A Belated Book Haul

I'm surprised that I've managed to make it to my desk to write this post, and am not buried under the stack of books that I've seemed to accumulate over the past few weeks. In fact, those that I have received have spent the majority of their time stacked wherever I can fit them, some still inside the gift bags that they were handed to me within in an attempt to save some space. No matter the hours I spent sorting through the new additions to my shelves, and photographing them for this haul - when there was, for once, some natural light streaming in through my window - novels still decorate the entirety of my bedroom. I'm not complaining, though!

 

It's been more than a few months since I decided to piece together a haul, but I've just decided to share some of the bookish purchases I have made within the past few weeks!

 

Wreck This Journal | The Year of the Rat | The Direputable History...|
Gone Girl | We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves | More Than This

This Christmas, I was all too aware of the selection still sitting on my shelf from 2013, those that I hadn't yet opened. I could recall the panic-buying that had taken place the previous year, noticing a few titles I must have heard mentioned before, immediately grabbing them heading to the checkout as the store was threatening to close in a few minutes. I wasn't really anticipating any of the books I had purchased - hence the reason, apart from one or two, the rest have been left to gather dust. I was, though, determined for this not to happen again. I'll admit that, over the Christmas period, I must have spent hours in bookstores and sections, carefully choosing the titles I wanted. But, I can't wait to delve into each one that I decided to buy.



We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves | More Than This





There may be a slight colour-scheme between the books I did decide to pick up; the shelves in my room now comprise of mostly black and yellow monochrome. What was gift-wrapped on Christmas morning included:

 

-We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves by Karen Jay Fowler

- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

-More Than This by Patrick Ness

-The Year of the Rat by Claire Furniss

-The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart

 

 

The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook |
The Hummingbird Bakery: Home

 When I'm not blogging, I absolutely adore spending nights baking, and usually choose to make batches of cupcakes or different types of confectionary. Over the Christmas holidays, the cookbooks inspired by a bakery I recently visited whilst in London, called The Hummingbird Bakery, started appearing in bookshops as gift recommendations, and I couldn't help but fall in love with them. Each one I came across was crammed with gorgeous photography, detailed page designs, and split into different sections including recipes for cupcakes, biscuits and traybakes.

 

Simply, I couldn't leave them behind!

 

 In what I'm convinced is an attempt to make me a little bit less of a perfectionist, my parents also finally caught onto my constant hints in the middle of Waterstones and I received a Wreck It Journal by Keri Smith from them!

 

An Island of Our Own | The Sin Eater's Daughter | 7 Days

Recently, I took a trip to the Scholastic offices for their Book Bloggers' Brunch, which was a chance for them to share their 2015 highlights with us and meet up with some other bloggers! I wrote a wrap-up of the event in-detail here, where I talked a little about the glossy goody-bags that were handed out towards the end of the Brunch, which contained some books to read on the journey home. The review copy of Melinda Salisbury's upcoming The Sin Eater's Daughter stood out instantly, intricately tied with brown ribbon and wrapped in baking-paper. Not only was I able to put this baking paper to good use when taking some pictures for upcoming blog posts, but the review copy itself had such a beautiful cover it could challenge the actual edition!

 

I've accumulated a postcard obsession.

Also from Scholastic:

 

-The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury

-7 Days by Eve Ainsworth

-An Island of Our Own by Sally Nicholls

-To All The Boys I Loved Before by Jenny Han(received a few days later in the post!)

-Collection of postcards for upcoming releases, including The Game of Love and Death.





All The Bright Places | To All The Boys I've Loved Before

Whilst in London, I also managed to tick a trip to Waterstones Piccadilly off my bucket-list, and spend a while exploring the endless bookcases.

The majority of the time I spent there was spent within the YA Section, which probably had the largest collection of new releases and popular books that I had come across before, where I found All The Bright Places by Jenny Niven! After the praise I had read for this debut online, Niven's writing said to match the likes of John Green, I had been desperate to pick this up.

Thank you to everyone who sent or gifted me any of the books above! I hope you also had as much of a book-filled Christmas as I did!

What did you receive? Any of the above?

Tell me in the comments!

 

All pictures taken in this post are my own and should not be re-used without permission.



