“A book haul? You?!” I hear you say. And I get it, this is a shocking occasion.
I don’t normally do book haul posts, because my book shopping habits can hardly be considered a haul. Sporadic, sure. Frugal, maybe. Barely existent, yeah, okay. But a haul? Surely not.
Christmas is an exception, though, because that’s when other people buy me books. Mostly to bribe me into tolerating them for another year. And you know what? I’m fine with that. It’s working.
All told, I got 13 physical books and 12 Kindle books for Christmas.
Which is … wow, a lot. I have no idea where I’m going to put them all. I mean, okay, the Kindle ones will obviously sit on my Kindle until they become discontented, migrate to the Internet, and take over the World Wide Web. But the rest? I need Hermione’s bag, but in bookshelf version.
Today’s Top Ten Tuesday is the ten most recent additions to my bookshelf. But, you know, since I’ve been killing this whole ignoring the “ten” part of top ten, I figured, pffft, why not just do my entire haul.
Once a rebel, always a rebel. I’ve got a reputation to uphold, I’ll have you know.
Physical Books
Arlo Finch in the Valley of Fire
I wanted to say this was recommended by Lilyfae @ Lily and the Fae, which wouldn’t surprise me because that’s where I get most of my mid-grade reads at this point. This sounds like a perfect adventure book, and I’m excited to read it and donate it to my library. I think our patrons will love it, and if they do, I can totally convince my director to order the rest of the series, which is a win-win. 😉
Sorcery of Thorns
I will always show up for librarian protagonists kicking butt and taking names. I’ve been dying to read this since before it came out, and I’m so excited!
Loki: Where Mischief Lies
Two things. First, I will always read Loki books. I’m just that predictable. Second, this is by Mackenzie Lee, the author of The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, so yes, I’m 100% sold on my need to read this.
How to Make Friends with the Dark
Because I obviously hate myself, that’s why this book is here. I know it will absolutely, completely devastate me. Do I plan on reading it anyway? Why, yes I do.
The Girl the Sea Gave Back
This hasn’t gotten great ratings, especially considering how well the first one did, but I loved Sky in the Deep, and I’m really looking forward to digging into this one, too.
The Ghost Bride
I read The Night Tiger last year by this author and really enjoyed it. Soon as I finished it, I had to find out if she had other work, and she did! I had no idea this was turned into a movie, too, so I’ll be looking forward to watching that after reading this book.
My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry
This is my favorite Backman book, and I just had to own it! The first thing I did was actually lend it out to an older friend who loved A Man Called Ove and hadn’t read this one yet. I plan on doing a re-read of this on May 2 to celebrate what would have been my grandmother’s 86th birthday, though she passed away two years ago on May 12, right after she turned 84 in the hospital. The first time I read this was about a month after that, and gosh it hit my feels in all the right ways and I related to Elsa immediately.
Forever, or a Long, Long Time
I can’t even remember now where I first saw this, but this is another that will obviously obliterate my feels. I can’t even complain, because I love it.
Devil’s Cape
Adult superhero books! And urban fantasy. What’s not to love? Gosh, I’m so predictable.
Monstress
This was recommended by quite a few people, and it looked a little gorier than I usually read, but I’m still intrigued. Also hoping to be able to donate this to my library if I like it and maybe convince them to buy the rest, because we need more graphic novels. :3
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
I’ve been waiting for this one foreverrrr. Since pretty much the day it was announced that Rick Riordan acquired it. Black boys saving the world with a black pantheon? It’s perfect.
Who Let the Gods Out || Simply the Quest
These two were for sure recommendations from Lilyfae. I’m hoping to convince my daughter to read these with me, since they’re supposed to be funny, and they seem like really fun books. There are more in the series, so if I enjoy these two, I’ll definitely be buying the others!
Kindle Books
Nocturna
I’ve been meaning to pick this one up for a while now, and I’m glad I was finally able to! So much yes for a Latinx-inspired fantasy.
Magic For Liars
I’ve heard good things about this one. I’m interested to see how magic, urban fantasy, and mystery all merge in this.
Wanderers
I’ve heard wonderful things about this, and I’m always up for post-apocalyptic stories! Even though this is big enough to be considered a weapon rather than a book and it’ll probably take me forever to actually read. Doesn’t matter, as long as it’s good.
We Set the Dark on Fire
I’ve wanted to read this since it came out, and now that the second one’s coming out next month, I figured I should probably, like, you know, buy it. And then maybe read it? Crazy, I know.
Dragonslayer
Okay, it’s got dragons. Including on the cover. Does this one really surprise you at all?
The Magpie Lord
I’ve seen this around, and honestly, I don’t think it could sound more perfect if it tried. So I grabbed a copy. I’m really just hoping to fall in love with the series.
