Weekly Wrap Up | 12/17/23

Aloha friends!

I got to spend some time with my mom on Sunday and she’s getting better day by day. I’m going to go spend time with her today since my sister and her family will be going out to celebrate her hubby’s birthday. My husband finally came home yesterday – he’ll be here for 3 weeks so I can go get some things done! I haven’t taken my kids to Sunday school the past few Sundays because my son had a piano recital and then my daughter was sick this whole week – but they also had a bomb threat, so I didn’t feel safe taking them. 

Kids have 4 days of school this week – but I’m already over it! I wish they had this week off! But at least I’m done with all my Christmas shopping. Now I just have to give the gifts so hopefully I can see some friends this week! 

I hope all of you had a good week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

Somewhere in the Deep by. Tanvi Berwah

A Fragile Enchantment by. Allison Saft

Hallowed Games by. C.N. Crawford

Currently Reading:

Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White by. Amelie Wen Zhao

The Endless War by. Danielle L. Jensen

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • The Buccaneers (episode 8) on Apple TV – scandalous! 

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

Looking Back on 2023: Series That I Started or Finished

I did a similar post last year to see what series I started and finished during the year. It’s very interesting to see if I stick to a series or not. It’s so hard sometimes to get back into a series after waiting so long for the next book since I don’t re-read a lot of books anymore.

Series That I Started or Finished in 2023

Here’s what I started:

  • One Dark Window (The Shepherd King series) by. Rachel Gillig
  • Trial of the Sun Queen (Artefacts of Ouranos series) by. Nisha J. Tuli
  • Daughter of the Moon Goddess (The Celestial Kingdom series) by. Sue Lynn Tan
  • Song of Silver, Flame Like Night (Song of the Last Kingdom series) by. Amelie Wen Zhao
  • Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment series) by. Rebecca Ross
  • Blood & Steel (The Legends of Thezmarr series) by. Helen Schuerer
  • The Foxglove King (The Nightshade Crown series) by. Hannah Whitten
  • Silver in the Bone (Silver in the Bone series) by. Alexandra Bracken
  • The Liar’s Crown (Dominions series) by. Abigail Owen
  • Fourth Wing (The Empyrean series) by. Rebecca Yarros
  • Lightlark (Lightlark series) by. Alex Aster
  • Immortal Longings (Flesh and False Gods series) by. Chloe Gong
  • Stealing Infinity (Stolen Beauty series) by. Alyson Noel
  • A Taste of Torment (Shadow Hills Academy series) by. Stacey Trombley
  • Twin Crowns (Twin Crowns series) by. Catherine Doyle & Katherine Webber
  • Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde series) by. Heather Fawcett
  • House of Marionne (House of Marionne series) by. J. Elle
  • The Scarlet Alchemist (The Scarlet Alchemist series) by. Kylie Lee Baker
  • King of Wrath (Kings of Sin series) by. Ana Huang
  • The Stolen Heir (The Stolen Heir duology) by. Holly Black
  • The Jasad Heir (The Scorched Throne series) by. Sara Hashem
  • Powerless (The Powerless Trilogy series) by. Lauren Roberts
  • Heart of Night and Fire (The Nightfire Quartet series) by. Nisha J. Tuli
  • Night of the Witch (Witch and Hunter series) by. Sara Raasch and Beth Revis
  • The Hurricane Wars (The Hurricane Wars series) by. Thea Guanzon
  • To Kill a Shadow (Mistlands series) by. Katherine Quinn

The ones I won’t be continuing are:

  • The Liar’s Crown – Dominions series. I actually read book two but have no interest in finishing the series.
  • Lightlark – this was okay for me but didn’t spark my interest to keep going on in the series.
  • Emily Wilde series is fascinating but a little too slow for me at times. I’d have to be in a really cozy mood to read the next book or I’ll listen to it as an audiobook so this one is a maybe.
  • House of Marionne series is a maybe also. I was intrigued by the ending, but we’ll see how my mood is when book two comes out.
  • Night of the Witch – this was another okay book for me. Don’t think I’ll continue.
  • To Kill a Shadow – I didn’t feel anything new with this series to set it apart from other romance fantasies out there. So I won’t continue this one.

