May Wrap-Up Post.

Okay so this month didn't quite go to plan in terms of reading the exact books that I listed for my challenges. I did manage to complete all my challenges (by the skin of my teeth) but not with the books I said that I would. Still, I have managed it and I did read 5/6 of the Netgalley reads that I promised that I would. Now this normally counts as my wrap up post for my '2014 Real Book Challenge' as well but I've actually only read Kindle books this month (something that will change next month). So without further ado, here are this month's reads and a catch-up on my Bookish Bingo challenge too.

Kindle Reads:

1. 'Herafter'; Terri Bruce. A pretty enjoyable start to a completely new author to me. Having been approved for the second in the series, 'Thereafter', I really wanted to read this one first. I'm glad I did though I had a few issues with it. 3.5/5 stars.
2. 'Deep Blue'; Jennifer Donnelly. I had read mixed reviews on this one but I actually really enjoyed it. Once I got past the first few chapters of rather extreme information dumping, I thought there were too many good points to ignore and look forward to the next one! 3.5/5 stars.
3. 'Cuckoo Song'; Frances Hardinge. What a creepy, original and enjoyable book! I had really looked forward to this one and was not disappointed. It was sinister, the plot well thought out and I loved the characters. 4/5 stars.
4. 'Thereafter'; Terri Bruce. I finally felt ready to return to the Bruce's world of the Afterlife and I'm really glad I looked past some of my reservations from the first book and went on! the second book was a lot better, it felt more focused and I was thoroughly impressed with the amount of research that must have gone into this one. 4/5 stars.
5. 'The Three'; Sarah Lotz. I had some mixed thoughts on this book. It was very different in style and structure to books I've read previously, and I found this confusing and frustrating at first. I did end up really getting into it though, I just wish the ending had been a little more conclusive. 3.5/5 stars.
6. 'A Red Tale'; Nicola Mar. I wanted to enjoy this book so badly but it started to go off track after the first few chapters. Characters seemed inconsistent and I didn't get very attached to them. As well as that, there were just far too many elements in this one and none of them felt completely tied up. 1/5 stars.
7. 'Shadow And Bone'; Leigh Bardugo. I have only just finished this one as I'm writing this, and I loved it! Why did it take me so long to read this book? A beautiful contribution to the fantasy genre with a wonderful setting, great characters and a perfectly built romance. 4.5/5 stars.

7 books this month! That isn't too bad right? Considering it's probably been the most stressful month at Uni! Still, I probably should have done a bit better. I'm particularly eager to read more physical books next month! Here is the next Bookish Bingo update!

New-to-you Author: The Three, Sarah Lotz.

A Romance: A Certain Slant Of Light, Laura Whitcomb.

Featuring Recovery: Cuckoo Song, Frances Hardinge.

Child Narrator: The Invention Of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd.

Set In the Caribbean: A Red Tale, Nicola Mar.

Has Been Made Into A Movie: The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins.

Spring Release: Thereafter, Terri Bruce.

Featuring Travel: Demolition Queen (Champagne, Murder & Chaos), Betsy Cook Speer.

Strong Parent-Child Relationships: The Fault In Our Stars, John Green.

Written By A Woman: Deep Blue, Jennifer Donnelly.

1st In A Series: Tithe (A Modern Faerie Tale), Holly Black.

Starts with S, P, R, I, N or G. The Poison Eaters, Holly Black.

A YA Book: Days Of Blood & Starlight, Laini Taylor.

Daily Shenanigans, 20/05/2014: Off to a friend's!

I'll make this one quick because today has really tired me out. I was actually pretty productive in terms of getting some things for my project that needed doing done! I still have plenty to do but there's a bit of weight off of my mind. My 'Cabinet of Curiosities' book that I ordered a couple of days ago arrived this morning which made me really happy! I can't wait to get into reading it! I also ordered a few Kindle reads:

• One Hundred Years Of Solitude; Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
• Beyond The Veil ('The Veil' Series, Book 1); Pippa DaCosta.
• Alone; Sean-Paul Thomas.

