Independent Bookshop Week!

Independent Bookseller Week is upon us! (28th June-5th July) So this week is dedicated to celebrating independent bookshops. There are some lovely places across the UK and it is so important to support them. Don't get me wrong I love going into Waterstones but I want to make a concious effort to support my local bookshop- Hunts- and any others I see on my travels more than I have done.

There are many events happening over the UK over this week and I will leave the website at the end for you to check out all the things, but I am going to talk about the one I am planning to take part in. To end the week with a bang on 5th July the Bookshop Crawl will be taking place over the course of the day. Basically you visit as many participating bookshops as possible on that day, collect stickers and post pictures online using #bookshopcrawl to spread the word.

If you want you can blog or vlog or both (like me) to shout it out from the rooftops so to speak ;) By posting about your day you could also win an awesome prize. Based on the amount of stickers and the quality of your blogs/vlogs you could win the complete Adult and Children's IBW Book Award shortlist,  National BookTokens worth £50, and a banner for blogs or social media designed for the lucky winner.

So fun stuff all round! If you are taking part in this adventure do let me know, and look out for a follow up on what I got up to on the day :)

Speak soon,
Jade x
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P.S here is the website xx

Haul.

I know I said there wouldn't be another but I got sad. When I get sad I buy books. So yeah...

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira. I spoke about this in my may wrap-up. So go and look at that to know more it is a really good meaty book.

This is What Happy Looks Like & The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith. Both of these are light, fluffy, summery reads. I've already read This is What Happy Looks Like and it was adorable!

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. This set in an office where a boy falls for a girl through reading her emails to her friend. Sounds a bit odd but good odd. Plus its by Rainbow Rowell and I would read her shopping lists so I can't wait to dive into this.

Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly. This is the 1st book in the Waterfire Saga. It is a mermaid book where I believe the world is in trouble and a group of mermaids from all over the world have to save their home. Its sounds awesome and I love mermaid books!

Emma by Jane Austen. This I kind of already have a copy of but it is technically my Mum's and this edition is beautiful! It is a Penguin Threads book, I love it to pieces and it is in pride of place on my shelf. Also I need to read more Austen because I just love her writing style.

A collection of poems by Emily Dickinson. I have wanted to read more of Emily Dickinson's poems for a while now and I don't know what it is about her short, broken poems. I just find them very intriguing.

Lastly I got The Quotable Winston Churchill, a collection of wit and wisdom. This is a cute pocket-sized book with all things Winston. Every since I was little I have been fascinated by Churchill and I think he was so awesome. I think this tiny book will be good for when I need encouragement and inspiration.

So they are the books I have accumulated since my last book haul. I know I will be getting around 3-4 books before I go off to America and buy all the books! (well not quite all but you know what I mean) But I think I will just do 1 big summer haul just before I go back to school and leave it at that.

Speak soon,
Jade xx

Unhaul.

Recently I rearranged my bookshelves and realised that for various reasons I didn't want to keep some of my books. So I am going to unhaul them for you and then donate them to charity :)

• The Iron King & Iron Legends by Julie Kagawa. I have read Iron King and the first story in legends but I just don't really like them. I find it irritating especially the main character- she is pathetic at times! So since I'm not going to re-read of continue on with the series I don't see the point of keeping them and hopefully they will find a new home where they will be loved more.

• Shadows and The Hunt by Amy Meredith are the first 2 books in the Dark Touch. I liked these but I read them about 3 years ago and sadly I have no urge to finish the series.

• Finally Arise by Tara Hudson. This is the 2nd book in a series where I don't own the 1st. I didn't realise it was sequel till I got home and again I don't have the urge to pick it up and start this series so I might as well let someone else give it go. 

So yeah. Those are the books I am donating and by the way if anyone in the UK would like these books feel free to let me know and I can post them to you.

Speak soon,

Jade xx

May Wrap-up

Hello! Long time no see (again). I got swept up by exams but wrap-ups are better late than never right? :)
So I only read 2 books in May and started 1 other. I'm going to do just short little reviews on both of them.

Firstly I finally finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This book has got such a unique, beautiful, poignant voice to it. It is narrated by Death and mainly follows a girl named Liesel Meminger who is living with her foster parents in Munich, Germany during WW2. This was the first book that I have read that is set in Germany when it comes to the war. So it was a completely different side to it. I love the writing style and the depth to the characters; it is actually quite fun at parts and then it has the more serious parts which tends to be the war parts. The end is... it has quite nice ending really but it is also sad (I sobbed for the last 50pgs or so). However you kind of expect it as Death has his own method of foreshadowing- he tells you some of the things that happen. I don't thing I have a fault with this book it is so wonderful. 5 Stars.

