Stacking the Shelves ★ 4

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!
If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page!

Welcome to my fourth posting of Stacking the Shelves! I'm finding my feet on this and I'm actually remembering books that are on my kindle, waiting for me. So this is helping me curb my bookshopping problems. I already have books that need reading, let's read those! yeah, right. Anyways, let's get this show on the road! Enjoy the peek at my romance books and don't judge me!

When You Dare by Lori Foster

The tougher they are, the harder they fall…
Professional mercenary Dare Macintosh lives by one hard-and-fast rule: business should never be personal. If a cause appeals to him and the price is right, he'll take the mission he's offered. But then the lovely Molly Alexander asks him to help her track down the men who'd had her kidnapped—and for the first time, Dare's tempted to combine work with pleasure.
Fiercely independent, Molly vows to trust no one until she's uncovered the truth. Could the enemy be her powerful estranged father? The ex-fiancé who still holds a grudge? Or the not-so-shy fan of her bestselling novels? As the danger heats up around them, the only anchor Molly has is Dare himself. But what she feels for him just might be the most frightening thing of all…
Tidbit
I'm a romance novel addict and I make no apologies for it.

The Darkest Hour by Maya Banks

It’s been one year since ex-Navy SEAL Ethan Kelly last saw his wife Rachel alive. Overwhelmed by grief and guilt over his failures as a husband, Ethan shuts himself off from everything and everyone.
His brothers have tried to bring Ethan into the KGI fold, tried to break through the barriers he’s built around himself, but Ethan refuses to respond… until he receives anonymous information claiming Rachel is alive.
To save her, Ethan will have to dodge bullets, cross a jungle, and risk falling captive to a deadly drug cartel that threatens his own demise. And even if he succeeds, he’ll have to force Rachel to recover memories she can’t and doesn’t want to relive—the minute by minute terror of her darkest hour—for their love, and their lives, may depend on it.
Tidbit
I love Maya Banks' KGI series and I have plans to review the entire series, so be on the lookout for those. I bought the first three at a used bookstore maybe a decade ago and I was a goner for some guys named Kelly.

How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks

So what if he's a bit older and usually regards a human female as dinner, not a dinner date? Yes, Roman Draganesti is a vampire, but a vampire who lost one of his fangs sinking his teeth into something he shouldn't have. Now he has one night to find a dentist before his natural healing abilities close the wound, leaving him a lop–sided eater for all eternity.
Things aren't going well for Shanna Whelan either...After witnessing a gruesome murder by the Russian mafia, she's next on their hit list. And her career as a dentist appears to be on a downward spiral because she's afraid of blood. When Roman rescues her from an assassination attempt, she wonders if she's found the one man who can keep her alive. Though the attraction between them is immediate and hot, can Shanna conquer her fear of blood to fix Roman's fang? And if she does, what will prevent Roman from using his fangs on her...
Tidbit
Is it bad that I'm just noticing that the title isn't Billionaire with a 'B'? Like I've said time and time again, I am not a fan of vampires and read a select few vampire books. Kerrelyn Sparks is one author whose vampires don't make me want to 'pull a Buffy'. They're amazing vamps and I adore them.

Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

All the creatures of the night gather in "the Hollows" of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party... and to feed.
Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining - and it's Rachel Morgan's job to keep that world civilized.
A bounty hunter and witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she'll bring 'em back alive, dead... or undead.
Tidbit
This series has been on my shelves since I was 14 years old. Glorious!

