Top Ten Tuesday #86 - Books You Recently Added To Your To-Be-Read List!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the fabulous gals cover at The Broke & The Bookish. This week's topic is -

Ten Books You Recently Added To Your To-Be-Read List Wishlist

I'm going to go with ten books I've recently added to my wishlist as my TBR pile consists of books I own so it would be a repeat of  the same books I mention in my book haul posts. I'm always adding book to my wishlist though without talking about them so here's some of the latest!There also three bonus titles which don't have covers yet.

Descent

The Heart Goes Last

Book Scavenger

The Boy That Never Was

The Scarlet Gospels

Furies of Calderon

After You

Masquerade

Not As We Know It

Spinning Starlight

Bookmarked... #1

The return of the weekly post letting you all know what I'm reading and have lined up for the week! It's my own version of Sheila at Book Journey's It's Monday What Are You Reading and I have her permission to rename it for my own nefarious reasons :) If you want to join in check out all the links here!

So, what is Bookmarked... going to comprise of ? What I read over the previous week, what I'm planning on reading during the current week and what book-to-television/movie adaptations I've been watching!

Read Last Week

Skin Game by Jim Butcher - sort-of-review coming later this week

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes - quickie review coming

The Drowning City by Amanda Downum - still thinking about this one

The Wedding Cake Tree by Melanie Hudson - review on Goodreads, not my usual read but needed something light to read

Reading This Week

The Raven's Head by Karen Maitland - check out Karen's guest post on mouldy buns & fried mice!

Under My Skin by Zoe Markham - this is written by my friend Zoe, I've known her for 15 years I'm so excited for her!

Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum - review copy, was intrigued by all the chat about this one

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan - re-read time as Voyage of the Basilisk is out soon!

Becoming Jinn by Lori Goldstein - for a blog tour, my stop is April 12 so check back for a review & giveaway

Over Sea Under Stone by Susan Cooper - the first book in The Dark Is Rising Sequence, this is my twentieth re-read maybe? Will be working my way through each book and look out for a review!

Watching

Game of Thrones Season 4

I've been rewatching the entire run in readiness for next week's Season 5 opener, hopefully will have finished Season 4 by then!

Outlander Season 1

I'm 3 episodes into Outlander but to be honest? I don't know if I like it or not. I read the first few books years ago at the same time as my mama and liked them but the tv show is not working for me, yet...

Book Haul #107, Or The One Where I Became A Hermit...

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted on Tynga's Reviews where we can share what new books we've picked up this past week be they bought, borrowed or downloaded. There are also lots of other 'book haul' memes out there for you to choose from!

What a week! The saga of the burnt foot continued with me unable to leave the house for most of the week. My poor foot was finally healed enough to allow to wear shoes on Thursday so I've been a complete hermitthis week. Lots of time off meant lots of time for reading so that was the obvious benefit of being in agony but I could think of more pleasant ways to get reading time...

An array of different books this week and, more importantly, only book bought! Go me :) To tell the truth I completely forgot that I had pre-ordered Half Wild on my Kindle until it was on there. This means I definitely need to read Half Bad very soon! I picked up some parcels from the delivery office that couldn't be delivered while I was away so got a couple of physical review books this week. That was going to be my total haul, four books, until there was an influx of Netgalley/Edelweiss approvals most of which I had no memory of clicking on the request button for... So, instead of a manageable NG reading pile this week it's a bit out of control.

There is hope for next week though to possibly be book free! The Easter break is almost here so there will lots of family coming and going and I'm hoping I'll be too busy to request/buy but have enough time to read.

Bought

Half Wild

Review Copies

The Burning Man | Dark Detectives | The D'Evil Diaries

Dreams of Shreds & Tatters | The Iron Ship | The Silvered Heart

Starborn | The Well | When We Were Animals

HIT | Hotel Ruby

Review & Giveaway(US only): We All Looked Up - Tommy Wallach

We All Looked Up
by Tommy Wallach
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Release Date: March 31st 2015

Synopsis:

Four high school seniors put their hopes, hearts, and humanity on the line as an asteroid hurtles toward Earth in this contemporary novel.

They always say that high school is the best time of your life.

Peter, the star basketball player at his school, is worried “they” might actually be right. Meanwhile Eliza can’t wait to escape Seattle - and her reputation - and perfect-on-paper Anita wonders if admission to Princeton is worth the price of abandoning her real dreams. Andy, for his part, doesn’t understand all the fuss about college and career - the future can wait.

Or can it? Because it turns out the future is hurtling through space with the potential to wipe out life on Earth. As these four seniors - along with the rest of the planet - wait to see what damage an asteroid will cause, they must abandon all thoughts of the future and decide how they’re going to spend what remains of the present.

I'm not even sure how to start writing this review. I was completely blown away by We All Look Up and for a debut novel it was pretty much perfect, in my humble opinion... 

