Apr 30, 2023

Challenges Monthly Wrap-up: April

CHALLENGE 1: 2023 Series Enders Reading Challenge

Conquer the Kingdom by Jennifer Estep (Gargoyle Queen)


And I've passed my goal! Technically I'm ahead since there's one series ender that I will be posting this week, so I've decided to up my goal to 10!



CHALLENGE 2: 2023 Discussion Challenge

Imagining Characters
Reading Rituals
Book Separation Anxiety

 

And I've now completed my goal of 15 discussions! So I guess I will up this to 25 for now! I know not very adventurous, but I never know when a discussion will strike!



CHALLENGE 3: 2023 New Release Challenge

The Study of Poisons by Maria V. Snyder (4/15/23)
Conquer the Kingdom by Jennifer Estep (3/7/23)
The Stolen Throne by Abigail Owen (5/2/23)
In Nightfall by Suzanne Young (3/28/23)


Making steady progress on this one now as I dive into a stack of review books! Of course, now the TBR challenge will suffer.



CHALLENGE 4: The Backlist Reader Challenge 2023

None this month, I failed :(
Although I am still in a decent place at 13/20 books







Stacking the Shelves

 

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


Well it was another eh week. Not really complaining or anything, it's just not much happened. Feeling a little disheartened with my quest to find a house for myself as I can't afford much on my own and the results pretty much tell me, there's nothing I can afford. I need to win the lottery...or at least a chunk of the lottery to give me a better down payment on something that costs a little more. So yeah, that kind of put me in a down mood. Saturday was fun though! I visited my favorite independent bookstore and met up with Carole @ Carole's Random Life in Books. I did some other shopping adventures after that. Sadly no good "deals," but not terrible either, in terms of a new purse! Lol!


Here's what I got this week:

Damsel by Evelyn Skye
For You and Only You by Caroline Kepnes
Fat Cat by Rachel Vincent--SUPER excited to read this one but I have 1 more Wildcats book to read before I can let myself dive into this one! Yes, I am THAT kind of weird! ;)


Then my Indie Bookstore Day Haul included:

The Lake House by Sarah Beth Durst
Queen of Myth & Monsters by Scarlett St. Clair--
sadly this was my blind date with a book pick, and I already have it. Exact same thing since I bought the book back in December with the bookstore at the signing. Just my luck to fall for the hint of "vampire, loneliness" as I was all "yayyyy vampire!" I opened it up and was like whelp. It's the book I bought from here in December! This right here is why I do not like the "blind date with a book" picks as I fall for the tags and it's naturally a book I already bought. Sigh...:(
Then I picked up the fun Meet Me at the Bookstore tote, because that's where you'll always find me! Really, it probably should've said, "you can find me at the bookstore!" Lol!
Then I picked up a Main Street Books 30th Anniversary t-shirt! Figured better buy it now while I saw it vs next weekend on their actual anniversary celebration!


I also received my Fairy Loot YA book for the month! I didn't share a picture of it since I wasn't spoiled for it this time around, I figure might as well keep the secret going. The cover didn't seem too different from the UK standard, but the edges were nice, the naked cover was a little different. Not bad, just different. I was excited for the book anyway, so it didn't really matter to me! 



Then I got my latest A Touch of Magic Designs order. Really this time I just ordered the Cupcake pin, one because I just love collecting these, even if it's not my fandom. Luckily for me, this month's cupcake was ONCE UPON A BROKEN HEART! I was OVER THE MOON for this one!


Then I also received bonus goodies! One was the set of Ruhn (?) prints. I honestly forgot his name, I still need to read the second Crescent City book!
I also got this beautiful book pin on the right in a pretty plum purple color!


THANK YOU A Touch of Magic Designs!



Lastly, I received my preorder from Iridescent Fairytale. Sadly, I had ordered the set of Caraval prints but was sent book covers instead. It's all been worked out and I am getting my prints, I just don't have them yet and I sent the book covers back since I didn't really want another set of alternate covers. Telling myself I need to stop going down that route. So I will share the prints picture once I get them! Hopefully next week, if I am lucky!

The pin I did get was beautiful though so I was happy to get that! I now need to see if the hoop I have will work for my OUABH collection as a lot of these pins are BIG! So I may need to get a bigger pin hoop. I have to see how it looks before I can share the finished look! 



And that was it for me this week! Not too bad all things considered! Saturday was really kind of fun since the weather was really nice! What all did you get?








Apr 28, 2023

Book Blogger Hop

 

 
This meme is hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addict!
 
