January 2017 YA Chronicles Unboxing

This is a little bit late, but since neither of us bought the February box, this can fill the gap a bit.

Also, a huge THANK YOU to Jen for gifting me this box for my birthday!!

The theme for January's box was "Did someone say fantasy?"
Here's the bookmark:

This box included some really cool prints!

There was also this extra bookmark. Even though it's The Raven Cycle themed (which I DNFed) I still really like the design!

 My favourite item by a long shot was this:

The ring from Lord of the Rings! Don't worry, there's no power in this one, it's just a 

...

MY PRECIOUSSSS.

Ahem. Where was I?

There was actually a bonus book in this box!

This was a huge surprise and I love that they included it! I especially love that it included an excerpt from Fleur Ferris' upcoming book Wreck, which is one of my most anticipated releases for this year!

Now here we have the book!

A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess. This book sounds really interesting and I'm looking forward to reading it!

Overall, I rate this box 4.5/5. There wasn't anything I didn't like, and it's definitely one of the better boxes lately.

Mel's January 2017 Book Haul

Late again.... oops. Oh well! Anyway, I did really well restricting my book buying, so this haul is super short (Can't say the same for February though!)

Frozen Tides by Morgan Rhodes - I never see any of the Falling Kingdoms books for less than $20 (AUD), so when this one popped up for less than $20, I didn't hesitate.

Fruits Basket Collector's Edition Volume 8 by Natsuki Takaya - This one also dropped below $20, so I bought it while I could!

InuYasha 3-in-1 Volume 3 by Rumiko Takahashi - This one always seems to be the only edition of this manga that is ever on sale! I didn't get it as cheap as Jen, but I still got it for a good price.

Sword Art Online Progressive by Kiseki Himura, Reki Kawahara & abec - I really enjoyed the first season of the Sword Art Online anime, so I really wanted to see what one of the manga series was like. This copy is the super shiny Loot Crate exclusive edition.

A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess - This was in the January YA Chronicles box. I'm looking forward to reading this one!

Super-proof 2017 by Penguin Teen Australia - This is jam packed with excerpts of books all due out this year. This also came in the January YA Chronicles box.

2016 Anticipated Releases Check In

I got this idea from watching Elizabeth’s video over at The Owlery Books on BookTube. I thought it was a fantastic idea to see how 2016 turned out for me and whether or not I actually got to reading all the books that I was so excited for!

As it happens, I managed to read a grand total of two books out of all those that I just couldn’t wait to get my hands on. 

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

Morgan Matson did it again with this book. It was quite a chunky book for a contemporary, but I absolutely loved it and gave it 5 stars. Feel free to check out my review if you want to see all of my thoughts on this book. Also, the cover has to be one of my favourite ones ever. Who doesn’t love adorable doggies?

 

The Last Star (The 5th Wave #3) by Rick Yancey

Unfortunately I did not love this one at all. In fact, I hated it. It was a terrible conclusion to what started off as a very promising series and actually made it onto my most disappointing reads of 2016 list.

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And now onto the very, very long list of books that I just did not get to (even though I really wanted to!).  

Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices #1) by Cassandra Clare

I wanted to read this one so badly and I’d even put in the effort to re-read the entire Mortal Instruments series and all of the Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy novellas in preparation for this. Yet somehow I never managed to pick this book up. But the bonus to that is now I will be able to read Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows back to back! If I can get to it. I’m hopeful!

In Too Deep by Samantha Hayes

This is a standalone psychological thriller from an absolute master in this genre and one of my auto buy authors. It’s possible that because I have this as an ebook it just kept getting pushed back. I was always trying to read from my physical books so whenever I happened to be in the mood for a mystery/thriller and I would always end up finding another book instead.

The Fate of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #3) by Erika Johansen

I have wanted to read this series for a very long time but what’s stopped me so far is the exorbitant prices for these books. The hardcover editions are just beautiful but the price tag is not. I will own these one day though, I’ll just have to wait until I can snag them at a decent price.

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The rest of the books on this list are all conclusions to series in which I actually own the rest of the books as well. I wanted to read these series so badly but there was always that pesky problem of so many books, so little time.  I am still very much interested in each of these series, so they will get read...eventually.

