Overwhelmed by my ARC shelf // Book Haul

I had a lecture today all about “literary blogs” and I just sat there in silence while my lecturer explained what an ARC is and what benefit they have etc.

When it comes to juggling this blog, I like to be organised so I make myself a rough blogging schedule each month. For that reason, it’s pretty apt that today’s lecture involved a conversation about ARCs because I’m here today to talk to you about my the state of my ARC shelf.

To sum it up: I’m overwhelmed. I’m not gonna sit here and say “how did it get like this?” because I know the answer to that question. I requested books I really wanted to read, not thinking I’d actually be accepted, and then BAM I was infact accepted for these books.

I have nine new ARCs to talk about today but know that there are many more than that currently waiting for me on my ARC shelf. I’m literally drowning and just trying to keep my head above water at this point.

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City of Nightmares by Rebecca Schaeffer – Nevemind the fact that I haven’t yet continued on with the Market of Monster trilogy, I am super excited about this new series that in a Gotham like city where “dreaming means waking up as your worst nightmare”. I love a story where the setting, in this case the city, is almost like a secondary character so I’m excited for this one.

Seven Faceless Saints by M.K Lobb – I’m finding myself super into fantasy books with religious undertones at the mintue which is what got me excited about this book in the first place as it’s set in a city where saints and their desciples rule. I’ve already read this book, I was part of the blog tour which you can check out here and I really enjoyed this book.

Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker – A couple of months back I took to Goodreads to say “dear publishers, i would sell my soul for an ARC of this book”. Guys. I think I may or may not have sold my soul because LOOK WHAT I HAVE!! I legit screamed when I got the email for this one. I don’t know much about this one, I don’t want to know much. I am excited about magic, murder and mystery all set against the backdrop of New Orleans . Once I finish my current reads I’ll be picking this up.

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I bought these books last year!!

Hi and hello, happy Friday!!

Today I am bringing you a bookhaul. Not my first book haul of the year (that’ll come in due course don’t you worry), but actually my last bookhaul of 2022.

These books are either books I bought in New York … or books I bought to stop me crying when I got stranded in Germany. After not sleeping in 24 hours, not eating in 8 hours I missed my connecting flight due to delays. I cried like a baby because the next flight wasn’t until the next day and all I wanted was to be at home. What’s the solution to crying literally non-stop? Retail therapy!!!

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Some say “when in Rome” I say “when in the USA” because of course I had to buy myself some books from Barnes & Nobel of all places!!

Let’s Talk Bookish: Collecting Books

Hi and happy Friday

It’s 4pm and I’m only just feeling ready to start my day. I’m hungover. I went out for one drink last night, ONE I swear … and I ended up having more shots then I remember and a fair few beers ontop of that. I was literally shaking this morning (afternoon) drinking my cup of tea.

Apparenlty getting up, having a bath and feeding myself doesn’t classify as “being productive” so to pretend like I’ve done something today other than walk around like a zombie, I’m here with this week’s Let’s Talk Bookish!

Let’s Talk Bookish is a bookish meme that was created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits, where each Friday, bloggers write posts discussing the topic of the week! Since the beginning of April, I’ve been the host of LTB, and I post each month’s topics here on my blog!January Topics

This week’s topic is … Collecting Books (Zahra  The Owl)

Prompts: Do you enjoy collecting books? Do you feel like physical books are overpriced? Do you buy books after you’ve read them to add to your collection? Do you buy special edition collector sets? How invested are you in your book collection? 

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Did I read the books I hauled last year?

It’s that time of year again ladies and gentlemen where I hold myself accountable for my own actions, or should I say purchases. Today I’m gonna be looking back at all the books I hauled in 2022 and seeing if I actually got around to reading them!

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January

• Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy
• Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl by Joya Goffney
• Breathe and Count Back From Ten by Natalia Sylvester
• Only a Monster by Vanessa Len 
• A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
• Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth
• In Deep Waters by F.T Lukens
• XOXO by Axie Oh
• The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• The Fine Print by Lauren Asher
• Kingdom of the Curse by Kerri Maniscalco
• You’ll Be the Death of Me by Karen M. McManus
• Women Don’t Owe You Pretty by Florence

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A book haul because I’ve been productive

I have been so productive this week. Honestly, I’m riding the high of being a busy bitch which is a very good thing because, as you’re reading this, it’s the start of Thanksgiving Break, I’m off to New York for a couple of days (agh!) and when I get back, I’ve got like two weeks before I leave to go back home.