It all started with that cover and giving myself a headache trying to read the title. After reading the synopsis that was it, I had to read it. It's almost a dystopian Breakfast Club (without the detention although there is a principal with a personality problem!) but do not let that put you off, it could just be me that makes this comparison!

There's the intelligent, thoughtful jock, Peter, with his younger sister Samantha (or Misery as she likes to call herself). There's the slacker, Andy, misunderstood, flawed and wishing that his friends weren't quite so intent on doing the wrong thing. There's the girl who kissed the wrong boy at the wrong time and now has a reputation for sleeping around. There's the poor little rich girl, rebelling against everything Mommy & Daddy want for her who wants to be a singer. And then there's the one thing that none of them can escape. The asteroid hurtling towards earth, shining like a pretty blue star in the sky and known as Ardor. You might think that these characters all sound so different that there would no way that they would all be connected in friendship, love, lust and dislike but that is exactly what happens.

They all change gradually throughout the story, every one of them making their mark and finding a purpose in life even though that very life could be days away from ending. Eliza starts a blog about the impending doom of Ardor and instantly becomes famous. In love with Peter since that infamous kiss, the kiss that started the need to sleep around, she finally finds something that fulfills her and discovers that Peter is not just a jock. Andy discovers that he can escape the pull of drugs and his friend Bobo (and through him, some connections to some of Seattle's dodgier characters) and, with Anita, finds that music is is his comfort. 

We All Looked Up is the story of an asteroid, the story of two boys and two girls, finding love, dealing with all the issues a teenager is confronted with whilst dealing with the knowledge that the life that they were all planning for themselves is unlikely to be a reality. With such beautiful writing Wallach has created a beautiful story that will stick in my mind for a long time. He deals with all the cliches of teenage life with a varied array of characters not all of whom are likeable but that's okay. The way this book is written you want to know the characters, regardless of whether you like them or not. You want to see how they're dealing with knowing that their lives are going to end, wiped out by something they have no control over. Wallach is also not afraid to deal with the bigger issues. There's drug taking, sex (and that irritating phrase, slut shaming) and death. Not all of the characters are going to see what happens the day Ardor hits and while I expected a couple of them one is out of the blue and shocking in its circumstance.

If you're looking for a beautifully written contemporary novel with a dystopian twist then We All Looked Up is the book to read. I don't think I've ever highlighted as my phrases and words as I did with We All Looked Up but the writing is that good and I know it will most definitely be on my top ten books of the year. I'm still staggered by the fact that it is Wallach's debut novel and can't wait to see what he writes next. As an aside, Wallach is also a musician and has written We All Looked Up: The Album. Visit his website to find out more!

Follow the We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach Blog Tour and don't miss anything! Click on the banner to see the tour schedule.

Tommy Wallach is a Brooklyn-based writer and musician. His first novel, We All Looked Up, will be published by Simon and Schuster in April 2015. His work has appeared in many nice magazines, such as McSweeney's, Tin House, and Wired. He has released an EP with Decca Records, and he also makes music videos, including one that was exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum. You should buy him dinner.

Win (1) of (3) a finished copy of We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach (US Only)

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Waiting On Wednesday #114 - The Aeronaut's Windlass

Waiting On Wednesday, where we put the spotlight on upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating, is hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

This week's choice is -

The Aeronaut's Windlass (The Cinder Spires #1) - Jim Butcher

ISBN (US) 9780451466808

          (UK) 9780356503653

Publisher (US) Roc

              (UK) Orbit

Release date (US) September 29 2015

                    (UK) September 14 2015

Find - Goodreads | Book Depository

Since time immemorial, the Spires have sheltered humanity, towering for miles over the mist-shrouded surface of the world. Within their halls, aristocratic houses have ruled for generations, developing scientific marvels, fostering trade alliances, and building fleets of airships to keep the peace.

Captain Grimm commands the merchant ship, Predator. Fiercely loyal to Spire Albion, he has taken their side in the cold war with Spire Aurora, disrupting the enemy's shipping lines by attacking their cargo vessels. But when the Predator is severely damaged in combat, leaving captain and crew grounded, Grimm is offered a proposition from the Spirearch of Albion—to join a team of agents on a vital mission in exchange for fully restoring Predator to its fighting glory.

And even as Grimm undertakes this dangerous task, he will learn that the conflict between the Spires is merely a premonition of things to come. Humanity's ancient enemy, silent for more than ten thousand years, has begun to stir once more. And death will follow in its wake...

I have been waiting for The Aeronaut's Windlass for what feels like forever. I have had it pre-ordered since the beginning of June 2014 and looking at the ever changing date used to depress me. But look! We have a cover and, if my eyes don't deceive me, the UK edition is available two weeks before the US!!! How did that happen?! If that actually is the case then I'm happy!

I had to feature this today as I've just finished my Harry Dresden re-read/read and now I'm wondering what to read next. I've ordered the whole Codex Alera series from the library but in true library fashion every copy of the second book is out on loan so I have to wait. Aeronaut's Windlass can't come soon enough for me!