March Wrap Up

It's wrap up time! 
I did quite well on the reading this month, but then I guess I'm cheating a bit so far because the graphic novels and the manga don't take long to read! I can't picture the graphic novels because I had to take them back to the library! So thanks to those and manga, I'm doing really well with my reading challenge on GoodReads as well as in general! I mean...check out my read stack! Anyway, let's get on with it....

These are pretty much all the teen/ya books I read this month! Except for some that I couldn't find for the photo, seriously I put books down and then can't find them! 

Broken Sky

This was absolutely brilliant and completely blew me away, I was expecting good things from the author but I completely fell in love with this book it had WW2 vibes despite not being about WW2, and was original and kept me on my toes! 

Harry Potter and The Goblet Of Fire 

Need I say more about this? Re-reading this showed me how much was missing from the film that I'd forgotten about, and it's still definitely my favourite book! 

Lois Lane: Fallout

Gwenda Bond is doing awesome things with this, the characterisation was perfect, Lois is a hero you can root for, she does what's right no matter what. Clark was introduced in a brilliant way as well, and I was expecting that! There's action and humour and it's a book that you just devour! 

The Map of Bones

Sequel to The Fire Sermon and one of my most anticipated sequels of the year! It took what we know about the world of the book and expanded on it and added tonnes more intrigue to the story. I'm so ridiculously excited to see what will happen next considering all the revelations that completely blew my mind! 

Lady Midnight

This was everything I was hoping for and more, it's on level with The Infernal Devices which might just be my favourite more than Mortal Instruments...shhhh! I can't even, I mean, I'm in love with the characters and the romance and just everything with this book! 

The Shadow Queen

The best Snow White retelling I've ever read, not going to lie! Original, fun, humorous and full of action and romance I devoured this in a couple of hours. We also saw some of the world that's going to feature in the other books, they're all standalone but linked through the world and after reading this, I'm ridiculously excited to see what the author is going to do with the other classic fairy tales! 

Trace Evidence

A completely brilliant novella bind up that adds so much to the Virals series, giving us a scene we've always wanted, opportunities to learn more about the characters and their thoughts and feelings, and a brand new novella that nicely wraps up the series...but still kind of leaving it a little bit open! I'm desperate for more books, not going to lie! 

More review books! These ones are all classics, plus a couple non-fiction books that where awesome! 

Little Black Classics

I can't stop raving about this because they are truly cracking little editions of classics, cheap and easy to collect! They're great additions to your classics collection! 

Persuasion

This gorgeous Alma edition was so easy to understand thanks to their notes on the text, which allowed me to not feel like a complete idiot when I was reading because anything I didn't understand had a handy little note! I also think this may be my favourite Austen..I mean I love Pride and Prejudice but this was so cute! 

The Woman in White

Thank you Alma to introducing me to another new favourite classic. I fell in love with this while reading it, I was wary because of how freaking huge it is, but I was so gripped once things got going! Trying to work out what the shady guys where up to, and knowing something bad was going to happen and like..mentally screaming at the characters....because actually screaming at fictional characters is frowned upon...

World Mythology in Bite-Sized Chunks

One of the best mythology books I've read and perfect if you don't want to spend ages slogging through hard to understand language to extract the information you want to know about. 

The Wicked Wit of Jane Austen

Perfect for any Austen fans and the letters actually give you so much insight in to Austens life and what she was like as a person! 

Blue Exorcist

I actually recently watched all of the anime in a couple of days, and so I decided to check out the manga! I've not really read much manga, usually just whatever the library had, so Blue Exorcist has been my first additions to my library! Thank God for birthday money! I'm thinking I may or may not do a blog post on my manga haul that I've got with said birthday money, but I'm not sure...let me know if you're interested in me doing it! 

So guys, that's my haul, all of the reviews are right here on my blog! What did you guys read this month?!

Birthday Book Haul

Hey guys! I know I promised I'd do a Birthday Book Haul video, but what with me being sick and not really feeling up to doing videos, I thought I'd do a blog post instead! I know it's not the same but still! I'm thinking I probably won't get the months Haul or Wrap Up done and possibly not my TBR either, sorry guys! Anyway.....haul time! 

