Tag: stuart turton

Monthly Wrap Ups

July Wrap Up!

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Happy Monday bookish people! I know this post is going up on the first day of August when I usually post them at the end of the month I am writing about but July was quite the month! First there was YALC and Comic Con which I don’t really want to say that much about because it will turn into a rant, I did not have a good experience there this year because of the organization and well, they had no idea what to do with people who have disabilities so the less said about it the better. Then I found out I had gotten covid from YALC and I was so poorly, I still am a bit even a month on, I couldn’t do much. I rounded the month out with a trip to Bristol and a trip to Hampshire so I am pretty exhausted.

A good thing that happened this month is that I opened my Etsy shop! I have been thinking about this for a while and I have finally done it. I am creating bookish bookmarks, on card, wood and made of resin. If you’d like to visit my shop is TheBlindScribe

Anyway, my reading this month wasn’t great, I read some okay books but no books that I was really invested in. My book reviews of the books I did read will be coming on Mondays throughout August!

  • The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood – I did read this and actually I quite enjoyed it but I had one very specific issue with it which I will talk about in my book review of it.
  • A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn – I did not read this book
  • Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li – I did not read this
  • The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson – I did not read this book either
  • Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead by Elle Cosimano – I haven’t read this book
  • The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton – I haven’t read this book yet either
  • Nine Lives by Peter Swanson – I did not read this
  • Daughters of Night by Laura Shepard Robinson – I started this book a while ago but I haven’t continued with it yet
  • The Three Dog Problem by S J Bennett – I did read this!
  • The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah – I also read this book!
  • The Perfect Escape by Leah Konen – I did not read this book

Overall, I read three books this month which considering how poorly I was and how much has been going on this month is pretty good, I’m happy with it.

That’s it for my July wrap-up! I hope you all enjoyed it, my August TBR is coming on Friday!

Monthly TBRs

March TBR

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Happy Tuesday bookish people! I am happy to be bringing you my March TBR today. I have a good feeling about March, I am hoping to get a lot of reading done, there’s so many good books on my TBR that I desperately want to pick up. Also, it’s my birthday on the 25th of March! I’ll be 23 and I had actually forgotten how close it was, I hadn’t made a list and so I was trying to think of the books I wanted and put them on an Amazon wishlist here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3H1PW8BGD9KF7/ref=nav_wishlist_lists_1

Anyway, onto the TBR!

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

I have heard so many good things about this book and even though I am not usually the biggest fan of romance novels, I am willing to give each one a try though so we shall see if I enjoy this one or not.

Last Chance Books by Kelsey Rodkey

Again, another contemporary romance book but I mean it has books on the front so at least I will enjoy the setting, also it has enemies to lovers from what I have read and I do enjoy that trope.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I loved The Starless Sea by the same author, it’s my favourite book and this seems to have the same magical realism so I am hopeful that I will really enjoy this book.

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

A historical murder mystery set on a boat. Of course I want to read this book.

Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco

I am so excited to continue this series, Emilia is one of my favourite female protagonists and Wrath is such a good morally grey character. I love it!

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas

This is a book that I have been putting off for ages, well ever since I finished A Court of Thorns and Roses but I am excited to read it because I have heard it is the best book in the series.

City of Brass by S A Chakraborty

I have already started this book a year ago but I put it down for some reason and I haven’t thought about picking it up again until now.

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

This is another book that I have heard really good things about so I am excited to read this one.

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow

Witches in a historical setting, I am very excited about this book.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T J Klune

This books kind of reminds me of the Umbrella Academy but a bit more peaceful so that’s why I was drawn to this book to start with.

The Girl in the Tower by katherine Arden

this is the second book in the bear and the nightingale series and I absolutely loved the first book so I am really excited to continue this dark and wintery series.

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

I have recently been enjoying books with an academic setting so hopefully I will enjoy this book.

Bone Spindle by Leslie Vedder

This books sounds very interesting to me and a friend has read it and enjoyed it which makes me want to read it even more.

Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell

This looks like a very cute middle grade book. Plus I love the cover, it is very inviting.

The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman

This is the third book in the Invisible Library series, I really love Irene and Kai from this series and I can’t wait to see what adventures they are going to go on next.

House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J Maas

This is one of my most anticipated books of this year so I am nervous to read it, it is also huge so it might take me a while but I am very excited, I am trying my hardest to not see any spoilers for it.

That’s it for my march TBR, I hope you all enjoyed it! What are you planning on reading this month?

Monthly Wrap Ups

January Wrap Up!

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Happy Monday bookish people! I hope you all had a lovely January. If you have seen any of my recent posts here on my Instagram posts (@the_blind_scribe) you will know that my January has been full of ups and downs, honestly mostly downs. After being unwell for most of it and then my partner and I breaking up and having to move back in with my parents I barely read anything in January.

