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kerry ✦ bookstagram

@payneslibrary

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✨ mood reader in my fantasy era
🌈 uk, wife, homebody, coffee, grandma hobbies + cats
👀 I forgive plot holes but not boredom
📚 99/100

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𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙚 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 📚✨ 𝙖𝙠𝙖 𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧, 𝙝𝙞 𝙄'𝙢 𝙆𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙮 👋🏻 I think it's about time ✨

I've always been a reader - my earliest reading memory is being about six years old, completely obsessed with Harry Potter and begging my mom to help me read it, and the highlight of every school year was when the travelling book fair came to school. Now I read 100+ books a year. I wouldn't call myself a fast reader, I just genuinely spend a lot of my free time reading, if I've got a spare minute, I've probably got a book open 📖 I'm a total mood reader, and this year I've fallen headfirst into horror and fantasy 💀⚔️

💥 rapid fire: england, 30s, my wife is my person, I got ridiculously lucky with her, she's also a reader, so our evenings usually involve reading together and constantly interrupting each other with "listen to this..." 😂 we're cat mums to Bellatrix (the social one) and Lupin (the definition of a scaredy cat) 🐈‍⬛ I love granny hobbies like cross stitch, I used to paint a lot, and there's an old instagram account somewhere that we don't talk about 🎨 Gilmore Girls is permanently playing in the background. I somehow collected two degrees — one in art and one in science 🎓 I'm an elder emo at heart, early 2000s cannot be beaten 🎶 I apply hand cream approximately 47 times a day, and whether it's hot or iced, coffee is non-negotiable ☕

💬 so book besties? ✨ tell me something about you, do we have stuff in common?

🏷️ #bookbestie #meetthebookstagrammer #smallbookstagram #bookfriends #readersofig reading friends, book friends, bookstagramer, book bestie application, readers of instagram, meet the reader, meet the bookworm, favourite books, about the reader, about the bookstagrammer taken in BOOKSTA by @payneslibrary

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3 months ago

✨ Happy pub day to What Feeds Below, a ya horror fantasy 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙥𝙞𝙚𝙘𝙚 by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne ✨ the book that ate me whole and I thanked it for doing so 💀 and I'm so excited to see all you read this one.

I was lucky enough to read this as an arc back in may and it has lived rent free in my brain ever since, it gives The Descent meets Annihilation meets The Last of Us vibes and I was obsessed - still am, the world building, the lore, the creatures 🐛🪱 the contrast between the genuinely beautiful imagery and the absolutely grotesque body horror 🌱👁️ so unhinged and I was here for it. Plus there's so much more underneath all the horror with Petra and Jade's codependent friendship, and then THAT TWIST, THE ENDING 👀 somehow I still wanted to be a void diver despite having approximately zero chance of surviving by the end and I hope to dive back into the void again one day.

𝗙𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀 ✨ and one extremely memorable book hangover, it will definitely be in my top 10 books of the year 📚

Swipe for some of my favourite things - we have Petra and Jade as MTG cards, and Tatiana drew the creatures from the void herself, I need some of these as actual art prints on my walls because she is an actual icon 💅🏻 I also need an '𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘵' shirt, please and thank you.

🛒 out in paperback, ebook + audio today, and if any US friends want to send me the aardvark special edition, I absolutely would die if it was on my shelves.

@thebuffwriter @fromthemixedupdesk @bindery_books @monkeymouthart 🏷️ # | ya horror fantasy featuring body horror and monsters, dark fantasy, creature horror, immersive world building, horror fantasy, horror tbr, autumn tbr, spooky season tbr, claustrophobic horror. taken in BOOKSTA by @payneslibrary

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11 hours ago

𝗥𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲 & 𝗗𝘂𝘀𝗸𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱: both 5 stars, no notes ✨ these books have officially ruined my ability to casually read fantasy because I become emotionally attached to a fictional world and then suffer while waiting for the next book 🗡️ they gave me one hell of a book hangover and made me think I need to stop reading unfinished fantasy series.

I loved 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵 of these, Riftborne hooked me, gave me a foundation for a really fun fantasy with a world I immediately wanted to know more about, characters I was quickly invested in and a magic system I was very into ✨🏰 I loved getting to discover everything alongside Fia as she started figuring out that there was so much more to her world - and then Duskbound took everything I already loved and expanded it, pulling back the curtain on what's actually going on 👀 the writing, characters, world building and politics all felt stronger in the second book. I especially loved all the revelations in Duskbound, they weren't just random plot twist moments thrown in, they actually changed how I looked at this world and the people in it.

