New on my bookshelf

 

A Tangle of Gold by Jaclyn Moriarty

 Yay!!! My hardback pre-order finally came in the mail! This will probably be my most anticipated release of the year. Jaclyn Moriarty is one of my favourite authors and this adventure/fantasy YA trilogy (the Colours of Madeleine) is utterly phenomenal. It's everything and I am going to be so sad after reading this BECAUSE THIS IS THE LAST BOOK WAHHH. Read my reviews of the first and second books in the series. I could not gush enough.

Bookish Fun: A Quick One

Just a fun lil bookish survey :)

1. The book I'm currently reading: The Martian by Andy Weir

Only coz I loved the film. The book is taking me a long time to get through... only because I kinda already know how the story goes and the in-depth scientific explanations of how Watney is surviving is a *little* laborious and slow-going for me.

 

2. The last book I finished: Piranhas Don't Eat Bananas by Aaron Blabey

Cute and fun. I read this in Woolworths while shopping for snacks with my sister. I love Aaron Blabey's picture books because they're a whole lot o fun for both kids AND adults. Definitely at least 4 stars.

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!

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.

Books I Want To Buy (But Can't Because I Have No Money)

While my bank account, general life spirit and joie de vivre whittles itself down from pathetic to practically non-existent, I'm finding myself left with merely empty wishes and dreams.

So to kick-off from that delightful introductory sentence, this post is going to be filled with books that I want on my bookshelf, but can't afford to go out and buy at the moment. (I tend not to borrow books from the library, not because I'm a snob for cleanliness but because I have too many books on my shelves left unread)
Let's get this thang going.

A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

I've been waiting for this Kingdom of Cello thing to be released ever since Dreaming of Amelia came out! Jaclyn Moriarty is one of my favourite authors.. like, EVER. Her YA Contemporary novels (the Ashbury series) leave me in stitches so adding fantasy into the equation?.... will probably make me pee my pants. And then explode. That is how much I love Jaclyn Moriarty's books.

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
After reading What Alice Forgot, Liane Moriarty immediately joined her sister up there at the top of my list of faves. I went and bought all of Liane's other novels (I haven't read em yet but I need to, ASAP!) way back when, and now that this new one's out, I'm itching to get my little hands on it.

Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter

There's been quite a long wait between Heist Society #2 and Heist Society #3 (this book). I absolutely LOVED Ally Carter ever since the beginning of the Gallagher Girls series. I actually first found out about Ally Carter from MySpace! THAT WAS THE DINOSAUR AGE, PEOPLE!!!
Normally I'm quick about getting my hands on the new releases of her books, but for some reason I forgot about this or didn't realise it had been released, and now I'm late on the bandwagon!

The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
I read Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief early this year when I was vacationing overseas... in fact I bought the first and the second books of the series for pretty cheap when I was in the Strand bookstore in NYC. I know I'm going to love the entire series even though I haven't read the second one yet. The Titan's Curse is the third, and I want it! I will probably end up getting ALLLLLLLL of them. Eventually.


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Mini Reviews - YA style! (Finding Cassie Crazy, LA Candy, ITYILY, Wicked Lovely)

This is a little mini review series I'm starting, just to recap on books I've read in the past, and give you guys a very brief little review of them, with pictures of course. ;)

Tonight is in with the theme of YOUNG ADULT! Hurray!
-Finding Cassie Crazy by Jaclyn Moriarty
-L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad
-I'd Tell You I Love You, but then I'd have to Kill You by Ally Carter
-Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Finding Cassie Crazy (2003)
One of the best books a girl could read in highschool. One of my friends in Year 9 rec-ed this to me - I read it in ONE DAY. This is pretty much a 400 page novel, and it is probably the most reading I've ever done in a day. 
Moriarty's writing is utterly and hysterically brilliant, fabulous and funny - the characters are charming, I could ask for nothing more in a contemp YA.

