Book Haul Highlights // Autumn Edition

Posted on by Ashleigh
title image - blurry photo of books as background with a white banner across the middle saying book haul highlights

Yes, Autumn has passed but I’m late and didn’t want to miss out this blog post, so here we are. 

A few weeks ago I uploaded an Autumn Book Haul to my youtube channel, and while I didn’t want to repeat content on here, I still wanted to show you folks some of the books I’m excited about. So I thought I’d bring back the book haul highlights, where I show you a few of the books I’m most excited about from the haul! 

If you’d like to watch the full video it will be at the end of this post, but if you want to hear about some of the books I’ve acquired lately and am most excited for, here we are!

Continue reading Book Haul Highlights // Autumn Edition
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Bookish Gift Guide | Support The Independents

Posted on by Ashleigh

Whether you’re organised with your Christmas shopping or completely at a loss so far, I feel like December is a month full of browsing. Even if you have your life together and everything sorted, isn’t it just interesting to see what’s out there? I certainly think so.

Well, I’m coming at you today with some of the independents. Wherever possible, I try to buy from independent businesses who are more likely to appreciate the money I spend than big corporations would. Of course, it’s not always avoidable. Buying from the big places can work out cheaper, quicker, more convenient in general. BUT…I do try to support the independents. And so I thought I’d create a lil bookish gift guide, suggesting not only some bookish gift ideas but specifically linking you folks to indie shops I think deserve more attention. 

Continue reading Bookish Gift Guide | Support The Independents

Between Worlds: Folktales of Britain and Ireland // Did We Just Steal Other People’s Stories?

Posted on by Ashleigh

Goodreads | Book Depository

Does Britain have its own set of folk and fairy tales? We hear so much more about the German classics, made famous by the Brothers Grimm. But believe it or not, they do exist, and Kevin Crossley-Holland has brought them into our modern day. 

Continue reading Between Worlds: Folktales of Britain and Ireland // Did We Just Steal Other People’s Stories?

Long Time, Not Talk (In More Ways Than One)

Posted on by Ashleigh

Ok, so I admit it’s not been that long really. Just over a month, maybe? But to someone who hasn’t taken a break in all her three years of blogging, it’s feels…weird. And I don’t like it. 

Continue reading Long Time, Not Talk (In More Ways Than One)

Self Confidence and the Internet

Posted on by Ashleigh

[Photo credit: Charlotte @ Bookmarks and Blogging]

This is something I’ve been meaning to write for awhile. I’m talking months. Almost an entire year. But the ironic thing I found out was that writing about self confidence proves to be a hard thing when you’re up against….well, your self confidence. Or more accurately, lack of.

But here’s the thing.

Continue reading Self Confidence and the Internet

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab |Perfectly placed but also… not

Posted on by Ashleigh
City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab, also known as V.E. Schwab

• Goodreads | Book Depository •

Imagine being able to see ghosts when your parents are ghost hunters (of a fashion). Helpful, right? Well…not so much. Cassidy Blake sees ghosts everywhere she goes, and she certainly doesn’t need to visit the most haunted places in Edinburgh to prove that. But of course that’s exactly what happens.

Continue reading City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab |Perfectly placed but also… not

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker |Telling a tale long lost in time

Posted on by Ashleigh
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker - greek myth retelling

• Goodreads | Book Depository •

The ancient stories are always male dominated, with women’s voices being pushed aside in favour of those “heroes” instead. Although let’s be real, my idea of what defines a hero definitely isn’t the type you find in many Greek myths. So imagine my excitement when finding out this book exists, giving another perspective – the women’s perspective – of the stories I’d read and loved before. Combining Homer’s The Iliad and The Trojan Women by Euripides, my anticipation for this book was REAL.

Probably more real than some of these guys’ “heroic” status.

Ohhh she said it. Continue reading The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker |Telling a tale long lost in time

First Chapters – Deciding My Holiday TBR

Posted on by Ashleigh
Book spines - The Magicians by Lev Grossman, The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry, The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, A Sky Painted Gold by Laura Wood, Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor, The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen, And I Darken by Kiersten White and I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

Way back in January, I was shocked to find myself part of a family-holiday-booking process, something I’ve never done before. And as of right now – the very day this blog post goes up, in fact – I will be on my first holiday abroad. Who’d have thought?

So of course my biggest dilemma for the past couple of months has been trying to decide which books to take with me.** I very rarely read the “typical” holiday reads – contemporaries, romances, crime novels etc – and so there wasn’t a particular mood to go for when plucking books off my shelves. So I decided to follow Hannah’s idea (A Cup of Wonderland), and decided my reads based on the first chapters. I vastly underestimated how long it would take me to read the first chapters of 10 books and started cheating a little by not reading the entire first chapter of some (I mean, some book chapters can be a solid 50 pages long! No thanks), but either way I eventually whittled it down to 6 books, which is hugely ambitious considering I’m a slow reader and will only be there 10 days. But better to be prepared, right?

Continue reading First Chapters – Deciding My Holiday TBR

(A little bit later than) Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag

Posted on by Ashleigh
pile of books thrown down

This is what happens when you’re an indecisive human. You’re at first adamant you won’t be doing any mid year reading updates on your blog or booktube, but then suddenly, somehow, you end up doing two – one on each. I’ve been loving reading/watching everyone else’s updates, so I couldn’t resist really. I was tagged to do this one by Jess over at Read By Jess, and also the Mid Year Check In Tag by Jasmine over at Jasmine’s Reads, so I decided to spread them across the two platforms. Since the Freak Out tag is the longer one, it’s making its appearance on my blog! If you want to check out the other one too – some of the questions are similar but there are some different ones too! – you can click here. But, anyway, let’s have a lil mid year catch up!

Continue reading (A little bit later than) Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag

Fantasy & Myths | My favourite books of 2018 so far

Posted on by Ashleigh
High angle showing an assortment of my favourite books of 2018 so far - the covers hidden - and my travel journal for decoration

Apparently, I’ve become a harsher reviewer in 2018. I say this because now we’re in the 7th month of the year, and I haven’t rated any books 5 stars yet. None. Zero. Zilch. Why?? It’s true, I’m reluctant to give anything less than a newfound all-time fave 5 stars, but you’d figure that somewhere in the 35 books I’ve read so far this year, I’d have found one. It seems not.

Despite this, there are a few that have still stood out to me this year and have gotten close to those treasured 5 stars. I don’t think anyone will be surprised to see there’s a theme of fantasy and ancient history. But these four books are the ones currently in the running for my favourites of 2018…unless I miraculously discover a whole suitcase full of new favourites in the next 5 months between now and the end of the year. But here, (a little over) halfway through, we have my current highlights!

Continue reading Fantasy & Myths | My favourite books of 2018 so far