March wrap up post

I'm pretty happy with March! I posted some reviews & I read a decent amount of books. Here's hoping for a good April.

In March I read:

Banished by Liz de Jager

Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

Loki's Wolves by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong

The Unbound by Victoria Schwab

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Sesame Seade Mysteries: Scam on the Cam by Clementine Beauvais

Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens

Wide Awake by David Levithan

Far From You by Tess Sharpe

Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira 

Favourite book of March:

Oh I honestly can't pick. I read so many amazing books in March! I can't possibly pick my favourite. But maybe, maybe if I was forced...I would say We Were Liars. But I would also have to say Far From You, Landline, Murder Most Unladylike...you get what I'm saying?

Books acquired in March:

Bought:

Trouble by Non Pratt

The Unbound by Victoria Schwab

Pure Dead Magic by Debi Gliori

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

A Love Like Blood by Marcus Sedgwick

Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin (not pictured)

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan (not pictured)

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton (not pictured)

If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

Gifts:

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Say Her Name by James Dawson

Boys Don't Knit by Tom Easton

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (not pictured)

Review:

Smart by Kim Slater

Dead Man's Cove & The Midnight Picnic by Lauren St John

So...I got a lot of books in March. A lot more than I thought I had. Forgive Me, Leanard Peacock, If You Find Me, A Love Like Blood and Golden Boy were all bought from our charity booksale at work for ridiculously cheap! Cannot resist. The Unbound I bought because I LOVE Victoria Schwab's books SO MUCH. Pure Dead Magic because I had them as a kid & loved them & just wanted to re-own it. Trouble, Two Boys Kissing and The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender are all books I read proofs of and loved and so bought when they came out! I'm super excited for Smart and the Laura Marlin mysteries...they sound amaaazing. 

Thoughts on the month:

I'm really pleased with the books I read this month, both because of the number of them and because they were also really, really awesome reads! 

Most excited for in April:

The thing I am most excited for in April isn't a book...it's a challenge!

Laure Eve and her publisher Hot Key Books are challenging us to pick one format to read in... for the whole of April! Now, I do love my Kindle, but I've noticed lately that I've barely been using it. In fact, out of the 30 books I've read so far this year, only 8 of them have been eBooks and 5 of those were titles I read for work. That's pretty bad. So I'm taking up this challenge & reading only eBooks for the whole of April! Click on the button below for more info :)

How did you do in March? What books (or otherwise) are you excited for in April?

January wrap up post

My first wrap up post of 2014! I haven't done one of these in a while...in fact, I've neglected my blog a little bit lately. I'm gonna work on that :)

In January I read:

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
Balefire: A Chalice of Wind by Cate Tiernan

Balefire: A  Circle of Ashes by Cate Tiernan

Balefire: A Feather of Stone by Cate Tiernan

Balefire: A Necklace of Water by Cate Tiernan

Dead Silent by Sharon Jones*

Tease by Amanda Maciel*

The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson

A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger*

Sesame Seade Mysteries: Gargoyles Gone AWOL by Clementine Beauvais*

Vicious by Victoria Schwab

Rock War by Robert Muchamore*

Favourite book of January:

Vicious by Victoria Schwab. I loved this book SO much. It was intricate and beautifully written and so ambiguous. I absolutely adored it. It's a new favourite of mine.

Books acquired in January:

Bought:

Vicious by Victoria Schwab

The Archived by Victoria Schwab

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

The Fiery Heart by Richelle Mead

eBooks bought:

Taste of Darkness by Maria V. Snyder

Gifts:

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr 

I actually first borrowed Vicious off Daphne, but I loved it so much I had to buy my own copy (I also bought the US hardback, but it hasn't arrived yet). As I also loved The Near Witch when I read it a few years ago, I decided to splurge and get the hardback of The Archived as well. 

