52 Books in 43 Weeks

So, so many books. 📚😍 And not so little time. ⏳😁

I actually can’t believe it – I’ve never, ever, read this amount of books in a year. Within a year, seeing as 2023 isn’t quite over yet.

But somehow, whether it be interest or willpower or something else, I’ve managed to find time to read this many books. I’m so happy!

And seeing as there’s still like 9 weeks left, here’s hoping that I’ll read a bunch more! Maybe not 52 novels… but a sizable amount! 🥂🍻

I know this is a weird post, and that it’s entirely out of the blue, but I’m just so excited. And I’ve been this excited since I noticed the numbers a couple of days ago. Like I may have mentioned: This has never happened for me before.

So yeah, apologies for the short and weird blog post, but I just had to share the news! (And I wanted to do something a little different today/this Friday and I couldn’t really think of anything else, lol.)

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night! 🌞🌜

See ya ~Mar

Spell the Month in Books: October 2023

I actually managed to do this post on the correct day this month. Hooray!

It’s probably obvious from my featured image, but the post is Spell the Month in Books. Spell the Month in Books is a monthly post created and hosted by Jana @ Reviews from the Stacks. I started participating in it a few months ago.

Anyway, let’s spell October with book titles! This month, seeing as it’s spooky season, I decided to pick books that are creepy or unsettling to some degree. Or have vampires 🦇 or werewolves 🐺 or witches 🧹 (and probably also happen to be a supernatural romance). And I’ve actually read all of these! (I like scary stories. 😱 And ghost stories. 👻 And supernatural stories. 🎃)

O

The Other by Thomas Tryon

C

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

T

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

O

The Old Willis Place by Mary Downing Hahn

B

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

E

Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer
(I swear Eighth Grade Bites is the title – for whatever reason the publisher puts the titles of this series on the backs of the books.)

R

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

What books did you choose to spell September with? Did we choose any of the same ones? Have you read any of the books I chose?

As always, thank you to anyone who read and enjoyed my post. I hope anyone and everyone has a really good day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Monthly Wrap-Up: September Reading 2023

Wow, it’s been exactly a month since my monthly reading wrap-up for August. Wasn’t intending to post this this late into the month again, but life happens.

Comparing last month to the one before it, I definitely didn’t read as much as I’d wanted to. I read more books in August than I did in September. I’m hoping to change that up in October, especially since we’re getting into my favorite reading season.

But yeah, without further prattling, let’s get into my states for The StoryGraph for my September Reading 2023!

September 2023 Reading

😐 MOODS: Adventurous was the biggest slice of pie, as it always is. There are so many Moods here, but less than in August. The other ones were: Mysterious, LightheartedDarkFunny, and Dark.

👢 PACE: I read two different kinds of paced books: slow and medium.

🔢 PAGE NUMBER: Everything I read was either between 300 and 499 pages, or it sad under 300 pages. The pie graph was split during the middle.

📖 FICTION/NONFICTION: It was once again all fiction this month.

🎭 GENRES: Fantasy, as usual, was the biggest bar of the graph. Graphic Novel and YA were of the length this time, though. The other genres on the graph were Horror and Comics.

📄 FORMAT: This little StoryGraph pie chart is incorrect. Only one of the books I read was a physical print copy.

⭐ RATING: My median star rating for last month was 2.5. It was cuz I rated four different books four different star increments.

📉 PAGES READ DAILY: I read some during the first week, but dipped down during the second week, until near the last week of September.

The Books I Read in September

Blood Stain: Volume #1 by Linda Sejic

★★✫☆☆ • my review

Blood Stain: Volume #4 by Linda Sejic

★★✫☆☆ • my review

Sandymancer by David Edison

★★✯☆☆ • my review

Cursed by Marissa Meyer

★★☆☆☆ • my review

Wrapping Up the Wrap-Up

As I mentioned above, I didn’t read nearly as much as I had wanted to during September. Between things popping up and getting sick, I didn’t end up having the time or energy that I needed. Hopefully October will be better. 🤞🍀

And so, the September 2023 Reading Wrap-Up comes to a close. As per usual, thank you all so much for reading and have a wonderful day/night!