Dance of Thieves
I’m pro-thief, in general, dancing or otherwise. This just sounded right up my alley, so I had to grab it.
Missing, Presumed Dead
I’ve pretty much had my eye on this since it came out, and my uncle gave me an Amazon gift card for books for Christmas, so I said, you know what? Why not. Like I said, I want all the powers books.
Mogworld
I’ve heard this was supposed to be funny? I’m pretty sure someone recommended it to me because of my love for Terry Pratchett, and it just languished on my “to buy” list forever. I’ve finally freed it! To languish on my TBR. Hrm. Maybe not as heroic as I thought.
All Souls Trilogy
This was a happy oops. I own the first book of this series in hardback, but this went on sale over the holidays for $1.99. Isn’t that crazy? So yeah, I definitely grabbed a copy of this, because it’s a little easier to read on my Kindle than lugging around a huge hardback.
Hubby’s Books
I’m adding these here, because what’s hubby’s is mine. He agreed to that all those years ago when we got married, and sure, he probably regrets that decision, but nope, it’s too late, he can’t take it back now. Muahaha! These are all Kindle editions, because he’s sworn off physical books since I bought him his Kindle. Not that he’s admitted yet that I was right about how much he’d love that thing … but that’s okay, I can read between the lines. We all know the truth.
Starsight
Sanderson is just an auto-buy in this household. He’s one of the few authors we both love, so it’s just a given that I’ll be picking up any new books he releases during a year. My husband doesn’t even bother paying attention to release dates anymore because he knows I’ll take care of it. xD
Howl’s Moving Castle
Fun fact: this was the first movie hubby had me watch when we started dating to introduce me to anime movies, and I just absolutely fell in love with it. But neither of us read the book or even realized it was a series. So this was kind of a joint gift, because we both wanted to read it.
Seven Blades in Black
I try every year to get hubby one surprise book, because he won’t read new authors. So this year, I chose Sam Sykes. I’m 90% sure he’s going to love this book, which means I know what to get him this year for Christmas.
Chat With Me
What books did you get over the holidays that you’re most excited about?
Follow Me
Amazing haul, Sammie! I hope you love Wanderers. Its long but I got through it pretty fast because it’s so hard to put down😁
That’s what several people have said, so I’m going to hold you to it. xD I kept side-eyeing the length of it, but enough people said it went pretty quick despite its length that I’m sure it’ll be fiiiine lol.
Wow, you got a ton of new books for Christmas! How many of them do you think you might be reviewing here at some point (if any?) ?
My TTT .
I’ll try to review them all, but we’ll see. Really, it’s just a matter of *when* I get the chance to review them. Falling behind on reviews is all too easy, unfortunately. D:
You got a great book haul this year! I’m looking forward to reading Sorcery of Thorns too and I love Howl’s Moving Castle!
I’m glad you enjoyed Howl’s Moving Castle! I’m really looking forward to reading it, because now I’m curious about what sort of direction the trilogy takes versus the movie!
I love the movie too, but the books are brilliant and explore a lot more of their story!
Great haul! There’s definitely some here that I want to look more into!
I hope you get to! While I haven’t read them yet, they all came highly recommended. xD
I hope you enjoy Howl’s Moving Castle! It’s definitely not identical to the movie… the movie was inspired by the book but took many of its own directions. I love both, though.
And The Ghost Bride is a book I recently bought myself also! I haven’t read any of Choo’s other work yet, though The Night Tiger is on my TBR too.
I figured it was different, but I didn’t even know until recently that there was a book, let alone a trilogy. xD I was so surprised lol.
Yay! I hope we both enjoy it. I’ve heard it’s a bit slow at times, so I’m going in sort of prepared for that.
I read the book first, but didn’t know there was a trilogy. I didn’t know about the movie until after Mr. Wyrm asked if I’d seen it, but he hadn’t read the book yet! We’ve since both read (or re-read) the book and watched (or re-watched) the movie, and they’re both great.
I’ve heard the same, but I’m okay with slow pacing if it fits the story (and it sounds like it will in this case).
You’re so lucky to have people in your life who buy you books! My family has given up on me — I think they think I already have all the books I need (as if that were even possible). I loved Wanderers and Magic for Liars — hope you do too! Funny about your husband’s books — it’s the opposite for me and mine. He doesn’t buy or select books on his own, just waits for me to push the next book into his hands. 🙂
Oh, trust me, my family does it against their will, and while grumbling the entire time, because they feel the same. xD They just don’t know what else to get me lol.
Oh no, that’s what my hubby does too LOL. Except for some auto-buy authors I know he’ll want (Sanderson, Salvatore, etc), he just sort of waits for me to buy them and send them to his Kindle, and every now and then I’ll sneak in something I think he’ll like (like the Sam Sykes book) and wait to see what he thinks. Most often, he enjoys them. Yet, for some reason, he still doubts me? Men are confusing creatures.
