Can't Wait Wednesday #268

 

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.

The New York Times bestselling author of Seven Deadly Thorns, Amber Hamilton returns with a dark academia romantasy inspired by Cinderella.

Vesper Fontaine and Lonan Duval have always been rivals. Competition for top student at Gossemort Academy, school of magic, is cutthroat. They both keep dangerous secrets, and tonight those secrets could get them killed.

It's hours until The Ridding--a high-stakes, one-night-only test, in which students will be locked in the school and challenged to survive until dawn. Three trials will challenge them, and only the best (and most loyal) will survive.

Then an unexpected element enters The Ridding--a mysterious prince claiming to be Vesper's bloodmate. But what happens when your fated mate is a fate worse than death? As the clock ticks closer to dawn, the trials grow darker, and hope wanes. To survive the night, Vesper and Lonan may have to put their trust in their worst enemy.

You'll be shocked to know I STILL need to read the first book of this series, lol! But it sounds like one I will enjoy so I am excited for the sequel as well!

TITLE: Twelve Dark Hours
AUTHOR: Amber Hamilton
PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury YA
GENRE: YA Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: November 3, 2026

Rinley Renard isn't just a master thief-she's also the sole survivor of a political coup that nearly destroyed Feronia. When the opportunity to steal a priceless sword brings Rinley back to the scene of the massacre, it's a chance to exact her revenge-even if it means masquerading as a guard in the enemy stronghold, where she's still a hunted fugitive.

Prince Zoren Dreiko may be the empire's most powerful Dread Knight, but he has his own reasons for quelling the latest Feronian rebellion. Capturing the masked outlaw stirring unrest might finally free Zoren of his father's traitorous legacy, and keep the vicious empress he serves from taking his head.

Trapped in a brutal cat-and-mouse game, Rinley and Zoren's forbidden attraction blurs the line between duty and desire. When victory for one will doom the other, both are faced with an impossible choice between love and loyalty.

Experience Sherwood Forest like never before in this sizzling Robin Hood- inspired romantasy from New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Estep.

I'm usually hesitant about Robin Hood-esque stories. I don't know why, they just don't always work out for me, but I have loved Jennifer's recent slew of "romantasy" books so I might give this one a try at least.

TITLE: Queen of Foxes
AUTHOR: Jennifer Estep
PUBLISHER: Red Tower Books
GENRE: Fantasy Romance
RELEASE DATE: November 10, 2026

Mini Review--Children of Ash by Jaye Wells

The exciting second installment of the Meridian Six series ... 

Freedom is a luxury paid for with blood. Several months after their first victory over the vampires, Meridian Six and her band of rebels are called in to Book Mountain for a brand new mission. Zed, the leader of another rebel group needs help saving children who were captured by the Troika and sent to Krovgorod, the worst of the vampire labor camps. 

It's an impossible mission, but Saga, the rebel leader sees a opportunity. He wants to use the camp infiltration to assassinate the infamous "Dr. Death," a vampire with a reputation for performing terrible experiments on his human prisoners. Saga promises Six that if she manages to kill Dr. Death, she will be free to leave the resistance. 

It's a hard bargain to refuse, but Meridian Six knows this will be her toughest fight yet. Getting inside the prison camp will be simple, but escaping it will be hell.

Children of Ash by Jaye Wells was the second installment of the Meridian Six series which I believe is long over despite the open-endedness of this title! It was a short novella series set in a dystopic future where vampires rule the earth and humans are their prey and slaves.

Meridian Six is looped back into working for Saga when another resistance leader requires his help in rescuing children from a prison run by vampires. The last thing Six wants to do is get involved with the vampires again, but when there's a chance to get revenge on one of the vampires who hurt her, she's all in. Working with her is Zed, the leader of the other resistance group and who is desperate to get back the kids he helped rescue at one point. 

This time around, we get a lot more point of views. It was a bit discombobulating at first as we don't see Meridian Six right away. If it weren't for the blurb, I'd wonder if she was in the story or not. But once the story gets going, things start to move really fast.

