Oops. I did it again. I bought way too many books. I also regret nothing. Once again, all the books that I purchased were either on sale or part of a great deal so I don’t feel so bad. I do have quite a lot to read now though, but my birthday is in two weeks which means…BIRTHDAY BOOK SHOPPING! I need help. Are there group meetings for bookaholics?
Physical Books
The Boy Who Could See Demons
Author: Carolyn Jess-Cooke
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Horror
Release Date: August 13th 2013
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 288
ISBN: 9780345536532
Goodreads synopsis: Alex Connolly is ten years old, likes onions on toast, and can balance on the back legs of his chair for fourteen minutes. His best friend is a 9000-year-old demon called Ruen. When his depressive mother attempts suicide yet again, Alex meets child psychiatrist Anya. Still bearing the scars of her own daughter’s battle with schizophrenia, Anya fears for Alex’s mental health and attempts to convince him that Ruen doesn’t exist. But as she runs out of medical proof for many of Alex’s claims, she is faced with a question: does Alex suffer from schizophrenia, or can he really see demons?
Traffick (Tricks #2)
Author: Ellen Hopkins
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderrly
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Prose
Release Date: November 3rd 2015
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 505
ISBN: N/A
Goodreads synopsis: In her bestselling novel, Tricks, Ellen Hopkins introduced us to five memorable characters tackling these enormous questions: Eden, the preacher’s daughter who turns tricks in Vegas and is helped into a child prostitution rescue; Seth, the gay farm boy disowned by his father who finds himself without money or resources other than his own body; Whitney, the privileged kid coaxed into the life by a pimp and whose dreams are ruined in a heroin haze; Ginger, who runs away from home with her girlfriend and is arrested for soliciting an undercover cop; and Cody, whose gambling habit forces him into the life, but who is shot and left for dead. And now, in Traffick, these five are faced with the toughest question of all: Is there a way out? How these five teenagers face the aftermath of their decisions and experiences is the soul of this story that exposes the dark, ferocious underbelly of the child trafficking trade. Heartwrenching and hopeful, Traffick takes us on five separate but intertwined journeys through the painful challenges of recovery, rehabilitation, and renewal to forgiveness and love. All the way home.
If I Fall, If I Die
Author: Michael Christie
Publisher: William Heinemann
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Contemporary
Release Date: February 12th 2015
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 336
ISBN: 9780434023073
Goodreads synopsis: Will has never been to the outside, at least not since he can remember. And he has certainly never gotten to know anyone other than his mother, a fiercely loving yet wildly eccentric agoraphobe who drowns in panic at the thought of opening the front door. Their little world comprises only the rooms in their home, each named for various exotic locales and filled with Will’s art projects. Soon the confines of his world close in on Will. Despite his mother’s protestations, Will ventures outside clad in a protective helmet and braces himself for danger. He eventually meets and befriends Jonah, a quiet boy who introduces Will to skateboarding. Will welcomes his new world with enthusiasm, his fears fading and his body hardening with each new bump, scrape, and fall. But life quickly gets complicated. When a local boy goes missing, Will and Jonah want to uncover what happened. They embark on an extraordinary adventure that pulls Will far from the confines of his closed-off world and into the throes of early adulthood and the dangers that everyday life offers. If I Fall, if I Die is a remarkable debut full of dazzling prose, unforgettable characters, and a poignant and heartfelt depiction of coming of age.
The Wrath and the Dawn
Author: Renee Ahdieh
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Release Date: May 12th 2015
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 388
ISBN: 9780399171611
Goodreads synopsis: In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad’s dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph’s reign of terror once and for all. Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she’d imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It’s an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid’s life as retribution for the many lives he’s stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?
The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave #2)
Author: Rick Yancey
Publisher: Puntam
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Release Date: September 16th 2014
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 300
ISBN: 9780399169915
Goodreads synopsis: How do you rid the Earth of seven billion humans? Rid the humans of their humanity. Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others’ ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race. Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate.
