Skip to content
Dark Shelf of Wonders

Books, Music, and Games That Revel in the Fantastical

  • Blog Memes
  • Book Reviews
  • About Dark Shelf of Wonders & Rating Scheme
  • Reading Challenges
  • Review Policy
  • Blog Memes
  • Book Reviews
  • About Dark Shelf of Wonders & Rating Scheme
  • Reading Challenges
  • Review Policy
The Magical Readathon: My Spring Equinox TBR (2026)

The Magical Readathon: My Spring Equinox TBR (2026)

Posted by By Veronica April 1, 2026
Hey bookworm friends. It's April 1st and you know what that means: It's time for the Spring Equinox semester at Orilium Acadamy! That's right, the Magical Readathon is back and…
Read More
A Year In Aeldia

Recap of My Year In Aeldia: A Choose Your Own Adventure Reading Challenge – 2024

Posted by By Veronica December 21, 2024
Hey Bookworms, if you're anything like me you can't see a reading challenge without wanting to participate. In previous years I spread myself too thin by saying yes to all…
Read More
Reading Goals
  • Priority List of Authors I Need To Try
  • Read Indie SFF Month
Veros's Profile
Follow Me
Follow follow us in feedly Follow Dark Shelf of Wonders on WordPress.com
Subscribe to my blog to receive notifications of new posts by email.

Archive
🍉Fundraiser
  • About Dark Shelf of Wonders & Rating Scheme
  • Priority List of Authors I Need To Try
  • Privacy Policy
  • Read Indie SFF Month
  • Review Policy
Featured Book Reviewer Professional Reader 80%

dark.shelf.of.wonders

Devoted to Fantasy 🖤 Always aiming to diversify my reading.
Support Indie Authors🌻.
📚 Book Blogger, Board Game Lover & Dog Cuddler.
🌟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
🌟BBNYA 2025 Finalist Tour🌟 For today's tour I'm h 🌟BBNYA 2025 Finalist Tour🌟 For today's tour I'm happy to share a review for one of my fav reads of last year! 🐲Page Count: 372 ☕Genre: Fantasy, Romance 🐲Age Category: Adult ☕Pub Date: April 28, 2021 Elizabeth Bennet is managing the family estate for her ailing father. Insufferable gentlemen keep bursting in to propose marriage. But she’s got bigger problems to deal with: she’s hiding a forbidden skill. Lizzy can speak to draca, the small, fire-breathing dragons kept by gentry. When Napoleon’s spies attempt to steal draca, she’s forced to seek the aid of Mr. Darcy, the proud man whose proposal she once scorned. Miss Bennet’s Dragon is a retelling of Pride & Prejudice; it starts very faithful to the OG story but then it diverges in fascinating and supernatural directions. If Regency England had dragons, they would definitely be used as status symbols and this book takes that idea and absolutely runs with it! I’m familiar with P&P through the adaptations (I’ve yet to read it—sacrilege, I know!) and I enjoyed the blend of familiar story beats with a unique world of draca and the politics of binding them. Certain characters got more time in the spotlight and became even more villainous which was such fun! There's also so much lore, and even a bit of mystery that made the world feel so vivid and magical. I was utterly engrossed. I enjoyed the writing style, it was engaging and witty. I especially loved the banter between Lizzie and her sisters and the awkward interactions with Mr. Darcy. The vibe was a clear homage to Austen while the language and self expression of various characters is more in keeping with modern conventions. While the pacing was mostly great, there were a few scenes at the beginning that I felt we flew past too quickly. The characters were a strong point for me; they felt real and I had strong feelings one way or another for all of them! I truly felt like I was living vicariously through them and I got choked up several times while reading. During sweet moments or when Lizzy and Mary had deep realizations. My heart! Overall, I loved this story and I’m so happy that it’s a series. I can’t wait to continue the adventure! 🖤
Tidy the Library: Week Ten (Children's Lit Edition Tidy the Library: Week Ten (Children's Lit Edition the 2nd) - RESULTS! . . 1865: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll) . . 1877: Black Beauty (Anna Sewell) . . 1894: The Jungle Book (Rudyard Kipling) . . 1908: The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame) The correct answer was A: Before All of Them! It turns out this book is a lot older than most people thought 😲! Woohoo, @jonesandthebooks & @saras.reading , well done on your guesses! I bet you believe in impossible things before breakfast! 😜 Thanks for playing along with me this week 🖤: @dan.devours.words @freckles.and.books @bamamele.reads @irinasreading @a.selkie.reads @gianna.of.vengerberg And a Merry Unbirthday to you all! 🫖🎩🐇 #TidyTheLibrary #PlayWithMe #AliceInWonderland #Bookstagram #BookishGame
Follow on Instagram
Copyright 2026 — Dark Shelf of Wonders. All rights reserved. Bloglo WordPress Theme
Scroll to Top
Verified by MonsterInsights