Showcase Sunday #134

Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here ~Vicki at Books, Biscuits, and Tea

Okay, I’m not sure this is a comeback. I miss blogging…and reviewing. I’m constantly thinking about what I could say in a review and then I remember that I’m not really reviewing anymore. I don’t miss the stress I put myself under from it though. I can’t decide how to proceed. What I do know is that I placed an absurdly large Book Outlet order last week that arrived this week and I wanted to share the pretties with you!

PHYSICAL BOOKS

Purchased
Into The Dim (Into The Dim #1) by Janet B Taylor – I adored this book when I read it earlier this year. It’s a YA time-travel novel set in Scotland. Think Outlander in YA form. I’m overjoyed to finally have a copy of my own.
Touch Of Frost (Mythos Academy #1) by Jennifer Estep – This series is a quirky urban fantasy series that I desperately need to finish. It’s been quite a while since I read it, but I remember it being really good!
TITLE (SERIES) by AUTHOR

Freebies
#Famous by Jilly Gagnon – This freebie section is brought to you by the ARC shelf at Malaprops bookstore in Asheville. I’ll be honest, this was an impluse grab because the cover is so cute. All I know besides that? Quirky, cute YA contemporary romance.
The Valiant by Lesley Livingston – Female gladiators? That’s enough to grab my attention.
Hunted (Hunted #1) by Meagan Spooner – Beauty and the beast retelling where beauty is even more of a badass? Enough said! I remember hearing Meagan talk about this book when I saw her on tour for This Shattered World and I’ve been interesting in reading it ever since.
The Upside Of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli – I cannot believe this was there. I cannot believe I have this. I loved Becky’s previous book, Simon Vs The Homo Sapians Agenda. I drove 4 hours to attend her release launch of it and then drove 4 hours back home afterwards. I honestly still haven’t even read the synopsis of this because there is no need. Anything Becky writes will be fabulous.
The Careful Undressing Of Love by Corey Ann Haydu – I’m both excited and nervous about this. I adored Haydu’s first 2 novels (OCD Love Story & Life By Committee), but was disappointed with her last book (Making Pretty).
No Holding Back (Dodge Cove #2) by Kate Evangelista – Gay contemporary YA romance? Gimme.

DIGITAL BOOKS
For Review
Edelweiss

Sparks Of Light (Into The Dim #2) by Janet B Taylor – Like I said above, I LOVED Into The Dim and I cannot believe I got access to this. I mean, I requested it, but I was completely expecting to be rejected!

AUDIOBOOKS
Purchased
Audible

Gemina (The Illuminae Files #2) by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff – I’m about 3/4ths of the way through with this and I adore it as much as the first. It’s so fucking good!
Outlander (Outlander #1) by Diana Gabaldon – I really enjoyed the first season of the show so I thought I should give the book a try. This thing is monstrously huge. The audiobook is almost 33 hours long!
Dragonfly In Amber (Outlander #1) by Diana Gabaldon – Audible was having a 2 for 1 sale so I got both books for just one credit.

That’s it! That’s my 2 week haul! What did you get lately? Let me know in the comments!

Showcase Sunday #126

Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here ~Vicki at Books, Biscuits, and Tea

DIGITAL BOOKS
From The Author

Vicarious (Vicarious #1) by Paula Stokes – I make these neat little bookcharm necklaces (check out my instagram @piratevanrock to see them!) and I made Paula a few. She was nice enough to send this in return. I’m really excited to read it. One, because Paula’s writing is amazing so I know I’ll love it. But also because cute-sy contemporaries just haven’t been holding my attention lately and I think this is just the thing to get me out of my slump.

For Review
Blog Tour

The Problem With Forever by Jennifer L Armentrout – Aaaannnnndddd yet here is another contemporary YA. In my defense, JLA hasn’t disappointed me yet, so I doubt this will be anything less than amazing. I’ll still read ones from authors I know and love, but no more unknowns for a while.