Some really exciting reads, particularly 'One Hundred Years Of Solitude'! I spent most of the morning working on my Top Ten Tuesday post and making a prop for my Multimedia show, followed by this afternoon at a friend's working on even more stuff for the same show! We did also play a couple of games to relax which was fun! Tomorrow I'm afraid it's off to Canterbury to really get on with the main programming for this show, so that I have very little more to worry about before the performance on Friday. Gulp!

Daily Shenanigans, 18/05/2014: The entire 'Frozen' soundtrack is stuck in my head.

I feel like my day has been really productive. To start with, I tidied my room! It has really become very messy over the last few weeks and I've been putting the job off for a very long time (procrastination is something I'm very good at). But I decided that enough was enough and I've cleared away so many things, including the piles of books that were scattered around everywhere!  I managed to post my 'Weekly Wishlist' eventually too and I'm pretty happy with this particular selection! After doing all of those jobs, I watched 'Frozen' with my family. I had forgotten how much I loved about that film and was so glad I found time to get round to it and relax a bit!

Other than that, I'm currently about to finish Terri Bruce's 'Thereafter' and the review for that will be up tomorrow! I bought a couple of things for myself. The first was an item that appeared on one of my Wishlists and I really wanted to get hold of, 'The Cabinet Of Curiosities' by Guillermo Del Toro. As it's non-fiction, I don't think it counts in my book buying ban. The other was a free Kindle read, 'Beckoning Light' by Alyssa Rose Ivy. I really love checking back on all the books I have on my Kindle Wishlist and realising one has dropped in price.

Tomorrow I have work, but other than that I plan to be just as productive as today, in terms of reading, blogging and Uni work.

Daily Shenanigans, 03/05/2014: Signing up to Edelweiss!

I have had a good day today guys, though it was somewhat uneventful. I spent most of the morning at Mat's house and didn't get up too early! After coming home, I divided my time between some Uni work, reading 'Hereafter' (which I'm just over 50% of the way through, slow progress!) and just general browsing of the blogosphere. One thing I did do today, in preparation for my upcoming blog-focused Summer, was to join Edelweiss! I found a couple of books on there to request but I haven't gone mad (I won't until Uni is over). I also managed to write my 'Six Degrees Of Separation' post which was a lot of fun to do!

This evening I, of course, watched Britain's Got Talent and had a nice curry! I don't know if anyone else has tried this but I stole an idea from my local Indian Restaurant that Mat takes me too and put some Honey on my Naan bread. It is completely delicious, especially with Korma! Oh, also I downloaded 'Children Of Eli' by Mike Cranny, seeing as it was free! I haven't got to get up terribly early tomorrow but I do still have things to do so I'll probably be quite busy again! My Weekly Wishlist will be posted, and hopefully a review for 'Hereafter' too. I can't believe I'm having Game Of Thrones withdrawal symptoms too, I only got two episodes in!

Daily Shenanigans, 01/05/2014: May Day!

That's right readers, it is the first of the month and I've been a busy blogging bee! I got two posts up today, one for my planned reads for this month, and the other for my 'Life Of A Blogger' post. Both were fun to write, and I also got a good way through Terri Bruce's 'Hereafter'. I've spent the whole day at home as I didn't have a reason to be in Uni today, and I've been pretty productive with my time! I made a couple of Kindle purchases today (to celebrate the start of the month). Firstly, 'Stolen Songbird' by Danielle Jensen which I'm ridiculously excited to read and I only hope I get to it this month! Also, I downloaded a free collection of books, 'Dark Realms' by Kristen Middleton. They seem to contain both Fantasy and Horror elements so I'm looking forward to those!

Tomorrow will be pretty busy, I'm off to Uni to help out with a show, then seeing Mat (who has returned home early) straight after! I'm staying there for the night so I don't know if I'll get to do anymore than my daily post. If I finish 'Hereafter', maybe a review? In other news (that should really have gone on yesterday's post) I was saddened to hear that Bob Hoskins has died. One of my favourite films growing up was 'Hook' and he played a brilliant Smee! May he rest in peace!

Daily Shenanigans, 30/04/2014: Early start...