Right? I send books to my husband’s Kindle so he’ll always have choices when he finished one book and is ready for another… but I have to whittle down my collection a lot because I read everything and he refuses anything scifi, horror, speculative, fantasy… way too picky!
Ugh, so is mine. He *only* reads fantasy. That’s it. Well, that’s not true. He also reads manga (but his is usually gory and I can’t deal with that haha). But book-wise it’s basically fantasy and mostly high fantasy.
Oh wow. What a great haul! I was able to pick up quite a few kindle books as well with Amazon’s spend $20, get $5 credit and gift cards. But like you, they may linger on my kindle for awhile. Ha! It was too hard to resist all the good sales. 😉 I’m most excited about picking up One of Us is Lying and The Kiss Quotient. Happy Reading!
My Top Ten Tuesday
Muahaha that’s totally when I got most of my e-books, too. xD I’m such a sucker. I keep saying I’m not going to participate in those Amazon sales, but then I see all the good books that are on sale … and, well, I’m only human.
One of Us is Lying looks really good! I hope to read that soon, too, since the sequel comes out this year.
That’s so many books for one holiday! And so many pretty covers! I’m lucky to get 1 or 2 books for Christmas… though I did get a Barnes and Noble gift card this year. I’ve only heard of a couple of these, but I’ll definitely be looking further into some of them.
I mean … if I’m honest … I bought myself most of the e-books using an Amazon gift card I got for Christmas last year LOL.
Looks like you got a ton of amazing books! I’ve been meaning to read Sorcery of Thorns for a a while now…I might have to move it up my TBR! Thanks for reminding me about We Set the Dark on Fire! I feel like everyone has already read this book, and I kind of forgot that I wanted to read it 😂. Nice haul!
Yeees, you should. I’ve heard such good things about it. I say that totally having not read it yet, the hypocrite I am. xD Ha, no problem. I’ve had that happen multiple times. I went from two books on hold on Overdrive to having filled up my holds today from all the people reminding me of books I have to read still that I’ve been meaning to. xD Oops?
Haha I have definitely maxed out my Overdrive account on many occasions! 😂
Great list! I need to read The Girl the Sea Gave Back and Who Let the Gods Out very soon!
I tried to start Who Let the Gods Out today with my daughter, but I got overruled, so I guess that’s going to wait. xD I’ve heard the series is really good, though!
These look great! You made out over the holidays! I also got the Lost Souls Trilogy and I’m really looking forward to reading them!
I’ve heard they were good, so I’m excited, too!
Monstress has been on my radar since last year, Hope you enjoy it! ^^
Thanks! I kept seeing it everywhere last year, too, which is how it ended up on my Christmas list, because I was like, well, if I end up liking volume 1, I’ll know what to ask for next year. xD
Wow! That’s a great haul! You’ve got Howls moving castle in there too!
I finished the audible version of the All Souls trilogy and while I enjoyed the writing and the overall story and the brilliant way the author mixed actual history with fiction, I just couldn’t buy into the romance and Diana Bishop’s choices. I’d be interested to see what you thought😊
Yeees! Once I learned it was a book series, I had to get it. xD
I’ve got a friend who’s been giving me a running commentary as she read them somewhat recently, and she said pretty much the same thing, plus they dragged in places. So I’m kind of wary of that going in? But also, I don’t tend to like romance in general, so I always go in expecting to feel meh about romances lol.
Yeah I’m not a big fan of romance heavy books either lately. But in this series I actually couldn’t buy into their romance.. it felt forced. You’ll know what I mean maybe when you start reading. But yeah the books are a good read because of the history and the amount of information packed in!
Looks like you got quite the Christmas haul! I’m just reminded of the fact that I still haven’t watched Howl’s Moving Castle! I know, I know, I fully intended on checking the movie out from the library right after reading the book but I never did!
You totally should! It’s so beautiful and charming. <3 Then again, I'm a little biased because I love pretty much everything Studio Ghibli.
I loved Monstress! That’s one of the graphic novel series I’ve been periodically collecting. The Loki cover looks awesome, so I might have to check that out at the library.
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it! I can’t wait to dig in. I’ve heard great things about Loki, too, and the author, so it should be good!
Wow, this is a great haul. I really want to read the Loki book and Sorcery of Thorns too. I need to read that Backman book too. I loved A Man Called Ove and Beartown so I definitely want to read the rest of his books.
Yeees, I so highly recommend My Grandmother Told Me if you’ve liked Ove! There’s another book based off one of the secondary characters in it (Britt-Marie Was Here) that I still need to read, but I think this is the cast I’ve fallen in love with the most out of all of Backman’s books.
