Tuesday, 16 April 2019

Anticipated releases April - June 2019.

Hi booklovers

Just like at the beginning of the year I'm going to take a look at the books I'm looking forward to in the months of April, May and June.

April
*2nd: Defy Me by Tahereh Mafi
I read Restore Me(#4) and Shadow Me(#4.5) for the O.W.L.s magical readathon and I'm curious to see how the story will continue.

May
*1st: One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence
This premise sounds really intriguing.

*7th: Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
I already know that these two write awesome space stories. Hopefully this one will be up there with the Illuminae Files.

*9th: Finale by Stephanie Garber
Very excited to see how the story ends. I might do a reread of the first two before reading this one. I'm going to preorder the hardcover edition so it has the secret cover like the other two.

June
*11th: Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout
I remember really enjoying The Dark Elements trilogy by Armentrout. This is apparently a spin-off series so I'm going to give the first book a go.

Are any of these books on your anticipated releases lists as well or are there other books you are excited about? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

Tuesday, 9 April 2019

Jan - Feb - March '19 wrap-up.

Hi booklovers

I just realised that I haven't posted any monthly wrap-ups this year.
So, today, I'm going to combine the January, February and March wrap-up.

* = Beat the Backlist reading challenge book

January
1) Lovers Like Us* - Becca and Krista Ritchie - 4 stars
2) Alphas Like Us* - Becca and Krista Ritchie - 4 stars
3) The Eye of the World* - Robert Jordan - 4 stars
4) Unravel Me* - Tahereh Mafi - 3 stars
5) In An Absent Dream - Seanan McGuire - 5 stars
6) Tangled Like Us - Becca and Krista Ritchie - 4 stars
7) Days of Blood and Starlight* - Laini Taylor - 5 stars
8) Saga Volume 9* - Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples - 5 stars

February
9) The Mad Ship* - Robin Hobb - 5 stars
10) Fracture Me* - Tahereh Mafi - 3.5 stars
11) Sleeping Giants* - Sylvain Neuvel - 4 stars
12) Waking Gods* - Sylvain Neuvel - 4 stars

March
13) The Redemption of Callie and Kayden* - Jessica Sorensen - 4.5 stars
14) The Risk - Elle Kennedy - 4.5 stars
15) Dreams of Gods and Monsters* - Laini Taylor - 5 stars
16) Girls: Conception* - the Luna brothers - 4 stars
17) Girls: Emergence* - the Luna brothers - 4 stars
18) Ignite Me* - Tahereh Mafi - 3.5 stars

I can honestly say that I've had three great reading months so far and I hope it will continue to be a great reading year.

How has your reading been so far? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies


Monday, 1 April 2019

Sequelathon wrap-up.

Hi booklovers

Yesterday was the last day of the #sequelathon, so here's my wrap-up.

This was my original TBR:
1) Read the sequel you've been putting of the longest: Knight's Shadow by Sebastien de Castell.

2) Continue with a series that you started last year: Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi or Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb.

3) Finish a series: Again: either Ship of Destiny or Ignite Me.


And this is my wrap-up:
1) Girls: Emergence by the Luna Brothers. I read the first volume back in 2017, so it's safe to say I've put off reading volume 2 for quite a while.
2) Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi. I finished this one yesterday morning. I'm glad I did, this way I can read Restore Me for one of my O.W.L.s.
3) Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel. I listened to the final book in the trilogy on my commute and while adulting. (Technically, I only finished it today, but I only had about an hour left of the audiobook, so I'm counting it.)
I'm definitely calling this readathon a success :-) Let's hope my O.W.L.s will be just as successful!

Bye for now

Annelies


Friday, 29 March 2019

OWLs readathon TBR

Hi booklovers

Last year I didn't know about the O.W.L.s readathon until it was over, so I'm very happy that now I've heard about it on time. This readathon is hosted by Book Roast. You can find her announcement video here. The readathon takes place during the month of April.

G has really put a lot of time and effort in creating this readathon and I'm so happy to be taking part in it.

'O.W.L.s' stands for 'Ordinary Wizarding Levels', which are the exams Hogwarts students take in their fifth year.

A new feature this year is that you can 'choose' the O.W.L.'s for a specific career. Of course you can also try to read books for all 12 exams.


Since I probably won't be able to read 12 books in one month, I will be focusing on the O.W.L's required to become a Librarian. If I finish the books for this career, I might 'take other exams' as well.

In August there is the follow-up readathon, which are of course the N.E.W.T's. For this readathon you can only take the exams for the O.W.L.'s you passed.

I'm going to be sharing my TBR for the subjects that I want to focus on and then I'm going to show what other books I might also read.

As always, I'm going to be giving myself a choice of books for each subject, otherwise this won't work.

Librarian:

Ancient Runes:
A retelling.

I actually only have one book for this:
*The Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins.

Arithmancy:
Work written by more than one author.

*These Broken Stars by Amy Kaufman and Megan Spooner
*Paper Girls
(I know my copy of Girls volume 2 is also in the photo, but that is because this was originally also on my TBR. Only, I have read this for the sequelathon :-D )

Defence Against the Dark Arts:
Reducto: Title starts with an 'r'.




*Roar by Cora Carmack
*The Red Knight by Miles Cameron
*Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi
*Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
*Red Sister by Mark Lawrence (still need to get that one though)

History of Magic:
A book published at least 10 years ago

*The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
*Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
*Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson (which is the one I'm most likely going to pick up because there will be a readalong for this one during April.)
*Priestess of the White by Trudi Canavan
*Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb

(I know the second book is not the UK edition of Northern Lights, but I have since gotten the UK edition, so it would be that one I'd be reading.)