The Warlord wants Forever by Kresley Cole

In this scorching series opener, #1 New York Times bestseller Kresley Cole introduces the captivating Immortals After Dark series. The eBook also includes an exclusive extended excerpt from MacRieve, the highly anticipated next installment in the series.
The Warlord
Nikolai Wroth, a ruthless vampire general, will stop at nothing to find his Bride, the one woman who can “blood” him, making his heart beat and filling him with strength. Coldly interested only in the power his Bride will bring, he can hardly believe when Myst the Coveted awakens him body—and soul.
The Seductress
Famed throughout the world as the most beautiful Valkyrie, Myst has devoted her life to protecting a magical jewel and to fighting the vampires.Wroth provides her with the perfect opportunity to torment her sworn enemy—for with his new heartbeat comes a consuming sexual desire that can only be slaked by her. Denying him, she flees, struggling to forget his searing, possessive kiss.
>The Hunt is on…
She eludes him for five years, but he has finally chased her to ground and stolen her enchanted jewel, giving him absolute power over her. Now that she’s his for the taking, he intends to make her experience first-hand the agonizing, unending lust she subjected him to for half a decade.Yet when Nikolai realizes he wants far more than vengeance from Myst and frees her, will she come back to him?
Tidbit
When my ankle got chewed on in a dog attack and was on a "limited mobility" order, my mum went out and bought the first 11 books of the series at Books a Million and I read through them while my ankle wasn't weight-bearing. The addiction to this series hasn't faded. Nucking Futs Nix is my queen.

Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione

In a place where ecstasy can cost you your life . . . She's a demon-slayer who hungers for sensual pleasure-but fears it will always be denied her. Until Tayla Mancuso lands in a hospital run by demons in disguise, and the head doctor, Eidolon, makes her body burn with unslakable desire. But to prove her ultimate loyalty to her peers, she must betray the surgeon who saved her life.
Two lovers will dare to risk all.
Eidolon cannot resist this fiery, dangerous woman who fills him with both rage and passion. Not only is she his avowed enemy, but she could very well be the hunter who has been preying upon his people. Torn between his need for the truth and his quest to find his perfect mate before a horrific transformation claims him forever, Eidolon will dare the unthinkable-and let Tayla possess him, body and soul . . .
Tidbit
Larissa Ione is my dark goddess and she is a pretty cool lady. I had absolutely no idea how to pronounce Eidolon's name and I was so frustrated so I tweeted her and asked how to pronounce it and she took the time to tell me, back when Twitter was a baby and it sucked with notifications and we used carrier pigeons. This is not your Great American Novel, I won't pretend it is. It is smutty, it is paranormal romance, there is weird demonic ish abounding and I love it.

Okay, that's six books from way back on my shelves, virtual and physical. I have both. I've started and stopped like 30 different books since I said goodbye to Zeus and I don't even know. But I'm diving back into the past for some books I know I love to get me through and you'll be meeting them in the reviews soon. Until next time, have a happily ever after.

Wicked Saints by Emily A Duncan Blog Tour

Wicked Saints by Emily A Duncan
Something Dark and Holy #1
Published on 2 April 2019 by Wednesday Books

A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself.

A prince in danger must decide who to trust.

A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings.

Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war.

In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light. Wicked Saints is the thrilling start to Emily A. Duncan’s devastatingly Gothic Something Dark and Holy trilogy.

Amazon AUS (Hardcover)•Amazon AUS (Audio CD)•

Amazon CAN (Hardcover)•Amazon CAN (Audio CD)•

Amazon UK (Hardcover)•Amazon UK (Audio CD)•

Amazon  US (Hardcover)•Amazon US (Audio CD)•Audible•

Barnes & Noble (Hardcover)•Barnes & Noble (Audio CD)•

Books A Million (Hardcover or Audio CD)•

The Book Depository (Hardcover)•The Book Depository (Audio CD)•

Google Books•Google Books (Audio)•iBookstore•Indiebound•

Indigo•Kindle AUS•Kindle CAN•Kindle UK•Kindle US•

Kobo•Kobo (Audio)•Nook•Waterstones•

I was approached with the incredible opportunity to participate in the Wicked Saints launch tour and since I’ve been anticipating the release of Wicked Saints since April 2018, I signed up. And a month or so later (time is a construct that I struggle with), I got news that I was one of the people selected to be part of the tour. Whoo! *In case that’s not clear enough, I received an ARC of Wicked Saints in exchange for a review and I’m participating in the blog tour portion of the book launch. As honoured as I am to be among these amazing bloggers participating, none of this influenced my rating or review of Wicked Saints.

Let me start off by saying that Wicked Saints is a roller coaster ride of emotions. You will love this book, you will shed tears because of this book, you will gasp and you will take deities’ names in vain, you will mourn and your heart will clench and break and there will be so many emotions ripping through you that you will suffer emotional whiplash and sit there for an actual hour after finishing the book, thinking to yourself “what am I supposed to do with my life now that it’s over? How will I survive until the next book comes out? Why did I have to read this?”

