I’m so excited to finally sit down and get this post put together! I’ve been itching to do it ever since I ordered all of these books a week or so before my birthday (August 11th), but I had no idea how long Book Depository would take to ship so it kind of set me back! I have so much to read already though that I didn’t mind the longer wait. I’m just happy that they’re mostly here. I’m still waiting for one box set to arrive, but I just can’t bring myself to hold off any longer! Here we go!
Most of the photos below come from my instagram: @bookbastion, while the final boxset will get their own glamour shots at a later date once they arrive. Don’t mind my autumn theme! I was very much in the mood for fall when I took these shots – this summer heat is driving me up the wall! I’m much more a fan of the cool weather.
The Diviners by Libba Bray
YA / Historical Paranormal. I have had my eye on this book for SO LONG now! Short story about it: my local bookstore has had one copy in stock for months now, and the spine has a tear in it. I am very particular about my books, so I kept passing over it hoping they would get a better copy in stock. Well, I finally went ahead and ordered myself a copy, so now I don’t have to worry about it anymore. Yay!
Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
YA / LGBT / Contemporary Romance. So excited about this one! I’ve wanted a paper copy for awhile now, and now I have one. I really need to brush up on my YA LGBT and this seems a great place to get started.
Dreadnought by April Daniels
YA / LGBT / Superhero. I have had my eye on this one for quite some time now! A superhero story, with a transgender main character? Sounds great, and a really fresh take on the genre (I hope anyway!) Very excited to start this one.
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
YA / Fantasy / Romance. I am so glad that I sprung for the UK copy of this book. The US cover just pales in comparison. The blue is so deep and rich – it is stunning in person! And this book just sounds awesome! Not going to lie, it’s about to shoot up my TBR list. I’m going to try and read it early in September.
My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
YA / Horror / Paranormal. Another book cover that I am obsessed with! The UK cover outshines the American one in every way. It’s memorable and iconic, leaning on the old VHS tapes my parents owned that I used to watch when I was a kid. It look awesome, and I’m hoping that the story lives up to the hype. I’m saving it for October, when I’m a bit closer to Halloween.
Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
YA / LGBT / Historical Romance. A gay Grecian romance set in the age of myths and legends? Um, yes please! Another cover I’m totally in love with. I’m so glad that I’ve picked up so many LGBT books. I’m woefully underread in LGBT stories, which I’m definitely seeking to rectify over the next couple of months. I hear this one might make me cry though!
The Seafarer’s Kiss by Julia Ember
YA / Fantasy / LGBT romance. Sidenote, I’ve come to realize that my local bookstore (BAM for those of you in the United States) doesn’t carry ANY of these LGBT themed books that I’ve posted about in this blog post. I literally had to order all of them offline – which is so disheartening. I hate to think they don’t carry them because of their content, but now that I think on it, I’ve not come across too many books about LGBT characters in that store. Anyone else shop at BAM and seen the same thing?
Anyway, mermaids, and LGBT representation? Yes Please! I’m all about both of those things.
The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams.
Fantasy / High Fantasy. I’ve been seeing this book all over my friend’s feed lately! It’s the most blind-buy on my list. I went on faith and a lot of great recommendations. Here’s hoping I love it!
Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb
Fantasy. High Fantasy. The Third book in the Farseer Trilogy! I’ve finally collected all three! Now I just need to catch up on book 2 and then I’ll be golden. This cover certainly makes me want to jump into the next book ASAP. I’m fairly positive that’s a dragon in the background, which makes me really excited!
Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson
Fantasy / High Fantasy / Dark Fantasy. I’m slowly collecting the books in Steven Erikson’s Malazan series as well! I have the first book already and now I’ve added 2 more to my collection. I haven’t actually read the first book yet, but I promise I’ll get to it soon!
Here’s all my precious babies lined up for a collective photo! They grow so fast! 😛 ❤
Honorable Mention
Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
Fantasy / High Fantasy. This is my one straggler at this point, but like I said, I couldn’t wait for this post any longer! Of course, I’ll make sure this boxset gets its own appropriately themed autumn instagram shots once they arrive. Mistborn is one of those series that I’ve had on my TBR list for so long, but never made time for. Well, no more! I’ve already lined up a friend to buddy read this series with, so I’m quite looking forward to that!
So that’s it! Those are all the books I’ve bought or acquired so far this month! Have you read any of these? What did you think of them? Follow me on instagram @bookbastion for future snaps of my books!
xoxo
Oh nice! Great to see you are collecting all the Eriksons 🙂 I want to read ‘The Ninth Rain’ as well! Gonna put an order through on bookdepository later, maybe I add it haha 😀
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Ooh you totally should! Don’t mind me, peer pressuring you into buying more books! XD
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Ahaha I should get off the internet and READ my books 😀
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Haha, same goes for me! This haul was the last exception to my self-imposed “no more buying new books” rule until Christmas. I’ve got so many to read now!
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Ooohh, Malazan, sweet, one of the best fantasy series there is and a Hobb book too.👌
The Ninth Rain is also great.😀
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Thanks Drew! I’m so excited (but also nervous) to start Malazan! I hear it’s awesome, but there’s so many books in the series now. I think now that I own a couple I’ll probably make myself pick the first book up in October just to start it.
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That’s true, it’s a 10 book series and all the books (apart from the first) are a 1,000 pages in length. Definitely worth the effort and time though and it’s one of those series where the first book is the worst and gets a lot better by the second.
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Oh, that’s good to know! Thanks for the tip!
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Nice haul!
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Thank you! ^_^
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I get excited over books with dragons on it too. I’m a sucker for fantasy with dragons in it.