The 2nd and last book I read was Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira. This is an epistolary novel where a girl just starting high school- May- writes letters to people who she looks up to and died young. You basically read her grieving process as she comes to terms with the death of her sister, things that happen to her when she was supposed to be with her and also her experiences with high school and love. It is a very deep emotional read and deals with difficult topics. The letters start off by hinting and they slowly reveal what happened to May, this is frustrating but keeps you wanting to read more, so its clever really. I would recommend this to lovers of The Perks of Being a Wallflower as it is a similar vibe. 4 stars.

I also started Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, which I am enjoying so far. I would love to hear your thoughts if you have read any of these.

Speak soon,
Jade xx

Collective Book Haul

Over the past couple of months that I have been away from here I have collected a few books, but I think I have been quite good. Not too many though :) So on with the books! :D

• Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare. The 2nd in The Infernal Devices trilogy; I'm looking forward to continuing on with it. 
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. You've probably heard of this one but very, very briefly it is about a girl in Nazi Germany.
• Paper Towns by John Green. Q and Margo have a night full of adventure, but then the next day Margo disappears and puzzles and roadtrips ensue to find her. 
• Mystic City by Theo Lawrence. This I picked up on a whim, It seems like a more modern Romeo & Juliet but Juliet no longer loves Romeo as she has lost her memory, so that sounds a bit of a mess. But a mess that could make a good story.
• Vampire Academy & Frostbite by Richelle Mead. I bought these about a month apart. But I brought the 1st book so I could read it before the movie- of course I now have plenty of time as they aren't releasing it over here till early July it seems. I'm just so desperate to see that film!
• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. I already have an edition of this in a bind up with Persuasion but it was published in 1933 and I am scared of damaging it as every time I open it it creaks. So I brought a lovely English Library edition to match my others. 
• Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid. This is the Austen Project modern version 1 I talked about in my Easter TBR. I'm going to have a bit of a Northanger Abbey fest :)

So they are all the books I've collected since January, a little more than I would have liked, but oh well. This is probably the last haul you'll see for a while as I have to save up for my holiday to America instead of buying books; it is a sacrifice I am willing to make! :)

Jade xx 

May TBR

May has arrived along with a good chunk of my exams! But I'm still going to keep reading as it will hopefully keep me sane! I know that I want to finish The Book Thief and there are 2 books that I'm going to read and then I another 2 which I may or may not get through.

Number 1 on the list is Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. I got a beautiful penguin English library edition recently that I can't wait to start!

2. Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid. This is a modern retelling of Austen's and is part of the Austen Project. I love modernised classics but have never read 1 in book form.

3. The Morning gift by Eva Ibbotson. I have had this for nearly a year now, and I don't know why I haven't read it. I adore Eva Ibbotson's books and her writing and this 1 sounds really good. It is however her only adult book I haven't read, and it will be sad when its over.

4. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan. I've never read a collab book before and the premise is intriguing so I'm looking forward to it and hoping that it is a nice, quick easy read.

So they are the books. As I said I will definitely get through the Northanger Abbeys and I'd say one the others too but we will see. I may also end up reading Of Mice & Men and The Women in Black right before my exam again too. Has any of you read these? What are your thoughts?

Speak soon,
Jade xx

April Wrap-up

April was a pretty good month, even though I had a lot of work to do thankfully I had time to read during Easter. I finished 10 books in April, granted 6 of those were pretty short but I'm still proud of it :) So the books are:

• Cinder by Marissa Meyer- I adored this book! I did a spoiler free review earlier this month if you want to now my thoughts in more depth. As well as this I read 3 novellas that go with this series all of which I enjoyed:
• Glitches
• The Little Android
• The Queen's Army  (I gave all of these 5 stars)

• After I read Miki Falls Spring and Summer both by Mark Crilley. These are the first 2 of a series of 4 graphic novels and were re-reads for me. I liked them but unfortunately I didn't like them as much as I did the first time around. I don't really know why I just wasn't as interested in Miki's story. I'd say 2 stars... its rare I go that low but the first time I read it I believe I gave it 3.5 so I did enjoy it last time. 
• Frostbite by Richelle Mead, I flew through most of this book during the readathon on Saturday. It was really good and I'm planning to do a full review soon. But anyone who is iffy about reading this as its vampires, I urge you to pick it up because I had that feeling and this is these are the 1st Vampire books I've enjoyed!
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. This was also a re-read and I only read it due to the fact it is 1 of my texts for GCSE. I loathe this book so much! 1 day I may go into detail as to why. 
• Women in Black by Susan Hill. This was my 3rd time reading this book and again it was for my GCSE. However I do like this book; its well written and pretty interesting so I didn't mind it as much.
• Lastly I just want to mention The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I haven't finished this yet but I have read a good chunk of it this month and I really, really like it. It is beautifully and uniquely written and I will probably finish it very soon and then I'll post a review on here a bit later. 

All in all a collection of pretty good books mostly :) I think Cinder was my favourite this month what was yours?

Speak soon,

Jade xx