cover reveal: vows & Ruins by Helen Scheuerer

Another cover reveal! This one is for the second Legends of Thezmarr novel from Helen Scheuerer.

Synopsis

Perfect for fans of The Bridge Kingdom, From Blood and Ash and The Witcher, VOWS & RUINS is an epic romantic fantasy with enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn spice, found family, and a sprawling world of magic and monsters.

Against all odds, Althea Zoltaire emerged from her trials as a champion. Now, she must train even harder and prepare herself to become a true warrior of Thezmarr.

But Thea’s world is turned upside down as she struggles to navigate her newfound magic and uncover the secrets of her past. Slowly, she begins to untangle the truth about her family, her powers and the
evil that threatens to engulf the kingdom.

When Wilder Hawthorne returns to be her official mentor, everything changes. Dark forces are gathering, and he will stop at nothing to prepare her for the challenges to come, even if it means breaking her.

As war looms and their quest for answers leads master and apprentice deeper into danger, the undeniable connection between them intensifies – defying all odds, but also threatening to tear them
apart.

With secrets unravelling and evil closing in, the pair will learn if their love is enough to overcome the hardships ahead… or if it will be their downfall.

Don’t miss out on the epic journey of Thea and Wilder as they fight to save the world, and each other. The fate of the realms rests in their hands – will they emerge victorious, or will the darkness consume
them both?

Full of action, adventure and steamy romance, this spellbinding fantasy will leave you breathless and begging for more.

Check out the prequel novella to this series for free via Helen’s website today (link below)!

If you’d like to learn more about this September 2023 release, follow this link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BTXM3Z6K The official release date is in September, and the date in Amazon is just a place holder.

Website: http://www.helenscheuerer.com
Email: helen@helenscheuerer.com
Facebook: @HelenScheuererAuthor
Instagram: @HelenScheuerer
TikTok: @HelenScheuerer

Cover Reveal: A Duet with the Siren Duke by Elise Kova

Today is the cover reveal for the next Married to Magic novel from Elise Kova. This one might be my favorite (although the color of her hair doesn’t quite work for me with the rest of the art, but that’s my art side talking). This series has had rave reviews and I’ve been collecting each one as it releases in order to binge them all at once. I especially love that the hardcovers all have a design on the case under the jacket. Elise does such a great job designing and releasing books! Hope you’ll check this one out as well. More info can be found here: https://elisekova.com/a-duet-with-the-siren-duke/?fbclid=IwAR0bkf1GRDQhFrVg2mVgDYXHMnMcYzo6Q3TV9FrSX7oRLothA2S39ATyX1g

June 2023 Book Mail

I had good intentions to blog more regularly throughout June; however, life got busy and then complicated. So here we are. I’m keeping it simple today and want to showcase some awesome books I picked up throughout June (and possibly the end of May). I’m excited for all of these!

Virtual Book Signing

These are authors who offered signed book sales through a Facebook group that I joined. I think they do this once a year, and the last of mine arrived last week. These were all already on my TBR, so I haven’t read them. YET 🙂

List of books in photos

Dragon Unleashed by Heather Hildenbrand and Jessica Wayne

Rise of a Warrior by Jessica Wayne

Accidental Fae by Jessica Wayne

Monster’s Plaything by C.R. Jane and Mila Young

Publisher ARCs and Giveaway Winnings

After the Forest by Kell Woods is an ARC I won through a newsletter giveaway, I think. I never really know as they don’t tell you if you’ve won either via email or in the package. It looks really interesting though!

Sourcebooks was kind enough to send several titles I requested through my library contact there. I heard from a couple of these authors while at ALA Annual last weekend (future post will feature my haul from there!)

Night of the Witch by Sara Raasch and Beth Revis

The Shadow Sister by Lily Meade

The Curse of Saints by Kate Dramis

Bring Me Your Midnight by Rachel Griffin

Cruel Seducation by Katee Robert

And I won a large giveaway of finished copies and ARCs from Simon & Schuster after attending one of their online panels. Most of those books are being added to the library I work in or were gifted to coworkers. I did keep Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong for myself though 🙂

I received Garden of the Cursed by Katy Rose Pool from Bookish First as part of their First Impression giveaway program. I haven’t had a chance to start reading it yet but expect to have a review to share soon.

Used Book Purchases

I visited a couple of used book stores while on vacation and purchased a few titles online.

Grimoire Noir by Vera Greentea and Yana Bogatch

Traitor’s Masque by Kenley Davidson

Dreamers Do Lie by Megan Cutler

Dragon Wing by Rebecca Busch

Fortune Favors the Cruel and Blessed Be the Wicked by Kel Carpenter

Neutral by Jane Washington and Jaymin Eve

Elemental Fae Academy: The Complete Trilogy by Lexi C. Foss and J.R. Thorn

That’s all for now. I’ll be back soon with an ALA Annual 2023 haul post once the last of my boxes arrive. Have you read any of these titles? Any I should drop everything and read right now?

I’m Back! With a new release from Sarah K.L. Wilson to Share

Here on the first of June, I’ve decided to start making regular posts on this blog again. Starting with a book from a favorite author that releases today!

Although I was selected for the street team for this title and was supposed to have read the full book in order to share my review, I must admit that I have not accomplished that goal. This is a beefy book since it is the author’s first attempt at a standalone instead of a series. Even though I’m not finished reading it (or even halfway through the 538 pages), I can absolutely tell you that I love the writing and the witty characters. A quick warning that the story does start with the MC fighting a beloved canine companion that is possessed by a demon; HOWEVER, it does not start with the death of a dog. You’ll need to read it for yourself to understand fully, but trust me that it’s ok!

