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Dark Shelf of Wonders

Books, Music, and Games That Revel in the Fantastical

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It’s Monday, Let’s Catch Up │#5

It’s Monday, Let’s Catch Up │#5

Posted by By Veronica June 16, 2025
Hey bookworm friends! It's finally starting to feel like summer and since we have more time, I've started trying to go to the gym on a more regular basis. I've…
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May Flowers and Movies│Monthly Reset #10

May Flowers and Movies│Monthly Reset #10

Posted by By Veronica June 10, 2025
Hey Bookworm friends! May was another incredibly busy month, with mother's day and a bunch of family birthdays all lined up like little festive Dominoes! I also got the unwelcome…
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It’s Monday, Let’s Catch Up │#4

It’s Monday, Let’s Catch Up │#4

Posted by By Veronica June 2, 2025
Hey bookworm friends and happy Pride month 🌈! I hope to find lots of new queer books to celebrate and shout about this month and all year long and I…
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Ahoy! A Treasure Hoard of Pirate Songs & Books!

Ahoy! A Treasure Hoard of Pirate Songs & Books!

Posted by By Veronica May 31, 2025
Hey bookworm friends! May is almost over but before Wyrd & Wonder wraps up, I need to celebrate all things Pirate-y! And if you ask me, the best way to…
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10 More Animal Companions in my Literary Menagerie!

10 More Animal Companions in my Literary Menagerie!

Posted by By Veronica May 27, 2025
Hey bookworm friends! It's been a little while since I've joined into Top Ten Tuesday but I have such a soft spot for this week's TTTopic of animal companions. There's…
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Books That Everyone Loved…Except Me│Meme Medley Friday #7

Books That Everyone Loved…Except Me│Meme Medley Friday #7

Posted by By Veronica May 16, 2025
Hey bookworm friends! We had a thunderstorm last night which woke me up at 5 am so I'm a bit tired. Strangely, my dog was completely unbothered by the thunder!…
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The Desert Island Book Tag Is Perfect For Wyrd & Wonder!

The Desert Island Book Tag Is Perfect For Wyrd & Wonder!

Posted by By Veronica May 15, 2025
Hey bookworm friends! I found a perfect tag for the theme of this year's Wyrd & Wonder: The Desert Island Book Tag 🏝️! I found this tag on The Corner…
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Wyrd & Wonder: Exciting Fantasy Releases On The Horizon

Wyrd & Wonder: Exciting Fantasy Releases On The Horizon

Posted by By Veronica May 14, 2025
Hey bookworm friends! For my first Wyrd & Wonder post this May, I want to keep my eyes on the horizon, where various anticipated releases might eventually appear! So get…
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A Board Game Filled April │ Monthly Reset #9

A Board Game Filled April │ Monthly Reset #9

Posted by By Veronica May 11, 2025
Hey Bookworm friends! I'm a bit behind on my April recap but better late than never. I'm getting over a cold so I have a lot of couch time in…
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Look Ma, No Words: 5 Wordless Graphic Novels For Everyone!

Look Ma, No Words: 5 Wordless Graphic Novels For Everyone!

Posted by By Veronica May 7, 2025
Hey bookworm friends! If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is a pile of wordless graphic novels worth? Asking for a friend 😜. Anyway, at the…
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dark.shelf.of.wonders

