The Birthday Haul (Top 5 Tuesday)

NEW BOOKS! I don't think I've bought a new book in about a year. Yes, a whole year. How did I cope I hear you ask... I haven't the faintest! But all I know is that it's all alright now, new books have graced my shelves. 9 to be precise. But this is a top 5 list! Why do you never make a top 5 list with 5 things on the list?! I'm sorry ok, they never work out the way I want them to! I was going to only buy 5 but then I paid and realised I forgot the YA section, so I told myself I'd only look, but you know as well as I did that that wasn't going to happen. But, seen as though I haven't bought a new book in a year, I think both you and I can forgive me. So, to quit my babbling... here's what I got!

1) Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne

If you were to take a guess at what was on this list, you'd probably think of this. It came out a week and a bit ago and there has been nothing but this on twitter lately. Some love it, some hate it, some aren't quite sure, so how else will I know what it's really like unless I read it myself? There's only one problem, I'm on page 81 (out of 617) of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. That's book 4. Out of 7. And in my own 'Rules Of Reading' I'm not allowed to read books set in the same book world consecutively. In fact, I have to read a minimum of 3 books before I can return to a book of the same series.  This means I have to read 17 (inc. Goblet of Fire) books before I can even think about picking up this book. Trust me, I really regret making that a rule, but now that it is one, it would haunt me every day if I broke it, so 17 books it is. This also means that when I post my review, it will probably be early next year, a LONG time after this is relevant. Which is just wonderful. Plus, now that I've stopped feeling sorry for myself, I've never read a script before (other than the stuff I studied in school), so that'll be fun. Scripts might be my new thing! Probably not, but maybe! So anyway, I'm very excited to read this, even if it will be next year, and I hope that people still care enough to read what I think of it.  

And if you haven't read my review for the Prisoner of Azkaban, you totally should! You can find it here.

2) A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

And before there was the Cursed Child, the was ACOTAR. This, and the sequel that came out a few months ago, have received the biggest twitter buzz I've ever seen. For months on end all I saw when I logged onto twitter was ACOTAR. The ships that sailed, the theories that were theorised, the fangirls and fanboys that fangirled and fanboyed. There was no escaping. Even though it came out last year, which is crazy. Plus, I didn't see a single negative review, which isn't just crazy, it's insane in the membrane (insane in the brain!) . So, I'm bowing down to the guidance of twitter, for the first time in a long time, and I trust it has influenced me to make a good decision. Which it doesn't do most of the time. I trusted it with A Game Of Thrones, which I gave a meagre 3/5 stars (review is right here), and I trusted it with 'the 100', which I gave up and may never return to. But, this one may be good ... hopefully ... please. Well, even if I don't like it, the covers pretty, so it'll look nice on the shelf . That's something, right? Come on twitter, don't let me down this time!

3) Speaking In Bones by Kathy Reichs

I'd stumbled upon this book a few weeks ago in Asda. I had managed to read the blurb and the first chapter before my mum had finished choosing a card for her friends anniversary. I really didn't want to leave it behind... it's so gripping, even in the first two pages! So, as I normally do, I took a picture of it and forgot about it. The pictures I take normally go with hundreds of others to form a very sloppy to-be-read-list that I completely forget about as soon as I walk into a bookshop. So the pictures normally stay there for about a year before I clean it up a bit and are forgotten about forever. But, funny thing is, this was also one of those times. The story I just told you was pretty much irrelevant, as I would probably still have bought it, having seen it a few weeks earlier in Asda or not... sorry. But hey, the more you know right? Turns out this is book #18 in 'The Temperance Brennan' series. Please for the love of all that is holy sat that I can read it without reading the others. I don't want another Harry Potter dilemma. If I do read the others first, I'll be able to read this 82 books later. 82 books later! No thank you, I think I'll just read it on its own. Someone on Goodreads said it would be ok, and I trust them so fingers crossed! Don't let me down Asda...

