March Unboxing - Fairyloot

So today I am going to be unboxing the March 2017 FairyLoot box, this box was Fairyloot's 1 year anniversary box and as such the box itself was purple. (What follows will contain spoilers so please do not read if you don't want to know what is in the box)

FairyLoot is a monthly book subscription box mainly focusing on fantasy YA and YA crossovers. Each month you receive a new release book, mostly hardback and 4-6 bookish items which fit in with the theme.

The theme this month was Myths and Monsters. (Spoiler filled post under the cut)

Review #16 - A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Details:

Title: A Monster Calls

Author: Patrick Ness

Publisher: Walker Books

ISBN 13: 978-1406361803

Synopsis:

Conor has the same dream every night, ever since his mother first fell ill, ever since she started the treatments that don't quite seem to be working. But tonight is different. Tonight, when he wakes, there's a visitor at his window. It’s ancient, elemental, a force of nature. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth. Patrick Ness takes the final idea of the late, award-winning writer Siobhan Dowd and weaves an extraordinary and heartbreaking tale of mischief, healing and above all, the courage it takes to survive.

Review:

Review #15 - Vicious by VE Schwab

Details:

Title: Vicious

Author: VE Schwab

Publisher: Titan Books

ISBN 13: 978-1783290215

Synopsis:

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same ambition in each other. A shared interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl with a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the arch-nemeses have set a course for revenge but who will be left alive at the end?

Review:

Review #14 - A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab

Details:

Title: A Conjuring of Light

Author: VE Schwab

Publisher: Titan Books

ISBN 13: 978-1785652448

Synopsis:

The precarious equilibrium among the four Londons has reached its breaking point. Once brimming with the red vivacity of magic, darkness casts a shadow over the Maresh Empire, leaving a space for another London to rise. Kell - once assumed to be the last surviving Antari -begins to waver under the pressure of competing loyalties. Lila Bard, once a commonplace but never common thief, has survived and flourished through a series of magical trials. But now she must learn to control the magic, before it bleeds her dry. Meanwhile, the disgraced Captain Alucard Emery and the Night Spire crew are attempting a race against time to acquire the impossible, as an ancient enemy returns to claim a crown and a fallen hero is desperate to save a decaying world...

Review:

March Unboxing - I love you Thorns and all by Bookworm candles & crafts

So this post is going to be an unboxing of the March 2017 Bookworm candles and craft box (What follows will contain spoilers so please do not read if you don't want to know what is in the box)

Bookworm candles and craft box is a monthly subscription box which contains 6-8 bookish related items always including a candle, soap or body product and other surprise items all pertaining to the theme.

The theme for the month of March was I love you thorns and all. (Spoiler filled post under the cut)

Review #13 - A Gathering of Shadows by VE Schwab

Details:

Title: A Gathering of Shadows

Author: VE Schwab

Publisher: Titan Books

ISBN 13: 978-1783295425

Synopsis:

Kell is one of the last magicians with the ability to travel between parallel universes, linked by the magical city of London. It has been four months since a mysterious obsidian stone fell into his possession and he met Delilah Bard. Four months since the Dane twins of White London fell, and the stone was cast with Holland's dying body back into Black London. Now Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila. And as Red London prepares for the Element Games an international competition of magic a certain pirate ship draws closer. But another London is coming back to life. The balance of magic is perilous, and for one city to flourish, another must fall...

Review:

Review #12 - A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab

Details:

Title: A Darker Shade of Magic

Author: VE Schwab

Publisher: Titan Books

ISBN 13: 978-1783295401

Synopsis:

Most people only know one London; but what if there were several? Kell is one of the last Travelers magicians with a rare ability to travel between parallel Londons. There is Grey London, dirty and crowded and without magic, home to the mad king George III. There is Red London, where life and magic are revered. Then, White London, ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne. But once upon a time, there was Black London...

Review:

YA Breakfast at Big Green Bookshop in London 4th March 2017

So last week I discovered - thanks to a tweet from Alwyn Hamilton and Melinda Salisbury - that a few YA authors who I love were going to be doing a breakfast chat at the Big Green Bookshop in London (yes the same bookshop who were tweeting Harry Potter to Piers Morgan). Once I informed my best friend of this we decided it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Getting up early (The train takes an hour to get to London from where I am and the event started at 9am) we made our way to the shop and discovered it wasn't yet too busy and the authors were just sitting around ready to chat.

Firstly we got our books in order - purchasing ones we were missing/wanted to try and then sitting nervously for a while. We're both a little shy so it took a while to work up the courage to speak but once we did we were fine and they were all lovely.

                                 (Books I took with me)                      (Books I brought)

We did kind of hog Alwyn's time for quite a while - which I was internally bouncing about as I have fallen so in love with her series recently - but she was incredibly friendly and it was really fun chatting to her.

We went primarily so we could get books signed and meet the authors. The books I wanted to get signed were Rebel of the Sands and Traitor to the Throne by Alwyn Hamilton, The Scarecrow Queen by Melinda Salisbury and The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon. However when we got there Vic James and Katherine and Elizabeth Corr had their books there too so I got a copy of Gilded Cage and The Witch's Kiss and they signed those too.

It was a wonderful day and we were so glad we got to meet all the authors and support the bookshop too. It will definitely be one we visit in the future.

Review #11 - Traitor to the Throne by Alwyn Hamilton

Details:

Title: Traitor to the Throne

Author: Alwyn Hamilton

Publisher: Faber and Faber

ISBN 13: 978-0571325412

Synopsis:

This is not about blood or love. This is about treason.

Nearly a year has passed since Amani and the rebels won their epic battle at Fahali. Amani has come into both her powers and her reputation as the Blue-Eyed Bandit, and the Rebel Prince's message has spread across the desert - and some might say out of control. But when a surprise encounter turns into a brutal kidnapping, Amani finds herself betrayed in the cruellest manner possible.

Stripped of her powers and her identity, and torn from the man she loves, Amani must return to her desert-girl's instinct for survival. For the Sultan's palace is a dangerous one, and the harem is a viper's nest of suspicion, fear and intrigue. Just the right place for a spy to thrive... But spying is a dangerous game, and when ghosts from Amani's past emerge to haunt her, she begins to wonder if she can trust her own treacherous heart.

Review:

Illumicrate - February/March Unboxing

So today I am going to be unboxing the February/March 2017 Illumicrate box which I was looking forward to since I have come to love unboxings. (What follows will contain spoilers so please do not read if you don't want to know what is in the box)

Illumicrate is a quarterly book subscription box. Within each box you receive a new release book along with various bookish items.

Now onto the unboxing (Spoiler filled post under the cut)

February Wrap Up and March TBR

So in February 2017 I managed to read a total of  5 books. I knew it would be less than January because of various things I was doing and the shorter month but I'm still pretty pleased. 

I read, in order, Miss Pereguine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, Dawn Study by Maria V Snyder, Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton, Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza and Traitor to the Throne by Alwyn Hamilton.

 

I adored Rebel of the Sands so much so that I brought the sequel immediately so I think it's safe to say that was a favourite this month though I did, of course, love Dawn Study which brought Maria V. Snyder's Chronicles of Ixia series to an end.

So in March I am going to aim for 6 books like I did in January. I should have a little more time and hopefully have gotten into enough of a routine that this should be doable. Currently my plan is to read A Darker Shade of Magic, A Gathering of Shadows and A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab, and Kings Cage by Victoria Aveyard (this was on my Feb TBR but it didn't happen) Then the next two I'm not completely decided on yet but possible Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones and maybe whatever book comes in my Fairyloot box though that is shipping later in March so I might not get it in time.