Books ‘n’ Bloggers Swap Reveal

A few weeks ago, I announced that I would be participating in the Books ‘n’ Bloggers Swap this round.  If you haven’t heard of this swap, it’s a thrice yearly swap hosted by Chaotic Goddess Swaps, in which participants are paired up and given guidelines for three books to send to our partner. I was paired up with Jessica at Let Me Tell You A Story! We spoke via email and twitter a few times to coordinate our swaps, and then off we went to pick out books for each other! Our packages had to be mailed out by Sept. 5, and we both received our packages from each other yesterday.

Jessica did an awesome job with her picks, and she went above and beyond the requirements for the swap! I can’t wait to show everything off!!

1. A book from my wish list: The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski

Okay, I have a confession to make. I still haven’t read The Winner’s Curse. I’m so glad Jessica sent this one because I’ve been dying to get into this series, and hopefully receiving the second book will be the kick in the pants I need to finally dive into these books.

From Goodreads:

• Book two of the dazzling Winner’s Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love.The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement… if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret.

  As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.

2. A book our swap partner has read and loved: The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

I haven’t heard of this book before, so I’m interested to try something new.  I don’t know anything about it, but it looks like everyone I follow on Goodreads loved it! I love personal book recommendations, so I’m anxious to read this! I definitely love that cover 🙂

From Goodreads:

• I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.

  Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

  Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to.

  The Sea of Tranquility is a rich, intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.

3. A book our partner hasn’t read, but is interested in: The 100 by Kass Morgan 

This book was recently turned into a tv show for The CW, and all of my friends have been bugging me nonstop to watch it.  I’ve heard that the book series is completely different from the tv show, so I’m wondering which one I should tackle first.  I think it might be interesting to watch the show first, and then go back and see what’s been changed from the books, especially since I usually do it the other way around with book to screen adaptations! If you’ve read the books and seen the show, please let me know what you think!

From Goodreads:

• NO ONE HAS SET FOOT ON EARTH IN CENTURIES – UNTIL NOW.Ever since a devastating nuclear war, humanity has lived on spaceships far above Earth’s radioactive surface. Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents – considered expendable by society – are being sent on a dangerous mission: to recolonize the planet. It could be their second chance at life… or it could be a suicide mission.

  Clark was arrested for treason, though she’s haunted by the memory of what she really did. Wells, the chancellor’s son, came to Earth for the girl he loves – but will she ever forgive him? Reckless Bellamy fought his way onto the transport pod to protect his sister, the other half of the only pair of siblings in the universe. And Glass managed to escape back onto the ship, only to find that life there is just as dangerous as she feared it would be on Earth.

  Confronted with a savage land and haunted by secrets from their pasts, the hundred must fight to survive. They were never meant to be heroes, but they may be mankind’s last hope.

Above and beyond!!

Jessica owned a couple books from my wish list that she hadn’t gotten around to reading, so she decided to pass them along to me.  So sweet!

Columbine by Dave Cullen

The Columbine shooting happened when I was in 8th grade, and I’ve always been morbidly fascinated with it since then. I’ve gone to speeches from a couple survivors and family members of the tragedy, and I read a lot of books about it in the years right after it happened. As a teacher, school shootings hit really close to home for me, especially after the horrifically traumatizing active shooter training my colleagues and I had to endure last fall.  I’ve heard amazing things about this book, and I’m very interested to read it.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

One of my favorite booktubers, Lindsey Rey, did a review of this book last spring, and I’ve wanted to read it ever since!

Even more!

Awesome bookish pencils from Icey Designs!

Have I mentioned that Jessica is an author?? How cool is that?! She sent along bookmarks featuring some of her books!

And finally, the lovely note that she sent along with my package.  Thank you so much Jessica for partnering with me on this swap. I had loads of fun, and I’m so appreciative of everything you sent me!

I will add a link Jessica’s post about the swap once that’s up too 🙂