The Trajectory of Today’s Topics

• New Romantasy Book Has Fans Divided

• Review on a Dungeon Book Crawling up the Charts

• Flashy Newsletter Design

• Series Short Stories are Getting Released

• Obscure and Fun Book Facts

Hot Off The Press

Possibly the Hottest Book Since Harry Potter

But the reviews are as different as Slytherin and Gryffindor.

What better gift could you get for Valentine’s Day than a hot, new fantasy romance book? Forget flowers and chocolates, give me a new book, and well, I’ll take the chocolates too. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros is the third book in The Empyrean Series and it just released on Jan, 25th. It quickly became the fastest selling adult novel in the last two decades; selling over 2.7 million copies in the first week.

Onyx Storm tells the tale of Violet Sorrengail, who is tasked with a sprawling journey to find unfamiliar allies. Along the way, her wits, strength, and the burgeoning bond with her love interest, Xander will be tested to their limits. It promises to be an epic novel full of intrigue, action, fantasy, and all the “hot stuff.”

But… Fans are split. Overall reviews of Onyx Storm praise the story and fans can’t get enough of the emotional roller coaster Rebecca Yarros throws their way. Some say they are “absolutely wrecked,” while others can’t stop the tears. And then there’s the massive cliffhanger that has readers shaken up and desperately waiting for the next book.

Amongst the good, there are plenty of reviews from fans of the series who say this book was a slog. They say the pacing was way too slow, there’s a lack of tension between Violet and Xander and a minimal amount of world building. Many say this was nothing more than a stretched out money grab that could have been shortened by hundreds of pages.

Obviously, popular books are going to get a lot of love along with a lot of hate. I haven’t read the series, so I can’t say, but if you like romance, dragons, political intrigue, and long fantasy series, you might want to start with the first book in the series, Fourth Wing.

The TBR Files

Dungeon Crawler Carl, the Lit-RPG Sleeper Hit

I am completely obsessed with this series

This book was featured on my Audible “You Might Like” list for a while now. And yes, I definitely judged it by the cover and immediately passed it off as hokey, cheap, and I knew that I would not be interested at all. Boy was I mistaken!

After talking to a fellow bookworm, he mentioned this book and said it was a fun read. I had several credits, and thought, what the hell, it’s only a credit. I was immediately hooked and fell in love with this entire series!

This everyday, normal guy named Carl just found out his girlfriend was cheating on him, and he was waiting for her to come back from vacation to get her show winning Persian cat so he could start his life over. Meanwhile, aliens come, take over the planet, destroy all buildings across the world, and tell the surviving humans they can try and make it on the wrecked planet, or take their chances in their Dungeon. If they survive through 18 levels, they will be set free with a nice compensation package. Carl, along with the cat, Princess Donut, are now homeless, lost in subzero temps, and their only option is to jump into the warm, but not so inviting dungeon.

Dungeon Crawler Carl is action-packed, the characters are funny, relatable, and so well written I could not stop reading it. Oh, and Princess Donut, the spoiled Persian cat becomes anthropomorphized through the magic of the dungeon, and she absolutely steals the show! If you enjoy action books, fantasy, dungeon crawling, or RPG-type books, and games, do yourself a favor and get Dungeon Crawler Carl. A short disclaimer, this book is bloody and graphic and has a lot of foul language, so if you’re looking for something wholesome, skip it. Otherwise, you won’t be disappointed. And if you can read the audiobook, do it. The narrator does such a wonderful job bringing this book to life, it’s an ear candy treat.

…And Then This Happened

The First Edition of a Fresh Newsletter!

Trying new things can be a little scary…

If you’ve been receiving my early newsletters, you would know I’m not an expert at all. Everyone started somewhere, right? Even Stephen King started out small publishing in small, obscure magazines before his big break. While I’m still nowhere near that talent, I’m working on a more polished, structured format that looks like there was some actual thought to the process.

So, here we are, working with Beehiiv and hopefully looking a little more polished in the process. As I work out the kinks and figure out all the shiny new buttons here, I want to say thank you for reading and interacting with the previous and upcoming newsletters. I’d like to add a comment tab here somewhere but I’m not sure if that’s possible yet. To get feedback, find out what’s working and what isn’t, and to hear your opinions on bookish things.

While I figure all that out, you can reach out to me by contacting [email protected] Here you can ask questions, provide feedback, or even tell me about subjects or things you’d be interested in reading about. Hope to hear from you soon!