December book haul!

Big news here: this is actually going to be my LAST book haul. They take up too much time, and it encourages me to buy more books than I otherwise would, so that I can show them all off to you guys. Instead, I'm going to put pictures of my purchases over on my Instagram, so if you still want to see what books I buy each month, you're just going to have to follow me there!

That being said, I've got quite a lot of books to show you in this haul, so I'm going out on a high note!

eBooks:

I wouldn't have bought a book like 'Three Men and a Maybe', but it was a free eBook to celebrate the New Year, and it sounded kind of cute! The other three books were all 99p on the Kindle daily deal, and I've been excited about reading all of them: hopefully I'll get around to them soon.

Library book sale:

It's quiet in the libraries over Christmas, so it's the perfect time for us to get some long overdue stock work done. These books are all either part of series I've been collecting or books that I've been thinking of borrowing for a while, so I was lucky to be able to snap them up. 

Charity shopping: 

First of all: how hard are gold books to photograph?! The book sat one from the top is actually 'The Moth', but it was impossible to make the title visible. I'm particularly proud of the fact that I managed to find an unused 'Wreck This Journal' in a charity shop: it's not going to be unused for long!

I actually bought all of these books at the end of November, but because I was away for a weekend of concerts they've had to go in this month's haul. These are all ARCs, and I'm so excited to have found some of them: particularly 'And I Darken' and 'What's A Girl Gotta Do?', both books I've been dying to get my hands on. 

Christmas presents:

These three books came from my wonderful Secret Santas: 'Illuminae' from #SundayYASS participant Sim, and the other three through The Broke The Bookish's annual Secret Santa, sent to me by the wonderful Megan. 

My wonderful boyfriend got me 'The Unbelievable Gwenpool', which I've been looking at getting for MONTHS, while my mummy bought me all of the rest of the books. She really needs to stop encouraging my book buying habits! Looking forward to tucking in to the third volume of 'Lumberjanes' ASAP. 

Owlcrate:

It was impossible to take an attractive photo of the contents of Owlcrate this month: using natural light for photos has its downsides! I was very excited to receive 'Of Fire and Stars', but I've heard a lot of negative reviews about it since, which is a little disheartening after all of the hype leading up to its release.

Review copies:

The most exciting books that I acquired in December are these two review copies. I'm involved in the blog tours for 'The Dry' (January 12th) and 'Relativity' (January 17th) and I can't wait to share my feelings on both of these books with you. 

A huge thank you to Clara and Grace at Little, Brown, for allowing me to participate in these tours! 

And that's it! For my last book haul ever, I gained an extra 57 books: hopefully by refusing to haul in future I'll also refuse to buy! 

November book haul

I know I'm having a bad month when my book buying goes completely out of control. Unfortunately, November has been one of those months. All of the stress from Blogtober and NaNoWriMo have combined, and it's resulted in what I think might be my biggest book haul of the year.
Buckle up, this might take a while:

eBooks:

I actually bought 'The Bone Dragon' and 'Lies We Tell Ourselves' at the very end of October, but I'd already posted my haul, so thought I'd showcase them here instead! I hadn't heard much about Robin Talley's release before, but I've been seeing some very problematic comments about it on Twitter, which has made me a lot less excited to read it.

MCM haul:

I had no self-control at MCM this year, so I bought all of these beautiful graphic novels and books. The Throne of Glass novels and the two Marie Rutkoski books were all in an offer - buy 3 for £5 - so they were the cheapest I was ever going to be able to get them. 

I actually bought the third volume of 'Gotham Academy' the week after MCM, but was easier to showcase it here. My precious! 

Library book sale:

Lots more library books that I've bought to keep forever. I worked in a couple of libraries I'd never worked in before this month, so I had to scavenge through their book sale books. Particularly happy to get hold of a copy of 'Born Wicked' - I loved it so much and want to reread the first two novels before I dive into the third book in the series.

Charity shopping:

My best friend started volunteering in a charity shop, and she gave me insider info: they had a sale on, and all books were 3 for £1. I grabbed a load in there, but also explored the rest of the charity shops around Swindon, where I found three SIGNED proofs! Tell me that's not a lucky day of shopping!

bookbridgr:

Just one book from bookbridgr this month - the conclusion to J.P. Smythe's Australia trilogy. I really enjoyed 'Way Down Dark', but was waiting for this third installment to be released before I read the second book in the series: now I'm looking forward to finishing this series off.

Competition:

I managed to win My Kinda Book's Worlds Collide swag competition, and in that package came two - not one, but TWO! - signed Rainbow Rowell books! Thank you MKB, you rock <3

Owlcrate:

When Owlcrate announced that the box theme in November was going to be Alice In Wonderland, I knew which book was going to be included. What could it be, other than Marissa Meyer's highly anticipated 'Heartless'? 

Illumicrate:

This month, my Illumicrate had two books - a special thank you from Daphne for being one of the first Illumicrate subscribers, way back when the first box was released. I'm looking forward to many, many more of these boxes in the future.

Of course, Illumicrate was still stuffed with all of the usual goodies as well, including beautiful Jennifer Niven double-sided postcards advertising both of her novels! I only wish I had a second pack so that I could stick them all up. 

I'm disappointed in myself because I acquired 52 books this month - the most I've bought at any time this year, if I'm right - but I'm also proud at what I acquired: most of these are super awesome, and you can't deny that. 

#BLOGTOBER DAY 28: October book haul

This book haul's a little bit early this month, because today I'm off to London for MCM Comic Con! I've prepped all of the posts for the weekend in advance, but I'm so excited to show you guys all the awesome books I bought this month that I thought I'd post this one first.

eBooks:

I bought six books for my Kindle this month: four novellas, and the last two installments to the 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone' series by Laini Taylor.

