TTT: New-To-Me Favourite Authors I Read For The First Time In 2015

Tags

Alexandra Bracken, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Derek Landy, Ellie Marney, Every Breath, Holly Black, Jodi Meadows, Laini Taylor, Orphan Queen, Rachael Craw, Skulduggery Pleasant, Spark, The Darkest Minds, The Darkest Part of the Forest

Top Ten Tuesday is a thing where we get given a topic, and we have to list our ‘top ten’ things for the topic. Pretty self-explanatory.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This Week’s Topic: Top Ten New-To-Me Favourite Authors I Read For The First Time In 2015

1. Rachael Craw
Guys, can you believe that I only read Spark THIS YEAR??
THIS YEAR, GUYS!!

 2. Alexandra Bracken
And same with The Darkest Minds! Only this year? Seriously?

3. Derek Landy
Ahh, yes. If you’ve been following me for a while, you may have noticed that I read the entire Skulduggery Pleasant series this year. (And I talk about the experience here)

4. Ellie Marney
OH MY GOSH WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG TO READ EVERY BREATH???
Actually, I figured out why…it’s because NOBODY TOLD ME it was a Sherlock retelling.
You’re all fired.

5. Holly Black
Ok, not technically new to me this year…I tried reading Tithe last year, but I didn’t make it past the first couple of chapters. However, when Holly Black came to Aus, it was recommended to me that I try The Darkest Part of the Forest.
Which I did, and I loved it!

6. Laini Taylor
Daughter of Smoke and Bone was fabulous. I have no idea why I haven’t read the rest of the series yet…I own them all.

7. Jodi Meadows
Orphan Queen was FANTASTIC!! Seriously, absolutely loved it.

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 So, there’s only 7 authors on this list…there would have been more, except I specifically did not include authors who debuted this year.

Who was on your list?

The Challenge: A Summary

Tags

A Court of Thorns and Roses, Alexandra Bracken, All Fall Down, Ally Carter, Amie Kaufman, Ballad, Cooper Bartholemew is Dead, Cynthia Hand, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Derek Landy, Half Wild, Harry Potter, In the Afterlight, J.K. Rowling, Justine Larbalestier, Laini Taylor, Lauren Oliver, Leslye Walton, Maggie Stiefvater, Meagan Spooner, Megan Miranda, Melinda Salisbury, Never Fade, Rachel Hawkins, Razorhurst, Rebecca James, Rebel Belle, Red Queen, Richelle Mead, Ruby Circle, Sally Green, Sarah J. Maas, Shadow Kiss, Skulduggery Pleasant, Sophie Jordan, Soulprint, The Darkest Minds, The Last Time We Say Goodbye, The Sin Eater's Daughter, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, These Broken Stars, Uninvited, Vampire Academy, Vanishing Girls, Victoria Aveyard

As some of you may recall, I gave myself a challenge at the beginning of February. I was to limit myself to reading only books that I already owned/had out from the library. I was not to buy any new books in this time, with the exception of new releases.

So, how did I go?

Well, silly me forgot to take into account the fact that it was my birthday in February. Which means that I got birthday money to spend on ALL THE BOOKS!!!

So, here are the books I bought with my birthday money:

And here are the books I was ‘allowed’ to buy during the challenge period:

And here are all the other books I bought because they were there, or because they were cheap, or because books.

And here’s a picture of them all together:

Total number of books bought: 16.

That’s like, one book every 4 days.

Better yet, for every one book I was allowed to buy, I bought three others.

Reading wise, I faired a little better, reading 6 of the books I bought, as well as several others:

And due to the fact that I read a few ebooks/library books/Netgalley books, here is a full pic of all the books I read:

Total books read: 18.

So, while I did technically read more books than I bought, I made a very, very small dent in my to-read pile. Also, some of these books didn’t make it to the to-read pile before they got read (namely, the ebooks/Netgalley books), so they were, if anything, counter-productive.

In conclusion:

