Let's Discuss: Author Swag

 

So I thought of another discussion which I may or may not have talked about somewhere down the line, but revisiting after a few years is always fun too! Today's topic...

Author Swag

As a reader I have always loved author swag! I still do! Although I do find it hard to display the items as times depending on what it is. For the art prints I end up putting these in a photo album of sorts so I can look through them all. I have a few different sizes going on currently and they are already filling up! 2 of them are filled with mainly A Touch of Magic Designs prints because they have some seriously pretty stuff! I have a whole book dedicated to Stephanie Garber pictures of Caraval and OUABH!

Other items I still enjoy, but they end up sitting in a box...or what I like to call a "treasure chest!" Lol. Some things are just hard to display. Also since I am house hunting still, it's not possible to display them since my shelves are all in storage too. I mean, when that day comes and I get to move in and have my shelves up I know I will be overwhelmed as I have shelf displaying things packed away in storage as well and I still occasionally buy another one every now and then.

But with the fun author swag, I am always hard pressed on what to do with them. I do remember one instagram friend had put all her bookmarks into a photo collage sort of thing that I think would be fun! I end up saving the bookmarks I get but I never use them really as I end up using one from my personal collection.

But still, when an author has swag at their signing, I end up taking a piece or two. Especially for character art. It's the "other" items I have trouble trying to display. Since some pieces are so old now, the books aren't really current or relevant even if some are in ongoing series.

I just don't know what to do with it all. I don't want to get rid of it after all this time, but I feel like I need a better thing to do with them all.

What do you do with the author swag you have? Do you display it somehow? For items like bookmarks and other things that are harder to display--unless you're very crafty--what do you do with those? I guess I am just looking for ideas!

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

 

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Purple Princess of The Purple Booker. 

Here are the rules:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a page
3. Pick out 2 lines that are SPOILER FREE
4. Name the title, author, etc.

I feel like I am seeing some of the other seeds of OUABH being planted in this one! I mean I knew Stephanie was slowly getting an idea for it at the time of writing this one, but now I'm wondering how many seeds were coincidental or not. Lol.

"Tella knew she'd found the right place when she saw the door clapper shaped like a broken heart. It felt like a warning that nothing good come from stepping inside." p 145

TITLE: Finale
AUTHOR: Stephanie Garber
PUBLISHER: Flatiron Books
GENRE: YA Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2019

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and The Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. 

This week's topic is: Top 10 Books I was Assigned to Read in School

*in no particular order
**I pretty much hated every book I was "assigned" to read...so maybe don't read my comment if the book happens to be one of you fave! Lol. The last 2 are ones I actually enjoyed, as an FYI. Lol.

10. HAMLET by William Shakespeare--yeah...I just didn't get this one. Shakespeare was just hard for me as a teen. It was always so confusing. All the metaphor type speech...it confused me endlessly and still does. Lol.
9. ROMEO & JULIET by William Shakespeare--yeah...besides the language style barrier, the actual story of this one aggravated me to no end!
8. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald--when I was required to read this one, I was already in my I WANT TO READ PARANORMALS streak and this story just bored me.

7. GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens--honestly, from the very first line, I knew this book would be the death of me. And for that particular unit in high school English class, it nearly was! Thank you Spark Notes, you saved my bacon!
6. THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN by Mark Twain--I don't remember having a strong dislike of this one, just that it bored me as well. I guess Tom Sawyer might have been better as I remember that JTT movie being fun! Lol.
5. MACBETH by William Shakespeare--sorry, William, I just could not get into your stuff.

4. THE DA VINCI CODE by Dan Brown--again, this was probably one of the ones I disliked the least. It was for a fun course I took in college about conspiracies in literature. But overall, I was entirely bored with the book. I was again thick into my paranormal streak at this point and YA Paranormal was FINALLY coming to life!
3. MUMBO JUMBO by Ishmael Reed--this was again for that same college course. It was just very, very confusing. And when I encountered a chapter number that repeated itself, I was ready to throw the book across the room. I didn't of course, I couldn't do that even to a book I disliked...another student did so I lived vicariously through him for that moment! Lol.
2. THE PRINCESS BRIDE by William Goldman--at last! I finally had a college course that brought up a book I ADORED and had read a few times on my own previously! This was another fun one where we read a book, then watched the movie and did some talks about differences and parallels...that kind of thing! Very fun!

1. THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO by Alexandre Dumas--at last! The one book I actually enjoyed that I was assigned to read in high school came up in my senior year in the English class that I took for fun because I already had all my English credits. This book was the best I was ever forced to read in school! Again, I was in my paranormal craze at the time (and really, that never ended!) so that I enjoyed a book without an ounce of paranormal or fantasy was shocking! I think it was his looooong game of revenge that I enjoyed the most and what kept me intrigued!

Let's Discuss: Cosplaying

 

Do you ever cosplay? I have found over the years that it just wasn't for me. But lately, mainly with Stephanie Garber's books I have found a certain kind of joy to dressing up like my favorite characters even though I have nowhere to go looking like them! For the most part, I've always read Urban Fantasy books, so if the characters weren't sporting leather pants and halter tops--things I just would not ever wear--they were dressed normally, so it is kind of hard to cosplay characters like that. Then with Fantasy books they always wore extravagant dresses that I just can't afford to buy or have made. So cosplaying has always been a bit harder for me budget wise and just overall ability wise.

Cosplaying

Within the last few years, I had been trying to create an Evangeline costume and it finally came together just before ACFTL released! If you follow me on Instagram you might have seen my post that ended up winning one of the prizes for the Pick An Apply for Jacks contest the publisher had!

I had went for Evangeline's "vampire" outfit as I called it from OUABH! Basically what was wearing when Jacks is fighting turning into a vampire! Finding the right wig was the hardest part to be honest! I think I tried two different styles of skirts in two different sizes. The top I found easily enough at Kohls and the gloves and cape were easy to pick as well! Wigs are so hard! Too many of the ones I tried came with bangs styled and they kept drifting into my eyes. I'm not savvy enough to "style" the wig's hair and cut the bangs so that it still looks good. So, you know I buy and return until I find the right one! I think it took me only 3 tries to get the right one! Lol.

And this year, I am spending a pretty penny to fly out to California for Stephanie's Spectacular Holiday party! While I've always wanted to visit California, I'm really only just going for Stephanie's party and then coming home the next day. It's a pricey trip and since I wasn't entirely sure where Stephanie's one event for Spectacular was going to be released, I didn't really have much time to prepare. Initially I thought she was going to tour and I'd go wherever was closest. But since that idea was axed I just had to break into emergency funds for this flight! Prior to the Hurricane, I had thought maybe it'd be in Orlando as I thought that's where Rosie was from or at least that's the event she attended on one of Stephanie's tours, but then that obviously wasn't going to work out either.

So roundabout way of me needing to get back on track to how my next cosplay costume will be for Tella! But since I no longer do Amazon Prime, I have kind of run out of time to do the "buy a wig and return it" thing. Plus I just wasn't feeling the one I did try on and they are really rather expensive. So instead I decided I would let my hair go naturally curly and I will be a brunette version of Tella! Lol. 

I had a nice summer dress that I bought because the coloring made me think of Tella's dress and while it's not a ball gown style, I'm just adding pretty accessories to it to give it the Tella feel and a dash of winter! I'll try to get a picture taken as well somewhere in the night before it gets mangled! Lol.

Have you ever cosplayed? What character would you want to cosplay as if you could have access to all the things costume related?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's a fun meme where we gather to share what we've read last week and our reading plans for this week.

Last Week I Re-Read:

Legendary by Stephanie Garber (5 stars)

Currently Re-Reading:

Finale by Stephanie Garber--my plan to re-read the series right to the release of Spectacular kind of backfired as I only have 200 pages or so left of this one! Going to force myself to read only a few pages a day and then next weekend I will have to occupy myself with my neglected diamond art project, then be completely bored on Monday up until Tuesday at 9am! Lol. You might wonder why I don't just pick a short read for in between...well, I'm being weird and don't want to interrupt my Caraval World flow. So there it is. Lol.

What I Plan to Read Next:

 

Spectacular by Stephanie Garber

Other Posts of Interest:

Let's Discuss: Spooky Books, Not Movies
Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays
Can't Wait Wednesday
Books from the Backlog #104
Book Blogger Hop #327
Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves

 

Stacking the Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, and of course ebooks! The meme is now hosted by Reading Reality.

