April 2021 Book Haul

This is the last (I hope) month of a ridiculous book haul before the restriction is in place. I'm not counting Book of the Month, Once Upon a Book Club, or anything sent to me by friends under the restriction as technically they are subscriptions and/or not my doing. I will totally stop buying more than 1 books in BotM though...Let's move forward and see just how many books I've purchased in April!! You'll notice there is no March. I don't remember what all I bought and I've already organized the shelves alphabetically by author so I don't even have the benefit of the newest just being at the end of the row. 

In April I bought 18 books: 

1. Steal the Stars by Nat Cassidy - What's funny is, I don't even really like sci-fi, but this looked intriguing. It reminded me a little of the old 1980s video of the supposed alien that is circulating YouTube. Only the alien has not actually left it's control panel yet. I am curious to see how romance will slot in with the alien story. At least the lovebirds don't actually involve Moss itself. Two humans under contract to not do the thing. I'll try to get to this in 2021. 

2. What is Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi - This had been on a wishlist before. I remember seeing it and wanting to read it, but never grabbing it. Then I stumbled across a single copy laying facedown on the bottom-most shelf in the Dollar Tree. I had to have it. I had to. It's a selection of, I think, connected short stories that looked interesting. I am particularly intrigued by "Books and Roses" and "Sorry Doesn't Sweeten Her Tea" out of the ones presented. Here's hoping I like it. 

3. The Guns Above by Robyn Bennis - Again with the sci-fi. I have no idea what came over me that day. At least this one is in an alternate world. Sci-fi/fantasy instead of just straight sci-fi. Do I have any idea what an "auxiliary lieutenant" even is? Nope. I think it's YA SFF. So I should fly right through it. The cover image is what grabbed me and made me dig my phone out of my pocket to look it up and check. Oooh I see! It could strike a few as problematic, but I think it's more about overcoming the misogyny associated with combat and battle. I think this will go on May or June's TBR. 

4. The House Is Mine by Dörte Hansen - This one is dual perspective, being told in the past and present by two different people who live in this one house. We are told about Vera's life from moving into the house all the way up to what I assume is her niece fleeing from an abusive relationship with her son and coming to Aunt Vera. It looked good and again, was another cover draw. I like the cherry blossoms and bird on the cover. Probably not an immediate addition to the next monthly TBR, but definitely on the yearly for 2021.

5. Game of Shadows by Erika Lewis - Hidden royalty portal magic nonsense. I am so down for this and this is why I should not be allowed down certain aisles in the Dollar Tree. The first five (and middle four?) books came from the same place. This looked like fun. I can understand why Ethan would want to get away from his helicopter parent. It makes so much sense to be like "No get me out of here..." and then turn around and be willing to do unbelievably dangerous things to rescue the same parent. I am intrigued and looking forward to it.

6. Aether Witch by Tarah Benner - The tagline "Charmed meets Gilmore Girls" is a lot and definitely does not sum up the top part quite correctly as I do not recall a string of gruesome murders being part of the plot in either series (I've seen both and even do the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge now and then). However, this did intrigue me as it seems more Gilmore Girls meets The Craft. Yeah, I went there. This is one of the few (two?) Kindle books I bought this month.

7. Inheritance by Christopher Paolini - After actual years of having the entire rest of the series, including the new book of short stories, I finally found the copy of Inheritance I was looking for. It didn't even have to be first edition. I just wanted a hard cover copy that matched the rest of the series. It was surprisingly hard to find!! I won't go into any sort of detail here, because spoilers, darling, but I now have the full series and I am very happy.

8. The Spell Book for New Witches by Ambrosia Hawthorn - I fell off the wagon...again. Which is okay. Sometimes the time just isn't right for certain things, and the universe lets you know by having you go *poof* from it. I have since come back, albeit a little less...vigorously than before. More mellow. I think I am at least closer to settled in my practice and can now branch out a little more and start working on my own spiritual needs.

9. The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman - I am already a fan of this particular author, having read her previous works Eon and Eona (I liked Eon better). I had seen this a few years ago on BookTube and remembered marking it down on an old "Books to Research More" list as at the time I had not read anything else by Goodman and had no real knowledge base of her writing style. The premise is interesting. A historical alternate reality. With demons. I couldn't pass it up. Now that I am familiar with the style and enjoy it.