 
 
This week's question is: Have you tried a reel on Instagram? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews




MY ANSWER: I'm not super big on the reels/videos in Instagram. I joined because I wanted to share pictures but then they started adding the reels and stories and while I occasionally post a story...mainly to "reshare" something an author posted or a contest entry kind of thing, I kind of prefer to keep it simple and stick with pictures. 
 
I did post at least one video to my recollection...wayyyyyyy back when my Caraval collection was super tiny I posted a reel of my entire collection. It was before Finale released so it was just Caraval & Legendary. I remember now I think it was before the actual "reel" feature so it was just the mini video or what have you, because I could not find Jodi Benson's Part of Your World ANYWHERE in the then current feature's library, so I had the movie playing in the background on my iPad to get the part of the song that I wanted.

Funnily enough Instagram gave me some kind of "flag" for using Jodi's song because it somehow belong to "The Ally and AJ" or something like that...and I was like who? What? Seriously? It's literally THE LITTLE MERMAID movie playing in the background. I think in the long run, certain territories might not be able to "listen" to the music in the background. It was weird. I didn't get in trouble trouble, but to me it was like they were saying the song belonged to that user or something and I was like noooo...it's the movie that I paid for playing in the background. But yeah, the song is so in the "library/collection" now, so it was just the timing issue I guess.
 
I think I did try playing around with the reel feature one other time, but I never have any good ideas for them. I hardly ever watch anyone else's reels either, they take too long to get through, which is why I just like the "picture feature" that was Instagram's original purpose.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Apr 27, 2023

Review--In Nightfall by Suzanne Young

 

In the quaint town of Nightfall, Oregon, it isn't the dark you should be afraid of—it's the girls. The Lost Boys meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this propulsive novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Treatment .

Theo and her brother, Marco, threw the biggest party of the year. And got caught. Their punishment? Leave Arizona to spend the summer with their grandmother in the rainy beachside town of Nightfall, Oregon—population 846 souls.
 
The small town is cute, when it’s not raining, but their grandmother is superstitious and strangely antisocial. Upon their arrival she lays out the one house always be home before dark. But Theo and Marco are determined to make the most of their summer, and on their first day they meet the enigmatic Minnow and her friends. Beautiful and charismatic, the girls have a magnetic pull that Theo and her brother can't resist. 
 
But Minnow and her friends are far from what they appear.
And that one rule? Theo quickly realizes she should have listened to her grandmother. Because after dark, something emerges in Nightfall. And it doesn’t plan to let her leave. 


I didn't catch onto Suzanne Young's In Nightfall right away, but as soon as I saw the cover, I was intrigued! The tagline of it being The Lost Boys meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer had me ordering this book SO fast! I was literally just reading what the book was about and the next day I saw Suzanne's devastating post about her signing being empty! I immediately ordered a copy from her store since I was planning to buy it anyway, cursing my luck of living in the Middle of Nowhere all the while! But oh man, this book was SO amazing! If you've known me at all, you will know I have an absolute love of vampire books, and with the aforementioned tagline, I knew this book was going to be just for me and it so was!

Theo and her brother Marco got themselves into a bit of trouble just as their summer break was starting by throwing a wild raging party while their dad wasn't home. Cops were called, and it was not a pleasant night to say the least. Theo's parents' divorce was just finalized and her dad suddenly felt an urging to return to his childhood hometown and visit his mother in idyllic Nightfall, Oregon. Not trusting his unruly teenagers, he brings them along.

Nightfall is the epitome of classic small towns! It's a place where everyone pretty much knows each other and their business. Theo is quite taken by its appearance, especially, the welcome sign featuring the siren singing sailors to their doom. A bit morbid, but it's done in a beautifully, terrifying way. She and her brother meet their grandmother for seemingly the first time and she's an eccentric old lady, but charming. Although, when Theo and Marco wish to go out after dark, their grandmother appears as if she's seen a ghost. Nighttime is not the best of times in Nightfall and Theo will soon learn the reason why.

When the siblings hit the town at night, they see that it is something of a completely different world. Most businesses are already closed down for the night and not many people are out either. But then they happen upon a group of teenage girls and Marco, is naturally drawn to the girls. Theo feels a pull as well, but she figures it's just their enigmatic presence.

Then Theo meets a guy named Parrish and feels an immediate attraction of her own. There is just something about Nightfall that calls to her and her brother. The people seem to get them and everything seems perfect...until it slowly spins out of control. Theo soon begins noticing a change in her brother's behavior, he's not acting like himself. She soon starts seeing her new friends acting a bit bizarre too, it would seem there is more mystery to Nightfall than Theo realized. As luck would have it, her favorite horror story podcast stars are in town as well, apparently looking into the mystery that is Nightfall and when Theo gets the gritty news from them, she's not sure what to believe. There is rich supernatural history within this town and it's downright frightening.

