Review--The Bond That Burns by Briar Boleyn

 

At Bloodwing Academy, blood is currency, but a dragon's legacy is priceless–and as dangerous as fire.

I thought surviving my first year in Bloodwing's deadly halls would be enough. I was wrong.

I accidentally woke a dragon–a creature of myth, of death, of fire.

Now every highblood house wants control over me and the dragon's legacy I carry. But here's the I have no control. I'm bluffing my way through every encounter, trying to keep everyone from realizing that I'm not the one pulling the dragon's strings.

And then there's Blake Drakharrow. I thought he was on my side, that I might even be able to trust him. But he betrayed me. Now I'm his only blood source. How messed up is that? In a place like Bloodwing, where power and survival are everything, this bond may well be the death of us both. Unless I can find a way to end it.

In this world of vampires, dragons, and lies, there are no happy endings. Just legends–and the darkness it takes to make them.


Set in a richly crafted world of vampire courts and dragon lore, On Wings of Blood blends dark academia, a brooding bully with Draco Malfoy energy, forbidden romance, heart-pounding enemies-to-lovers tension, banter, and dangerous intrigue. 

Briar Boleyn's The Bond That Burns was just as exciting as its predecessor! This book dives more into Medra's abilities as a dragon rider and since we now have a dragon in the mix things are about to amp up!

Things start off rough for Medra once again in this one. After accidentally waking the Avari dragon from its stone prison, it flies off, leaving Medra in a bit of a bind with the vampires. As the dragon notably flew away without its rider and Medra now must figure out how she awakened the dragon in the first place and how she's going to survive a horde of vampires gunning for her head for failing her one job!

Medra is put under solitary confinement in her house bedroom, now regretting having to be in Blake's house after all his massive betrayals. But since he now can only feed from her, they have a tentative balance arranged between them but the tension is thick between them, as is the hostility. Medra is mad at Blake for all his lies and Blake in turn is mad at Medra for a slew of petty reasons. I got to be honest, Blake drove me nuts for a good portion of this novel. He had good intentions, but when things don't go his way he gets pouty and acts hateful.

Medra is now given a new kind of schedule for classes this year and among them is trying to learn as much as she can about dragons and being a dragon rider and what that kind of power means for her. Essentially, it doesn't come off as too good as it's just a way for the highbloods to control her and control the dragons. Meanwhile, she has a connection with a dragon who wants nothing to do with her or highbloods or any kind of "human" creature. But oddly enough, he sticks around and occasionally helps Medra when it suits him.

I feel like in this book we get a lot more secrets being hinted at. Odd things start happening and I start theorizing at the get-go! I will be interested to see how these things will be explained in the next and final book as it was one of those shocking ending kind of reveals that didn't come with the whys or hows of it all. So yes, I do hope we get some explanations about all of that chaos!

Blake and Medra naturally have a lot of things to work out in this one since they are essentially back to hating one another. They are still bonded, but Medra is ticked and Blake is mad that Medra is blaming him for all of his mistakes. It's that convoluted! But naturally, as expected, things are still heated between these two. I kept wanting them to just make up as I am not always a fan of the "I hate you and I am so angry with you, but yes, let's get physical" scenario! It's never jived with me.

As far as pacing goes this time around, I felt like it was done better. Or perhaps it was more due to the page count being a good 100+ less! I love a good long book but all those pages have to amount for something and not just droll out the words as they can sometimes tend to do, it feels like. With the shorter page count, Medra's school year goes by much faster and ends roughly around the same time as it did in the first book, but not entirely. A lot of exciting and jaw-dropping things happen in this one and there was quite a bit of upheaval in the end, so it will be interesting to see what the new outcomes will be in the end.

The ending leaves us with quite a few questions and not just so much in the cliffhanger sense. While yes, it does end with a pretty gnarly cliffhanger, there are other non-essential but still pressing questions going through my head! It's the former that will drive me nuts until next year as that's when the new publisher will release it as had it still be under Boleyn's publishing schedule we would already have it! But that's what happens when indies get picked up by the big houses, it's a beautiful and painful thing! 

All in all, The Bond That Burns was an exciting follow up to On Wings of Blood! If you're a fan of school settings with paranormal beings such as vampires and now dragons, you will thoroughly enjoy yourself with this hot and gritty tale!

Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars

Book Blogger Hop #360

 

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

This week's question is: Have you ever wondered why a passionate book blogger might suddenly stop posting or delete their blog without notice? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

MY ANSWER: I have actually wondered this from time to time. The few blogger friends that I know who did this had their reasons. Sometimes it's just burnout. Reading and loving books or writing the reviews for books was becoming too much, too stressful. It was turning into a second job for them. They just lost their enjoyment for it and they didn't want to lose their love of reading too. So they stepped down from the blogging part of it and just read for fun and the love of reading. And I get that. I guess that bit never really hit me where this felt like a job. I guess because publishers didn't always send me ARCs, COVID really messed that up and I was finally getting some kind of standing after 10 years of blogging and that nasty mother f-er ruined a lot of things in this world, including the loss of lives. But still I persist in my little corner of the blogosphere. Yes, more people have turned to Instagram and TikTok, but I honestly do not have time for videos. They take too long to get through and the few that I did watch never said anything constructive about the book. They gave false platitudes because they got a free book out of it.

Sorry about that little rant. That kind of just slipped out, but it also deals with how things have changed with blogging. I've also noticed that some bloggers leave because of life changes. That when they started their blog, they were single and all that. Then they got married, had kids and having been around my nephew and niece as babies I know what a handful they can be! So yes, reading and blogging can definitely take a backseat to that, and then just when you think the kiddos are old enough to not need constant supervision, they start in on the activities...again, speaking from watching my nephew and niece! Lol. My older sister for a short time this year was sneaking into their spare bedroom for some mommy-reading-time and got maybe a good month or two in before the little ones found her! Lol.

So yeah, life happens. Things change. While I am always sad to see beloved blogger friends leave, I would rather they keep their love of reading alive and if that means not reviewing and posting anymore, then so be it. Sadly, a few have left social media entirely so I really had no way of keeping up with them and I miss them from time to time when it comes to posts like these and gets me thinking about the past and how blogging used to be.

Let's Discuss: Duology Reading

 

I was at a signing last Saturday where the author was talking about her latest book and how it was the first in a duology and then discussed the pros of duologies! That they are nice, short, but not too short. And you can usually remember what you read a year ago when you pick up the sequel and here I was silently thinking, that's not how my brain rolls unfortunately. Lol.

Duology Reading

When it comes to duologies, I tend to wait to read them until they are completed...and then hopefully work them into my reading queue as soon as that happens, but even that doesn't always happen! Lol. Sometimes it takes the author coming here on tour for me to work them into my reading lineup! But hey, it works!

I feel like waiting to read a duology back to back is more beneficial to my spotty memory. There have bene times where I've started a duology and had to wait for that next book...it didn't go well for my memory! I actually just started the first book in a duology earlier this year, not realizing it was a planned duology. For some reason I thought it was a trilogy...or an unannounced length. But here we are! 

And then there were times in the past where an ARC of the first book in a duology was offered and maybe I was on the fence about the story so I decided why not? And then that was a mistake because I ended up LOVING it and then had to wait EVEN LONGER for the second book to come out. I want to say I was able to read the second one as an ARC too, but it was before my note keeping days so it was still a massive struggle to remember what happened as I likely had a good 50-100 books read since then depending! As I know that was in the days where I worked somewhere where I could read more throughout the day because it wasn't busy.

So nowadays when I know it's a duology I plan to not read read it until the next book comes out! I can't even really say the next year as so far Sabaa Tahir hasn't announced when her sequel comes out and that was almost a year ago. And I remember how BRUTAL her cliffhangers were so I was wisely decided not to read her book right away! Lol. Plus I also feel hesitant because it could spin into a trilogy. You never know. Marissa Meyer's long ago super hero/villain series was meant to be a duology and turned into a trilogy...and I still need to read that one too. I know, it's been HOW LONG and I still need to read after waiting it out! Lol. But they're all so long! I keep picking up long books this year and every time I finish, I'm thinking I need a nice short book, you know, one that's under 500 pages!

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a heifer read every now and then, but not too many back to back and yet I keep doing that! My current read is 500 pages with reallllllllly small font and realllllly small line spacing, so I'll be lucky to get this finished by the end of the week!

But back to the topic on hand, how do you handle reading duologies? Do you wait to binge them back to back? Do you read the first book and dive into the second in the (likely) next year? Do you re-read book 1 before diving into book 2? What's your duology process?

Books from the Backlog #137

 

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!

After thwarting a deadly coup and saving the alliance between their worlds, Cara and Aelyx have finally earned a break. Their tiny island colony is everything they dreamed it would be―days spent gathering shells on the beach and nights in each other’s arms.

