Tuesday, June 4, 2019

May 2019 Book Haul!


Well all...I'm a tad disappointed in myself because of the number of books I'm hauling this month but I'm also not that upset since I'm so excited for all of these. I have a massive amount of books to talk about today so I'm going to keep individual comments on each book to a minimum, but I thought an explanation here would be a good idea. I got a total of 44 books this month. I know...I'll let that sink in. I can't say I'm particularly proud of that number, but I'm not upset. Let me start off by saying that 11 of those books were free, 10 were books that I'd already paid for before this month, and the rest were all either super bargain finds or preorders where I was able to use gift cards on some. Someone should really tell publishers that there are other months in the year to release books because so many amazing books published this month and I still haven't even gotten all the ones I want yet. 

Anyway, for this haul I'm going to split it into sections rather than go by when I got them like I usually do. I'm going to start with preorders and then talk about books that I got for free. After that, I'll move into books that I found really good prices on before finishing with books that were just some random purchases. Let's just go ahead and dive right in! 

I'm starting out with my preorder and new releases that I got this month. Despite how many there are here, I was actually pretty selective with what I purchased considering how many amazing books released in May. I'll definitely be playing catch-up with all these releases for months to come.

Again, but BetterUp first, we have books that released on May 7th, the first of those being Again, But Better by Christine Riccio in the Barnes & Noble signed exclusive edition. I'm pretty excited to have this on my shelf, even though I was originally going to wait on buying it. I enjoyed this story when I read it in April and I do love the physical beauty of the book.

Broken Throne (Red Queen, #4.5)Next is Broken Throne by Victoria Aveyard, which is also a signed Barnes & Noble exclusive edition. I've actually never read Red Queen but I am planning to read through as much of the series as I can this summer so I decided to go ahead and get this one while I had a gift card. It's definitely my favorite cover of the series and I already am excited to read it.

Finale (Caraval, #3)The last book I got on May 7th was Finale by Stephanie Garber, also a Barnes & Noble exclusive edition. I am beyond excited for this book and I'm planning on reading it this month. After the ending that was book 2 in this trilogy, I really have no idea how this book is going to go but I'm excited nonetheless.

Red, White & Royal BlueThe next book releases I got this month were released on May 14th. The first of these was Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. This book wasn't even on my radar until April but I am beyond excited to have a copy. I don't read much contemporary but this one sounds so good and there have been a lot of positive reviews floating around.

We Hunt the Flame (Sands of Arawiya, #1)The next book I got May 14th was We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal. This is another book with stellar reviews and a lot of hype that I am super excited to read. Not only is it simply gorgeous but I am obsessed with the synopsis. I honestly hope I can read it this summer before I leave for abroad, but we'll see.

Kingsbane (Empirium, #2)The last two book releases I got this month are actually for the same book which released on May 21: Kingsbane by Claire Legrand. I got the regular US hardcover and also the Fox and Wit special edition which has beautiful black sprayed edges. I love both of these editions and, after meeting Claire, they're both signed and so special to me! 

I got a pretty good number of free books this month! Five of those were physical books and the rest were ebooks/audiobooks. I honestly don't think I've had a month where I've gotten more free books sent to me and I'm honestly quite giddy when I look back on these.

We Contain MultitudesThe first book I got was an advanced copy of We Contain Multitudes by Sarah Henstra which was sent to me by Novl. The moment I read the synopsis for this book I knew that I had to read it and I'm so grateful that I was sent a copy. I have already read and reviewed this book and, spoiler, I loved it! 

Angel Land: A Teen/YA Fantasy Light NovelUp next I got a copy of Angel Land by P.S. Scott which was sent to me for a bookstagram tour that I participated in. I don't know much about this book other than there's angels but I do know that I really like the cover a lot. 

The Mermaid's Voice Returns in This One (Women Are Some Kind of Magic, #3)Then my friend gave me a copy of The Mermaid's Voice Returns in This One by Amanda Lovelace. I enjoyed The Princess Saves Herself in This One but I haven't yet read the second collection in this companion series thing. I am super excited about this and I'm currently reading my way through it! 

DragonslayerNext I got an advanced copy of Dragonslayer by Duncan M. Hamilton which was sent to me by Tor. I am participating in a blog tour for this book next month and I'm super excited about it. This book sounds super fun and it's not really that long, which is nice because I need a break from super long books. 

Only a Breath ApartThe last book I got sent for free was Only A Breath Apart by Katie McGarry which was sent to me by Tor Teen. I've absolutely loved every one of Katie McGarry's books that I've read so far and I cannot wait to read this one. It sounds amazing and I'm super excited to see Katie write a little bit of paranormal mixed into her contemporary.

In mid-April, I placed a Book Outlet order. I was having a stressful month--even though April was a great month, looking back there was SO much going on--and I decided to just take a peek at Book Outlet. Lo and behold, they had so many amazing books on there...books that had been on my Amazon wishlist for a very long time. They were also having a sale and free shipping, so I decided that if I made it through my stressful English Lit presentation, I would reward myself with an order. And I did. It was waiting for me when I got home from college so let's just dive in! 

First things first, I got the entire Something Strange and Deadly trilogy by Susan Dennard. I love Susan's other series and I'd both heard good things about this book and been interested in reading it. Plus, they had the new covers that I much prefer to the old ones so I decided to get the entire trilogy. I am planning on reading the entire trilogy this summer, and I've already read the first one. 
Image result for something strange and deadly trilogy

Endsinger (The Lotus Wars, #3)Next, I picked up Endsinger by Jay Kristoff as I saw they had the out-of-print hardcover available. I decided I wanted to collect this trilogy in hardcover so that it matched my other Jay books and I'm super excited to have this on my shelf. 

