Showcase Sunday #14

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Vicki at Books, Biscuits and Tea. Its aim is to showcase our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders this week.

I should retitle this as the month where I went crazy with book acquisitions. Not that I'm not excited to read each and every one of these, but this is ridiculous. I really shouldn't be acquiring more books per month than I can actually read in a month's time. The primary stress of a book blogger is always having too many books to read, right?

Received:

Child of a Hidden Sea by A.M. Dellamonica

Thank you, Tor Books! An ordinary girl getting transported to a magical world. Political intrigue. Possibly pirates. All this was enough to interest me. And the author is awesome and selling her book DRM-free. Yay! Because DRM still sucks. I'm currently reading this one, so I'll have more defined thoughts very shortly. 

Firebug (Firebug, #1) by Lish McBride

Thank you to Macmillan! I actually didn't realize this is the same author who wrote the Hold Me Closer, Necromancer series until Courtney pointed it out. I'm not interested in her first series (at least not yet), but I am very much interested in this new series about a girl with the power to create fire who is on the run from a mafia-like organization.

Crushed (Cracked, #2) by Eliza Crewe
Many thanks to Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry! I bought the Kindle version of Cracked about a month ago. Haven't read it yet, but apparently just owning it was incentive enough for me to request its sequel. I'll binge-read this duology (I think?) closer to the release date of Crushed.

Purchased:

My Life After Now by Jessica Verdi

I've been interested in this one ever since I first read some reviews. HIV/AIDS definitely has a plethora of stigmas attached to it, as well as a ton of misunderstanding. I think it will be fascinating to read about the high school-aged protagonist learns of her diagnosis and how she copes with it. Fascinating, horrifying, saddening, and gut-wrenching.

Smart Girls Get What They Want by Sarah Strohmeyer

I've heard that this is cute and fluffy. As the weather continues to get warmer, I find myself craving lighter fare in the books I read. I like the idea of this story about intelligent, driven high school girls who decide to embrace the high school experience and go after their wildest dreams before graduating. Sounds like something I can relate to. And when don't I love a good story about female friendships?

The Immortal Rules & The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden, #1 & #2) by Julie Kagawa

I have yet to read anything by Kagawa (truth be told, none of her published books really interest me), but then I saw a Kindle deal where the first two books in her recent Blood of Eden series were on sale for $1.99 each. They may be another YA paranormal series focusing on vampires, but I've heard they're darker and grittier than most. And because the reviews have been primarily positive, I decided to give these a try.

The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell

Um, what can I say? Adorable MG retelling of the Grimms' "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" on sale? My ostensible reason for purchasing this is that I'm going to read this for inspiration/research for my own writing. But, really, do I need an excuse to buy this?

Dark Triumph (His Fair Assassin, #2) by Robin LaFevers

So I liked Grave Mercy but, unlike the majority of its readers, did not love it. It was good, but I had some problems here and there. But I've heard that Dark Triumph is even better than Grave Mercy. Sybella was by far the most interesting character in Grave Mercy and now, thanks to Quintana of Charyn, I can really appreciate slightly mad protagonists. So I'm eager to read this one soon.

Stray (Touchstone, #1) by Andrea K. Host

This was free on Kindle and I just couldn't resist. I didn't love Host's alien invasion story And All the Stars when I read it last year (my review), but this is a survivalist story about a girl who is magically transported to another world. This sounds much more like the type of book I typically enjoy reading. Let's hope I'm right!

Borrowed:

Something Real by Heather Demetrios

I loved this one! Never thought I'd say that about a contemporary YA focused on a teen girl whose family is part of a reality TV show. For a book about "reality" TV, it's such a genuine, feel-good story. I completely emphasized with Chloe, loved her friendships, and believe she has one of the best book boyfriends ever. This is just so, so good.

And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard

Reviews for this one about an aspiring poet sent to boarding school in Amherst, Massachusetts after her boyfriend committed suicide have been so-so. But since my boyfriend is from Amherst and I've been there and toured Emily Dickinson's house, I definitely wanted to give this one a try. It was all right, but nothing special in my mind.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

I got this out as one of my Bout of Books picks. I've been meaning to start reading King for a while now, and it sounds like this may be the best place to start. I honestly don't know much about this story, just that the protagonist is mourning the death of her friend. I'm actually kind of excited to go into this one relatively blind.

Prodigy (Legend, #2) by Marie Lu

Full steam ahead with reading this series, I suppose. I borrowed this copy from my boss. This will be a good outdoors/lazy summer day read. And I am kind of curious as to what happens next, although I've heard this does veer into love-triangle land a bit. We shall see.

What books have you recently acquired?

Edit: My library copy of Rum Punch managed to sneak into that final shot! I already featured it in last month's Showcase Sunday.