Weekly Recap: Where I Basically Recap A Whole Month & Haul ALL The Books

I AM BACK! Yes, finally, it is happening. I have been absent from the blog for the longest time, what feels like months. It was more like a month to two, but it felt like almost a lifetime.
In that time I have:

•  Missed my actual blogoversary, so I celebrated it this week instead. I am doing a giveaway to celebrate as well, so be sure to enter!
• Had two weeks off work! HALLELUJAH! It was glorious, I got to do all the reading, all the sleeping and all the Netflix binging. 
• I devoured enough books to complete my Goodreads challenge of 100 books. I'm now at 116. Go me!
• I went to awesome book events. I got to meet Jennifer Donnelly, who is a sweetheart; Julie Mayhew who was as wonderful as the last time, and Leigh Bardugo who is fucking hilarious! I adored her. 
• Got my outfit together for a Disney Halloween Party. I am going as human Ariel and I am far too excited! You can probably expect lots of pictures next week, where I show off my adorably terrible, but cheaply put together costume.
• Acquired far too many books! So many that I am splitting the haul. I am also running out of shelf space... And I have seven bookshelves.
• I started a Book Tube channel and posted a few videos! I have actually had a lot of fun doing these, even if they take a lot of time. 
• I got sick... SUPER SICK! And I felt like I was dying. But I am all better now! Hurray for me!

Eva Ibbotson: Queen of YA Historical Romance

Title: The Morning Gift
Author: Eva Ibbotson
Publisher: Macmillan's Children's Books
Buy This Book: Amazon (UK) / Amazon (US) / Book Depository

Twenty-year-old Ruth Berger is desperate. The daughter of a Jewish-Austrian professor, she was supposed to have escaped Vienna before the Nazis marched into the city. Yet the plan went completely wrong, and while her family and fiancé are waiting for her in safety, Ruth is stuck in Vienna with no way to escape. Then she encounters her father’s younger college professor, the dashing British paleontologist Quin Sommerville. Together, they strike a bargain: a marriage of convenience, to be annulled as soon as they return to safety. But dissolving the marriage proves to be more difficult than either of them thought—not the least because of the undeniable attraction Quin and Ruth share. To make matters worse, Ruth is enrolled in Quin’s university, in his very classes. Can their secret survive, or will circumstances destroy their love?

Her books feel almost magical.

I did not know what to expect from Eva Ibbotson's books. I had seen them a lot whilst working in libraries, but had never picked them up and did not know anything about the author herself. I had assumed she was a young writer, not a woman who died in 2010, at the age of eighty-five, with such a rich history behind her. Having now finished five of her books, I can now say that I completely understand why she is an author who is held in such high regard. She weaves history and romance together so effortlessly, and they all have such a magical feel about them. I finish them with a smile on my face, and a warmth in my heart that is so hard to truly explain.

Blogoversary Celebration & Giveaway!

I have been blogging for TWO YEARS! Which feels rather amazing to me. I know I have been absent from the blog for quite some time now, but I plan to come back with a vengeance, starting with a blogoversary celebration!

My first blogoversary came round so quickly, it hardly felt like it had been a year at all. Two years feels so different, it feels like I have been blogging for so much longer than that now. Now blogging can be so much fun, but it can also be a lot of work. It's the wonderful community that makes blogging worthwhile, and what makes me keep writing posts. I have got to know so many amazing bloggers and they have made blogging a million times easier for me.