Christmas Book Haul!

So, Christmas is over-and-done with for another year; and, to my delight when I got to go book-shopping, a year filled with books and me spending most of Christmas day working out where, exactly, they would fit on my bookshelf! I also received a few writing-presents, as well as some merchandise - including the Catching Fire album!

Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher - If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen me talking about how 'Ketchup Clouds' was number-one on my wish-list and how much I wanted to read this book! Imagine how excited I was when I walked into Waterstones and it was just sitting on the shelf, ready for me to read! I've heard nothing but great things about this novel, and love the storyline behind it, as it's a really interesting subject, and I'm sure it will be a tear-jerker! Luckily, there is still some Christmas chocolate left-over that I'm keeping; just in case I need comfort-food.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein - Before I bought this, I knew nothing about it except that it was set in the War, something I had figured out without having to be told it. As well as all the hype surrounding this novel, I based picking this up solely on recommendation and am so glad I did! This is definitely going to be one I read as soon as possibly so I can finally discover Wein's writing! I've been warned that I may also need tissues for this one!

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo - I absolutely love great fantasy books, and I think this will really hit-the-spot while trying to find a new series for next year! The sequel has been talked about non-stop, and I read one passage from that to know I must pick up the first book! From just the synopsis, the world building seems both complicated yet, intricate, and I'm already guessing this will be one of my 2014 Books of the Year, despite the fact I haven't even read the first page!

The Diviners by Libba Bray - While I knew I wanted to read the previous three books, this was one I had only read some mixed reviews off, and thought it was just too big for me to enjoy without getting -dare I say - bored. Although, the post I read before I left the house said how good it was, and when I saw it on the shelf, I decided I may as well buy it and see for myself, as the cover is just gorgeous anyway!

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sheilds - What bad things have I heard about this novel? Absolutely none! I remember wanting an ARC of this when it was first released because the publisher was sending it out with a playlist, and think the whole concept will result in the perfect contemporary novel! I am anticipating this hugely right now!

Paper Towns by John Green - I have been wanting to read another John Green book since TFiOS first broke my heart at the beginning of this year; so, when I saw the brand-new cover for Paper Towns, I decided to finally give-it-a-go, as what better excuse to read it than, 'Just look at that cover!'


City of Ashes & City of Glass by Cassandra Clare - It's been a while since I first entered the Shadowhunter world when I read 'The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones' and, since the final book is coming-out next year and it will be what everyone is discussing, along with the fact I still don't quite believe the ending of the first book was the complete truth, I bought this so, I would be able to continue the series!

Book Merchandise

My obsession with The Hunger Games grew this Christmas, as I finally got my hands on the new Mockingjay Pin for Catching Fire, which is sitting on my bookshelf, along with the Catching Fire Soundtrack, which is a collaboration of some incredible artists to make a beautiful album which I haven't stopped listening to since it was released. If you haven't listened to the album yet, here is my favourite song, Christina Aguilera's 'We Remain':

 

I also had a brand-new Catching Fire poster, to stick-up on my wall along with the free-one's I got from a magazine before the film's release, and a calendar; I had one of these last year but actually broke it on Christmas morning - so far I haven't touched the calendar!

 

On a final note, I hope you all had an amazing, book and food-filled Christmas and I wish you a VERY happy even more book-filled New Year!

 

What bookish gifts did you have this Christmas? Any of the above books?

Tell me in the comments!

Into Autumn Book-Haul!

Summer is far behind us and the new school term isn't really so new anymore. The piles of homework have final become large enough to drown in, and GCSE's and Coursework is all you seem to hear about. Not mentioning, a lot of new books to escape it! * Shows I received it for review.

 

 

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terril

 

I won a giveaway from Charli over at To Another World, so a huge thank you for this! It also came with a little-note inside that I'm going to keep inside the book! I've had it for a few weeks now, but the premise sounds so interesting! I've only ever read one other time-travel novel, After Eden by Helen Douglas and loved it, so I have high-hopes for this one!

 

Geek Girl: Model Misfit by Holly Smale*

 



Isn't it pretty?



