Top Ten Tuesday: Spring TBR

Whoops, it’s been a couple of weeks. Oh well, Happy Tuesday everybody!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It celebrates lovely lists, wonderful books and the bookish community. This week’s topic is Books on My Spring 2025 to-Read List. And… I think it’s pretty self explanatory, haha.

I have a lot of books that I’ve acquired recently. Firstly, because the holiday season was just a few months ago and I got several books for Christmas. And also because I went to a book fair a few weeks before that where they were practically giving the books away, so I accumulated several there. So yeah, who knows which of everything I’m eventually going to end up reading, but several of these novels are on my TBR nonetheless.

So anyway, in no particular order (because I don’t really have a planned order of reading most of these), here are the books on my spring TBR!

Luminous by Silvia Park: I’m not sure when exactly I’ll read this, but I’m hoping in the next month or so. This one looked interesting to me.
The Keeper of Lonely Spirits by E.M. Anderson: I’m not super sure when I’ll read this one either, but I’d also like to read it in the next month.
The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune: I’d definitely like to get to this one sometime this spring.
A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallero: I’d actually been planning to read this one earlier this year in like January or February, but it didn’t happen. It’s also one of the books I got during the holidays. Now I’m not sure when I’ll get to it, but it’s still on my more immediate TBR, so…
House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas: This one has been on my To Be Read Pile for forever. Like, at least a year or two. Hopefully I’ll at least get started on this book by Easter, but I’m definitely planning on finally knocking out the Crescent City novels sometime this year.
Flamecaster by Cinda Williams Chima: This is something I’m going to read very soon, actually. It’ll probably even be what I read next. I’m feeling nostalgic for The Seven Realms quadrilogy, so what better to read than its sequel series?
The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah: I really enjoyed The Stardust Thief when I read it a couple years ago, and I’ve been watching for the sequel ever since.
A Crown of Ivy and Glass by Claire Legrand: This is another book that I’m not sure when I’ll get to. I’m hoping sooner rather than later, however.
The Wren in the Holly Library by K.A. Linde: This is another novel I got during the holidays. I’m not sure when I’ll get to it, but like the rest of the books here, I’d like to read it sometime this spring.
Drwgonfall by L.R. Lam: Once again, yet another novel on my To Be Read Pile that I’m not sure when I’ll get to. Hopefully soon, though.

Are you looking forward to spring? It’s just a few days away now – March 21st is this Friday! How’s the weather where you’re at? What new books are coming out this spring that you’re excited for? What’s on your TBR this season?

As always, thanks so much for reading, and I hope that you have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Birthstone Book Covers: November 2024

It’s another month, so it’s time for some more Birthstone Book Covers. Since it’s November, that means novels with yellow and gold on their covers!

Leslie @ Books Are the New Black created a fun monthly post called Birthstone Book Covers. Each month, she features book covers that are either the same color of that month’s birthstone or include the color in the title.

November has two birthstones – Topaz and Citrine.

Rules:

📚 Mention the creator (Leslie @ Books Are The New Black) and link back to her so she can check out your post.
📚 Pick 5+ book covers that match the current month’s Birthstone.
📚 HAVE FUN!
📚 Nominate people if you want!

**House of Flame and Shadow** **by Sarah J. Maas**

**The Golden Tower** **by Holly Black & Cassandra Clare**

**Heart of the Sun Warrior** **by Sue Lynn Tan**

**She Who Became the Sun** **by Shelley Parker-Chan**

What are your favorite books with golden book covers? If you participated in Birthstone Books, which books did you choose this November?

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have the most amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

WWW Wednesday: 11/13

It’s been a few weeks since I last participated, but I’m reading something on a Wednesday again, so… yeah.

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme that used to be hosted at A Daily Rhythm, but has been taken over by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Now, without further ado, let’s get into the 3 Ws!

The 3 Ws of WWW Wednesday:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

The Thing I’m Currently Reading

Skyshade by Alex Aster

CURRENT STATUS: 2%

CURRENT FEELS: 😈 (I’m so looking forward to this trainwreck – will it retroactively make the first two books even worse, I wonder?)

