Can't Wait Wednesday #238

 

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.

After discovering she's an heiress to a billion-dollar corporation, seventeen-year-old Liliana finds herself at a new boarding school where she must navigate secret societies and a deadly competition. Not to mention two handsome boys.

The Reappearance of Rachel Price meets The Inheritance Games series in this new YA thriller from bestselling author Kelley Armstrong.

In the wake of her mother's death, Liliana Chamberlain's estranged (and very wealthy) grandparents swoop in. Or their lawyer does. Her grandparents aren't ready to meet her, but they want her to have the life her mother walked away from, starting with Westwood Academy, the elite boarding school her mother attended. It should be a Cinderella dream come true, but Lili has serious misgivings. Yet she doesn't have a choice, being under eighteen and dead broke.

Westwood Academy is a school of secrets as well as intriguing classmates, including Hollywood golden boy Theo Dubois and the mysterious Maddox Moreno. As she gets to know them all, Lili realizes there's more to the school than elite-level networking. Something deadly.

For the new girl at school, investigating the deaths of past students — including Maddox's own sister — is a very dangerous game. Do those deaths have something to do with why her mother fled Westdale at the cost of her inheritance?

When a fun night out turns bloody, Theo is the prime suspect, and Liliana must race against time to connect the past with the present and discover the truth behind her inheritance.

If it's Kelley Armstrong I'm buying it! Well, you know minus contemporary romance, but pretty much anything else! Lol.

TITLE: A Deadly Inheritance 
AUTHOR: Kelley Armstrong
PUBLISHER: Tundra Books
GENRE: YA Thriller
RELEASE DATE: March 24, 2026

She's promised to be loyal, dutiful, and obedient, but to whom?

Lady Ammalie Avington, Baroness of Faebarrow, has discovered the truth, and it should not come as a surprise: the blood mage who threatened, spellbound, and abducted her intends to bring ruin to the realm--the very one she is sworn to serve. It's just a terribly inconvenient fact to learn because, well...he's rather cute.

But it's not safe to pine after the son of a demon, especially not whilst locked up in a tower surrounded by infernal beings and a rival for your affection, nor trapped below ground in a den of beguiling vampires, nor even in the heart of a wild jungle under the tutelage of esoteric witches. Amma just can't help herself around Damien Maleficus Bloodthorne, danger be damned, but, truly, what danger is there? Damien's heart, the one he swears to not have, has been softening right before her eyes. Nevermind the weird smoke that sometimes unwittingly emanates from his hands or that faraway look he gets to his eyes, and a voice she can't hear telling him that he's meant to be a vessel? Surely it's all just a bad dream.

After finally tasting freedom and learning that Amma may have ancient, innate magical powers of her own, why not use them to do exactly as she pleases?

Yes, I still need to start this series...don't I always? Lol. But it gives off the right vibes that I may likely be wanting to read this sequel too!

TITLE: Summoned to the Wilds
AUTHOR: A.K. Caggiano
PUBLISHER: Sourcebooks Casablanca
GENRE: Fantasy Romance
RELEASE DATE: March 24, 2026

The Wall was built to keep them safe. Or so they thought.

For as long as seventeen-year-old apothecary Rose Allgood can remember, the towering stone Wall surrounding Noah’s Valley has protected her people. No one leaves. No one fights. And no one questions why.

But their paradise has been hiding its thorns. When Rose’s mother becomes the Valley’s first murder victim and her twin brother is swiftly condemned, she alone is searching for the real killer. Determined to find the truth, she follows a trail of hidden messages, forbidden knowledge, and whispers of a past no one dares to remember.

The deeper she digs, the more certain Rose becomes that her mother’s death was no accident. That the Wall isn’t just keeping something out.

It’s keeping something in.

Fans of The Hunger Games, The Grace Year, and The Maze Runner will devour The Verdant Cage―a chilling dystopian thriller about what it takes to rebel when you discover your entire world is a lie.

This is another one that sounds delightfully creepy. I am loving this cover too! But then I saw a white background one but really hope this is the final because it looks amazing!

TITLE: The Verdant Cage
AUTHOR: Jess Lourey
PUBLISHER: Entangled: Mayhem Books
GENRE: YA Dystopian
RELEASE DATE: April 7, 2026

Random Thought: Author Series

 

So I had a random discussion idea pop up! Yes, I am still trying to do these on occasion but without the pressure of a set number. Just like the old days. Lol.

The question that came to mind was: Do you start an author's new series if you're still behind on their old/completed series that you started?

