Always Me

        Happy Thursday everyone! Welcome back to Books from the Backlog , the weekly linkup I'm taking part of which is hosted by Carole's Random Life in Books .  This is a great way to put a spotlight on books that I've had sitting on my shelf for awhile.  I don't know when I'll get to my weekly featured book, but I hope to some time hopefully soon. This Week's Neglected Book: A Radical Act of Free Magic ( The Shadow Histories #2) by H.G. Parry Published: July 20, 2021 Genre: Historical Fantasy My Copy: Format: Paperback Pages: 495 Where I Acquired It: A yard sale Summary (From Goodreads): A tale of revolution and wonder in a world not quite like our own, A Radical Act of Free Magic is the conclusion to this genre-defying series of magic, war, and the struggle for freedom in the early modern world. The Concord has been broken, and a war of magic engulfs the world. In France, the brilliant young battle-mage Napoleon Bonaparte has summoned a kraken from...

  Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is a Halloween Freebie, so I'm sharing some of my Favorite Horror Books I've Read Since Last October.  Without further ado, here we go in alphabetical order by title: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter ( Count Crowley #2) by David Dastmalchian Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White Crafting For Sinners by Jenny Kiefer  Feedback ( Newsflesh #4) by Mira Grant Hunted by Darcy Coates Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant The Liar of Red Valley by Walter Goodwater  Lucy Undying by Kiersten White Secrets of the Dark ( Black Winter #2) by Darcy Coates  Voices in the Snow ( Black Winter #1) by Darcy Coates   What are some of your recent favorite horror stories?  Have you read any of these?  As always, thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!

  Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday!  Let's share some songs we've been enjoying!  If you would like to link up with me, please see the rules below. Rules: Every Monday share a few songs you've been enjoying.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post's url.  Hello everyone! Today, I'm featuring my favorite songs performed by Sam Reid's Lestat from The Vampire Lestat (or, season three of Interview with the Vampire ).  I loved the first two seasons and I this one was awesome too.  Lestat is a fun narrator and I loved the sense of humor.  Plus, Sam Reid has a great singing voice.  In order of when they appear within the series,...

On Fridays, I participate in the weekly linkup called Friday Book Snippets, co-hosted by Anne @ HeadFullofBooks and Olivia @ Bemused and Bookish .  The directions for are pretty simple.  Share two snippets (a sentence or short paragraph) from a. the book's beginning and b. page 56 (or another page) in the book you are currently reading. No spoilers, please. Join the fun every Friday.  Previously, this was The Friday 56 hosted by Anne @ HeadFullofBooks and Rose City Reader . Happy Friday everyone!  This week I'm spotlighting one of my  Halloween Bingo 2026  books,  Wretch: or, The Unbecoming of Porcelain Khaw by Eric LaRocca .  I've heard this described as a reverse haunting so that could be interesting.   Beginning: There's a remarkable carnage - a swift kind of cruelty, a haughty sort of viciousness - thrumming beneath the blighted, rotting sinew of the world. 56: Father glances at Porcelain and then back to me with a look of worry. A...

Happy Thursday everyone!  Today, I'm sharing my final update for Bookforager's Picture Prompt Book Bingo 2026 .  In October, I completed this reading challenge by reading 1 book out of 16 books on my tbr.  Keep reading to see my thoughts on the book I read this month and my top 5 favorite reads from this challenge: 16. A pinch-clip purse ❋ ❋  ❋ ❋ The Rage of Dragons ( The Burning #1) by Evan Winters  was on my tbr for way too long.  I'm glad I finally read it now though!  The audiobook narrator, Prentice Onayemi, makes this work as well as it did for me.  Onayemi has a great voice and he did a great job of bringing the world to life.  I'll definitely be back for the rest of the series - and hopefully I won't wait so long before starting the next book. My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph . My Top 5 Favorite Reads From This Challenge : The Deadly Grimoire ( Arkham Horror #16) by Rosemary Jones  - My review can be found here ...

Happy Thursday everyone!  Today I'm sharing my final update for the year long Read Queerly 2026 which is hosted by Alexx @ Enthralled Bookworm .  In October, I completed 1 book for a total of 16 read  out of 16 total books on my tbr.  I can't believe I've already made it through the challenge - my final audiobook hold came in quicker than I was expecting.  You can see my original tbr here .  Keep reading to see my thoughts on the book I read this month and my top 5 favorite reads from this challenge: 15. Sapphic Knights: A queer book featuring sapphic knights/swordswomen ❋ ❋ ❋ The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling  had me absolutely hooked for probably the first quarter of the story, but then it just kind of fell off for me. I think I just wanted to know more about certain things that we never did find out.  I wasn't expecting it to be quite as bizarre either. It was definitely worth sticking around, though, even if it wasn't a favorite. My rev...