Book Haul: June 2017

Here are the books I added to my Kindle TBR in the month of June.

An Awakened Heart (Orphan Train 0.5) by Jody Hedlund

Sourdough Wars (A Rebecca Schwartz Mystery, #2) by Julie Smith

Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

Finding Cinderella (Hopeless #2.5) by Colleen Hoover

Book Haul: May 2016

Its been quite a while since I've done a book haul because I haven't been accumulating many books for myself in recent months.

However I have accumulated quite a few for my baby boy. Back in March, my Mom threw me a baby shower and instead of giving cards, we asked that the guests bring a baby book. All the books I was given filled up an entire box. It is such a great start to his library.

At 5 weeks old, Charles is already enjoying being read to. He loves to look at the colorful pictures. Here are a few books that we have been sharing with him lately..

I found these books at my local grocery store, which carries scratch and dent books.

And here are the Kindle books I've downloaded since the new year..

Have you read any of these books? Leave me a message in the comments. 

Book Haul: June 2016

I don't accumulate a lot of books throughout the months (like other bloggers do), so for me it makes sense to just wait until I have gathered up a decent amount before I share them here with you all. Today I have some books I accumulated over the month of June.

Last month I donated a big bag full of books to my local library. Click here to see my un-haul post. And well, you know I couldn't leave without checking out the used books they had for sale. Here's what I found:

He Sees You When You're Sleeping by Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark
The Christmas Thief by Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark
Titanic: The Long Night by Diane Hoh 
The Siren Song (The Cronus Chronicles, Book 2) by Anne Ursu 

Next up are two books I purchased at my local grocery store for less than $6 each:

The Accidental Empress by Allison Pataki 
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin 

This last group includes books I have been sent in exchange for honest reviews:

Blaming the Wind by Alessandra Harris
The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan
A Beauty Refined (Sapphire Brides #2) by Tracie Peterson  

Thank you Alessandra Harris, Edelweiss and Bethany House!

Have you read any of these books? If so what did you think of them? Leave me a message in the comments. 

Sunday Wrap-up: February 28, 2016 and Small Book Haul

Hello everyone,
Well its the end of February already! Had another boring week on my end, but tonight I did have an enjoyable time. I went out for a nice dinner at one of my favourite Irish restaurants to celebrate my birthday. An early birthday celebration actually. I turn 29 on Tuesday (March 1). The last year of my 20's! YIKES!

I am currently participating in a Spring Break Read-a-thon, along with my fellow members of the Goodreads group Bookworm Bitches. I am keeping track of my progress on this master post. So far I am happy with my progress, although it has kind of took a side track due to today's busyness.

After dinner tonight I took an unplanned visit to Chapters. And well I couldn't walk out without buying anything.

Here are the new additions to my shelves:

Small February book haul. Dear Canada: No Safe Harbour by Julie Lawson The Gift of Friendship by Dawn Camp The Selection Boxset: The Selection. The Elite. The One by Kiera Cass Click the link in my bio for my most recent blog posts. #bookstagram #bookhaul #bookblogger. #theselection #canadianbooks #revell

A photo posted by Melissa Lee (@melissaleesmanyreads) on Feb 28, 2016 at 6:59pm PST

And a closer look..

• Dear Canada: No Safe Harbour: The Halifax Explosion, Diary of Charlotte Blackburn, Halifax Nova Scotia, 1917 by Julie Lawson
• The Gift of Friendship: Stories that Celebrate the Beauty of Shared Moments. Edited by Dawn Camp NOTE: I would like to thank the publisher Revell for sending my this book for review. 
• The Selection Series Boxset: The Selection/The Elite/The One by Kiera Cass

I also added the following ebooks to my TBR:

•  The Red Door Inn (Prince Edward Island Dreams #1) by Liz Johnson NOTE: Once again thank you Revell for sending me a copy of this book for review. 
• The Munich Girl: A Novel of the Legacies That Outlast War by Phyllis Edgerly Ring NOTE: Thank you to the author for sending me this book to review. 

