Although the original topic for this week seemed to be about books that you’re thankful for due to their impact on you, I decided to go in a slightly different direction and pick some books that I was thankful to get and/or buy recently! Last week, I shared my birthday book haul along with some of the other books that I grabbed recently. Of course, I’m thankful for all of the gifts that I received, but I wanted go into a bit more detail with a couple of them to explain why I was so thankful to get or find them. It was really hard to narrow it down to just 5 books, so I’m also including a few “honourable mentions” that won’t go into quite so much detail. Either way, I’m very excited to read all of these books, and I’m already really looking forward to my next chance to get more of the books that I’m most anticipating! I’ve been looking ahead at new releases for next year, and there are already tons that I want.
Top 5 Wednesday is a meme created by Gingerreadslainey on Youtube, and is now hosted by Sam at ThoughtsOnTomes. The official GoodReads group with the weekly topics can be found here.
1) Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
I had put this book on my birthday wishlist, but assumed it was a longshot since Jay Kristoff’s books tend to be very expensive here. I usually have to wait months for his books to go on sale, if they do at all! The original price for this one was $40, but Indigo had it available at a discount for $30, which is still more than I personally like to spend on one book. I added it to my list as an option but didn’t really think anyone would get it for me. I was very surprised to see it among a few other books from my brother and his wife! This book is about Gabriel, the last remaining silversaint, who is forced to tell his story about the battles between humans and vampires and the quest for humanity’s last hope. To be honest, I’m very intimidated by this book since it is over 700 pages! I’ve really enjoyed everything I’ve read by Jay Kristoff so far, although I definitely have to be in the right mood for his books since they can be quite dense. Although this sounds like an ideal October read, I will most likely try to read it very early on next year, since I tend to do better with longer books if I don’t push them off right until the end of the year.
2) The House on the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune
I’ve heard so much about The House on the Cerulean Sea for the past year, but for some reason, I’d always assumed it was middle grade. When I finally realized what it was about, it jumped straight to the top of my priority list! It is about a man named Linus who is the caseworker visiting a mysterious orphanage to check on the unusual children who live there, and soon grows close to Arthur, the children’s caretaker. T.J. Klune was only further cemented as an author to prioritize next year when I saw the synopsis for Under the Whispering Door, which is about a man named Wallace whose encounter with the reaper leads him to a tea shop run by Hugo, who is also the ferryman for souls who need to cross over. Wallace is not ready to give up his life, and with Hugo’s help, starts to realize all the things that he missed, and sets out to live an entire lifetime in the one week he is given before he must pass on. I was very thankful for Indigo’s sale the other week which allowed me to finally get an affordable copy of both of these books! Like Empire of the Vampire, they were both in the $35-$40 range normally, so I was very thankful for the opportunity to get them at a much more affordable price.
3) A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
This was another book that I snapped up in the same Indigo sale, and I was thankful to grab it for the same reason — I’d been waiting all year to get a copy, but it was just so expensive! I actually ended up buying The Last Graduate at the same time, so I hope I like them both. This book is about a girl named El who attends a deadly magical school where students either graduate or die. El has magic that is powerful enough to defeat the monsters lurking in the school, but it comes with the risk of taking out all of the other students in the process. I’m a little worried about this one because I’ve seen some very mixed reviews for it, but it also sounds very interesting! I absolutely loved Uprooted although I was a bit more on the fence about Spinning Silver. I’m hoping that I love this book as much as I’m expecting to! It was on my list of priority books to read this year, but I’m not 100% sure I’ll be able to get to it before the end of December.
4) Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker
I found this one by complete fluke on Book Outlet! It was literally either the day before or the day of it coming into stock that I had commented that this book was going to be very hard for me to find, since it was out of stock everywhere. I’m planning for Wendy Walker to be on my priority authors list for next year, and I thought this was the only book of hers that I was missing. Looking at her Goodreads page now, it seems there are two earlier releases that I’d never heard of before (Social Lives and her debut Four Wives), but those seem to be more “women’s fiction” than thrillers, and it’s her thrillers that really interest me. It was completely by chance that I saw this book come up on Book Outlet, especially since it was shortly after they completely revamped their website and I hadn’t yet learned the new way to navigate it. It was lucky I saw this one come up, since it was very low in stock, and I grabbed it immediately! I was definitely very thankful that it came in stock.
5) The Playdate by Louise Millar
This is another book that I was very thankful to see come in stock on Book Outlet. This book has literally been on my TBR since 2016, but I haven’t’ been able to read it since it was not available anywhere! Not even my library could get a copy of it. This book is about a single mother named Callie who relies on her best friend Suzy for support, but she starts to suspect that Suzy’s life isn’t really as simple at it seems and starts to pull away. Instead, Callie befriends Deb, a new neighbour who seems anxious and kind of odd, and is hiding her past from her neighbours. To be honest, I had barely even thought about this book in year since I knew it was unavailable, but I left it on my Goodreads TBR as a reminder to pick it up just in case. I don’t really remember much about what drew me to this book in the first place, especially since the synopsis seems very vague, but I suspect I found it while searching for more thrillers. Either way, I was thankful to see this one on Book Outlet so I can finally give it a try!
Honourable Mentions:
- The Family Plot and Behind the Red Door by Megan Collins – Again, these were both books that I really badly wanted, but I wasn’t willing to spend $35 each on them! I grabbed them both from Indigo during their sale, and I’m very excited to try them!
- The last three books of the Ember in the Ashes series by Sabaa Tahir – I’ve had the first book in this series for about a year, but held off buying the other three because they were a little on the pricey side. I was very thankful that my mom bought me all three for my birthday, so I can finally read the whole series!
- Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult and Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty – I’m grouping these two together because I have very similar reasons for being thankful for them. These are both books by two of my favourite authors, and both were among my most anticipated books of this year. I was thankful to grab them both during Indigo’s sale!
Abyssal Librarian 