May 2023 Wrap Up

Here is what I read/posted/bought in May.

As always, let me know if you have read any of these books and (if you did) what you thought of them.


Books I Read:

Free Kindle Purchase
KU Purchase
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
ARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Bantam
ARC from Sourcebooks Casablanca
ARC from St. Martin’s Press
ARC from St. Martin’s Press
Free Kindle Purchase
KU Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Kindle Purchase
ARC from St. Martin’s Press and St. Martin’s Griffin
Kindle Purchase
Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
KU Purchase
Kindle Purchase
Non-ARC from author
ARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Ballantine Books
ARC from Author
ARC from Crooked Lane Books
ARC from Sourcebooks Casablanca
KU Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
ARC from Crooked Lane Books
ARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Ballantine Books
ARC from Shivnath Productions, IBPA, and Member’s Titles
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books
Non-ARC from author
Free Kindle Purchase
KU Purchase

Books I got from NetGalley:

Invite from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
Invite from Random House Publishing Group – Random House, Random House
Wish granted by Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Del Rey
Invite from St. Martin’s Press
Selection from Minotaur Influencer Program
Wished granted from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Delacorte Press
Read Now from St. Martin’s Press and Minotaur Books
Read Now from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
Read Now from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
Read Now from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
Invite from St. Martin’s Press Influencer Program
Invite from St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books
Wish granted from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Del Rey

Books I got from Authors/Indie Publishers:

ARC from Novel Cause
ARC from author
Non-ARC from author
Non-ARC from Author
Non-ARC from author

Giveaway Winners

Goodreads Giveaway: Paperback
Goodreads Giveaway: Kindle
Goodreads Giveaway: Kindle

Books Reviewed:

Dearly Beloved Departed by Nancy Lynn Jarvis—Review here

S.O.P.H.I.E. by C.J. Noble—Review here

How the Murder Crumbles by Debra Sennefelder—Review coming June 20th

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin—Review here

Lucky Girl by Irene Muchemi-Ndiritu—Review here

The Last Word by Katy Birchall—Review here

The Comeback by Lily Chu—Review here

A Crown of Ivy and Glass by Claire Legrand—Review coming June 13th

The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer—Review here

No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister—Review here

The Impossible Proof of Knowing Nothing by Maria Karvouni Truth—Review Here

Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts by Kristyn J. Miller—Review Here

Brainstorm by Nissa Harlow—Review Here

Reality Is Just A P0ss1ble Fantasy by Maria Karvouni Truth—Review Here

You Are Always Innocent by Maria Karvouni Truth—Review Here

Desiree’s Revenge by K.C. Carson—Review Here

Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee—Review Here

Her Latent Charm by Dana C. Brentson—Review coming June 1st

A Cryptic Clue by Victoria Gilbert—Review coming July 11th

The Book Proposal by KJ Micciche—-Review Here

Take the Honey and Run by Jennie Marts—Review coming July 18th


The StoryGraph Reading Challenges:

April

2023 ABC Challenge (D)—Descendants

2023 TBR Prompts (A BookTok Fave)—The Song of Achilles

May

Buzzword Reading Challenge 2023 (Flavour-related words: Must have flavour/herb/spice related words in the title: salter, pepper, dill, ginger, mango, vanilla, lemon…etc)—The Saltwater Marathon

2023 Monthly Themes (Mystery May)—Mermaid Cliff

2023 Sami Parker Reads Title Challenge (with a word such as rabbit, bunny, hare to honor Chinese Year of the Rabbit. Title should include at least one of those words)—Killer Rabbits

Cover Scavenger Hunt 2023 (A Leaf)—The Affiliate

The StoryGraph’s Onboarding Reading Challenge 2023 (Read a book in your least read format or genre)—Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

Scavenger Hunt TBR Book Challenge (Go to page 34, line 6 of the book you just read. How many words are there in that line? Divide that number by 3. That’s the amount of words the title of your next book should be): Modern Girl’s Guide to Vacation Flings by Gina Drayer

Beat the Backlist 2023 (meant to read it last year): Prepared by Courtney Konstantin

The StoryGraph’s Genre Challenge 2023 (A children’s book you never read as a kid): Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel

Popsugar Reading Challenge 2023 (A book with a mythical creature): Hereditary by Jane Washington

2023 TBR Toppler (The last book in a series): Ten Thousand Truths by Kelli Washington


Books I bought*:

*Normally, there won’t be a lot of books on here. But I am going through my Goodreads shelves and downloading any free books I am coming across from books already shelved (as well as adding books that are in the same series). This is an ongoing project, and I should be done by September (yes, I have that many books).

Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Amazon Prime Read
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase

March 2023 Wrap Up

Here is what I read/posted in March.

As always, let me know if you have read any of these books and (if you did) what you thought of them.