Wonder
Author: R.J. Palacio
Publisher: Knopf
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Release Date: February 14th 2012
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 320
ISBN: 9780375869020
Goodreads synopsis: You can’t blend in when you were born to stand out. My name is August. I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse. August Pullman wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things. He eats ice cream. He plays on his Xbox. He feels ordinary – inside. But Auggie is far from ordinary. Ordinary kids don’t make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids don’t get stared at wherever they go. Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life, in an attempt to protect him from the cruelty of the outside world. Now, for the first time, he’s being sent to a real school – and he’s dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted – but can he convince his new classmates that he’s just like them, underneath it all? Narrated by Auggie and the people around him whose lives he touches forever, Wonder is a funny, frank, astonishingly moving debut to read in one sitting, pass on to others, and remember long after the final page.
Everything, Everything
Author: Nicola Yoon
Publisher: Double Day Canada
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Release Date: September 1st 2015
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 306
ISBN: 9780385683654
Goodreads Synopsis: My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla. But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly. Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.
Ebooks
Half Truths (Half Bad Novella)
Author: Sally Green
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal
Release Date: November 3rd 2015
Format: e-Book
Page Count: 55
Goodreads synopsis: Half Truths follows Gabriel’s story from the time he arrives Switzerland, seeking help in recovering his magical powers from the conniving Black Witch Mercury, and goes up until the moment when he first meets Nathan and their paths become forever intertwined. For the new reader, this is the perfect bite-sized introduction to the world of Half Bad, where witches and humans live alongside one another. And for the returning reader, this story sheds new light on one of the trilogy’s most beloved characters.
The Grownup
Author: Gillian Flynn
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Genre: Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Short Story
Release Date: November 3rd 2015
Format: e-Book
Page Count: 80
Goodreads synopsis: A canny young woman is struggling to survive by perpetrating various levels of mostly harmless fraud. On a rainy April morning, she is reading auras at Spiritual Palms when Susan Burke walks in. A keen observer of human behavior, our unnamed narrator immediately diagnoses beautiful, rich Susan as an unhappy woman eager to give her lovely life a drama injection. However, when the “psychic” visits the eerie Victorian home that has been the source of Susan’s terror and grief, she realizes she may not have to pretend to believe in ghosts anymore. Miles, Susan’s teenage stepson, doesn’t help matters with his disturbing manner and grisly imagination. The three are soon locked in a chilling battle to discover where the evil truly lurks and what, if anything, can be done to escape it.
*I actually bought both the e-book and hard copy versions of this short story, but I purchased and read the e-book version first so I’ll categorize it here.
Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Release Date: January 3rd 2015
Format: e-Book
Page Count: 390
ISBN: 9781466800113
Goodreads synopsis: Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.
Thrifted Books
Auggie & Me
Author: R.J. Palacio
Publisher: Corgi Childrens
Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Release Date: August 27th 2015
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 303
ISBN: 9780552574778
Goodreads synopsis: WONDER tells the story of Auggie Pullman: an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face, whose first year at school changed the lives and the perspectives of everyone around him. AUGGIE & ME is a new side to the WONDER story: three new chapters from three different characters – bully Julian, oldest friend Christopher and classmate Charlotte – giving an insight into how Auggie has touched their own lives. Thought-provoking, surprising, infuriating, heartbreaking and heartwarming, AUGGIE & ME is a must-read for the thousands of readers who loved WONDER.
Choke
Author: Chuck Palahniuk
Publisher: Anchor Books
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary
Release Date: May 22nd 2003
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 293
ISBN: 9780385720922
Goodreads synopsis: Victor Mancini, a medical-school dropout, is an antihero for our deranged times. Needing to pay elder care for his mother, Victor has devised an ingenious scam: he pretends to choke on pieces of food while dining in upscale restaurants. He then allows himself to be “saved” by fellow patrons who, feeling responsible for Victor’s life, go on to send checks to support him. When he’s not pulling this stunt, Victor cruises sexual addiction recovery workshops for action, visits his addled mom, and spends his days working at a colonial theme park. His creator, Chuck Palahniuk, is the visionary we need and the satirist we deserve.