Before I lure you in with how much you should read this book, I want to get the content warning out of the way. Because this book has some triggering content and y’all need to take care of yourselves. If you have any issues whatsoever with self-harm, past or present or just get queasy at the idea of reading about mages whose magic is blood-sourced, I strongly caution you about reading Wicked Saints. I speak from experience when I say that it is hard to ignore the temptation when you see it in media and this book centres around mages who use their own blood for magic. Please, be careful in your reading if you choose to read Wicked Saints.

Ms Duncan brings to life a rich and bloody world that is brimming with bits of Eastern European beauty. I took a bit longer than usual reading this simply because I wanted to be exact in my pronunciations of names and I have, like, next to zero experience with Slavic languages. I know maybe two words in Ukrainian and three in Russian and I learned them through osmosis. Consequently, I was refreshingly challenged with Wicked Saints. I knew very little about the language or how closely enmeshed religion is with everything. I got to have a little enlightenment with my entertainment, which I always welcome.

What we need to know first off is that Wicked Saints takes place amid a century-long holy war between Nadya’s country of Kalyazin and Serefin and Malachiasz’s country of Tranavia. Tranavia no longer worships the gods and practises bloodmagic which isn’t okay to Kalyazin or the edicts of their pantheon of deities. The Tranavians wanted to ‘eradicate’ the gods from Kalyazin like they had from their own country and the Kalyazi wanted to bring the gods back to the ‘lost’ Tranavians and stop the profaning of their deities (the practise of blood magic).

Wicked Saints has three principal characters. Nadezhda Lapteva, or Nadya, is a cleric residing at a secluded mountain monastery. The priests and priestesses of the monastery are trained in battle, but in the event of an actual battle, Nadya was to be protected at all costs. Because she could speak with the gods and work their magic. Serefin Meleski, the Tranavian High Prince and a powerful blood mage. Serefin has so much going on, as is the per usual with royals, I feel like somebody *cough* Ostiya *cough* needs to be there for him 24/7 to have his back because dude. I worry for his liver and I also want to hug him and bundle him up in a handknit afghan and give him some tea, dude needs some TLC in the worst way. Serefin rose to the rank of general, six months after going to battle at sixteen because his father sent him to the front and his mum is too worried about her ownself to worry about her son. Serefin’s hard and untrusting and scary and hurting and terrifyingly cruel and he is so tired of fighting, and, oh yeah, his battalion (is that the word?) just invaded Nadya’s monastery. And finally, Malachiasz Czechowicz is a Tranavian deserter and not just any deserter, but a Vulture. Malachiasz showed so much promise as a bloodmage that he was sent to become one of the elite Vultures who are sect of Tranavians with a grotesque amount of power and this guy defected. Malachiasz is wandering Kalyazin with his two Akolan companions, when they encounter Nadya fleeing the monastery battle. And the fate of their countries lie in their hands. 

Wicked Saints switches POVs between Serefin and Nadezhda throughout the story but is told primarily from Nadya’s view. Normally POV changes bother me because the transitions are so haphazard within chapters and the characters aren’t very distinguishable from each other. But not so with Ms Duncan. The transitions are well-timed and each chapter is labelled with the character whose POV it’s written in. That is so thoughtful! Ms Duncan pulls off differing POVs beautifully. Nadya’s POV and Serefin’s POV have vastly different ‘voices’, you won’t mistake whose POV you’re reading.

I enjoyed the interactions between Nadya and Malachiasz, there were the Kalyazi-Tranavian vibes where they butt heads over their beliefs but there’s also the friendship that slowly forms between them and the slow sparks that start showing up along the way. And then, you toss in their magics melding and working together as the book progresses and I squee. I don’t care if squee isn’t a word. It’s there. The end.

