Book Haul #4

It's been like 4(?) weeks since I posted, I'm sorry. But I bought more books! I'll also be getting a new shelf soon, as I have no room for new books on my current one. It's stacked full bottom to top, so maybe I'll do a video or photo series of stacking my new shelf :) So anyway.. let's get started!

I got these books most recently, the top 5 today from Kmart, and the bottom two from the Book Depository, which I received in the mail last week. 

From top to bottom:

1. Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid
2. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
3. Four by Veronica Roth
4. If I Stay by Gayle Forman
5. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
6. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
7. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

I've read all of these books except for Four by Veronica Roth! I'm not quite ready to dive back into divergent world after Allegiant  </333 

I got a couple of other books to show as well that I got a couple of weeks ago from the Book Depository. 

1. Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King
2. Popular: Vintage Wisdom For A Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen
3. Ask The Passengers by A.S. King
4. Me and Earl and The Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
5. Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Since getting these books I've read Popular, Ask The Passengers and Me and Earl and The Dying Girl. Not sure when I'll get around to the rest, turns out I own more books that I own a lot more unread books than I thought, oops! I think I'm going to stick to collecting books I've read as eBooks already for now...  

I can't wait to get reading, and setting up my hypothetical new shelf that I have not yet chosen let alone have in my possession! Its gonna be super fun :') Stay tuned for more posts and I hope you enjoyed this one!

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July

So every month I'm going to make an effort to make note of memorable things I've done, movies I've watched and whole lot of anything else I can think of. I did one of these in April, so if you wanna check that out, go ahead!
In July...
I read a lot of good books!

• Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan 
• Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo 
• Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
• Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
• Open Road Summer by Emery Lord
• The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
• The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
• Popular by Maya Van Wagenen

This past month I've started and finished one of my new favourite trilogies, The Grisha trilogy. If you haven't read it yet, go pick it up or download the eBook because it is fan-freaking-tastic and I was blown away by the writing. I loved the story, the creatures and the characters in this entire trilogy. I even found myself questioning my morals, theres a certain extremely dark character I took a liking to, and I'm not ashamed to say that I totally fell for his charm. Other favourites include, Untold (which is the second book in a series, Unspoken being the first), Open Road Summer and Popular. Popular was amazing. It was the first non-fiction book I ever read and it really inspired me. I think I'm going to pick up the guide this book was based on and try it out myself. 

I watched some cool tv shows. 

• Teen Wolf
• Pretty Little Liars
• The Fosters
• Friday Night Lights

I started two new TV shows this month. The Fosters and Friday Night Lights. I really love the Fosters, but I'm not sure what I think of FNL yet, too early to tell. I'm only 3 episodes in, so maybe stay tuned for next months wrap up to see what I think then ;) I don't think Teen Wolf or PLL is a surprise to anyone. I have an addiction to both. I started watching Teen Wolf because Colton Haynes was in it, and I have a Colton Haynes fetish, but I fell in love with the other characters as well. I gotta say, I'm liking Malia this season. I've seen her get a lot of hate, but to be honest, I think she's a total badass and she's good for Stiles. 

I did some awesome things.

• Went to the beach and SAW DOLPHINS

Okay, so that actually happened yesterday but I'll probably forget to include it when I write my August post, so yeah. This was actually really cool. If you guys don't know, I'm very anti-zoo, anti-keeping-animals-enclosed (UNLESS it's beneficial for them, not for entertainment), so I would never really go to a park to see dolphins. Let me tell you though, seeing them free and doing their thing because they want to is beautiful. 10/10 would recommend seeing animals in their natural habitat, as long as your not invading their space. This is really the only cool thing I can remember doing, but I'm sure there were more.

I also saw The Fault in Our Stars, after I finished my exams at the end of June. 5 star movie, I was so happy with how it translated to film. 

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Book Haul #3

I think pretty much all I post on my youtube and my blog are book hauls *oh well*. 
Sooo, I acquired more books! What a surprised. I actually didn't buy these, I won them! Actually I did buy two of them. Definitely trying to justify my 'habit' here, but I've bought a bunch of books you guys haven't seen so I really don't think theres any point in trying to make excuses. Let's just get started.

