November Wrap Up

Hey guys! I hope you all had a great November. I decided to fill this post out as the month went on rather than all at once at the end of the month and it has definitely helped! This post hasn’t taken nearly as long as it wold have done if I had done it all at once and I think I am definitely going to keep filling out my Wrap Up posts throughout the month. Looking back over the month, I definitely need to go onto a book buying ban until at least the new year! I feel like I had a great reading month and I am well on my way to completing this year’s Goodreads Reading Challenge with 87/90 books read so far.

Read:

• Diplomatic Immunity by Brodi Ashton – DNF, 1 star (Read in October, reviewed in November).
• The Crown’s Fate by Evelyn Skye – DNF, 1 star.
• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin – 5 star
• Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano – DNF, 1 star
• Fighting Destiny by Amelia Hutchins – Review on Goodreads (Adult), 5 star
• Taunting Destiny by Amelia Hutchins – Review on Goodreads (Adult), 5 star
• Beta Read – A bond of Destiny and Dragons by Karen Tomlinson (obviously no review)
• You Will Be Mine by Natasha Preston – ARC, 4 star.
• Warcross by Marie Lu – 5 star
• Traitor to the Throne by Alwyn Hamilton – 4 star
• The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson – DNF, 1 star (review to come!)
• First We Were IV by Alexandra Sirrowy – DNF, 1 star (review to come!)

Physical Books read this month! Missing is The Crown’s Fate by Evelyn Skye because I traded it for another book with someone 

Bought:

• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
• The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
• The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
• The Assassin’s Heart by Sarah Ahiers
• What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler
• Skinny by Ibi Kaslik
• A Whole New World: A Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell
• Once Upon a Dream: A Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell
• Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
• Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers
• Bleed Like Me by Christa Desir
• The Vault of Dreamers by Caragh M. O’Brien
• What’s Left of Me by Kat Zhang
• Once We Were by Kat Zhang
• Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
• Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
• The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
• Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody
• The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell
• Warcross by Marie Lu
• Mortal Danger by Ann Aguirre (Trade)
• Red Rising by Pierce Brown
• Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
• Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao
• Flashfall by Jenny Moyer
• First Days by C. L. Stone
• Drop of Doubt by C. L. Stone
• Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception by Maggie Stiefvater
• The Hobbit (Parts 1 and 2) Slipcase edition by J. R. R. Tolkein
• Roseblood by A. G. Howard
• Fairyloot book (See unboxing to avoid spoilers)

Physical books bought this month! I found a website that is similar to Book Outlet but for Germany and I may have gone a little wild!

ARCs Acquired:

• You Will Be Mine by Natasha Preston – Netgalley
• #Prettyboy Must Die by Kimberly Reid – Netgalley
• Pretty Dead Girls by Monica Murphy – Netgalley
• Fairyloot book (see unboxing to avoid spoilers)

Goodreads Monday:

• Monday 6th – Skinny by Ibi Kaslik
• Monday 13th – The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
• Monday 20th – No Saints in Kansas by Amy Bashear
• Monday 27th – Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julia C. Dao

Special Posts:

• Release Day Spotlight: Alone By Cyn Balog
• Fairyloot Unboxing – Ladies that Slay.

Book of the Month

I’ve decided to add a new feature to my monthly wrap ups and that is the Book of the Month. This will be my favourite book read during the month! So, this months book of the month is a from an author I wasn’t expecting to love because I disliked all of her previous works!

Warcross by Marie Lu

Published: September 12th 2017 by G. P. Putnam’s son book for Young Readers

My Review

Amazon: Warcross

For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn’t just a game—it’s a way of life. The obsession started ten years ago and its fan base now spans the globe, some eager to escape from reality and others hoping to make a profit. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who bet on the game illegally. But the bounty hunting world is a competitive one, and survival has not been easy. Needing to make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships—only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation.

Convinced she’s going to be arrested, Emika is shocked when instead she gets a call from the game’s creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year’s tournament in order to uncover a security problem . . . and he wants Emika for the job. With no time to lose, Emika’s whisked off to Tokyo and thrust into a world of fame and fortune that she’s only dreamed of. But soon her investigation uncovers a sinister plot, with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.

This has been a fantastic month for me and I cannot even believe that it is nearly the end of the year already! In other news, I have already put the Christmas decorations up (bar the tree) and the house is looking pretty festive!

How has your month been? Feel free to let me know in the comments and feel free to add your links to monthly wrap ups so I can see what you guys have been up to!