I sped through Wicked Saints because I had to know what was next in store for our principal triad and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. There was torture and there were battles and court deceptions and a betrothal battle because that’s a Tranavian custom that I am totally here for and there is a library that I would sacrifice my nephew for (the problem child one, he’d understand, he’s a bookworm), and a cathedral and I love cathedrals so much. They’re pretty and they’re spooky in the dark, okay? Anyways my heart was all over this book and I need to get my hands on the next book, like, yesterday because this is a trilogy and you cannot leave me like you did. I have feelings, y’know!

I’m not going to lie. None of these characters are going to be nominated for the Humanitarian of the Year or anything, but I’m going to fangirl over Nadya and Malachiasz and Serefin because they were written as flawed and they’re gritty and they are so fed up with the status quo and something has to change and they each have the ability to do something so why not try? Also, I was curious so I went and found out that ‘Nadezhda’ means hope. Excuse the tears but I am having emotions and I cannot control the feelings. NADEZHDA MEANS HOPE.

I’m giving Wicked Saints 5 stars because I loved this book so much and it tore me apart, glued all of my pieces back together, and I still asked for more at the end. I have so much more to say on this book but I’m closing in on the 1500 mark and I am not writing an essay on this book, dang it! I want to thank Meghan H. from Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s Press who decided to include me in the bloggers approached about participating in the Wicked Saints launch tour, I’m truly over-the-moon ecstatic and honoured to have been included in this endeavour. I hope I’ve done justice to it.

What's Being Said By Other Authors

“Prepare for a snow frosted, blood drenched fairy tale where the monsters steal your heart and love ends up being the nightmare. Utterly absorbing.” - Roshani Chokshi, New York Times bestselling author of The Star-Touched Queen 

"Full of blood and monsters and magic—this book destroyed me and I adored it. Emily is a wicked storyteller, she’s not afraid to hurt her characters or her readers. If you’ve ever fallen in love with a villain you will fall hard for this book." && “This book destroyed me and I adored it.”-  Stephanie Garber, New York Times bestselling author of Caraval

"This is the novel of dark theology and eldritch blood-magic that I’ve been waiting for all my life. It’s got a world at once brutal and beautiful, filled with characters who are wounded, lovable, and ferocious enough to break your heart. A shattering, utterly satisfying read." - Rosamund Hodge, author of Cruel Beauty and Bright Smoke, Cold Fire

“Wicked Saints is a lush, brutal, compelling fantasy that is dark, deep, and bloody—absolutely riveting! With a boy who is both man and monster, mysterious saints with uncertain motives, and a girl filled with holy magic who is just beginning to understand the full reaches of her power, this gothic jewel of a story will sink its visceral iron claws into you, never letting go until you’ve turned the last page. And truthfully, not even then -the explosive ending will haunt you for days! ” - Robin LaFevers, New York Times bestselling author of the His Fair Assassin trilogy

“Dark, bloody, and monstrously romantic. This is the villain love interest that we've all been waiting for.” - Margaret Rogerson, New York Times bestselling author of An Enchantment of Ravens 

"Seductively dark and enchanting, Wicked Saints is a trance you won’t want to wake from. Duncan has skillfully erected a world like no other, complete with provocative magic, sinister creatures, and a plot that keeps you guessing. This spellbinding YA fantasy will bewitch readers to the very last page." - Adrienne Young, New York Times bestselling author of Sky in the Deep 

EMILY A DUNCAN works as a youth services librarian. She received a Master's degree in library science from Kent State University, which mostly taught her how to find obscure Slavic folklore text through interlibrary loan systems. When not reading or writing, she enjoys playing copious amounts of video games and dungeons and dragons. Wicked Saints is her first book. She lives in Ohio.


Her public social media links are ::

Instagram︱Tumblr︱Twitter︱Website

Now, as I said before, I struggled with the names in Wicked Saints because none of my languages are Slavic, and I stumbled across this handy dandy pronunciation guide after I'd finished reading the book. Yes, I read the entire book with a pronunciation aid app on hand, because I do things the hard way. But for those of you who are reading this, you're blessed with the pronunciation guide before you read the book.

There's already a few amazing artists out there picking up their instruments of choice and making fanart in homage to Wicked Saints and my favourite so far is the one of Nadya in this trio posted by Nicole.Deal.Art on Instagram. I love it so very much!

