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My Weekly Recap: 18/07/2015


This week has been a week of reading, relaxing and a lot of preparing for YALC (Young Adult Literary Convention) at the LFCC (London Film and Comic Con) which, by the time this post is live, I will currently be finishing my second day there. I booked a week and a half of work to make sure I could be ready but also enjoy my birthday and other events without having to worry about work. I'm not back until next Wednesday and I am enjoying all of my time off.

I am going to say it right now.... My haul this week is utterly ridiculous. I am well aware of that, but in my defence a lot of them are books I am taking to YALC to get signed by the authors there. And, okay, some are ones I bought just because I could. I have a problem and I can't seem to stop.

I also have a wonderful new look to the blog - just thought I'd mention it, in case you hadn't noticed how amazing the blog looks! - thanks to Evie, at Evie's Bookish Designs, and couldn't be happier with it. She was an absolute dream to work with and took my nonsensical ramblings of what I wanted and turned them into something way more amazing than I ever could have thought of. She also installed everything, thank god, and is so reasonably priced too. I'm still in awe of the design if I am honest. If you are looking for someone to help you with your blog design or just do some graphics for you then I definitely recommend her. ALSO.... She's hosting a GIVEAWAY to celebrate.

To celebrate my new design and reaching over 3,000 Bloglovin' followers, I am hosting a giveaway where one lucky winner will get £40 worth of books of their choice. I also created a book tag to go along with it that you can all take part in, which will gain you ten extra entries for the Rafflecopter. I had so much fun doing it... You can find out all about it here.




I'm completely ignoring any eARCs I have received because my physical haul has reached 55 books since my last haul, which was only three weeks ago. I am clearly acquiring books far too quickly, but will be slowing down after YALC. I will probably buy quite a few whilst at YALC, as publishers will be selling books that aren't available in stores yet and some signed ones by authors not attending. Not to mention there will be freebies and things, so my next haul will be large too. But after that... I WILL BE GOOD!


The Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy

Bought this to tide me over until Demon Road released, but then I got a review copy of Demon Road and devoured it in a day. Now I am so excited to get to this series because I am sure it's going to be awesome. I am taking all nine of these to YALC with me so that I can get them signed.... as long as they queue isn't utterly ridiculous. It probably will be though!

The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig, Read Me Like a Book by Liz Kessler, Made You Up by Francesca Zappia, The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes, Every Breath by Ellie Marney and Lying Out Loud by Kody Keplinger

The Fire Sermon and Read Me Like a Book are two that I am taking to YALC to get signed. Made You Up, The Sacred Lies and Every Breath are ones I bought because of all the amazing reviews I have seen. And Lying Out Loud is because I absolutely loved The DUFF, so I had to by the companion novel. 

Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare, A Certain Age by Rebecca Ray, Teach Me by R.A. Nelson and Innocents by Cathy Coote

The Infernal Devices series are books I want to take to YALC and see if I actually have the patience to wait in the queue for Cassandra Clare to sign them. We will see! The other three are teacher/student romance novels which I was going to read as part of a blog post I'm planning.


Blood and Feathers by Lou Morgan, Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, The Savages and American Savage by Matt Whyman, My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher and City of Halves by Lucy Inglish

All of these books are to take to YALC and get signed!!!


Crow Moon by Anna McKerrow, The Lost and the Found by Cat Clarke, The Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz, Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine, Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls by Lynn Weingarten and Deep Water by Lu Hersey

Crow Moon is to take to YALC and get signed. The others are ones I saw when I was out browsing bookshops and really liked the look of them. Now to find the time to read them all.

The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle, Remix by Non Pratt, Finding Cherokee Brown by Siobhan Curham, Shattered by Teri Terry, Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine and Angel Fever by L.A. Weatherly

All of these are for YALC as well!!! It's gonna be ridiculous getting all my books to YALC to get them signed. It's gonna be awful but awesome at the same time!!


The Potion Diaries by Amy Alward and Hush by Sara Marshall-Ball

I got lucky on Goodreads and won both of these beauties! I've already read The Potion Diaries and I really enjoyed it, it was a really fun read. 




I was gifted these through a Facebook group I am a part of and I was so pleased because I've wanted some of these for so long. I am absolutely loving using these and think they are so relaxing and great to do when you're binge watching a show on Netflix, like I do all the time!


Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan, Demon Road by Derek Landy, A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston, Night Owls by Jenn Bennett and Deep Blue Eternity by Natasha Boyd

I have seriously lucked out with review copies in the last three weeks. I suddenly just started receiving them all. I've already devoured and loved Demon Road, my review for that will be posted quite soon. I am probably going to read Magnus Chase next as it looks so awesome and the ARC itself is STUNNING! It's all shiny with glowing eyes. This is literally the third copy of Deep Blue Eternity that I have received. Not sure why they keep sending me it but they need to staaaahp!