But the vacation is short-lived.

The treaty between Earth and L’eihr has awakened an ancient force that threatens to destroy them all. The Aribol, mysterious guardians charged with maintaining interstellar peace, deem the alliance a threat to the galaxy. They order a separation of the races, decreeing humans and L’eihrs must return to their own planets within the month or face extinction. In fact, they already have agents in place on Earth, ready to begin.

With the clock ticking, Aelyx and Cara assemble a team of colonists and race back to Earth, where they unite with old friends to solve the mystery of who the Aribol are, what they want, and the real reason the alliance has provoked them. As tensions build to a full-scale war, Aelyx and Cara must fight harder than ever―not just for their future, but for the survival of both their worlds.

I added United by Melissa Landers to my TBR pile in August of 2016. I still need to start this trilogy but remembered pretty much buying the series on a whim as I enjoyed a duology she wrote and I had taken a road trip to a book signing she was at with another author I read, if I recall. So yeah, I splurged on that trip! Lol.

Review--On Wings of Blood by Briar Boleyn

 

What do you get if you mix Harry Potter with Fourth Wing, Zodiac Academy, a dash of Arthurian legend, and lots and lots of vampires? Bloodwing Academy.

I didn't sign up for this.

A half-fae in a school of highblood vampires? That's a recipe for torment.

I'm Medra Pendragon—last of the dragon riders, or so they tell me. Funny thing is, there are no dragons left. Not a single one. But somehow, that hasn't stopped the vampires from deciding I'm worth capturing. Now I'm stuck at Bloodwing Academy, where the highbloods run everything and blightborn like me? We're just blood in their veins, pawns in their games.

But that's not even the worst part. Enter Blake Drakharrow. Cold, arrogant, and way too gorgeous for his own good. He's been tormenting me since the moment we met, and now, thanks to some ancient ritual, we're betrothed. He acts like he owns me, but I'm not going down without a fight.

Bloodwing isn't just a school—it's a battlefield. Highbloods fight for power, and if you're weak? You're dead.

Between deadly competitions, lies that could get me executed, and a dragon-shaped secret looming over my head, all I have to do is survive. Easy, right? Except I'm starting to think the real danger isn't the academy—it's what I'm becoming in this twisted game of power.

And Blake? He might just be the one who pushes me over the edge.

They think they can control me. They think they can use me.

But they have no idea what they've awakened.


Bestselling epic fantasy author Briar Boleyn returns with a new series perfect for fans of hate to love romance, heart-pounding action, and dark magic. 

Briar Boleyn brings a unique fantasy read with On Wings of Blood, blending two favorite character types, together; vampires and dragons! Although, in this world, dragons are practically extinct, but there is something very telling on the horizons with this series if the covers are anything to go by!

Medra Pendragon awakens to find herself naked and laying among dead bodies. How she got here, and wherever here is, she doesn't know. She does maintain her memories of what she was doing in her own world before she suddenly winds up in another one entirely. It's then she's found by Blake Drakharrow, a vampire prince and brought back to his uncle, Viktor, who reigns over the Drakharrow clan. It's been determined that Medra is in fact a dragon rider, only, everyone knows dragons have been gone for a very long time. 

Before Medra knows it, she's being betrothed to Blake for finding her and bringing her to "the family." While there are no dragons currently, Viktor clearly believes they will be back and having the only dragon rider in their family will be very beneficial to them. Then it's decided that Medra will attend Bloodwing Academy in order to learn everything there is to know about being a dragon rider and how their world works, basically.

This mammoth of a book was decidedly long and while reading the physical edition I discovered a super tiny text with super tiny line spacing, so cashing in at 506 pages is putting it mildly, as I suspect it would be a great deal longer in a more traditional format. Which makes me wonder, since this book series has been picked up by a major publisher, what changes might be made or cuts taken if any. I had decided I wanted to give the series a chance in its original viewpoint before that happens. And while it is decidedly long, and some parts occasionally drag out a bit too much, I still found I could not put the book down.

Medra is trying to adjust to a whole new world, literally, and is only finding enemies at every turn. Blake apparently has one betrothed already but since he's a vampire prince, having more than one spouse is par for the course. Although, Regan, his betrothed since childhood, is definitely not pleased with the sharing aspect of it all.

Blake is no better as he continues to be cold and elusive when it comes to Medra. We do eventually get his point of view in the book which leads us to see a whole other side to him that just makes him more confounding. He's a cunning sort, comes off as cold and vicious, but there's reasons for that and we see those unfold ever so slowly through his chapters until his true character is revealed.

