I participated in both the Make Me Read It Readathon and ARC August which definitely pushed me to read more than normal. Even with a bit of traveling, I managed to read 13 books in August. I also made it through half of another.
Here is what I read.
The Hollow Girl by Hilary Monahan 4 1/2 stars (arc)
Geekerella by Ashley Poston 5 stars
History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera 5 stars
Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller 4 stars (closer to 4 1/2) (arc)
I guess I posted my Massive Book Haul too soon. I ended up getting a lot more books sooner than I expected.
I won these books from Entangled Teen on twitter. Black Bird of the Gallows, Remember Yesterday, All The Stars Left Behind, Omega, and Enigma.
These were ordered from Barnes & Noble online. Akata Witch, The Epic Crush of Genie Lo, Little & Lion, Dress Codes for Small Towns, and Monstress.
The Rattled Bones was the Page Habit book for August and Wicked Like A Wildfire was the Fairy Loot book. I will be making a post for both of these boxes soon.
Bernie Sanders Guide To Political Revolution was purchased at a book tour for Bernie.
Not a book, but my pre-order gifts came in for Moxie. #moxiegirlsfightback
I also got two digital books. A Messy Beautiful Life from Entangled Teen and Feel Me Fall from the author.
The theme for August’s OwlCrate is Something Wicked This Way Comes. My box arrived today and I love everything in it.
Each month there is a card with the theme on one side and a list of everything included on the other.
These Edgar Allan Poe socks are from Out of Print.
This fountain pen is from Ody and the sticker is a This Savage Song sticker designed by Evie Bookish.
This Six of Crows bookmark was designed by Treehouse of Books and the box came with two pins this month.
The Dark Arts inspired coffee was made exclusively by Happenstance Coffee.
There was also an extra book in this month’s box. Sleepy Hollow & Other Stories published by Rock Paper Books.
This months’ book selection is The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones. The cover is an OwlCrate exclusive.
The book came with a letter from the author and a signed bookplate.
The last item in the box is a card with next month’s theme.
There are quite a few books coming out in August that I’m looking forward to, including one of my most anticipated books of 2017. These are my top ones.
Blight by Alexandra Duncan. Release date August 1, 2017.
Seventeen-year-old Tempest Torres has lived on the AgraStar farm north of Atlanta since she was found outside the gates at the age of five. Now she’s part of the security force guarding the fence and watching for scavengers—people who would rather steal genetically engineered food from the company than work for it. When a group of such rebels accidentally sets off an explosion in the research compound, it releases into the air a blight that kills every living thing in its path—including humans. With blight-resistant seeds in her pocket, Tempest teams up with a scavenger boy named Alder and runs for help. But when they finally arrive at AgraStar headquarters, they discover that there’s an even bigger plot behind the blight—and it’s up to them to stop it from happening again. A fast-paced action-adventure story that is Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake meets Nancy Farmer’s House of the Scorpion.
The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones. Release date August 8, 2017.
When Dee Moreno makes a deal with a demon—her heart in exchange for an escape from a disastrous home life—she finds the trade may have been more than she bargained for. And becoming “heartless” is only the beginning. What lies ahead is a nightmare far bigger, far more monstrous than anything she could have ever imagined.
With reality turned on its head, Dee has only a group of other deal-making teens to keep her grounded, including the charming but secretive James Lancer. And as something grows between them amid an otherworldy ordeal, Dee begins to wonder: Can she give someone her heart when it’s no longer hers to give?
The Bakersville Dozen by Kristina McBride. Release date August 8, 2017.
Back in September, the town of Bakersville, Ohio made national news when a video went viral featuring thirteen of the high school’s elite in compromising positions. Now it’s May, and every month since the “Bakersville Dozen” made their infamous appearance on the national stage, one girl has gone missing. Officials are no closer to identifying the criminal.
Bailey “Like a Virgin” Holzman is getting really fed up with the scrutiny. She just wants to enjoy the rest of her senior year and have an epic summer before heading off to college. So when she discovers a note in her locker on the last day of school inviting her on a scavenger hunt, she thinks it’s just a sweet surprise from her boyfriend trying to cheer her up.
But following the clue leads her, instead, to the first official casualty. And another sinister envelope. The killer is close, and it could be anyone. Even the people Bailey’s always trusted most—her best friend, her perfect boyfriend, or the boy-next-door she’s always pined for.
With the clock ticking, she faces a terrifying choice: play the game by the killer’s rules—follow the clues, tell no one, and no cops—for a chance to save the rest of the missing girls, or risk becoming the next grisly victim.
A Map For Wrecked Girls by Jessica Taylor. Release date August 15, 2017.
We sat at the edge of the ocean—my sister Henri and I—inches apart but not touching at all. We’d been so sure someone would find us by now.