I'd like to start this post by saying if you're planning to get up at six in the morning, don't go to bed at gone midnight. Good. Now that's out of the way, I started off my morning okay, really tired but in pretty good spirits. I got to Canterbury early and helped a friend of mine with a few bits and bobs and then made my way back home to spend the day there. I had planned to return to go and see a friend of mine's performance but I started feeling a bit weird and ended up staying home (for which I feel terrible). I suppose at least I got to be a bit productive/catch up on some sleep. I finished reading 'Days Of Blood And Starlight' too, a book which I really enjoyed a lot! Next up are 'Hereafter' and then 'Thereafter' by Terri Bruce, as I plan to start working my way through these Netgalley reads now!

Speaking of Netgalley, I got my first Auto-Approval (which completely shocked me) from Hatchette Children's Books, so thank you so much to them! That brightened my day up quite a bit! They also approved my request for 'The Moment Collector' by Jodi Lynn Anderson. Looking forward to making a start on all of these! I also splashed out on a few more Kindle reads from Amazon:

• 'The City Of Bones' ('The Mortal Instruments' Series, Book 1) by Cassandra Clare.
• 'The Iron King' ('The Iron Fey' Series, Book 1) by Julie Kagawa.
• 'Clarity' (The 'Clarity' Series, Book 1) by Loretta Lost.

I've been eyeing these up for a while and 'Clarity' is currently free on Amazon UK if you're interested! I won't be in Uni tomorrow I don't think, I'm going to spend the day being really productive. Plenty of posts are to be done tomorrow as well so I've got my work cut out!

April Wrap-Up Post.

Once again, I leave another month a bit disappointed in myself! I think that Uni is having to take up quite a lot of my time at the moment, and once that is over, I will have much more time to get on with things! You'll see in tomorrow's 'Planned Reads' post that most of them will consist of urgent Netgalley reads, books I need to review and challenge entries. Of course if I can do more, that would be great! But let's get on to what I managed! I'll start with the books that are going into the 'Real Books Challenge' category (button above), and then I'll get onto my Kindle Reads as I actually have a couple this month! I suppose I didn't do terribly. I read my crossover book, 5/6 of the ones I really wanted to get through, 1/6 of the ones I wanted to try to read and even an unanticipated author request! Let's not mention the extra challenge I set myself...

1. 'Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale'; Holly Black: This was the book that I actually started reading in March, but finished in April and so comes under this category. I really enjoyed this book, I'd been eyeing it up for a very long time and I'm certainly a fan of Holly Black now! I can't wait to read the second in the series, 'Valiant'. 4/5 stars.
2. 'Demolition Queen - Champagne, Murder & Chaos'; Betsy Cook Speer: Now this was my very first author request and I got majorly excited when it happened so I accepted. I wouldn't normally pick this one up off the shelf and I thought it was a bit of a slow starter, but by the end I liked it more! If you're a fan of thrillers, this might be better suited to you! 2/5 stars.
3. 'The Fault In Our Stars'; John Green: My sister Bev pestered and pestered for me to rearrange my entire reading list and bump this one up! I listened and am so glad I did. Such a heart-breakingly beautiful book that made me cry, like, a lot. Very sad but I have no regrets. Everybody needs to read this book, it delivers a pretty important message and I did a lot of reflecting afterwards. 5/5 stars.
4. 'A Certain Slant Of Light'; Laura Whitcomb: I was blessed with reading some really good books this month! Another one that has been on the pile for a while, and I've finally put my foot down and read it. I've never read anything like it, there was such originality in the concept and it was done pretty well. There's a sequel which I would be interested to read to see where Whitcomb takes the story from this point. 4.5/5 stars.
5. 'The Hunger Games'; Suzanne Collins: Well it was pretty obvious that having loved the films so much, I needed to read the book. I'm really glad I did, I worried my opinion would be tainted by my prior knowledge but I found that the book did a lot of things that I now see the film could not. 4/5 stars.
6. 'Days Of Blood & Starlight'; Laini Taylor: I literally finished this one a few hours ago, and wow! I gave the first in the series four stars but this next installment I found even better than the first one! Characterisation was top notch and Taylor's imagination never fails to amaze me! 5/5 stars.

