Anticipated 2018 Releases!

Looking through and finding books that are getting released within this year that I'm really excited about getting released are a bit sparse. But I did manage to find a few that I was excited about coming out and you will see a common theme in terms of one certain author as we go through these books because I just love his writing.

1. The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert comes out at the end of this month on the 30th. I haven't heard too many people talking about this book but from the little bit that I have heard, it sounds really good.  We follow Alice and her mother. They've always moved from one place to another, with bad luck trailing them. Her grandmother, author of cult classic dark fairy tales, passes away on her estate, the Hazel Wood. At this point, Alice finds out how bad her bad luck could get: Her mother is stolen away. The person who took her claims to be from the Hazel Wood but her mother leaves Alice a note to stay away from there. There are supernatural elements to this story, which adds to the story. I cannot wait to get my hands on this book.

2. Shadowsong by S Jae-Jones. This book is the sequel to one of my absolute favorite books from 2017. This one looks like a direct continuation for Wintersong and I absolutely cannot wait for this to come out on February 6. Since this is a sequel, I don't want to describe what is supposed to happen in this book. But Wintersong follows the story of Liesl and what happens when her sister Kathe is taken by the Goblin King, who they and their younger brother grew up listening to the stories about. Liesl agrees to trade places with Kathe to save her sister and she lives with the Goblin King. Wintersong has major Labyrinth vibes. If you like that movie, you'll love Wintersong.

3. Daughter of the Siren Queen by Tricia Levenseller is another sequel. Daughter of the Siren Queen is part two of a duology, starting with Daughter of the Pirate King. The first book follows Alosa, who is, as you could probably guess, the daughter of the pirate king. She is on a mission to find and retrieve an ancient map. She allows herself to be captured by enemy pirates and the book follows what happens as she gets "captured" and after. Daughter of the Siren Queen is due to come out on February 27.

4. Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff is set to come out on March 13. This is the third book of the Illuminae Files. These books are uniquely formatted from anything I have seen any other book. The books are told through emails, instant messages, text messages, etc. Obsidio follows directly after Gemina, which is the second installment of The Illuminae Files. The books are set in space aboard ships and what are called jump stations.There's lost of action, some science-y things, and it has a lot of action. Loved every second of the two books already out and I may have preordered Obsidio.

5. A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J Mass. I just finished listening to A Court of Wings and Ruin within the last few days of 2017. From what it looks like, this is going to be book 3.5 out of six or so possible books in this series. The A Court of Thorns and Roses series isn't my favorite series that I've ever read but I'm still interested enough to keep reading it. Or listen, since I've been listening to this series on Audible. This book is set to come out on May 1.

6. LIFEL1K3 by Jay Kristoff is another one coming out in May, on the 29th. This is another scifi book that I'm very excited for. This one involves androids called Lifelike since they resemble humans closely. Eve, the main character, has cybernetic implants that were placed when she was younger and causes nightmares.  This just seems like a very interesting book since Eve, her best friend Lemon Fresh, and robot sidekick Cricket journey across a dessert of glass, fight unbeatable bots, and infiltrate places. There's so much that Eve has to learn and I cannot wait to learn with her.

7. Book3 of the Nevernight Chronicles by Jay Kristoff, which is the last book of the Nevernight Chronicles from what I can tell, is about to bring this series to a close and I'm not ready for it. This very quickly became an absolute favorite series of all time when I first listened to Nevernight in August of 2017. I had to preorder Godsgrave on Audible as well immediately after finishing Nevernight. The books follow Mia Corvere, a 16 year old assassin to be. In the first book, she treks to a school for assassins. The school is held by the deadliest flock of assassins in all of Itreya -- the Red Church. There she learns techniques in fighting, thievery, poisons, and how to garner secrets from people. All in an effort to bring down the men who destroyed her family. Godsgrave picks up soon after Nevernight, where Mia is a Blade and I loved every second of it. I am going to hate seeing the ending of this series due to how much I love it but I need to know what happens to Mia.