Waterstones had 20% off this weekend, so Stacey, Daphne and I went to the Gower St store (which is lovely and very maze-like) and I bought a paperback of Fangirl (to match my US hardback) and a copy of The Fiery Heart which I've been looking forward to reading for months, this is the first time I've seen it in a bookshop! Technically I bought these on the first day of Feb, but included  them in this wrap up anyway.

The only Kindle book I bought this month was Taste of Darkness, which I managed to grab for 99p. Was pretty pleased as I really like this series! I was thrilled to get my hands on this beautiful vintage-inspired edition of When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, which the wonderful Casey bought for me as a gift. 

Thoughts on the month:

I'm really pleased with how many books I read this month and what those books were. It's been an insanely busy month at work, but I still managed 12 books! 5 of those were books from work, of which I'm trying to read more. I absolutely loved them, and the more books of ours I read, the prouder I am to work for Hachette Children's. I can't wait for Dead Silent, Tease and Rock War to publish for everyone to be able to read them as well! I also read the Balefire series which I've been meaning to read for YEARS, and Lola which would have been my favourite book of the month if it weren't for Vicious. 

Most excited for in February: Banished by Liz de Jager. I've been anticipating this book for months, I adore Urban Fantasy and Liz is a totally awesome person. I cannot wait to read it. 

How did you do this month, and what are you most excited for in February?

July wrap up post

It's the end of July already! Some cool stuff happened in July, not least of which was Andy Murray winning Wimbledon! That was pretty awesome.

So, this month I read:

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The City's Son by Tom Pollock

Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand by Carrie Vaughn

Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner

Dead Jealous by Sharon Jones

Fearsome Dreamer by Laure Eve

Books acquired in July:

(pictured)
Cruel Summer by James Dawson

(reading this now)

Ash Mistry and the Savage Fortress by Sarwat Chadda 

(love mythology based books)

(not pictured)

The Bone Dragon by Alexia Casale

(was so excited to see this in the Kindle Sumer Sale!)

Fearsome Dreamer by Laure Eve

(AMAZING)

The Elites by Natasha Ngan

(very excited about it)

This month I signed up to the library here. I was absolutely amazed when I looked round the books! My library at home is a small town library with clearly very little funding and we rarely had lots of new releases in. I was always envious when I saw other bloggers get so new releases from their libraries. But the library here! OMG! It had *everything* okay, not everything, but tonnes of books and loads and loads of new releases. The teen section was 3 times the size of the one in my home town! I think I will be visiting a lot.

So this time I got:
The Explorer by James Smythe  
(not my usual read but it caught my eye)
The Beautiful and the Cursed by Page Morgan
(I wanted to read this for ages and I love the cover)
The Savages by Matt Whyman
(seen some good reviews and it sounds intriguingly bizarre)

Favourite book in July:

I read some pretty epic books in July, but Fearsome Dreamer was, hands down, my favourite. I wont be reviewing it quite yet, but here's a little description to whet your appetite. Guys, you want to be adding this amazing book to your TBR lists:

If you mixed Pride & Prejudice with The Black Magician Trilogy, threw in some sci-fi, a bit of alternative history, and gave the whole thing a seductive, almost surreal quality, you wouldn't have a book *quite* as good as Fearsome Dreamer, but you'd be close.

Thoughts on the month:

Reading 6 books is not great. I did actually do some reading for work which, if added, would bring my total to 8 which is a bit more acceptable. I'm aiming to do slightly better in August. That being said, I did read some amazing books in July and some (The Graveyard Book and Maggot Moon) that have been sat on my Kindle for a while, so I'm pleased about that.  I'm pleased that I didn't acquire too many books, though I did get some through work that I haven't mentioned.

How did everyone else do in July?

