So it’s just been Christmas!

I hope everyone had a really lovely day yesterday ❤ I know I did – mine was amazing actually, I got so many surprises that just blew my mind! The main one being…A LAPTOP!!!! I asked for one for my 18th birthday in February but my dad decided to surprise me by giving me one yesterday! Now it will be easier for me to blog since I won’t have to use my dad’s computer on the rare occasions he’s not on it to schedule loads of posts ahead of time 😀

Anyway – back to the post.

Instead of this being just a Christmas haul, I decided to make it my December Haul, because I bought a few books before Christmas. All together there are 17 BOOKS! (EEEEEEKKKK!)

*side note: I apologize for the low quality photographs. I took them late at night on my phone camera so they aren’t as good as I’d have hoped*

So without further ado, I’ll get on with the haul!

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Before Christmas…

The Name of The Wind

by Patrick Rothfuss

So at the start of the month, I realized I didn’t own any books that I hadn’t read that I actually felt like reading any time soon…so I decided to buy a new one. When I started reading it just a week before Christmas, I thought I was sorted until Christmas because of how huge the book is…but I actually end up finishing it a lot sooner than anticipated haha! Anyway, this is the first book in a fantasy trilogy called The Kingkiller Chronicle, and I absolutely loved it! There’s a review up on my blog already so I’ll leave a link below.

Click here to see my review for The Name of the Wind

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The Wicked and The Divine volume 2: Fandemonium

by Kieron Gillen, Jamie Mckelvie, Matthew Wilson & Clayton Cowles

This was an unexpected surprise for me to get this book, as my boyfriend went to London and decided to buy me the second volume of The Wicked and the Divine while he was there in a six-floor Waterstones (thank you!). I adore the art style in this graphic novel series, and since reading the first volume a while back, I’ve been wanting to carry it on ever since but never got round to it…well now I have! Once again, I’ll leave a link below to my review of both volumes in this series.

Click here to see my review of volumes 1 & 2 of The Wicked and the Divine

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Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – and other short stories

by Robert Louis Stevenson

Since I finished The Name of the Wind sooner than planned, I needed another book to tide me over until Christmas. I picked up this book because I’ve been wanting to get read more classics, and I had heard brief glimpses of Jekyll & Hyde before to make me intrigued. My review for this one is once again already on my blog. And can I just say I love the cover of this book. I have no idea why. I think it’s the colours.

Click here to see my review for Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde: and other short stories

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And the books I got for Christmas…

Illustrated Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

by JK Rowling and Jim Kay

This is the first book in a new series of illustrated Harry Potter books, and I’m so glad to finally have it! The artwork is amazing and I can’t wait to reread this book again with extras this time. I’m pretty sure this will be the first book of this haul that I’ll read, because I just can’t wait to see all of the drawings at last.

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Never Fade

by Alexandra Bracken

This is the second book in the Darkest Minds trilogy. I started reading this a couple of years ago but never picked up the second book, so this December I revisited the first book and decided to finally carry on the series. I loved the idea behind the first book, and I’m really intrigued to see where the second book leads to.

Click here to see my review for the 1st book – The Darkest Minds

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Cruel Beauty

by Rosamund Hodge

I believe Cruel Beauty is a fantasy fairy tale retelling series, the first book based on Beauty and the Beast. I love fairy tale retelling books such as A Court of Thorns and Roses and The Lunar Chronicles, so I’m glad I get to try out more and see how they compare. This is another book that I love the cover of…as will be a recurring theme in this haul.

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The Raven Boys

by Maggie Stievater

I have heard SO MUCH about this series, and now I finally get to join in! This is the first book in The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stievater. I haven’t read anything by Maggie Stievater before, even though I do actually own the first 3 books in The Wolves of Mercy Falls series, but I know I’ll be reading this one really soon.

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Red Queen

by Victoria Aveyard

I’m pretty sure absolutely everyone has heard of this book. The amount of hype surrounding it is HUGE. And with the second book coming out soon, I was very happy to receive this. I hope I like it as much as everyone else seems to!

