Where Are The Books? Book Haul: Small 'Un.

Considering how long its been, how many books would you think I'd have got?
You know, 2 months, major book lover... What's your guess? Feel free to comment/tweet me your guess & how it compares ;)

This meme is run by Tynga's Reviews.

*Feeding My Kindle* For A Long Time *Friday* [3 stages book haul]

My kindle is the second one- Kindle Fire FTW (no offence obviously,
 it's about the books not the e-reader!)

These books have taken me about half a year to accumulate, oops. That's the first stage to this book haul (or any, books are something to accumulate. Also, readers like to be fed them -have I pointed that out? It's the kindle's fault that I've so many there, not mine!)
I haven’t done a book haul which has included ebooks in it for quite a while it seems. Well, I’ve been building my kindle collection although there was absolutely no reason to do so. Oops. I am not including ones which I’ve already reviewed as, you need to see them again why?
To be quite truthful, it’s a miracle you’re seeing this AT ALL. I’m not the best at adding kindle books to Goodreads & I believe I’m not eligible for the intergration (as it’s SO exclusive at the moment, normal kindle users in the UK thank you, Amazon!)
I know this is probably less than 50 books (oh, you know, not a lot... I'm just guessing so if it is... *winks*) but... I tend to not read many ebooks, unless they're review copies, in a series I want to keep reading on kindle or short stories. Problem, right there. So, how many of these have I read but NOT reviewed?

Apparently one... it was a short story.
But the second stage to this book haul is to list all the books (so I won't review yet, for your inquiring minds (which will probably then go & hunt down a few). Recent ones are at the top, if that helps.

Book haul (#8)

This is the indie edition as I think most of what I've downloaded recently has been indie... Having said that I've never actual participated in...

This meme is run by Tynga's Reviews.
This week I have stacked my shelves (quite literally).

Oh look! What's that? I'm getting a haul..
Mum took this as I was opening some- I was just looking at Curious Fox's goodies :)

But before I get into the parcels, these are from book swaps/gifts given at OUP by the bloggers there! Thanks Julianne for The Butterfly Tattoo, Kerrie for The Ghost & the Goth, Orli for Ketchup Clouds & Fiona for the Numbers Trilogy. I haven't read the top three so am looking forward to those :) ((I've linked to their blogs, not Twitters :P))

We also got books from OUP themselves at the event- you can see the beauties above! I got Who Framed Klaris Cliff signed, as well as my proof copy of Storm & Stone. I loved the event for many reasons (the books helped- especially for ice-breaking).

I got these books from a library sale at school. I'm not a huge fan (mainly of the noise levels in there) but these cost me 20p altogether and it was a chance I couldn't miss so I don't regret buying them! I bought more books but we'll get to that...

(Sorry it's a weird photo BTW- its just I don't want to show the library stickers & bits.)

Well, there's this new Sarra Manning which I won- thanks to Goodreads' First Reads Giveaway Program. Atom provided the book for the giveaway so thanks for that... It was a fantastic opportunity to receive it :)

Returning to the opening of the review books... TA-DA! Look, it;s the CF catalogue as well. I'm really looking forward to reading their May release Alex As Well. I also have shown you the sampler for The Ruby Airship (second book, Diamond Thief review here) as I'm looking forward to that in April, I believe :) They always have good books & send me such treasures...

Also can't wait to dig into Rachel Riley's The Time Of My Life which I received from OUP actually for review & as I'm part of (a bit of a spoiler) the blog tour soon! :P

But, now...

Last, but not least, the books I bought from The Works. Not quite for 10p each XD But still, quite good bargains! More good reads, YAY! (no pun intended). I hope you liked this haul... What do you think? It has been a month but it's still quite good. I'm not complaining...

Teaser Tuesday ~ Twist added (lots of books :P)

Why is there a twist? Good question.

No, it's not cats. Though you see them here some Thursdays (like the last one). I just like cats...
(Disclaimer: not my cat, google images said this base cat image was labelled for reuse with modifications).

Oh. Wait :P (she said like it was a total accident, obviously not me just being tricky)... Have I explained Teaser Tuesday game's aim (for those of you who don't know)?

...Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! It can let people know what you're reading, generally...

You get a book, open to a random page and you must share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page, while being CAREFUL not to include spoilers (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Hopefully I won't spoil these books for myself while I do this experiment... :P I'm doing it for the book I'm reading at the time of writing which also ties into the twist...

