Weekly Wrap Up | October 25, 2021

Happy Monday and welcome to my Weekly Wrap Up post! I link these posts up with The Sunday Post, hosted by Kimberly over at Caffeinated Reviewer; The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at ReaderBuzz; It’s Monday! What Are you Reading? hosted by Kathryn of Book Date and a children’s/middle grade version hosted by Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers; Mailbox Monday, hosted by Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit and Martha of Reviews by Martha’s Bookshelf; and Stacking the Shelves, hosted by Marlene at Reading Reality. For my Weekly Wrap Ups, I’ll recap what I posted, read, and watched this week, plus I’ll let you know about any current giveaways I have up. I’ll also tell you about recent updates on my TBR and new books I received and/or bought. Okay, time to see what happened this week!

Hi! I’m back again two weeks in a row and very excited to share some updates!

On the Blog

Here are the links for everything that was published last week on Kait Plus Books:

• Blog Tour: The Lost Language by Claudia Mills (Excerpt + Giveaway!)
• Blog Tour: Little Thieves by Margaret Owen (Interview!)
• Top Ten Tuesday | October 19, 2021
• Blog Tour: The Bear House by Meaghan McIsaac (Excerpt + Giveaway!)
• Blog Tour: Jadie in Five Dimensions by Dianne K. Salerni (Excerpt + Giveaway!)
• Can’t Wait Wednesday | October 20, 2021
• Blog Tour: The Secret Garden on 81st Street by Ivy Noelle Weir (Reading Journal!)
• Blog Tour: The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne by Jonathan Stroud (Excerpt + Giveaway!)
• Blog Tour: The Night When No One Had Sex by Kalena Miller (Interview!)
• First Line(s) Friday | October 22, 2021
• Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon: #TBR and Updates | October 2021
• Mini Challenge: Five Word Books | October 2021
• Blog Tour: This is Our Rainbow edited by Katherine Locke and Nicole Melleby (Aesthetic Board + Top 5 Reasons to Read!)

Off the Blog

• #Readathon was this weekend! I had a great time co hosting and reading. I wasn’t feeling that great, but I did get my book I was reading finished and started a new one!
• On Sunday I had a relaxing day with my mom. We watched Christmas movies and started a rewatch of Once Upon a Time. There are so many things that happen in season one that I completely forgot about!
• Oh! On November 12, I’m going to be on a panel! The Author Encounter is hosting Indie Author Day, and I’ll be on the Influencer Panel at 7pm EST! You can find more info on it here!

Currently Reading + Listening To: I’m currently reading and listening to The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow. After I listened to A Spindle Splintered last week I knew I had to read her backlist and WOW I love her writing so much!

Just Finished Reading + Listening To: I finished The [Un]Popular Vote by Jasper Sanchez on Saturday and absolutely LOVED it!!!

Books: I need to finish Journey to the Heart of the Abyss for my blog tour this weekend!!!!

Audiobooks: I’d like to say I’ll find something on Scribd or Libby or Hoopla, but honestly, I think I’m going to buy the audible version of The Ten Thousand Doors of January because I love love love Alix E. Harrow’s writing!!! (side note: I would definitely prefer to listen to this on one of the other services, but none of them have it!!!)

I have some Owlcrate #bookmail to share (no spoilers, just special edition books I preordered a while ago), I borrowed a book from the library, and I added a few books to my #tbr! Actually, I added a LOT of books to my #tbr, so there will be a New to the Queue post soon! Here’s some of what I stacked my shelves with lately:

#bookmail

When Night Breaks by Janella Angeles
Series: Kingdom of Cards #2
Published on October 5, 2021 by Wednesday Books
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Retellings, YA
Pages: 480
Add to Goodreads

The competition has come to a disastrous end, and Daron Demarco’s fall from grace is now front page news. But little matters to him beyond Kallia, the contestant he fell for who is now lost to this world and in the hands of a dangerous magician. Daron is willing to do whatever it takes to find her. Even if it means embarking on a dark and treacherous journey, risking more than just his life, with no promise of return.
After awaking in darkness, Kallia has never felt more lost. Especially with Jack by her side, the magician with who has the answers but cannot be trusted. Together, they must navigate a dazzling world where mirrors show memories and illusions shadow every corner, one ruled by a powerful game master who could all too easily destroy the world she left behind -- and the boy she can’t seem to forget. With time running out, Kallia must embrace her role in a darker destiny, or lose everyone she loves, forever.

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson
Published on October 5, 2021 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Neurodivergent, YA
Pages: 400
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Author Links: Website, Twitter, Goodreads, Instagram, Tumblr

The dead of Loraille do not rest.
Artemisia is training to be a Gray Sister, a nun who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so that their souls can pass on; otherwise, they will rise as spirits with a ravenous hunger for the living. She would rather deal with the dead than the living, who trade whispers about her scarred hands and troubled past.
When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia defends it by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a saint’s relic. It is a revenant, a malevolent being that threatens to possess her the moment she drops her guard. Wielding its extraordinary power almost consumes her—but death has come to Loraille, and only a vespertine, a priestess trained to wield a high relic, has any chance of stopping it. With all knowledge of vespertines lost to time, Artemisia turns to the last remaining expert for help: the revenant itself.
As she unravels a sinister mystery of saints, secrets, and dark magic, her bond with the revenant grows. And when a hidden evil begins to surface, she discovers that facing this enemy might require her to betray everything she has been taught to believe—if the revenant doesn’t betray her first.

