Illumicrate Unboxing & Review!

Hi all!

A few days ago I received my Illumicrate box for August and - WOW. This box was so so good! It two books, as well as beautiful bookish extras that I can't wait to use or stick up on my wall!



*Note: This post will contain spoilers for the box, so if you haven't received yours yet wait to check it out!*




The Books:

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff - This book has been all over bookstagram recently! I was already planning on buying it soon, so when I found that a HARDCOVER version of it was included in this box I may have squealed a little bit. Everyone has raved about it and I loved Illuminae, which Kristoff co-wrote with Amie Kaufman, so I have high hopes. Plus the cover is gorgeous, and there are not one but two maps! What more could a bookworm want?

The Graces by Laura Eve - The Graces is actually out in a month, so this book feels extra special! The cover is, again, stunning, and as I read the summary I realised I had meant to remember to buy this a while ago. The letter from the author added a nice personal touch to the box, especially as it was in her handwriting, and has really intrigued me about the book.




The Bookish Goodies!

Of which there are many, so I think I'm going to list them all briefly. In no particular order, I received:

• 2 Harry Potter coasters (which are as amazing as they sound)
•  A Nevernight poster and Bookmark
• A bookplate for Nevernight and for The Graces
• Absolutely beautiful posters for Red Rising by Pierce Brown (which I unfortunately haven't read yet, but they are gorgeous)
• Grisha and Six of Crows themed COLOURING-IN QUOTES. This was a highlight for me, even though I haven't read Six of Crows or completed the Grisha trilogy!
• Strawberry tea - I'm not a tea drinker but I'm up for trying
  
  a new flavour
• A tote bag which is apparently Gilmore Girls related (I have been catching up with the other GG - Gossip Girl - instead so I haven't watched it yet)
• A discount code for Unboxed by Non Pratt
• A discount code for a bookmark from My Bookmark

This box was jam-packed with wonderful things, and I'm so happy with it!

Did anyone else receive and Illumicrate? What did you think of it? What was your favourite item?
Thanks for reading (:

The Hamilton Book Tag!

Hi all:

I am finally doing the Hamilton Book tag, which combines two of my very favourite things - books and Hamilton! These questions were created by maureenkeavy on Youtube, and I've picked which ones I want to do instead of doing all of them so this post isn't humongous!


1. The Room Where It Happens: Book world you would put yourself in
I would say the Shadowhunting world, as it's my favourite book world, but a) scary monsters, b) wars, and c) I would not last more than five seconds as a Shadowhunter! A world I would love to live in would be the circus in The Night Circus, because that would be so mesmerising and beautiful. I want to be a Reveur!

2. The Schuyler Sisters: Underrated Female Character
I feel like Vivian from the Vivian Apple series doesn't get enough credit! I remember reading the two books and thinking how strong she and her best friend Harp were while dealing with the end of the world, and no one has read them! I really recommend them, especially as there's only two in the series.

3. My Shot: A character that goes after what they want and doesn't let anything stop them
For this I'm going to choose Gansey(<3) from the Raven Cycle. He always keeps his goal of finding Glendower in sight, even through everything he, Blue, Adam and Ronan experience.

4. The Reynolds Pamphlet - A book with a twist that you didn’t see coming
*SPOILERS FOR TMI*
I did not see the end of City of Fallen Angels, which was one of my favourite cliffhangers of all time! The entire series was filled with twists and turns that I didn't predict at all (admittedly I'm not great at spotting plot twists, but they were still unexpected!).

5. Non-stop: A series you marathoned
I've just finished reading all of The Raven Cycle, and I'm so glad I reread the first three books before continuing with The Raven King because it meant that I actually knew what had happened before! Generally, I don't marathon series for some reason, possibly because I forget what events happened in which book.

6. Satisfied: Favorite book with multiple POVs

I adore The Lunar Chronicles, and this series has a lot of points of view by the end of it. Reading all of the points of views in Winter was so much fun, and I love all of the characters we get to see, as well as how different each character was.

7. Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story: A book/series you feel like will be remembered throughout history
I feel like I'm cheating with this one as I haven't actually read these yet, but I'm going for the obvious answer of the Harry Potter series. It has had such an impact on so many people across the world, and I can't think of any other book that has had the same effect. I really should start reading them soon..!

8. Right Hand Man - Favorite BROTP   
I'm currently listening to Lair of Dreams, and I love Henry (Well, I just love Henry to be honest!) and Ling's friendship, as well as Henry and Theta's. Ling and Henry just contrast against each other so well.

9. What’d I Miss: A book or series you were late to reading
  
SO MANY. The Mortal Instruments, Throne of Glass, Illuminae, The Young Elites...I'm slowly catching up though, guys!

They were my answers to the Hamilton Book tag! I love watching these tag videos on booktube, and I can't wait to (hopefully) see it when it comes to London!

Thanks for reading(:

Bookish Resolutions 2016!

First of all, Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all have amazing 2016s filled with equally amazing books.

1. Conquer my TBR list! It feels like I have a million and one books to read - okay, maybe only

   

   (Some of the 70-80 books I need to read!)

   70-80 books - and this fact is stressing me out a bit. So this year I have a plan to Read More, Buy Less! I doubt this will work, given all of the incredible books that are coming out in 2016, but I want to try and limit my book buying, maybe only buying as many books as I read in a month? I'm still not 100% about how to go about this, though.
2. Read the Harry Potter series - Don't kill me, but I haven't read the Harry Potter books! *runs away from angry mob* I never really had an interest in reading them, but this year I have decided to try them
3. Read Crown of Midnight (and reread Throne of Glass) - I read Throne of Glass last year and, while I thought it was all right, I was not blown away by it (unlike most of the book community!). However, I want to give this series another try to see what everyone loves about it.
4. Be a better book blogger - A little bit of a vague resolution, but I want to post more often and develop a posting schedule, and maybe write more review and tag posts. I haven't devoted enough time to this poor little blog!
5. Finish the novel I'm currently writing - This story feels like my first proper attempt at writing a full-length novel, so I really want to finish it! (I have a bad habit of starting stories and then forgetting about them for years...and years). I may participate in NaNoWriMo - although I already know I'm going to be so busy in November - and, if I finish it, I may post up a couple of chapters on Wattpad.

Let's see how many of these I end up completing by the end of the year! (Probably not many, but I can dream!) I've set my Goodreads challenge to 50 books, as I know I'm going to be busy this year, but it would be nice if I read more! In 2015 I read 61 out of 60 books. Do you have any bookish resolutions for 2016? What have you set your Goodreads challenge to?
Thanks for reading(: