as a place to meet authors, buy BB special editions, and get free prints signed. And while BB did have books for sale, they wouldn't let non-subscribers buy certain ones because of all the backlash they'd received online about selling subscription books to non-subscribers when their November, Deember, and so on boxes hadn't even been shipped out yet. Well, they didn't bother telling this to the ApollyCon Attendees group, because I was so excited to buy a copy of Between Wrath & Mercy from them. I got there, and they wouldn't even let me buy it. I was so mad. It was the one thing I wanted to buy. But my friend ended up buying a book, so the event wasn't a total waste. And we met and talked to a few of the authors (Holly Renee, Emma Hamm, Chloe C. Penaranda, and Lilian T. James), though not all of them had prints to sign, which was weird considering that was something BB advertised in their announcement as well.

After all that insanity, we took some time to collect ourselves, rearrange our bags of stuff, and then head back to our hotel to prep for Friday. The day that had us lugging around the most amount of books in the pouring rain! But don't worry, we were prepared! You'll get to read all about it in my day two recap, whenever I decide to write it. 😄

Review: A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen

A Door in the Dark

Scott Reintgen

(Waxways #1)

Publication Date: March 28, 2023

Hardcover, 368 pages, McElderry Books

Genres: YA, Fantasy

Goodreads

 

One of Us is Lying meets A Deadly Education in this fantasy thriller that follows six teenage wizards as they fight to make it home alive after a malfunctioning spell leaves them stranded in the wilderness.

 

Ren Monroe has spent four years proving she’s one of the best wizards in her generation. But top marks at Balmerick University will mean nothing if she fails to get recruited into one of the major houses. Enter Theo Brood. If being rich were a sin, he’d already be halfway to hell. After a failed and disastrous party trick, fate has the two of them crossing paths at the public waxway portal the day before holidays—Theo’s punishment is to travel home with the scholarship kids. Which doesn’t sit well with any of them.

 

A fight breaks out. In the chaos, the portal spell malfunctions. All six students are snatched from the safety of the school’s campus and set down in the middle of nowhere. And one of them is dead on arrival.

 

If anyone can get them through the punishing wilderness with limited magical reserves it’s Ren. She’s been in survival mode her entire life. But no magic could prepare her for the tangled secrets the rest of the group is harboring, or for what’s following them through the dark woods…

My Review

Are you looking for a YA book that gives dark academia vibes with some horror and magic thrown in? Then I think this one may be right up your alley. It definitely has the worldbuilding atmosphere of the Shadowhunter Chronicles with a similar feel to Naomi Novik's Scholomance books. There are magical teens, deadly creatures, and even deadlier secrets.

Ren, our main character, is the know-it-all of the group, and I'm not using that term derogatorily. She really is the one who knows it all. She's like Hermione Granger with a dark side. Then there is Timmons, her best friend; Cora, the medic; Avy, the tough guy; Clyde, the drug-dealer/bad boy; and Theo, the son of Ren's enemy. It's quite a cast of characters thrown together in a situation that quickly goes from bad to worse when they all get thrown miles away from their home and into a wilderness filled with a lot of magical boogeymen

I will say, the worldbuilding in this story is what is intriguing. Once the story starts to pick up about fifty pages in, there were crazy things going down every other chapter. There were wyverns, kobolds, dragons, and very evil humans. Even when the spellwork was explained and things got a little too technical, none of it took away from the actual events in the story. I could believe that characters had magical objects hiding on their person and that creepy monsters were haunting the group. Honestly, it was a good thriller/adventure story. I was constantly wondering how everyone would get out of the situation in one piece.

 The weakness of this book lies with the characters, however. They just never quite clicked and they came across as rather dry. In my opinion, they needed more personality and to interact with their peers more on the page. Maybe if the book had been longer and added some conversations between the characters, it could have gained some of that development within the story. As is, it's just really hard to get attached. However, it was shocking when bad things would happen to them. But, unfortunately, after the initial "Oh no!" reaction, I didn't feel anything more. Maybe I'm heartless, but I wasn't feeling it. This is definitely not a character-driven book, it's a plot-driven one. So if you like scary-esque plots where kids are trapped in the woods with monsters, and you also like magic and dragons, then this story could 100% be for you.

Overall, I think this book could be popular for teens looking for the next series to pick up after Harry Potter or Shadowhunters. It could easily fill those gaps. However, if you're looking for something where you fall in love with the characters, I don't think this book is that. It has more of a '90s thriller vibe set in a fantasy world. It was an entertaining read, just not something I fell in love with. Though, I'm not a huge horror fan, so that could explain why.

*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 ApollyCon 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.

Oh, boy, am I in trouble. I have waaaaay too many books right now and only a very small bookcase to put them on. ApollyCon was a crazy time and I came back with 26 books I didn't have last week. Yikes. I've got to figure out what I'm going to do to make space for these things. But that involves a lot of effort, and I've just been feeling so lazy lately. Plus, work is about to get insane, so I'm taking it easy while I can. Self-care before things go boom!      .

