What will I be reading in Autumn 2017?

It seems to me like the past week everyone has fallen through a pile of crunchy autumn leaves and landed firmly in the run up to Halloween and Christmas. All the names on Twitter are spooky (except mine, I’ll make do with some emojis because I can’t think of a good Halloween name!) and the season of book release upon book release is here. Time to cosy on up with a warm drink and a good book…

The first thing you should know is that my TBR is (hopefully) currently at a standstill – I’m trying not to buy any books this month, and hopefully not until Christmas! This excludes Fairyloot boxes so the books from those will be added to my TBR (and I’m fairly sure I know what those books will be!) but other than that, I won’t be buying any books. This is partly because my TBR is super huge, especially after YALC, and partly because I need to save money!

I don’t like to give myself an overly prescriptive TBR because I never stick to them. I want to be free to be able to pick up any book and be able to read it – and equally, sometimes I won’t be in the mood for a particular book, even if, at another time, I would instantly devour it.

I’ve read 75 books so far this year(!) and hoping to get to a hundred so the goal is 25 books before 31st December…

I’m reading a weird combination of books at the moment, but I’d like to finish Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (I’m really enjoying this one and reading in preparation for the film which releases November 3rd), Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine (non-fiction about gender differences), Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (first time reading!) and Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (I have all of the rest of her books but just can’t seem to get through this one…).

My Kindle is nicely full at the moment – I’d like to read two of the Zoella Book Club, After The Fire by Will Hill and Girlhood by Cat Clarke before the year is out. I’d also like to read Fireblood by Elly Blake, before the final book in the trilogy is released in June 2018.

Hardbacks I’ve not got round to reading yet include Windwitch by Susan Dennard (in preparation for Sightwitch coming January 2018) and Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco (I was so excited for this one last year and still have not read it… story of my life!). I was also sent a beautiful copy of Warcross by Marie Lu which sounds amazing.

In the Shadowhunters world, I want to get up to speed with all the books before The Queen of Air and Darkness is released, which has been pushed up to May 2018. Whilst I’ll be reading Lord of Shadows next year, I’d like to get up to date with Magnus Bane and The Bane Chronicles as well as The Midnight Heir.

Staying with Fantasy, I have a wild ambition to read all the ASOIAF books and rewatch the entirety of Game of Thrones before the final season, and so I had better get on with reading A Clash of Kings by George R R Martin. I wasn’t the biggest fan of A Game of Thrones but I love seeing the foreshadowing that’s going on way back in the first books.

Over to New Releases, I am so excited for A Shiver of Snow and Sky by Lisa Lueddecke and thank you very much to Scholastic for sending me a beautiful copy (this is such a gorgeous book!).

I also plan on reading my YALC haul – a lot of these books release in 2018 and it’s coming round fast! I’m hoping to get into City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty, The Taste of Blue Light by Lydia Ruffles, The Treatment by C. L. Taylor, This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada… as well as 2018 releases including The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert, The Fandom by Anna Day and The Truth and Lies of Ella Black by Emily Barr.

I’m also exciting to read more Margaret Atwood, and I hope to get through Alias Grace in time for the Netflix series that will be released in November.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I’m excited to see which books will be my favourites, and which may fall a little flat.

Have you read any of these books, and what are you planning to read this autumn? Let me know in the comments below or tweet me at @annalisebooks x

July Fairyloot Box – Pirates and Power Unboxing!

I was lucky enough to get my hands on the Fairyloot box this month – I knew I had to have it when it was announced (and there’s *two* books in this one!).

The theme this month was:

Obviously this will be spoiler-ific, so if you haven’t received your box yet, look away now!

So this month’s box included:

• I didn’t receive a guide to the box (I think it might have fallen out!) so sorry in advance for not being able to source these items!
• Jon Snow Funko Pop! Keyring – two of these were available, Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen i.e. A Song of Ice and Fire. I love Game of Thrones (and Jon Snow!) so I was excited to get this figure!
• Treasure Island notebook – this is such a cool addition, a gorgeous gold notebook based on the cover of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. It even has a map inside!
• Tropical Fruit bathbomb from Geeky Clean – repackaged as Frostblood and Fireblood bath bomb by Fairyloot. I LOVED THIS – it smelled so great and turned the bath the most gorgeous midnight blue. The repackaging fits in with the second book in this box.
• Pirate Bounty lip balm by Geekyclean. Another cool addition – this smells of coconuts and has such cute packaging.
• Currently Reading colour-in bookmark by Behind The Pages – I’ll definitely be using this one and colouring it in! Really cute and useful.
• ‘I Ship It’ tote bag – afraid I don’t know where this one is from! Will come in useful at YALC.