From top to bottom:

1. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith 
2. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski 
3. The Forever Song (Book #3 Blood of Eden) by Julie Kagawa
4. The Eternity Cure (Book #2 Blood of Eden) by Julie Kagawa 
5. The Immortal Rules (Book #1 Blood of Eden) by Julie Kagawa
6. Take Me On (Book #4 Pushing the Limits) by Katie McGarry

I bought both The Cuckoo's Calling and The Winner's Curse from Kmart. They were between $10-15 which is pretty expensive for a paperback if I'm being honest but it's the only place within an hours drive for me to buy books. If only I lived in America!

The rest I won from Birdee Mag! I think... See the thing is with these, I randomly got them in the mail one day with a vague memory of entering a competition on Birdee that maybe had these as a prize. They were shipped directly from Harlequin to me with only a shipping note attached. Plus I never got a congrats email or anything, so the whole thing is a bit... strange? But I know for certain (like 99%) that I got these books from Birdee. I remember entering some kind of competition for books, sooo let's just pretend my memory is as good as I think it is and go with the whole Birdee Mag scenario. 

Anyways, thats all for today! Let me know if you guys have read any of these books and what you thought of them :) I'll have another book haul coming soon, because I'm waiting for a bunch more books to come in the mail, oops. 

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Open Road Summer by Emery Lord

Open Road Summer

Author: Emery Lord Publisher: Walker Published: April 15th 2014 Goodreads // Book Depository
Synopsis: After breaking up with her bad-news boyfriend, Reagan O'Neill  is ready to leave her rebellious ways behind... and her best friend, country superstar Lilah Montgomery, is nursing a broken heart of her own. Fortunately Lilah's 24-city tour is about to kick off, offering a perfect opportunity for a girls-only summer of break up ballads and healing hearts. But when Matt Finch joins the tour as its opening act, his boy-next-door charm proves difficult for Reagan to resist, despite her vow to live a drama-free existence. This summer, Reagan and Lilah will navigate the ups and downs of fame and friendship as they come to see that giving your heart to the right person is a risk worth taking. 
First lets start with the non-spoilery section. Read this book. It's Winter in Australia right now and I was desperate for a little summer action and I thought this would be the perfect read. I loved this book so much. It's cute and fun, but it also slips in some really tough issues. Without turning the book into a darker contemporary read, it makes it a lot more believable. I loved the friendship between Reagan and Lilah, and I was kind of jealous to be honest. This was a really enjoyable read and if you're into summer, road trips and great friendships, definitely check this book out.
Now into the spoilers, you've been warned! 
MATT FINCH HAS BEEN ADDED TO MY LONG LIST OF BOOK BOYFRIENDS! I loved him, and I loved his character and I loved that he was friends with Reagan before he was anything else. He was obviously into her for a majority of the book, but I liked that Reagan cared more about her friendship and her friends career than she did a relationship. 
Lilah was one of my favourite characters in this book, but if I'm being real there were very few characters and I enjoyed all of them. She was sweet and she reminded me of Taylor Swift minus the serial dating aspect of her personality. Lilah Montgomery has only had one boyfriend to date, and despite her fame she did her best to keep him hidden from the media. I think the end of their relationship was really realistic, and the problem she faced in the book are problems teen stars commonly face. Fake nude photos, supposed pregnancies. And seeing how that affected Lilah really makes you realise how much it affects teens in the spotlight. Anyways, I just thought this was a really good addition to the book. 
Dee (Lilah) and Reagan's friendship was also a really big part of the book I loved. For me it was more about their friendship than Reagan's later relationship with Matt. Don't get me wrong I LOVED that part of the book, I just think the friendship aspect was really important. 
Some of the 'bigger' issues Reagan faced included her ex boyfriends 'attack' (I'm not sure what else to call it) and also the cheating. When her boyfriend hit her, I was proud of Reagan for walking away. I don't think this was necessarily the most realistic part of the book but I think it sets a good example. I liked the repetition of the cheating as well, I wasn't happy about Matt 'cheating' on Reagan but I think it showed how strong she was just walking away. She doesn't put up with sh*t, and I really liked her for that. Also side note, I really disliked Corrine from the start, and I totally guessed she'd pull a stunt like that. 
Last but not least, I really liked the writing style. I prefer first person narrative, so I really enjoyed this. 
Overall I'm sure you can tell I really liked this book. There were parts I wasn't overly in love with, but it was really solid book. 
My Rating:

I hope you enjoyed this post! There should be a book haul coming soon :)

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