14 Best Book Deals for 9/29/20: Pretty Little Liars, Harry’s Trees, and more

Book Deals
As of this posting, all of these deals are active, but I don’t know for how long!
Less than $2

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

Tidelands by Philippa Gregory

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst

The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll

Less than $3

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen

Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra & Dhonielle Clayton

The Black Witch by Laurie Forest

All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace

On Bowie by Rob Sheffield

A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

Harry’s Trees by Jon Cohen


Recommended from this post:

22 Best Book Deals for 9/17/20: Maisie Dobbs, Beach Read, A Darker Shade of Magic, and more

Book Deals
As of this posting, all of these deals are active, but I don’t know for how long!
Less than $2

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell

Tidelands by Philippa Gregory

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

Less than $3

The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg

Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner

Happily Ever After by Kiera Cass

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra & Dhonielle Clayton

The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers


Recommended from this post:

Summer TBR | Final Update

At the beginning of the summer, I posted a list of 9 books that I hoped to read. Then, I posted an update halfway through July. Now that summer is over, I just wanted to give a final update on how I did.

The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag by Alan Bradley – This was read from before. I’m continuing with my audio binge and am currently on #8
eBook | Paperback

Legendary by Stephanie Garber – Still waiting on my shelf…
eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo – I read this one as a buddy read last month and had some thoughts. Review coming soon!
eBook | Hardcover

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He – I checked this one out from the library. It took me longer than I thought it would to get through and I didn’t love it.
eBook | Hardcover

The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen – Read from before. Sarah Dessen is a queen and I really liked this one. Review
eBook | Hardcover

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo – Read from before. I was a bit disappointed in this one. Review
eBook | Hardcover

This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills – Read from before. I’ve read all of her books that are out now (I think?) and have enjoyed them all! Mini-review
eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black – I’m hoping to get to this one within the next couple of months!
eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi – Still haven’t gotten to this one unfortunately, but the eBook is like…always available from the library, so hopefully soon!
eBook | Hardcover | Paperback (Preorder)

With my last update, I’d read 4/9 and at the end of the summer I’d gotten to 6/9. Which I don’t think is too bad! Especially considering two of the three books I didn’t get to are currently sitting on my shelf, I think I’ll finish this list before the end of the year.

Let me know in the comments what your favorite 2019 summer read was!

Summer TBR Update

At the end of May, I posted a list of 9 books that I wanted to read over the Summer. Now that we’re halfway-ish through said season, I wanted to post a quick little update as to how my Summer reading is going!

The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag by Alan Bradley – Read! I’ve been bingeing the audio books on our morning walks and I’m currently on #5 now!
eBook | Paperback

Legendary by Stephanie Garber – Still waiting on my shelf…
eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo – Also still just hanging out…
eBook | Hardcover

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He – Not yet, but I just put it on hold at my library!
eBook | Hardcover

The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen – Read! Sarah Dessen is a queen and I really liked this one. Review
eBook | Hardcover

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo – Read! My review for this one is coming (but spoiler, I didn’t LOVE it).
eBook | Hardcover

This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills – Read! I really, really liked this one and am excited to share my thoughts on it soon!
eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black – Haven’t read it yet, but I do have the paperback on my shelf now.
eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi – I currently have this checked out from the library and I hope I can get to it before it’s due!
eBook | Hardcover | Paperback (Preorder)

So far I’ve read 4/9 on my Summer TBR which isn’t bad! I hope that I can at least get to the three that are sitting on my shelf, staring at me right now…

How is your Summer reading going? Have you been getting to everything you’ve wanted to? What’s been your favorite Summer read so far?

Welcome to a California Summer | June Wrap-Up & TBR Update

You guys. Where we’re at in California is SO HOT. We’ve been told that if you can survive July and August then you’ll make it, but I’m all like JUNE HAS BEEN UPPER 90s/LOW 100s EVERY DAY SO HOW COULD JULY AND AUGUST BE WORSE. Guess we’ll see.

monthly tbr

Also read/reading:

Books finished this month: 4 (with 2 DNFs)
Books currently reading: 3

Man, I really need to get back on track with my ARCs.

Overall TBR:

TBR at the beginning of the year = 383
TBR at the beginning of June = 460
Books added to TBR = 18
Books read/deleted from TBR = 6
Total on TBR now = 472

How did your reading go this month?

I ate so much toast while reading this book | The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen

The Rest of the StoryEmma Saylor has never really spent time with her mom’s family (except for that one Summer when she was four, but she doesn’t really remember that). But when all other options fall through, Emma finds herself heading to Calvander’s–the motel on the lake that her mom’s family owns and operates. As she arrives and the Summer progresses, Emma (or Saylor as her mom’s family calls her) finds out things she never knew about her mother and herself.

TL;DR – Another great Summer read from Sarah Dessen. It doesn’t blow your socks off, but it’s comfortable and the new setting of the lake is fun and I can’t wait to see what else she does with it in the future.

