End of Year Book Tag

Time for another book tag! I first saw this one thanks to Crystal from Crystal's Bookish Life! She's one of my favorite booktubers to watch and has the cutest dog Cosmo. Definitely check her out if you haven't yet! Now, despite the name, this is a book tag focusing on your plans for the rest of the year and not a wrap up tag. Let's do the thing!

1. Are there any books you started this year you need to finish?
Outside of what I'm currently reading, nope. I'm pretty good at finishing what I start. I mean at this point I have only one DNF and I don't plan on picking it up again.

2. Do you have a autumnal book to transition to the end of the year?
Not really. I do tend to read more paranormal this time of year. Although, this kind of goes with fall, but I tend to read more hockey (and other fall sports) romances late summer and fall. Mostly because I'm getting hyped for hockey coming back. This year I didn't really pick up many, but I kind of want to reread at least Mister Hockey by Lia Riley.

3. Is there a new release you're still waiting for?
I mean, I have a quite a list of preorders that are supposed to come out later this month. I do have a couple books I'm keeping my eyes for November and December as well. Most are mentioned in my Mid-Year Freak Out Tag. The ones that aren't are mentioned are Walking in a Witchy Wonderland by Juliette Cross (out Tuesday!) and The Lady Gets Lucky by Joanna Shupe (out 10/26 & look at that gorgeous cover). Also recently announced was The Wit and Wisdom of Bridgerton by Julia Quinn, but it's more of an official guide.

4. Three books you want to read before the end of the year?
Well, outside of any new releases, this was harder to narrow down to just three. I think if I look at my backlists or more current reads... First is Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade. It's been on my tbr forever and I have the paperback copy. The second book comes out in late Ocotber, so I should finally get to, especially with the hype having lowered lately. Two, I want to get to Marriage for One by Ella Maise. I really enjoyed reading her recently and have heard good things about it. I also need to finally start Molly Harper's Mystic Bayou series; the first book is How to Date a Dragon.

5. Is there a book you think could still shock you and become a favorite of the year?
Sure. I still have a lot of reading left in the year and can't wait! Outside of new releases that might blow me away, I'm always looking to add a new author and/or series. In the past couple months I've already found several new contemporary authors and their books are definitely in the running for my favorites of the year.

6. Reading plans for next year?
So I don't usually plan too much into the future outside of book club books (if they happen to be announced early). I do know that the Kate Daniels readalong is currently planned to finish the series in February and start the spin-off Aurelia Ryder in March. Outside of that, just any new releases I know that are coming out that I'm super excited for. I do have a list of ideas for tweaks to how I'm doing reviews on here and with my book tracking. When we get closer to the end of the year and I firm up what changes I'll be making, I'll post the updates!

I had a lot of fun thinking about what's to come. This was also a shorter book tag with more precise questions I feel like. I definitely didn't get quite as rambly as I tend too. I can't wait to see what new books I find and how things end up. A little possible teaser, I'm thinking for my yearly wrap up of doing a bracket style competition to find my favorite books. I know for sure I'll be separating out historicals and doing a separate bracket there, but I'll have to see how my stats end up looking. If you also do the End of Year Book Tag, let me know so I can check it out!

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Moody Reader Book Tag

 Here are at another book tag! This time I recently saw a new one that Jen at The Book Refuge did called the Moody Reader Tag. Check out her video if you haven't seen it yet. I definitely wrote down the questions and thought it'd be a fun option for the blog! Here we go...

1. Do you consider yourself a moody reader?
100%. If you've been following me for a while, you would know that I try to have a lot of options and don't really stick to a tbr outside of a couple books I try to read for book clubs. Even then, there's really only two that I do every month. All my other book clubs I go based on if I want to read that book or end up with time as we get closer to the meeting.

2. Do you set tbrs and stick to them?
Not really. When I post a tbr I do it more like an optioned list and will usually pull from those options, but it's definitely not set in stone. If there's a group book or buddy read planned, I'll usually try to at least get to that one.