Doing all of this work means I can stress less about uni and focus my anxiety on what is probably going to end up being a 24h travel day next month.

To carry on riding this wave of productivity I come to you today with a very over due bookhaul. This is definitely going to be my final haul of the year (besides from the two books I’m adament on buying when I go to the mythical land of Barnes & Nobel). A lot of these I impluse bought on my Kindle for cheap quite a while ago so I’m actually shocked I haven’t gotten around to hauling them yet but here we are!

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Let’s kick off with the books I’ve already read …

• Wolfsong by TJ Klune – I always find it so funny when I recieve an ARC for a book that’s been out for a while and that was the case with Wolfsong as it’s set to be re-released in the UK. This is actually a current read. I’m really enjoying it so far. I’m so swamped with school work at the minute though that it’s taking me forever to make any progress. I absolutely love Ox so far though and am excited to read on.
• Hex Appeal by Kate Johnson – Halloween has come and gone but either extend the spooky season a little or add this to next years TBR immediatley because this withcy romance was so much freaking fun. I’m so glad I recieved an ARC because it became one of my favourite reads of last month.
• The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes – The trilogy is over. I’m sad. I really loved all three books and this third instalment was a lot of fun. I’m not totally heartbroken about finishing this trilogy though because there’s going to be a spin-off/continuation series following the Hawthrone Brothers coming out next year so I’ve got that to look forward to.

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I’m stressed. Buying books is my therapy // Book Haul

I’m stressed. Turns out studying abroad half way across the world for three months is something that will keep a person up at night. While I finally have my VISA appointment for this week, I legit only just got the expedited appointment and was sure everything was going to fall through. (Even now I’m still convinced things are going to go wrong)

Because of this I’ve been finding happiness in various places: chocolate, binge-watching, the occasional beer and, of course, books.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: e-books are going to be my downfall. How am I meant to pass up books for less then £5? In the last few weeks though, buying too many e-books has probably actually prevented my downfall and spiral so we’re going to take a look at those now.

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I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

I had no intentions of buying this book anytime soon because I’m not in a country that handly sells the physical copy and the e-book was too much for my bank account to handle. But then it’s like the universe heard my tight-arse and put this book on sale for 99p!!

This book is giving Paper Town vibes as it follows a girl who kissed Shara Wheeler the day before Shara Wheeler goes missing. I’m honestly less interested in the actual plot of this book, and more interested in seeing what a YA novel from McQuiston looks like since I loved their two adult books so much.

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Gifts to myself for surviving my first year of uni // Book Haul

Hey and howdy 🤠

I’m finally back home in Spain and I’m getting my last round of assignment marks back which means I’ve officially finished with my first year of university.

Looking back the hardest part about being at uni was cooking for myself. If anyone is heading off to Uni for the first time in September please start learning to cook now. Not even learning to cook, I mean I can do the basics, but get thinking about meals you can make quickly and for cheap because it’s a nightmare. Pasta and wraps are going to make up the majority of your diet, believe me.

I’m very happy with myself for making it this far. Not to toot my own horn or anything but I am actually proud of myself, not even necessarily for the academic side of things, but for the social aspect of living away from home. I was very surprised by the lack of spiralling like I expected.

Obviously because of all this I’ve had to treat myself over the last couple of weeks with some new e-books. How can I not when e-books are so cheap and I’ve been so stressed?

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Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman – My friend got me this as a going away present since I’m going to America in August and won’t be seeing them til January. I’ve already read it. I made the most of my train journey back from the Connan Gray concert to demolish this.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry – I’m jumping on the Emily Henry train this summer, starting with Beach Read and following up with this here newest release. I bought this because it was 99p and how am I meant to say no to that?

She Gets the Girl by Rachel Lippincott & Alysson Derrick – Rachel Lippincott is one of the authors of Five Feet Apart which I enjoyed but this book she wrote with her wife which is so cute. Again this was 99p and it’s a book I actually have had my eye on for a while so I’m excited to pick this up.

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The Anonymous Bookaholics Tag

Hello 👋

I’m currently waiting on an e-mail from my tutor to tell me what the Hell I’m meant to be doing for my assignment. I imagine he’s responding to a lot of emails from people in my class though so I’m probably not gonna hear back for a while yet.

