Book Haul #131 - January 2017

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!

Well... Apparently I haven't done a book haul post since August 2016! I certainly don't intend to show all the books I've had since then so I'm starting afresh and this is what I've received this month. In a vain effort to cut down on my book buying I'm doing the #ShelfLove challenge this year which means reading more of my own books and cutting down on the books I buy. I'll do my first wrap-up post for this on Tuesday which includes the rule of reading at least 15 of my own books a month. If I do this I'm allowed to buy no more than 3 new books a month. I figure doing it like this I won't get the urge to buy too many, plus I have my regular library book delivery every month to keep me going. Books bought will be in that post!

Physical Review Copies

Girls On Fire - Robin Wasserman

Wintersong - S Jae-Jones

The Witch's Tears - Elizabeth & Katharine Corr

With Fate Conspire - Marie Brennan

Digital Review Copies

The Black Witch - Laurie Forest

The Breakdown - B A Paris

Fir - Sharon Gosling

The Last Act Of Hattie Hoffman - Mindy Mejia

The Turn - Kim Harrison

Written In Bones - James Oswald

Book Haul #129, Or The One Where I Seriously Considered Giving Up...

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!

F or a few weeks now I've seriously debated giving up on blogging. It's not like I don't love it, I do. I just seem to have lost my enthusiasm about it and I'm really unsure of where I fit in. As of now I haven't decided but I'm leaning towards just bimbling along as I always have. We shall see, at the very least I promise not to disappear without trace!

On to the books! Mostly review books the last week or so, plus an excellent duo of books from Illumicrate and one purchase (yes, just one)

Review

Chasing Embers 

Cold-Forged Flame

The Dream-Quest Of Vellitt Boe

The Last Days Of Leda Grey

A Whisper Of Horses

The Witches Of New York

Bought

The Graces

Nevernight

Strange Star

Waiting On Wednesday #168 - Within The Sanctuary Of Wings

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 -

Within The Sanctuary Of Wings - Marie Brennan

ISBN - 9780765377654

Publisher - Tor

Release date - April 25 2017

Find - Goodreads | Book Depository

The conclusion to the thrilling memoirs of Lady Isabella Trent and her legacy of dragon evolutionary research and anthropological adventures.

After nearly five decades (and, indeed, the same number of volumes), one might think they were well-acquainted with the Lady Isabella Trent - dragon naturalist, scandalous explorer, and perhaps as infamous for her company and feats of daring as she is famous for her discoveries and additions to the scientific field.

And yet - after her initial adventure in the mountains of Vystrana, and her exploits in the depths of war-torn Eriga, to the high seas aboard The Basilisk, and then to the inhospitable deserts of Akhia - the Lady Trent has captivated hearts along with fierce minds. This concluding volume will finally reveal the truths behind her most notorious adventure - scaling the tallest peak in the world, buried behind the territory of Scirland's enemies - and what she discovered there, within the Sanctuary of Wings.

Le sigh... On one hand I can't wait to read this, because it's Lady Trent & Marie Brennan and on the other I really don't want it to come round too soon as it's the final chapter of Lady Trent's memoirs. I know there will be more books by Marie Brennan but I really fell in love with Lady Trent and the dragons!

Bookmarked... #20

The return of the (mostly) 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 (now hosted by Kathryn at Book Date) and I have her permission to rename it for my own nefarious reasons...

I am ever hopeful that I will get these Bookmarked... posts out on a slightly more regular basis. Life however has a habit of getting in the way of both reading and blogging. I thought I had a whole 10 days to catch up on reading, writing some reviews(!) and catching up on comments and blogs but instead I've got tomorrow at home and then I'm off again! Anyway, this is what I've finished recently and what I've got bookmarks stuck in currently.

Finished

Continuing to love Fables! The fact that they count towards my Fairy Tale challenge is nothing to do with it!

In fact, I'm kicking myself for taking so long to start reading them. Thankfully the library seem to have most of the series so I shall only have to beg/borrow/steal the last 2!!!

Rat Queens! Let me count the ways! I adored Rat Queens and was extremely peeved to discover the library didn't have any more...

