Can't Wait Wednesday #272

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.

Love, magic, gods, and monsters collide in the thrilling conclusion to the Soul of Shadow trilogy!

When Charlie Hudson awakens after her Trial, it’s to find that nothing will ever be the same. The king of the gods is plotting to destroy Asgard. Charlie and her brother are trapped a world away from the people they love most. And worst of all, she’s become the very thing she hates a night mare.

Charlie’s transition is anything but smooth. Stuck in Helheim Palace, she must train her new shadow magic alongside dozens of soulless mares who would gladly turn her over to the enemy if they discovered she’s Loki’s true heir.

Her only hope is Elias Everhart, her once-sworn enemy who has somehow become one of her closest allies. He’s promised to help train her mare abilities—an easy idea in theory, if her magic weren’t malfunctioning… and if being near Elias didn’t make the darkness within Charlie grow bigger and more all consuming by the day. Charlie is in a race against time to reconcile the powers warring within her. Because if the threat on Asgard isn’t enough to kill her… love certainly will be.

In Dreams of Ruin, the only thing worse than becoming a night mare, is loving one.

I still need to start this series but I like the vibes it gives off! So I'm adding this one to the list! Lol.

TITLE: Dreams of Ruin
AUTHOR: Emma Noyes
PUBLISHER: Wednesday Books
GENRE: YA Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: November 17, 2026

A teen investigates the history of disappearances on her island home and uncovers a dark, magical secret in this swoony romantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of the Hush, Hush saga, Becca Fitzpatrick.

A teen beauty queen has vanished from idyllic Tea Kettle Island, and all evidence points to the girl's ex-boyfriend, Sascha Sinner. When a local vigilante group posts a hefty reward for his capture, seventeen-year-old Bunny decides to go after it-and him-hoping the prize money will help her save her grandmother's failing farm.

Sascha, however, insists he didn't do it. And he wants Bunny to help him prove his innocence. Bunny's less sure, but when yet another disappearance reveals a hidden history of missing girls-a history that includes her own mother-she has to admit something is at play.

Her search for the truth takes her to the very edges of town, into its darkly magical past, and dredges up secrets the other townsfolk would rather not surface. All the while, there are devilish creatures stalking the woods, devilishly handsome young men with more than their fair share of darkness, and the very devil to pay if Bunny can't figure out what, exactly, is taking the girls of Tea Kettle Island...

I am SOOOOOO excited Becca has a new book coming out this year! I LOVED The Hush, Hush series and I LOVED her two standalone thrillers she wrote after that! So I am TOTALLY NEEDING this book in my life! 

TITLE: Vanishing Beauties
AUTHOR: Becca Fitzpatrick
PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
GENRE: YA Dark Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: December 1, 2026

 

Top Ten Tuesday #701

 

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: HALLOWEEN FREEBIE: Top Ten Books That Gave Me Chills

*in no particular order

10. TEN by Gretchen McNeil--naturally I placed it here, because how can I resist? Lol. This was a really good thriller though from my hazy memory. I totally remembered calling the whodunit or part of it anyway! Lol.
9. SURVIVE THE NIGHT by Danielle Vega--this was a really freaky one that was a little unhinged, but I loved it anyway!
8. THE DEVOURING LIGHT by Kat Ellis--speaking of unhinged! I remember this one was pretty weird too but when you had seriously spooky to the weird it works!

7. DIARY OF A HAUNTING by M. Verano--I mean if the cover isn't spooky enough for you...
6. THERE'S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE by Stephanie Perkins--loved this one! Another twisted thriller. I can't remember my thoughts on the movie, I think I liked it...I don't remember hating it. But there was also likely a huge gap between my reading it and seeing it!
5. SWERVE by Vicki Pettersson--you'll forever fear roadside rest stops...never stop there!

4. RULES FOR VANISHING by Kate Alice Marshall--been so long since I've read this one but I remember it being CREEPY! Creepy good, but also creepy!!!
3. THE DEAD HOUSE by Dawn Kurtagich--I love a book that does mixed media woven into the story! This was another super creepy one!
2. NEAR THE BONE by Christina Henry--this is one that will chill you on the fictional horror and realistic horror as well! SO good!

1. DOOMED by Tracy Deebs--and speaking of realistic horror...this is one that will forever terrify me of happening, but I think AI might be trumping this fear. So this particular fear is in a very close second place now. 

ARC Review--East of Envy by Nikki St. Crowe

 

Booktok sensation and USA Today bestselling author Nikki St. Crowe continues the dark and spicy reimagining of the Oz saga!

Betrayed by the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy Gale is now forced to team up with the heartless mercenary, the Tin Woodman. Tin has a grudge of his own against the Wizard – not only is he the man who stole Tin’s heart, but now he’s taken Tin’s little brother, Gabriel, for his own ends.

But defeating the Wizard won’t be easy – he has all of Oz under his spell and more power than anyone. Or does he?

