Nevernight

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Ten Books I’ve Recently Taken Off my TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week is a “Spring Cleaning Freebie”. Some of the suggestions for that vague theme were books you’re planning to get rid of for whatever reason, book’s you’d like to clean off your TBR by either reading them or deciding you’re not interested, books that feel fresh and clean to you after winter is over.

As I recently went through my books (again) and was very harsh with myself over what books I actually still want to read and what ones I want to keep because I liked them a lot – I cut down my seven boxes of books, graphic novels, comics and uni textbooks to just three boxes. I was very impressed with myself. Here are ten of those many books that I decided that I’m no longer interested in reading and have taken them off my TBR, ready to take to a charity shop when they open again.

Sekret by Lindsy Smith
I tried this, only read a chapter or two, couldn’t get into it so put it down and just don’t want to give it another go.

Nevernight by Jay Krstoff
This is another book that I DNF’d a long time ago and have finally decided that I’m not interested in it.

The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers
I bought a collection of classics maybe eight years ago and this was one of them. I think I read two or three of them but I was finally honest with myself that I’m not going to read any of the others, including this one.

Fractured and Shattered by Teri Terry
I read Slated way back in 2016. I enjoyed it then so I bought the next two books in the trilogy but then never continued on with the series. It’s been so long since I read Slated that I’d have to reread that in order to read the rest of the trilogy and I’m just no longer interested in it.

Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox
I had a phase when I was a teenager of collecting and reading autobiographies. This Michael J. Fox one is one I bought then, and I just never read it.

Portrait of a Spy by Daniel Silva
I can’t remember the reason why I bought this book; I must’ve liked the sound of it when I bought it but now I’m no longer interested.

The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
I love the original Bourne movie trilogy, so I thought I’d try the book. Think I bought it when I was in university so that’s almost ten years ago and I’ve never even picked it up, so it was time to give up on that idea.

Tuck by Stephen R. Lawhead
This is the last book in a Robin Hood retelling trilogy where I read the first two, Hood and Scarlet, but never got around to finishing the series. This is another case where it’s been so long since I’ve read them that I’d have to reread the first two, and I don’t have copies of the first two books anymore so that’s just not going to happen.

Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon
Another sort of spy/crime thriller that I bought for some reason and have then never really wanted to read.

Are there any books you plan to spring clean off your TBR?

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Books That Have Been On My TBR the Longest and I Still Haven’t Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created by The Broke and the Bookish and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. As the title suggests, this week is all about those books we bought and totally meant to read them and still haven’t. Oops!

In no particular order, here’s the ten books that have been sitting unread on my shelves for the longest.

The Time in Between by Nancy Tucker
Thanks to an Instagram pic of a bookhaul I can tell you when this book came in my possession – August 2015! And I still haven’t read it. it’s a non-fiction book and I’m not always in the mood for that so I think that’s one of the reasons I just haven’t got to it yet.

Truthwitch by Susan Denard
I got this in an Illumicrate box in early 2016 and I still haven’t read it. I did try it when I first got it, but I didn’t make it past the first 20 pages. Maybe I wasn’t in the right mood for it? I do want to give Truthwitch another go as I’ve heard nothing but great things about the series.

Uprooted by Naomi Novak
I’ve got Uprooted in the hardback, and I think I got it for either my birthday or Christmas so that means it came to me late 2015. I think this was another book I wanted because everyone was talking about it and then because of the hype I put off reading it.     (more…)

August’s FairyLoot Box

This month’s FairyLoot box arrived a last week and after seeing much excitement on Twitter about what was inside it I was looking forward to getting my hands on it. This was my second FairyLoot box, I got May’s box (and completely forgot to blog about it because it arrived just before I went on holiday) which I liked and I knew I had to sign up for August’s box as the theme was Dark Deeds and I love a villain.

FairyLoot is a monthly YA subscription box based in the UK that tends to focus more on fantasy stories. You can find out more about the box here.

