Shopaholic Sunday (5)

Shopaholic Sundays are my opportunity to share what I bought this week, what I'm thinking of buying soon and if I have anything interesting planned here at I Write, I Read, I Review. Curious what I've picked up or found waiting in my mailbox? Read on to find out.

Yet again, it's been a while since I have done a Shopaholic Sundays post. But yet again, I have some pretty awesome stuff to share. :) This summer has been insanely busy (I keep saying that, huh?) but things are going very well.

On the writing front, I have four more chapters and an epilogue to revise. Then I'll just need to sweep through everything for minor errors and my novel will be ready for betas.

In further book related news, my novel has a new title and summary that I will be sharing soon and I have hired a cover artist. I will be revealing all of this, along with a giveaway to celebrate beautiful covers in YA, soon. :)

Anyway, I've rambled long enough. Let's get to the books!

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's book Reviews where we get to share the fabulous things we bought borrowed or received. Curious what I got? (No video this week, guys. My parents have been on vacation and I've been spending 90% of my time at grandma's -- meaning my whole schedule is messed up.)

I Bought:

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1. Between The Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer. This looked pretty intriguing when I was waiting for people to finish their shopping at No Frills so I decided to grab it. I like anything that has a fairy tale feel to it, and the idea of falling for a character in a book is something I think any novelist -- especially one who writes romance -- can relate to. This should be fun.

2. This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers. I decided to do an Amazon order and I wanted to keep the number of books relatively small. So I downloaded a ton of samples and read them before I ordered anything. This Is Not A Test grabbed my attention immediately. Having finished it in two days despite how crazy my week has been, I'm sure my thoughts are pretty clear. But if you want the full details, watch for my review which should be up sometime this week.

3. Darkness Before Dawn by J.A. London. I've read mixed reviews for this one, but when I checked out the sample on Amazon it grabbed my interest. I'm a big fan of anything vampire related and the cover is gorgeous. Will the book grab me hook line and sinker? That remains to be seen. But I've always been one to make up my own mind about things, so I had to check this out.

In addition to these novels, I also grabbed a couple writing / writing related books: Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by Mignon Forgarty and The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman. The grammar book has tons of great information, but would have benefited from better organization to help a reader find what they are looking for. The First Five Pages has pretty much been glued to my hands every minute I haven't been reading This Is Not A Test. I often find that writing books repeat each other, but I have found lots of information here that is either better explained then I've ever seen it before, or that I've never seen addressed in a writing book before, period. This is to editing and revision what Book In A Month by Victoria Lynn Schmidt is to outlining and writing my rough drafts. It's a book that has helped me understand things that are important, and that's always invaluable.

Gifts:

Storm by Brigid Kemmerer. I purchased a copy of this for my Kindle ages ago but I've been hesitant to read it. Why? It has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the book. I read a sample before my purchase and I'm definitely intrigued. Instead, my issue is that this book deals with people who use the elements. Since that is an aspect of my own work, reading someone else's interpretation before everything about my stuff is written in stone makes me nervous.

However, when my brother and his girlfriend went on a trip to Niagra Falls they  picked this up for me as a gift. (For the very reason I haven't read it yet, no less.) My brother's opinion is that I should read it to make sure I'm not echoing someone else. He thinks that with the rest of the aspects of my work I shouldn't have anything to be worried about. He also thinks it's ridiculous I've been doing the author equivalent of sticking my head in the sand like I'm an ostrich.

I'm curious: What do you guys think?

Anyway, many thanks to Shawn and Kate -- both for the book and the brutal honesty. Storm will likely be the next thing I'll be reading.

So, what did you guys get this week? Anything you're super excited about? Sorry I don't have an On My Radar for you this week, but I didn't really see anything that grabbed my attention enough to write one. Anyway, I hope you're all having a totally fabulous summer. Despite all the craziness, I know I am!