8. TheLady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzie Lee is the longest book I'm going to have to wait for since it doesn't come out until October 2. I enjoyed The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue enough to want to continue if there was any other books that were to come out. I had mostly hoped that any other books that were to come out to be from Felicity or Percy's point of view. And the bookish gods listened since this follows Felicity! Felicity seemed like such a kick butt lady, especially given the time frame that the books take place. We don't really get much in the way of a description on GoodReads about this book, except that it's narrated by Felicity and features travel, pirates, and a girl gang. I'm definitely interested to see what happens since travel was such a big part of The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue.

Are you excited about any of these books? If not, what books are you excited about? Tell me about any and all books you're excited about coming out this year down in the comments. I want to hear all about them. 

Your kindred bookmate,

Cassie

2018 Bookish Goals! And Immediate TBR

Over the last few days, I've done some thinking. Especially when it comes to this blog, as it's been around for almost a year. The thinking has revolved around what I plan on doing with this blog, reading goals I want to set, etc.

In regards to the blog, the goal is post more consistently than I have been. For reasons that boil down to predominantly laziness, I plan on attempting to post at least once a week. Even if it just means check ins with where I am with my reading. Posts will range from those check ins to reviews of books, possibly unboxings since I do subscribe to both OwlCrate and FairyLoot, possible book hauls of either books I buy (granted I get my TBR pile down to a point where I feel alright buying a stack of books) or books from the library (which requires me getting my first library card here in New York). If there are any specific posts you would like to see, feel free to leave it in the comments or send us a message on Twitter at @kindredbookmate. We would love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

In terms of other general goals, I do have a GoodReads goal set for myself set at 40 books this year. Over the course of the 2017 year, I had it set to 30 books and ended up reading a total of 85! I was reading like a mad person from January until about mid-May or beginning of June or so. My reading has always slowed way, way down during the warmer months due to there being stuff outside to do, shows I want to catch up on, and other stuff where I just can't sit and focus. It's not that my reading stops in the summer, although I have had summers like that prior to actually liking audiobooks, but I started the swing of reading again in August of 2016. I just have always found it harder to read and have the focus to do so when it's warmer outside. But towards the end or so of September 2017, I did start getting into audiobooks, which helped me get to that 85 books read mark. Which was nice. And I hope that audiobooks will continue in my life, especially when it's warmer out and all I will need are my phone and headphones to listen to a good book. Like I said, I have my goal set at 40 for the year of 2018. Since I tend to read 2-3 books at the same time, I hopefully won't have any issues hitting this goal. I do believe I hit last year's goal of 30 books by the end of April 2016. I don't think I'll hit the 40 book mark that quickly this year since, for the next three months at least, I won't really be reading anything less than roughly 300 pages. Audiobooks I tend to fly through since I listen to them at 2X speed. So that may help me reach my goal faster.

I've been getting bookish subscription boxes for over a year now and have yet to read at least 12 of the books that I have received through them. So my immediate goal is to get those read. One of them is an ARC that was included in a Fairyloot box for a book that comes out in May. I thought originally that it came out in March but the ARC says otherwise. I'm planning on reading them in three four book batches, so to speak. Those books are:

The Guns Above by Robyn Bennis. I received this one towards the end of BooklyBox when they were still BooklyBox before they merged with another company (Quarterly Co, I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, to form PageHabit). This books seems to be built around war and a military of some kind. We follow Auxiliary Lieutenant Josette Dupre and what happens as she is offered the position of captain of a ship.Women aren't allowed to fill positions outside of auxiliary positions. She wants the job, just not the politics that go with it. We follow what happens with her as she navigates the waters. This is the first book of a series and book two, By Fire Above, is due to come out in April or May of this year, according to the author. So I definitely want to get this read before the next book comes out. Just in case I like this one enough to pick it up.

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C Dao is the start to what I believe may be just a duology. This one is an Asian retelling of the Evil Queen and her beginnings, as far as I've heard it described so far. Her name is Xifeng and it goes through her story as a peasant, I believe, and she is destined to become Empress of Feng Lu. I'm very interested to see how this plays out. Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix is expected to come out in October of this year. So I definitely want to get this read before that comes out so I can pick it up if I enjoy it.

I'm starting to think they have a thing for sending out books that start off at least a duology because Even the Darkest Stars is the first book of a duology as well. This book follows Kamzin, whose dream it has been to go with the Emperor's royal explorers on an expedition. They are elite climbers tasked with mapping out the Empire and spying on their enemies. She gets her chance to prove herself when River Shara, the greatest of the team, shows up and demands to hire Kamzin as opposed to her older sister, Lusha. She goes with him and Lusha goes with a rival group. The story follows from there. All the Wandering Light, which is book two, appears to come out somewhere within 2018.