What books did you guys read in September? What did you think of them? What genres did you read?

See ya ~Mar

Spell the Month in Books: August 2023

Hello hello. *gasp* It’s an elusive Saturday post! I know, I know, calm down everyone. I’m okay! I just wanted to test the waters on a new monthly post I’ve found that I wanna participate in.

It’s probably obvious from my featured image, but the post is Spell the Month in Books. Spell the Month in Books is a monthly post created and hosted by Jana @ Reviews from the Stacks. I actually discovered it a bit ago, but was nervous about participating in it for whatever reason. But new I’m not, so here. We. Go! I’m gonna spell August in books!

A

Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton
Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton
★★★★☆ • 4 / 5 • My Review

U

Unraveller by Frances Hardinge
★★★★★ • 5 / 5 • My Review

G

Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
★★★★✯ • 4.5 / 5

U

Unwind by Neal Shusterman
★★★★★ • 5 / 5

S

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah
★★★★★ • 5 / 5 • My Review

T

Timekeeper by Tara Sim
★★★★☆ • 4 / 5 • My Review

What books did you choose to spell August with? Did we choose any of the same ones? Have you read any of the books I chose?

As always, thank you to anyone who read and enjoyed my post. Regardless, I hope anyone and everyone has a really good day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Monthly Wrap-Up: July Reading 2023

It’s August now, which means it’s a new month! So it’s time to wrap up July!

The first thing I want to say, before I get into it, is wow, I don’t think I’ve even been able to post one of these on the first of the month! I could be completely wrong though.

The other thing I wanted to say was, ew July was a little pathetic, reading and review wise. Actually, very pathetic review wise. Sure, I technically read eight books and just a thousand pages, but they were all for a children’s series, and I didn’t read and review anything else. So I’m disappointed in myself for that.

But yeah, without further ado, let’s get into my states for The StoryGraph for my July reading 2023.

July 2023 Reading

😐 MOODS: Adventurous was the biggest slice of pie once again. There are like no Moods on this graph though for July though. The only other one is Mysterious, which is almost as big as Adventurous.

👢 PACE: Unlike last month every single book I read was fast-paced. This is the first month where fast-paced was the entire graph, though.

🔢 PAGE NUMBER: Everything I read was super short this month, because all I read were the books in the Deltora Quest series, and they’re all less than 150 pages. So all of them were less than 300 pages.

📖 FICTION/NONFICTION: All fiction once again this month.

🎭 GENRES: Fantasy was the biggest part of the graph this time, as per usual. The only other genre on the bar graph, though, is Children’s, which is actually equal. So hasn’t been as colorful as it usually is.

📄 FORMAT: This little StoryGraph pie chart is actually correct again! All the books I read were physical print copies.

⭐ RATING: My median star rating for last month was 4.0. I rated two books 3.5 stars, four books 4.0 stars, and two books 4.5 stars.

📉 PAGES READ DAILY: I read some during the second week, but dipped down a bit in the middle. During the last third of the month of July though, I read a lot, comparatively.

The Books I Read in July

Wrapping Up the Wrap-Up

So July still kind of definitely sucked reading and review wise. But for whatever reason, over the last couple of years, I’ve had some trouble not falling into reading slumps and the like during the summer. I don’t know what it is about summertime or whatever, but I’ve had trouble getting into books lately.

I’m hoping that’s going to change with August though, since it’s kind of the bridge between summer and fall, and fall is my reading jam. Plus, I’ve never really had as much trouble finding a book to read in August. So yeah, the July 2023 Reading Wrap-Up comes to a close.

As per usual, thank you all so much for reading and have a wonderful day/night! What books did you guys read in July? What did you think of them? What genres did you read?

