Hey bookworm friends! It’s time for my second It’s Monday, Let’s Catch Up, a veritable party of update memes! I hope you’ve all had a lovely first week of April 😊, and now on to the good stuff.
Link-ups
Music Monday was created by Drew @ The Tattooed Book Geek
Sunday Post is hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer
It’s Monday What Are You Reading is hosted by Kathryn @ The Book Date
Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Marlene @ Reading Reality
Music Monday
A couple of years ago, my algorithm randomly spit out Departed by Bridge City Sinners and I was instantly charmed by the mix of genres and aesthetics. Plus it’s such a catchy song and I love the singer’s voice!
Album: Unholy Hymns│ Year Published: 2021│ Genre: Dark Folk
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
Just Finished
Recently finished Cello’s Gate by Maurice Africh and loved it to bits, review to come later!
Currently Reading
Currently reading Swordheart and I’m having a delightful time with it. Also listening to the audio for The Case of the Missing Maid and I am struggling to get through it. I find myself not wanting to pick it up and when I do, mildly annoyed and/or bored. I think I’m still going to push through because it’s for a readathon prompt.
Up Next
Bewitching Books, Ravenous Reads and I are about to begin our buddy read of an old fav for both of us so I could not be more excited and nervous! Would you just look at Wicked Lovely‘s peak 2000’s cover?! In my heart and memory the vibes are immaculate, let’s just hope they stay like that.
On The Blog Recently
Reading Challenges:
– The Magical Readathon: My TBR for Spring Equinox 2025
Tags:
– The Fantasy Tropes│Book Tag
Wrap-Ups:
– A Look Back At March │ Monthly Reset #8
Reviews:
– LEVIATHAN by Scott Westerfeld: A Series Review
Bookish Lists:
– 10 Things I Love About Witch Hat Atelier
Stacking The Shelves
Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, whether it be physical or virtual. Reading Reality posts on Saturdays but you can post any day that works for you— don’t forget to visit the link-up on Saturday to join in on the fun!
The theme for my Stacking The Shelves update this week is “When all of your library holds arrive at the same time” 🫠I am entirely overwhelmed. I plan to read all of them this month so I guess the library is testing my dedication 😂.
Physical Library Borrows
- Emberclaw by L. R. Lam
- Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed
- Don’t Let The Forest In by C.G. Drews
Libby Borrows
- Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr (Both the e-book & audio)
- The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim (Audio with hard copy on the way)
Let’s chat in the comments!
What are you currently reading? Or, what library holds are you waiting for (either patiently or not-so-patiently)? 🖤
Nice assortment of books. It must be hard when all of your library holds come in at once. So hard to choose which one to start with. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
Thanks, Kathy! I know other bookworms understand that particular struggle 😉!
I hope the current read you’re struggling with picks up, but I get what you mean. I’ve encountered one too many of those books this year already that I probably should’ve DNFed! 😂 That cover for Wicked Lovely is indeed *very* 2000s, haha. I hope you and Charlotte enjoy the buddy read and that it lives up to what you remember and loved about it the first time you read it. Also, I love that cover for Emberclaw—the purple and that dragon! 😍 Have a great week ahead!
Ah, thank you, it’s still a slog but oh well only 4 hours left. Oh geez haha, normally I would DNF but the prompt is ‘ a book with a missing person’ and I really don’t read a lot of those and I don’t want to search for another one 😂
haha right? The 2000s vibe is at the same time so nostalgic and cheesy in a way that makes me embrace the cheese lol. Thank you so much 🥰! I also love that Emberclaw cover, it’s so punchy. Thanks and have a great week yourself 😀
I find that when a whole bunch of books arrive at the library I am up overwhelmed and end just returning a lot of them unread.
Yes, this is often what happens to me too, especially if I know others are waiting for a book. haha.
I Loved Wicked Lovely and ended up reading the whole series. I started it because I was reading one book by every author who would be at NOLAStorycon in 2016. Some I had already read like Ilona Andrews, Molly Harper, Jeannine Frost, Kelley Armstrong. I was excited to meet the authors and we really got to spend time with them. It was my fav because it was more UF / PNR than the romance conferences that are everywhere. Melissa Marr is lovely, as really they all were. I’ve gotten really good at pushing out my library holds because I’m reading so many ARCs and challenge filling books.