Transfiguration:
A book with sprayed edges or a red cover

*Spellslinger by Sebastien de Castell
*Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (reread)
*The Edge of Everything by Jef Giles



The other subjects are:

Astronomy:
A book with 'star' in the title.


*These Broken Stars (if I don't use it for arithmancy)
*Stars Above by Marissa Meyer
*Defy the Stars by Claudia Grey


Care of Magical Creatures:
A book with a land animal on the cover.


*Northern Lights - it has a bear on the cover

Charms:
Age-line: read an adult work.

*The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
*Priestess of the White by Trudi Canavan
*Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb
*Red Sister by Mark Lawrence

Divination:
A book set in the future.

*These Broken Stars
*Stars Above 
*Defy the Stars 
whichever one I don't use for another prompt.


Herbology:
A book with a plant on the cover.

I only have one book with a plant on the cover and I would rather use it for another subject.



Muggle Studies:
A contemporary book.

*Brieven van Marie (Letters from Marie). This is a companion to the Flemish tv-series 'In Flanders Fields'. (This is the one I could use for herbology as well because there are poppies on the cover.)
*A New Adult book (don't know which one yet)


Potions:
Next ingredient: a sequel.


*Knight's shadow by Sebastien de Castell.
*King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence.

I'm very excited to start this readathon and I'm also very curious to see if I'll succeed and how many subjects I'll pass.


Will you be taking part in this readathon? If so, what's your TBR? Let me know in the comments.



Bye for now



Annelies

Monday, 18 March 2019

Sequel-a-thon.

Hi booklovers

Even though I'm not a readathon person, I found one I wanted to take part in because it sounds like a low-pressure one: the sequel-a-thon.

This readathon is hosted by Leighanne from Leighanne's Lit (amongst others, but I saw her announcement). You can check out her announcement video here.

This readathon takes place from the 21st 'till the 31st of March.

There are only three prompts, so it's doable :-)

Here's my TBR:
1) Read the sequel you've been putting of the longest: Knight's Shadow by Sebastien de Castell. I read the first one 'Traitor's Blade' back in August and I still haven't read the second one.

2) Continue with a series that you started last year: Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi or Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb.

3) Finish a series: Again: either Ship of Destiny or Ignite Me. I know this isn't technically the end of a series, but since this was originally going to be a trilogy I'm counting it as the last book.

There is a bonus prompt, which is to give your TBR a fun name. So, I decided to go with: 'I really want to get these off my TBR so I can start a new series'-TBR.

To be honest, I'm probably only going to concentrate on prompts 2 and 3 and read Ignite Me (you can use the same book for different prompts, yay!). I'm not a fast reader if I can't alternate between reading the physical book and listening to the audiobook, so it might take me a bit longer to finish Ignite Me. I would be happy to just finish this one book, because I might read 'Restore Me' for the OWLs readathon. (I know, I know, I just said that I consider Ignite Me to be the conclusion, but let's just roll with it, shall we?!)

Hopefully I can finish my current read 'Dreams of Gods and Monsters' before Thursday so I can start the readathon then.

Do you marathon books in a series or do you just read one and then take ages to pick up the next book in the series?
Let me know in the comments!

Bye for now

Annelies

Saturday, 5 January 2019

Anticipated releases Jan. - March 2019.

Hi booklovers

Even though I'm going to be focusing on reading my backlist books this year, there are still some new releases I'm really looking forward to.

Let's take a look at the first three months of the year.


January
*8th: In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire
I actually pre-ordered the audiobook.

*17th: Tangled Like Us - Krista and Becca Ritchie
These kinds of covers aren't my favourite ones, that's why I only read NA on my e-reader :-)

*29th: King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
I can't wait to be back in the Grisha Universe.


February
*5th: Courting Darkness by Robin LaFevers
I really loved the His Fair Assassin trilogy and I'm very excited for this spin-off duology. And look at that stunning cover.


*18th: The Risk by Elle Kennedy

March
*5th: Wild Country by Anne Bishop
I didn't enjoy the first book in the spin-off series of The Others as much as I did the original series, but I still enjoyed it enough to want to continue with it.

*5th: Shadow Me by Tahereh Mafi
Even though I still need to read Restore Me (I'm rereading the first three books) I'm very curious about this novella from Kenji's POV. (I just hope it's not a disappointment like ACOFAS was.)


*Peace and Turmoil by Elliot Brooks
I received an e-arc from the author in exchange for an honest review and I'm very much looking forward to reading this. You can check out her channel here.

Are any of these books on your anticipated releases lists as well or are there other books you are excited about? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies




Wednesday, 2 January 2019

Favourite books of 2018.

Hi booklovers

It's the second day of the new year, so let's talk about the best books I've read in 2018.

But first, some statistics:

I'm not going to put these in any specific order, I'm just going to list them. I've divided them according to genre.

Favourite fantasy books

*The Well of Ascension - The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
*Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb
 
*The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
 
*Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell

*Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb

*Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Favourite dystopian and sci-fi

*Scythe - Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

*Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

*Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

*Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

Favourite New Adult contemporary

*Damaged Like Us by Krista & Becca Ritchie

I had a great reading year: I wanted to read 60 books and managed to read 64. This year, I'm lowering my goal to 30 books, so I don't feel pressured to read. I'm probably going to read more, but I mainly want to focus on those bigger fantasy books on my TBR, so those will take me longer to get through.

How was your reading year?

Bye for now

Annelies