Reading Progress 

Books Completed:

 

• The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy (Rating: 4/5)
• The Secret of the Old Clock (Nancy Drew #1) by Carolyn Keene. Narrated by Laura Linney (Rating: 3/5) 

Recent Posts:

Thursday: Book Review: Growing Up Duggar: It's All About Relationships by Jana Duggar, Jessa Duggar, Jill Duggar and Jinger Duggar (Rating: 2.5/5) 

Friday: Spring Break Read-a-thon Master Post

Upcoming Posts:

Tuesday: Book Review: TLC Blog Tour: The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy

Wednesday: Monthly Wrap-up: February 2016

Thursday: Book Review: Minor: Volume One (The Journals of Meghan McDonnell Book 1) by Meghan McDonnell 

Hosted by: Book Date

 

Hosted by: Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Hosted by Tynga's Reviews

 

Week of August 31: Stacking the Shelves with eBooks

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews

 Normally I don't do posts for the books I add to my Kindle for PC, however seeing as how I discovered several freebies via Book Hub, I decided to do one.

Here is what I added to my TBR:

Fires of Alexandria by Thomas K. Carpenter

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The greatest mystery of the ancient world remains the identity of who set fire to the Great Library in Alexandria.

One hundred years later, Heron of Alexandria--the city's most renown inventor and creator of Temple miracles--receives coin from a mysterious patron to investigate the crime. Desperate to be free of the debts incurred by her twin brother, she accepts and sets in motion a chain of events that will shake the Roman Empire and change the course of history forever.

 Murder in the Kitchen by Kennedy Chase

 Synopsis from Goodreads:

Book 3 in the Harley Hill Women's Sleuth Cozy Murder Mystery series.
Amateur sleuths Harley and Cordelia leave their posh London home for the wilds of Scotland where hijinks ensue. As a favour to aunt Maggie, they’ve agreed to help run a murder mystery event in a remote mansion. 

But when a friendly dog leads Harley to a body, it’s clear Harley has a real murder mystery on her hands. And to make matters worse, a ferocious blizzard keeps them trapped inside.

With a motley crew of guests, including a paranormal investigator who believes the Frazier estate is cursed, Harley has to uncover the dark secrets of the guest’s and the mansion’s past if she’s to discover the killer. But what she discovers will rock the Frazier house to its very foundations.

"I love Harley and quick wit. I wish she and Cordi were my friends. I can't wait to read more about their adventures."

 Sins of the Mothers by Caryl McAdoo

Synopsis from Goodreads:

 Persistent faith brings redemption and reconciliation.

Propelled by blind love, Mary Rachel Buckmeyer defies her father to elope with Caleb Wheeler. The newlyweds run off to California then partner with his cousin in his dry goods business.

Unbeknownst to the young bride, her new husband sends his kissing cousin ahead. He wants his love and his new wife’s money, too. Betrayal and murder drive Mary, soon a young mother, to the depths of despair. But she hates the man who loves her enough to cover her sins and deliver her out of the horrible pit she’s dug for herself in. Or does she?

Mary Rachel travels from frontier Texas to the raw bone boomtown of 1850’s San Francisco gold rush days, then all the way to genteel New York to find redemption for the sins of her mothers.

 The Seven Steps to Closure by Donna Joy Usher

 Synopsis from Goodreads:

 Tara Babcock awakes the morning after her 30th birthday with a hangover that could kill an elephant - and the knowledge she is still no closer to achieving closure on her marriage breakup. Things go from bad to worse when she discovers that, not only is her ex-husband engaged to her cousin - Tash, the woman he left her for - but that Jake is also running for Lord Mayor of Sydney.
Desperate to leave the destructive relationship behind and with nothing to lose, she decides- with encouragement from her three best friends - to follow the dubious advice from a magazine article, Closure in Seven Easy Steps.

The Seven Steps to Closure follows Tara on her sometimes disastrous- always hilarious - path to achieve the seemingly impossible.