The other characters we encounter are also pretty intense! I could never really get a feel on some of them to see if they were being genuine or not. You knew a select few who were being truthful or deceptive, but others have yet to be truly seen. I'm curious to see what these side characters will do in the future! All were very well-developed though, you pretty much knew among the few who you were going to hate and wish to see get their comeuppance and who she just wanted to give a big hug to!

As far as romance goes it is decidedly, a very, very slow burn. Medra and Blake are forced to be together, but Blake spends as much time as he can far from Medra's presence. But eventually, towards the latter half of the novel, he begins to want to spend time with her and little tiny moments start popping up between them. Of course, he's still holding back plenty of secrets that will bound to come back later.

Even with the somewhat slower pacing and drawn out moments, I found this to be a pretty enjoyable novel! The school setting does give off some Harry Potter vibes and I suppose Fourth Wing as well. The separation of students into houses does give you that HP feel again. The cutthroat antics of students resonates with Fourth Wing as well! I never read any of the Zodiac Academy books so I can't make a comparison on that front. Things naturally shook up in the end to give you a sense of anticipation for the next novel. Not quite a killer cliffhanger, but just one that leaves you excited for more!

All in all, I'd say as long as you enjoy reading longer, slightly slower paced books with a big payoff in the end then you will find On Wings of Blood to be quite enjoyable! It was a fun and intriguing read and I will be curious to see what happens next with this cast of characters in a world that is very much changing!

Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars

Can't Wait Wednesday #198

 

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.

Coming soon. Part of the Sirens of Adria dark fantasy romance series, Of Rime and Ruin is a standalone beauty and the beast retelling with enemies to lovers romance and an arctic mermaid twist.

I read Liesl's first book last year and loved it! A spicy retelling of The Little Mermaid with a twist! Not much known on the plot of this one other than it's a retelling of The Beauty and the Beast but with mermaids!

TITLE: Of Rime and Ruin
AUTHOR: Liesl West
PUBLISHER: Darkling Press, LLC
GENRE: Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: July 25, 2025

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.

"But his eyes followed me. Not Visha. Me." p 99

TITLE: On Wings of Blood
AUTHOR: Briar Boleyn
PUBLISHER: Indie/Self Pub
GENRE: Paranormal Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: November 30, 2024

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 Favorite Animal Companions (submitted by P.S. I Love Books)

*in no particular order
**this took a lot of research and digging through old reviews since I couldn't think of many off the top of my head!

10. BIS THE GARGOYLE (Allie Beckstrom Series)--I remember Bis being a cute little gargoyle who was just lots of fun! I can't remember much else about the guy or when he first appears in this long ago UF series, I just remember loving him!
9. MADOX THE FOX (Fire & Flood)--I think this was a fox, I forgot to make a note of it! I remember him being an animal companion as well...but again, fuzzy memory.
8. KIKI THE HORSE (Study Chronicles)--Kiki was Yelena's horse and she had a psychic connection with her! Kiki was fun and sweet. A very caring horse...who loved apples.

7. OBERON THE IRISH WOLFHOUND (Iron Druid Chronicles)--Oberon was the best doggy sidekick ever! He could talk to Atticus and says exactly what you'd expect from a dog!
6. BIS THE GARGOYLE (The Hollows)--yes another gargoyle, because gargoyles are awesome!
5. GUSTAVE THE GOAT (The Tales of Pell)--Gustave reminds me a lot of Donkey from Shrek. Just a wise-cracking goat along for the trip! Lol.

4. ANDARA THE DRAGON (Fourth Wing)--I know, I really ought to get caught up in this series and endure the cliffhanger. I'm working on it. Lol. Andara was fun and feisty little dragon when we first meet her so I really need to get caught up and see how she's doing now! Lol.
3. UMBRA THE FOX (Enchantra)--Umbra was a sweet little fox and Rowin's companion! 
2. GRIMALKIN THE CAIT SITH (Iron Fey Chronicles)--the first companion I thought of! Lol. I loved this smarta$$ fae!

1. MAXIMUS THE HORSE (Tangled)--I haven't read this one yet or have it in my queue, but Margaret was here earlier this year and briefly mentioned this release and she did say Maximus would be there and I LOVE THAT HORSE! He cracked me up in Tangled because his attitude soooo reminded me of our dog, who just happened to be a white Husky with attitude, so they were brothers from other mothers! Lol.

