Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Awaken the Travel Bug In Me

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week participating bloggers can create lists of topic given by the host, and share them with others!

I don't think that the travel bug never leaves, because of the constant wanderlust in me (there can never be too many castles, ruins and cities/towns to see). However, these books just makes me want to travel places (real or fictional).

Nothing makes me want to wander around the English moors than Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë.

V.E. Schwab's Shades of Magic trilogy just makes me want to travel to London - no matter in what world it is in.

Peter May's descriptions of the Western Isles makes me yearn to stroll on Luskentyre beach and Stornoway.

It's not a secret that I want to go to Greece, to see the ruins and wonder of ancient Greece. Both Stephen Fry and Madeline Miller have taken me there, but I'd love to see it all in person.

I love Anyta Sunday's books and especially Taboo For You just made me itch to travel to New Zealand.

I mean, I'd skip the dangers of a desert, but I'd love to go Australia and Sydney, where I almost could be just by reading L.J. Hayward's Where Death Meets the Devil.

JL Merrow painted such a vivid picture of a rural towns of Hertfordshire in The Plumber's Mate Mysteries series that I wanted to book a train there right then and there.

And of course, nothing made me want to travel around Scotland, England, and London than Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.

Stacking the Shelves (76)

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews, and is all about sharing the book you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!
This is just a small haul, mostly because I'm trying to control my book buying after hauling a lot of books in May.
Purchased

 

For Review

Review: I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells

I Am Not A Serial Killer (John Cleaver, #1)
by Dan Wells
Published by Headline
YA, mystery, thriller, horror

John works in his family's mortuary and has an obsession with serial killers. He wants to be a good person, but fears he is a sociopath, and for years he has suppressed his dark side through a strict system of rules designed to mimic "normal" behavior. Then a demon begins stalking his small town and killing people one by one, and John is forced to give in to his darker nature in order to save them. As he struggles to understand the demon and find a way to kill it, his own mind begins to unravel until he fears he may never regain control. Faced with the reality that he is, perhaps, more monstrous than the monster he is fighting, John must make a final stand against the horrors of both the demon and himself.

I Am Not A Serial Killer surprised me by how disturbing and creepy it was. I went in knowing it would be both, but I was taken aback just how much it made my skin crawl. There's gruesome murders and on page descriptions of embalming bodies. There's also the main character, John, who might be a sociopath and has obsession with serial killers. John might seem like an unlikable character with his lack of empathy, but it was surprising how he wasn't. I liked John! He tried his best to be good and do what's considered normal, and he had connection to a few around him.

Wells's writing style was very factual and straight to the point, which might not work for every book. However, it just made this one even creepier and more gruesome, and it fit perfectly for John as narrator. The cold facts and the lack of emotion in the writing style made John truly come alive on the page. I do have to confess that it also made me take breaks while reading, because it was creepy and made my skin crawl multiple times. The mystery, murders, and chasing a serial killer got my pulse racing and it was terrifying to wait and see what happens next. Absolutely a thrill.

If you like chilling thrillers and horror, I Am Not A Serial Killer is the right choice for you. I do recommend it, and I'm not one to usually read horror stories.

4 of 5 stars

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The Aesthetically Pleasing Book Tag

This tag was created by Book Syrup on Youtube (you can check out her video here) a few years ago. I just found it, and decided to get my camera ready and find some aesthetically pleasing books on my shelves!

1. Best colour combo on a book cover

Release by Patrick Ness

I love blue in every shade and I tend to gravitate towards blue covers. This one is particularly pleasing because it has so many shades of blue!

2. Best typography/font on a book cover

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

I love old typography, how detailed and intricate it is. This one just screams medieval typography, which I really like. So stunning!

3. Best simple cover

STAGS by M. A. Bennett

Can it get any simpler than this? Just the title, tag line and antlers; it's gorgeous.

4. Best endpages

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

I'm pretty much in love with every cover there is for Vicious (and I own three of them, oops), but the new UK Collector's Edition has also stunning endpages, which are perfect fit for the story.