NetGalley

Girl In The Shadows (Girl On A Wire #2) by Gwenda Bond – I adored Girl On A Wire, so I’m over the moon about their being a second novel. I can’t wait to return to Gwenda’s circus world!

AUDIOBOOKS
For Review
Audible

Without You (Love Wanted In Texas #1) by Kelly Elliott – Annnddd…this is why I’m done with contemporaries. It’s not the whole reason, but it’s the cherry on top. You’ll see a review up for this soon, but suffice to say I did not enjoy this one.

SWAG

Just the pretty poster this week. Another gain from going to my nearest (open) drive-in theater. I mentioned last time that a new one near me is opening soon and I’m still very excited about that. The new one will be much closer to me. Right now, I have to drive 30-45 minutes to get there. That’s not so bad on the way there, but it sucks late at night on the drive home. I enjoyed this movie, though I didn’t adore it the way everyone else seems to. It’s a solid 4 stars for me, enjoyable and visibly stunning but nothing Earth-shattering. Also, the size of the orangutan REALLY bothered me. Under no circumstances should an orangutan be larger than a bear. I don’t care the reason, that shit pulled me right out of the movie.

New Laptop

You might have noticed my silence over the past few weeks. It’s partly because my life has been busy and I’ve been relatively unmotivated to blog, but it’s also because I’ve been having computer issues. My old laptop, a Sony Vaio I’ve had for about 5 years has been acting up for quite a while. I’d finally had enough, I cleaned everything off it and then my husband hit the reset button. All laptops come with an option to wipe it back to factory settings, if you know what you’re doing. My husband did it to his laptop months ago when it kept blue-screening on him as mine was now. I went to bed and he set it to run. This is not a short process it takes hours to complete. Somewhere in the night it must have encountered a fatal flaw because when I got up the next morning, it would start up but it wouldn’t get far before saying “Windows could not be installed, please restart the process” and then restarting itself to pop up the same message. It just continued that way on a loop until I removed the battery. I cannot be without a laptop…and they aren’t quite as expensive as they once were. picked out this one. I won’t lie, the color was a big selling point. But so was the terabyte hard-drive and the $300 price tag. The only thing I’m unhappy with is the the 4 gigs of RAM. But even that isn’t a huge deal because you can expand RAM relatively easily. Anyway, long story short, this is Maguire. May she live longer than her predecessor!

That’s all I have acquired over the last 2 weeks. What have you gotten? Let me know in the comments!

Showcase Sunday #125

Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here ~Vicki at Books, Biscuits, and Tea

PHYSICAL BOOKS

Purchased
Walk The Edge (Thunder Road #2) by Katie McGarry – I always have to have the latest Katie McGarry novel. I already love this book anyway so there was no reason NOT to get it.
Sugar Skulls by Lisa Mantchev & Glenn Dallas – I adored Mantchev’s Theatre Illumiata series and this sounds amazing. Plus, it’s got a gorgeous cover!
Maybe Not (Maybe #1.5) by Colleen Hoover – Colleen Hoover is more or less and autobuy for me. I’ve been avoiding buying this for a while because while I love her, I think $12 for a 120 page novella is excessive. But for $6 online? Gimme.

DIGITAL BOOKS
Amazon Freebies

Power Of The Matchmaker (Power Of The Matchmaker) by Various – I’ve read one of the books in this series, the If We Were A Movie by Kelly Oram one. It was great so I’m interested in seeing other stories in that world.

AUDIOBOOKS
For Review
Audible

Calamity (The Reckoners #3) by Brandon Sanderson – I loved this book. I LLLLLOOOOOVVVVVEEEEDDDD the entire series. It’s high on the recommendation list for me!
Dance With Deception (Scandalous Secrets #1) by Tracy Goodwin – I really enjoyed this one!
Into The Dim (Into The Dim #1) by Janet B Taylor – I really enjoyed this. I gotta be honest, I didn’t see what all the hype was about when I first heard about this novel, but it’s definitely worth it!

