November Wrap Up: Burn Out, Glorious Bookishness & Confusing TV

 Hi, guys! So, November was a pretty awful month and I’m glad to see it go!

Work has been horrendous and we have been scrabbling around, totally behind the game spending most of our time putting out fires. I have been feeling utterly burnt out. BUT WHO WANTS TO TALK ABOUT THAT??? I don’t, I’ve already lived it!

Here are some of the highlights from this month – there are actually more positives than I thought!

• I came across some Beatrix Potter 50p coins after buying some food and had a total nerd out. I love Beatrix Potter and used to read all the books when I was younger, so I was surprised to look down at my change and find both Tom Kitten and Jeremy Fisher staring back at me! They’re now in pride of place on my bookshelf! (You can view the collection here.)
• I went to a new Turkish restaurant which essentially specialises in meat platters. It was fantastic and they had the biggest portions I’ve ever seen!
• I treated myself to a book haul and all the covers are so beautiful I COULD CRY.
• I received my first ever book subscription box from illumicrate. I’ve been so tempted to get one of these for a while, but with most being £30 a pop it’s not exactly an impulse buy. But this month I decided to treat myself, damn it! It was so fun having a mystery box full of goodies to open, and it had a book enclosed that I’ve been desperately coveting for the last couple of months! If you’re interested to see what was in it, you can view my instagram story (it’s on my highlights)!

What were your personal highlights this month?

Julie Kagawa Discusses her Favourite Creatures from Asian Folklore // Guest Post

To celebrate Julie Kagawa’s new YA release, the action-packed, fun-filled, Asian fantasy, Shadow of the Fox, I have a guest post today from the lovely lady herself!

Today, and on theme with Shadow of the Fox, I’ve asked Julie to chat with us about her favourite creatures from Asian folklore.

Personally, this is an area that fascinates me. I love fantasy and fairytale creatures with all my heart, but I especially like learning about new creatures or different cultural interpretations of famous creatures.

I don’t know much about Asian folklore, but I am desperate to explore it more because these tales are so filled with wonder, magic and fascination! I’m also making an active attempt to read more diverse fantasy reads based in different countries because I want to support Own Voice authors. So Bring. It On!

Julie, welcome to Blogs of a Bookaholic, it’s an absolute pleasure to spotlight you here today!

Book Review: Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa

Shadow of the Fox was my first Julie Kagawa book, and it did not disappoint.

With a blurb full of things like DRAGONS, and SCROLLS and MISCHIEF, where could it go wrong, really?!? This diverse read takes place in a beautiful Japanese setting which is utterly immersive, beautiful and unique.

Thank you to HQ young adult for giving me the opportunity to review a copy!

A single wish will spark a new dawn.
Every millennium, one age ends and another age dawns…and whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers holds the power to call the great Kami Dragon from the sea and ask for any one wish. The time is near and the missing pieces of the scroll will be sought throughout the land of Iwagoto.
The holder of the first piece is a humble, unknown peasant girl with a dangerous secret. Demons have burned the temple Yumeko was raised in to the ground, killing everyone within, including the master who trained her to both use and hide her kitsune powers. Yumeko escapes with the temple’s greatest treasure – one part of the ancient scroll. Fate thrusts her into the path of a mysterious samurai, Kage Tatsumi of the Shadow Clan. Yumeko knows he seeks what she has and is under orders to kill anything and anyone who stands between him and the scroll.

Spoiler Free Review of Kingdom of Ash // Ft Me Basically just Rambling & Flailing with Emotion

Well guys, here we are. The conclusion to the epic, loved world-wide Throne of Glass series. It’s been a journey.

It started with an assassin, it ended with a queen. Eight action-packed, kick-ass feminist books to rattle the stars.

I wasn’t an instant fan of this series, book 1 was pretty terrible (you can read my sarcastic, somewhat cutting review here, it’s kind of weird to look back on!) but these books, despite their faults, have steadily built a unique and complex world with a vast array of kick-ass characters I have become utterly invested in. Each book was better than the last; filling a YA fantasy void in my heart I had long been waiting for.

