My Reading Pile #67

It was a quiet week at the mailbox, however I did receive a sort of replacement box of books from the trade that went missing. I also received a book, which I am not highlighting here, from a publicist who said they met me at BEA….. But as it’s not a YA book, and it’s not even fiction, I am not featuring it here.

Credit for mailbox sharing goes to TSS

So, as you can see I got a bunch of books. These were replacements for the trade gone missing thanks to the post office. As they only reimbursed the blogger for half of what the insurance was, I was only to get half the ARCs I’d traded for. But they threw in a bunch of extras to make up for the quantity gone missing.

Just three of those titles were ones I had originally traded for – Because it is My Blood, Erasing Time and Pushing the Limits. A few were ones I  was happy to get - Middle Ground, The Turning and The Other Normals. And the rest are were ones I either hadn’t heard of, will be releasing soon and I already have pre-ordered or are already released in which case I will be passing them along.

While I am tempted to start reading Because it is My Blood, I am going to resist the urge for now. So….

Here are the books I have in my reading pile this week.

(June 24 – June 30, 2012)

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First up on the pile is Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins. Yes, I am finally taking the plunge. I had every intention of reading this book the second it came out. Then I found out it was the last book in the series. Which stopped me cold.

I did not want this series to end. I still don’t. But I do want to find out what happened. Demonglass had an absolutely killer ending, the description reveals nothing about what happens next and the beginning of the book also doesn’t provide answers. So, I’m taking a risk and reading this series-ending book. Finally.

I want to know how things end for Sophie, Archer and Cal. I want to find out what happens with Sophie’s magic and why the Prodigium Council did what it did. I’m nervous about why the description says she’s “alone.” And I am so curious to find out if a war really was coming and if Sophie’s world did in fact end. I seriously hope not.

This has been such an awesome series and I am equal parts excited and terrified to find out how it all ends.

Next up on the pile is another series-ending book, Last Rite by Lisa Desrochers. This is another of my favorite series and another one I did not want to add to the pile because I didn’t want it to end. But curiosity has won out. And because this summer is all about “me” reads, I couldn’t start summer off without adding Last Rite to the pile.

The cover makes it seem as if there’s some kind of a showdown between Luc and Gabe. And as I had picked my team long, long ago, I am really hoping for a certain “demon-turned-mortal” to win that battle. The tagline also makes me super nervous, because I have no idea who is untrustworthy. I am hoping it’s not Luc….

Now that I have committed to reading this, I can’t wait to see whether Frannie masters her powers or if things go “apocalyptic.” And I am dying to find out just what Frannie’s brother is up to. Because it doesn’t sound good.

But most of all, of course, I want to see what happens with this complicated love triangle between Frannie, Luc and Gabe and whether Frannie gets a happily ever after. Or at least as close a one as possible, given what happened in Original Sin…. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Wishful Thinking reads:

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I know, it’s old. It’s really, really old. I’ve read it before. Many, many times. But now that I have it on my Kindle I really, really want to read it again. So, I’m wishing for just a few hours so that I can.

I would also love to read Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel. I am being followed by zombies. So now, of course, I want to read more about them. A zombie book released this week that I loved – This Is Not a Test. Resident Evil was on TV so I watched it. 28 Days Later was on TV so I watched it. So at the moment I’m going through zombie withdrawal. Hmm…. Maybe I’ll have to go off pile to read this one.

Those left behind:

I re-read Before I Wake and now I kind of want to re-read If I Die again. I seriously need to read these books out of my system. I just don’t know how many re-reads that will take…. Yes, I cried for a second time. And I think I actually cried more than I did the first time. So. Not. Good.

But I didn’t finish reading Stray. I had to go off pile to read a short book I’d committed to reading and reviewing, King Solomon’s Wives, and then I went off pile again to read This Is Not a Test. I just had to. I’d been pining for that book for ages and if I had remembered it was releasing on Tuesday when I created last week’s post, it would have been on last week’s pile.

I do plan on finishing Stray this weekend, so I should be caught up in time to get both books on this week’s pile read. Now I just have to write that review for Before I Wake….

I am trying to get back to writing two reviews per week, but I find that I’m enjoying writing my reviews a lot more when I don’t stress about them and I don’t review every book I read.

So, while my review count is suffering here on the blog, my read count is way ahead of my 2012 goals.

But as far as reading piles go, I am hoping to at least stick to this week’s reads so that I don’t have too many back on the pile adds this summer.

NetGalley Pile Adds:

I have not heard back about my NetGalley requests from last week. And I have not gone back to NetGalley to find any more books. Though I almost requested something from Edelweiss. But I didn’t. Which is a really good thing. But I am so very tempted to read one of my older NetGalley books. If I do stay on track this week, I will make that happen next week.

I managed to review one book this week, and it wasn’t too tough, though it did take hours. I am hoping it’s broken my reviewer’s block, but we’ll see when I sit down to write my review for Before I Wake. I am, as always, ever hopeful.

I am trying to re-focus this blog on reading and reviewing and I just hope by not taking on any new required reads this summer it will make me panic just a little bit less when sitting down to write my reviews.

By having the freedom to choose my reads, it has also brought back my love of reading, even if I do lose an evening now and again to a zombie movie marathon.

While I still love blogging and reviewing – most of the time – I have always been and will always be a reader first. So I am ecstatic to be spending the summer adding books to the pile that I love.

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Do you create a reading pile?

If so, what’s in your pile this week?

And feel free to leave a link to your post if you create a reading pile. I’d love to check it out!