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News

I tend to get sick in August, so September tends to be a resting month for me.

There was that time I nearly died and had to go to the hospital for 3 6 blood transfusions.

This time I got so sick with an unrelated illness that I had to go back to hospital again.

I thought the whole thing was being overblown and they would send me home with instructions to rest, but once a doctor actually saw me, they put me on antibiotics for 4 days. Everyone kept telling me I’d done the right thing by coming in to hospital as it was a potentially very serious illness.

So I have been spending the last few weeks recovering, and I had to go back to work while I was still recovering, which has made my recovery longer, so I’ve been resting a lot.

It was also my birthday in late August, as I mentioned in last month’s post, but I didn’t get to do or see anything or buy as many books as I wanted to due to my illness. So I made up for it in September!

I have been reading non-YA books a bit more as well. Do I feel bad about this and the lack of content it creates for my blog? No, I do not. If you want to keep up with what I’m reading regardless of whether I review it or not, you can follow me on Goodreads.

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Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme created by Tynga’s Reviews and hosted by Reading Reality.
It’s all about sharing the books we’ve picked up for the week, whether they are bought, borrowed, gifted, galleys, physical or virtual.
Share your shelves and remember to visit Reading Reality to find more great books!

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Purchased

Night Render by Jodi Meadows

Kingdoms will fall, gods will die, and hearts will be broken in this sprawling new fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Jodi Meadows.

In the middle of nothingness is the continent of Salvation.

Reality bends easily here. Villages disappear. Forests burn forever. Pockets of inconsistent time are everywhere, their boundaries strung with yellow ribbon. And the three kingdoms of Salvation have been at war for a thousand years.

But the greatest threat is the Malice, an incursion from the demon plane slowly tearing its way through the world’s weakest seams. Seams that–once split–will lead to the total unraveling of night and day, light and dark, life and death.

Not that the human world takes much interest. Of more concern is the upcoming marriage of Rune Highcrown, Prince of Caberwill, and Johanne Fortuin, Princess of Embria–the serpent bride, a girl of famous cunning–which offers a possible end to the ancient conflict. But Rune has noticed the growing darkness, and he is determined to summon mankind’s only defense: Nightrender, the hammer of the gods, an immortal warrior more weapon than girl.

There is only one problem. The last time she was summoned, she slaughtered every royal in Salvation, and no one knows why. Will she save humanity from the Malice… or plunge it deeper into the fires of eternal war?

 

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Gravemaidens by Kelly Coon

The start of a fierce fantasy duology about three maidens who are chosen for their land’s greatest honor…and one girl determined to save her sister from the grave.

In the walled city-state of Alu, Kammani wants nothing more than to become the accomplished healer her father used to be before her family was cast out of their privileged life in shame.

When Alu’s ruler falls deathly ill, Kammani’s beautiful little sister, Nanaea, is chosen as one of three sacred maidens to join him in the afterlife. It’s an honor. A tradition. And Nanaea believes it is her chance to live an even grander life than the one that was stolen from her.

But Kammani sees the selection for what it really is—a death sentence.

Desperate to save her sister, Kammani schemes her way into the palace to heal the ruler. There she discovers more danger lurking in the sand-stone corridors than she could have ever imagined and that her own life—and heart—are at stake. But Kammani will stop at nothing to dig up the palace’s buried secrets even if it means sacrificing everything…including herself.

 

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Warmaidens (Gravemaidens #2) by Kelly Coon

“A dark, delectable, and utterly unique series that readers will want to drown in.” –Laura Sebastian, New York Times bestselling author of the Ash Princess series

Warmaidens is the action-packed conclusion to the heartwrenching Gravemaidens fantasy duology. Kammani and the maidens are now going to war against the ruler who tried to entomb them.

Just a few moons after escaping the tomb in Alu, Kammani and the other runaway maidens have found refuge in the city-state of Manzazu. There, Kammani has become a respected healer, especially among the warriors she’s brought back from the brink of death. Now that the nightmares of Alu are fading, she can finally decide whether or not to take Dagan’s hand in marriage.

But when an assassin murders a healer he believes is Kammani and attempts to kill the displaced queen of Alu, the maidens realize they’ve been found.

Hungry for revenge, Manzazu’s queen wants to strike back at Alu with her fiercest weapons–her scorpion warrior maidens–but Kammani knows that war harms more than it heals. To save the innocents and any chance of a future with Dagan, Kammani must take down Alu’s ruler before their lives burn up in the flames of war.

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Triple Threat by Katy Warner

A contemporary young adult novel about musical theatre, first romance and standing up for yourself from the brilliant Australian YA author Katy Warner.

At the prestigious performing arts school Arcadia Grammar, the theatre kids and the musical theatre kids have just one rule: you DO NOT go for each other’s lead roles. But Edie is about to throw the rulebook out the window – and all hell is going to break loose.