Fia starts off so guarded and unsure of what she's capable of, and watching her slowly figure herself out while everything she thought she knew starts falling apart was so good, and Osta 🥹 one of the easiest characters to love.

🚨 𝘚𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦.

𝗚𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝘂𝘀𝗸𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀: WHERE THE F IS LARYK? I WANTED FIA AND LARYK TO DEVELOP. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗵𝗼𝘄, 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱: fine, Aether, you win. I was absolutely not ready to accept a new MMC at first because excuse me, I had plans for Fia and Laryk 😭 but I ended up loving Aether by the end, although I felt so guilty about it.

And that ending 💀 I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, I needed the next book immediately, it feels impossible with the way Duskbound ended to wait until next year, I'm going to have to read The Ascended to tide me over, now excuse me while I go stare at the calendar and wait for 2027. taken in BOOKSTA by @payneslibrary

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Reading wrap up ✨ buckle up besties and grab a drink, because september was a 𝗯𝗶𝗴 one ☕️

12 books, 2,769 pages - monthly goals met and I somehow managed to do it while also starting university again, so I’d like a medal please 🏅this month also brought me a completely unexpected new obsession with Riftborne and Duskbound, genuinely I could think of nothing else except getting home and diving straight back into these books. And now I have to wait until next year for the final book? how am I supposed to carry on with my life after book 2 ended that way? 💔

I’m also already collecting a frankly unreasonable number of anticipated releases for my 2027 tbr, the year hasn’t even started and my reading list is already making demands 📚 spooky season is slowly creeping in too, with a classic Darcy Coates haunted house book making an appearance 👻

Outside of books, September has been a lot, I’m officially back to being a full time student studying to become a specialist, and this month has been such a weird mix of emotions - excited to be studying again, completely overwhelmed by the amount of work, and very sad to leave my old team 🥲

But there’s also been plenty of fun squeezed in:
🎨 a paint run
🃏 pokémon card hunting
📚 book shopping
☕️ lots of coffee dates
🍝 dinners out
🍺 a beer and cider festival
🍞 sourdough baking
📖 rearranging the bookshelves because apparently that counts as a productive afternoon
and lots of cosy evenings on the sofa 😌

💬 tell me your favourite september read and something good that happened this month ✨🫶🏻

🏷️ #readingwrapup #booksta #bookstagram #spookyseason #bookrecommendations | reading wrap up, monthly reading, september in books, life update, monthly sprinkles, september photo dump, reading stats, book stats, bookstagramer, fantasy era, readers of instagram, fantasy, horror and thriller books, favourite authors, spooky season books. by @payneslibrary

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5 days ago

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙥 𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙗 discussion post ✨📚

Whether you read The Housewife by Natalie Barelli with us or you skipped this month's pick, come drop into the comments, chat with us and each other, tell us your thoughts, what you’re reading, your theories, your recommendations, whatever you fancy ☕️ reply to someone, recommend them a book, challenge their opinion, enable their tbr.
✨ Prompts are a starting point, so grab your favourite drink, make yourself at home and let's build a little book community ✨

Kerry: I'll be honest, I'm only half way through the book - but I have no idea who to trust 🔎 everyone seems to have secrets, everyone seems suspicious, I don't know who is manipulating who. The first half has been quick, twisty and very easy to keep picking up, I'm dying to know where this ends.
Jo: it's still on the tbr 👀😂

🏷️ #instagrambookclub #bookishfriends #bookbesties #bookdiscussion #bookstagram | booksta club, bookstagram club, psychological thriller, book club, thriller book discussion, twisty thriller, thriller recommendations, virtual book club, book community, bookish friends, psychological thriller books, suspense thriller, mystery thriller, untrustworthy characters, unreliable characters. taken in BOOKSTA by @payneslibrary

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6 days ago

Let me introduce you to my ✨ favourite ✨ Darcy Coates book: The Haunting of Ashburn House 👻 autumn is here and spooky season is the perfect time for me to yell at you about this book 📢📖

🏚️ inherited haunted house
🐈 perceptive pet cat
📜 bizarre rules, candles and portraits
👻 ghosts
🌲 isolated, small town setting

Yep, some of these tropes might feel familiar, but Darcy Coates takes them and somehow turns them into a 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨 in writing an anxiety inducing haunted house story. I have read a fair few Darcy Coates books at this point, and this one is still firmly at the top of my list and one of my top books last year. The creeping sense that something is very wrong, and the constant what the hell is going to happen next feeling - exactly what I want from a haunted house book.

