So...I got a lot of books this month...37 to be exact. I'm super excited about all the books I got this month and I can't wait to share them with you all. First, though, I just want to say that I didn't buy all of these books. In fact, I didn't pay for 20 of these, and I used gift cards on 4 of these as well. It's not like I went absolutely overboard on buying these, and I'll explain a little bit in depth about each books as we go on. Let's just jump right in because we have a lot of books to talk about!
Starting off with the physical books this month, I got 26 of them. Most of these were either free, I used a gift card, or I got at a very discounted price at my local used bookstore. Nonetheless, I'm super excited to have these in my hands.
Firstly, I got two copies of
A Court of Frost and Starlight in addition to the one I got last month. These two copies were the exclusive edition from Books-A-Million and a signed and personalized copy from Good Choice Reading. I'm very excited to have these in my hands because I absolutely love Sarah's writing and this series. It is my goal to have at least one of my multiple copies of each book by her to be signed. I already read this book as well and you can find my review
here. Below you can find the fan-art that was included in the exclusive edition!
The next book I got was
Just One Day by Gayle Forman. I got this book through a promotion from Penguin Random House. Essentially, you could either preorder her newest book and submit proof of that or you could mail a postcard in and get a free book. I mailed a post card in and chose
Just One Day as my free book because the other option was
If I Stay, which I already own. I don't know when/if I'll get to this book but I am excited to add it to my collection.
The next book I received was from Razorbill through a BookishFirst promotion. It was an arc of
Lies You Never Told Me by Jennifer Donaldson. This is a YA thriller/suspense novel set in a high school in Texas. I have already read it and you can find my review
here. I have also traded this book on Twitter for a different arc already, but I still wanted to include it in this haul.
The next two books I have are from a trip to my local used bookstore. The first one is
Into the Wild and the second is
Fire and Ice, both by Erin Hunter. Erin Hunter is actually a pen name for a plethora of authors writing these stories. These are the first two books in one of the first book series I ever read: Warriors. These books helped me form a lot of friendships with people when I was younger and I still remember being 8 years old and acting out scenes from the book with my friends at summer camp. I was able to get these really cheap from my used bookstore because they run a system where if you bring in books that they don't have multiple copies of already, you can get in-store credit that can be used for up to 50% off of your order.
The same system was used in purchasing this next book: an arc of Blood for Blood by Ryan Graudin. Now, before I get crucified for purchasing an arc, I do want to talk about my personal policies on buying/selling arcs. Firstly, I didn't know this was an arc until I got home and saw that it was more than just a paperback, so I am going to claim ignorance on this. Secondly, my buying this used arc is not taking away from sales to the author. I plan on buying the hardcover at some point because I have the first book in HC. As with any used book sold at a secondhand store, the author does not make a additional profit apart from the initial sale of the book, so Ryan Graudin would not have made a profit from this book even if it wasn't an arc. Also, this book has been out for at least a year and a half and I feel like that is enough time to publicize it and make profits off of it. At this point, it is more of a collector's item than a publicity tool. I just wanted to throw those points out there to justify me purchasing this arc on accident. However, if a book has not been out for more than a year, I do not personally buy an arc of that book, and if a book is not published at all, I do not support buying an arc under any circumstances. Thank you for listening to this rant before I got into my thoughts on this book. I really think I'm going to like the first one, so I wanted to have the second one on backup for when I finish the first.
The next book I got was my signed preorder of
Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young from Good Choice Reading. I knew that when I read Sky at the end of March/beginning of April that I was going to love it. After finishing the book, I knew I had to jump on the chance to get a personalized copy because I don't know if/when Adrienne will be on tour near me. If you want to know my thoughts on this book, you can find my review
here.
The next book I got was from the Fierce Reads tour and it was
The Outcast by Taran Matharu. was able to bring my other Taran books as well to get signed and now I have 4 hardcovers and 1 arc signed by him. It was really an amazing experience and you can find more of my thoughts as well as pictures in this
post.