Library haul

The [Un]Popular Vote by Jasper Sanchez
Published on June 1, 2021 by Katherine Tegen Books
Genres: Contemporary, Queer, Aspec, YA
Pages: 416
Add to Goodreads

Vaseline on the teeth makes a smile shine. It’s a cheap stunt, but Mark Adams knows it’s optics that can win or ruin an election.
Everything Mark learned about politics, he learned from his father, the congressman who still pretends he has a daughter and not a son. To protect his father’s image, Mark promises to keep his past hidden and pretend to be the cis guy everyone assumes he is. But when he sees a manipulatively charming candidate for student body president inflame dangerous rhetoric, Mark decides to risk the low profile he assured his father and insert himself as a political challenger.
One big problem? No one really knows Mark. He didn’t grow up in this town, and he has few friends; plus, the ones he does have aren’t exactly with the in-crowd. Still, thanks to countless seasons of Scandal and The West Wing, these nerds know where to start: from campaign stops to voter polling to a fashion makeover. Soon Mark feels emboldened to get in front of and engage with voters—and even start a new romance. But with an investigative journalist digging into his past, a father trying to silence him, and a bully front-runner who stands in his way, Mark will have to decide which matters most: perception or truth, when both are just as dangerous.

new to the queue

The Witchery by S. Isabelle
Published on July 26, 2022 by Scholastic
Genres: Contemporary, Fantasy, YA
Pages: 384
Add to Goodreads

THE HAUNTING SEASON IS HERE AND THE WOLVES ARE AWAKE.
Haelsford, Florida is a Hellmouth. Or at least, that’s what Logan, a baby witch struggling to control her powers, thinks as she arrives to the witchtown to begin the new school year at Mesmortes Coven Academy. She is immediately taken under the wing of the infamous Red Three. Iris is a deathwitch who wants nothing more than to break the town’s curse; Jailah is one of the most powerful witches at the academy but her thirst for power may lead her down a dark path; and Thalia, the talented greenwitch, is on the run from her religious family and a past that still haunts her.
Fear and prejudice still fuel the uneasy truce between humans and witches who are forced to work together when the Haunting Season begins and Wolves rise from the swamp to feed. With this approaching, two Hammersmitt boys prepare to make their first sacrifices to the witches in exchange for protection. But as they become involved with the Mesmortes witches’ plan to end the Wolves’ reign of terror once and for all, old dangers lie in wait.
The cost to break the curse may be greater than any witch or human could ever know.

Katzenjammer by Francesca Zappia
Published on June 28, 2022 by Greenwillow Books
Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Queer, Aspec, YA
Pages: 400
Add to Goodreads

Katzenjammer tells the story of Cat, who must save herself from eventual self-destruction by remembering the terrible tragedy that trapped her in high school and why half of those trapped—Cat included—are transforming. It’s a tale of masks—the ones others make for us, and the ones we make for ourselves. The book includes illustrations created by the author.

Those Summer Nights by Laura Silverman
Published on June 7, 2022 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, YA
Pages: 304
Add to Goodreads
Author Links: Website, Twitter, Goodreads, Instagram

Hannah used to be all about focus, back before she shattered her ankle and her Olympic dreams in one bad soccer play. These days, she’s all about distraction—anything to keep the painful memories of her recent past at bay, including the string of bad decisions that landed her at boarding school for a year.
Enter Bonanza, the local entertainment multiplex and site of Hanna’s summer employment. With its mini golf course, bowling alley, and arcade—not to mention her hot, flirty coworker Patrick—Bonanza seems like the perfect way to stay distracted. Until her boss announces the annual Bonanza tournament, a staff competition that brings her past Olympic nightmares crashing back into her present.
On top of that, the Bonanza staff includes Brie, the ex-best friend she cut off last year, and Ethan, her brother’s best friend who became unreasonably attractive in her year away and who accepts her, even knowing her worst secrets. Under the neon lights of Bonanza, Hannah must decide whether she can find a way to discover a new self in the midst of her old life.

No new #bookstagrams this week, sorry!

I’m still watching Big Sky (although I’m a few episodes behind, oops), and my mom and I started rewatching Once Upon a Time yesterday! And that’s it for right now.

The giveaways widget is always the most current and accurate way to tell what giveaways you can find on my blog, but since you’re here…

• Print Copy of THE OUTLAWS SCARLETT AND BROWNE by Jonathan Stroud — Ends Nov 5th, 2021
• Print Copy of JADIE IN FIVE DIMENSIONS by Dianne K. Salerni — Ends Nov 5th, 2021
• Print Copy of THE BEAR HOUSE by Meaghan McIsaac — Ends Nov 5th, 2021
• Print Copy of THE LOST LANGUAGE by Claudia Mills — Ends Nov 5th, 2021
• Print Copy of ONCE UPON A WARDROBE by Patti Callahan — Ends Oct 31st, 2021
• Print Copy of ABSOLUTION by Rachelle Storm — Ends Oct 31st, 2021
• Print Copy of FRANKIE & BUG by Gayle Forman — Ends Nov 5th, 2021
• Print Copy of THE THROWBACK LIST by Lily Anderson — Ends Nov 5th, 2021
• Print Copy of TRISTAN STRONG KEEPS PUNCHING by Kwame Mbalia — Ends Nov 5th, 2021
• Print Copy of DAUGHTER OF THE DEEP by Rick Riordan — Ends Nov 5th, 2021

So that’s everything! What have you been up to this week? Anything important happen? Did you have any posts that didn’t get a lot of attention? I’d love to check them out! Leave your links in the comments below and don’t forget to have a splendiferous week!