Find me Here:

Instagram/Twitter/Goodreads/Litsy @ Lauren’s Page Turners

 

November Fairyloot unboxing: Ladies that Slay

Hey guys! I have a different kind of post for you today and that is this months Fairyloot unboxing! As soon as I saw the theme and some of the items that they were going to be including, I had to get it! This months box was absolutely amazing and I am so stoked that I got it! I will link up to all of the shops featured, so definitely go and check those out 🙂

NOTE: This is an unboxing post, so there will be spoilers for the items in this months (November) box – Ladies that Slay. 

I love the artwork for the spoiler cards that they do each month!

The First item in the box was this exclusive Brightest Witch candle from Flick the Wick. It is based on Hermione from Harry Potter and the scent is Lily, Vanilla, Musk, Raspberry and Citrus. I absolutely LOVE the bright colour of the candle! I’ve always wanted to try out Flick the Wick and I am definitely going to have to look into getting some of their candles!

The next item in the box is an Exclusive Blue’s Brew tea created by Bookish Teas. This tea was inspired by Blue Sargent from the Raven Boys series (which I have yet to read!). This tea is fruit with Blackberries and currents and smells divine. I’m not a huge tea drinker, but I am definitely going to go out and buy a tea strainer so that I can try this tea! It also has edible glitter in it.

The next item (and the one I was most excited about) was an exclusive book sleeve designed by Aunjuli Art. This book comfortably fits a large paperback or small hardback (like this months books!) and has a pattern of Swords and books. The inside lining is also waterproof – which is going to come in useful with the most recent weather! I have always wanted a book sleeve and I am so excited about owning this beautiful sleeve.

The next item is an exclusive Fire is Catching Badge, inspired by Katniss Everdeen, designed by Literary Emporium. I like the fact that this is an easy iron on badge, but I am not entirely sure where to put it yet, because I don’t really own anything that I can put a badge on – it’s definitely beautiful, though!

The next item is an exclusive Fight Darkness sticker, designed by Reverie and Ink, and quotes An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. Again, not entirely sure where I want to put this, but I do have a lot of options.

We also received a couple of swag pins from The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli and This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada – both of which are on my TBR.

The first book included in this months box is an ARC of Furyborn by Claire Legrand. This book was definitely bigger than I first thought it was going to be, but I am extremely excited about getting to this! This is set to release next May and is being released by Sourcebooks Fire.

When assassins ambush her best friend, the crown prince, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing her ability to perform all seven kinds of elemental magic. The only people who should possess this extraordinary power are a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light and salvation and a queen of blood and destruction. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven trials to test her magic. If she fails, she will be executed…unless the trials kill her first.

A thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a mere fairy tale to bounty hunter Eliana Ferracora. When the Undying Empire conquered her kingdom, she embraced violence to keep her family alive. Now, she believes herself untouchable–until her mother vanishes without a trace, along with countless other women in their city. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain on a dangerous mission and discovers that the evil at the heart of the empire is more terrible than she ever imagined.

As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world–and of each other.

The other book we got in this months box was The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli. This is an exclusive Fairyloot edition, which has silver foil, rather than the gold of the normal edition. This also came with a letter from the author and a signed book plate. This is the first instalment in a YA Fantasy series and features Dragons – So I am definitely excited about getting this one!

In the beginning, there was the Namsara: the child of sky and spirit, who carried love and laughter wherever he went. But where there is light, there must be darkness—and so there was also the Iskari. The child of blood and moonlight. The destroyer. The death-bringer.

These are the legends that Asha, daughter of the king of Firgaard, has grown up learning in hushed whispers, drawn to the forbidden figures of the past. But it isn’t until she becomes the fiercest, most feared dragon slayer in the land that she takes on the role of the next Iskari—a lonely destiny that leaves her feeling more like a weapon than a girl.

Asha conquers each dragon and brings its head to the king, but no kill can free her from the shackles that await at home: her betrothal to the cruel commandant, a man who holds the truth about her nature in his palm. When she’s offered the chance to gain her freedom in exchange for the life of the most powerful dragon in Firgaard, she finds that there may be more truth to the ancient stories than she ever could have expected. With the help of a secret friend—a slave boy from her betrothed’s household—Asha must shed the layers of her Iskari bondage and open her heart to love, light, and a truth that has been kept from her.

That’s it for this box! I absolutely loved this month’s items and I cannot wait to use some them. Fairyloot have definitely outdone themselves and the packers did a great job of getting all the items in the box!

Find me Here:

Instagram/Twitter/Goodreads/Litsy @ Lauren’s Page Turners