my favorite books

Iron Widow, The Phoenix King, The City of Brass, Gideon the Ninth, The Jasad Heir

Hi, I'm MK and I have a book buying problem.

I am a mid-millenial with a dream to settle in a small cabin in the middle of the wilderness with my chickens and herb/veggie garden. And this is why I don't read too many or any horror novels...

Connect with me on TikTok or Storygraph! (@bookish_mk)

book reviews

I often request ARCs on NetGalley and will post reviews there but also I leave them on StoryGraph, PageBound, Goodreads, this blog (of course!), TikTok, BlueSky, and Retailer websites when possible.

a word on...

BOOK TRACKERS: StoryGraph is my source of truth for book tracking at the moment. I LOVE PageBound but am still waiting for their content warning section to be built up before I switch over completely. PageBound is ANTI-AI while StoryGraph continues to integrate AI.

I am FIRMLY against AI, especially generative AI and will continue to support companies that align with these ethics as well.

E-READERS: My primary device is a Kobo (always has been, always will NOT be Amazon), however I did get a Kindle ONLY to be able to read ARCs on NetGalley. I am happy to see NetGalley offering more books for Kobo and I hope to see this become standard very soon. I do not support Amazon and will never recommend buying books from them or subscribing to Kindle Unlimited.

BOOKS: I get books from my library or used on Pango or ARCs from NetGalley. If I am buying new, I purchase in cash from my local independent bookstore. I don't buy books from Bookshop.org because ultimately this hurts indie bookstores in the long run. Bookshop.org is also engaging in discount pricing practices that are undercutting indie stores. If my local indie store doesn't have a book, they will special order it for me and it only takes about a week to come in. I'd much rather give my dollars to my local community when possible.

BOOK BOXES: Right now, I'm signed up to Ardvark!

PUBLISHERS: Bindery is awesome, however there's a bit of a conflict for me on this because while they are one of the few presses that actively promote diverse voices, their investor is very much pro-AI and invests in other AI companies.