black ice

Top Five Friday #13: Books I Read Before I Blogged

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Top Five Friday is a meme hosted at Katieemay which lists our top 5 choices based on a bookish theme
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Being a relatively new book blogger, many of my favourites are the ones I read before I blogged. I think it’s important for me to recognise the books I read way back as great too! 

1. Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth

When I read this series just before the film came out (which is over a year ago now), I absolutely adored them all. I read Insurgent in under a day (which made it the first ever book I read in under a day), and loved it so much. I still really love them now, and mean to re-read very soon!

2. Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick
I read this book around the time of publication, and having just finished Hush, Hush (which I loved at the time, even though now I’m pretty sure that if I read it I would despise it as much as all the reviews do), I was really excited to see another novel by Becca Fitzpatrick. I loved the way this book was so fast paced, and enjoyed every minute (although I’m not sure I would if I read it now).
3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

This book was amazing. I read it in one sitting on the ferry - I loved it then, and I’m sure I would love it now. I really need to re-read it soon because I know I will fall in love with everything about it all over again.


4. Shadowhunter Chronicles (I couldn’t pick one series, let alone one book from this world!) by Cassandra Clare

I am such a big fan of this series. I love the world so much, and I can always come back to re-read some of my favourite chapters. I especially love the fantasy aspects because they’re so exciting and well-written. I definitely need to re-read all of these before Lady Midnight in 2016!
5. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell


This book is one of my all-time favourites. I just adore everything about it. It’s so feel-good and light, I read it really quickly last summer so I definitely need to read it again soon. It’s just a perfect book and I just want to hug everything about it! *happy excited dance*

What are the best books you read before you blogged? Let me know below!

Malec

Top Five Friday #12: Favourite Ships

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Top Five Friday is a meme hosted at Katieemay which lists our top 5 choices based on a bookish theme
*****
Okay, yes, this topic definitely had to be done (with potential spoilers below). I’m a massive fangirl at heart, and a big shipper, so it would be impossible to do a list meme without including ships. Warning: massive rambles and extreme fangirling...

1. Wessa (Will and Tessa) from The Infernal Devices

They’re just so dreamy together! Although their love story gets a bit twisted, and doesn’t go to plan for most of the series, they have a happy ending and I’m so grateful for that. They deserve to be happy together, and the way they talk about books to each other makes me so happy!





2. Warnette (Juliette and Warner) from the Shatter Me Trilogy

The reason I like Warner and Juliette together so much is because of the way they fix each other. I like both of their personalities much more when they’re together because they spark off each other and are much nicer people who are much more enjoyable to read about. And the Warnette scenes in Ignite Me...*swoons*




3. Nathan and Gabriel from the Half Bad Trilogy

This is quite an unknown series, and it’s not completed yet, so the ship isn’t canon *cries* (yet!), and we don’t have a ship name. If they aren’t together in the last book in the series (Half Lost, set to come out in March 2016) I will cry for eternity. They must be together, they must...





4. Mara and Noah from the Mara Dyer Trilogy

Anyone who has ever known me will know that this is my favourite series ever. Mara and Noah are one of my favourite ships because of the way they are when they’re together. I like them both as individuals, but when they’re together they spark off each other so well, and are just so cute together... *squeals!*





5. Malec (Magnus and Alec) from The Mortal Instruments

Malec will always be my true OTP - I have shipped them for so long, and the amount of official fanfiction (read The Bane Chronicles - it’s just the best thing ever) we have is unbelievable. They fit together so well, and the way they make each other realise that they are loved is the cutest.





Who are your favourite ships? I'd love to know below!

Asking for It

Top Five Friday #11: Yet to be Released Books I'm Most Excited For

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Top Five Friday is a meme hosted at Katieemay which lists our top 5 choices based on a bookish theme of my choice.

*****

There always seem to be so many books that aren’t released yet that I’m super excited for, so this topic just makes me even more excited for these books! My most anticipated are always in my calendar, so I’ll have to flick through that and see which ones I’m super hyped for!

1. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Expected Publication Date: October 6th 2015
I think I’m with most people reading this post: Fangirl was amazing! Obviously I’m super excited for the spin-off book. I also love Rainbow Rowell’s writing, so I practically know that I’m going to adore this book when it comes out!

Goodreads Synopsis:
Simon Snow just wants to relax and savor his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, but no one will let him. His girlfriend broke up with him, his best friend is a pest, and his mentor keeps trying to hide him away in the mountains where maybe he’ll be safe. Simon can’t even enjoy the fact that his roommate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can’t stop worrying about the evil git. Plus there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. When you’re the most powerful magician the world has ever known, you never get to relax and savor anything.

2. Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

Expected Publication Date: March 8th 2016
I am a massive fan of all Cassandra Clare’s books, so when I heard that she’d be releasing another Shadowhunter series, I could not contain my excitement! This is going to be pre-ordered as soon as I can - this is going to be another amazing series by her. Why did it have to be moved to 2016?!

Goodreads Synopsis:
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.

3. Dangerous Lies by Becca Fitzpatrick

Expected Publication Date: November 10th 2015
All of Becca Fitzpatrick’s books are such guilty pleasures for me... I know I really shouldn’t like them, but I end up loving all of them. I definitely will be buying this book as soon as possible, because although the plots always seem a bit on the iffy-anti-feminist side, I always end up really enjoying Fitzpatrick’s work.

Goodreads Synopsis:
Stella Gordon is not her real name. Thunder Basin, Nebraska, is not her real home. This is not her real life.

After witnessing a lethal crime, Stella Gordon is sent to the middle of nowhere for her own safety before she testifies against the man she saw kill her mother’s drug dealer.

But Stella was about to start her senior year with the boyfriend she loves. How can she be pulled away from the only life she knows and expected to start a new one in Nebraska? Stella chafes at her protection and is rude to everyone she meets. She’s not planning on staying long, so why be friendly? Then she meets Chet Falconer and it becomes harder to keep her guard up, even as her guilt about having to lie to him grows.

As Stella starts to feel safer, the real threat to her life increases—because her enemies are actually closer than she thinks…

4. Asking for It by Louise O'Neill

Expected Publication Date: September 3rd 2015
I really loved Louise O'Neill’s other book Only Ever Yours, so I’m anticipating loving this one just as much. Again, it’s on a really hard-hitting and important topic, so obviously I’m going to read it. A feminist book by one of my new favourite authors? Yes please!

Goodreads Synopsis:
It's the beginning of the summer in a small town in Ireland. Emma O'Donovan is eighteen years old, beautiful, happy, confident. One night, there's a party. Everyone is there. All eyes are on Emma. The next morning, she wakes on the front porch of her house. She can't remember what happened, she doesn't know how she got there. She doesn't know why she's in pain. But everyone else does. Photographs taken at the party show, in explicit detail, what happened to Emma that night. But sometimes people don't want to believe what is right in front of them, especially when the truth concerns the town's heroes...

5. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

Expected Publication Date: September 1st 2015
It wouldn’t be a real most-anticipated list without Queen of Shadows. Ever since I finished Heir of Fire at the start of March, I’ve been dying to get my hands on this book. I adore Sarah J. Maas’s writing style, and I’m in love with the Throne of Glass series, so I just know that I’m going to love this book.

Goodreads Synopsis:
Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she's at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past . . .

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return.

Celaena’s epic journey has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions across the globe. This fourth volume will hold readers rapt as Celaena’s story builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.

What are the books that are yet to be released that you are most excited for? Let me know below!

Bookish Things I'm Dying to Own

Top Five Friday #10: Bookish Things (Not Books) That I'm Dying to Own

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Top Five Friday is a meme hosted at Katieemay which lists our top 5 choices based on a bookish theme

*****

This is going to be such a fun topic! There are so many bookish things that I’m dying to own. Scrolling down Tumblr makes me feel so jealous because everyone has such wonderful bookish things, so here goes!

1. Parabatai Rune Tattoo

My best friend and I are extremely close (and we are both obsessed with the Shadowhunter Chronicles), so why didn’t we become parabatai? Someday, we will get matching parabatai rune tattoos. It will be awesome and way cooler than a friendship loom band.