A BOOK HAUL!

With thanks to Hawwa for being a host for this:

'Doorstep Delights'is hosted by Hawwa  @ itwaslovelyreadingyou. 
Thanks also girl for only eating your own books. Much appreciated :P

I decided although this is like a month haul & only 4 books (only fiction) it was cool to do now... I always get ebooks & rarely show ebook hauls as do you know you can have lots & it doesn't involve hauling any more than this kindle which is light & all, but can still carry lots of books.

author: Lucy Carver

Ugh. Rant over. Giving teasers is different for ebooks too...

The one I'm actually reading is Young, Gifted & Dead which is a book with a lot of mystery, as she has a photographic memory it's a bit repetitive so I'm not actually spoiling anything by giving you:
'What you told me earlier about the  pathologist's follow-up report is what's keeping me awake'.
'And anyway he didn't want to know. "Why should he?" Lily asked.'
Both are parts of dialogue on page 92, which is incidentally close to page 99 (love those) & give reference to other things which still have some mystery to me- slightly less pages in- but will be even more mysterious to you.
I got this book for Christmas from the lovely brother (though I got it & he paid for it XD) What do you think of Lucy Carver's YG&D passage? :P

The first to arrive is actually a sampler but as it's released this month & I'm hoping to get the real book soon (maybe by time this posts I will?) I thought I'd mention...

Curious Fox's (thanks!)
author: J.A. Buckle
Jackie the tweep

This may have involved a teensy tiny bit of trying to get kind of late on in the sampler so it's more accurate picture of a 200ish-page book. Page 43:
1) "If I don't get a girlfriend soon (number one on the list) I may have to resort to drastic measures like surgery (me) or hypnosis (them)."
2) "He needs my graphical skills on Photoshop so he can get a flattering picture for Facebook."
Hmm... That's all I'll say :P With a little giggle there too, possibly.
As you can guess, it mentions ferrets & Facebook. It wouldn't be called 'Half My Facebook Friends Are Ferrets' for nothing, you know.
These quotes are from the sampler, please take this into consideration.

author: Rosie Rowell
Thanks Hot Key Books... you were
my first piece of post in '14!

Next up, although I have the proof (which I won this month) I made sure I could be using quotes from the real 'Leopold Blue' book as it's now published. Basically, yes, I like this as it's sounds awesome but also educational. In fact, Humanities & English have both covered Apartheid & that, plus racism, is something I feel strongly about. The fact this is a modern book set in a historical setting adds something to it, makes it refreshing (I assume) & different to other texts dealing with these issues. I can't wait to read it... Proof wise, I managed to open up at page 48 buuutt here's the official sentences;
'Its racing heartbeat pulsed into my carefully closed hand and up my arm'. From Leopold Blue (Kindle Locations 702-703).
' ‘What's the matter with you?’ asked Elmarie halfway through Afrikaans. ' (Kindle Location 712).

I received Teardrop from Chrissie, once my co-blogger over at the blog @OnceUponASeries, she can still be found there sometimes, when she's reading her Adult etc. I enjoyed, when there was YA featured there, having some input but now I'm sitting here, lonely, but not...

author: Lauren Kate.
Thanks all :)

I'm with books & Teardrop is from her so we can both review it <3 RHCP gets original credit for sending this our way! Thanks for that Chrissie! *mwah*
Page 23 has been picked~ it's also in the kindle sample (huh, coincidence, or not). I wasn't taking risks, I had a feeling spoilers could be... found. Later.
'She thought of it often when she was in a situation she needed to get out of.' (Teardrop Trilogy Book 1) (Kindle Location 304). 
“... 'She said the rest of the family engages in ‘eggshell walking’ around you, that you’re ‘reclusive and impatient’ with your half siblings.” ' (Teardrop Trilogy Book 1) (Kindle Locations 309-310).

Maybe you like these quotations too?

That's the end of teasing you with books I've received recently. Which ones are your favourites & would you be interested in, perhaps, some Page 99 Tests? :P Take your vote now of which one I should read & which I should do a page 99 test on, if you so like. Just leave a comment below & then... happy reading all! If you've read any of them, I could look at your reviews (hopefully) also.

