Sunday, September 29, 2019

September Wrap up - Book Haul & What to Expect Next Month

Welcome, welcome my dear readers.
Welcome to the blog!

September is almost over and this year is just FLYING by. 
This month was my birthday, but I didn't ask for any books, because my shelves are seriously full. So I asked for gift cards and fun things to do instead! I also had a fun day of baking all the nice goodies for my birthday. It's been ages since I had a day full of baking. I made an apple pie, cheesecake and vanilla cake, yum!

I did read a lot of books and I'm sure I'm going to reach my Goodreads Challenge goal of 75 books.

I love that it's almost October. I just love fall. I love the colours and the weather, the rain and the storm. It's just so cozy outside and I can light some candles and curl up with a book. 

I'm an all-season lover. I always love when a new season is just beginning.
What's your favorite season?

Have a great October. I wish you loads of cozy reading nights and fun Halloween celebrations. 🍁


Saturday, September 28, 2019

Review: Spinning Silver



Author: Naomi Novik
Started reading: August 13th 2019
Finished the book: September 14th 2019
Pages: 466
Genres: Fantasy, Retelling
Published: July 12th 2018
Source: Received as a gift
Goodreads score: 4.25
My score:
Synopsis
Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders... but her father isn't a very good one. Free to lend and reluctant to collect, he has loaned out most of his wife's dowry and left the family on the edge of poverty--until Miryem steps in. Hardening her heart against her fellow villagers' pleas, she sets out to collect what is owed--and finds herself more than up to the task. When her grandfather loans her a pouch of silver pennies, she brings it back full of gold.

But having the reputation of being able to change silver to gold can be more trouble than it's worth--especially when her fate becomes tangled with the cold creatures that haunt the wood, and whose king has learned of her reputation and wants to exploit it for reasons Miryem cannot understand.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Review: The Humiliations of Pipi McGee

Author: Beth Vrabel
Started reading: September 14th 2019
Finished the book: September 24th 2019
Pages: 384
Genres: Middle Grade, Contemporary
Published: September 16th 2019
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads score: 4.17
My score:
Synopsis
From her kindergarten self-portrait as a bacon with boobs, to fourth grade when she peed her pants in the library thanks to a stuck zipper to seventh grade where...well, she doesn't talk about seventh grade. Ever.
After hearing the guidance counselor lecturing them on how high school will be a clean slate for everyone, Pipi--fearing that her eight humiliations will follow her into the halls of Northbrook High School--decides to use her last year in middle school to right the wrongs of her early education and save other innocents from the same picked-on, laughed-at fate. Pipi McGee is seeking redemption, but she'll take revenge, too.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Review: Horrorstör

Author: Grady Hendrix
Started reading: September 7th 2019
Finished the book: September 13th 2019
Pages: 248
Genres: Horror, Humor
Published: September 23rd 2014
Source: Birthday present
Goodreads score: 3.62
My score:
Synopsis
Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking.

To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they’ll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Booktag: Unhaul #2


A while ago I did an unhaul. Since I keep adding books to my TBR, but never remove any, I decided to do another unhaul.

My TBR is so big, that it sometimes scares me. I decided to visit my own Goodreads shelves and to unhaul 10 books.



Please feel free to participate and unhaul some of your books. I'd love to know what books you decided to unhaul!


Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Review (re-read): Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2)

Author: Suzanne Collins
Started reading: August 25th 2019
Finished the book: September 13th 2019
Pages: 391
Genres: YA, Dystopian
Published: September 1st 2009
Source: Bought the book
Goodreads score: 4.29
My score:
Synopsis
After winning the brutal Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta return to their district, hoping for a peaceful future. But their victory has caused rebellion to break out ... and the capitol has decided that someone must pay. As Katniss and Peeta are forced to visit the districts on the Capitol's Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. Unless they can convince the world that they are still lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying. Then comes the cruellest twist: the contestants for the next Hunger Games are announced, and Katniss and Peeta are forced into the arena once more.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Sunday Post #8

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead.