I almost think we could've done without some of the povs, just to keep a short story moving forward. But at the same time I did enjoy seeing new characters.

It's a bit sad that this was likely the last novella of the series as there was a lot going on. True, the ending can leave you satisfied for the most part, much like the first novella, did. I would never say no to more.

This was yet another action packed short little read and since there were evil vampires in it, I was totally on board. A fun and quick read that I'd highly recommend if you need the break from the big chonker reads! Lol.

Overall Rating 4/5 stars

Top Ten Tuesday #697

 

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: FALL-THEMED FREEBIE: Top Ten Covers with Fall Vibes

*in no particular order

10. HUNTERLORE by Dana Claire--this one has great fall colors and vibes going with the leafless tress!
9. THE CHANGING MAN by Tomi Oyemakinde--all the red leaves on the ground definitely give off fall vibes
8. EPISODE THIRTEEN by Craig DiLouie--yes, spooky and fall tend to go hand in hand for me! But this one does kind of give you a wet, fall night vibe!

7. ASYLUM HOTEL by Juliet Blackwell--I think for this one it's the sunset colors over the treetops over the spooky hotel that give me the fall vibes! Lol.
6. THE IVORY CITY by Emily Bain Murphy--definitely the red-orange coloring!
5. THE FOREST KING'S DAUGHTER by Elly Blake--everything about this cover says fall to me!

4. REBEL WITCH by Kristen Ciccarelli--when I looked at my copy in hand, the colors were very much fallsy! Here...well, on my screen it just looks kind of eh. Not bad eh, just not really fallsy, but in real life it's totally rockin the fall vibes!
3. SPELLCASTER by Jaymin Eve--this has a nice goldenrod coloring that evokes yellow leaves for sure!
2. THE HAUNTING OF PAYNES HOLLOW by Kelley Armstrong--more fall coloring...plus spooky vibes AND a Sleepy Hollow vibe at that!

1. DIVE BAR AT THE END OF THE ROAD by Kelley Armstrong--this totally screams a cold fall night!

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:

Meridian Six by Jaye Wells (4 stars)
Rebel: The Graphic Novel by Marie Lu (5 stars)
The Mirror of Infinite Endings by Stephanie Garber (5 stars)

Currently Reading:

Children of Ash by Jaye Wells

What I Plan to Read Next:

The Emperor's Enemy by Jasmine Mas

Other Posts of Interest:

Top Ten Tuesday #696
Can't Wait Wednesday #267
Books from the Backlog #204
Book Blogger Hop #430
Stacking the Shelves--The Really BIG One with Double Vision Edition

Stacking the Shelves--The Really BIG One with Double Vision Edition

 

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 a week! This week was crazy, both with good things and not so good things! Work continues to be busy which is both a blessing and a curse I suppose. Then Thursday Adalyn Grace and Kaylie Smith came to St. Louis for a visit and I LOVED it! I finally got to see Adalyn in a conversation styled signing and it was awesome! I love Kaylie's books too and while I've read both of her adult ones, I still need to read her YA, but naturally, all my copies were already signed, but I got to get the rest of my books by Adalyn signed which is always nice! Lol. And then I started getting copies of Stephanie's book FINALLY! And ohh, I am LOVING what she is doing with this one!

And then FINALLY, the BIG ONE...I am officially a homeowner!! I closed on my townhouse and I officially have a home...that I can't quite live in just yet! Lol. My parents want to help me fix it up. There was some carpeting upstairs that was kind of smelly, so yesterday we spent most of the day tearing it up and basically trying to get it ready for when we install new flooring. We're going to make a few other updates and such throughout the place, including the basement which will be my LIBRARY room! The room I have been DREAMING about throughout my search for a house! And I am SOOO excited to get going on that! But we're basically taking this one level at a time, a piece at a time. We're hoping I can possibly get moved in officially next month. Luckily, I still have a place to live until we can make my new home livable! I will definitely share some pictures soon. Right now I just barely remembered to get all my "before" pics in, one was right after we already ripped up one section of carpet and I was like ahh, I forgot my BEFORE pic! So it's a halfy on that one, but you'll get the idea of it at least! Lol.