The Crown (The Selection #5) by Kiera Cass

The Midnight Star (The Young Elites #3) by Marie Lu

Lady Renegades (Rebel Belle #3) by Rachel Hawkins

Forever Doon (Doon #4) by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon

The Winner’s Kiss (The Winner’s trilogy #3) by Marie Rutkoski

The Beauty of Darkness (The Remnant Chronicles #3) by Mary E. Pearson

Frost Like Night (Snow Like Ashes #3) by Sara Raasch

The Raven King (The Raven Cycle #4) by Maggie Stiefvater 

March 2017 TBR

Jen

March is going to be a very crazy month for me because I will be heading overseas to Hong Kong at the end of the month! As such I can imagine that much of my time will be taken up with packing and organising. That doesn’t leave me much time for reading at all so this is a very hopeful TBR for me.

Never Fade (The Darkest Minds #2), In the Afterlight (#3), Through the Dark (novella collection) by Alexandra Bracken

I did actually start reading Never Fade last month, but I wasn’t really in the mood for it, so I didn’t make it very far before I was distracted by other books. I definitely won’t be taking any physical books overseas with me so I really need to get this one finished. And then read the third book in this trilogy as well as finish up the collection of novellas.

Fullmetal Alchemist (3-in-1 Edition) Volumes 4 - 9 by Hiromu Arakawa & Akira Watanabe

Some very sad news for me, apparently manga isn’t big at all over in H.K. I had been hoping to be able to slowly work my way through this series but that’s not going to happen now since I won’t be able to get access to this series via the library over there. Therefore I need to read these six omnibus editions to finish up this manga series before I leave! It seems like a lot but I’m really hoping that it can happen.

Mel
I'm all about fairytale/Disney retellings and manga this month! Then if I have time, there's a few extra books that I've been wanting to read.

InuYasha 3-in-1 Volumes 1, 2 & 3 by Rumiko Takahashi
Tokyo Ghoul Volume 1 by Sui Ishida
Sword Art Online Aincrad by Reki Kawahara, Tamako Nakamura & abec
A Whole New World by Liz Braswell
Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell
Lost in a Book by Jennifer Donnelly
Splintered by AG Howard
Traitor to the Throne by Alwyn Hamilton

February 2017 Wrap Up

Jen

I started off the month so well and was cruising through books. Unfortunately that didn’t last too long, life got in the way and I didn’t end up reading as much as I wanted to. Having said that though, I am very happy with what I did manage to read. I finished up quite a few series (yay!) and read quite a bit of manga!

Surviving Ice (Burying Water #4) by K.A. Tucker → 3.5/5

Seriously...I’m Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres → 5/5

Deltora Quest 3: Dragons of Deltora by Emily Rodda → 5/5

How To Give Up Shopping (Or At Least Cut Down): The Journey Back To Conscious Spending

by Neradine Tisaj → 3/5

Deity (Covenant #3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout → 3/5

Elixir  (Covenant #3.5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout → 5/5

Apollyon (Covenant #4) by Jennifer L. Armentrout → 4/5

Sentinel (Covenant #5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout → 3/5

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (#7) by J.K. Rowling → 5/5

Fullmetal Alchemist (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 1 by Hiromu Arakawa & Akira Watanabe → 4/5

Fullmetal Alchemist (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 2 by Hiromu Arakawa & Akira Watanabe → 4.5/5

Fullmetal Alchemist (3-in-1 Edition), Vol. 3 by Hiromu Arakawa & Akira Watanabe → 4/5 

Mel
I think I did pretty well in Feb! I was definitely on a roll for a while there. I still didn't read as much as I wanted to, which I chalk up to not getting into a book as much as I wanted to, but I'm not too worried about that, since I have a lot of other books  that I'm excited to read in March.

Cradle and All by James Patterson  5/5
Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes  3/5
The Last Beginning by Lauren James  3.75/5
Valentine by Jodi McAlister  4.75/5
Bleach Omnibus Volume 6 by Tite Kubo  4.5/5
Bleach Omnibus Volume 7 by Tite Kubo  5/5