Mailbox Monday - Weekly Book Post

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme that was started by Marcia of To Be Continued. The aim is simple, for people to share what books they received in their mailbox that week. To check out everyone else's posts head over to the Mailbox Monday blog.

This week I received...

Poppy Haviland and The Secret of the Lively Widow by Michael Barra with Amber Lively Barra

I was lucky enough to be gifted this one by the publisher, Troubador Publishing, in exchange for an honest review. 

The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab

This was another one I was lucky enough to receive from the publisher, Titan Books. Despite now owning 3 books by V.E. Schwab, with a 4th on the way, I haven't actually read anything by this author. I'm looking forward to diving into this one next month. 

The Mermaid by Christina Henry 

This is one I received in a book swap on Facebook. I enjoy fairytale retellings so I'm looking forward to this one. 

Otherworld by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

I picked up this one from the Library. It's a virtual reality sci-fi which sounds a bit like Ready Player One, which I loved, so I'm excited for this one too. 

Have you read any of these? Which ones would you recommend?

I'd love to hear about the books you received this week. 

Harry Potter Giveaway Unboxing

Stacey over at Whispering Stories was doing a Harry Potter themed giveaway on her Instagram and I was lucky enough to win all the wonderful goodies. I thought I would do an unboxing post for you as there was some great stuff. 

I received a wonderful big box filled with goodies. Everything was well packaged so everything arrived at my door safe and sound. 

The first thing I pulled out was this colouring set. Included is a 48 page colouring booklet, a build it yourself 3D Firebolt broom and 48 colourable gift tags. 

Also on the colouring theme was this lovely Harry Potter colouring book with some beautiful illustrations to colour in. 

Next was this Marauder's Map notebook. Who doesn't love stationary! 

Some Buttered Beer flavoured lip balm is up next from Little Shop of Lathers. It smells amazing, kind of like vanilla. 

 In this package we had a Hogwarts Crest keyring and some pin badges. I especially like the Dumbledore's Army one.  

Finally we have the items I was most excited about. These two Funko Pops. I've recently started collecting Funko Pops, mainly Harry Potter ones, so these will go great with my collection. On the left we have Augurey from Fantastic Beasts The Crimes of Grindlewald and on the right we have Ginny Weasley with Tom Riddles Diary. 

So they were all the wonderful goodies in my giveaway package. I'm so pleased with them all. Thank you so much Stacey for providing me with the opportunity to win these. 

Review - Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Published 13th March 2018 by Rock the Boat

Star Rating - *****

Goodreads Challenge - 9/50

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza—but who knows what they'll find seven months after the invasion?

Meanwhile, Kady's cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza's ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys—an old flame from Asha's past—reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict.

With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heroes will fall, and hearts will be broken. 

My Thoughts

So this series has definitely made it up there as one of my favourites. I loved this final instalment just as much as the other two books. It was fast paced and action packed with lots of shock moments and twists and turns, definitely a roller coaster of a ride. In this one we follow both groups from the previous two books as well as a new group of characters based on Kerenza. Asha and Rhys are the focus of this new group of characters and, although I really liked them, I didn't feel their story line was as well developed as the others. I think this was because the other characters had whole books whereas Asha and Rhys didn't really as we were also following the rest of the group on their mission. That being said I do really like all of the characters in these books, especially the younger ones. I like how much they care for their future and they didn't give up even when things got tough and people didn't believe in them. I also think AIDAN is one of the best characters ever! He was so well developed and you were constantly questioning his motives. He was very morally grey and I loved it. This book is formatted in the same was as the previous two and, as I've said in previous reviews, this makes for a very quick and fast paced read. I also think this format works really well for the story as a whole and fits well with the plot. Although this was a quick read, I did find this one was a bit slower in the beginning compared to the others. We were following Asha and Rhys mainly in the beginning and this meant there wasn't too much action however, this quickly changed as we got further into the book. The latter half of the book was full of twists and turns and things you didn't see coming. It was full of 'OMG' moments and I felt like my heart had been ripped out several times and then pieced back together. I enjoyed the conclusion too and I thought all three character arcs and story lines wrapped up really well together. Overall, as you can probably tell, I loved this book and this series as a whole. It was a fantastic fast paced, roller coaster ride and I would definitely recommend picking it up. Please don't let the size of the books or the format put you off because I can guarantee your going to love it! Overall Rating

The NetGalley BookTag

I saw this tag on Christina Reid's blog Chrikaru Reads, you can check out her answers here. Like any book blogger I love NetGalley so I thought this would be a fun one to take part in. 

