Bookish Adventure Tag!

March 6, 2019 The Biblioshelf2 Comments

Umairah @ Sereadipity celebrated reaching 100 followers with a special Bookish Adventure Tag. This is my first tag and I had such a lot of fun!

Here are the rules:

Write about one place mentioned in a book you wish you could visit and why.

List 3-5 things that you would do there.
Mention which souvenirs, if any, you would bring back with you.
Then tag some more literary explorers and please link back to the creator

To be honest I had to condense it loads as I could ramble on forever about my Dream Bookish Destination! Here goes…

Dream Bookish Destination:

When someone says ‘Ultimate Bookish Destination’, Middle Earth is the first thing that pops into my head. I know it’s not exactly one destination but I can’t thing of a single place that I’d love to visit more. There’s just something so magical and unforgettable about Tolkien’s world. Trouble is, if I ever got to visit, I don’t think I’d ever want to leave!

Things I would do:

Rent a room at the Prancing Pony and drink pints with hobbits.
Attend one of Gandalf’s famous firework parties in the Shire then eat breakfast, second breakfast and elevenses the morning after.
Sit and read books by the waterfall in Rivendell.
Go horse riding with the Rohirrim across Rohan.
Visit the Lonely Mountain and try and steal a bit of Smaug’s treasure.
Have tea with Radagast the Brown and his amazing menagerie of animals.
Wander through the streets of Gondor and see the famous White Tree.
Steer well clear of Minas Morgul and the creepy spider lair.
Go on a walk with the Ents.

Souvenirs:

The Light of Eärendil – because it would be way cooler than using my phone as a torch…
If I couldn’t bring back a horse from Rohan, I’d make do with a Rohan flag that I could use as a throw-cover or something.
A piece of treasure from the Lonely Mountain; just to say that I, like Bilbo, could pass for a thief and because I like shiny things! 😂

Tag! You’re it! Feel free to have a go at your own Dream Bookish Destination.

Thanks again to Umairah for creating the Bookish Adventure Tag. I had a blast!

T xx

Top Ten Tuesday – Characters I’d Like to Trade Places With

March 5, 2019March 4, 2019 The Biblioshelf8 Comments

Hey Bibliophiles,

It’s that Top Ten Tuesday time again! This week’s theme is Characters I’d Like to Trade Places With. The way this term is going at work I’d happily hop into a bookish portal and body-swap with any of these guys right now; no hesitating or looking back required!

10) ‘Traitor Kate’ from Onyx and Ivory [Mindee Arnett]

I’m currently reading this book and loving it! As a Relay Rider Kate has to gallop across the country of Rime delivering things for the Royal Courier Service. Part of Kate’s wilder magic gives her the ability to speak to horses and connect with their essence; perfect for a horse-lover like myself!

9) ‘Flora’ from Summer at the Lake [Erica James]

She gets to hold guided tours around the beautiful City of Dreaming Spires for a day job, then jets off to the picturesque Lake Como in Italy where all her dreams come true and she meets and falls in love with the man of her dreams…What’s not to want to switch with?

8) ‘Isabel’ from The Mortal Instruments Series [Cassandra Clare]

Isabel is one of my favourite Shadowhunters and I think it’d be pretty cool to have a lightning whip!

7) ‘Robert Langdon’ [Dan Brown]

I am such a nerd when it comes to conspiracies and symbolism! I’d really love to have Langdon’s eidetic memory and visit lots of historic cities and landmarks cracking codes and solving puzzles.

6) ‘Wade Watts’ from Ready Player One [Ernest Cline]

Get me to the OASIS! Ready Player Onewas one of my favourite reads of last year! I basically just want to be Parzival’s character and go on my own Treasure Hunt to find 80s pop culture easter eggs!

5) ‘Elizabeth Bennett’ from Pride and Prejudice [Jane Austen]

Two words:

Mr. Darcy

That is all.

4) ‘Lysandra’ from theThrone of Glass Series [Sarah J Maas]

Ok, so I’d only switch places after the magic has been freed and then I could shapeshift into anything or anyone I wanted right? Or is that cheating, like Aladdin wishing the genie for more wishes…?

3) ‘Buffy’ [Joss Whedon]

Now I know Buffy is more famous for being a TV show, but they also did books too. This TV show is one of my all-time favourites. I so badly wanted to be a vampire slayer when I was a kid! I haven’t read the new Slayernovel by Kiersten White yet but I’ve heard lots of great things.

