Stacking the Shelves & Wrappin’ It Up August 2014

Books I Bought:

The (Im)Perfect Girlfriend – I’ve recently recommended a couple of reads to my Sister, who then surprised me by recommending a read to me (I was very excited by this!). The book she recommended was 50 Ways to Find a Lover. Of course, a third of the way in I was getting deja vu and finally realised I’d read it and recommended it to her a few years ago. Le sigh. Still, I enjoyed the reread – it’s very witty and laugh-out-loud funny. So, when I discovered there was a sequel I had to get my hands on it. Technically, this is part of her Birthday present (which I’m hoping she’ll receive before this post goes live… otherwise – surprise Sis!). I’ll read it once she’s finished with it.

Ugly Love – It just so happened that Ugly Love was released the same day I purchased my Sister’s book, and I obviously couldn’t pass that up! For some reason I read CoHo’s books as soon as they arrive, so I’ve already read and reviewed this here. Hint – it’s brilliant!

I had a minimum order to place to qualify for free delivery, so instead of paying £2.99 for shipping, I added a book for £1.99 to bring me over the minimum spend threshold (always on the look-out for those deals!). I picked up The Night Rainbow. It seems like a quick and quirky read, so even though it was unplanned, I’m looking forward to it.

Books for Review:

Red Rising – I completely blame Joey for this one. I haven’t requested anything on Netgalley for ages. I’m trying to read the books I own, and I have a few outstanding reviews already. But he mentioned this one on Twitter, and I’d already heard good things about it, so here we are.

Dear Daughter – I don’t know what inspired me to request another title… OK, I do. Netgalley sent me an email and the blurb sounded great. Then they hit me with, “For fans of Gone Girl” and I was sold. I have BIG plans this month to tackle my outstanding galleys. I’m at 50% read rate, which isn’t the worst, right?!?

Books I Won:

Grieftime – I won a hardback copy of this from Ula at Blog of Erised (thank you!), it’s an adult dystopian set in a world where life, love and even reproduction are regulated by the state. It sounds really interesting and I’m looking forward to reading it!

Amazing Autographed iPad Mini Cover! I won this through the Blogoversary celebrations of Have Book Will Read. I entered the giveaway (which was the giveaway to end all giveaways – there were so many great prizes!) and I found out I’d won something. As far as I know, it was luck of the draw, so imagine my surprise when I arrived home from work to this! The package also included a lovely business card and bookmark – which I love! So, thank you very much! 🙂

Movies and TV Shows:

Orphan Black – I was obsessed with this show and binge-watched the entire first season on Netflix. In typical Netflix fashion, season 2 is out there, but not actually available on Netflix. Great. I plan to watch season 2 ASAP, this show is SO good.

Tumble – A new Saturday night show on BBC that combines the celebrity premise of Strictly Come Dancing, with hardcore gymnastics. I am hooked.

Educating Essex – This was a recent edition towards the end of the month. I LOVED Educating Yorkshire, so was chuffed to see a new series. I have to say some of my school years weren’t the greatest, but I love this fly-on-the-wall documentary.

Wrappin’ It Up!

Posts I Bookmarked:

Guys, you’ve been posting some seriously good stuff this month! Hopefully this won’t be death-by-link-up!

• Kel at Booked Til Tuesday talks about what doesn’t get done while you’re busy reading
• Emily at Icy Cold Reads asks what do you use Goodreads for?
• Rachel at Fiktshun gives you seven more reasons not to lend out your books
• Book Riot offer 8 tips on how to move a ton of books
• Johannah at The Broken Bookshelf gives advice on how to fix a book slump
• Amy at Ten Penny Dreams gives us 8 tips on how to make the most of your holiday reading
• Jennifer at The Book Nympho says “Yes, I’m reading a Romance, So?!”
• Lily at Lily’s Book Blog discusses re-reading series
• Rebecca at Pivot Book Reviews has a fantastic discussion on bullying in books, and if it is unrealistic
• Ashley at Nose Graze shared beautiful photos of her wedding day!
• Author Shannon A Thompson discusses why bad things happen to round characters
• Ashley at Nose Graze tells us why we’re all unique and shouldn’t be afraid to show it!
• Megz at Whispers of a Barefoot Medical Student discusses Women in Medicine
• Trish at Between My Lines asks how many books is too many?
• Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner shares her happily ever after (I practically swooned 🙂 )
• Kayla at The Thousand Lives tells us she’ll never be able to read all the books, and explains why that’s OK!
• Merin at Read and Reviewed asks are you a peek-er?
• Ashley at Nose Graze asks why insta-love still exists in books?
• Shannon A Thompson shares the books that changed her childhood
• Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner tells us why reading isn’t cool
• Emily at Books and Cleverness shares with us how blogging has prepared her for “the real world”
• Ashley from Nose Graze asks have you ever been afraid to re-read a book?

Some of these posts have inspired responses from me that I have to write yet, but I’ll get round to it this month, promise!

These are some of my favourites from August, but as always I’ll link up the latest Oh, The Books! weekly recap post so you can find more amazing things to read!

In Case You Missed It:

You can check out my reviews of Ugly Love (5/5) – Life Interrupted (4/5) – The Before Now and After Then (4/5), Tore Divided Love (3/5) and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (3.5/5),

Top Ten Tuesday – Books I’d Recommend to the Reluctant Reader, Books That Give Me Bookish-Indecisive Syndrome, Books People Tell Me I HAVE to Read (All The Time) and Books I Can’t Wait To Read (But Don’t Own Yet).

This month’s features included: An introduction to a brand-new feature called (S)He Said and the first (S)He Said Discussion (Let’s Get It On), I shared more Bloggy Love #2, interviewed author Peter Monn (includes a giveaway!), discussed Book Buying Bans and Me, and ranted in Damn You “Unknown Search Terms!”.

I was nominated to take part in the Seven Deadly Sins Tag and the Bookish Countdown Survey, and I wrote a response to Rinn’s Book Buying Survey. I backed Ashley’s LitRate website and showcased the new Bloomsbury Harry Potter Covers (including an interview with the artist!). I also paid tribute to the late Robin Williams in We’ve Lost a Comic Genius.

My most popular post in August (apart from TTT posts) was Damn You “Unknown Search Terms”!

We’re into September already! I’m sure this will be another busy month on the blog but I’m looking forward to reading some seriously great books! What have you been up to this month? Let me know in the comments!