My Weekly Book Haul: London Haul Edition

Friday Finds is something that was started over on ShouldBeReading and Stacking the Shelves over at TyngaReviews, I am in love with all of these as I love finding other blogs to follow and books to read through these! So check them all out and see what you find, Stacking the Shelves has a lot of participants as well which is great. This is basically a way for me to show what books I have received, borrowed or bought each week. All book covers and their summary come from back of book or Goodreads.

The London Book Day Edition

Confession: I hate Valentine's Day.

I've been with my boyfriend seven years, and we have never really celebrated that day. We make a big deal of the anniversary of when we got together, but that's about it. I'm lucky, in that, he thinks you should treat the person your with every day of the year, not just one. So, instead of doing flowers or chocolates on Valentines Day, he took me into London on Monday for a day of book buying.

He hates book buying so this we a HUGE DEAL!

He let me look up bookshops online, the best book charity shops and even took me out for dinner. I must admit to messing up and planning the day in advance without checking a calendar. Monday turned out to be my sisters birthday and we had to go home early and missed out a ton of places. I'll definitely be going to all the other shops soon though.

I'll post the books I got but I'm thinking of doing a post on how to do London, book style. So where you can get some great deals, the best charity shops that specialise in books. You get some amazing deals and quite a lot of ARCs get donated. Keep an eye out for that soon.

The London Haul

Most of these I got from Oxfam Bookshops, which are amazing. I got ten books and they only set the boyfriend back £31, which is literally £3.10 per book... AMAZING ;) 

Perfect Ruin by Lauren Destefano

On the floating city of Internment, you can be anything you dream, unless you approach the edge. Morgan Stockhour knows getting too close can lead to madness, like her older brother Len, a Jumper. She takes solace in her best friend Pen, and in Basil, the boy she’s engaged to marry. When she investigates the first murder in a generation, she meets Judas. The suspect was betrothed to the victim, but Morgan believes he is innocent. Nothing can prepare Morgan for the secrets she will find – or whom she will lose.

I've been intrigued by this for a while now and as it was in perfect condition, and only £3, I had to get it! 

Hurt by Tabitha Suzuma

At seventeen, Matheo Walsh is Britain's most promising diving champion. He is wealthy, popular - and there's Lola, the girlfriend of his dreams.
But then there was that weekend. A weekend he cannot bring himself to remember. All he knows is that what happened has changed him.
Matheo is faced with the most devastating choice of his life. Keep his secret, and put those closest to him in terrible danger. Or confess, and lose Lola for ever...

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

"Errand requiring immediate attention. Come.
The note was on vellum, pierced by the talons of the almost-crow that delivered it. Karou read the message. 'He never says please', she sighed, but she gathered up her things.
When Brimstone called, she always came."
In general, Karou has managed to keep her two lives in balance. On the one hand, she's a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague; on the other, errand-girl to a monstrous creature who is the closest thing she has to family. Raised half in our world, half in 'Elsewhere', she has never understood Brimstone's dark work - buying teeth from hunters and murderers - nor how she came into his keeping. She is a secret even to herself, plagued by the sensation that she isn't whole.
Now the doors to Elsewhere are closing, and Karou must choose between the safety of her human life and the dangers of a war-ravaged world that may hold the answers she has always sought.

Yes, I haven't read it yet. I have had a library copy out for months now and still haven't got to it. Hopefully this will give me the push to finally start the series. 

If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

Carey is keeping a terrible secret. If she tells, it could destroy her future. If she doesn't, will she ever be free?
For almost as long as she can remember, Carey has lived in the heart of the woods with her drug-addicted mother and six-year-old sister, Jenessa.
Their mother routinely disappears for weeks at a time, leaving the girls to cope alone. Survival is Carey's only priority - until strangers arrive and everything changes...

Thirteen by Tom Hoyle

Born at midnight in London, on the stroke of the new millennium, Adam is the target of a cult that believes boys born on this date must die before the end of their thirteenth year. Twelve boys have been killed so far. Coron, the crazy cult leader, will stop at nothing to bring in his new kingdom. And now he is planning a bombing spectacular across London to celebrate the sacrifice of his final victim: Adam.

The actual physical book is just incredible. It looks incredible, feels incredible and has crossed out numbers, 1-12 along the edge of the pages... I LOVE IT! Let's hope the actual story is just as good.