2) ‘Professor McGonagall’ from the Harry Potter series [J. K. Rowling]

As a teacher myself, who better to switch places with then one of the fiercest teachers at Hogwarts? Alas, I guess I’ll have to stick to teaching the muggles for now!

1) ‘Arwen’ from The Lord of the Rings [J. R. R. Tolkien]

Reasons to switch places with Arwen:

Elven – check
Wears swishy long dresses – check
Adorned with ultimate Evenstar bling – check
Lives in Rivendell – check

Anything I’ve forgotten? Oh wait…

In love with Aragorn – BIG CHECK!

That’s the end of TTT for another week. Who would be your ultimate character to switch places with? I’m looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with!

T xx

5 Biblioshelf Musings about ‘The Wicked King’

March 2, 2019 The BiblioshelfLeave a comment

After reading and loving The Cruel Prince, Holly Black’s sequel, The Wicked King,was immediately added to my TBR and I was thrilled to be lucky enough to win a copy from Hot Key Books through Readers First back in January. Now that I’ve finally got around to finish reading it here’s five things (as spoiler-free as possible!) I loved about The Wicked King.

1. We need to talk about Cardan… future-hero or long-time villain?

Back in The Cruel Prince, I found Cardan to be a very self-absorbed character which I wasn’t that interested in…but now, in The Wicked King, I’m completely fascinated by him. And what’s more, I can’t work out whether he really is a long-time villain and is just as cruel and wicked as the titles of Holly’s stories suggests OR whether Cardan’s nastiness is all just a ruse before he swoops in to save the day. The way he plays back and forth with Jude was mirrored with the way I felt about his character. I’m secretly hoping that he’s some kind of flawed-hero who will come good in the end. I guess we’ll have to wait until The Queen of Nothing to find out!

2. Who’s that Jude?

I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by Jude and her growth of character in this sequel. In the first book I wasn’t terribly keen on her and I can’t actually put my finger on why. But it seems that her role as the seneschal of King Cardan has given her a new dimension. She is much more ruthless and calculating whilst at the same time battling against her feeling of being out of place in Elfhame. I like the way Holly Black explores that sense of not-belonging in the role/world you find yourself in and how she has Jude with this in the story.

“Once upon a time, there was a human girl stolen away by faeries, and because of that, she swore to destroy them.”

3. Diving into the Undersea

Sounds strange, but in a previous life I definitely believe I lived in the ocean…I think that’s why I am drawn to any stories about pirates, mermaids, sea adventures and underwater worlds. I was so happy that we got to see what The Undersea is like in The Wicked King; I liked the way the world is shaped from reef coral and sea kelp and how the Mer Folk go about on their turtles. I hope we get more of it in the finale.

4. Deception, Lies and Secrecy

The twists and turns in this book come in thick and fast. I really enjoyed the political intrigue and second-guessing which ran through the story. There are so many different court factions who all have their own loyalties and priorities which make for a fascinating narrative. I wound up constantly changing my mind about which characters were good and which were bad. Whilst I’d love to say that I figured out which character had betrayed Jude, I still wasn’t 100% certain until I read it in black and white. Add to that the mystery of good-guy/bad-guy King Cardan then The Wicked Kingcertainly kept me on my toes.

“Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold on to.”

5. THAT ending…!

It’s fair to say that Holly Black has mastered the cliff-hanger ending. Just when we were thinking that all was well – BAM – there goes the rug, pulled right out from under your feet and you’re questioning all you thought you knew about how this tale was going to turn out… It’s hard to describe without giving away loads of spoilers but it’s safe to say that I didn’t see it coming and, as alluded to before in my feelings about Cardan, I’m not entirely sure whether Cardan is protecting Jude and being the “hero in disguise” or whether he really has managed to get his own back after what Jude did to him at the end of The Cruel Prince.

“And the single last thing in my head: that I like him better than I’ve ever liked anyone and that of all the things he’s ever done to me, making me like him so much is by far the worst.”

Needless to say, the only way I will find out the answers to the many, many questions buzzing through my head is with the final instalment in this trilogy, The Queen of Nothing, set for release in 2020. I thoroughly enjoyed returning to Elfhame to see what lay in store for Jude, Cardan and the rest of the characters in this series. Again, thanks to Readers First and Hot Key Books for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Have you read The Wicked King? If anyone wants to chat Book 3 or Cardan theories then feel free to drop me a comment below!