I'll admit, when I went into this story, I was expecting the Buffy and Lost Boys vibes, but then I noticed things that kept getting shined with a spotlight and I started to wonder, what exactly are we dealing with here? The mystery of what are they, does get drawn out, but while some might find it taxing to have to wait so long, I must admit, I loved it! The suspense of just what is going on in this town drove me nuts but in the very best possible way! I kept going back and forth between two creature features and wondering which one was hiding in the town, because it's obvious something inhuman is lurking about. I had chills for the last chunk of this book! Once Theo finally realizes what is happening, once she finally believes in things she never thought possible, oh man was it good!

The characters were very mysterious as well! The story is told from Theo's point of view, but her observations of the trio of girls; Minnow, Beatrice, and Annemarie definitely made you wonder what exactly were they? I mean the two options I battled with both seemed to fit these girls and their actions, so to say I was surprised when their "identity" was revealed was pretty on point! I couldn't really make up my mind and then suddenly it's said what they are! Then there's Parrish and I thought I had this boy pegged down to a T. I was wrong, lol.

The ending...oh wow. That ending was intense! Naturally this was where the action hit you with a big punch and just whoa! Even in the aftermath, there was still mysteries and secrets to be uncovered and it was just a mind-blowing ending to say the least! 

I think what I loved the most about this book was the slow building mystery! Just the way it was done, teasingly and giving you little bites and tastes of the bizarre and glimpses of something unusual really hooks you in! I kept reading for when I wanted to get to these bizarre and startling moments, trying to piece together what the mystery of Nightfall was! Answers took awhile to come, because history books are just hearsay anyway, but the darkness that was always around the events of the story really kept me on edge and I just devoured this book with every waking moment I had!

If you're a fan of dark and mysterious reads that slowly draw you in with a false sense of security, In Nightfall is the read for you! The synopsis above says it all with The Lost Boys meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer and this book will still have you doubting yourself as to just what is going on in Nightfall! Prepare to have a new reason to stay inside at night and always stay in the sunlight!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars







Books from the Backlog #28

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!

 

You know her story. You know her painful initiation into the werewolf world and you’ve seen her struggle to find the truth.

Now, Lacey Quinn is ready for the war to be over. Are you?
Lacey has been used, lied to and cheated out of the only thing she ever wanted: independence. Struggling with her newfound knowledge of being pack leader, Alex coming back into her life and the kidnapping of Lily’s mate—Matt—Lacey is faced with one of the biggest decisions of her life: fight or flight. While she knows running from the war will risk many lives, but staying means she would never have the life she wants and quite possibly never know a world without werewolves, witches and war.

Sometimes doing the right thing isn’t always the first or most obvious choice. Lacey Quinn is about to challenge what everyone thinks is the right thing to do. Unfortunately for her, most will not agree with her decision or the painful outcome.

Sometimes, love means death.

 

Jordan Deen's Full Moon has been on my TBR for a painfully long time, since its release in 2014 at some point. Sadly, it's on the kindle, hence the reason why it's been forgotten so many times for so long. Also sadly it's the final book of the trilogy, one I started way back at the beginning of my blogging days. The series started in 2010, but there was a 3 year delay between books 2 and 3, so that also played a role in my not getting around to it right away. I had forgotten story details by then since this was before my note taking days. So I'm scared to dive back in since it's been sooo long and I don't think I'll have time for a re-read of the first two, but I almost have to. Plus I know it was an indie or self published author so I'm also wondering if my tastes have changed and some of the simple joys might not be enough to capture my attention. But on the kindle it waits...maybe some day...

 

 

 
 
 


Apr 26, 2023

Can't Wait Wednesday

 

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 sensational conclusion to the massive #1 New York Times bestselling series…

It’s been over three months since my friends and I took down Cyrus. Three months where my biggest fear was what paper was due next... But I should have known it was too good to last. Now everything is falling apart.

The Vampire Court has no king, the Dragon Court has no heart, and the Gargoyle Court has me—a teenager in way over her head. And it’s the worst possible timing, because a threat is brewing just as the Circle is collapsing.

I have no choice but to return to the Shadow Realm and face the terrifying queen who nearly ended us…and make a deal with her to save Mekhi. But this time, I’m bringing my powerful friends with me—and Hudson. Except something is wrong with him, too. He’s keeping a secret—even from me.

All I know is that everyone’s life hangs in the balance. And it’s my fault—because I still owe the Crone a favor...and now she’s come to collect.

