TBR of Doom--Birthday Edition (Patreon)

It was my birthday! I told one my of friends I was "eld" and she said, "eldritch?" and that's my new favorite way to describe myself. I am becoming the eldritch being I deserve to be. 

Birthdays are weird when you get older. I always want to do something, but I never want to plan it, especially since my birthday is during the first week of school for my kids. Or I guess just kid now, since Bigs graduated this year. So I'm tired and have zero desire to plan stuff. Usually my mom will take me to dinner or something, but she was flying home on my birthday this year. In a strike of good luck or, more likely, because she planned it that way, my friend Porkchop flew into town on my birthday this year! We got Thai food and pie and that was pretty great. She also brought me my new Swayze hat. 

I got myself a few birthday books because no one buys me books anymore. I also got myself a writing retreat on a boat, which is where the photo of me in the sunglasses comes from. So yay, birthday in the books and I'm grateful to still be a mostly healthy human.

So what books did I buy myself? First I got a copy of Chuck Tingle's Camp Damascus (adult, horror.) If you've been on the Twitter the last few years (or X now as the sinking ship is called) you've probably seen Chuck's erotica shorts because they have funny names/concepts. This is his first traditionally published book. I'm excited to read it!

I also grabbed a copy of Assistant to the Villain by Maehrer (Adult fantasy romance). This book apparently came out of TikTok posts? Or something? I missed that whole thing. I just thought the cover was cute and I liked the concept. For the most part, I liked it. I didn't realize it was a cliffhanger book, so FYI there and there were a lot of times the characters were busting a gut over something and I didn't find it funny. BUT, it was also very cute. There were parts that were funny and I liked the characters. I will read the next book for sure. This, I think, was a debut novel, and I can that a bit. That being said, I'm excited to see the next book to see how Maehrer grows into her skillset.

My library hold for Only Good Enemies came in, too. (Estep, adult sci-fi romance) and I'm really excited about this one. I loooooved the first book. 

Moonstruck Vol. 3 (Baegle Shae and Grace Ellis, graphic novel) I got this for myself when I was in Alaska. Seriously, I found a bookstore everywhere the boat stopped. Sometimes more than one. I adored volumes one and two of this series, which is about a cute werewolf barista and the girl she falls in love with. Lots of fun creatures, adorable art, fun story.

I was also sent a copy of Witches Get Stuff Done by Molly Harper (Adult paranormal romcom) and Find Him Where They Left Him Dead by Kristen Simmons (YA, horror) which isn't out yet! I listened to Witches already and I'm excited to read the paperback again. I also read an earlier draft of Find Him and I'm stoked to read it again as well. I am horribly biased toward Kristen and Molly because they're friends, but seriously you should check these books out. PNW friends--I will be at an event in October at Third Place Books with Kristen and Kendare Blake. Highly recommend.

New audiobooks:

I got Magic Tides and Magic Claims (Adult, fantasy), which are two novellas set in the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. I've been relistening to the series as well.  I also got None so Blind by Alis Hawkins (Adult, historical mystery). I've never read any Hawkins, but I've been looking for new mystery series and I will admit I grabbed this one after I read a one star review of a different book by the author because it was "full of feminism."

ARCs I just got: Kelly Armstrong's Boy Who Cried Bear (Adult, Mystery) and Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree (Adult, fantasy). I've long enjoyed Kelley's books and I liked the Rockton series a lot, so I'm excited to read this new one. Legends & Lattees was a cozy delight, so I'm super thrilled to get the next one especially since I'll be at an event with Travis this weekend! KRR Lockhaven, a new to me author will also be with us, so it's going to be a lot of fun. If any of you are around the Tri-cities area of Washington State, stop in and say hi!

Alright, hit me with your book recs. I'm ready!

--Lish