Mistborn has been on my TBR list for so long too. Every time I try to start it, something else just happens to snag my interest over it. >_<
-Scrill
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Scrill, if you own them and want to join me and Chelsea Humphrey (@Thesuspenseisthrillingme.com) buddy reading that I would be happy to have you join our little group! I can let you know when we’re thinking about starting them if you’re interested.
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!! I don’t have it, but can probably get my hands on it pretty soon. & as long as Chelsea didn’t mind..
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I’ll check with her, but I doubt she would mind! I’ll message you on Goodreads once I talk to her.
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I have noticed that BAM doesn’t seem to have a lot of books. I mean, obviously they have a lot of books, but it seems like any time I look for something that isn’t super popular they don’t have it.
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Yeah I have that problem too Stephanie! It seems like they only carry the major best sellers. Even the fantasy section in my local store is sorely lacking.
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Beautiful pictures! I have read and loved The Diviners! I hope you enjoy it too!
So many of these are on my TBR but I am just dying to read My Best Friends Exorcism!!
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Thank you Kristin! So happy to hear that you enjoyed The Diviners! I hope you get to read MBFE soon too! 🙂
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Awesome Birthday haul Bentley! I absolutely loved Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda (5 stars) and My Best Friend’s Exorcism (4 1/2 stars). I read Strange the Dreamer, and although I haven’t found the time to review it, I’d give that a perfect 5 Stars as well. If you like YA horror, Kelly Charron’s Pretty Wicked, and the sequel, Wicked Fallout, which is coming out the beginning of September, are fantastic! 😊
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Thank you!! I’m so happy to hear you loved those 3 books! I am so excited to read them – even more now. 🙂 And thanks for telling me about Pretty Wicked! I’m going to add it to my tbr mountain tonight.
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😁
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Oh! I meant to tell you I enjoyed Dreadnought as well! 😊
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My Best Friends Exorcism is my favourite cover of the year!!!!!! It was also a pretty great read as well. Enjoy!
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YES! I’m so glad you love that cover too! I’m glad to hear you liked the book too! 🙂
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Luckily Canada got the Uk cover as well so that’s the one I found. It spoke to my 80’s childhood! It was cheesy and creepy all at once!
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My Best Friend’s Excorcism and Sea Fairer’s Kiss look really good!
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I’m going to start The Seafarer’s Kiss today! I’ve been waiting for that book for so long!
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Let me know if it’s good…the cover is sooo pretty I would buy it just for that but I am practicing restraint and what not.
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Some great looking books here 😀
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Thank you!!
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The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is pretty awesome! The end will ruin you! Enjoy! 🙂
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That’s what I’ve heard! I’m preparing myself emotionally before I start! 😂
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Ahhh yay I hope you love The Song of Achilles! Awesome book haul!
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Thanks Rachel! I’m really looking forward to that one. It’s been a must-buy for me for awhile now. 🙂
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I have read almost all of Robin Hobbs books!! You will enjoy Assassin’s Quest!! As for the other’s, I have a list going and I added all of them to it. So, I will eventually get to them….lol.
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Great to hear Jolie about Robin Hobb. I really enjoyed the slow-burn high fantasy of the first book. I’m excited to see how Fitz grows in the next book.
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What a great haul! I really enjoyed Simon vs. the Homo Sapien Agenda: took a bit for me to get into it, but once I did I was so eager to find out what would happen next that I read most of it during my lunch break, then read the rest after work before going home! I don’t keep up with the YA scene much (Simon was a gift from a friend who does) but your post definitely has me intrigued about a few more titles. So many books, so little time…
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Thanks Deanna! Good to know about the beginning of Simon vs The Homo Sapien Agenda maybe being a bit slow. I’ll make sure to give it a fair shake when I do read it!
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YES for Mistborn! I hope you’ll love it 🙂 I also agree with the UK Strange the Dreamer; I’m listening to it right now and I plan to buy the UK version if I love it. Great haul!
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Ooh I’ll have to keep an eye out for a review from you for Strange the Dreamer (I asumme you’re planning on writing one?) And I can’t wait to get to Mistborn. Going to start it as soon as the books arrive!
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Yep I plan to finish by the 31st and review it then 🙂
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such?? a?? pretty?? post?!?!? also now i Need strange the dreamer so thx 4 that
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Haha thank you Emma! 🙂
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So many wonderful and interesting books! What a great haul! And… you’re going to love The Ninth Rain, I can feel it! It’s such a fantastic creation! 🙂
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I’ve also had my eye on ‘Strange the Dreamer’ for a while now! I read the prologue and was blown away. I paced around my room, feeling like shit because I wish I could write THAT well! BUT, I used it as motivation to improve my writing, make it more poetic.
And you’re right, the UK cover looks so SICK! Can’t wait to hear what you think of the book.
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I compare my own writing to published stuff all the time! It can definitely be demoralizing if you let it, but that’s what first drafts are for. Getting the words down and then refining them in later drafts.
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So very true! It’s like making a sculpture. Chisel the rough shape first, detail later.
The opposite of this is reading sub-par published work. It feels good to recognize my own writing is sometimes better quality than some published work. Lol!
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These are such beautiful photos!
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Thank you!!
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Can’t wait to see what you think of Dreadnought, it sounds so cool!!
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Doesn’t it!? I’m really excited to start it in a couple weeks. 🙂
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Strange the Dreamer is probably my favourite book that came out in 2017 so far.
I hope you will love it as much as I do!
Great post! 🙂
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Lena, I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed Strange the Dreamer. I’m hoping it get to it soon!
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I’ve heard strange the dreamer is supposed to be really good! I have so many other things to read though 😀
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I’ve heard wonderful things about it! I’m hoping to get to it later this month or early next. It’s tough with a mountain of books to read haha. XD
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Haha yeah, I’m ordering a load,of books tomorrow so hopefully I’ll order the strange dreamer as well!! 🙂
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