May 2020 Book Haul

I know we haven't seen much of my book hauls lately so there may be some books that I've gotten in past months but to be completely honest I haven't been buying books, or really leaving the house much. Usually, the only books that I have been getting are Book of the Month so let's see what I've gotten, I'll try to keep in them in order as to when I got them, and some of them I've already read, which is a super rare thing!

Since we missed a lot of my BOTM book hauls I'm just going to put the last 2-3 months of books here, all of them I've been really curious about but I haven't read any of them. I already failed one of my reading goals which are to read one BOTM book a month, but to be fair school takes up a lot of my time and it eats up my reading time so I'm blaming the school for it. This list won't completely be in order of when I got them, but I'll really try to keep them in order. I've been dying to read The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver ever since I read Once Upon a December. I have a lot of books that I can't wait to jump into. The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon sounds amazing it takes a spin on the cheating boyfriend troupe by looking into the girls becoming friends and taking a boyfriend cleanse and I'm so interested in this book! Out all of these books, I can't wait to read all of them but I'm super excited for The Two Lives, Beach Read by Emily Henry, and The Boyfriend Project. 

    

Another really fun thing that I got recently is an ARC of The Safe Place by Anna Downes. The book comes out on July 14, and I plan on reading it after I finish the book I'm currently working on. This book sounds so interesting and I love getting ARCs because I never really get them and I don't know they make me feel like I'm doing something right. But in reality, this was one of the books that I signed up for when they were giving out ARCs. I only sign up for the ones that I'm really interested in and I can't wait to jump into this one! 

I just got Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett, The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams, Saga Vol. 3, and Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs right before I went to the beach for the weekend/wedding and I cannot wait to jump into these books! Alex, Approximately is a book that I've had on my want to read list for a while but I just haven't picked it up. I had a gift card that I wanted to spend before we went on vacation, plus I just wanted to get out of the house for a little bit. Same with the Bromance Book Club, I've been wanting to read it since it came out but adult books are so expensive and I just haven't had the money or wanted something else more than that book, but I finally gave in and got it. Plus now it has a sequel so if I love the book I can jump into the new book. Both of these two books are new to me authors so I'm really curious about them. I actually took it with me to read but my weekend was so busy! But we were so busy between the wedding, planning it out, and cleaning up that I didn't have enough time to really read. I've actually already read Saga, this is probably my all-time favorite comic book series and every time I have extra money I always buy another one. Comics are just so expensive and I usually choose to buy them on Thriftbooks but I needed the third book pronto! As for Deja Dead, this is a series that I've been wanting to pick up for a while now but I just haven't gotten around to it. I ended up getting a mass-market copy and it's thick, but I'm really interested in it. The series follows Temperance Brennan, which the series Bones follows them so I'm curious. I've read a book by Reichs years ago and I remember enjoying the book but I just never continued on with that series so I'm really curious about this book.

    

While we were at the beach I needed to get a book, it's just a thing I do where I get a book wherever we go and write where the book comes from. It's fun and more useful than postcards and so on, sometimes we get a postcard to tape inside the book. Anyways this time I picked The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez, I mean it starts with a dog jumping into a lady's car! How could I not pick this book? I was lucky to have some downtime and immediately started reading the book. Guys! I fell hard for this book and could not put it down! The funniest thing that happened was on the way home I went to see what else this author had because I wanted to get another one of her books to listen to while I drove home and it turns out she wrote the Friend Zone and the same characters were involved in the first book so while we listened to it on the way home I kind of spoiled a few things for myself, such as who she marries. But I still loved both of these books so much and I cannot wait for the third book to come out. The third book follows Adrian Copeland, who shows up at the end of the Playlist book. I'm sure there are a lot of romance books like this that follow characters like these ones do but this is new to me and I'm loving it. I'm just curious how Sloan and Kristine are going to show up in it, I can see how Kristine does but I'm not too sure about Sloan. I just need this book now!

 

Finally, the last book that I got in May is Hideaway by Nora Roberts! I waited until the last possible second to leave on Friday in hopes it would get here before I left, but it didn't arrive until Saturday and I was devastated. However, this was still before it was published. This is the second preorder that I've done with Nora Roberts and I'm in love with it. The first preorder was for the 50th book in the In Death series, Golden in Death, and that was so I could get Eve's necklace. Then this book I preordered so I could have her signature! I've tried to go see her at one of the book signings that she does at Turn the Page Bookstore in Boonsboro, Maryland but so far I haven't made it out there yet. But to be completely fair if I had this book I wouldn't have gotten to read Jimenez's books so it worked out. I can't wait to jump into this book, it's actually what I'm reading right now!

ShayKay's Review of Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

Goodreads: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

Hey everyone! I'm sorry for the unplanned hiatus. I've not really been in a reading slump I've just been swamped with school work, looking for a job, and working on my Sims blog. My plan was to come out with a Harry Potter review and a book versus movie post, and although I am working on it I couldn't pass up the chance to read this book! I have been wanting to read this series since I've heard about it but I've been determined to buy them because I think they look adorable and would be amazing on my bookshelf, but they are so expensive! The physical copies are like $15 and the eBooks are even $11 and I just cannot talk myself into spending that kind of money on an author that I've never read anything from, and to top it off they are like novella length. I have nothing against novellas, I actually prefer smaller books because it is harder for it to lose my attention, but that is a lot of money! But my library had it available so I pounced on the chance to read it! It sounds like it will be right up my ally. I think if I like the book I might buy the whole series once I get a job, but until then if a book is free and I'm interested I'm all over it! 

Another thing that really has kept me from buying it is that I can never find it in stock when I'm at the book store ready to splurge on a book. If my bookstore had it I would've already had it. I was convinced they just didn't sell these books, but the newest one was on the shelf last time I was at the bookstore, months ago before all of this stuff started. 

Book Synopsis (From GoodReads)

Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children

No Solicitations

No Visitors

No Quests

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere.... else. 

But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.

Nancy tumbled once, but now she's back. The things she's experienced.... they change a person. The children under Miss West's care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy worl.d

But Nancy's arrival marks a change at the Home. There's a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it's up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.

No matter the cost.

After Thoughts

I cannot do an in the middle thoughts about the book because they are so short, they are written like novellas so their only 150-200 pages. I loved it, but it was so weird. Going into the book I knew that they had fairytale aspects to them but I wasn't really sure how. To be honest from reading the synopsis from the book I really got Miss Peregrine vibes. But actually reading the book the only thing that they had similar was that they involved a boarding house. While reading the book I definitely saw how the fairytales played into it. This first book primarily on Nancy who was from the land of the dead, I think. From this first book, I saw that it set up the world about how this whole system works. They said that the kids go to a magic world that is fit for them but once they come back they usually can't go back to the magical world. I've been really interested in how it works and I can't wait to start the next book! This first one is really detailed and I think it opened up which characters that you will be following. I don't normally like it when book series follows different characters because I get attached and then they change it. I'm really curious about the next book because of how this one ended. I'm trying to stay spoiler-free so if you've read this book you know what happens with everyone, and by the end of the book, I really liked Nancy. I wasn't sure about her in the beginning but I really fell in love with her, Sumi, Kade, Christopher, and Jack. 

I also loved the writing style throughout the entire book. It was so descriptive and easy to keep me interested. I loved the pace of the book too. Even though it was a novella you didn't feel rushed or like anything was left out. It was actually really detailed, especially compared to some of the books that are hundreds and hundreds of pages long. I'm going to finish the ones that are already published, hopefully over the next week or two. I have summer classes so I can graduate in the fall so one of my classes will start Monday. I will definitely finish one this weekend.