I had a very bookish birthday, I got books...obviously, but I also got some other bookish things, Slytherin Scarf, book Pandora charm, Harry Potter top and so on! I also got a decent chunk of money, which I used for Manga! I'm trying to catch up on Fairy Tail, Blue Exorcist and Seven Deadly Sins! They've not all arrived which is why they aren't pictured but I got Blue Exorcist Volumes 1-10, Fairy Tail Volumes 1-4 and Seven Deadly Sins Volumes 1-4! Manga is something I've recently started reading, I was getting Sword Art Online from the library and a couple of others, but I've watched the Anime for all three of these and decided I needed them for my collection! I know you all know there's a load of books that I'm after and I probably should have used the money for those...but they'd sit on my TBR shelf for ages, and Manga....well....I'm super fast at reading it so they don't take up shelf space on my TBR...basically! 

So what books did I receive? Well as you can see in the photos...a fair few! 

I got the super fancy edition of Death Note, it's got Volumes 1&2 in it and the edges are BLACK SPRAYED! I'm so in love! Although, it's going to be really hard to read without getting my fingerprints all over it! 

As you all know I collect various different editions of classics and I got two clothbounds for my collection! Anna Karenina and Wuthering Heights! They're so gorgeous, I really love the clothbounds because they're easy to read without damaging them, and they're ya know...really pretty! 

Next up is Lady Midnight and it's the super fancy Limited Edition version from Waterstones! I actually knew I was getting this and got it early when it came out! I'm kinda hoping the other two books will get a fancy edition too, but then at the same time my shelves are probably hoping they won't! 

I'm such a Game of Thrones fan, I have a shelf dedicated to all of the books and for my birthday I got the four graphic novel volumes! I've been eyeing them up for ages, because the art is completely gorgeous, and I'm planning to spend a day sitting and reading them and relieving back to before most of the pain and suffering started. 

As some of you may have seen, as part of my birthday week I got to take a trip to a kinda local comic shop and I came out with two! Harley Quinn and Power Girl because I love Harley Quinn okay, she's my favourite and I have all the individual comics but for Power Girl I decided I'd wait and get the bind up! Although now I think I'm gonna do that with Harley Quinn because I have no space left! 

I also got Spider-Gwen Vol 0 because I've heard a lot of good things about it and it's been intriguing me! I still need to actually read this one! So I managed to grab two of the bind ups that I've been after for aggeeesss and I still need to sit down and read both, because I've not had time yet! I'm thinking of taking it slower and stopping the current review pace I have because I'm burning myself out and I'm losing the fun of YouTubing and reviewing! 

Soooo that's my birthday book haul! I'm really sorry I couldn't do the video as promised, it's just I'm all fuzzy headed and snotty nosed and gross and I'm not really in the mood to drag myself out of bed and slap some makeup on you know? Plus editing the videos wouldn't be too great either with the fuzzy had! I'm hoping to return to normal starting with the Classic of the month, but I'm not entirely sure whether I will be, I'll definitely be back for the regular hauls/wrap ups etc in April and the May TBR! I think I might do this months as blog posts if no-one objects?! 

Thank you to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday, I had such a fantastic day and so many of you where so lovely! 

Review: Lady Midnight

Lady Midnight
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy! 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher, Simon & Schuster! 

It’s been five years since the events of City of Heavenly Fire that brought the Shadowhunters to the brink of oblivion. Emma Carstairs is no longer a child in mourning, but a young woman bent on discovering what killed her parents and avenging her losses.

Together with her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches across Los Angeles, from the Sunset Strip to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica. If only her heart didn’t lead her in treacherous directions…

Making things even more complicated, Julian’s brother Mark—who was captured by the faeries five years ago—has been returned as a bargaining chip. The faeries are desperate to find out who is murdering their kind—and they need the Shadowhunters’ help to do it. But time works differently in faerie, so Mark has barely aged and doesn’t recognize his family. Can he ever truly return to them? Will the faeries really allow it?