Here are the series that I finished:

  • The Sweetest Betrayal (The Kinder Poison series) by. Natalie Mae
  • Immortality: A Love Story (The Anatomy Duology series) by. Dana Schwartz
  • The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King (Crowns of Nyxia – The Nightborn Duet series) by. Carissa Broadbent
  • These Twisted Bonds (These Hollow Vows series) by. Lexi Ryan
  • Tokyo Dreaming (Tokyo Ever After series) by. Emiko Jean
  • A Dose of Agony (Shadow Hills Academy series) by. Stacey Trombley
  • Forestfall (World at the Lake’s Edge series) by. Lyndall Clipstone
  • Foul Heart Huntsman (Foul Lady Fortune series) by. Chloe Gong
  • Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King series) by. Rachel Gillig
  • This Cursed Light (The Last Finestra series) by. Emily Thiede
  • A Curse for True Love (Once Upon a Broken Heart series) by. Stephanie Garber

Duologies are way easier for me to finish than trilogies for sure! So many of the series I finished were duologies.

What series did you start or finish in 2023?

Let me know in the comments!

First Lines Fridays | 12/15/23

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!

“Evangeline Fox always believed she’d find herself inside of a fairytale one day.”

⬇️

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Can you guess what book it is?

Did you guess it? Have you read this one? If you did read this series, I bet you got this one right away!

📖 ~ Yolanda

Hallowed Games by. C.N.Crawford | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Hallowed Games (#1)

Author: C.N. Crawford

Format: ebook (kindle unlimited)

Pages: 410

Publication Date: 12/1/23

Categories: Adult, Forbidden Romance, Fantasy, Vampires

If he’s death, I crave oblivion.

I’m cursed to kill with a brush of my fingertips. My worst fear is attracting the attention of the kingdom’s magic hunters. Maelor is their mysterious, gorgeous leader–and my world falls apart when he learns my secret.

When he arrests me, my only hope is to survive a deadly competition, to win the mercy of our god. Strangely, Maelor is immune to my touch. Turns out, that’s because he’s secretly a vampire—lethally sexy, and dangerous as hell.

He’s as drawn to me as I am to him. Can this beautiful monster help me survive, or will our dark attraction lead me to ruin? 

Hallowed Games is the first book in a new series of fantasy romance, morally-grey characters, and deadly trials: perfect A Court of Thorns and Roses and Serpent and the Wings of Night.

Content Warning: violence

I haven’t read a forbidden love story in awhile so this was interesting!

+ It’s forbidden! Maelor is the Raven Lord who is part of the society that is similar to a devout priest but in this story they worship Archon. Anyone with magic is killed so think – the Spanish Inquisition or witch trials, except with a few twists. And Maelor can’t control himself when he’s around Elowen – who’s magic is a death touch. Anyway it has the religious fanatics hunting the witches kind of situations.

+ I did like the twist in the story with Maelor and another character who is a bit suspicious, Sion. I’m not sure what’s going to happen there between the three of them but in this book it’s about Maelor and Elowen’s forbidden attraction which gets steamy.

+ It’s a quick read – not as much depth as I’d like, but it’s a story for easy reading and escape.

~ I just wanted more world-building. I love the vampire aspect of the story, just wanted more from some of the characters. Maybe it’ll get better for me in book two?

~ I hope this doesn’t turn into a love triangle! I mean I kind of giggled when Elowen was turned on by Maelor’s exposed clavicle! lol I was like, OKAY, that’s how it’s going to be. There is lots of angst and pining on both sides but I’m not convinced they are going end up together? I don’t know. 