So, onto my January Wrap-up!

  • Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte – I did not read
  • A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik – I did not read
  • Act Your Age Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert – I did read!
  • Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare – I did not read
  • Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody – I did not read
  • Daughters of Night by Laura Shepard Robinson – I have recently started to read this, I won’t finish it by the end of the month but I am really enjoying the atmosphere and the lead female character so far.
  • The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton – I have not read
  • Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff – I did not get around to reading
  • European Travels for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss – I have read the first 20 pages or so of this book and I am enjoying it but I wasn’t in the right mood for it this month because of everything happening.
  • Finale by Stephanie Garber – I did not read
  • Furyborn by Claire Legrand – I did not read
  • The Killings at Kingfisher Hill by Sophie Hannah – I did read this!
  • Nevernight by Jay Kristoff – I did not read this
  • Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty – I did not read this
  • Pages and Co Tilly and the Lost Fairytales – I did read this!
  • Queenslayer by Sebastien De Castell – I did not read this
  • Shadowscent by P M Freestone – I did not read this
  • The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman – I did not read
  • The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi – I did not read
  • The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley – I did not read
  • The Plague Letters by V L Valentine – I did not read
  • Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas – I did not read

I also read The Enchanted Wood, The Magic Faraway Tree and The Folk of the Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton which wasn’t on my TBR. So that means I read six books and I started two more so I am actually really happy with the amount that I ended up reading this month.

That’s it for this wrap up I hope you all enjoyed it!

Monthly TBRs

January TBR!

theblindscribe

Happy Tuesday bookish people! It’s the first month of the new year and it is time to share what I hope to be reading this month. I feel like I want to read a lot this month so far, I am hoping this will continue throughout the month and I’ll have a great month to start the year.

My January TBR:

  • The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi – I am really excited to read this book, I bought it with some vouchers I got for Christmas and it should be arriving today.
  • Furyborn by Claire Legrand – I’m not sure what I will think of this book but I want to read more outside of my comfort zone this year
  • Queenslayer by Sebastien de Castell – I am so close to finishing this series and I think this book will be another great one just like the rest of the series.
  • Act Your Age Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert – I will say at the time of writing this that I have actually finished reading this book and completed the Brown Sisters trilogy!
  • Daughters of Night by Laura Shepard-Robinson – A good Victorian mystery, that’s just what I want to read right now.
  • Shadowscent by P M Freestone – this is another book that I am not sure what to make of it yet but I hope I will enjoy it.
  • The Plague Letters by V L Valentine – a historical murder mystery, it sounds so different and intriguing and I am excited to get into it.
  • Nevernight by Jay Kristoff – I am hoping that I will be able to get into this book easily.
  • Killings at Kingfisher Hill by Sophie Hannah – I read one of the books in her Poirot series and enjoyed it so hopefully the rest of the series will be the same.
  • The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton – I loved his other book and a murder mystery set on a boat sounds intriguing.
  • Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas – It is time I got around to reading this book.
  • Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody – I love any book to do with a circus or carnival so I have high hopes.
  • European Travels for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss – I have already started this one and just like the first book in the series, I am already immersed in the world.
  • Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte – I don’t actually know much about this book.
  • Hunting Party by Lucy Foley – I started reading her other book and ended up putting it down so I hope I will have better luck with this book.
  • Pages and Co 2 by Anna James – this is a lovely series of books that I am excited to continue.
  • The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman – another series that has a brilliant world that I want to get back to.
  • Finale by Stephanie Garber – finally I am hoping to finish up the caraval series!
  • A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik – I’ve heard mixed things about this book but I am still interested in reading it.
  • Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare – this is an intimidating book but I am excited to get around to it
  • Empire of the Vampire – another book I’m not sure about but I have heard great things.
  • Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty – I am excited to read more mysteries this month.

That’s it for my January TBR, I hope you all enjoyed it! Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them?

Monthly Wrap Ups

October Wrap-Up!

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Happy Monday bookish people! It is the first of November and that means it is time to share with you my wrap up for the month of October.

October was once again a really busy month for me, I officially started my PhD course and I have had to sort lots of things out in preparation for my Masters graduation while also dealing with some issues with my health. It has been a long feeling month that is for sure, but we are now in November and I am feeling great about reading and the books I have chosen (my November TBR post will be going up later today!).

So, in October I was planning on reading lots of spooky books and mysteries and… well, I didn’t do as well with my TBR as I’d hoped. I wasn’t feeling the books I had on my TBR when it came time to read them and then now – the first day of November I am really in the mood to read them. That is very annoying.

Anyway, let’s get into what I did and didn’t read in the month of October!