Purchase: Kindle | Hardcover

While this book isn’t going to break into my top five Sarah Dessen books, I still found it enjoyable. Saylor (or Emma) is a likable character even if she’s quite similar to past Dessen protagonists. She battles with identity in the form of her name throughout the book (reminiscent of McLean in What Happened to Goodbye) but I’ll refer to her just as Saylor throughout the rest of the review. I liked the cast of secondary characters even if some felt mildly superfluous (Taylor, April, and Vincent). I might be wrong, but I think this is our first Dessen protagonist who has a large extended family? That we get to see anyway. And I liked that dynamic. I’m someone who comes from large extended families on both sides, so I enjoyed seeing the cousin interactions. I didn’t always love Bailey (she’s pretty self-centered) and we don’t see a ton of Jack, but I loved Trinity. I thought she was a really fun and dynamic character and I would have loved more interactions between her and Saylor. I also thought Gordon was extremely precious and I wanted more of her as well.

As for the characters on the Emma side of things, her friends Bridget and Ryan, again, seemed mildly superfluous. I love that Dessen’s characters usually have strong female friendships, but this time that was mostly shown through the cousins instead of Saylor’s school friends. Tracy was nice enough and I like that she didn’t try to insert herself into things. Nana rocked. I thought she was going to be stuffy and annoying, but she’s actually the best. Saylor’s dad however…I had such a hard time with him for 95% of the book. I never felt like I totally understood his perspective and some of his actions completely enraged me. That being said, I still felt like he was a good guy and I was glad that Saylor had a good father in her life.

I’m realizing now that this is like three paragraphs on characters when I usually just do one, but there were a ton of characters and this book was seriously character driven. Anyway, here we go: Roo. I liked Roo as a person–I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love how almost all of Dessen’s romantic leads are GOOD GUYS. Like seriously, just nice boys. So from that perspective, I really liked Roo and I liked that Roo and Saylor had history. However, I don’t feel like we got to see Roo and Saylor spend much time with each other. In contrast, in The Truth About Forever (my ultimate Sarah Dessen fave), Macy and Wes spend a TON of time together and the reader gets to see it. But because of how busy Roo always was among the other things that Saylor was dealing with, they didn’t spend that much time together. So while I still bought their relationship, I didn’t feel super invested in it.

Lastly, I’ll just go over a few minor things that bugged or didn’t make sense. There was a lot of reflecting and introspection in this book. Like, Saylor would be out on the porch reflecting on an experience she’d had earlier with Mimi or something. But like…why not just write the scene? Why have it be a flashback? With all of the reflecting and such, the timeline seemed really screwy. I would be reading and think that an entire week had passed only to find out that it had been like…two days. Another thing is that I don’t understand why Calvander’s is so short staffed? I mean, it’s the Summer so it seems like they’d have at least two seasonal hires (which they’ve had in the past). I think maybe that should have been explained. Even if Mimi was just like, “Oh, we couldn’t get anybody this year!” Something like that. Another random thing is that I felt really confused by the Sergeant. Like, why did he even “exist” as a character? We literally never see anything from him but that dang toaster! Anyway, I just found him to be very confusing. The last thing is that I was EXTREMELY disappointed in the number of cameos in this book. I know that none of our previous characters have visited the lake before, but that doesn’t mean they can’t visit it now!

In the end, I still really enjoyed this book even if it’s not quite a top five for me. It’s still a solid Dessen book and I really enjoyed the new setting that she’s created with the lake. I’m excited to see what she does with it in the future. Definitely would recommend!

Overall Rating: 4
Language: Moderate
Violence: None
Smoking/Drinking: Moderate
Sexual Content: None

May flowers bring June power (reading) | June TBR

This is the month of the big move! We’ll be moving within the next few days and after that we’ll be settling into our new place, our new lives. I’m so hoping to have time to read. If I do, here’s what I’m planning to get to this month.

monthly tbr

I’m trying to keep it pretty simple this month and we’ll see how that goes.

What are you guys reading this month? Let me know in the comments!

9 books on my Summer TBR

Summer is almost upon us! After we’re done moving, I’m hoping that life will settle down enough for me to read more. I’m going to be transitioning from working to being a stay-at-home-mom for at least a little while and I’m looking forward to it. While I’m not working, I’m hoping to get to these books:

Books That I Own

 

The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag by Alan Bradley – I really liked the first book in this series and I have like…the next six on my shelf. I need to continue with this series!
eBook | Paperback

Legendary by Stephanie Garber – The first book was great and I’ve been looking forward to the second, just haven’t gotten around to it unfortunately. And now the third book is out? I didn’t realize how behind I was!
eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo – Another book that’s just been sitting on my shelf since I got it! I’ve just had so many other things to read, but I really want to make this a priority for this Summer!
eBook | Hardcover

2019 Releases

 

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He – This one sounds awesome and I’ve only heard good things about it. I love the Asian rep!
eBook | Hardcover

The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen – I can honestly say, this is the only book on my list that I know with a deep surety I’ll be reading this Summer. HATE SPINNERBAIT!
Preorder: eBook | Hardcover

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo – I haven’t read Poet X, but I’ve heard amazing things about it, so I have high expectations for this book. It has food and babies, two things that I love!
eBook | Hardcover

Backlist Reads

 

This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills – All of her covers are STUNNING and all of her books sound interesting to me. I’m not really sure why I haven’t read anything by her yet? But I’m hoping to this Summer!
eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black – I had a huge Holly Black phase when I was in junior high. I devoured her Tithe series, but haven’t really been back to visit since. I know everyone and their mother has read this book and is OBSESSED. I’m ready to join the bandwagon.
eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi – Another book that I’ve only heard good things about. I don’t really have a good reason why I haven’t read this yet, I just haven’t gotten to it.
eBook | Hardcover | Paperback (Preorder)

What books are you hoping to read this Summer? Which of these books should I make more of a priority? Let me know in the comments!