"The Law is annoying, but it is also flexible"

* SPOILER FREE, UNLESS YOU COUNT THE MENTION OF NEW CHARACTERS!*

Oh my god you guys...it's finally here! FINALLY HERE IN OUR ACTUAL HANDS! I'm so incredibly grateful that I got to read and review an ARC of the book because it was AMAZING! The first thing I'm going to say to you guys is that you need to read City of Heavenly Fire before you read this, and I think the Shadowhunter Academy books as well, I haven't read those because I'm waiting for the bind up, but I did watch a video on them so I know what happens! But yeah, once you've at least read CoHF you can dive right on in to Lady Midnight! 

The Shadowhunters Chronicles will always hold a special place in my heart. They are very dear to me and will always be one of my favourite series. I picked up Clockwork Angel from the library, completely loved it...and went out and bought CA as well as the first and only three TMI books out at the time, and then endured the waiting for each new book! I have fond memories of staying up all night reading Clockwork Princess with friends, going to a signing in London before the movie came out, and the moment myself and some friends realised we'd all read the books and where forever bonded over them. 

You can see why the books mean a lot to me, so hopefully you'll know that everything I'm telling you about this book is 100% true, because I've not been shy with my opinion about the show! I just want you guys to know that this review is honest through and through! Although...the book did remind me of everything wrong with the show....which may be a problem haha! 

Opening the book and reading the first lines gave me such a feeling of excitement and euphoria and kind of a little bit of nostalgia. I mean...this is a brand new Shadowhunters book with new characters, so I had some flashbacks to first reading City of Bones! I eagerly dived in to the book, excited to meet new characters. I'd loved the glimpses we got of Emma and Julian and the other Blackthorns in CoHF and I was excited to get to see more of them! 

The book opens up in a really cool location, with a new character who I thought was an odd choice for the prologue, but at the same time I figured there was more to it! There's a lot of recapping in the beginning, you will get spoiled for CoHF if you haven't read it! The events refresher was very helpful for me, if I had all the time in the world I'd have re-read everything, but I didn't, so I dived straight in. I remember most of the big events of CoHF but there where some things that had slipped my mind and I was reminded of! There's also a lot of what this means, and what this is which, while I already knew, did bring back in to the world quite nicely. But generally, there's no messing about, we're straight in with Emma and the plot of the book, the murders and so on. 

Once I started reading I was completely thrown head first back in to the world of the books like I'd never been away. The world and settings where vivid, the Shadow Market comes to life welcoming you back, and then you're in a brand new institute, spotting the differences between it and the New York institute and excited to see what happened to it after CoHF. Each and every single setting in the book is vivid and atmospheric, and pulls you in to the book, from the institute, to the Shadow Market, to the various locations around LA. All are vividly described and imagined, each has it's own atmosphere, different to the others, that ensures you're completely absorbed in the world of the book as the world rises up around you. We even get to explore new parts of the world, there's new elements added in to keep it fresh. I love how it's a world we all know well, but we're still getting to see new parts of it! It honestly felt like coming home being back in the Shadowhunter world and quite honestly? I feel like Lady Midnight is on par with The Infernal Devices, which I love more than life itself!

"I'm a shadowhunter. Quip fast, die young." 

I enjoyed the fact that our first glimpse of Emma was through someone else's eye's as a full blown Shadowhunter, and seeing how different she was to in CoHF, she's set on revenge for what happened to her parents, and I can't really blame her. We get a nice refresher on the Blackthorns and their personalities before they make an appearance. I loved seeing how each of the characters had changed, or stayed the same or done some of both since CoHF, and it got me so excited to see more of them in the rest of the book! This talk of characters may take a while, I warn you...

First off we get a few new characters which isn't really all that surprising is it?! We have the curious Kit and his dodgy dad. We have Cameron Ashdown, who we don't actually see that much...poor guy. We have Kieran, a rather interesting character, he's one of the faeries and man do I want to know more about him! Malcolm the ever forgetful warlock that we met in CoHF, I remember wanting to know more about him! Gwyn I found equally as interesting, I get the feeling he isn't as evil and bad as everyone thinks he is. I'm thinking we'll see more of him! 