Kindle Reads

1. 'The Invention Of Wings'; Sue Monk Kidd: I won this in a giveaway and I adored this book. Definitely one of my favourite reads of the month, it's a powerful novel that at times can shock with the injustices it contains. I loved the differing perspectives within the book and will not ever stop recommending it to people. 5/5 stars.
2. 'The Poison Eaters'; Holly Black: A wonderful little selection of short stories written again by Holly Black. As I'd read Tithe, I really wanted to get to the short story set in it's universe. I loved it but I'm glad I got the chance to read all the other gems she had written too! I would love to see full-length novels made out of a couple of them, some really original concepts. 4/5 stars.

So I've broken out of the 6 books a month habit! I read 8 this time, yay! I don't feel quite so terrible now and I've read some really good ones. Here is a quick update on my current Bookish Bingo score! Every single one of my reads this month fit into a category!

A Romance: A Certain Slant Of Light, Laura Whitcomb.

Child Narrator: The Invention Of Wings, Sue Monk Kidd.

Has Been Made Into A Movie: The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins.

Featuring Travel: Demolition Queen (Champagne, Murder & Chaos), Betsy Cook Speer.

Strong Parent-Child Relationships: The Fault In Our Stars, John Green.

1st In A Series: Tithe (A Modern Faerie Tale), Holly Black.

Starts with S, P, R, I, N or G. The Poison Eaters, Holly Black.

A YA Book: Days Of Blood & Starlight, Laini Taylor.

Daily Shenanigans, 20/04/2014: Easter Day!

I'll begin this post by wishing everyone a happy Easter and I hope you all got the chocolate fix that you wanted/whatever else you wanted instead! I got a few Easter Eggs this year, mostly of the Lindt variety which I cannot wait to tuck into! Other than that, today was a pretty average day for me! The weather was appalling first of all, so much rain and the awful air pressure left my head pounding! I went round Mat's for quite a lot of it, which was nice. We spent the day relaxing, playing Assassin's Creed 4 and generally enjoying a quiet Sunday in. I managed to get my Weekly Wishlist up this morning, and read a bit more of 'The Hunger Games' but other than that I've had a pretty blog-free day today. I did buy 'Saving June' by Hannah Harrington for the Kindle, a book I plan to use to cross off a Bookish Bingo square! It looks great!

I had dinner back at home with my family this evening, and we had curry! I also received the finished music for my Multimedia Piece, which has made me very happy because I've been very stressed out about it and it's nice to see something finished! I just have to match it up with the various script points and programme it all in, a task that I'm not looking forward to but has to be done! Once it is, I'm sure I'll feel a lot better than I've been feeling over the last few days. Tomorrow I was originally going to be meeting with a friend of mine, but alas, she is ill and so I shall probably not see her. So instead, tomorrow will be my 'be productive and literally get as much done as humanly possible' day, so that I can work towards feeling a bit less anxious about things. 

Daily Shenanigans, 19/04/2014: UK YA Day!

Well, my Twitter feed was abuzz with excitement today readers. Why? Because it is UK Young Adult Day! Now I have to admit that until today, I was completely oblivious that it existed but when I saw it did, I couldn't help but get excited! YA Fiction is my absolute favourite! If you want to know a bit more, I suggest you look on the Project UKYA blog, it explains a great deal better than I can! This post is more specific about their plans for April, i.e. why UK YA Day exists! I was pleasantly surprised to see that the day got a lot of support, and actually trended briefly on Twitter! Wowee! Thanks to the day's activities as well, I managed to win another book (some authors were hosting giveaways for their novels/series and I took part in a couple). 'Red Ink' by Julie Mayhew is on it's way to me and I'm very excited.

My other activities for the day? Well my book review for 'A Certain Slant Of Light' was posted, which I really enjoyed! I replied to some blog comments, did some work and went shopping! No, not book shopping for once. Actual clothes shopping! I only bought a few things, but a bit of retail therapy did me good as I've been pretty stressed out as of late. I bought myself a lovely new dress, a jumper and a leather jacket! I got a couple more titles off of NetGalley today, firstly 'Moonfall' by Vanessa Morton, and also I was approved to read 'Thereafter' by Terri Bruce. It is the second in the series, so I'll be getting the first one on Kindle to read before I start that particular one, but I am very excited about both books!

