What I Bought- August 2015

Hey there!

Sooooo, I bought a lot of books in August -- 18 books to be exact! What can I say? It was a very good month at the Goodwill stores.

To run through quickly...

Out of Sight by Elmore Leonard is such a great book and a wonderful movie as well. I saw the movie first (Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney -yum) and fell in love. Then I saw the book at the library and picked up it. Oh, amazing. The movie follows very closely to the book. Elmore Leonard writes a great novel. I've ready several of his books. When I saw this at Goodwill I had to snatch it up for my shelf. Yes, I will read it again. It was just that good.

Circle of Desire by Carla Swafford is the first book in a series by Carla Swafford. I got the second book in a RT book haul (years ago!) and wanted to read the first book before reading the second one. I got this one from amazon (second hand) and at $4, it's the most expensive book in the entire haul.

Highlander Most Wanted by Maya Banks was a no-brainer buy. Maya Banks is an auto-buy author. I love everything she writes and I have a portion of my book shelf dedicated to her (almost the entire shelf -- yep! It's that deep). I have read this book and it was great. I gave it 4 stars and I'm ready to read the rest of the series (and anything else she puts out!).

I haven't read anything by J.R. Ward but I saw Covet at the thrift store and decided I'd try it. The Alchemyst by Michael Scott was the same thing. I had heard about it on BookTube and when I saw it, decided I need to get it.

The Soldier's Lady by Michael R. Phillips was a book that I stumbled on and decided I need to try it out. I've never even heard of Michael R. Phillips, and this is the second book in a series but I wanted to read it. It's a historical romance and I really love historicals. I'm betting that I won't really miss the first book that much and if I do like it, I can find it online, I'm sure.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros are total BookTube buys. Middlesex is one that I've seen and not sure that I want to read and The House on Mango Street is one that I've seen and really want to read. I decided to get them both to balance out my reading.

Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn: A Saga of Race and Family by Gary M. Pomerantz is a historical novel set in my hometown of Atlanta. I love history and I love history in my hometown. It sounds interesting and it will be a bit of a break from what I normally read.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher and The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman are again, BookTube buys. I have seen them both on YouTube and thought they might be interesting.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis...well you know! I read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe as a child and began Prince Caspian as an older child. I figured I needed to add this big book to my collection and my plan is to begin reading it in the fall and take my time reading it. I am SUPER excited about taking my time to read this one and really enjoying it.

Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr was a "pretty cover" purchase. The cover was just so shiny. Unfortunately, this is the 4th book in a series so I have to read 1 - 3. I think I need to check out book one from the library, you know, just in case.

Beneath The Glitter is written by Elle & Blair Fowler. I use to watch their beauty vlogs on YouTube and saw when they were just getting this book ready for market. I kinda wanted to read it then but it was a fleeting thought. When I saw it at the thrift store for $2.92, I knew that I needed to grab it.

Juliet by Anne Fortier is another "pretty cover" buy. I have never heard of it but it sounds interesting. It looks like one of those books that I'll read slowly but I am interested to get to it.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs is all over BookTube. I wanted to read it when I heard about it and got very excited when I found it in the thrift store. I grabbed it up and looked around to see if anyone else saw my good find (yep, I'm crazy this way).

And, Delirium by Lauren Oliver, again, a "pretty cover" buy. Luckily, it's the first book in a series (because I've kinda sucked at getting book one's this month). Not sure If I'll like it but at less than 3 bucks, it's ok.

I've mentioned the $2.92 price and alluded to the $1.91 price a few times. At Goodwill, hardback books are $2.92 and paperbacks are $1.91. If your book has the sticker color of the week, it's half price. I love looking through Goodwill and Value Village and other thrift stores. This past month all of my books (except the one purchase from Amazon) came from Goodwill and many of them were during half price week or a sale time. I don't like paying full price for anything so this serves me well.

I don't normally purchase this many books in a month but I found ones that really excited me. I wouldn't normally buy 18 books because I normally only read half of that in a month. But, you gotta have goals!

What did you find last month? What are you planning to read first?

What I Read - August 2015

Hey there!

Neither one of us believes it! I read 12 books this month! Yes I did. It helped (a lot) that I participated in the #7in7Readathon challenge last month. That meant I read 3 books right off the bat. That's pretty good. I don't normally read a book every 2 and a half days. Normally I ilk out a book every 4 or 5 days, so 6 or 7 books is more like my monthly listing.

But, I have to admit that I've been reading a lot more than normal. My free time has shifted and I like it. I have more time to read and I have quite a few books that I really want to read.

