My First Book Haul - April 2016

I love watching Booktube and one of my favourite videos to watch is a book haul. I must have watched hundreds of them and (as long as they're done well) I do really enjoy them. In all this watching though, I'd never considered doing a book haul blog post until I discovered Bibliophile Book Club and I read her March book haul post. I decided I'd give it a go and see what people think and see if you're interested in what books I'm getting each month.

I'm posting this a little before the end of the month as I genuinely don't think I'll be getting or receiving any more books before the end of the month. If I do and people enjoy this, I can always add it to next months haul. This month as well the books are not in the order I got them, but if I do continue to do these blog posts, I will make sure that I keep the order of when I received books in the future.

So the books I bought, received or was gifted in the months of April (and the very back end of March) were as follows:

1. The Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett
2. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
3. Half Lost by Sally Green
4. Stars Above by Marissa Meyer
5. The Ring Of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud
6. Queen Of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas
7. Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris
8. Covet by J. R. Ward
9. Crave by J. R, Ward
10. Envy by J. R. Ward
11. The Lie by C. L. Taylor
12. The Accident by C. L. Taylor
13. Batman: A Visual History
14. Star Wars: The Force Awakens by Alan Dean Foster
15. Yonder by LeeAnne Hansen (Audiobook)
16. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson (Audiobook)
17. Firefight by Brandon Sanderson (Audiobook)
18. Whispers Of Bedlam Asylum by Mark C. King
19. Deadly Harvest by Michael Stanley
20. Harvest Festival by Karl Drinkwater
21. Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 5 by Tsugumi Ohba
22. Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 6 by Tsugumi Ohba
23. Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb
24. The Flash: Born To Run by Mark Waid
25. Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard
26. Batman: The Black Mirror by Scott Snyder

I think I got everything. I think there's a really nice mix of books and I am really looking forward to them all.

What do you think of this kind of blog post? Would you like to see more of this in the future? Also tell me what books you've bought recently.

The Chamber - Dominic H. King

I was incredibly lucky to receive an e-book copy of The Chamber (Twin Worlds Trilogy #1) directly from the author Dominic H. King in exchange for an honest review (I also received the second and third book in the trilogy so there will be a series over view to look out for when I'm all done).

The story is told from the dual perspectives of Kal and Daine and we follow them in their quest to save their own world from the same evil called the Reaper. The dual perspective is done extremely well and it is immediately obvious which character you are following in each chapter.

Kal and Daine are both excellent characters and are really well developed. I don't think I can say if I had a favourite between the two as they both have their own good points and bad, I really enjoyed their different and yet similar journeys to their final destination towards the end of the book. There is a whole host of really interesting characters too, I particularly like Thaan the head Shadow. he has a really good back story and he is a complete bad ass. I hope we see more of him in the future books.

The worlds are really well built and the enemy, particularly the Arrochom so far, are described in all their horrifying glory. Imagine giant spider type things with pincers that scream. They are definitely terrifying.

The story itself is incredibly enjoyable and it was very hard to put down as I always wanted to read "just one more chapter" to see what happened next. It's also very fast paced and I think incredibly well written and thought out.

My only real complaint about the whole book was the second half seemed to not have been edited or proof read as there seemed to be a lot of errors. None of them were big enough to pull you completely out of the story luckily, but there was all of sudden from about half way through a lot of them.

Overall I really loved this book and I really look forward to reading the next two books in the trilogy to see what happens to both Kal and Daine and to see if they can succeed in their mission.

Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

Following Love In The Time Of Cholera (my review is here), it was my turn to choose our next buddy read and I decided that as I have somehow never read any Charles Dickens, that I would pick one of his books. I decided to choose one of his more popular works which was Oliver Twist.

Firstly I will just say outright, I really dislike the over of the edition that I got for us.

Secondly I will say that I thought I knew a lot more about the story of Oliver Twist than I actually do, I thought I'd at least seen a film adaptation or something similar, but I barely knew anything about it.

I'm going to start this review a little different and give you a list of things I learnt while reading Oliver Twist.

• Fagin and the Artful Dodger are not the same person. 
• Fagin is not in the book as much as I expected. 
• The "Please Sir, can I have some more" is not the main plot point of the story. 
• There's actually a lot of death, including a murder in the story. 
• The whole story does not revolve around a jolly band of pick pockets. 