The Thing I Most Recently Finished Reading

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (MDZS) by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

☆★ Star rating is for all the entire story as a whole, not each individual volume. Also, haven’t posted a review yet, lol (though to be fair I just finished it). It’s coming eventually though! ★☆

The Thing(s) I Might Read Next

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie: I’ve wanted to read more Leckie ever since I read Lake of Souls a few months ago. I’ve already acquired this book, and am definitely planning on reading it before the end of the year at least.

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas: I’ve had this book for several months now, and it’s been on my TBR for about the same amount of time. My cousins were also planning on reading Crescent City as of Christmas of last year and I kind of want to discuss it with them, so I’d like to read at least the first book before Christmas.

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie: This series has been on my radar for years, but as with most popular high fantasy series, I’ve been wary about reading it (mostly because I’ve DNF-ed quite a few of them – I’m looking at you A Song of Ice and Fire (got to book two), The Name of the Wind and The Way of Kings). But I’m thinking of giving it a real shot, and am hoping to read it before the year ends.

What books has everyone been reading lately? What have you thought of them? What are you thinking of reading next?

Anyway, thank you to everyone for reading, and I hope that you have a great day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Fall TBR

Woohoo! Double post! I haven’t double posted on the same day in a while!

Anyway, Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It celebrates lovely lists, wonderful books and the bookish community. This week’s topic is Books on Your Fall To-Be-Read. I haven’t really ever posted about my TBR on the blog (beyond what I might be reading next whenever I participate in WWW Wednesday), so I’m looking forward to this!

Here are ten of the books on my TBR – what I consider my more immediate TBR, at least – in no particular order. Without further ado, let’s be off!

Wrath of the Triple Goddess by Rick Riordan: I haven’t started reading this yet, so I can technically put it on this list, lol. Gonna start reading it tomorrow, though, definitely.

How to Help a Hungry Werewolf by Charlotte Stein: I just discovered this one and it looks interesting. It also seems to have some chill October and Halloween-y vibes, and I love that when I read novels during spooky season.

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (aka: MDZS) by MXTX: This has been on my TBR for around two years now, and I honestly don’t know why I’ve been putting it off. I’ve already seen the animation and read tons of fanfiction for it and love the story… so yeah, don’t know why I haven’t read it yet.

Skyshade by Alex Aster: I’ve been enjoying hate-reading this series, and I’m gonna continue it with this next installment.

Snow Drowned by Jennifer D. Lyle: Saw it when looking at new books coming out in November 2024. It looked interesting and I haven’t read much horror/thriller in a while.

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas: I’ve been planning on reading this series for like a year now, but still just haven’t gotten around to it. The books are just so long, and I wasn’t really in the mood earlier this year, I guess.

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers: I’ve had my eye on this since I read the first novella earlier this year. Still planning on it, I’ve just been distracted by new books and reading One Piece.

Dead Man’s Hand by James J. Butcher: This has been on my radar for a couple of years, since around the time it came out. I got the book a couple of months ago, and I guess I’ve just been waiting for the right time to read it? (I’ve also gotten distracted by other books, new or otherwise.)

One Piece by Eiichiro Oda: Of course I’m still continuing reading One Piece with my husband. We’re almost to the time skip! Planning on continuing on with all the little arcs up to said time skip next month!

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell: I tried reading this a couple years ago but couldn’t get into it and DNF-ed it. I’m thinking about trying again. We’ll see.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Wish Had Less Pages

Hey everybody! Happy Tuesday!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly post currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It celebrates lovely lists, wonderful books and the bookish community. This week’s topic is Books I Wish Had More/Less [Insert Your Concept Here] In Them (for example: more/less romance, more/less world building, less info dumping, more/fewer pages, more character development, fewer characters, fewer descriptions, more suspense, etc.).

The variation that I ended up going with Books I Wish Had Less Pages. Also, to a lesser degree, but books with less descriptions and stuff too, because super long SFF books in particular have this problem (for me). I could only think of eight books this time, though, so that’s how long my list is.

A Game of Thrones: Real talk, I actually finished this one. But I didn’t finish its sequel, A Clash of Kings, because I was still burned out with how bloated this book was for me, particularly regarding descriptions. And then the series just continues to be too big and long for me, so I ultimately decided it wasn’t worth it.

The Way of Kings: This is another book I was recommended because it (like GOT) was apparently one of the greatest fantasy books, and fantasy series, ever. And… it was too slow for me. It also has way too many pages – over 1000 and it’s only book one!