So if you've been looking for a creepy, atmospheric haunted house read for spooky season, I'm telling you now: READ THIS BOOK.
I don't make the rules, the house does 👀

💬 What’s the one horror book you’d force everyone to read if you could only pick one? 💀

🏷️ #spookyseasontbr #autumnreads #hauntedhouse #horrorbooks #halloweenreads | if you love haunted house horror, spooky season tbr, auto buy authors, consider this your sign to pick up a haunted house book this autumn, atmospheric horror, supernatural horror, books that make you question every noise, autumn tbr, fall books, ghost stories, books worth reading, halloween reads, bookstagram, book recommendations. by @payneslibrary

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8 days ago

Okay, I’m spilling my bookstagram editing secrets 📸👀 the whole thing is done on my android phone, using free editing tools (canva + lightroom), and 𝗻𝗼 𝗔𝗜 🤖

I get told you usually can't really tell when I don't physically own a book, so I thought I’d actually show you exactly how I edit my book photos instead of keeping all my little tricks to myself 🪄

I’ve put together a step by step guide showing what I actually do to my photos, including my little trick for when I want to feature a book I don’t actually own 📚 and considering I'm an audio + kindle girlie, it usually takes me a while before I get a trophy copy and I always want to yap about books I love ✨ immediately ✨

Speaking of which I just this minute finished riftborne and I am obsessed, starting duskbound tonight, so my tbr has been put on hold 👀

💬 whose camera roll is 99% books? would this save you from buying a book purely because you wanted the pretty cover photo?

🏷️ #bookediting #howiedit #canvatricks #bookstagramtips #newbookbestie | save this for your next booksta photo edit 📌 bookstagram, book photos, edit book photos, editing secrets, free editing tools, phone editing, book cover editing, no AI editing. taken in BOOKSTA by @payneslibrary

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11 days ago

✨ 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗼𝘄 + 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗧𝘄𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗻𝘀 ✨ the fantasy was fantasy-ing and I was so happy, plus how GORGEOUS are these editions? 👀

Elspeth has had something living inside her head for years and has been keeping that little detail to herself. She then gets caught up with Ravyn, his very questionable plans, and a quest for a full set of magical cards 🃏 that are definitely causing more problems than they’re solving. Cue secrets, questionable decisions and me becoming far too invested in everyone’s survival 💀

(𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘬é𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 💕 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘥)

I loved the way the story explores what it means to live with something you can’t completely control, and the fear of letting other people see the parts of you that you’re trying hardest to hide. There’s a lot of messy choices and blurred lines between what’s right, what’s necessary and what you’re willing to do. And I was here for all of it 📖

💬 So, fantasy lovers - what magical system has stayed in your head long after you finished the book? 🔮 trying to build the perfect fantasy tbr over here 👀

🏷️
#fantasybooks #sprayededges #specialeditionbooks #bookstagram #bookishthoughts | rachel gillig, the shepherd king books, one dark window, two twisted crowns, fantasy duology, romantasy duology, completed fantasy series, completed romantasy series, morally grey characters, enemies to lovers, reluctant allies, cursed kingdom, fake dating, slow burn romance, gothic fantasy, unique magic system. taken in BOOKSTA by @payneslibrary

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14 days ago

ARC ✨ l was so excited to pick up 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗟𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗮 𝗕𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘆 because I love their work, but I ended up sitting with this one for a bit before writing my review because it really wasn't what I expected.

I went in expecting a twist heavy, classic Lucinda Berry psychological thriller 📖 and this isn't really that, there is one major plot point towards the end that I genuinely didn't see coming 👀 (I'm not sure I'd call it a twist), and it ultimately sets up the ending, but the majority of the book is much more about the family dynamics, the tension between the parents and the absolute mess of what happens when something goes horribly wrong.

Bentley 🥺 I got so attached to him, I was rooting for him the entire way through and found myself feeling increasingly angry on his behalf. Ava was a completely different story, I initially felt like I could relate to her, but by the middle of the book I absolutely despised her 💀 - the things she did and the person she became were so far removed from anything I could imagine doing myself, and the epilogue really cemented that for me.

I felt so much anger in this book, particularly towards Ava and Danae, but I think it did a really good job of showing how complicated parenting can be, how differently parents can react to the same situation, and how something devastating can put an enormous amount of pressure on a marriage.

