Were you as surprised as I was to see a Wrap-up/Haul go up ON TIME from Lair Of Books? cuz I’m pretty damn surprised & currently patting myself on the back hehe! This has been one of my best reading months in a long time & I think part of the reason is that I participated in #arcAugust which really kept me motivated to read whenever/wherever. I’m currently reading They Both Die at the End but i’m not 100% certain I’ll finish it before the 1st so I figured why not wrap-up the month. I honestly feel like I consumed so much in books and TV this month which is rare, it’s usually one or the other.
My book haul this month (I think) was a bit humble & i’m so proud of this lol…but this pertains to books I purchased & not the galleys I was approved for. I’m actually going to try something new this wrap-up/haul & include the eGalleys/physical arcs I received from Publishers. I’ve never done this before because well, the topic of arcs is very polarizing in the book community & I respect all sides. That being said, I have had blogging buddies put it out there (nicely) that they would’ve been up for a buddy read of certain arcs. Since we are reading these books in advance, we can’t really discuss them out of consideration for others who are waiting for publication date. This got me thinking, If I don’t make myself available (introvert that I am) by discussing arcs that I’ll be reading in the near future, I’ll continue to miss out on on what can possibly be a fun buddy read. So in conclusion, here goes something new…
Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi (Revised to ★★★★ 4 Stars) *review to go live closer to pub date 10/31/17
The Tiger’s Watch by Julia Ember (★★★★ 4 Stars)
the princess saves herself in this one by amanda lovelace (★★★★★ 5 Stars) *not sure I have the words to review this one, I related to a ton of the poems & cried a ton more
Spellbook of the Lost and Found (★★★★ 4 Stars)
When I am Through With You (Sins & Scandals #1) by Stephanie Kuehn (★★★★★ 5 Stars)
The Serpent King (★★★★★ 5 EPIC Stars!) *review to come
The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee (★★★★ 4 Stars)
*They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera (★★★★★ 5 , finished on 8/31/17 & a review will go live on release date 9/5/17)
I read a total of 8 books this month of which 6 were arcs for #arcAugust and I’m pretty satisfied with this. I could’ve probably finished a 6th however, the last 48 hours has seen me trying to get over the book hangover Beasts Made of Night left me with. Originally I rated it 5 stars & revised it to 4 strictly because now that I’ve slept on it lol, I can see some pacing issues. My enjoyment however, remains the same. I LOVED this book & can’t wait to share my review in October! typically I don’t read my books this early however it was a eGalley from the First to Read program & the title was set to expire from all devices on 9/1 so yea *shrugs shoulders* what can ya do? lol. I listened to The Serpent King on Audible & gahhhH! loved it to pieces even as I collected the pieces of my shattered heart. Overall a quality reading month 🙂
The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones (Owlcrate)
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne (Book of the Month pick)
The Dazzling Heights by Katharine McGee (Thousandth Floor series #2)
Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody
Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert (add on for BOTM)
Song of the Current (Song of the Current #1) by Sarah Tolcser
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (Ravenclaw edition)
Physical ARCS
Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed (received from the publisher)
Night of Cake & Puppets by Laine Taylor (received from the publisher)
Berserker (Berserker #1) by Emmy Laybourne (Goodreads Giveaway win)
Artemis by Andy Weir (Goodreads Giveaway win in the mail)
eGalleys
Honor Among Thieves (The Honors #1) by Rachel Caine & Ann Aguiree
Heart Of Iron by Ashley Poston
Everless (Untitled #1) by Sara Holland
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins
The Girl in the Tower (The Bear in the Nightingale #2) by Katherine Arden
The Midnight Dance by Nikki Katz
The Dangerous Art of Blending in by Angelo Surmelis
The Final Six by Alexandra Monir
Meet Cute: Some People are Destined to Meet (variety of contemporary authors)
So yea…I just realized how long this post will be but it’s past midnight & i’m falling asleep…sorry lol. Every month I end this with what I watched this month but I’ve decided to write a separate post for that later this week. August seemed to be the month for approvals, usually they’re scattered throughout but this is the most in 1 month I’ve seen in a while. Thankfully most of these are 2018 titles giving me time to get them read. Even though #arcAugust is over I will still be reading arcs throughout September lest I be crushed by my tbr 🙂
Happy reading in September Bookworms!!! Hope you’ve all had a wonderful August month & are enjoying your end of summer reads. If you participated in #arcAugust, how did you fare? what are you currently reading/watching? drop your comments down below <3’s!
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So many lovely books 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍
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Thank you Bill! 🙂
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The Serpent King!!! Yessssss! 🙂
Also, so jealous you got an ARC of Honor Among Thieves. Ann Aguire and Rachel Caine are so awesome and the fact that they teamed up for this book just makes me so excited! EEEKK!!