Emma had always orbited Henri, her fierce, magnetic queen bee of an older sister, and the two had always been best friends. Until something happened that wrecked them.
I’d trusted Henri more than I’d trusted myself. Wherever she told me to go, I’d follow.
Then the unthinkable occurs—a watery nightmare off the dazzling coast. The girls wash up on shore, stranded. Their only companion is Alex, a troubled boy agonizing over his own secrets. Trapped in this gorgeous hell, Emma and Alex fall together as Emma and Henri fall catastrophically apart.
For the first time, I was afraid we’d die on this shore.
To find their way home, the sisters must find their way back to each other. But there’s no map for this—or anything. Can they survive the unearthing of the past and the upheaval of the present?
Wicked Like A Wildfire by Lana Popvic. Release date August 15, 2017.
All the women in Iris and Malina’s family have the unique magical ability or “gleam” to manipulate beauty. Iris sees flowers as fractals and turns her kaleidoscope visions into glasswork, while Malina interprets moods as music. But their mother has strict rules to keep their gifts a secret, even in their secluded sea-side town. Iris and Malina are not allowed to share their magic with anyone, and above all, they are forbidden from falling in love.
But when their mother is mysteriously attacked, the sisters will have to unearth the truth behind the quiet lives their mother has built for them. They will discover a wicked curse that haunts their family line—but will they find that the very magic that bonds them together is destined to tear them apart forever?
Dress Codes For Small Towns by Courtney C Stevens. Release date August 22, 2017.
As the tomboy daughter of the town’s preacher, Billie McCaffrey has always struggled with fitting the mold of what everyone says she should be. She’d rather wear sweats, build furniture, and get into trouble with her solid group of friends: Woods, Mash, Davey, Fifty, and Janie Lee.
But when Janie Lee confesses to Billie that she’s in love with Woods, Billie’s filled with a nagging sadness as she realizes that she is also in love with Woods…and maybe with Janie Lee, too.
Always considered “one of the guys,” Billie doesn’t want anyone slapping a label on her sexuality before she can understand it herself. So she keeps her conflicting feelings to herself, for fear of ruining the group dynamic. Except it’s not just about keeping the peace, it’s about understanding love on her terms—this thing that has always been defined as a boy and a girl falling in love and living happily ever after. For Billie—a box-defying dynamo—it’s not that simple.
Readers will be drawn to Billie as she comes to terms with the gray areas of love, gender, and friendship, in this John Hughes-esque exploration of sexual fluidity.
Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo. Release date August 29, 2017.
She will become one of the world’s greatest heroes: WONDER WOMAN. But first she is Diana, Princess of the Amazons. And her fight is just beginning. . . .
Diana longs to prove herself to her legendary warrior sisters. But when the opportunity finally comes, she throws away her chance at glory and breaks Amazon law—risking exile—to save a mere mortal. Even worse, Alia Keralis is no ordinary girl and with this single brave act, Diana may have doomed the world.
Alia just wanted to escape her overprotective brother with a semester at sea. She doesn’t know she is being hunted. When a bomb detonates aboard her ship, Alia is rescued by a mysterious girl of extraordinary strength and forced to confront a horrible truth: Alia is a Warbringer—a direct descendant of the infamous Helen of Troy, fated to bring about an age of bloodshed and misery.
Together, Diana and Alia will face an army of enemies—mortal and divine—determined to either destroy or possess the Warbringer. If they have any hope of saving both their worlds, they will have to stand side by side against the tide of war.
The Dazzling Heights by Katherine McGee. Release date August 29, 2017.
New York City, 2118. A glittering vision of the future, where anything is possible – if you want it enough.
Manhattan is home to a thousand-story supertower, a beacon of futuristic glamour and high-tech luxury… and to millions of people living scandalous, secretive lives.
Leda is haunted by nightmares of what happened on the worst night of her life. She’s afraid the truth will get out – which is why she hires Watt, her very own hacker, to keep an eye on all of the witnesses for her. But what happens when their business relationship turns personal?
When Rylin receives a scholarship to an elite upper-floor school, her life transforms overnight. But being here also means seeing the boy she loves: the one whose heart she broke, and who broke hers in return.
Avery is grappling with the reality of her forbidden romance – is there anywhere in the world that’s safe for them to be together?
And then there’s Calliope, the mysterious, bohemian beauty who’s arrived in New York with a devious goal in mind – and too many secrets to count.
Here in the Tower, no one is safe – because someone is watching their every move, someone with revenge in mind. After all, in a world of such dazzling heights, you’re always only one step away from a devastating fall….
What are your most anticipated releases for August (any genre)? Comment below and let me know. I’m always looking for more recommendations.
Confessions of a YA Reader 