Top Ten Tuesday: Book Covers with Autumn Vibes

Autumn I think is my favourite time of the year. The burnt orange, red and yellow colours are so beautiful and magical and I wanted to share with you my top ten book covers that give me that autumn vibe. The books that I have picked are all on my TBR list and have amazing autumn coloured covers.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the amazing Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl, where there is a topic and you have to make a list that best suits that topic. Please go and check out her amazing blog!

So I hope you enjoy and like the books that I have picked!

1. Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power

2. Fable by Adrienne Young

3. Vicious by V.E Schwab

4. Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare

5. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

6. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

7. Poison Princess by Kresley Cole

8. The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

9. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

10. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

How I Read | Book Tag

I’m so excited to be doing my first book tag and to share with you my bookish habits. I wasn’t actually tagged but I discovered this tag on Elaine Howlin’s blog. Please go and check it out, her blog is truly amazing. Since I wasn’t tagged I’m not going to tag anyone either so whoever comes across this and you would like to do this tag, please feel free.

Do you have a certain place at home for reading?

I don’t have a specific place where I always read, but I often read on the couch or in bed. My ideal/dream place to read would be a cozy reading nook next to a window, with an amazing view and surrounded by plump cushions.

Something like this but I would have the colours baby/light pink and white instead of the purple and grey.

Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter/certain amount of pages?

I always have to stop after a chapter. If I do stop in the middle of one it’s usually because I’ve been distracted by something or my mum has asked me to do something, otherwise I always have to finish the chapter I am on. I don’t understand how people can just stop whenever they want to, no matter where they are in the book, it makes me so anxious.

Bookmark or random piece of paper?

100% bookmarks!!! I love bookmarks with cute litter designs on them, especially book inspired bookmarks. MY FAVES!!! I want to start collecting more bookmarks so if anyone know places to get cute ones, please let me know!

Multi-tasking: Music or TV while reading?

I get distracted so easily while reading so I do prefer to just read in silence but I do like having the TV on in the background but I will have the volume down low, which annoys my Dad.

Do you eat or drink while reading?

OMG YES!! I love to have a cup of coffee while reading, I just love the ambiance that having a coffee while reading creates and the smell, omg the smell. I think I might actually be addicted to coffee. ☕️

Reading at home or everywhere?

Everywhere of course! However, I do prefer reading at home as that is where I usually do read, but if I am on a train or bus and I’ve brought a book with me I’ll definitely bring that bad boy out and read! I do read on my phone sometimes too so I’ll read on that wherever I am.

One book at a time or several at once?

Usually I’ll just read one book at a time so I can focus all my attention to that one book as when I read several at once I usually get confused and I’ll forget about the first book that I started. However, I have been reading 2 at once recently but that’s just because I’m reading one on my phone which is easier than reading two physical ones at once. It is for me anyway.

Reading out loud or silently in your head?

Obviously it’s silently in my head. Like who reads out loud unless they’re reading to someone! The only time I read out loud is if I can’t understand the sentence so I’ll read it out and it usually helps me to understand.

Do you read ahead or even skip pages?

I have never ever done this and I will never ever do it in the future. If I’m reading a book I’ll read it all even if I don’t like it, unless it is absolutely dreadful then I’ll just stop reading it.

Breaking the spine or keeping it like new?

I’m in two minds about this one. Like I love keeping my books looking pretty and nice but then when they look all scratched up it means that the book has been read and loved which has a really good look about it, so yeah I don’t really know. 😂

Do you write in your books?

No. I don’t get writing in books, that might just have to do with the whole I like to keep my books looking nice or it could be that fact that I’m not big into annotating, like I did get a B in higher English but tbh I can’t remember how to annotate books 😂

We’ve come to the end of the tag! I hope you enjoyed my answers and maybe got to know me a bit better, let me know in the comments below if we do the same things or are completely opposite. Please feel free to do this tag, I’d love to hear what your bookish habits are! 😊

October TBR

OMG!!! how is it October already?!!! Like what!!! but it’s all good as this is like my favorite time of year, nothing beats sitting by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book, I just love the whole vibe of autumn and the aesthetic of it, and of course Halloween! I’m not much one for dressing up however I do love a good Halloween party with my friends but don’t think that’ll be happening this year (screw you covid!). My favourite thing about Halloween is the horror movies/TV shows. I love a good horror especially ones with jump scares like The Haunting of Hill House, if you’ve not watched this I highly recommend it!

Aaaaanyway, books! I’ve been really lagging on my reading this year, like seriously! At the start of the year I set myself a reading challenge to read 30 books and I’ve literally only read 10 and it’s already OCTOBER!!! so I’m pretty behind, whoops. I’m determined to read as many books as I can from now to New Year and hopefully and I can get close to 30. I know that 30 books in a year should be really easy but I was just so unmotivated to read, even during lockdown I spend the majority of the time watching TV shows and going on houseparty with my friends and getting drunk (p.s. houseparty is an app like facetime for those that don’t know).

