17 Best Book Deals for 7/25/19: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), Ink and Bone, Heretics Anonymous, and more

As of this posting, all of these deals are active, but I don’t know for how long!

Less than $1

The Casquette Girls by Alys Arden

The Gold-Son by Carrie Anne Noble

Less than $2

The Invasion of the Tearling (book 2) by Erika Johansen

Septimus Heap, Book 1: Magyk by Angie Sage

The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli

A Uterus is a Feature, Not a Bug by Sarah Lacy

Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes by Martha Stewart

Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry

Ink and  Bone by Rachel Caine

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst

Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

Joy: And 52 Other Very Short Stories by Erin McGraw

Less than $3

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

The Traitor’s Kiss by Erin Beaty

Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart

The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan

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Recommended from this post:

9 Best NetGalley Reads

I’ve been blogging for a while now and have requested MANY books from NetGalley. Over that amount of time, I’ve read quite a few duds unfortunately. That being said, I’ve also read some AMAZING books and have been introduced to some great authors and series as well.

Here are nine of my favorite reads that I got approved for on NetGalley. I’ll just include a quick TL;DR review for each title with a link for my full review (so you’ll get to see some of my OG reviews haha).

180 Seconds by Jessica Park – Subtly diverse characters created an authentic atmosphere for our main character to develop realistically with her mental health.

Full Review

Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin – Action, action, action with likable characters. You’ll start reading for the motorcycle race and you’ll keep reading for Yael.

Full Review

Invictus by Ryan Graudin – The most realistic time travel I’ve ever seen with super likable characters that just make the book so much deeper and more emotional.

Full Review

Iron Cast by Destiny Soria – This book had such a great atmosphere and the two main characters are seriously #friendshipgoals.

Full Review

Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno – This book will make you wish you had an abuela. The Cuban culture is so authentic throughout that it makes my heart hurt.

Full Review

Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes – The main character is tough as nails and I like how the book focused on her development as a character and her relationship with the women in her family instead of some rando boy.

Full Review

You Were Here by Cori McCarthy – The variety in the chapters was really fun despite the heavy topics explored in this book.

Full Review

Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine – An amazing start to a great series with a fantastic cast of diverse characters and evil librarians. Highly recommend this whole series.

Full Review

You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn – Flawed main characters have a surprising amount of depth. The author did a great job of creating emotion when I wasn’t expecting it.

Full Review

7 best YA couples of all time (this is completely subjective)

My little brother’s getting married today! Obviously, I’m not writing this on his wedding day, though. Like a good blogger, I have pre-scheduled content for this weekend including yesterday’s review of Bloodwitch. But I’m getting away from myself. In honor of my baby brother’s wedding day, I wanted to post my top 7 (he was born on the 7th) YA couples of all time! (In my opinion). Happy wedding day, B! (He doesn’t read this blog, but whatever).

1) Amy and Roger from Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

This is such an ultimate road trip book and I love it! Roger is super respectful of Amy the entire trip and when they finally get together it’s so satisfying. I love all the different playlists throughout and it’s so fun to watch them get to know each other and fall in love.

eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

2) August and Kate from the Monsters of Verity duology by Victoria Schwab

These two never really get together, but I still love them as a couple. I feel like they’re really well-suited for each other–I have a hard time imagining anyone else being able to understand either of them. They just seem really perfect.

eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

3) Blue and Gansey from The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

Blue and Gansey spend so much time in this series not actually together and while it can be frustrating at times, it also makes their inevitable relationship that much more satisfying. We know they’re fated to be with each other right from the beginning and I loved watching their relationship grow over the four books.

eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

4) Dario and Khalila from The Great Library series by Rachel Caine

These two! What a pair! Dario is so ridiculous, but he shows an unexpected tender side whenever Khalila is involved. And Khalila, for her part, doesn’t put up with any of Dario’s crap. She loves him, but she’s not going to let him get away with ANYTHING.

eBook | Paperback

5) Eril-Fane and Azareen from the Strange the Dreamer duology by Laini Taylor

I almost chose Lazlo and Sarai from this book, but then I remembered Eril-Fane and Azareen. While Lazlo and Sarai have a sweet new love, Eril-Fane and Azareen have a deep and tragic love. Reading about their relationship throughout the two books is so heartbreaking. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but I love the way this mature relationship is portrayed in these books.

eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

6) Cress and Thorne from The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

One of my OTPs. These guys are definitely perfect for each other. They compliment each other so nicely and I love how tender Thorne is with Cress. She needs someone who will be gentle with her, but also acknowledge all the ways in which she is strong–Thorne is able to do that perfectly.

eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

7) Remy and Dexter from This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

You knew there was going to be a Sarah Dessen couple on here, right?!? I wanted to pick Macy and Wes so bad, but in the end I had to go with Remy and Dexter. They are the ultimate example of opposites attracting. I love the way Dexter brings out the less serious side of Remy while Remy does a good job of being an anchor to the relationship.

eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

Any of your guys’ favorite couples make it on my list? Anyone you think I missed?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Set Outside the U.S.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week there is a new topic and this week’s topic is: Ten Books Set Outside The US

So here’s my list. None of these are necessarily going to give you a major case of Wanderlust, but these are some of my favorite books set outside of America.

