I love Spring tag

Hi booklovers

Spring is officially here and even though this is not my favourite season - I'm more of a winter-person - I thought it would be nice to do the 'I love Spring tag'.

I saw this tag on Kassidy's and Caitlin's channels - I can't seem to find the original videos.

Questions: 

1) How is Spring where you live?

Spring weather in Belgium can be very fickle. One day it can be about 14 - 15°C and sunny and the next one it can be 6 - 7°C and cloudy or rainy. Today is a sunny day, but yesterday it has rained non-stop for almost the entire day :-(

2) Most anticipated book release this Spring?

Actually, I have a few:

* A Court of Thornes and Roses - by Sarah J. Maas. It comes out May 5th.

* P.S. I still love you - by Jenny Han. I haven't read 'To all the boys I've loved before' yet, but it's on my Spring TBR and I'm going to read it closer to the release date of this one. It comes out May 26th.

* Nowhere but Here - by Katie McGarry. This is one my 'automatic buy' authors. I adore her Pushing the Limits series, so I immediately want to read any other book she's going to write. This one also comes out May 26th.

3) Show us a book cover that makes you think of Spring. 
Ignite me by Taherah Mafi. I only own 'Shatter me', but I'm planning on getting the rest of the series soon. I have read them all on my e-reader.

It might seem strange that this makes me think of Spring, but you can see flowers growing and that's what's basically typical for Spring :-)

4) Where are you going to read this Spring?
Where I normally read: on the couch, in bed, on the train. And if it's really nice outside, I might go and sit in the garden.

5) Find a cover with the sun on it!
I shamefully have to admit that I don't own any books with a sun on the cover. So I went to my to-read list on Goodreads and looked up a book I would like to own that does have a sun on the cover. I decided to go for 'Just One Day' by Gayle Forman. You can clearly see the sun behind - or should I say in front of - the couple.

 
I really enjoyed Gayle's 'If I stay' duology, so I want to read some more books by her.

 

6) What are your favorite Spring reads?
I think I tend to pick up books with a lighter content during Spring, although I still like reading more complex Fantasy novels as well. See 'currently reading' :-)

7) Find a book with many different colors on it. 
I chose 'Second chance summer' by Morgan Matson. I know this is technically a book set in Summer, it still has a lot of colours on the cover. I really like this edition and like I said in my last book haul, I wanted to get 'Amy & Roger's epic detour' in the same cover, but they didn't have it at Waterstones.

 

8) Whom do you tag?
I just discovered this new BookTuber called Nathalie and I think it would be fun if she could do this tag. I also would like to tag Bre Faucheux.

I hope you enjoyed this tag and let me know in the comments what some of your most anticipated Spring releases are.

Bye for now

Annelies 

Book unhaul

Hi booklovers

Today's post is going to be a sad one because I've taken a good look at my bookshelves and I've decided to get rid of some books. (By the time you read this, the books are already gone!)

After watching Caitlin's - aka YA BookwormBlogger - latest video I took a look at my bookshelves and asked myself which of my TBR books I was actually going to read and which of my read books I was going to reread.

These are the 29 books I wanted to get rid of:

 

 

 

* 'Chocolat' and 'Rode Schoenen' by Joanne Harris (in Dutch) - Unread

* 'The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy' by Maya Slater - Unread

* 'De dwergen' (all 4 volumes) by Markus Heitz (in Dutch) - Read the first one and part of the second one, couldn't finish them.

* 'Dreaming Anastasia', 'Haunted' and 'Anastasia Forever' by Joy Preble - Read, didn't really enjoy them, so I'm never going to reread them.

* 'Ik was Alice' by Melanie Benjamin (in Dutch) - Unread

* 'De Temeraire Trilogy' by Naomi Novik - Unread

* 'Mr & Mrs Fitzwilliam Darcy' and other books by Sharon Lathan - Unread

* 'The lost diaries of Jane Austen' by Syrie James (in Dutch) - Unread

* 'The last legion' by Valerio Massimo Manfredi (in Dutch) - Unread (I've seen the movie)

* 'The Fallen series' by Lauren Kate - Read them all except 'Fallen in Love' and I don't plan on rereading them

* 'The Twilight series' by Stephenie Meyer - I've read them, enjoyed them at the time but I'm never going to reread them.

I took all the books to a local second-hand bookstore, but they only accepted seven of them, so I decided to donate the rest (except 'Rode Schoenen', because they accepted 'Chocolat' at the bookstore but not the second one) to my local library.

So, you can understand why I'm feeling a bit sad. It pains me to get rid of them, but they were taking up space on my shelves and collecting dust, so... And now I have room for new books :-)

Did any of the books I got rid of surprise you? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

How I read tag

Hi booklovers

I think it's time to do my first tag. Written tags may not be as cool as those on YouTube, but I wanted to give it a try anyway.

I saw the 'How I read tag' on Caitlin's channel. The original tag was created by Enya.

 

1. How do you find out about new books to read?

Before I discovered BookTube, I usually went to the bookshop and searched the shelves. I also browsed online bookstores, but I found it hard to really find something new to read. Being a language teacher also helps to discover new books. Every now and then a pupil chooses an interesting book to do a book report or presentation about. When I'm really intrigued, I'll out check the book. A little over a year ago, however, I started watching BookTube intensely and now that's my main source of finding out about new books. Some of the suggestions Goodreads makes are also helpful.

