Impromptu Life Update and Goal Update!

 Hey guys! So my apologies for being MIA. I had gotten caught up with starting to prepare for my brother's wedding later this year and finally feeling confident enough to find a job and so I've been severely lacking in my reading as well as posting and such.

For any authors I'm ARC reading for in which I haven't reviewed your books yet, I profusely apologize for not reviewing them yet, especially if they weren't reviewed on time. I swear it's not because of your books, the ones I've started are really good so far, but I've just been really busy. I promise I'll review them once I finish them, even if it takes awhile! But if you'd rather I not since I couldn't finish on time, that is completely fine as well.

Anyway, here's my book goal update:

• My 2025 Book Goal: 35 books
• My Goal Progress: 20 books out of 35
• Am I ahead of schedule?
• On Goodreads, I am 3 books ahead of schedule
• On Storygraph, I am ~4 books ahead of schedule
• On Fable, I am on track to reach the goal in November

Awaken Archangel Review(Posted to Goodreads on June 25, 2025)

Awaken Archangel by C.J. Piperata
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thought this book was good. I was interesting how mysterious Michael was and how the more i read, the more I learned about him as he was learning about himself.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

View all my reviews

Indie Author Spotlight: Zoe Conley

Quick note before continuing onto the author spotlight: the idea of the author profile layout goes to the founder of the Dark Desires Book Club, Maddy/madc0ow22!

Author Name: Zoe T Conley

Tome Username: Zoeconley-Author
Upcoming Book Title: 'Darkness Folding' ARC Link! - https://forms.gle/x2P6f2cURE1AA4Yf9

1. Using only emojis, summarize your book! 😏😘👩👨👨👨🪄🔮🔥🤡☠💍⛓️
2. Why did you decide on 'Darkness Folding' as your title? The whole series does have a touch of darkness in the title, but I wanted to give a more visual effect for this book as Juliet's world folds in on itself. 
3. Can you tell me a secret about 'Darkness Folding' that no one else knows? Well... I began writing this specific tale in the series to make sense of some of the very heavy political situations going on in the US surrounding a few elections. It's clear and not so clear in the book... though it does explore an awakening and women's empowerment! 
4. Do you remember the exact moment you wanted to write this story? I wish I did! Writing this whole series was sort of a fever dream that I had no control over. A Way With Darkness helped me to process and work through some of my own trauma and experiences while A Hold On Darkness let me mold it into something I would have rather it been. This book, however, took on a life of its own and I actually wrote it AFTER I wrote the fourth in the series. Surprise!!
5. How did you know you wanted to write this genre? It just came naturally to me! I love to explore healing, process emotions and thoughts and tie in political and social issues but I like the idea of setting those things within the comfort of a romance. It makes it a bit easier to swallow and the more emotions I can play with, the better!!
6. Anything else we should know about you and your author journey? If there is one thing I hope that my readers take away from these tales, it's that not everything is black and white or cut and dry. People learn and grow, they make mistakes, they live their experience to the best of their ability, yet we can ALWAYS do better.

I Got My First Bookish Mail Today!

So I got my first thing of bookish mail today! If I'm being completely honest, I kinda forgot that while signing up for ARCs that there were certain ones that included bookish mail for those willing and I had signed up for I think one of them lmao. I am happy I did though because what I got today was pretty cool.

The pic below is what I got(which apologies for the otherwise dirty desk lol)! It did also come with a slip of paper with who the characters are, which is awesome. Thank you to Cassie Swindon for this stuff!

Indie Author Spotlight: Ms. Viper

Quick note before continuing onto the author spotlight: the idea of the author profile layout goes to the founder of the Dark Desires Book Club, Maddy/madc0ow22!

Author name: Ms.Viper
Tome user name: msviper
Upcoming book title: Addicted to Dahlia
ARC links (if any): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSer_kkcK9nSovM0Grob0mb8U_U-nKaFjv0sgiLKxxMMvvymww/viewform

1. Using only emojis summarize your book! ⚖👨‍⚖️🥀❤️‍🔥📈🎥🛩🌴⛓️‍💥
2. Why did you decide on Addicted to Dahlia as being your title? After I knew the premise of my story and the main characters names, the title came to me pretty fast!! it became clear to me that my MMC Dallas, who struggles with substance abuse, is trading one addiction for a new one, and that’s Dahlia.
3. Can you tell me a secret about Addicted to Dahlia that no one else knows? I’m going to tell you TWO!!! 😉 One, Addicted to Dahlia is a duet. SURPRISE!!! Book one is part of a series called “Legally Bound” and I hope to have the second part of the duet published in 2027!!! Two! Y’all are NOT READY for Dahlia’s character arc. Do NOT be fully fooled by book one in the Legally Bound series, there is WAY MORE than meets the eye when it comes to her. In book two, {REDACTED TITLE}, Dahlia has her “Gone Girl” moment 😘
4. Do you remember the exact moment that you knew you wanted to write this story? YES! I was coming home from seeing a broadway play with my friend, and on the way home, I was deciding on whether or not I was actually going to write this dark romance, and as I was going home from NYC, I saw two “signs.” One, was for a restaurant. ‘Dallas BBQ.’ Then, further down the street, there was a new bar called “Dahlia’s” and I immediately knew that I needed to write this.
5. How did you know that you wanted to write this genre? That’s a funny story LOL! I used to write a lot of fanfiction back in the day that absolutely qualified as dark romance, however, I didn’t think I could write a book like that. I was young and thought that type of content was strictly for fanfiction. When I went to college for English literature and writing, I wanted to be a YA author and or the next ‘Stephen king’ type (could never be as talented as that man lol) and began working on a paranormal murder mystery. It wasn’t until post grad school I realized I didn’t have to force myself into a box, romance is a legit genre, and if I am having an absolute blast writing it, what’s the harm?!
6. Anything else we should know about you and your author journey? Two things!! As a pagan🔮 and a stoner girlie🌿, I sometimes use cannabis in a ritualistic way to help me write! My story is Dual POV, so sometimes when I use cannabis, it helps me get out of my head and into my character, especially Dallas since he is a stoner serial killing lawyer. If anyone is curious about how I ritually smoke, I would love to talk about that on here! Two: it’s SO important to me that I talk about the charities I am donating to once Addicted to Dahlia comes out. As a resident of Los Angeles, I witnessed the destruction that the palisades fires caused. The animal that were directly affected by it haunt me. I decided after the fire, that Addicted to Dahlia would no longer be a free work on AO3, and that I wanted to fully become a professional author and use my platform to donate to charities in need. Now, every time I release a book, I decided to donate 100% of the first 6 months - full year of profits to a different charity. Addicted to Dahlia will be donating to the California Wildlife Center for rehabilitating animals, and the Los Angeles Fire department wildfire foundation. Book two of the legally bound series, {REDACTED TITLE} will be donating to the center for missing and exploited children when it is released in HOPEFULLY 2027 👀

Book Goal Update

 Heyy! So I'm makin this post to sort of give an update for my book goal. This may sound like a sort of useless post, but it's one I wanted to make it anyway lol.

Here's how I'm doing with my book goal this year:

• My 2025 Book Goal: 35 books
• My Goal Progress: 18 books out of 35
• Am I ahead of schedule?
• On Goodreads, I am 4 books ahead of schedule
• On Storygraph, I am 3 books ahead of schedule
• On Fable, I am right on schedule

If anyone wants to share their progress, then leave a comment! We can support each other and celebrate each other's achievements, no matter how small!