Can't Wait Wednesday #269

 

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.

Torn from her home and forced to train at the brutal Forge as a child, Thalia Marrow has only ever known the life of a Scion—one sworn to guard the Library of Curses. But on the night she crosses paths with an enigmatic Fae, the Library is ransacked, and her brother is taken by demons, leaving Thalia as one of the last Scions still alive.

Desperate to find her only family, Thalia follows the bloody trail to the mysterious Soren—a ruthless warrior who was cursed and banished from the Fae world. Everything about him is dangerous. Everything about him calls to her.

Bound by necessity, the warrior librarian and the Fallen Fae must now work together to uncover what happened at the Library and unmask the shadowy new demon leader unleashing curses across the realm. But in the decadent, treacherous city of Delfs, not all is as it seems. As the threat of war rises and Thalia’s feelings for Soren grow, so too does the truth of his bloody past—and the curse that could destroy them both.

I loved Christo's first book I read ages ago and have been meaning to read her other books pretty much ever since. I know I didn't get into her sophomore duology, but I've added her last two after that to my TBR pile! And just look at those edges! 

TITLE: Cursekeeper
AUTHOR: Alexandra Christo
PUBLISHER: Atria Books
GENRE: YA Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: November 3, 2026

With an unputdownable plot, incredible twists, and an extraordinary high fantasy world filled with court intrigue, heart-racing action, a unique magic system, and sizzling chemistry, Sharpest Court is the thrilling sequel to the #1 New York Times bestseller, Thorn Season.

Alissa Paine has fled her home, the Kingdom of Daradon – forced to say goodbye to her old old life in order to escape the clutches of both the cruel, tyrannical King Erik to whom she was once betrothed, and the Hunters who persecute Wielders like Alissa.

But she has not left Daradon empty-handed, and Alissa has in her possession an object that Erik greatly desires – a mysterious and ancient spellmade compass which has the potential to reshape the world, if Alissa – or Erik – can unlock its secrets.

Seeking refuge in the Ansoran Empire, Alissa is able to demonstrate her Wielding powers openly for the first time in her life. But Ansora is not a safe haven, and Alissa is quickly forced to navigate the rules and customs of another dangerous ruler. And even with her former ally, Kiel Arcus, by her side, Alissa soon learns that, while she may have been raised in the kingdom of thorns, she is yet to enter the sharpest court….

Perfect for fans of Powerless, Six of Crows, and The Rose Bargain, Sharpest Court is an extraordinary return to the world of Thorn Season. 

Of course, I still need to read the first book of this series! But this is another I am hoping I am right in thinking I will love it! Plus this cover is so pretty! Lol.

TITLE: The Sharpest Court
AUTHOR: Kiera Azar
PUBLISHER: Storytide
GENRE: YA Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: November 3, 2026

Top Ten Tuesday #698

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 That Conjure Up Happy Memories

*in no particular order

10. THE FORIDDEN GAME by L.J. Smith--this was probably the first "compilation" book I ever found and definitely the first one I read! A whole series in one binding was mind-blowing to me and I loved having Smith's retro cover!
9. THE OUTLAW DEMON WAILS by Kim Harrison--I remember begging my mom to drive me to Naperville to meet Kim Harrison! I had bought one of her tour t-shirts as it might have been one of the first times she ever went on tour and I was too scared to drive myself that far! So my mom drove me! And she even bought the first book of the series and had Kim sign it to "the coolest Mom ever!" or something like that! And my Mom still is that!
8. STRAY by Rachel Vincent--this book finally convinced me that you can find Urban Fantasy books in the Romance shelves at Borders! Lol. Plus it was this series that led me to the OG Pride discussion board and was the catalyst for starting this blog...two books later! 

7. HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE by Jeaniene Frost--more of the same from the last number! Another amazing Urban Fantasy series that was shelved in Romance. This is one of the last books I can viscally remember re-reading before the TBR mountain started!
6. POISON STUDY by Maria V. Snyder--one day Amazon recommended a book called Magic Study to me and it caught my eye. Immediately I discovered it was a book 2 and I was like Amazon you dolt! I need to read the first book first! So I get myself a copy of that and was IN LOVE! And it soon started a great friendship with Maria herself!
5. BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE by Annette Curtis Klause--an older book I discovered when it was old itself! Pretty sure this was my first werewolf book and I ATE IT UP! It was SOOOO good! Decades later they would make a movie out of it and the two were as different as night and day.

4. OLD MAGIC by Marianne Curley--my first witchy and time traveling fantasy book and omg I fell in love with this one! So hard! Lol. I re-read it dozens of times during those Dark Days. It was just pure magic!
3. ALICE IN WONDERLAND by Lewis Carroll--namely THIS edition! My 4th grade teacher had this in his classroom library and it was one I kept going back to! I loved the illustrations and it was the first time I read the book of the movie I watched dozens of times and I LOVED it! Then I remember in 5th grade I stopped by his room one day asking to borrow it and he said he'd have to look for it because it wasn't where he thought it was. A day or two later it was on my desk in my classroom with a note that said I could keep it! I wish I kept that note, but alas, I did not. But I still have this worn out used book all these years later!
2. DEMON IN MY VIEW by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes--you never forget your first love! This was my introduction to vampires and I pretty much never looked back! Lol.

And you all already know what's coming next...

1. CARAVAL by Stephanie Garber--naturally! This book was one I devoured and was devoured happily in return! Ironically, its essence reminded me vaguely of The Forbidden Game, but not as deadly! Lol. This would be a series and a world and an author who imprinted on my soul and I just love it! I love it all!

Review--The Velvet Knife by Maureen Johnson

 

Return to the world of Truly Devious as Stevie Bell and her friends travel to New York to solve a murder in the next standalone mystery from New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson.

Stevie might be the greatest teenage detective Ellingham Academy and the world has ever seen, but even she can’t figure out what happened with her boyfriend, David. What she needs is a distraction: a good old-fashioned murder. Stevie is much happier dealing with dead people. They’re a lot less confusing—they don’t send cryptic texts and make out with other girls in British pubs.

But then Stevie gets exactly what she wanted when a dead body turns up in the middle of a Manhattan apartment complex, and this one is . . . complicated. Caught in a web of messy alive-people feelings, Stevie finds herself questioning all human connection. Is magnetism only manipulation? Can you trust anyone? Does anyone realize that they’re joining a cult—before it’s too late? And are things with David really over?

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

Maureen Johnson returns to her Truly Devious story with The Velvet Knife, a new mystery for Stevie to solve while she battles the heartbreak she incurred from David. This was yet another engaging mystery and I was happy to be back in Stevie's world! It was a fun and engaging mystery that kept me guessing all the way through and honestly, it left me a bit shocked with its answers.

Stevie is dealing with heartbreak over the holidays. Her parents want her to come home and spend the holidays with them, but she's not ready to deal with them and all the questions that would come about David. So she goes with Nate to an apartment his editor sent him to in order to finish his book by his deadline or else. It's not long before Stevie meets some of the other residents in the apartment complex and just kind of drifts around for awhile.

To help get the mystery going, we are treated to the occasional flashback to a young girl in the 1970s who gets taken in by new "friends" and is given the new name, Blue. Blue finds herself surrounded by love and a family of her own creation. But all is not what it seems and if you pay attention to the cover of this one, you soon learn that Blue has gotten herself into very deep trouble. Trouble that will soon play a role in the current events. 

Much like with any Truly Devious book, Stevie uncovers a murder when she goes to visit Helen, one of the residents in the apartment complex when her bird starts making very distressful cries. It's then that Stevie finds Helen dead and foul play is suspected. Stevie being Stevie, soon finds herself solving yet another mystery, one that is deeply rooted in the past.

This book was quite a surprise! It's been four years since we last had a new release in this series so coming back to the current events was a little rough. I vaguely remembered that the last book ended with a breakup happening. And the breakup does continue to play a role in the story as David isn't as out of the picture as one might think. Stevie takes their breakup hard, and soon a mystery of what happened between them starts to come up and it's yet another thing for Stevie to deal with.

