And Now, the Obligatory BEA Swag Post!

Soooo.... I got a lot of books at Book Expo America. I really did try to only pick up books that I actually wanted or sounded interesting, and I think I was mostly successful. Mostly. Either way, I managed to successfully pack everything into my two pieces of luggage without incurring overweight fees so I'm good on that score. Here's the list:

• The Vicious Deep, by Zoraida Cordova. YA. Swag bag at Book Bloggers Con. I've wanted this one for a while, so I was excited to find a copy of this at the convention!
• Origin, by Jessica Khoury. YA. Penguin Booth. The bioengineered-girl-escapes-into-the-Amazon plot intrigued me.
• The Darkest Minds, by Alexandra Bracken. YA. Hyperion/Disney Booth. Honestly, this was one of those "well it sounds vaguely interesting and it's free" picks. The back cover blurb is super-vague, yo.
• The Killing Moon, by N.K. Jemisin. Fantasy. Signed at the Orbit Booth. It was super lovely to meet N.K. Jemisin, and I'm over the top excited for The Killing Moon. I also got to tell her that I think she writes the best immortal characters.
• Kiss the Morning Star, by Elissa Hoole. YA. Picked up at the Amazon Children's Publishing booth. This story, about a teenage girl who discovers her sexuality while on a Kerouac-inspired roadtrick, has been at the edge of my radar for a while so it was lovely to find this copy!
• Moo, by Matthew Van Fleet. Baby Book. Book Blogger Con Swag Bag. A lovely baby book with fuzzy things to pet and pop up pictures - and guess whose BFF's little boy is having a birthday in a week!
• Kiss and Make Up, by Katie D. Anderson. YA. Picked up at the Amazon Children's Publishing Booth. Another interesting story - a girl discovers she can read the minds of any boy she kisses. So naturally she uses it to cheat on tests.
• Wake, by Amanda Hocking. YA. Honestly, I've forgotten. It has a lovely cover, plus I've always been interested in stories about sirens.
• Every Day, by David Levithan. YA. Signed at the Random House Booth. David Levithan is one of those writers I've heard hyped to the skies so much that I'll suggest him even though I haven't read any of his books yet. This one (about a nameless being who's a different person every day who falls in love with a girl) sounds like a good place to start actually reading him!
• Eve and Adam, by Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant. YA. Signed at the MacMillan Booth. This sounded interesting but also hella confusing (girl gets sent to lab, girl starts making boy in same lab, girl falls in love with another boy in the lab?). But it was fun to chat with Jessica in the line to get it! 
• The Wrap-Up List, by Steven Arntson. YA. Amazon Children's Publishing Booth (seriously, a lot of good stuff there). Sounded good - a girl gets a magical notification that she's going to die soon, so she works to get her affairs in order.
• Me Before You, by JoJo Moyes. Literary Fiction. Picked up at the Penguin Booth. Sounded like a legitimately sweet romantic story.
• Fathomless, by Jackson Pierce. YA. Signed at the author's Autographing Table. The idea of a darker, nastier Little Mermaid retelling definitely caught my eye, and the excerpt I read in Little, Brown's catalog looked amazing.
• An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green. YA. Signed copy given out at the Penguin Booth. It's John Green - and I'd like to try and enjoy more of his work.
• Son, by Lois Lowry. YA. In the Children's Book and Author Breakfast Swag Bag. I was only faintly aware that The Giver had continued as a series, but this book makes me want to read the other books in between.
• Cracked, by K.M. Walton. YA. Won in the Meet the Apocalypsies event. This novel, about a bully and his tormenter in the same psych ward, sounds a little dark and bleak for my tastes, but I decided to give it a try.
• Crewel, by Gennifer Albin. YA. Received last copy at the MacMillan Booth. This book was hyped UP AND DOWN Book Expo, y'all, but I have to say - the story (about a girl who can weave time and fate) sounded legitimately cool.
• The Miseducation of Cameron Post, by Emily Danforth. YA. Won in the Meet the Apocalypsies event. I've wanted to read this since forever, so I was super psyched to win a free copy!
• Starting from Here, by Lisa Jenn Bigelow. YA. Picked up at the Amazon Children's Booth. Sounded like an interesting romantic YA with a lesbian protagonist.
• Summer and Bird, by Katherine Catmull. YA (I think). Picked up at the Penguin Booth. Two sisters go on a mystical journey - it sounds freakin' weird, but in the best possible way.
• The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, by Cathrynne M. Valente. Middle Grade (sort of). Signed copy from the author's Autographing Table. Loved the first book - so of course I lusted after the second and waited in line for 45 minutes to meet the author.
• Mistress of My Fate, by Hallie Rubenhold. Literary Fiction. Picked up from the Grand Central Publishing Booth. A lush period piece about a possible courtesan? Sign me up!
• The Blessed, by Tonya Hurley. YA. Picked up from the Simon and Schuster Booth. I'm Catholic, born and raised, so the idea of three girls embodying three martyred saints? Kick ass! Had to have it!
• The Light Between Oceans, by M.L. Stedman. Literary Fiction. Picked up at a booth - forgot where! Firstly - pretty pretty cover. Secondly, intriguing story about a couple on an isolated Australian island who adopt an infant. Thirdly, upon opening it to a random page, the writing sounded great.
• Carnival of Souls, by Melissa Marr. YA. Picked up at the HarperCollins Booth. Another much-hyped book - I picked it up because the story sounded interesting, and also because my sister is a huge Melissa Marr fan.
• Colin Fischer, by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stenz. YA. Signed at the Penguin Booth. I'd heard both authors speak on one of the YA Buzz Panels, and I liked the idea of a kid with Asperger's who has to clear the name of his biggest high school tormenter when a gun goes off at school, resulting in said bully becoming a friend.
• Time Between Us, by Tamara Ireland Stone. YA. Won at the Apocalypsies event. It sounds like a YA take on The Lake House. Plus, pretty cover!
• The Sweet Dead Life, by Joy Preble. YA. Picked up at the Soho Booth. A publisher I'd never heard of, but an interesting YA story about a girl who has to pre-emptively solve her own murder with the help of her dead-brother-turned-angel!
• What We Saw At Night, by Jacqueline Mitchard. YA. Picked up at the Soho Booth. Another interesting title about three kids who are allergic to sunlight and also common sense who practice nighttime parkour and witness a murder while doing it.
• More Than One Night, by Sarah Mayberry. Romance. Picked up at the Harlequin Booth. Everyone in Romancelandia has gushed about Mayberry at one point or another, and I felt it was time to see what all the fuss was about. 
• Darker Still, by Leanna Renee Hieber. YA. Won at the Apocalypsies event. I love LRH to pieces, yo, plus this book has a hot dude in an enchanted painting in it!
• Level 2, by Lenore Appelhans. YA. Won at the Apocalypsies event. Her book was much spoken of at the Expo for being the literary work of a former blogger.
• The Diviners, by Libba Bray. YA. Picked up at the Little, Brown Booth. Magical kids in the roaring twenties!
• She Only Wore White, by Dorthe Blinkert and Mel Foster. Translated literary fiction. Picked up at the Amazon Booth. Not sure why I picked this up - I think because it's a period piece that takes place on a boat. No way that can go wrong!
• Beta, by Rachel Cohn. YA. Picked up at the Disney/Hyperion Booth. Sexy clones as servants - could it be like The Island meets Downton Abbey? Or is that the book that I should write?
• What's Left of Me, by Kat Zhang. YA. Picked up at the HarperCollins Booth. I liked the idea of a body being born with two souls - most especially if they are played by Lily Tomlin and Steve Martin.
• Iron-Hearted Violet, by Kelly Barnhill and Iacupo Bruno. Middle Grade. Picked up at the Little, Brown Booth. You had me at the title! Yowza!
• The Land of Stories, by Chris Colfer. Middle Grade. Found in the Children's Book and Author Breakfast Swag bag, later signed. It sounds amazing - I'm a huge fan of fractured fairy tales and this sounds like a real labour of love for the Glee star.
• The Dirty Streets of Heaven, by Tad Williams. Fantasy. Found at the Penguin Booth. TAD WILLIAMS WROTE ANOTHER URBAN FANTASY! I had absolutely NO IDEA his book would be at Book Expo! He hasn't written anything contemporary since The War of the Flowers. Grabbed it!
• Hemingway's Girl, by Ericka Robuck. Historical Fiction. Found in the Book Blogger Con Swag Bag. Historical period, cocktail parties? Scandally scandal? Sounded vaguely good.
• Throne of Glass, by Sarah Maas. YA. Picked up one of the last copies at the Bloomsbury Booth on the last day of BEA. Sounded like a Cinderella-story mixed with The Hunger Games. Could be awesome, or awesomely bad.
• Then Came You, by Jennifer Weiner. Literary Fiction. In my Book Blogger Con Swag Bag. Sue me - I want to see if she writes better than she gives blogger speeches.
• Motherland, by Amy Sohn. Fiction. I got this in my Swag Bag from the Book Bloggers Convention, and even though the author ranted about "damn reviewers," she sold me on her pitch about frustrated wealthy New York moms and their exploits. I just finished reading it, and boy, let me tell you, it's going to make for an interesting review.
• Altered, by Jennifer Rush. YA. Picked up at the Little, Brown Booth. Girl's dad raises hot genetically-altered boys in her barn. Who WOULDN'T want to read this?