Us Conductors
Author: Sean Michaels
Publisher: Tin House Books
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: June 10th 2014
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 464
ISBN: 9781935639817
Goodreads synopsis: In a finely woven series of flashbacks and correspondence, Lev Termen, the Russian scientist, inventor, and spy, tells the story of his life to his “one true love,” Clara Rockmore, the finest theremin player in the world. In the first half of the book, we learn of Termen’s early days as a scientist in Leningrad during the Bolshevik Revolution, the acclaim he receives as the inventor of the theremin, and his arrival in 1930s New York under the aegis of the Russian state. In the United States he makes a name for himself teaching the theremin to eager music students and marketing his inventions to American companies. In the second half, the novel builds to a crescendo as Termen returns to Russia, where he is imprisoned in a Siberian gulag and later brought to Moscow, tasked with eavesdropping on Stalin himself. Throughout all this, his love for Clara remains constant and unflagging, traveling through the ether much like a theremin’s notes. Us Conductors is steeped in beauty, wonder, and looping heartbreak, a sublime debut that inhabits the idea of invention on every level.
Ugly Love
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publisher: Atria Books
Genre: New Adult, Romance
Release Date: August 5th 2014
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 337
ISBN: N/A
Goodreads synopsis: When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love, so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her. Never ask about the past. Don’t expect a future. They think they can handle it, but realize almost immediately they can’t handle it at all. Hearts get infiltrated. Promises get broken. Rules get shattered. Love gets ugly.
ARCs
The Passenger
Author: Lisa Lutz
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Release Date: March 1st 2016
Format: ARC
Page Count: 320
ISBN: 9781451686630
Goodreads synopsis: From the author of the New York Times bestselling Spellman Files series, Lisa Lutz’s latest blistering thriller is about a woman who creates and sheds new identities as she crisscrosses the country to escape her past: you’ll want to buckle up for the ride! In case you were wondering, I didn’t do it. I didn’t have anything to do with Frank’s death. I don’t have an alibi, so you’ll have to take my word for it… Forty-eight hours after leaving her husband’s body at the base of the stairs, Tanya Dubois cashes in her credit cards, dyes her hair brown, demands a new name from a shadowy voice over the phone, and flees town. It’s not the first time. She meets Blue, a female bartender who recognizes the hunted look in a fugitive’s eyes and offers her a place to stay. With dwindling choices, Tanya-now-Amelia accepts. An uneasy―and dangerous―alliance is born. It’s almost impossible to live off the grid today, but Amelia-now-Debra and Blue have the courage, the ingenuity, and the desperation, to try. Hopscotching from city to city, Debra especially is chased by a very dark secret…can she outrun her past? With heart-stopping escapes and devious deceptions, The Passenger is an amazing psychological thriller about defining yourself while you pursue your path to survival. One thing is certain: the ride will leave you breathless.
We Are The Ants
Author: Shaun David Hutchinson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Canada
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, LGBTQ+
Release Date: January 19th 2016
Format: ARC
Page Count: 304
ISBN: 9781481449632
Goodreads synopsis: Henry Denton doesn’t know why the aliens chose to abduct him when he was thirteen, and he doesn’t know why they continue to steal him from his bed and take him aboard their ship. He doesn’t know why the world is going to end or why the aliens have offered him the opportunity to avert the impending disaster by pressing a big red button. But they have. And they’ve only given him 144 days to make up his mind. Since the suicide of his boyfriend, Jesse, Henry has been adrift. He’s become estranged from his best friend, started hooking up with his sworn enemy, and his family is oblivious to everything that’s going on around them. As far as Henry is concerned, a world without Jesse is a world he isn’t sure is worth saving. Until he meets Diego Vega, an artist with a secret past who forces Henry to question his beliefs, his place in the universe, and whether any of it really matters. But before Henry can save the world, he’s got to figure out how to save himself, and the aliens haven’t given him a button for that.
Big City Bookworm 
Nice Book haul, i always love your book hauls!!
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Thank you so much!! 😀
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