I liked this balance of murder mystery and the sort of "mystery" of what happened between her and David. I couldn't remember the reasonings behind their breakup in the last book, but the little bits I did remember did leave you wondering. Of course, the answer wasn't as exciting as I had hoped for. Or maybe the reasoning just wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. It's a personal debate if you think Stevie should get back together with him or not as I had mixed feelings about that whole thing!

The mystery itself was pretty good though! A cold case from decades ago unfolds through the flashbacks and it gives chilling vibes. It was kind of like an episode of said show, but alas, the aftermath of having solved the whodunit gets swept under the rug. I wish we could have seen more about that, even if it was just a few sentences. Something to show if justice was served or not. But alas, we are left to our own imaginations.

The ending of this book was nice, if troubling. I say troubling, because it's not clear if Johnson is saying goodbye to Stevie or not. That part is definitely left open-ended. On the one hand, I think, maybe it is goodbye...but then it's not overtly clear if it is or not. So I guess time will have to tell if this was Stevie's last true mystery or if the itch will strike again in the future!

All in all, this was a fun read! Very much a young adult version of that detective drama show on TV. Lol. I kind of liked that in a sense that we got these flashbacks to tell the story but the mystery in the present day still needs its own solving. Will you be able to figure out whodunit? I for one, did not come even close to getting the answer right, but I loved it all the same!

Overall Rating 4/5 stars

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:

Children of Ash by Jaye Wells (4 stars)

Currently Reading:

The Velvet Knife by Maureen Johnson

What I Plan to Read Next:

The Emperor's Enemy by Jasmine Mas

Other Posts of Interest:

Top Ten Tuesdays #697
Can't Wait Wednesday #268
Books from the Backlog #205
Book Blogger Hop #431
September Wrap-up
Stacking the Shelves--Ending September with a Bang! Edition

Stacking the Shelves--Ending September with a Bang! 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 week in the books! Work was a little intense this week. I feel like things have been rough this last month since we lost two of our team members due to layoffs and it's almost a little unpleasant, but I think we're trying to work through things. I don't know. It's also hard since we're all remote and things are still busy. I feel like some of our teamwork has dwindled. Now it's just a "can someone else do this for me" instead of "can I get some help on this thing" or "can someone trade me this for that?" I feel like losing 1/3 of our team during our busy season was not helpful to us.

Outside of the work realm...things were good. The renovations on my new place are chugging along. We're basically working it one floor at a time in multiple stages. We've torn out all the carpet from the top floor and took out all the flooring on the main level. The basement was unfinished so we gave that a decent cleaning. I think we landed on doing a basement floor paint and giving the walls some paint to brighten things up. My kitchen has been demolished as the cabinets weren't of great quality and my parents wanted me to have a little something better since my home wasn't built with extra storage in mind. Essentially the house is a good size for me, we just need to make a few improvements so I can definitely maximize my storage and being able to get all the things I've accumulated for my household into my house. Might be awhile until I can actually move in, but at least I'm not in a rush to move in.

I also got the rest of my UK copies of The Mirror of Infinite Endings! From what I ordered for myself I got 3/4 covers and a friend in the UK helped me to get the Tesco edition which has my final cover! So I am all set! Just have to wait to arrange shipping and payment with her once she's able to get it mailed out! Such a relief to have all 4 in my collection. I ultimately ordered 6 copies--1 was Goldsboro, 1 was the standard and 4 were Waterstones. I think next time I might just go with 5 (keeping the Goldsboro in that number). I definitely need to get on some site so I can try selling some of my extras from years past! I just need to set my account up to sell and take allllll the pictures and load them up and all that good jazz. Especially with a house to take care of and pay for, I am going to need a little extra funds. It will help once I can go through all my books again and see if there are other special editions I no longer need.

But anyway onto the goods of the week!