Purchased
Audible

A Darker Shade Of Magic (Shades Of Magic #1) by V E Schwab – Yet another book that I adored. Audible had a two books for one credit sale and I couldn’t pass that up!
Charming (Pax Arcana #1) by Elliott James – This novel has grabbed my attention since the moment I first saw the cover. I’m glad to officially own a copy so I can finally read it!

SWAG

I went to the opening weekend for my local drive-in (but soon to be not the ONLY drive-in near me which I’m way too excited about) and they had a table full of these promo posters for Batman Vs Superman. My opinions about the movie aside, I’m a sucker for free swag and posters are one of my favorite things.

That’s what I’ve gotten over the past few weeks! What have you received recently? Let me know in the comments!

Showcase Sunday #120

Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here ~Vicki at Books, Biscuits, and Tea

PHYSICAL BOOKS

Avon Addicts
Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins – I got extra copies of this to giveaway!
How The Duke Was Won (The Disgraceful Dukes #1) by Lenora Bell – This just sounds fun!
All Chained Up (Devil’s Rock #1) by Sophie Jordan – I’ve read some of Sophie’s New Adult books and some of her young adult books, but I have yet to read any of her contemporary romances. This will be the perfect time to remedy that.
The Rogue (Devil’s Duke #1) by Katharine Ashe – I love bitter re-union stories! They are like cat-nip to me!

DIGITAL BOOKS
AUDIOBOOKS
Purchased
Audible

Fashionably Dead (Hot Damned #1) by Robyn Peterman – I’m not normally very interested in paranormal romance, but this just sounds so funny and I could use a few laughs these days!

SWAG

The lovely ladies behind the Avon Addicts program sent some swag with this recent box. I absolutely love The Rogue Not Taken print and it’s signed!

Tattoo!

So I did a thing this weekend. I got my very first tattoo. And, of course, that had to be Harry Potter related. In all honestly, I’ve always wanted a tattoo with this phrase and I just got it on Saturday around 7, so it hasn’t quite sank it yet, but it hurt like a motherfucker and I love it a lot.

That’s it for me this week! What did you get? Do you have any bookish tattoos? What about non-bookish tattoos? Let me know in the comments!

Showcase Sunday #119

Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here ~Vicki at Books, Biscuits, and Tea

PHYSICAL BOOKS

For Review
A Son’s Vow (The Charmed Amish Life #1) by Shelley Shepard Gray – I was sent this unsolicited and I’m on the fence about reading it. On one hand, it has amazing reviews. On the other, it’s an Amish romance and those tend to be a little on the preachy side. Since I’m not what you’d call a Christian, those are always hit or miss for me. I might pick it up because it’s short, but no guarantees!

DIGITAL BOOKS
For Review
Edelweiss

The Season of You & Me by Robin Constantine – I love Robin’s previous work. I can’t wait to dive into this!
The Lost & Found by Katrina Leno – I love Katrina’s previous novel The Half Life Of Molly Pierce, so I can’t wait to see how she tackles her sophomore novel!
Finding Abbey Road (Exile #3) by Kevin Emerson – I have really enjoyed the other novels in this series and I can’t wait to see how it all wraps up!
This Is My Brain On Boys by Sarah Strohmeyer – Even though I was not a big fan of Strohmeyer’s last novel, I did really enjoy the one before that, How Zoey Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True and this sounds much more on that level.

That’s it for me this week. I’m psyched about all the eARC’s. What did you get this week? Let me know in the comments!

Showcase Sunday #118

Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here ~Vicki at Books, Biscuits, and Tea

DIGITAL BOOKS
Amazon Freebies

EMERGE (Emerge Series #1) by Heather Sunseri – Free, sounds cool, enough said.

AUDIOBOOKS
Purchased
Audible

Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins – I’m almost finished with this and, while it has been interesting, but I don’t love it as much as I expected to.
Les Liaisons Dangereuse by Choderlos de Laclos – I know absolutely nothing about this, but Audible had it listed as free and I’m pretty addicted to audiobooks these days, so why no?

That’s it for me this week! What did you get? Let me know in the comments!

