Every summer the theatre company I work for holds summer camps from June through August and as head of the Education Department, it is my job to plan, prep and run the program. There’s a lot of work that goes into planning summer camps; typically I start planning for the following year in late September of the year before. Aside from picking the camp dates (typically 9 weeks), my job responsibilities before camp begins are: deciding on the locations and confirming those with members of the city/local theater, choosing script titles and musical theatre songs, interviewing and staffing every camp with at minimum 3 staff members, setting up and monitoring camp registration, writing and editing scripts, editing songs, ordering and organizing all of our camp supplies, scheduling and planning staff training answering any and all parent questions regarding camps, and running the weekend long camp training.
Once camps begin, it’s 9 weeks of continually prepping for camps as the summer continues, handling parent questions, complaints and concerns, helping teachers handle any issues that come up with students and general questions that they have, arranging substitutes if an emergency comes up, and just general admin work to make sure that everything runs as smoothly as possible. If you couldn’t tell, it’s a lot of work. I’m very lucky to have amazing co-workers who help me whenever and however they can, but it’s still a lot of work and the summer can be pretty exhausting.
We had a very successful summer, but I was absolutely ready for a break! I feel so fortunate that I was able to take 3 weeks off and get some relaxation time in; and one of the things I did was buy some books! I bought quite a few plays in June for my 30 Plays in 30 Days challenge, and I bought one book in July, but I wanted to wait until I was finished with camp to do a big book haul, so once I was on break I headed over to the bookstore and decided to 👏🏼 treat 👏🏼 my 👏🏼self 👏🏼!
I got quite a few books in this haul, 13 to be exact (as I write this I have Taste by Sabrina Carpenter stuck in my head, so the “to be exact” you should read the way she sings it at the beginning of the song), and thought I’d sort them by genre, so let’s start with the mystery/thriller/horror that I picked up!
I’ve been seeing nothing but amazing reviews for Don’t Let The Forest In by CG Drews from so many of my favorite booktubers and since it was a book that was already on my radar, their positive reviews gave me the push I needed to purchase it for myself. I’m in love with this cover — it’s so stunning and from what I’ve heard about the book gives off the perfect vibes. This sounds like the perfect read for the Halloween season, so I’m probably going to wait to read it until October, but I’m really looking forward to diving into this story.
If you’re a fan of mysteries and you’re not reading Katy Watson I don’t know what to say other than you need to be reading Katy Watson. The Three Dahlias Mysteries series is so much fun, I’m truly obsessed with it and look forward to each new book. I had it in my mind that the fifth book A Deadly Night at the Theatre came out in August and was getting so annoyed that I couldn’t find it anywhere, only to find out that it comes out in September 🤣what can I say? I was really excited! Since I was also making an online purchase I pre-ordered this one, so it’s going into the haul. I can’t wait to be back with Caro, Posy and Rosalind.
I had never heard of Murder By the Book by Amie Schaumberg, but the cover and title caught my eye while I was at the bookstore so I opened the cover to read the summary and once I saw the words “Two dead students. A coded reference to Shakespeare. And the promise of darker things to come” I added it to my cart because does that not sound like me? The description says that a student is found dead on the outskirts of town and she was posed to look like Ophelia from Hamlet. I mean, enough said honestly. I haven’t really heard anything about this book (though I have been seeing it a bit on bookstagram), so I’m looking forward to going into it pretty blind and seeing how the story develops.
Yesterday I was sent a physical ARC of The Girls Before by Kate Alice Marshall from Flatiron Books and it was such a nice surprise! I’m a big fan of Kate Alice Marshall and always look forward to her releases. The Girls Before doesn’t come out until February 2026, but I’ll definitely be reading it before then!
We all know that I am an Emma Lord fan first and human second, so obviously, I couldn’t wait for her latest, For The Record to be released. I read an ARC of it back in March and loved it as always, so I knew I’d be picking up a copy when I went book shopping. I got the last copy available, so clearly, I was meant to have it! I’m definitely looking forward to doing a reread soon as well.
It feels like I’ve been looking forward to A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna for such a long time since the release date kept getting pushed back, but it’s finally out and I’ve got a copy in my possession! The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by this author was 5 stars for me, so I’m really excited about this one and know that it’ll be a perfect cozy read once the weather gets a little cooler.
The Love in Galway series is one of my favorite romance series at the moment, so I was really excited about Heart Strings by Ivy Fairbanks! I read an arc of it at the beginning of this month and loved it, so this was another one that I knew I would be picking up during this book haul since it came out on the 12th. I’m so happy to add this one to my collection and know that I’ll be reading it many times!
Another book I was so excited to finally have a physical copy of is Thus With a Kiss I Die by Christina Dodd, the second book in the Daughter of Montague series. This series is such a fun historical romance inspired by Romeo and Juliet and I just love it! I read an ARC of Thus With a Kiss I Die and had so much fun reading it, so I’m glad to finally have the physical copy.
Okay, did I really need a 9th physical copy of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo on my shelves? Probably not. Did I need a 9th physical copy of Les Misérables to bring happiness to my soul? Yes, absolutely. I actually stumbled upon this edition of Les Misérables a couple months ago when I was looking on the Barnes & Noble website and the second I saw it I knew I needed it. The cover is so gorgeous, I really can’t stop staring at it, so I just had to have it. I got the last copy at Barnes & Noble when I went and I’m very happy to have this beautiful edition on my shelves. I’m also thinking that this may be the edition that I finally end up annotating, so we shall see!
I’ve had The Other Side of Mrs. Wood by Lucy Barker on my tbr for a while now; it sounds really fun and like something I’d have a good time with, but I haven’t prioritized picking up a physical copy. A few weeks ago my mom and I happened to be running some errands and I saw a copy of this at the dollar store, so my mom bought it for me. I mean, for a dollar how could we resist? I’ll probably attempt to make this one of my October reads because I think it’ll be perfect for the season.
I got a special edition of Smile and Be a Villain by Yves Donlon last year, but I only recently read it in May and I LOVED it! A queer Hamlet retelling is absolutely the kind of thing that I want to be reading. I was so glad that I waited until May to read Smile and Be a Villain because the sequel, The Rest is Silence, just came out in July. Since the copy of Smile and Be a Villain that I already had was a special edition, there isn’t a matching edition for The Rest is Silence, and I just can’t have my series not match, so I picked up copies of both! Plus, my special edition is a hardback and both of these are paperbacks, which are much easier to read the bigger the book is, and The Rest is Silence is almost 500 pages.
If you haven’t heard of Katabasis by R.F. Kuang you’ve probably been living under a rock. While Yellowface was just okay to me, I really loved Babel and it seems like Katabasis will be more in the same vein of Babel, so I’m looking forward to reading it. I actually wasn’t planning on purchasing a copy any time soon, but I was at Target and saw a copy of it and decided to just get it, and then my mom very kindly bought it for me. I have no idea when I’m going to get around to reading it, but I’m happy to have a copy for when the mood strikes!
So there you go, a fun little book haul for y’all! There’s nothing better than getting new books, especially ones that you’re really excited about reading for the first time, or finally getting physical copies of books you’ve read and loved.
When was the last time you went book shopping? Or what was the last book you got that you were really excited about? Let me know in the comments!
Until next time 💜