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THANK YOU AGAIN LARKIN! if It weren’t for you, I would’ve never listened to The Serpent King on Audible & I wouldn’t have met my babies lol. I def have to review but in typical Lilly fashion lol, I find it so hard to review books that I adored to pieces smh. Honor Among Thieves will be my 1st book I read from either of these authors…do you have any reccs from their older books? 🙂
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You’re so welcome! I just am happy that someone else loved it as much as me! 🙂
Yes! I love Caine’s The Great Library series, sooo good! And Aguirre’s Razorland series is really good too, especially for a dystopian/post-apocalyptic.
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Yes! It’s now in my Top fave YA contemporary list 🙌🏼 & thank you for these recs, I will most def check them out. Your word is GOLDEN now! 😂💜📚💜
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Oh gosh, too much pressure now!! 😂🙈
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Haha! No pressure 😂
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Look at all thode stars! What a great reading month! Great hauls too! 😍😍😍
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Yes Krysti! It was a good month thank all the stars for that! 🙌🏼 and the haul is wonderful, it really lit a 🔥 under my you know what to make a dent in my 2017 stack though 😂😂😂
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Hooray got good reading months! 🙌🙌🙌 Hahaha! Once we get through September it’ll slow down a bit, right?!
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I’m really curious about The Dazzling Heights! I really love the cover and I’m interested in seeing where the story goes.
I love your Ravenclaw edition of HP! It’s so pretty! I really want a Hufflepuff edition but I really don’t have money for ANOTHER copy of HP XD
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It’s book 2 in the Thousandth Floor series which I haven’t started yet but as a fan of Gossip Girl lol, I really couldn’t pass up on these books. It’s a very fancy schmmmmancy looking cover haha! Thank you, I got my copy off Bookdepository for $15 after months of going back & forth on “do I really need another HP edition?”….I’m weak is all i’m saying lol 🙂
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Yeah I read The Thousandth Floor earlier this year and it was a fun read, really quick. I hope you enjoy them when you read that series! $15 isn’t too bad! I expected it to be more expensive. I think we’re all weak when it comes to book buying XD
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Thank you & I’m saving it for a near slump since it’s a fun read lol. Yea I though $15 was decent especially since it’s also free shipping 🤷🏻♀️can’t pass that up haha! ☺️
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You have had a wonderful reading month. And hauled so many books! I heard Boyne’s book is amazing. And you know I am as excited as you about The Girl in the Tower
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Thank you Resh! No complaints here ☺️ I’ve also heard praise for Boyne’s book and now I’m even more eager to dive right in. I’m def trying to go back to reading Fiction since it’s what made me fall in love with reading. So I’ll be sprinkling some Fic throughout the mth lol. I was going to read his book first but The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo keeps calling my name with its emerald cover 😍😍😍lol smh. & when I received the approval for The Girl in the Tower I nearly fell off my chair 😂 MOST anticipated follow up for me this year! 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 I know you’re excited, I’ll be reading it in October, latest November & can’t wait to see everyone else’s reviews when they start streaming out 🤗
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OH you had such a lovely reading month – so glad you liked The Serpent King and The Spellbook, loved both of these books so much! ❤
You've received some wonderful ARCs, congratulations!! I have heard great things about Love, Hate and Other Filters, I'm eager to read it someday but in the meantime…I'll wait to hear your thoughts about that one and hope you'll love it 🙂
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Thank you Marie! I have no complaints about my month in reading so that’s always a good thing ☺️ I’m also very excited to get to Love, Hate, & Other Filters since it is a #ownvoices read 🙌🏼 thanks again for stopping by, I’ll be swinging by your corner of the interwebz in a few 🙃💜📚💜🙂
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Holy smokes! How on earth do you keep up with this?! This is an amazing collection of ARCs, though. I’m super jealous of both Artemis and The Girl in the Tower; both books are on my TBR. Do you have relationships with publishers? How on earth do you end up with physical ARCs? Super jelly. 😉
Great monthly review! Keep up all the awesome work.
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Thanks Jackie! Artemis & Berserker were via Goodreads giveaways, they say that it’s strictly random but I’ve also read that they do look to see if you actually post reviews on GR for books you win. Love, Hate, & Other Filters I requested from the Publisher last month & was surprised to see it in the mail, it’s my 1st answer solicitation via e-mail. Night of Cake & Puppets I got through The NOVL (online request form) which was also a nice surprise. The eGalleys, come from Edelweiss & Netalley. I don’t have a relationship with any publishers as of right now (working on that lol) but consistently posting reviews for titles they approve def has played a role in my approval ratio. It’s taken me a year to get to this point where I’m seeing approvals from major publishing houses, started with the smaller ones & worked my way up lol. Hope this sheds some light 🙂
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Oooh, that’s good to know. I’ve definitely won books and given them away as gifts w/o reading them…
That’s awesome! That you for sharing your story! I feel like I’ve got a lot of room to grow when it comes to my relationships with publishers for ARCs. Baby steps, I guess.