Because Dorothy is more than she seems, and Tin can't help but be drawn to her. And the longer Dorothy’s in Oz, the more she uncovers about her murky past, and her own potential magic.

And when all is said and done, Dorothy might have to reckon with an earth-shattering maybe Kansas isn’t home after all.

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

I was ecstatic to receive an ARC of Nikki St. Crowe's East of Envy almost immediately after I finished reading West of Wicked! This book picks up right where we left off in the chaos of the first book and it was smooth transition to get back into the thick of things.

Dorothy's world has been upended, again. The man she thought she was falling hard for, turned out to be nothing but a liar and a deceiver and he just stabbed her, leaving her for dead. But Dorothy is resilient despite everything that she has been through. She just discovered that her birth mother was the West Witch and she has some sort of water magic that she used to kill her mother by accident...or so she thinks. Dorothy teams up with the Tinman in order to take down Rook for everything that he has done and caused and hopefully, she will learn about her magic along the way.

Rook, as he has decided to keep going by this name, is in a bid for power. Much like the other retellings of Oz, the Wizard is not a kind dude. He's out for power and to do that, he plans to find the gods who previously left Oz and kill them. But Dorothy is a problem he did not expect and he can't decide if he wants to kill her or...you know! Lol.

There are a lot of power play dynamics going on in Oz. This is not Baum's Oz or even Maguire's, that's for sure. This is a new land and the rules we all grew up on are no longer of consequence. It seems like everyone is fighting each other to climb to the top. Glinda, Rook, Tinman, and Gabriel's mother, is a force to be reckoned with. While she was mostly in and out throughout this book, I see her playing a larger role likely in the next book (pending that this is a trilogy, I haven't confirmed this anywhere yet).

There is a greater sense of danger in this one I feel like, Rook basically has everyone out to get Dorothy and the Tinman and kill them as they are a "threat to Oz." So the running for their lives is very real! And then the greatest bafflement of all in this one is Toto! Toto is definitely not your ordinary pooch in this one and while nothing has been confirmed, I feel like we're building into something about this little dog!

There was of course still some steamy romance going on in this one. True, while things were hot heavy with Dorothy and Rook, that love affair pretty much fizzled out when he stabbed her, so now things are heating up with the Tinman! I'm still not really attuned to Dorothy's romances so far. I guess I am missing any emotional attachment going on as it feels just physical, but then it feels like feelings are happening when they aren't fornicating. Guess we'll just have to wait and see where things go with that front. 

The story ends with things in dire straits. A lot has happened, a lot is going to happen still and this definitely gives off trilogy vibes, but based on the titles so far, I wouldn't rule out a quartet just yet either! Lol. Whether that remains to be seen as of now, there's still plenty more things to come of this series and I am aching to find out, but it will likely have to wait until next year since I just binged these two books long before they release officially into the world!

If you're looking for that steamy and edgy retelling of a childhood classic, then be sure to check out The Great and Terrible Land series, starting with West of Wicked! This is one Oz retelling you will not see coming and it is unbelievable!

Overall Rating 4/5 stars

East of Envy releases November 3, 2026

Creatures of the Night Book Tag

So I saw this post over at Lisa Loves Literature and thought it looked like fun and I had to do it since I haven't done a "fun" post in ages. Life has gotten crazy these past few months at work and with life in general. My reading time has slipped, my bookstagram picture taking has slipped. It's been a mess, but it's 50% good things at least, the other half is crazy work life stuff, but hopefully that will start trickling down soon. But anyway...onto the fun stuff!

I am borrowing the image headers from Lisa as they're cool and festive and are better than just my font text! Lol.

A million titles starting running through my head on this one! It became overwhelming! Do I choose a recent fave? A classic fave? A villainous vampire or heroic? So naturally, I just defaulted to my first introduction to vampires that spawned the love I still hold dear: Demon in My View by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes!

This was another hard one! I had lots of titles running through my head, almost went with my first werewolf book again but then thought let's go newer old school and go back to a different obsession! 13 to Life all started with me just seeing a cover but I was obsessed! I am an equal supernatural creature lover of course!

Okay this one I am doing with a twist! Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard releases this week but it's a sort of revamp/redo of her YA debut Something Strange and Deadly! She's made a few tweaks and changes, largely that it is now with adult characters! I will definitely be picking up a copy eventually. I think it's starting as ebook only, so once the paperback version becomes available I will get that as I can't stand reading on my kindle. I think my kindle knows this as it kind of died. It stopped updating at least and new books no longer download. So yeah. We're not on speaking terms anymore. Lol. But the YA version had zombies and that is one of the things that stayed the same for this one!

Yes, I am going all over the place with these picks! Another old school choice because I believe once again this was my first "ghost" book and I loved it! Shadowland was the first book series I remember reading with the ghosts more as characters versus entity to run away from as I think I did read one of those before this one. Lol.

So many great possibilities with this choice but I went with Rachel Morgan from The Hollows series! She's a witch, friends with a pixie and a vampire, dates an elf. This series truly has it all!

