Hey guys! It's been a while since I've done a blog post that isn't a review! I had a reading slump and got super behind on my review books so I've been rushing to catch up again! I've also been super busy and working a lot so I haven't had much time!
But today it's finally time for my YALC 2017 book haul! I'm only like 2 or 3 weeks late right?!
So, this was my first time attending YALC, I'd wanted to go a few times before but never really managed it! This year I headed there with my friend for the Friday! I pretty much picked that day because of all the authors I wanted to meet! Amy Alward, Alwyn Hamilton, Melinda Salisbury...all of whom signed my books for me! I so badly wanted to do the Saturday but I had to wait to be paid and then the tickets sold out!
I feel like the Friday was actually a lot quieter than the Saturday probably was, so maybe it was a good thing for my first YALC trip....forever gutted I missed out on meeting Laini Taylor though! Although meeting the authors did reinforce how awkward I am when it comes to talking to them!
Anywaaaayyy, on with what you're all here for....my book haul! First up, are the books I fiiiinaaallly bought a copy of, Gollancz had an awesome deal on and I couldn't resist! People have been telling me to read Graceling for ages and I finally have a copy! I kinda think I should have got the other two books at the same time though! As for The Name of the Wind, I have the fancy hardback version but I need a paperback copy too because why not. I also managed to get an early copy of Alex & Eliza for a fiver! Seriously, they'd nearly sold out but I just managed to get a copy and I'm so excited to read it and it looks so pretty!
Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight - she's a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king's thug.
When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change.
She never expects to become Po's friend.
She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace - or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away.
Told in Kvothe's own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen.
The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.
1777. Albany, New York.
As battle cries of the American Revolution echo in the distance, servants flutter about preparing for one of New York society’s biggest events: the Schuylers’ grand ball. Descended from two of the oldest and most distinguished bloodlines in New York, the Schuylers are proud to be one of their fledgling country’s founding families, and even prouder still of their three daughters—Angelica, with her razor-sharp wit; Peggy, with her dazzling looks; and Eliza, whose beauty and charm rival that of both her sisters, though she’d rather be aiding the colonists’ cause than dressing up for some silly ball.
Still, she can barely contain her excitement when she hears of the arrival of one Alexander Hamilton, a mysterious, rakish young colonel and General George Washington’s right-hand man. Though Alex has arrived as the bearer of bad news for the Schuylers, he can’t believe his luck—as an orphan, and a bastard one at that—to be in such esteemed company. And when Alex and Eliza meet that fateful night, so begins an epic love story that would forever change the course of American history.
Now, I managed to grab some samplers as I was wandering around, and I thought I'd share them with you guys because each of the books sounds amazing, and I'm so excited for them to be released!
Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zelie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were targeted and killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.
Now, Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.
Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers—and her growing feelings for the enemy.
The company says Otherworld is amazing—like nothing you’ve ever seen before. They say it’s addictive—that you’ll want to stay forever. They promise Otherworld will make all your dreams come true.
Simon thought Otherworld was a game. Turns out he knew nothing. Otherworld is the next phase of reality. It’s everything you’ve ever wanted.
And it’s about to change humanity forever.
Welcome to the Otherworld. No one could have seen it coming.
This is the story of a bear-hearted girl . . .
Sometimes, when a person dies, their spirit goes looking for somewhere to hide.
Some people have space within them, perfect for hiding.
Twelve-year-old Makepeace has learned to defend herself from the ghosts which try to possess her in the night, desperate for refuge, but one day a dreadful event causes her to drop her guard.
And now there's a spirit inside her.
The spirit is wild, brutish and strong, and it may be her only defence when she is sent to live with her father's rich and powerful ancestors. There is talk of civil war, and they need people like her to protect their dark and terrible family secret.
But as she plans her escape and heads out into a country torn apart by war, Makepeace must decide which is worse: possession – or death.
Nell Crane has always been an outsider. In a city devastated by an epidemic, where survivors are all missing parts—an arm, a leg, an eye—her father is the famed scientist who created the biomechanical limbs everyone now uses. But Nell is the only one whose mechanical piece is on the inside: her heart. Since the childhood operation, she has ticked. Like a clock, like a bomb. As her community rebuilds, everyone is expected to contribute to the society’s good . . . but how can Nell live up to her father’s revolutionary idea when she has none of her own?
Then she finds a mannequin hand while salvaging on the beach—the first boy’s hand she’s ever held—and inspiration strikes. Can Nell build her own companion in a world that fears advanced technology? The deeper she sinks into this plan, the more she learns about her city—and her father, who is hiding secret experiments of his own.
Fire Lines by Cara Thurlbourn
When your blood line awakens, how do you choose between family and freedom?
Émi’s father used to weave beautiful tales of life beyond the wall, but she never knew if they were true. Now, her father is gone and Émi has been banished to the Red Quarter, where she toils to support herself and her mother – obeying the rules, hiding secrets and suffering the cruelties of the council’s ruthless Cadets.
But when Émi turns seventeen, sparks fly – literally. Her blood line surges into life and she realises she has a talent for magick… a talent that could get her killed.
