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Hello, Everyone, and a Happy August to you!
It’s that time again: Time to #SpelltheMonthinBooks

This is one of my favorite posts to do every month and, thanks to Reviews from the Stacks, with the linkup, you’re able to share your #SpelltheMonthinBooks posts with everyone who participates. It’s a great way to make new connections with other blogs and show off more books!

My TBR may not enjoy the weight of all the books I collect from this fun challenge.. but I do!

Speaking of TBR’s.. This month I’ll be using books I very much want to read but haven’t had the opportunity (or ability) to yet. Soon, right? Along with the physical books, the kindle ones, the ones you read online, the books on hold, recommendations, and don’t forget any audiobooks you happen to have..
We’ll get to them, right? And, if we don’t, we’ll sure as heck have tried.

Happy Reading!

The Rules:

• As implied.. the goal is to use the first letter in the title of books you’ve either read or have on your TBR. They can be physical or virtual, skipping such words like A, An, and The, to spell out the current month.
• A theme is supplied every month but following it is entirely up to you.
• Once you have your stack.. you can join the linkup! You can do this by creating a post and adding your link to the linkup at the bottom of Review from the Stacks page or by sharing your link in a comment.
• The linkup remains open for the duration of the month so.. there’s no need to rush but, as always, feel free to join!

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(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Any purchases made through my links may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.)

A

Ash: A Thriller by Jason Brant

Publication date: December 2013
Pages: 215
Genre: Suspense, Thriller, Horror fiction, Occult horror
Series: Book 1 of 3: Asher Benson

9 AM EST: A senator shoots himself on national television.

10:32 AM EST: An entire floor of government agents leap to their death from their office building.

12:57 PM EST: All the police officers inside a station murder each other.

And the day has just begun.

Lieutenant Asher Benson left Iraq with a traumatic brain injury, PTSD, and a Purple Heart. His doctors warned that the symptoms would be life altering. They had no idea. As his body healed, the thoughts of those around him began to echo through Ash’s mind, stretching the boundaries of his sanity.

Five years later, Ash is drowning the voices with copious amounts of booze and self-loathing.

When unidentified intelligence agents abduct him in broad daylight, Ash is thrust into a world of espionage and assassinations. A unique terrorist is operating on U.S. soil, and the government needs Ash, and the malady that has plagued him for half a decade, to find the killer.

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U

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

Publication date: September 2021
Pages: 384
Genre: Fantasy Fiction, Contemporary fantasy, Humorous fiction, LGBTQ+
Standalone

A Man Called Ove meets The Good Place in Under the Whispering Door, a delightful queer love story from TJ Klune, author of the New York Times and USA Today bestseller The House in the Cerulean Sea.

Welcome to Charon’s Crossing.
The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through.

When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead.

And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead.

But even in death he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days.

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G

The Girl in the Well by Rin Chupeco

Publication date: August 2014
Pages: 299
Genre: Teen and Young adult, Horror fiction, Ghost story
Series: Book 1 of 2: The Girl from the Well

From the highly acclaimed author of the Bone Witch trilogy comes a chilling story of a Japanese ghost looking for vengeance and the boy who has no choice but to trust her, lauded as a “a fantastically creepy story sure to keep readers up at night” (RT Book Reviews)

I am where dead children go.

Okiku is a lonely soul. She has wandered the world for centuries, freeing the spirits of the murdered-dead. Once a victim herself, she now takes the lives of killers with the vengeance they’re due. But releasing innocent ghosts from their ethereal tethers does not bring Okiku peace. Still, she drifts on.

Such is her existence until she meets Tark. Evil writhes beneath the moody teen’s skin, trapped by a series of intricate tattoos. While his neighbors fear him, Okiku knows the boy is not a monster. Tark needs to be freed from the malevolence that clings to him. There’s just one problem:  if the demon dies, so does its host.

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U

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Publication date: May 2009
Pages: 379
Genre: Novel, Teen, and Young adult, Science fiction, Adventure fiction, Biopunk, Dystopian
Series: Book 1 of 4: Unwind Dystology

In a society where unwanted teens are salvaged for their body parts, three runaways fight the system that would “unwind” them

Connor’s parents want to be rid of him because he’s a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev’s unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family’s strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can’t be harmed — but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.

In Unwind, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award winner Neal Shusterman challenges readers’ ideas about life — not just where life begins, and where it ends, but what it truly means to be alive.

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S

Slave, Warrior, Queen by Morgan Rice

Publication date: May 2016
Pages: 250
Genre: Teen and Young adult, Fantasy fiction, High fantasy, Sword and Sorcery
Series: Book 1 of 8: Of Crowns and Glory

17 year old Ceres, a beautiful, poor girl in the Empire city of Delos, lives the harsh and unforgiving life of a commoner. By day she delivers her father’s forged weapons to the palace training grounds, and by night she secretly trains with them, yearning to be a warrior in a land where girls are forbidden to fight. With her pending sale to slavehood, she is desperate.

18 year old Prince Thanos despises everything his royal family stands for. He abhors their harsh treatment of the masses, especially the brutal competition—The Killings—that lies at the heart of the city. He yearns to break free from the restraints of his upbringing, yet he, a fine warrior, sees no way out.

When Ceres stuns the court with her hidden powers, she finds herself wrongfully imprisoned, doomed to an even worse life than she could imagine. Thanos, smitten, must choose if he will risk it all for her. Yet, thrust into a world of duplicity and deadly secrets, Ceres quickly learns there are those who rule, and those who are their pawns. And that sometimes, being chosen is the worst that can happen.

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T

These Toxic Things by Rachel Howzell Hall

Publication date: September 2021
Pages: 415
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Standalone

A dead woman’s cherished trinkets become pieces to a terrifying puzzle.

Mickie Lambert creates “digital scrapbooks” for clients, ensuring that precious souvenirs aren’t forgotten or lost. When her latest client, Nadia Denham, a curio shop owner, dies from an apparent suicide, Mickie honors the old woman’s last wish and begins curating her peculiar objets d’art. A music box, a hair clip, a key chain—twelve mementos in all that must have meant so much to Nadia, who collected them on her flea market scavenges across the country.

But these tokens mean a lot to someone else, too. Mickie has been receiving threatening messages to leave Nadia’s past alone.

It’s becoming a mystery Mickie is driven to solve. Who once owned these odd treasures? How did Nadia really come to possess them? Discovering the truth means crossing paths with a long-dormant serial killer and navigating the secrets of a sinister past. One that might, Mickie fears, be inescapably entwined with her own.

That’s that for me.
I hope you’re all having a lovely August!
(And, if you’re lucky, and don’t live in a state that’s either on fire or underwater.. you might even get to enjoy some beautiful summer weather!)

Are you participating in any book challenges?

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