June Book Haul

Well, here we are at another book haul post for the month. I seem to buy about a dozen books each month, which means in a year I buy close to 150 books. That's impressive, and yet, so many of the books I buy end up sitting on the shelves waiting to be read. One would think that would make me slow down on purchases until I've read what I own, but there are just so many interesting books being published and I want to read so many of them. Plus, this way I know that if I fall on hard times and can't afford to buy books, I have a plethora of them still waiting to be read. Okay, so with the 21 books added to my collection in June, my total book purchases for the first half of 2015 stands at 93 books.

Let's get started with the June purchases then... we'll start with the hardcovers. I had three hardcover purchases, and only one of them was planned.

First we have An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. I had heard so many people talk about this book, and the summary sounded interesting to me, but for some reason I kept hesitating whenever I thought about picking it up. Then a friend of mine--who shares similar book tastes to me--finished it and I asked her her thoughts and she thought it was really good, and worth buying in hardcover, so here we are. Hopefully it doesn't disappoint. That is a pretty cool cover too.

Next is A Book of Spirits and Thieves by Morgan Rhodes. This is a spin-off of her Falling Kingdoms series and apparently alternates between modern day and this awesome magical past, so there is connection with the FK books. I really have enjoyed the books by Morgan Rhodes that I have read so far, so this one should be a good read...but I think I'm going to re-read the three currently published Falling Kingdoms books before I jump into this one.

Finally, for hardcovers, I have The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel. Every once in a while there will be a show or movie based on the book that is based on a true story, and it sounds interesting to me. This is one of those times. I have watched the first two episodes of The Astronaut Wives Club and I'm enjoying the story. Then I saw that Barnes & Noble was having a bargain sale on some hardcovers that had light markings on them, so I got this hardcover for only $3.99, which is awesome.

Next up...the paperbacks.

First I have The Fire Seer and her Quradum and Healer's Touch, both by Amy Raby. I have absolutely loved her Hearts and Thrones series; they are so good. Healer's Touch seems to be one not published by the company that published the first three novels and the novella though, so sadly the book sizes don't match, but I guess sometimes that happens. I do like matching sets though. Anyway...and I have enjoyed her Coalition of Mages series so far, though not to the same extent as Hearts and Thrones, so I guess we'll see what happens to Taya and Mandir next.

I also picked up copies of City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, City of Heavenly Fire, and Clockwork Prince, all by Cassandra Clare. The only one of these I have yet to read is CoHF, but I had been borrowing from the library so it was time to finish up the collection (for now). But with three more trilogies and the collections of side stories still to come, it will be a while before I have all of the Shadowhunter books.

I was going to wait a while before getting more Dresden Files books, but I was talking with a co-worker and her excited fangirling over the books made me want to get back to reading them. Since I own the first three, I figured it was time to pick up books four and five. Summer Knight and Death Masks by Jim Butcher continue the story of Harry Dresden, the only professional wizard in the phone book in Chicago as he helps the police with crimes that don't seem to be ordinary. I love Dresden's voice and it makes for fairly easy reading. It will be fun to keep going with this series.

Speaking of continuing on with series, I have also picked up Raven Cursed and Death's Rival by Faith Hunter, so books four and five of the Jane Yellowrock series, which follows vampire hunter and skinwalker Jane Yellowrock as she handles jobs and creatures down in New Orleans. I enjoy Jane; she is a tea snob and she rides a motorcycle that she built herself. It is a dark urban fantasy series and I really need to catch up with the books before the spinoff is released, since that sounds really cool too.

Finally, my last two paperbacks are from writer buddies of mine, and I am so glad to be able to support their writing careers.

Remedy for Memory by Brista Drake is a really true-to-life coming-of-age high-school story. I already finished reading it and posted my blog review about it here. I followed her through her editing and preparation for publication, so it was awesome to see the final product.

Then there's The Levees Can't Hold by Vince Moore. He is an English professor from Tiffin University, and I met him during my NaNoWriMo ML duties while I was at Heidelberg University in Tiffin. He became the ML after I left, but I have followed his publishing progress, and this is the third (and I believe final) book for this interesting urban fantasy series. It follows Dr. Paul Layton, who also runs a martial arts dojo, as he and other members of the dojo have to save the city of New Orleans from supernatural forces, which change by book. One had vampires and one had ghosts. I haven't read this last one yet, but I think it deals with zombies. Regardless, I'm sure it will be action packed.

And now for the e-books.

Broken by Dean Murray
Bound by Dean Murray
The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows
Jillian Spectre and the Dream Weaver by Nic Tatano
Justice Calling by Annie Bellet
Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones

The Dean Murray books were both free and tell two different sides to the same story, so we'll see if they're any good. If so I can buy the rest of the series. I have had The Orphan Queen on my to-read list and my most anticipated list, and it was on sale for $1.99 so it was about time to snatch it up. I really loved the first Jillian Spectre novel, so finding the second one was an auto-buy for me. Justice Calling was free and is about a witch who is also a geek, and I think has a comic book store. And I have had Illusive on my to-read list for a while because it is YA story that is touted as X-men meets Ocean's Eleven, so that just sounds cool...and it was only $2.99. The sequel is set to be released July 14th, so that also seems like perfect timing for me.

Okay...so tonight there may be a bonus post for Camp NaNoWriMo. We'll see. I'm hoping to do a lot of writing today.