The book in this month’s FairyLoot box is Nevernight by Jay Kristoff and it came with a signed bookplate, an art poster, a bookmark and a letter from the author. Now you may have seen that that book has already come into my possession through my subscription to another YA box, Illumicrate. Yes, it’s a shame I got the same book but it’s understandable. Each subscription box wants to have the newest and most anticipated release and if you’re subscribed to multiple boxes it is only a matter of time before you end up with the same book. I’m sure I’ll find a good home for my spare copy soon.

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The goodies that came with this box were great. There’s a candle that smells of The Dark Side – turns out The Dark Side smells like Fruit Loops (glad the card that came with the box told me that as I’m a Brit who’s never had Fruit Loops in her life) which is an interesting scent but I like it. There’s a cool Harry Potter coaster with a quote from Draco Malfoy by BookOtter and a bar of soap inspired by Rhysand from A Court of Thorns and Roses which smells lovely from Behind The Pages. There’s also some evil-inspired nail decals from House of Wonderland and then there’s the Animorphia notebook that I’m absolutely in love with. I’ve been thinking about getting an adult colouring book for so long but haven’t got around to yet so this is perfect, it’s a notebook but there’s beautiful animal illustrations you can colour! I honestly love it. It’s my favourite thing in the box and the fact I already have Nevernight doesn’t even bother me because this notebook more than makes up for it.

FairyLoot is a great box if you like fantasy books and related goodies and each month has a theme. It’s not too expensive but I know I just can’t keep on top of monthly subscription boxes so I’ll only get one if the theme takes my fancy.

August’s Illumicrate Box

I went to my Gran’s yesterday and my Illumicrate box was sitting there waiting for me. Illumicrate is a UK based subscription box for YA book lovers, the box is sent out every three months and you can find all the info about costs and shipping here.

I’ve had the Illumicrate box for a while now and you can check out what was in the February box and the May box – so far I’ve only read one of the books I’ve received, hopefully I’ll catch up on the books I’ve received through various subscription boxes by the end of the year.

I was really impressed with this month’s box. On social media it said it would contain two books, both of which would be pre-releases which is very cool, but I had no idea what books they’d be. The two books were Nevernight by Jay Kristoff and The Graces by Laure Eve. I’ve not read anything by Jay Kristoff before (Illuminae is currently sitting unread on my shelves) but wow Nevernight is such a beautiful hardback book I can’t really deal with it. The story sounds interesting too but really I just can’t get over how pretty this book is. The Graces is all about magic and witches and it’s not released in the UK till the beginning of next month! I like the sound of both books and I can’t wait to read them. Both books came with a signed bookplate and Nevernight also had a art card, bookmark and there’s a video from the author you can access while The Graces came with some temporary tattoos and a letter from the author.

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Now for the goodies, there’s a Gilmore Girls-inspired tote bag by Colorful Geekiness (a show I have never seen but have heard nothing but good things about), Colouring Quotes by Ashley Poston, a couple of amazing Harry Potter coasters from Taratjah Art (I love them so much!) and some Strawberry Tea from Post Tea that smells absolutely gorgeous – I’m not much of a tea drinker but I think I’ll have to make an exception and try this tea.

There’s also some extras relating to Red Rising by Pierce Brown, Unboxed by Non Pratt and A Torch Against the Night by Sabba Tahir. There was supposed to be a sampler of A Torch Against the Night in all of the subscription boxes but the publisher was unable to send enough copies so in my box that was missing, however the lovely people at Illumicrate has it all sorted out and if you’re like me and didn’t get the sampler, you can contact them with your order number and they’ll send one out to you.

I really do like Illumicrate, so far the books have all been new to me and in the case of When We Collided from May’s box, the sort of thing I wouldn’t normally pick up. It’s been nice receiving I’d never even heard of, books from new-to-me authors and from genres I don’t always read. I do get a bit worried about just getting more and more unread books and goodies that I won’t necessarily use but so far that hasn’t been the case. The next box will be sent out in November but you’ve got to be quick if you want one, they seem to always go super fast!