Weekly Check-in #35

 What I've Been Writing:

Impostors and Thieves: My second reader finished this story, and oh, I loved all her guesses and theories. She's made me all energized and excited about it. It's been sent off somewhere else since, and now...we wait. 

Defectors and Queens: I spent most of this week writing out a timeline and plot summary of how I want this one to go. So 3,600 words of my time went to that.  I've only added maybe 2,000 words to the actual manuscript. But it's my top priority now!

What I've Been Reading:

I've been doing lots of reading (for me). I finished A Fate Inked in Blood and hopped right into A Curse Carved in Bone by Daniella Jensen. Loved them both. Lots of surprising twists. 

After finishing those over the weekend, I started Alchemised. And hmm... Now this book. It's not just reading; it's a whole experience. Probably the longest book I've ever attempted. I spent all my free time reading on it this week, and I'm not even halfway through.  And it's just...Well. On TikTok, I described it as "It's just bad things happening, piled upon bad things upon more bad things--so many awful things--that you just can't stop reading about this terrible, terrible world. It's a masterpiece of traumatizing proportions."  And that's all I have to say about that.

What I've been Buying: 

I got Brimstone by Callie Hart, I, Medusa by Ayana Gray, Daydream by Hannah Grace, and The Bond That Burns by Briar Boleyn this week.  But this weekend, I'm going on a girl trip to Kansas City to partake in a bookstore crawl...or tour...or whatever it's called (we're gonna visit a lot of bookstores), so I'm hoping--fingers crossed--that I have some good stuff to show you next week. 

Weekly Check-in #34

 What I've Been Writing:

I wanted to work on Defectors and Queens this week, and I even opened the manuscript. Started to read what I'd written already, thought it wasn't so bad for a first time through, and then came to the part where I should take up writing again, and just...stalled out. So no new words written this week, sorry!

What I've Been Reading:

I finished reading  One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig. And I thought the main hero, Raven, was just fine for a book hero, right? But Elm stole the book for me, so I was super excited when Elm had a POV in the second book, Two Twisted Crows, plus his own HEA, meaning the second book was my favorite, of course.

Then after those, I started on A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle Jensen, and mmm, I am love-love-loving both Freya and Bjorn. Together, they're just...yes. 

What I've Been Buying:

Yes, I do need to stop buying so many books; I'm aware. But this was not the week I stopped, sorry. I got in some things I ordered back in the summer, and then I got some new releases as well:

• Nevermore by Miranda Lyn (from The Ink Pages).
• Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (3-D special edition from AcryliPics).
• The Veiled Kingdom by Holly Renee (from The Bookish Shop).
• The Last Wish of Bristol Keats by Mary E. Pearson (New Release).
• Throne in the Dark by A.K. Caggiano (Allurial Book Box Subscription).
• Alchemised by SenLinYu (Found it in AbeBooks).

Weekly Check-in #33

 What I've Been Writing:

I finished listening to Impostors and Thieves, and then I listened to the whole thing again.  Now, I think I'll set it aside until the current reader finishes before I go through it again. It's growing on me more and more as I keep going through it. It's at 138,447 words now. My excitement for this one is growing.

What I've Been Reading:

I finished reading Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross, and really enjoyed it. Now, I'm working my way through One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig. This is the second book that's tarot-based that I've ever read.  Or revolves around some kind of magical cards. Last month, Arcana Academy was the first I'd read like that, so it's strange that I so quickly found around. I think they're coming for me now!

What I've Been Buying:

I raked in another big week of new books. This week I got:

• The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle Jensen (a signed special edition)
• Seven Deadly Thorns by Amber Hamilton 
• Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz (from Book of the Month Club)
• Heir by Sabaa Tahir
• Blackthorn by J.T. Geissinger
• Ship of Spells by H. Leighton Dickson
• The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn (a signed special edition)