Author Archives: keithbwalters

book review: hate by Alan Gibbons

You can also see my post from the HATE blog tour, by clicking here!

Published 10th April by Indigo books.

18692305 Goodreads Synopsis: Eve’s older sister, Rosie, was bright and alive and always loved being the centre of attention. Then one day, she is brutally murdered. Six months later, Eve meets Antony and discovers that he was there the night Rosie died and did nothing to help. Is there any way she can ever get past that? Inspired by the Sophie Lancaster murder in 2007, which saw Sophie and her partner Rob viciously attacked in Stubbylee Park, Bacup, Lancashire because of the way they dressed. This is a hard-hitting real-life thriller about friendship, courage, loss, forgiveness and about our society and communities.

My Review: The real-life inspiration behind HATE really shocked me. It’s terrifying to hear stories of hate crime. I started HATE nervously; how would it treat the topic? How would I find a story, that takes such a serious real-life inspiration?

Luckily, I found it really well written. HATE was gripping and eye opening- I read the whole book in one sitting. HATE’s centered around Eve, whose sister Rosie was killed by a gang because of the way she dressed. One day at school, she recognises the name of the new boy, Anthony Ward. He was one of the witnesses that day, who saw Rosie but did nothing to help… and now at school, tension is rising between one character who speaks up and another character who hates him because of it.

HATE is quite a short read, no more than 300 pages, but its plot is quite complex. It did take me quite a few pages to grasp the format, because it switches between six months before the present events in the book, and between the present tense narratives of Eve and Anthony. It did take me a bit to grasp everything about the characters, too, but after a few chapters I became completely engrossed in the story.

The plot is terrifying, made even more so, as it’s based on shocking true events. It really paints a realistic picture of the grief the victim’s families go through, as well as showing how hate crime can be caused, using homophobia and its effects for the central plot of this book. It’s a very tense book, and very heart-breaking, though at the same time, heart-warming at the end.

I grew to like the main protagonists- we learn so much about Eve, and after a while, I also grew to understand Anthony despite what he hadn’t done the night Rosie was attacked. Despite growing to really love the central characters the book is based around, I found the story a little too short, almost, to grow too attached to them! I blame that a little more on me reading it in one sitting- just over two hours- though…

Overall, HATE was a very tense, riveting and compelling read. It’s based around a scarily real topics such as homophobia and hate crime, and it’s not a book that can be forgotten easily. The characters felt three-dimensional, and Alan Gibbons’ writing is brutally honest and powerful. I felt the ending was a little bit abrupt, and the format was a little hard to get used to at first- but it’s most definitely worth picking up a copy of. HATE is a brave, and powerful read.

My Rating:

I received a copy of HATE from the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

New Books! #47

7 Replies

I am so stupidly excited about everything in this haul. Also, update on what I have now named The TBR Problem: I have taken to stacking to-read books on other bookshelves, as I cannot fit any more into the TBR wardrobe. I know. I should stop buying things. But, I blame Waterstones sales and pretty covers and things!

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon & X MEN: No More Humans by Mike Carey: I received The Bone Season and bought the X Men graphic novel at two fantastic events over the last two days. There’ll be a very fangirly post up about these soon, I promise! Both, I managed to get signed- and X Men: No More Humans isn’t actually meant to be out yet- I’m totally honoured to have gotten a pre-release, and to have it be the second ever copy the author has signed! *fangirly scream*

The Girl who saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson: I really loved Jonas Jonasson’s début of an equally-long and crazy title a couple of months ago! I was so excited to see his new book out, and there were posters and adverts and displays everywhere in London… I couldn’t not pick up a copy in Waterstones yesterday. I’m sure I won’t be disappointed: Jonasson’s writing is witty and genius and I loved it when I read The 100 Year Old Man who Climbed out of the Window and Disappeared.

