April Book Haul & Wrap Up!

The end of April is upon us, and I have sadly only read 3 books (well, technically three and a half). But I gained lots of books (about 10 or 11), so yay for that!


The first part of this post will be my book haul. As it was April, I was allowed to buy books, which was good because it meant I didn't have to feel guilty when I splurged in Waterstones! These were the books I bought:

• Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver - I have managed to almost buy this book quite a few times, and I finally decided to give in and get it!
• The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson - I've already read this, but I didn't have a physical copy, until now!
• The 100: Homecoming by Kass Morgan - It annoys me how none of The 100's covers match, but I want to see how the series ends.
• Dracula by Bram Stoker - Having read The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters, I really wanted to read Dracula so I could understand the references, and the copy I have is the gorgeous Vintage one!
• The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough - I found this book watching Katytastic's video on April Releases, and the synopsis sounded like The Night Circus. Therefore, I had to buy it, because The Night Circus is amazing and seems to appear in every post I do (sometimes intentionally, sometimes not).
• The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey - because why do you need to have read the first book to buy the sequel?
• We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach - The summary of this with all the labels of people was what made me want to pick this up. I think it'll be different to what I originally thought it would be like, but I'm still excited to read it!

And now for the three books that my dear mum gave me for Easter:

• The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater - There have been so many good reviews of this. I kept seeing graphics of it on Tumblr and I wanted to be a part of the fandom!
• The Mysterious Affair at Castaway House by Stephanie Lam - It's set in 1924 and 1965, which immediately intrigued me.
• A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab - I've seen this everywhere, and I loved the idea of parallel worlds. This also seemed like a good VE Schwab book to start with, as I've never read anything by this author before.

Onto my April wrap up! This month has not been particularly fruitful reading-wise, but the books I read were:

• The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters.This was as strong as Cat Winter's debut (In the Shadow of Blackbirds) and the world-building was once again powerful. I loved the characters (Henri especially), but didn't like the ending as much as I wanted to. For a full review, click here). 4.5 stars.
• A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. This was partly a cover buy, and for the most part it didn't disappoint! While Gemma and the others were not initially likeable, they eventually grew on me. The magical elements felt unique to me and there were no weak points in the plot in my opinion. I'm looking forward to reading Rebel Angels, whenever I buy it! 3.75 stars.
• The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. It took me a while to adjust to Maggie Stiefvater's writing style, as it's more descriptive than other books I've read, but once I had done that I enjoyed it. The parts about ley lines were a bit confusing, but I was ill when I read it so not everything will have sunk in! The characters were what made this book; each was individual and interesting. My favourite was Noah or Ronan (every moment with that bird was sweet, and that is a hard thing to achieve when said bird is called Chainsaw and it's Ronan Lynch). 4 stars.
• 1/2 of The Mysterious Affair at Castaway House by Stephanie Lam. Now, this was the first adult book I tried to read, so that could have been why I didn't like it. There were certainly points where I felt it was a bit too...graphic, shall we say, which made me feel uncomfortable, but there was also a few plotlines that I felt were unnecessary and pointless. The whole book felt like two stories shoved into one, and while the central plotline was interesting and made me want to continue, every time something was revealed in one of the time periods, it would dart back to the other, which was really annoying. I put this down at about 51 % (I worked it out because my Goodreads doesn't seem to do it anymore). There's a chance I may pick this up again later on now that I know what to expect, but for now it felt better to put it to one side and start another book that I'm looking forward to reading, which is Cinder by Marissa Meyer!

Those were the books I read and the books I bought in April! Have you read any of the books featured in this post? What did you think?
Thanks for reading(:

Book Courtship Tag

This tag has been floating around the booktube community for a few months, and as I don't have a booktube account - yet! - I thought I'd do it on here! I'm afraid I don't know who created this tag, so credit goes to whoever did.


1. Initial attraction - A book that you bought because of the cover.
While a lot of my books could be classed as cover buys, this has to go to The Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal. I actually have no idea what this book is about, but I bought it for two reasons: the cover and the fact that it's set in Scandinavia (because how many books have you heard about that are set in Scandinavia?). (Side note: I've just looked at the reviews on Goodread and am now less excited to read it...)


2. First Impressions - A book that you bought because of the summary.
That would be Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. I went to see Wicked a few years ago and kind of became a little obsessed with all things Oz, so when I read that Amy gets transported to Oz and everything is messed up, I had to buy it! I have to say it was a bit of a jolt going from Fiyero to the Scarecrow in Dorothy Must Die, though.


3. Sweet Talk - A book with great writing.
I want to say The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, but that is being used for another question, so I'll pick In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters. It's moving, spooky, creepy and amazing, and the lead character, Mary Shelley (yes, that is her name) is great.


4. First Date - A first book of a series which made you want to pick up the rest of the series.
Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian. That cliffhanger made it impossible to not pick up the rest...although I haven't technically done that yet...soon!


5. Late Night Phone Calls - A book that kept you up all night.
Probably the Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard. I used to get one every Christmas, and whenever I woke up (generally five in the morning...I get excited over Christmas, ok?) I would read it instead of going back to sleep.