The next book I got at the Fierce Reads tour was I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo. Let me just start by saying that Maurene is such a gem and I can't wait to read this book. Really all I know about it at this point is that it involves k-dramas and romance. I'm excited to possibly read this book this summer while I'm laying out by the pool!
The next five books I have are all from a dear friend of mine. She was moving and had to get rid of books, but didn't want to give them to our local used bookstore because they only offer in-store credit and she wouldn't be able to use them again. So she gave me a bunch and one of my other friends a bunch and I'm so grateful for her amazingness. The first book she gave me was the B&N edition of
One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake. I haven't read the first book in this trilogy, but I have been wanting to for a while and I'm glad to have this in my hands for when I finally do.
The second book she gave me was
The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine. I've seen a lot about this book since it was released a while ago and I've always held somewhat of an interest in it, but not enough to prioritize buying it over something else. Therefore, I'm, again, super grateful that my friend gave it to me so that I can finally see what the hype is about.
The third book she gave me was
Beyonders: A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull. I love Brandon's
Fablehaven series and I've been interested in this one for a while now but haven't taken the plunge yet. So I obviously was very excited to see this book in the stack of ones she was willing to giveaway.
The fourth book I got from her was
Fang by James Patterson. I have been wanting to reread and continue on with the
Maximum Ride series for a while now and I am grateful to have this book in my hands when I decide to do so!
The last book she gave me was
Every Day by David Levithan. The only thing I know about this book was that it was recently turned into a movie and is about a character who wakes up in a different body every day. It sounds interesting and I think it could be a good read, so maybe I'll get to it this summer.
The next book I got was sent to me by Smith Publicity and that is a copy of Red Agenda by Cameron Poe. I don't know much about this book other than it's a historical/political suspense novel, which I've actually never read before. I'm interested in the premise, though, and thought I'd give this book a shot!
The next two books are, again, from my local used bookstore. I used the same credit system to purchase these as well, so it was a really cheap trip for me. The first one that I got was
Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins. This book has been on my wishlist for years now after one of my high-school friends recommended it to me. I don't know much about it other than there are some form of angels? I've been interested in reading it for a while now, though, so I'm excited to have it in my hands. Hopefully I'll get to it soon.
The second book I got at my used bookstore on that trip was
The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin. I have the first book in this trilogy and I've heard nothing but amazing things, so when I saw this hardcover in almost pristine condition, I knew I couldn't pass it up for only $5. Plus, when I got home, I saw that it was signed and the deal was even better then.
The next book I got was an arc of
Widows by Lynda La Plante that was sent to me by the publisher. It's interesting because this book has been out in the UK for 35 years but is only just now releasing this summer in the US. Either way, I love the cover and the premise sounds super interesting so I will definitely be giving this book a good read through this summer, most likely while sitting by the pool.
After that, I got some surprise book mail! I had won a giveaway for a tank top in a reader's group that I'm in on Facebook. I totally forgot about it and when it showed up, there was actually more in the package than just the t-shirt. The note that accompanied it apologized for the delay and said that the author threw in a few extra goodies, which was just so thoughtful and amazing. The book was one of the extra goodies along with a bunch of signed swag. Anyway, the book that I got from the author was a signed copy of
Trickery by Jaymin Eve and Jane Washington. I had this book already so I decided to give my unsigned copy to a friend and keep this one for myself. I've been dying to get my hands on a signed copy and it was such a pleasant surprise when this showed up!
Next, I have three books that my grandma bought me from
Books-A-Million. I'm so grateful to have such an amazing grandma and I'm beyond excited for the books that I got. The first one I got was
Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu. This is the second in the DC Icons series and I figured that I needed to get this one before the third. Plus, I wanted to make sure I had the edition with the poster so that I could make the mega-poster when the rest of the books get published. I can't wait to read this book and the cover is just stunning!