Stacking the Shelves: The Yearly Edition

Tags

A Discovery of Witches, A Thousand Pieces of You, Aimee Carter, Alexandra Bracken, Amy Ewing, Amy Zhang, Anna Dressed in Blood, Are You Seeing Me?, Beautiful Darkness, Blood Of Olympus, Blood Promise, Bloodlines, Blue Lily Lily Blue, Boundless, Bram Stoker, Brigid Kemmerer, Captive, Cara Lynn Shultz, Claudia Gray, Corruption, Crown of Midnight, Cynthia Hand, Dangerous Creatures, Darren Groth, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Days of Blood and Starlight, Deborah Harkness, Debra Driza, Demonglass, Disruption, Dracula, E. Lockhart, Endless Knight, Endlessly, Evernight, Falling into Place, Four: A Divergent Collection, Frostbite, Gayle Forman, Half Bad, Hallowed, Heir of Fire, I Was Here, Into the Still Blue, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Jessica Shirvington, Josephine Angelini, Julie Kagawa, Kami Garcia, Kasie West, Kendare Blake, Kiera Cass, Kiersten White, Kresley Cole, Kylie Fornasier, Laini Taylor, Last Sacrifice, Legend, Leigh Bardugo, Let the Sky Fall, Let the Storm Break, Maggie Stiefvater, Margaret Stohl, Marie Lu, Masquerade, Michelle Hodkin, Mind Games, Never Fade, Obsidian, Onyx, Opal, Opposition, Origin, Paranormalcy, Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, Pittacus Lore, Pivot Point, Poison Princess, Rachael Craw, Rachel Hawkins, Raising Demons, Rebel Belle, Renegade, Revenge of Seven, Richelle Mead, Rick Riordan, Rick Yancey, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sacrifice, Sally Green, Sarah J. Maas, School Spirits, Secret, Shadow and Bone, Shadow Kiss, Shannon Messenger, Silver Shadows, Sinner, Sister Assassin, Spark, Spell Bound, Spirit Bound, Split Second, Stacking the Shelves, Supernaturally, Talon, The 5th Wave, The Assassin's Blade, The Dark World, The Darkest Minds, The Eternity Cure, The Fiery Heart, The Forever Song, The Goddess Test, The Golden Lily, The Immortal Rules, The Indigo Spell, The Infinite Sea, The Jewel, The Lost Files: Hidden Enemy, The One, The Retribution of Mara Dyer, The Selection Stories, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Young Elites, Throne of Glass, Through the Ever Night, Trial by Fire, Under the Never Sky, Uneartly, Vampire Academy, Veronica Rossi, Veronica Roth, We Were Liars

Stacking the Shelves is a thing where we talk about the books we’ve collected in the past week. These can be bought, delivered, ARCs, ebooks, etc.. Pretty self-explanatory.
Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tygna’s Reviews

This week, in honour of the new year, I’m doing things a little differently.

I’m doing a post on ALL the books I bought this year!

It’s going to be epic.

Also, please note, I have actually been working on this post since October. This thing has taken me 3 MONTHS to create.

Enjoy.

Books Bought:

And here’s what you’re seeing in the picture

Whole series bought:
Unearthly Trilogy, by Cynthia Hand
Obsidian Series, by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Blood of Eden Trilogy, by Julie Kagawa
Pivot Point Duology, by Kasie West
Under the Never Sky Trilogy, by Veronica Rossi
Vampire Academy Series, by Richelle Mead (incl. Movie companion & Ultimate Guide)
Paranormalcy Trilogy*, by Kiersten White
Sister Assassin Duology, by Kiersten White
Disruption Duology, by Jessica Shirvington

Whole series currently available bought:
Bloodlines, by Richelle Mead
The Arcana Chronicles, by Kresley Cole
Let the Sky Fall, by Shannon Messenger
The 5th Wave, by Rick Yancey
Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. Maas

Other:
Secret/Sacrifice, by Brigid Kemmerer
The Selection Stories/The One, by Kiera Cass
The Goddess Test/Captive, by Aimee Carter
Raising Demons/Spell Bound/School Spirits, by Rachel Hawkins
The Dark World, by Cara Lynn Shultz
Four: A Divergent Collection, by Veronica Roth
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson
Sinner, by Maggie Stiefvater
Masquerade, by Kylie Fornasier
Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods/Blood of Olympus, by Rick Riordan
Renegade, by Debra Driza
Legend, by Marie Lu
Dangerous Creatures*/Beautiful Darkness, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Talon, by Julie Kagawa
Revenge of Seven/Hidden Enemy, by Pittacus Lore

*Not pictures because I forgot that I bought them this year and I didn’t remember until after I put all the books back

Special Mentions (ordered, not received):
Rebel Belle, by Rachel Hawkins
The Retribution of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkin

Books Won:

Now, I didn’t have to pay for all my books last year…rafflecopter was kind enough to allow me to win several books, plus bookish events enabled book winning.

Won from blogs:
Are You Seeing Me?, by Darren Groth (Thank you Notebook Sisters!)
Falling into Place, by Amy Zhang (Thank you Book Nerd Reviews!)
Blue Lily, Lily Blue, by Maggie Stiefvater (Thank you Miss Page Turner’s City of Books)
The Jewel*, by Amy Ewing (Thank you Genie in a book!)
Spark*, by Rachel Craw (Thank you again, Notebook Sisters!!)