5. Best map

Captive Prince trilogy by C.S. Pacat

I love maps because they help to visualize the world, and I especially love following the character's movements throughout the map. Most pleasing maps for my eyes are the ones which are both detailed and simple; easy to follow and depict but still offers plenty of information.

6. Best naked hardback

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

I don't own a lot of hardbacks because I prefer paperbacks - the only hardbacks that I own are usually special editions or just books that weren't available as paperback at the time. Those that I own, are all gorgeous. However, I chose this collector's edition of A Darker Shade of Magic, because I love the naked cover with only As Travars in stunning font.

7. Best back cover

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

I could have picked up any edition of Harry Potter books that I own (Slytherin house edition, Scots edition or original Bloomsbury UK editions) because each of them has beautiful back cover as well as front cover. I chose this one because of one of favourite characters;

8. Best chapter headers

A Light Amongst Shadows by Kelley York & Rowan Altwood

I adore the chapter headers/pages in this book! Absolutely gorgeous - I love how the whole page is grey, how the white headers stand out and the design of the first letter. It fits the story, which is set in Victorian England. The book design in this one is just so stunning!

9. Best illustrations

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Chris Riddell

I don't actually own a lot of books with illustrations, but even if I did, I'd pick Neverwhere. The illustrations (and cover!) are stunning and there's a lot of them. I also love how it varies; sometimes it's a whole page of illustrations and sometimes smaller ones within the page.

10. Best spine

Percy Jackson series & Trials of Apollo series by Rick Riordan

This box set of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians is stunning! I also love the Trials of Apollo covers and spine design, so I had to feature both of them.

11. Favourite cover on your shelves

Lost Boy by Christina Henry & Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë & The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

I have so many favourite covers that I couldn't just pick one! So I chose three. Lost Boy is gorgeous with it's silhouette of Jamie, Peter and a hook. This edition of Wuthering Heights is the most stunning I've ever seen, I love the watercolour illustration of Heathcliff and Cathy. The Hidden Oracle just leaves me speechles. I mean, that cover is the reason why I ordered the US hardback online rather than getting the normal UK cover.

I don't tag anyone particular, rather just everyone who wants to do this! :)

3 Penguin Little Black Classics Mini-Reviews

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime
by Oscar Wilde
Published by Penguin
On Goodreads

My review:
Oscar Wilde knows how to use words and how to create hilariously clever characters who do questionable things with questionable motives, but that's exactly what I love on Wilde's stories. Lord Arthur Savile's Crime did not disappoint me because this was clever, funny in a dark humour kind of way, and definitely fast paced short story what a murderous prophecy can make people do. I recommend this to fans of Wilde's work - or those who want to see what's Oscar Wilde's stories are like.

4 of 5 stars

Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast

by Oscar Wilde

Published by Penguin

On Goodreads

My review:

This Little Black Classic is a short collection of Oscar Wilde's witticism, and I love his wittiness and to read quotes by Wilde, so I was fairly excited to read this one. However, while it is Wilde in all his genious brilliantness, the collection itself feels a little bit a mix match which is badly put together. The themes jump around instead of being collected under subtitles such as art, love, stupidity, etc. So now it's a little bit that in there and then another topic and then back to the topic before. I like order and systematic things, and this was everything but. That's why I'm taking the two stars out - not because of Wilde but because of how badly this one has been put together.

"To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance." 

3 of 5 stars


How To Use Your Enemies
by Baltasar Gracián
Published by Penguin
On Goodreads

My review:
I was drawn to How To Use Your Enemies because it was marketed as similar to Machiavelli's The Prince, which I enjoyed reading. It's supposed to be a Spanish priest's shrewd maxims on using guile and pragmatism to succeed and to do so by using one's enemies. Sadly, it was more along the lines of 'how to use primary your friends, subjects, and then enemies' than anything else. It also felt incoherent and fragmented, which made me struggle to continue. Gracián's writing is clever and detailed, but overall this was just a mess. I'd recommend Machiavelli's The Prince over this, if you want to read about pragmatic philosophy on how to rule and succeed in it.

"Better mad with the crowd than sane all alone."