Friday 56 – Crooked Kingdom

March 1, 2019March 10, 2019 The BiblioshelfLeave a comment

Happy 1^stMarch Bibliophiles!

I cannot believe how fast 2019 seems to be going, where did January and February go…?

It’s Friday 56 time! In a bid to start finishing some of the book series I’m still part-way through I’m currently reading Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. I’m enjoying this series much more than the Shadow and Bone trilogy as it seems to have many more layers to its story and is more dark and twisty.

‘And yet amid the clamor of suspicion, she could hear the soft chiming of another bell, the sound of What if? What if she let herself be comforted, gave up the pretence of being beyond the things she’d lost?’

I really like Inej’s character. She has strength but shows vulnerability at the same time and I really think this quotation sums that up. Here’s to hoping her story has a happy ending! I’m so close to the end and it’s getting towards the stage where I’m late leaving the house for work because I just can’t put it down…!

Any other Grishaverse fans out there? If you could be in any Grisha Order which would you want to be in and why?

I always thought I’d want to be something to do with the elements, like an Inferni or a Tidemaker. Being late to the Bardugo party, I only recently realised that there is an actual Grisha quiz you can take on www.grishaverse.com to find out what Order you would be suited to. Typically I didn’t get Inferni or Tidemaker…turns out I’m a Heartrender and the character I am most like in the Grishaverse is Nina – which now makes sense the further through these books I go…

Hosted by Freda’s Voice Friday 56 is a weekly bookish prompt. It’s quite easy to do and could cover no end of different books and genres so seems great if you’re looking for a quick snippet to discover something new!

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
*Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post here in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.
*It’s that simple.

Have a super weekend guys! My friend is getting married today so we’ll be partying in style tonight!

T xx

Top Ten Tuesday – Places in Books I’d Love to Visit

February 26, 2019February 25, 2019 The Biblioshelf3 Comments

After a year’s hiatus I’m finally getting back to the blog! These last twelve months have been one hell of a bumpy ride and reading dropped off my radar so much that I didn’t even meet my reading challenge target for 2018 which I usually always exceed.
So now, after getting to grips with the stuff that has gone on, I’m finally getting to grips my mental health and anxiety, am coming out the other side and taking more time out for me by getting back to some of the things I love… reading! To mark the fresh start, the blog has a new name ‘The Biblioshelf’. I wasn’t particularly happy with the old one anyway so hopefully this will give me renewed motivation to keep going, starting with one of my favourite Book Tags ‘Top Ten Tuesday’.

Top Ten Tuesday by That Artsy Girl Reader is the ultimate tag for the bookish list-lover amongst us and I always look forward to seeing the different prompts and responses people have. It also helps by making me have a stern talking to myself to read more widely as most of my lists end up being from the same ten books just in a different order!

This week’s theme was ‘Places in Books I’d Love to Visit’. Hyperlinks of titles link to Goodreads.

10) The World of His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
I remember being hooked on Northern Lightswhen I was a child on holiday in Greece; so much so that the only part of the holiday I can actually remember is sitting by the pool and reading this book… That said, I haven’t actually read the remainder of the trilogy so one of my 2019 reading goals is to go right back to the beginning and immerse myself back into this glorious world that I remember loving but can’t quite remember why…

9) The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey
So this one isn’t really a place from a book – it’s more a place to visit an object from the book…if that makes sense?! The Chemistry of Tears is centred around the creation of a gorgeous silver swan automaton. The Silver Swan which was created in the 18^thCentury and is kept at the Bowes Museum in County Durham (England). It sits on a little pool of glass and eats up tiny silver fishes. I’d love to go and visit this incredible piece of clockwork one day, but for now I’ll just have to settle for watching people’s YouTube videos of it!

8) Narnia from The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
Who doesn’t want to crawl through the back of their wardrobe and end up in a magical place? I imagine Narnia as being one of the ‘must-see’ locations from the worlds of fantasy literature. I’d love to explore it with one of those passports that you stamp when you get to a different area.

7) Berk from How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
Let’s face it, I’m only going here to see the amazing dragons!