I also saw Mat today, and we exchanged Easter eggs as we were unsure as to whether we would be seeing each other tomorrow (as it turns out, we are). We both bought each other a nice Lindt egg (his was far more impressive than mine though) and I got him some Malteaser Easter Bunnies! He spent the evening fussing over me which was nice, I was showered with cups of tea, bourbon biscuits (my favourite) and chocolate while watching Britain's Got Talent! It was a lovely end to the evening. 

Daily Shenanigans, 18/04/2014: My first approved reads!

Well I've had a bit of a roller-coaster of a day, but a fair few good things have happened so I'll start with those. I got my NetGalley Bio typed out and saved at last, so I took the time to request a few reads and see where I got. One of the reads that I requested, 'Keane's Challenge' by Iain Gale has been one I've seen and wanted to read for a little while. I was surprised to see it was in the 'Read Now' section of NetGalley, which I assume means I don't have to be approved? I could download the title straight onto my Kindle so I was quite pleased about that. Another title that I did actually have to put in a request for was approved within a few hours! It is called 'A Red Tale' by Nicola Mar, and I shall be getting onto that as soon as I've got through a few more of my important April reads!

I also did download a couple of free books to my Kindle that have been on my TBR list for quite some time:

• 'Dying For A Living' (The 'Jesse Sullivan' Series, Book 1) by Kory M. Shrum
• 'Peach Blossom Pavilion' by Mingmei Yip

'Peach Blossom Pavilion' in particular is exciting because I saw it in Tesco the other day and almost bought it but refrained. Now I'm really glad I did. Good things come to those who wait I guess! While we're on the topic of books (and let's face it, this book mostly is), not only did I post my 'The Fault In Our Stars' review at last, I also managed to finish 'A Certain Slant Of Light', the review for which will be coming your way tomorrow! My next couple of reads are 'The Hunger Games' and 'The Poison Eaters', which I'm very much looking forward to getting into!

I did journey into Canterbury with a friend of mine today, in order to get some work done. Unfortunately there had been a mix-up, and actually, the Uni was closed so it was a bit of a wasted journey unfortunately! Still, it was a nice day for a trip out (always look on the bright side and all that) and I did manage to pop into Clarks to sort out my rota for the week after next! I've received a bit of bad news regarding my Multimedia Project this evening, but I'm determined to try and relax, and not let it worry me too much! It won't be too long until Uni is over and I can completely relax once and for all. No more stressing out over silly things for me, and more reading! Hooray!

Daily Shenanigans, 09/04/2014: More free E-reads!

Today was absolutely lovely weather-wise, which I was not expecting at all. I had a pretty lazy morning, I felt so tired because I was up pretty late last night! But once I had finally stopped lazing around and had a nice bath, I felt much better. I had to go to Canterbury again today, but only for a work shift. It was nice to at least have the morning to myself! On the train journey, I of course got some more reading done, and I have to say, the book is starting to get pretty interesting now. Work was very busy, as it's the Easter holidays which means many more customers. It also means that shifts go much more quickly, so hooray for that!

I got home this evening and had a lovely evening on my laptop not doing a whole lot! I was nominated again for the Liebster Blog Award, so I wrote a quick post answering the questions and really enjoyed it! It was something nice to do anyway.

Now, my evening's finds on the Kindles:

• 'The Call Of Agon' (The 'Children Of Telm' Series, Book 1) by Dean Wilson.
• 'The Fallen Star' (The 'Fallen Star' Series, Book 1) by Jessica Sorenson & Kristin Campbell.
• 'Vigilante Of Shadows' (The 'Scarlet Rain' Series, Book 1) by Miranda Stork.
• 'Goddess Legacy' (The 'Goddess' Series, Book 1) by M.W.Muse

All of these books were free on Amazon! Following that, I'm a happy bunny! Mat is home now too and I'll be seeing him tomorrow so that has put me in such a good mood. I can't wait to see him again!

Daily Shenanigans, 05/04/2014: Happy Birthday Mum!

