The Book Circus Challenge

 

So I saw this challenge on Instagram the other day and thought it looked like fun! And me being me, I decided I'd make it a blog post instead of an Instagram post as I am not savvy enough to do posts like this on Instagram! Lol. I saw this on @stacisbookishprobs and borrowed this image from here to kick it off!

THE RINGMASTER
favorite main character

Tella obviously! Love that girl!

THE ACROBAT
has a crazy plot twist

Going old school with this one! The Kiss of Deception definitely had one that I remember being shocking! Of course, I think around the halfway point I started guessing that THAT might be the case because it seemed like the opposite was obvious...lol!

THE LION TAMER
a strong FMC

So my mind went into overload trying to think of an answer for this one! Finally settled on Odessa as I thought she was a pretty strong FMC. Yes, there were struggles, but overall I liked her character!

THE MAGICIAN
magical world building

 Definitely loved the world building of this series! It was pure magic and I loved every place we visited in all three books and I CANNOT WAIT for the fourth installment!

THE CLOWN
the funniest book I've read

I remember Kill the Farm Boy was just a laugh out riot! Definitely gave me Mel Brooks' vibes mixed with The Princess Bride and all those other good movies!

THE FINALE
favorite ending

This ending was bananas! I still remember thinking things were weird but never quite got to the point of figuring it out which still blows my mind! Lol.

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 Wretched Divine by Adalyn Grace (ARC)--Review to come at a later date

Currently Reading:

Shadows of Perl by J. Elle

What I Plan to Read Next:

Fortress of Ambrose by J. Elle

Other Posts of Interest:

Top Ten Tuesday #691
Can't Wait Wednesday #262
Books from the Backlog #199
Book Blogger Hop #425
Stacking the Shelves--The Pretty Awesome Haul

Stacking the Shelves--The Pretty Awesome 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.

Another week in the books. It was mostly uneventful. Work is going through spurts of busyness and not so busy. I think it will really pick up in September as late July and August are sort of pregame territory! Lol. But otherwise things were kind of quiet and mundane. I took another walk through on a townhouse. It wasn't as nice as the first one I saw and really wanted, but it wasn't terrible either. So I put in an offer and supposedly I'll hear back sometime today if it was accepted or not. I'm not getting my hopes up this time, last time I felt so positive and confident and was happy and excited and then I was given a major letdown. So this time I was trying to be more realistic, maybe a bit negative if you want to get down to it. The layout did feel somewhat smaller than the last one and more work needs to be done. The basement that I want to use as my library is unfinished and needs help, so yeah. But again, it's not terrible, it just needs more work than the last one and it's further away from my parents, so yeah. Maybe my less than positive-happy thinking vibes will work in my favor or maybe not. I don't know, after the amount of joy I felt last time I don't want to go back to that feeling again and get the same results. So until next week folks...

But it was still a pretty good week for books! 

The Poison Daughter by Sheila Masterson

Immortal Rose by Alexandra Bracken
The Immortal's Lie by Jade Christy--I put this one on my "maybe someday" list last year as I thought it sounded like fun and then I got one of my daily book deal emails and saw that this one was FREE for two days, so naturally, I downloaded it onto my defunct kindle--because oh yeah, that sucker would NOT update with any of my new purchases from the last year so I think it somehow died or just can't compute with any new software download because it won't sync any of my purchases from I don't know how many years. So now I read those on my ipad.
The Mist Thief by L.J. Andrews--realized I was missing this one even though I still need to start the series, but decided to order a HC to match my set from Pangobooks! Lol.

Then I won Lisa Loves Literature's monthly contest last month to win some of her books that she was unhauling and I saw she had a few I was eyeing so I entered and WON! Here's what I chose:

The Lure of Wolves and Whispers by Amanda Connolly
The Murder Party by Cindy R.X. He (ARC)
Killing Sadie by Rachel Peterson

THANK YOU Lisa!!

Then I finally received my LitJoy Illuminae Files Collectors set that I ordered over a year ago on their Kickstarter campaign! It is a beautiful set and I was flipping through the pages and it's all in color and just absolutely amazing! Sadly, I found I was missing one of my collector coins, ironically, it was the original one that was in the tier I was buying into--the other two you will see were add-ons! I sent an email to them of course, but it's the weekend, so hopefully next week we can get it squared away as being a total dork I love my non-monetary coins and was devastated to see that this was missing.

Here's my bizarro angled shot to avoid the glare I had going from my ceiling fan light! Lol. But you get the computerized image of each heroine for the titles:

Illuminae
Gemina
Obsidio

and they were all SIGNED by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff!

Then here are the goodies I added on...although the prints (and missing coin) were in the first tier if I recall correctly you could "buy" in to help get this series to come to life!

The Kerenza IV and Heimdall coins

art prints of Kady and Ezra
the Hypatia Emergency Override Collectible Key (my last minute add-on! The two coins you see were totally planned ahead of time! Lol)

And that was it for me this week! What all did you get?

Book Blogger Hop #425

 

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

This week's question is: Do you follow book trends and bestsellers, or do you prefer hunting down lesser-known titles?

MY ANSWER: No. I mean, if an author I already enjoys IS a bestseller, then yes? I guess it depends. I don't seek out bestsellers or lesser known titles. I just go for whatever sounds interesting to me! Whether the author is a NYT Bestseller or a self-published author, I will read whatever story grabs at me! 

So I don't seek out any trends or bestsellers specifically. I just go with whatever story sounds awesome!

Books from the Backlog #199

 

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!