   

Crash, Clash & Crush by Nicole Williams

outhpointe High is the last place Lucy wanted to wind up her senior year of school. Right up until she stumbles into Jude Ryder, a guy whose name has become its own verb, and synonymous with trouble. He's got a rap sheet that runs longer than a senior thesis, has had his name sighed, shouted, and cursed by more women than Lucy dares to ask, and lives at the local boys home where disturbed seems to be the status quo for the residents. Lucy had a stable at best, quirky at worst, upbringing. She lives for wearing the satin down on her ballet shoes, has her sights set on Juilliard, and has been careful to keep trouble out of her life. Up until now. 
Jude's everything she needs to stay away from if she wants to separate her past from her future. Staying away, she's about to find out, is the only thing she's incapable of. 
For Lucy Larson and Jude Ryder, love's about to become the thing that tears them apart.

Up In Flames by Nicole Williams

Elle Montgomery is a good girl. Born and raised in a small town in Washington State, she's always done exactly what she's supposed to and what everyone expects of her. She helps out at the cafe her family owns, and has been dating the pastor's son, Logan, since she was allowed to go on her first date at sixteen. Having just graduated from high school, and knowing that Logan wants to put a ring on her finger and get married as soon possible, Elle feels like her life is already mapped out. Cole Carson's life couldn't be more different. An adrenaline junkie, he has worked as a smokejumper for the past three summers, roaming from town to town following the fires. Cole lives his life day to day and dreads the thought of putting down roots or being tied to one person. 

Following an awkward, embarrassing first meeting, Elle knows she should keep away from Cole and the feelings he ignites in her. And Cole just can't help but pursue Elle, the girl who seems immune to his charms. But as summer heats up, their attraction grows, and as tensions between them run high, Elle and Cole realise that one way or another, they're going up in flames...

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K.Rowling

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a Wizarding classic, first came to Muggle readers’ attention in the book known as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Now, thanks to Hermione Granger’s new translation from the ancient runes, we present this stunning edition with an introduction, notes, and illustrations by J. K. Rowling, and extensive commentary by Albus Dumbledore. Never before have Muggles been privy to these richly imaginative tales: “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot,” “The Fountain of Fair Fortune,” “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart,” “Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump,” and of course, “The Tale of the Three Brothers.” But not only are they the equal of fairy tales we now know and love, reading them gives new insight into the world of Harry Potter.

Borrowed from Library:

Entangled by Amy Rose Capetta

Alone was the note Cade knew best. It was the root of all her chords.
Seventeen-year-old Cade is a fierce survivor, solo in the universe with her cherry-red guitar. Or so she thought. Her world shakes apart when a hologram named Mr. Niven tells her she was created in a lab in the year 3112, then entangled at a subatomic level with a boy named Xan.
   Cade’s quest to locate Xan joins her with an array of outlaws—her first friends—on a galaxy-spanning adventure. And once Cade discovers the wild joy of real connection, there’s no turning back.

Haven't heard of this one before, but I fell in love with the cover and it sounds interesting.

Escape Theory by Margaux Froley

Sixteen-year-old Devon Mackintosh has always felt like an outsider at Keaton, the prestigious California boarding school perched above the Pacific. As long as she’s not fitting in, Devon figures she might as well pad her application to Stanford’s psych program. So junior year, she decides to become a peer counselor, a de facto therapist for students in crisis. At first, it seems like it will be an easy fly-on-the-wall gig, but her expectations are turned upside down when Jason Hutchins (a.k.a. “Hutch”), one of the Keaton’s most popular students, commits suicide. 

 Devon dives into her new role providing support for Hutch’s friends, but she’s haunted by her own attachment to him. The two shared an extraordinary night during their first week freshman year; it was the only time at Keaton when she felt like someone else really understood her.  As the secrets and confessions pile up in her sessions, Devon comes to a startling conclusion: Hutch couldn't have taken his own life. Bound by her oath of confidentiality—and tortured by her unrequited love—Devon embarks on a solitary mission to get to the bottom of Hutch's death, and the stakes are higher than she ever could have imagined.

Skin Deep by Laura Jarratt

Ugly people don't have feelings. They're not like everyone else. They don't notice if you stare at them and turn away. And if they did notice, it wouldn't hurt them. They're not like real people. Or that's what I used to think. Before I learned...After the car crash that leaves her best friend dead, Jenna is permanently scarred. She struggles to rebuild her life, but every stare in the street, every time she looks in the mirror, makes her want to retreat further from the world. Until she meets Ryan. Ryan's a traveller. When he and his mother moor their narrow boat on the outskirts of a village, she tells him this time it will be different. He doesn't believe her; he can't imagine why this place shouldn't be as unwelcoming as the rest. Until he meets Jenna. But as Jenna and Ryan grow closer, repercussions from the crash continue to reverberate through the community. And then a body is found...