3. Do books effect you emotionally? And does the emotion/mood rub off on you?
I am a very emotional reader. I cry so easily normally, and when I read it's no different. I'll tear up for happy and sad. I also have that issue with movies. A lot of the time after I watch a new movie or read a new book series I'll have dreams where I'm in that world or in similar situations. That's a big reason why I don't watch horror. Heck I've gotten nightmares just from trailers that are approved for all ages that play during commercials.

4. When you are feeling sad, what do you read or not read?
I try to go for rom-coms or books that I know will be feel good. I try to avoid angsty books normally since I am so easily affected, but a lot of the times if I'm really down I'll either reread or not read at all. I'll find myself watching movies or tv shows and just trying to not get stuck in a spiral.

5. Most often do you use reading to escape, learn or critically reflect?
Escape. 99.9%. There are a times I'll read a book if I'm picking up a new hobby or want to learn something (like Victorian Flower Languages). 

6. What is a book that made you laugh out loud?
Most recently, what sticks out is Single Dad Seeks Juliet by Max Monroe. I was in a funk and this was so surprisingly funny and just completely shifted my mood. It really brought be out of a reading slump and I immediately bought a paperback. I only read it last month, but I already want to reread it. It'll definitely be going into my few books that I like to reread. Although like with crying, I'm fairly easy to make laugh (except for stoner humor, I just don't think it's funny).

7. What is a book that made you cry?
Well, as I mentioned above a lot of books I read will make me tear up. I mean Kiss An Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips was the first time I was actually triggered and that book had me crying and completely stressing out. Although that wasn't actually because of the book but a weird book and real-life spiral. For a book that made me cry just because of the book, the most recent that I can remember is How to Propose to a Prince by Kathryn Caskie.

8. What is a book that you didn't even know what to feel?
Umm... I would have to say Blindsided by Amy Daws. I was expecting a lot of humor and it just felt like all of the emotions it was trying to hit were all just a little bit short. That's the only one I can think of.

9. Are you most likely to read on a Sunday or a cloudy day?
Both. I love cloudy days and it's very rare that I go more than a day without reading. Although let's not talk about this month (it took me 8 days to even pick up a book).

10. Do you usually set the mood when you read? Music, lights, candles?
I used to want silence, but then about a year ago I started listening to either classical music or ambience/meditation music. However, in the last couple months I started pairing my ambience with my reads. I saw Melissa (from Library and Labradors) post on her instagram about a Harry Potter room ambience that she was listening to while reading. Of course I looked it up and now will either leave it on the classical channel on my tv or pull up a specific video on youtube. My favorites lately are Victorian Ball for historicals, Cozy Terrace for general rain sounds, Space Station for sci-fi and Farm for the cowboy contemporaries I read. I do go more towards the ambience noise over music when I switch to youtube. It changes based on what I'm reading and my mood.

11. Can you leap from book to book or do you need a break?
It depends on the series. I usually read a lot and will pick up book after book. I tend to binge series or binge a few books from a series at a time, but it really depends. There are some authors that tend to rehash things a lot or have the several books about the same event from different character's perspectives. I've found that to not get burned out or lessen my enjoyment I usually need a few books and some time between those.

12. Tag some people.
If you are reading this, consider yourself tagged! If you do the tag, let me know and I'll check it out!

I really enjoyed doing another book tag and hope you've learned more about me and my moody reading. I really enjoy doing this and read so much last month I didn't really have a chance to fit one into my schedule. If you do the tag or have any other's that you'd like me to do, let me know!

Are you a moody reader as well?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Series I Need to Finish

 Happy Thursday! Or as a local radio host says, Happy Little Friday! 

As we reach the end of July and I've been trying to stymie a book slump, once again, and I wanted to give myself a little bit of less stress about getting a review ready. I thought about trying to squeeze in a novella or something short. However, I realized I haven't done a "book tag" or something similar this month, so now is the time! 

I have a google doc going that lists series I've started. There is a grand total of 212 series on the list. This doesn't count series where I've read all that's been released but it's not over. There are also a few series when I created it that I left out because I'm not interested in continuing. I can't list out all 212 here, so I wrote a list of ones I want to get to soon. Low and behold I got it down to 44. However, this doesn't include new series to me that I recently started (like Underworld by Sophie Lark). I decided to narrow it down further to 15. Most of these are series I started in the mid to late 2010s that I never got back too. It's a mix of I was caught up and then never picked up the new releases and  I just stopped reading because I needed a change. I'll list the 15 I've choses below in alphabetical order of authors.

