Stacking the Shelves {7} & My Reading Pile {11}

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and as I am sharing what I had in my mailbox the last two weeks, I am giving credit to her.

First up, I got The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events #1) by Lemony Snicket.

I won it from a giveaway which was hosted by the always amazing Rachel of fiktshun. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I am sure it will be a dire read indeed, but I have to say, I am looking forward to it already.

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This was my first year taking part in ArmchairBEA and I had an absolute blast during those few days. I was also lucky enough to win a couple of books by a publisher, so the wonderful people from Macmillan send me these beauties by Gabrielle Zevin.

It's a Paperback copy of All These Things I've Done and also an ARC of its sequel Because It Is My Blood which will be released in September. They both look so gorgeous!

I am really, really excited about all the books I got and cannot wait to start reading them.

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I also received a couple of awesome bookmarks. I got them all because of the wickedness that was this year's YA Crush Tourney - I am super stoked Adrian ended up winning, by the way!!!

The stunning Daemon Black bookmark is from the wonderful Valerie at Stuck In Books. She was Daemon's advocate and did an incredible job, getting him all the way to the Elite Eight.

The Divergent and Insurgent bookmarks are from the lovely Odyssey at The Reader Leader who supported Four who made it into the Sweet Sixteen.

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Last but most definitely not least, I received this fan-freaking-tastic book jacket of Lockdown, which is signed by the one and only Alexander Gordon Smith.

 Doesn't it look wickedly awesome??? I am so, so happy to have it!!! And yes, I DID use my little man's cars to weigh down the corners to keep it from rolling up. (A girl's gotta do, what she's gotta do. haha)

So, yes, I had two incredible weeks at my mailbox!!!

My Reading Pile {11}

The amazing Rachel over at fiktshun came up with the idea to share the books you intend on reading during the week, so as I am sharing my reading pile with you, I am giving a big shout-out to her!

July was a terrible month for me as far as the quantity of books I read - two, yes, I read all of two books last month. Mind you, they were both amazing books - Before I Wake by Rachel Vincent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth - but I still felt so bad for not getting more reading done.

Right now, I am actually reading three books. I am still working my way through Rachel Neumeier's House of Shadows, I finally, finally started Leah Clifford's A Touch Morbid (YAY!!!), and I have also started Inara Scott's The Talents (the giveaway for this book is still going on, click here if you would like a chance to win it).

So, I am thinking I probably won't add any more books to my pile this week. These will keep me busy enough.

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What about you, my lovely readers? Did you get any books or book-related goodies in the mail? 

Are there any books you plan on reading this week? I would love to hear from you!

Have a wonderful reading week!!!

Stacking the Shelves {6} & My Reading Pile {10}

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly feature hosted by Tynga's Reviews, so as I am sharing what was in my mailbox this week, I am giving a big shout out to her.

Wow! Has it really been three weeks already since my last STS post? I can't believe it.

First of, I have to mention an amazing book I forgot to talk about during my last Stacking the Shelves post. I'm not sure how many of you participated in the #CleanUpTBRPile Read-a-thon that the wonderful Valerie from Stuck In Books hosted a while back. It was such an amazing event, and Valerie did an amazing job with it. During one of the twitter parties I actually ended up winning a prize which I was allowed to pick myself. There were quite a few winners before me, so I had to keep my fingers crossed that the book I really wanted would still be available by the time it was my turn to choose.

Well, I got lucky and it was, in fact, still available, so my choice was

Exiled by M.R. Merrick!!! The author himself send me a Kindle copy of it and I cannot wait to get started. Now, I'm just waiting to finally get my Kindle, but it will come. So, yes, I am super, super excited for this book! Thank you so, so much to both Valerie and M.R. Merrick! You guys rock!

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I received four books in the last three weeks and each and every one of them is fantastic!

If you've read my last STS post, you probably know how devastated I was about having to bring Veronica Roth's Insurgent back to the library before finishing it. Well, lo and behold, two days after I returned it, this beautiful, beautiful ARC showed up at my front door.

I won it a few months ago, but there were some shipping issues, so it took a little bit longer. But it was sooo worth the wait! I read it right away and it was absolutely fantastic. Though, I haven't decided yet whether I like this one more than Divergent or not. At the moment, I'm leaning more towards Divergent being my favorite, to be honest.

