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 Liar's Crown by Abigail Owen (5 stars)

Currently Reading:

That Weekend by Kara Thomas

 

What I Plan to Read Next:

Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

Other Posts of Interest:

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays
Can't Wait Wednesday
Random Thursday
Book Blogger Hop
Challenges Wrap-up: August
Stacking the Shelves--The OUABH Edition

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stacking the Shelves--The OUABH 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.

It wasn't a bad week. I will say that! I started a new shift at work, but since I work from home it isn't too different from what I was doing! But anyway, I now work four 9 hour days and then on Fridays, I work four hours and get off at 11! So it was pretty nice! Add to that, my Italian copy of OUABH arrived in all its glory! I WON a copy of OUABH from the publisher that I forgot I entered but will work perfectly for the alternate cover I just preordered. Nothing else really exciting happened...but that's okay too!

 

Here's what I got this week:

 

How to Survive Your Murder by Danielle Valentine
Belladonna by Adalyn Grace--SIGNED indie edition! My local indie store was one of the select ones that had these in stock, so I was quick to order one!
Belladonna by Adalyn Grace--B&N edition because I am sucker for a gorgeous alternative cover! LOL!
Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen--Fairyloot edition. I think I am officially done with being surprised by these! People who get the full box get theirs before I get my book only, so while I know what the title is already, I am never surprised by what it looks like. I'm kinda of bummed by that, but what can you do?

Then my glorious and beautiful Italian Once Upon a Broken Heart box arrived from Pendragon's Shop! I was tracking this one like a fiend! And naturally, when I went to run my errands Friday, it arrived while I was away! But it was so magical seeing what was inside! I had seen the book cover by mistake, but I refused to let myself see the rest of the box items. Lol.

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber
a beach towel
tarot cards
a bookmark
an acrylic stand
a candle
a necklace with a fox charm
a rose quartz crystal

This box was amazing! For the book alone it was worth it because omg that cover!

Then I discovered that I won Flatiron's Second Chance at True Love contest! I had forgotten I entered this, but it was perfectly timed as I had just ordered an alternative cover for OUABH that morning and now I already have a book for it!

Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber
a notebook & pen
a fox plushie

THANK YOU Flatiron Books!!

Then continuing my Caraval world love, I decided I needed a new t-shirt for when I see Stephanie on tour and I was perusing the shirts she pointed out on Amazon and finally decided on this one:

Then I received some preorder goodies this week as well:

This was my These Fleeting Shadows goodies! I had just stuck my bookplate in when I realized I forgot to take a picture of it all, hence the reason why the book is in the picture!

a signed bookplate
character bookmarks
character tarot cards!

THANK YOU Kate Alice!

Then I received my Belladonna preorder goodies!

I got the gorgeous print and a signed bookplate! Signature is a little hard to see but it's a really pretty teal color!

THANK YOU Adalyn!

Then I also won a gift card from Sandy @ Somewhere Only We Know for the 2022 Series Ender Challenge! This I immediately used towards my copy of Danielle's book as seen above!

THANK YOU Sandy!

And that, finally, was my epic haul this week! What all did you get?

Challenges Monthly Wrap-up: August

CHALLENGE 1: 2022 Discussion Challenge

Reading Styles
Reading Noise Levels
Buying Books When You're Behind

 

Ugh, I need to step up my game here! I'm at 26/35, which still isn't bad, but when I think of years past and where I'm usually at...I feel so behind! Lol.

CHALLENGE 2:  2022 Series Enders Reading Challenge

Ebonwilde by Crystal Smith (Bloodleaf)

Challenge COMPLETED! 

CHALLENGE 3: The Backlist Reader Challenge 2022

Ugh, none this month! I blame my head cold I had in the last week! Totally threw me off my game! Currently at 15/20, not worried yet, but getting antsy! Lol.

CHALLENGE 4: 2022 New Release Reading Challenge

Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen (7/26/22)
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen (8/23/22)
Ebonwilde by Crystal Smith (4/12/22)
The Liar's Crown by Abigail Owen (8/30/22)

We're on bonus points from here on out with this challenge!