May wrap up post

It's the end of May! How quickly has THAT gone? I think I did pretty well in May; got a consistent blogging schedule back, read a decent amount of books AND got a special, super-exciting piece of news (which you can see at the end of the post)

Books read in May:

A Spoonful of Jam by Michelle Magorian (re-read)

Back Home by Michelle Magorian (re-read)
Darkfever by Karen Moning (3*)
Bloodfever by Karen Moning (4*)
Faefever by Karen Moning (4*)
Dreamfever by Karen Moning (4*)
Wait for You by J.Lynn (3*)
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (4.5*)
The Runaway Queen by Cassandra Clare and Maureen Johnson (4*)
Heart-shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne (4.5*)
Torn by Cat Clarke (3*)
Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn (3*)

Books acquired in May:

For review:

  

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainai

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

So I am insanely excited for Fangirl, TSfGaE I've started already and Shadow and Bone I ADORED (review to come soon!)

Bought:

For Kindle:

  

Books 2-5 in the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning 

(I've read them all, loved them)

The Runaway Queen by Cassandra Clare and Maureen Johnson 

(not quite as good as What Really Happened in Peru but I enjoyed it)

Wait For You by J.Lynn

(It was exactly what I wanted to read when I read it)

The Things We Did For Love by Natasha Farrant

(I haven't read this one yet but it does look good)

Borrowed:

Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

(Wasn't sure but got the others for Kindle and, as above, loved them)

Favourite book(s) in May:

 

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo and Heart-shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne were my favourite books this month, both excellent for different reasons. 

Thoughts on the month:

I'm really pleased with the amount of books I read this month. One was a novella and I sped through the 5 books in the Fever series which really boosted my numbers, but I think I did well. In terms of books acquired this month; I got 11 and I've read 8 (and a bit) so not much of an addition to my TBR which is good and I finally read2 books I really wanted to read (and they ended up being my favourite books of the month!)

And finally....

I got a job in publishing! I'm so excited to say that from 24th June I will be the new publicity assistant for Hachette Children's Books. It is exactly what I want to be doing and I am so excited to start; I still cannot believe I got the job! I'm not sure how it will fit in with my blogging yet, that's something I'm going to have to look at. 

How did you guys do this month?

January Wrap Up Post

Here we are, at the close of the first month of 2013! I feel like it's gone so fast and so slow at the same time. 

So here is my first wrap up post of 2013:

Books read in January:

1.Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder (4*)

 2.A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford (3.5*)    

3.Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell  (5*)

 4.Sabriel by Garth Nix (re-read) 

 5.Graceling by Kristen Cashore (5*) 

 6.Attachments by Rainbow Rowell (4*) 

 7.Scent of Magic by Maria V. Snyder (4*)

 8.Double Crossed (Novella) by Ally Carter (5*) 
9.The Witch's Betrayal (Novella) by Cassandra Rose Clarke (4*)

I was aiming for 10, so 9 is a little disappointing, especially when 2 of them were novellas! But there is a bit of a reason for the low number, which I will explain later on....

Books bought:

Omg I bought so many books this month 0_0 between the 12 days of Kindle, Christmas money and Amazon vouchers...here we go:

12 Days of Kindle books:

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

Torn by Cat Clarke

The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

Gone by Michael Grant

Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder

Other Kindle books:

Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner

Scent of Magic by Maria V. Snyder

Physical books bought:

Top one is Secrets and Sapphires by Leila Rasheed, got a bit washed out by the flash!

Yeah...so as you can imagine I'm on a strict book ban now! The only books I'm allowing myself are the ones I've already pre-ordered (which are A Witch Alone, Perfect Scoundrels, The Indigo Spell and The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer and then Clockwork Princess, which I obviously HAVE to have!)

Posts in January: 

I reviewed The Raven Boys, Easy, The Assassin's Curse, A Touch Mortal, Eleanor & Park, 

I posted one of my Memory Lane Monday posts, my January discussion post and my 2013 blogging resolutions

Other news:

I got shelves! SHEEEELVES

  

I haven't had shelves for a good couple of years, but earlier this month my mum and boyfriend put some up for me! I'm so happy.