 

2. How did you get into reading?

Ever since I learned how to read at the age of 6, I was intrigued by it. My mom, my oldest brother, my aunts and cousin are all avid readers, so I think it comes as no surprise that I adore reading too. I'm not sure which book really got me into reading. I was already reading very much when Harry Potter and Twilight were published - books that influenced many readers - so I can't say those made me even more obsessed with reading.

 

3. How has your taste in books changed as you've gotten older?

When I was in elementary school and the first few years of high school I was really into war stories. Living in a country that experienced both World Wars, there are many books in Dutch about this theme. In Teacher-Training college I had to read a lot of YA and adult books. Most YA books I read then tended to be in the fantasy genre, a genre I still like very much. A lot of the adult books were contemporary or historical fiction, but I didn't enjoy all of them. 
This past year I've (re)discovered a number of genres: contemporary, dystopian, NA. I have to say my reading tastes have changed quite a lot over the last ten years, but I'm glad I've stepped out of my comfort zone and discovered new genres.
 

4. How often do you buy books?
I've always enjoyed going to bookstores and buying new books, but I didn't buy that many books at a time. Over the last year that has changed, however. Since watching BookTube I've been buying more - A LOT more - books. I've started ordering books online and it's so exciting to receive a package and although you know what's in it, it's still so cool to open the package :-) Last year I bought books every couple of months, with a total of 45 books.
 

5. How did you get into BookTubing? 
I'm going to change this question into 'How did you get into blogging?'
I've been reading some bookblogs by BookTubers for a while now. After having a great reading year in 2014 I wanted to share my opinion about books. At first I wrote mini-reviews on Goodreads but I wanted to write more. My niece has a beauty blog and one of my best friends also has a blog and they convinced me to go for it, so I did.
  

6. How do you react when you don't like a book's ending?
I don't really get mad when I don't like the ending, sometimes I'm just disappointed. But usually when I don't like the ending, I didn't like the entire book. One time I refused to continue a book because of the author. At school, we invite authors to speak to the pupils. There was a Belgian author who was so annoying and rude that I just refused to continue the book I was reading or pick up any of his other books. And this is still the case!

7. How often have you taken a sneaky look at the back page of a book to see if it's a happy ending?
I've never done this and don't think I will ever do that because I'm scared of getting spoiled.
 

8. Who do you tag?
I'm not going to tag anyone in particular, because this tag has been going around for quite a while now and a lot of people have already done it. But if you want to do this tag, just go ahead. Leave a link to your blog or channel in the comments :-)

Hope you liked this tag!

Bye for now

Annelies 

Spring TBR

Hi booklovers

I'm still currently reading two books from my winter TBR - one of which is actually a TBR-jar pick *Pat on the back* but I already wanted to show you my spring (March - April - May) 2015 TBR:

(My seasonal TBR's run from the 1st of the 1st month until the 30th or 31st of the 3rd month. I know a season doesn't start until the 21st of a certain month, but it's easier to start on the first day. Weird, I know!)

- Splintered - A.G. Howard

- Unhinged - A.G. Howard

- Ensnared - A.G. Howard

- Heir of Fire - Sarah J. Maas

- Exile - Bre Faucheux

- Encounters - Bre Faucheux

- Dark Triumph - Robin LaFevers

- Mortal Hearts - Robin LaFevers
- Noughts & Crosses - Malorie Blackman

- To all the boys I've loved before - Jenny Han

- P.S. I still love you - Jenny Han (published May 26th 2015)

Books I've read that weren't on my TBR:
- Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan (this one was actually on my Winter TBR)

- From the first touch (1-4) by Gwendalyn Fox
- From the first kiss (1-3) by Gwendalyn Fox 
- From the first sight (1) by Gwendalyn Fox 
- All Lined Up by Cora Carmack
- When I'm Gone by Abbi Glines
- All Broke Down by Cora Carmack 
- Making Faces by Amy Harmon 
- Addicted to you by Becca and Krista Ritchie 
- Ricochet by Becca and Krista Ritchie 
- From the first sight (2) by Gwendalyn Fox 
- From the first sight (3) by Gwendalyn Fox
- From the first sight (4) by Gwendalyn Fox 
- From the first sight (5) by Gwendalyn Fox

As always, let me know in the comments which of these books I should read first. If you have any other suggestions for spring-reads, let me know too!

Bye for now

Annelies

Winter TBR - wrap up

Hi booklovers

During the Winter season I managed to read 14 books out of the 19 on my winter TBR. Actually, to be honest I read 9 books from my TBR and 5 that weren't on my TBR.

Here are the TBR books I've read: 

* Crown of midnight - Sarah J. Maas
* The Elder Origins - Bre Faucheux (e-book)
* Falling Kingdoms - Morgan Rhodes
* Rebel Spring - Morgan Rhodes
* Gathering Darkness - Morgan Rhodes
* You were mine - Abbi Glines
* Faking it - Cora Carmack (e-book)
* Finding it - Cora Carmack (e-book)
* Seeking her - Cora Carmack (e-book)

Other books I've read:

* Kiro's Emily - Abbi Glines (e-book)
* Bitter sweet love (reread) - Jennifer L. Armentrout (e-book)
* White hot kiss (reread) - Jennifer L. Armentrout (e-book)
* Stone Cold touch - Jennifer L. Armentrout (e-book)
* Breaking the rules - Katie McGarry (e-book)

I'm curious to see how many books I will be able to read during spring.

Bye for now

Annelies