*Not received yet

Won at events:
A Thousand Pieces of You, by Claudia Gray (BTCYA)
The Mortal Instruments series, by Cassandra Clare (CoHF Book Launch) (I gave these to my sister…she loves me)

Miscellaneous:

Presents (Birthdays, Christmas, etc.):
We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart
The Young Elites, by Marie Lu
Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo
The Darkest Minds/Never Fade, by Alexandra Bracken
Trial By Fire, by Josephine Angelini
Days of Blood and Starlight, by Laini Taylor
Dracula and Other Horror Stories, by Bram Stoker

Books I got for free (through various means):
Evernight, by Claudia Gray
A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness
Anna Dressed in Blood, by Kendare Blake
Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor
Half Bad, by Sally Green
I Was Here, by Gayle Forman (ARC)

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So…that was all the books I got my hands on 2014.

How was every one else’s year?

Top Ten Tuesday

Tags

A Discovery of Witches, Ally Carter, Amie Kaufman, C.J. Redwine, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Deborah Harkness, Defiance, Derek Landy, Gallagher Girls, James Dashner, Laini Taylor, Marie Lu, Meagan Spooner, Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children, New Series I Want To Start, Ransom Riggs, Rick Yancey, Skulduggery Pleasant, The 5th Wave, The Maze Runner, The Young Elites, These Broken Stars, Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a thing where we get given a topic, and we have to list our ‘top ten’ things for the topic. Pretty self-explanatory.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This Week’s Topic: Top Ten Series I Want To Start

1. Gallagher Girls, by Ally Carter

2. A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness

3. The 5th Wave, by Rick Yancey

4. Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

5. Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor

6. These Broken Stars, by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

7. The Maze Runner, by James Dashner

8. Defiance, by C.J. Redwine

9. The Young Elites, by Marie Lu

10. Skulduggery Pleasant, by Derek Landy

Stacking the Shelves

Tags

A Discovery of Witches, Anna Dressed in Blood, Brigid Kemmerer, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Deborah Harkness, Kendare Blake, Laini Taylor, Sacrifice, Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a thing where we talk about the books we’ve collected in the past week. These can be bought, delivered, ARCs, ebooks, etc.. Pretty self-explanatory.
Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tygna’s Reviews

Books Bought:

Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor
Anna Dressed in Blood, by Kendare Blake
A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness
Sacrifice, by Brigid Kemmerer

And before anyone yells at me for breaking my book-buying-ban, I would like to point out that I only bought one of these books (Sacrifice), which is on my list. The other three were bought by a friend of mine because I recently helped her move, and will help her with her physics test (she pays me in books, it’s awesome).

Loony Blurbs

Tags

Ann Brashares, C.S. Lewis, Cassandra Clare, City of Bones, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Frances Whiting, I'll Give you the Sun, Jandy Nelson, Laini Taylor, The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe, The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, Walking on Trampolines

 

Loony Blurbs is this thing hosted by the wonderful Emily at The Loony Teen Writer. Basically, the idea is to make up a blurb based purely on the book’s title.

What’s great about this is that I haven’t actually read most of these books. It makes writing blurbs easier.
Unfortunately, blurb are actually really hard to write…so I apologise in advance for the possible-awfulness of what you’re about to read.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor

Sugar, Spice and Everything nice. That’s what little girls are made of.
Rather, that’s what little girls are supposed to be made of.
But Lucy is different. She wasn’t made from sugar or spice. She was made from smoke and bone.

Roland has heard the legends, but he doesn’t believe them. Until he meets a girl who is different from the others. Could she be the girl of the stories?

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C S Lewis

A Lion, a Witch and a Wardrobe walk into a bar. Yes, wardrobes walk in this story.
Each have a story to tell. Each have a past that they don’t want to remember, a past they can’t ever forget.
Yes, even the wardrobe. It’s a magical wardrobe.

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, by Ann Brashares

Amy has only ever known the life of The Sisterhood; the endless waiting and speculation on the mysterious Travelling Pants. The legend is that one day, the Pants will return, and life will return to the way it should be.

Amy knows she should try to follow her mother’s beliefs. But she doesn’t understand how Travelling Pants could bring peace to a very unpeaceful world. Nor does she understand how so many people could put their hopes and dreams into Pants. But what if there’s a reason? What if the stories are true?

It’s only a matter of time before Amy finds out.

City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare

Don’t drink the water unless you’re 100% sure of where it comes from. Don’t go out after sunset.
And whatever you do, don’t die.

Because here, the dead don’t stay dead. The dead keep walking, the dead keep talking. And the more people die, the worse the situation becomes.
But the living don’t stop dying. And the bones of the once living just keep moving.

I’ll Give You the Sun, by Jandy Nelson

Conner always wins bets. Until one day he doesn’t.
Unfortunately, this was the one time he bet something he couldn’t give…the Sun.
Burdened by the knowledge of what he must do, Conner seeks out the Star-keepers, in the hope that they will give him the sun, so that he can repay his debt.
But nothing is ever that easy.

And that’s it! Let me know what you think (even If you only liked them because they were so bad). I will admit, I am quite proud of some of them. Others…I could be sitting her until next week, and I still wouldn’t be able to write a decent blurb for the idea in my head.