Oh amazing!! I love Wicked Lovely too, it’s one of my formative series from when I was a teen! Wow I’ve never heard of NOLAStorycon but that sounds like such a fun reading project! And like an amazing event how cool that you got to meet so many cool authors, if I had met Melissa Marr back in those days I would have been SO excited! I’m glad to hear she’s lovely, what an amaizng memory to have thanks for sharing 🥰 Also I’ve never been to a book related con so I don’t know what UF/PNR is lol.
And haha nice that’s a good skill to have, I wish I didn’t get so overwhelmed as soon as I have too many to handle. Something to work on I suppose 😜
I’m glad you loved Cello’s Gate and that Swordheart is proving to be such a hit. I swear I keeping getting tempted to add more & more of the authors books to my priority list lately 😂 I’m really looking forward to starting our buddy read today. I so hope it lives up to both of our memories 🤞 and I will never be over those covers either. I just love the designs and colour scheme 😍😍
I love your Stacking The Shelves theme 😂😂 I wouldn’t be surprised if the same thing happens to me once I put my requests in. I want to get at least half way through my other buddy read first though given how chunky the book is 😅 at least they sound like an interesting mix of books though. Plus Emberclaw & Wicked Lovely look stunning together.
Also we’re back to me not knowing the song you shared but whose surprised at this point? 😂
Thanks! Haha I guess that’s the nature of book blogs, they’re forever tempting me with all sorts of titles too.
Yes, the nostalgia of those covers brings me so much joy. & the broodiness mixed with the pretty flowers!
Oh gosh lmao I love my Stacking The Shelves Theme but I also hate it at the same time. Do I look like I can juggle? Because I very much cannot?! lol 😂😂😂 I hope your library holds come in at a more thoughtful pace lol. I wish you good luck with all of your buddy reads as well 🙂
You’re right the colours of Emberclaw and Wicked Lovely look so good together!
& LOL that’s too funny, I like this game of seeing if you know the song or not. Next time I should deliberately try to find one I think you might know and see if I can do it! lol
Very true. If you’re in the blogging world is it even possible to have a small TBR 😂
Yes I love that they’re purple shades too. We just don’t get enough books in those colours.
I totally understand that. It’s so relatable and means lots of exciting books but it’s also like ‘omg how will I ever keep up ‘. Lol I’ll let you know if they do or not 😂 thank you 🥰
Lol yes that’s true, it will be fun to see if you can guess at my tastes or not 😂
Ahaha I am sure there are those blogger unicorns with small tbrs but I’ve yet to meet one 😜
It certainly helps it stand out, which I like 🙂
And yes lol 😂 I would be curious to know if you’re in the same predicament as me lol.
I don’t know but it does feel like a fun game either way lol. But I will learn more about them and that’s fun too!
Ahhh… that moment when ALL your library holds show up at once. I know it well, lol
heheh I’m sure plenty of readers can relate to that moment 😂!
Nice collection here!
One day, I need to try Kingfisher!
Last book I finished:
Moominvalley in November, by Tove Jansson – for my buddyread with Mallika, going on right now.
Am reading:
Player Piano, by Kurt Vonnegut (preparing for The 1952 Club)
Am listening to:
Devils and Saints, by Jean-Baptiste Andrea
Next: The Clock That Wouldn’t Stop, by Elizabeth Ferrars (for The 1952 Club)
I definitely recommend trying Kingfisher if you can 😀
All of those sound very interesting but I’m curious about Devils and Saints, how is that one?!
I enjoyed the Departed video and song! Thank you for sharing. I was glad to see you were enjoying Swordheart. That is one I hope to read one of these days! It’s been ages since I read Wicked Lovely–and I still love that cover. I hope you enjoy all your new books. I am drooling over that Emberclaw cover. I hope you had a great week and are enjoying your weekend!
Oh yay I am so glad you liked the song, I was so impressed by it! Oh my gosh I loved Swordheart a lot 🖤I hope you love it too when you get to it 🙂
Yes it’s been ages for me and I’ve been having such a wonderful time revisiting it and indulging in my nostalgia haha! Thank you so much, I hope you’re enjoying your current reads and that you had a great weekend as well🥰. Same, that Emberclaw cover is stunning!
Departed is fun! Thanks for sharing! And ooh any series called Sky Pirates of Imperia gets my attention lol.
And Wicked Lovely- yes that cover. 🙂 Hope the reread is awesome!
I’m glad you liked the song too and Cello’s Gate was so good! I highly recommend it especially if you like heist stories. I posted a review for it today if you want to know more. 🙂