Thursday, September 12, 2019

Review: Heart of Mist (The Oremere Chronicles #1)

Author: Helen Scheuerer
Started reading: August 13th 2019
Finished the book: August 24th 2019
Pages: 487
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Published: August 31st 2017
Source: Digital copy from author
Goodreads score: 4.07
My score:
Synopsis
In a realm where toxic mist sweeps the lands and magic is forbidden, all Bleak wants is a cure for her power.

Still grieving the death of her guardian and dangerously self-medicating with alcohol, Bleak is snatched from her home by the Commander of the King’s Army, and summoned to the capital.


But the king isn’t the only one interested in Bleak’s powers.

The leader of an infamous society of warriors, the Valia Kindred, lays claim to her as well, and Bleak finds herself in the middle of a much bigger battle than she anticipated.


Sunday, September 8, 2019

Two Short Stories #5


Today I will be highlighting two short stories.
Both of them are picture books and both of them have beautiful illustrations!
Let's dive right in.

Friday, September 6, 2019

Review: Second Coming: Elvis. Extraterrestrials. Dogs.

Author: D.B. Borton
Started reading: August 2nd 2019
Finished the book: August 6th 2019
Pages: 274
Genres: Adult, Science-Fiction
Published: June 6th 2017
Source: Physical copy from the author
Goodreads score: Not enough ratings
My score:
Synopsis
Hank Jones isn’t your typical alien abductee. There were no tractor beams, probes, or government conspiracies involved—no, Hank met his kidnappers at a bar. They weren’t exactly hard to miss—Elvis, a seven-foot tall Elvis clone, and Lawrence, a grounded European gent, were the only UCLA supporters in a bar full of Hoosiers.

Still, Hank has nothing better to do. It’s spring break, there’s a pile of freshman essays on his desk, and his thesis is going nowhere. Worse, his ex is sleeping with his dissertation director. He needs a friend, and these aliens will do.

Besides, Elvis and Lawrence could really use a hand—they haven’t visited Earth since the 1950s, and now they’re lost in Indiana, not realizing that things have changed. They need to get to Washington: if they don’t warn the president about a coming nuclear arms race, the planet will be destroyed.

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Review: The Skin Room

Author: Morgan Fleetwood
Started reading: August 10th 2019
Finished the book: August 10th 2019
Pages: 300
Genres: Thriller, Horror
Published: June 29th 2017
Source: Physical copy from publisher
Goodreads score: Not enough ratings
My score:
Synopsis
The Skin Room is an unnerving suspense thriller narrated by Alex Melville – multi-lingual translator and multiple murderer. The blood-stained document that comprises the narrative of the novel is his claustrophobic, unreliable account of the murder of Valentina, and the incarceration and death of his drug-addicted sister, Sonia. This is no ordinary confession, however. In a unique and distinctive style, Alex gradually reveals his secret: this story has only one reader, the police inspector he holds responsible for his beloved sister’s death, and that while he writes in the flickering candlelight, he has one last grotesque secret to share that is his ultimate revenge.

Monday, September 2, 2019

Review: The Rosie Result (Don Tillman #3)

Author: Graeme Simsion
Started reading: August 6th 2019
Finished the book: August 9th 2019
Pages: 376
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary
Published: February 5th 2019
Source: Kindle Copy
Goodreads score: 4.07
My score:
Synopsis
Don and Rosie are back in Melbourne after a decade in New York, and they’re about to face their most important project.

Their son, Hudson, is having trouble at school: his teachers say he isn’t fitting in with the other kids. Meanwhile, Rosie is battling Judas at work, and Don is in hot water after the Genetics Lecture Outrage. The life-contentment graph, recently at its highest point, is curving downwards.For Don Tillman, geneticist and World’s Best Problem-Solver, learning to be a good parent as well as a good partner will require the help of friends old and new.

It will mean letting Hudson make his way in the world, and grappling with awkward truths about his own identity.

And opening a cocktail bar.