~Amy Bookworm

Doorstep Delights Book Haul (also STS)

I may have mentioned some of these but hauls take a while to build (at least for me... XD)

Anyway, I'm doing 'Doorstep Delights' today. This feature is hosted by Hawwa (or Hawaii if you prefer, jokes- 
I'm not on my kindle atm) @ itwaslovelyreadingyou. Please don't eat my books Hawwa...
Besides Hawwa, there's STS (Tynga's Reviews): Saturday book haul meme. Enjoy this random haul please!

For once I haven't hauled any library books, I don't want Hawwa to eat library books because it'd be hard explaining that to the library. No, a dog didn't eat the books- it was a human. She's a book blogger. I no longer volunteer in the library (holidays have to end) but I do other volunteering/youth work instead now
it's schooltime, sadly no books are involved...
Here are books which I acquired ;) It was over like, 3 months... DON'T JUDGE (that includes laughing at me...)

 
The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co. #1) by Jonathan Stroud - For Review @ Once Upon A Series*
Harry Potter books (does it count as hauling if you just nick them from your brothers shelf?) 

*Once Upon A Series is not cited for receipt of TSS (L&C #1); I'm one of the team behind that blog & Chrissie was  the middle (wo)man who passed it on from Random House. Thanks RH & my lovely co-blogger there! :D

Other books for review:

Physical

Cruel Summer (Thanks FierceFiction team @ Orion/Indigo Publishers)
Diamond Thief (thanks Curious Fox, see below)

Red Rock (ditto CF, I also wrote when I'd read the sampler, at the time I was reading Diamond Thief for SRS, Charlie's Letters- they are about Red Rock & I decided recently to write some more from Charlie's letters & leave it hanging until I've read more of Red Rock- you can see the page which is going to be part of the next installment poking out of Red Rock!)

The Soterion Mission (ditto thanks)
Shown: Diamond Thief & Amber (last Curious Fox book, I didn't expect this one but hopefully once TSM is read & Red  Rock  reviewed as well then I'll be able to get to this one too- sampler in other image)
SHE IS NOT INVISIBLE (also courtesy of Orion's Indigo imprint).

Ebooks (thanks to the authors)

 

Bought-

A series you may recognize. Book pushed
by... well, you know Rita!

Where I Belong by Gillian Cross is one of my first blogger friends favourite books & when I see that and a 5* rating, I get intrigued. At first I was just going to get it from the library but when I saw it for only £2, no lie, I was like... Why not? So it doesn't matter whether Char likes it or not, or why really... It was like so cheap, for physical books anyway. I'd had enough coffee too so I could afford to spend what may buy two coffees, and occasionally three XD
Shimmer - Series
Geek Girl - You don't need to ask. Just ask me what I think when I've read it & fingers crossed...
Halifax I just bought as it was discounted... By a lot. I think it was 49p (which is less than a Wispa)? It still might still be!

What do you think of these books? Read & reviewed any? Link reviews of these books if you so please, then we can convince other readers to get them... Maybe I'd even get to buddy read (hopefully am for Soterion Mission soon anyway!) some of them... YAY!

Soon going to read Harry_Potter_and_the_Prisoner_of_Azkaban

Some book festival (and signed books!)

Fly, hosted at the UEA (for the whole of East Anglia, so umm... Midlanders, you missed out!), wasn't just some book festival so my posts title mislead you. It was a fabulous event where authors mingled, acting as if they were real people... OK, I actually think they might be (shh, don't tell) as they were friendly & probably just as excited and nervous as me! They were lovely and do you know how amazing it was? I'm almost speechless now but I wasn't then... Huh, that's weird. I'm sitting in front of the computer and do you think the excitement has gone? No. There aren't words so I'll just tell you the facts:
I've only ever met one author before & I was too little to really remember it. I was dragged along with my brother... It might be a once in a lifetime opportunity, they said! FLY didn't exist then but tiny local libraries did. Now, this is a whole different kettle of fish, where have the libraries gone?

Well, I felt like I was walking into a library just waiting in the foyer before heading to the lecture theatre where I sent this tweet before promptly turning off my phone & opening 'Flip' to follow along as Martyn Bedford's event was up first!

He was welcomed and I rolled my eyes at the bits about awards and smiled when we were told about Flip knowing that yes, some people that had come didn't know much about it & may never look an author in the eyes again. Do I want to be, or am I, one of those? Well... what happened next answers that but I don't want to move on yet.

