WWW Wednesday July 17th

Okay so after June moving at a glacial pace July is moving far too quickly, YALC is next week and I still have so much more to read! Still, it’s time for my fortnightly bookish check-in!

If you want to join in with WWW don’t forget to send over a big thank you to Sam at Taking on a World of Words for keeping WWW alive and kicking.

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading? 

I feel slightly victimized by this question because I’ve dipped my toe into numerous books over the past fortnight as I frantically try to find the best order to read them in. My main current read is Revenger by Alastair Reynolds in preparation for YALC (and I’ve had it to read for a while). I’ve also been reading Finding Home by Hari Conner and The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neil, both of which have been absolutely healing my soul. I’ve been enjoying Revenger as well but there’s just something about the story and art styles for these two graphic novels that just soothes me, Hari’s landscape pieces transport me to beautiful forests where I can fill my lungs with sweet air and Katie’s soft edges and pastel colours lull me into a relaxed dreamland, I can’t get enough of them.

What did you recently finish reading?

Last weekend I finished Wastelands: The New Apocolypse, the dystopian anthology I was reading and Heartstream. I really enjoyed Heartstream and read it very quickly, it was a little traumatising and had some difficult parts in it but I loved it, you can check out my review here. Wastelands was a great anthology but it just felt so huge! Just writing the review is taking me ages as I made notes for every single story and there are over thirty of them! I’m glad I decided to read it but I was so pleased to finally finish it. A review should be coming next week with any luck.

What do you think you’ll read next?

For a change, this is actually super easy to answer and shouldn’t change! If it hasn’t already arrived by the time this post goes live Heartstopper volume two should be arriving and I’ll be dropping absolutely everything for that! My next YALC book to read is Do you Dream of Terra-Two by Temi Oh which will my next non-graphic novel read. I’m also lucky enough to have been accepted for the new Tea Dragon Society graphic novel due out in September so will defintley be getting to that too!

What are you reading next? What have you been reading? What are you reading right now? Let me know!! Those of you attending YALC and still working through your TBR’s for it how are you getting on?

 

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S4S – Summer TBR

So I have already posted a TBR for the month which is also sort of doubled up as my YALC TBR as well so I’m going to take the opportunity this week to use the Summer TBR prompt for this weeks Six for Sunday as a broader TBR of books I want to read over the next few months. There are a lot of books that have been out for a good while that I’ve been meaning to get to. I may have cheated a little bit and lumped some series of books together but I won’t tell if you don’t. You can find lots of awesome stuff, including some of the 2019 prompts for Six for Sunday if you want to join in over at Steph’s blog A Little but a Lot. 

Nevernight, Godsgrave and Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff
I am determined to finally finish Nevernight and get through Godsgrave in time for the Darkdawn release in September! I’ve loved what I’ve read of it so far but I made the mistake of sandwiching my reading of Nevernight between two blog tour books and ran out of time to finish it. Once I’ve worked my way through this months review books I’m dedicating August to getting caught up ready for the final book and Jay’s impending September visit to the UK as well!

Six of Crows and The Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
I made the same mistake with Six of Crows as with Nevernight and had to abandon it over halfway through which was painful because it’s SO up my alley, I LOVE groups of misfits, heists and morally grey characters and Six of Crows has all of these things. Then obviously I can move onto the Crooked Kingdom which will mean I’ll be caught up enough to finally read King of Scars although that’s not a summer priority for me.

Gilded Cage by Vic James
Since reading Sanctuary I’ve been desperate to read Vic’s earlier work, I’ve been hearing great things about this trilogy and I would really like to at least get the first one read before YALC (I’m debating trying to go Saturday too so I can meet her!)

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
I have been meaning to read this book and its sequels FOREVER. I think I just get worried they won’t live up to the hype I’ve heard sometimes but this is one of the reasons it took me so long to read the Illuminae files which have become my favourite books so I know I need to take the leap and I think this summer it might finally be time.

Ghosts of the Shadowmarket By Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan
The most recent book on this list, I’d really like to get this bindup of short stories read to start The Red Scrolls of Magic in the Autumn, I kept putting it on my monthly TBR but I think this is one that will have to wait until later in the summer as it is one of the only ones I have yet to buy.

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
I’ve been debating reading this for a little while now. The sheer size of it has put me off time and again but earlier this year both the kindle and audible versions were on sale super cheap so I brought them both and now have absolutely no excuse not to finally listen to/read this book!

