June update complete!

So my loyal readers, that's all for this month.  My to-read pile is out of control so there's a lot that I'm going to be working on. Hopefully there are some winners in there. Fortunately for my sanity, the pending releases in July and August are pretty limited, so not much is on the "Upcoming" list. I imagine there will be some releases I don't know about but this is what's on my calendar.

A big hand is due to Will Wight for successfully landing the Cradle series and avoiding the "just one more book" trap.  I do wonder if we'll see Lindon and Yerin again.

So what I have on my list upcoming is:

Aster Fall 6 - August 18th

Monster Hunter Memoirs - Fever - October 3rd

Alexis Carew book 7 - November 20th

Beware of Chicken 3 - November 21st

Review: Ice and Monsters

Title: Ice and Monsters (The Lost Book 1)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NLB3HJ8

Author: Peter Nealen

Rating: 3.7/5

Comments: This is a bit like an Isekai for a Marine recon platoon crossed with an HP Lovecraft horror story.  Peter Nealen is known for writing realistic and gritty stories and this is is first foray (that I've read) into a fantastic setting.

It's dark and gritty.  For the bulk of the story it's unrelieved darkness and grit. I almost dropped it because I want some kind of hope for the protagonist. Hope shows up eventually, but I think it could have done it a little quicker.

I like Peter's stuff, but I am not sure about reading book 2.

Bedroom Activities: None

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Review: Titan Hoppers 2

Title: Spire Climbers (Titan Hoppers Book 2)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C2HP6GB5/

Author: Rob J. Hayes

Rating: 3.7/5

Comments: Most of the first book was establishing how awful the society is, so in book 2 we get more insight to how dysfunctional the society really is, as well as some peeks into the other factions.

I'll be honest, I will only read book 3 if I'm really bored.

Bedroom Activities: None

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Review: Unbound 7

Title: Abyss: A LitRPG Adventure (Unbound Book 7)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BV4G3XJW/

Author: Nicoli Gonnella 

Rating: 4/5

Comments:  Ok, this is book 7, so by this point if you've read this far, you must like it.  Unusually for a series this long, he is still introducing new characters and wrinkles in the story.  Felix's companions are still present and accounted for, but they are also growing in power.  We even learn more about Beef.

Quality-wise things are on par with the previous books, so it's moderately impressive that he has been able keep it up this long.

Book 8 comes out the end of September.

Bedroom Activities: None

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Review: Path of Ascension 3

Title: Path of Ascension 3

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BT5YQQKM/

Author:  C. Mantis

Rating:.3.8/5

Comments:  This book really should have been a 4.5 but I just couldn't do it.  The characters are GREAT.  Matt, Liz, Aster, Liz's parents, and the rest are wonderful.  We even get the reappearance of some past friends.

The basic idea of the storyline isn't too terrible either.  But oh my lord the "war game" events were just ridiculous, which is why it's marked down heavily.

During a discussion on my Discord about this, we calculated that a battlefront for the kind of battle that is described would be something like 103 MILES long.  I have a long standing interest in military history and the numbers given in this book are just simply not practical in the kind of engagements they describe.  At least in my opinion they aren't.

Anyway it didn't kill my enjoyment entirely, but it was definitely an annoyance.

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: Corsairs and Cataclysms 1

Title: Corsairs and Cataclysms 1: A Darkwyrlds tale (Corsairs & Cataclysms)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C6BWGYTZ/ 

Author: Devan Drake

Rating: 3/5

Comments:  This book had so many things about it that I don't like that it's frankly surprising that I finished it.

•  System apocalypse
• Villainous protagonist
• POV switching

Now I don't mind a protagonist that's a scoundrel, a Robin Hood, or one that's a touch amoral, but the set up to this whole story is framing a character who's existence is based on the fundamentally evil act of enslaving people.  Whatever justifications and whatnot that are offered don't really change that fundamental fact.