So, how did the finale stack up? Let’s break it down!

*Please be aware that although this post is spoiler free for Kingdom of Ash, it will have spoilers for the other books in the series if you have not read them yet. You have been warned!*

“Once upon a time, in a land long since burned to ash, there lived a young princess who loved her kingdom …”

October Wrap Up: Superheroes, Addictive TV Shows & Busy Work Schedules!

 

Hello bloggers!

After much thought, I’ve decided to start doing my own wrap-up posts, and I am VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS!

When I first started blogging I wasn’t a big fan of wrap-ups because I didn’t think they added anything new, but since, I’ve seen so many great bloggers be creative with them that now they’re often my favourite kinds of post! I’ve been thinking a lot about wrap-ups since I recently changed my blogging style and decided I wasn’t going to review everything I read – I’ve been debating how I can showcase books in other formats. Additionally, I’ve been looking to expand the topics I talk about to include my other interests. A wrap up seemed like a great way to spotlight some of these, alongside general updates.

 I asked you guys on Instagram and twitter whether you would be interested in Blogs of a Bookaholic wrap-ups and the answer was a resounding yes. So your wish is my command!

Depending on life and time restraints, I may do wrap-ups every month, or every two months. We’ll see how this goes!

What should I expect from your wrap-ups?

• Short life updates
• Books read (ratings and summarising my thoughts in a couple of sentences).
• Film and TV watched (ratings, and mini reviews)
• Product of the month – I’m keeping this purposely vague, I could be discussing anything from fashion and makeup to phone apps and homeware!
• Blog posts published
• Posts I’ve enjoyed from other bloggers

Hopefully, this will be interesting to you, but let me know if there’s anything else you’d be interested in seeing. I’d love to hear your thoughts and will consider requests!

So, here we go!

5 Reasons I Couldn’t Stomach The Price Guide to the Occult (Plus, 5 Reasons You Just Might Like It?)

Oh man. The disappointment of this book. I can’t even handle it.
The thing is, I thought this was a slam dunk for me because:

a) GORGEOUS COVER. Doesn’t it just make you want to pick it up and stroke it immediately?
b) I love stories about witches, curses and forbidden spellbooks and I rarely find a book focussing on these things that I dislike.
c) The author’s debut book was SUPER POPULAR and highly praised.

Um, well I hate to be the one to burst everyone’s pumkin, but while The Price Guide to the Occult may look cute on the outside, it’s kinda rotten, smooshed and disorganised on the inside.

Not only was this my first 1-star read of the year, but it’s also the first ARC I’ve ever disliked. So while I’m thankful to the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review, I am unfortunately unable to say much that’s positive about this novel. However, I am going to do my best to both outline the issues I have with it, and also highlight some reasons why you might get on better with it than I did!

*TRIGGER WARNING: This book contains self-harm and child abuse and I will be discussing it.*

So, what’s it all about?

6 Books on My Autumn TBR // Mythical Creatures, Supernaturals & Magical Kingdoms

The wind is howling, leaves are turning that gorgeous shade of orange as they float down to the frosted ground, and your coat and tartan scarf have been taken out of the wardrobe and dusted off. We all know what this means, it’s autumn.

I had so much fun collating my top 7 Books on my summer TBR pile a couple of months ago and I was surprised by how well my reading went. I have always been a mood reader and I was unsure how I would get on with a list, (in fact, I thought I’d end up going totally off-script and not read anything I expected to) but I READ ALL THE THINGS GUYS, AND IT WAS SO SATISFYING. I really enjoyed changing up how I picked my reads, so I thought I would give it a go for Autumn too! As noted previously, my reading tastes definitely change with the seasons, so you’ll find a lot of fantasy novels on this list! 

So without further ado, here are 6 books I’d like to get to this Autumn (AKA, the books I’m getting crazy grabby hands for!)