So I think that the best way for me to read more is to set myself a TBR each month and try and stick to it as much as I can. I’ve never done a TBR list before as when I’m picking a book I need to be in the right mindset and the right mood to read it so I usually decide what book to read in the moment depending on how I’m feeling. Right, enough blabbering and lets get to it!

(p.s. could you all recommend some good horrorish/dark books please, even if I don’t get around to them this month or even this year it’ll be good to have some in mind)

As Old As Time by Liz Branswell

What if Belle’s mother cursed the Beast? Belle is a lot of things: smart resourceful, restless. She longs to escape her poor provincial town for good. She wants to explore the world, despite her father’s reluctance to leave their little cottage in case Belle’s mother returns — a mother she barely remembers. Belle also happens to the captive of a terrifying, angry beast. And that is her primary concern. But Belle touches the Beast’s enchanted rose, intriguing images flood her mind — images of the mother she believed she would never see again. Stranger still, she sees that her mother is none other than the beautiful Enchantress who curse the Beast, his castle, and all its inhabitants. Shocked and confused, Belle and the Beast must work together to unravel a dark mystery about their families that is twenty-one years in the making.

CRANK by Ellen Hopkins

Chronicles the turbulent and often disturbing relationship between Kristina, a character based on her own daughter, and the “monster”, the highly addictive crystal meth, or “crank”. Kristina is introduced to the drug while under the influence largely absent and ne’er-go-well father. While under the influence of the monster, Kristina discovers her sexy alter-ego, Bree: “there is no perfect daughter, / no gifted high school junior, / no Kristina Georgia Snow, / There is only Bree.” Bree will do all the things good girl Kristina won’t, including attracting the attention of dangerous boys who can provide her with a steady flow of crank.

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars, One of Us is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk our alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide. Pay close attention and you might solve this. On Monday, afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention. Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing. Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher. And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app. Only, Simon never makes it out if that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon’s dead. And according to investigations, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose? Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead. So did his father before him, until her was gruesomely killed by a ghost he sought to kill. Now armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay. Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home. Yet she spares Cas’s life.

September Wrap Up

And so this marks another month that has come to an end. I feel like every year gets faster and faster and I get older and older. However, I’m super excited to start my blog of with a wrap up, I’m hopefully going to do one at the end of each month then followed by a tbr blog. I’m not really one for reviews as I sometimes find it hard to express how I feel about a book and put it into words and I’ll be honest I’m no writing wizard, I don’t look into wording like other people might do, so I feel like my reviews will be mostly ‘omg I love these two characters so much blah blah blah’ but I will definitely give it my best shot.

I’m really sorry that this wrap up is so small but I’m determined to read more books in October.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads. I absolutely love this series and the magic that’s involved. I’ve never read a book like this before and Maggie Stiefvater has executed it perfectly. There’s a few minor things that I didn’t like but for me to explain that it would involve spoilers but I can tell you that I cried. I loved the addition of all the new characters especially Jesse and Gwenllian. I loved Jesse, he was totally the opposite of what I thought he would be like which was a happy surprise. I was devastated about what happened to him, like I know he was on the ‘death list’ but I was hoping that they would find a way to save him. I also love Gwenllian, she is so unusual and she’s always singing and I think she’s going to be a great addition to 300 Fox Way. I am so excited to read the last book!!!!

This Lie Will Kill You by Chelsea Pitcher

I gave this book 3/5 stars on Goodreads. Such a quick and easy read (even though it took me a week to read). I’ve been going through a mystery kind of phase recently and I thought that this book would satisfy that but sadly it didn’t. I feel like it was quite predictable at times, which I hate, I like to be kept on my toes and guessing till the end but that wasn’t the case with this book. I did like, however, the different POV’s from the characters and getting to know their thoughts and feelings during this ordeal that they are going through. There was a point where I wished we got the POV from a certain character but we didn’t which was quite disappointing. All in all I did enjoy reading it.

Lies Like Poison by Chelsea Pitcher

I gave this book 3/5 stars on Goodreads. Unlike the last book, this one kept me on my toes the whole way through. I had no idea who the culprit was but when I thought I did it was like ‘no, try again’, which I absolutely loved. The story was set over, I think, 2 days which was okay I guess but I wish it was set over like a week or two so there could be more investigation going on. There were some characters that I wished were in the story more such as Detective Medina and Belle’s adoptive father, I was so intrigued by Belle’s fathers protectiveness and when we found out he had a daughter I was like ‘YES there’s more to this‘. But unfortunately, Pitcher did go deeper into this, I would of loved to see Belle confront him about it and hear about it more but sadly we didn’t get that but overall I really enjoyed this read.

The Journey Begins

I am so excited to be starting my first ever blog! I’ve been thinking about doing this blog for a while now but was nervous to start it as I wasn’t sure what I could write about and to be honest I’m still not so sure but I’ve decided to take a chance and to embrace the unknown and to use this as a way to get out of my head for a bit!

My goal for this blog is to reach as many of you as I can and to share with you my love for books and hopefully it’ll help you to find your love for books😊

I can’t wait to get started and hopefully gain some amazing friends who love reading as much as I do!! Xx

Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book. — Jane Smiley