Bedroom Activities: Explicit, but organized into sections that are clearly labeled if you wish to skip them

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Review: Cradle book 12

Title: Waybound (Cradle Book 12)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C738F623/

Author: Will Wight

Rating: 4.8/5

Comments: This is the grand finale of the Cradle series.  

I am happy to report, that in my opinion, Wight has a clean dismount and sticks the landing, which considering the length of this series is quite remarkable.

If you have made it this far in the series, I imagine you would still read this even if I said it sucked, but in this case you can approach this book with confidence that Lindon, Yerin, Grace, Orthos, Dross, and all the rest complete their story in a very satisfying way, and we even get to see a few old friends.

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: Stargazer's War book 1

Title: To Flail Against Infinity (The Stargazer's War (A Sci-fi Cultivation Epic) Book 1) 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C17SCTK9/

Author: JP Valentine

Rating: 3.5/5

Comments:  This is sci-fi cultivation story, and I am lukewarm on these types of stories.  It's not bad, some of it's pretty good, but it's an odd mix for me.

It's pretty much a text book "It doesn't suck" story.

I might try book 2, I'm not sure.

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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Review: Electrified 2

Title: Reunion: A LitRPG Apocalypse Adventure (Electrified Book 2)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BTMX2QFM/

Author: JD Olson

Rating: 3.5/5

Comments:  Book 1 was moderately surprising, so I made sure to pick up book 2.  Honestly this one was more along my expectations of this genre, which isn't a great thing.  More POV switching, pointless intrigue, and ominous foreshadowing which I find more annoying than entertaining.

Anyway, I don't know if I'll do book 3, but I haven't ruled it out.

Bedroom Activities: None

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Review: Battlemage Farmer 5

Title: Transformation: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Battle Mage Farmer Book 5) 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BTMY4R27/

Author: Seth Ring

Rating: 4/5

Comments:  You'd think that 5 books into a series you'd have a pretty good handle on what's going on in a story, and an idea of where you're going.  You'd like to think that wouldn't you?  

Well not in this series.

There are still a lot of threads in this story that I am not clear where they're going, which is fairly impressive.  I don't want to get into spoilers, but I will say that this story will not disappoint the fans of the series.

Non-spoiler teaser, I can't believe what happens with Katrine.

Bedroom Activities: None

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Review: All the Skills 2

Title: All The Skills: 2: A Deckbuilding LitRPG

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C1DP23YZ/

Author: Honour Rae

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments:  My biggest challenge with this book was the delay between 1 and 2.  There were a LOT of characters that I didn't remember, but after about the first third of the book I had a reasonable handle on things.

Overall, a very good story.  At some points you just want to cringe because you see the hammer about to fall on our hero, but he survives, and for the most part is unscathed.  I would really suggest re-reading book 1 if there's been a big delay because there's zero recap in book 2.

There are a fair number of story threads that get wrapped up in this book, but even more get spun out and left to hang for the future.

I will be reading book 3, assuming there is one.

Bedroom Activities: None

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Review: Sex, Death, and Money: Season 1

Title: Sex, Death, and Money: Season 1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C6TS8SLM/

Author: Cebelius

Rating:3.9/5

Comments:  Cebelius got his start in haremlit, but the market conditions have forced him to move beyond those bounds, but much like The Godfather, he got pulled back in.  He apparently started this on his Patreon, as a lark, and it snowballed from there.

This is an homage to Chad in Vaginaland, but unlike the vast majority of Chad books, there's an actual story here.  A dark story, but a story.  Not Mountain King Saga dark, not even by half, but this a long ways off the somewhat lighthearted and fun fiction of TAP.

I like Cebelius' stories and my lack of interest in reading the sequel to SDM1 is primarily because of the amount of sex in it.  It's not erotica, but it's close, and my tastes have shifted from sex being a positive in a story to neutral, and there's a lot of sex in this.

Bedroom Activities: Explicit and frequent

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