One by Sarah Crossan, Lorali by Laura Dockrill, Foulsham by Edward Carey, The Good Girls by Sara Shepherd and Trollhunters by Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus

One is a book that I am very excited to read! And Trollhunters too. The Good Girls is the sequel to The Perfectionists and I am very excited to start it, I hope it gives me some answers.



For the giveaway post go HERE
The prize:

Up to £40 worth of books

That will be up to £40 worth of books of the winners choice from Book Depository. They ship internationally which means that it can be open to all of my wonderful followers. 

If you want to do the 1989 tag then it will get you 10 entries on the post, just add your link underneath and link back to here. Feel free to do as many or as few questions as you want, there are quite a few questions to choose from!


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Good luck everyone!!!



Top Ten Tuesday: Hyped Books I've Never Read
How to Survive YALC: Advice & Tips
Films for Thoughts on Thursday: Pitch Perfect 2
Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales
Top Ten Tuesday: Last 10 Books I Acquired
Welcome to the NEW Reviews from a Bookworm: Celebrations, a Tag and a Giveaway


88 comments:

  1. Um WOW! You got LOTS of books! I'm so jealous of you right now! Your design is gorgeous. I really love it :)

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  2. Your blog looks gorgeous, and congrats on the Bloglovin' followers! I love that you got those coloring books, I love to color and used to do those velvet posters and hang them all over my classroom. The students loved it and thought it was funny.

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  3. I love the new blog design! And so many books! I was at YALC yesterday and was supposed to go today but didn't make it sadly. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend! Also, congrats on the followers ;)

    Zareena @ The Slanted Bookshelf

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  4. Lots of wonderful books. I totally love the new look. It suits you. I hope you love YALC. That sounds like fun.

    Grace @ Books of Love

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  5. Don't even know where to start. I hope you enjoy all of your new books!

    Thanks for visiting my blog! Have a great weekend :)

    Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!

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  6. I absolutely love the new look, so pretty and feminine!

    And WOW you weren't kidding about the books, that is awesome!! Huge congrats!

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  7. Wow! You got Magnus Chase?!?! Can't wait to read your review of that one! Thanks for stopping by my stack.. Enjoy your amazing haul.

    brenda

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    1. I really loved it, very excited to post my review for that one!!! =D

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  8. Now that's a haul to be envious of. I am thinking of reading The Skullduggery books. They all look so great together. I also enjoy your new loom. Have fun at your outing!

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    1. I hope I love them when I finally manage to get to them :)

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  9. I love the new design! It's so light! So fresh!! Very pretty and classy! And WHOA! Awesome book haul!!! Lots of new to me ones and some familiar ones! Loved Weatherly's series! Thought the ending here was superb! Hee hee!

    Happy Reading and thanks for the giveaway! And again, lovely new design!! :D

    My STS will be up tomorrow, so be sure to stop by then!

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

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  10. Those are a lot of new books!! Have fun at YALC !!! <3

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  11. You got so many great books! I have wanted to check out Made You Up for the longest time. I've heard incredible things about it and the physical copies of it are so glorious. I also need to read all of Cassandra Clare's books! I've only read City of Bones and City of Ashes. Have a great week!
    Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian

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    1. I really want to hurry up and get to Made You Up, I've heard AMAZING things.

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  12. Omg, I never thought about colouring/drawing while watching tV. THAT IS SUCH A GOOD IDEA. I get so bored watching movies, but that'd really help. XD hehe.
    Aaanyway, yay for so many books! OMG SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT IS MY FAVOURITE. The end-ish books get so dark and sad too.
    You'll need, like, a small suitcase to carry all those books are YALC. xD

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  13. Happy early birthday! Hope you're having fun at YALC!!!

    Gorgeous stacks - enjoy them!

    My STtS

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  14. Rivers of London was ok but it felt more like a crime novel than a paranormal one so it wasn't really to my taste. I'm not a fan of crime novels! Have fun at YALC and thanks for visiting my blog!

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  15. Apart from the ones I have already seen because of the TT post, a lot of these are books I have never heard of, which makes me curious to want to know more about them once you have done reading them! I also have read My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece and I loved it. I think it shows a lot about being judgmental of others and discrimination, and the reasons behind it (although it still isn't right.) But you start to understand how to overcome it as well. Brilliant book.

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    1. I am both excited and nervous to read that one. I hope I love it :)

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  17. Wow that is a very impressive book haul! I spotted Ink and Bone in there, which I'm really excited to read - will look forward to seeing a review on that one.

    Thanks for the giveaway :) I deleted my above comment because I forgot to say I love the new layout! It's really pretty, but still clear and easy to read.

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  18. Love the design!!! WOW on the book haul!!! Enjoy them all!