October TBR and Thoughts:

  • A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik – I did not read, I was very excited this book was finally on my TBR but I just didn’t get a chance to pick it up.
  • Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody – another book I was so excited for but didn’t get around to.
  • Act Your Age Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert – I didn’t read this one but it has been moved to this month’s TBR…
  • Capturing the Devil by Kerri Maniscalco – I NEED to get around to reading this soon but I didn’t manage it in October
  • City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab – I did read this one, I actually read this entire trilogy this month
  • Cream Buns and Crime by Robin Stevens – I also read this one
  • The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton – I did not read this one
  • Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff – I’ve heard such good things about this one but I haven’t read it yet
  • Good Girl Bad Blood by Holly Jackson – I didn’t get to this one
  • Legendborn by Tracey Deonn – I’m disappointed I didn’t get to this one it was the perfect month for it
  • Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder by T A Willberg – This is the one I’m now really in the mood to read so I’m just going to do it, I’m going to read it in November
  • Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – I am so scared to read this because I heard it’s classed as a horror so I didn’t read it in Ocotber
  • Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo – I did not read this one
  • Once Upon A Crime by Robin Stevens – I did read this one
  • One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M McManus – I did not read this one
  • People of Abandoned Character by Clare Whitfield – I didn’t get around to this one but I am very excited to read it soon
  • Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price – I did not read this one
  • Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch – I didn’t read this one
  • Take A Hint Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert – I didn’t read this one
  • The Devil Makes Three by Tori Bovalino – Another book I was too scared to read
  • The Painted Dragon by Katherine Woodfine – it turns out this book is from a series and I don’t have the first ones in it and I’m not sure if I need to read them first
  • The Winterhouse Mysteries by Ben Guterson – another book that it turns out is in a series and I didn’t read because I don’t have the first few to read before this one
  • The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava reid – I did not read this one

So, out of my TBR I read five of the books which isn’t great but it isn’t awful either. Outside of my TBR I also read the first three books in the Araminta Spook series by Angie sage which takes my October total to eight books. Considering everything that has happened this month I’m pretty happy with that total. Although I definitely plan to read more in November so we will see how that goes.

That’s it for my October wrap-up I hope you all enjoyed it! Let me know how you all did with your October reading.

Monthly TBRs

October TBR

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Happy Friday bookish people! I hope you’re all having a lovely day! It is finally time to share my October Tbr! It is the month for all things spooky and I thought I might as well join in with that and get out all the books that fit the season.

So, this month my TBR game was horrible to me and I got so many doubles. I always start by doing twelve rolls and after all my doubles I ended up with 25 books on my TBR. Yes, I’m worried about this too.

Onto the books I will be reading in October!

October TBR:

  • Once Upon A Crime by Robin Stevens – I found this in a charity shop and I’m excited to read it
  • Cream Buns and Crime by Robin Stevens
  • The Winterhouse Mysteries by Ben Guterson
  • The Devil Makes Three by Tori Bovalino
  • The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid
  • Capturing the Devil by Kerri Maniscalco – I’m so excited to read the final installment of this series
  • Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder by T A Willberg
  • A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
  • Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
  • The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton
  • City of Ghosts series by V E Schwaab
  • Take A Hint Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
  • Act Your Age Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert
  • Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • The Painted Dragon by Katharine Woodfine
  • Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
  • One of us is Lying by Karen M McManus
  • Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson
  • Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody
  • Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
  • Legendborn by Tracey Deonne
  • People of Abandoned Character by Claire Whitfield

So that’s my TBR for the month of October and I’m excited but scared to start on it. I hope you all enjoyed reading about it!

Book Quotes

Favourite Book Quotes: 30 – 21

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Happy Friday Bookish people! I’m back with the next set of ten quotes in my top 100 favourite book quotes series. I hope you’ve all been enjoying it so far, I can’t wait to share with you what my top ten is, but we aren’t quite there yet. Only two weeks to go!

At 30 is a quote from a popular series with Fae in..

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

30. “kiss me again, kiss me until I am sick of it”

Up next is from a great murder mystery/thriller….

An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena

29. “one may smile and smile and still be a villain”

The next quote is from the ‘Queen of crime’….

Dead Man’s Folly by Agatha Christie

28. “if the foundations are rotten, everything’s rotten”

At 27 is a quote from one of my favourite books…

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

27. “every good story needs a villain”

Now a quote from a beautifully dark book…

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

26. “wild birds die in cages”

At 25 is from a duology…

Vicious by V E Schwaab

25. “plenty of humans were monstrous and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human”

Up next is a quote from a book I haven’t read yet…

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

24. “I turned my nightmares into fireflies and caught them in a jar”

Now a quote from a very unusual murder mystery…

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

23. “we are never more ourselves than when we think people aren’t watching”

At 22 is a book that I found very humorous….

The Left Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

22. “Fantasy writers, they’re the bane of our existance”

And finally from the third book in one of my favourite series’….

