Hello, everyone! Happy Pride month! My TBR, and my reading in general, is usually super gay anyway, but this month will be EXTRA SUPER GAY. šš It is so gay, in fact, that it cannot be contained in one post. lol. I’m being super ambitious this month and choosing 15 books to read. You’ll find the first 10 down below, and the last five will be revealed in next week’s Top 5 Tuesday post. So, stay tuned.
Read More »Hello, everyone! April is almost behind us, which means it is time to look forward to what I hope to read in May. I’ve decided to prioritize eight books this month and just stick with a regular TBR. Typically, I participate in the May the Force Read with You Readathon in May, but I’m honestly feeling a bit burnt out on readathons after Tropeical Readathon in March and Magical Readathon in April. Hopefully, I’ll also get some mood reading done in addition to the eight books I’m prioritizing. We’ll see, though, because I’m headed out for vacation in a couple of days. So, I’m not sure how much reading I’ll be getting done over the next couple of weeks. Here are the eight books I’ve chosen for this month:
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I was really hoping to slow down on getting new books this month. I was actually doing pretty good until I became obsessed with The Raven Boys and ordered the entire series and an associated trilogy. Then things really went off the rails with two B&N visits within the last week in addition to ordering several special editions online. I was so close to making it until the end of the month. I went over 20 DAYS without going into a bookshop. Unfortunately, it only seems to have made the rebound even worse. lol. I did check fewer things out from the library, though, and only bought a few ebooks/audiobooks that were on sale or could be purchased with credits. ARCs weren’t totally out of control either, but I did get a few more than last month. All in all, I’m happy with what I’ve got. I just wish I’d managed a little more self control, which is the story of my life when it comes to books. š
Read More »This month was absolutely bonkers for book acquisitions. My Book Outlet order arrived, and it was so heavy I could barely lift the box. lol. Gotta love those great sales. I also went a bit wild on Pango, but I also sold a couple things on there… So, it evens out right? (No. It really doesn’t, especially since I bought way more than I sold.) All of my library holds arrived at the same time, as usual. On the bright side, I’ve already read and returned all the library books in this post. Yay me! š So, the books aren’t getting added to my ever-expanding TBR. Luckily, this was a pretty quiet ARC month, as well. My self control in that regard is still holding pretty steady. Fingers crossed that continues because the last thing I need right now is to add a new stack of ARCs to the mix.
Read More »I am SO excited. This month I get to participate in another of my favorite readathons, Magical Readathon. I’ve spent a lot of time developing my character for this readathon, and I’m looking forward to attending another term at Orilium with him. For more information on my character, Padwin, you can visit my character introduction post. In short, he is attending the academy to learn how to be a Dream Walker and originally hails from a underground kingdom filled with libraries. He doesn’t really like open spaces and prefers books to people while also longing to understand them (kind of like me. lol). He must successfully pass seven classes to complete this term. Each of them is associated with a particular prompt. Here are the books I’ve chosen:
Read More »For such a short month, I sure did haul a lot of great books. I was hoping I’d spend less in February, but I actually ended up spending even more than in January, $176.91 not including book boxes. I got tons of great stuff, though. I think at least part of my increased shopping this month was due to feeling like crap for half of the month thanks to COVID. Once I was better, I wanted to celebrate and couldn’t think of a better way than new books. lol. I didn’t use the library quite as much in February, but I’m more than making up for it in March already. I’ve had what seems like a billion holds come in all at once, which is both stressful and exciting. It is also important to note that I unhauled 20 books in February, as well. So, I made a little space on my shelves for all the newbies. š
Read More »I can’t believe it is already time for another round of Trope-ical Readathon. It seems like August was just yesterday. I’ve decided to switch things up this time and join a different team, Team Science Fiction. I’ve always been on Team Fantasy in the past, but I liked the prompts better for Team Sci Fi this time. For the last Trope-ical Readathon, I didn’t set a specific TBR. Instead, I filled in the challenges as I went along throughout the month rather than picking specific books for the prompts the way I usually have in the past. This worked really well for me last time since it was the first time I’ve finished all the challenges. So, I’m going to proceed the same way again.The general and team prompts are in the graphics below, and more information about this readathon can be found at Jen Jen Reviews. If you are interested in participating, you have until March 5 to sign up!