I had no real idea of where to put this excerpt because I wanted to include the lovely damask pattern on the edge of the chapter page. Look at that gorgeous thing! It's not in the ARC I have, but I'm picking up a copy at my local Barnes & Noble (we don't have an indie store locally) just so I can have that lovely pattern on my shelf. I love damask patterns. They're everything good in this world. Okay, I'm closing out my talking portion of this post and leaving you for the excerpt.

My charity for this post is the Autistic Self Advocacy Network because Autism Pride Month is next month and I'm dreading the deluge of 'light it up blue' idiocy where people think Autism $peaks is a wonderful organisation that doesn't promote torturing autistic children in 'therapy'. Unlike Autism $peaks, ASAN is run by autistic individuals for autistic individuals of all ages. Anyways, Don't light it up blue for April we want red instead for acceptance. Until next time, have a happily ever after! (Don't forget to keep reading for the excerpt!!)

Down the TBR Hole ★ 4

Down the TBR Hole is a bookish meme created by Lia @ Lost in a Story.

Down the TBR Hole 411

Down The TBR Hole is a meme that revolves around cleansing your TBR of all those books you’re never going to read and sort through it all to know what’s actually on there.Most of you probably know this feeling, your Goodreads TBR pile keeps growing and growing and it seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. You keep adding, but you add more than you actually read. And then when you’re scrolling through your list, you realize that you have no idea what half the books are about and why you added them. Well that’s going to change!

It works like this:
• Order on ascending date added.
• Take the first 5 (or 10 (or even more!) if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course, if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
• Read the synopses of the books
• Decide: Keep it or should it go?

- Lia @ Lost in a Story

We're back again with Down the TBR Hole! I'm not sure how well this is going since I seem to be adding books at about the same rate I'm removing them, but hey, content is content and maybe I might just make a small dent if I keep at it, right?

Luck, Love & Lemon Pie by Amy E Reichert

I'll admit it, I was hungry when I added this book and I was craving lemon meringue pie (I still haven't completely mastered making it). I'm not a fan of gambling or the contemplation of infidelity, so I blame the hungry me. I do whatever my stomach tells me to when I can't feed it. I KNOW HOW BAD THAT SOUNDS! Anyways, I'm taking this one off my TBR and I'm also going to work on not surfing Goodreads when I'm hungry.

The Hideaway by Lauren K Denton

The Hideaway sounds like a book that will wring you of every emotion you ever thought of having. Which could be dangerous for my well-being so it's staying on my TBR list indefinitely but I want to read it so bad. Maybe when I'm in a better headspace, I'll go hunting for this one.

The Wings of Fire by Alma Alexander

I'm not sure how I feel about The Wings of Fire, I love that the synopsis talks about other members of the paranormal community besides vampires and werewolves and faeries (not that I don't love my fae and weres!) but it honestly sounds like another Mary Sue special and I cannot roll my eyes hard enough for that. For the Mary Sue feature alone, I'm taking it off my TBR but for the eclectic range of paranormal beings, I'm going to keep a sticky note of it in my notebook.

Hurricane Season by Lauren K Denton

Wow, I just noticed this is also by Ms Denton! I'm not keeping this one, just so many reasons I'm not touching on right now. Just no. Hard pass.

A Time to Kill by Jeanette Raleigh

I don't even know how this wound up on my TBR but I'm going to give it the boot today!

Song of the Sea Spirit by K.C. May

I have no real idea what kind of hallucinogens were used in the writing of this, but the synopsis is kind of trippy. I'm on the fence about this one. I think I'll keep it for now, but I might come back and remove it when my mood's more stable. To be honest, I'm still in the emotional rollercoaster of recovering from losing Z so eh this is fuzzy.

I'm going to close out this session with that. I just really want to read and I'm kicking myself for not starting at the beginning of the break for my premade posts. I'm fueled solely by ramen and coffee this week. Ta.

Top Ten Tuesday ★ 3

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to The Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

How it works:

I assign each Tuesday a topic and then post my top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join me and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information. You’ll find the schedule of upcoming TTT topics below so you can plan ahead. I’ll post a Linky here on the blog each week so you can link up your post (if you want). If you don’t have a blog, post your picks in the comment section below! Have tons of fun talking books and getting to know your fellow bloggers!