10. The Song of the Jade Lily by Kirsty Manning - Picked this one up at random from the sale rack. It looked fun and right up my alley. It involves two of the things I like most in historical fictions. People from two different cultures coming together and rising above a struggle that seems too bleak to overcome. I'm wondering how it will play out. It takes place over at least two, if not three, countries and two different times.

11. The Blacksmith Queen by G.A. Aiken - I ought to stay away from the sales rack as well, it seems. I buy fewer books that way. This one caught my attention partly because of the title and partly because of the crown amid the fire and the title. I think that it will be interesting. As of the moment, I am not actually sure that Keely's sister is the one that will be the queen. It only looks that way. I think it may be Keely with Caid as her prince consort at her side (since she is kind of queen regnant?). Either way, it looked good for the first book in a series and I plan to get to it as soon as I can.

12. Fearless Tarot by Elliot Adam - This one is already on my currently reading. I tend to have a bit of trouble with the preeminent deck of the Tarot reading world, the Rider/Waite or Waite/Smith (depending on where your loyalties lie) deck. It may have something to do with the edition I have with it's redone artwork that isn't quite the original by Pamela Colman Smith or it may be just that those images in particular don't work for me. I don't know. I saw this book when we were out at Books-a-Million and decided to give it a shot. If I still have trouble with it afterward, I will likely just pass it along to someone else. Who knows? I do feel drawn and connected to the deck, just not as strongly as I am to the Mystical Manga or the Mermaid.

13. Master of One by Jaida Jones - The other Kindle book I got. I am trying to tone down my random acquisition of free/reduced price Kindle books because I can't even remember what all I have. That's how bad it's gotten. This one was a purchase based on my watching of BookTube. Someone read an ARC of it, and it looked hilarious. I am hoping sincerely that it is the LGBT book I think it is. Dude gets tasked to find a Fae relic. Turns out the "relic" is actually a Fae prince. What could possibly go wrong?

14. The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan - When this girl's mother dies, she believes that her mother is turned into a bird? Interesting. This had been on my bookish wish list for quite some time. My attention was definitely captured by the resilient belief this girl has in her mother's life after death as a bird. I have a sneaking suspicion that all is not well from her mother's side of the family. Leigh is half Taiwanese and half Caucasian and goes back to Taiwan after her mother's death to meet with her maternal grandparents and...find out if her mom is a bird? I don't know. We'll find out!

15. The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin - My....fifth....N.K. Jemisin book? Though I believe this one is actually a YA urban fantasy versus the other books which were all adult high fantasy. The basic premise of this book, as I remember it from Reagan at Peruse Project, is that as a city becomes more lived in or something, it gets a soul. New York City, though, has five, one for each of it's boroughs as well as a singular avatar that is asleep. I want to read this. So bad.

16. Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge - I saw this...somewhere. BookTube or Bookstagram most likely. In any event, I saw it and needed to own it. So you can imagine how tickled I must have been when it was one of the options for the April Book of the Month box. It follows a free-born black girl on an adventure to Haiti, where things are not what she thinks they will be. I love the cover art as well as the synopsis of the book and I am looking forward to getting into this one.

17. Witch Hunt by Kristen J. Sollée - Found this at a witchy shop called Pickey Weeds, up in Clarke Summit (did I get that right? I'm not from there, I don't know). I'm already about halfway through it, and I am enjoying being an audience to her journey over Europe and the United States as she tours various Pagan and witchy sites. It is interesting to learn more about what happened in places that people have all but forgotten about.

18. Real Murders by Charlaine Harris - Okay. So this one was purchased while we were watching a commercial on Hallmark Murders & Mysteries channel. I don't remember now which movie it was the commercial for, but when they said "crime solving librarian" I perked up and then the words "based on the famous Aurora Teagarden novels" I had to know. I found the first book in the series, or at least what I presume is the first as it is marked #1, on Amazon and hit Buy Now. I want to know about this crime solving librarian. I assume that this is just the book where we are introduced to Aurora Teagarden, and come on, who does not like the idea of a librarian/crime solver named Teagarden? It sounds like something out of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign....I digress. Anyway, I am looking forward to reading this one.