Let's Discuss: Authors' Lesser Known Books

 

So another random topic came into my head the other day and I thought...I haven't talked about this on the blog before, so let's discuss it! Lol.

NYT Authors' Lesser Known Books

Have you ever discovered an NYT or popular author's lesser known series or books and just loved them?! Like they were so completely different from the series/standalones that they are known for and were just totally captivated by this particular series or standalone?

I feel like I've had this happen quite a few times myself! And I have gone to signings being practically the only one there who was there for a one-off the author wrote! Lol. It's fun, but harder to talk with other readers when they ask what's your favorite and you tell them and show them and they are like...I've never heard of that one! And I'm like, yeah, I'm not a fan of their "known" genre, but I loved this one! 

For example, Christina Lauren! Big time contemporary romance author. I went to their signing because I LOVED their YA novel, The House! A creepy novel with a sentient house raising a teenage boy. It was like Monster House and I think they said that inspired them to write this story!

Then there's Tessa Bailey! I happened upon her Phenomenal Fate trilogy that involved vampires and were a set of cute standalone romances involving vampires and I just adored it! It was a sweet little trilogy but amazing!

Then I don't know if we would say Kresley Cole's Arcana Chronicles was a lesser known series or not. It started with a big publishing house but then after book 3 I guess they were done with it, but luckily Kresley wasn't! And we finally, finally, got that last book 2 years ago and it was well worth the wait! My memory did suffer but that was bound to happen anyway! Lol. I feel like that's maybe sort of in between lesser and well known. It just depends how much people read both YA and adult!

And the last example that I could think of off the top of my head was the one that started it all. Yes, my beloved Intertwined series by Gena Showalter! The series that was epically amazing but the publisher decided nah...Aden's going back in time to change the course of life as we know it...who cares what happens! I know I read a summary of what Gena would've had happen, but it didn't include everything. There were other issues going on with the other main circle of friends and we got absolutely NOTHING from them other than a HEA for all. I mean, I expected that part, but I wanted to know what would've happened with our other characters because OMG! I was SOOOOO invested with this series!

So out of those 4 big ones I did get at least 3 completed series! One took awhile but the finale was ever so grand! Of course, I still have another YA series of Gena's on my TBR that looks to be 2 books long, I read the first one...hadn't gotten around to reading that book 2, so I am hoping it's a duology and not it should've been a trilogy. I mean out of all her YA books I think 2 were actually completed and I loathed one of them. Okay, not loathed. I just didn't like it. Didn't get it. Didn't like it...so of course THAT one got to run its course! I did love her Alice in Zombieland one though! This newer one was fairy tale related with the evil queen. I am pretty sure I have some notes on the first one for when I pick up that book 2/hopefully finale since it's been 5 years since it released! 

So how about you? Have you ever loved an author's lesser known series or standalone? One that didn't get nearly enough love or attention as their other ones did?

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:

Silver Elite by Dani Francis (4 stars)

The Devouring Light by Kat Ellis (ARC)--Review to come at a later date

Currently Reading:

On Wings of Blood by Briar Boleyn

What I Plan to Read Next:

The Bond That Burns by Briar Boleyn

Other Posts of Interest:

Let's Discuss: When the Order Doesn't Matter
Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays
Can't Wait Wednesday #197
Books from the Backlog #136
Let's Discuss: Planning the Reading Queue
Book Blogger Hop #359
Stacking the Shelves

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.

It was yet another week! This one was made more tolerable because I knew a 3-day weekend was in store AND an author signing on top of it! I got to see Rachel Gillig last night and it was a lot of fun! It was a bigger event, so of course it was held downtown which I hate going to, but at least it was earlier in the evening so I was out and home before dark! Lol. The week itself was once again uneventful. Which is fine with me. We'll be getting busy at work again soon, it's usually a gradual pickup during the summer months with it hitting full throttle around late August or early September. Just depends really. But yeah, then it's go-go til November when we start to trickle down again. So yes, I am enjoying the uneventful days while they last! My June is looking pretty quiet, our annual vacation to my aunt's house has been pushed back to fall as her master bathroom is being completely gutted and renovated, so there's only one useable shower/bathroom and we just didn't want to overcrowd her house with 5 people using one shower! So instead of going to the summer festival we'll go to the fall festival! I did just buy a ticket for a Kansas City book signing in June though so that will be fun! A long overnight drive afterwards, but it's just a little over 4 hours, so like my Naperville drives!