NOTE: If a weekly topic is listed as a “freebie”, you are invited to come up with your own topic. Sometimes I will give your topic a theme, such as “love”, a season, or an upcoming holiday. That just means that you can come up with any topic you want that fits under that umbrella.

 - Jana of The Artsy Reader Girl

Audio Freebie (books, music, podcasts, etc)

This is my third foray into Top Ten Tuesday and I'm going to put a musical spin on this because one of my autistic quirks is people speaking physically hurts me thanks to sensory processing issues. It's not fun or pleasant, there's crying involved and when I was little, I couldn't have scissors because I'd try to get rid of my ears so I couldn't hear. So, I don't do audiobooks or podcasts. But, for some reason, music is actually something that makes my world so much better. When my issues become problematic, I can turn on my music and things start to get a bit easier. Thus. I'm giving you a teensie tiny little peek into my musical world. Here are five artists and one of each of their songs that mean something to me.

Hollywood Undead
Hollywood Undead saved me when I was raped, before Manatee and his siblings came into my life 6 months after that night, I spent my days and nights blasting their one CD constantly and it was equal parts sad and angry and violent and 100% loud and I know I wouldn't be here today without them. And my little sister is also a fan of them even though she's ten, I had nothing to do with it. Young is from their first album, Swan Songs, and it's still an anthem for me.

Skye Sweetnam

Skye Sweetnam came into my life when I was mmm 15 or 16 and I've been a fan of her wild style ever since. I could always count on a cheer up if I turned on Skye's fast-paced Sugar Guitar or My Boyfriend is Music. Babydoll Gone Wrong is funny and feminist and so many levels of amazing, and the music video is DIY. Skye did a Disney recording of Part of Your World and then she joined up with some friends to become Sumo Cyco. 

Britt Nicole
Britt Nicole has Christian roots in her music but she isn't so secular you feel like you're a vampire bathing in holy water and as someone who was raised in a Christian family but isn't Christian herself, I love that. I love Gold because it's basically my #OperationBeautiful sticky notes in music form. I've spent many an hour with this song on repeat just listening to "you're worth more than gold" "you're one in a million" "don't be ashamed to wear your crown, you're a king, you're a queen, inside and out" because I needed a reminder that I was not what my bad thoughts were saying. And I hope that if y'all only listen to one of the songs on my list, you'll listen to this one.

For All Those Sleeping
Okay, look. I have an extremely eclectic taste in music and this is a beautiful song that helped me breathe when I didn't want to anymore. Also, don't search for the lyrics of the song, the auto results from LyricFind aren't the right lyrics and they won't fix them. Insulting.
Brie Larson

Yes, Brie Larson, Captain Marvel herself has an amazing talent singing. She Said has been a freaking anthem of mine for ages. I was 15 when I stumbled across it and AAHHHHH! For a teenage girl stuck in a small backwoods backwards deadend town who was in a no-win situation, this song was an anthem. Thanks, Brie, your song convinced me that I would get out of there eventually, I would survive and I would make it out in the big wide world when I did get there. And hey, here I am.

I know this isn't a book-laden post, so I wanted to tell y'all that Shelly Laurenston's In a Badger Way is out today. My planner had me scheduled to have my ARC review of it written and posted last Friday, but I wound up being a bit more mentally withdrawn than I anticipated. That review is coming as soon as I finish typing it up, screw the schedule because I love Shelly Laurenston's books and y'all need to know that I will pimp her books forever if I have a platform. Oh, wait. I do.
Okay, that's it for now. I'll be back later with some more literary content for you. Until next time, have a happily ever after, darlings!

Stacking the Shelves ★ 3

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!

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page!

Welcome to my third posting of Stacking the Shelves! I know, I can't believe it, but I'm scheduling things ahead so I'm not scrambling about and I can give you darling readers more content, except for my reviews, I'm working on that.
I'll be sharing a few of my recent acquisitions here every Sunday and if you want to join in the fun, you can click the meme banner or either link above and get all the info about Stacking the Shelves.

As always, clicking each book cover will take you to its Goodreads page and I'll give you the Goodreads synopsis with each book because I care about you and the books. I'm a total book pimp.

