November Owlcrate Unboxing

 Hi guys! Here's the November Owlcrate Unboxing! There are some awesome things inside this box and the book is stunning! 

First we have a Wooden Flower Press Kit. Now I'm sorry, but I'm just showing the outside of the box because stuff fell all over when I opened it and stressed me so sorry. It's just a wooden press with the beautiful Owlcrate emblem with cardboard inside and hardware to put it together to press your flowers. I like this as I have been putting some of our beautiful yard flowers in books lately. Yes, it's November and we still have some blooming!

Next we have the cutest little pendant box and pendant. It's a sweet little dandelion pendant necklace. 

Next is an awesome reading planner for next year and the little stickers to go with it! 

Next are some awesome postcards inspired by Lord of the Rings! 

We have the enamel pin of the month and I love it so much! 

Last but not least we have the special Owlcrate edition of Among The Beasts And Briars with sprayed edges and art under the dustjacket 

 

 

 

Happy Reading! 

Mel ♥

The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon

 

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Invited and The Winter People comes a chilling new novel about a woman who returns to the old family home after her sister mysteriously drowns in its swimming pool…but she’s not the pool’s only victim.

Be careful what you wish for.

When social worker Jax receives nine missed calls from her older sister, Lexie, she assumes that it’s just another one of her sister’s episodes. Manic and increasingly out of touch with reality, Lexie has pushed Jax away for over a year. But the next day, Lexie is dead: drowned in the pool at their grandmother’s estate. When Jax arrives at the house to go through her sister’s things, she learns that Lexie was researching the history of their family and the property. And as she dives deeper into the research herself, she discovers that the land holds a far darker past than she could have ever imagined.

In 1929, thirty-seven-year-old newlywed Ethel Monroe hopes desperately for a baby. In an effort to distract her, her husband whisks her away on a trip to Vermont, where a natural spring is showcased by the newest and most modern hotel in the Northeast. Once there, Ethel learns that the water is rumored to grant wishes, never suspecting that the spring takes in equal measure to what it gives.

A haunting, twisty, and compulsively readable thrill ride from the author who Chris Bohjalian has dubbed the “literary descendant of Shirley Jackson,” The Drowning Kind is a modern-day ghost story that illuminates how the past, though sometimes forgotten, is never really far behind us. 

MY REVIEW: 4.5 Stars ⭐️ 

This book was super creepy! Jax comes back to the old home her gram left to her sister, the home with the healing pool. The hike where her sister died. A home she wished she stayed in with her sister. It had been a long time and now Lexie is gone. But what was she looking into before she died? Will Jax find out? Unfortunately for her, she does! 

I loved the book, it had the right amount of creepiness! 

*I would like to thank Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for a copy of this book. 

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

BLOODSWORN by Scott Reintgen

 

Three cultures clash in all out war--against each other and against the gods--in the second book of this fantasy duology that's sure to capture fans of The Hunger Games and An Ember in the Ashes.

The Races are over. War has begun.

Ashlord and Longhand armies battle for control of the Empire as Dividian rebels do their best to survive the crossfire. This is no longer a game. It's life or death.

Adrian, Pippa, and Imelda each came out of the Races with questions about their role in the ongoing feud. The deeper they dig, the clearer it is that the hatred between their peoples has an origin point: the gods.

Their secrets are long-buried, but one disgruntled deity is ready to unveil the truth. Every whisper leads back to the underworld. What are the gods hiding there? As the sands of the Empire shift, these heroes will do everything they can to aim their people at the true enemy. But is it already too late?

MY REVIEW: 3.5 Stars ⭐️ 

I felt this was a very good conclusion to this duology. The cover itself gets all of the stars.

The wrap up with Adrian, Pippa, and Imelda is just right. Each character makes it through their struggles with what is really happening in their world. I thought the end was perfect and I also enjoyed some of the other characters. 

*Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children’s Books for a digital copy of the book.

Fairyloot October Unboxing

I got my October Fairyloot today, I already knew it was going to be very late due to issues so that's all good. We have some lovely things in the box and the book in freaking amaze balls! 

 

First we have some super cute salt & pepper shakers with quotes from the book of the month. And some socks inspired by the Castlevania series

 

  

 Next is some gorgeous foiled playing cards with characters from The Shadows Between Us, The Beautiful,  Sorcery of Thorns, and Even The Darkest Stars. I didn't display all of them out but you can see how beautiful some of them are. 