England/Egypt – Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine (The Great Library series)
England/Scotland – Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger (Finishing School series)
England – Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson
England/Wonderland – The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor (The Looking Glass Wars series)
China/France/The Moon – Cinder by Marissa Meyers (The Lunar Chronicles)
England/Tropical Island – The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd (The Madman’s Daughter trilogy)
England – Austenland by Shannon Hale
Germany/Japan/Europe – Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
England – A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Italy – Instructions for a Broken Heart by Kim Culbertson

The Evil Library Strikes Again | Paper & Fire by Rachel Caine [ARC]

Warning: This is the second book in a series and so may contain spoilers for the first book. Click here to read my review on the first book, Ink & Bone.

Jess Brightwell has been adjusting to life as one of the High Garda, but that’s not all he’s been doing. He has reason to believe that his friend, Thomas Schreiber, is not actually dead like he’s been told. Jess thinks that finding the Black Archives may be the key to locating where Thomas is being kept, but nobody knows if the Black Archives actually exist. As Jess and his fellow former-postulants research this sensitive topic, they will find that they have uncovered much more than they bargained for. In order to survive, each of them will have to choose: Friends? Or the Library?

This was a great follow-up to the first book. Each character stays true to their original descriptions and I felt like their motivations and actions in this book still made sense. I like the variety that we have with characters too. We have Glain who’s super tough, then there’s Dario who we all still kind of hate, and then there’s Khalila who is smart and just so kind. They all contribute to make the group dynamic really interesting and enjoyable. There are a couple of characters who I don’t enjoy as much–mostly I feel like they tend to stand in the way of moving the plot forward–but overall the group is enjoyable.

Something that I didn’t necessarily anticipate is the depth of the characters’ relationships with each other. Thinking back on the events of the first book I guess it makes sense that they’ve all formed such a strong bond, but I didn’t feel like that bond was ever really shown or developed all that much in the first book. At least, I didn’t see it. This carries over to Jess’s relationship with Morgan. All of the sudden they’re really serious about each other and I’m just left going, “Wait, what? Where did all of these super strong feelings come from?”

Overall, I’ve really enjoyed this series. This book ends on such a cliffhanger! I can’t wait for the third book to come out. Another thing is that I LOVE these covers! They’re just colorful and interesting, yet kind of subtle at the same time. I definitely recommend these books.

Overall Rating: 4
Language: Mild
Violence: Heavy
Smoking/Drinking: Mild
Sexual Content: Mild

Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

An Alternate Future Where Libraries are Evil (Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine [ARC])

Jess comes from a family of book smugglers. As he grows older his father realizes that he’s not going to be fit to inherit the family business. Instead, he has an idea. Why not send Jess to study at the library? That way they can have an “inside man”. So Jess is sent to Alexandria to compete with some of the world’s best and brightest for one of six spots with the library. As he tries to keep his family’s background a secret, Jess will learn things about his fellow Postulants and the library that he may wish he’d never discovered.

I’m just going to say it: this book was way better than I thought it was going to be. There was a lot of action and a great cast of characters. I liked reading from Jess’s perspective because he has this conflict going on the whole time. He’s fascinated by the library and he’s kind of falling in love with it, but he also doesn’t want to disappoint or betray his family. And as time goes on there are other people he doesn’t want to disappoint or betray either. It really puts him in a hard position, but Caine does a great job of helping the reader to understand how Jess is feeling and his reactions all seem pretty reasonable.

This alternate future is seriously CRAZY. It’s a little steampunk and a little dystopian and in this world, being a librarian is really something completely different than it is in our world. There were enough familiar things about this world that the author was really able to build it and have the reader understand without having to infodump or anything like that–which I appreciated. The alchemy that’s woven throughout the story feels very natural and I’m really interested to learn more about it in the next book.

Overall, this book was super action-packed and I think the storyline is very intriguing–I’m not sure where the next book is going to take it. There are characters who you will love and characters who you will kind of hate but in the end, they’re all memorable. This is definitely one that I would recommend.

Overall Rating: 4
Language: Mild
Violence: Heavy, some gore described but not explicit
Smoking/Drinking: Moderate
Sexual Content: Mild

Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.