Thank you so much to the lovely Harmony of Radiant Reads!!!

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The next two books I won during ArmchairBEA. The amazing Cindy from Cindy's Love Of Books was offering a Gift Card and I was the lucky one who won it. With it, I picked these two fabulous books.

I had a really tough time deciding which books to pick. Well, that's actually only half true, because I always knew I would pick Rachel Vincent's Shadow Bound, mainly so I would finally get off my butt and read Blood Bound which has been collecting dust on my shelves for way too long. There are three books I have to finish first, but after that I'm going to make a list and both, Blood Bound and Shadow Bound, will be very close to the top.

Now, I had real trouble picking the second book because there are so many I really want to read. At the end, it came down to If I Stay by Gayle Forman and Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers.

My dear friend Alba (from BookPics) urged me to get If I Stay. She absolutely loves the book and the author; and after some research at my local library, I discovered they were purchasing Grave Mercy. Just like that, the decision was kind of made for me, both by the library and Alba. I know I'll have to have lots of tissues handy when reading this, so I'm going to wait until I'm in the mood for a real good cry to read this one.

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 The last book is a book that got sent to me directly from the author.

It's called Die Klingen der Rose (Jenseits des Horizonts) by Zoe Archer, which is the German version of her book Warrior (The Blades of the Rose #1). She also included some really neat swag. I especially love the pen, I've been writing everything with it ever since I got it. Yes, I admit, I'm a sucker for swag. *lol*

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Now, off to topic number two...

My Reading Pile {10}

The fabulous fiktshun came up with this wonderful idea to share the books you are planning on reading each week. So, as I am sharing my picks with you, I am giving credit her.

I have two books on my pile this week.

The first one is Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen. It is the book club read for July and since our next meeting is on Tuesday, I better get at it. So far, I have only read the first couple of pages, but I am liking it already. I can't wait explore this new world some more.

The second book is a book I received for review - House of Shadows by Rachel Neumeier. I have read the first chapter already and it's a little bit difficult to keep up because there are so many strange names, but I am hoping the more I get into the story, the easier it will get to tell who is who.

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You know what I will be reading this week, so it's your turn to tell me. I would love to hear from you!

Have a wonderful reading week!!!

Stacking the Shelves {5} & My Reading Pile {9}

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and by sharing what I received in the mail this week, I am giving credit to her.

I had two incredible weeks at my mailbox. I was going to put up a post last Saturday, but my birthday and a busy weekend got kind of in the way of that. Anyway, off to why you're really here.

So, last weekend was my birthday and my amazing husband got me a gift card for Amazon, so that I can buy my very own Kindle. I haven't bought one yet though, because there are rumors of a Kindle Touch with Light/Glow releasing some time this month. I have waited this long already, so a couple more weeks won't hurt.

One of my longest and dearest friends, Susi, also gave me an Amazon gift card. She thought it was kind of a boring gift idea, but I couldn't have been any happier. Thanks to her, I can now call these two beautiful books my own.

I love how the camera light made the title for Masque of the Read Death look so colorful. I think everybody who knows me, knows how much I have wanted to have this book and I cannot believe it has finally found its way onto my bookshelf.

Everneath by Brodi Ashton is another one of those books that have been on my to-buy list for a very long time. Its cover is absolutely gorgeous and I cannot wait to dive into the world of Nikki and Cole.

Thanks to the wonderful people at Hachette Canada, I know own my very first physical copy of a review book. The cover for House of Shadows is so stunning, and the story sounds so very interesting.

Wrecked by Anna Davies is a book I won during a giveaway at  My Shelf Confessions and the lovely people from Simon & Schuster Teen sent it to me.

 

Lastly, I got some really neat swag from the #DaemonInvasion Tour. Aren't they pretty? Thank you so much to Janae from Janae's Book Obsession for sending this to me!

This week at the library

Yes, yes, I know I have too many books already and I haven't even finished my last library books yet, but when I saw that this book was being acquired I just had to put my name on the "hold" list. Now, it's my turn to get sucked right back into the world of The Mortal Instruments.

Yes, that is City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare! It has taken me everything I have to stay away from all kinds of website around the Internet to avoid reading any spoilers. Apart from one thing which I read by accident when somebody tweeted about it on twitter, I don't know about anything that happens in this book. I haven't even read the back cover yet and I won't until after I read the book. I am very excited about this one!