It's an uncomfortable read, and it threw a lot of emotions at me. I was angry, I was sad, I was stressed. I was internally begging Lucinda Berry to PLEASE NOT DO THIS 😭 as I got closer to the ending, and then they did. But after sitting with it, I think it was ultimately the only way this story could end. Even if I really, really didn't want it to.

This book got under my skin and I think that's a pretty good sign when a story leaves you feeling that much 🖤

🗓️ Pub date: 12 jan 2027
✨ Thank you @lucindaberryauthor @poisonedpenpress + @netgalley for the free advanced readers copy, all opinions are my own.

🏷️ #bookreview #arcreview #thriller #emotionalbook #bookstagramreview | books to a by @payneslibrary

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19 days ago

Some recent reads that I haven’t gotten around to doing full book reviews for, so here’s a little round up instead 📚✨ quite a mix of genres, vibes and is that romance I've been reading? 👀

💬 What have you been reading lately? any new favourites or ones you've hated? 🫣👀

🍪 The Gingerbread Bakery by Laurie Gilmore: cute, cosy and full of small town bakery charm. I enjoyed it, but it’s definitely one of those reads that didn’t leave a huge impression.

🧜🏻 The Harr by David Sodergren: creepy folklore, strange creatures and an isolated coastal setting 👀 just not as scary as I hoped.

🥞 The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore: basically a warm hug in book form 🥞 sweet, cosy and an easy read, I love a small town romance in fall.

🎬 Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle: queer horror + hollywood + slasher vibes = absolutely yes, campy, bloody and gloriously over-the-top, with plenty to say.

🏚️ The House That Eats the Dead by Max Doty: an unhinged concept of “what if the house was alive and also really wanted to eat... humans?” weird, ridiculous and surprisingly fun horror that knows exactly what it is.

🌊 Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield: quiet, haunting and deeply unsettling in a completely different way, just a little distant for me.

🏷️ #currentreads #minibookreview #recentreads #moodreader #onesentencereview | one sentence book reviews, books I've read recently, book reviews, mini book reviews, book round up, reading round up, horror, romance, lit fic, thrillers, mood reader, genre hopping, bookstagram, booksta, small bookstagramer, book besties, yap about books. taken in BOOKSTA by @payneslibrary

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20 days ago

Dead Beat is out 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙠 🖤📚 and ninth house + hell bent are sitting here is ready to be completed, and making me pretty excited to get back to the chaos of yales most questionable extracurricular activities and secret societies 👀

I also survived my first week at uni 🎓 and I am SO ready for a relaxed weekend with my wife, we’re off pokémon card hunting, have a little date night planned with dinner out, and then I’m hoping for cosy evenings at home with books and all our other homebody grandma hobbies ☕️📖 exactly the kind of weekend I need after cramming so much information in this week.

💬 What does everyone else have planned? ✨

🏷️ #bookstagram #ninthhouse #darkacademia #anticipatedbooks #newbookrelease | leigh bardugo, ninth house, hell bent, dead beat, dark academia and fantasy book recommendations, book recs, books for your tbr, fall tbr, spooky season book recs, supernatural books, dark reads, occult fantasy. taken in BOOKSTA by @payneslibrary

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25 days ago

𝙃𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙮 𝙗𝙮 𝙄𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙞 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙨𝙤𝙣 🍯 my book bestie @joandthereads convinced me I needed to read Honey and I’m very glad she did - Yrsa is a PhD student who accidentally kills a man and then discovers she quite enjoys killing terrible men 👀

💬 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢 "𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭" 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘳 "𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦" 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳? 👀✨

I was completely entertained by this woman whilst also questioning whether I was supposed to be cheering her on 🙌🏻 It’s morally messy because the book doesn’t try to justify Yrsa’s actions to us, instead it explores how she justifies them to herself, and where the line between justice and personal gratification actually ends.

Yrsa’s dry, sarcastic and increasingly unhinged voice was so fun, and the dark humour worked perfectly 💀 It’s not really a traditional thriller, more of a dark and funny look at misogyny, racism, morality and academia.

The ending fell a little flat for me after everything building up, but I still had such a good time with this one - messy, wildly entertaining, and somehow had me finding myself liking someone who should be entirely unlikable.

🏷️ #bookreview #thrillerbook #bookrecommendations #darkreads #unhingedbooks | darkly funny feminist thriller, misogyny, morality and revenge, morally grey female characters, revenge stories to add to your tbr, complicated female protagonists, for fans of psychological thrillers, bookstagram, booksta reviews. taken in BOOKSTA by @payneslibrary

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a month ago