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Hello, everyone! Today I’m participating in the blog tour for the BBNYA finalist, Haven by Ceril N Domace. This was one of my BBNYA reads last year, and I had a lot of fun participating as a panelist.
BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists and one overall winner. If you are an author and wish to learn more about the BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website http://www.bbnya.com or Twitter @bbnya_official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.
Most people think the fae are gone. Most people are wrong.
Owen Williams wakes after a horrific car accident to find his wife is deadāand somehow turned into a gryphonāand his kids gone after a home invasion turned horribly wrong. Shattered and reeling, he vows to do whatever it takes to find them.
When a fae scout appears and promises to reunite him with his kids, he doesnāt hesitate before joining her. But she warns him that if he wants to protect his family, he must follow the fae to their city, the hidden haven of Tearmann.
With enemies on the horizon, Owen needs to set aside his fears and take up arms to defend their new home alongside the people heās always been taught were monstersāor heāll lose everyone heās trying to protect.
***Thank you to BBNYA for providing a copy of the book. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.***
My thoughts on this one are mixed. I enjoyed learning about the world the author created, and the characters really tugged at my heart. However, the pace of the story was just dreadfully slow at times, and the writing wasn’t always the best. For example, I had trouble tracking what was going on in some of the action scenes.
I liked the world-building. I found the struggles of the fae to be realistic, and I was fascinated, and a bit horrified, by the process of changing that turned humans into fae. There were so many different types of fae, and I enjoyed learning about each of them. My only problem with the world-building was the delivery. It was really slow and primarily delivered via lengthy dialogue. There was so much telling happening that it felt like I was reading the slowest lecture in history. I found the information on the history of the fae in this world fascinating, but it was a huge drag on the story.
The characters and the family dynamic were the things I loved most about this story. These children grasped hold of my heart and would not let go. The entire family went through so much trauma in this story, and I was in my feelings right along with them. I also liked seeing a story about a father and his kids because it is not something I read nearly often enough. Although, the father, Owen, did get on my nerves sometimes because his characterization was really inconsistent. The text kept saying he was so worried about his kids and would never leave their sight again, and then he’d be off to some new meeting by himself in the very next scene. He made quite a few choices that left me shaking my head.
The themes related to ‘othering’ were timely and important. The story illustrated how important it is to get to know people rather than demonizing entire groups based on preconceived notions and baseless propaganda. The transition of the fae and the persecution they faced afterward reminded me of the challenges facing trans people, who are often demeaned and attacked for transitioning into their true selves. I’m not sure if it was the intention of the author, but that’s what I took away from it.
Was this book perfect? No, but I still enjoyed it. The world-building was clever despite being a bit clunky in its execution, and I would die for the children in this book. I came to love them that much. Therefore, I rate this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Ceril N Domace is an accountant, the owner of the feline embodiment of violence, and a dedicated dungeon master. On the rare occasions she manages to free herself from an ever-growing and complex web of TTRPG, Ceril enjoys taking walks and griping that all her hobbies are work in disguise.
March is absolutely STACKED when it comes to exciting new book releases. This is nowhere near an exhaustive list of everything I hope to eventually read, but I felt the list was already getting a bit too long. So, I arbitrarily capped it at 11 books this month for absolutely no reason at all. š¤£ Here are (some of) the books I’m anticipating the most in March 2023:
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Hello, everyone! Today I’m reviewing a book that’s received quite a bit of buzz recently, The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten. It seems like most of my online reading friends have either read this one or are currently starting it. This book will be published on March 7, which I guess explains the activity as everyone scrambles to finish up their ARCs on time. lol.
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Biblio Nerd Reflections 