And onto the books…

• Inherited by Freedom Matthews – this book came signed (and dedicated) by the author, with a letter from the author, a signed letter from the publisher Benjamin of Tomes, and a book postcard.

If saying ‘I love you’ meant death, would you still say it?

The Wilted Rose, of faery-tale and folklore, is a pirate ship filled with unfortunate souls-each forbidden to love. One such soul is Valencia ‘Lennie’ Roux. Raised in a brothel and an heir to a curse; Lennie never expected to pique the interest of any man. Yet with the arrival of vivid-eyed Nathaniel, she is torn between wanting to know him better and fearing what that knowledge would mean.

With Nathaniel bringing the crew’s total to six, the Wilted Rose sets off in search of the remaining two heirs. They hope that in reuniting, they will convince the faery Sorceress responsible for the curse, to end it. However lurking beneath the water is a long standing enemy of the Wilted Rose; who is determined to thwart their quest and bring down its leaders.

Together the eight heirs fight for survival, friendship and love.

• The second book was an ARC of Frostblood by Elly Blake. There were two ARCs available this month – the same book but two different covers, the Frostblood and Fireblood editions.

Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a fireblood who must hide her powers of heat and flame from the cruel frostblood ruling class that wants to destroy all that are left of her kind. So when her mother is killed for protecting her and rebel frostbloods demand her help to kill their rampaging king, she agrees. But Ruby’s powers are unpredictable, and she’s not sure she’s willing to let the rebels and an infuriating (yet irresistible) young man called Arcus use her as their weapon. All she wants is revenge, but before they can take action, Ruby is captured and forced to take part in the king’s tournaments that pit fireblood prisoners against frostblood champions. Now she has only one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who has taken everything from her and from the icy young man she has come to love.

Fast-paced and compelling, Frostblood is the first in a page-turning new young adult three-book series about a world where flame and ice are mortal enemies—but together create a power that could change everything.

I’m so excited to start these two books!

Another absolutely fantastic book box from Fairyloot this month – they always deliver something special! I’ll definitely be purchasing again!

#ThisIsWhoIAm Time Capsule

To celebrate the release of The Square Root of Summer by Harriet Reuter Hapgood (review here), I’m going to be making a virtual time capsule, just like Thomas and Gottie do in the book (except theirs isn’t virtual).

First though, let’s appreciate the cover a little more…

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My Time Capsule

Favourite Photographs

So, it hasn’t happened yet, but in less than 3 months, I’ll be graduating! With some picturesque background, I’ll be all dolled up in my academic dress, this time with a big poofy gown (like a black cape rather than a ballgown) and a mortarboard – that will probably make for an interesting photo, so I’ll put it in here.

I’d also put in a photo of my bookshelf, mostly because the book:shelf ratio is massively off, and I am struggling to fit all the books in my university room. (Pic above a little out of date – many books acquired since then). I’d also throw in a photograph of my collage wall (each room in uni comes with a huge noticeboard, and mine is covered in fashion advertisements and movie posters, as well as cinema tickets and Game of Thrones art prints). The photo below is my collage at the beginning of the year – it’s expanded a bit more now.

Favourite Songs

This is a difficult one, so I’d probably put a copy of the ‘My Songs’ playlist from my Spotify account – it’s full of loads of random choices from pretty much every decade, and probably sums up my music taste quite well. (Think a lot of cheesy 90s stuff with power ballads, 00s R&B, and a bit of dance music thrown in).

If I had to pick three songs of the moment which I really like, it would be:

1. Cheap Thrills by Sia; Sean Paul
2. Me, Myself and I by G-Eazy, Bebe Rexha
3. PILLOWTALK by ZAYN

Favourite Books

I mean, how am I meant to choose? My favourite books of 2016 so far have been:

1. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
2. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
3. How Hard Can Love Be? by Holly Bourne – review here
4. Asking For It by Louise O’Neill – review here
5. Radio Silence by Alice Oseman – review here

However, the book that reminds me the most of SUMMER 2016 so far has to be The Square Root of Summer!

