My March Book Haul

In March I said I was going to make sure I read more books than I bought in some vague attempt to control Mount TBR. Stop laughing. Yeah, okay. It didn’t go exactly to plan.

The Books:

The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Stevens. I loved this so much, I sat up until the early hours to finish it, bought copies for my besties and spent my audible credit on the audiobook, which I am almost done listening to. I plan to review this one really soon, but if you’ve not done so yet READ IT. Here I am with Laura at her launch, looking like some kind of creepy stalker.

The Bone Dragon by Alexia Casale. Evie has been through some stuff. Her uncle helps her to carve a dragon from a piece of her own bone, and this talisman comes to life. But Evie is in a really dark place and she wants revenge on her past. This sounds like the perfect dark and twisty tale for me: a blend of the darkness of real life and a fantasy world with a dragon!

The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi. Not going to lie, I picked this up because a fellow blogger said “read it” and the cover is all the worlds of awesome. Look. At. It. The story sounds brilliant too: Elin’s family are the guardians of water serpents at the core of their Lord’s army. When some of them die, Elin’s mother is sentenced to death, but before she dies she uses a forbidden power to get Elin to safety. Hello. Yes, please.

Summoner: The Novice by Taran Matharu. This was one of the full-length discounted novels available for World Book Day. How could I resist this for £2.50. Total bargain! Magic, demons, and battles. These are my favourite kinds of story.

A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars by Yaba Badoe. I love this cover. It is gorgeous and vibrant, and I had to have it. It is the story of Sante, who is trying to find out about her family and where she came from, with nothing but a recurring dream to guide her. I have a real soft spot for stories of people wanting to find where they come from at the moment, so I am looking forward to this one.

Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge. This was another book on the World Book Day full-length novel offer. Mosca Mye lives in a world where books are dangerous, and she has the rare ability to read. This book promises deceit and danger. It sounds an exciting read.

The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu. I’ve heard so many bloggers raving about this one, so I had to pick up a copy when I saw it. Alice has been branded a slut by her peers and when a star player from her school dies in a car accident, rumours about Alice get out of control. The story is told from four viewpoints. This one fascinates me. I am all here for the stories putting “slut shaming” under the spotlight, and I’m really interested to see one of these stories where the viewpoint is not that of the victim, but of people around them.

Tin by Padraig Kenny. Christopher is a real boy whose best friends are mechanical. A secret is discovered that sets him on an adventure where he learns who he really is and what being human is all about. This just sounds like the perfect read.

Hannah Green and the Unfeasibly Mundane Existence. I picked this up off the special offers table, muttering “me too Hannah, me too”. Except Hannah’s mundane existence is somewhat different to mine in that her grandfather has been friends with the devil for 150 years. So, there’s that. I had so many questions reading the blurb for this, that I had to bring it home in the hope that reading it will answer them.

The Eye of the North by Sinead O’Hart. Everyone is raving about this on my timeline. At least two fellow bloggers have thrust it at me and told me to read it, so I thought it was probably best I picked it up before they excommunicated me. Adventures, mystical creatures, a Witch and a mission to save the world. Sounds great, doesn’t it? I’ll let you know in approximately 6000 years when I get a grip of my TBR.

Scythe by Neal Shusterman. If I couldn’t wield fire, then the scythe would be my weapon of choice. Conveniently here is a book all about them. Also added are a world where humans have conquered death and the Scythes have to end lives to control the population. It would seem that they aren’t allowed to wander around indiscriminately lobbing off heads, so I’m interested to see how this scenario works.

Witchborn by Nicholas Bowling. This one is historical fiction set during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, which is one of my favourite periods of history. It also focuses on witch trials and the burning of Alyce’s mother. Alyce reacts by killing the witchfinder and fleeing to London, where she soon finds herself deep in a battle between rival queens. Could this sound any more perfect for me?

 

A Place Called Perfect by Helena Duggan. Violet lives in Perfect, where everyone wears glasses to stop them going blind, is neat and tidy and perfectly behaved all the time. But then her mum starts acting strange and her dad disappears…and he’s not the only one. Some of my favourite booksellers and blogging friends have been recommending this one to me, so I finally picked it up!

Troublemakers by Catherine Barter. Alena’s political activist mother died when Alena was a baby. She lives with her half-brother Danny and his boyfriend Nick. The area they live in is being threatened by a bomber. Danny takes a job working for a controversial politician whilst Alena starts trying to discover more about her past and finds herself in trouble. This sounds like an excellent and thought-provoking contemporary read and I have no excuse for not picking it up sooner.

This month I also picked up three books from the Northern YA Lit Festival in Preston (more on that soon) after listening to the authors speak about their books. These were: The Next Together by Lauren James (I adored The Loneliest Girl in the Universe and can’t wait to read more by Lauren), and Traitor to the Throne and Hero at the Fall by Alwyn Hamilton to complete the trilogy. I’m excited to read these, but I fear from what I heard at the Lit Fest that I will be cursing soon enough.

Audible

We’ve already established I spent my credit on Laura Stevens. It is awesome. Buy it. I also took advantage of an Audible Daily Deal and downloaded Half Bad by Sally Green, a survivalist novel set in an England where warring factions of witches live amongst us. This one should keep me entertained whilst I do the housework!

Wildest Dreams Book Box

Getting my Wildest Dreams book box is swiftly becoming one of the highlights of my month. This month was a fantastic box with another brilliant sounding book. Far from the Tree by Robin Benway. I’ve been wanting to read this since I heard Zoe talk about it in one of her videos, so I’m thrilled to have a copy!

Book Box Club

In my second Book Box Club Purely Books Subscription, I received The Wicked Deep by Shea Earnshaw. From the moment I saw the trailer for the box, I was hoping it would be this book: witches, a curse and a dark, twisty tale. I have heard excellent things and I cannot wait to sink my teeth into this one.

Arcs and Proofs

Since my last haul I have been sent some seriously beautiful proofs.

Team BkMrk Sent me this gorgeous paperback copy of Lydia Ruffles’s The Taste of Blue Light, which was a wonderful piece of surprise book post! I’ll be sharing my review in the near future over on no safer place, where I’m a guest contributor. Spoiler: I loved it.

Bloomsbury sent me this STUNNING proof of Karen Gregory’s Skylarks, which I was thrilled to receive having utterly adored her first novel, Countless. I loved the addition of these two fabulous origami birds in colours to match the cover. I now have these sitting on my notice board above my desk, where they are cheering me up every time I see them.

I cannot tell you how happy it made me to receive a proof of this fabulous book: Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. I took part in the blog tour for this book (you can see my post here) and my review will be coming soon This is a fantastic book, and I loved it so much that I also bought the Waterstone’s special edition with the gorgeous sprayed edges.

I also picked up some great proofs in my goody bag and from the stands at the Northern YA Lit Fest, which you can see in my round up of the event.

That’s me for this month. What books did you get this month?

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