Those are small fry, some incredibly well written secondary characters, equally as full of depth and just as mysterious as our main characters. I've gotta say I love our main characters old and new! We have Cristina, Emma's new BFF, she made me laugh, she had a mystery to her, I loved the friendship between her and Emma, not going to lie. She was so willing to help Emma and be there for her after not knowing her long at all! Diego we didn't see much of, but like...he has made a love situation very confusing for me. Dammit. I thought he was going to be an ass, but he's actually kind of awesome. Once he gets the facts, he just kinda unquestioningly throws his lot in with the Blackthorns. 

Speaking of Blackthorns, I enjoyed getting to know all of them on a deeper level than in CoHF. They're a great bunch of characters, they all work well together. They're like Emma's family, and they're so willing to help her. Each has a different personality, and different strengths and different things going on that are going to be amazing to watch play out and see how things end up! Especially with Ty, because I'm so worried about his character, because of how he is and who the Clave is, but then at the end I was like "awwwww Ty's got a friend!". Mark was kind of difficult for me. I felt for him, really I did, but Julian is one of my faves and I wanted to smack Mark sometimes, and he goes through such a change over the course of this book, I'm excited to see where his character goes next!

Julian broke my heart in this book. He really did. He does so, so SO much for his family, and then there's the Emma thing and the Arthur thing and he's dealing with all of it all on his own. He's had to be a parent to his siblings, and at some points in the book I felt like his siblings didn't appreciate it, I mean it's not their fault, they don't know all he does, but he does enough that they know about and Ty was being so bratty at one point and poor Julian! Then him being all worried they'd hate him and like Mark more because Mark can have fun with them because he's not telling them off. I mean..since the age of 12 Julian's been their sole carer and my heart broke so many times in the book for Julian and how he was treated and how he felt. Don't get me wrong, Julian cracked me up, he's just as snarky as Emma and a complete badass and kind of scary at one point, but I felt for him SO much. 

Emma I completely loved. She's got Jace's level of snark. Like...wow...looks like he rubbed off on you in CoHF! Jace is such a bad influence you guys! She trains so hard, to be the best she can be, she's a complete badass, and she's determined to find out what happened to her parents. I admired her so much, she was such a strong character and then at the end, the very end of the book...I was like wow. Not many people could do that for someone else. She may just be my favourite actually! She was hilarious and made me laugh loads, and she has like no tact sometimes, it's brilliant! 

We all know how well Cassie writes characters and it's never been more obvious than in this book, we have such a wide range of characters, both main and secondary and each one comes to life before you. You can picture them, practically reach out and touch them, and each one has so much depth to them. Secrets to be found out, motivations and so on. They're all such well created characters that they feel real. 

I'm not going to lie to you guys, after CoHF I pretty much shipped Emma and Julian before I even started reading the book and this book made it so much worse. I shipped them SO BADLY! I thought I knew pain with my precious Wessa...I was wrong. Cassie has done this romance so perfectly, to make you ship them, and then inflict the maximum about of pain she can on you. Each of her romances has had problems and obstacles, but not quite like this. This is up a level. They are parabatai and romance between two parabatai is forbidden. There's an incredible twist to it as well that had me raging at the book! I felt the connection between the two of them, you watched Emma realise her feelings, compared to Julian who already had them, and you watch the two of them and you're kind of cheering but at the same time you're like "no don't" because we all know the consequences if they get caught. It was truly heartbreaking. You could feel the emotions and the angst between them, and you so badly want them to be together...but at the same time, it's so dangerous and impossible. I'm fully convinced Cassie has a way out of it so they can be together but I'm foreseeing a hell of a lot of angst between the two of them. Like Emma at the end of the book, I mean...that's so not going to end well and it's going to hurt my heart. 

It's such an interesting angle on the romance, and there's been mentions before of how it's forbidden and I had a feeling Cassie was going to go there one day, but she's completely blown me away with the romance and all the obstacles to it. Emma and Julian's relationship both romantic and otherwise just feels so natural and I loved their banter, but this one's going to hurt like a b***h. 

"This is about me, not you. I am sick of you."