6) Carcassonne from Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
Kate Mosse’s books based in the Languedoc region of France always made me want to visit and due to this book Carcassonne is definitely one of my ‘to visit’ places in France. I love how she brings such a historical place to life and fills it with such mystery and intrigue. I’m also a sucker for a maze!

5) Kotor (Montenegro) from Wicked Like a Wildfire by Lana Popović
I loved this book so much and the way Lana writes about Old Town Catarro just seemed to appeal to every single one of my senses. I’d love to take a little boat trip to visit Our Lady of the Rocks which sits on a tiny island and I’d definitely have to find the little confectionery where Iris and Malina’s mother bakes delicious sounding cakes and pastries. I tried to convince my friend that we should go there on holiday, but we went to Walt Disney World instead!

4) The Cemetery of Forgotten Books from The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Pick one book from the Cemetery of Forgotten Books then look after and protect it for the rest of your life…what book lover would turn down this opportunity? Zafón is one of my all-time favourite authors and is such a genius story-teller. Everything he writes is so lyrical and his character Daniel Sempere is probably one of literature’s greatest bibliophiles. I believe Barcelona, where the books are set, now has a trail dedicated to the Zafón’s stories and it’s definitely on my travel bucket list. I only wish that there was such a place as the Cemetery of Forgotten Books!

3) Terrasen from the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas
I know it’s incredibly hyped but I fell head over heels in love for this series! To pick just one place in Erilea to visit was tricky but I knew as soon as I read the final book in the series (Kingdom of Ash) it had to be Terrasen. Obviously I’d be making sure to pack my forest disguise to try and hide in Oakwald in the attempt at spotting the elusive Little Folk and the Lord of the North!

2) Rivendell from The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
Let’s be real, I’d visit any place in Middle Earth (yep, even Mordor!) but seeing the elves in Rivendell would probably be the place I head to first. Or Gondor to see Aragorn, or to the Green Dragon to have a pint with the Hobbits, or to Fangorn to chat to the Ents…I could go on but then my list would probably be as long as the book itself!

1) Flourish and Blotts from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
Once, a student I teach bought me a mug that says ‘Hogwarts wasn’t hiring so I teach muggles instead’. If the Wizarding World were a real place, I’d probably have emigrated there already. Similarly to Middle Earth, I couldn’t possibly just stop off at one place then head back home, but somewhere I have always wished I could step into was Flourish and Blotts. Surely it’s the ultimate bibliophile’s pit-stop in the amazingness that is the Wizarding World!

This was such a fun theme to explore for Top Ten Tuesday so thanks to That Artsy Girl Reader and Georgia @justreadthemm – now to try and curb that building wanderlust! What would make your list? Drop me and comment and let me know.

Until next time Bibliophiles, have a great week!

T xx

[Book Review] To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

March 4, 2018March 4, 2018 The Biblioshelf3 Comments

I have a heart for every year I’ve been alive.
There are seventeen hidden in the sand of my bedroom. Every so often, I claw through the shingle, just to check they’re still there. Buried deep and bloody. I count each of them, so I can be sure none were stolen in the night. It’s not such an odd fear to have. Hearts are power, and if there’s one thing my kind craves more than the ocean, it’s power.

If this book were a portal to the world it’s set in then I would immediately dive straight into it right now!

I’ve always been a major fan of any stories set by seas and oceans or involving pirates, mermaids and the like. I’ve read stories of sirens in mythology but nothing contemporary has ever hit the mark…that is until To Kill A Kingdom came along.
I knew I had to read it straightaway and couldn’t resist the lure of it when it came up as part of the Readers First draw. Readers First is a website that releases first looks on upcoming releases from a wide range of genres. If you write a first impression of the first look then you get entered into a prize draw to win a copy of the book pre-publication in exchange for a review. This was my first time actually entering for anything and I jumped for joy when I had the email telling me that I had won a copy and it was already on its way in the mail to me.

Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most—a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.
The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy? [Synopsis from Goodreads]

Admittedly, from the blurb alone, my expectations were incredibly high and thankfully Alexandra Christo pulled it out of the bag with this brilliant debut. It’s clear from the first few pages that storytelling is a massive strength within this novel. Christo has such a lyrical way of writing that the story is almost like a siren song transcending off the pages straight into your mind.

Under the sea, it’s never so serene. There’s always screaming and crashing and tearing. There’s always the ocean, constantly moving and evolving into something new. Never still and never the same.