Book Blogger Hop

 

 

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

 

 

 

This week's question is: Is it hard to find new books in local stores? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer) 

MY ANSWER: Honestly? It just depends. I've walked into Barnes & Noble many times during a book's release week and could not find it on the shelves anywhere and the store inventory checker online says the store has it. I then get a bookseller involved, to usually go in back and check. Other times it's because it's in a totally obscure spot. All those smaller bookcases that are in the middle or tucked into a corner somewhere for NEW paperbacks. Yeah, it's like trying to find the Golden Egg at an Easter Egg Hunt! Lol.

In regards to my Indie stores, it can be challenging if the book isn't by a "popular" author. Many times I've gone in wanting to buy a new release of an author who may not always be on the New Times bestselling list. That then involves either ordering it with the store or just ordering online myself. I've a small list from earlier this year that I still have not bought from.

So yeah...sometimes I can walk right into the store and find that new release in under 5 minutes, other times it can take me longer! It doesn't help that nearly all my B&N's are setup differently. So I have to stop and think of what location I'm at and map out the location in my head! That is probably the most challenging part! Lol.

Review--The Liar's Crown by Abigail Owen

Some shadows protect you…others will kill you in this dazzling new fantasy series from award-winning author Abigail Owen.

Everything about my life is a lie. As a hidden twin princess, born second, I have only one purpose—to sacrifice my life for my sister if death comes for her. I’ve been living under the guise of a poor, obscure girl of no standing, slipping into the palace and into the role of the true princess when danger is present.

Now the queen is dead and the ageless King Eidolon has sent my sister a gift—an eerily familiar gift—and a proposal to wed. I don’t trust him, so I do what I was born to do and secretly take her place on the eve of the coronation. Which is why, when a figure made of shadow kidnaps the new queen, he gets me by mistake.

As I try to escape, all the lies start to unravel. And not just my lies. The Shadowraith who took me has secrets of his own. He struggles to contain the shadows he wields—other faces, identities that threaten my very life.

Winter is at the walls. Darkness is looming. And the only way to save my sister and our dominion is to kill Eidolon…and the Shadowraith who has stolen my heart.

 

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

 

Abigail Owen's The Liar's Crown is an incredibly amazing book that you won't ever want to put it down! I'll admit, I started this one just at the height of a terrible head cold, so my reading pace was dampened by that and me pretty much going to bed the moment I was finished working for the day! Every minute I was reading this one though was a minute of complete and utter enjoyment! This was a read that held me riveted despite my waning health!

Meren and Tabra are twins and ever since she was old enough to understand things, Meren knew she was a "backup" princess. While Tabra would one day rule on the throne when their grandmother died, Meren would serve as her body double. Should her sister die, she would take her place and no one would be the wiser. There's a great deal of strife between some of the kingdoms, you could say. Everyone fears the evil king Eidolon, and it's no secret that he has been eyeing Tabra as a potential queen...so Meren knows she will be stepping up sooner rather than later. And when the day their grandmother dies came sooner than anticipated, Meren is already set to step in for Tabra to meet this infamous Eidolon.

Except, that's when she gets kidnapped by a mysterious young man made of shadows. The only thing is, he thinks he's kidnapped Tabra, the princess who would be queen.

Meren easily assumes her sister's identity, the secret of twins ruling the kingdom has been a long kept secret that only a small trusted circle knows about. But what Meren learns is that Reven, her kidnapper, isn't quite who he seems either. And he has a more noble cause for kidnapping her than she expected to hear.

But naturally, Meren worries for her sister who is still at the palace with a very dangerous king vying for her affections. Meren will do whatever it takes to keep her sister from the monster who hunts her.

This book was nothing short of amazing! While one may question the whole kidnapping part of the story and the love that is bound to form between Meren and Reven, it does really seem to work. It's an enemies to lovers kind of romance and you all know how much I love me a good enemies to lovers story to begin with! There is that Stockholm syndrome vibe, but it can't be helped. I like to think of it as enemies to lovers instead as it truly works out that way. Meren isn't your typical damsel in distress and Reven is about to learn that he got more than he bargained for anyway!