The second book she got me was
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. I've heard nothing but amazing things from Lauren over at dontbrekkarmyheart on Instagram. She raves about it all the time and after seeing how much she loves it, I had been dying to get my hands on a copy. I was thrilled when they had it at the bookstore. While I also want to read
Circe, I want to read this one more and I didn't want to overload my haul pile.
And the last book my grandma got me was
LIFEL1K3 by Jay Kristoff. I realized after we left the bookstore that the book wasn't actually supposed to go on sale until May 29th, so I do feel a little bad for buying it before on-sale. However, I've been dying to get my hands on this book and I wasn't going to be able to get it until July otherwise. I can't wait to read this in the upcoming month and I just know that I'm going to love it!
The next book I got was from an arc trade on Twitter, and that was
Escaping From Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco. This is probably one of the most exciting books in this entire haul because of how long I've been actively trying to get my hands on it! I was finally able to find someone who was willing to trade it with me! It's so gorgeous and I can't wait to read it!
Then I finally got my finished copy of
Furyborn by Claire Legrand from Books of Wonder. It was a week after publication date when I finally got it, but as I had already read the book, it wasn't as bad of a wait. Still, I'm ecstatic to finally have this finished book in my hands! It's so gorgeous and I was able to get a signed copy through BOW! You can also find my review
here!
The final (physical) book I got this month was
Rise of the Superheroes by David Tosh. This was one that I got from BookishFirst to review and I think that it's pretty cool. I'm not sure that it's 100% my thing but it is a nice book that I'm interested to flip through sometime.
That was all 26 physical books I got this month! Now onto the ebooks!
I got 7 ebooks this month, and five of them were a part of a box set. All in all, I paid under $6 for all of these which is pretty good considering how many I got.
The first ebook that I got this month was
When Evil Comes to Play by B.L. Brunnemer. This is the 5th book in the
Veil Diaries series that I absolutely adore. I read this book almost immediately and fell in love. It was such a good installment in the series and just made me that much more excited for the next one!
The second ebook I picked up was an arc of
The Art of Escaping by Erin Callahan. I honestly forgot what this book was about but I know that it had an interesting synopsis. I was provided this arc by BookishFirst and I'll be reading and reviewing it very soon!
Lastly, I picked up a 5-book bundle by C.L. Stone of the first four books in the
Ghost Bird series and a novella. I love this series and, while I've read all the books and own a few of them already, the books on their own are about $5 each but this bundle was only $0.99 so I knew that I had to get it so that I could have the two books I didn't already have without having to spend $10.
I also got 4 audiobooks this month. I'm on an Audible discount for three months and I had credits to use. Then my friend wanted two audiobooks and we share an account, so we got two more on top of the first two. I actually still have a credit to spend so if you have any recommendations on what to get, let me know in the comments below!
I also picked up the
A Court of Frost and Starlight audiobook. I love Sarah's novels and I own all of them in audiobook format. Plus, this one is shorter than the rest so it was already a lot cheaper, and I ended up preordering it during a 60% off sale. In the end, it ended up being cheaper than the actual book. I can't wait to listen to this audiobook and cry a lot.
Then I used my Audible credit this month to get
Furyborn by Claire Legrand in audiobook. I loved this book so much and when I heard the sneak preview of the audiobook, I knew that I had to have it. The narrator sounds amazing and I can't wait to hear Simon's parts!
The first audiobook my friend wanted was
When to Fear the Living by B.L. Brunnemer. I've had this book on my wishlist for a very long time and I'm thrilled to finally add it to our collection. This is one of my favorite book series and I can't wait to listen to the audiobook!
The last audiobook I got was, again, what my friend wanted and it was
Whispers from the Dead by B.L. Brunnemer, the next book after
When to Fear the Living. I'm, again, thrilled to add it to our collection and I can't wait to listen to it!
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this haul! Stay tuned for some awesome content coming later this month! Also, if there's anything you'd like to see me discuss or talk about, let me know in the comments below!
xoxo
Lauren
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