I don't think I'm going to talk about every book I received at ApollyCon this year. Not because I don't want to, but because I'll have my wrap-up post to share what I got at each event. My first post should go live next week, if I write it by then that is. It'll cover the day I received a good portion of the 26 books. For now, I'll just mention that I got the A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire, A Light in the Flame, and Frost and Fire ApollyCon editions.

Next, I have the only non-ApollyCon-related physical book I got. Slaying the Vampire Conqueror by Carissa Broadbent was a Barnes & Noble 25% preorder sale purchase. Actually, I preordered it a day before it released. I've been hearing a lot of good things about Carissa Broadbent's books, so I decided to go ahead and get this one in addition to the one I bought back in April. And no, I haven't read her books yet. I'm just a hoarder. Oh, I also received a hardcover of ASITE I ordered from Amazon.fr (not pictured), but it was the wrong order. I tried to cancel it, but it was too late. Now, I need to see if I can return it. Ugh.

And this is another Prettygal Pins tarot card order that arrived. It's part one of the Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon set. I'm not feeling these ones as much as the book-ish sets. I guess because Game of Thrones is a visual thing, so I already have the characters appearances laid out for me. Also, I wasn't anticipating getting a Theon Greyjoy. I don't really like that. Haha. I'm curious to see which characters will be in the second deck, though. I'm guessing Sansa, Cersei, Tyrion, Rhaenyra, and Bran. The others, I'm not sure about.

And now, I have my favorite things I got at ApollyCon. Jemlin, the artist, created full-body versions of the FBAA characters for the Blood Forest event, and the JLA Shop sold shelfie/standee versions! I was so happy when they announced this! I mean, look at them! They're gorgeous! There's Vonetta in wolven form, Poppy with her Maiden outfit, Delano in wolven form, Kieran, Poppy, and Hawke. And I can't wait to see if the shop gets more in the future! I'll collect them all!

And lastly, I have some Kindle Unlimited ebooks to share. I came back from ApollyCon absolutely exhausted, so I decided to read some quick contemporary MM romances. The first was Garron Park by Nordika Night. This one was good. It's about motocross racing and boys that live in a trailer park with bad parents. I wish the sequel was out already. The other was a soccer enemies-to-lovers story called Savage Rivals by Becca Steele. It wasn't quite as good, but it wasn't bad, either. It just needed a bit...more.

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

April Wrap-Up & May TBR

It's freakin' May. What the heck. How is 2023 going by so fast?! And now I'm sad because ApollyCon is over, and I have nothing to look forward to within the next two months until A Soul of Ash and Blood releases in July. Which is soooo far away. Ugh. The post-vacation blues is real right 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 April

The Bone Shard War: 3.5 stars (my review)

A River Enchanted: 4 stars

Fall of Ruin and Wrath: 4 stars (my review)

Defend the Dawn: 4 stars

What Lies Beyond the Veil: 4 stars (KU ebook)

Head Above Water: 3 stars (KU ebook)

Violent Desire: 3.5 stars (KU ebook)

Violent Mistake: 3.5 stars (KU ebook)

I read eight books in April, which is pretty good considering I was prepping for a vacation at the end of the month. Two of the books I read were physical ARCs, The Bone Shard War by Andrea Stewart and Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I also had two library Libby holds come in. One was for A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross, and the other was for Defend the Dawn by Brigid Kemmerer. The rest of the books were all from Kindle Unlimited and those included What Lies Beyond the Veil by Harper L. Woods, Head Above Water by C.E. Ricci, and Violent Desire and Violent Mistake by Ariana Nash. None of these books were ones I owned prior to 2023, but I did own the ARCs, so that cuts down on my physical TBR a bit.

Books Bought/Received in April

April was a baaaaad month. Or, really, it was a very good month. But it just shows me that I have no self-control. In total, I purchased nine books in April and I received 30 books within the month, most of which were from ApollyCon.

The books I bought in April include one ApollyCon preorder that I picked up at the event, A River Enchanted, and two books I purchased at ApollyCon. Those include A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire, the hardcover, and the special paperback of What Lies Beyond the Veil that I bought at the author's table. The other books I bought and actually received in April include the Bookish Box edition of Untainted by Lilian T. James from a BST Facebook group, and The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent, which I purchased from Barnes & Noble when I was preordering another book. I also preordered FairyLoot's edition of The Iron Vow by Julie Kagawa and paid for my April Adult FairyLoot book, which hasn't arrived yet. Oh, and I have two French editions of FBAA books that I was charged for in April. I think one of them may have been delivered to my parents' house, but I'm not sure yet. 