To save the lives of countless people in Captive’s Sound, Nadia has sworn herself to the One Beneath, to black magic. Her plan, and the town’s only hope, is for Nadia to learn enough sorcery to strike back against the forces of darkness. But now that she’s separated from her friends, her family, and her Steadfast, Mateo, Nadia is more vulnerable than ever to darkness. And as the sorceress Elizabeth summons torrential rains and brings the One Beneath closer to the mortal world, Nadia is running out of time to stop her. The final battle lines are drawn, surprising alliances are made, and true love is tested in the action-packed conclusion to the breathtaking Spellcaster series.

Sorceress is richly woven with New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray’s signature dark magic, captivating mystery, and star-crossed romance.

I added Claudia Gray's Sorceress to the TBR pile in April of 2018, so I think I might have found this at Book Outlet? I know I used to shop there a bit in the early days and always needed to get up to a certain dollar amount for them to ship to you. I had the first book and maybe the second as an ARC on my TBR so I thought why not add the third? Pretty sure it was a Book Outlet purchase! Lol. It still sounds like a fun series so hopefully one day I will get to read it!

Can't Wait Wednesday #262

 

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.

Perfect for fans of A Discovery of Witches and Serpent & Dove, this sequel to the sizzling dark romantasy The Temptation of Magic follows fated mates Nicole and Kyan as they attempt to root out the secrets at the heart of a shadowy supernatural organization.

Nicole and Kyan are playing a dangerous game.

Nicole is on the run, hiding from The Wake as she attempts to track down her mother’s last artistic clue and the truth of her death.

Kyan is pretending to still be The Wake’s loyal Empyreal assassin, even though his feelings for Nicole—and the mate bond that ties them together—have changed everything.

Separated, yet determined to be together, Nicole and Kyan must embark on a quest that will take them from the most powerful Vampire in England, to ancient Celtic treasures, and lost Druid sites.

Meanwhile, the Wake sees all, and the Wild Hunt is stirring.

As Nicole and Kyan get close to the dark secrets at the root of the organization, they court complete destruction—of themselves, each other, and all they hold dear.

Still need to read the first book but it sounds so good! So you know, sequel gets autoadded to my list! Lol.

TITLE: A Masterpiece in Blood
AUTHOR: Megan Scott
PUBLISHER: HarperCollins
GENRE: YA Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: October 6, 2026

The breathtaking finale to the instant New York Times bestseller, Bitten!

Welcome back to the Wolf Queen’s Court.

Vanessa Hart is done being a victim. After the brutal winter massacre stole everything from her, she vows vengeance against her enemies once and for all—even if that means killing the boy she once loved...

Vanessa bides her time playing the role of a docile subject. But beneath her mask, she sharpens her powers, embracing the werewolf within while weaving a complicated web of lies, betrayals, and alliances to topple the throne.

Unfortunately, vengeance isn’t easy, and nothing in the Wolf Queen’s Court is ever as it seems. As the darkness of the castle bleeds into human society, it’s clear no one is safe. Cora’s vicious reign grows stronger by the day, Sinclair continues hiding deadly secrets, and Calix—the boy Vanessa might loathe most of all—is threatening her every plan.

With nowhere to run and no place to hide, Vanessa sheds the last of her humanity to play this lethal game of werewolves. And if she doesn’t win, the consequences will destroy her life—and the entire world as she knows it—forever.

SOOOOOOOO excited for this one! I LOOOVED Bitten last year, easily one of my top 2025 reads! Did not know it was a duology going in otherwise I would've waited to read it because OMG I NEED THIS ONE ASAP!!! Already preordered this gorgeous edition and the Target one because I did that the first go around too!

TITLE: Devoured
AUTHOR: Jordan Stephanie Gray
PUBLISHER: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
GENRE: YA Paranormal
RELEASE DATE: October 6, 2026

Top Ten Tuesday #691

 

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 Ten Books Series I' Want to Catch Up On

*in no particular order

10. A SOUL OF ASH AND BLOOD by Jennifer L. Armentrout--so I was reading this series along with her other one that acts as a prequel or something like that. But since these are all 500+ I don't get to them as often as I'd like!
9. EMILY WILDE'S ECYCLOPAEDIA OF FAERIES by Heather Fawcett--I still need to start this one!
8. A CROWN THIS COLD & HEAVY by Stacia Stark--halfway through this one!

7. RHAPSODIC by Laura Thalassa--still need to start this one!
6. KING OF SCARS by Leigh Bardugo--I initially wanted to wait until I had the second book of the duology...so I now have no good excuse! Lol.
5. NINTH HOUSE by Leigh Bardugo--with the final installment coming out, I'm realizing I need to start this still!

4. RENEGADES by Marissa Meyer--again, I originally was going to binge this when it was said to be a duology, but then it became a trilogy so I thought might as well wait that out too. And here we are...
3. A PROMISE OF PERIDOT by Kate Golden--I sooo want to get back to this series! Loved the first book!
2. THE SONGBIRD & THE HEART OF STONE by Carissa Broadbent--since this series is compromised of duologies, I can finally read this set...but yeah...need to start it still!

1. THE RETURN by Jennifer L. Armentrout--I still can't believe I haven't started this one yet!

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 Nightshade God by Hannah Whitten (2 stars)

The Killing Rules by Bree Despain (5 stars)

Currently Reading:

The Wretched Divine by Adalyn Grace (ARC)

What I Plant to Read Next:

Shadows of Perl by J. Elle

Other Posts of Interest:

Top Ten Tuesday
Can't Wait Wednesday #261
Books from the Backlog #198
Book Blogger Hop #424
Stacking the Shelves--No Shelf Control Edition