My favourite books of the year (so far!)

Helloo and welcome to my blog :)))

I usually sit here and prattle for a paragraph or two but I’m getting straight to the point today because I actually wanna go curl up in bed and read.

Before that though I am going to be talking about my favourite books of the year so far.

In the completely crazy year that is 2020 I have so far read 48 books which is wayyyy more than I thought I’d read all year let alone only up to now and yet my favourites really weren’t hard to pick out.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Ninth House was the first book that I completed this year and so because of that I keep forgetting I read it in 2020.

I feel like it’s hard to give an accurate description of this book but basically it follows Galaxy “Alex” Stern who has lived a hard life to the point that, by age twenty, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. She is offered a full ride to Yale in exchange for monitoring the schools secrete society.

This book was something completely new to me. It was dark, daring, it made me uncomfortable so many times to the point I was reading through my fingers and yet I couldn’t put it down.

It’s also not for the faint of hearted as there are a lot of trigger warnings: addiction, abuse, assault, graphic details and descriptions of blood and injuries, to name but a few.

I believe the sequel is set for 2021 which is kind of sad because I was hoping it’d be released this year but also kinda of good because then I won’t feel bad going and re-reading this. Full Review Here. 

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Books that sound like cool band names

Hellooo 🙂 It’s Monday and as if that’s not bad enough my allergies have got me beat. Anyone would think I’ve been wondering around a flower shop with how much I’m sneezing and how bad my eyes are watering right now.

Anyways today’s post is quick and fun because I really mean it when I say my eyes are watering like crazy. I am going to be talking about book titles that sound like cool band names!

This was actually a Top 10 Tuesday topic from a couple of weeks ago. I don’t participate in Top 10 Tuesday so I’ll leave a link HERE for this list of topics, but this looked like a lot of fun so I decided to do my own list.

There’s obviously so many cool sounding book titles out there so I narrowed my selection down to books I own either physically or on my Kindle.

• These Witches Don’t Burn (I’m thinking badass girl group)
• The Black Veins
• The Extraordinaries

Spring Has Sprung … and so have my allergies // Book Tag

Hi, hey, hello and welcome to my blog!

Today I am doing the Spring has Sprung book tag because even though it hasn’t stopped raining in the last two weeks spring has indeed sprung.

Like almost everyone else I’m not aloud to leave my house right now so the allergies are being kept at bay but it’s only a matter of time before the three months of constant sneezing and watering eyes begin. Yay.

Flowers – All the flowers we remember are blooming again. Pick a book that’s a fresh take on a retelling.

I haven’t read many retellings but I do have a fair few on my TBR including Geekerella by Ashley Poston which I may or may not have bought the e-book of the other night. I don’t know much about this but I know it’s a Cinderella retelling with fandom themes which for a huge nerd like me seems like a fun time. I also know it features a food truck called the Magic Pumpkin which sounds cute!

Cadbury Mini Eggs- Obviously the superior springtime chocolate of choice. Pick a book that you consider to be a sweet treat.

First of all: big fat yesss to Mini Eggs being the best!!!

Less a book more of an author but I really love Jenn Bennetts contemporary novels. They’re such easy reads, the main characters all have something unique about them and even with all the cutness and fluffiness there’s more things at play. I’m currently readin Seriously Moonlight and loving it!

❄Top 5 Books I Read This Winter❄

Hi, hey, hello and welcome to my blog!

Spring is officially in session and honestly it’s annoying me already. My allergies are flaring up but it’s also still flu and cold season so what pills do I take!?

Anyways moving on from my stinging eyes and sneezing fits today I’m going to be talking about the best books I read this past winter. I feel like I’ve had a solid three months in terms of reading but my favourite’s really weren’t hard to pick.

Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater

It took me forever to get my hands on this book: 2 years of wait and anticipation for the release, a month for Amazon to send it to me and then when I finally started reading it I got hit with nearly 3 weeks of exams and school work but god was it worth the wait.

It took me a second (aka 100+ pages) to warm up to the new characters but by the end of it I would die for Jordan Hennessy and, strangely enough, Declan Lynch. Can you believe it!

This book was as whimsical, magical and down right weird as I was expecting but also so much more and I cannot wait for the sequel.

A book hangover is worse than a real hangover // Top 5 Tuesday

 

Hi, hey, hello and happy Tuesday.

I just found out my school trip to Italy next week has been cancelled due to the North of Italy being on lockdown and quarantine due to the Coronavirus. Yay.😂 And here I thought the most I’d have to worry about was rooming with the popular mean girls.

I just find it funny that the one time I try something outside of my comfort zone that yeah I was super nervous about but also really excited for gets cancelled because of the country is under quarantine.

Moving on from that though, let’s talk about this weeks Top 5 Tuesday topic: Books that gave me a book hangover. I’d really like to get drunk enough to have a hangover right now but I’m not 18 and my parents are both out of the country so they can’t buy me any. Woop.

Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Shannah @ Bionic Book Worm

 

Anticipated 2020 Sequels! // Top 5 Tuesday

Hi, hey, hello and happy Tuesday!

I have a cold but I’m about to talk about upcoming sequels coming out this year that I am absolutely dying to read and would probably sell my firstborn child if I could get my hands on these sooner.

Todays Top 5 Tuesday topic is technically Anticipated Releases of 2020 but I’m doing tri-monthly versions of them so I don’t want to milk the new releases cow and so I’m talking specifically about sequels of books I’ve already read and am dying to read.

Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm

Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater #2

I spoiled myself with The Raven Cycle because when I began reading that series all of the books had already been released. I suppose being part of the fandom and getting excited with everyone else over titles and cover releases could be fun but still I need this book in my hands now!

Book Review: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Publication Date: October 8th 2019

Series: Alex Stern #1

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Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the worlds most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her? Read More. 

December Wrap Up

Hello 🙂 Welcome to my blog.

It’s December wrap up time and I’m going to be honest with you. I barely remember what I read last month off the top of my head. It was a total blare of final exams and projects and then Christmas happened so I really hope I read a decent amount of books to talk about today.

According to Goodreads, my lord and saviour, my first few reads of December 2019 were:

 

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

Tweet Cute  was the first book I managed to finish this month and it was amazing. I could happily talk about this book all day however, sadly, this book isn’t out yet and I don’t want to spoil anything.

All I’m going to say is that this book follows Pepper and Jack who run twitter accounts for their family restaurant and end up in a twitter war over grilled cheeses. This book is filled with laughs and the blossoming romance is the sweetest. I loved how mature both characters were and the lack of unnecessary, eye rolling, drama or angst made for such an enjoyable read. My full review is coming closer to the release.

Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater

Oh my god it’s amazing! I was scared I was going to be hung up on The Raven Cycle and wouldn’t enjoy this new series but I was wrong. This book is crazy and unique and I came to love the characters, the new and the old. It’s got Maggie’s signature whimsical writing style and bonkers plot and I couldn’t put it down.

I actually read both of these round about the same time and had to but them both down for like 2 weeks before picking them up and finishing them because of exams and let me tell you that was hell. These books are so good. 

Then I started “cheating” …

It got to past Christmas and I was looking and realised I’d only read two book so far that month and so I got motivated and I read:

• Hood Academy by Shelley Wilson: This is an ARC and it’s about werewolves and a school for girls who are trained to kill them. It’s not the best of books but it was enjoyable enough to skim read late into the night.
• Check Please: Year Two by Ngozi Ukazu: I’m reading the online version and it remains to be the sweetest thing ever.
• She’s With Me by Ava Violet: Another ARC I whizzed through at the end of the month. I wasn’t expecting to like this as much as I did and I admit when I saw it was being published by Wattpad Books I expected even less but, wierdly, I enjoyed this. It’s not the best written, it has tropes and clichés but my rating is based off my enjoyment and I was invested and rooting for these characters and it was fun to read while I couldn’t sleep.

And then, finally, I started reading Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. I’m going to talk more about this in my January wrap up but just know it was amazing and I never wanted to put it down.

So those are the five-ish books I managed to read in December, a bit of skim reading might have helped me along at the end there but oh well. Overall I really liked everything I read in the last month of the year and I’m hoping January proves to be just as good, if not better.

Has anyone read any of these? I’d love to know what you think. Thanks for reading 🙂

Elli xx

 

 

My Christmas Book Haul 2019

Hi, hey, hello and welcome to my blog 🙂

I hope everyone had a great Christmas if you celebrate it and if you don’t then I hope you had a great random Tuesday.

My Christmas this year was a bit different to normal. It was the first year in which my brother didn’t play along with the whole “Father Christmas” thing meaning my mum was slightly emotional and so I suggested we go out and get drunk on Christmas Eve and we had a great time … until we didn’t get home till 2:30 am. My dad was still drunk when we woke up at 9 and lets just say we’re never going drinking on Christmas Eve again.

Overall though I had a great day and got 9 books I’m very excited to talk about so let’s just jump in.

2019 Releases I Didn’t Get To // Top 5 Tuesday

Hi, hey, hello and happy Tuesday!!!

Today’s Top 5 Tuesday topic is Top 5 Books You Didn’t Get to in 2019. I’m actually really happy with everything I’ve read this year, there’s no backlist books or anything like that that I’m dying to read or disappointed I didn’t get to.

And so I’m going to be talking exclusively about 2019 releases I didn’t get to in 2019 but that I do still want to read. Some of these I’ve talked about at length, others are more recent discoveries that I’ve realised I want to read.

Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Shanah @ The Bionic Book Worm

American Royals by Katherine McGee