I don’t have much else to say right now except that my paperback copy should be arriving in the mail today. And I can’t wait to keep reading this one! (You know, once I get my focus back and can read more than 10-30 pages every couple of days. I feel like I’m saying that a lot lately, but ever since 2020 I find it incredibly hard to focus on reading long enough to finish a book in the short amount of time it used to take me. )

Summary from the author:

Eleven paladins walk into a monastery. Only one knows it’s a trap.

When Victorians Greenmantle is summoned to represent her paladin order in an unusual quest, she’s out of her depth from the very beginning. Victorian has only just been made a paladin and she has none of the resources or experience that the others have. On top of that, she has no idea how she will fulfill her orders — to find and claim for her superiors the God’s own Cup of Tears.

Her rivals are stronger, smarter, and more experienced. They want this just as badly as she does. And one of them might not be a paladin at all.

When Adalbrand Von Menticure arrives at the monastery with the other paladin representatives he sees the obstacles before him as one more way to dedicate himself to his healing arts. What he does not expect is murder. Or the young female paladin who keeps insisting that they have a traitor among them. Or how she makes him start to feel things that have long been forbidden.

Together, these two unwieldy allies must discover who the traitor is, how that one is killing the others, and whether the Cup of Tears is really worth the bloodshed and danger within the monastery walls before time runs out and they are trapped forever.

A complicated mission, you say? Oh, but it gets worse, because forbidden love is slowly stalking them both, complicating everything, and leaving them each more vulnerable than they can afford to be in the face of a danger worse than either of them ever imagined.

Will this pair find strength in their strict discipline and careful practice in time to escape, or will they fall before the twin daggers of a rogue killer and an attraction more deadly than the simple risk of death?

This adult romantic epic fantasy stand-alone novel features paladins in all their aspects and is perfect for lovers of T. Kingfisher, Tamsyn Muir and Danielle L. Jensen. Though this book is a part of a collection of books linked by the same world it is a complete story in itself and does not bleed out into the other books in the series.

Quick state of the blog

Turns out it’s been a very long time since I last felt like blogging about anything. I think I’m ready to come back. I have a lot of books, authors, and series that I want to shout about. And a small backlist of books I agreed to review but then haven’t. So I’ll be back soon to shout all about those fabulous things!

Beat the Backlist 2022 May through November Update

It’s been quite a while since my last post, but I have been reading! And posting reviews. They’re just the short ones on Amazon or in Facebook groups and occasionally GoodReads. I’ve also been reading and reviewing for No Flying, No Tights. So I took an unannounced, unplanned hiatus from my blog. But I’m back and happy to discuss books again! Here’s some of the backlist books I’ve tackled over the last six months.

If you’d like to find out more about the BtB challenge as well as plenty of graphics you can use, please read the original post here. Here’s the empty board!

I’m pretty proud with the amount of prompts I’ve finished so far this year! I won’t be able to fill in all the blank ones before 2023, but I should be able to fill in a few more.

Have you read any of these titles? What did you think about them?

Beat the Backlist 2022 March & April Update

I have finished very few books since my last update; however, I have been reading. Just not in an easily quantifiable way. I’m systematically going through my physical TBR to weed out books that I will just never get around to reading. It’s part of my focus this year to really examine what I’ve been holding on to and what I can let go.

If you’d like to find out more about the BtB challenge as well as plenty of graphics you can use, please read the original post here. My plan is to post monthly with an update to the Bingo card with the plan to fill out the entire board by end of year. Here’s the empty board!

I have not finished any of the books outlined in red that I started in February. But I am almost finished with the first Sunborn Rising book. I’m hoping to finish by the end of the month. I was trying to listen to The Priory of the Orange Tree as an audiobook, but that wasn’t working for me and the group I was trying to read it with stopped posting before our first check-in, so I might find another 500+ page book for that prompt. We’ll see.

I did finish Magic for Liars, but I did not enjoy it. It was much darker than anticipated and I didn’t connect with any of the characters.

I am reading four other books right now. Two are 2022 releases and won’t count for this challenge, one is “set in the mountains,” and the last one is a graphic novel I’m reviewing for No Flying, No Tights.

What have you been reading lately? Do you find it’s hard to focus on words when the rest of the world is in chaos? What are you doing instead? Let me know in the comments!

Charity Anthologies For Ukraine

I have the privilege of sharing with all of you that two anthologies just released with all proceeds to go directly to Ukraine! There are other anthologies that have or are releasing soon, but I’m most excited about these as they contain some of my favorite independent authors and feature stories of romance and science fiction or fantasy. Please follow the links below to find out more about the participating authors and the specifics about how the project came together!

https://romanticfantasyshelf.com/publications/fierce-hearts-a-2022-charity-anthology-of-romantic-fantasy-fantasy-romance-for-ukraine/

https://romanticfantasyshelf.com/publications/adamant-spirits-a-2022-charity-anthology-of-romantic-urban-fantasy-science-fiction-paranormal-romance-for-ukraine/

Beat the Backlist 2022 February Update

Although I wasn’t able to focus on reading much during the rest of February, I wanted to post a quick update about the few new prompts I have finished and the ones I have started on. You can find out more about the challenge as well as plenty of graphics by reading the original post here. My plan is to post monthly with an update to the Bingo card with the plan to fill out the entire board by end of year. Here’s the empty board!

I was able to finish five more prompts due to some snow days, which I used to tackle a stack of graphic novels I’ve been wanting to read. And I managed to finish two short audiobooks that matched prompts on the board.

I also started working on a few titles that I really want to finish for a couple of prompts, but I didn’t make it very far into any of them during February (those are outlined in red below). Here’s hoping that March is kinder and I can make more progress on my backlist! It’s starting to look like I have better focus so far.

I’ll be back with another update at the beginning of April! What do you plan on reading this month or year? Any fun challenges that you’re taking part in?