📒 When I was in college, my local library started a recommendation program. You filled out a short questionnaire about what kind of recs you want and books that you liked that were similar. One of the recommendations for me was The Others series by Anne Bishop. This is a super slow burn (over several books) that is more young/new adult urban fantasy with romantic elements. I was really intrigued by the world and gave the first few books 5-stars. There are 2 more books in the series now (and a 3rd to be published in 2022), although it looks like from the blurbs that it switches who we follow as main characters. That's a little disappointing since I vaguely remember the two main characters not getting together officially yet. I don't know, maybe I need to reread the last book I read. I definitely want to get caught up. Although I have noticed the newer books are listed in separately as well as The World of the Others series. 

📒 A fantasy series set around fairy tale retellings is the Blood Prince series by Jennifer Blackstream. I really enjoyed this series and loved the unique takes on fairy tales. Jennifer also didn't pair fairy tales up how you usually expect. For example, the first book Before Midnight is based around the werewolf area. Usually you see Beauty and the Beast retellings for werewolves, but Cinderella is the fairy tale retold. It's very unique and have been on my wish-list for a while now, eventually I'll own paper copies of them. There are 3 more books I have to read, but I know that book 7 is a retelling of The Christmas Carol set around the couple from book 2. It's only 62 pages though so I think it's supposed to be more of a 6.5. There's also a spin off series called The Blood Realm that does other retellings, but doesn't fit in the same overarching plot. It does take place in the same universe.

📒 For sports romance, I was really into Jaci Burton's Play by Play series a few years ago. What's unique about this one is that it's connected by family members and friend groups and just keeps expanding. Because it spreads like this, this series doesn't focus on just one sport. We have football, hockey, baseball, sports car driving and even rodeo! There might be sports I'm missing, but I loved how the relationships shift between books and that you can still get the same great writing but switch sports without starting a new series. I've read the first 7 books, leaving 7 more as well as a couple novellas.

📒 I always love to support Colorado based authors. One is Pamela Clare. I have a couple of her series to finish, but the main one I want to get to is her Colorado High Country series. It's based in a mountain town and finds heas for the local search and rescue team. We also have adjacent main characters like fire-fighters and police officers/rangers. In a recent newsletter of Pamela's she announced the 9th book in the series due out August of 2021. I have read the first 4 leaving 4 to read, soon to be 5. I really enjoyed the series and small town feel. Plus it's set in Colorado which I always enjoy!

📒 Another series I need to finish and chatted about recently is Olivia Dade's Lovestruck Librarians. I went on a binge of this series a couple years ago and then just never got to the last two books. I gave most of the series so far 4-stars and they are great fluffy feel good books.

📒 A series that's a few years old but making a comeback (thanks to tiktok) is Ruby Dixon's Ice Planet Barbarians. This is one the first sci-fi romances that I've read since highschool and binged the first 14 books a couple summers ago. These are great and while not every book was 4 or 5-stars for me, I still love the series overall. It's officially ended at 20 books, but I do know that there are a couple spin-off series.

📒 Sticking with sci-fi romance, another alien romance series I need to finish is the Kelderan Runic Warriors by Jessie Donovan. I actually have a couple of her series to finish, but this is my priority. I really enjoyed the unique species and different powers they had. It was such an interesting series and I don't know why I never read the last three books. I really want to and making this list is making me excited to get back to this one in particular.

📒 Another sci-fi and alien romance series I need to finish is Zoey Draven's Horde Kings of Dakkar. When I found this series last year it was touted as an alien take on the Dothraki Warriors from Game of Thrones. I was super intrigued and immediately tried it out. It was certainly inspired by the Drothraki, but I like that it's still so very different. I had read the first two books, but since then there have been two more released that I never saw.