2 of 5 stars

ARC Review: A Light Amongst Shadows by Kelley York & Rowan Altwood

A Light Amongst Shadows (Dark is the Night, #1)
by Kelley York & Rowan Altwood
Self-published
eARC
YA, LGBT, historical, paranormal

James Spencer is hardly the typical troubled youth who ends up at Whisperwood School for Boys. Instead of hating the strict schedules and tight oversight by staff, James blossoms, quickly making friends, indulging in his love of writing, and contemplating the merits of sneaking love poems to the elusive and aloof William Esher. 

The rumours about William's sexuality and opium reliance are prime gossip material amongst the third years... rumours that only further pique James' curiosity to uncover what William is really like beneath all that emotional armor. And, when the normally collected William stumbles in one night, shaken and ranting of ghosts, James is the only one who believes him.

James himself has heard the nails dragging down his bedroom door and the sobs echoing in the halls at night. He knows other have, too, even if no one will admit it. The staff refuses to entertain such ridiculous tales, and punishment awaits anyone who brings it up.

Their fervent denial and the disappearance of students only furthers James' determination to find out what secrets Whisperwood is hiding... especially if it prevents William and himself from becoming the next victims.

I have a confession to make: I don't like ghost stories. However, Kelley York has been one of my favourite authors for years and a gay YA set in Victorian England? That made me dive into a ghost story and I haven't regretted it once.

I have to start with the characters, because they're the reason I fell in love with the story. James is not typical in any way and subtlety is not in his blood even when Victorian England is hardly a place to be open about his affections for other boys. James's flirting is not subtle and it's hilarious and adorable how he recite love poetry for a boy he fancies without really knowing them. James's easy to root for, because he's passionate, loyal and gentle. William is more reserved and shy, but he's not any less loyal or gentle than James. Both of them have their issues and pasts, as does everyone in Whisperwood, but it only makes it more beautiful, more real. It's captivating to follow their story, and I was hardly able to put the book down. I don't want to go too deep into analyzing the characters to avoid any spoilers, but I have to mention that Oscar is sweet and the best, and Benji, Preston and Virgil were all a delight to read about. I'm glad that there'll be a sequel because I need more of these wonderful characters!

What I loved most besides the adorable characters, was the perfect balance between the mystery and ghosts and the romance between James and William. Neither felt separate as both mystery and romance was woven together in a way that made the story whole; it's not romance with ghosts as subplot or ghost story with romance subplot, it's both. There was very creepy moments, which made my skin crawl, but also such a beautiful and gentle romance that made my heart flutter. Absolutely superb writing to have it all perfectly balanced!

Honestly, this has been a difficult review to write because of how much I loved the book. It's captivating and stunning, and I loved every moment I spend with it. Adorable and flawed characters who are still so good with a creepy ghosts and a mystery behind them and disappearing students. It's a rollercoaster of emotions and feelings. A Light Amongst Shadows will definitely stay with me for a long time.

I highly recommend A Light Amongst Shadows, whether you're into ghost stories or not. It's a brilliant and heartfelt book that deserves a chance to be read.

5 of 5 stars

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(A copy of this ebook was provided in return for an honest review.)

Wrapping the Month: May

What's greater way to start new month than taking a look at previous one?

May was both stressful and relaxed month. First half was end of semester assignments and exams, which kept me busy, but once they were over I participated to Bout of Books readathon. Since then it's just been relaxed reading, blogging, and spring cleaning. I'm super happy about the amount of reading I've done and I managed to write quite few reviews. My blogging is still a bit sporadic, but I'm planning on being more consistent during the summer months.

I got a lot of books in May. You could say that I did a lot of exam stress book shopping, got some ARCs, and some of my most anticipated books came out this month.

May's reviews:

Peter Pan (4 stars)
Lock Nut (5 stars)
Medley (3 stars)
Fault Lines (2 stars)
The Little Library (3 stars)
The Traitor (3 stars)
How Saeter Robbed the Underworld (5 stars)

I'm super happy about how much I read in May. Nine reads, with two comics, two poetry and five books, all of which I'm happy about. Anyway, here's what I read;

 

 

  

June will be the first official holiday month, so I should have plenty of time to read and blog throughout the month (and whole summer).

Hugs,

Henna