Last Week I Read:
Three Kinds of Lucky by Kim Harrison (ARC)--Review to come later this week!
Currently Reading:
The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James
What I Plan to Read Next:
A Touch of Malice by Scarlett St. Clair
Other Posts of Interest:
Let's Discuss: Deserted Island Reads
Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays
Let's Discuss: Signing Personalizations
Can't Wait Wednesdays
Books from the Backlog #72
Book Blogger Hop #295
Challenges Monthly Wrap-up: February
Stacking the Shelves
Well it was another week! Work continues to be on the slow side, which is just fine with me! The busy times are hectic so the lull until our busy season slowly starts is always a nice break before chaos ensues! I had one book signing this week and got to meet Victoria Aveyard again! It was a fun night and I was super touched that she recognized me from past events! The last one was YallFest just after the Pandemic, so you know a few hundred people ago we last met! I sadly couldn't go to the other signing as it sold out and no further tickets were added. Sucked that both events had to popup right around the holidays and I only allowed myself to buy one at the time and then I was trying to recoup finances from the holidays and then like a month before the signing they were sold out. Sigh. Oh well. I do have two signings this coming week, although they take place in shady areas. I am definitely going to one but am debating about the second. I met this author last year so I can always pick up the book at the bookstore later on. I haven't decided what I'm doing yet, it sucks that I always end up going alone to these otherwise I would feel better with safety in numbers but sadly I can never find anyone to go with.
Here's what I got this week:
Fate Breaker by Victoria Aveyard--SIGNED!
Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek--this was an impulse Leap Day purchase when B&N had the extra stamps promo going on! I was eyeing this one and just thought what the heck, plus gift card! Lol.
Then for review from the publisher I received:
The Madness by Dawn Kurtagich (ARC)
THANK YOU Graydon House!
Then I got my Fairy Loot book for February and since I've been seeing it all over Instagram I am sharing the cover here:
The Crimson Moth by Kristen Ciccarelli--Fairy Loot edition! I have to admit, I at first thought this was Evangeline on the cover! Lol. Then I thought...did Fairy Loot get the cover wrong? I didn't feel like this was Fairy Loot's style based on the original UK cover. I'm funny with "people" covers. I don't always like them. I love character art, but for some reason, artistic renditions of people on covers doesn't always mesh with me. I prefer being able to imagine the characters on my own...and then seeing character art later is a bonus! I'm weird, I know. I'm saying contradicting things. But yeah, this may be the one time I actually flip the cover over and use the reverse as the actual cover. We'll see.
Then I received this last week and totally forgot to share it as the pictures got buried on my phone! I received my latest deluxe Caraval doll from Pages of the Night! I decided I had to have one since Britnee hand sculpted all these roses! So I went with Scarlet!
And that was it for me this week! What all did you get?
CHALLENGE 1: 2024 Series Enders Reading Challenge
Midnight Beauties by Megan Shepherd (Grim Lovelies)
Only 1 this month but that's okay! I'm a little afraid I might not get one for March based on the books I'm trying to read...it'll be close, let's just say that! Hopefully I can pick up a book early that I'm attending a signing for at the end of the month, the book releases 2 weeks before it, so I could possibly get it done in time. It'll be close, that's for sure!
CHALLENGE 2: 2024 Discussion Challenge
When Authors Go Silent
Things That Keep Me from Reading
Writing Discussion Posts
Deserted Island Reads
Signing Personalizations
I felt like I was off to a rocky start for February but then in the last two weeks like 3 or 4 of these ideas came to me and now it's not too bad! Currently at 11 posts and I think I went for 25...? I totally forgot to note it in my challenges page! Whoops!
CHALLENGE 3: 2024 Beat the Back List Reading Challenge
The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen (8/13/19)
The Traitor Queen by Danielle L. Jensen (9/1/20)
Midnight Beauties by Megan Shepherd (8/13/19)
Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert (6/28/22)
Four TBR books read this month! Not too bad at all considering I think I read 5 total for the month! I'm a slow reader, what can I say? Lol. I'm currently at 8/20 books so I'm in good shape!
Just when Azalea should feel that everything is before her—beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing—it's taken away. All of it. And Azalea is trapped. The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. So he extends an invitation.
Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest, but there is a cost. The Keeper likes to keep things. Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.
Heather Dixon's Entwined came to my TBR pile in August of 2015 and there it has sat for many years. I thought it sounded fascinating being a book of fairy tale origins! It still sounds incredible to me and I do hope I can read it at some point!
All of Us Villains meets Kingdom of the Wicked in this action-packed fantasy following a teen determined to win the competition held by warring vampire and witch kingdoms, only to develop complicated feelings for the vampire she’s supposed to hand over.