Photo Credit - GoodReads (I read the ebooks of these books)

So, the first 3 books were read during my reading challenge. I read Love by the Letter by Melissa Jagears (4 stars), Embattled Hearts by J.M. Madden (4 stars), and Diary of an Accidental Wallflower by Jennifer McQuiston (5 stars). These were three books that I really enjoyed reading. They were love stories and who can resist a love story. This girl can't. If you are looking for love stories, these are the ones to go for (if you want sizzlin' hot, try Embattled Hearts).

 

Photo Credit - GoodReads (I read the ebook of this book)

I finished a book club read, Through the Storm by Vanessa Miller. I gave it 3 stars. It was a tough read to chew through. It was a religious book but that wasn't a problem for me. I had a problem because there were waaaay too many main characters and they flip flop between current day and the past. If I wasn't reading this for book club I would have put it down.

My next read was A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (my review here). Ahhhhhhh! I gave this one 4.5 stars. This was a great novel. I can't believe I'm so late in the game reading this. It's made the rounds around BookTube and I enjoyed devouring it. I am planning to read more by Sarah J. Maas but my TBR pile is ridiculous so I may wait a minute before reading my next book by her.

Photo Credit - GoodReads (I borrowed from the Library)

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins only got 2 stars from me. The premise itself was good but the actual telling of the story didn't keep me entertained. I finished it because I wanted to know what happened. Many people recommend the 2nd book in the series, Miss Mayhem, but I have no plans to pick it up.

 

Photo Credit - GoodReads (I borrowed from the Library)

I love Sherrilyn Kenyon so when I saw Cloak and Silence (5 stars) in the library, I snatched it up. It was fantastic just like the rest of her books. This is book 7 in The League series and I am kinda certain that I haven't read the rest of the series in order (or at all). That was ok. I was still able to follow this one just fine.

 

Photo Credit - GoodReads (I borrowed from the Library)

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (4 stars) was the fantastic book that everyone said it was. I enjoyed the characters and the story was well fleshed out. The beginning was the tiniest bit slow but even as I read it, I understood why she had to explain everything and I made sure to read every word. Once everything is explained, the book takes off. I'm ready for the next book, Clockwork Prince.

Highlander Most Wanted by Maya Banks (4 stars) was awesome. It typical Maya Banks love story (but tamed the tiniest bit). The story is great, the love scenes are hot and you finish reading the book with a smile on your face. This is the second story in the Montgomerys and Armstrongs. Thanks Maya! Now I have to order book one (and book three)!

 

Photo Credit - GoodReads (I borrowed from the Library)

I've never read a graphic novel before. Ms. Marvel, Vol 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Aphona (2 stars) was my first. I'm not sure that I'll try another one anytime soon. It's a comic book (don't get mad at me!). It was tough for me to follow and I didn't like the reading process. Maybe my head just didn't like following the format of a comic book. Maybe I would have liked it better if it was in a novella format -- maybe. We meet the main character and I feel that we aren't introduced to her properly before we are thrown into her story. I wasn't a fan.

Photo Credit - GoodReads (I read the ebook of this book, borrowed from the Library)

Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles, #1) (4 stars) by Gena Showalter was a good book! When I started reading it, I thought that maybe it would be too slow but towards the middle of the book it picked up the pace. The story was a good one and the fleshing out of the characters was really good. I have to say I was wondering how in the hell high schoolers found themselves in this situation but that aside, it kept my attention. I am not going to run and get the second book but in a month or two (or three) I might pick it up (Through the Zombie Glass #2 Or Cole...Meet Ali #1.5).

And I finished my month with The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen  (4.5 stars). Yaaaaas! I really enjoyed it. Can I tell you that Erika (may I call you Erika? May I be so informal because you and I are very good friends now!) writes a fantastic story? She fleshed the HELL out of this story. She didn't have story lines that were predictable. As a matter of fact, when I thought I knew something, the rug was ripped out from under me and I was left lying on the floor asking what happened. I enjoyed this crazy big book. I have every plan to purchase the next book. Yes, PURCHASE! I don't pay full price for many books but this one I most certainly will. You need to pick this one up.

That's what I read in August. I don't plan on reading quite that much in September but, I might. I do have some smaller books on my TBR shelf and I plan on adding them to the mix.

And, this is a "What I Read" and what I thought about it, not a book review. I don't currently have reviews on all of the books mentioned above and don't plan on writing one on all of them. I am in different stages of writing reviews for 3 of them so stay tuned for that. I'll add links when I write the review.