July 2014 Book Haul

I got some pretty great books this month! A big thank you to Macmillan for sending the middle stack of books that I received as a thank you for being part of their Spring 2014 Fierce Reads Street Team (Go Team Alice!). As you can see I have duplicates of both Sekret by Lindsay Smith and The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu. That's because I was lucky to meet both of them at author events in my area this past month. Both author's were positively lovely and the amazing part was that they recognized me from Twitter and Tumblr. I also received Brutal Youth by Anthony Breznican from St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review. I'll be reading it soon and posting my thoughts on it as soon as I do. I purchased both Extraction by Stephanie Diaz and Faking Normal by Courtney C. Stevens, the former being one of my most anticipated books of the month and the latter being one of the best books I've read this year. Both were books that I knew I wanted to add to my permanent collection.

Book List with Goodreads links:

• Brutal Youth by Anthony Breznican
• Extraction by Stephanie Diaz
• Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
• The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutokoski
• Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
• Of Neptune by Anna Banks
• Sekret by Lindsay Smith
• Monument 14: Savage Drift by Emmy Laybourne
• Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn
• Faking Normal by Courtney C. Stevens

"Waiting on" Wednesday [17]

Ruin and Rising (The Grisha #3) by Leigh Bardugo

Publication Date: June 17, 2014

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Synopsis 

The capital has fallen. The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.

Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.

Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.

I loved the first book of this series, Shadow and Bone, and I was disappointed when the second book, Siege and Storm, suffered second book syndrome (in my opinion). I have high hopes for this finale because of where the second book left off and I can't wait for it to finally be released to the world in just under a week.

Check out my review of Siege and Storm.
Check it out on Goodreads!