Letterbox Love #9

Letterbox Love is a meme hosted by Lynsey over Narratively Speaking, and is designed for UK bloggers to showcase the lovelies that drop through their letterbox's in the course of the week just gone...

So, last weeks Letterbox Love was intended to be the last of 2012... But then this happened...

Oh yeah! That's right! That's a signed copy of The Casual Vacancy! Yeah, the one by J.K. FREAKING ROWLING! And it's mine! All mine! Queue evil laugh... MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... Ahem, you get the idea! Argh! I am just so freaking excited! It was my birthday yesterday so this was an AMAZING surprise that if I'm honest has floored me. The mere fact that I own something that has actually been in this great womans presence, in her hands no doubt... She's touched it... She's scribbled it! I am just... GAH! Words cannot describe my excitement and awe and just sheer downright fangirl squealing! I am so excited as I think you can tell... I'm rambling... STOP!

Also got some other cool stuff from my parents! 21 mug and coaster... Angry Birds annual as I LOVE ANGRY BIRDS! A really cool pen because of my writing and a chain as they said they wanted to give me something I'd keep! Love them! Best parents anyone could ask for! :) All in all, an epic birthday which made me feel proper lucky. 

Anyway, while I'm here I might as well talk about a couple of things I've gotten in the last few days. I didn't get any books for Christmas, simply because I didn't ask for any. However I did get a Moleskin from a friend which I love and am using as an idea book. She told me she wanted to be thanked one day when I get published and I said that this way, there has to be some money sitting in the Moleskine right, if all my ideas go in there, something's gotta stick! Haha. I also purchased this...

It's a Moleskin 2013 calandar... Month by month. Each month has it's own little book which I think is pretty damn cool. This is for the blog. It's where I'm going to keep track of all the books that are being published and when... Any commitments such as blog tours, author interviews, stuff that I need to know when it has to go live, it'll all go down in there! I did the same last year and it really helped me to keep track of all the books coming out, so I'm hoping it works again in 2012. Plus I like the idea of just being able to pick of July and note that such and such a book is coming out on such and such a date, and so and so is doing an blog tour in October and I'm hosting and so and so a date... Haha! You get the idea.

I have also purchased some books for my Kindle! They are as follows...

 Mr Stink by David Walliams (I really enjoyed the adaptation on BBC over Christmas and wanted to read the book!)

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey (I've wanted to read this for so long, I've heard nothing but good about it. A mate at work said that she'd started reading it and it was amazing, and that was the last straw! I saw it on Amazon on offer so I snapped that bad boy up! Excited to give it a read!!!

The Legend of Ellie Quin by Alex Scarrow (the first in a trilogy, I believe, and I'm not so sure if this isn't being self-published? Probably wrong on that front, but I love Alex's TimeRiders series and this looks and sounds awesome so I just had to check it out!

The Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson (another series I've wanted to read forever! Again, it was on sale so I downloaded it!).

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay (I have started watching Dexter on Netflix and I have fallen in love, it's sooooooo good! And I wanted to read the book that kickstarted it all, so I downloaded that too!)

And for Christmas I got a blu-ray player and I purchased some blu-rays in the sale... Not strictly book related, but they all popped through my letterbox so I'm sharing them! 

Jurassic Park Trilogy (LOVE!!!).

Lord of the Rings Trilogy (I already have these on DVD, but I've not watched them in ages and this was super cheap and I want to see them in HD... :D).

London 2012: The Olympics (the Opening Ceremony and Closing Ceremony were amazing, the Opening in particular and I want to watch that again and again because it made me feel so proud to be British that night, it was just so epic!).

Prometheus (I've not seen it yet, but this was on offer!).

So, that really is it, that last Letterbox Love of 2012! Happy reading folks, and see you in 2013!

Letterbox Love #8

Letterbox Love is a meme hosted by Lynsey over Narratively Speaking, and is designed for UK bloggers to showcase the lovelies that drop through their letterbox's in the course of the week just gone...

The last Letterbox Love before Christmas, and very most likely the last one of 2012 depending on what next weeks post may bring... I know I have a new Moleskine notebook and a Moleskine diary (well 12 as the months come separate in this cool binder thing) coming, but if there's nothing else then this will be it for 2012! And what an awesome year it has been!

REVIEW

The Disappeared by C. J. Harper.

Undone by Cat Clarke (Squeee! Loved this... Review here).

Gates of Paradise by Melissa de la Cruz.

Rift by Andrea Cremer.

The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth Laban.

Eternally Yours by Cate Tiernan.

BOUGHT

John Green Boxset including...

Looking For Alaska.

An Abundance of Katherine's.

Paper Towns.

The Fault in Our Stars.

I've been meaning to read all of John's work since I read The Fault in Our Stars right at the start of the year, and I saw this boxset on the Book Depository and knew it was fate! They're hardback and I adore hardbacks! Every day of the week! And then I saw they did signed ones on Amazon US but they were so much more expensive, so I opted for the unsigned ones. My copy of TFiOS is signed anyway, so I'm not that bothered. But look at the box thjey come in! So cool! Quotes and things from the books themselves. Awesome! Cannot wait to get stuck in!