I’m so excited to finally read these damn books. I get distracted so easily so feel free to bug me and bug me about reading them!

What books are you looking forward to reading this summer and are any of them books you’ve been wanting to read for a while?

 

 

 

July TBR

I know I shouldn’t be shocked as I just did my June wrap up last week but OH MY GOSH how is it July now?! YALC is this month and I’m in no way prepared. I’m only there for one day in all likely-hood but I still have some reading to get done! I have a backlog of books to review but there are also some books I want to read in time for YALC as well as some new releases I’m desperate to get around to. I think my TBR list for this month is going to be a little over hopeful but what the heck I can but try!

Heartstream by Tom Pollock
I actually started this last night and I already can’t wait to get back to it. This is my first book by Pollock that I’ve read and I think I’ll look into his other works after as I’m really loving his writing style.

Revenger by Alistair Reynolds
I got this when Shadow Captain came out earlier this year in preparation for my sci-fi binge but never got around to it, Reynolds will be at the sci-fi panel I’m excited for at YALC so I wanted to make sure I got it read in time for then, hopefully if I really enjoy it I can pick up the sequel as well and get them both signed too.

Do you Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh
I’ve seen quite a few people who enjoy similar books to me that have been loving this and I’ve been intrigued for a while but I don’t often buy hardbacks and I kept putting it off but as Temi Oh will also be at YALC on the same panel as Alistair Reynolds (in addition to Lauren James and Sasha Alsberg) I feel this is a sign I need to finally get around to reading it.

Shadowscent by P.M Freestone
Another YALC read, I brought Shadowscent on the day it was released because it sounds brilliant and the cover is gorgeous but, yet again and shocking absolutely no one I still haven’t read it because I’m terrible. I’m enjoying using YALC as a good excuse to get all these books I’ve been looking forward to actually read. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve known authors were at events but because I hadn’t read their books yet (despite already owning them in most cases) I didn’t get my book/s signed and then regretted it terribly once I’ve read and loved the book. I do not want this to be one of those times!

Heartstopper – Volume two – By Alice Oseman
I’m SO excited for volume two of Heartstopper releasing this month! I was hoping to make it to the event on July 11th but sadly don’t think I’m going to be able to make it now, I can’t wait to read it though!

Men in Black International: The Official Movie Novelization by R.S Belcher
One of my review books, I had decided to take fewer review books on this month but as soon as the lovely people at Titan offered me this book I couldn’t say no. I’ve really been looking forward to the film, I’m yet to see said film itself yet so I think it would be interesting to compare the two when I do finally see it.

X-Men: Days of Future Past by Alex Irvine
Another review book for the month from Titan, I received this last month and will quite likely be my next read after Heartstream. I’ve been in an X-Men mood for a little while now and although I’m not officially taking part in Camp NaNoWriMo I am starting to jot down ideas etc for the project I’ll be carrying on with for NaNo later in the year and as my characters have extra “abilities” I always consider anything X-Men related as “research” plus I just kind of love them.

Sanctuary by Vic James
So I have actually already read Sanctuary once already. I was lucky enough to have read a copy via NetGalley and my review has been written and ready for a while now but as the book isn’t out until August I’ve kept it waiting in the wings. I’m going to be taking part in the blog tour for the release and would love to give it another read through and maybe spruce up my review for the occasion. I’m really hoping I get enough book time to do so!

I have a good feeling about this months TBR, despite it being so huge (for me). I think it might be a bit of a squish towards the end but after stressing (non-bookish/blog related stuff) so much last month that I made myself ill I’m taking a lot more time to just read, relax and enjoy my books.

What do you absolutely have to read this month? Have you read any of these books already? Let me know what you thought of them!

WWW Wednesday June 19th

It feels like it’s been ages since I did my last WWW Wednesday post, it’s been a long fortnight let me tell you but now it’s time for me to give you this fortnight’s bookish report with our usual three questions!

If you want to join in with WWW don’t forget to send over a big thank you to Sam at Taking on a World of Words for keeping WWW alive and kicking.

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

The Paper and Hearts Society by Lucy Powrie.

I decided to get a book read for myself between a few books from publishers lately and I decided The Paper and Hearts Society would be a good choice as I’ve heard so many people say great things about and honestly it’s already SO good. I’ve decided Ed is my soulmate even though I totally don’t deserve him. I’m already so invested in everyone and I’m so terrified of the moment you just know is coming when things start to go wrong, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to cope with it.