Yep! Today is my Mum's birthday! I got her a book (naturally) and a Kindle voucher because she so rarely has a chance to sit down and enjoy a good book, I wanted to give her the opportunity to do so! The day in itself has been pretty laid back actually. I got a bit more reading done, but not as much as I wanted to. Still: there's always tomorrow! As well as that, I watched 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' with my Dad (who hadn't seen it yet) and I had forgotten how good I thought this film was...and how much it made me cry! I really need to catch up with the rest of the world and read this series. The films are too good for the books not to be (I could just blabber on about how much I love Jennifer Lawrence for ages, but I'll spare you that). 

Mat came round again this evening, which was a lot of fun. We played Pokemon for the whole evening but it was nice to just chill out. I'm not going to see him for a few days, he's off with a friend of his on a mini holiday in a Caravan. It'll give me a chance (between work shifts and Uni visits) to get a lot done though! Oh also, a book that I've had my eye on: 'Phase' by Adam Hamdy was free on the Kindle when I looked today! Naturally, I bought it! So that was my exciting book treat of the day.

Today I managed to write a post that I didn't think I'd be able to, which I was pretty pleased about. It was a new monthly Meme, 'Six Degrees Of Separation', and it was a little tough, but a lot of fun! I highly recommend everyone join in next year, I loved seeing the direction that other people went with it and have now added even more books to my TBR list. This list is never going to end, there are just too many books to read in the world! I've been browsing some Book Reviewing websites as well, as I'm desperate to think about getting a bit more serious with this Blog, I enjoy writing for it so much! In particular, I was thinking about getting a NetGalley account and requesting books to review on there. I know quite a lot of bloggers that I follow have one, and get a lot out of it. But then part of me is a little scared that I'm not really a big enough blog to be joining a site like that yet and be seriously considered. It's something to think about anyway!

Tomorrow I have very little I need to do. A Weekly Wishlist post will be coming your way, and I'll be doing a lot of reading and (fingers crossed) finishing 'The Invention Of Wings'. Other than that, maybe a bit of coursework or watch a film? Who knows!

Daily Shenanigans, 31/03/2014: Back to work!

I've been extra productive today and got a lot done, which I'm very proud of! Firstly, I put up my 'March Wrap-Up Post', which is doubling as my wrap-up for the 'Real Books' challenge I'm in. Secondly, I read a little more of 'Tithe', and managed to get some Coursework done too! Other than that, I spent this morning writing and scheduling my 'Planned Reads For April' post, which I'm looking forward to seeing go up tomorrow morning. I'm so excited about these reads guys, I can't wait to share them with you!

I spent my afternoon at work, which went fairly quickly I suppose, before going into Uni for an hour or so to meet a friend and arrange our meet-up for getting stuff done tomorrow. I haven't seen her since the stress that was Show Week so it was nice to catch up! Other than that, today was a pretty laid back day actually. I bought another read for the Kindle, free of course, which was 'Winter Solstice Winter' by E.J. Squires. I need to curb the Kindle downloading a bit, I've got plenty to keep me going! Oh, also, 'Angelfall' by Susan Ee arrived today, which means I'm all caught up with parcels that should be arriving (other than Giveaway wins). Hooray!

I also saw an extra challenge that I'm keen to take part in. I've seen a few other sign up entries on Bloglovin' and it looks like a great challenge! It's a 'Bookish Bingo' Challenge, hosted by Great Imaginations. I plan to look into it a little more over the next couple of days, and sign up to it for a bit of fun, as it runs over April, May and June! Check out the links to have a look! Tomorrow's plan also includes Top Ten Tuesday (of course) and getting more work done!

Daily Shenanigans, 30/03/2014: Mother's Day!

I had a really lovely, family-oriented day today folks! It was really nice! There's a lot to talk about today so prepare yourselves. The clocks went forward an hour, and so I lost an hour's sleep! I wasn't too upset though, despite being tired because I woke up in an inexplicably good mood (this is what Marvel films do to me). For Mother's Day, we got Mum a gift voucher for a clothes store and some puzzle books (she's Sudoku mad). I was then left for the rest of the morning to have a bath and be productive, which I was. I finally finished 'The Telling Error'. I'm really not sure why it took me so long to read, it wasn't a particularly long book.