Ooh great haul! I also got Monstress (thanks to a gift card, yay!), and a lot of these were already on my TBR. I hope you love them 🙂
Yay for Monstress! And gifts cards, obviously.
I love Sorcery of Thorns and Ghost Bride! I hope you enjoy everything you got! 😊
I’m glad to hear you liked them! Thanks.
SO MANY AMAZING BOOKS SAMMIE! Daaang, you may not do hauls often but when you haul, YOU HAUL! So many of these have been sitting on my shelves unread for way. too. LONG (but what’s new there right lmao sad times)! But I’m really hoping to get to them this year (feels like deja vu) 🙃 Especially How to Make Friends with the Dark even though like you said that book is probs on my shelf because I’m a total masochist and love to wreck my own feels. I’ve read Vol1-3 of Monstress and I still have no idea what I think about it. The story is hella dark, gory and complex and I’m not sure that I even understand it fully yet? But the artwork is so damn gorgeous! The details are just… WoW but yeah, looking forward to seeing what you think of it! Also, I hope you finally read Sorcery of Thorns and love it because it was such a good book 😍
TO BE FAIR … no one knew what to get me, so they kind of just sighed, rolled their eyes, and bought me the books I wanted. xD It was done under duress LOL.
If you ever wanna do a buddy read, just let me knoooow! <3 I need to knock off some of these books that are still sitting around on my shelves haha. I'm determined to whittle through some of them this year, at the very least.
I've heard that Monstress is pretty dark and gory, and that's not usually my type of graphic novel, but ... the art! I was totally sucked in by how beautiful it is. xD
What an impressive haul. I read Arlo Finch and the Valley of Fire some months ago and it was wonderful. Kids, especially boys will love it! Happy reading and hope you will enjoy all of them.
I’m so glad to hear that! If I’m honest, I really bought it hoping to enjoy it enough to donate to my library and make a case for them to get the rest. xD It seemed like something the kids would love, and I’m excited to try it!
I’ve been meaning to read something by Fredrik Backman for ages and it just hasn’t happened yet. Looks like My Grandmother should be the first one, though!
I definitely recommend it! Either that or A Man Called Ove, but I definitely liked My Grandmother Asked Me better. :3
Wow! That is for sure an awesome haul!!
Wow! That’s quite a haul you got there! A lot of good books too. Hope you enjoy them!
That’s a great haul!
It looks like you got a lot of great books, Magic for Liars sounds so intriguing!
Thanks! It definitely caught my attention, and I’ve heard it’s good.
Loki was one of my favourite books of 2019, so I hope you love it! I can’t wait for the TV series and the book by Lee was the perfect thing to tide me over.
I’m so glad to hear that! And yeees, I need this dang show in my life sooner rather than later. xD
Sammie – I just found your blog and I love it. Thanks so much for stopping by Booker T’s Farm and leaving a link. I’ll have to make you a regular stop. I’m all for being a rebel and thanks for sharing all the books. Man, I need that Tristan Strong book. It looks and sounds awesome and I also want to read Mogsworld as I need to read a book by someone named Yahtzee 🙂 Wonderful haul.
Thank you! Tristan Strong was a fabulous read, and I highly recommend it! And yes, Yahtzee is a fantastic name. Right up there with Django Wexler. 😉
Loki was so much fun! I hope you enjoy it!
Lauren @ Always Me
Thanks! I’m looking forward to it. Seems like a lot of people enjoyed it. :3
Wow so many books! I haven’t read any of these yet. Sorcery of Thorns looks really good, I’ve been eyeing that one up.
I’ve heard so many good things about that one, and I’ve been dying to read it since it came out!
We set the Dark on Fire was amazing. I also gor Loki really excited to get that started
I’m so glad to hear that! I can’t wait to start it. And yeeeees for Loki. I can’t wait to see her imagining of him. I’ve heard it’s really good.
How did I miss this post?!?! I swear things don’t always appear in my reader feed!! What a haul and thank you so much for the nod, yes I’m definitely where you got Who let the gods out from but not me on the Arlo Finch though I’m definitely thinking that would be one I enjoy!!!
I blame WordPress. My feed has been going a little wonky lately, and I’m not seeing posts from people I know are posting?
Really? Huh. You’re where I get 95% of my midgrade reads, so I just assumed, I suppose. xD Welp, I’ll hopefully be reading that soonish, but it sounded like a fantastic MG adventure!
Oh no I very much appreciate the compliment ☺️and I agree it sounds fabulous!
Plus thank goodness it’s not just me! I thought I was coming across rude!!
Yeay Monstress! I saw The Ghost Bride around a lot a while ago in a local bookstore but I never picked it up (even though I looked at it every time) so I am just going to let you try it out first. 😀 😉
I hope you will enjoy Dragonslayer more than I did. 🙂
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