My Reading Pile {9}

As I am sharing what I will be reading this week, I am giving a huge shout out the wonderful Rachel over at fiktshun who came up with this brilliant idea.

I am ashamed to admit I haven't read anything in three weeks. Rachel Vincent's Before I Wake totally and utterly destroyed me and I just haven't been able to pick up another book ever since I finished it. That is really not good AT ALL, especially considering I now only have about a day and half to read Insurgent by Veronica Roth and I am only about sixty pages in. If I don't finish it now though, I won't get another chance for at least another month or two since the waiting list for this book is extremely long at my library. Well, we shall see what happens.

For pretty much the same reason and because I am dying to find out what happens in this fifth book of the series, my read after Insurgent is going to be City of Lost Souls.

If I happen to have more time to read this week - and don't end up in another reading slump - I will also add House of Shadows to my reading pile.

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So, what about you? Did you get any bookish goodies in the mail this week? Do you have a list of particular books you would like to read in the following days? I would love to hear from you!

Have a wonderful reading week!!!

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And don't forget Wednesday, July 11th is #TeamTOD's first match at the #YACrushTourney 2.0!!!

Stacking the Shelves {3} & My Reading Pile {7}

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and so I'm giving a shout out to her while sharing what I got in my mailbox this week.

I only received one book, but it is one I have been dying to read ever since finishing its prequel. Here is a picture of the beautiful ARC of Amy Plum's Until I Die.

Isn't it gorgeous??? I actually won this during @MTGReviews #2000follower twitter party and I still can't believe I was the lucky one to win this book. I am not at all embarrassed to admit I need my Jules fix asap, though I do still have a few books I want/have to read first. So, anyway, thank you so incredibly much, Jenna!!! If you want to check out her blog, you can find it right here.

My Reading Pile {7}

As I am sharing what I will be reading this week, I am giving credit to fiktshun who came up with this awesome idea.

With Armchair BEA keeping me so busy this last week, I hardly got any reading done. I am about 50 pages into Alexander Gordon Smith's Execution. Hopefully, I can finish it by Wednesday and then dive into Leah Clifford's A Touch Morbid. 

So, as you can see, my list hasn't changed from last week. I will have to squeeze in Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers Novella Never To Sleep before June 14th though, since that is when the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge will end.

There you go, short and sweet. Now I'll have to see if I can't get my If I Die thoughts written down. Wish me luck!

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What have you received in the mail this week? Are there any books you would like to read this week? 

I would love to hear from you!

Have a wonderful reading week!!!

Stacking the Shelves {2} & My Reading Pile {6}

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews and today I'm sharing my bookish mail from the last two weeks with you.

 

I received this wonderful stack of ARCs from the always fabulous Rachel from fiktshun. I cannot wait to get started on these and also, I LOVE the little mini moo card she send me. Isn't it gorgeous???

I have been wanting to read both The Calling by Kelley Armstrong and Underworld by Meg Cabot ever since I first laid eyes on their covers. Now, I even broke my library ban just so I could get the first book in each series. I already have The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong, which you can see a couple of pictures down, and am on the "on-hold" list for Abandon by Meg Cabot.

Dark Eden 2 - Eve of Destruction by Patrick Carman sounds amazing. My library is acquiring book one right now, so I am hoping to read this series very soon as well. Even my husband said he might try it which, normally, he never ever says when it comes to YA books.

Lastly, there is Wanted by Heidi Ayarbe which sounds super intriguing. Have you ever heard of a 17-year-old bookie? Well, I haven't and that alone has me interested in this story.

So, thank you from the bottom of my heart for these incredible books, Rachel!!! I know I have said it before but I am saying it again: You truly are an angel!!! Thank you so, so much!!!

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Here we have Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, Execution by Alexander Gordon Smith, and Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick.

Shiver I won through a giveaway held by Anna from Pocketful of Books. For some reason, I hadn't seen this black and white cover before, but I absolutely love it!!! It's so beautiful!!! Thank you so much, Anna!!! I can't wait to read it!

Execution is the fifth and final book in the Escape from Furnace series and this is the UK version of it. The US version will not be released until November, but after reading Fugitives there was no possible way I could wait until November to find out how everything is going to end. So, my dearest, dearest friend Susi got me the UK version and send it to me. You have NO idea what this means to me, Suschen!!! You are super duper awesome and I miss you so incredibly much!!!