Showcase Sunday #117

Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here ~Vicki at Books, Bisciuts, and Tea

PHYSICAL BOOKS

Gifted
The Rogue Not Taken (Scandal & Scoundrel #1) by Sarah MacLean – I read this last year and absolutely loved it. My mom was nice enough to buy a copy of me and it’s so pretty on my shelf.

Purchased
Dukes Prefer Blondes (The Dressmakers #4) by Loretta Chase – I just finished the audio version of this and absolutely adored it. When I saw it in Sam’s Club for $5, I couldn’t resist.

DIGITAL BOOKS
Amazon Freebies

Being Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #1) by Kelly Oram – I have loved everything I’ve read by Oram and I’m sure this will be no exception.

For Review
Avon Addicts

Everything She Wanted (Hunted #5) by Jennifer Ryan – I really enjoyed Her Lucky Cowboy by Ryan, so I’m excited to give this a try too!

AUDIOBOOKS
Purchased
Audible

I’ll Be Home For Christmas (Twilight, Texas #6) by Lori Wilde – I’ve already started this and am quite enjoying it so far.

That’s it this week! What did you get this week? Have you read any of my recent additions? What did you think of them? Let me know in the comments!

Showcase Sunday #116

Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here ~Vicki at Books, Bisciuts, and Tea

PHYSICAL BOOKS

For Review
Tread Softly, Alice by Jessica Blair – I’m nervous about this one. Piatkus just randomly sends me books for review in the mail. Most of the time, I enjoy them, but I DNF-ed the last book by Jessica Blair so I’m not sure I want to read anymore of her stuff. It’s not that it was bad, it was just more historical than romance and it takes a lot to keep me interested in straight historical.

Won
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell from Nori’s Closet – I’ll admit that the only Rainbow book I’ve read was Attachments, but I loved it to pieces and I want to devour all her other work!
Ink & Bone (The Great Library #1) by Rachel Caine from Nori’s Closet – This sounds fantastic!

Purchased
Enchanted (Woodcutter Sisters #1) by Alethea Kontis – I found this at my local goodwill. I’m glad to finally have a copy, but someone abused this poor book. The back cover is bent. I’m going to attempt to unbend it, but I don’t know how well it’ll go.

Gifted
The Season Of You And Me by Robin Constantine – I’m so excited about this! I love Robin’s other work and she was sweet enough to send me a copy of her newest upcoming novel. It sounds like something I’ll love!

That’s it for me this week! What did you get? Let me know in the comments!

Showcase Sunday #115

Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here ~Vicki at Books, Bisciuts, and Tea