I posted my Weekly Wishlist, which took quite a while to compile today, and my review for the previously mentioned book! I also have made a pretty good start on 'Tithe' by Holly Black, my next chosen read so I'm quite a happy bunny on the reading front at the moment. Now here comes the long bit. I went a bit Kindle barmy this morning and found an absolute ton of books (most of them free) to download, and have done:

• 'Evanescent' by Gabriella Lepore
• 'Silence' ('Silence' Series, Book 1) by Natasha Preston
• 'Covert' by Natasha Preston
• 'Twenty-Eight And A Half Wishes' ('Rose Gardner Mystery' Series, Book 1) by Denise Grover Swank
• 'A Field Of Red' by Greg Enslen
• 'Ravenstone' ('The Ravenstone Chronicles' Series, Book 1) by Louise Franklin
• 'Dark Promise' ('Between Worlds' Series, Book 1) by Julia Crane & Talia Jager
• 'Descension' ('Mystic' Series, Book 1) by B.C.Burgess
• 'Return To The Aegean' ('The Aegean Mystery' Series, Book 1) by E.J.Russell & Iain Chaffey
• 'Ill Wind' (Valkyrie Series, Book 1) by Karen Perkins
• 'Shadow And Bone' ('The Grisha' Series, Book 1) by Leigh Bardugo

As well as these, I also downloaded a set of Prequel stories to 'The Grimm Diaries' series (Volumes 1-6) by Cameron Jace, Jami Hampson & Danielle Littig. Whew! That's a lot of books. I only paid £0.99 to buy 'Shadow And Bone', because that is a ridiculously good offer that I just couldn't refuse!

I also went out on a little shopping trip with the family today, and my naughty sister persuaded me to come and look at the books with her. She knew I wouldn't be able to resist and I entirely blame on her on my subsequent purchases:

• 'The Shock Of The Fall' by Nathan Filer
• 'Life After Life' by Kate Atkinson

As much as I love paperback books, this needs to stop. Seriously I have an addiction! So all in all, a good book turnout today! I took some time to help Bev, my sister, with her Photography coursework as well which was a lot of fun! I spent the rest of the evening eating a lovely curry with the family, drafting my Wrap-Up post for this month in preparation for tomorrow, and watching a few videos while reading. Oh and desperately hunting down the 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' soundtrack, which I can't find to listen to anywhere. I'm devastated!

I told you this would be a long one! Tomorrow I will probably be going to Uni to do some work (even though it's Easter Break, I still have a lot to do for Multimedia) and I have an actual Work Shift too!

Daily Shenanigans, 28/03/2014: More book shopping!

I ended up going to Town today, as Mother's day is coming up and I needed to get a few bits and bobs. This took up most of my morning (other than a few chores and a bit of computer browsing) and while I was there, I inevitably ended up wondering into a bookshop. I told myself it was because I wanted to find a present for my Mum, and while I did manage to (her birthday is coming up too), we all know that there was some selfish reasons creeping in there as well. Man, books are so hard to resist! I bought a couple:

• 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry' by Rachel Joyce.
• 'Green Rider' by Kristen Britain.

The first, Joyce's book, has been on my TBR list for a long time. And as I bought it in an offer with the book for my Mum, I figured it would be a little treat for myself. Then I saw the Fantasy section. Now I have missed books set in different Kingdoms entirely, I haven't read one in a while when they used to be my favourite kind! I was going through my Goodreads reviews of some Tamora Pierce books and I felt this pang of longing for a made up world far away. This is my answer to that need.

As well as this, I found another few Kindle reads which I have downloaded and are ready to read when I get round to them, which I'm very excited about!

• 'Entangled' (The 'Spellbound Trilogy' Series, Book 1) by Nikki Jefford.
• 'UnEnchanted: An Unfortunate Fairy Tale' by Chanda Hahn.
• 'Moon Child' & 'By Blood' (Companion Novels) by Tracy E. Banghart

The first two I found while doing a bit more sorting of my TBR list, and having a browse of the Kindle Store. They were free and rated highly, so I saw no harm in giving them a try! Banghart's two companion novels cost £0.99 in all and came to my attention when a newsletter from her website arrived in my inbox this morning. It's a limited time offer to get both books for under £1, while individually they still cost £2.05 each, so get it while you can! I can't wait to finally get stuck into some of her work!