From the outset, the world building in this book is far from watery (pun intended)! The rich vocabulary and exquisite descriptions immerse you headfirst into the world Christo has created. Seriously, I would happily hop on the first pirate ship I see on a quest to find the Diávolos Sea. I love descriptive books which is why I think this appealed to me so much but if you’re not into all of that then there’s plenty of swashbuckling action and entertaining banter to counteract it.

And the ocean, calling out to us both. A song of freedom and longing.

The story is written in alternating chapters following Lira – a siren princess known as the Princes’ Bane due to her passion for targeting and murdering princes, and Elian – a Midasan prince known as the siren-killer because of his commitment to sailing the seas and ridding humanity of the threat of siren monsters. When Lira’s callous and cruel mother, the Sea Queen, sends Lira on a quest to kill Elian the paths of the two main characters merges and takes them on an adventure which neither one was truly expecting.

Could it really be such a bad thing, to become a story whispered to children in the dead of night?

Raised by brutality, Lira is one true bad-ass. She’s witty, determined and filled with sass to the brim. A fantastic protagonist who conveys her story and her conflicting feelings effortlessly. I really liked the fact that she dared to be different to the other sirens, even if it meant going against someone as powerful as her mother. As for the prince…well, give me Elian over Eric any day! The balance between both him and Lira made for a brilliantly believable pairing despite their initial differences.

Although To Kill A Kingdom comes across as a retelling, it really is an original tale in its own right. I enjoyed the influences of Greek myths as well as spotting the various nods to both the traditional and Disney versions of the The Little Mermaid – the Sea Queen throws some serious shade on Disney’s Ursula; Lira’s transition from siren to human echoes both Ariel’s and the Anderson mermaid’s fates; and of course the subtle romance between prince and princess reiterates themes from both versions of the tale.

The storyline itself, deviates drastically from the well-known fairy tales. Christo has created an interesting narrative which weaves myth, fairy tale and fantasy together. The characters embark on a fairly simple retrieval quest which then branches out into variously wicked twists and turns to keep you on your toes, finally culminating in an epic battle of mankind and monsters to determine the fate of their world. I enjoyed the way that the action was interspersed with different settings and dialogues between the characters. Refreshingly, as a standalone fantasy novel, the plot is neatly wrapped up at the end of the story but there’s the snag…I wanted more! At times during reading I found myself doubting that this was actually a standalone. I couldn’t quite believe that the whole story could be wrapped up as I crept closer and closer to the end of the book. Whilst I wasn’t left with any burning questions which felt as though they hadn’t been answered, I do feel that the ending came about rather quickly compared to the level of build-up that there was to get there. I really hope Christo revisits this world that she has created, not necessarily to continue the stories of Elian and Lira, but just to see more of it come to life on the page.

If you’re looking for a stunningly enchanting standalone to absolutely lose yourself in, then this is the book for you. To Kill a Kingdom had everything I wanted in a YA fantasy novel – adventure, mysticism, humour, magic, a touch of romance and a kingdom that I actually wished was a real place. This novel will definitely stick in my mind for a long time to come and I can’t wait to see what Christo writes next.

To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
Published: 6th March 2018
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Pages: 368
ISBN: 9781471407390
Rating: 5/5 Princes’ Hearts

FairyLoot February Unboxing – Twisted Tales

March 4, 2018 The BiblioshelfLeave a comment

*Spoliers ahead!*

The following post contains spoilers about the items contained in February’s FairyLoot box so tread carefully if you don’t want to spoil the surprise!

The very minute the theme ‘Twisted Tales’ for this box was unveiled, I was super excited! It had ‘dark fairy tales’ written all over it and not most because of the stunning Red Riding Hood style artwork by @taratjah

The first item I came across was a beautiful Hinterland candle from Wick and Fable which was designed (along with the author) to tie into the setting of this month’s book. The scent of the candle was Oakmoss and Tea Leaves and it smells so Spring-like and fresh! I think it is my favourite FairyLoot candle so far and I can’t wait to burn it.

Next up was an exclusive ‘Grimm Tales’ Mug with a design from Aunjuli Art featuring loads of different nods to various fairytales including Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, The Princess and the Frog amongst many more! I’m going to have so much fun spotting them all!