For me, it depends. Normally, I would say that I'll start the new one once I finish the old one. But then you get the authors who write multiple series at once plus standalones galore! Lol. Yes, I've an author who seemingly never sleeps. I love it, but holy cow am I behind!

But then there's an author who I just started her completed trilogy but just haven't gotten around to reading the last two books and now she has a new series starting that I REALLY want to read. But I told myself not until I finish her last one! 

For the most part, I would say I would only move onto the next series if I finished the old one or whatever one I was still reading. But if it was for something totally spectacular then yes, I would break my rule. My reading rules are never that strict anyway! Lol.

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've already experienced enough weird sh** in my life. I don't need to add 'creepy magical architecture' to the list." p 88

TITLE: Fallen Gods
AUTHOR: Rachel Van Dyken
PUBLISHER: Red Tower Books
GENRE: Fantasy Romance
RELEASE DATE: December 2, 2025

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: GENRE FREEBIE: Top Ten Fairy Tale Retellings

*in no particular order

10. FOREST OF A THOUSAND LANTERNS by Julie C. Dao--Snow White retelling

9. THE SHADOW QUEEN by C.J. Redwine--Snow White retelling
8. SNOW by Tracy Lynn--the first Snow White retelling I ever read!

7. THE BEAST'S HEART by Leife Shallcross--Beauty and the Beast retelling from the Beast's POV
6. CRUEL BEAUTY by Rosamund Hodge--Beauty and the Beast retelling

5. Nocturne by Syrie James--Beauty and the Beast retelling but with vampires!

4. DOROTHY MUST DIE by Danielle Paige--The Wizard of Oz story after Dorothy came to town. This had to be the first book with a title that made me buy it without ever reading what it was about!

3. CRESS by Marissa Meyer--a Rapunzel retelling and my favorite of The Lunar Chronicles!
2. TIGER LILY by Jodi Lynn Anderson--Peter Pan retelling through Tiger Lily's eyes

1. LOST BOY by Christina Henry--Peter Pan retelling that's a Hook origin story!

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:

West of Wicked by Nikki St. Crowe (ARC)--Review to come at a later date

Fallen Gods by Rachel Van Dyken (4 stars)

Currently Reading:

East of Envy by Nikki St. Crowe (ARC)

What I Plan to Read Next:

Living Dead Girl by Rachel Vincent

Other Posts of Interest:

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays
Can't Wait Wednesday #237
Books from the Backlog #175
Book Blogger Hop #400
Stacking the Shelves--The Super Spectacular Mega Haul!
February Wrap-up

February Wrap-up

Time for another monthly wrap-up! I feel like I outdid myself this past month! I read EIGHT books! Now granted, last month I read three books that were 500+ pages, so those were time consumers. This month I read some significantly shorter books! Two were under 300 pages and the rest were under 400. I didn't do any "other" posts this month. I guess I am still a bit burnt out from last year. But there is one coming this week!

TBR READS:

A Dream So Wicked by Tessonja Odette (6/30/23) 
We Won't All Survive by Kate Alice Marshall (7/29/25)
Wild Card by Rachel Vincent (12/25/17)
Fat Cat by Rachel Vincent (4/17/23)
Brave New Girl by Rachel Vincent (5/9/17)
Strange New World by Rachel Vincent (5/8/18)
Fallen Gods by Rachel Van Dyken (12/2/25)


ARC READS:

West of Wicked by Nikki St. Crowe (4/14/26)--Review to come at a later date

Stacking the Shelves--The Super Spectacular Mega Haul!

 

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.

What even was this week? Lol. I know I keep saying that lately, but the weeks have been a bit dull lately. Which again, not too much of a bad thing, I prefer calm instead of chaos anyway. Although, as I write this I am running on low fumes. I got very little sleep Thursday night. Tried to go to bed early Friday but it got to that point where I was SO exhausted, I still could not fall asleep and then I still woke up in the middle of the night and then again a few times after that. And that horrible, awful, dreadful, no-good DST is next week and I just know I will be EVEN MORE TIRED after that. Perhaps this is my body already rejecting losing the hour of sleep/life. Lol. The week was pretty uneventful until yesterday when I went to see Kate Alice Marshall again! I think she's come here three years in a row now? Which is just awesome as she was always one author I thought I'd never get to meet after I read and adored Rules for Vanishing! I got quite a lot more books than expected this week, as my Amazon order from weeks ago was FINALLY shipped and delivered. Of course, one random bookmark was separated from the herd, so now I have to hope they don't damage it in whatever envelope it was put in! Fingers crossed!