Books I Read:

ARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Ballantine Books
ARC from author
Kindle Unlimited Purchase
Free Kindle Purchase
ARC from author
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
ARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Dell
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
KU Purchase—No Review
ARC from author
ARC from author
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
ARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Ballantine Books
Non ARC from Author (KU Purchase)
KU Purchase—No Review
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Paperbacks
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
KU Purchase—No Review
Free Kindle Purchase—No Review
Non-ARC from author
ARC from Crooked Lane Books
ARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Ballantine Books

Books I got from NetGalley:

Read Now from St. Martin’s Press
Read Now from St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books
Read Now from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
Read Now from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin
Read Now from St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books
Read Now from St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books
Invite from St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books
Wish granted from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Del Rey
Invite from Level Best Books, Independent Books Publishers Association, Members Titles
Wish granted from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Del Rey
Wished granted from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Del Rey
Invite from St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books
Invite from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Bantam
Wish Granted from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Ballantine Books
Limited time Read Now from Sourcebook Casablanca
Wish granted from Sourcebooks Casablanca
Read Now from Crooked Lane Books
Read Now from St. Martin’s Press

Books I got from Authors/Indie Publishers:

Invite from Novel Cause
Invite from Author
Invite from Author
Invite from Author
Invite from Author
Invite from Novel Cause
Invite from author
Invite from Author
Invite from author
Invite from Novel Cause
Invite from author
Invite from Dancing Lemur Press

Giveaway Winners

Goodreads Giveaway Winner through William Morrow—Hardcover

Books Reviewed:

The Things We Do To Our Friends—review here

Too Wrong to Be Right—review here

The Shadow of Theron—review here

Mad Honey—review here

A Paroxysm of Fear—review here

The Last Lap—review here

Mr. & Mrs. Witch—review here

Missing Clarissa—review here

What Have We Done—review here

Off the Map—review here

Solomon’s Crown—review here

For Our Soul—review here

AI—review here

Not That Kind of Ever After—review here

The Fake—review here

Peril in Paradise—review here

Yours Truly, The Duke—review here

Hotel of Secrets—review here


Reading Challenges

Buzzword Reading Challenge (words in the title like secret, secretive, secrets)—A Dangerous SecretFinished 3-6-2023

2023 Sami Parker Reads Title Challenge (A book with one of these words in the title: Ice, Snow, Flurry, or Blizzard)—Ice—Finished 3-6-2023

Cover Scavenger Hunt 2023 (Food)—The Obituary Society—Finished 3-10-2023

The StoryGraph’s Onboarding Reading Challenge (read a book from your StoryGraph recommendations)—Beautiful DemonsFinished 3-10-2023

The StoryGraph Reads the World (Cuba)—Of Women and Salt—Finished 3-12-2023

The StoryGraph’s Genre Challenge (a sapphic romance)—She Who Became the SunFinished 3-22-2023

Beat the Backlist 2023 (about dragons or robots)—The Glow of the Dragon’s Heart—Finished 3-22-2023

Scavenger Hunt TBR Book Challenge (what is the most common letter in the title of the last book you read for this challenge. Find a book with a title that starts with that letter)—Even the Moon has Scars—Finished 3-23-2023

Scavenger Hunt (the prettiest book in your TBR)—The Watchmaker’s Daughter—Finished 3-23-2023

Popsugar Reading Challenge 2023 (A book about a vacation)—The SwapFinished 3-24-2023

2023 TBR Toppler (the first book in a series)—The Last Artifact—Finished 3-26-23

2023 Monthly Themes (March of the Memoirs)—In the Dream House—Finished 3-1-23

2023 Reading Challenge (A book in a series you already started)—Catching Fire—Finished 3-27-23

2023 ABC Challenge (C)—Contained—Finished 3-6-2023

Romanceopoly 2023 (Killer crescent: read a mystery or thriller of your choosing)—Malevolent—Finished 3-1-23

2023 TBR Prompts (a book written about women in STEM or a book with a strong female lead)—Vicious DelightsFinished 3-28-2023

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde: Book 1) by Heather Fawcett

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Del Rey

Date of publication: January 10th, 2023

Series: Emily Wilde

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries—Book 1

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Adult, Historical Fiction, Fairies, Fae, Fiction, Historical, Paranormal, Magical Realism, Fantasy Romance

Purchase Links: Kindle | Audible | B&N | AbeBooks | Alibris | Powells | IndieBound | Indigo | BetterWorldBooks

Goodreads Synopsis:

A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic, friendship, and love, in this heartwarming and enchanting fantasy.

Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party–or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people.

So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.

But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones–the most elusive of all faeries–lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all–her own heart.


First Line:

Shadow is not at all happy with me. He lies by the fire while the chill wind rattles the door, tail inert, staring up at me from beneath that shaggy forelock of his with the sort of accusatory resignation peculiar to dogs, as if to say: Of all the stupid adventures you’ve dragged me on, this will surely be the death of us.