Another week down! Only one more full week, then the weekend, then a Monday until Spectacular releases! I am SOOOO excited! Espeically since I am spending a boatload to go to California to Stephanie's holiday party! It'll be my first time on the west coast and though I'm only going to Stephanie's event, I hope to one day come back and do something touristy...and include an event with Stephanie again! Lol. I'm already preparing my holiday costume to wear as well! I don't usually dress up for books mainly because it's sooo hard to find a "fantasy" dress that fits the storyline and looks like what I imagine the character was wearing or like in my paranormal books, they just dress normal! Unless they start sporting leather pants and tube tops and I soooo don't dress like that! Not even for a costume of a character I loved! Lol. But for this one I figure I can "winterify" a summer dress I have, as I suspect it might still be warmish in CA in two weeks, plus in the event space as well will likely get warm, so "winterifying" a summer dress is the plan! Lol. 

For this actual week it was somewhat timid. Not much happened the first half but then on Wednesday I had a signing to see Erin Sterling and Ally Condie and it was a lot of fun! Then Thursday I had another signing to meet Kate Golden who I only just recently started reading but I loved the first book of her trilogy and cannot wait to finish it. Which based on the ending she briefly mentioned of book 2, I am SO glad I waited to read that one until I had book 3! Lol.

Here's what I got this week:

The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling--SIGNED!
A Reign of Rose by Kate Golden--SIGNED!

Then I recently created an Amazon order mainly to get some costume pieces to add to my dress and in order to get the free shipping I just threw this book in there, as it was one I was interested in and the price was right to get the rest of my costume accessories! Lol.

A History of Ghosts, Spirits, and the Supernatural by DK Publishing

Then I FINALLY got my copies of the first three Study books from The Bookish Box! I ordered these nearly a year ago, I think it was just one week or less shy of the actual full year. But they arrived at last!

I'm a little meh on the actual covers, but I LOOOOVE the stenciled/sprayed edges! The naked hardcovers are pretty too and I liked the character art on the flipside, so maybe I'll just flip the covers! The Study trilogy was one of my first adult fantasy series I read, so it has a special place in my heart! It also got me friends with Maria as well! So that book boxes were FINALLY giving this classic series some love made me so happy I purchased them with little thought! Now I did hold myself back from purchasing a recent set I saw from another book box company. I wasn't familiar with them and they were doing Valek's trilogy books and I was a little meh on those covers, so couple that with the unfamiliar company and I decided to pass.

Then I got some preorder goodies in the mail this week:

First up is swag of The Madness by Dawn Kurtagich, straight from the UK!
I got a bookmark
a sticker
a signed bookplate
two postcards 

THANK YOU Dawn!!

Then I got The Heart of the World preorder goodies which were character art cards of the covers!

THANK YOU Penguin Teen!

Then at Kate Golden's signing, I got a whole stack of fun character art:

There were stickers &
Character cards!

And that was it for me this week! Definitely more than I expected after last week! What all did you get?

 

Book Blogger Hop #327

 

This meme is hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addict!

This week's question is: Do you have a favorite book or author that you turn to every October to celebrate Halloween? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

MY ANSWER: Not so much. I mean, in October I will try to read some scary books or thrillers from my TBR pile. More often than not though I am usually in event prep mode and am reading books for that. Or as I might possibly be now, as I write this in advance, I might be re-reading the Caraval trilogy for Spectacular later this month! Lol.

But in a perfect world, I'd be reading thrillers or books that border horror!

Books from the Backlog #104

 

Books from the Backlog is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your bookshelf unread.  If you are anything like me, you might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in your stacks. This is a fun meme hosted by Carole's Random Life in Books!

It’s almost a year since Gaby Winters was in the car crash that killed her twin brother, Jude. Her body has healed in the sunshine of Pandanus Beach, but her grief is raw and constant. It doesn’t help that every night in her dreams she kills demons and other hell-spawn.

And then Rafa comes to town. Not only does he look exactly like the guy who’s been appearing in Gaby’s dreams—he claims a history with her brother that makes no sense. Gaby is forced to accept that what she thought she knew about herself and her life is only a shadow of the truth—and that the truth is more likely to be found in the shadows of her nightmares.

Who is Rafa? Who are the Rephaim? And most importantly, who can she trust?

I added Paula Weston's Shadows to my TBR pile in January of 2016. This was possibly around the time of the rise of fallen angels in YA lit. I enjoyed just about any paranormal/supernatural being in either YA or adult, so when I read good reviews on this one, onto the pile it went! Lol. I still want to read it at some point as it does still sound rather intriguing!

Re-Review--Legendary by Stephanie Garber

 

A heart to protect. A debt to repay. A game to win.

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister, Scarlett, from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend’s true name.

The only chance of uncovering Legend’s identity is to win Caraval, so Tella throws herself into the legendary competition once more—and into the path of the murderous heir to the throne, a doomed love story, and a web of secrets…including her sister's. Caraval has always demanded bravery, cunning, and sacrifice, but now the game is asking for more. If Tella can’t fulfill her bargain and deliver Legend’s name, she’ll lose everything she cares about—maybe even her life. But if she wins, Legend and Caraval will be destroyed forever...

Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . the games have only just begun.

So I apparently can't stop myself from reading too fast when it comes to Stephanie Garber! My re-read of Legendary was ideally to take me to Friday and yet here I finished it Wednesday morning. Oops. I always favored Tella of the Dragna sisters. Mainly because I  love her fiery spirit and how she says what's on her mind. She's fierce and loyal to her sister and would go to the ends of the earth to prevent her sister pain, much as Scarlett would do for her. Now, in this book, we see her do what it takes to pay her debts and find her own kind of happiness.

Much to the surprise of Tella and Scarlett, and the rest of the world, there is to be a second game of Caraval just weeks after Scarlett won the last one. This time it's more in honor of Elantine's upcoming birthday, the rule of Valenda. Tella is presented with a dilemma, for in the first game, she had a bit of outside help into getting into Caraval as well as getting a few tips here and there to help her sister win the game and to find a way to be free of their abusive father. And now, this friend has come to collect her debt.

Lead by mysterious letters, Tella finds herself playing yet another game of Caraval, but this time she is determined to win, if not to save her own life. For her mysterious friend has demanded that she bring him Legend's true name and in order to get that, Tella needs to win Caraval.

I had forgotten how early of a role Jacks had been playing in this series. We technically might have saw him at the tail end of Caraval when Tella receives the Luckless coin of the Prince of Hearts. So many mysteries and the more I kept reading, the more I was wondering just how well Stephanie was laying groundwork for her future novels. Of course, I have to wonder if the use of "spectacular" at the end of this one was more coincidence than anything else! Lol.

Tella learns just how dangerous the game of Caraval is when she encounters the Prince of Hearts. Tella knew of the Fates from her mother's Deck of Destiny cards that she glimpsed as a child once and she knew in particular just who this deadly Fate with a deadlier kiss was. When she learns that Jacks, the dark prince himself, is her "friend," things get even more dangerous than they were before. Jacks doesn't just want Legend's name, now he wants the man himself. If Tella fulfills her end of the bargain, he would deliver her missing mother to her as well.

The stakes just got higher.

I loved diving further into the Caraval world and learning about the Fates! It was an intricate addition, yet it's nothing that becomes overly complicated either. So many questions and of course, there's Legend, the man of mystery himself. Just who is Legend? Was it Julian? Scarlett's new maybe beau, was always apart of the Caraval games and he claims to work intimately close with Legend, but is that just a twist of the truth? Is he really Legend? Truthfully, Tella thinks almost anyone could be him.

What I continued to adore about this book was the interactions Tella had with Dante! Dante was the boisterous flirt from Caraval that you almost just rolled your eyes at when he stepped on the page. I had worried he would be a wedge between Scarlett and Julian, but when he and Tella have a night of fun together, I couldn't get enough of him! When he teased Tella or set her up for possible embarrassment, she would dish it right back. She's a force to be reckoned with and I just love this girl! I love how protective Dante became of her as well, as it seems maybe for once, he was tired of chasing all the girls or what have you. 

One always worries in trilogies that the second book would give off "middle book" feels, but this series avoids that trope. Legendary very much stands on its own and brings its own magic to the mix. It helps to set us up for Finale where all kinds of chaos is about to ensue.

Legendary probably remains my favorite book of the trilogy, purely for Tella's moment in the spotlight! She's a character I could find myself being best friends with as she's courageous and is always there for the people who matter to her. She's got spunk and sass and a bravery that's worth admiring! While this one does end with a bit of a cliffhanger, more so than the first book did. Luckily, this time, I can dive right into the third book with no waiting involved.

Now if only I could stretch that one out to last me through the rest of the week and all of next week! We'll see how I do with that one!

Overall Rating 5/5 stars

Can't Wait Wednesday

 

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.

A king by day. Shadow by night…

The Great Betrayal changed everything for the Allied Realm. Long ago, the kingdom’s noble houses rose up against the goddess... and for their treachery, the firstborn of each noble family was cursed.

One with perilous beauty.

One with destructive knowledge.

One with insatiable bloodlust.

