It’s that time of the year! My birthday is at the end of March, and while I would normally just haul these all for that month, the current global crisis means that a lot of packages aren’t getting delivered until way later. My best friend & I sent each other sporadic gifts through the mail for the entire month of our birthdays, but about half of mine from her didn’t arrive until the second week of April, sooooooo here we are with a wonky two-month birthday book haul!

Anyway, I’m highkey excited about pretty much all of these, which I’m probably going to repeat eighteen times over, but it really can’t be helped. There are also a few that are not in my stack picture because I got impatient waiting for things to come in. But let’s get into it!

The fact that there are some not in this stack is kind of embarrassing, but I’d like to note that everything above is what I was gifted, and I only bought six myself, sooooo.

I Am Her Tribe by Danielle Doby is one I’ve actually already read and absolutely loved. Erin gifted both of these to me, and she said, “This is one you’ll quote a lot.” She was not wrong. It’s a powerful book of poetry, and I love it. Alex rec’d Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey a while back, saying that it’d put me in the perfect mood for my vampire detective story, so I’m hyped to have it.

Another book I read this April that you’ll see in my monthly wrap-up is the first book for The Magic Misfits, and I loved it so much that I just HAD to buy The Second Story by Neil Patrick Harris as soon as possible. This series is going to end up on my top 5 middle grade reads this year, so do yourself a favor and pick it up. And yes, I totally fell to the hype surrounding Havenfall by Sara Holland. The cover is gorgeous, it’s all over my Instagram feed, and it’s about a magical inn that acts as a kind of halfway house between universes? Sign me the heck up.

I read The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane a few months ago, and it was just everything I wanted out of a witchy story set in New England, so I knew I had to get The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs by Katherine Howe and read it soon. Also, more falling to hype, more also trusting in my fellow bloggers, but Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger sounds right up my alley. It’s got one of those summaries I love–“a soldier with a curse, a prince with a debt, a detective with a grudge, a thief with a broken heart”–yup, yup, yup, I’m here for it.

I love that the two baking books ended up together! Yay alphabet! Midsummer’s Mayhem by Rajani LaRocca is one of two middle grades that I really wanted for my birthday, and uh, since Erin bought me this one, I bought the other one, which is below. It’s got an Indian MC, magical baking, and is a Shakespeare retelling. I don’t know how I didn’t write it. I’ve also recently gotten into bread making myself, and though I asked literally everyone for a bread book for either Christmas or my birthday, everyone ignored me until Erin! Thank goodness for her and Living Bread: Tradition and Innovation in Artisan Bread Making by Daniel Leader because this thing is massive and gorgeous.

The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health–and a Vision for Change by Annie Leonard is one of Erin’s books that she said, “I’m just going to slowly make you stressed out about the state of the world with me,” and I’m not mad about it. And look! The other middle grade! A Dash of Trouble by Anna Meriano is Latinx witches, Dia de los Muertos, and cooking. Hell, I’m going to be so hungry by the time I’m done with these books.

Erin said, “Mary! French witches!” And I said, “HECK YES!” So she got me A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan for my birthday, and it sounds so good. She’s been hyping it up while reading it, so I can’t wait to dive in. And then, my sister got me All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, which is super fun because I’m usually the one gifting her books. She watched the new Netflix adaptation for this, though, and knew that I wouldn’t watch it without reading, so she proudly presented me with the book and then was like, “Okay, so when can I expect a movie review?”

Lolllllll, Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega is literally ALL OVER my Instagram feed right now, but look at that cover, can you really blame people? It sounds absolutely adorable, too, and I spontaneously just decided to add this Dominican ghost story to my cart along with the NPH and food one. And then, drum roll please, because I’m finally stepping beyond just Heartstopper. I was supposed to go to the UK in March for my birthday, but that didn’t happen. One of my definite plans, though, was to go to Waterstones and buy I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman while I was in her stomping grounds, so I just decided to buy it online instead.

Same story for Radio Silence by Alice Oseman and Solitaire by Alice Oseman. I figured I’d still support Waterstones even though I couldn’t physically be there. My grandparents also sent me some money for my birthday, so it worked out perfectly!

Erin doesn’t read as much as I do, so she’s quickly run out of books to rec me. This year, she asked me to send her a list of books that I wanted, but I still wanted a bit of a surprise, so I sent her my top 20 and let her choose from there. She said there was no rhyme or reason for why she picked what she did, but she loved the cover and title of Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay, and when I read her the summary, she was like, “Oh good, it actually sounds interesting!” She also got me The Kitchen Witch by Soraya, which is the coolest book ever. It’s not just recipes with a little kitchen witchery thrown in, it’s recipes broken up by the high holidays! Each section describes the holiday, what rituals can be done, and the kind of recipes that work for the season. It’s awesome.

Iron Cast by Destiny Soria was on the top of my 20 books list that I sent to Erin, and I planned on buying it myself if she didn’t, so I was very happy when she did! I absolutely adored Beneath the Citadel, and Soria just announced a badass-sounding new book about dragons, so I’m all a bundle of excitement. And last book on this insane list is Set This House in Order by Matt Ruff, which is an Erin book that she said she remembered suddenly when trying to think of what to get me. It sounds very interesting, and not like what I usually read, so I’m curious.

Oh my gosh. That was a lot. I seriously don’t have room on my shelves right now. I need to do some massive reading.

Have you read any of these books?