MIA

(image borrowed from Adobe Stock)

Hey all! Just popping in to say that I will be MIA for the day! Doing a road trip for a book signing. I will be back tomorrow!

Book Blogger Hop #383

 

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

This week's question is: How many "book" bags do you have? Do you use all of them? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews)

MY ANSWER: Oh gosh...I seriously don't know! Too many to be honest! Having attended many conventions I was used to getting free bags all over the place. Most of those ended up being donated and I upgraded to sturdier bags that could handle the heft of my books. Do I use all of them? I try. I try to rotate them out when I take them to this signing or that signing. Depending on the signing itself and how my books I bring depends on which bag I will bring. Some are only up for the challenge of 5-7 books or so. I've some that can handle 2-3 and then there are the bigger totes! Some of those are the cheap ones from department stores, so really, they can only handle clothing, but I make do wherever possible!

Books from the Backlog #160

 

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!

She's a soldier - Noemi Vidal is willing to risk anything to protect her planet, Genesis, including her own life. To their enemies on Earth, she's a rebel.

He's a machine - Abandoned in space for years, utterly alone, Abel's advanced programming has begun to evolve. He wants only to protect his creator, and to be free. To the people of Genesis, he's an abomination.

Noemi and Abel are enemies in an interstellar war, forced by chance to work together as they embark on a daring journey through the stars. Their efforts would end the fighting for good, but they're not without sacrifice. The stakes are even higher than either of them first realized, and the more time they spend together, the more they're forced to question everything they'd been taught was true.

Fast-paced, romantic, and captivating, Defy The Stars is a story about what it means to be human, about deciding what you truly believe in, and about finding your place in a dangerous world.

Having enjoyed Claudia Gray's books in the past, I added Defy the Stars to my TBR pile in April of 2017 and it too remains unread! I've always been hesitant with space books but I feel like giving it a try with Claudia at the helm!

Can't Wait Wednesday #221

 

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.

On a deadly mission to kill the mythical beast that has been haunting her woods, a desperate mage finds her fate intertwined with the handsome and powerful man who saves her.

There’s something in the woods…

Untrained and barely armed, Riela reluctantly agrees to enter the forest and kill the deadly beast that has been attacking her fellow villagers as she’s the only mage available—or so she thought. When one beast turns into two, she fears her death is at hand, but unexpected aid from a scarred, strikingly handsome man with dangerous moonlit magic means a second chance at life—and an opportunity to learn more about her own fickle power.

After being rescued and healed from her fight in the forest, Riela awakens in a magical castle complete with a gorgeous library, a strange wolf, and the surly man who saved her life. Riela soon learns Garrick is not a mortal mage at all—he’s a powerful Etheri sovereign who has been locked out of his kingdom in Lohka for nearly a century, and his powers are weakening.

Trapped in his castle and surrounded by the treacherous woods, the spark of attraction between Riela and Garrick slowly ignites into fiery desire. But the more they discover about Riela’s magic, the more suspicious Garrick grows of her identity. As they unravel the secrets connecting Riela’s past to Lohka, the tenuous threads of trust between them begin to fray because Riela’s life—or her death—might be the key to regaining everything Garrick has lost.

Super excited to read this one too! I loved one of the SciFi series I read by Jessie so I am excited for her take on fantasy! This one sounds incredible!

TITLE: Silver & Blood
AUTHOR: Jessie Mihalik
PUBLISHER: Avon
GENRE: Fantasy Romance
RELEASE DATE: January 27, 2026

Review--The Mermaid by Christina Henry

 

From the author of Lost Boy comes a historical fairy tale about a mermaid who leaves the sea for love and later finds herself in P.T. Barnum's American Museum as the real Fiji mermaid. However, leaving the museum may be harder than leaving the sea ever was.

Once there was a mermaid who longed to know of more than her ocean home and her people. One day a fisherman trapped her in his net but couldn't bear to keep her. But his eyes were lonely and caught her more surely than the net, and so she evoked a magic that allowed her to walk upon the shore. The mermaid, Amelia, became his wife, and they lived on a cliff above the ocean for ever so many years, until one day the fisherman rowed out to sea and did not return.