But the royal house Mortara received the worst affliction of all. For while the king exists during the day, he fades into nothingness at night...until his twenty-first birthday, when he will be lost to the shadows forever.

Now an acolyte has arrived at court. Like all the second-born children of the Allied Realm, she’s destined to serve the goddess and become a Seer...only Cerise Solon has no gift of foretelling. In fact, she has no magical gift at all.

Instead, she’s surrounded by courtiers and priests—smiling sycophants whose hearts are filled with secrets and lies. And at the center of it all sits His Majesty Kian Hannibal Mortara, with his haunting eyes, sharp tongue, and an unerring ability to send her pulse skittering at the worst possible moments.

Falling for him is unthinkable. Because the king is the last of his line, and as the specter of his twenty-first birthday—and the full force of his curse—approaches, the kingdom holds its breath.

But there’s only one way to save a dying king... and it lies with the one person who’s hiding the biggest secret of all. Cerise.

This one sounded like fun! I still have quite a few of Melissa's books to read but I did read one duology of hers and loved it, so yeah. I need this one! Lol.

TITLE: The Half King
AUTHOR: Melissa Landers
PUBLISHER: Red Tower Books
GENRE: Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: November 19, 2024

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Purple Princess of The Purple Booker. 

Here are the rules:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a page
3. Pick out 2 lines that are SPOILER FREE
4. Name the title, author, etc.

This teaser is pretty much how I knew Tella would be my best book BFF!

"'I've heard Legend's performers never truly die. So maybe I'll push you out to see if the rumors are true?'

Tella didn't know if the young man's threat was serious, but it was too tempting to hold back from saying, 'Not if I shove you out first.'" p 75

TITLE: Legendary
AUTHOR: Stephanie Garber
PUBLISHER: Flatiron Books
GENRE: YA Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: May 29, 2018

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and The Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. 

This week's topic is: Top 10 Bookish Brags

*in no particular order

10. HAVE CAR, WILL TRAVEL--I am pretty much willing to drive any amount of distance to see an author, be it the first time or 5th time! It usually depends on how many books of theirs I have, will the trip require vacation days and/or hotel stays, and just how far it is and me gauging the worth of it all.
9. GO THE DISTANCE--I once booked a flight and hotel stay for my mom and me to go to Pittsburgh in 2008 to meet one of my all time favorite authors, I also convinced her that this convention had other authors I read too and since I said I'd pay for the travel expenses she was like okay! I was a little too scared to fly on my own at that point, hence the reason why I was asking her to come on my dime! Lol.
8. PURSES FOR BOOKS--I used to buy my purses in sizes that I knew could hold a book! This was mainly in my school days where we weren't allowed to carry backpacks around, but a girl could carry her purse, so yes, I made sure I had a purse in every size for every size book I owned! Which thankfully at that time, they were never BIG BIG books
7. USED TO RE-READ A LOT--wayyyy back in the day, long before blogging, heck even just a few years before blogging, I used to re-read ALL THE TIME! Now I rarely have time for it, but on occasion I make exceptions! ;)
6. HOUSE SHOPPING FOR LIBRARY ROOMS--I'm still on the lookout for my forever home, lol. So far it's been slow going but I'm hoping with rates dropping things might start popping up soon, and yes, I am looking for a house where I can have a library room...as well as ample living-room space for bookcases. 
5. OWNING WAY TOO MANY BOOKMARKS--I have an extensive bookmark collection dating back from my childhood. Yes, I still have bookmarks I bought way back at the Scholastic School Bookfairs! The collection continues to grow, but it's maybe 3 or 4 a year if that these days! Lol.
4. TRAVELED TO 15 STATES--I have traveled to 15 different states solely to visit authors and by the end of the month it will be 16! Some states have had multiple cities too!
3. MULTIPLE COPIES OF BOOKS--I never once thought I'd own more than 1 copy of the same book but then things like cover variants happened, bonus content happened and then there's special exclusive editions or anniversary collector's editions. And yeah, if I LOVED LOVED the book, I usually end up with an extra or two...
2. OWNING OVER 2K BOOKS--my current spreadsheet has me with over 2,000 books in my "collection" and this doesn't include the stack I have marked as "maybe read one day!" Or I might not read them, it's undecided still.
1. OWNING 185 STEPHANIE GARBER BOOKS--my current collection stands at 185 copies over the course of 6 books. Of course, this number will change once Spectacular releases! And then the special collectors' sets from the US AND the UK! So yeah, We'll be hitting 200+ before the end of the year!