And last but not least for this round of four is Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore. Which may be the only standalone book in this grouping! When I first started hearing about this book, I was a bit intrigued by what I heard. The Nomeolvides women, who this story follows, have tended this lush, beautiful garden of an estate that enchant guests from the world. However, they have a secret: They cannot love too deeply and if they do, the person they love disappears.One day, a strange boy appears on the grounds and he knows nothing more than his first name. Estrella, one of the Nomeolvides women, attempts to help him remember who he is and as she does, they are lead to secrets about the estate itself. I am super excited about this one.

I would love to hear in the comments section what your goals are for the 2018 year, any books you're excited about reading that you have currently that you want to get to, or any anticipated releases for the year that you're excited for!

Kindread bookmate,
Cassie

Aaru Book Review!

Before I get started with this review, I just want to say really quick that I received this book for free in exchange for review. All opinions expressed in this post about this book are my own.

When David Meredith, author of Aaru, approached me about reading his book in exchange for a review, I was a bit hesitant at first due to not knowing if this would be a book I would like. I don't read as much sci-fi as I used to. Once I read the description, though, my interest was piqued and said yes to the review.

The story of Aaru follows the story of Rose Johnson, her little sister Koren, and. a little later in the story, Magic Man (who we never find out the real name to). At the very beginning, we start with Rose being in the hospital with leukemia. We are introduced to Mr Ashe as well, head of Elysian Industries, who explains what Aaru does. Aaru allows those who pass away to live on through the technology they have created at Elysian Industries. Rose passes away within the first couple of chapters (this isn't a spoiler, I promise) and wakes up in Aaru. The story continues from there and you get to see what happens within Aaru and what life is like for Rose there. And you also get to see what happens after Rose's passing through Koren's eyes as well. Like I said, later in the book, we are introduced to Magic Man and he was definitely not my favorite person. In this book or any other book that I have read this year. If ever.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. The concept behind the story was interesting. Who wouldn't want to overcome death and live beyond it? It was a good idea going back and forth between Rose in Aaru and Koren outside of it. You could see the sisters struggle with wanting to do even the simplest of things that they were able to do before Rose's death, like give the other a hug when it was needed.

I was drawn in at page one and it carried on for the first few pages. And then got a bit bored going into the story due to having to learn the ins and outs of Aaru and what life was like after Aaru entering the Johnson family's life.

Things picked up and got so much more interesting within the second half of the book. Especially as we are introduced to Magic Man. That man creeps me out to no end. The way he spoke, thought... Horrible man.

With the way this book ended, it set it up fairly well for a second book. I would definitely be interested in picking it up when it does come out.

I do have a couple of issues with the book. There were some grammatical issues that I wanted to fix but couldn't due to my copy being a PDF file that I received directly from the author. The other issue I had with it was that the only ways I could read it were electronically, either through my Kindle or the Kindle app on my phone. As was mentioned in a previous post, ebooks are my least favorite way to read books. But that's more of a personal preference and not something to do with the book itself. There were things I wanted to mark in the book or tab but couldn't in the way I wanted to but couldn't due to it being electronic. But again, that isn't the fault of the copy I have and more of a personal preference.

Overall, this a fairly solid 4 out of 5 star read for me.

If you've read this book, let's discuss it in the comments. If you're interested in reading, let's discusss that, too! Or if you want to discuss it on Twitter, you can reach me at @KindredBookmate.

Your kindred bookmate,
Cassie

Best and Worst of 2017!

It always amazes me when we get to the end of another year. The year always seems to fly by and I have yet to find a way to make time slow down. Especially when in the middle of a good book. And since we're here for the books, let's get started!

Shortest book I read: When God Whispers Loudly by Chris M Hibbard, which came in at 14 pages. This was a free ebook that I read on my Kindle and had picked it up on a whim. I liked the the premise of it, that people and whatnot are more important than money. It just didn't feel long enough to really get into the theme of it.