PHYSICAL BOOKS

Purchased
The Man Who Ate The 747 by Ben Sherwood – Sherwood wrote Charlie St Cloud, which I really enjoyed, so I’m interested in his other works as well. This is about a man who is literally eating an airplane piece by piece to prove his love for a woman.
Endless Knight (The Arcana Chronicles #2) by Kresley Cole – I enjoyed the first book in this series, so I’m interested to see where it goes in book 2!
Burn For Burn (Burn For Burn #1) by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian – This book was free. The clearance at the new bookstore we discovered this weekend were buy one, get one free. I bough Endless Knight and got this one free. I like this original cover more than the updated one.
Elegy (Watersong #4) by Amanda Hocking – I really debated over buying this or not. $6 isn’t that much for a hardcover, but I’ve never read any of these books and I may not like them. Mermaid/Siren stories are hard to do well, but I did enjoy Hockings Trylle Trilogy. I gave in and got it, if only because I have only ever seen it in paperback and all the others I have are hardcover.
Captive (The Blackcoat Rebellion #2) by Aimee Carter – I know this series hasn’t gotten very positive reviews, but I really enjoy it. Now I’m one step closer to owning them all in their pretty hardcover incarnations.
Library Of Souls (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children #3) by Ransom Riggs – This was my most expensive purchase of the day. I forked over $10 for this. I may not even end up liking the series, but I have them all now for when I decide to start reading them!
Paper Or Plastic by Vivi Barnes – I really enjoyed this when I read it last year and I’m glad to have a copy of it on my shelves!
The Destiny Of Violet & Luke (The Coincidence #3) by Jessica Sorensen – I’m one book closer to having this whole series. I now own all the books I’ve read in this series except the final one.
Darker Still (Magic Most Foul #1) by Leanna Renne Hieber – I really loved this book when I read it years ago and I’ve wanted a copy for my shelves ever since.
The Awakening & The Struggle (The Vampire Diaries #1 & #2) by L J Smith – I have always disliked the half-face covers we have on the last US bindup of these. The UK editions are so much prettier. I was pretty shocked to find these in a used bookshop here.
The Fury & The Reunion (The Vampire Diaries #3 & #4) by L J Smith – I really like this one too. Again, anything would be a step up from the half faces.
Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen – I love these editions of Austen’s work. Besides all have adorably cute covers, they all also have forewards written by successful romance authors. The first one I bought was Mansfield Park because it’s foreward was by Julia Quinn. I’ve wanted the whole set ever since.
Sense And Sensibility by Jane Austen – One day, I will work my way through all of Jane Austen’s work. I’m glad I now have them all when I finally get around to it.
The Wild One (Roswell High #2) by Melinda Metz – I cannot believe I found this today. I’m always on the lookout for these, but I never expect to see them. This series is out of print now and I really thought I would never complete this series.
The Watcher (Roswell High #4) by Melinda Metz – And here is the final book I need in this series. You guys have no idea how happy it makes me to have all of them together, with matching TV Edition covers. Normally, I prefer the original covers, but I think the ones for this series are just atrocious.

Gifted
Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan – This is a birthday gift from Lauren. Along with a very interesting sounding description and Lauren’s recommendation, this novel also has another cool aspect. It glows in the dark!

PHYSICAL AUDIO BOOKS

Purchased
Shut Out by Kody Keplinger – Guys, this audiobook was $2 on Amazon brand new. That was the Amazon price, not a third party. How could I say no to that? Besides Lying Out Loud, this is the Kody Keplinger book I want to read the most.
Enchanted (Woodcutter Sisters) by Alethea Kontis – This one was $2.50. I actually already have a digital copy of this one because it was featured a few years ago on the SYNC Audiobook thing, but I couldn’t not buy the physical CD set for that cheap. I really enjoyed listening to it anyway, so I need it to relisten in the feature.
Opal (Lux #3) by Jennifer L Armentrout – This was a little higher. It was like $7 and it’s an ex-library edition, which was explained in the description. Ex-library editions highly irritated me in actual books, but I think I’m okay with their audio versions. I mean, the disc all works fine, so I can deal. Besides, even at $7, it’s still one hell of a deal.

DIGITAL AUDIO BOOKS
Purchased
Audible

Dukes Prefer Blondes (The Dressmakers #4) by Loretta Chase – I plan on listening to this next week for the Clean Slate Read-A-Thon. It has a blurb by Julia Quinn on the cover so that’s all I really need to know it’ll be awesome.

SWAG

I also got some buttons a 2 new beanie’s from Hot Topic.

I know from this stack, it looks like I’m rolling in money, but every one the books I bought were used and, besides Library Of Souls, the most expensive books I bought were Captive and Elegy, which were $6 each. I really enjoyed shopping around with friends this weekend and I hope we can do it again soon! What did you get this week? Let me know in the comments!

Showcase Sunday #114

Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here ~Vicki at Books, Bisciuts, and Tea

DIGITAL BOOKS
Amazon Freebies

The Way We Fall (The Story Of Us #1) by Cassia Leo – I’ve heard great things about this book!

AUDIO BOOKS

Purchased
Flat-Out Love (Flat-Out Love #1) by Jessica Park – I read Flat-Out Celeste earlier this year and absolutely loved it. Plus, this audiobook was literally less than $2 plus shipping. What better way to spend my Christmas money?

That’s it this week! I’m so excited about having Flat-Out Love. I can’t wait to see where that story begins, especially now that I know how it will end! What did you get this week? Let me know in the comments!