House of Earth and Blood: This is actually one I’m almost positive I’ll read. Eventually. It’s just so long. I’m finding it a bit intimidating. But there’s something about Maas’ writing style, I’m always able to power through it for some reason.

The Eye of the World: They say never say never, but I’m pretty sure I’m never gonna read any of the Wheel of Time. It’s just waayyy too long.

The Shadow of What Was Lost: This was yet another book that I DNF-ed because I 1) Got bored, and 2) The length intimidated me.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: I’m actually kind of interested in this one still. But it’s 860 pages, and I’ve heard it’s a bit bloated and boring.

The Blade Itself: I’ve actually almost picked this one up a couple times – I do have a degree of interest in reading it. But I’ve been burned by fantasy books roughly the same length – 550 pages or so – so I’m, once again, nervous about committing to it.

A Court of Wings and Ruin: I didn’t completely hate this book, but I didn’t love it either. I did finish it though. I think this is where the ACOTAR series started to get overwritten and excessive, however, which is why I added it to this list.

Shelf Control #16

So. It’s been a… not insignificant amount of time since I last participated in Shelf Control. But let’s not discuss that.

Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books languishing on our bookshelves created and hosted by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies. It’s a whole lotta fun, so if you’re interested in participating yourself, click the backlink above.

This time the book is another one from the MCU – the Maas Cinematic Universe, that is. It’s the first book in the Crescent City series, House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas.

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

SERIES: Crescent City #1

LENGTH: 800 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury Publishing

RELEASE DATE: 3 March 2020

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life-working hard all day and partying all night-until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.

Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose-to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.

As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion-one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.

Why It Languishes on My Bookshelf

WHEN I GOT IT: January 2024

WHY I WANTED TO READ IT: I’ve been interested in this series for a while. Especially since a couple of my cousins are planning on reading it.

WHY I HAVEN’T READ IT YET: I’ve had one the worst reading slumps I’ve ever experienced happening for the past few months. It began in December of last year and basically went until about two weeks ago. So the slump, combined with the ridiculous length of the novel, has put me off of it for a while.

WILL I EVER READ IT?: Yes, almost definitely! In fact, there’s a good chance it’s gonna be the book that I read next!

What book has been sitting unread on your bookshelf? Are you planning on reading it eventually?

As always, thanks so much for reading, and I hope that you have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar

First Line Friday: 3/15

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve participated in this weekly post, but here I am with another First Line Friday! Also, I just wanted to let everyone who wasn’t aware that yesterday was Pi Day (3/14 = 3.14) and that I hope that you enjoyed whatever you were reading yesterday with a slice of pie. 🥧📖

Anyway.

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’s the first lines:

There was a wolf at the gallery door.

I know, I know. That’s less than I usually give. But I feel like if I gave you guys more to work with, it would give the book away instantly. So here’s a couple more hints.

Still have no idea? I’ll give you a little more time to think about it, whilst admiring some photos of books…

Annnd the book is 🥁🥁… House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas!

(Were you able to guess it?)

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

SERIES: Crescent City #1

LENGTH: 800 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury Publishing

RELEASE DATE: 3 March 2020

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The CRESCENT CITY series begins with House of Earth and Blood: the story of half-Fae and half-human Bryce Quinlan as she seeks revenge in a contemporary fantasy world of magic, danger, and searing romance.

Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life-working hard all day and partying all night-until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.

What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re most excited about?

As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Birthstone Book Covers: January 2024

Hey look. It’s me, participating in Birthstone Book Covers for another January. (Ugh. I’m sooo late.)

January has one birthstone – Garnet. So here’s to some lovely red book covers!

Rules:

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordon — **The Battle of the Labyrinth** **by Rick Riordon**

The Elite by Kiera Cass — **The Elite** **by Kiera Cass**

A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin — **A Feast for Crows** **by George R. R. Martin**

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins — **Catching Fire** **by Suzanne Collins**

What are your favorite books with red book covers? If you participated in Birthstone Books this time, what books did you choose for January?

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have the most amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Weekly Wrap-Up: 1/2 – 1/21

Whoa. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve last done this post. Sorry about that. But I think I’ve had good reason, honestly.

I haven’t posted as much as I’ve wanted to this month, or as much as I’ve felt that I should be posting. So I would’ve had like one (or two) posts to highlight from the past week that I did. And I really didn’t feel like it was enough to do a Weekly Wrap-Up for. It seemed a bit overkill to me.