There may have been a couple of other things, but these were the main things that stood out to me from what I thought I knew about the story. 

I really struggled reading this book due to the way it was written, I had a feeling that Dickens would not be for me and I was right. It's not that it's badly written, it's just not written in a way that I like. I also really didn't like any of the characters except possibly Mr Brownlow, so I found it very difficult to care what happened to anyone and yes that includes Oliver. There's nothing exactly wrong with Oliver, but he's just so bland that he doesn't really stand out to me at all. 

Overall the book was just ok and that's why I've given it three stars instead of two. It was just perfectly average throughout. The only thing that has come from this is that I can say that I have finally read some Dickens. 

Our next buddy read has already been chosen and we will be starting to read it tomorrow (17/04/2016) and that is The Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett which is certainly more of a chunky read. 

We started this book on the 31st of March 2016 and we finished it on the 16th of April 2016.

I gave the book 3 stars on Goodreads. 

Unhauling Books

The people that know me, know that I have a really serious aversion to giving away or getting rid of books. I've been like this for as long as I can remember and I never thought that it would change.

Recently however I have been looking at my shelves (wishing I had more room like all bookaholics) and I'm seeing books that I genuinely either didn't enjoy reading, will never read again or that I am plain just not interested in reading any more as my reading tastes have changed over the years. I also have a few duplicates *ahem* but enough about that.

I have realised that all of these books are taking up space that I could use for new and exciting books that I have enjoyed or will enjoy in the future. This has been a hard realisation for me as I feel like I have an emotional connection to all of my books regardless of whether I loved or hated them. Since I have started my blog and I have Goodreads and I have my book journal, I don't really need to keep hold of the physical copy of the book any longer to have memories of it as I have them in the form of reviews or even photographs on my Instagram.

So going forward I am going to be working through my many (many) bookshelves and I will be sorting them into keep and donate piles and I will also continue my never ending cataloguing of all my books onto Goodreads so that it is fully up to date. This is going to be a big job and it won't be completed instantly, but I am at least now motivated to do this and I don't feel like I'm going to struggle, too much anyway, to give away books, even if I haven't read them.

How do you feel about unhauling books? Are you as attached to your books as I have been or can you give them away without a thought?

Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez was my buddy readers choice for our second read along. (We're now currently reading Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens) She chose a more modern classic and it was one I have not heard of before. I have heard of One Hundred Years Of Solitude also by Marquez and I do actually own it but I haven't got around to read it as of yet. I will also admit that reading the synopsis it is not a book I would have ever personally picked up, but that's half the fun of doing this buddy read,

The story follows Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza and how they were what I imagine could be called childhood sweethearts who separated and then came back into each others lives at a lot older age. Florentino never gives up on his love for Fermina, but she goes off to marry a successful doctor called Juvenal Urbino who was my favourite character until he died at the end of the first chapter. (This is not a spoiler the information is in the synopsis). You follow both characters as they go through through their lives, in particular Florentino and you learn about them as you read the book.

Fermina was an ok character but I just couldn't get behind her as she just seemed very selfish and childish for the most part. Florentino however I absolutely hated. His character is just awful! He is a mummy's boy and not in a good way, she does anything and everything for him and he gratefully takes advantage of this, His opinion of women was also extremely disrespectful. A direct quote from page 188 of my version "He believed that when a woman says no, she is waiting to be urged before making her final decision"....there is so much wrong with that one sentence. The worst part of him though is his relationships with over 600 women (though he claims to have saved himself for Fermina and is a virgin) and the fact that his final relationship was with a 12 year old girl. Another direct quote from page 272 of my copy "He won her affection, he led her by the hand, with the gentle astuteness of a kind Grandfather, toward his secret slaughterhouse". I really really struggled with the content of the second half of the book as it concentrated more and more on Florentino and his relationships and what happened because of these relationships ( I won't say as I wouldn't like to give out spoilers, but trust me when I say that things don't always end well).

The book itself was absolutely beautifully written and the descriptions were flowery and expressive, but it certainly worked within the story of the book. I'm glad I read it, but I'm equally glad I had someone to read it with me to keep me going through the content I struggled with.

I'm conflicted as to whether I loved or loathed this book and so I've scored it down the middle giving it three stars. For the writing style and skill I think its wonderful, but for the content, the first half is great, but the second half is just not for me. It's definitely  book that will get people talking if they choose to read it.