A decent thriller about a woman in prison for killing her husband but is he really dead? A quick read, finished this in about 3 hours and enjoyed it.

I'd heard lots of good things about Sarah Mlynowski so thought it was about time I checked her out. To be honest I wasn't hugely impressed but I will get the sequel, Think Twice, because I want to know what happens.

The Girl Of Ink And Stars was fantastic, and the illustrations only made it better! Great YA fantasy from a debut author...

Currently Reading

Absolutely loving this, borrowed from the library but definitely buying a copy!

Another one where I'm so annoyed that I took so long to get round to reading it...

Rereading before I read In Ashes Lie again and loving the stunning new covers from Titan!

Top Ten Tuesday #110 - Books I Love Even More Now!

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

Ten Books I Feel Differently About After Time Has Passed

Wow, I hadn't realised I hadn't done a TTT post for quite so long! Ooops? Anyway, here are the books that I love more now than when I originally read them. I'm pretty sure most of them, if not all, will be familiar to long-time readers...

The Court Of The Midnight King

The Dark Is Rising Sequence

Fly By Night

I Capture The Castle

The Little Country

The Raven Boys 

The Owl Service

The Raven Boys

When Marnie Was There

The Wood Wife

Top Ten Tuesday #108 - Books I Really Love But I Haven't Talked About Enough...

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

Ten Books I Really Love But Feel Like I Haven't Talked About Enough...

There's a lot of books I love but don't talk about. I've got so many amazing books that I could review but I have this problem. The more I love something the harder I find it to write a review without just saying 'I loved it, you should buy it...' Here's some of my favorite books that I intend to reread and write a review of, sometime this year, maybe. I don't think there will be any surprises on this list if you're a regular reader!

Top Ten Tuesday #94 - Characters Who Are Fellow Book Nerds

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

Top Ten Characters Who Are Fellow Book Nerds

Well, where do you start? There are so many great book nerd characters out there that I've pretty much forgotten all of them! Here's the ten that really stuck in my mind...

Matilda

Isaac

Mori

Jo

Hermione

Lady Trent

Mo

Liesel

Jess

Elizabeth

Waiting On Wednesday #126 - In The Labyrinth Of Drakes

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 -

In The Labyrinth Of Drakes (Lady Trent's Memoirs #4) - Marie Brennan

ISBN - 9780765377630

Publisher - Tor

Release date - April 5 2016

Find - Goodreads | Book Depository

The thrilling new book in the acclaimed fantasy series from Marie Brennan, as the glamorous Lady Trent takes her adventurous explorations to the deserts of Akhia.

Even those who take no interest in the field of dragon naturalism have heard of Lady Trent's expedition to the inhospitable deserts of Akhia. Her discoveries there are the stuff of romantic legend, catapulting her from scholarly obscurity to worldwide fame. The details of her personal life during that time are hardly less private, having provided fodder for gossips in several countries.

As is so often the case in the career of this illustrious woman, the public story is far from complete. In this, the fourth volume of her memoirs, Lady Trent relates how she acquired her position with the Royal Scirling Army; how foreign saboteurs imperiled both her work and her well-being; and how her determined pursuit of knowledge took her into the deepest reaches of the Labyrinth of Drakes, where the chance action of a dragon set the stage for her greatest achievement yet.  

Look at that cover... It's a thing of beauty! I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of this because of both the story and the cover. I'm a huge fan of Marie Brennan's work so I'm happy to see that we get two more instalments of Lady Trent's memoirs, I assume we'll see the final fifth volume in early 2017 :(
 

Top Ten Tuesday #89 - Pick Your Own (Topic)!!!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the fabulous gals cover at The Broke & The Bookish. This week's topic is one of your own choosing so I've gone with -

Top Ten Nine Favorite Books I've Read But Never Reviewed

I know I constantly talk about certain books and/or authors on here even though I've never reviewed them. The more I like a book or an author the harder I find it to actually write a review without it consisting of me gushing about how awesome it was! That's going to change though so here is a list of some of my all-time favorite books that I'm going to re-read and write a review for - this year... If anybody is at all surprised by this list I'll be doubly surprised!