I spent the afternoon/evening at Mat's and we played some Playstation. As well as that, I got a bit more reading done and I'm actually almost halfway through 'The Telling Error'. If I'm good, I might have a review up later tomorrow for it, which I'm really hoping happens! I have so many thoughts on this novel! Oh and to top off a good day, I won another book from Goodreads! Two days in a row, that's amazing! Today's win was 'The Birds That Never Flew' by Margot McCuaig. Exciting stuff!

This post ended up being longer than I thought! Tomorrow I'm collecting a parcel from the Sorting Office (could be a book or DVDs, either way I can't wait to have them) and going to the cinema in the evening with Mat to see 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier'. I'm very excited about this film and can't wait to share my thoughts!

Daily Shenanigans, 26/03/2014: A Kindle Haul!

Well, what a day I've had! Firstly, I actually had a good lay in for the first time in what seems like forever, which was nice. I definitely needed it. I had work this afternoon but other than that, not an awful lot to do. At first I thought I'd get a lot of reading done, but even though I did read a bit, I ended up being a very busy bee with my Planned Reads instead.

I went through every single one of my 'To Read' books that I have on Goodreads and looked them up on Amazon to see how much they would be on the Kindle. Why? Because there is no way I am ever going to have that much space or money to buy each one as a paperback or hardback, as lovely as that would be. This started because (I forgot to tell you) on Monday I found out (having mentioned it on my Weekly Wishlist post) that 'Under Fishbone Clouds' by Sam Meekings was only £0.99 on the Kindle! That's an absolute bargain, and one I couldn't ignore. It made me wonder how many other bargains I was missing out on.

As it turns out, rather a lot. I went through, deciding only to take note of the £3.00 or under books (as a starting point). There were over 150 of them! I can't believe that I have never thought of this before! Perhaps it is because I much prefer the feel of an actual book in my hands, rather than the Kindle, but I feel there are too many pros that override this minor irritation. So without further ado, here are today's buys:

• 'Bang' by Steven Allinson.
• 'Forbidden Mind' ('The Forbidden Trilogy' Series, Book 1)  by Karpov Kinrade.
• 'Perfected Sinfulness' by Michael Gilbert.
• 'Alone', 'Untouched' and 'Soulless' ('The Girl In The Box' Books 1-3) by Robert J Crane.
• 'An Uncommon Vocabulary' by Jim Boyd.
• 'This Shadow Follows Me' by Joseph McGinnis.
• 'Forsaken' ('Daughters Of The Sea' Series, Book 1) by Kristen Day.

At this point you might be wondering how much I spent. Well, not including the original Sam Meekings buy, it's a big fat nothing! All of these books were free! How amazing is that? All of these look like really good reads and I can't wait to get started. But as well as this, I read a post on Facebook by Sarah Dalton, a Dystopian Author whose books I very much want to read, and she revealed that she had banded together with some authors and they had released a collection of six Dystopian books called 'Shattered Worlds'! Naturally I looked and how much was the entire collection? £0.49! Of course I bought it! Here's a quick look at the titles included:

• 'The Blemished' ('The Blemished' Series, Book 1) by Sarah Dalton
• 'Kahayatle' ('Apocalypsis' Series, Book 1) by Elle Casey
• 'Outside' ('Outside' Series, Book 1) by Shalini Boland
• 'The Torturer's Daughter' ('The Internal Defense' Series, Book 1) by Zoe Cannon
• 'Night Of The Purple Moon' ('The Toucan Trilogy' Series, Book 1) by Scott Cramer
• 'The Breeders' ('The Breeders' Series, Book 1)

What an awesome sounding bunch! And as an added bonus, Zoe Cannon's 'The Torturer's Daughter' was already on my TBR list, so that's two of my reads ticked off in one go. For the ridiculously low amount of money the series cost, it's well worth at least checking it out! Anyone who loves Dystopian fiction, this is a dream come true!

Okay, excited rant over. I really should get some sleep, tomorrow I'll be sorting out some blog stuff, doing a bit of reading, etc. and I might get round to buying a couple more Kindle reads, I was very surprised at some of the low prices. If you're one of those people who has an ever-growing TBR list, this might be a method well worth spending an afternoon on. You'll be surprised at the results!