I felt like dancing around the room when this finally came through the door, and I saw that it was. Oh sugar cookies - it was

even more gorgeous than I thought it would be! I'm currently reading it and couldn't be happier to be back with Harriet and Wilbur. Thanks to Harper Collins for providing me with this!

 

'Resist(Breathe #2)' by Sarah Crossan

 

I won a signed copy of this in a giveaway Sarah Crossan held on Twitter and when I saw the package and turned the first page to see what it said, I was so happy! I'm a huge fan of the first book in the series, 'Breathe' and feel very lucky to have a copy on my shelf. It also has a very eco-style cover, reflecting the ideas in Breathe.



Thank YOU so much, Sarah!

 

 

I also received another copy of this for review and will probably end up giving it away when I post my review of closer to publication!

 

'Coco's Secret' by Niamh Greene

 

I've been really lucky lately with giveaways, and when I saw a tweet about winning this book I thought it was worth a try. I was shocked to hear I had won, and until it came through my door I hadn't even read the synopsis. Even so, this is something I wouldn't usually read but, I think I'll enjoy the vintage-style it seems to have.  Thanks to Laura for sending me this!

 

I've been spending a lot of time at the library lately, and drop in after school most days for a quick browse to see what's on the shelves. Over the past fortnight or so, I've picked up:

 

'1984' by George Orwell

 I've heard this novel is fantastic, and I've literally just finished writing a GCSE Speech about locking three things in the fictional Room 101 - which is from the novel. Obviously, I'm really curious to see what it's all about so, I decided to give it a go! Hopefully, I'll enjoy this a lot more than my other attempts with classics!
 

'It's Kind of a Funny Story' by Ned Vizzini

 If you read the synopsis, you'll have a pretty good idea towards why I picked this up! It is definitely along the lines of a John Green novel, and I'll probably end up needing tissues!

What have you got over the past few weeks that have cheered you up as the cold weather begins to hit?
 

Summer ARC Haul!

Recently, I've been frantically emailing publishers on the hunt for some summer-reads. I was lucky enough to receive eight books this week ranging from dystopia to fantasy, children's to contemporary. The reason for this is mainly the fact that summer is when I get most of my reading done and power through book after book.

I saw a tweet on Twitter a few weeks ago about a brand-new publisher looking for a team of reviews. Yesterday, I finally became a part of that team - known as Team Fox - along with Jack(The Book Stop). I had so many books to choose from but, in the end, I limited myself to three - all very different - to read! I'm so excited to be a part of this brand-new team of Teen Reviewers and of course, getting another package in the post is something I love. The books I received were:

Look what I found! Two bloggers(Zoe and Amber) with a mention in
Diary of a Mall Girl! Congratulations, girls!

 

The Soterion Mission(Uncorrected Proof) by Stewart Ross

Soul Shadows by Alex Woolf

The Diary of a Mall Girl by Luisa Plaja

 

I also had three books from Nosy Crow:

 

Faerie Tribes: The Crystal Mirror by Paula Harrison

Baby Aliens Got My Teacher(Uncorrected Children's Proof) by Pamela Butchart

The final book in the Olivia Stage School series, which is going to be sent to the Blogoversary Winner who won the first five books in the series.

The book I was dancing-around-the-room excited to receive though was Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas. I already had a copy from NetGalley of this on my Kindle and wasn't expecting to get a copy in the post. So, when I realised there was a package waiting for me from Bloomsbury, I was completely over-joyed. It is now happily sitting with 'Throne of Glass' as I'm completely in awe of how gorgeous the cover is.

I've also been spending a lot of time chatting to author Sharon Sant on Twitter about our mutual love of all things Peeta Mellark and decided to ask about one of her novels, 'Sky Song'. She then offered a review copy to me and I jumped at the chance. I can't wait to read this as it just sounds beautiful and I've heard nothing but praise.

I also have 'The Bone Season' by Samantha Shannon and 'Shipwrecked' by Siobhan Curham(All ready for the read-a-long on the 15th August - 30th on my Goodreads group 'Fandom Freak Out'). You can sign up to read with me and other bloggers here .

What ARC's have you received for the summer?
On a final note, I'd like to thank Nosy Crow, Curious Fox and Bloomsbury along with Siobhan Curham for the books I've received.