Here's what I did get this week:

The Light Under the Shadow Wing by Amanda Bouchet--had a panic attack when I saw B&N shipped this in a paper envelope instead of the usual cardboard one as the mail carrier shoved it into our mailbox haphazardly like and I couldn't get it out of the box right away! Luckily it survived but that was the worst 2 minutes of my day by far! Lol.
The Beasts We Raise by D.L. Taylor--still need to read the first book, but as it's a duology (I think) I was likely wise to wait! Lol.
Make Me a Liar by Melissa Landers--been on my Amazon list for ages and when I was creating an order to get the next book listed here, I threw this in for my shipping!
Living Dead Girl by Rachel Vincent--been on my list for 3+ years now, always meant to download it but never got around to it. But since Rachel is coming next month I decided to treat myself to the actual book!
The Girls Before by Kate Alice Marshall--SIGNED!

And while all my special edition Fairy Loot books keep getting lost somehow, I did receive my February monthly box. This was another one that I was a little meh on, but might give it a read at some possible point.

Now I just need FL to respond to my follow-up email regarding my second lost order. I guess you can say "luckily" I am not the only one who is missing the latest two orders that I am missing, as a friend of mine who lives in the same area of states is waiting on hers too. So it's like their shipping partner lost a great big batch of boxes for these particular books. And yes, my anxiety is SKY HIGH as one of these missing orders is my Caraval set!

Then I won a contest on Instagram from Bramble and it arrived super quick and I am SO excited to read this one:

A Curse of Beasts and Magic by Jeaniene Frost (ARC)

THANK YOU Bramble!!

Then a surprise review book also popped up in my mailbox this week:

A Thousand Perfect Lies by Monica Murphy (ARC)

THANK YOU Mayhem Books!

Then this week I received other books for review that I had put requests in:

East of Envy by Nikki St. Crowe (ARC)--was super stoked to get this one as I just finished the ARC of the first book! 
It Came from Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo (ARC)
The Wretched Divine by Adalyn Grace (ARC)

THANK YOU Bramble, Crooked Lane Books, & Feiwel!

Then I ended up being one of the lucky readers to get the pin for The Wolf and the Crown of Blood! I remember this preorder offer seemed more like a contest and I was shocked to find that I won!!

THANK YOU Bloomsbury!!

Then I got these fun stickers at the Kate Alice Marshall signing:

And then finally, here's one of the bookmarks I bought in my Amazon order! Just have to hope the second one arrives unscathed!

I mean, how perfect is this? Funnily enough, I do have one that says Introverted but willing to discuss books! Lol. Guess that was before we coined this term!

And that was my pretty spectacular haul this week! What did you get?

Review--Fallen Gods by Rachel Van Dyken

 

They said the Gods were myth. That the Giants were only stories told around dying fires. They lied.

The Gods aren’t dead—they’re only sleeping, locked in mortal bodies, scattered across the world, waiting for the right spark to wake them. And my father is the most ruthless of them all.

He raised me to obey. To bleed. To be his blade when the time came. Now he’s sending me to Endir University, a place filled with ancient bloodlines and deadly secrets, to steal back Mjolnir, the hammer of legend. If I fail, everyone I love dies.

But Aric Erikson wasn’t part of the plan. He’s the enemy’s heir. Distant. Dangerous. And…the one person I can’t afford to fall for. He’s closed himself off completely behind a wall of ice, but the more I’m ordered to unravel him, the harder it becomes to remember where the lies end and I begin.

There's only a mission I never chose—and a man I was never meant to love—standing between me and a war that will decide the fate of the world.

But if I’m the spark, maybe he’s the fuse. And the Gods? They’re about to wake up angry.

Rachel Van Dyken's Fallen Gods was a creative take on Norse mythology. Granted, it's not necessarily any kind of retelling that we know of. Really, there's just the names of familiar faces woven into a completely new and compelling story that had me intrigued from the get-go!

I do love a good mythological based story! Although the few courses I took on the subject were mostly focused on Greek/Roman, we did loosely touch on others like Norse mythology. Of course, we all know bits and bobs of it from the Marvel movies, but it's hard for me to say if anybody got anything right since I have barely any memory on the subject.

But luckily, Van Dyken has an author's note saying she took largely creative input on this one with only a few things ringing true. 

Anyway, our story follows college freshman Rey who is being forced to go to Endir University instead of the college of her choice. Her father, Odin--yes, that Odin--is making her go there in order to find Mjolnir aka Thor's hammer. It's been lost for ages but he believes that Aric, the son of their enemies, knows where it's at and Rey is to do whatever is needed to get the hammer back in their family's possession. 