In the mean time, I thought I would finally get around to doing The Anonymous Bookaholics Tag which I was tagged to do by Riddhi @ Whispering Stories!

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What do you like about buying new books?

The easier question would be: what don’t I like about buying new books? And the answer to that is seeing my bank balance go down.

There’s just something so therapeutic about browsing the shelves or scrolling online, humming-and-ahhing over which ones I want, and then when you actually do buy it you get that hit of serotonin. Is it a healthy coping mechanism? No, plus it’s expensive, but just remember: there’s worst things to be addicted to.

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How often do you buy books?

It used to be not that often. I’d do like a bulk buy of a couple of books I was interested in, or put credit on my Kindle and pick up the e-books for cheap.

But now it’s a lot more often. I can’t help it! I have my bank account now, e-books are going to be my downfall, and it’s not my fault that I have a Waterstones just round the corner from my Uni and friends that tell me to just do it!

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Bookstore or online book shopping: which do you prefer?

Bookstores 100%. Back home in Spain I always bought online because in store Spanish books are expensive and English books are hard to find. I always loved visiting the UK and taking trips to Waterstones. Now that I’m back in the UK for uni, me and my friends will just kill an hour between lectures by going around all the bookshops in town, even if we don’t buy anything.

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Do you have a favourite bookshop?

York has so many book-shops and I love it. Right now I’ve only bought from Waterstones but there’s a great LGBTQ+ book shop I plan on getting a few things from in the future (I’ve run out of space on the windowsill I’m using as a bookshelf so it’ll be a while yet).

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Do you pre-order books?

No. I don’t think I’ve ever pre-ordered a book, definitely never a physical copy of a book. I’d really rather wait until the release date and order it then.

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Do you have a monthly buying limit?

Also no, but I should. Not for physical books, I never go to overboard on physical books, but like I said before, e-books are going to be my downfall. They’re just so cheap and accessible and when they’re on your Kindle you don’t realise just how many you have!

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How big is your wishlist?

So big even though sometimes, when my mum asks me what books I want for my birthday/Christmas, I’m like a dear caught in headlights and suddenly have no clue what books I want.

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Which three books from your wishlist do you wish to own right now?

• Terms and Conditions by Lauren Asher – was going to hold off on this one but I keep nearly being spoiled on Tik-Tok. Will probably get myself this as a treat after I finish my assignments this week.
• Mox by Jon Moxley – I ordered this. Payed for quick delivery. It didn’t arrive. Then I got an e-mail saying it it had been returned to the warehouse. Now it’s unavailable. Fun.
• Blackout Anthology – I’ve had my eyes on this for a while. I keep seeing it in bookshops. the sprayed black edges are so pretty.

In the space of my writing this my tutor has in fact replied to my email and it really didn’t clear much up for me. Sadly I now I have no reason not to get started so I’m gonna grab a cup of tea, wing it and hope for the best.

I was going to tag people but now I don’t have time so if you’re still reading well then, consider yourself tagged! Thanks for reading :))

Elli xx

New bookmarks to go with new books!!

Howdy.

You know that specific kind of frustration that comes when you have work that really needs to get done but your brain is just no co-operating?? Yeah that’s me right now and if I don’t distract myself for a bit, we’re gonna spiral and nobody wants that.

And so here I am to talk not only about the books I got recently, but the bookmarks too!!

LaurelMaeArt // PeachPandaStudio // serenmaddison

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Me: no more buying books. Also me: BOOK HAUL TIME!! 🥳

Guess who’s back (with a book haul). Back again!

I know I said I wasn’t buying any more books until I read a decent amount of my already owned TBR and that’s still true! Besides from one minor slip up, which I’ve already forgiven myself for, these were all purchased, requested or gifted to me before Christmas.

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*I didn’t realise quite how many ARCs I’d requested until I got accepted for them all in the same short span of time 😬*

Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy

I got the email that I was approved for an ARC of Good Girl Complex this morning and I freaked. I’ve wanted to read this since I saw it last it.

And even before that I was in desperate need for more books by Elle Kennedy.

I read Off Campus last year, the entire series in almost on week. It was addictive and I’m hoping this book has that same quality,

I don’t know much about this book besides there being a bad-boy/good-girl dynamic. I’m thinking of reading it in my 3 weeks off uni!

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