The Boy who Swam with Piranhas by David Almond, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers: I am in love with Oliver Jeffers’s drawings, and I’m a massive Skellig fan… and this was in a buy-one-get-one-half-price sale. I’ve been really interested in reading it, and you can have a look at more pics of the book on my Tumblr, here, because I literally took a billion pictures of this… I’m not obsessive at all. Nope. Definitely not.

The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQueery: I was walking through Foyles today, and this cover was the first one to catch my eye out of all the YA titles on display. I had to pick it up and have a look at the blurb… And I was so, so intrigued! It looks like a fantastic steampunk read- I’m hoping I can get around to it really soon, because I feel like something steampunk-y.

Fierce Resistance by Fiona Beddow: I was offered a copy of this from the author, and as soon as I’d watched the book trailer online, I was really excited about it. Fierce Resistance seems so action packed and epic, and a little like The Fearless- thank you so much to Fiona for mailing me a copy. I’m very excited about it!

Various Kids’ comics: I got these from the lovely Forbidden Planet in London today, because, it’s Free Comic Book Day! :3 This day is like Christmas. Except nerdier. I love it. I was given the Forbidden Planet Kiddy pack, though of course, I’ll be ~~stealing~~ borrowing some of the other comics like Guardians of the Galaxy from my dad’s adult pack 😉

Huge thank yous also, to Hot Key Books, Templar Books, and Piccadilly Press for the other books sent! What books have you bought this week- or what have you thought of any of the titles above? (: I’d love to know!

graphic novel review: young avengers – Style > Substance (volume 1)

2 Replies

Written by Kieron Gillen, illustrated by Jamie McKelvie and Mike Norton

Published by Marvel NOW!, 2013.

17824752 Goodreads Synopsis: Legacy isn’t a dirty word…but it’s an irrelevant one. It’s not important what our parents did. It matters what WE do. Someone has to save the world. You’re someone. Do the math. The critically acclaimed team of Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie reinvent the teen super hero comic for the 21st century, uniting Wiccan, Hulkling and Kate “Hawkeye” Bishop with Kid Loki, Marvel Boy and Ms. America. No pressure, right? As a figure from Loki’s past emerges, Wiccan makes a horrible mistake that comes back to bite everyone on their communal posteriors. Fight scenes! Fake IDs! And plentiful feels! (aka “meaningful emotional character beats” for people who aren’t on tumblr.) Young Avengers is as NOW! as the air in your lungs, and twice as vital. Hyperbole is the BEST! THING! EVER!

COLLECTING: Young Avengers 1-5, Marvel Now! Point One (Young Avengers story)

My Review: Dad bought me the first issue of this when it first came out, and I enjoyed that so much. But by the time I’d been able to get to a comic shop I’d already missed two or three issues 😦 I finally got around to ordering the first volume a couple of week ago, and as soon as it was in my hands I started reading. I finished it in one sitting. Then reread it all the next day. The AWESOMENESS. I can’t even describe it properly!

Young Avengers is everything I was hoping it would be: non-stop action, super awesome bad guys, a riveting storyline, and a group of brilliant and dynamic teenage superheroes. It had a very Marvel’s Runaways feel to it, and I think that’s a main reason why I loved it so much! The plot, in one word: addictive. It’s so hard to pull yourself away from the pages… Kieron Gillen is a genius writer and this comic just adds to the evidence.

All of the characters were really well developed. I felt like I knew each and every one of that. I loved Loki waaaay too much. And Miss America is a new favourite female protagonist. Also, I’m shipping Hulkling and Wiccan so much. Argh. They’re PERFECT :3 The young avengers make up one of the coolest teams I’ve ever seen, and I can’t wait to read more about them!

