I picked up several books this week – the last three books in The Hundredth Queen series came in via Marina, since my library didn’t have them.

In addition, I picked up Hollow Kingdom, a zombie apocalypse tale from the perspective of a pet crow, House of Salt and Sorrows, a fairy tale retelling of the dancing princesses story, and Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements, from Arsenic to Zinc. It’s supposed to be in the vein of A Short History of Nearly Everything, which I adored.

I’ve actually already raced through the rest of the Hundredth Queen series, so I will post a review of those shortly!

Picked up three physical books from the library this week, and read three ebooks, because I read When A Scot Ties The Knot and went off on a Tessa Dare binge. More on that later this week!

The three physical books I pulled are Wilder Girls, Isle of Blood and Stone, and Small Town Hearts, which was recommended to me by Rachel Strolle on Twitter, when I sent her a gif from Booklyn 99 of Amy telling Jake “Babe, you’re being weird.” As that gif perfectly sums up my own relationship, I’m excited to read this one! When A Scot Ties The Knot was recc’d up that same thread on a book-related gif, which is why I snapped it up as an ebook.

I was hoping to get Wilder Girls in time to go to Barnes & Noble’s YA book club, but alas, that was not to be, as the book club met Thursday and the book came in Friday. Figures, right?

Just two books this week – Queen of Ruin, the sequel to Grace and Fury, and The Rage of Dragons, which looks to be an amazing debut fantasy by an author of color. I had to slow down after last week’s haul!

TEN books this week. Because taking a blog hiatus doesn’t keep holds from coming in! I have to find a way to get reading again! First I checked out the two books following Dark Lycan, Dark Wolf and Dark Blood. Dark Wolf as an ebook. I’ve actually already read all three; I’m not going to bother reviewing Dark Wolf and Dark Blood here. They’re just as formulaic as Dark Lycan, at this point they’re just guilty pleasure/comfort reads for me!

Three YA books full of representation – Wicked Fox with Korean rep, Technically, You Started It, with demisexual rep (MEEEEE and I don’t see it very often!), and Love from A to Z with both Muslim rep and chronic illness rep.

The last book of my first trip was to satisfy prepper brain – I checked out Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why: true stories of miraculous endurance and sudden death.

On a second trip to the library this week (because holds came in!) I picked up The Hundredth Queen and Spin the Dawn. I’ve read that while Spin the Dawn has chronic illness rep/disability rep, it also has the MAGIC CURE trope, so we’ll see.

Salvation Day is more for my husband than for me; it’s sci-fi bordering on horror. I may still read it. Storey’s Country Wisdom & Know-How – A Practical Guide to Living Off the Land is a collection of a bunch of leaflets they had previously published into one massive, encyclopedic tome. I’m trying to check out books from my Survival Library lists to make sure I actually want the titles on there – but this looks like one that will stay on the lists. (We’ve joked that if shit hits the fan, while people are looting liquor stores and Walmart, I’ll be looting the library and garden centers.)

I had one hold come in this week – one of my guilty pleasure paranormal romances from Christine Feehan, Dark Lycan – but I actually walked into my library and looked around a bit, and came up with three more. (Because of COURSE I DID.) I found two cookbooks on gluten free desserts, but one of them, Sweet Cravings, uses potato starch in almost EVERYTHING. Since I also can’t have nightshades, that one’s going back to the library on our next trip. The other one, though, Paleo Indulgences, doesn’t use potato starch. I’ve had really good luck with Paleo recipes. It does have tomatoes and other nightshades in some of the savory recipes, but I can sub those out. I got it mainly for the desserts anyway!

The last book of the four is one that’s been on my TBR for a while, Unmentionable: the Victorian Lady’s Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners. It has a blurb on the front from Jenny Lawson (The Bloggess) saying it’s hysterically funny. Given that she’s hysterically funny herself, I’m looking forward to this one.

Just two books this week – All of Us With Wings, which has had a lot of buzz for its representation, and The Witch Who Came In From The Cold (Volume 1), combining fantasy with the Cold War.