Devoted to Fantasy 🖤 Always aiming to diversify my reading.
Support Indie Authors🌻.
📚 Book Blogger, Board Game Lover & Dog Cuddler.
💫 Introducing READ INDIE SFF MONTH 💫 @booksarethe 💫 Introducing READ INDIE SFF MONTH 💫 @booksarethenewblack11 wanted a month to devote to reading Indie books only and we hereby extend the invitation to any other SFF loving Indie readers to join in on the fun! 🖤What is it? The goal of this reading challenge is to appreciate indie stories and support indie authors according to your own ability. Fill out the entire bingo board, fill one line, or pick and choose whichever prompts speak to you; there is no one right way to participate! There will also be a StoryGraph Challenge to help us share recommendations for the prompts. In fact, for those that crave an interactive element in their reading challenges, two interconnected prompts rely on this feature. 🖤When will it be taking place? May 1st - May 31st, 2026 The Prompts: The board is made up of 12 Reading Prompts and 4 of what we’ll call action prompts, which are actionable ways to help indie authors aside from reading. Actionable Prompts: 1. Post A Review - On any social platform or blog. 2. Give a Rec on The StoryGraph Challenge - Go into the SG challenge to prompt 12 and give a rec there to create a pool of recs available for reading prompt 12. 3. Request Book at Your Local Library - If you’ve read an indie book you loved ask your library to buy it! You can do it through Libby or a lot of libraries have official channels to accept requests. 4. Post an Indie Bookish List - If you use socials, post a list of Indie Books. It can be your favs or ones you want to read, it can be themed in any way. Be creative and spread indie book love! The reading prompts are mostly self explanatory except for "Try A New To You Author From A Rec" which is the 12th prompt in the StoryGraph Challenge. This reading prompt goes hand in hand with the "leave a recommendation" and now you take a rec and read it! Or if you have a rec from a friend that counts too. Lastly, we’ve included an optional Bonus: Buy An Indie Book to Automatically Complete Any One Prompt. If you choose to post for Read Indie SFF Month Please also tag us and use #ReadIndieSFFMonth2026 so we can amplify your post To learn more visit mine or Leslie's blog for more information (🔗 in bios)
🐙Happy Pub day to The Octopus by Guojing🐙 Thank y 🐙Happy Pub day to The Octopus by Guojing🐙 Thank you to Two Lions & @mbc_books for this gorgeous #gifted wordless picture book!! The Octopus tells the story of a little girl who goes to the beach with her mother. There, she finds a tiny octopus entangled in a plastic six-pack ring. She befriends and rescues him and what follows is their magical adventure underwater. The young girl comes back from the ocean, understanding that she can play a part in taking care of the ocean in her own way. What a heartwarming story told entirely in vivid illustrations. I have read another book by Guojing and she is truly a master of wordless storytelling! Just in time for Earth Day, this beautiful book with its enduring message can be enjoyed by people of any age. Children and adults alike will be charmed by the illustrations and the themes of environmental stewardship and friendship. 🐚 Happy Earth Day and just like the little girl in The Octopus, I hope you're inspired by the beauty of our natural world ❓What's your favourite marine animal? #EarthDay #WordlessPictureBook #PictureBook #TheOctopus
🌟BBNYA 2025 Finalist Tour🌟 I have mixed emotions 🌟BBNYA 2025 Finalist Tour🌟 I have mixed emotions for Soul Fraud, I rated it 3⭐. I'm sharing my honest thoughts in hopes of helping this book find its readers. 😈Page Count: 364 📜Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary 😈Age Category: Adult 📜Pub Date: June 30, 2022 I love a good ‘deal with the devil’ story but the detail of the forged signature sounded different and fun! I appreciate how something extremely strange happens to Matt (the MC) but he immediately takes charge to see what he can do to solve his problem. It was a fast paced action-adventure story and I was on the edge of my seat but I think that overall it was too fast for my preferences. It’s basically action scene after fight scene and it would have benefited from some down-time. There are lots of factions and characters and they get introduced too quickly to have time to really appreciate how all the politics affect each other. The plot was entertaining and I liked the ‘fish out of water’ feeling of Matt discovering the supernatural world. Matt is a sympathetic character and I was invested in his troubles but as the story continued, he started to grate on my nerves a bit with his wise guy comments. I realized the humour wasn’t for me. For example, during a moment of intense drama he wonders out of nowhere if he'll ever see boobs again which fully pulled me out of the story. He also continuously forced himself into dangerous situations even though he's not prepared but then constantly complains that he's not skilled enough or that he's putting his life in danger…like buddy, you can't have it both ways! Overall I'm torn about the characters in general, because I liked Dan the demon but we don’t see him much given that he sets the whole adventure into motion. I thought the interactions between Matt and Dan were the most fun, I was expecting more of that. It started strong and the plot grabbed my attention with some twists in the second half. But I didn't love it all the way through. I do have several questions that are keeping me intrigued, but at the same time I don't know if I want to continue the series. Ultimately the story is readable and propulsive if you’re looking for a quick adventure!
Tidy The Library: Week Twelve - RESULTS Well, I Tidy The Library: Week Twelve - RESULTS Well, I messed up and put the cards a bit out of order in my stories this week but it's okay because it ended up not affecting anything! . . 1866: Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky) . . 1867: War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy) . . 1886: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson . . 1897: Dracula by Bram Stoker The Answer is D: After Them All!! I haven't read the first two books but I have read the second two on this timeline. I read Dracula so many years ago and I remember liking it but I'd love a reread at some point! Congrats for guessing right 🧛🏽‍♀️: @saras.reading @jonesandthebooks @gianna.of.vengerberg @freckles.and.books Thanks so much for playing & better luck next time 🖤 @libraryllamas @shae_reads_too_much @bamamele.reads @booksarethenewblack11 @a.selkie.reads @books.are.42 @alitescape @irinasreading #Dracula #TidyTheLibrary #BookishGame #Bookstagram #PlayWithMe
A Belated March Wrap Up March reading was all ov A Belated March Wrap Up March reading was all over the place, I read a decent amount of great books but I also had dnfs and two big dissapppointments. As usual, my fav reads are marked with 🖤. Novels & My First Light Novel: 📚 The Apothecary Diaries Vol 1., Natsu Hyuuga with Touko Shino - 3⭐ 📚The Voyage of the Basilisk, Marie Brennan - 5⭐ - 🖤 📚+ 🎧 Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett - 4⭐ 🎧Greenteeth, Molly O'Neill - 2.75⭐ Graphic Novels & A Picture Book: 📚Insectopolis: A Natural History, Peter Kuper - 4⭐ 📱Lunar Boy, Jes & Cin Wibowo - 5⭐ - 🖤 📚The Octopus, Guojing - 5⭐ New Progress on my Goals: •1 Group Read •1 Catch up on ARCs •1 Nonfic •2 Next in Series ❓Have you read any of these? Or, what was your favourite book in March? #WrapUp #Bookstagram #WhatIRead #ReadingGoals #Books
🎉 A very happy pub day to The Vale of Seven Dragon 🎉 A very happy pub day to The Vale of Seven Dragons & thank you so much to @jendiagammon for the ARC I had the pleasure to read! 🖤The Vale of the Seven Dragons by Jendia Gammon 🖤Genre: Epic Fantasy 🖤Format Read: eARC ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Princess Githilien of Vickery wants nothing to do with the crown, in fact she insists you call her Thilly. A surprise visit from her betrothed, Prince Beaumain of Catellaith, on her 16th birthday is the last thing she wants! But when they receive news of a monstrous attack in the lands to the south, Thilly and Beaumain must put aside their differences to fight together. They soon learn the only way to protect their lands from this unknown danger is to find the missing Seven Dragons of Myth...if they even exist in the first place! The Vale of Seven Dragons was such a fun adventure and a great start of a planned trilogy. It feels like classic fantasy, with a quest and an epic struggle of good versus evil but the twists and turns surprised me along the way! I loved how down-to-earth Thilly is as a character and it's clear how much she loves the people of her land. She's also a teenager with a lot of growing pains and external expectations to manage while trying to stay true to herself. I enjoyed traveling through various parts of this world as we were searching for dragons and I thought the world Gammon crated was vibrant, ethereal, and menacing by turns. This feels like the type of book that would benefit from having a map at the start; I found myself wanting to consult one along the journey! 🧭 The plot was extremely entertaining and very adventure-forward. The fights and action sequences felt cinematic (especially if you're a fan of riding dragons)! A lot happens in this first book of the trilogy and theres plenty loss and heartbreak but also so much hope and community. There's a decently sized cast of characters and I loved so many of them! My two favourites are, of course, Blinky the talking wood parrot and Birkswood, the most loyal Butler and Valet. (The handshake scene from The Parent Trap popped into my mind whenever I read about Birkswood and Thilly 🥹) Tell me you're a 90s kid without telling me, am I right? 🤣 #epicfantasy
🌦️April 2026 Anticipated Releases🌷 I would've like 🌦️April 2026 Anticipated Releases🌷 I would've liked to have posted this earlier but I got distracted by the long weekend so here we are! These are the books coming out this month that have me curious and excited! Only one has already been published and it's marked with 🎉. 🐉Fantasy: -Heretic, Noah Isaacs (Apr 5 🎉) -The Vale of Seven Dragons, Jendia Gammon (Apr 7) -The Tricky Business of Faerie Bargains, Reena McCarty (Apr 7) -Year of the Mer, L. D. Lewis (Apr 7) -Strixhaven: Omens of Chaos, Seanan McGuire (Apr 7) -The Traitor Moth, Katharine Orton (Apr 7) -Burn the Sea, Mona Tewari (Apr 21) -Witch Queen Rising, Savannah Stephens (Apr 21) -Wing Weaver, A. P. Beswick (Apr 28) 💕Romance: -The Impossible Garden of Clara Thorne, Summer N. England (Apr 7) -Stay for a Spell, Amy Coombe (Apr 14) -The Demonic Inventions of Aurelie Blake, Mara Rutherford (Apr 14) -Death Meets Cute, J. Penner (Apr 28) 👾Horror & Sci-Fi: -We Call Them Witches, India-Rose Bower (Apr 7) -What We Are Seeking, Cameron Reed (Apr 7) -Invasive Species, Ellery Adams (Apr 14) -Hex House, Amy Jane Stewart (Apr 28) -Ode to the Half-Broken, Suzanne Palmer (Apr 28) 🏺Mystery & Mythology: -City of the Muse, Kate Hilton (Apr 14) -The Witch and the Huntress, Luna McNamara (Apr 23) ❓Which books are you excited to read this month? #AnticipatedReleases #NewBooks #UpcomingReleases #Bookstagram #Reading
My first light novel was an extremely mixed experi My first light novel was an extremely mixed experience! 🖤The Apothecary Diaries, Vol. 1 by Natsu Hyuuga with Touko Shino 🖤Genre: Alternate History, Mystery 🖤Format Read: Physical ⭐⭐⭐ I picked up this light novel because I adored The Apothecary Diaries anime! I recently finished season 2 and I couldn't get enough of this story so I figured I'd try it in the original format. Unfortunately, I was quickly unimpressed by the writing. The story is told by an omniscient narrator that talks directly to the audience in a way I found off-putting. At one point it talks about something that'll happen later but the character "doesn't know it yet" and it later says "to answer that question, we'll have to go back in time a few hours". I pretty much heard a record scratch and a disembodied voice asking me if I wondered how we got here in a drop-dead-serious tone. Nope!!! This was not what I was expecting or wanting! And yet did I read it the whole way through? Yup. Because it helped me understand some pieces of the story that I missed while watching the show. The first volume is basically episodes 1-12 and I was able to better capture the intricacies of the plot and who is who. So while the light novel, to me, doesn't have the finesse of the anime, I will be using it as a companion to the show! ❓Have you read any light novels? Or, have you experienced The Apothecary Diaries in any of its forms? #TheApothecaryDairies #Maomao #LightNovel #Bookstagram #Jinshi
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