Don't Fall by B.B. Reid
Cursed City by Kate Golden
Death by Kristin Cast
Land of Oz edited by Marie O'Regan & Paul Kane
The Emperor's Enemy by Jasmine Mas--B&N edition. Yes, I still need to read this one but I had a compulsion to buy all three before they disappeared! Plan on reading it next, which breaks my duology rule, but I am super excited for it!
Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarros
Escape Me by Tahereh Mafi
The Lost Spectacular by Zoe Duhaime
The Dreamless by Jen Williams

The Mirror of Infinite Endings by Stephanie Garber--Waterstones edition with the Hourglass
The Mirror of Infinite Endings by Stephanie Garber--Standard edition with the Broken Heart
The Mirror of Infinite Endings by Stephanie Garber--Goldsboro edition, #232 and it was the Pie!

Not pictured are two more Waterstones that ended up being duplicate hidden covers.

Then I received my Fairy Loot edition of The Thorn Queen! Decided I'd rather have a matching UK FL set than a US one!

The Thorn Queen by Sasha Peyton Smith--Fairy Loot edition

And then at long last...I received my LitJoy Crate editions of the Caraval series!! I ordered these over a year ago but they were worth the wait!

Caraval by Stephanie Garber
Legendary by Stephanie Garber
Finale by Stephanie Garber
Spectacular by Stephanie Garber

Then for review from the publisher I received:

The Velvet Knife by Maureen Johnson

THANK YOU HarperCollins!!

And that was it for me this week! I was going to share pictures of my house in its "before" stage, but then I saw how much I had going on in this post so I thought I'd better save that for next week! I think that should be a slower week with releases. I've forgotten how much I preordered. Lol. 

What all did you get this week?

September Wrap-up

I feel like this was a difficult month. I didn't do too bad with the amount I read. Granted, half of them were pretty short reads. This was a busy month work wise so there were a handful of days where I found myself working through my break and not getting much reading done. Then towards the end of the month, I finally bought my home! But now we're in renovation mode with it and that is consuming my weekends for the time being. So my spare time has kind of gone out the window and my reading time has gone with it! Luckily, I already made my Goodreads challenge for the year, but I don't think I will be beating last year's number. Not unless I dig up more novellas and graphic novels! Lol.

ARC Reads

None this month

New Release Reads

Rebel: The Graphic Novel by Marie Lu (9/1/26)
The Mirror of Infinite Endings by Stephanie Garber (9/22/26)

TBR Reads

Fortress of Ambrose by J. Elle (10/14/25)
The Haunting of Paynes Hollow by Kelley Armstrong (10/14/25)
Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson (8/6/24)
The Champions by Kara Thomas (7/27/24)
Meridian Six by Jaye Wells (6/2/13)
Children of Ash by Jaye Wells (1/27/16)

Book Blogger Hop #431

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

This week's question is: As a book lover, what’s your biggest fear?

MY ANSWER: That I will not be able to read all the books I own before I die. Truly one of my worst fears ever.

 

Books from the Backlog #205

 

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!

With her wedding fast approaching, as well as her fiancé's investiture as grand master, Master Demon TrapperRiley Blackthorne is just trying to keep Atlanta safe from Hellspawn. When she meets a high-level fiend who claims to be free of Lucifer's control, and allows him to remain at large, she knows there will be consequences.

Denver Beck is facing two major events: taking his vows as a grand master and then as a husband. He's as nervous about committing his life to the fight against Darkness as he's excited to say, "I do". All his worries about the future are confirmed when a city is buried in brimstone, killing every single inhabitant. Was this Hell's doing, or is some other entity at work? It's Beck's job to find out.

After more cities are destroyed, Riley is summoned to Rome to answer for her actions. If they want a future as man and wife, she and Beck will have to take a stand. But will they be strong enough to stop this new threat, a killer that even the angels fear?

I added Valiant Light by Jana Oliver to my TBR pile in June of 2018! I was very late to learn that she had added onto this series after the publisher cancelled the rest of it. So naturally, I am SOOO behind with it. I do believe it's good and done now and has been for years. But it's been SOOOO long I definitely need to re-read the books prior to Jana publishing these on her own. Because I have zero memory of them, other than knowing that I LOVED them!

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