BOOKS I PREORDERED WITH MY CHRISTMAS GIFT CARDS

I wanted to do book buying a little differently this year. I wanted to put myself on a monthly budget with no impulse purchases, as well as keeping myself on a strict book buying ban 90% of the time. Thankfully, I knew about this plan before Christmas and so I did the sensible thing – asked for a bunch of gift cards, which I then used to preorder every anticipated release I could. I didn’t want to get left behind. There are too many 2019s I’m desperate for to be stuck with just the books I already owned.

Now I want to look at the choices I made. I had to pick between hundreds, and I wanted to make decisions I knew I wouldn’t regret; not when I was buying so few books anyway.

I chose the majority of books that release between January and June. Not because it’s halfway through the year, but because that’s when my birthday is. Action plan? Ask for more gift cards and stock up on preorders to last me the rest of the year.

But books haven’t been coming in as slowly as I imagined. With all the extra money I’m not spending on random purchases, I’ve been able to do a bunch of book trades – bag myself a tonne of ARCs (see 2019 ARC post) and ensure that my TBR is still expanding as exponentially as ever.

I also didn’t anticipate how much progress I’d make with publishers. I’m getting review copies, participating in blog tours and generally just having bookish success.

So I really haven’t had to buy much extra. But anyway, I could keep ranting forever and this is meant to be a book haul post.

HERE ARE MY PREORDERS:

1) Ship of Smoke and Steel

This was a total cover buy. The badass girl on the cover had my heart skipping a beat, and the pirate ships in the back ground sold me even more. I could honestly stare at this forever. Plus, I’ve heard really great reviews about how diverse it is, both with POC characters and people from all walks of the LGBTQ+ community. Consider me impressed.

2) Gilded Wolves

Whilst my last preorder was a cover buy, this was an author buy. I adored Star Touched Queen, although I can barely remember anything about it. All I know is Gilded is a heist book and that’s all I need to know.

3) King of Scars

I pre-ordered this one, along with the rest of the world. Are you really surprised? Although my copy was a signed edition so I’m delighted to have it in my hands!

4) We Rule The Night

I follow the author, Claire, on twitter and I’ve seen so many updates about her book that I totally had to preorder it. I’ve since got hold of the ARC but I’ll keep my preorder to support her. Reason for purchase? PHOENIXES.

5) Bloodleaf

Honestly, I bought this one because of the hype. Ever since copies appeared at BookCon last year the community has been raving about it. I want to be cool and popular and keep up with the good books so I just had to buy it– right?

6) The Fever King

This was one of the few preorders where I actually knew quite a bit about the book before reading it. Just the sound of the synopsis alone had me clicking the ‘buy’ button before I even knew what was happening. It was the illegal magic that drove me to do it.

7) The Blood Heir

Admittedly, I have The Blood Heir on preorder. I’m not sure it will ever go ahead for publication after its rework, but I was originally so excited to support an asian author and her fantasy book with an asian girl on the cover! I’m all here for supporting AOC, and I hope my preorder won’t be going to waste.

8) Wicked Saints

Do I even need to explain why I preordered this one? If you’ve read any of my last posts, I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it in every single one. I read the ARC recently and I’m hungover. I needed the pretty physical copy, although I’m hoping a UK publisher options it and we have another stunning cover to stare at.

9) We Hunt The Flame

This preorder was a combination of the hype, the fact that I love the author’s twitter and how pretty the cover is. It’s since received a redesign which is just as beautiful. I’ll always be a little biased towards this one though. That colour scheme. THAT GOLD.

10) Wilder Girls

F/F!!!! That’s all I need to say. Plus, I’m a sucker for gorgeous covers and girls with freckles so I was doomed from the very beginning. If this is how I get bankrupt, at least my bookshelves will be full right?

And that’s everything I’ve preordered so far! I hope to add to the pile, and these are clearly not the only 2019s I plan to get to. I presume I’ll be updating you with another preorder list in a few months, and I look forward to it!

Blog post days are the best days.