4+5)Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children and Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

Another rule of mine is to never buy multiple books of a series without reading the first one. I had to break this rule, though, it wasn't my fault! They were on buy one get one half price, so when I tried to buy just one, the cashier was all it's half price, go get the other one! My anxiety would never let me say no, so ... thanks, Mr Cashier for making me break that rule. At least I got one cheaper I guess! Plus, if I like it,  I'd have bought the other one anyway... I guess I'm just in a mood for complaining today! Even if it is my birthday! I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about these books. Some, like my friend who won't shut up about them, love them. Some people are saying it's the worst thing they've ever read. So, I'll just have to wait and see. And the movie comes out later next month, and it's always better to read the book before you see the movie!

6)Alice by Christina Henry
 I love retold Alice in Wonderland stories.  I haven't read the original in a very long time, but if it's creepy and dark, I'm all over it. I even wrote a retelling of Carroll's story for my final English essay, which I scored full marks on. The Mad Hatter is one of my favourite batman villains, he's a pretty cool dude (although not really, he kidnaps girls, forces them into being Alice then kills them. So not very cool unless you're as weird as I am). I haven't read a good one in a while though, normally they're always lacking something. Either they're not dark enough, or they're playing it too safe by sticking too close to the original, or they're too similar to all the other ones I've read. But I'm going to give this one a chance. Plus, the cover is really cool too! It instantly drew me to it in Waterstones and will look great on the shelf. Do any of you guys do that? Buy a book just because of the cover? I didn't for this one but have done many times before and it can't be just me, right? Anyway, back to the thing, I can't wait to read this one and you never know, this might be the Alice in Wonderland retelling that ticks all the right boxes. 

7)The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer
The blurb was the thing that really sold me on this book.  It's so hard hitting that I just couldn't put it back down again! 'I'll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother. His name's Simon. I think you're going to really like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he'll be dead. And he was never the same after that.' How could I put that down again? I've never been so drawn in by a blurb before and I really, really, really hope the rest of the book doesn't let me down. There're some pretty mixed thoughts on this book; some hate it with a passion and have written some pretty gnarly reviews on Goodreads, some love it and it definitely has the rewards to show that this was a lot of people. Doesn't that just make it more interesting if there's a huge contrast? And I'm absolutely a broken record because I'm once again going to talk about the cover. Stunning. I have a great love for trees for multiple reasons... They make books, they make oxygen, they look great on covers like all the time and sometimes they drop those little green twizzly things that you could spin and amuse yourself with for about 30 seconds. I really need to get a life, don't I? But come on, you can't argue that trees aren't great, and they look especially good on this cover. 

8)The Dog Who Dared to Dream by Sun-Mi Hwang
Don't worry, I know you saw the tree on this book cover and though 'Oh no, she's going to go on another rant about how much she likes trees'. And you would be absolutely right. I love trees. See, they also look great on this cover too! Don't worry, end of rant. This book sounds so damn cute it hurts me. This is one of those books where you look a the cover, read the blurb and then try to imagine the story in your head until you actually read it. It's really short, only  167 pages, so I'll probably be able to swallow it up in one sitting, which makes it even better. This is also going to be the first book I've ever read that has been translated into English! It's been translated from Korean, as the author is from South Korea, by Chi-Young Kim and I am very excited for it!







9) Keep You Close by Lucie Whitehouse
Keep you close is a psychological thriller that centers around the death of a young woman named Marianne Glass. I don't read many psychological thrillers, I think the only one I've read is Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (which was AMAZING), so  thought I should buy one. Maybe I've been neglecting my possible favourite genre all this time! It's probably going to be a while before I get chance to read this, because of all my other books, which makes me pretty sad. The cover is gorgeous aswell... I love the simplicity of it. I don't really know what else to write about this! The reviews on Goodreads aren't that great, as I've just found out, but you can't judge a book on it' bad reviews! I'll just have to read it for myself and tell you what I think when I've finished!








So there you have it folks! About £70 worth of books, as a special treat to me. I think I deserve it too, especially because I haven't bought a new book in ages. 

Have you read any of these book already (Plz no spoilers)? Do you have rules to follow when you're reading? Do you appreciate a good tree on the cover too? Let me know in the comment down below!

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