Heartbeat Monthly [39]: October 2023 + Book Signings

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on November 12, 2023 | 0 Comments



October haul

Bought

  • The Serpent Bride by Sara Douglass (I had never seen this in mass market!!)
  • Talonsister by Jen Williams (I had to order from Amazon UK)
  • The Scarlet Veil by Shelby Mahurin
  • Night of the Witch by Beth Revis & Sara Raasch (SIGNED)
  • The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow (SIGNED)
  • Starling House by Alix E. Harrow (SIGNED)
  • Fourth Wing pins from Brio + Brandish
  Special editions
  • Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett (Fairyloot)
  • Belladonna by Adalyn Grace (Fairyloot)
  • Foxglove by Adalyn Grace (Fairyloot)
  • Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare (Illumicrate)
  • The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon (Waterstones)
  • Iron Gold & Dark Age by Pierce Brown (Fairyloot)
  From subs
  • Starling House by Alix E. Harrow (Owlcrate Adult, October)
  • After the Forest by Kell Woods (Illumicrate, October)

Freebies

  • And Don’t Look Back by Rebecca Barrow (thank you, Christy!!)
  • Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros (thank you, Christy!!)
  • A Curse for True Love alternate dust jacket
  • Night of the Witch swag (from signing)

 

October Wrap Up

Books I read

* = audiobook
^ = re-read

  1. Bring Me Your Midnight by Rachel Griffin* – ★★★
  2. Starling House by Alix E. Harrow*^ – ★★★★★
  3. The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw* – ★★★
  4. The Never King by Nikki St. Crowe – ★★★★
  5. Speak No Evil by Liana Gardner – DNF
  6. Of Bones and Skulls by Samantha Ziegler – ★★★½
  7. Gilded by Marissa Meyer* – ★★
  8. The Coven by Harper L. Woods* – ★★★
  9. Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff*^ – ★★★★★
  10. The Girl From the Well by Rin Chupeco* – ★★★
  11. Masters of Death by Olivie Blake* – DNF
  12. This Delicious Death by Kayla Cottingham* – DNF
  13. Foxglove by Adalyn Grace* – ★★★★
  14. 1984 by George Orwell*^ – ★★
  15. Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle* – ★★★½

Pages read: 5,773
Average rating: 3.42
Favorite book read in October: Empire of the Vampire
Least favorite book read in October: 1984

Books I reviewed

Other posts

 

What I’ve been up to this month

I GOT A NEW KINDLE!! I’m ridiculously excited about it. I’ve been eyeballing the pretty new agave kindle for MONTHS now, but I simply couldn’t justify spending so much money on another Kindle when I already own one. (Listen, I know there’s plenty of Kindle girlies that have a purse Kindle and a work Kindle and a bedside Kindle, but it’s not worth the cost for me when I can just bring my one with me wherever I go *shrugs*) I didn’t know you could trade in your old kindle for a new one until I saw that the Paperwhite Signature was on sale during the Prime Big Deal Days and was reading the description. That was what made me finally pull the trigger! Not only was it on sale for $50 off, but with a trade in I also got an additional 20% off plus a $30 instant gift card. SO, I got an almost $200 Kindle for 80 bucks! And you know what? I fucking LOVE it. It’s got a few upgrades from the 10th gen Kindle I had before: auto adjusting front light, wireless charging, larger capacity, and no ads. I also love that it’s a type C instead of the stupid android style charger. The screen is a bit larger (mainly because the margins on the Kindle itself around the sides of the screen are smaller), but it’s still the same weight and thickness. And because it’s newer, there are cooler accessories for it like skins and cute dust plugs!

Alix E. Harrow signing

The first week of October I drove down to Louisville and stayed the night with my bookstabestie Christy (@cbookaddiction) and her hubby Jesse. I got super lucky because I found out about it well enough in advance that I was able to move my schedule around and take that Friday off and work a half day on Thursday. The drive down kind of sucked because it rained the whole way, and funny story: I got lost in downtown Louisville because I went to the wrong Homewood Suites! I’m an idiot lol. Then I took a couple of wrong turns because the city is confusing as hell (I’m also NOT a city girl and hate driving in them). It also didn’t help that I was about to pee my pants and couldn’t find a bathroom! It was TERRIBLE. I did manage to finally find a printing place that let me use their bathroom and I got back on track and found my way, but I was lost for a good half an hour lol.

The hotel was super nice! We got a two bedroom suite and not only was there a tiny kitchen, but we both had our own separate bathrooms in our rooms. They had a fitness center, too!

After I got settle in, I got read for the event. Even after getting lost I had plenty of time, thankfully. The bookstore was kind of a pain to get to and the parking lot was tiny. The bookstore itself was tiny too – I probably would have thought it was cute and appreciated it a lot more if the event hadn’t made it so cramped. It was also kinda crappy because when we got there they told us we couldn’t go get a seat because they were reserved?? I thought that was the point of buying a ticket for the event IN ADVANCE. They wouldn’t even let us into the room. We had to stand around forever waiting and they didn’t let us in until it was starting. It was so frustrating. We were still able to find a couple of seats open thankfully. It was SO cramped and uncomfortable, though.

Alix was super nice! I had never met her before and was excited that I got to. She knew who Christy and I were based on our Instagram handles, so that was awesome!

Night of the Witch tour

There was a panel at Joseph Beth for the Night of the Witch tour and in addition to Beth Revis and Sara Raasch, Kristen Simmons and Jason June were there. I don’t have much to report on this one, but I want to note that Jason June is hilarious and charismatic and I loved him! It’s always fantastic to see Kristen, she’s actually become a friend because I see her so much at JB. She gave me a lil peek at the cover for Find Him sequel and it’s stunning! I brought her a copy of Find Him with edges custom sprayed by yours truly :)

Current obsessions

Movies: I finally watched Barbie and it was SOOO GOOD! I can’t believe it took me so long to go see it.

Music: Solence!

Food: I discovered Karma probiotic water and I’m obsessed! The blueberry lemonade is my favorite.

Other: my new Kindle!

Things I’m looking forward to

VACATION!! I’m taking a vacation for the first two weeks of November and I need it so. bad. By the time this posts I will have left already! YALLfest is the second weekend of November, too!

Read Like Hellathon update

Hosted by Books Beans and Botany

So, funny story: I forgot this was a two month readathon, so I was busting ass to get all of my books read in October. And I almost made it!! I ended up being 3 books short of making it to the bonus round, which is pretty impressive if I do say so myself!

In the end, I was able to finish every category. I had tons of fun with this readathon and can’t wait til the next one!

See anything you like? What did YOU get last month? Link me up!

Jessi (Geo)

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