I also, in music related post got this... It's the super deluxe (or Diamond Deluxe Boxed Edition) of Rihanna's latest (and awesome) album, Unapologetic. I love the album and she did this thing on Twitter called #R7 where her fans helped to unlock things leading up to the release of the album and part of it was that the first 10,000 people to upload their photo to the site got it included in a massive fan poster included in, and exclusive to, the boxset. I was one of those people, so my pic is on there! On her lips, no less! Mwahaha! I love it! Nice little thing to have and the box itself is so cool!

So guys, what about you? What beaut's fell through your letterbox this week? Leave a comment with a link to your Letterbox Love post or In My Mailbox and I'll check it out! 

Happy reading! :)

Letterbox Love #7

Letterbox Love is a meme hosted by Lynsey over Narratively Speaking, and is designed for UK bloggers to showcase the lovelies that drop through their letterbox's in the course of the week just gone...

So, it's been a while since I've done a Letterbox Love post... 3 months. Oops. Things have been pretty hectic this end with a lot of real life stuff going on that has really distracted me, but it's all sorted now so all good! There are too many books for me to post here that I've missed. Some of them are in storage and some are lurking around the house, however these books are ones I've either purchased or received in the last week or two...

BOUGHT

Zom-B by Darren Shan (I got this on my Kindle when it first came out and I freaking loved it and thought it was time I got the hardback!)

Life of Pi by Yann Martell (I've wanted to read this for a while and one night a few days ago I saw the advert for the film and was amazed. So excited to see the film and aim to read this over Christmas!)

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (another book I've wanted to read for a while and shall hopefully read in the next few weeks!).

FOR REVIEW

Colin Fischer by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz.

Black Spring by Alison Croggon.

Hidden Among Us by Katy Hogan.

OMG! Is This Actually My Life? by Rae Earle.

Requiem by Lauren Oliver.

The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandana (wanted to read this for ages, since Random House announced it a year or so ago! So excited!).

Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans.

KINDLE

Got some awesome titles on my Kindle in the last few weeks too...

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Leviathan.

Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King by William Joyce.

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonnasson.

Christmas Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley.

A Town Called Pandemonium by Various.

Happy reading. :)

Letterbox Love #6

Well, it's the best day of the week! Sunday! And I cannot believe its September already! This year is going so fast! It'll be Christmas before you know it.

What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang.

Unified by Kirsty McKay.

Summertime of the Dead by Gregory Hughes.

Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr.

The Edge of Nowhere by Elizabeth George.

Gods and Warriors by Michelle Paver (so excited for this! Even though I've already read it! The cover is amazing in the flesh and the edges of the book are black!! So cool!)

And finally, a simpler of Days of Blood and Starlight by Lani Taylor!

That's all for this week! Thanks to the publishers (Chicken House, Hodder, HarperCollins and Quercus) and Amazon for the prompt delivery of Gods and Warriors! Hope you all have a great week and some happy reading!

Letterbox Love #5

Letterbox Love is the UK's version of In My Mailbox

As I write this, I am currently melting away in this heat. Yikes! Summer is really getting it's own back right now, right? Too hot. Roll on the Winter!

FOR REVIEW:

The Diviners by Libba Bray (man this book is huge and beautiful! Looks amazing!!!).

The City's Son by Tom Pollock (so excited to read this, heard nothing but praise!).

Shadows by Ilsa J. Bick.

Breathe by Sarah Crossan (this sounds stunning! Cannot wait to read it!).

BOUGHT:

The Kill Order by James Dashner (so excited to read this, now reading the final book of the trilogy and this is the prequel, and by gum the cover art is stunning in the flesh, although the back cover gives me major creeps. That wording... Yikes!).

KINDLE

The Title of This Book is Secret, If You're Reading This, It's Too Late, This Book is Not Good for You, This Isn't What It Looks Like and You Have to Stop This by Pseudonymous Bosch.

As always, thanks to the publicists who send out review copies, and to The Book Depo for bleeding me dry. Pre-ordered tonnes this week. My bank account officially hates me!

Happy reading folks!

Letterbox Love #4

Letterbox Love is the UK's version of In My Mailbox

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. It's Sunday again, so time for another Letterbox Love!

Witch Crag by Kate Cann.

The Feathered Man by Jeremy de Quidt.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (please, do not get me started on this... I'm not sure what I think about it at all...)

Now Is Good by Jenny Downham.

Ocean of Secrets by Aimee Friedman.

My Brother Simple by Marie-Aude Murail (this sounds good!)

Maze Cheat  by B.R. Collins.

Dark Eyes by William Richter (this sounds amazing and I cannot wait to read it!!!)

Also got a few titles for my Kindle!

Dodger by Terry Pratchett - from Eidelweiss for review (reading at the moment and it's so good!)

The Spindlers by Lauren Oliver - from Eidelweiss for review.

What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang - from Eidelweiss for review.

The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann - from Eidelweiss for review.

The Other Normals by Ned Vizzini - from Eidelweiss for review.

Pale by Chris Wooding - from NetGalley for review.

A Throne of Glass: The Assassin and the Pirate Lord by Sarah J. Maas - bought.