As for what I received in April, that's where things get interesting. I have three non-ApollyCon books I got in April. Those include The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten, which was the March Adult FairyLoot book, as well as two review copies from Orbit, The Blighted Stars and The Pariah. Now, for books I received at ApollyCon, I have two groups. Group one is my preordered books and group two consists of the freebies I got at the event. In group one, we have Fire Heart by Emma Hamm; House of Beating Wings by Olivia Wildenstein; The Witch Collector and The Wolf and the Witch by Charissa Weaks; An Heir Comes to Rise by Chloe C. Penaranda; Untainted and Untamed by Lilian T. James; A Light in the Flame ApollyCon edition, Scorched, Frost and Fire Brunch ApollyCon edition, and A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire ApollyCon edition by JLA (three of these were paid with my ticket purchases); The Book of Azrael ApollyCon edition by Amber Nicole; A Fate of Wrath and Flame by K.A. Tucker; and Knight of Sword and Shadow by Ava Speirs. For group two, the freebies, I received The Longing of Lone Wolves special edition by Lana Pecherczyk, Magical Midlife Madness by K.F. Breene, A Dash of Salt and Pepper by Kosoko Jackson, A Court So Cruel and Lovely by Stacia Stark, My Luck 13 by Piper Rayne, A Crown of Ivy and Glass ARC by Claire Legrand, and We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian. All together, with the Orbit and FairyLoot books, that's 25 books received (not paid for) during the month of April.

Currently Obsessed With

Just like the past couple of months, I was rewatching The Office in April, especially when I was eating meals. It's just easy to flip on something I know I'll enjoy versus surfing between apps and content.

I honestly don't think I watched very many other shows in April. I believe I started Black Sails on Amazon, but it turns out that was only episode one. To watch the whole season, you have to subscribe to Starz, so I gave up on that. Other than Black Sails, I did forget to mention last month that I watched Shadow & Bone season two. And I enjoyed it. It had its odd moments, but, for the most part, it's a solid, fun fantasy show, and I hope more seasons and the Six of Crows spinoff happens. Though, with the writers' strike, it seems unlikely.

May TBR

I'm finally done reading books for ApollyCon! Hurrah! But I do have some things I desperately need to review. That includes A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen, The Blighted Stars by Megan O'Keefe, The Pariah by Anthony Ryan, and Gwen & Art are Not in Love by Lex Croucher (NetGalley ARC). I also want to read A Dragon's Promise before the FairyLoot sale for Elizabeth Lim's new book set in the same world. I read the first book, Six Crimson Cranes, a while back, and it was alright. I'm going to decide if I need the new book's special edition based on the ending of this duology, though. I'm also currently reading Cast in Firelight by Dana Swift. I've been reading it for a couple of months now. I put it down to focus on ApollyCon titles, but I'd like to pick it back up soon. There a few additional titles I'd like to read, but the ones pictured are the priorities.

***

Okay, well, that's the month of April, plus some May 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 Bookless Jackets 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, as you're reading this, I'm in the trenches of ApollyCon, likely with sore feet and an aching back but a lot of pretty signed books. Next week's StS is going to be insane. Even as I'm writing this, I'm in the middle of prepping for my trip. Packing, primping, and panicking. Haha. Somehow, even though I've had tickets since November and I've been planning for months, this convention still managed to sneak up on me.

First up for this week's haul is something I ordered from Barnes & Noble. I told myself not to buy a hardcover of The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Clarissa Broadbent until I read it on Kindle Unlimited first. But did I listed to myself? Absolutely not. I've heard way too many fantastic things, so, when I was preordering another book on B&N, I decided this was the book to add to my order to get free shipping. I also had two books delivered to my parents' house in the past few weeks that I FINALLY was able to get from them. I received The Pariah by Anthony Ryan and The Blighted Stars by Megan O'Keefe, both of which were sent from Orbit for review.

Next, I have my Clover Crate FBAA dustjackets. Aren't they pretty?! I'm glad some of the dustjacket artists are doing unique things with the covers. Having a dragon (draken) on TWOTQ's, makes me very happy. (Bonus points if you know who that is.) I will say I'm a little confused by the art for AKOFAF and TCOGB, though, as it seems like they should be switched, but, regardless, I'm still very happy with these. Now I just need to get my shelves set up so I can properly display them. The order also came with a few extra goodies. There was a pin, a bookmark, a print, and a sticker. I probably will only keep the bookmark and print, but we'll see.

 

 And lastly, I have a couple of ebooks. Ariana Nash's Violent Mistake is a Kindle Unlimited title I borrowed after I finished the first book, Violent Desire. It's a MM vampire series in the same vein as the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I also have Rebecca Ross's A Fire Endless, the sequel to A River Enchanted. My library hold finally came in for this one, so I'm hoping I can finish it either before my trip or the day I travel to D.C. Lord knows I'm not going to be able to read anything after that. My life will be way too crazy to read until May starts up.

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