I’m also still reading Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I’ve only read another chapter or so since my last WWW Wednesday so there’s not much else to report on regarding it other than the fact that I caved and watched episodes two and three of the show and MY HEART.

What did you recently finish reading?

The Girl in Red by Christina Henry.

This book scared the heck out of me repeatedly, it was so creepy in places! I love Red to pieces and think she’s now one of my all absolute favourite main characters. You can check my review out that went up yesterday by clicking here if you’d like to know more!

What do you think you’ll read next?

Wastelands: The New Apocolypse edited by John Joseph Adams

This one is an anthology including never before seen stories and reprints by critically acclaimed authors including Veronica Roth who has contributed some new Divergent content that I can’t wait to get my teeth into. These are short stories and I’ve really wanted to try some more short-form recently but I do feel I might have to try and read something else between this and The Paper Hearst society or it might be a little jarring! With the new announcement about a Hunger Games prequel, I think I might just binge the audiobooks and/or films and see if that helps? or I guess I could actually reread some of the Divergent books, I did hate the end of the trilogy however so perhaps I’ll get round to reading the short stories from Four’s point of view? Yup. Adding it.

Four by Veronica Roth.

As mentioned above this is a collection of short stories from the point of view of Four from the Divergent books, I had meant to read the after finishing the trilogy but I hated the ending of the last book I couldn’t bring myself to read them. I think it’s finally time!

Thank you for checking out this fortnight’s WWW Wednesday, let me know what you’re reading, what you’ve enjoyed reading lately and what you’re planning to read next!

TBR Thursday – June

It’s the first Thursday of the month so it’s time for TBR Thursday where I reveal the books I intend to read this month (hopefully!). It’s not a huge list this month and very subject to change as I’ve applied for some ARC’s that I’m hopeful I’ll be accepted for, I’m also not quite halfway through The Dark Phoenix Saga by Stuart Moore and Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett which I’m reading at the moment and I think six books in a month might be a little hopeful for me but we’ll see!

The Girl In Red by Christina Henry
As mentioned in yesterdays WWW Wednesday post this is a retelling of the classic Little Red Riding Hood tale with a twist. I’ve heard great things about it and this is my next read for sure, I’m so excited to get into it!

The Paper & Hearts Society by Lucy Powrie
I fell in love with this book the moment I saw the arcs going out and read the synopsis, it sounds amazing and I think Tabby will almost certainly be a character I can identify with. Anxiety and book clubs? Sign me up.

Ghosts of the Shadow Market by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson, Kelly Link and Robin Wasserman.
Despite my, not exactly falling out of love with Shadowhunters, but more my becoming less excited by I’m still eager to check out the short stories contained within the Ghosts of the Shadow Market collection. The past two Shadow hunter anthologies have been really enjoyable and I’m hoping maybe this will reignite some of my love for the series. This book may, however, get swapped out if I’m chosen to receive any of the ARC’s I’ve applied for.

D-Day Dog by Tom Palmer
I don’t often read a lot of books heavily featuring animals because I worry that something bad will happen to them (thanks Marley and Me and the Warrior Cats books) but something about D-Day Dog just called to me, especially the absolutely beautiful cover by Tom Clohosy Cole. 

Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare
I NEED TO FINALLY FINISH THIS DAMNED BOOK. I started reading QOAD when it was released LAST YEAR. I found the physical book far too big and clunky to read so opted for the audiobook read by the lovely James Masters and…it’s not a bad book exactly it’s just so drawn out. It’s obviously a long book and some bits have been brilliant so far but some of it just drags so much. I have about an hour and a half left to listen to which I’m determined to get done this month no matter what!

There are so many books I’m trying to restrain myself from buying this month that I cannot explain. I’m also at an event on payday halfway through the month so need to restrain myself (hahahahahaha) as we’re also off to Legoland at the end of the month!

Are there any books on here you’ve read that you enjoyed? What are you hoping to get read this month?

WWW Wednesday – June 3rd

Its time for my fortnightly WWW Wednesday post! I’m slowly slogging through this months TBR (full post to come tomorrow!) but feeling positive I’ll get there, especially after rearranging and tidying my bookcases yesterday! If you want to join in with WWW don’t forget to send over a big thank you to Sam at Taking on a World of Words for keeping WWW alive and kicking.