I don’t think I could love the artwork more than I already do. It’s so gorgeous, detailed and vibrant. Everything, right down to the layout… just works so well. I think I’ve found new favourite comic illustrators! There are some outstanding, really unique and cleverly drawn two-page spreads and ahhhh… *tries to think of how to describe it* *fails* It’s just too gorgeous! Click here for a preview of a spread on bleedingcool. Have you seen it? Yes. I know. TOO PRETTY. *flails*

Overall, Young Avengers Vol 1., Style > Substance was just stunning. You can tell it’s brilliant and modern and fun and awesome just from the way it references Feels and Tumblr in the synopsis. 😀 I’m about to order the next volumes to carry on reading; I’m desperate to read on! With Kieron Gillen working on it, could it be any less than brilliant? Nope. honestly, go buy a copy now. You will not regret it. It’s definitely in the top three best graphic novels I’ve read this year.

My Rating:

bibliomaniacheart

I purchased a copy of Young Avengers online.

three years of blogging… whoa.

6 Replies

Yay! Three years ago today, I set up my blog as Books and Writers JNR, the YA-reviews version of my dad’s Books and Writers blog. That means I have had a blog for… *calculator timeeee* 1095 days (though admittedly I only really started blogging seriously at the end of 2012!)… The Bibliomaniac has gone through a lot of theme changes. And a name change. But you can read more about that here!

Firstly. Celebratory Gifs. Sherlock-y, obviously.

*celebratory Cumberbatch pirouette*

have some more Excited-Sherlock gifs to sum up my fangirling and stuff. 😛

A lot of bloggers who are extremely clever and organised do huge blogoversary events lasting for a week or longer… I’m not very organised. So this is a frantically-put-together post! I’ve never actually written a blogoversary post before. I completely forgot about it last year. Here goes…

Firstly, thank yous to lots of bloggers for being awesome! There are so many lovely people I’ve gotten to meet through starting a blog, like Charli, M & Little M, Lucy, Amber, Hawwa, Jack, Ruby, Sophie, Amy, bloggy-Parabatai Fionnuala, Sunny, Bella, Rita, Jim, Debbie, Daphne, Cait and Stacey. I know there are a billion other people too because I’ve fangirled with wayyyy too many people on Twitter and Goodreads and various other social networks. So bloggy hugs to all of you guys; you’re awesome and I love all of your blogs. It’s been great to meet lots of bloggers at events- and I hope to meet the rest of you in the future! Also, to all of the lovely publishers in the UK and occasionally the US. You’re all super-awesome. Thank you for the review-books and the blogger events!

*ponders what else to put in this blogoversary post* *regrets not actually organising something* Okay, throwing these things in 😀

My first ever blog post (and my first ever review!): Divergent Book Review. This is a reaaallly bad review. Spelling mistakes and all the things. It actually made me laugh quite a lot when I read it over xD

My first ever blog tour post: INSURGENT. Twelve year old me was stupidly excited about being in the Dauntless faction for the official Insurgent blog tour. My post was pretty… um *hides* full of really badly drawn dauntless people, because I was obsessed with my new Graphics tablet that I wasn’t very good with at the time. Hahaha.

My first ever interview post: Michelle Harrison. I think I wrote these questions with my dad… I can’t actually remember! But Michelle Harrison is a lovely author and I loved her 13 Treasures books, and more recently her Ghost-horror novel Unrest. Thanks for the first ever interview, Michelle 😀

Some of my favourite blog posts to write. WordPress claims I’ve written around 390 by the time of writing this post (I’m writing this on the 20th April… Weirdly in advance :P). But I’ve been scouring my blog for some of the ones I found the most fun to write.

Favourite Event Recap: GRIMM TALES with Neil Gaiman and Meg Rosoff. Though the photos disappeared from my post somehow and I can’t recover them for some reason on WordPress, this is without doubt the coolest event I’ve been to whilst blogging. It was meant to be niel in conversation with Philip Pullman on his Grimm Tales, but Pullman had a fall the day before and was too ill to talk. Fortunately, he recovered soon after. But Meg Rosoff took his place. And I met the legend that is Neil Gaiman. I just. GAH.

