Hi everyone! Okay, I have a combined unboxing, meaning this is the unboxing for September, October and November and that’s it. Because I cancelled my subscription to YA Book of the Month. So quick, I know!
If you don’t know about the Book of the Month club, every month they feature five books you can choose from. The monthly subscription is $14.99 with shipping already included, so you get charged on a designated date, then you have a credit in your account. The first week of the month, they show the books you can choose from and then you make your choice and use up your credit. It repeats every month until you cancel, like me. But I do believe you can skip months as well.
This is the cute hot pink box the YA books come in. I think the adult fiction books comes in blue? Anyway, it’s a little bit beat up because I assume this box takes quite a journey to get to me. It takes almost a month to get to me and it’s the main reason I cancelled my subscription. 😞
My November book choice was When the Stars Lead to You by Ronni Davis. Every box I’ve received had a blue bookmark that says Book of the Month, which is nice since I always need bookmarks.
All of the BOTM books have smilier characteristics. They all have the logo on the cover and when you take off the dust cover, the naked cover is embossed with the logo, month and year the book was featured as choices.
The books are a certain size, they are larger than the books from the publisher companies and the print I feel is larger too, which is nice!
These are the three books I have from BOTM. My first book was The Ten Thousand Doors of January which I haven’t read yet. I just finished The Beautiful this month and my newest book is Where the Stars Lead to You.
I think it’s a nice subscription if you live on the mainland USA. I think shipping out to me in Hawaii (still part of the USA but in the middle of the Pacific Ocean), shipping just takes too long. For other box subscriptions, especially the crates I’ve tried so far, it comes with priority shipping so it gets to me so quick. Shipping is included with BOTM and $14.99 for shipping and book is really good! But I’m just impatient waiting for it – so it’s not for me.
To cancel my membership for the subscription there is no feature on their website to do that – there is a number to call to cancel.
Anyway, it was cool to try it out! Are you a BOTM subscriber? How do you like it?
First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open 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!
Quick Friday Update:
It’s BLACK Friday, for those of you doing some major Christmas shopping. I usually avoid it, I could do it when I was younger and single haha, but now with kids, nah…
But I do have one Black Friday event I want to attend. My cousin makes earrings and she’s selling her items at an event in town and I want to support her and buy earrings for gifts and honestly…for ME. We shall see if I have time to make it out there today.
Okay, let’s get to the lines!
“You’d think someone who wanted to study the stars would know better than to wish on them.”
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It’s my YA Book of the Month club pick and will be reading it this weekend! I hope it’s good, don’t you love the cover?
Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers and bloggers who celebrate, and to all of you around the world as well even if it’s not a holiday you celebrate. I’m so grateful and thankful to all of you who have stopped by on my little space on the internet blogging about books. 🤷🏻♀️ The fact that you even take one minute to give me a like, follow me or even read what I write…seriously…I am thankful and it means a lot to me. THANK YOU!!!
I had this whole Thanksgiving post written and of course, my hubby had to do something to the router right now or whatever and guess what…my post didn’t auto-save SO…I’m not even going to try and re-write it. 🙄
Just know, I appreciate all of you and I wish blessings upon you and your loved ones this holiday season.
The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:
What are you currently reading?
What have you just finished reading?
What are you going to read next?
What are you currently reading?
I am finally working my way through this book. I know I had it months ago but I’ve been reading NetGalley arcs so now I’m finally getting to the book I bought. I’m 1/4th of the way in and Burleigh House is a fascinating entity.
What have you finished reading?
Tweet Cute by Emma Lord is so cute and it made me crave grilled cheese and desserts. I started it and finished it yesterday! I think I’ve been devouring more contemporary romances lately because it’s the holidays and in the mood for sweetness. For some reason my YA fantasy selections aren’t holding my interests as usual. Anyway, review for this will be posted closer to it’s publication in January 2020.
What are you going to read next?
Since I’m in a lovey dovey contemporary romance mood, I’m going to read this book that I just got yesterday. Have you read it?
Let me know what you’ve read, are reading now or will be reading next! I’d love to hear from you.
Another OwlCrate box but this time it is their monthly subscription box. Today I’m unboxing the November box.
Such a beautiful wood…bookmark or ornament? Well it’s an ornament now because my daughter added to our tree! 😂 I love the details on it.
Okay THIS is definitely a bookmark, a metal one with all this beautiful purple and black design. So pretty!
Another gorgeous collector’s pin. Lovely!
Super cute stickers I was going to use in the reading planner…but my daughter only took a few of them haha. I love the color palette!
My first reading planner and it’s so pretty! I love how you can start with any month and it has a section on the weekly pages where you can note down how many pages your read that day…but I never keep track of that. But cool if you do! I love the Book Reviews pages where you can write mini-reviews, that could definitely help me keep track of books I need to review. It also has a section for Favorite Quotes! Yay, I want to start collecting quotes but I get lazy about it. So hopefully this will help me. There is a Book Wishlist page and a Monthly TBR as well. I’m so excited to try this out!
They fit this blanket into that small box!! Like…what? I am so impressed with whoever packs their boxes. I need to take lessons. But the colors and design on this is gorgeous, and it’s only of my favorite fandoms so I am in love with it. My kids love it too because it’s soft and they kept rolling on top of it haha.
And the book!!! It’s gorgeous but I think I like the original black cover I’ve seen. This one is pretty too but I love a black background for anything thing with moons and stars. This edition is signed and I look forward to finally reading this book!
I love this box just for the book, blanket and reading planner alone. I don’t have another OwlCrate box coming after this because I went overboard on boxes for November. I am still waiting on The Bookish Box crate and Shelflove Crate. I hope we get some exciting book choices for 2020 because I have to say OwlCrate is hands down my favorite book crate subscription. They are good with communicating on their instagram account about box updates and reveals. Their boxes ship on time and gets to me quick! I love everything so far about their company.
I hope you enjoy these unboxing and stay tuned for more to come!
Categories: Fantasy, Young Adult, Adventure, Family
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from the author, Sydney Faith, in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Olexia is a wild and dangerous world filled with magic.
Miri and Nick find Olexia by chance but choose their fate when they step through the portal. A shard of glass and a hastily-written letter from their mother are all they have to solve their puzzling past.
In Olexia Miri and Nick find danger and unlikely allies, and with their help, they learn to wield their newfound powers and find out the truth about Olexia’s buried secrets.
When the ruthless Council leader learns the siblings harbor a powerful artifact, he sends his bloodthirsty LaKaio soldiers to hunt them down at any cost.
With time running out and secrets about their past being revealed around every corner, Miri and Nick must decide if they’re going to hide away or rise up against the sinister leaders of Olexia.
Thank you to Sydney Faith for giving me a copy of her book to review.
Miri and Nick are siblings living somewhat normal lives on Earth. I say somewhat because Miri, experiences painful episodes that the doctors diagnosed as epilepsy. But her episodes are more than just a medical condition. When they find out about a new magical world called Olexia everything strange about their lives makes so much more sense.
Once these siblings are in Olexia the adventure never ends as Miri and Nick learn about this world full of magic, a different language and way of life.
This is the first book of the series and already I am immersed in this world of Olexia. When Miri and Nick steps through portal it reminds me of Narnia, where everything is just so different from Earth. In Olexia they know about “Earth” and call it Terra. But the world building is great, there are different types of people with their owl languages and customs. Also I feel like this book only scratched the surface of Olexia and there is more to learn.
There are some strong side characters like Kayta and Siymin who stumbles into Nick and Miri right away. I like Kayta and her attitude, she’s feisty. Siymin is calm, clever and smart. Siymin and Miri’s relationship grows throughout the story and there is a hint of a romance coming between them but I’m sure that will be explored more as the series goes on.
The magic system was explained really well too. Not only Miri and Nick both have their own unique powers. Where Miri thought it was a hindrance on Earth, her powers to see the future in Olexia is super useful as well as Nick’s power as a jumper. And I like that they take the time to learn their craft with Tuko also. Being new to this world and magic, it was nice that they didn’t know how to use their powers right away and had to do some actual training.
The sibling bond between Miri and Nick is tight and it has to be, for years it has only been the two of them. They were raised in foster care but they always wondered about their past and parents, more so with Miri. Nick has been Miri’s caretaker and he’s done a fine job at it, he’s an awesome big brother. When secrets are revealed in Olexia, it’s a lot for the siblings to take in but I’m sure we’ll see them deal with the information they have more in the next book.
The action keeps going in this book which kept it fun. There is a quest for Miri and Nick to find pieces of a magic mirror and they are also trying to find their parents. They encounter LaKaio (basically the bad guys) and have to get out of many dicey situations.
I’ve learned that in YA, there can be such an age spectrum when thinking about what audience would love this book. I’m an older adult reading YA and this book felt a little younger compared to some of the YA I’ve been reading lately…seriously, some YA at times can be considered adult reading…or at least New Adult. But this one is definitely for teens and I’d even say middle grade could enjoy this!
There are a lot of characters we meet when Miri and Nick jump into Olexia – especially when they meet Siymin’s large family and you would think because their names are so unique, I could follow – but at times I got a little lost. Maybe because I was getting used to the different sounding names.
It has a cliffhanger ending! That’s a warning if you don’t like cliffhangers haha…but yeah I read that last sentence and I was like…ohhhh. 🤭
Overall, I really enjoyed getting to know Miri and Nick and this new imaginative world of Olexia. As the series continues I’m sure there will be so much more to learn about Olexia and the people that populate such a magical world. Also the cliffhanger ending makes me want to find out what other secrets will be revealed in the sequel! This is a very solid first book for the start of a young adult fantasy series.
About the Author:
SYDNEY FAITH is a YA author who, after a lifetime of living in her make-believe worlds, decided to start sharing them at 17 in the form of books. When she’s not writing, Sydney enjoys creating YouTube videos, baking and eating chocolate chip cookies, and thinking about writing. As a Midwesterner, you’ll find Sydney pointing out cows on road trips, enjoying the state fair, and complaining about the snow.
You can find her at: Instagram: @sydfaithauthor Website: sydneyfaith.com
Yes I am obsessed with The Folk of Air series by Holly Black, so in addition to buying the boxed set on Barnes & Noble, I ordered this custom box on OwlCrate. I can’t believe how much this little box packs in! Let’s see what was inside:
All of this was in this small box! Isn’t that awesome?
This OwlCrate version has this white cover, but naked, it’s a black book. The B&N version I have is a black cover, but naked, it’s a white book. I do think the original white cover being sold everywhere else is the prettiest cover because you can see the snake detail and crown. This one is okay but this is a signed copy which is awesome!
I love all the quotes that are printed on the items in the box. This is a little jewelry dish, perfect for rings or earrings.
And I love these coasters! I love the fonts, color and design – really beautiful.
Here’s a cute little mug and three decorative spoons! If I had a proper bookcase these would be featured on it but really, I have no space on my small bookshelf. Still, really cute items.
Here is a tray with another quote and beautiful design. I’d use THIS as my coaster or at least it’s big enough to hold a cup and maybe some snacks while I sit at my desk and type up my blog posts.
Decorative pins with lovely detail – what do you do with pins? I have a collection of them now from all these box crates but I don’t use them for anything. But they are super cute!
Aw, and star lights which I can use in my daughter’s room or since it’s Christmas time I can use it somewhere.
We have two print cards here and as you can see of the photo on the right, when you tilt the card a certain way it has this design where the print sparkles with color. So beautiful!
I’m listening to this right now and I’m totally feeling it! It’s a playlist for Jude & Cardan! 😍
I am so in love with this quote. Love love love this and I don’t know where to hang it up yet…I wish I had my own library at home that I could decorate at will haha, but alas I do not.
And that’s what was in my Faerie Dwelling Box by OwlCrate. I love it and I do have to say one of my favorite subscription boxes so far is OwlCrate – they are super organized and so far their boxes haven’t disappointed. I have another box coming tomorrow, their November box and I can’t wait to open it up!
Title: The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air, #3)
Author: Holly Black
Format: Hardcover (owned)
Pages: 305
Categories: Young Adult, Fantasy, Political Intrigue, Romance
After being pronounced Queen of Faerie and then abruptly exiled by the Wicked King Cardan, Jude finds herself unmoored, the queen of nothing. She spends her time with Vivi and Oak, watches her fair share of reality television, and does the odd job or two, including trying to convince a cannibalistic faerie from hunting her own in the mortal world.
When her twin sister Taryn shows up asking of a favor, Jude jumps at the chance to return to the Faerie world, even if it means facing Cardan, who she loves despite his betrayal.
When a dark curse is unveiled, Jude must become the first mortal Queen of Faerie and uncover how to break the curse, or risk upsetting the balance of the whole Faerie world.
The finale to the New York Times bestselling Folk of Air trilogy, that started with The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King, from award-winning author Holly Black.
This was my most anticipated 2019 read and I finally got my hands on it and the series is over. And that’s all I want to read for 2019. 😂 It was everything I anticipated and more. It left me happy, sad and yet oh so satisfied.
I read the two other books in this series before I started this blog, so maybe one day I’ll write mini reviews for them – and I was attempting to reread them before QoN came out, but failed. I didn’t have enough time and when my copy got delivered yesterday I couldn’t wait and read it.
Just a recap, Jude is a human girl raised in Faerie. She always knew her place in the pecking order of things in Faerie but Jude wanted more. And if she couldn’t be a faerie, she wanted them to fear her. This starts a whole chain of twisty events, we watch her rise in The Cruel Prince and we watch her fall in The Wicked King, so here we are in The Queen of Nothing.