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Lol, yea they even send emails to see your thoughts on the book sort of like a “hey so remove that book you won? Care to share some thoughts & give back?” 😂😂😂 I’m also still taking baby steps. It’s been only recently that Edelweiss has been approving me and I’ve only received 1 physical arc so far after I emailed the publisher. I have my plate full though, so for now I’m ok lol.
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Haha. I definitely have all my GR emails turned off. Oops! Well, lesson learned. Thanks for all the tips! I’ll keep this in mind for the future.
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I get to read The Midnight Dance for a blog tour! I am so excited!
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Nice! I just started looking into blog tours, so you can call me a newb on that end lol. I only know of Rockstarbooktours but i’m having fun looking into the books they’re helping promote. I hope we both enjoy Midnight Dance 🙂
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I am a newbie still too! Cinderella Necromancer was my first tour with Rockstar. I have also found Xpresso Book Tours.
I hope we both enjoy it too! ❤
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I’ll have to look into Xpresso 😃 thanks for the tip 💜
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Yeah girl! They seem to do a lot of tours.
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Great month indeed! they all sound interesting.
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Thank you Lourdes 😃💕
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You got through some amazing books this month Lilly, and the fact that they’re all rated really highly just goes to show how amazing they actually are. I can’t wait to get started on Beasts Made of Night, I have one more book I need to get through and then I’ll be starting it myself as well. 😀
Also wow what an amazing haul as well. I can’t wait for Night of Cake and Puppets by Laini Taylor to be released, I need that hardcover edition in my life. Also those eGalleys are incredible, I have an ARC of Everless and I’m looking forwards to starting it, hopefully it’s one we’ll both enjoy. 🙂
Great haul, and great August as well. I hope your September is just as amazing. 🙂 ❤
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Thank you Beth! I’ll be sitting here awaiting your thoughts on Beasts Made of Night, hope you love it as much as I did or even a fraction really lol. Night of Cake and Puppets is a re-read for me since I read the original novella a few years back. This one though has STUNNING illustrations 😍 can’t wait for the hardcover either! ❤️ Everless looks AMAZING! really looking forward to that one. I saw that you posted a review for Tarnished City…out of curiosity, is it Jon-spoilery? I reallllllly wanted to read it but feared spoilers 😂 wishing you an AMAZING September! 💜📚💜
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That’s all right, and in that case I’ll let you know what I think as soon as I’m finished with Beasts Made of Night, it sounds amazing so I can’t wait to get started.
Night of Cake and Puppets will be a re-read for me as well. I’m mainly looking forwards to the hardcover edition and the illustrations.
It’s spoiler-y for the first book but not for the second book. I try and avoid spoilers in all my reviews but obviously with second books in the series some of the first book will be spoiled. I’d definitely recommend the series though and thanks Lilly! 😀 ❤️
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You had a great month and you got some wonderful egalleys! I would love to know your thoughts on all of these books. Hope your September is even more better! 🙂
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Thank you Raven ☺️ I can’t wait to read & review these titles closer to their release dates. Arcs are great but being able to chat with other bookworms about faves is better 😉 wishing you a lovely September 😃💕
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So many books! I can’t wait for your reviews on other books but I’m looking forward to Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi review!
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Thank you Nicole ☺️I’m looking forward to the go live date for that review 💜
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Great reading month!! I’m so glad you liked Tiger’s watch, I can’t wait to read it but all of my other friends have DNF’d it! you’ve given me hope lol 😀
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oh man now that’s a lot of pressure LOL! I hope you like it too, I may just be in the minority? on the bright side, it’s a short read 😉
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You got a lot of great books in your haul this month Lily! Some of those egalleys on my TBR so I’m looking forward to your reviews when you’ve finished them. It looks like you had a great reading month. 🙂
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Thank you Rachel! 🙂 I look forward to reading & reviewing these, hoping I find my next favorite to recommend *fingers crossed*
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Ahhhhh Lilly! My eyes are burning from all the gorgeous covers included in this post 🙂
Congrats on a big reading month in quantity & quality! I’m happy you had such a productive month while I was…. NOT…. lol
I can’t wait to see your review for The Serpent King! I’ve been on the fence about giving it a go, but I see you 5 stared it, so now I’m leaning towards reading it…
Ahhhh The Girl in the Tower! I still have YET to read TBatN! BUT now that it is felling a little more like fall, I will pick it up… I mean, it seems more like a cold weather read am I right? Just agree so I feel better about not getting to it yet lol
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THANK YOU!!! yeah 8 books is more than I’ve read in a really long time. I’m so happy to have read The Serpent King in audiobook format! OMYGOSH Amanda, the narrator NAILED the performance and just it’s a MUST READ! I can’t recommend it enough & I really need to get to that review so ty for reminding me lol. Really excited for The Girl in the Tower & that it’s coming out this December just like TBATN did last December. It is absolutely a Winter read, treat Yo’ self! it really is a feast for the imagination & anyone who loves folklore will appreciate this little treasure 😉
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