Winterspell (Winterspell, #1)Up next I picked up Winterspell by Claire Legrand. This is one that I'd been wanting for a while and, when I saw it on sale, I decided to go ahead and pick it up. Additionally, I was hoping that there was a chance I was going to be able to meet Claire on her Kingsbane tour, so I wanted to snag a cheap copy while I could.

The Lost Plot  (The Invisible Library #4)The Masked City (The Invisible Library, #2)Then I got The Masked City and The Lost 
Plot by Genevieve Cogman, books two and four in The Invisible Library series. I got book one and three for Christmas, and I actually read book one in May, so I decided I would get the other books in the series with matching covers as I'm also planning on reading the entire series this summer. 

City of Lies (Poison Wars #1)Sabriel (Abhorsen, #1)The last two books I got were Sabriel by Garth Nix and City of Lies by Sam Hawke. Both of these are fantasies that I've heard good things about and have been on my wishlist for a while but I hadn't ever pulled the trigger on buying them. The covers are gorgeous and I can't wait to get around to these eventually. 

I also went to my local used bookstore when I got home from college and placed a couple eBay orders that had some good deals on them. The great thing about my local used bookstore is that when you bring books in to donate, they give you in-store credit that you can apply to up to half-off your purchase. This means that the already-cheap books that I'm about to talk about were even cheaper.

A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2)First, I got the US paperback of A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas. It's another edition of this book but the reason I got it is because I want to collect the US paperbacks and heavily annotate them, something I'm not willing to do in my signed/special edition hardcovers.

The Young Elites (The Young Elites, #1)I also picked up a copy of The Young Elites by Marie Lu. I've heard nothing but amazing things about all of Marie's books and I figured that when I saw it in perfect condition for so cheap, I would give it a try. While I know the Legend trilogy isn't connected to this one, I still think I'm going to read Legend first.

Uglies (Uglies, #1)Then I picked up Uglies by Scott Westerfeld in the new paperback covers. I first read a couple books in this series back in middle school when they still had the ugly old covers. Still, I loved the books but never finished the series so my plan is to read Uglies again and, if it's still good, I'll collect the other beautiful paperbacks to read.

The Night Angel Trilogy (Night Angel, #1-3)Next was a completely random find and that was a bind up of the complete Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks. I was actually completely unfamiliar with this trilogy before going to the used bookstore today, but the bind-up was super cheap (I mean...where else am I going to get an entire trilogy for $4) and I have heard a lot of good things about Brent Weeks in general.

Iron Gold (Red Rising, #4)Lastly from the local used bookstore is what I consider to be the best bargain find of the whole trip: Iron Gold by Pierce Brown. This hardcover is in near perfect condition and I got it for...wait for it...$5. Retail price is $28 and I don't think I would have been able to find a better copy on eBay or anywhere. Add in that I was going to buy this soon anyway and we have a very satisfied bookworm.

Image result for covenant seriesI then placed two eBay orders for books in the same series, so I'll just talk about them all together. I got books 2-5 and one of the novellas in the Covenant series by Jennifer L. Armentrout. These are Pure, Deity, Apollyon, Sentinel, and Daimon (the novella). I found these in pretty good condition for super cheap prices in the out-of-print covers that I really wanted to match the first book. I can't believe I found these for such cheap prices and I'm so excited that I can finally continue on with reading this series. 

Crown of Feathers (Crown of Feathers, #1)I have a few random purchases thrown in this month that don't fit into any of the categories above. The first of these is Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto. I've heard a lot of good things about this book and the author just opened up spots on her street team, so I figured I would read the book before applying for that.

Furyborn (Empirium, #1)I also got the paperback of Furyborn by Claire Legrand. The reasoning behind this was that I went to Claire Legrand's signing in May and you had to buy a book to enter the signing line, so I decided to get the paperback of Furyborn since I had been wanting that edition since it came out. I also got it signed and personalized, so I'm very excited about that!

Image result for stormdancer jay kristoffThe last two books I'll be talking about are Stormdancer and Kinslayer by Jay Kristoff in the gorgeous US hardcovers. It was a tad difficult finding these editions since the hardcover is out-of-print but I was able to find them for pretty reasonable prices. Now, combined with Endsinger from my BookOutlet order, I have the entire trilogy and can binge-read them soon!



I'm not going to go into a lot of depth for my ebooks and audiobooks that I got this month because that's just a lot of typing still, but I am going to list them here:

eBooks:
1. Empire of Sand by Soneela Nankani
2. Song of the Current by Sarah Tolcser
3. Embrace by Jessica Shirvington (free)
4. Before the Broken Star by Emily R. King (free)
5. This Night So Dark by Amie Kaufman & Megan Spooner (free)
6. Tempting the Best Man by Jennifer L. Armentrout
7. L1F3LIKE by Jay Kristoff

Audiobooks:
1. Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (free)
2. Kingsbane by Claire Legrand (free)



Overall, while this was a large number of books, I'm not overly ashamed of it. All of the books I got this month are ones that I'm super excited about and I can't wait to read. I do plan on seriously cutting back on my book buying, however, as I focus on reading the books I got this month. Though I can already tell that June will be bigger than I anticipated--though not as big as May--just from the amount of books I have coming from publishers. 



Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren



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