 

 

We have a beautiful enamel pin inspired by The Young Elites 

 

 

Next is a bookish puzzle inspired by Caraval (obviously)

 

 

Next up is some Kylo Ren stickers!!!! Yessssss! 

 

 This month's Tarot Cards are inspired by House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

 

 

Then we have the book of the month: Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco. Fairyloot out did themselves with the beautiful sprayed/and stenciled edges. They have a foil design on the hardback itself and art under the cover. Also some cool artwork. 

 

 

 Happy Reading! 

Mel xoxo 

The Last Secret You’ll Ever Keep by Laurie Faria Stolarz

 

Bestselling author Laurie Faria Stolarz returns with a thrilling novel where an eighteen-year-old girl's search for answers lands her in one of the most terrifying situations imaginable.

Four days…
Trapped in a well, surrounded by dirt, scratching at the walls trying to find a way out.
Four days of a thirst so strong, that when it finally rains, I drink as much as possible from the dripping walls, not even caring how much dirt comes with it.

Six months…
Since my escape. Since no one believed I was taken to begin with – from my own bed, after a party, when no one else was home…
Six months of trying to find answers and being told instead that I made the whole incident up.

One month…
Since I logged on to the Jane Anonymous site for the first time and found a community of survivors who listen without judgment, provide advice, and console each other when needed.
A month of chatting with a survivor whose story eerily mirrors my own: a girl who’s been receiving triggering clues, just like me, and who could help me find the answers I’m searching for.

Three days…
Since she mysteriously disappears, and since I’m forced to ask the questions: will my chance to find out what happened to me vanish with her? And will I be next?

 

MY REVIEW: 3 STARS 

 
The beginning of the book sucked me right in, but unfortunately it didn’t stay on that high level. I enjoyed different parts of the book and other parts I just wanted to slap people for stupidity. I also felt a disconnection to everyone in the book. All of that being said, the book kept me wanting to know what was going on until the very end!

*Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for a digital copy of this book.

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

The Invisible Life Of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

 

A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name. 

 

MY REVIEW: 5 STARS

 

Blink, and the years fall away like leaves.

Adeline had wanted to be a tree.
To grow wild and deep, belong to no one but the ground beneath her feet, and the sky above, just like Estele. It would be an unconventional life, and perhaps a little lonely, but at least it would be hers. She would belong to no one but herself.

Day breaks like an egg yolk, spilling light across the field.

"Your freckles look like stars."
Addie smiles. "I’ve heard. My own little constellation. It’s the first thing everyone sees."

Live long enough, and you will learn how to read a person. To east them open like a good book, some passages underlined and others hidden between the lines.

"I don’t mean in normal, time flies way," Henry’s saying. "I mean feeling like its surging by so fast, and you try to reach out and grab it, you try to hold on, but it just keeps rushing away. And every second, there’s a little less time, and a little less air, and sometimes when I’m sitting still, I start to think about it, and when I think about it, I can’t breathe. I have to get up. I have to move."

(I feel you, Henry. I feel this way sometimes myself and I hate it and I try to escape myself, but I can’t. I have not felt good enough all of my life and I still do to this day, Henry. But maybe we are good enough. Love, Mel) 💕

His heart has a draft.
It lets in light.
It lets in storms.
It lets in everything.

Memories are stiff, but thoughts are freer things. They throw it roots, they spread and tangle, and come untethered from their source. They are clever, and stubborn, and perhaps-perhaps-they are in reach.

I don’t like all of V.E. Schwab’s books.
I wasn’t sure I ever would.
Then I found Addie
Then Henry



This story chewed me up
Spit me out

It touched me in so many ways I can not explain. But that’s the miracle of books.... they can save you and they can break you....

Mel ❌⭕️❌⭕️ 

Half Moon Walking Dead Supply Drop Box

 I love everything in this box! I just wish I could find my record player! Can't afford a new one! 

First up we have the awesome album of Half Moon (Beta) There are two songs on it and it's lit! 

Next we have a bloody Eugene Funko with his pickle jar =D

Next we have a Half Moon T-Shirt 

We got an awesome 11 x 17 poster and they bent mine at the bottom damn it! 

And last but not least, we have a barnacle walker candle which is cool too! 

Have a great day! 

Mel ♥