Jude is exiled from Elfhame, her husband, Cardan, the High King, has banished her. Jude starts off The Queen of Nothing trying to survive in the mortal world and wondering when and if she can ever go back to faerie. Has she lost everything because she reached too high? Did Cardan toy with her as fae are known to do with humans? And what of her sister Taryn and her betrayal? Jude thought she had the upper hand but maybe she really is now the Queen of nothing.
“Perhaps I will never live without fear, perhaps power will slip from my grasp, perhaps the pain of losing him will hurt more than I can bear.”
The Queen of Nothing by. Holly Black
I love Jude. She’s not a likable character but I find her ambition and focus admirable and real. Jude is absolutely flawed but that’s what I love about her. She is ambitious. In the previous books we see Jude become a spy, play the game of political intrigue, she makes some amazing boss moves, and some mistakes too. She is human and she may be ambitious but she is also fueled by fear. In QoN she shows her bravery again but this time, Madoc (her foster dad) is right, she has a weakness. When Cardan’s prophecy stares her in the face, Jude has to ultimately decide if she will be like the fae and do the ruthless thing to realize her ambitions or will she do the right thing in the end?
Cardan. I mean…he was such a punk in the first book, and I hated yet loved him. But we get to know more about his story and the prophecy at his birth in QoN. I loved seeing Cardan reach his potential, with Jude by his side. I also love that he was braver with admitting his feelings to Jude.
Jude and Cardan together. Two flawed people who found a way to squirm through each other’s walls and barriers. Jude and Cardan brings heat to this story with their undeniable attraction. These two people who don’t know much about what love is, they stumble and figure it out, in not the most easiest or romantic ways (which I love about them). But I did buy the Barnes & Noble edition where there is extra content in the back of the book. And Cardan’s missing letters are the extra content. 😍😩 When I read it I was like….AHHHH. My heart. Reading Cardan’s words to Jude almost made me cry. A happy cry though!
The political chess game of this whole series is what kept me hooked. Jude with her scheming and everyone else trying to scheme her! Who can Jude trust? And on the other hand, how can anyone trust her? Madoc always worried me, he was so good at this game, he could have easily won. He just underestimated his human foster daughters. Madoc basically made the person who becomes his downfall. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
The world of Elfhame is magical and…scary. I love Holly Black’s faeries because they are not sweet. They are scary, they are wicked and I love it. A species with that kind of elemental power would be scary to us humans and I get that in Holly’s writing. It’s why I’ve always loved her world of faerie, in whatever book she’s writing. It’s also why I understood that Jude had to do what she had to do to rise in the world of faerie, even if it made her a villain as well.
The twist and turns of the story: Taryn, Cardan, Madoc, Ghost, Grimsen…Jude – the story ties up loose ends nicely and there is a happily ever after at the end. This doesn’t end dark like how it starts in The Cruel Prince and in The Wicked King and I’m happy about that because Jude and Cardan starts off with darkness in their lives already. I needed them to have a turning point where something good was going to happen for them.
Taryn. Did she get off lightly? I think she was punished enough with her own choices and she did redeem herself by helping Jude in the end. I mean they are sisters, twins! Their relationship was shaky with jealousy and betrayal as part of their history but ultimately, I was happy with how it turned out. Their family is complicated and Jude isn’t an angel either so I’m all about second chances. Also is it bad of me that I liked that Taryn showed she could be underhanded too? 😂
Triggers: violence (of course, this is Jude we are talking about!)
This was my most coveted read of 2019 and when Holly Black moved up the date of release I was ecstatic. Usually books gets pushed further back, not moved up! Did this story satisfy me? Hell yes. I got my Jude and Cardan fix. I got things explained like Cardan’s prophecy, Ghost’s betrayal, Taryn’s betrayal and Madoc. Other than Jude’s relationship with Cardan, I think I was always fascinated with her relationship with Madoc as well. He killed her parents, but raised her to be this force and she bested him. I am satisfied with her punishment of him because even through all of it she did love him, and also despite defeating him, he was proud of her. And I shall miss this world of Elfhame! I’ll miss all the characters so thank goodness I have the box set! It’s one of my favorite series to date and I could go on and on in this post but I won’t. I’m so happy this is on my bookshelf, I’ll be rereading it for years to come.
Also, if you love Jude and Cardan as much as I do, get the Barnes & Noble edition. ♥️ Trust me on this.
I don’t even know why I’m cheering because my weekend is jam packed with events! 🤦🏻♀️
How are you bloggers and readers doing so far? We have only a few more weeks of 2019, are you ready for 2020?
I feel like the weeks are going by so fast! I have birthdays, holiday events to plan, and less time to read or blog, but know that I’m trying my to best to check out all your posts and keep up with all your reviews. 😘
I was feeling a bit of a reading “slump” in the ending of October and not because I couldn’t find anything to read…it’s because I’ve officially read TOO much this year and I think my brain/body is telling me, no more. My yearly average is usually 50-60 books, at least that’s what I’ve tracked on Goodreads for the last few years. But this year because of my blog and wanting to build a following I have now read 178 books….😱, how is that even possible?! And that doesn’t even include all the children’s books I’ve read to my kids all year, only some of them are listed on there. If I minus those from my Goodreads list it still brings it down to maybe 150. My children’s books review blog faltered this year because I was reading so much of everything else.
A few of these books are arcs that publish in 2020 but wow…I’m curious how many books do you usually read in a year? I have a goal to read LESS starting next month because I have too many things to do as is, and am definitely going to have a limit in 2020.
Did you meet your reading goals this year or exceed them? Are you like me and need to read less? How many books do you read a year? Leave me a comment below!
Categories: Paranormal Romance, Historical Fantasy, Young Adult
In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she’s forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city’s glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group’s leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of La Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien’s guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.
When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart. As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface.
At once a sultry romance and a thrilling murder mystery, master storyteller Renée Ahdieh embarks on her most potent fantasy series yet: The Beautiful.
I finally read The Beautiful! I had ordered through the YA Book of the Month club and waited almost 3 weeks for it. Then when it came, it sat on my shelf as I had to get through some arcs and library books first. But I’m glad I waited, because the hype died down and also…the reviews were coming in disappointing. 😕 It helped lower my expectations and so now that I’ve finally read it I can say, I actually liked it a lot!
Celine Rousseau is a girl with a past. She’s left Paris and now lives at a convent in New Orleans and no one knows her secret. Celine falls into a mysterious crowd of people called the Court of Lions and is enticed by their decadent world of parties, and…magic. Celine has a feeling they are different, more than inhuman, but what?
But there is also a killer on the loose in the city and this killer keeps leaving bodies where Celine is usually present. Will Celine be able to resist the charms of this dark court, and can she uncover who this killer is before it’s too late for her and the ones she care about? Celine has stumbled upon something bigger than what she thinks she knows
I have loved vampires since L.J. Smith wrote The Vampire Diaries in 1991 and then Anne Rice and her decadent world of vampires in New Orleans with The Interview with the Vampires, then of course there’s Twilight (and yes sparking vampires did make me pause when I first read it but I enjoyed it all the same 😂) and then Vampire Academy. With that said…this book had all the dark danger that I love about the world of vampires.
I love the cliches – I know, I know, it’s all been said and done, but I love it. Give me the forbidden love trope, the love triangle trope even, and give me the bad boy hot vampires too! This story has it and it’s nothing new, but I enjoy it anyway.
The book is written in third person except for the killer’s perspective which is in first person. The killer gave us insight into their thoughts of revenge. I really liked the murder mystery and the twist at the end wasn’t something I expected at all, so I look forward to reading the sequel to see what happens there!
I love the setting of New Orleans. It shows it’s dark, decadent side but also gives us a little history of the time it’s set in, 1870. Of course this book made me hungry, but I didn’t know most of the french foods that was being described, but it sounded delicious!
I liked the characters: Celine has secrets and lives at the convent but she is not a timid girl – she actually questions if what she did in the past makes her evil, also at times she is reckless and a rebel. She likes to play with fire, regardless if she gets burned or not. Bastien, was exactly how I want my bad boy – beautiful, powerful, and trying hard to resist Celine but he can’t help himself. Odette, Arjun, Pippa, and Detective Grimaldi were also interesting characters that I hope we get to see more of in the sequel!
Triggers: murder, blood, violence, memories of sexual assault, curse words
Not gonna lie, there was a lot of french in this book that just went over my head.
Celine…haha yes I did put her in the “like” section because I did like her sass and her reckless bravery at times, but sometimes she was a bit too much. She wants to be miss independent and not fall for Bastien but what does she do? 💆🏻♀️ But I don’t blame her, he’s rich, powerful, young and gorgeous…and the sparks between them. But there is another guy involved who…well we shall see what happens in book two, but warning, love triangle red flags!!! I’m here for it though. 🙋🏻♀️
Cliffhanger ending…😩.
The Beautiful had everything I enjoy in a vampire story. It had mystery, danger, forbidden romance, a budding love triangle and the decadence of New Orleans. I mean it’s been so long I’ve read a vampire story that for me, even with all the cliches, I loved it! The ending left me wanting to read the sequel right away, like tomorrow would be good, haha. I look forward to reading the next book in this series!
Past Midnight Book Reviews & More 