Doom Rider by David Gatward - bought.

Thank you to all the awesome publicists/publishers!!

Have another great week folks, and as always, happy reading!

Letterbox Love #3

Letterbox Love is the UK's version of In My Mailbox.

Thanks to all the lovely publicists and publishers for sending these on, and Amazon for the books I buy.

FOR REVIEW:

Why We Broke Up  by Daniel Handler.

Time Between Us  by Tamara Ireland Stone.

School of Fear  by Gitty Daneshavari.

NETGALLY/eARCs:

Got a few things on Netgalley the last few weeks and just keep forgetting to mention them... Oops!

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas.

The Skyscraper Trilogy: The City's Son by Tom Pollock.

The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke.

The Icarus Project by Laura Quimby.

BOUGHT:

TimeRiders: Gates of Rome by Alex Scarrow.

Thanks to Egmont, Random House and Atom!!!

Happy reading folks!

Letterbox Love #2

Okay, so. It's a new day, and a new month!!! It's been a few weeks since I did my last (and first...) Letterbox Love post. I've been meaning to do it weekly but things have been quite busy my end recently, hence the silence around here. For the first time in 7 weeks, I have a weekend off! Yay! So I'm able to update this! I also have the next week off and I'm going to attempt to get out of this reading slump I'm currently in, and get some reading done and maybe even a review or two written!

Anyway, I will apologise to start, if I have missed any books out. I tried to find them all but sometimes they hide! If I find any that weren't included, I'll try and get them included in a post later on! 

-

Rebel Heart by Moira Young (Eeep! Sequel to Blood Red Road!! So excited!)

Magyk, Flyte, Physik, Queste, Syren and Darke by Angie Sage (Ooh! Read the first one ages ago and loved it and these new covers are awesome!!! Very shiny!)

Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth (US hardbacks... Could not resist!).

The Chemickal Marriage by G.W. Dahlquist.

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer.

Metawars by Jeff Norton.

Shattered Dreams by Ellie James.

Earthfall by Mark Walden.

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen.

Taken By Storm by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.

The Spook's Blood by Joseph Delaney.

Signed sampler of The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater.

I'm looking forward to this one. I'll admit to being disappointed by The Scorpio Races so really hoping I like this. Haven't had a chance to read the sampler yet, but I am loving the cover!

Thanks to all the awesome publisicts and publishers! Including, Bloomsbury, Scholastic, Puffin, Quercus, Random House, Orchard and Hodder. You guys rock!

Happy reading!

Letterbox Love #1

So there's been a lot of drama lately in the blogging world regarding plagiarism, and a certain blog (perhaps the biggest and most popular around, right?) was right at the centre of it. And as a result, their meme, In My Mailbox, is attracting a lot of negativity right now. I'll be honest, I love that feature as it was the way I used to learn about new books. I think it was one of the first posts I ever read from the book blogging world (over on Wondrous Reads, actually) and I liked making those posts as I hope other people learn about books that I have too so they too can share the book love and read just as I want to when I visit other peoples blogs. 

I didn't want to stop doing In My Mailbox (I changed mine slightly to Postbox... we're in England...) but at the same time wasn't sure about continuing, and it has been a little while since I've done one so I've got a bit of catching up to do. Well, no worries. As some UK based bloggers have created a new meme. Letterbox Love. In principle it's the same, but there's only love!

Now as I said, it has been a while since I made a post like this, so there may be some books lurking in the dark, deep corners of my bedroom, or somewhere else in the house that I've missed, I've done my best though! If I do find any that I have missed, I'll put them aside for the next Letterbox Love post! Would like to say before I start, a massive thank you to all the publishers who send me the books. Cannot express how truly grateful I am to be part of this blogging community!

-

After the Snow by S.D. Crockett.

The Last Echo by Kimberley Derting.

Insignia by S.J.Kincaid.

Twilight Robbery by Frances Hardinge.

The Prince Who Walked With Lions by Elizabeth Laird.

Partials by Dan Wells.

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver.

The Enchantress by Michael Scott.

The Adjusters by Andrew Taylor.

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson.

Dying To Know You by Aiden Chambers.

1.4 by Mike Lancaster.

Unrest by Michelle Harrison (So excited for this! Reading it now actually. So creepy!)

The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore.

Another Life by Keren David (EEEEEPPPPP!! So excited about this!)

Insurgent by Veronica Roth (read it. loved it. reviewed it here...)

I'm also, quoted on the back of The Power of Six in paperback. How cool is that?! :D Done a little jig when I found out. Being quoted on books is awesome, especially books you feel so passionate about, so thanks to Penguin for quoting me! (That is actually the adult edition... I wonder if it's the same on the YA edition? Hmm...)

So that's all for this week. Would just like to give a shout out to all the publishers! Puffin/Penguin, HarperCollins, Random House, Hot Key Books, Egmont, Macmillan, Headline, Simon and Schuster and Frances Lincoln! You guys rock!

Happy reading and see you soon!

(P.S. Would just like to say a massive thank you to everyone who visits this blog. It hit 100,000 views since it started in March 2010, overnight and I am so chuffed about this. Really made my day! :D)