Library book sale:

Most of these are installments to series that I was missing. I'm very happy that I now own the entirety of the Defiance trilogy, and I'm looking forward to getting around to these.

Charity shopping:

I haven't been charity shopping in a while, so on my last trip I lost all self-control. I'm so happy that I finally own a copy of 'You Against Me' by Jenny Downham - particularly one with such a gorgeous cover - and I'm also amazed I found a nearly brand new copy of 'It' so close to the film being released.
All of these books were £1 each (apart from 'Animal Farm', which was half price!)

These four weren't actually from charity shops, but were instead finds on eBay. After reading 'Speak' I knew I wanted to binge read some more Laurie Halse Anderson books, and we didn't have any more in the library. The copies of 'Catalyst' and 'Prom' are both basically brand new.

Brand new books:

When I went to Bath to meet Sarah J. Maas, I had to buy some books. I found 'The Last Leaves Falling' in the Waterstones that I visited beforehand, and I got 'The Almost King' signed by Lucy at the event. I'm going to showcase all of my signed books eventually, so you can't see inside just yet!

I also bought three books from The Works in my town. It was 3 for £5, so I made the most of it! 

Competition win:

The YA Fictionados hosted a competition to win a copy of 'Under Rose-Tainted Skies' and I'm so happy I won! I can't wait to read this one - I've been looking forward to getting hold of a copy since it released.

Owlcrate:

I hadn't heard of 'Vassa in the Night' until Cait at Paper Fury reviewed it... On the morning this box arrived! What a strange coincidence. 

After being so good for the last few months, I'm kind of disappointed in myself for buying 34 books... But they're all going to be awesome, so it was worth it! Now, to find somewhere to put them in my house. Hmm...

#BLOGTOBER DAY 1: September book haul

You didn't think I'd just post my launch post for day one, did you?
(I was tempted to, but it kind of felt like cheating!)
For the first time in a very long time, I'm actually posting this book haul at the very start of the month rather than panicking and posting it halfway through, so get ready to shame me for the ridiculous amount of book buying I've done...

eBooks:

I just got the one eBook this month, and that's because 'Kingdom of Ashes' was completely free on Kindle!

Library book sale:

A bit of a random library haul this month, but you know me - when can I resist books that cheap?! Most of these books are parts of series I'd already been collecting, so I was grateful but surprised to find some of them in the sale.

Charity shopping:

These books cost me £1 altogether, because the local charity shop was having a half price sale. I LOVED 'The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer' when I first read it, so I can't wait to reread it (and eventually read the next two installments) and I think this American edition of 'A Thousand Pieces of You' was too gorgeous to pass up.

Brand new books:

I had to buy 'Crow Moon'. Like, I literally didn't have a choice, because I was approved to read the sequel on NetGalley at this start of this year before I realised I hadn't read the first installment. Oh, and also because the cover is a little bit damaged, I managed to get it half price (made even cheaper thanks to my Waterstones gift card). £1.50 for a book? Don't mind if I do!

I also purchased 'Unboxed' using my Illumicrate 20% off + free P+P voucher, so that was nice and cheap too.

Owlcrate: 

I was so happy with the items in this box. Everyone had been raving about 'Three Dark Crowns' because it was release date the day that my parcel arrived, and I was so tempted to dive in and start reading it straight away (but my TBR is far too long to be that reckless!)

bookbridgr:

Saving the best 'til last, I received an early copy of 'Kids of Appetite' by David Arnold! I will admit that I haven't read his first book yet, and I haven't had time to pick this one up either (sorry Headline, I'll do better, I promise!) but I'm so excited to read this one - especially because it just hit the New York Times bestseller list.

That means all together in September I acquired 19 books. Not as bad as previous hauls, but still more than I can logically fit into my house... I think I'm going to need to start unhauling soon.
Have you read any of these books? If so, which ones do you recommend?

August book haul

Because I've been so busy finishing my Reading festival review, I almost completely forgot to post my book haul! Luckily I didn't buy too many books in August, so it's just going to be a short post today.

eBooks:

This month I bought two eBooks: Holly Bourne's 'What's A Girl Gotta Do?' and Colleen Hoover's 'November 9'. I LOVED the first book in the Spinster Club series, so I had to buy the third one the day it was released, and I've heard amazing things about Colleen's writing. Hopefully I've picked a good book to start with!

Library book sale:

In the library book sale this month, I bought two classics, two fairy tale retellings and two novels by Susan Hill: it's been a very varied month! I'm extremely excited to have finally gotten myself a copy of 'Sweetly'. 

Owlcrate:

This might have been my favourite Owlcrate so far. I've been highly anticipating 'P.S. I Like You', which sounds like a really adorable and fun contemporary, but to get that in the same box as an adult colouring book AND an 'Eleanor and Park' necklace?! Just too cute.

Illumicrate:

I'm going to have to post a few pictures of what came in the Illumicrate box this month, because there was just so much of it!

A cute postcard of 'Unboxed' by Non Pratt, a chapter sampler from the sequel to 'An Ember in the Ashes', some Harry Potter swag and a teabag!

Two Leigh Bardugo colouring art cards!

RED RISING POSTERS.

I REPEAT, RED RISING POSTERS!!!

And two books. TWO! If you're looking for value for your money, I'd highly recommend getting yourself an Illumicrate subscription: I don't know how Daphne does it, because she curates the best boxes around and they're such a good price.

I hadn't heard of 'Nevernight' until it came in the box, but I was already excited for 'The Graces' (which was released in the Illumicrate box a month before street date!). 

Count with me... I only bought 13 books in August! I know I was really busy with concerts for the last two weeks, so I didn't have much opportunity to book shop, but I'm quite proud of myself. 

But will I buy more or less books in September? Find out in a couple of weeks.