6. Always on my mind - A book you could not stop thinking about.
The Ruby Red trilogy by Kerstin Gier. Just the whole idea of time travel and the chronograph was so interesting that I constantly thought about it for ages after I finished Emerald Green a few months ago...and still do now, really!


7. Getting physical - A book which you love the way it feels.
This is another book by Cat Winters: The Cure for Dreaming! The hardcover has little circles on the jacket and it feels so cool.


8. Meeting the parents - A book which you would recommend to friends and family.
This will obviously be a big surprise, but...The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern! This is one of my favourite books ever, and whenever I hear that someone might be reading it I have to control my inner fangirl. The writing is wonderful and dream-like, and it's just so good! (See my full review for more adjectives).


9. Thinking about the future - A book or series you know you will re-read many times in the future.
The Shadowhunter Chronicles by Cassandra Clare. I plan on reading The Mortal Instruments again this Summer, and I know that I'll keep re-reading them; the plot is exciting and the characters are fab (especially Izzy...and Simon...and Alec...oh, and not forgetting a certain gorgeous Herondale in Victorian times).


10. Share the love - Who do you tag?
You, if you want to do it!


Thanks for reading(:

The Cure for Dreaming - Review

Title: The Cure for Dreaming
Author: Cat Winters
Series/ Standalone: Standalone
Rating: 4.5 stars


*There will be spoilers for The Cure for Dreaming, so read it then read this!*

Another amazing gothic story from Cat Winters! I picked this up with high expectations, having read In The Shadow of Blackbirds previously and loved it, and I think for the most part it lived up to my hopes!



First of all, the many good parts. I loved all of the references to Dracula, despite never reading it, and The Cure for Dreaming has made me want to pick up Bram Stoker's novel! I also loved the descriptions of various people; the image of a woman fading as a man nears her is such a powerful image, as was the sharp teeth of Dr Mead. And it was wonderful to see how Olivia grew as a character, how she became braver and braver as more people pushed her back.



The characters were excellent! Not a single one felt under-developed or one-dimensional. I was especially pleased with how we left Sadie: a budding Suffragist no longer content with being silenced (by not voting or hypnotists). Even the characters we weren't meant to like (Dr Mead, Percy etc.) were well-developed. And the love interest...Henry was amazing and caring and a pretty cool hypnotist (Henri Reverie is an awesome stage name), and if I was Olivia, I would not have left him at the station!



Which brings me on to the ending. I felt like the book needed an epilogue, just a really short one, as it didn't feel completely satisfying. Even a one or two page scene where Olivia is walking through the college and finds that Henry is waiting for her would have sufficed, as it wasn't a solid ending and left me heart-broken because of the Henry/Olivia feels. Their relationship was so beautiful - especially the scene on the bicycle, oh, and in the theatre! - and it was mean to end it like that. We never even got to meet Olivia's mother, which we could have done in an epilogue.


I'm really interested in Suffragettes/gists and how women gained the vote, but I didn't really know much about American Suffragists, so I enjoyed reading about that, although some parts were quite shocking and made me think about how lucky we are now. I also liked how there were quite a few female characters that didn't want the right to vote, so we got most viewpoints of the time. As with In The Shadow of Blackbirds, Cat Winters mixes the historical features in with the plot brilliantly.


The Cure for Dreaming is a great book, especially if you're interested in women's suffrage, and the cover is just gorgeous (although a spider died in mine...It's less pretty now...but that's another post). Anyway, let me know if you've read this! Did you like it? Are you excited for The Uninvited or The Steep and Thorny Way (Because I am!)?
Thanks for reading(:

How to Rearrange your Bookcase (Bowlerhatgirl Style)

Today, instead of revising, I decided to rearrange my bookcase (because I am a very dedicated student...*panics*.) Anyway, this is the very bad step-by-step guide that came from an afternoon of moving books!

Note: This is just what I ended up doing, not how to arrange bookshelves well!

Step 1: Find some background entertainment-in my case, it was season 1 of Once Upon a Time, which is so good right now!
Step 2: Remove all trinkets/non-books from your bookcase and put them in a safe place. I put everything on top of my wobbly TBR pile(s), clearly a good idea.
Step 3: Take off all books stacked in front or on top of books off your shelves and put them out of your way (it is possible I stacked mine right in my way...I didn't think it through, and I kept bumping into a pile and almost knocking it over ).
Step 4: Take off the remaining books and stack them somewhere.
*Optional Step 5*: Build a mini book fort and have a slight panic at how many books you have to fit in one bookcase. Below should be a picture of my own book fort, which I was very proud of.
Step 6: Start putting books back on your shelves, arranging them by genre, title, colour or however you choose to arrange books(Although I could never arrange my shelves by colour;all of the series wouldn't be together which would drive me mad).
*Optional Step 7*: Get distracted by background entertainment (Henry :O).
Step 8: Abandon your system when you realise it won't work and start stacking as many books in as you can.
Step 9: Panic once more as you look at the last few books that won't fit on your shelves. Why are there always some that don't fit in, even though they all went in before?!
Step 10:  Fit in the remaining books and add the trinkets back on.
Step 11: Stand back and admire your wonderfully organised bookcase!