My Final Thoughts:

I kind of needed this one to get out of my reading slump. It was a quick and easy read, nothing to deep and fun because of the forbidden love and vampire elements. I did want a little more depth to the characters and some world-building but I’ll just take it as is and wait to see if it gets better in book two.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Mini Reviews | Court of the Sea Fae Trilogy by. C.N. Crawford

Mini Reviews | Institute of the Shadow Fae Series (Books #1-4) by. C.N. Crawford

Mini Reviews | Hades Castle Trilogy by. C.N. Crawford

City of Thorns (The Demon Queen Trials, #1) by. C.N. Crawford | Book Review

Lord of Embers by. C.N. Crawford | Book Review

Garden of Serpents by. C.N. Crawford | Book Review

Frost by. C.N. Crawford | Book Review

Ambrosia by. C.N. Crawford | Book Review

Most Anticipated Book Releases | December 2023

There are some exciting book releases coming up this month!

I don’t think I’ll be able to get to any of them except for Ruthless Vows because I have so many January arcs to catch up on and other books I’ve borrowed that I really want to finish. But I’m pressed for time and energy…but these are books I do want to read!

This is what I’m looking forward to:

The titles above are books I haven’t read but I think I also should showcase the arcs I read that are releasing this month. So here they are:

What is your most anticipated book release this month?

WWW Wednesday | 12/13/23

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

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?

We are coming to mid-December and I have lost my reading mojo fo real! My kids have been sick, my mom just got out of the hospital (but doing so so well 🙏🏼), the school spirit week is next week and holiday parties! And my hubby comes home this Saturday to visit so…I’m tired? lol…oh December – you always do this to me!

What are you currently reading?

ASAP by. Axie Oh

A Study Drowning by. Ava Reid

Somewhere in the Deep by. Tanvi Berwah – I’m almost 40% into this one so I think I will finish this week!

Hallowed Games by. C.N. Crawford –

What have you just finished reading?

A Curse for True Love by. Stephanie Garber ⭐️⭐️⭐️

What are you going to read next?

Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White by. Amelie Wen Zhao

A Fragile Enchantment by. Allison Saft

Nettle & Bone by. T. Kingfisher

The Endless War by. Danielle L. Jensen

What are you reading right now?

A Festive Feud: Special Edition by. Maren Moore | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: A Festive Feud (Strawberry Hollow, #2)

Author: Maren Moore

Format: ebook (borrowed)

Pages: 222

Publication Date: 11/13/23

Categories: Adult, Romance, Spicy Holiday Romance, Contemporary, Novella

My family is famous for two things in our small Our annual Christmas party And…. Our feud with The Pearce family. Our families hate each other. It’s a tale as old as St. Nick himself. So, imagine what happens when a harmless little argument with Jackson Pearce ends with us both behind bars for the night. As if that wasn’t bad enough… The punishment for our crime? The only Christmas party we’re allowed to have is one together. At Town Hall. But… It gets worse . That means that I’ll be forced to spend time with Jackson and his enormous ego while we plan this party and somehow keep our families from strangling each other with tinsel this holiday season. It doesn’t help that he is annoyingly attractive and goes out of his way to push my buttons.
With his old, dirty, work boots, and his stupid veiny forearms, he works his way into my perfectly organized life and leaves everything in disarray.

Will we actually be able to survive this… Festive Feud, or will we end up back where we started?

Content Warning:

If you’re looking for a super quick, spicy holiday romance – this is it! But how did I jump into book two and not even know there was a first book? 🤷🏻‍♀️

+ Even though this is a second book in a series, I didn’t feel lost at all. This is a super quick read, so it gets to the point! There is a family feud going on in the small town of Strawberry Hollow and an incident between two members of the opposite families cause an incident. The punishment? If they want to throw their family holiday parties – they have to do it together! So Jackson and Emma try to put their differences aside but their attraction to one another ignites – despite being enemies.

+ I think Jackson and Emma’s relationship is cute and their sexual activities? Spicy! They don’t waste time on their feud and really get down to business.

+ It has tons of fun tropes like one bed, enemies to lovers, family feud, small town and even miscommunication (between the families). The chapter titles are pretty funny!

~ The feud didn’t seem so bad. We hear about some of the antics but when we learn more about what really happens, it seemed like something super trivial to start such a feud.