P. T. Barnum was looking for marvelous attractions for his American Museum, and he'd heard a rumor of a mermaid who lived on a cliff by the sea. He wanted to make his fortune, and an attraction like Amelia was just the ticket.

Amelia agreed to play the mermaid for Barnum, and she believes she can leave any time she likes. But Barnum has never given up a money-making scheme in his life, and he's determined to hold on to his mermaid.

I've had Christina Henry's The Mermaid on my TBR pile for far too long. I had some initial hesitations about it, but since I loved the author I decided I would read it...eventually. I'm sad to say that some of my hesitations were well-founded. But it was still an interesting story centered around a real mermaid, even if it's not the familiar tale of Andersen, it was still an enjoyable read.

Amelia is a mermaid and like her predecessors before her (from Andersen and Disney), she was always fascinated with the human world. Then one day, she gets caught in a fisherman's net and instead of keeping the phenomenal beauty, he lets her go. But then Amelia comes back to him and decides to live as a human for a time and eventually marries the sailor. But mermaids age slower than humans, so eventually he passes away and Amelia is left alone. She still occasionally turns into a mermaid when she goes for a swim and that's when rumors start along the coast.

It's when the rumors reach P.T. Barnum's ears that he sends his associate, Levi Lyman, to investigate and procure a mermaid for his museum. Barnum is very much a man who sees value in dollar signs where Levi is a bit different. He's not blinded by greed, but maybe isn't quite of moral character since he works with Barnum.

When Levi meets Amelia he is taken aback by her beauty, all the hallmarks of a classic fairytale. But instead of falling in love with him, Amelia is just indifferent. Though she's lived as a human for many years now, she still doesn't quite understand them fully. Eventually, she agrees to play Barnum's "mermaid" even though she showed him she's the real deal, he is more fascinated by the money he can make off of her rather than Amelia herself.

I guess I just felt like this book wouldn't hold the magic of its fairytale predecessor. Yes, The Little Mermaid is more of a tragic tale than what Disney gave us. So while I wasn't necessarily wanting that, I had hoped for some of that fairytale vibe and magic. Instead, I felt like there was very little magic to this story. Even the conflict didn't seem very strong as Amelia was just performing for people and while some believed her to be authentic, others thought she was a fake.

There were some "scruffs" you could say that presented tension. Then of course, you have this building tension between Amelia and Levi. Though, it's hard to say it was romantic tension as Amelia still isn't used to human feelings and emotions. Amelia had a contract to perform for Barnum for six months and the duration of the book ended up being less than that, and yet, it actually felt quite longer with everything that happened. I guess perhaps it was just too much mundane normalcy for me to get hooked by the story. 

In retrospect, this book pretty much met my expectations after reading the blurb. I suppose you can say that's why I held off reading it for so long. While it wasn't my favorite book of fairytale essence, it was a worthy read in some sense. There's tension and you always kind of wondered at the dangers surrounding Amelia and her not being ultimately aware of them. So it had that kind of tension going for it, but alas, I cannot say it was a favorite. 

While not exactly one of my favorite reads by Christina, The Mermaid was a worthy read in of itself. I was just hoping for a little more magic, maybe a little more fairytale magic and while there were some nods to the original tale, I still felt like things were just a bit too normal for my liking. But I suppose, in hindsight, a mermaid entering the human world and playing at being human without any magical curse ticking away would lead to a normal storyline. If you're a fan of truly contemporary fairytales in a historical setting, mind you, then this just might be the read for you!

Overall Rating 3/5 stars

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.

"Hope would not leave him entirely, for hope is a clinging, tenacious thing, almost impossible to dislodge. She might not have traveled all the way for him, but that didn't mean he couldn't convince her of his value." p 93

TITLE: The Mermaid
AUTHOR: Christina Henry
PUBLISHER: Berkley
GENRE: Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: June 19, 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: The First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf

*in no particular order
**these were from one of my TBR shelves, as all the "read" books are in storage (still) :(

10. HUNTERLORE by Dana Claire--I read the first book two years ago for a book tour and it was really entertaining! A nice blend of Supernatural and YA and originality. Just never made it back around to reading this one!

