Book Con is the younger sibling of Book Expo. It’s wild, busy, loud and all over the place. But it’s not without its charm. At Book Con you get to immerse yourself into the fan culture surrounding the book industry. Even for those who plan their day in advance; Book Con basically boils down to waking up at the crack of dawn and then the sheer dumb luck of being in the right place at the right time.
My haul from Book Con was no where near as large as my haul from Book Expo. That being said I didn’t go home empty handed. Today I give you my long overdue list.
5. The Bone Witch - Rin Chupeco
This book has been on my radar for a while. If you’ve been following this blog then you know about my ultimate weakness for necromancers. In this novel we follow Tea, a girl gifted with the powers of necromancy. She must learn to control her abilities because there is war brewing in the eight kingdoms… You know, the usual fantasy stuff. Though the premise seems pretty standard, I’ve heard nothing but good things about this one. The Bone Witch is the first book in a duology with the second book slated to drop in 2018. Extra points for the gorgeous cover.
4. Flame in the Mist - Renée Ahdieh
A book about samurais! I read Renée Ahdieh’s previous The Wrath and the Dawn and really liked it. Flame in the Mist blew up on social media a while ago, but i somehow managed to miss picking up a copy. I’ve finally righted that wrong. I read a chunk of the novel while waiting in lines through the rest of the day. It seems to have everything I love in my YA novels: awesome characters, mythology, secrets, lies and maybe a little romance. I can’t wait to get around to finishing this book. The Flame and the Mist is the first book in a duology (maybe a series, but only two books are listed on goodreads). Only time will tell.
3. Queen of Shadows - Sarah J. Maas
I have loved The Court of Thorns and Roses series, but I’ve never read anything else by Sarah J. Maas. I’ve been picking up the books in the Throne of Glass series when I see them at book stores and events. This way when I finally have some time I can just burn through the entire series. I’ve been warned that the series has a rocky start but it gets better as you go along. My current plan is to try and start reading these books at the end of the summer. Here’s hoping that that works out.
2. A Court of Thorns and Roses Colouring Book
I will gladly get behind the adult colouring book movement. I have so many of them that they almost deserve their own post (maybe). As mentioned above, I really loved The Court of Thorns and Roses series. I was very excited when they announced the colouring book. The colouring book contains images from the biggest scenes from all three novels (another surprise I thought it would just be from the first book). It’s going to be a fun and interesting way to revisit the series and a good way to tide myself over until the next book comes out.
1. Paperbacks from Hell & My Best Friend's Exorcism - Grady Hendrix
This was one of the only books I missed grabbing at Book Expo. One of the friendly people at the Quirk Booth told me that they would have more copies at Book Con, so I was going to have a second chance. To get a copy of the Paperbacks arc you needed to purchase the author’s novel My Best Friend’s Exorcism. I already had a copy of this book at home but I didn’t mind picking up a second.
The new paperback edition of my Best Friend’s Exorcism is gorgeous. The book looks like an old eighties VHS cover. Grady Hendrix clearly loves his old school horror and Paperbacks from Hell has the vibe of a passion project. Which is something I can always get behind. If you’re a fan of horror than Paperbacks from Hell will be the perfect coffee table book for you.
I didn’t grab as many books from Book Con as I have in the past. Book Con has always been the final sweep of the floor and the last chance to grab anything we missed. This year we did pretty well for ourselves so that wasn’t much of an issue. Book Con can be an overwhelming place (especially when you compare it to Book Expo). It was nice to go in this year and not have to worry about missing book drops or signings.
Overall it was a relaxing day. I met some cool authors, grabbed some interesting books and just had fun.
Here’s looking forward to the next year.