 More Ketchup Than Salsa -Confessions of a Tenerife Barman by Joe Cawley 

Synopsis from Goodreads:
 When Joe and his girlfriend Joy decide to trade in their life on a cold Lancashire fish market to run a bar in the Tenerife sunshine, they anticipate a paradise of sea, sand and siestas. Little did they expect their foreign fantasy to turn out to be about as exotic as Grimsby on a wet Monday morning. Amidst a host of eccentric locals, homesickness and the occasional cockroach infestation, pint-pulling novices Joe and Joy struggle with 'Brits abroad' culture and learn that, although the skies might be bluer, the grass is definitely not always greener. Dubbed 'Little Britain with a suntan', More Ketchup than Salsa lifts the lid on the morning-afters as well as the night-befores of life in a busy holiday resort. A must-read for anybody who has ever dreamed about jetting off to sunnier climes.


 Have you added any new books to your shelves this week? Leave me a message in the comments. 

Book Haul #5 (July 2015 Pt. 2)

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme, hosted by Tynga's Reviews 

I am back with part 2 of my July book haul. My first post this month included two books that I added to my collection before I left to go away on vacation. To check out that post click the link:
July Book Haul Pt. 1

If you read that post you may recall that I mentioned how I hoped to be able to find books in each of the provinces I drove through on the way to our final destination of Newfoundland. Although I wasn’t able to get any books in Quebec or New Brunswick, I did pick up several in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. And yes, there were far too many for me to bring home all at once, so I had to leave a few behind. As you can imagine this wasn’t an easy thing to do. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they can be shipped to me at some point. Otherwise I will just bring them home next time I go down.

Here is my July east coast vacation book haul:

Books from Prince Edward Island:

Our first stop touring all things L.M. Montgomery on Prince Edward Island was to the very house the author was born. After touring the house I had quite a hard time deciding what books to purchase. I knew there were several of her non-Anne related novels that I hadn’t read before so this was a perfect opportunity to get a couple of them. The little shop also had all of L.M’s published journals, which I would love to read, however they were a bit out of my budget so I decided on another one. I was pleased to see that The Years Before “Anne” by Francis W.P. Bolger was signed by the author.

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
The Years Before “Anne” by Francis W.P. Bolger
The Golden Road by L.M. Montgomery

As we drove around the beautiful island we came across a colorful house in Cavendish that sold used books. How could I pass that up? So in we went and out I came with 3 books to add to my collection.

I’ve read (and really enjoyed) another novel by Lyn Andrews, but I haven’t been able to find any of her other titles until now. The addition of The House at Riverton completes my Kate Morton collection. That is until her new book is released later this year.

Friends Forever by Lyn Andrews
The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
The Grafton Girls by Annie Groves

Books from Nova Scotia:

As we were only driving through Nova Scotia to catch the ferry to Newfoundland, I didn’t have much of an opportunity to shop, but I was able to pick up 2 books that caught my eye.

The Enigma by T.C. Badcock
Remembrance by Alistair MacLeod

Books from Newfoundland:

Because I overbought in PEI, I really had to restrain myself when shopping in Newfoundland. I did find many books that I would have loved to buy, but in the end I settled for 2. Because we have a home and a large family in Newfoundland, I visit there quite often, so next time I’m there I can pick up some of the titles I wasn’t able to buy. I found the Beverly Lewis bind-up for only $8! Needless to say I couldn’t pass that deal up.

Heritage of Lancaster County by Beverly Lewis
More Than 50% by Hilda Chaulk Murray

Today I checked my mail and received a book from Bethany House in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately this will likely be the last physical copy I receive from them as they are no longer shipping to Canada. Thankfully I will still be able to review eBook copies of their ARCs. 

A Bride at Last by Melissa Jagears

Whew! Not bad eh? I’m going to really have to be a good girl for the next month or so and try my hardest not to bring in any more books. I will also have to really push myself during August to read as much as I can to make up for the lack of reading done in July. 

Did you bring in many books this month? If so I’d love to hear about them.

Stay turned in the next couple of days for my pittyful July wrap-up and more posts about my vacation.

Happy reading all!