Mel's July, August & September Book Haul

My book hauls have really gotten away from me lately, mostly because of the lack of decent lighting (I use natural light), but also because of the huge amount of books that I purchased in August. So, I'm changing things up for a bit and just listing the books. I should get back to photographing books next month, especially since daylight savings starts up this weekend (in Australia).

July

The Crown's Game - Evelyn Skye

The Witch's Kiss - Katharine Corr

And I Darken - Kiersten White

The Last Star - Rick Yancey

Message In A Bottle - Nicholas Sparks

August

The Cursed Child - Jk Rowling, Jack Thorne & John Tiffany

Freedom: My Book of Firsts - Jaycee Dugard

Forever Doon - Carey Corp & Lorie Langdon

Mind = Blown - Matthew Santoro

Nevernight - Jay Kristoff

Abhorsen - Garth Nix

The Shadow Queen - CJ Redwine

A Whole New World - Liz Braswell

Nerve - Jeanne Ryan

A Promise of Fire - Amanda Bouchet

Bleach 3-in-1 volumes 6 & 7 - Tite Kubo

My Sister Rosa - Justine Larbalestier

The Beauty of Darkness - Mary E Pearson

Fruits Basket Collector's Edition volume 1 - Natsuki Takaya

Dream A Little Dream - Kerstin Gier

Dream On - Kerstin Gier

Harry Potter Colouring Book #3 Magical Places and Characters

Harry Potter Colouring Book #4 Artifacts

September

Empire of Storms - Sarah J Maas - I purchased both the hardcover and paperback editions.

Throne of Glass Colouring Book

Persona 3 - Shuji Sogabe

The Black Key - Amy Ewing

The Incredibly, Insanely, Super Duper Late July 2016 YA Chronicles Unboxing!

Ok, so I got a bit lazy and didn't get around to clearing enough space to photograph these until last week. Then I literally have not turned on my computer since then to process and upload, etc... ok, excuses and all. 

Anyway, I was actually really happy with this box. The items were good and the book was one that I was looking forward to (even though I didn't think ahead and bought it before this box arrived... but at least the second copy has a good home with one of my friends).

July's theme was Ladies Who Slay.

The first item was this cool Sailor Moon mirror! I didn't get to watch much of Sailor Moon when I was a kid, but when I did, I loved it, so this item is both awesome and useful!

The second item was a necklace with Hermione Granger's wand! I love this so much! It's by far the best item in the box. The chain is super long, so it didn't need an annoying clip!

There was also a keychain with either a Throne of Glass or A Court of Thorns and Roses design and I'm so happy that I got the Throne of Glass one! I can't say that I'm impressed by the quality though. The image is crooked and barely fits the pendant. Celaena's head almost got cropped out! (Sorry, that glare is aweful but it couldn't be helped. Also, Jen got the ACOTAR one.)

Then there was a temporary tattoo inspired by Tris' tattoo in the Divergent series. Normally, I don't give two farts about temp tattoos, but this one is kind of generic and has meaning outside of the Divergent series and will make a cool gift.

There was an extra bookmark this month, and I actually have the book, so it'll be cool to use this while I read The Crown's Game!

And finally, we have the book! And I Darken by Kiersten White.

As I said, I'm really happy that this was the book, because I was looking forward to getting it anyway. I've only sampled the first few chapters of this so far and it already drew me in! I can't wait to actually sit down and read it properly.

Overall, I'm really glad I bought this box! The YA Chronicles have really been a disappointment for me this year, with a majority of the books being contemporary, so I haven't been purchasing it unless I feel that the book is something that I'd actually read. Unfortunately, it's exactly this reason why neither of us bought the August box, and we're glad that we didn't because we didn't like anything in it. I figured out which book would be featured prior to it being sent out and it didn't interest either of us.

Anyway, my rating for the July box is 4/5.

September's box is You Win, or You Die and there will be an unboxing coming towards the end of the month.

September 2016 TBR

We have decided that we are going to be putting our monthly reading challenges on hold for the time being. They’ve been super fun, but it’s becoming difficult to come up with challenges that we can work into our monthly TBRs because we both have books that we really want to read.

Jen

I am going to try and keep my TBR to a minimum for this month because I mostly want to focus on my currently reading series and make some progress with those. And some of those books are big chunkers! Anything else I manage to read will just be a bonus!

Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass #4) by Sarah J. Maas

I have been loving the Throne of Glass series so much! Each book just gets better and better! I absolutely flew through Heir of Fire in a matter of days and have already started Queen of Shadows. However, I did put it down and haven’t picked it back up for a few days! I know that I’ll be completely captivated once I really get into the story, but the sheer size of it is just intimidating!

Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass #5) by Sarah J. Maas

I can’t wait for this one! I preordered it a while ago and I’m excited that I’m actually going to be caught up on the series (hopefully I can finish Queen of Shadows in time!) and be in a position to read the new book when it comes out and able to be a part of the hype.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (#5) by J.K. Rowling

My re-read of this series has taken me much longer than I thought it would. Again, I think it’s the size of the later books in the series which is daunting to me, which is ridiculous since it’s the later books that I enjoy the most and I have actually read them multiple times! But lately I’ve really been feeling the need to immerse myself back in the Wizarding World again so I definitely want to read this book this month.

The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus #3) by Rick Riordan

I finally, finally got around to reading the second book in this series last month and I think that this series has finally reached the point where things will just get so much better so I need to continue on and read the third book!

The Problem with Forever by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I can’t even remember how many TBRs I’ve put this book on now and I still have not gotten around to reading it yet! As always, it is the size of the book plus having too many other books that I want to read that has stopped me. But since I don’t have too many other books on my TBR for September, I am making this book a priority because it just needs to happen. 

Mel
My main goal for this month is just to read whatever I'm in the mood for, so I'm not setting a huge TBR. However, here's a few that I definitely want to finish. I am way behind on my 2016 Goodreads challenge, so I will still be trying to get as many books read as possible to catch up a bit.

Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas - I've had this one pre-ordered since May and I can't wait to dive back into the series!

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling - I don't know why I'm taking so long to get through this! It's not only one of the best books in the series, but it's one of the shortest!

The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan - Since I finally started it at the end of August, this one shouldn't take me too long to finish. 

August 2016 Wrap Up

Jen

August turned out to be a pretty good reading month for me. I was definitely a bit too ambitious and hopeful when I made my TBR and I didn’t read as many novels as I wanted to. However I did get to a lot of the books that I really wanted to read, which I think is an accomplishment in itself! I’m also pretty proud of the fact that I managed to read the entire Death Note manga series and watch almost the entire anime series all within one month.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne, John Tiffany & J.K. Rowling → 4/5

Fruits Basket Volume 1 by Natsuki Takaya → 4/5

Tik-Tok of Oz (Oz, #8) by L. Frank Baum → 4/5

The Scarecrow of Oz (Oz, #9) by L. Frank Baum → 3/5

Matilda by Roald Dahl (Audiobook narrated by Kate Winslet) → 5/5

Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi → 1/5

Library Wars: Love & War, Volumes 14 & 15 by Kiiro Yumi, Hiro Arikawa & Kinami Watabe → both 5/5

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover → 4/5

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (Audiobook narrated by Douglas Hodge) → 5/5

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan → 4.5/5

The Cabin by Natasha Preston → 3/5

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas → 5/5

Death Note: Black Edition, Volumes 1 - 6 by Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata → all 5/5 except volume 6 which I gave 4/5

Challenges completed:

Finish a series - Ignite Me: I ended up hating this book (and the series overall) but I am super happy that I finally got it read and can just unhaul these books and move on to better books.

Read a standalone - The Cabin: this book didn’t quite meet my expectations but it was still a good read and one that I’m glad I finally got to since I needed to review it!  

Read a favourite children's book - Matilda & Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: I had originally only planned on reading Matilda for this challenge but after finishing that book, I was just in the mood for another childhood favourite of mine.  

Challenges not completed: 

Read a middle grade book - The Son of Neptune: while I did read and ended up loving this book, it was kind of a fail on my part since I subsequently found out that Goodreads lists this as a young adult book and not middle grade like I originally thought it was. Oops. 

Read a book by an author who writes under more than one name - The Problem with Forever: this one didn’t happen since I failed to even pick up this book once. I ended up prioritising other books and this one just kept getting pushed back. But I am determined to read it, and soon, since I’ve been wanting to read it since it was released!

Mel
I'm a bit annoyed that I only completed two of the challenges set for the month, but I did read a few other books in the month, so I'm not too disappointed.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne  4/5
Black and Blue by James Patterson and Candice Fox  3/5
Cross Kill by James Patterson  5/5
Mind = Blown by Matthew Santoro  5/5
Nerve by Jeanne Ryan  3.75/5
Fruits Basket Collector's Edition Vol 1 by Natsuki Takaya  5/5
Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare  5/5

Challenges completed:
Finish a series - Clockwork Princess
A Stand Alone - Nerve: This was actually a substitute for The Messenger by Markus Zusak, because I just didn't feel like reading that genre.