Well, it was the big day yesterday – my birthday – and I not only got to spend a really nice day with my parents (and off work! Yaaaayyyy!!! ) eating lots of sweets and cakes, but I was also lucky enough to get some of the books I’ve been dying to get my grabby hands on for months!
Sorry for the poor photo quality but in case you can’t make them out I was gifted with these bad boys –
- Scarlet by Marissa Meyer – I loved the first book in the Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder, and while I’ve heard some reviewers say this one isn’t just as good, I’m still uber excited to get stuck in!
- The River of No Return by Bee Ridgeway – Time travel meets period drama. I’d never heard of this one until I read about it on the blogs but it sounds amazing!
- Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor – The third and final instalment of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy hardly needs an introduction! This has been one of my favourite series of recent years and I’m dying to know what happens next! On a side note, both this book and The River of No Return are actually pretty massive so while I would in no way condone violence to books, it’s handy to know if I’m attacked while out reading somewhere they’ll double as an attacker smasher! 🙂
- Austenland – Well I have to come up for air sometime so when I’m not reading I’ll be stuffing my face with chocolates and watching this little gem. A rare example of a film that I not only much preferred the second time I watched it but was also actually better than the book!
I’ve been lucky enough to get this whole week off work – after YEARS of exams or studying for exams on or around my birthday, I vowed that when I started work, I would turn it into a holiday if I could, and that is exactly what I’m doing. 🙂 Today was my penultimate training run for my Race for Life this Sunday followed by an afternoon of shopping where I tried to pretend I was genuinely looking at clothes and not just casually working my way closer to the bookshop. I’d just got 3 new books after all. I didn’t need any more.
Yeah right! If you can’t treat yourself on your birthday week off, when can you treat yourself? 😉 I bought Sea of Shadows by Kelley Armstrong – I loved her Otherworld series so I’m excited to see what’s in store in this new series from the author. Got up some random romantic comedy on special offer as well and if I’m honest, I’m probably going to order Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo later (would you believe the shop didn’t have it in??)!
So what are you all reading this week?
Happy belated birthday and that is a GOOD lookin’ haul. I have Austenland waiting for me but my digital copy is annoying, so I may have to venture out and apprehend a physical one.
Thanks! I’ve already made a start with Dreams of Gods and Monsters – I’ll have no time to get back to work with all these gems to read! Austenland is great isn’t it? Definitely worth investing in a physical copy.
Happy Birthday! Totally random thought of the day — I thought it was so interesting to see that your two hardcover books in the pictures appear to be the same size. In the states, YA fiction hardcovers are almost always physically smaller than adult fiction hardcovers both in height and width. Are YA and adult usually the same size in the UK? I notice the oddest things, don’t I? lol
Thanks! I had to immediately go look at my bookshelves to answer your question! lol I don’t get that many hardbacks but it appears that yes, YA and adult hardcovers are generally about the same size here. I wonder why they’re different in the US? Hmm…
It’s a mystery! Here’s what most of them look like here, if you’re curious 🙂 photo 1 & photo 2
Intercultural learning at work! 🙂 Is it just the hard covers that are different sizes?
Pretty much — there is some variation between Trade Paperbacks of all varieties, but for the most part they are all about the same size for both YA and adult. There are some hardcover YA’s that are bigger, but it’s not that common. It’s just one of those things I never even thought to think about before now!
The beauty of blogging shedding light on international publishing practices! 🙂
Happy belated Birthday!!
Wow you got The River of No Return! That’s been on my wish list for a while now 🙂 I’m looking forward to what you think about it.
And it’s great you have the week off. I have two exams coming up. So that means studying for me…
Thanks! I’m looking forward to reading it – it’s been on my wishlist for a while too. Good luck with the exams! Studying is never fun! 😦
Thank you! I hope I’ll pass. On the spot presentation in English on Friday. And Friday 23rd it’ll be 3 hours of writing: English Grammar, a review and a translation.
That doesn’t sound fun! I’m sure you’ll do great though!
Thanks. The presentation went okay. I’m trying to get all that grammar into my head now.
Well done on your presentation! 🙂
Haha. You should have seen it. The first half was horrible. Blackout included. But the second half saved me. I just kept talking for my life. Never presented that bad in my life.
If it makes you feel any better I once did a 25 min presentation in about 10! I just kept speed rambling on and on! They’re usually much better than we think they are though, so don’t worry!
Happy belated birthday. Glad to hear you got some good books AND a week off from work.
Thanks! With all these new books I really wouldn’t have had time to do any work anyway so it’s just as well I’m off! 🙂