Favourite interview post: An interview with… Tess Sharpe. This was so hard to pick- I also seriously loved my interview with SF Said, too! Both interviews were so fun to receive answers from, and I”m a huge fan of both of the authors’ books. Thank you to SF and Tess for the interview opportunities- and to all of the other lovely authors who’ve visited the blog too!

Favourite book review: She is not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick. I just fell in love with this book. It was so hard to pick a favourite book review but I had to go with this… Not sure why, I don’t even think I did the book justice… it was amazing!

Favourite Review-Graphic: Say Her Name by James Dawson. Info/Review-graphic-y things are relatively new to the blog, but I’ve really liked playing around online making them. Say Her Name’s one was definitely the most fun one to make, because freaky mirrors and handprints and writing in blood and general scariness! Yay!

Aaaaaand, I’ll wrap up there. So, yay! Three year blogoversary- whoop! Thanks again to all the lovely amazing bloggers and publishers and other people I’ve gotten to meet. And, also, especially to everybody who’s been reading my blog, whetehr that’s every post or only a couple- and thanks to everyone for following over Facebook and Twitter and other social things.

I’m definitely not going to stop blogging any time soon- though now I’m in year nine, over the next four, five years or so until the end of Sixth form there are obviously going to be frequent, reluctant hiatus for… *shivers* exams… *hides behind pile of books*

Anyway, I leave you with more gifs.

book review: Split Second by Kasie West

Leave a reply

You can read my review of book one, Pivot Point, by clicking here!

*This review contains spoilers for book one in the synopsis, and slightly in my review!*

Published 11th February 2014 by HarperTeen (US).

15792316 Goodreads Synopsis: *synopsis contains spoilers for book one!* Life can change in a split second.
Addie hardly recognizes her life since her parents divorced. Her boyfriend used her. Her best friend betrayed her. She can’t believe this is the future she chose. On top of that, her ability is acting up. She’s always been able to Search the future when presented with a choice. Now she can manipulate and slow down time, too . . . but not without a price.
When Addie’s dad invites her to spend her winter break with him, she jumps at the chance to escape into the Norm world of Dallas, Texas. There she meets the handsome and achingly familiar Trevor. He’s a virtual stranger to her, so why does her heart do a funny flip every time she sees him? But after witnessing secrets that were supposed to stay hidden, Trevor quickly seems more suspicious of Addie than interested in her. And she has an inexplicable desire to change that. Meanwhile, her best friend, Laila, has a secret of her own: she can restore Addie’s memories . . . once she learns how. But there are powerful people who don’t want to see this happen. Desperate, Laila tries to manipulate Connor, a brooding bad boy from school—but he seems to be the only boy in the Compound immune to her charms. And the only one who can help her.
As Addie and Laila frantically attempt to retrieve the lost memories, Addie must piece together a world she thought she knew before she loses the love she nearly forgot . . . and a future that could change everything.

My Review: *contains spoilers for book one in the FIRST paragraph- rest is spoiler free:)* Split Second was such a fantastic sequel! I was so excited about starting it after reading and falling in love with Pivot Point, the previous book, last year. Set after Addie’s huge choice made at the end of Pivot Point, Addie is off for a break from the Compound in the Norm world at her dad’s house. But now, as she’s faced with new, scary difficulties, her friend Laila’s also in a dilemma with her brother.

Split Second is told in the alternating narratives of Addie and Laila. Even though that’s clearly shown, I did get mixed up and got parts confused at first! I think I’m like that at first with a lot of dual narrative books, though. I really did love both girls’ voices. It’s hard to stop reading Split Second- the story and the writing draws you in and doesn’t let you go until the end.

Addie and Laila are a dynamic duo of friends and their voices are both really unique and stand out. They’re both so different but similar at the same time… I’m not sure how to describe their friendship. I just love it way too much! I also really loved the subplot in this story about Laila’s little brother, and I really loved the love interests. All of the characters are so easy to like- obviously except for the not so nice dudes, who I shared hatred with Addie and Laila for!