Favourite Films

My favourite film of all time is Confessions of a Shopaholic, weirdly enough.

This year I’ve seen Deadpool (great), Captain America: Civil War (amazing) and Allegiant (a bit meh). I’ve posted about my most anticipated movies this summer here and here. I am looking forward to seeing Me Before You (but I need to read the book first!), Suicide Squad and Bridget Jones’ Baby.

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If my time capsule has piqued your interest in The Square Root of Summer, the book will be available from all good bookshops, and online from Thursday 5th May – although I’ve seen some branches of Waterstones have them in early (and they have the most gorgeous sprayed pink pages!)

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I’m so looking forward to meeting Harriet at YALC this year, although I may have to reread The Square Root of Summer first…

What would you put in your time capsule? Have you read The Square Root of Summer? What did you think? Tweet me at @annalisebooks or comment below 🙂

Annalise x

TBR 2016 : Personal Challenge Edition!

Updated: 24th April 2016 with books I have since read.

Hello!
It’s been a long time since my last post, mostly due to a lack of reading during university time. Reading just isn’t appealing to me at the moment, so I though I’d set myself some challenges over the next year to reduce my TBR pile and invigorate my reading.

Challenge 1: Kindle TBR

Using a Kindle really slowed down my reading, and I’m slowly making my way back to favouring a old-fashioned paper book. It’s so easy to stop reading a book on Kindle and forget about it – and I’ve abandoned quite a few books mid-read and left them there for a few months… ok, a few years.

This challenge is to read all the books that have been abandoned unread in the cloud.

1. Bright Young Things – Anna Godbersen
2. Superconductivity: A Very Short Introduction – Stephen Blundell
3. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
4. Bad Pharma – Ben Goldacre
5. Pushing The Limits – Katie McGarry
6. The Fiery Heart – Richelle Mead
7. Hard Bitten – Chloe Neill

Challenge 2: Finish ALL the series!

As well as abandoning books mid-read, I abandon series mid-series. I want to finish some series which have ended already, to achieve a sense of completeness (and so I can start some new series, naturally).

This challenge is to finish series that are worth finishing, and have already finished/will finish by the end of this year.

8. Night Huntress Series by Jeaniene Frost – One Grave at a Time, Up From the Grave

9. Bloodlines by Richelle Mead – The Fiery Heart, Silver Shadows, The Ruby Circle

10. Chicagoland Vampires by Chloe Neill – Hard Bitten, Drink Deep, Biting Cold, House Rules, Biting Bad, Wild Things, Blood Games, Dark Debt, Midnight Marked, Untitled… (This is definitely a challenge!)

11. Anna and the French Kiss series by Stephenie Perkins – Isla and the Happily Ever After

Challenge 3: Up To Date

There are a few series which have serious hype every time a new book comes out (Sarah J Mass, am I right?!) but I’m just not caught up with the latest book.

This challenge is to get up to date with series I’m seriously behind on, by the end of the year or the next release (whichever comes first).

12. Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J Maas – Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows

13. Illuminae Series by Amie Kaufman – Gemina (released 2016)

14. Normal Series by Holly Bourne – How Hard Can Love Be? (released Feb 1st, 2016)

15. Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin – Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, A Dance with Dragons…

Challenge 4: You’ve Bought ’em so You Might As Well Read ’em.

I’ve got loads of books which are looking very very pretty on my bookshelf. I should probably read them.

This challenge is to read all the books on my shelf currently, that haven’t been read.

16. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

17. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

18. The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

19. Asking for It – Louise O’Neill

20. The Name of the Wind – Patrick Rothfuss

21. The Kingdom of Little Wounds – Susann Cokal

22. The Finisher – David Baldacci

23. The Way of Kings – Brandon Sanderson

24. Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier

This post only really covers series I’ve already started or books I already own – there are loads of new books and series coming in 2016 that I’m looking forward to which will be covered in later posts.

Happy Holidays!

Annalise x