We started reading this on the 12th of February 2016 and finished it on the 30th of March 2016.
I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads.

MNJ Poetry - Meagan Jennett

MNJ Poetry by Meagan Jennett is a collection of poems written when the author was a teenager struggling through life and dealing with the overwhelming emotions of adolescence. 

I really feel this is an important collection for both teenagers and adults alike to read. The poems explain some extreme feelings and thoughts that go through the minds of teenagers, things they feel that they cannot talk about and which can lead to them making bad and dangerous decisions. 

I've mentioned before that I don't read poems very often, but when I saw this collection and read what it was about, I immediately knew I had to read it and it went straight in my shopping cart. The poems are all so beautifully written and you can really feel the emotion through the words as you are reading them, I had to take a moment between reading some of the poems to think about what I'd just read and experienced and to wonder how someone managed to get through these feelings at such a young age without the support that they needed. 

As with any collections, there were some poems that I preferred over others but there are none that I would say that I didn't like. 

I really can't express how important I feel that things like this should be read by everyone and then maybe people will be more willing to talk about difficult topics such as teenage depression, cutting and suicide. 

This is a definite recommendation from me. 

I read this book on the 29th of February 2016. 

I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads. 

Unmarked Vampire by Belinda Laj

I was incredibly lucky to receive an e-book copy of Unmarked Vampire directly from the author Belinda Laj in exchange for an honest review.

Unmarked Vampire follows the story of Julian Laurent who wakes up in a dungeon and discovers that he is a vampire. The dungeon is the way into the Damned Academy where immortals receive their relevant mark and then the education to deal with their new found needs and talents. There are vampires, demons and angels and they're all ruled over by Blake Night (I adore this name).

The story contains many interesting twists and turns which are well done and though some things are hinted at, you're never fully sure if you're right until the reveal. The world design and how the powers and things work are all very well thought out and well written and I really enjoyed the way each immortal was defined.

The characters are all well developed and are interesting in their own right...except Julian! I so far hate Julian, I know he's been through a lot and he had a lot to take in, but he's just so whiny and child like that it's hard to take him seriously at times. That to me is my only "complaint" about the book as he's supposed to be 19/20 but to me comes across more as an early teen or tween. Genuinely though it doesn't affect the story or take you out the zone while reading, it's just my personal taste.

Unmarked Vampire was originally released in Italian so I was slightly concerned that something might have been lost in the translation, but I was proven wrong and I think the translation was very true to the original story and I didn't feel like I had missed anything.

Overall I really enjoyed Unmarked Vampire and I will look forward to reading more of the Damned Academy books as they come out.

I started this book on the 20th of March 2016 and I finished it on the 2nd of April 2016.
I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads.

Books I Read - March 2016

I've had a very busy month this month and I travelled to see my parents for a long weekend, so I haven't read as many novel length books. However I have been continuing catching up reading my graphic novels/trade paper backs and I have tried a new manga series which I've fallen in love with and will definitely be continuing with it at some point in the future. I also had another wonderful author interview and  me and my buddy reader finished our second book and are ready to get started with our third in April.

I have more reviews and possibly some more interviews going forward into April, so definitely keep your eyes open for all of that!

On to the books:

1. Batman And Son by Grant Morrison - 3 Stars
2. The Maze Runner Files by James Dashner - 2 Stars
3. This Book Is Full Of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It by David Wong - 2 Stars
4. JLA: Year One by Mark Waid - 4 Stars
5. Attack On Titan, Vol. 1 by Hajime Isayama - 4 Stars
6. Attack On Titan, Vol. 2 by Hajime Isayama - 4 Stars
7. Attack On Titan, Vol. 3 by Hajime Isayama - 4 Stars
8. Harley Quinn: Preludes And Knock-Knock Jokes by Karl Kesel - 3 Stars
9. Coffee, Tea, The Caribbean And Me by Caroline James - 5 Stars
10. Superman: The Man Of Steel by John Byrne - 4 Stars
11. Lex Luthor: Man Of Steel by Brian Azarello - 2.5 Stars
12. Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - 3 Stars
13. JLA: Earth 2 by Grant Morrison - 5 Stars

What did you read in March? Have you read any of the books I read, what did you think?