📒 Now we'll do a double here. I am a big fan of Felicity Heaton and have finished a couple of her series. I've also started most of her others. One of my favorites is her Eternal Mates series. There's such a wide range of fantasy and paranormal creatures and such a ginormous and well built world in this series. I've read the the first 6 books and loved them all. I didn't end up continuing because book 7 wasn't downloading properly onto my kindle and I ended up switching series. I was very frustrated at the time, especially since the hero in Taken by the Dragon is a dragon shifter. Since it's been quite a while since I've read them, there are now 18 published and her recent newsletter mentioned that book 19 was with her editor and beta reader. I have some serious catching up to do.

📒 The other Felicity Heaton series I need to finish is her Cougar Creek Mates series. I've read the first two books in this four book series. I think I ended up switching genres and just never got back to it. Felicity recently started releasing the spin-off series Black Ridge Bears so I need to get caught up to move on. I think bear shifters is one of my favorite shifters. She also mentioned that there's going to be a second spin-off after the bears that's about wolf shifters in the same area.

📒 Going back to sci-fi and alien romance, another series I didn't finish was Elsa Jade's Black Hole Brides trilogy. I have the third book left and this would be an easy completion for me. These are about three women that are found kidnapped and are rescued and brought to a planet by a black hole that they were going to be "sacrificed" to by the villain. It was a super intriguing plot and I enjoyed the first two. Plus this trilogy has a little bit of a historical feel because of the way ruling body is set up of the planet they ended up at. I do have a couple of her other series to finish up as well. I really enjoy Elsa's sci-fi romances.

📒 A fantasy romance series I need to finish is Lords of the Abyss by Michelle M Pillow. This is about a boat crash and some humans are saved and brought to the society at the bottom of the ocean known as Atlantis. This is merman/mermaid romances and was super interesting. It was originally released as a trilogy, that I read, but now there are 3 more books! They were published 6 years after the original trilogy. It's been a while since I read these though, so I might want to do a reread before getting to the new books. She has some other series I need to start and finish as well.

📒 Jill Shalvis is one of my favorite contemporary authors and I practically grew up on her Lucky Harbor series. I was so sad when it finished and was super happy when she started her Heartbreaker Bay series that has similar vibes. I haven't read Jill in a while, but own all of the Heartbreaker Bay books. I would preorder them, but the last few books in the series were more holiday themed so I just didn't pick them up since I wasn't in the mood. I have the last two books and the final two novellas left.

📒 Going back to fantasy, one of my favorite fantasy romance series of all time is Kerrelyn Spark's Embraced. I have reread the first few books so many times and every time there's a new release I of course reread the series. I still have not read the last book and I just don't want it to end. I do want to reread the series again and then read the final book. I just have to pump myself up since I don't want to be disappointed both in the book and that the series is over. As a side note, Kerrelyn switched publishers after the first three books so the last two have a different style of covers. I wish that the first 3 would be rereleased with matching covers, but maybe that's just me. I just love that style of cover so much!

📒 The final series I chose for this list is Christine Warren's Gargoyle series. This is such a unique take on paranormal romance and this was my first series set around gargoyle creatures where that are main characters. I stepped away from this series since it's a little more on the suspense side of romance and I wasn't in the mood for it at the time. When I stopped reading the series I only had one book left, but now there are three.

I tried not to be too rambley with my list, but it just kind of happened. I really want to get caught up and finish all of these series. I'm thinking of maybe separating them into spinner wheels by genre for when I'm not sure what I want to read next. Then as I finish those up I can add some from my middle list of 44 series. I'm not setting up any plans on when to finish them by, but I'm certainly excited that I have more to read in some these series and had forgot about them. I'm sure by the end of the year you'll see some reviews for some of these!

Do you have any series you need to get around to finishing?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Mid-Year Freak Out Tag

Happy Sunday! 

I'm caught up with my reviews, so I wanted to do something a little different today. Lately a lot of the booktubers I follow have been doing the Mid-Year Freak Out Tag. While I'm just a booktube viewer, I figured I'd still join in, but with a blog post. Back in college I actually had a blog that was doing questionnaires and fun quiz things, so this certainly feels nostalgic. Without further ramblings from me, lets get into it!