Longest book I read: It by Stephen King which came in at 1,116 pages. Listened to this as an audiobook through Audible. I had grown up watching the old mini series with Tim Curry as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. I even watched the new It in theaters twice. Since I loved the mini series and movie so much, I figured that it was time to read the book. The size of the physical book was a bit intimidating, so I opted for the audio route. I quite enjoyed it as an audiobook and listened to it leading up to Halloween. The creepy factor worked perfectly for it.

I reread a number of books this year. My favorite reread has to be a tie between Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire and Pandora by Anne Rice. These books are definitely reminders of my teenage years and early 20's. Life seemed a lot easier then.

Least favorite book: Rushed by Brian Harmon. This book had so much potential in it. The synopsis of it made the book sound really good. And better yet, it was free as an ebook. There were so many points where I wanted to DNF it due how bad it was. There were so many phone calls from the main character's wife, as if Harmon just wanted to add dialogue to the story. And some of the stuff that Eric encounters are just ridiculous. Somehow I managed to get through this terrible book. However, it is definitely not one I would recommend to anyone.

Out of the 83 books that I've read and finished this year, I have 7 different favorite books from this year! For the most part, these are in no particular order. Until we get to the top three, which are actually series/start of a series.

Number 7: Freeks by Amanda Hocking. This one follows a girl who grows up in a carnival but she's the only one in that carnival without an act. She's always helped out others with their act and her mother is a psychic. They get a letter from someone who used to be in their carnival and it has an offer for them. They haven't been making much money, so they go to where their friend is currently and the town isn't quite what they thought it would be.

Number 6: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee. This one was floating around Booktube quite a bit when it first came out and for a while after. After reading it, I could see why. It follows Monty, the son of a lord that has been trying to groom him to take over the household. Monty, however, has other ideas. He's fond of the party life and is in love with his best friend, Percy. The book starts right before Monty and Percy go on their Grand Tour of Europe. The Grand Tour's first stop is in France, where they will stay until they can drop off Monty's sister, Felicity, at a finishing school, before moving on. Monty does something he isn't supposed to in true Monty style and an adventure is started from there. Only thing would have made it better would have been to see a little bit more of how hard life was for Percy since he is a person of color.

Number 5: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. This is another one that was floating around on Booktube. I listened to this on Audible as well and loved it. I found Lazlo Strange, the main character, an awkward yet lovable character. He is a librarian obsessed with the lost city of Weep since he was a small child. He wanted to know what happened to the city 200 years ago. An opportunity presents itself and Strange jumps on the opportunity to go. I loved going on this adventure with Strange and cannot wait to continue when the next book, The Muse of Nightmares, comes out.

Number 4: The Walking Land by Callie Bates. This is one I definitely thought I wasn't going to like when I first picked it up. This one follows Lady Elanna Valtai. She was taken from her family by the king at age 5. She was raised by him as a daughter. When she is older, she must return to her homeland and in the process, embarks on an adventure I enjoyed quite a bit. The main off putting thing was the romance was a bit quicker paced than I thought it should have been. I hear there is going to be another book next year, so I can't wait to see what happens in  The Memory of Fire.

And now we're to the top 3! These ones are in order and so hard to place, mostly with numbers 2 and 3.

Number 3: Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones. This one has Labyrinth vibes to it and I loved it. In the story, Liesl has grown up with stories of the Goblin King. When she is 19 years old, she must go save her sister Kathe from the Goblin King. She goes to his realm and he agrees to let her go. As long as she agrees to stay in her sister's place. This book just amazed me at how well the author wrote this book and I am so very excited to read what happens in Shadowsong.

Number 2: The Illuminae Files, by Amie Kauffman and Jay Kristoff, which so far is comprised of Illuminae and Gemina. The third book, Obsidio, comes out in March of 2018. This series is told through emails, dossiers, IMs, etc. Illuminae follows Kady and Ezra in the year 2575. It starts the day their planet is invaded and the bulk of the story takes place aboard ships in the fleet that invaded. One of the ships has a killer AI called AIDAN.  Gemina  follows Hannah, who lives aboard the Jump Ship Heimdall., which we learn about the jump ship in Illuminae. I have Obsidio preordered and cannot wait to get my hands on it.