Auto-Approved

Who is one author whose books you automatically want to read, regardless of what they are about?

I have a few auto-buy authors but I think my main ones are Rick Riorden, Holly Black and Marissa Meyer. 

Request

What makes you want to request a book on NetGalley?

I've always tried to not go too overboard with NetGalley books because you know, feedback ratio. If I'm having a general browse I'll often be drawn to books because of their cover or because I've heard buzz surrounding that title on Twitter. I've also requested books I've seen promoted by the publishers on Twitter and I've been contacted by the publisher to review a few too. 

Feedback Ratio

Do you review every book you read? If not, how do you decide what books to review?

Yes, I will review every book I read, regardless of rating, on Goodreads. On my blog however, I will only write full reviews for books I enjoyed, mainly 4 and 5 stars but I do review some 3 stars. Any other books I usually just feature in one of my mini review round ups and in my wrap up. 

Badges

If you could create one badge to display on your blog, what would it be for?

I'm not really sure for this one. Maybe one to promote my love of an author or a specific genre like, Rick Riorden Raver or Fantasy Fanatic. 

Wish For It

What's one book you're absolutely dying to read?

There's lots of books I'm anticipating this year, check out my most anticipated releases post if you want to see them, but one that springs to mind is Kingsbane by Claire Legrand. I loved Furyborn and I can't wait to carry on with this series. 

NetGalley Challenge

What is the last book that you received as an ARC that you reviewed? If you've never received an ARC, what's the last book you reviewed?

I've most recently written a review for The Glovemaker by Ann Weisgarber but I haven't posted this yet as it's for a blog tour. A couple of other recent reviews of ARCs and books I was gifted include, The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons and In Fallen Woods by R.N. Merle. I'm currently reading a NetGalley copy on Enchantee by Gita Trelease so I'll be posting my review of that as soon as I'm done. 

So there are my answers for the NetGalley Book Tag. Hopefully this has given you a bit of an insight into my reading and reviewing habits. 

If you like the look of this tag I'd love for you to take part and share your links with me. 

Mailbox Monday - Weekly Book Post

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme that was started by Marcia of To Be Continued. The aim is simple, for people to share what books they received in their mailbox that week. To check out everyone else's posts head over to the Mailbox Monday blog.

This week I received...

All the Lonely People by David Owen

I was lucky enough to win a couple of giveaways on Twitter this week. This was the first one from a lovely fellow bookworm. 

The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton

This was the other giveaway I won and this one was from the publisher. 

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

I received this one in a books for trade. I've had my eye on it since it came out so I'm excited to get to it soon. 

Iremonger: Heap House by Edward Carey and Tribute by Ellen Renner

A lovely book lover was giving away some ARCs on Twitter and I picked these two because they've been on my radar for a while so I thought I would give them a try. 

That's all of the book post I received this week. I was really lucky this week as I haven't actually paid for any of these other than postage for the trades. 

Have you read any of these? What did you think?

What books did you receive this week?

Mini Reviews

The Robber Bridegroom by Brothers Grimm

Published 26th February 2015 by Penguin Classics (first published 1812)

Star Rating - ****

2018 Goodreads Challenge - 34/50

My Thoughts

I do enjoy a good fairy tale and this little book had 7 from one of the best fairy tale writing duos, The Brothers Grimm. Fairy tales as we know and love them today in modern times are something we would read to children. They are often magical, whimsical and fun however, the Grimm's fairy tales are completely the opposite. These tales are dark, full of murder, blood and gore. In this collection you read about Robbers who murder children, giants who have their heads cut off and an evil queen who dances to her death in hot iron slippers. These tales are not for the faint hearted and nothing like those we read to children today. Even the iconic Snow White, which is featured in this collection, is darker than the familiar Disney version. Each of these tales features many fairy tale tropes that, if a lover of these sorts of things, you will be familiar with. They often follow a similar story structure and they all have morals that your supposed to consider at the end. That being said, I enjoyed the collection for what it was and I would quite like to get my hands on a full collection of the Grimm's tales. 