1. Best book you've read so far this year?

Well, this is a really hard choice for me. So first off, I'm going to leave re-reads out of my options and just look at new to me books. It's still really hard to choose, so I'm going to go with my favorites for the main sub-genres I've read so far.

📘Contemporary Romance: Trouble with the Guy Next Door by Holly Renee
📘Dark Romance: A Bullet Between Us by K. Dosal
📘Fantasy Romance: Radiance by Grace Draven
📘Historical Romance: Return of the Rogue by Donna Fletcher
📘Novella: Medusa by Alessa Thorn
📘Paranormal Romance: A Kiss for Solstice by Elizabeth Allyn-Dean
📘Sci-Fi Romance: Saving Verakko by Victoria Aveline

2. Best sequel you've read so far this year?

Since a lot of what I read are series, I'm not just look at the second books. Once again I'm not looking at re-reads. The way I narrowed it down was if I enjoyed a later book better than the first (few) in the series. (I did read several sequels, that I absolutely loved, this year, but they are on par with the previous books.) I still have a couple options that's hard to choose between.

📘Savage Lover by Sophie Lark - book 3 in Brutal Birthright - Even though I enjoyed the first two books, Savage Lover really hit me just right and made me firmly on the Sophie Lark Bandwagon.
📘The Highlander by Kerrigan Byrne - book 3 in Victorian Rebels - The same kind of thing as before. I enjoyed the first two books, but they didn't live up to the hype for me. The Highlander really hit all the notes I was wanting (and kept hearing about) and really entrenched me in keeping up with the read-a-long.
📘Aubin by Annabelle Rex - book 5 in Intergalactic Soulmates - Once again I enjoyed the first few books, but they didn't quite hit all the notes for a 5-star read for me. Annabelle returning to the series and branching out in the universe was such a great choice and I love this epistolary alien romance!

3. New release you haven't read yet but want to?

For these I narrowed my options down to books released since February of earlier this year that I marked as want to read on goodreads. I narrowed down my list even more for books that I knew were going to come out before they did. (For example, Sophie Lark's Kingmakers series started releasing in April but it wasn't on my tbr until earlier this month.)

📘The Rakehell of Roth by Amalie Howard - Released 2/9/2021 - The second book in Amalie's Everleigh sisters duology. I had this preordered and keep planning to read it, but it just hasn't happened. Maybe I'll squeeze it in to the Historical Romance Readathon next week?
📘Scoundrel of My Heart by Lorraine Heath - Released 3/30/2021 - The start of a new series by Lorraine. I had seen great reviews of the arc by several booktubers I trust and bought it on release day. Still haven't gotten to it yet. Maybe during the readathon as well?
📘Yes & I Love You by Roni Loren - Released 3/2/2021 - This is a contemporary romance and the start to a new series. I didn't see very much of this on booktube or bookstagram, but I did a see one of my favorite bookstagrammers read an arc and love it. The premise also really intrigues me and I love the cover. Roni has been on my tbr for a while, I just don't read too much contemporary and tend to stick to my favorite authors (or sports romance) when I do.

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year?

There are quite a few releases I'm really looking forward to this year. I'm going to go by date and list the books I have preordered. I'm sure there are more that I haven't realized are set to be released or there are books in a series I haven't started yet. Also, goodreads doesn't go as far as December yet, but I do have one December release since I receive Stacy Reid's newsletter!

📘6/29/2021: An Extraordinary Lord by Anna Harrington, The Wrong Marquess by Vivienne Lorret & The Princess Stakes by Amalie Howard
📘6/30/2021: Carnal Urges by JT Geissinger
📘7/9/2021: Tempting Auzed by Victoria Aveline
📘7/20/2021: Witches Get Stitches by Juliette Cross
📘7/27/2021: Devil in Disguise by Lisa Kleypas
📘9/14/2021: The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
📘10/26/2021: Donut Fall in Love by Jackie Lau & Rules for Heiresses by Amalie Howard
📘10/29/2021: Savage Hearts by JT Geissinger
📘11/16/2021: Homecoming King by Penny Reid
📘12/28/2021: A Scoundrel of Her Own by Stacy Reid
📘Bonus: 1/25/2022: A Dance of Smoke and Steel by Milla Vane - This was originally set to release 10/26/2021, but I actually received an update for my preorder on Thursday that the release date has changed. I'm a little sad to wait a few more months, but it'll also come out right before February, which is also FaRoFeb!