See ya ~Mar

The Books I Hauled from the First Half of 2023

Okay, so I know that July started a week ago, but I’ve been busy! …And sick, unfortunately. But I’m finally here to show off all the books that I’ve hauled during the first half of the year.

And yeah, the reason why I’m doing a big post about this halfway through the year instead of during my monthly reading wrap-ups… Well, it’s because I don’t do as large of book hauls as most of the rest of the book blogging community. So I decided to do two massive posts including all of the books I’ve gotten during both halves of the year.

Let’s go!

NOTE: Large pics are books I’ve hauled and read, and medium pics are books that I’ve just hauled so far.

Unraveler by Frances Hardinge
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Deeplight by Frances Hardinge
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh
A Thousand Steps into Night by Traci Chee
A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Mass
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Eldest by Christopher Paolini
Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
Alice by Christina Henry
Red Queen by Christina Henry
A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
The Elements of Style: 4th Annotated Edition by William Shrunk and E.B. White
Spell Bound by F.T. Lukens
The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells
The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells
Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton
Chance by Matthew FitzSimmons
In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune
Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth
I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy
The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco
The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson
Witch King by Martha Wells
Deltora Quest: 21st Anniversary Edition by Emily Rodda
Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao

If you’re here, congratulations on making it to the bottom of this very long, photo filled post! Wow, I collected more books over the past six months than I thought I did! I didn’t even realize this until I finished up this post, haha.

What books have you read this year so far? What books have you hauled? Do we have any of the same ones?

And as always, thank you so much for reading, and have an excellent day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Monthly Wrap-Up: June Reading 2023

June 2023 Reading

Hey, look! I’m super early with my reading wrap this month! June 2023 Reading statistics incoming!

Anyway, before I get into it: June… I’m not at all  happy with how much I read last month. My statistics were pretty bad on The StoryGraph. It was the least amount of reading that I’ve done yet this year. I don’t even have the excuse that stuff went down, like in May. I just had the worst reading slump ever.

Anyway, I’ve talked enough. On with the stats!

June 2023 Reading Stats

I read 2 books and 885 pages

😐 MOODS: Adventurous was the biggest slice of pie once again. There aren’t a lot of Moods on this graph though. The only others are Mysterious and Emotional, which are equal.

👢 PACE: Unlike last month every single book I read was medium-paced. I think this is the first month where medium-paced was the entire graph, though.

🔢 PAGE NUMBER: I read a lot of shorter books in June, similar to what I read in April and May. 300 to 499 was the only kind of pie here.

📖 FICTION/NONFICTION: All fiction once again this month.

🎭 GENRES: Fantasy was the biggest part of the graph this time, as per usual. The only other genre on the bar graph, though, is YA. So it’s much less colorful than usual.

📄 FORMAT: This little StoryGraph pie chart is actually correct for once! All the (two) books I read were physical print copies.

⭐ RATING: My median star rating for the month of June was 3.5. I rated one book 3 stars and one book 4 stars.

📉 PAGES READ DAILY: I read some during the first week, but dipped down a ton in the middle, particularly in the last third of the month. During the last couple of days of June though, I read a lot.

The Books I Read in June

Witch King by Martha Wells

★★★☆☆

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao

★★★★☆

Wrapping Up the Wrap-Up

So June was not what I had hoped it would bet be. I hate reading blocks. Ugh! But, I’m very hopeful that July will be better. I seem to be out of the slump, so I’m hoping for good things.

I haven’t had the time to really read yet, but I’ve already got a book cued up – one that I’ve been wanting to read for a long time. So yeah, the June 2023 Reading Wrap-Up comes to a close.

Thank you so much for reading, and have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Popular Books That I’ve Read Never #3

So, it’s a couple of weeks later than I wanted to post another one of these… and I have absolutely no excuse this time, haha. Nonetheless, welcome back to Popular Books That I’ve Read Never!