Rey and Aric have a history, a complicated one as I didn't quite grasp how this rejection came about. They were meant to be together, but then they broke up before they even got together and just went back to being enemies so to speak. But Odin and their family know that Aric and his family are Giants...their mortal (or probably immortal) enemies. Except that Aric and his family's powers and abilities are "sleeping" so they don't really know who or what they are.

Yes, there was quite a bit of complexity happening here within the story. There are secrets galore and secret plots happening all over the place. We get both Rey and Aric's point of view, so we are getting each side to this R&J love affair they have happening. True enemies to lovers as these two loathed one another for about half the book before a change started to happen.

The story moved at a quick pace as Rey only has a week to find Mjolnir and if she fails, Odin will harm her stepmother (his wife). This Odin is basically a bad guy practically as he's always seems to be threatening Rey or someone she loves. Now if this rings true of our Odin of mythology, I can't say as, again, I don't remember much of those tales. I will admit that at times, the pacing did get slow down a bit when it came to searching for this thing and that thing. But otherwise, it was a bit of an up and down rollercoaster!

I did enjoy the dynamic between Rey and Aric. There's also a delicious tension when it comes to enemies to lovers stories and I ate it up! Of course, I was still a little unclear of their past history and what it was that set them apart from one another. It was quite literally a moment and I must have glazed over it. Distracted reading is not advised, my friends! 

But despite a few misses here and there, I was still able to follow the story along well enough and was totally invested in seeing Rey and Aric succeed. There were some shocking surprises at the end of the story which will definitely make for a stellar sequel, that's for sure!

If you're looking for a book with some possibly-new-to-you mythology based, then I highly recommend Fallen Gods! It was an intriguing and engaging start to what's sure to be an epic saga!

Overall Rating 4/5 stars

Book Blogger Hop #400

 

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

This week's question is: When you spot giveaways, do you enter just for fun—even if you’re unsure you’ll read the book—or only when you truly want the title? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews)

MY ANSWER: I definitely enter the ones where I really, really want to read the book! Other times if it's a book I keep debating about, I'll enter the contest anyway. These days all the contests are on Goodreads and it takes me like 2-3 years to win 1 book. So if it's a book I'm debating about and I win it, I take it as a win and I will still read it. I treat it like a review book (and hopefully I get it in time to read before it releases!). My last Goodreads win was actually last year--so I probably won't win one again until 2027 at the earliest--and it took longer than expected to receive the book. Like it came maybe 2 weeks before the book was set to release.

Books from the Backlog #175

 

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 not easy being the son of evil incarnate…

Hunter Teague is the prince of the Unseelie Court, the dark half of Faerie. Raised in an atmosphere of unspeakable cruelty, Hunter has learned the lessons of his mother, the Queen of Air and Darkness, and he’s ready to put them to use. He’s on a mission, one that will shift the balance of power in Faerie forever: he will seduce the Seelie king’s mortal daughter and sire a child upon her—a child who will be heir to both the Seelie and the Unseelie thrones. Hunter has never met a mortal woman he couldn’t seduce...until now.

Kiera Malone is a self-employed web designer and a self-professed cynic. She doesn’t believe in magic or soulmates, let alone her mother’s ridiculous claims to have slept with the mythical Faerie King. But when Hunter hires her to design a website, Kiera finds herself drawn to him in ways that seem almost magical. He’s gorgeous and sexy as sin, the kind of man any woman would swoon over—but her every instinct warns her there’s something dangerous lurking beneath his charming façade.

To succeed in his mission, Hunter must let himself get closer to Kiera than he ever planned. Soon, he finds himself burdened with the one thing a prince of the Unseelie Court can’t afford: a conscience. Now Hunter must betray either the woman who is slowly working her way into his heart, or the Queen of Air and Darkness...who would destroy him and Kiera both.

I used to love reading Jenna Black's books, but then I think she retired from writing at some point and I still have a few of her backlist titles floating around on my TBR pile. Prince of Darkness was one I added in August of 2017. From the looks of Goodreads this one originally published in 2006 and then it looks like it was reprinted in 2011. It must have been a kindle sale that led me to download it and on the kindle it remains, because as I said, I forget I have books on that thing! Lol. I know for sure of one author's series that I still download but always forget to read, but that's another story! This one still sounds like it would be a fun classic Urban Fantasy read so I really ought to charge up the ol' kindle and it give it a read sometime soon!