Escaping From Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco

21. “most stories are too good to be true that’s what makes them enchanting”

That’s it for this week’s quotes, I hope you all enjoyed it!

Monthly Wrap Ups

May Wrap Up!

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Happy Tuesday Bookish people! I’m a day late with this one but it’s finally the end of May. This month has been a difficult one, there’s been good parts to it of course but there’s also been some horrible parts. Nevermind, June is a new month and hopefully it will be a great one!

This month I will admit now, my TBR was mostly forgotten about. I had quite a few book tours I was taking part in and towards the second half of the month I was losing my motivation to read because of what was going on in my life.

So, onto the wrap up.

My May TBR:

  • The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni – I did read (start with a good one, however, this does not continue..)
  • The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton – I did not read
  • A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik – I did not read
  • Watch Her Fall by Erin Kelly – I did not read
  • Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch – I did not read
  • Lore by Alexandra Bracken – I did not read
  • Six Tudor Queens: Katherine of Aragon – I did not read
  • Get A Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert – I did not read
  • Turtles All The Way Down by John Green – I did not read
  • A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas – I did not read
  • A Masked City by Genevieve Cogman – I did read! (surprised you there didn’t I)
  • A Gathering of Shadows by V E Schwaab – I did not read
  • Radio Silence by Alice Oseman – I did not read
  • Yes, No, Maybe so by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Seed – I did not read
  • Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel – I did start this but I didn’t manage to finish it within the month

So.. my TBR went pretty terribly, I read two and started another. But I did read other books that weren’t on my TBR which were: The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss (which I loved!), Love Is What You Bake Of It and Love by Design by Effie Kammenou, Things To Do Before The End Of The World by Emily Barr and You Had It Coming by B M Carroll.

Altogether I read eight books this month which isn’t bad I suppose but it felt like I had a terrible reading month. Hopefully I’ll enjoy my reading more in June… I’m about to post my June TBR so check that out too if you are interested in seeing what I’ll be reading in June.

That’s it for my May Wrap Up, I hope you all enjoyed it!

Monthly TBRs

May TBR!

theblindscribe

Happy Friday bookish people! Today I’m bringing you my May TBR and I am telling you now my TBR game was not kind to me this month. I just kept getting doubles on the dice and by the end I had 18 rolls to do… oh dear.

April.. didn’t go the way I planned and I ended up not reading very much. If you’d like to see what I did read go and check out my April Wrap-Up. I’m hoping that May will be a much better month for me so fingers crossed!

As well as my very long TBR I also have some books I need to read for my spots in book tours which I’m hoping to get read first and then concentrate on my TBR.

I also have a lot of contemporary on this month’s TBR, anyone who knows me will know that I do not really like contemporary.. so how did I end up with so many on my TBR? Well, I put the contemporary space on my game board so that I covered every genre and with all the rolls this month I kept landing on it… maybe I’ll find a new genre to like but I doubt it.

My May TBR:

First, Usually I would put pictures of the books on my TBR however, today for some reason it’s not letting me put the pictures in so I’m going to have to just list them and then see what is happening later.

  • The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni – I picked this one up because the cover is so beautiful! And also, the back of the book just said something like ‘keep her alive we are coming’ and that hooked me right in.
  • The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton – I have had this book on my shelves since it came out. I loved his book the Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle so I have high hopes for this one.
  • A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik – I got this book in one of my Illumicrate boxes and it is so lovely, it has a gold cover and blue sprayed edges. It’s dark academia which is something that I am getting into quite recently.
  • Watch Her Fall by Erin Kelly – a psychological thriller set in a ballet company just sounds amazing!
  • Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch – the first of many contemporaries this month.. I don’t know much about it but hopefully I will enjoy it.
  • Lore by Alexandra Bracken – I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book so of course it’s straightaway on my TBR.
  • Six Tudor Queens: Katherine of Aragon the True Queen by Alison Weir – I love Historical Fiction especially the Tudor ones and I have read all of Philippa Gregory’s books to date so I needed some new Tudor stories and this is what I went with.
  • Get A Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert – I have seen a lot of good things about this book and I actually won my copy in a competition on Twitter.
  • Turtles All the Way Down by John Green – again I don’t know much about this at all but I’m hoping it will be a good read.
  • A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas – I will get around to reading this at some point! I keep putting it on my TBR and then not reading it..
  • A Masked City by Genevieve Cogman – A librarian spy… I don’t need to say anything else about this.
  • A Gathering of Shadows by V E Scwab – I read A Darker Shade of magic a little while ago and it’s about time I read the second book in the series.
  • Radio Silence by Alice Oseman – there’s a lot of books this month I know nothing about but it is another contemporary.
  • Yes, No, Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Seed – It’s got a lovely bright yellow cover…

That’s it for my May TBR! Check back at the end of May to see how well or how badly I did with my reading!