Émi makes her escape, beyond the wall and away from everything she’s ever known. In a world of watchers, elephant riders and sorcery, she must discover the truth about who she really is. But can the new Émi live up to her destiny?
And now for the part you've all been waiting for...this next section is all about the ARCS I was lucky enough to grab Friday morning! Like...Jess and I walked in and pretty much rushed around each stand having a browse and seeing if there was anything that took our fancy, because we where only there for one day we wanted to make the most of it! We didn't manage to get one ARC that we'd been desperate for though, buuutt we did get a few others that al sound brilliant! I was terrible at checking Twitter and quite frankly couldn't run weighted down with books!
Speaking of, as a little side note, I was only there one day but after that and seeing the activity on Twitter for the other two days, it became apparent that it might not have been organised as well as it could have been. Now I was high on the excitement of being there and surrounded by books and seeing bookish people and chatting to them and authors and so on, and if I hadn't been I might have had less of a fantastic time. Hollie's blog post has all the details but if you couldn't run or spend a fortune on 4G to get on Twitter aaalll daaaay, or didn't want to embarrass yourself to get an ARC then you had no chance, so it wasn't great for a lot of people. It wasn't all publishers, I distinctly remember a couple of publishers using a raffle system for their ARCS which I thought was a nice, fair way to handle it!
I have to give a huge thanks to Stevie though, because I'd been desperately after a City of Brass ARC and when I bumped in to her she mentioned that HQ where giving out something interesting...and I'm so nosy/overly curious I moseyed right on over and managed to grab one! Cue happy dancing! I also picked up the ARC pictured above with the samplers which I'm excited to read because it sounds amazing!
Book of Fire by Michelle Kenney
Life outside the domes is not possible. At least that's what Insiders are told. Twins Eli and Talia shouldn't exist. They're Outsiders.
Their home is a secret. Their lives are a secret. Arafel is a secret.
An unexpected forest raid forces Talia into a desperate mission to rescue her family while protecting the sacred book of Arafel from those who would use it as a weapon. As Talia and her life long friend Max enter the dome, she makes some unexpected discoveries, and allies, in the form of rugged Insider August, that will change the course of her life forever.
She'll stop at nothing to save her family but will she sacrifice her heart in the process?
The Fire Sermon meets Gladiator in this brilliant YA debut.
Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles.
But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass--a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.
In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.
After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for . . .
Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: Her mother is stolen away―by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”
Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began―and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong.
When a young man breaks into her home claiming her life is in danger, Ada Luring's world changes forever. Geller is a wizard, on the run from his father's hidden clan who want to kill Ada and her mother. Sara Luring is the scientist who will create the first robot, the wizards' age-old foes.
But a robot has travelled back in time to find Ada, and will lay everything on the line to protect her, as she may just be the key to preventing the earth's destruction in the future.
Ada, Geller and the robots must learn to work together to change the past and secure the future. But they don't have much time before a mysterious enemy launches its attack on Earth...
When fairy tale obsessed Lottie Pumpkin starts at the infamous Rosewood Hall, she is not expecting to share a room with the Crown Princess of Maradova, Ellie Wolf. Due to a series of lies and coincidences, 14-year-old Lottie finds herself pretending to be the princess so that Ellie can live a more normal teenage life.
Lottie is thrust into the real world of royalty - a world filled with secrets, intrigue and betrayal. She must do everything she can to help Ellie keep her secret, but with school, the looming Maradovian ball and the mysterious new boy Jamie, she'll soon discover that reality doesn't always have the happily ever after you'd expect...
One-by-one, the students of Osborne High are dying in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasing and grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and the hunt intensifies for the killer, the dark secrets among them must finally be confronted.
International bestselling author Stephanie Perkins returns with a fresh take on the classic teen slasher story that’s fun, quick-witted, and completely impossible to put down.
15-year-old Nikka is invited to attend Wildwood Academy, a prestigious but secret boarding school for talented youth located deep in the Californian mountains. Once there, Nikka quickly falls in love with her bizarre classes, the jaw-dropping scenery and... two very different boys.
However, Wildwood Academy has a dark and twisted secret, one that could cost Nikka the one thing she had never imagined she could lose, the one thing that money can’t buy. It is this very thing that Wildwood Academy was created to steal.
Nikka can stay and lose everything, or she can risk death and run.
I have to say, I had no idea that Wizards and Robots was written by Will.i.am when I picked it up, or that Undercover Princess was written by a big YouTuber when I picked them up. I spotted an interesting cover, and then loved the synopsis and what the publisher had to say about it and ended up picking them up...then I got home and was like...OH!
Wunderkids also isn't an ARC, but I've put it with them because I'm going to be reading and reviewing it!
I have to say, I loved chatting to all the publishers about their books and what was best to read, especially at Gollancz! I went back multiple times because I couldn't decide what to buy and it took me ages to settle on the two I did get and I was holding myself back severely!
This has been a super long post, but I hope you see a couple of books to add to your TBRS! And check out Hollie's post!
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