September 2024 To Be Read

So, September is the new (current) month for the Orilium Magical Readathon and as we have officially gotten the prompts, I figured I would go ahead and post my TBR!

My character, an Iltirian named Aurin is a third year Godseer, which means he needs to get through nine (9) total books in order to pass the year and become an Adept and then move on to the fourth and final year of study. 

Shall we get on with the books then?

Actual TBR

1: Inscription (Ordinary) "Art of Decipher" Title has all the letters of your first name: Dearest Dorothy by Charlene Ann Baumbich

2: Restoration (Ordinary) "Night Dew" Night Sky on the cover: The Librarian by M.N. Arzu

3: Restoration (Qualified) "Dangerous Plants" Poisonous plant on the cover or in the title: Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

4: Conjuration (Ordinary) "Conjure: Bats" Bats on the cover or in the title: Maggie for Hire by Kate Danley

5: Conjuration (Qualified) "Conjure: Laurels" Book that won an award: Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk

6: Demonology (Ordinary) "The Unfamiliars" Someone who doesn't read for fun picks your book: On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

7: Lore (Ordinary) "Iltyrian History" Read a book with a vampire: Vampire by Peter Cawdron

8: Lore (Qualified) "Regional Retellings" Read a translated book: Thousand Autumns #1 by Meng Xi Shi

9. Lore (Distinguished) "Tale of a Dessert Creeper" Read a retelling: Elektra by Jennifer Saint

I think this is very doable for a readathon. 

Review: Run, Rabbit, Run by Juniper Hartmann

Barbara "Bunny" Townsend is a gifted student, dedicated athlete, trauma survivor...

And now, helpless prey.

Her world is turned upside down when she finds hers
elf in a living nightmare, taken captive by a sociopathic man. Follow Bunny as she attempts to find her way to freedom. In the meantime, her captor has plans for her that will leave your jaw, and panties, dropping.

Run, Rabbit, Run contains explicit and sometimes upsetting scenes that may be upsetting for some audiences. Reader discretion is advised, as is checking the author's website for more information on her work.

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First and foremost, I want to thank Juniper for putting me on the ARC team for this. It looked absolutely astounding and I'm grateful for having had the opportunity to read it! 

Certainly enjoyed this one. The way we are just unceremoniously dumped into the action like there is nothing else important at all was a unique choice that I really appreciated. Anything else would have kind of spoiled information given later in the book. We follow Barbara "Bunny" Townsend as she is abducted and held captive by what can only be described as a psychopath. She comes to terms with her situation quickly, and while she does resist him at first, she eventually leans into the torture. There were so many scenes that I really should not have been reading in the breakroom at work. Keep that in mind going in. Readers beware: there is spice. 

I did end up taking a star off for a few combined reasons. For one, this book could have been longer. It was a lot of action happening that pushed the plot along more quickly than I would personally would personally have preferred. Then there was the actual BDSM part. I don't know a single DOM that would push someone like that. The one bathtub scene took it too far for my own tastes. I think we should have gotten more on the consent end of the whole thing. 

The twist at the end was stunning! I was not expecting it at all. You go through the entire book thinking its going to be a specific way and then it suddenly shifts gears. I still don't know the point of Michael, though...he seemed kind of extra? What did he contribute to the storyline?

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This book is available now on most platforms where books are sold, and will be available from Amazon on 20 August 2024.

Currently Reading #17 [01 - 03 August 2024]

Currently Reading

- Leather & Lark by Brynne Weaver [08%]

- A Journey of the Heart by Brenda Benning [02%]

- Fall, or Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson [15%]

- Malediction's Embrace by Candace Morris [02%]

- Truly, Madly, Deeply by Alexandria Bellefleur [01%]

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Yearly Goal

46/100

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I have decided to just start fresh with August. I don't remember the last post I made for July other than it was in July. I think though, for the rest of the month, I'll be okay to continue on and just restart this. 

I went through my active currently reading books and got rid of the ones that I wasn't even looking at. They aren't DNF's so much as just on hold to be picked up again later. The fact I have a few 500+ (and at least one 800+) page monsters is enough to keep me with keeping the Currently Reading list down. At least it's not something horrible that I cannot contend with. 