The plot is completely unpredictable. I couldn’t actually believe that outcome- I’m kind of glad I wasn’t reading this in public because I gasped pretty loudly when that plot twist at the ending was revealed. Argh. It ripped my heart to a million pieces- one thing that you grow to love is… NOT what you think it is. Um… But I’ll shut up now because I really don’t want to spoil it. xD However, it is amazing. I’m always really worried about sequels to brilliant books, but honestly, Kasie West’s Split Second was a really strong sequel and it’s hard not to enjoy it.

Overall, Split Second was a really great read. I loved the plot; it’s unpredictable, and unwinds in a really clever way. Of course, I loved Addie; she’s really easy to relate to, and then Laila is just Laila, and Laila is awesome. (: Kasie West’s writing is addictive, pacy and thrilling; I really can’t wait to read more from her in the future! The only thing that kind of disappointed me is there wasn’t much detail on the Compound and why and how it was started, which was what I guessed this installment might be about. I’m hoping there will be a book three though, and that’s where we’ll find out! Really highly recommended- and make sure to check out Pivot Point (my review here), and read that first before Split Second! (:

My Rating:

bibliomaniacheart

I received a copy of Split Second from the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

book review: seven second delay by tom easton

Leave a reply

Published 1st May 2014 by Andersen Press.

18300258 Goodreads Synopsis: Mila has 7 seconds. 7 seconds to fight. 7 seconds to escape.

Seeking a new life on the futuristic Isles, Mila’s time runs out – she’s captured by Agents, who implant her with a phone that broadcasts her every move. Now she’s on the run, hounded by an elite fighting force who is convinced she poses a dangerous threat to society. Her only advantage: a seven second delay.

It’s a race against time.

My Review: Seven Second Delay was such an action packed, and thrilling read!I was looking forward to reading it, and wasn’t let down, though I wasn’t entirely sure at first how I’d find it , a dark dystopian, after having read Easton’s more contemporary, funny book!

It did take me a little while to understand the world; it was about a hundred pages before everything was explained fully. However, the rest of the book did make up for that! The plot is so interesting. The beginning of the book has the reader as clueless about what’s happening as Mila, the protagonist, so it’s really riveting to piece together all of the information along with her. There were a lot of unexpected twists and turns; I honestly didn’t know what was going to happen on the next page.

I really loved Easton’s writing. He laces his chapters with tension and drama. It’s quite a fast paced book, set over a relatively short period of time, too. Seven Second Delay is pretty addictive, full of narrative hooks. I enjoyed all of the flashbacks woven around the story, that focus on Mila’s life before she’s captured by agents. They let me get to know Mila really well. I would’ve liked more flashbacks, though, because they were brilliant and gave good insights into the other areas of the futuristic world the story is set in. The book is shorter than I’d expected at just over 300 pages. I was left wanting to know a bit more about the world (hint, Tom Easton… sequel…? 😀 )

Overall, Seven Second Delay is a really action packed, fast paced book. It’ll definitely appeal to fans of Charlie Higson, and Anthony Horowitz! I really liked the characters. Mila is great- she reminded me a lot of many other awesome dystopian protagonists, namely the ones in novels by Emma Pass. I really loved the concept of the world, it’s so unique and clever. I would have loved a bit more about it, though… I’ve given this 4 hearts, but i’m really going for 3.75 (I’m awkward 😀 ) because it’s a brilliant read but I wish it could have been longer 🙂

My Rating:

bibliomaniacheart

I received a copy of Seven Seocnd Delay from the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

life of a blogger – favourite music albums

10 Replies

So, I found out about this feature from The Red Bookmark blog, and it’s originally hosted by Novel Heartbeat. I’ve been meaning to get involved and try out more features, so I’m going to jump in and try this occasionally! The feature takes place on a Thursday and discusses what us book bloggy peoples do, outside of bookishness. This week’s theme is music- so here are the top ten albums I’m listening to at the moment (:

Strange mixture of rock-y things and folk-y things and soundtracks and Hank Green. :3 I’ve been writing to the Pacific Rim soundtrack. It’s just too cool. And I’ve been blogging to Paramore. 😀

Alsooooo what should be up there is Fall Out Boy’s Save Rock and Roll, because I’ve been obsessing over that too much and it somehow slipped my mind but Charli reminded me ;D

Check out Novel Heartbeat’s post for this week here.

Book Review: Don’t Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

Leave a reply

Published 1st May 2014 by Orchard Books.

21399241 Goodreads Synopsis: This is the story of how we became freaks. It’s how a group of I’s became a we.
When Class 10B got their flu shots, they expected some side effects. Maybe a sore arm. Maybe a headache. They definitely didn’t expect to get telepathy. But suddenly they could hear what everyone was thinking. Their friends. Their teachers. Their parents. Now they all know that Tess has a crush on her best friend, Teddy. That Mackenzie cheated on Cooper. That Nurse Carmichael used to be a stripper. Some of them will thrive. Some of them will break. None of them will ever be the same.
A smart and funny story about friendship, first love and surviving high school from the bestselling author of Ten Things We Shouldn’t Have Done.

My Review: I’ve read books about telepathy before, but none have been like this. The idea behind the story is original and it’s pretty funny too. I did enjoy the book, but after thinking abut it for a while…. there are a few things that did annoy me… 😦

This book, despite being about telepathy and things, is largely just a contemporary romance. I was looking forward to some Sci-Fi details and awesomeness from the book- but really, I think the supernatural powers were just… thrown in? to enable all of the romance and drama to work, if that makes sense. It makes the story really interesting, because a form class keeping a shedload of secrets from each other can suddenly see who’s cheated on who amongst other things. But, I did want more insight into the origin of the telepathy powers. How did the flu jab cause it? It’s never fully explained!

The narration is quite clever. It’s a collective voice, of the whole form class- using We instead of I, and occasionally arguing against itself when recapping details about events. It sounds a little confusing, and it did confuse me a bit at first, but then I found it did work quite well with the story.

I did find the characters really hard to work out, though. The story starts focusing on not too many characters, but then suddenly, it’s about the entire, roughly 30 kid form class. It was so hard to keep track of all of the names, made even trickier because the love stories woven in are pretty complex (at least, to me they were :P). Don’t Even Think About It is one of those books that will make sense if you read it in a short amount of sittings, I think. I read it in-between books, and that definitely added to the confusion.

Overall, I think Don’t Think About It will be loved by fans of funny teen romances and contemporaries. I read it, despite the cover which doesn’t suggest it, hoping for a fun Sci-Fi book… but as I said, I think the telepathy is just the method the author used to add some drama! I found it hard to keep track of the characters, but after a while I did get the hang of some and liked a few of the students. Though this review’s largely pointed out things that I disliked… Don’t Even Think about It is definitely worth picking up if you’re a fan of high school dramas and funny reads!Because of that, I’ve given this 3 hearts. 🙂

My Rating:

bibliomaniacheart

I received a copy of Don’t Even Think About It from the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

Book Review: The Fearless by Emma Pass

Leave a reply

Published 24th April 2014 by Corgi Books.

18160146 Goodreads Synopsis: The Fearless. An army, powered by an incredible new serum that makes each soldier stronger, sharper, faster than their enemies. Intended as a force for good, the serum has a terrible side-effect – anyone who takes it is stripped of all humanity, empathy, love. And as the Fearless sweep through the country, forcing the serum on anyone in their path, society becomes a living nightmare.

Cass remembers the night they passed through her village. All Cass has left is her little brother – and when Jori is snatched by the Fearless and taken to their hellish lair, Cass must risk everything to get him back.