Hacker Exposed by Linzi Baxter

Bridget never expected to see Alex Ross again after her father stole from the Ross family. When Alex contacts Bridget, it isn’t to catch up. He needs her help! 
Bridget Boggs carries a lot of guilt over what happened to Alex Ross and his family. She had been good friends with the Ross boys until her greedy father lost part of the Ross family’s savings in a pyramid scheme. He went to jail, and Bridget and her family changed their names and went into hiding. 
Bridget imagines that Alex and his brothers feel just as betrayed as she does by her father’s criminal acts. When she meets Alex again as a young hacker and the owner of White Hat Security, he has something more important to talk about than her father’s transgressions. A million dollars has been stolen from his company, and Alex needs Bridget’s help to track down the culprit. 
Alex has certainly grown up since they last met. The man looks like a Greek god, and Bridget can’t help but be attracted to him. As she digs deeper into the theft from Ross Enterprises, Bridget doesn’t need any more distractions. This is a more dangerous job than either Bridget or Alex expected. The thief is willing to go to incredible lengths to evade the police, and the two amateur sleuths may find themselves caught in the crossfire.

Tidbit
I picked this one up when I saw that she was an Orlando-based author who was headed to the Space Coast Book Lovers Convention and Hacker Exposed looks interesting! I like supporting local, so hey, look, LOCALS SUPPORTING LOCALS. Y'all can expect to see this sometime in my future reviews!

The Good Ones by Jenn McKinlay

A romance bookstore owner finds her own happily ever after with a single dad in a new romance series from the New York Times bestselling author of Every Dog Has His Day.

Ryder Copeland is an accomplished architect and one heck of a father...not to mention tall and sexy. He's everything a hero should be, and Lord knows, Maisy Kelly has read enough of her great-aunt Eloise's romance novels to recognize one when she sees one. But like all fairy tales, Maisy can't help but wonder if this Prince Charming is too good to be true...
Ryder is drawn to the shy, curly haired professor who hires him to convert the Victorian house she's inherited from her aunt into a romance bookstore. Attracted to a woman for the first time since his divorce, Ryder finds himself wishing for a future with Maisy that he knows is impossible. Ryder has never wavered from his plan to leave the small town of Fairdale, North Carolina, so he can give his daughter the life she deserves. But suddenly he's not so sure. And the closer he gets to Maisy, the harder it's going to be to walk away...

Tidbit
I won an ARC of The Good Ones in a giveaway and it's on my review schedule and after the review is published, it's going to be packed with some other romance review copies I have on the shelves and shipped off to my grandmother who's up on a snow-covered mountain in Vermont. {Shoutout to Franklin County, Vermont!}

Flamecaster by Cinda Williams Chima

A New York Times bestseller now in paperback, this dazzling beginning to the Shattered Realms series is indispensable for fans of Cinda Williams Chima and a perfect starting point for readers who are new to her work. Set in the world of the acclaimed Seven Realms series, this is a breathtaking story of dark magic, chilling threats, and two unforgettable characters walking a knife-sharp line between life and death.
Adrian sul’Han, known as Ash, is a trained healer with a powerful gift of magic—and a thirst for revenge. Ash is forced into hiding after a series of murders throws the queendom into chaos. Now he’s closer than ever to killing the man responsible, the cruel king of Arden. Can Ash use his powers not to save a life but to take it?
Abandoned at birth, Jenna Bandelow was told that the magemark on the back of her neck would make her a target. But when the King’s Guard launches a relentless search for a girl with a mark like hers, Jenna assumes that it has more to do with her role as a saboteur than any birth-based curse. Eventually, Ash’s and Jenna’s paths will collide in Arden. Thrown together by chance and joined by their hatred of the ruthless king, they will come to rescue each other in ways they cannot yet imagine.

Tidbit

I've been meaning to get a copy of this for a while and now it's a trilogy and, well, I had to see how good it is. I'm lookin forward to finding out what the Shattered Realms series is all about!

Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik

A space princess on the run and a notorious outlaw soldier become unlikely allies in this imaginative, sexy space opera adventure—the first in an exciting science fiction trilogy.