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

My edition was published 4th October 2007 by Headline Review

Star Rating - ***

2018 Goodreads Challenge - 36/50

What I Liked: I loved how magical the plot was but still rooted in realism, there were lots of interesting ideas and concepts which I enjoyed reading about. I enjoy Neil Gaiman's writing style I think its unique and interesting and he does a great job of keeping you engaged. 

What I Didn't Like: I would of loved for this book to be longer. I wanted more depth and detail to the characters and storylines. A lot of the plot felt rushed, especially near the end, and could of been expanded upon a lot more, like in the film. 

Tangleweed and Brine by Deirdre Sullivan

Published 18th October 2018 by Little Island

Star Rating - ***

2019 Goodreads Challenge - 5/50

What I Liked: The stories were all based around female characters with many having a feminist twist and many of the stories were quite dark and a little twisted. These are my top 3 stories...

Ash Pale 
This one was a retelling of Snow White. I was able to follow this one without too many problems and I enjoyed the way Snow White was depicted. It was a bit of a spin on the evil step mother vs princess trope and it had quite a dark ending which I liked. 

Doing Well 
This one was a retelling of The Frog Prince which I'm familiar with but I don't think I've ever read the original. This had quite a tragic ending and I think it did a great job of depicting the way woman can be treated and the hardships they can sometimes face. 

Beauty and the Board 
This one was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and it was a bit of a strange one. In the beginning I was wondering what was going on but halfway through I picked up the plot and I thought it was a really interesting and sightly disturbing twist on the idea of the 'Beast' in this fairytale. 

What I Didn't Like: The writing didn't gel with me. It was very poetic, too poetic for me to enjoy. Many of the stories were written using short sentences which made the writing feel disjointed. 

The Valentines Day Book Tag

As you are all probably aware Valentines Day was on Thursday and I thought that to celebrate I would take part in the Valentines Day Book Tag. I saw this tag on The Caffeinated Bibliophile so you can hop over here to check out her answers and without further ado, here are mine. 

Stand Alone Book You Love

The Twisted Tree by Rachel Burge

This was one of my favourite books from last year. Its short but packs a punch I would definitely recommend it. 

Dystopian Book You Love

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I've got lots of dystopians on my TBR but apparently I haven't read many so I'm going to have to go with The Hunger Games. I don't think I need to say much about this popular series.

A Book You Love But No One Else Talks About

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes

I love books about cults and this was a great one. I stumbled upon this one by chance and I haven't really seen anyone else talk about it and I don't know why because it's fantastic!

Favourite Book Couple

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by McKenzie Lee

I love Percy and Monty. They make me smile. 

A Book That Other People Love But You Haven't Read Yet

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

I loved the Grisha Series but I never got round to this one however, I need to read this before I read King of Scars so I'm planning on doing a full Grisha re-read soon. 

A Book With Red On The Cover

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

I love this series. As I'm writing this post I'm currently reading Obsidio, I really don't want it to end. 

A Book With Pink On The Cover

Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

I don't read much contemporay fiction and this one was really out of my comfort zone but I actually really enjoyed it. It does focus on some more hard hitting topics as well as the romance though so I think that's why I liked it.

You Are Given A Box Of Chocolates, what fictional boyfriend/girlfriend have given them too you?

I'm going to have to use Illuminae again for this one and say Ezra. He's great, I love his witty banter but he's also really caring towards others and always wants to do the right thing in the long term. 

You Are Single On Valentines Day.

What Book Would You Read? Something fantasy. A few high up on my TBR are Enchantee by Gita Trelease, Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan and The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton. 

What TV Show Would You Watch? I only have a few TV shows I follow religiously so I would probably catch up on them and they are The Great British Sewing Bee, Criminal Minds and Masterchef. If I'm all caught up with these I would probably watch Friends. 

What Movie Would You Watch? I'm currently watching all of the Marvel Avengers films in order ready for the new releases this year so I would carry on with that. At the moment we're on Avengers: Age of Ultron. 

As you can probably tell I don't really read or watch romance so none of that on my list, even though it is Valentines Day. 

I really enjoyed doing this tag, it was great fun. If it sounds fun too you I'd love for you to take part. Or, if you've already done this one, as I know Valentines Day has gone, then I'd love to read it.