Hello, and welcome to the first of three posts detailing all the books I picked up at Book Expo in America last week. It was a wonderful time and I picked up some amazing books. There’s a lot to get through, so let’s get started. Of the ARCs I picked up one of the ones I’m most excited about is Caraval by Stephanie Garber. I was able to snag a ticket to get it signed about which I was very happy. This is the first in a YA...
So, as I’ve mentioned in my blog before, this year I attended BEA (Book Expo America) in Chicago. As my books are being shipped, this is not my official BEA book haul – expect that one in a week to ten days! This was the first time I have attended, and I was both a little nervous and excited. Although I’ve heard it described as San Diego Comic Con for booklovers, it is a trade show for those in the publishing industry as w...
The Trials of Apollo Book One The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan is the start of a new Greek mythology series from middle grade staple Rick Riordan. This new series centres around the god Apollo, who has been stripped of his godly powers by his father, Zeus. Naturally, adventures and shenanigans ensue. For me this read a little younger than the Heroes of Olympus series, more in line with Percy Jackson. Apollo’s human persona is a...
Hello and welcome to another reading roundup. I’ve clearly been on a bit of a social history kick lately – all of the books I’ve read and/or listened to in the last couple of weeks have had social change as a strong theme. Let me tell you about them. [book-info]The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson is a slice-of-life look at an English town in the summer of 1914, just before the First World War. This conflict had a...
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld is the fourth in the Austen Project of modern retellings of Jane Austen’s novels and attempts to bring her classic Pride and Prejudice into the 21st century. Having read the other three Austen adaptations, I was intrigued to see how Sittenfeld would update the story of Elizabeth, Darcy, Jane and Bingley. From experience I know that Austen adaptations, when done well, can be wonderful. (check out The L...
Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon is the fourth in the time travelling historical fiction series following our protagonists Claire and Jamie Fraser as they attempt to start a new life in the American Colonies. Weighing in at nearly 900 pages, or 44 hrs and 54 mins of audiobook, this is a real behemoth of a book. It’s also the book on my shelf that’s taken me the longest to read. GoodReads tells me that I finished the previous bo...
Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson is the first in a young adult historical fantasy following the story of Leah Westfall, a young woman from Georgia with the gift of sensing gold. Circumstances lead her to seek her fortune in California as part of the 1849 gold rush. This first book deals with Leah’s departure from Georgia and the first part of her journey west. I really enjoyed this book. I was highly invested in Leah’s s...
Hello and welcome to another reading roundup. Again, it’s been a month where I’ve really struggled to focus on reading and blogging. I really should be more ruthless about putting books into my Did Not Finish pile. I spent too much of the month plodding through books which really weren’t doing anything for me. [book-info]With regards to Yellow Brick War by Danielle Paige, I’ll be perfectly honest and say that my opinion an...
Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare is the first in The Dark Artifices, a new Shadowhunters series set around the Shadowhunters Institute in LA. It focusses on Emma Carstairs and her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, characters introduced in City of Heavenly Fire, the final book in the Mortal Instruments series. This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2016 and I LOVED it. The setup for Lady Midnight was one of the things I enjoyed mo...
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab is the second in the Darker Shade of Magic Series which centres on Kell, an Antari magician who has the ability to move between different worlds, and Lila, a young woman from “our” London who has ended up in Kell’s magical home world. I really enjoyed the first book, A Darker Shade of Magic, and was very much looking forward to this next instalment. I LOVED this book and am happy to recomm...