 


SUUUUUPER excited to read this one, naturally! I've loved this series from the beginning and I cannot wait to see how it will all come to an end! I've already preordered 2 copies, just got to get the other 2 ordered at some point! Lol. I know one can look up all the extra content online, but it doesn't always feel right to me to do that. Plus, I've already bought all the Covet's and Court's, so why break the trend now? I will likely have to try cutting back on future books if this happens in the spinoffs because it does get pricey, but I figure I can at least carry on with THIS series in this way since I've already committed!

 

TITLE: Cherish
AUTHOR: Tracy Wolff
PUBLISHER: Entangled Teen
GENRE: YA Paranormal
RELEASE DATE: May 30, 2023

 

 

 
 


 

Apr 25, 2023

Let's Discuss: Book Separation Anxiety

 

So I've been trying to think of another post idea! There's only so many ideas running through my head, half the time I think of an idea that I talked about 3 or so years ago! Lol! I mean, I guess I could always rehash a topic, but then the funny thing is...my opinion is still the same! But this time I am facing a new problem and that is...


Book Separation Anxiety


Currently, the majority of all my books are in storage. All of the "read" ones anyway. I am house searching so it was more feasible to have them all in storage then at my parents since they just moved and didn't want a million books in the new house. They settled for the few hundred of books I need to read still. So it was a compromise! Lol.

Anyway, the problem comes when I think of a great picture idea for something and I realize...all the books are in storage. Or mainly, I read the last book and the rest of the series is in storage. And my storage unit is PACKED! I mean PACKED! I utilized every inch of space I have in that unit so I am getting my money's worth. I've a few bookcases in there, some other "normal" boxes of stuff I bought ahead of time for my new place that I am trying to find but of course the market sucks right now and interest rates really suck.

But anyway, it's not really a problem just problematic, if that makes sense! I basically move on from that picture idea and try to regroup and work with just the one book!

The other problem I have is when I need to find a book for an upcoming signing! It's pretty much guaranteed that the book is in storage because I would read at least one from whatever author is coming to St. Louis! This past weekend I was "lucky" enough to find my book halfway through the stacks. I had the foresight to write on every box what author was in it! I even checkmarked the names if the books inside were signed, so when I went looking for my Marie Lu books last month, I knew what boxes not to bother opening!

It's a very, very tiresome process and it didn't help that the facility had the heat on since it was a colder day, as I opted for the climate controlled rooms to keep my books at a good temperature. To prevent any kind of damage from happening. It's on the second floor of the building, and a bit of a walk from the elevator but it's not too bad...unless you're toting two bags of books with you, plus a step ladder to reach the tall stacks, to put into the unit, lol.

It also doesn't help when we had storms the last few weekends that I was a bit worried about my babies. I know it's not something to really "worry" about, but I did. I miss my books. I miss having my shelves setup so I can walk by them and admire all the wonderful books I've read over my lifetime. Really, really, really hoping to find a perfect place sometime soon so I can get them all out of storage and back in my waiting arms! Not really looking forward to the unboxing of them all because omg is that going to be tiresome, but hopefully I'll have more shelves by then and can put more of them out instead of tucking away into closets and such! The labels on the boxes will at least help me with the alphabetizing...but the boxes themselves are SOOOO disorganized as I took multiple trips to the unit in the beginning when I boxed a few books up and then moved them in a trip or two at a time. And since I've been in there a few times digging for things, boxes were shuffled around numerous times, so nothing is really where it originally began!


Have you ever had any kind of book separation anxiety? Did you have to remove or leave books behind for whatever reason? Did it make you sad, did you wish you had particular titles for random things?







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 cringe and look around my room. The doll faces stare back at me. I'm scared." p 112


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TITLE: In Nightfall
AUTHOR: Suzanne Young

PUBLISHER: Delacorte Press
GENRE: YA Horror
RELEASE DATE: March 28, 2023




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 10 People I Would Want to Narrate an Audiobook

 

*in no particular order
**I don't listen to audiobooks but if one of these actors were to narrate a desired book, I would totally be tempted to buy it!


10. ANTONIO BANDERAS--honestly picturing it with his Shrek Puss in Boots tone!
9. JAMES MARSTERS--
pretty sure he did narrate one, but I can't remember which.
8. KATE BECKINSALE--
love her English accent!





7. JIM CARREY
6. ROBIN WILLIAMS--
impossible I know. I would've liked a book with multiple points of view so he could do a series of voices!
5. HEATH LEDGER--
another impossibility, but man did I love his accent!




4. THEO JAMES--another lovely accent!
3. KRISTEN BELL--
I would have to buy one of the audios of the Veronica Mars books! That would be fun!
2. WILL FARRELL




1. CHRIS HEMSWORTH--another accent!