Edie Emerson is a triple threat: she can sing and dance and act. But despite being the lead in every musical at Arcadia, she knows her future on the stage is uncertain. At least until the infamous director Toby Swan agrees to stage Romeo and Juliet at the academy.

This show could launch Edie’s career – except she doesn’t do ‘theatre’. And she’s already agreed to star in a new musical written by her best friend, Will. So when Toby casts the annoying-but-hot Noah Winters as Romeo, and he insists on Edie for Juliet, it sets the stage for drama …

Edie had her role at Arcadia down to a fine art. But does she have what it takes to play the most difficult and complicated role of all: herself?

So I read the blurb but I was already getting two other books at the time, so I decided not to get this one. Then I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And because I was THAT musical theatre kid, where at my school you did theatre but if you were extra talented you did musical theatre and if you could sing you got lead roles (yes that was me not sorry I’m actually a really good singer) I want to see how this book handles this alleged dichotomy between theatre kids and musical theatre kids because at my school they were all the same. My straight drama teacher made me musical director and write songs for our Serious Plays.

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We Who Hunt the Hollow by Kate Murray

A firecracker urban fantasy about the youngest daughter of a family of women warriors, and the power she wishes she had …

Seventeen-year-old Priscilla Daalman’s entire family are Hollow Warriors – legendary monster hunters charged with killing evil beasts from beyond our universe. She’s desperate to live up to that legacy, but she’s convinced neither she, nor her superpower – the ability to sense Hollow energy – is up to the task.

But when Priscilla attempts a desperate ritual to enhance her abilities, she accidentally triggers a frightening new power: the power to summon monsters from the Hollow itself. Now, Priscilla must protect her loved ones – her heartbroken ex-girlfriend, her mysterious new boyfriend, even her fierce warrior family – from supernatural monsters, and also from herself. Because if her power gets out, all hell will break loose … and Priscilla will risk losing everything.

Shortlisted for the Ampersand Prize, Kate Murray’s breathtaking debut YA novel is perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare and Lynette Noni.

I wanted to get this because it’s Australian YA fantasy, which I don’t think is that common but is basically my OTP. I would not read anything Cassandra Clare has written but I do really like Lynette Noni (another fellow Aussie) and I’m here for that.

 

GIFTED (KIND OF – PURCHASED WITH GIFT CARD)

With Fire in Their Blood by Kat Delacorte

When sixteen-year-old Lilly Deluca arrives in Castello, she isn’t impressed. A secluded town in the Italian mountains is not where she saw her last years of high school playing out.

Divided for generations by a brutal clan-family war, the two halves of Castello are kept from destroying each other by the mysterious General, a leader determined to maintain order and ‘purity’. . . whatever the cost.

Lilly falls in with the rebellious Liza, brooding Nico and sensitive Christian, and sparks begin to fly. But in a city where love can lead to ruin, Lilly isn’t sure she can trust anyone – not even herself.

And then she accidentally breaks Castello’s most important rule: when the General’s men come to test your blood, you’d better not be anything more than human . . .

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The Darkening by Sunya Mara

Vesper Vale is the daughter of revolutionaries. Failed revolutionaries. When her mother was caught by the queen’s soldiers, they gave her a choice: death by the hangman’s axe, or death by the Storm that surrounds the city and curses anyone it touches. She chose the Storm. And when the queen’s soldiers–led by a paranoid prince–catch up to Vesper’s father after twelve years on the run, Vesper will do whatever it takes to save him from sharing that fate.

Even arm herself with her father’s book of dangerous experimental magic.

Even infiltrate the prince’s elite squad of soldier-sorcerers.

Even cheat her way into his cold heart.

But when Vesper learns that there’s more to the story of her mother’s death, she’ll have to make a choice if she wants to save her city: trust the devious prince with her family’s secrets, or follow her mother’s footsteps into the Storm.

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Blade Breaker (Realm Breaker #2) by Victoria Aveyard

In the sequel to Realm Breaker, a divided world must rally, an unstoppable enemy must be defeated, and the fate of the world rests on a blade’s edge.

Andry, a former squire, continues to fight for hope amid blood and chaos.

Dom, a grieving immortal, strives to fulfill a broken oath.

Sorasa, an outcast assassin, faces her past when it returns with sharpened teeth.

Valtik, an old sorceress, summons a mighty power.

And Corayne, a pirate’s daughter with an ancient magic in her blood, steps closer to becoming the hero she’s destined to be.

Together they must assemble an army to face Queen Erida and Taristan’s wicked forces. But something deadly waits in the shadows, something that might consume the world before there’s any hope for victory.

I did it again. I bought a sequel without reading the first book. Or anything by the author.

This better be worth it!

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Monthly Wrap Up

Book Stuff

• Number of books read: 5
• Finished a series: Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep by Caroline Peckham and Suzan Valenti
• Started a series: Pack Darling by Lola Rock
• New to me authors: Lola Rock.
• Favourite book: Queen of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #4) – no review as VERY adult.

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