But now I’ve done four posts since, and I feel that’s more than enough to talk about, so here’s another one of these posts! Let’s get to it!

Friday 1/5: December 2023 Monthly Reading Wrap-Up

Three-ish weeks ago, on the first Friday of the year, I got around to posting my December 2023 Reading Wrap-Up. It was a sad, sad post to be sure – mostly because the only books I tried to read last month, I DNF-ed. But I posted the wrap-up nonetheless.

Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: December 2023

Thursday 1/11: My Most Anticipated Reads for 2024 (Part 1)

Around ten or so days ago, on Thursday the 11th, I finally posted my most anticipated book releases for January, February and March of this year. I had about five books on it, as seems to be the usual for me.

And of course, I’ll be back with three more of these types of posts this year, spanning three month intervals, since this is a quarterly post. So I’ll see everyone back in April with another one!

My Most Anticipated SFF Reads of 2024: Jan, Feb, & Mar

Wednesday 1/17: Can’t-Wait Wednesday

This past Wednesday, I participated in Can’t-Wait Wednesday for the first time in months. Literally forever. Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme currently hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings.

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: House of Flame and Shadow

Friday 1/19: 2023 Reading Wrap-Up

On Friday, I finally, finally got around to posting my yearly reading wrap-up for 2023. It took me literally forever to get around to it, I know, but I finally did it! And I thought that it turned out pretty dang good, myself. My StoryGraph stats from last year are now there, deconstructed for all to see if you like.

2023 Reading: Another Year of Books

Books I’ve Read in the Last Weeks

💖🎁 Wrapping It All Up 💖🎁

Annnd… that’s it. I haven’t been as active as I’ve wanted to be on the blog, nor have I been reading books like I’ve also wanted, but I’m gonna change that ASAP. Cuz I love reading, and I love talking about the novels that I read, and I haven’t been doing that.

One thing that I have been glad that I’ve been doing as of late, is cooking. I’ve been making dinner most nights every week for the last couple, and I’m really happy with it. I love cooking – and baking – not just because I find it enjoyable, but because it brings back memories of the one who taught me to do both growing up (particularly breakfast), who is sadly no longer here. So it’s also an activity that I do to honor this person too, I guess.

So yeah, I definitely plan on continuing my cooking and baking. That’s a big part of the reason why I created the Reading & Recipes post that I need to get back to. Because I want to talk about what I’ve been cooking lately, too.

Back to the blog, I’m planning on finishing House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas this week, and to hopefully have a review out at the end of this coming weekend or next week. After that, and if I enjoy the book, then I’m going to continue the series. After that, I want to read the Emily Wilde sequel (or maybe I’ll read it in between the Crescent City books), and then I’ll read something else.

Anyway, thank you to everyone who continues to read my posts here. I hope you all have an amazing day/night!

See ya ~Mar

Can’t-Wait Wednesday: House of Flame and Shadow

Hey guys. It’s been a hot minute, I know, but I was feeling a little bit burnt out after the holidays, so I decided to take a bit of a break. But I’m back now! …I think! 🍀🤞

Anyways, let’s get into the post! It’s been a while since I’ve participated in Can’t-Wait Wednesday, but there’s a book coming out in a couple weeks that I’m looking forward to, so of course I’m doing it this week.

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings (and was previously hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine where it was known as Waiting on Wednesday) to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. They’re usually books that have not yet been released.

This week’s book is:

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas! 🔥🖤

Confession: I haven’t technically read either of the already released Crescent City books. But I’ve been interested in them for a couple of years. And I’ve decided that now is the perfect time to give the series a go!

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

SERIES: Crescent City (Book #3)

LENGTH: 848 pages

GENRES: Fantasy, Romance, Fiction

PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury Publishing

RELEASE DATE: 30 January 2024

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The stunning third book in the sexy, action-packed Crescent City series, following the global bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath.

Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she’s going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that’s no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.

Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he’s in the Asteri’s dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce’s fate. He’s desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri’s leash, his hands are quite literally tied.

In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas’s Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt’s world is brought to the brink of collapse-with its future resting on their shoulders.

Are you a fan of the Crescent City books? Do you like any of Sarah J. Maas’ other works? What books are coming out that you’re looking forward to?

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

See ya ~Mar