That being said, oh my goodness this romance! This romance was so tantalizing! What I always love about these slow building romances is how you can see it starting with just these little tiny moments! Moments that are so minuscule only the avid reader will catch them! Which since you're reading this review, you're without question an avid reader!

The ending was a height of excitement! So many things were happening, so many plans were falling into place. I just learned that this is going to be a trilogy, so I'm dying to know what's going to happen in the next two novels! I first thought it would be a duology but knowing that there's TWO MORE books to comes, I'm in a fit of nerves! The ending borders on dangerous cliffhanger territory! If it wasn't for a very telling epilogue...I'd still be screaming. Let's just leave it at that! I am very excited to see what will happen next within this series! There's still so much to come from this world and I am all for it!

If you're looking for a fantasy read that is beyond amazing and will capture your heart, you couldn't choose better than The Liar's Crown! This is a story filled with incredibly complex characters who tug at your heartstrings. There is so much heart and depth to this story that I am left shaking with emotions! I cannot wait to get more of this world and these characters. As you might have heard, this is definitely an upper YA book, not quite in the NA territory, but very close.

 

Overall Rating 5/5 stars 

Random Thursday

 

Let's learn some strange and unusual facts that are completely true from Shane Carley's True Facts That Sound Like Bull$#*t!

(image borrowed from Vsauce on Twitter)

The picture says it all: when rearranged the words "eleven plus two" can spell "twelve plus one."

(image borrowed from GQ)

There's an American brewer who uses his own beard to create the yeast needed. 

It did not say which brewer...can't decide if that's a good thing or not!

(image borrowed from PC Mag)

Apparently the founder of Match.com lost his girlfriend to another man she met on the dating site.

I feel bad for the guy, but at the same time, that's pretty funny!

(image borrowed from All That's Interesting)

Some believe in the "Phantom Time Hypothesis" where they believe the Holy Roman Empire added 300 years to the calendar during the Middle Ages.

(image borrowed from All That's Interesting)

There is a phobia of gravity known as "barophobia." Some will fear that gravity will crush them, some fear that they might float away.

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.

 

From the bestselling author of Dark and Shallow Lies comes a darkly atmospheric paranormal thriller about a seventeen-year-old girl returning to an exclusive theater camp to uncover the truth of what really happened there twelve years ago, the night her mother drowned.

Twelve years ago, Avril’s mother drowned at Whisper Cove theater, just off the rocky Connecticut coastline. It was ruled an accident, but Avril’s never been totally convinced. Local legend claims that the women in the waves—ghosts from old whaling stories—called her mother into the ocean with their whispering. Because, as they say at Whisper Cove, what the sea wants, the sea will have.

While Avril doesn’t believe in ghosts, she knows there are lots of different ways for places, and people, to be haunted. She’s spent the past twelve years trying to make sense of the strange bits and pieces she does remember from the night she lost her mother. Stars falling into the sea. A blinding light. A tight grip on her wrist. The odd sensation of flying. Now, at seventeen, she’s returning to Whisper Cove for the first time, and she might finally unravel the mystery of what really happened.

As Avril becomes more involved with camp director Willa and her mysterious son Cole, Whisper Cove reveals itself to her. Distances seem to shift in the strange fog. Echos of long-past moments bounce off the marsh. And Avril keeps meeting herself—and her dead mother—late at night, at the edge of the ocean.

The truth Avril seeks is ready to be discovered. But it will come at a terrible cost.

 

Can I just say I love the genre "paranormal thriller!" Combining two of my favorite kinds of reads! It's awesome! Cannot wait to read this one!!

 

TITLE: Secrets So Deep
AUTHOR: Ginny Myers Sain
PUBLISHER: Razorbill
GENRE: YA Paranormal Thriller
RELEASE DATE: September 27, 2022