Bookish Birthday Haul 2014

The Moomins Cookbook

Alice in Wonderland tote bag

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - Penguin Clothbound Edition

Disaster Designs Book Club Clutch Bag

It was my birthday at the end of September and I was lucky enough to receive a few bookish birthday presents so I thought I'd share them on here! From my Mum I received a beautiful new Penguin Clothbound version of Sense and Sensibility. How gorgeous are these set of books? I'd been putting off buying these to try to save some money but I gave in recently and bought Pride and Prejudice so I was glad to have another book to add to my new collection! My Mum also bought me this clutch bag from Disaster Designs which is shaped like a book! I'm so obsessed in love with these - I've already got a purse to match. Nobody can miss my bookishness now ;)

I also received this very pretty Moomin cookbook from my boyfriend's parents. One of my (many) obsessions is The Moomins and my boyfriend's Mum loves them also so I often get Moomin-themed presents from her. I'd not even heard of any Finnish cuisine before I was given this book so I'm really looking forward to trying out some of these recipes soon. My sister also kindly bought me this Alice in Wonderland tote bag which will definitely come in handy for lugging my university books and folders around with me!

Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Review: To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han [SPOILERS]

Title: To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Author: Jenny Han

Series: n/a

Format: Paperback (paid for myself)

Rating: 2/5

WARNING: This review contains spoilers!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Goodreads description: Lara Jean keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. One for every boy she's ever loved. When she writes, she can pour out her heart and soul and say all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly Lara Jean's love life goes from imaginary to out of control...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

My review: Oh books with pretty covers. You keep drawing me in with your loveliness like a moth to a flame. I'm not going to lie, I only picked up this book a) because of its gorgeous cover and b) because I've seen it hyped all over Instagram and Twitter but I have to admit, I was quite disappointed with it. While I did actually really like Jenny Han's writing style, from all the hype this book has been getting I was expecting a cutesy love story similar to Stephanie Perkins's Anna books but I found myself getting annoyed with it quite a lot:

1. Lara Jean kept going from being a sweet, innocent girl to this scatter-brained, self-centred, babyish person without any warning. 

2. As well as acting like she had two separate identities, I never knew what Lara Jean was thinking half the time and I don't think she did either! She spent years pining over her neighbour Josh (who is also her sister's ex...), then when Josh finally confesses that he does actually like her back, she suddenly decides that no, she has actually liked someone else (Peter) all along. Where did that come from? I'm not really keen on the idea of someone dating their sister's ex but it felt like the whole book was set up for Lara Jean and Josh to get together at the end so I was a bit thrown when she decides, seemingly out of nowhere, that Peter is the one for her.

3 The ending. Or lack of! There's no concrete ending to this story which is one of my biggest annoyances in a book. There isn't really any resolution to any of the character's stories.

*Le sigh*. I really thought this would be another Fangirl or Anna and the French Kiss but sadly it was not to be. I've not been put off Jenny Han's writing though so I think I'll have to try her other books to see if I like them any better.

Have you read any of Jenny Han's books? What did you think?

Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Book cover image from Goodreads

September 2014 Wrap Up

Books I read in September:

Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern [my review here]

Rating: 5/5

Austenland by Shannon Hale [my review here]
Rating: 3.5/5
Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins
Rating: 5/5

Only another three books this month! Oops. I really need to start picking up my reading pace if I'm going to complete my Goodreads challenge this year...

The first book I read in September was Where Rainbows End. I was a bit reluctant to read this book at first because of its format (it's written in letters, emails etc. between the characters) but I really enjoyed it in the end! It's such a sweet book and although I think the film (Love, Rosie) will be quite different from the book from what I've seen of the trailers so far, I'm still very excited to see it! I did a review on this book which is available here.

The next book I read was Austenland. While I did enjoy it, I found that I actually enjoyed the film adaptation more which was a shame because I was really looking forward to this book! I also did a review on this book as well so if you'd like to read it you can do so here.

The last book I read in September was Isla and the Happily Ever After. I absolutely loved this book! The first few chapters had me grinning like an absolute maniac on the bus! I think Anna and the French Kiss is still my favourite out of the three, but Isla was definitely a lovely, lovely book and a great conclusion to the trilogy.

Just a quick note before I go - as I'm back at uni now and already pulling my hair out about essay deadlines (!!), I'm going to stop doing my monthly TBR lists for a while. I'm just literally going to pick up whatever books I fancy now so hopefully it'll encourage me to read more frequently!

What did you read in September? Have you read any of these books?

Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Book cover images from Goodreads

Meeting Holly Black and Cassandra Clare!

On Saturday 4th October my friend and I traveled to Bath to attend the Bath Festival of Children’s Literature event for Holly Black and Cassandra Clare's new book, The Iron Trial! The event consisted of a 45 minute talk about The Iron Trial and questions from the audience, followed by a book signing. I've been lucky enough to meet Cassandra Clare before at a previous signing but this was my first time meeting Holly Black and she certainly didn't disappoint! They were both so hilarious and interesting together and so, so sweet! It was really interesting to hear about The Iron Trial in more detail as well. I'd previously read 7 chapters of it before the event but I'm very excited to finish it now!

After the event we could get two books signed - a copy of The Iron Trial and another book of our choice. As I've not read any of Holly Black's books I decided to buy a copy of The Coldest Girl In Coldtown to get signed. I've heard lots of good things about it and from reading the blurb it sounds just like my kind of book!