Aaaaand I got a new job! It's a proper, full time grown up job. It's a really good job with a good salary but the full time hours plus the commuting time (I have to take a bus, a train and another bus, it takes 2 hours each way!) means I have very little free time now, so my posts might be a bit scarce :)

 

So there we go, my January in review :)

March wrap-up post

So long March!! I spent most of March working in London which was pretty awesome, but also limited my reading a bit. I read more than I thought I did, but my particpation in challenges was...not great. 

I'm (now)  participating in 3 challenges this year, the Contemporary challenge hosted by Katie and Angela and the TBR challenge hosted by Evie and tonnes of other cool people and the Soul Screamers challenge hosted by Rachel. 

So...this month I read nothing for either the TBR or Contemporary challenge....yeah I know, pretty bad. But I DID start a new challenge, the Soul Screamers one, and read my allotted book My Soul to Keep...so that counts for something, right?

Overall this month I read 12 books which were:

The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa (4*)
The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa (3*)
Forgiven by Jana Oliver (4*)
I'd Tell You I Love You but then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter (4*)
The Kingdom by Amanda Stevens (4*)
The Prophet by Amanda Stevens (3*)

Kisscut by Karin Slaughter (4*)
The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa (4*) 

My Soul to Keep by Rachel Vincent (4*)
All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin (5*)
The Girl in the Clockwork Collar (2*)
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (5*)

The breakdown is:

YA: 9

Adult: 3

Review: 6

I'm pleased with the amount of review books I read, and that I managed to fit some adult titles in there too. I think 12 books is good considering I was working AND in London so yeah, I'm happy with that! 

How did you do in March? Better than me at challenges? Leave your wrap-up post links in the comments!!

February Wrap-up post

Hello hello and welcome to my second (ever) wrap-up post of 2012! I can't believe February has already left us, seems like only a minute ago that it was January!

I'm participating in 2 challenges this year, the Contemporary challenge hosted by Katie and Angela and the TBR challenge hosted by Evie and tonnes of other cool people. 

This month for the Contemporary challenge I read:

Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale 

Considering I rarely read contemporaries, I think one a month so far for this challenge is pretty good. I'm also going back and reading older contemps and enjoying those as well, which is what I wanted to gain from doing this challenge.

For this challenge I read:

Chime by Franny Billingsley

The Missing/Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

the last 2 were additions to my original list, but both books I've had for a WHILE (A year for DM and 6 months for TIK) so I'm glad I read (and really enjoyed) them both! I'm pleased with my progress in this challenge this month. 

I also did a week of Bookish Indulgence to celebrate my blogoversary. This simply involved me reading whateeeeever I felt like for a week and I read:

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

I really, really enjoyed the last 3. Jessica, not so much. But I totally enjoyed the freedom of reading whatever took my fancy for a week!

Overall this month I read 15 books which were:

 Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale (4*)
 Chime by Franny Billingsley (5*)
 Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L James (3*)
Play to Kill by PJ Tracy (4*)
 The Missing by Lisa McMann (2*)
Post Mortem by Patricia Cornwell (3*)
 Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (4*)
 Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (5*)
Fifty Shades Darker by E.L James (3*) 

Fifty Shades Freed by E.L James (2*)

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey (3*)
Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr (4*)
Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout (4*)

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa (4*)
The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa (4*)

I only read 2 actual review books, but as I've been severely cutting down the amount of review books I request/accept this isn't too bad. I also read 5 adult books including 2 crime fiction and 3 romance which I NEVER read so yay on the variety front. 

I *finally* got not one but two 5* ratings, but I also had a couple of 2*s and a few threes-that-were-barely-threes so that's no so great. 

I am really please with how many books I read this month. I really improved on January's 9 and the month was a few days shorter ;) I'm hoping to improve again in March. 

How did you all do? Are you happy with how much you read in Feb? Leave me links to your wrap-ups in the comments!!


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I'm currently in London doing some work experience (yay) so my posting/commenting might be a bit sparser.  I've got posts scheduled, but I might not be around much....bear with me =]