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So in June I reviewed an ARC for an adult romcom, The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston. I did this for a few reasons:

I read and adored Ashley Poston’s Once Upon a Con YA series and her YA fantasy standalone Among the Beasts and Briars
Due to the above, I read and loved The Dead Romantics, her first adult romcom, though I didn’t review it because it was for adults.
I was auto-approved to receive the ARC of The Seven Year Slip on Netgalley, and
I had just watched an amazing time travel lovers film so I was absolutely in the mood.

Now, the problem is that The Moonlight Library is a strictly YA book blog. (Well, I do review videos games now, but they are cozy/wholesome games, so they fit the vibe) I do have a couple of smutty adult novellas I reviewed years and years ago, but since then I’ve kept this blog YA and NA friendly. Nothing overtly adult.

But this blog is now 11 years old. Which means I’m 11 years older. I’ve grown and changed, and although YA will always have an incredibly special place in my heart…

And I don’t always want to read YA.

So what I’m thinking about now is to potentially expand my reviewing horizons.

My book reviews have dropped in number because I’m reading less YA. I have really been enjoying the pressure not to review everything I read and giving myself the freedom to read non-YA. I think I’ll stick to that.

But 11 years is a long time for blog to keep going and doing the same thing.

To be clear, I’m not doing this to increase my content. I’m fine with the amount of content I produce. I do have a day job, hobbies beyond reading, and caring responsibilities.

I don’t really want to go back to reviewing a book a week.

But maybe the occasional adult book would be okay.

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!

Purchased

The Shattered Lands by Brenda Nation

18 years after her disappearance, the princess has returned. But what is left of her kingdom?

Sapphire finds herself in Eriobis with a crown, a castle and too many handmaidens to count. And so her life begins as the heir to the throne of a country she doesn’t understand – a country ruled by magic and secrets.

That’s before she meets Ashes. A dark witch with the power to destroy Sapphire’s life and kingdom. But Ashes also happens to be the only person that can help her discover the truth.

And the answers might unravel the very world she’s come to know.

Fantasy – check!
Princess – check!
Cover art giving clear Sapphic romance vibes – check!

Sing Me Forgotten by Jessica S Olson

Isda does not exist. At least not beyond the opulent walls of the opera house.

Cast into a well at birth for being one of the magical few who can manipulate memories when people sing, she was saved by Cyril, the opera house’s owner. Since that day, he has given her sanctuary from the murderous world outside. All he asks in return is that she use her power to keep ticket sales high–and that she stay out of sight. For if anyone discovers she survived, Isda and Cyril would pay with their lives.

But Isda breaks Cyril’s cardinal rule when she meets Emeric Rodin, a charming boy who throws her quiet, solitary life out of balance. His voice is unlike any she’s ever heard, but the real shock comes when she finds in his memories hints of a way to finally break free of her gilded prison.

Haunted by this possibility, Isda spends more and more time with Emeric, searching for answers in his music and his past. But the price of freedom is steeper than Isda could ever know. For even as she struggles with her growing feelings for Emeric, she learns that in order to take charge of her own destiny, she must become the monster the world tried to drown in the first place.

Phantom of the Opera inspired YA – check!

A Curse of Salt by Sarah Street

In a kingdom that fears the sea, Ria Lucroy longs to be brave.

Bodies are washing ashore and everyone knows who’s to blame. Legends of the Heartless King shroud the continent in fear; they call him a pirate, a monster, a god. When his mercenaries raid her father’s merchant ship, Ria’s family is faced with a horrifying demand. They will spare his life, in exchange for one of his daughters.

Determined to save her sisters, Ria launches herself into the world of pirates. Face-to-face with the Heartless King, she finds he is far more than the stories told. He is a man, with a human name and blood-stained hands, bound to the seas by a centuries-old curse. As their chemistry blooms into something more, Ria finds herself caught in an ancient web of secrets.

Battling creatures of the deep alongside those that reign its surface, Ria discovers that some curses aren’t so easy to break.

What is this, a Beauty and the Beast but with pirates? COUNT ME INNNNNNN LET’S GOOOOOO.

Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood

In the cursed kingdom of Ithaca, each spring brings the hanging of twelve maidens, a gift to the vengeful Poseidon. But when Leto awakens from her death on the shore of a long-forgotten island, its enigmatic keeper Melantho tells her that there’s only one way the curse can be broken. Leto must kill the last prince of Ithaca . . .

Yes it’s a very short blurb, but you don’t need a long blurb to interest me!

Borrowed

The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

There are secrets around every corner in Fayette, Pennsylvania. Tessa left when she was nine and has been trying ever since not to think about what happened there that last summer.

She and her childhood best friend Callie never talked about what they saw. Not before the trial. And certainly not after.

But ever since she left, Tessa has had questions. Things have never quite added up. And now she has to go back to Fayette—to Wyatt Stokes, sitting on death row; to Lori Cawley, Callie’s dead cousin; and to the one other person who may be hiding the truth.

Only the closer Tessa gets to what really happened, the closer she gets to a killer—and this time, it won’t be so easy to run away.

I needed a new audiobook after finishing my recent one, and I have enjoyed Kara Thomas’ other thrillers Little Monsters and The Cheerleaders. I borrowed this from my local library.

Monthly Wrap Up

Book Stuff

Number of books read: 6
1. Honey Trap (The Guild #1) by Tate James
2. Spare by Prince Harry
3. The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
4. Hijacked (Cyborg Redemption #1) by Lolita Lopez
5. Fourth Wing (The Empyrean #1) by Rebecca Yarros
6. Where the Light Goes by Sara Barnard
Finished a series: No
Started a series: Fourth Wing (The Empyrean #1) by Rebeccas Yarros
New to me authors: Rebecca Yarros, Prince Harry (read his memoir Spare lol)
Favourite book: Where The Light Goes by Sara Barnard