Book Review And Author Interview - Coffee, Tea, The Caribbean And Me - Caroline James

I was extremely lucky to receive an e-book copy of Coffee, tea, the Caribbean and Me directly from the author Caroline James in exchange for an honest review.

Reading Coffee, Tea, the Caribbean and Me was like a breath of fresh air, the writing was extremely beautiful and when I finished reading it, I had to check whether I'd picked up a tan from the Caribbean sun I was so immersed. 

The story follows Jo and Hattie and their escapades after they have suffered a divorce and a death, It shows real people reacting in realistic ways to things that can happen to anybody. There is a lot of fun thrown in and a lot of dream situations too (Long Tom Hendry - just trust me on this) and there is such a great feeling of warmth and family throughout the book. 

I'd have to say that Hattie is my absolute favourite character, she's so much fun and takes life on the chin. She says yes to everything and will try anything once. Everyone needs a Hattie in their life to remind them that life doesn't always have to be serious. 

There are highs and lows throughout and you will 100% need a tissue at one point so do be warned! 

I really enjoyed reading the perspectives of all the different people as well as the main two characters of Jo and Hattie, they were all very well done and it was very clear who you were with and they all had their own voice, 

I absolutely loved this book and it's a big recommendation from me, I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads.

Now to the interview: -

Nerdish Mum - Coffee, Tea, the Caribbean and Me is set partly in the Caribbean and other books you have written are set in various beautiful destinations; are you a big traveller and have you visited all the places you have written about?

Caroline James - I like travelling very much and have wandered off the beaten track on several occasions. The Caribbean is a favourite spot but I've been as far as China and Peru and love the diversity of America. I would need to write a great many book to cover all the destinations - now there's a challenge! One of my favourite places in Kinsale in Southern Ireland. I went to a food festival there and it was the wackiest four days I have ever experienced, so much so that I went back and wrote a book based around the festival.

Nerdish Mum - As you do set your books in such a wide variety of places, is there a lot of research that goes into making the places sound as authentic as you make them sound?

Caroline James - All research can be done by using the Internet and a vivid imagination, but there's no better way of getting the feel for your book than by visiting the setting that you are about to place your characters in. It's the little details that matter, like sounds, touch, taste and sight - things that personal experience can help bring alive on the page.

Nerdish Mum - What is your absolute dream destination for a holiday and would you have an action packed holiday or a nice relaxing one?

Caroline James - I love sitting on a beach but that never lasts long. I always want to know about the place I'm visiting so a holiday would be a combination of both. I like trekking and love being in the mountains. I don't have a dream destination as there are so many fabulous places to visit. India is on the bucket list but Barbados pulls me back. There is an expression in Barbados: My belly-button is buried in Barbados, which means the island tugs you back. It does.

Nerdish Mum - Jo and Hattie from Coffee, Tea, the Caribbean and Me are both wonderful characters in their own right, is there any of you in either of their personalities?

Caroline James - I used to think I was a bit like Jo but as she's developed she irritates me at times and I wouldn't be comfortable with being like her. Hattie is so much larger than life and has a humour very much of her own, there might be a touch of me in Hattie and secretly I'd love to be like her as she embraces everything that life has to offer and is brave enough to give anything a go.

Nerdish Mum - Do you have a favourite character that you have written so far?

Caroline James - I love Long Tom Hendry. In fact I'd like to spend the rest of my days with him! He is an ageing rock star who has appeared in two of my books. He is so laid back and accepting of life but still has a naughty spirit that refuses to settle. I think it would be quite a wild ride with Long Tom but one I'd happily saddle up for!

Nerdish Mum - You've always wanted to be a writer, what was it about writing that called to you?

Caroline James - I wish I knew. Is it escapism? Or perhaps it's having the confidence to write and be able to say "I've done that!" I never thought I would be good enough, having totally messed up my school years and only only finding education later on. Now, to see my books on a library shelf is quite simply wonderful. I'd like to find my old English teacher and say thank you, as her class was the only one I wanted to turn up for.

Nerdish Mum - You're also a qualified caterer, do you use your experiences in this world in your books and do you enjoy adding food related touches to your writing?

Caroline James - Yes, all the time. Write what you know? I know all about catering an it is a great pot to dip in to. Food completely floats my boat and I'm never happier than when preparing food for others and enjoying their company over a good meal. Or making a cake and giving it away. It is natural for me to share this love in the pages of my books: the writing somehow seems to flow if it has anything to do with food.

