So, all my book mail decided to show up yesterday when I wasn’t expecting it. I’m not complaining! I’m thrilled that these books arrived – and I can’t wait to dive into them.

And because I’m so excited for these books, I just wanted to do a little appreciation post for them!

Each of these books is the second in a series by 3 new to me (last year) authors who I kind of just fell in love with.

Y’all know how much I love hyping authors and their books, so of course I had to.

So, without further ado…

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Celestial (Angels of Elysium #2) – Olivia Wildenstein

In ninety-two days, the feathered appendages that link me to the people I loathe finally come off. Dear, winglets, you will not be missed.

Celeste has spent the last four years building a life outside of angelic guilds—parties, check—pursuing human ambitions instead of celestial ones—college, check—and shedding feathers across Parisian cobblestones and more recently New York sidewalks—speaking her mind, always check.

She swore off angels, but the death of the woman who took her in the night Leigh died brings them soaring back into her life . . . and not just any angel but the most detestable one, the one complicit in Leigh’s death—Seraph Asher.

Although Celeste tells the archangel to feather off, the unreasonably pretty and obstinate man doesn’t leave her alone. He returns and insists she complete her wings. When she asks him for one good reason to do so, he gives her an unbeatable one: what he did with Leigh’s soul.

Asher never meant to share his damning secret, but he knows it’s the only way to save Celeste—the rebellious Fletching he can’t get out of his head… or heart.

I read – well I listened to the audiobook for Feather last year and fell in love with Olivia’s take on Romeo & Juliette. While I’m not the biggest fan of R&J I couldn’t help but fall for this book and its characters. Now that I have the second book in hand, I know I’m going to be diving into it very soon. I would love to listen to the audiobook, but I’m just happy to be able to find out what happens next! Because when I tell you that the ending to Feather leaves you jaw dropped and anxious to see what happens next, you don’t wait very long to dive into the second book.

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Forging Darkness (Fallen Legacies #2) – Julie Hall  

No one knows if Steel is dead or alive… except me.

For months I kept the late night calls from Steel a secret, until he let it slip that he tracked down his villainous sister, Silver. He needs help—even if the powerful angel-shifter is too stubborn to admit it.

But the Steel I find isn’t the same boy from Seraph Academy. He’s darker. Haunted. And the distance between us can’t be crossed by a simple flap of my wings.

When a battle with the Forsaken goes horribly wrong, I awaken as a prisoner inside a Fallen stronghold. My enigmatic abductor—Thorne—is manipulative, secretive, and claiming I’m meant to rule by his side.

I’m not buying it, especially since the alluring offer to unveil the mystery of my seraph ancestry comes at the cost of bringing every Nephilim to their knees.

Lines between the realms will blur. My world will burn. And this time, I’m not sure I can fight the darkness on my own…

Stealing Embers was just a fun read and it was the first physical book I’d read in months back in the winter. I instantly bought it after stumbling upon it and seeing the cover and reading the synopsis. And it really didn’t disappoint. I inhaled it in like, one day…one sitting. I couldn’t put it down.

So, you know I preordered book 2 and you know I’m going to be diving into it soon, as well. Got to find out what happens to Steel 👀

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A Twist of the Blade (Shadows and Crowns #2) – S.M. Gaither  

Mercenary. Survivor. Queen.

Who is Casia Greythorne?

Still reeling from an unimaginable loss and the revelation of an identity she isn’t sure she wants to embrace, Casia has one plan: Try to control something. Something like the strange magic awakening inside of her. Mastering that magic will take her and her friends on a quest through cursed lands, into the dwellings of old gods, and deep into a southern empire filled with deadly foes and unlikely allies.

Meanwhile, the foundations of the Kethran Empire continue to crumble. The king-emperor clings to his crown with increasingly bloodied hands. Monsters and soldiers alike stalk Casia’s every step, determined not to let her return to claim a throne that is rightfully hers. Still, the greatest threat to her possible rule may not lie in the king-emperor, but in a former captain of his army—a man that she came dangerously close to falling in love with.

Elander Revenmar thought he knew who he was. He had a mission, a plan, a god he was content to serve. Then came Casia. A woman as mysterious as she is dangerous. One he should have stayed away from, and whose life he never should have saved.

Because salvation always comes with a cost.

And some debts can only be paid for in blood.

Okay, so I’m only now just listening to the first book in this new series, but I’m already hooked. I knew I would be, since S.M. Gaither’s Serpents and Kings Trilogy was an instant fave last

year. I knew before even going into A Song of the Marked that I was going to love it, so I preordered the second book. Depending on just how much I love book 1, I might be diving right into book 2 immediately. Like, I can’t wait to get to work, so I can listen to A Song of the Marked and get back to the world.

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I highly recommend checking out all these books/series because they’re good, enjoyable and what else could you want?