My Final Thoughts:

If you want a fun, spicy quick holiday story filled with the usual romance tropes – you will love this one.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 12/12/23

Happy book birthday to these new releases! Check out this list today:

Our Cursed Love by. Julie Abe

Julie Abe’s OUR CURSED LOVE is a magical 50 FIRST DATES meets LOVE AND GELATO set in Tokyo, Japan―about destiny, the impact of the choices we make, and the magic of true love.

Six days to remember.
Love or lose him forever.

Remy Kobata has always wished she was destined to be with her best friend, Cam Yasuda. All the way from being neighbors from birth to mixing up magical prank potions together to their “just friends” homecoming date during their senior year in high school, nothing’s a secret between Remy and Cam―except for how much she is in love with him.

Remy is trying to work up the courage to confess her feelings during their winter break trip to Japan, when she gets selected for a mystical tea leaves reading and it reveals that they’re not meant to be together. After they stumble upon a secret magical apothecary in the back alleys of Tokyo, Remy and Cam are offered an ancient soulmate elixir, created before all love potions were banned by the magical government. They each have their reasons for wanting to take it, but what could go wrong with finding your soulmate a little earlier?

Except, after they drink up, their senior year trip flips into the worst vacation Cam has forgotten who Remy is. If she can’t help Cam remember her by midnight New Year’s Eve, they’ll both be cursed to forget each other. To unravel their past and rewrite the future, Remy and Cam must travel through Tokyo to rediscover Cam’s memories and make new ones―and maybe even fall in love all over again.

Goodreads | Amazon

Are you getting any new books this week?

Happy Reading!

Books On My Winter 2022-2023 To-Read List | TTT | 12/12/23

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That 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. Please check out her website for more TTT topics!

This week’s topic is:

Books On My Winter 2022-2023 To-Read List

I’m excited to read a bunch of these and am grateful half of these are arcs. What’s on your winter TBR list?

A Place for Vanishing by. Ann Fraistat

Have you read any of these books? Are any of these on your TBR? What’s on your TTT?

A Curse for True Love by. Stephanie Garber | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: A Curse for True Love (#3)

Author: Stephanie Garber

Format: ebook (own

Pages: 385

Publication Date: 10/24/23

Categories: Series, Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance

Two villains, one girl, and a deadly battle for happily ever after.

Evangeline Fox ventured to the Magnificent North in search of her happy ending, and it seems as if she has it. She’s married to a handsome prince and lives in a legendary castle. But Evangeline has no idea of the devastating price she’s paid for this fairytale. She doesn’t know what she has lost, and her husband is determined to make sure she never finds out . . . but first he must kill Jacks, the Prince of Hearts.

Blood will be shed, hearts will be stolen, and true love will be put to the test in A Curse for True Love, the breathlessly anticipated conclusion to the Once Upon A Broken Heart trilogy.

Content Warning:

I had to read this one to end the series but I think I went in with higher expectations? I love the first two books in this series. But this is what I thought about this conclusion.

+ Jacks is why I read this series and I felt like he came too late into the story. But once he is there, I get the Evangeline/Jacks romance I’ve been waiting for.

+ The writing is consistent with the other books and keeps that magical, fairytale storytelling.

~ I mentioned this above but I was reading this book for more Jacks and I think there was too much Apollo! I was not expecting that ugh…I had to skim through parts of the book because I wanted Jacks and wasn’t getting enough of him early enough in the book. I didn’t want to spend my time reading about Apollo.

My Final Thoughts:

I did like the fairytale storytelling but I feel like there was too much Apollo and not enough Jacks. And it was Jacks who I was here for throughout the whole series! I actually skimmed through parts of this book because it was not holding my attention. So unfortunately I didn’t quite enjoy it – but the three stars are for the first half I did read at least and the second half which I skimmed. I didn’t feel invested in this last book unfortunately.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Ballad of Never After by. Stephanie Garber ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Once Upon a Broken Heart by. Stephanie Garber ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️