2. Floating Shelves

These look so cool! It’s so space efficient, and seriously - who wouldn’t want to take shelfies ‘lifting’ the shelves? Sadly, my house is Victorian, so the walls are really weak. The weight would just crumble them and the shelves would fall off (and my books might get damaged!), so it’s just a bad idea.


3. A MyBookmark Handmade Bookmark

I love these bookmarks - they’re super cute! My favourite ones are the animal paws because I’m a big animal lover, and seeing these poke out a book would be the icing on the cake. Though I definitely wouldn’t take this to school: I wouldn’t want anyone snapping them off!





4. 'I Like Big Books and I Cannot Lie' Tote

I would love to take this to school! I feel like I would be the only one laughing at my own humour, but at least I would go to school smiling for one *happy dance!*. Also, I am practically in love with tote bags - they’re so handy because they fold up so small, yet you can fit lots of things in.






5. Shatter Me T-shirt
The Shatter Me Series (Shatter Me, Unravel Me, Ignite Me) is one of my favourites, so owning this t-shirt would be so amazing. The quote practically describes my life right now, so wearing it would not only define myself to mundanes as a book lover, I would be able to be in the Shatter Me fandom too.




Which bookish things are you dying to own? Let me know below!

5 to 1

Top Five Friday #9: Books I'm Dying to Read

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Top Five Friday is a meme hosted at Katieemay which lists my top 5 choices based on a bookish theme of my choice

*****

So when I saw this topic come up, I was so excited! I always have loads of books that I’m dying to read, so these are some of my favourites at the moment.

1. 5 to 1 by Holly Bodger

I first found out about this book when I was browsing Netgalley - the cover is so beautiful, and really struck my attention. When I went to see what it was about, it really caught my attention, and I have been wanting to read it ever since (and it’s a feminist book which I always love to see!).

Synopsis:
In the year 2054, after decades of gender selection, India now has a ratio of five boys for every girl, making women an incredibly valuable commodity. Tired of marrying off their daughters to the highest bidder and determined to finally make marriage fair, the women who form the country of Koyanagar have instituted a series of tests so that every boy has the chance to win a wife.

Sudasa, though, doesn't want to be a wife, and Kiran, a boy forced to compete in the test to become her husband, has other plans as well. As the tests advance, Sudasa and Kiran thwart each other at every turn until they slowly realize that they just might want the same thing.

2. Landline by Rainbow Rowell

I can’t believe I haven’t read this already! I’ve been hunting for it for what seems like years because it’s by one of my favourite authors, and the cover is just so pretty, especially the grey and pink spine.

Synopsis:
Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble; it has been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now. Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn't expect him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts...

Is that what she’s supposed to do?
Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

3. Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

I originally found out about this book through booktube, and ever since I’ve been dying to read it. The idea sounds really original - it’s about a girl trying to be published, which really appeals to me. Although I have heard a few bad reviews, I’m really optimistic about it.

Synopsis:
Darcy Patel has put college and everything else on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. Arriving in New York with no apartment or friends she wonders whether she's made the right decision until she falls in with a crowd of other seasoned and fledgling writers who take her under their wings…

Told in alternating chapters is Darcy's novel, a suspenseful thriller about Lizzie, a teen who slips into the 'Afterworld' to survive a terrorist attack. But the Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead and as Lizzie drifts between our world and that of the Afterworld, she discovers that many unsolved - and terrifying - stories need to be reconciled. And when a new threat resurfaces, Lizzie learns her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she loves and cares about most.

4. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

I have wanted this book for so long! It sounds so good, and exactly like the thing I love. I have been hunting for it forever, yet it never seems to be on sale in bookshops *sad face*. Hopefully I will get round to reading it some time soon!

Synopsis:
Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

5. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

So many people have loved this book! There have been so many good things circulating, and I know I just need to read this. It seems right up my street, as it is exactly the sort of book I absolutely love.

Synopsis:
Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.
It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.
But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.
There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

Which books are you dying to read? Let me know below!