My Review: I really loved ACID by Emma Pass last year. Ever since I found out Emma had written a new book, I’d been really excited, so I did a little dance when I got the chance to read this on Netgalley!
The Fearless begins with a completely scary prologue, where ten year old Cass and her parents experience the Invasion and are forced to risk everything and leave everything behind to get to a safe place: an island called Hope. I made the stupid mistake of reading the prologue before I went to sleep. It freaked me out. A lot. :O

The world building in The Fearless is awesome: I could really visualise this post-apocalyptic, almost, world- where England and (so far as we know!) the globe has been destroyed by a rapidly growing, almost zombie-ish army. The Fearless felt like a really original dystopian; it’s got that zombie invasion feel, but at the same time, it’s linked to the military and soldier serums and it’s really unique- I haven’t read anything like it!

Cass is a great main character- we see her grow a lot within the first few chapters- where we see her become a teenager intent on finding her brother, from a ten year old girl watching in horror as the Fearless rip her world to shreds. I was terrified for her, but she was a strong protagonist throughout. Emma Pass has expertly crafted another loveable, kick-butt heroine! There’s a… slight love triangle… but I coped with it. I have a tendency to really dislike love triangles, but I was okay-ish with this one! It was a little bit predictable, but I really grew attached to one of the love interests.

Overall, The Fearless was a really great second book from Emma Pass. I’ve been looking forward to hearing more from Emma since loving ACID last year, and though I think ACID is probably my favourite of her two books, The Fearless is definitely worth reading if you loved ACID or if you’re a dystopian fan! Emma Pass’ début novel was already dark and terrifying, and I didn’t think her next book could get scarier, but it did. the Fearless will freak you out, and keep you on the edge of your seat.

My Rating:

bibliomaniacheart

I received a copy of The Fearless from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

New Books! #46

8 Replies

I haven’t posted a book haul in a while, so this is a bit bigger than normal! Also, the whole wardrobe holding my TBR pile can actually take no more books. I’ve taken to piling newly-bought/received books on other bookshelves. I need to read faster… or get a bigger wardrobe. Umm. In other words, I’m finally able to use a proper camera instead of a cruddy phone camera for book pictures, so these snaps look sliiiightly prettier (though, rainy day, hardly any light, ugh)!

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton & Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell: Buy-One-Get-One-Half-Price Waterstones offers, you are evil. I’ve been meaning to read both of these for a while now; with the Luminaries winning the Man Booker prize and with Rooftoppers being shortlisted for so many things and for winning the Waterstones prize. Couldn’t not pick copies up when I saw them! The Luminaries is dauntingly big at over 800 pages. I don’t think I’ve read a bigger book than the Order of the Phoenix D: I’ll have to find a long weekend or a holiday in the future where I can read it!

Alex as Well by Alyssa Brugman: This has already been reviewed on my blog, as I just realised as I was taking the pictures… so click here for my review-graphic.

These Broken Stars by Annie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner: I have only heard good things, but I was out-of-region on Netgalley so I was declined for a proof, and I didn’t realise it was available in the UK! I spotted it at Waterstones Piccadilly, the American edition, and I had to buy it. Such a pretty cover, and an exciting-sounding premise.

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Conan Doyle: The Graphic Novel: Walking past the gorgeous (and evil, tempting) second hand book stores near Leicester Square, just after being at the Sherlock Holmes museum on Baker Street, my brother and I noticed this in a window, and we just had to buy it after a very Sherlock-y day! I didn’t realise there were graphic novel adaptations of Sherlock Holmes novels, so I’m seriously excited about it.

Forgotten by Cat Patrick and Just Like Fate by Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young: These two both look amazing, and really thrilling! Big thank you to Cicely for Forgotten, and to Debbie for Just Like Fate (:

Sooo, that’s the book haul! What books have you received recently- or have you read any of these? I’d love to hear what you thought of them, I’m hoping to re-order the TBR soon… (: