Waiting On Wednesday - Queen of Shadows

So, my premiere WoW, will be, the wonderful, the lovely...

                                           

So here's the blurb: Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she's at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past . . .

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return.

Celaena’s epic journey has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions across the globe. This fourth volume will hold readers rapt as Celaena’s story builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world. 

Thoughts

Ok, how fricking awesome does that souund?? I am absolutely in love with this series, and the anticipation is slightly killing me. I was lucky enough to meet Sarah J Maas at a signing for A Court of Thorns and Roses, and she was absolutely lovely. I swear anything she puts on paper just has a way of being magically transformed into something absolutely beautiful, and I adore her. The cover is, as well, absolutely gorgeous. This series would probably be in some of my top book covers for how lovely they are (you never know, one day I might share a few of my favourites with you). 

This book is out September 1st by the way, and it looks like it's gonna be a biggie!

So what books are you waiting for? Do you have a nice quick wait, or an agonising torturous one? I have a mixture of both, so I will see you with another WoW this time next week!

Rereads

I'm being very naughty right now. I have a tonne of books to read, and yet here I am listening to the audiobooks for The Infernal Devices, making this my third read to the series. On a side note there is a woman about 2 seats down reading City of Heavenly Fire, exciting stuff.

So why the reread? I'm nt really overly sure. I wanted a good audiobook to read on my walks to and from work, bus journeys and when I want to both read and play video games. I tend to struggle with focusing on the story with audiobooks, so I am going to start using them for rereads, and let's face it, The Infernal Devices are one of the best trilogies out there. Plus, any time spent with Will Herondale is fine by me.

I usually do a reread of a book as well if I am about to start a sequel, and have forgotten what happened in the previous books, something that happens quite often with my memory being as shocking as it is. I feel a few rereads for this reason coming quite soon in my future. I've had to do a reread for every book in the Iron Fey series, and as I am yet to read the final book guess which series I will be reading again when I buy it?

Then of course we have the rereads just for purely how much I adore the books. Winner for most rereads for this reason goes to (shock horror) Harry Potter. I will take any reason to read this book; boredom, bad weather, good weather, bad mood, good mood, feeling ill, being alive, you get the picture. I'm not going to say these were the books that I first loved, that honour probably goes to a Roald Dahl book, but it is definitely my most loved. I am actually without copies of the books right now because mine all fell apart due to all the reading, and I haven't managed to afford to rebuy them, and it's really hard to get the original copies now.

Do you tend to reread a lot or are you a one read then put it on the shelf kind of person? Which books have you read the most?

Deep Blue review

Name: Deep Blue
Author: Jennifer Donnelly
Rating: 4*
Description:Serefina, daughter of Isabella, Queen of Miromara, has been raised with the expectation - and burden - that she will someday become ruler of the oldest civilization of the merfolk. On the eve of the Dokimí ceremony, which will determine if she is worthy of the crown, Sera is haunted by a strange dream that foretells the return of an ancient evil. But her nightmare is forgotten the next day as she diligently practices her songspell; eagerly anticipates a reunion with her best friend, Neela; and anxiously worries about Mahdi, the crown prince of Matali, and whether his feelings toward her and their future betrothal have changed. Most of all, she worries about not living up to her mother's hopes.

The Dokimí proceeds, a dazzling display of majesty and might, until a shocking turn of events interrupts it: an assassin's arrow wounds Isabella. The realm falls into chaos, and Serafina's darkest premonitions are confirmed. Now she and Neela must embark on a quest to find the assassin's master and prevent a war between the mer nations. Their search will lead them to other mermaid heriones scattered across the six seas. Together they will form an unbreakable bond of sisterhood as they uncover a conspiracy that threatens their world's very existence.

My thoughts

I will admit, hands up, the only reason I bought this book was because the cover is absolutely beautiful and the writing is blue. I expected a really simple, fluffy book about mermaids. Turns out the only part of my assumptions was the mermaids. The storyline had so much depth (haha, get it?) to the point of maps and a glossary. There were also lots of different languages used and lots of Mermish phrases were used, hence the glossary. Parts of the story were actually quite dark, and despite the betrothal talk there was next to no romance, which is something I haven't actually found in a book in a long time. I'm not sure yet if that is a good thing or not. 

The characters were mostly likeable and fun, and I really love Neela. Their stories were all pretty believable, although I do think finding the other mermaids was a bit too easy, I would have liked more than them just bumping into everyone they needed to find.

On the whole, this is a good, easy read and I was pleasantly surprised by it. I will probably get the sequel soon because I have to know what happens!

Buying online or in store?

I've been doing lots of thinking about this recently. It seems like most people I know tend to buy online without a second thought and hardly ever go into the shops. If they want a book pre ordered they will just go straight to Amazon, when you can do the same at the shop, and the chances are that you will get it sooner.

I tend to sometimes buy online if I am wanting to do a bulk buy of books, just to make it a bit cheaper, or if I want books that are only published in America. I did last month get 6 books for about £30, which I was pretty chuffed with. The only problem is that you don't always get the cover you wanted. My Vampire Academy books are all different and I got them all off Amazon. Some are really gorgeous red covers, and the rest are the ugly covers with the creepy looking people on them. I sometimes find myself doing a quick shop online as well if it gets to about the middle of the night and I can't sleep.

Then we have the shops. I absolutely love book shops, they are my main destination if I am going into town. They might be a bit more expensive, but I tend to find there are more good offers. Waterstones and Smiths tend to do buy one get one half price offers, and The Works usually have some good books in their 3 for £5 section. I found Half-Blood by Jennifer L Armentrout in there the other day. I grab a loyalty card for any shops that do them too, and can nearly afford a new book on one of them. I love being able to support the shops and get to know the staff. Waterstones will always be my number one choice for if there is a book I really want.

Which do you prefer? Are you an online person or do you love the feeling of going in a shop and leaving with a book?

June wrap up

I had such a busy month what with work and Glastonbury, but there are a few books I can put in a wrap up, and I will try and have a bigger one for you at the end of July.

Starcrossed, Dreamless and Goddess by Josephine Angelini.
I really enjoyed this trilogy. I put a review of the first book up, and really enjoyed the whole trilogy. They kind of had a Romeo and Juliet feel mixed with Greek mythology and a hint of The Mortal Instruments. I love all three of these so I was hooked.

The Girl At Midnight - Melissa Grey.
I was actually kind of disappointed with this book. It sounded so good, but at times I found the storyline kind of confusing and rushed, but I don't know if that was because of work. I found some of the romance cute, and will probably read on the series.

Remember Me - Sophie Kinsella.
This book was actually a reread. I absolutely love this writer, and this is one of my favourite books by her, and it fortunately happened to fall in with a reading challenge this month. Definitely a book to read if you want something light and fluffy.

To All The Boys I've Loved Before and PS I Still Love You by Jenny Han.
This was my first foray into Jenny Han, and I have to say I really liked it. They were both incredibly sweet books, and I found myself really connecting with the characters, and I'm hoping there will be another book in the series!

That's it, all my books from this month. Now I just need to buy lots for a book haul for you guys, I already have a little pile from yesterday. So have you read any of these books? Any you would want to read?

Glastonbury Festival

I'm back! Thanks to the lovely organisers I got a chance to go to the festival as a personal assistant to my friend and her free running group. I'd never been before, so I jumped at the chance to go. I didn't like many of the bands playing, but I didn't care, I watch it on TV every year, I was going.

And boy am I glad I did. Aside from the camping, (I am a city girl at heart, and this was one of my first ever camping trips) and the disgusting toilets, (the less said about them the better) I had an absolutely amazing time. I laughed, I danced, I sung and had rather a few drinks. I wouldn't change it for the world. I was with lovely people, if you weren't interested in the bands there was so much more going on. I actually spent most of my weekend in the circus and theatre section, where there were plenty of weird and wonderful events going on. The food I had was really good as well, not the cheapest but one meal was enough for absolutely ages for me.

I would definitely go again, especially if I could go with this group. I found it so interesting being behind the scenes. Seeing what some of the boys did in the night then going out and jumping and flipping around the next day was amazing. Even sometimes a few minutes before they were saying they couldn't be bothered, but once they got out there they were like new people, the energy they put out was incredible.

My TV guilty pleasure

So we all have one, that one programme we watch every episode of, but only when there are no people around to laugh at us. Mine would have to be Teen Mom. Yes, I know, MTV rubbish, and it's not as natural as they make it seem, but I just love it. I think possibly because when I first discovered it I was 18 and pregnant, so I empathised so much with the girls on the program, and now I've just really enjoyed keeping up with what they and their babies are up to. There have been points where I've been shouting at the screen because of how stupid they have been, but then there are all the heart wrenching moments that make you want to cry, and others that make you so happy you just sit grinning at the TV like an idiot.

I absolutely love Maci, she just seems like such a lovely mum, and you can see all her decisions are based on what is best for Bentley. I definitely don't like Ryan, he needs to pull up his socks and a pact more like a dad, because he does have some moments where you can see how much he loves his son, then minutes later he has all the attitude on. I rather like Catelynn and Tyler as well, although any time they see Carly is an episode I will probably need tissues for. I used to hate Amber, but I actually quite like her now, as time went on I found myself feeling more sympathetic for her, and now I think she's trying so hard. Then Farrah....the less said about her the better.

So there we are, I admit it, I love Teen Mom. What are your guilty pleasures? You ever find yourself quickly changing the channel because someone came through the door, or do you watch it with pride?