Blood is survival for seventeen-year-old Bly, who lives in the poverty-stricken human villages caught between enemy vampire and witch kingdoms. Most of the time, vampires and witches live in uneasy truce, buying human blood for their food and spells. But for two weeks a year, the ceasefire dissolves, and they hold the Revenant Games.
Any human can play in the games for either the witches or the vampires. Alongside life-changing riches, the witches will raise one person from the dead for whoever captures the highest-ranking vampire. In turn, the vampires offer immortality to whoever captures the most powerful witch. For most humans, the games are a ticket out of poverty. For Bly, it’s a chance to get back her dead sister, Elise, and save the life of her dying best friend, Emerson.
Together, she and Emerson forge a dangerous plan to play both sides and win both resurrection for Elise and immortality for Emerson. But when the vampire they capture stirs a passion in Bly that she hasn’t felt in a long time, she’ll have to make a her sister or the boy who’s shown her there’s more to life than just survival.
I keep meaning to read Fuston's books and keep failing...but I keep adding them to my TBR pile anyway! This one sounds freaking amazing and I so want to read it!!
TITLE: The Revenant Games
AUTHOR: Margie Fuston
PUBLISHER: Margaret K. McElderry Books
GENRE: YA Paranormal
RELEASE DATE: March 19, 2024
The fiercely-anticipated sequel to the #1 New York Times bestseller Once Upon a Broken Heart, starring Evangeline Fox and the Prince of Hearts on a new journey of magic, mystery, and heartbreak
Not every love is meant to be.
After Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, betrays her, Evangeline Fox swears she'll never trust him again. Now that she’s discovered her own magic, Evangeline believes she can use it to restore the chance at happily ever after that Jacks stole away.
But when a new terrifying curse is revealed, Evangeline finds herself entering into a tenuous partnership with the Prince of Hearts again. Only this time, the rules have changed. Jacks isn’t the only force Evangeline needs to be wary of. In fact, he might be the only one she can trust, despite her desire to despise him.
Instead of a love spell wreaking havoc on Evangeline’s life, a murderous spell has been cast. To break it, Evangeline and Jacks will have to do battle with old friends, new foes, and a magic that plays with heads and hearts. Evangeline has always trusted her heart, but this time she’s not sure she can…
Okay, you're probably wondering what the heck?! Lol! I decided to throw this on my post as I can't wait for the B&N PAPERBACK edition! Yup, you know me, I'm a glutton for Stephanie's books and I eat up her bonus material too!
TITLE: The Ballad of Never After (paperback)
AUTHOR: Stephanie Garber
PUBLISHER: Flatiron Books
GENRE: YA Fantasy
RELEASE DATE: April 2, 2024
Signing Personalizations
I used to ALWAYS love getting my books signed out to me! I still do on some too. If it was a favorite book or a favorite author or just one I HAD to have signed out to me, I will still get it personalized to myself. But lately, on books I just liked or loved--not LOVED--I just get an author signature.
On one of my last RT conventions, I was at a table talking with other readers and I was talking with one reader who explained why she just got signatures in her books instead of personalizations. She said, she didn't want her name to go in the books because one day, she would pass away--like we all do...unless we meet a hot vampire and decide to stick around for eternity, lol--and she didn't want her collection of books to all be signed out to her by authors she loved and upset her loved ones. She thought having her favorite books signed out to her would make them sad. So instead, she just got them signed by the author so that her loved ones wouldn't get upset thinking about her being gone.
Yes, I know one could say, seeing it signed out to her might later make her loved ones reminiscent on the good and happy times with her. But I also saw where she was coming from as well. It's a doubled edge sword if you will.
So as I continue to age I think about my own mortality. I will likely be leaving my book collection to my niece and nephew...unless something changes in the coming years of course! Lol. And I'll let them do what they will with the books. They can keep them, sell them, whatever they want. And I just thought it might be better for them if not all my books were signed out to me. Theoretically I see them selling them later on because I sadly don't think they will turn into readers, but I still want the best for them. Maybe they'll even keep a few they like I'd be happy about that. I mean, asking to be buried with all my books seems a little silly. Maybe bury me with my TBR pile so I can read them as a ghost, I'll just have to learn to use my gut to turn the pages! Lol.
But yeah...I don't always get my books personalized when I get the opportunity to get them signed. I might still do some occasionally, especially if I'm buying more than one copy (don't judge, you all know it's just on Stephanie's books! Lol). I did on my last set of Garber books get some fun personalizations like Little Fox, and Jacks' True Love! Those kind of personalizations I really like! I wish I could think of more of ones like that for my other books I have. I feel like taking the main character's name is just like personalizing it to a person who shares that name, so it wouldn't have that same feeling.
So my question for you is, when you get books signed, do you like to get them personalized or just signed? Or do you choose to get personalizations only on certain books/authors? I'm kind of on the latter track these days!
