Celebration Book Haul!

I just got a pay raise at work with my new promotion, y'all, so naturally I had to buy some new books. I don't buy a lot of new books very often. Or ever, really. I live a five minute walk away from my neighborhood library branch, and Chicago is loaded with tons of awesome used book stores, so I can never fully justify buying brand spankin' new hardcover books. But in my book (haha), pay raise = CELEBRATION! What better way to celebrate AND embrace my new goal of keeping up with what's hot and new than taking that elevated paycheck to a Barnes and Noble (sorry small book stores :().

To be honest, when I hatched my plan to go to Barnes & Noble, I only had my heart set on buying one book. I promised myself I could look around, but I could only get the one book I planned on buying. Who was I kidding? The moment I walked in, I must have instantly become intoxicated by warm, coffee smells wafting out of the in-store Starbucks (seriously, could this haul be anymore corporate-ified?) and all the books looks like shining little jewels on the shelves. Their covers so soft and smooth and new looking. Spines that had never been cracked. The following text conversation between me and my boyfriend happened while I was overwhelmed in the stacks:

I'm really hyping up this book buying experience but really, this is SO rare for me to buy three brand new books at one time. So, without further ado, here are the books I acquired at Barnes & Noble AND my prize from the giveaway that Jamie hosted with Epic Reads!

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai : Excuse the 30% off sticker on it that LEAVES A RESIDUE. One of my pet peeves. Anyway, I have been following the story of Malala for a few months now, and I feel empowered by her passion for education for girls, and how she continues fighting for what she believes in even though she has already faced incredible threat and danger. She was shot in the head at point blank range and has lived to tell the tale and keep fighting. I am excited to read this one.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell : This is the one book I originally went into B&N to buy. I loved Eleanor & Park so much, and I need more Rainbow Rowell in my life. My own mother beat me to reading it, and it revolves around a girl who is epically involved in a fandom and writes fanfiction, the whole bit. I may or may not have written fanfiction in my early high school years...so I'm way, way excited about this one. I'm sure the hype is real with this one.

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken : This is a book I have been seeing around other blogs and booktube channels for a couple of weeks now. The sequel, Never Fade just came out or is about to come out and I keep hearing awesome things about this dystopian world. Another one that I'm way excited about!

Asylum by Madeleine Roux : This is the book I won as a runner-up in the giveaway and I just intercepted it from my UPS man twenty minutes ago (no joke). I picked this one mostly because I think old psychiatric hospitals are some of the creepiest places on earth (not like I've ever been to one or anything). I'm also a huge fan of American Horror Story, and last season was called Asylum. Now that I've got it and can flip through the pages, it seems even creepier with old black and white photos of medical instruments. Halloween may be over, but my desire to be kept up late at night with nightmares is not.

So that's my small haul for now! Hopefully now that my money train is rolling a little more smoothly and I'm ready to tackle the world of best selling new releases, there will be more frequent hauls.

What books have you bought recently? Have you read any of these? Any I should start with first?