But now onto the goodies that I did get because oh my! This was a very special week! As you know it was the release of Stephanie Garber's book! My #1 MOST ANTICIPATED read for 2026! Sadly, I could not attend any of Stephanie's tour stops for it. I REALLY wanted to. Like before I was even putting an offer in on my new home I was researching flights but they were all too expensive and the closest stops were still like a 10 hour drive and we're still busy at work and I am just one of those terrible people who doesn't want to leave the team one woman down for two days, even though apparently everyone else is fine with it. Go figure. I know. I'm weird. I took maybe two half days for October and still felt a wee bit guilty, but I told myself, I'm still coming in for a few hours each day, so it's not as bad as needing to be gone for 2-3 whole days depending on what would've been my traveling situations. Hopefully I can see Stephanie next year. I mean, yes, I did get to see her in July, but I didn't have any TMOIE on me obviously and I really would like at least one or two signed TMOIE by her...

But back on track...onto the goods...

The Emperor's Enemy by Jasmine Mas--Target Ed. I couldn't resist and I have no willpower!
Kiss of the Black Flame by Helen Scheuerer--Target Ed. I think it has exclusive content? I wasn't real clear on its exclusivity feature when I ordered during one of their B2G1 sales.
Kissed by the Gods by Caty Rogan--my mom signed up for a month of prime, so I snagged it while it was half off!
Harbinger by Geneva Lee
Dead Beat by Leigh Bardugo--SIGNED! Leigh actually came here on tour, but since there was no meet and greet, no photo line and no signing line, I opted to just order a signed copy.
Dead Beat by Leigh Bardugo--B&N Ed. SIGNED! Because I have a problem where if I start the series off by getting the B&N edition then I have to have them both...and since I really wanted it to be signed too, I ordered it from one of the stores she toured at! Lol.
The Wretched Divine by Adalyn Grace--SIGNED! B&N ed! See above reasoning for needing this edition as well as...
The Wretched Divine by Adalyn Grace--SIGNED! Adalyn came here on tour as well! And since there was a conversation, a signing and photo line I definitely went to this one and had a blast! I was tired the next day, but oh well. Lol.
The Mirror of Infinite Endings by Stephanie Garber--SIGNED! Past me preordered this one at Stephanie's Indie store. Present me was very happy about this! Lol.
The Mirror of Infinite Endings by Stephanie Garber--B&N edition! Yes, this was why we get the "Double Vision" in this week's StS haul title! Lol.
The Mirror of Infinite Endings by Stephanie Garber--an unsigned edition...but look at the back endpages! It was printed upside down! This was the first copy I received and I wasn't 100% certain it was a blooper copy at first because the book was very...twisty. Lol.
The Mirror of Infinite Endings by Stephanie Garber--Waterstones ed! THE PIE! Yes, I have more copies incoming in hopes of getting all 4 within the 6-7 copies that I ordered! A friend has helped me secure the Tesco edition and that has a different hidden cover, so I am halfway there! Lol.

THEN I received this book from the publisher for review! I remember getting some kind of email about this awhile ago, but guess I forgot about it as I think the book released awhile ago as I think I picked up a copy then too! Lol.

Deathbringer by Sonia Tagliareni

BUT this one came with character cards and House cards!

THANK YOU SO MUCH Atria Books!

Then there was also some SWAG this week! From preorders and signings!

a page overlay of Aurelie from The Wretched Divine
Tarot style character cards from Dead Beat

Then for preordering Monstera by Delilah S. Dawson I got:

a SIGNED bookplate
bookmarks
stickers
postcard

THANK YOU Delilah!!

Then for preordering The Emperor's Enemy I received:

a double sided print
a lenticular bookmark

THANK YOU Mira Books!

And finally, here is me turning the key into my new home! Pictures of that will be incoming...eventually. I've got some before ones taken and the start of the renovations ones too! But I feel like this post has been pretty big already with pics! Lol.

And that was it for me this week! A pretty major and amazing haul! What did you get this week?