New on my bookshelf

It was my B-day not too long ago and I thought LET'S GET SOME BOOKS TO CELEBRATE!

This is a little similar to my last "New on my bookshelf" post because almost all of these titles have film adaptations, but that just makes it more exciting (IMO). 

New on my bookshelf {books to films}

Welcome to another episode of New on my Bookshelf! 

This time I've got novels that have all been made into films. 

I managed to get these second hand (but in still pretty good condition!) for $3 each. 

CA-RAY-ZAY! I know.

The Cracks in the Kingdom by Jaclyn Moriarty

The Cracks in the Kingdom (#2 The Colours of Madeleine) by Jaclyn Moriarty

This book is stunningly wonderful. 

And I'm not saying that just so that I have something to say, I'm saying it from the bottom of my heart, with my whole heart and being. It's not an embellished description or me trying to use filler adjectives to puff out a review (I have to admit to doing that sometimes for a few of my lower star reviews) ... those are factual words that you might not believe if you haven't already read this book. 

It's magical and marvellous. 

It's incredibly well thought out and I've read nothing like this before, outside this series. 

The fantasy world I dive into is indescribable. I was literally sitting here for a good while trying to find a word more fitting than 'indescribable' but I simply cannot think of any words that could even come close to accurately describing this combined contemporary/fantasy setting. It is so imaginative (I guess this is one measly word to describe it!) and I had such a pleasant time delving into this world of cracks, colours and kingdoms. 

It's almost 4am and I need to sleep so I'm going to finish this post when I wake up!

I am in love with this.

It injects me with all the emotions.

Cracked by Clare Strahan

Cracked by Clare Strahan

Click here for more info & synopsis

Thanks to Allen & Uwin, I got to read Cracked! It is an Australian YA debut novel by Melbourne writer Clare Strahan, which is due to be released in June, so only a couple of months away! It's about a girl named Clover Jones and all the happenings in her life - school life, family life, friends and fitting in, and trying to find out her place in the world through the creative outlet of vandalism (hehe). The characters were very relatable and realistic, and I think a lot of readers will really connect to Clover in many ways. She's the heart and soul of Cracked, and I think everyone could relate to her some way through the relationships she has with all the people around her - her mum, her teachers, the mean girl at school, the footy player crush, the best friend, the pet dog Lucille. 

New on my bookshelf

Razorhurst by Justine Larbalestier

I received this advanced readers copy of Razorhurst from Allen & Unwin (my second one ever - thanks, A&U!) because I won another comp to review the book. Razorhurst is a young adult historical novel with ghosts, I believe! It's set in the 1930s. You can find out more on its Goodreads page here.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

It seems like everyone has read The Night Circus but me! I've only heard wonderful things about this book and I've kinda been in the mood for a circus-themed fantasy story to delve into recently. I love the cover (all of them, not just this one) and I hope the novel meets my expectations. I haven't read anything by Morgenstern before, so I don't really even know what to expect anyway! Hopefully lots of lovely magical happenings.

New on my bookshelf {YA}

From the title of this post, I suppose you can safely assume these are a few books I've received/bought recently and are, as I say, new on my bookshelf. 

Voila! Bon voyage! Bon appetit! On y va.

A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

click through to Goodreads

My rating: 5 stars! 

A Corner of White is the first book in the series "The Colours of Madeleine" (or "The Colors of Madeleine" if you're American) by Australian author Jaclyn Moriarty.

In case you are a new reader of Chimneys and Magic, you might know her as one of my all time favourite authors, whose writing, stories, characters, imagination and words I greatly admire. She wrote Finding Cassie Crazy (the first book of hers I read back in high school), The Betrayal of Bindy MacKenzie, Feeling Sorry for Celia and Dreaming of Amelia (most of these novels have various other titles in nations abroad), as well as a handful of other adult novels. Jaclyn Moriarty led me straight to her sister Liane Moriarty, who also fast become one of my favourite authors ever, especially due to What Alice Forgot (which was the first novel of hers I read). Anyway, enough babbling on about authors and such, there's so much I have to say about this book so let's get a-moving.

The Battle of the Labyrinth (#4 Percy Jackson & The Olympians) by Rick Riordan

The Battle of the Labyrinth (#4 Percy Jackson & the Olympians) by Rick Riordan

Woah. Okay, just let me pause for a minute to gather my thoughts.

I can't believe this series is only five books long! I feel like there are just so many more adventures to be had. But I guess that's what the Heroes of Olympus series is for. Percy when he's older, right? I'm so looking forward to getting my hands on those books.
Anyway back to this book - it was all the fun and danger and action and heroic adventurous epic-ness that you would expect from Rick Riordan. I just love this story so much. Or rather, this whole series.

The Titan's Curse (#3 Percy Jackson & the Olympians) by Rick Riordan

The Titan's Curse (Book #3, Percy Jackson and the Olympians) by Rick Riordan

Wheeeheeheeeeee!
I am seriously loving this series. So much so, I'm going to start reading Book 4 as soon as I'm done writing this post. And I never read sequels consecutively, even when I have them on my shelf ready to be read!

The characters are awesome, as usual. We get to know Thalia a lot better in this story, and we also get introduced to some other really great characters too, like Artemis, Apollo, Zoe the Huntress, and a couple of new half-bloods, Bianca and Nico. Clarisse isn't really present in much of this book but that's alright because no one really likes her that much. Hehe.