In the far distant future, the universe is officially ruled by the Royal Consortium, but the High Councillors, the heads of the three High Houses, wield the true power. As the fifth of six children, Ada von Hasenberg has no authority; her only value to her High House is as a pawn in a political marriage. When her father arranges for her to wed a noble from House Rockhurst, a man she neither wants nor loves, Ada seizes control of her own destiny. The spirited princess flees before the betrothal ceremony and disappears among the stars.

Ada eluded her father’s forces for two years, but now her luck has run out. To ensure she cannot escape again, the fiery princess is thrown into a prison cell with Marcus Loch. Known as the Devil of Fornax Zero, Loch is rumored to have killed his entire chain of command during the Fornax Rebellion, and the Consortium wants his head.

When the ship returning them to Earth is attacked by a battle cruiser from rival House Rockhurst, Ada realizes that if her jilted fiancé captures her, she’ll become a political prisoner and a liability to her House. Her only hope is to strike a deal with the dangerous fugitive: a fortune if he helps her escape.

But when you make a deal with an irresistibly attractive Devil, you may lose more than you bargained for . . .

Tidbit

That's right, folks! I'm stepping out of my normal repertoire and diving into a space opera. I actually do love sci-fi as much as I love fantasy, I'm just really picky about my sci-fi. It has to be well-written or, well, I'll be a spoiled brat and complain about it for months. Kind of like the Q stories on Star Trek, annoying nonsense that's there and we're forced to endure the existence of them but we don't acknowledge them because they're horrible and they shouldn't exist.  

Last of Her Name by Jessica Khoury

Sixteen years ago, rebellion swept the galaxy known as the Belt of Jewels. Every member of the royal family was murdered--down to their youngest child, Princess Anya--and the Union government rose in its place. But Stacia doesn't think much about politics. She spends her days half-wild, rambling her father's vineyard with her closest friends, Clio and Pol.
That all changes the day a Union ship appears in town, carrying the leader of the Belt himself, the Direktor Eminent. The Direktor claims that Princess Anya is alive, and that Stacia's sleepy village is a den of empire loyalists, intent on hiding her. When Stacia is identified as the lost princess, her provincial home explodes into a nightmare.
Pol smuggles her away to a hidden escape ship in the chaos, leaving Clio in the hands of the Union. With everything she knows threading away into stars, Stacia sets her heart on a single mission. She will find and rescue Clio, even with the whole galaxy on her trail.

Tidbit

I was sold on this book when I saw it described as Anastasia in Space. Um, yes, please?! Sign me up! And that is how I came to be the owner of a digital copy of Last of Her Name. Because I've been total Anastasia trash for decades.

Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto

I had a sister, once…

In a world ruled by fierce warrior queens, a grand empire was built upon the backs of Phoenix Riders—legendary heroes who soared through the sky on wings of fire—until a war between two sisters ripped it all apart.

I promised her the throne would not come between us.

Sixteen years later, Veronyka is a war orphan who dreams of becoming a Phoenix Rider from the stories of old. After a shocking betrayal from her controlling sister, Veronyka strikes out alone to find the Riders—even if that means disguising herself as a boy to join their ranks.

But it is a fact of life that one must kill or be killed. Rule or be ruled.

Just as Veronyka finally feels like she belongs, her sister turns up and reveals a tangled web of lies between them that will change everything. And meanwhile, the new empire has learned of the Riders’ return and intends to destroy them once and for all.

Sometimes the title of queen is given. Sometimes it must be taken.

Tidbit

I'm in love with this book. The synopsis. The cover. The premise. Just bury me because I am dead. I bought a copy myself, but I also received an autographed copy in the post and I'm still not sure how it came into my possession. I blame all the new medications. I'm having a lot of books showing up in the post that I don't remember requesting or entering giveaways for. I mean, I'm not complaining but, one day, I'm going to die under a stack of books that have mysteriously shown up in my post box.

I hope y'all enjoyed this trip into my book collection. I'm going to be speedreading my way through my TBR trying to catch up with my Goodreads Challenge because I can't believe it's almost April already!! Anyways! Let me know if we're book-twins or if I accidentally added to your TBR. I'll see y'all next time and until then, have a happily ever after!