Here's what I got this week:

This Vicious Dream by Stacia Stark--I forgot which author I followed who mentioned this one, but when I read what it was about I was immediately intrigued and ordered a copy!
Death at a Highland Wedding by Kelley Armstrong--still behind in this series but still preordered them every B&N sale! Lol.
The Bond That Burns by Briar Boleyn--I was just about to start this series when I heard it was picked up by a big publisher so I thought I better get the second book so it matches my first book better! Lol.

The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig--SIGNED! No special edition this time around since the standard one was what I got to get into the signing. Which was fine with me, yes the sprayed B&N edges are pretty but I don't feel compelled to collect all of her books. Surprising, yes? Lol. It happens on occasion and am usually happy with whatever I get! Although this is another duology so I won't be starting it until I get the second one in hand!

And then I got my Watch Me preorder page overlays which sadly came with water damage. I tried contacting Epic Reads on social media, but they haven't responded so I don't think I can get replacements. :(

Honestly, in this particular shot, you can't see the damage but they are wavy at the top as my envelope had a nice ring of water on it which soaked through the cardboard to the overlays. They are still nice, I just wish I could lay them on a book page, but they are too wavy for that.

THANK YOU Storytide!

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

Book Blogger Hop #359

 

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

This week's question is: A songwriter composes a song about your love for books. What would the song's title be? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

MY ANSWER: The Story of My Obsession! 

Let's Discuss: Planning the Reading Queue

 

The other day...or maybe the other week? I can't remember when I did this really, but I made a note to make it into a discussion! Lol. I recently had to rearrange my reading queue for the week when I decided I wanted to read a particular book sooner rather than later. I didn't have to shuffle anything major around but it got me wondering about reading queues/schedules and how often we change them.

Planning the Reading Queue

I'm sort of a mood reader? I guess? Or a mood chooser? I'll pick a book off my TBR pile that I am in the mood for. Like as I write this, I'm still in a kick of not reading fantasy. I read too many back to back recently and I needed a break. So I read a thriller or two, read a fantasy book that I received, then I dove into another thriller and then I picked up a dystopian read! Needless to say I kind of choose my next read by the spur of the moment.

Unless I have review books that need reviewing asap. I have a few in my pile, but so far they are fall releases so I don't need to get to then right away. But I guess I plan as far as my next read and possibly the one after that. 

This can change on the spin of a dime of course! I initially thought I might read a fantasy or a review book after my last thriller, but then decided I wanted to read the dystopian book, so it was an easy shift. If you ever visited my blog, you might notice my current and next reads can change quite suddenly if I decide to switch it up to something else. 

So basically, while I tentatively plan some reads in my queue to be read next, I change them if the mood strikes or something else pops up! Like a review copy magically comes in the mail or a request was approved I will deviate whatever plan I had to accommodate the newly received book! Or even if an event pops up either local or not at all local, I will rearrange my tentative schedule to include books for that signing! I have one that I am contemplating going to in July, so I have those books setup to be read "soon" although they are of the fantasy variety, so "soon" is definitely relative! Lol. Although it may be closer to actual soon though with my current lineup as I might be ready for a fantasy read after these! Lol.

But basically with me, nothing is ever set in stone! I can say that I have never just stopped reading something I've already started because of a new arrival. But that new arrival will be boosted to my next read asap, so the previous read will get booted back a bit if necessary! Lol. 

How lenient are you with your reading queue? Is it something you are flexible with for yourself or do you make yourself stick to things?

Books from the Backlog #136

 

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!

Lana used to know what was real.

That was before, when her life was small and quiet.

Her golden stepbrother, Ben, was alive.

She could only dream about bonfiring with the populars.

Their wooded island home was idyllic, she could tell the truth from lies, and Ben’s childhood stories were firmly in her imagination.

Then came after.

After has Lana boldly kissing her crush, jumping into the water from too high up, living with nerve and mischief.

But after also has horrors, deaths that only make sense in fairy tales, and terrors from a past Lana thought long forgotten: Love, blood, and murder.

I added Alexandra Sirowy's The Telling to my TBR pile in August of 2016 when it first came out! I enjoyed her first book so naturally I added this to my TBR! It sounded mysterious and creepy and perfect! Now nearly 9 years later I am seeing that it's being reprinted with a new cover and I am just like, omg, I am so behind! Hopefully I will read it sometime soon...maybe before it releases...but I'd have to locate it in the massive TBR pile somewhere! Lol.