TTT | Springing into Spring reads for 2019

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Top Ten Tuesday Blog

Books On My Spring 2019 TBR

These are books I hope to read this Spring (April-June). Fingers crossed I can get to them all!

Normal releases:

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

Nikolai Lantsov has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war—and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, the young king must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army.

Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha Squaller, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried—and some wounds aren’t meant to heal.

eBook | Hardcover

The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen

Emma Saylor doesn’t remember a lot about her mother, who died when she was ten. But she does remember the stories her mom told her about the big lake that went on forever, with cold, clear water and mossy trees at the edges.

Now it’s just Emma and her dad, and life is good, if a little predictable…until Emma is unexpectedly sent to spend the summer with her mother’s family—her grandmother and cousins she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl.

Preorder: eBook | Hardcover

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For two thousand years, cadavers—some willingly, some unwittingly—have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. In this fascinating account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries and tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.

eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

Legendary by Stephanie Garber

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister, Scarlett, from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend’s true name.

eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world’s only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.

So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—both of whom have lived amongst Earth’s mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.

And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist . . .

eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

ARCs:

Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett

After an awkward first encounter, Birdie and Daniel are forced to work together in a Seattle hotel where a famous author leads a mysterious and secluded life in this romantic contemporary novel from the author of Alex, Approximately.

Preorder: eBook | Hardcover

The Raven’s Tale by Cat Winters

Seventeen-year-old Edgar Poe counts down the days until he can escape his foster family—the wealthy Allans of Richmond, Virginia. He hungers for his upcoming life as a student at the prestigious new university, almost as much as he longs to marry his beloved Elmira Royster. However, on the brink of his departure, all his plans go awry when a macabre Muse named Lenore appears to him. Muses are frightful creatures that lead Artists down a path of ruin and disgrace, and no respectable person could possibly understand or accept them. But Lenore steps out of the shadows with one request: “Let them see me!”

Preorder: eBook | Hardcover

King of Fools by Amanda Foody

On the quest to find her missing mother, prim and proper Enne Salta became reluctant allies with Levi Glaisyer, the city’s most famous con man. Saving his life in the Shadow Game forced Enne to assume the identity of Seance, a mysterious underworld figure. Now, with the Chancellor of the Republic dead and bounties on both their heads, she and Levi must play a dangerous game of crime and politics…with the very fate of New Reynes at stake.

Preorder: eBook | Hardcover

Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno

Rosa Santos is cursed by the sea-at least, that’s what they say. Dating her is bad news, especially if you’re a boy with a boat.

But Rosa feels more caught than cursed. Caught between cultures and choices. Between her abuela, a beloved healer and pillar of their community, and her mother, an artist who crashes in and out of her life like a hurricane. Between Port Coral, the quirky South Florida town they call home, and Cuba, the island her abuela refuses to talk about. As her college decision looms, Rosa collides-literally-with Alex Aquino, the mysterious boy with tattoos of the ocean whose family owns the marina. With her heart, her family, and her future on the line, can Rosa break a curse and find her place beyond the horizon?

Preorder: eBook | Hardcover

Happy Messy Scary Love by Leah Konen

As everyone at her Brooklyn high school announces their summer adventures, Olivia harbors a dirty secret: Her plan is to binge-watch horror movies and chat with her online friend, Elm. Olivia and Elm have never shared personal details, apart from their ages and the fact that Elm’s aunt is a low-budget horror filmmaker. Then Elm pushes Olivia to share her identity and sends her a selfie of his own. Olivia is shocked by how cute he is! In a moment of panic, assuming she and Elm will never meet in real life, she sends a photo of her gorgeous friend Katie. But things are about to get even more complicated when Olivia’s parents send her to the Catskills, and she runs into the one person she never thought she would see.

Preorder: eBook | Hardcover

What do you think of my list? Link your TTT in the comments!

COVER REVEAL: The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen

The cover is here!!!

The Rest of the Story ew

I think it looks perfect and summery and I can’t wait to read it! Click here for an excerpt on the EW page. I’m a little sad that it doesn’t really match with the rest of her covers, but she is with a new publisher now and I feel like this cover looks a little more current than her other ones. Look for it on shelves June 4th.

Preorder: ebook | Hardcover | Audio

What do you guys think of the cover? Are you as excited as I am for a new Sarah Dessen book???