Another challenging one to choose! I decided to go off the beaten path and choose a recent read, in The Other Side of the Mirror, Eva learns she has fae in her family background and that she is one and is engage to a fae prince! This was a fun series and I enjoyed the twists and secrets!

I can't believe it's been 4 years since I've read this book! Amy Christine Parker's Flight 171 is about a plane that gets taken over by a demon! So here we have a demon who's in its true element versus being more of a character you grow to love--because yes, I've read many a book where that happens! Lol. This demon needs a new host and is demanding a group of teens pick one among them to be the new host or else the plane and everyone on it is going down! Truly creepy read and will make flying a whole lot scarier too!

And honestly, once I saw this topic, I couldn't NOT choose Obsidian! No, it wasn't my first "teen alien" book as I read the Roswell High series years before this and initially thought this series was trying to be a new Roswell, but that wasn't the case! So glad I took that long ago kindle deal (back when my kindle worked! 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 Wings That Bind by Briar Boleyn (5 stars)

Currently Reading:

Rites of the Starling by Devney Perry

What I Plan to Read Next:

Devoured by Jordan Stephanie Gray

Other Posts of Interest:

Top Ten Tuesday #700

Can't Wait Wednesday #271
Books from the Backlog #208
Book Blogger Hop #434
Stacking the Shelves--Chaos and Calm Edition

Stacking the Shelves--Chaos & Calm 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.

Another insane week, largely because of work. I've got to stop thinking things will slow down because every time I do, I open my email to a new day filled with a TON of requests that came in overnight. It is insane. Since we're now a smaller group this means more requests per person and I somehow get the ones that are BIG! We have a rotating order and it ends up being my luck to be assigned one with a large agent number and it always ends up being the one where we need to request multiple things and then have to check each user individually to see if their "items" have been completed. I peeked last Friday night and saw we received another two big requests and I am just betting one of them will end up on me. Our team dynamic has been a little wavery since we lost two members so I don't get the idea that anyone would be willing to "trade" request items either. The last time I had two big ones I believe they were both Mondays and everyone is busy on Monday so no one was really able to assist as we sometimes would split some of the work among each other, but by the time anyone started asking if anyone needed help, I had already gotten the request done on my own. (Granted the ask didn't come until the next day in the afternoon. That's how busy we all get!) Friday night I trekked out to my favorite indie bookstore, Main Street Books to meet Hazel Beck! They were at the library the night before, but I was too worn out from work that day, that I didn't feel like making the drive, I figured I'd just do the meet & greet on Friday instead. I had a nice day out too and shopped around Main Street. Mostly browsed while I had shopped earlier at other stores on the way to Main Street! Lol. This week I am making a midweek road trip to go see Briar Boleyn! Ironically, I made a road trip to see her and another author last year around this time, I think. She ended up coming to St. Louis a week or two after that adventure, but now with this road trip I will have this latest series of hers all signed so I deemed it worth it! Taking two half days at work so we're not totally left in a lurch, so hopefully I won't come back to utter craziness, but we'll see what happens I guess.

Here's what I got this week:

Daughter of the Tempest by Braidee Otto

Devoured by Jordan Stephanie Gray--UK edition!
The Dark in Her Veins by M.K. Lobb--found this one at TJ Maxx yesterday and I had debated about the book not too long ago and impulsively bought it since I was shopping solo and no one talked me out of it! Lol. Plus it was a good deal, better than the Zon, so there you go.
Some Kind of Haunted by Hazel Beck--SIGNED!

Then I got two preorder incentives yesterday as well:

First up is The Sixth Faction lenticular postcard and leather bookmark!

THANK YOU HarperTeen!

Then I got my bag charm for The Velvet Knife!

THANK YOU HarperTeen!

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

Book Blogger Hop #434

 

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

This week's topic is: What’s the creepiest book you’ve read that isn’t officially horror, but gave you chills?

MY ANSWER: Ooh that's a tough one. I mean compared to horror aficionados my picks probably are not really "horror" like. I mean, they might be in the horror section near Stephen King but content wise they might not be as scary as his stuff.

But yes, ignoring the label of horror, I am going to go TOTALLY old school and pick Tracy Deebs' (aka Tracy Wolff) Doomed!

This book, though already over 10 years old, gosh, I feel really old now, was super scary without even being close to a "horror" novel! This plot of this book was a teenaged girl accidentally unleashed a computer virus that basically shut down ALL technology across the country and I mean ALL! 13 years ago you're probably thinking like what did we even have? Really nothing that we still don't have now. But think...nothing will work. No computers, no internet, no cell phones, no credit cards to buy things, all the machines at hospitals and such stopped working...it was freaking scary because it turned apocalypse now style because NOTHING was working. So the girl along with two (hot) brothers must work to fix it and basically undo the virus before the country just dies because we can't do anything! It was scary because I could totally see this happening and I STILL can see this happening. 

Needless to say that 13 years ago, THIS was my book pick for what was once my annual Halloween giveaway.