Nerdish Mum - "The Time To Be Happy Is Now" is the tag line on the front cover of Coffee, Tea, the Caribbean and Me and is also very important to the story, is this saying something that you live your own life by?

Caroline James - It is something my Mum always said to me. She was an incredibly optimistic person with a great joy for life and people and I miss her terribly but try to live by her words, as I think they are so true - no matter how difficult the circumstances.

Nerdish Mum - Do you have a favourite place to write and do you have any kind of ritual you go through while writing?

Caroline James - I'm horribly rigid with my writing routine and have to be at my old desk with everything in proper order. Right down to the angle of my favourite pen. I wish I could write on the hoof in a cafe or somewhere interesting but I'd get too distracted and never get down to the business end of the writing.

Nerdish Mum - Do you have a favourite novel or author?

Caroline James - The Drifters by James A Michener is a book I read in my teens. It had a profound influence on me and after turning the last page. I packed up and left home and set about a path to become the person I am today. I've never re-read it - I am too scared to see what it might do to me now!

If you'd like to follow Caroline on any of her social media platforms, all the links are here


Website - http://www.carolinejamesauthor.co.uk/
Twitter - @carolinejames12
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCarolineJames/?ref=hl

Finish It February 2016 Wrap Up!

Back at the end of January I announced that I would be taking part in Finish It Feb and I gave myself a nice varied list of 12 books to choose from throughout the month to pick up and read.

I  really enjoyed the idea of this challenge as I have a bad habit of starting a series and then being distracted by something else. So having to concentrate on finishing things off, or at least finishing the books I own in a series so far, was very motivating.

I'm definitely glad I chose to give myself so many books to choose from as I don't think I would have been as successful as I was as I would have felt restricted if I only had one or two options.

Onto the books I read...

The first book I read was Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 4 by Tsugumi Ohba. It's the fourth bind up of Death Note and it is not the final book in the series, however it is the last one that I own so far that I haven't read. I plan on picking up the final two volumes in the next couple of months and will read them as I get them so I stay up to date.

The second book I read was The Kill Order by James Dashner which is a prequel to the Maze Runner trilogy. I own all of the Maze Runner books (so far anyway as I believe there will be another book out this year which I'll also be picking up and reading), but this is the only one I hadn't read.

And finally the last book I read for Finish It Feb was Clariel by Garth Nix, which is another prequel to a trilogy. I've owned it for quite a while now as I was super excited when it was released and then books for review and other books got in the way. While I was reading this Garth Nix actually announced that the next book in the series will be out in October this year (2016), so I'll definitely be picking that up when that comes out too.

Three books doesn't seem like much, but it's three books of series that I now no longer need to read and I enjoyed seeing the pile go down as I chose them, so I will probably do this again at some point in the future.

If you want to check out any of the reviews I did for the books I read, my Goodreads profile is here.

Did you take part in Finish It Feb? What books did you choose to read?

Murder In Absentia - Assaph Mehr

I was lucky enough to receive an ebook coy of Murder In Absentia directly from the author Assaph Mehr in exchange for an honest review.

Murder in Absentia is a crime story set in a fictional city called Egretia in ancient Roman times. The main character is Felix the Fox who is a private detective of sorts, who is called upon to solve the murder of the son of a senator. He must use all his cunning, wits and magic to solve the crime.

The story is fast paced and well written and is extremely enjoyable to read. The world is well built to fit into Roman times but without being tied to anything specifically historical that may affect how the story pans out. I like how the magic works within this world and how its explained throughout, a lot of time and thought have gone into making it a realistic and workable magic.

Felix is a fantastic character as he is a "good guy" but he has his own demons and struggles with them on and off throughout the story. I feel he is a very realistic character and he is easy to relate some part of your life to. I like the way he works even when he's in the shadier side of his business.

As well as mystery, murder and magic, there is action and there's just enough of it to make things interesting without it taking over the story. The action that occurs during Felix's travels across the sea is particularly well done.

The only thing I can say in complaint about this book is sometimes there is a whole heap of information and description given at once, it kind of overloads you. But this happens very rarely, so like I say, it is only a very small complaint.

I'd definitely recommend that you go out and try this book as it's something familiar in a different package and its very well done.

I started reading this book on the 27th of January 2016 and finished it on the 9th of february 2016
I gave this book 4 Stars on Goodreads