Under The Book Cover: assistant to the villain

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2023

Hi hello and welcome to Top Ten Tuesday! This weekly post is hosted by the wonderful Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl so please be sure to go check out her post with all of the information about TTT. The topic this week is most anticipated releases for the second half of 2023, which seems fairly straightforward! I’ve been away due to a convention and then major spine surgery, so I’m really happy to be back and posting again. I’m always excited to talk about books I’m looking forward to, and there are quite a few releasing in the second half of 2023! Let’s get started!

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Just to note before I get started, these are not in order of how excited I am for them. I put them in order of release date because I like being organized. All books also have their Goodreads pages linked in case you’d like to check them out and add them to your TBR!

1. A Trial of Lace and Bone by Kalista Neith

Release Date: 11 July 2023

I read Invoking the Blood last year after a video of Kalista’s popped up on my FYP and I took a chance and signed up for an ARC. I’m so glad I did because I absolutely loved that book and now the sequel is so close to being out in the world!

2. A Twisted Love Story by Samantha Downing

Release Date: 18 July 2023

I’ve only read My Lovely Wife and I do believe that is a crime because that book was so fantastic and I still love it four years later. But I’m absolutely going to binge the other books she’s written and then fly through A Twisted Love Story!

3. The Last One by Will Dean

Release Date: 08 August 2023

I discovered this book from gabbyreads and she went off about how good this book was once she hit the 100 page mark which had me hooked. So, naturally, I added it to my TBR, went to see if there were eARCs on NetGalley, and even entered a Goodreads giveaway because I’m nothing if not obsessive and committed. Look, I trust her recommendations, okay? So not only did I get approved for the eARC, I also won my first Goodreads giveaway and am getting a physical copy! Bless you Gabby, may your crops thrive and your skin be blemish free always.

4. My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine

Release Date: 15 August 2023

I’m super excited about this one because I was invited to be on the blog tour for this book! Not only is the cover super cute (be honest, you still judge books by their covers occasionally) but the synopsis had me hooked immediately. I can’t wait to share my thoughts on this one so keep an eye out closer to the release date!

5. I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea

Release Date: 29 August 2023

I’m going to be honest, this one is pure vibes. The title? Creepy. The cover? Stunning. The synopsis? Absolutely. I need this sooner than August and I’ll feed myself to the beast if it means I can read this beauty sooner rather than later.

6. Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Release Date: 05 September 2023

If you haven’t seen Hannah’s TikTok video series about being an assistant to the morally gray villain, you are missing out. It’s so silly and so cute and she turned it into a book which like, hello goals. I’m so beyond excited for this one and I cannot wait to read it!

7. The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu

Release Date: 12 September 2023

This is one of the few books on this list that I actually have an ARC of and when I tell you I fell out of my chair and my jaw dropped when I got approved, I mean it. This book is going to be fantastic.

8. The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab

Release Date: 26 September 2023

You already know so do I really need to write a big long explanation about why I’m excited for this? It’s V.E. Schwab. That’s it, that’s the tweet.

9. A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand

Release Date: 03 October 2023

A book that is set in the world that Shirley Jackson created and is going back to the Hill House?! That’s all I needed to know and yes I will be losing my mind when this book comes out in October.

10. Iris Kelly Doesn't Date by Ashley Herring Blake

Release Date: 24 October 2023

The gays are winning once again with another book in the Bright Falls series! I may or may not be in the process of crying to the publisher requesting an ARC of this because my soul will not rest until I read the entirety of this book. Dramatic? Yes, but it’s necessary. It’s pride month and honestly it’s offensive that I was rejected on NetGalley for this ARC. But in all seriousness, I cannot wait to read about Iris!

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And that's it for this weeks Top Ten Tuesday! I'm so incredibly excited about all of these books, and I feel like I have a fairly wide variety of genres on here. I would love to know what some of your most anticipated books for the second half of the year are! Do you have any of these on your list? Was I able to introduce you to a new book that you haven't heard of yet? If you did the prompt this week, link me your post below so I can go check it out because I'd love to see what books you ended up picking out! Don't forget to visit That Artsy Reader Girl to see her post for the week and the books she chose. Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you in the next chapter!

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Book Tag Thursday: Bedtime Book Tag

anne heltzel 12:00:00 PM

Hi hello and welcome to my first Book Tag Thursday! I’m not one hundred percent sure who started this, but I found it from Rachel at Life of a Female Bibliophile so be sure to drop by her blog and check out her post this week. Today, I’ll be doing the Bedtime Book Tag, created by Kelly from Barely Reading! I thought this was a funny and appropriate tag to do since I really enjoy writing my blog posts in bed on my iPad before I go to sleep. Let’s get started!

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1. What book kept you up all night reading?

While I did absolutely devour the Eluding Destiny series by Charlie Nottingham, for some reason I read New Normal in one sitting before going to sleep. Something about it just hooked me and my brain said I had to finish it before I could go to sleep, so I did. This entire series is wonderful and worth staying up all night to read so if you haven’t read it yet, I definitely recommend it!

2. What book made you scared to go to sleep?

I distinctly remember getting so spooked by Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes that I hid under my blankets and scrunched my feet up so the monsters under my bed couldn’t get me. This was such a good book and it really did make me scared to sleep because of how well-written it is. If you’re looking for a horror book set in space, I highly recommend this one!

3. What book almost put you to sleep?

Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth. This was a book I was so excited to read because of the insane synopsis of a woman trying to save her and her husband from the vengeful ghost of her mother-in-law. As someone who struggles with their relationship with their own mother-in-law, this sounded perfect. Unfortunately, I just did not enjoy it as much as I hoped I would. There were parts that I could have sworn were written just for me, but most of it was just a struggle to read. But I have seen so many positive reviews for this so clearly while it wasn’t for me, a lot of otherpeople enjoyed this and I’m so happy that it found its audience with other readers!

4. What book has you tossing and turning in anticipation of its release?

I’m so excited for Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer that it’s not even funny. I’ve been following her TikTok for a long time and I’ve seen this go from short skits to a full fledged book and I could not be happier for Hannah! I already know I’m going to love it and I can’t wait to read this!

5. What book has your dream girlfriend/ boyfriend?

I am unashamedly a simp for both Delilah and Claire from Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake. I love them both so much and can definitely say that they are dreamy as can be. Delilah has the bad girl aesthetic and she’s a photographer and Claire has the single mom bookstore owner thing going on and I respectfully simp for them both.

6. What book world would be your worst nightmare to live in?

Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel immediately came to mind. This is a world where the Mother cult exists and its members believe one thing: women are meant to be pregnant and bring a little girl into the world because “a girl would be such a blessing.” And if you don’t want to have children? Well, that’s not what they want to hear because what else is a woman supposed to do with her life? And Mother forbid you give birth to a boy. The most terrifying part of this? There are actually people out there who believe the things that are said in this book and there’s a very real possibility that a cult like this could form (or already exist) in our world. Now that’s what I call horror.

7. What book cover reminds you of nighttime?

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager always gives me creepy nighttime vibes when I see it. I have read it and I think I’m in the minority of people that really liked it, and I think it’s both a great book to read at night and also a really eerie book cover that definitely makes me think of nighttime.

8. What book has a nightmarish cliffhanger?

Charlie Nottingham is an amazing writer, one of my all-time favorites. Charlie Nottingham is also so good at cliffhanger endings that literally make me scream. Raven’s Reckoning has a cliffhanger that made me stop, drop my iPad, pick it back up, and read it again and then promptly lose my entire mind. The Raven’s Cry series is fantastic and if you like paranormal book series with some great spice (and a healthy polyamorous relationship dynamic), this is definitely the book series for you.

9. What book have you actually dreamed about?

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab. I talk about this book more than any other and I'm sure it’s exhausting, but it's such an important book to me. I've had dreams about this book numerous times and I will probably continue to have dreams about it forever. Especially since I’m going to the Addie tour in April!

10. What book monster would you not want to find under your bed?

Pennywise from It by Stephen King. I’ll be the first to admit it, I’m normally a loud and proud monster lover. Like, even the most ridiculous monsters could respectfully get it. But not this monster. And I honestly don’t think I need to go super in depth as to why, right? I’m not down with a monster that wants to scare me by changing into whatever I’m most terrified of so it can feed off of my fear. Like, you do you but I’m scared of clowns so this is a hard pass.

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And that does it for the Bedtime Book Tag! I’m so excited to add this post prompt to my weekly rotation because there are so many book tags out there which allows for a wide variety of books and answers to appear each week. I think starting off with this one was a good choice because it was a nice and easy 10 questions and I had a lot of fun talking about each of the books I mentioned. Have you done this tag before? Are there any books I talked about that you’ve read or are interested in picking up? Did you participate in Book Tag Thursday this week? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to link me your post so I can go check it out! Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you in the next chapter!

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Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2023

Book Tag Thursday: Bedtime Book Tag

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