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

The Dark Phoenix Saga by Stuart Moore. As mentioned in my last post, this is a retelling/novelisation of the Dark Phoenix arc from the X-Men comics. I remember falling in the love with the animated X-Men series when I was younger and other than Rogue, who I adored, I really fell in love with Jean and her story as the Phoenix. I got a little older and looked into the comics more and devoured the whole story arc multiple times. I’m so glad to now get to relive it all over again in this new Marvel novel, not to mention the film coming out very very soon.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Despite meaning to read this for a while now, as soon as I saw that they would be making a show in-fact and I’m now finally getting around to it. I read the first 50 pages so that I could watch the first episode of the show and now I’m hoping to carry on and finish it so I can watch the rest of the episodes because that first one was absolutely brilliant.

What did you recently finish reading?

Memento by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman. As a pre-order incentive in the US, the US publishers of Aurora Rising offered a copy of a new and exclusive Illuminae novella when you submitted your preorder receipt. This novella is an 82-page prequel about AIDAN. I was gutted to realise this was US only but the lovely Good Choice Reading who is based in the US and does virtual signings were offering the incentives with your signed book! The postage was a little painful but it was totally worth it. I read Memento the day I received it and I made a reading reaction video which you can check out here.

Nexus by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings. The sequel to their first book Zenith, I was pleased to find Nexus was a HUGE improvement over its predecessor and was really enjoyable, I’m actually pretty gutted that it’s only a two book series. You can check out my review for Nexus here. 

What do you think you’ll read next?

The Girl in Red by Christina Henry.  I’ve been fascinated with the idea of Christina’s fairy tale retellings for years and The Lost Boy is on my TBR and now I’m lucky enough to be taking part in the Instagram tour for her newest book The Girl in Red, the tale of Red Riding Hood (in this case more of a red jacket than an actual hood) and the decimated world riddled with quarantine camps, death, destruction and disease.

Have you read any of these? If so what are your thoughts? What have you read lately and what do you think you might read next?

May TBR Thursday

So March took forever but April has absolutely flown by so incredibly fast! I am glad though because there are some brilliant books out this month and I’m planning to read a good few books I’ve been excited to read that have been on my TBR for far too long, I’ve been talking about it for months but…

MY SCI-FI BINGE HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!

Aurora Rising by Amy Kauffman and Jay Kristoff
One of my friends who received a copy of the Aurora Rising arc was kind enough to lend to me and you bet I’m already reading this and therefore I figured this was the absolute perfect time to begin my sci-fi binge I’ve been promising myself for ages. If you’ve been following my blog or any of my social media even slightly you’ll probably already know that this book is my most anticipated book this year, possibly even since I finished Obsido last year and discovered there would be a new co-authored series by Amy and Jay. I’m looking forward to some serious reading time over the next few days let me tell you.

LifeL1k3 by Jay Kristoff
I was so excited for this book when it came out and even won a copy at YALC last year but I’ve just not been able to quite fit it in. I’m such a mood reader and I just haven’t found myself in the right mood but I’m positive between Aurora Rising and Defy the Stars, alongside all these other awesome books I’ve been desperate to read that I’ll be at the perfect point to finally read this and prepare myself for the sequel coming in June.

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Another book I acquired at YALC (I’ve just realised that almost all of the books on this lift I purchased, won or was gifted all of these books at YALC 2018, what are the odds?) I’ve heard amazing things about Becky Chambers and her books then I watched the sci-fi panel with Becky, Lauren James and Sasha Alsberg and knew I needed the Wayfarers books in my life and I’m excited to finally make a start on them this month.

Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray
I loved Claudia Gray’s Star Wars: Bloodline book and when I found that she had written her own original sci-fi series as well and there was a possible android romance kind of thing going on I was even more intrigued so brought it at YALC last year and I think it’s time.

Do you Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh
So many people on my Twitter timeline that like similar books to me have adored Do you Dream of Terra-Two and it was already on my TBR but having just seen that Temi Oh will be at YALC this year on the day I can actually attend I figured now would be as good a time as any to read this book.

I think this list may be a little ambitious purely because if I enjoy the first one and time it right I will likely continue to read the rest of the Wayfarer series after The Long way to a Small Angry Planet which may affect how many of these I actually get to read. Also depending what shipping times are like I have also ordered Aurora Rising from GC Reads to ensure I receive the Memento novella so that will be read the moment it arrives as well, I’ve also got a convention coming up at the end of the month and a few bits to keep me busy so I feel like this TBR for the month is optimistic but we shall see!