Perfect for a winter warm-up was a packet of luminously green ‘Poisonous Apple’ bath salts from Little Heart as well as some exclusively designed Hansel and Gretel inspired socks featuring witch hats and gingerbread houses. I love pinkish/purple colour of them!

The final piece of bookish merch was a stunning Ink and Wonder woodmark (wooden bookmark) which had a gorgeous Little Red Riding image and quote on it. I have Lord of the Rings one of these from a previous FairyLoot box but I just can’t bring myself to use them in case they broken, and then I would be distraught!

The book for this month was The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert. It was an exclusive hardback edition of the book featuring the cover from the UK paperback. On the cover of the book, underneath the jacket, was an embossed image of a pair of gates which ties into the storyline of the book. The book itself was an enjoyable read paying homage to the legacy of fairy tale and storytelling. I’ll hopefully be posting a review of it within the next week or so.

Next month’s box is themed ‘Memorable Moments’ and will be a special purple two-year anniversary box. Despite my best efforts, I’ve already been snooping all over Goodreads to match the book description and suss out what the book is (I’ll never learn!). I’m really excited to see what the exclusive hardcover is like and the items linked to fandoms including LOTR, Harry Potter, GOT and Shadowhunters! Honestly, if FairyLoot did anymore than one box a month my bank account would be in serious danger!

The Friday 56 – To Kill a Kingdom

March 2, 2018 The Biblioshelf7 Comments

Hey Bookaholics!

Here I go with my first Friday 56!
Hosted by Freda’s Voice Friday 56 is a weekly bookish prompt. It’s quite easy to do and could cover no end of different books and genres so seems great if you’re looking for a quick snippet to discover something new!

Rules:

This week, I’ve selected the last book I finished reading which is ‘To Kill a Kingdom’ by Alexandra Christo.

“Could it really be such a bad thing, to become a story whispered to children in the dead of night?”

[Goodreads Synopsis]
Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most—a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.
The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?

I received a pre-release copy of this from Readers First and devoured it within a few days. Loosely based on The Little Mermaid with a few nods to other Greek tales, To Kill a Kingdom is filled to the brim with banter, bad-ass characters and scintillating action. The story-telling and language is absolutely superb and I loved every single page! If you like watery worlds, tales of pirates, mermaids and some wonderfully lyrical descriptions then this is definitely one for you!

To Kill a Kingdom is published by Hot Key Books and is released on 6^th March 2018. You can preorder your copy from the following places:
Waterstones Amazon Book Depository

Top Ten Tuesday – Books I Could Re-Read Forever

February 28, 2018 The Biblioshelf1 Comment

Hi Bookaholics!

It’s that TTT time again…already! We are holding our Parents’ Evening meetings at school this week which is why this post is coming slightly late, on Wednesday morning!

The theme for this week is books that you could re-read forever, almost like your desert island books. Initially, I thought this would be super easy, and it turns out that picking books I’d love to read over and over again is easy, but narrowing them down to just 10, therein lies the problem…! I think I’ve just about managed, here’s my list below; if any of these made your TTT this week or you’re intrigues to know more about them then drop me a comment!

10. The Witches by Roald Dahl

There had to be at least one of my childhood classics on the list and this one was always a firm favourite!

9. Pretty Little Mistakes by Heather McElhatton

This is one of those ‘choice books’ where you determine the characters fate yourself. I don;t know the proper name for them but you read the first page and then have a choice of which path the character should choose, you then flip to the page that corresponds with and continue the story from there. Obviously with so many different possibilities and outcomes I could read this again and again and still not quite read the same story!

8. The Complete Poetry Anthology of William Blake

Blake is one of my all-time favourite poets. I especially enjoyed his Songs of Innocence and Experience collections because they had so many different meanings in them.

7. Angela Carter’s Book of Fairytales / The Bloody Chamber

Carter features on a fair few of my TTT lists. I think she’s an exceptional story-teller and I love the dark, twisty way she writes,

6. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I only finished reading this a couple of weeks ago and absolutely adored it! I know I could read it over and over again just to try and find every single pop culture reference. It would probably keep me occupied for ages!

5. The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

To be fair, if I was packing up for a desert island I’d be flinging every single one of his books in my suitcase, not just this series (Shadow of the Wind, The Angel’s Game, The Prisoner of Heaven). I cannot get enough of his writing and the mysteries he weaves with his words, they’re pure brilliance!

4. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

As if you hadn’t guessed already with all of the other magical/fairytale references dotting through my list, I absolutely love fairy tales and this book is fulled to the brim with them! It’s such a memorable tale and I could literally read it forever.

3. The Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J Maas

After Harry Potter, I was forever looking for a series where I could be desperately waiting for the next book to be released and I finally found it in Throne of Glass! I cannot wait for the finale of this series.

2. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas

Again, another series which I really enjoyed. I did think about putting the whole series down but I think I’d only need to reread this one again and again, oh the feels!

1 – The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

Again, another series where I would have to fling the entirety of it into my suitcase. I’ve reiterated time and time again about my love for Potter so it’s no surprises that I could read this forever!

Have a great week Bookaholics!

Top Ten Tuesday – Books I’m No Longer Interested in Reading

February 20, 2018 The BiblioshelfLeave a comment

Hey Bookaholics!

I hope you are all having a good week so far. We are back to school again this week after the half term break. I enjoyed getting the chance to meet up with some friends and catch up with my reading (as well as some much needed sleep)!

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is Books I’m No Longer Interested In Reading. This was really hard for me as I hardly ever DNF a book; in fact, I think I’ve only ever DNF’d one book so this list predominantly consists of book series which I am no longer interested in or motivated to finish/continue!

10. A Thing Or Two About Curtis And Camilla by Nick Fowler

My only DNF. I’m sorry to say that I’ve already included this in a previous post and I’m sure some people out there really enjoyed the story, but for me both Curtis and Camilla irritated the hell out of me and I couldn’t finish it!

9. Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

I was really intrigued by this epistolary novel yet I’ve picked it up no end of times and don’t seem to be able to get past the first 50 pages. It hasn’t become the second book on my DNF hitlist…yet! Nevertheless, it’s been put on pause for the time being!

8. Pure Dead Magic by Debi Gliori

Again, this seems to be another regular feature on my TTT list. It just didn’t quite grab me and although I own the entire series as a boxset, I never made it past the first one and probably won’t.

7. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

For some reason this series didn’t hook me which I was quite surprised about. I don’t think I realised it was part of a series when I first read it but it definitely didn’t inspire me to purchase the sequel. I think there were just other books out there which piqued my interest more.

6. Still Me by Jojo Moyes

I wept at Me Before You. I carried on with After You because I enjoyed reading about Lou’s effervescent character and really wanted her to overcome her grief and get her happy ending. But to continue it with another book…do we really need one? The love and the loss has been dealt with enough for Lou to move on with her life. Apologies to the Moyes superfans out there, but can we not just let her be?

5. All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

I must admit, I purchased this purely because of the title, the cover and the reference to magic in the blurb. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting and I don’t think the style of the novel was totally to my taste. I know there’s a brief follow up story about the cat but I don’t think I’ll end up reading it.

4. To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

I actually quite enjoyed this book! It is one of the few eBooks I read last year and I found it to be quite a relaxing read even though I was hoping it would be a little more in the epistolary style. After I’d finished reading I found out it was the first one in a series but yet again, other books grabbed my attention sooner so I don’t think I’ll be reading P.S I Still Love You or Always and Forever, Lara Jean for some time.

3. Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza

This book was included in my first ever Fairyloot box that I received! Overall I enjoyed the story but the series just didn’t leave me invested enough to preorder the second book in the series. Maybe one day…

2. Flame in the Mist by Renée Ahdieh

Another Fairyloot book which was massively hyped due to Ahdieh’s success with The Wrath and the Dawn (which I haven’t got around to reading yet). It was pitched as a Mulan retelling but I’m not quite sure that I saw that in it. The story kept me interested enough but I just don’t think I’m interested enough in following Mariko’s character into the sequel.

1. A Song of Ice and Fire Series by G.R.R. Martin

I read both A Game of Thrones and Clash of Kings but towards the end I found myself skimming certain chapters just to find out more about the characters which I actually wanted to know about like Cersei, Daenerys, Jon Snow, Tyrion, Arya etc! I’m sure at some point in the future I should persist and plough my way through them but I’m just not yearning to pick them up for the time being.

So there you have it! Some novels which didn’t quite interest me enough and some firsts in a series which haven’t inspired me or hooked me enough to immediately grab for the sequel.

Have you read any of these? Should I persevere with any of them or give some a second chance? Let me know in the comments!

Enjoy your week Bookaholics!