9. MY VAMPIRE PLUS-ONE by Jenna Levine--Jenna actually toured here last year and I then made myself read book 1 which I already had and bought this one at the signing!

8. THE DAGGER AND THE FLAME by Catherine Doyle--a FL book I've had since...whenever it came out. Last year I think?

7. THE TEMPTATION OF MAGIC by Megan Scott--an impulse choice to pick up one sale day at B&N! Lol. Then I got the FL version too, whoops.

6. SHE IS A HAUNTING by Trang Thanh Tran--this was another blogosphere related purchase! Read a review of it that convinced me to buy it.

5. THE THIRTEENTH CHILD by Erin A. Craig--I admit part of the reason I held off reading this one was that I wanted to read the Grimm tale its loosely based off of and it took me awhile to find my copy of Brothers Grimm tales, but find it I did!

4. VAMPIRES OF EL NORTE by Isabel Canas--still want to read this one too! It was on my wishlist the year it came out and I got it in my Secret Santa gift if I recall.

3. HOLY TERRORS by Margaret Owen--I initially thought I would read this shortly after I read the second book earlier this year...oh how silly I was back in March/April!

2. NIGHTWEAVER by R.M. Gray--yeah, still want to read this beauty too!

1. DIVINE RIVALS by Rebecca Ross--another FL book that I thought I would give a try...at some point! Lol. I did want to wait for the second book (which, yes released how long ago? lol) before I dove into it.

Let's Discuss: Fantasy Books

 

New month, new discussion! Lol. Hopefully I can continue this pace up! A new idea popped up into my head. At least I think it's new, for me at least. Lol.

Fantasy Books

Well, if you know me, you know I am very much a physical book reader. I don't like my ereader all that much. It's good for indie reads and ARCs, but I do find there's one genre I just cannot read on my kindle and that is Fantasy! For some reason Fantasy books just work so much better as a physical read for me.

Sometimes it does have to do with all the "extra" reference pages. Like maps, maybe a glossary if the author built up a new round of vocab or creatures that might need explaining. I can't tell you how many times I've referred back to these guides (if I know they are there!). It's just soo helpful.

Then there's also just knowing the page count. Yes, you can configure this to some degree with a kindle. But I like being able to flip a few pages and see that I have like 8 pages left in the chapter or that the next chapter is only 2 pages long. Just these little things help with my reading pace so much better! Then it's also getting a sense of how many more pages there are left in the book itself too.

I mean these things can be applied to any genre as well, but I guess when it comes to the Fantasy books that tend to have a bit more complex building to them, I just need to have these as a real book. Because yes, the times I've read them on my kindle, it was so, so hard! And then finding that dang glossary AFTER I've finished it always made me aggravated as well! Lol.

What about you? Do you have a particular genre or even author that you have to read as a physical book? Or maybe even the exact opposite?

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 Read:

The Place Where They Buried Your Heart by Christina Henry (ARC) (4.5 stars)

Review That Was Posted:

The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer (ARC) (5 stars)

Currently Reading:

The Mermaid by Christina Henry

What I Plan to Read Next:

Ship of Spells by H. Leighton Dickson (ARC)

Other Posts of Interest:

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays
Let's Discuss: Book Compulsions
Can't Wait Wednesday #221
Books from the Backlog #159
Book Blogger Hop #382
Challenges Monthly Wrap-up: October
Stacking the Shelves--The Alchemy of Secrets Edition: Part 5

Stacking the Shelves--The Alchemy of Secrets Edition: Part 5

 