By Any Other Name by Laura Jarratt

Nobody can know the truth—her life depends on it. A tale of family, identity, and trust, about a girl struggling with life in the witness protection program.

I picked up the book and thumbed through the pages. Names in alphabetical order, names with meanings, names I knew, names I'd never heard of. How to pick? Nothing that would stand out, nothing that would link me to the past—those were the instructions. The past. As if everything that had gone before this moment was buried already.
Holly is 15 years old, but she's only been "Holly" for a matter of months. Because of something that happened, she and her family have had to enter witness protection and have all assumed new identities. All, that is, except her sister Katie, who is autistic. Starting at a new school mid-year is hard enough at the best of times, and Holly has no clue who she is anymore. Lonely and angry, she reaches out to friends—new and old. But one wrong move will put all their lives in danger.

After the First Death by Robert Cormier

Who will be the next to die?
They've taken the children. And the son of a general. But that isn't enough.
More horrors must come...

Flame by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Waverly and the other members of the Empyrean have been scattered, and their home ship destroyed. The mission to rescue their parents didn't go quite as planned, and now they're at an even greater disadvantage: trapped with their enemies on the New Horizon, trying to find a way to survive. Will Seth's health hold out long enough to help Waverly topple their enemy? And will Waverly find a way to unite her friends before the final battle? Nothing is certain and every second is a risk in this explosive finale.

Received for Review:

Searching for Beautiful by Nyrae Dawn

Before it happened…

Brynn had a group of best friends, a boyfriend who loved her, a growing talent for pottery. She had a life. And then…she had none.
After it happened…
Everything was lost. The boy she now knew never loved her. The friends who felt she betrayed their trust. The new life just beginning to grow inside her.
Brynn believes her future is as empty as her body until Christian, the boy next door, starts coming around. Playing his guitar and pushing her to create art once more. She meets some new friends at the local community center, plus even gets her dad to look her in the eye again…sort of. But letting someone in isn’t as easy as it seems.
Now…
Can Brynn open up her heart to truly find her life’s own beauty, when living for the after means letting go of the before?

This one sounds interesting.

Released: 4th March 2014

Dissonance by Erica O'Rourke 

Delancy Sullivan has always known there’s more to reality than what people see. Every time someone makes a choice, a new, parallel world branches off from the existing one. Eating breakfast or skipping it, turning left instead of right, sneaking out instead of staying in bed ~ all of these choices create an alternate universe in which an echo self takes the road not travelled and makes the opposite decision. As a Walker, someone who can navigate between these worlds, Del’s job is to keep all of the dimensions in harmony.

Normally, Del can hear the dissonant frequency that each world emits as clear as a bell. But when a training session in an off-key world goes horribly wrong, she is forbidden from Walking by the Council. But Del’s not big on following the rules and she secretly starts to investigate these other worlds. Something strange is connecting them and it’s not just her random encounters with echo versions of the guy she likes, Simon Lane.
But Del’s decisions have unimaginable consequences and, as she begins to fall for the Echo Simons in each world, she draws closer to a truth that the Council of Walkers is trying to hide ~ a secret that threatens the fate of the entire multiverse.

I love the cover! Plus... PARALLEL WORLDS!

Released: 22nd July 2014

Now and Forever by Susane Colasanti 

What if your boyfriend was the world's biggest rockstar?

Sterling is crazy in love with Ethan. Not only is he the sweetest boy she's ever met, but he's an incredibly talented guitarist, singer, and songwriter. And since forever, he's believed he has what it takes to be a star.
When Ethan becomes an overnight sensation, he's thrown head-first into the glam world of celebrity-and so is Sterling. Before she knows it, she's attending red-carpet premieres, getting free designer clothes, and flying around the country to attend Ethan's monumental sold-out concerts.
It's a dream come true...but whose dream is Sterling living? And what do you do when "forever" comes to an end?

I think I have only read one book by this author, and I didn't really enjoy it. But, I keep hearing really great things and I couldn't help myself giving this one a go.

Released: 20th May 2014

Current Giveaways

I am taking part in the Valentine's Day Giveaway, hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer. For all the details, go here. 

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I'm also doing a giveaway where three winners will will £10 Amazon GC.

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