5. Biggest disappointment?

This was fairly easier to choose. I looked at my lower ratings and then judged my expectations for the book. If I went in blind and didn't expect too much and it had a lower rating, I don't see that as much of a disappointment. There were two that immediately came to mind, Glacier by Miranda Bridges & Krya Snow and Seized by Love by Susan Johnson.

6. Biggest surprise?

Instead of going with specific books, I think I would just have to say my enjoyment of dark romance and mafia romances in particular. I've heard it mentioned a couple of times that there's a lot of parallel between historical romance and mafia romance. It's certainly true, and looking back after the fact I feel like I shouldn't be surprised I like it as much as I do. I've never really been interested in mafia romance or dark romance, despite being heavy into romantic suspense previously, but I really enjoy it. It could just also be my age now and life experiences are changing my reading tastes.

7. Favorite new author?

I've read quite a few new authors this year and have really been trying to expand my reading. I'm going to pick someone that I've read several books from and can firmly say is now a favorite. That means as much as I loved Ruthless Creatures and A Bullet Between Us, I can't quite call JT Geissinger and K. Dosal favorite authors... yet.

Alessa Thorn, CL Wilson, Donna Fletcher, Grace Draven, Holly Renee, Joanna Shupe, Kerrigan Byrne, Sophie Lark & Teresa Medeiros

8. Newest fictional crush?

Nino from Savage Lover, Ilias from A Bullet Between Us, Cavan from Return of the Rogue, Griffin from Notorious Pleasures, & Brishen from Radiance.

9. Newest favorite character?

Well, since before I did my favorite heroes, I'm going to focus on heroines!

Natalie from Ruthless Creatures, Jane from My Kind of Earl, Ildiko from Radiance, Sadie from Off the Record & Mala from The Beast of Blackmoor.

10. Book that made you cry?

Honestly, most of them that I gave 5-stars did. I'm really easy to affect emotionally and very easily cry/tear up. Both for sad and happy reasons. Just give me all the books and facial tissue.

11. Book that made you happy?

Same as above. Just look at my 5-stars.

12. Most beautiful book you've bought or were given this year?

Well, if I'm going off of what I've read and ended up buying paper copies of it would have to be any of the Grace Draven books. I also won signed copies of the first two books of Juliette Cross's Stay a Spell series. I did already have copies, but now I have signed ones as well and they are some of my favorite covers ever. I also recently bought (with my birthday gift card) paperback copies of Victoria Aveline's Clecanian series I can't tell you how many times I've pulled them out just to look at them. Then I have all my historicals that have beautiful stepbacks and covers, but there are too many to list. Overall I would say look at Melody Thomas's and Donna Fletcher's covers. So gorgeous. I also bought Ella Maise's To Love Jason Thorn and To Hate Adam Connor. I usually go for the darker or bright colored covers, but the white/cream just looks so gorgeous and the lighting effects on the letters are great. I just had to have them on my shelf (despite haven't even reading them yet).

13. Books that you need to read by the end of the year?

So outside of the releases that I listed above that come out this year, there are a couple author's backlists I'd like to get through as well as finish some series I've started. The ones that are at the top of my list are Sophie Lark, Juliette Cross, Alessa Thorn, Donna Fletcher & Vivienne Lorret. I'd also like to read some more in the Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole. There are also quite a few series I've started this year that I'd like to either finish or get caught up on. It's also been a plan of mine to go through my goodreads and look at what I've started (since I started using goodreads) and make a list of series I need to finish. Not sure when I'll have the extra time to do that. I'm sure once I do I'll make a post about "Series I Need to Finish."

I hope you enjoyed learning more about me and my reads this year. I had a lot of fun thinking back on the year so far and narrowing down my lists. It's been a while since I've done a quiz like this and really enjoyed it. Maybe I'll keep my eye open for other tags for (romance) readers and filter one in every once in a while. If you are on any of the platforms and haven't been tagged, consider yourself tagged!

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