L.A. Candy (2009)
I love Lauren Conrad. As a reality TV star alum, she has an organic beauty about her that is so refreshing. I think she had a fair amount of help with writing this debut novel, but the idea was new, even though the characters, writing technique and storyline were not very gripping or outstanding. The second instalment (Sweet Little Lies) in the trilogy was a little better I thought. 

I'd Tell you I Love you, but then I'd have to Kill you (2008)
This is a book I read later in highschool that really got me hooked into YA, reading, stories and all that magical stuff that goes along with books. I love the teen spy world Ally Carter created, and I not-so-secretly wish I was genius enough to attend the Gallagher academy and train to be a kick-ass spy. I SO can't wait for the 5th book to come out already!

Wicked Lovely (2007)
The tagline on this book is 'Enter a world of faerie romance' - sounds SO lame. It is true though, but I wouldn't call this story lame at all. The writing is brilliantly descriptive, the world that Marr created is beautifully seductive and alluring, the character relationships are very well developed, so I don't know why I haven't yet read the rest of the series! 

Day 17: *FAVOURITE QUOTE*

Day 01 – The best book you read last year
Day 02 – A book that you’ve read more than 3 times
Day 03 – Your favourite series
Day 04 – Favourite book of your favourite series
Day 05 – A book that makes you happy
Day 06 – A book that makes you sad
Day 07 – Most underrated book An unexpected good read
Day 08 – Most overrated book
Day 09 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 10 – Favourite classic book
Day 11 – A book you hated
Day 12 – A book you used to love but don’t anymore
Day 13 – Your favourite writer
Day 14 – Favourite book of your favourite writer
Day 15 – Favourite male character
Day 16 – Favourite female character

*Day 17 – Favourite quote(s) from your favourite book(s)*

I've been putting this one off for quite some time, thinking that I'll have to somehow get out all my favourite books and compile all my favourite quotes. I just realised that that isn't possible! It would take about 12479587376 years for me to do that. So why even bother trying? Instead I'm going to just show you a few of my favourite quotes - ones that stopped me in my tracks and had me writing them down. Or ones that just made me laugh hysterically.
Seeing as you know my favourite writers and my favourite books it won't be hard to guess that my other favourite quotes stem from those.

Day 12 of the 30 Day Book Meme: A Book I Used To Love But Don't Anymore

Day 01 – The best book you read last year

Day 02 – A book that you’ve read more than 3 times

Day 03 – Your favourite series

Day 04 – Favourite book of your favourite series 

Day 05 – A book that makes you happy 

Day 06 – A book that makes you sad 

Day 07 – Most underrated book An unexpected good read
Day 08 – Most overrated book
Day 09 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 10 – Favourite classic book 

Day 11 – A book you hated

Day 12 – A book you used to love but don’t anymore

You may have noticed (with your highly sharp observational skills) that I skipped Day 11! 

GASP.

The reason is that I couldn't think of a book that I hated!

There are two possible sub-reasons for this: 

1. I haven't read enough books in my life time and only pick up good ones

2. I forget what books I disliked (I have read a lot of books as a child yet I only started to keep a reading log in Year 9/10)

3. I give up before I get very far into the book

That was three sub-reasons. Woops. I thought of an extra one as I typed out the first one. Anyway, I had to skip that day, and I'm sorry I couldn't do it, I feel like I failed a question in a test. 

So onto today's topic!

A book I used to love but don't anymore.

Day 5 of the 30 Day Book Meme: A BOOK THAT MAKES ME HAPPY

I decided to participate in this feature because I'm a new born book blogger and this'll hopefully help you get to know more about me and what books I like! 

Day 01 – The best book you read last year

Day 02 – A book that you’ve read more than 3 times

Day 03 – Your favourite series

Day 04 – Favourite book of your favourite series 

Day 05 – A book that makes you happy 

Any novel that makes me laugh out loud constantly is a book that makes me happy.

I'm a strong believer that laughter is the best medicine, so books from any of these writers: Jaclyn Moriarty, Sophie Kinsella, Louise Rennison- fall under today's theme.