Now, as I’ve said before, it’s not that I only read unpopular books, it’s that I don’t only read the popular books. I also don’t read hardly any of the really popular books, because those are usually nonfiction or memoirs (which I don’t usually like), or they have a TON of romance (which I also don’t usually like).

This post is primarily going to focus on SFF novels, mostly because SFF is primarily what I read. It’s gonna be of five books, because I don’t want it to get too long. So, without further ado, let’s get into it!


ONE:

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

A world divided.
A queendom without an heir.
An ancient enemy awakens.

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction–but assassins are getting closer to her door. 

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic. 

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

TWO:

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter. 

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them. 

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable. 

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity. 

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war. 

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making. 

Speak again the ancient oaths: 

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination. 

and return to men the Shards they once bore. 

The Knights Radiant must stand again. 

THREE:

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

“I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.”
“I live for you,” I say sadly.
Eo kisses my cheek. “Then you must live for more.”

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he toils willingly, trusting that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children. 

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow–and Reds like him–are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class. 

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies… even if it means he has to become one of them to do so. 

FOUR:

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery–magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. 

Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire, and Elisabeth is implicated in the crime. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them. 

As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught–about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.

FIVE:

Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe

Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe

Persephone, young goddess of spring, is new to Olympus. Her mother, Demeter, has raised her in the mortal realm, but after Persephone promises to train as a sacred virgin, she’s allowed to live in the fast-moving, glamorous world of the gods. When her roommate, Artemis, takes her to a party, her entire life changes: she ends up meeting Hades and feels an immediate spark with the charming yet misunderstood ruler of the Underworld. Now Persephone must navigate the confusing politics and relationships that rule Olympus, while also figuring out her own place—and her own power.

This full-color edition of Smythe’s original Eisner-nominated webcomic Lore Olympus features a brand-new, exclusive short story, and brings Greek mythology into the modern age in a sharply perceptive and romantic graphic novel.


Thank you so much for reading, and have a great day/night!

See ya ~Mar

First Line Friday #18

I’m early today! Well, earlyish. But – this is my third week in a row (again) participating in this, so I’ve got another nice little posting streak going. Enough with my rambling – onwards with the post!

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.

What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?

If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:

📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page
📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
📙 Finally… reveal the book!

Here are the first lines:

Let’s start with the end of the world, why don’t we? Get it over with and move on to more interesting things.

Know what the book is? Look at these awesome book pics while you consider it…

Annnd the book is 🥁🥁… The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin!!

(Did you guess it right?)

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

SERIES: The Broken Earth (Book #1)

LENGTH: 498 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Orbit

RELEASE DATE: 4 August 2015

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

At the end of the world, a woman must hide her secret power and find her kidnapped daughter.

This is the way the world ends… for the last time.

It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world’s sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester. 

This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.

Thank you so much for reading, and have an awesome day/night!

See ya ~Mar

First Line Friday #11

Yay! I’m back on my roll! Here’s another First Line Friday.

First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.

What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?

If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:

📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page
📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
📙 Finally… reveal the book!

Here are the first lines:

Kalak rounded a rocky stone ridge and stumbled to a stop before the body of a dying thunderclast. The enormous stone beast lay on its side, riblike protrusions from its chest broken and cracked. The monstrosity was vaguely skeletal in shape, with unnaturally long limbs that sprouted from granite shoulders. The eyes were deep red spots on the arrowhead face, as if created by a fire burning deep within the stone. They faded.

Even after all these centuries, seeing a thunderclast up close made Kalak shiver. The beast’s hand was as long as a man was tall. He’d been killed by hands like those before, and it hadn’t been pleasant.

Of course, dying rarely was.

You got any guesses? Look at these beautiful books while you think about it…

Annnd the book is 🥁🥁… The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson!!

(Did you guess it??)

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

SERIES: The Stormlight Archive (Book #1)

LENGTH: 1007 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Tor Books

RELEASE DATE: 31 August 2010

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter. 

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them. 

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable. 

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity. 

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war. 

Thank you so much for reading, and have and amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar