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Waiting for a pre-order: Dangerous

Do you know what is killing me right now? Waiting for Dangerous by Shannon Hale to arrive in my mailbox! I have found that pre-ordering a book is sometimes NOT the fastest way to get it.

This happened to Jacob and I with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We were on vacation (a family reunion in Michigan) when the book was released and subsequently delivered to our doorstep (in Utah). My brother, who was living upstairs of us at the time, got a hold of me and was like, "Hey . . . Can I open this package that looks a lot like the last Harry Potter book and read it?" To which we said, "Yes, of course!" And we saw copies of Deathly Hallows everywhere we went in Michigan and just decided (tough though it was) to wait until we got home to the copy we already bought. Thankfully, we had brought along some good vacation reading: The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman if I remember correctly.

Anyway, we pre-ordered knowing full well that pre-ordered books are sometimes delayed if they are part of a larger order (or, the rest of the order is sometimes delayed!).  But this time Jacob and I ordered only two books that released on the same day -- Dangerous by Shannon Hale and Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (the sequel to The Way of Kings). We thought that since they came out the same day it would be smooth sailing, but no. Release day came and went without a shipping notification (Jacob updating me on the shipping status of our books frequently, since he is dying to read his book. It is HUGE and has so many chapters that several "teaser chapters" etc. have been released and now he is just slavering in anticipation.) and when the books didn't ship the next day either Ursula took matters into her own tentacles Jacob called the Barnes and Noble customer service number. He called at night and the next evening he was gearing up to call again when he got the shipping email.

We picked Barnes and Noble because they have actual physical bookstores, unlike Amazon. And we are fans of bookstores. Also it irks me that the "free super saver shipping" minimum has gone up. (Don't even think about telling me to join Prime!) Why did we not pick our local independent bookseller? (We DO have a couple independent bookstores that are much more "local" to us than ever before.) Well, they don't have online shopping, either of them, and let's be honest this was a late-night, just-finished-the-budget, we-should-probably-be-more-responsible, impulse purchase. Like Erasmus said, "When I get a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes."

So, we are waiting for our books. I'm getting more excited for mine, the more I read Shannon Hale's blog posts about it {one, two, three}. I take care not to read too much about a book before I begin it (I usually skip the back cover and the front flap) because too often I've had my eyes opened to a twist or a plot point too soon. Interestingly, though, if I'm currently reading a book and not loving it, sometimes reading the jacket helps me get invested. This was the case with Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book.

Have you ever not gotten your pre-ordered book soon enough?
Have you ever been horribly spoiled by a book jacket? Which book?
Do you remember where you were when HP&TDH came out?

Talk to me, friends. Because my book isn't here yet. Quick, before I resort to taking more selfies to pass the time.


Update: Here is my review of Dangerous!

6 comments:

  1. I was horribly with HP. I preordered it, and then I had to drive to Utah the day it came out, so.... I bought the CDs, too. So much money.

    I just posted on you BJD post from years ago, but I preordered the thiird book, and it came the same day- but I hated it. Just hated it. It was everything I don't like about the Bridget books, and noting intelligent or charming was left. Such a shame!

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  2. I know we saved quite a bit on shipping the way we ordered things, but I wish we could have just paid the extra for the shipping so we could get our books sooner. I'll just have to keep checking the package tracking page to see when our books will get here!

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  3. Good for you for supporting book stores! We love B and N too, but sadly, we are so poor that Amazon Prime has caught our business. We have said though... when we have a bit more in our budget that we would like to support local bookstores/game stores etc.

    I didn't know Shannon had a new book out! Fun! I'll have to check it out.

    I remember perfectly the story of when HP&TDH came out! I was hugie pregnant and begging my baby not to come until I had finished it! Corey was the one that went to the B and N midnight release party and came home with the copy all pumped up. We took turns reading it and it was agony! And I am sure I have told you before... Aly's water broke just hours after I finished it. Haha!

    Good to see a picture of you my beautiful friend!!! More selfies please!

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  4. We had pre-ordered Words of Radiance on Amazon and it arrived Tuesday last week (which I think was its release date). However, we just got amazon mom so that's probably partially why it came so fast.
    I just laughed when I saw your post because Chris has also been so excited for its release! Despite having our first baby and family in town he still managed to finish it in less than a week:) Hope you enjoy both books!

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  5. Joe and I made the mistake of preordering copies of HP#5 and realized afterwards that there was a whole pallet stacked high with them at Costco and that we could've just gone to the store and bought them instead of having to sit at home and wait for the mail truck to arrive. So for book 7, we woke up, got ourselves dressed, ate a hurried breakfast, got in the car, drove to Walmart, bought two copies, then spent the rest of the entire day in two separate rooms reading them. (Joe reads a little faster than I do, so the whole sharing-a-copy business wasn't gonna happen.) It was such an unforgettable day. Too funny to get so wrapped up in an imaginary world brought to life by some black ink on a piece of paper. Joe thought we should sell one of the books after we finished, but I keep both, side by side, on our bookshelf to remind me of that fun, fun day.

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  6. I keep hoping that some enterprising soul in Chambanavoy will reopen Pages for All Ages so that we can have an independent bookseller. The nearest one to us right now is over 100 miles away!

    I've never pre-ordered and I don't read book jackets or back covers until after I've read the book.

    I went with some friends to Pages for the midnight release of HP & TDH but didn't actually read it for quite some time. Loved teasing people by going around telling them that Harry died at the end!

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