Speaking of romance and ships....there's so many ships to ship in this book. I don't even know what to ship. I have one ship but then Diego shows up and I'm like...NO I SHIP YOU AS WELL I CAN'T HAVE TWO SHIPS FOR THE SAME PERSON. Honestly, I have no idea who's going to end up with who, but there are so many good ships, with so many good things to them that you kind of end up shipping them all. Although I'm currently torn between two ships and hoping the next book will help me out a bit. Actually thinking about it...that's a lie...I root for one slightly more than the other! I don't think any of them are going to be all sunshine and rainbows any time soon! 

While I'm talking about characters and ships...the pure amount of pterodactyl style screeches I emitted while reading was ridiculous. Why?  Because, as most predicted, we see a fair amount of some of our favourite characters from the other books. I got so many feels it was insane. So many. I mean every mention of events from other books, or every time a character was mentioned had me squealing, but then a character would actually appear and I'd be out of control with my feelings, shall we say. We get some incredibly awesome updates on characters and their relationships and what's been going on with them, expertly threaded in to the plot. 

We also get some flashbacks to events that show us more of not only the characters in this book, but characters from previous books that I thought was a nice touch. They broke up the narrative and added to the story to round it out and give you more information on a past event, than just throwing it in the dialogue. You get the characters feelings, and thoughts as well. I'm fairly certain they're scenes we haven't seen before, but I didn't re-read CoHF so I could be wrong. Each has such a significance to the story of this book and the characters, and is always there at the right time to fit with the narrative and where the story is going. 

I love the multi POV's, letting you know more about the characters and really get to know them, as well as their motivations and thoughts. Their opinion on other characters and so on. We get mostly Emma but I LIVED for Julian's. The changes are smooth and keep with the flow of the book, each character has a distinctive narrative. Each narrative adds something to the story, and t the characters and it's just perfectly done. I liked how Julian's in particular had a tendency to have a more artistic narrative, art terms and colours and so on. It was a nice touch! 

Predictably, the plot is very complex. There's a tonne of different threads that all come together and are woven in to the book, there's a load of plot twists and turns and surprises to keep you guessing. Some that make you laugh and cheer, some that make you cry and some that make you want to throw the book if you could bear to part from it. There's plenty of action and mystery, I feel like this was like...CSI: Shadowhunter Edition. A kind of murder mystery with Shadowhunters and demons and so on, but that might just be me being weird! 

Cassie spends a while setting up the book, and then the end portion of the book...it's just plain explosive. There's more shocks than the rest of the book so far, mixed in with all the action. And when I say shocks I mean, staring open mouthed at the book, and not sure if you want to cry or be angry or both. Honestly, Cassie's ability to throw something at you out of the blue, something you'd never even imagined is like her super power or something! As well as writing so much pain and angst but still leaving you wanting more! Lady Midnight is also expertly tied to the other books in the series, I love how Cassie links all the books together in subtle ways as well as more obvious ways, it's always fun to stumble across a link and get all excited about it! 

Cassie's set up for the next book is flawless, there's so many threads left, as well as new ones woven in right at the end. The ending itself is so heart breaking, and it's not going to go well in the next book. I could envision all sorts of things happening in the next book and then I read the epilogue and my brain just completely blanked except for the words "Oh f****" in giant capitals flashing like a neon sign. I can't even with the wait for the next book, seriously you guys! 

Lady Midnight is a completely, and utterly brilliant opening to what's going to be an explosive and shocking new trilogy. Cassie brings to life not only the shadow world, but Los Angeles itself and you find yourself right there with Emma and co. It's 669 pages, an incredibly huge book...but you still didn't want it to end. All the intricacies to the plot, that we loved in the other books are present here, along with plenty of links to the other books. Lady Midnight is full of surprises, it's funny, it's heart breaking, it's got a fantastic pace, a brilliant set up. There's plot twists all over the place that you won't see coming. You just need to brace yourself. Lady Midnight will make you feel the full range of emotions, including making you want to throw it, scream and cry and rage a little bit. It's PERFECT. 

The wait for the next book is less perfect. However, there's a nice little surprise at the book of the book I believe. It lessened the pain for me momentarily before I was like "WHAT DO YOU MEAAAAAANNNN?!". I'm warning you all now...take a day, whack a " do not disturb " sign on the door, hoard some supplies, and get this read in one go. I had to put it down and it was really, really hard. 