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. Not really counting down to anything. Holidays are coming yes, so not prepared! Trying to buy things when I can, but also trying to hold out for Black Friday sales when I think some of the things I want to pick up could go on sale, but since I want to wait it out, they probably won't! Lol. Shockingly there weren't any new releases for me this week, but I've got a pretty pile coming next week...pending B&N ships them in a timely manner and they don't get lost of rerouted! Lol. But yeah. Otherwise things were pretty quiet. Work is slowly winding down, still get spurts of busyness, but nowhere near the quality of earlier this month...or last month, so that's a relief! And you're probably wondering how many more AOS editions of these I'll have...there should just be one more incoming! For now at least! ;)

Here's what I got this week:

Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber--my wayward Indigo edition FINALLY made it! So much hassle to get this one what with tariffs and postal strikes! But it's here!
Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber--GOLDSBORO edition! This one is sooo pretty! Love the edges!
Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber--Fairy Loot edition! Luckily I had a friend who didn't want hers so I saved her a skip by buying it off of her! She even got me the page overlays, but got it in the second round, so those will come next year!

Then I got the Fairy Loot YA book of the month! I had already bought the US version, but thought the UK cover was so pretty so I thought I would get the FL one. Sadly the alternate cover is just a little meh, maybe it will be better once I've read it and maybe "see" it better. But the flipside of the cover is an alternate color scheme of the OG UK one so I can always use that if I don't like the other one later. Lol.

Then I got my Pages of the Night order from Britnee's latest drop! I had hoped my fake cake decor pieces would've arrived yesterday as well, but I'm worried my PO might have put them in "the send it to another PO" pile as it came to them at 6am yesterday and didn't go out for delivery. So I'm hoping I get it Monday if anything! I had quite a few Nightbucks piled up so I was trying to spend as much of them as I could and didn't do too bad after I bought these and placed a quick custom order! Lol. I'm saving myself into the poor house as my family likes to say!

I bought the light up Tella! Really, I just loved her dress! Tella's blue butterfly dress is my favorite, so yeah...I paid a pretty penny for her but at least I had Nightbucks! Lol
Then I bought the Scarlett that Britnee sculpted with the dress! When I saw the sneak peek I was like I HAVE TO HAVE IT! It's SO PRETTY!

Then I got some preorder incentives:

The art print for Spellcaster! Still need to read it but it's so pretty!

THANK YOU MIRA Books!

The Alchemy of Secrets Regal Hotel keychain! I had preordered like 5-6 copies of AoS so I had my sister fill out a form as well and have an incentive gift be sent to her house and I got THE REGAL! Was super excited for this one!

THANK YOU Flatiron Books!

Challenges Monthly Wrap-up: October

CHALLENGE 1: 2025 Discussion Challenge

Authors Changing "Age" Levels
Spooky Book Tag
Book Compulsions

Only three discussions this month. I definitely feel like I am suffering from burnout as I was doing so well at the beginning of the year. But then work got busy, I had a few events to attend, then there was real life. So yeah October was busy! I currently sit at 46 discussions and I am lowkey hoping to make that 50 before the end of the year! You'd think 4 wouldn't be hard at all, but after these last few months it sounds super hard! Lol.

Challenge 2: Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge 2025

A Fire in the Sky by Sophie Jordan (9/24/24)
Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu (3/28/23)

I didn't realize I was reading so many new releases last month! Yikes! Lol. This currently sits at 44. I'd have to find some insanely short books to get that bumped up and I don't think that will be happening. As I still have a few "event" books I'd like to try to read and another two review books waiting...so yeah...50 TBR books might not happen, but it will be super close!

Book Blogger Hop #382

 

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

This week's question is: Have you ever been haunted by a book's plot or character? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

MY ANSWER: I guess no? I don't think I've been truly haunted by a book's plot or character. One book though did give me absolute chills on so many levels though and that was Christina Henry's Near the Bone!

In this book, a young woman is running away from more than one kind of monster in a wintry forest. We learn about her history and basically how she came to be where we meet her and it was chilling. This is still a book I always recommend when someone asks for something creepy.

So maybe you can say I was haunted by this one? It was definitely chilling enough to give me several kinds of scares.