Have you read either of these books? What did you think of them?

Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

September 2014 Book Haul

From top to bottom:
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (pocket edition) by C.S. Lewis [giveaway prize]
Ironside by Holly Black
Lost in Austen by Emma Campbell Webster

The Gift by Cecelia Ahern

The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer

Emma (BBC tie-in cover) by Jane Austen

Austenland by Shannon Hale (my review here)

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle

The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su and Kate Rorick

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead

Pride and Prejudice (Penguin Clothbound Classics edition) by Jane Austen

The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
Pride and Prejudice (1995 BBC tie-in edition) by Jane Austen

I bought/acquired sixteen books in September. SIXTEEN. And this isn't even including the bookish presents that I recieved for my birthday at the end of the month. Oops. As you can imagine I'm going to be on book buying ban in October... Well, a partial one that is... ;)

There's so many things I could say about all of these books but I'm going to keep it short or else I think I'd end up writing an essay! I won this gorgeous pocket edition of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe from a giveaway on twitter. The Chronicles of Narnia were one of my favourite book series as a child (and still are!) so I was very excited to have won this beautiful edition. 

I also bought The Gift, Let It Snow and Outlander to save for the Christmas and New Year period. I know Outlander isn't a Christmas-y book but we're visiting family in the countryside over New Year so I thought it would be the perfect book to snuggle up by the fire with. If you do have any Christmas-y book recommendations though, please send them my way!

With my student finance (I totally bought books with the money, so it's fine!) I also bought this lovely Penguin clothbound edition of Pride and Prejudice. I've been eyeing up these classics editions for a while and I decided to take the plunge! I'd definitely love to build up a collection of these in future.

What did you buy this month? Do you have any of these books?

Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Review: Austenland by Shannon Hale

Title: Austenland

Author: Shannon Hale

Series: Book 1 of the Austenland series

Format: Paperback (paid for myself)

Rating: 3.5/5

Goodreads description: Jane is a young New York woman who can never seem to find the right man-perhaps because of her secret obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of "Pride and Predjudice." When a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-obsessed women, however, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become more real than she ever could have imagined. Is this total immersion in a fake Austenland enough to make Jane kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Favourite quotes: "Jane sat beside Colonel Andrews. He had a dashing smile. It nearly dashed right off his face."

"And here you are. Miss Erstwhile. You are infuriating and irritating, and yet I find myself looking for you."

"I suddenly had to see you again. I know that seems ridiculous, but I look at you, and I feel sure of something."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

My review: Austenland tells the story of Jane, a woman who has had a string of unsuccessful boyfriends which she blames on her love of Mr Darcy and the high expectations he brings with him. Her Aunt sees her unhappiness and leaves Jane a trip to Austenland in her will, a holiday destination in England where you can live like a Jane Austen character for a few weeks, which Jane's Aunt hopes will finally break her Darcy infatuation.

In the past, whenever I have read a book after watching the film adaptation first I have never had any problems with enjoying the book. However, sadly, the same cannot be said for Austenland. I'd seen the 2013 film several times before I decided to pick up the book it was based on. I fell in love with the film's comedy, it's Bridget Jones-esque heroine and its downright silliness. However while the book did share the same basic storyline as the film, it seemed to fall flat in comparison. The characters just weren't as hilarious and full of life as they were in the film - I felt sorry for the book's Miss Charming rather than wanting to laugh along with her like I did whilst watching the film and I even found it hard to warm to the main character, Jane.

However please don't think that my issues with this book come primarily from its comparison to the film. While I do love the general idea of this book, it just wasn't executed how I thought it would be. It had elements of silliness mixed in with serious which didn't work for me and left me cringing slightly at the end instead of swooning. However despite my disappointment, I still did enjoy reading this book. It's packed with many funny lines and was also a very quick and easy read. I especially enjoyed the description of Jane's previous break-ups at the start of each chapter (for example: "Boyfriend #7 Juan Inskeep, age twenty-five. Gay."). And the book definitely gets at least a few points for having the best dedication of all time at the front.

Before I started reading Austenland I was so sure I would be ordering the sequel, Midnight in Austenland, as soon as I'd finished the first book but now I'm not too sure. I think I'll just have to content myself with watching the film again. And again, and again, and again...

Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Book cover image from Goodreads

Bookish Hair Bows | Lavender Latte

I came across Lavender Latte while I was browsing on Instagram one day and I fell in love! They have a range of gorgeous hair bows from nautical-themed bows to Star Wars ones but what really caught my eye was their bookish bows! I ordered a Hunger Games-inspired bow straight away but soon after I had to make another order.

They have a great range of book-inspired bows including Harry Potter, TFIOS and A Song of Ice and Fire/GoT ones! And even though they are based in Australia, they are very reasonably priced. Each medium bow is less than £4 each (all the bows pictured here are a medium size) and the shipping is only £3.10 for the first item and 28p for each additional item!

What's more, Etsy are currently running a promotion where if you refer someone to Etsy, they'll give them £5 towards their first purchase! If you're interested please use this link to sign up for an account: http://etsy.me/1tIDFWZ

How amazing are these?! I've already got my eye on a few more bows for my next order...

Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads
P .S. I was in no way sponsored for this post, I just really love this shop and wanted to share their bows with you!