I don't know what I expected but I think it went better than I'd hoped. I had my Flip edition out as he read an extract from the first chapter... It was similar to what he read but I know he missed bits, or maybe they weren't in his books... I didn't ask as that's just a tiny bit awkward! Flip is the YA debut of Bedford but there's another set to be released soon! Anyway, as I said I've only met one author before. So guess how many books I actually have signed?
Well, from that meeting none (they are my brother's books). But I have two signed books, What's Up With Jody Barton? Is it personalized? No, how could it?
So Flip, I was first in the queue for the signings believe it or not, was my first but not my last that day (I do have one personalized signed book previous to this but I also got it very recently so I feel a bit like a fail):

It says my name. I couldn't get over the fact that:
a) I'd walked up & we'd had a nice conversation while waiting for others to queue- most had to buy books, I had one ready- and it was a total afterthought to say that my name was Amy. When I realized he had his pen poised I was like, "Amy." We had a discussion about how people might even spell 'Amy' wrong (or differently, if you prefer) & it's the same with his name.
b) His next door neighbour comes from round here & guess who knew my school? Umm, yeah... My school is bloody famous (yikes!), even though it's definitely not the best!

An awesome signed book! Thanks C <3
It's so awesome I only realized now it was the previous
day's date... I couldn't care less, frankly.

But was I totally starstruck yet? Or even as bubbly as I'd get? No... I'll admit I was like, "I hope talking to Chelsey isn't as awkward... O.o". OK, I'm not great with the signing-queue type conversation but the quiet one to ask an author questions & just discuss random things? I felt comfortable there even though it wasn't exactly a 1-1. That's my Mother for you... She treated it a bit like a parent's evening, even saying "Amy does this" as if I wasn't there. So, no... Chelsey Flood (yes, you get the proper introduction now) didn't put me out of my comfort zone- my pesky mother did! Even telling me to say the magic words when I got my book signed. Is she even for real? So... what did me & Chelsey talk about?...
I think I'll write a separate post on this because teasing you lot is an opportunity too good to miss, HA HA. For now I'll just say this, she is even awesomer than she appeared on Twitter. Meeting authors in real life? WIN.

You can see from this post the things that might happen when you meet authors, either in a signing queue in an auditorium with over a hundred people, or privately when get to grill them (please don't literally, how will they write books?) I got a bookmark too but that's nothing groundbreaking... Unlike the posters in the loos specifically put up for this festival:

Great choices of quotes Team, the fact I found an excuse to go in three seperate loo cubicles tells you something... 3 things: Toilet doors, weirdest thing you've seen yet?
Tell me they're NOT awesome. Well, I'd rather you say little posters designed for toilet doors aren't than any of the rest! Do you like it? Wish you'd been there (I do, but do you, imagine what would've happened if I'd met you or if this was the UK BEA, it looked a bit like it with all those books *sigh* if only they were free)? Are you interested in seeing what Chelsey said in our epic talk (another teaser: we discussed having cold feet, now that's not something you hear every day... but see why I was comfortable! I was just being a crazy fan, or all-round crazy person/blogger/reader/oddball)?
So, yeah... I could talk all day about this but let's just say this: I'LL GO AGAIN! So, maybe next year now you know about it? Yabbering on all day wouldn't be a fab blog post but umm... maybe you'll think this was OK! YAY OR NAY (that seems to work)? :D

Stacking The Shelves: The Indie Edition

This is the indie edition as I think most of what I've downloaded recently has been indie... Having said that I've never actual participated in...

This week I have stacked my shelves (not very physically).

I know the little Pushing the Limits novella isn't indie...

You were all talking about the series so I'll
sample the book & devour the novella soon....
(definitely wasn't preparation for the indie month, eh?)

Neither:

Even so, this haul is mainly about the books that were... Some you've seen (though the middle is for a blog tour):

Also a Runners paperback (photo to follow of the only book that wasn't an ecopy :P).

I downloaded this one first instead...
Don't ask.

Some you haven't (yet) seen but you will now...


What are you hauling (of interest)? I say interest because the

only library books were for an assignment. You don't wanna see :P

This is part of the...

I'm only saying as it may not seem like it. More on some of these books to follow in June (and some in July)!
Feel free to subscribe.