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  19. Your book haul is positively drool worthy! Hope you are having a fabulous time at YALC. Can't wait to hear about all the authors you met and the books you got signed. :)

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  20. Wow so many books, I'm so jealous right now! thanks also for the nice giveaway, the new design is really nice, really pure

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  21. Love the new design. And now to do the tag... :D

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  22. Oh, my goodness! So many books. I like the cover and the sound of The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes.
    @dino0726 from 
    FictionZeal - Impartial, Straighforward Fiction Book Reviews

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  23. All the books! Amazing! I wish I could've gone to YALC. Ah, maybe someday! Hope you enjoy all your new books. =D

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  24. This haul is incredible! I don't even want to imagine how long it took you to put this post together. I hope you enjoy all of the books, and it sounds like the events were amazing! Your new design is amazing too! Evie also did my design. :)

    Here is my StS

    Justin @ Justin's Book Blog

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  25. Yipeee! gorgeous haul! The Accident Season is one I've been curious about. Have a good reading week.

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  26. I absolutely LOVE the new blog design, it's completely gorgeous! Wow this is a super epic haul Charnell! I can't wait to hear how you got at YALC, how exciting! INK AND BONE oh my gosh I can't wait to see what that's like! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on Minnow Bly and Made You Up, I really want to read those ones.

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  27. First time visiting your blog - man, what a pretty blog! Loving it. You have quite the hard copy backlog, wow. I don't do many hard copies these days because they so quickly become a tower! Happy reading!

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    Replies
    1. I have far too many books, but I can't stop myself buying more!

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  28. SO many books! When will you find time to read them all? I can't even begin to comment on one, there are just too many. I hope you enjoy them!

    Stacking the Shelves.

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  29. Holy hell, woman! That is a crazy, wonderful book haul! So nice you were able to attend the convention. Those are always such fun, and you'll walk away with even more. Enjoy! The new blog design looks really fantastic. It has such a whimsical quality to it.

    p.s. Happy birthday!

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    1. I know, I can't stop myself from buying books. I AM TERRIBLE!

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  30. Love your haul this week! I've been seeing Made You Up a lot. The cover is so amazing! Happy reading =)

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  31. I love your blog design!! I hope you had fun at YALC!! :D

    Rachel @ A Perfection Called Books

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  32. Wow, so many awesome books!

    Congrats on 3000 followers! And the first thing I thought when I first visited your blog tonight was, "I love her layout." :)

    Lindsey

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  33. Okay, where even to begin!? First... I LOOOOOVE the new design! It is gorgeous. And HUGE congrats on 3000 followers, that is quite an accomplishment!

    And the books. THE BOOKS. There may be more books in your haul than on my whole shelf ;) Kidding, but still, it is impressive! I love some of the UK covers too, in comparison to the US ones! The A Thousand Nights and One covers are so, so different- but quite lovely.

    I hope you have a wonderful time at your events- they both sound incredible!!

    Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight

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  34. So many books! I loved Made You Up and Every Breath. And Infernal Devices…one of my favorite series, I need to reread it sometime. Hope you had fun at YALC! ~Pam

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  35. Ooh lucky you!! I didn't get to go this year. I was thinking about it when the event dates were suddenly around the corner, but by that time tickets were all sold out. I don't even know how you've managed to emotionally deal with havin so many new books to read! I remember last year it was the same issue for me, but I've long since stopped buying new books. I just can't deal. >.< Oh well, you have a lot of very interesting reads to look forward to! Have fun at YALC.

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    1. I feel overwhelmed by them all still. Most will just sit on the shelf for a while probably but oh well!!! >.<

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  36. Oooh I LOVE your new design, Charnell! It's gorgeous!

    YALC sounds like it'll be amazing, hope you had a fab time! And wow, look at all the book <3 *misty eyes* I LOVE the UK cover of Ink and Bone (and I can't wait to read it, too!) Hope you love all your new reads, and have a fab week!

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  37. I'm sooooo envious of you. Magnus Chase! Now that you've read it will it inspire to finally read Percy Jackson(I'm right that you haven't read the series yet, right?).
    I LOVE the UK cover of A Thousand Nights. I will definitely be getting my hands on that edition.
    I really want to read Made You Up. Waiting on my library to get it.
    Happy reading!
    Brittany @ This is the Story of My(Reading) Life

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  38. Your design is beautiful! I absolutely love the colors! They go so well together. And congrats on 3000 followers!

    Thank you for the amazing giveaway!

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  39. Wow. My mouth is watering for all those great books. Hope you enjoy them all. Thanks for stopping by.

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  40. Wow what a collection of books

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  41. love the new design :) I followed on instagram and cut and paste your own link by mistake lol! I'm @ruthiepops123, apologies, not sure how I did that!!

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  42. I know, my hauls are always crazy! I HAVE NO SELF CONTROL!!! >.<

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  43. Thank u for the lovely comp...I've just discovered ur blog and its fabx

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  44. your blog looks gorgeous! Congrats on 3,000 followers!

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  45. I really like the new design (and I love the butterfly :-))

    That's an amazing book haul!

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Thank you so much for taking the time to comment, it always makes my day! Because of time restraints, this is now an award free zone but thanks so much for considering me! Feel free to leave a link to your own blog and I will come visit.