Top Ten Tuesday: My Summer TBR (which I will TRY to stick to!!!)

Happy summer book dragons!!!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that was created by The Broke and the Bookish but is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week I’ll by making my summer tbr list (to be read list)!

This shouldn’t really be called my summer tbr- it’s more of a list of books that I should read and hopefully will. The problem is that I can’t stick rigidly to any form of tbr because I’m a 100%, signed and certified, mood reader and if I don’t feel like reading a book, I won’t.  I think the only thing that would make me follow my tbr is one of those unbreakable vows from Harry Potter but, sadly, they don’t actually exist (or do they?).

I’m one of those people who randomly sees a book in a bookshop, library or online and says, “Oooooh that looks interesting, I’m going to read that!” and conveniently forgets about all of the other books they were planning on reading.

A while ago I did a Top Five Wednesday post about books I wanted to read in spring and I read precisely two of those five books during spring.

However I do have a few arcs I need to read before they are released in autumn and I have books I want to read for the Popsugar reading challenge so I will try my best to stick to this!

Anyway, here are my books:

(1) Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff (arc)

(2) The Beckoning Shadow by Katharyn Blair (arc)

(3) The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

(4) The Orphanage of the Gods by Helena Coggan

(5) Red Sister by Mark Lawrence

(6) Tiger Queen by Anne Sullivan (arc)

(7) The Never-Tilting World by Rin Chupeco (arc)

(8) The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young (arc)

(9) Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

(10) Song of Sorrow by Melinda Salisbury

What’s on your summer tbr? Let me know on the comments!

Send me a friend request on Goodreads!

Follow me on Twitter!

 

 

 

Top Ten Tuesday: My Most Anticipated Reads!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that was created by The Broke and the Bookish but is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week I’ll be writing about the books I’m bubbling over with excitement for that are being released in the second half of 2019!

Honestly, it’s a bookworm’s curse. Just as we think we’re conquering our sky high tbr piles (to be read piles), more extremely exciting books are released and the pile increases until it touches the edges of the universe.

So here are the amazing books that will soon feed my all-devouring tbr pile (in order of release date):

(1) Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim (9 July):

Spin the Dawn is based on Chinese culture and inspired by various fairy tales and it’s about a girl who has to sew three dresses: one from the sun, one from the moon and one from the stars. The premise seems so whimsically magical and it sounds exactly like the sort of story I enjoy.

(2) Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff (3 September):

I LOVE The Nevernight Chronicle and I can’t wait to read the conclusion. Actually, I was lucky enough to receive an arc but I still haven’t gotten round to reading it yet. I think it’s partly because I’m terrified that once I read it, it’s going to be over forever and that’s really upsetting.

(3) The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates (24 September):

It’s about struggle of slavery, it’s a story about a boy born into bondage with mysterious powers. Slavery was and is a massive problem and it’s one of the biggest crimes rife in our world today. Any book that speaks out about the suffering slavery already has and still does cause has a place on my tbr.

(4) Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (1 October):

Leigh Bardugo is an amazing writer. I would read anything that she writes. She could publish her grocery list and I’d still read it.

(5) DEV1AT3 by Jay Kristoff (3 October UK):

I really enjoyed LIFEL1K3 and my favourite character was definitely the fabulous Lemon Fresh so I can’t wait to read more about her!

(6) Into the Crooked Place by Alexandra Christo (8 October):

I loved Christo’s first book, To Kill a Kingdom, and the premise of this book sounds intriguing too. When I read the blurb I got lots of Six of Crows and A Darker Shade of Magic vibes which is always a good sign!

(7) The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (5 November):

I completely and utterly fell in love with The Night Circus. I was bewitched by the loveable characters, the enchanting writing style and all of the magical brilliance of the circus. When I heard that she was writing a second book I knew I had to read it. When I read the blurb I knew that it was the type of book I’d been waiting for my entire life. Also, Waterstones are making a beautiful exclusive cover of this too and I really want to get it!

(8) The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White (5 November):

Here are three fundamental truths: it’s a retelling of the Arthurian legend about Guinevere. It’s by Kiersten White. I need it in my life.

(9) The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black (19 November):

After the heart-rending ending of The Wicked King I don’t know what to do with myself! I’m so, so glad that this is being released in 2019 instead of 2020- it’s the best piece of news I’ve received this year so far!

(10) Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi (3 December):

I enjoyed Children of Blood and Bone so much and I am very interested to know what will happen next to all of my favourite characters!

Which books are you most looking forward to in the remainder of this year? Let me know in the comments!

 

The Liebster Award!!!

Hello bookdragons!

Thank you so, so much to Alex @ Whimsy Pages for nominating me for the Liebster Award. Go check her blog out! It’s great!

I’ve never done this award before and I’m super excited to answer the questions as I love doing these types of tags.

---

The Rules:

(1) Acknowledge the blog who nominated you and display the award.

(2) Answer the 11 questions the blogger gives you.

(3) Nominate 11 blogs.

(4) Notify those blogs of the nomination.

(5) Give them 11 questions to answer.

P.S. I am reducing the number of nominees / questions to 5.

---

My Answers:

(1) How many books do you own and how do you organise them?

Okay, so I actually counted and I found that I own 187 books! (106 if you exclude e-books). I thought that I had way less than that because I clear out books that I’ve read and don’t want anymore regularly.

On the level of my bookshelf that’s most visible I put all of my favourite books so I can see them whenever I walk past. I tried to organise it in a gradient from bluey purple colours to orangey red colours. It’s not perfect but I like it. Also paperback books have to be separate from hardcovers.

(2) Do you have a blogging schedule?

Yes, I do. I try to plan out everything that I want to post in advance. However, it’s a very flexible schedule and lately I’ve been really busy and I haven’t been able to stick to it as much I’d like to.

(3) Share the favourite post written by you!

My favourite post was the one that I wrote on Valentine’s day about roses and slavery. I think it’s important that more people are aware of the extent of modern slavery in our world today as it’s a very serious issue. How many broken hearts were behind last Valentine’s day?

Click here to read the post called ‘Roses: Symbols of Romance or of Suffering?‘

(4) If you had to choose only one book format (physical, e-book, audiobook) to read for the rest of your life, which one would you choose? Why?

I’d choose e-books because as much as I adore physical books, e-books are more practical and portable- they’re also cheaper.

(5) Did your book tastes change? Tell us about your reading journey!

I’ve always adored fantasy since a young age. Anything magical has always fascinated me. I think the only thing that has changed is that my reading tastes have matured.

---

My Questions:

(1) How do you choose which books to read?

(2) Which three book characters do you wish were real? Why?

(3) Which themes or tropes do you dislike in a book? Why?

(4) Who are your top three favourite authors? Why?

(5) What do you think is more important in a book, well-developed characters or a gripping plot?

---

I nomimate:

• J R Lynn @ Eternity Books
• Laura Herondale
• Novel Lives
• Lydia @ Pages of Verity
• Curly Book Owl

---

If I haven’t nominated you but you still want to answer the questions then feel free!