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Siege and Storm

by Leigh Bardugo

This is the second book in The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo. Since her new book Six of Crows came out this year, I wanted to start this trilogy before reading Six of Crows so that I became used to the world. Plus everyone is saying Six of Crows is better, so I figured I’d give the Grisha trilogy first to give it a chance to impress me beforehand. I read the first book in November and immediately wanted to carry on the series. This is one of four books that my friends got me, and I’m so glad they managed to get it in the matching cover!

Click here to see my review for the 1st book – Shadow and Bone

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Daughter of Smoke and Bone

by Laini Taylor

And here is another series everybody raves about! I’ve been wanting to read this book for years – yes, I said years – and now I finally, FINALLY have the first book in the series! I couldn’t resist any  longer. I didn’t like this cover at first because I preferred the US covers more, but it’s actually growing on me and I now really like it. I can’t wait to read and review this one!

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The Watcher in the Shadows

by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

This book I got purely because of the author. I read The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon a while back and absolutely adored it, so I wanted to try out some of his other books. I don’t know too much about The Watcher in the Shadows, but it does sound really mysterious from what I remember.

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Soundless

by Richelle Mead

There’s some very mixed reviews about this book. Some people love it, others are let down. Either way, to me it sounds intriguing, with it being a standalone fantasy novel based on Chinese folklore, so I wanted to try it out myself and see which side I stand on. I haven’t read anything by Richelle Mead yet. I know her Vampire Academy series is highly popular, and I do own the 1st book in that series, but I don’t read vampire books very often, so I haven’t read anything by her before. I’m looking forward to it 🙂

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The Wrath and the Dawn

by Renee Ahdieh

This is one of the books I’m most excited about! I believe this is a retelling of A Thousand and One Nights, and from what I’ve heard, everyone loves it. I hope I do too, it sounds like such an interesting book!

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The Paper Magician

by Charlie N. Holmberg

I don’t actually know much about this book. I remember hearing the synopsis a while back and really wanting it. I feel like this is one I’ll purposely go into not knowing much about. All I know is that it’s the first in a series, and I think it’s fantasy? It’s a short read, so I’m intrigued to see what the pages hold.

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Nimona

by Noelle Stevenson

Since I’m wanting to read more graphic novels in 2016, I got Nimona. I love the art style from what I’ve seen so far, and the premise is really intriguing. From what I’ve heard, this graphic novel follows the villains from the story, which is a really cool idea. I might save this book for when I read a bigger book, to make up for lost time.

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Outlander

by Diana Gabaldon

Oh look…another popular book! This series does intimidate me a bit, because of the sheer size of each book (this first one is over 800 pages), but since I read the A Song of Ice and Fire series, I’ve decided to not be intimidated by size. This is a historical fiction series involving time travel, so just from that I’m interested. And since so many people seem to love it, I thought I’d give it a go.

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The Ask and the Answer

by Patrick Ness

This is the second book in the Chaos Walking trilogy. I read the first a while back and have yet to continue, but now I finally can. I’ve been wanting to read more of Patrick Ness’ books, as I’ve only read the first book in this series and More Than This, so I reckon finishing this series will be a great start. Plus one of my aims in 2016 is to finish the majority of series I’ve started, so this one was going to be bought soon either way 🙂

Click here to see my review of the 1st book – The Knife of Never Letting Go

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So those are all the books I gained in December 2015!

I feel so lucky to have gained so many in one month. My entertainment is sorted for a while now haha! I can’t wait to read all of these books, I’m looking forward to reading every single one of them.

Today I’m going to start the Illustrated Harry Potter since I’ve been waiting so long for it and my Harry Potter obsession is just as strong as it has always been ❤

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Did you receive any bookish gifts this year?

Let me know in the comments! I LOVE seeing what other people got for Christmas, so I’m really looking forward to seeing all the hauls on here and on YouTube 😀

If you’ve already done a book haul, feel free to leave a link down in the comments and I’ll definitely check it out!

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