And finally, last but not least!:

Number 1: The Nevernight Chronicles by Jay Kristoff. Book one is Nevernight. Godsgrave just came out in September of this year. I listened to Nevernight the first time around on Audible right before Godsgrave came out in September and I immediately had to preorder the next book on Audible. I fell in love with Nevernight so much that when a friend asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I told her that I wanted was Nevernight. I got lucky and she bought it for me in paperback. I read it a second time and loved it even more. My copy is all tabbed out. I preordered Godsgrave in paperback, which doesn't come out until June, so that I have a matching set. As soon as the third book book to come out. Nevernight follows Mia Corvere as she makes her way to the Red Church, which worships the Lady of Blessed Murder, to learn the ways of killing and become a Blade within the Red Church. Her family was taken out by the government and as she learns, she has specific men in mind to offer to the Lady of Blessed Murder.

Through the 2017 year, I've read 28,293 pages. Some of those pages were definitely better than others. It's been an adventure. But tell me, what was your favorite book that you've read this year and what was the worst? Have you read any of the books I've mentioned here? Cannot wait to hear all of your thoughts!

Your kindred bookmate,
Cassie

Guilty Reader Book Tag!!!

Saw this floating around and couldn't help but wonder... Am I a guilty reader? Let's find out!

Have You Ever Regifted A Book That You’ve Been Given? Yes and no. I was given a copy of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak for Secret Santa one year a couple of years ago. I had just bought a copy of it myself. I gave my copy to my dad, who I knew would read it and kept the copy that was given to me. To be fair, it was a coworker who bought it for me and he had no way to know what was on my bookshelves.
Have you ever said you’ve read a book when you haven’t? Um.... I may have for school. But it had to have been a pretty dull book if I hadn't read it. Other than that, not that I can recall.
Have you ever borrowed a book and not returned it? I probably have, though not intentionally. I just can't remember. I'm really good about giving books back normally. Borrowing from the library got me into the habit of returning them.
Have you ever read a series out of order? Not intentionally. I bought a book as part of those "go on a blind date with a book" things a local bookstore does and the book was in it was book eight or something like that. Read it before realizing that there were several books ahead of it. But I've heard that series can be read as stand alones, so I'm not sure it counts.
Have you ever spoiled a book for someone? If I have, it was never intentional. I try not to. One of my friends just read the Harry Potter series for the first time and tried to get me to tell her if something was gonna happen. She got met with lots of "Nope. Not telling."
Have you ever doggy eared a book? Nope. I just use whatever's nearby to mark my spot. Could be a book mark, piece of paper, receipt. Doesn't matter. But I won't doggy ear the page.
Have you ever told someone you don’t own a book when you do? I don't think I have. I'm pretty open about which books I have. Judge away on what books I do or do not have on my shelves.
Have you ever told someone you haven’t read a book when you have? Same answer as above. I don't think I have. And if I didn't like it, I'll tell you that I didn't.
Have you every skipped a chapter or a section of a book? Only on one book that I can think of. I had read Holes by Louis Sachar quite a bit as a kid and there would be times as a kid where I would just read the parts that happened in the past or read the parts in the present that were happening to Stanley.
Have you ever bad mouthed a book you actually liked? I try not to bad mouth books. I try to find things that work and don't work. Even with books that I do like, sometimes there are things about it that I don't like at all or think that don't work with it.

Well, that was fun! I don't think I turned out to be too terribly guilty of a reader at all. You can watch the original tag here! If you want to do this tag, then consider yourself tagged!

Your kindred bookmate,
Cassie

Physical, e-book, or audio book?

I've been thinking about all the ways we have available to us these days in which to read. Everyone seems to have a different opinion on which format is the best way to do it. Up until recently, I've been a predominantly physical book reader. Occasionally I would read on my Kindle since I have several books on there that I don't have the physical format to. However, physical books have always been my go to and preferred method of reading.