If any of you have read Lady Midnight, I NEED to discuss this book, so for the love of the angel, DISCUSS IT WITH ME! Comments, Twitter, GoodReads, Tumblr, wherever. I just need to discuss! 

March TBR

It's Maaarrcchhh!
Which means my birthday is really soon, yaaaayy! It also means my TBR will most likely be swelling even more so than it is now, so I'm hoping that I can get a fair few other books read this month in addition to my March TBR specifically....so that I can start lessening my TBR! This month's TBR is all review books as well as the usual classic and Harry Potter! So all the books will be reviewed on my blog at some point over the course of the month, Broken Sky is actually already up on my blog because I ended up reading it really fast! 

In addition to what's shown in the video, I had a couple of books arrive too late to include in the video, but I have some Little Black Classics courtesy of Penguin to review and Persuasion and The Woman in White courtesy of Alma Classics! 

I've really got some exciting reads this month, and I'm thrilled to read them! I managed to contain my usual  over excitement and manage to do a faster than usual, straight to the point video which I think you guys might like more than my longer videos where I'm talking too much! 

I  hope you guys enjoy the video, and let me know what's on your TBR's for the month, and what your classic of the month is if you're doing the 2016 Classics Challenge! 

Wishing For Wednesday #78

It's that time again guys! 
This week I've got an exciting debut that I've heard tonnes about, and one of my most anticipated books of 2016. No joke. It's been ages and this book has been killing me with the wait!
So first up, like I said, a debut book that I've heard people raving about for ages, and I'm so intrigued because it sounds fantastically unique and just freaking brilliant!
Second up, the first book in a brand new trilogy by one of my all time favourite authors! This is set after The Mortal Instruments and I loved the glimpse of the characters we got at the end of COHF AND the whole premise with two of the characters. It's also out near to my birthday so it's like Cassie is giving me a present! 

Rebel of The Sands

She’s more gunpowder than girl—and the fate of the desert lies in her hands.

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mystical beasts still roam the wild and barren wastes, and rumor has it that somewhere, djinni still practice their magic. But there's nothing mystical or magical about Dustwalk, the dead-end town that Amani can't wait to escape from. 

Destined to wind up "wed or dead," Amani’s counting on her sharpshooting skills to get her out of Dustwalk. When she meets Jin, a mysterious and devastatingly handsome foreigner, in a shooting contest, she figures he’s the perfect escape route. But in all her years spent dreaming of leaving home, she never imagined she'd gallop away on a mythical horse, fleeing the murderous Sultan's army, with a fugitive who's wanted for treason. And she'd never have predicted she'd fall in love with him...or that he'd help her unlock the powerful truth of who she really is.

Rebel of The Sands is out March 8th, pre-order your copy.....here! 
Add it to your TBR.....here!

Lady Midnight

Los Angeles. It’s been five years since the events of the Mortal Instruments when Nephilim stood poised on the brink of oblivion and Shadowhunter Emma Carstairs lost her parents. After the blood and violence she witnessed as a child, Emma has dedicated her life to to discovering exactly what it was that killed her parents and getting her revenge.

Raised in the Los Angeles Institute with the Blackthorn family, Emma is paired as a parabatai with her best friend, Julian Blackthorn. A series of murders in the city catch her attention — they seem to have the same characteristics as the deaths of her parents. Could the murderer be the same person? And her attention isn’t the only one caught: someone has been murdering Downworlders as well. The Fair Folk make a deal with the Institute: if the Blackthorns and Emma will investigate the killings, they’ll return Mark Blackthorn to his home. The catch: they have only two weeks to find the killers. Otherwise it’s open war between faeries and Nephilim.

The Shadowhunters of the Institute must race against time to catch the killers, even as they begin to suspect the involvement of those closest to them. At the same time, Emma is falling in love with the one person in the world she’s absolutely forbidden by Shadowhunter Law to love. Set against the glittering backdrop of present-day Los Angeles, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches from the warlock-run nightclubs of the Sunset Strip to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica.

Lady Midnight is out March 8th, pre-order your copy....here! 

Add it to your TBR....here!

Pre-order the super cool limited edition....here!