I have also gone through and realized that the experiment with mood reading was only sort of a bust. I do a combination of things. I will read my TBR and then mood read the rest of the month or I kind of flip-flop between them. It's a thing. I'll be continuing on again with TBRs from here on out unless I can find a really convincing reason not to. 

There was something else I was going to say, and now I've gone and forgotten it. Ah well. It must not have been important then, if I cannot remember now.

August 2024 To Be Read

The experiment didn't seem to change much. I still read 6-9 books. So I'm going to go back to the TBR listing! These are the books that I've already got started or are just next up on the lists. I'm hoping to get at least mostly through them before September starts and the Orilium Magical Readathon. 

Physical

1. Leather & Lark by Brynne Weaver - The second book in the Ruinous Love trilogy. I have been looking forward to this book for a long time and I cannot wait to dig into it. I adored Rowan and Sloane's story, so I'm hoping to at least enjoy Lachlann and Lark's.

2. Fall, or Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson - It's another book I started in June that I'd like to get through before the end of the year. It's only 800+ pages. I can do that. The premise intrigued me. A dude gets dead and now there is some kind of battle over what will happen to his brain/mind.

3. A Journey of the Heart by Brenda Benning - I got this one from the author and it does look interesting. It is outside my normal genres that I go to, but I don't think it will be all that bad. The FMC is about a decade younger than me, so I think I'll be able to understand her better. 

Digital

4. Malediction's Embrace by Candace Morris - This is a review copy I got from Candace that I've already started, but I haven't gotten far into it and I cannot remember the synopsis at all. It is a fantasy novel, I think? I don't know.

5. In the Days Before by Renée Shantel - Another eARC I received from the author. I'm looking forward to finishing it and maybe getting the review up this month or next. It's not out until October, but hey, we can always dream, right? 

Audio

6. Truly, Madly, Deeply by Alexandria Bellefleur - There was no logic here. I just grabbed it at random. I had no audiobooks currently active, so I picked one. This one that I had requested from NetGalley and got declined, but then I got it for myself on Audible. Presently I don't remember more than there being a bookworm and a dude that looks like Steve Harrington. I hope I like it? 

Review: In the Days Before by Renée Shantel

Audrey Herringbone’s main focus has always been her content dedicated to helping find missing persons, but when her best friend is the one to go missing things start getting a little too real. 

Audrey’s friends don't agree with the subject matter of her video series, In the Days Before. They think talking about missing persons is too morbid a topic, and insist she would find more fame as a beauty blogger. They don't agree that her work is important. Who wants to talk about the missing when you could talk about fashion? For them, it's a no-brainer.

Then Audrey's best friend goes missing, several hours after they publicly argue about her channel, and Audrey becomes the public's number one suspect.

Thrust head first into one of her channel's narratives, Audrey's about to learn that sometimes the obvious answer isn't the right one—and you can never be too careful who you trust.

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This is an eARC I received in return for a honest review. I'd like to start by thanking Renée Shantel for giving me the opportunity to read this book. I hope I do it justice. 

This book was well written. I loved the way she kept the attention to detail to keep the readers guessing what was actually happening. We follow Audrey Herringbone as she has to deal with the loss of her friend. Audrey runs a YouTube channel where she reviews missing persons cold cases in order to help spread awareness of them to the public. Then everything goes to hell when her own friend goes missing and people think she had something to do with it in order to promote her channel. 

I thought that was kind of weird. Why would she abduct someone if she only covers cold cases? It made no sense. These people who thought it were really just looking to get their own fifteen minutes of fame. 

I loved the slow reveal of everything. I like to try to guess what's going to happen and this one kept me from guessing the whole way. It was developed nicely and I rather enjoyed when we found out what really happened. 

I do think that her mom should have taken more time off to spend with Audrey and help her through this situation instead of prioritizing work. She really put her job before her family. My own would never behave like that. 

Definitely a 4/5 star read and I'm looking forward to more works by Ms. Shantel!

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This book will be available from Amazon on October 23, 2024.