Audio books were never my thing until recently. I would have issues focusing on the story as I would go through my day. I would forget easily most of what I had just heard. And after completing a couple of short stories, I couldn't tell you what tell you anything that had happened at any point. And with short stories, you would think you would be able to know remember what was going on. But I would be way too focused on whatever I was doing. However, a friend of mine and I had started up with Audible together. She reads quite a bit but wanted to give audio books a shot but didn't want to do it alone, so I took the dive with her. The book I started with? Nevernight by Jay Kristoff. And fell in love with the book. So much so that Nevernight is now my favorite book of the year. Over the last three or so weeks, my Audible library has expanded to 13 books. There are some shorter ones that were knocked out in a day. I even downloaded Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to listen for this year's reread. And I haven't reread the books in at least 5 years. Maybe 6. But I am loving the audio book version and hope to have a review up for it soon, if anyone would be interested in seeing that. Possibly for Nevernight as well, since I loved that book so much that I want it in physical format, in both US and UK editions since they're both stunning.

The only downsides really to audio books from physical books, which can also translate into a downside from e-books as well, is that some of the funky stuff doesn't translate to the audio book. Like if there are pictures in the book or, as in Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman, there are things done with the text that doesn't translate into the audio, so the visual parts of it are completely lost.

But I want to know -- what are your thoughts? Which do you prefer? And do you have any recommendations on good audio books? Hope to see you in the comments!

Your Kindred Bookmate,
Cassie

Another OwlCrate Unboxing! July 2017

I know that I am so very late in posting July's box but better late than never, right? And besides, this box was too fun to not share with everyone! OwlCrate, for those who don't know, is a monthly subscription service that brings you a YA book with other fun bookish stuff that follows a theme that changes everything single month. You can get a 1, 3, or 6 month plan. And it is so much fun to get in the mail every single month.

This month's theme was Wanderlust. And the card this month even looks like a postcard. I won't show you the back due to spoilers but there's even a stamp printed in the corner. And as usual, I will be linking as much as I can to stores so you can check them out for yourself.

This month, this adorable Newt Scamander Pop Funko key chain was included from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I loved that movie and he is a very welcome addition to my Pop Funko collection. I have Belle from Beauty and the Beasts on my keys right now but may have to switch them out soon.

I have wanted one of these drawstring backpacks for a very long time. And now I have a Lord of the Rings themed one! I've only read The Hobbit and watched The Fellowship of the Ring and the first half of the second movie (I know, shame on me) but one day I will read these books! I had the books in one big bind up of the three. And that always intimidated me every time I attempted to start the first book. One of these days, I will buy all of them separately and finally get around to reading them. From the post card, this was an OwlCrate exclusive.

This adorable little pocket mirror will come in handy going to and from work. It was designed by Miss Phi and it was inspired by A Darker Shade of Magic, another series I have yet to read. From what I see on the card, "As Travars" means "To Travel," which is cool. And I do love to travel, so this is perfect. And it comes in a little drawstring bag to keep it clean. And I appreciate that. 

I may have done a little happy dance when I saw this. This little bag tag is so cute and will be wonderful for the next time I do travel. This little guy is from MudPuppy. I cannot wait to use him. Hopefully soon!

A little pocket journal was included this month as well from Ooly. There was eight of them that had gone out. If you got one different, I want to see it! This will be perfect to go in the drawstring backpack that I got.

This is pretty. I love prints, even though I don't really have a place to put them. This one says, "I go to seek a great perhaps." It was designed by Shailey Ann Designs. It is based on the novel Looking for Alaska, which again is something that I have not read. In the meantime, I can appreciate this beautiful print.

This is this month's pin and it's super cute. I still need to put it on my lanyard for work. But it's adorable and I love it.

And finally, we have this month's book! And it has an OwlCrate exclusive cover this month! The coloring of the title and the spine have been changed. I love that it's a subtle change. The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee seems like such a good read. It follows Monty, his sister, and his best friend as they do their grand tour of Europe And from the description of this book, Monty may or may not be in love with his best friend.

The book also came with a letter from the author, a signed bookplate, and a map of Europe, which I'm guessing shows everywhere they go within Europe. I thought the map was a nice touch to add to the box.

Next month's theme is Something Wicked This Way Comes. I am very excited to see what this next box contains because I love spooky stuff. And the sneak peak is that they're including a second book from Rock Paper Books that will be an exclusive book. I'm so stocked for this box!

I loved this month's box quite a bit and made me want to buy and read a couple of books that I have yet to get my hands on. Maybe one day when I get my TBR pile a little more under control and can get myself off this book buying ban that I'm on.

Until next time,

Your kindred bookmate,

Cassie