Hush, Hush has been one of those books that I have had my eyes on for a long, long time. The cover is absolutely stunning and I can't even remember how many times I have walked by it and wanted to grab it so bad. Then, when I saw it with this big $4.99 label on it, I had no excuse anymore, I had to buy it and so I did. I am really, really excited about this one!

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These beautiful goodies I received yesterday. Aren't they beautiful? Author Tiffany King sent me two sets of magnets, a Wishing For Someday Soon bookmark, and this gorgeous Meant to Be photograph. She is so amazing!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Right now, all four magnets have a place on my fridge, but I was thinking of having a little giveaway at the end of the month since it will be my birthday and I will have been blogging for six months in mid-July. So, I am thinking of giving one set of magnets away. The other one I will treasure forever.

This week at the library

Like I said before, I caved and got Kelley Armstrong's The Gathering. The other book is Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin which is my Book Club Read for June.

My Reading Pile {6}

As I share what's on my reading pile this week, I give credit to the wonderful fiktshun who came up with this great idea.

Today I am planning on finishing If I Die by Rachel Vincent for the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge. After that I will only have one more story left to read for the SSRC which is the novella Never To Sleep. I am contemplating whether to read it right after If I Die or whether I should wait so I still have something for the very last week of this challenge. We shall see, I haven't made up my mind yet.

Either way though, one book definitely on my pile is Alexander Gordon Smith's Execution. There is no way on earth I could wait any longer to find out what's going on with Alex, Zee, Simon, and even Alfred Furnace. I need to know NOW!!!

Depending on how fast I will be reading this one, I am hoping to also squeeze in Leah Clifford's A Touch Morbid - but if not this week, then it will definitely be on the pile for next week, no doubt about it. I miss Gabe so much and I have to find out what everybody is up to - especially Luke, because everybody knows he is always up to something...

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So, that's it for me, now I would love to hear from you. What did you guys get in the mail this week? Do you have any particular books you would like to get lost in in the next few days? I would love to hear from you!

Have a wonderful reading week!!!

Stacking The Shelves {1}

I haven't done a post about books I received in a while, but I figured it was time again. The books aren't all from this past week, but more like the last three weeks. As I am sharing my bookish mail with you, I give a shout out to Tynga's Reviews for hosting "Stacking The Shelves".

First up, are three books I bought.

"Clockwork Angel" I found when we went on a fishing trip of all things. While my hubby and his brother-in-law went fishing, my sister-in-law, my little boy, and I went strolling through a little mall. I was so happy to see they actually had a REAL bookstore, which I hadn't seen in so, so long. Obviously, I hadn't anticipated being able to walk into a bookstore, and was so completely overwhelmed and couldn't remember a single book I really, truly wanted. How pathetic is that, people? After spending some time looking through shelves, I found the super deal of "Clockwork Angel" for only $4.99. As you can tell, I took it, and am looking forward to start my journey into this series.

"Sweet Evil" and "Pure" I had ordered and was so super happy when they showed up only a couple of days later. "Half-Blood" was so amazing that I just HAD to get "Pure". I cannot wait to see what's going on with Alex, Aidan, and Seth - oh, and Caleb! I love me some Caleb!

I have heard so many amazing things about "Sweet Evil" from all over the blogosphere that I couldn't say no when I saw it. I am super intrigued by the summary as well.

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I also received two books from my sweet friend Rebecca. The first is "Eisberg" (Iceberg) by Clive Cussler and the second is "Knochenlese" (Grave Secrets) by Kathy Reichs. They sound very interesting and I'll definitely be giving them a try.

 

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Oh, I just remembered, I bought "Water For Elephants" the other day. My library had it up for sale and I only paid 50 cents. That's what I call a steal. I won't read it just yet though because it will be a Book Club read in July anyway.

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Last but definitely not least, I got this gorgeous, gorgeous postcard from the author Tiffany King. The picture turned out a little bit darker than I wanted it too, but I hope you can still see its awesomeness. I absolutely love it! It's looking all stunning and beautiful on my fridge - even though I did get some weird looks from the hubby when he saw it there for the first time. When I told Tiffany King about it, she actually said she would send me a magnet as well. How awesome is that?! I can't wait to see my hubby's look then...

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What about you? What did you receive in the mail this week? I would love to hear about your treasures!