Emily Wilde’s Encycolpaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

When I got the email inviting me to read/review this book, I was immediately taken by two things. The first was the cover. Now, covers don’t usually get my attention or play into why I want to read a book. Mainly because I read using my Kindle Scribed. But this one caught my attention because of how simple it was. The other thing that grabbed my attention was the blurb. A female professor studying Faeries in an alternative Norway in the 1880s? That is when I decided that I wanted, no needed, to read this book. And I am glad that I did because it was a good read.

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries takes place in the late 1800s in an alternative world where women could hold jobs and have the same rights as men at that time. 95% of the book is set in the fictional country of Ljosland. Now, I was curious, and I googled the country. It turns out that Ljosland is a village in Norway. The village is made up (I googled that too). I liked that the author created a whole country similar to Norway but simultaneously different.

The plotline for Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries is an interesting one. In this alternative world, fairies are real. Emily Wilde is an expert on Faeries and is writing an encyclopedia of fairie lore, which will be the first of its kind. She is almost finished and is traveling to Ljosland to study the most elusive and feared Faery of that area, the Hidden Ones. A loner by nature, Emily struggles to make connections in the village. Connections that she needs if she is going to finish her encyclopedia. Help, or a hindrance if she had her say, comes from Wendell Bambleby. Wendell is her rival in the world of Faery lore. But there is something about him that Emily can’t put her finger on. As the winter rages on and her studies continue, Emily learns that Wendell is more than he seems. And when The Hidden Ones start taking children and creating mischief, Emily takes it upon herself to help. That sets off a series of events that forces Emily to reevaluate everything she knows about Faeries, herself, and Wendell. What does Emily learn? What does she find out about Wendell? Will she finish her encyclopedia?

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries is the first book in the Emily Wilde series. Usually, I would put in here if you need to read the other books in the series first or not. Well, since it’s the first book, it doesn’t apply.

The pacing of Emily Wilde (I am shortening the title for this review. Plus Encyclopaedia keeps getting autocorrected) is slow for the first 70% of the book. And when I mean slow, it was snail or turtle slow. There was a point in the book where I debated DNF’ing it. It was that slow. But, once certain things happened (I can’t say because of spoilers), the book picked up speed.

The characters of Emily Wilde were interesting and diverse. I liked that the author chose this alternative world to be LGBTQ-friendly (a lesbian couple is featured prominently in the middle and last half of the book). I enjoyed it. It was refreshing for the period it was in (as was Emily, 30 and unmarried).

  • Emily—She was an odd duck right from the beginning. She had zero people skills and managed to tick off not only her host but the unofficial chief of the village. Her only companion was an elderly dog named Shadow. She was able to win over a couple of the Fairy. One was a sprite who lived in a tree, and the other was a changeling who just wanted to go home to his mother. I did feel bad because she did try. I wasn’t prepared for what she did 70% through the book. I am not going to go into it much, except that it went against everything she had warned the villagers about during the first few days of her stay. But, in a way, it did make sense because she got the last bit of information she needed for her encyclopedia.
  • Wendell—Ok, so I figured him out from the beginning. I don’t know how Emily didn’t figure it out sooner. All the signs were there. I can’t get more into what I am talking about because of the spoilers. But it is something huge. One thing I can talk about is Wendell’s feelings for Emily. Even I could see that he loved her. He followed her to that snowy land and helped her with her research. And then, he stayed and helped her out when things went sideways. Wendell made me laugh because he did things to annoy Emily deliberately. Like adding entries into her journal or just being a pain in the butt. But he did have an alternative reason for being there. One that made me sad.

Emily Wilde fits perfectly into the fantasy genre. The author spun a world where Faeries were real and were studied. There were points in the book where I wished that it was true. But then I would read about the more dangerous Faery and say, “Nope, glad they’re fictional.

There was a slight, very slight, sliver of romance in Emily Wilde. It was so small that I almost missed it. But, towards the end, it became more apparent.

The storyline with Emily, Wendell, and the research into her encyclopedia was interesting. I couldn’t believe the different kinds of Fairies that Emily had encountered on her research journies. I wondered how much of the folklore was true and how much the author made up. Usually, I google this stuff, but I didn’t want to go down a rabbit hole, so I didn’t. The Faeries that Emily met in the north were as cold-blooded as the weather. There was a point towards the end of the book (after the rescue mission) when I worried for Emily. There was a neat twist in the plotline that happened after the tree scene. I did laugh a little at Emily’s dismay (what did she think was going to happen!!), but my laughter did turn to concern for her. Everything did work out in the end.

The end of Emily Wilde was interesting. I was slightly put off by how it ended until I remembered it was a series. It ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, and those annoy me. But it did its job and made me want to read book 2. I pray that it isn’t as slow as this one was. I couldn’t do that again.

I recommend Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries to anyone over 16. There is mild violence, no language, and no sex.

I want to thank Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Del Rey, and Heather Fawcett for allowing me to read and review Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries. All opinions stated in this review are mine.


If you enjoyed reading Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, then you will enjoy reading these books: