I have to be honest, team: August was a lot. Like, a lot a lot. And frankly, I was not prepared for it.

I had surgery at the very end of July, which meant I went directly from winning my award (cough, humble brag) into being sliced open on the Monday. I then spent the first two weeks of August sleeping, drooling and shuffling around the house hunched over like a Victorian invalid, while my husband followed me around yelling, “Sit back down. Leave it to me.”

Very kind of him. Also deeply annoying.

There was mess. I wanted to at least pretend I could be useful. I could not. I contributed nothing of value to the household, unless you count providing a small amount of entertainment as I attempted to perform basic tasks and was immediately sent back to bed.

Side note: he always knows I’m starting to feel better when I stop trying to help and start sitting on the couch watching him struggle with a smug little smile on my face. Marriage is beautiful.

During my extensive period of drooling, I managed to get four books into a relisten of Dungeon Crawler Carl. Now, I know what you’re thinking:

“Didn’t you literally just finish this series, Anastasia?”

Yes. Yes, I did.

But when I was in hospital, I couldn’t read. I was far too out of it. And with nurses, doctors and various medical professionals constantly wandering into my room, I decided that playing a romance audiobook was probably not the time.

Because what if they walked in during a murder scene? Fine.

What if they walked in during a particularly spicy scene?

I did not want to have to make eye contact with the wonderful nurse helping me to the bathroom after she had just overheard a woman being enthusiastically dicked down by five men.

“But Anastasia,” I hear you cry, “where were your headphones?”

Look, I had my own room. I was not going to spend three days wearing headphones when I didn’t bloody well have to. Also, sleeping in headphones gets old very quickly.

Normally I have absolutely no issue talking to people about what I’m reading or listening to. I will happily tell a complete stranger exactly what kind of depravity I’ve been consuming. But I was already vulnerable, in a lot of pain, and frankly did not have the energy to let my freak flag fly.

So instead: Dungeon Crawler Carl.

And then, while I was still operating with approximately six functioning brain cells, all the big announcements started landing.

Which completely screwed my carefully laid plans to disappear into the ether while I recovered.

Because book news waits for no man. Or woman.

Or heavily medicated woman lying horizontally on the couch.

ACOTAR has entered the chat

First up, we finally got our ACOTAR announcements - Books Six and Seven.

Side quest: speaking of six and seven, can one of the young people please explain the whole “six seven” thing to me? As an elder emo millennial, I am apparently no longer equipped to understand what the children are doing.

Anyway.

I actually really like the covers. They’re definitely a departure from the neon block colours of the earlier books, but I think they look great. They feel like an evolution of the series while still keeping that recognisable ACOTAR style - which makes sense when you consider how much book cover design has changed since A Court of Silver Flames came out.

And because we’re us, we’re also doing a giveaway for the release of A Court of Splintered Harmony.

Purchase either the hardback or paperback from The Grimoire and you’ll go in the draw to win an ACOTAR prize pack with T2 tea and teacup, sweet treats, bits and bobs, plus licensed ACOTAR dust jackets for both paperback and hardback.

Now, onto the slightly less fun bit.

We tried very hard to host a midnight release party. We wanted to. You wanted to. It would have been excellent.

Unfortunately, the publishers said no.

Independent bookstores are not being allowed to have the books before release day, which means if you order from your local independent bookstore, they cannot send your copy out until release day.

For the NZ market, this is a really difficult decision by the publisher. The only stores guaranteed to have copies available at opening time on release day are those with local distribution directly into their own stores, such as The Warehouse and Whitcoulls.

So, if you’re an ACOTAR reader, we’d love your help with two things:

1. Support your local bookstore. Even if it means waiting a little longer for your physical copy.

2. Let Bloomsbury know that you support independent bookstores and that you’re disappointed they aren’t able to hold midnight releases or have stock available to send to customers for release day.

You absolutely do not need to buy your copy from us. Go into your local bookstore. Order from them. Support them.

The ordering process for ACOTAR has been bloody hard on independent bookstores, and they deserve your support.

Then Rebecca Yarros went and did it too

The second big announcement came from Rebecca Yarros, with the cover and release information for the Fourth Wing graphic novel.

Yep. Graphic novel.

It’s available for pre-order on our website, and we’re also working with a US distributor to see if we can get our hands on signed stock for you.

The signed stock is pretty restricted and, naturally, we have already encountered several roadblocks.

Are we giving up? Absolutely freakn' not. We’re still trying.

So my fabulous book nerds, that’s it from me for another month.

September is finishing with a bang with the release of Threshing Day, and hopefully by then I will have rebuilt enough core muscle to stand upright for more than 30 minutes without my entire body staging a formal protest.

Until then, stay fab, team.

ACOTAR 6 & 7 Cover Reveal

The new ACOTAR 6 & 7 covers have dropped and the internet is having a moment.