July & August Book Haul

I haven't done a book haul in quite some time but I'm happy to jump back into them. My goal is to do one every three months or so, but I didn't start keeping track until July. For the sake of things we'll call this my Summer Book Haul, though. I'll include links to all of these books on Goodreads and if I've reviewed them I'll also link to that.

I picked up The Emperor's Knife on a whim while I was at Half Priced Books. It sounds like a pretty good epic fantasy, and it also appears like it will be a quick read. Funny enough, after I bought the book I was flipping through it and someone's original receipt for the book, and their boarding pass from several years ago, fell out. So, yeah, basically this book is brand new and came from California, so that's pretty cool. I also picked up The Dragonbone Chair that same trip to HPB. I've had my eye on this series for a while and this was such a reasonable price and great condition so I couldn't let it pass by. I've heard a lot of people call it a cornerstone of the genre so I'm excited to read it (though I probably won't get to it any time soon). The Inheritance Trilogy is a bind up of said series and it's something I've been eager to read for a few weeks now. A couple years ago I picked up the first book from the library but never gave it a fair chance before putting it down again. However, a lot of fantasy I wasn't a huge fan of back then I've been finding myself enjoying now, so I think it's more than a fair bet that I'll really enjoy this one. At the moment I plan to read this whole trilogy next.

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men is a book I picked up for school (ummm it's the only one I've picked up so far so I kinda need to get on top of that) with the full intention of reading ahead on and getting a bit of an early start on the year. Yeah, that never happened. Oops.

All four of these books I picked up for collection reasons (so, yeah, I have multiple copies of all these books now). I got The Lightning Thief because I plan to annotate this book and just have fun rereading it that way. I've never done that to a book before but some people make it look really beautiful and I'm hoping my own efforts turn out similarly. As for The Assassin's Blade (review), I needed it to complete my collection of UK Throne of Glass covers. I picked up both Shadow and Bone (review) and Siege and Storm (review) in hardcover because, with the new paperback redesigns, I need to make sure I collect them all. And yes, I will be picking up the new paperback redesigns very soon (because they're so lovely!).

I was so lucky and absolutely grateful to receive an early copy of The Girl in the Tower to review from Del Rey (thank you Del Rey!). They were also super kind and sent me a hardcover copy of The Bear and the Nightingale (review), which looks absolutely stunning on my shelf. I read and review Bear and the Nightingale earlier this year and didn't love it as much as I had hoped, but a large part of that was because I thought it was a standalone and felt unfinished by the ending. Well clearly it's part of a series so I'm hoping to go back and reread it and enjoy it more. I'm actually pretty excited about the sequel because of all the potential book one set up.

Both 13 Minutes and Frankie were also ARCs I received these last two months, both from Flatiron (thank you very much Flatiron!). I don't know too much about either of these but I prefer it that way so that I can go in with a complete fresh mind.

Okay here's the last batch of books I picked up these last two months. First up is Wicked Like a Wildfire one of my most anticipated reads of the year. Sadly, I don't know when I'll have the opportunity to pick this one up, but at least it's safe on my shelves for the time being. You may remember that I wasn't a huge fan of The Crown's Game back when I read it so I bet you're wondering why I picked up The Crown's Fate. Well, my dad bought it for me (it was super nice of him) because my name appears in the acknowledgements (as do many of those who preordered but still). Now that I have it I probably will read it, I just don't know when. I still haven't finished A Gathering of Shadows (but I will soon I promise!) but I wanted to complete my collection and so I grabbed A Conjuring of Light when it was slightly discounted online. And if I couldn't be excited enough, did you guys see VE Schwab's announcement today??? Freaking out! I don't know too much about The Traitor's Kiss but one of my close friends really enjoyed it so I picked it up. I still don't really know what it's about, nor have I seen it around too much. Last but not least: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue has to be one of the best books I've read this year! Sadly I didn't write a review (I talked about that a few wrap ups ago but TLDR I was feeling pressured and it wasn't good) but that doesn't mean this wasn't a phenomenal book.

Whew! Okay that's it for now. That's a lot more books than I had planned to buy. I'm fairly certain the next few months will have fewer books, but I always say that and then find myself buying way too many for myself to handle. What books have you picked up lately? Have you read any of these? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!