Saturday, December 31, 2016

Huge Decemeber Thrift / Christmas Gift Book Haul

I'll start off this post by saying this haul is insanely huge, for two reasons.
Reason number 1 ; I recently started recollecting books, so I feel the need to get a lot.
Reason number 2 ; these books were all SO cheap. Most of them were 10 cents each and I think the most I spent on any of the books was $2 for a book set and maybe $1 each for a few.
Every book I purchased myself was second hand, from Habitat for Humanity, Goodwill, or online. I also got a few books for Christmas as well, so let's get started.

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I'll start with Christmas, I got a total of 15 books for Christmas. Including quite a few books by Ellen Hopkins, who I absolutely love, my boyfriend got a bundle of books of hers for $22, which is quite a steal! He also got me an autographed copy of If I Stay by Gayle Forman from Book Outlet which is also where he got the other (minus The Glass Castle) books. 

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Next up are the books I got from Habitat for Humanity, I got a lot because they were all 10 cents each with the exception of the Vampire Academy 4 book set, which was $2, still an amazing deal. Most of these are books I just picked up because they sounded familiar or because they seemed interesting, so we'll see how that goes.


Now we're on to the Goodwill books, the most I paid per book was $1, the rest were 50 cents each because of Goodwill's end of the year 50% off sale and I'm definitely not complaining. I was pretty excited to find the Outlanders first 3 books but not so much now because I'm afraid to start such a long series, but in time I will read them. I was also insanely excited to find the Jane Austen books, I want to find the person that donated and thank them.


Books I forgot to mention that I got in December was Me Before You which I purchased online and After You which I got from Goodwill but forgot to post it in the photo because I am currently reading it.


And the last two books that I got this month were an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) and a book from a publisher to read for reviews. I've already posted a review on the ARC of Romeo and What's Her Name and I'll be reading The Convenient Escape.


 Here is a photo of all the new books I got in December, there is a total of 92 books!

My favorite book out of this haul would have to be ;


Thanks for reading, did you receive any books for Christmas? If so which ones? If there's too many to post, just comment which was your favorite?
<3/Bella






Me Before You by Jojo Moyes Book Review

Judging a Book by its Cover ;
I love this book cover, it's minimal and gorgeous. Because this cover is so simple, there's not really to much to say about it.
I know there is also a movie cover for this book which is cute but I prefer the original red cover of this book. There was also another cover (middle image below) that is pretty cute but I just prefer the red cover, it also looks nice with the second book which is After You. They also have an After You version of the middle book as well but again I prefer the simple covers. Maybe because its around the holidays and the red and white spines remind me of candycanes.


First Impression from the Blurb and Movie Trailer ;
So I saw the movie trailer before I got the book and this story seemed pretty cute and I love a good romance novel. So I looking into getting the book. I prefer reading a book over watching a movie and if I know a movie that I'm interested in seeing has a book I like to read the book first.
"They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .
Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.
Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.
A Love Story for this generation and perfect for fans of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart? "
This blurb enticed me so much, I immediately added it to my TBR, then I found After You at Goodwill for $2, so of course I bought it, then I ordered Me Before You online. I knew as soon as it got here that this book would be the next book I would read.

Rating ;
5

Review ;
Me Before You is a five star book for me, I absolutely loved this book. This book was so emotional for me, I felt happy, sad, depressed, and understanding throughout this book.
I love how Lou and Will got along, they didn't at first but even when they were being rude to each other they couldn't help but smile. Will is depressed (understandably) and quite rude but with Lou he has met his match because she's not one to just back down, she's just as sarcastic and witty. I thought this book would be Will and Lou together in a relationship with mushy moments which I love but it wasn't instead it was more a friendship (although there was some random romantic moments, mostly towards the end) and it made me love this book even more. Once I got to page 180 I couldn't help but read the rest of the book. Today I sat for hours reading this book and I didn't even realize how long it had actually been I was so lost in this book.


Jojo Moyes did such an amazing job writing this book, the way she described scenes and how she let other people share their thoughts about Will and sometimes Lou. The only thing really missing from this book is Will's thoughts. I would have loved for there to be more about him  and at least a chapter from his point of view, although the book revolves around him (and Lou) you do get to know a lot about him through the other people in the story but as he mentions in the book everyone has him do what they want him to do, he has no control for his life, everyone does what they think is best for him without really asking him, he doesn't get to share his thoughts in the book which is a bummer for me. Nonetheless I still adore this book. I loved that Will and Lou brought out the best in each other, they made each other happy. Lou made Will's days brighter and Will pushed Lou to realize the potential she had in herself. It's a very moving book that I  recommend to others. I'm actually going to start After You tomorrow, I would start today but I need to sort my emotions after finishing Me Before You


Then I'll look in to watching the movie.

Romeo and What's Her Name by Shani Petroff Book Review ! Advance Readers Copy

Judging a Book by Its Cover ;
I actually received an Advance Reader's Edition of this book. It's not the actual cover but it does have the actual cover on the book, left picture. Even with it being an ARC, this book is so cute. The right picture shows the actual cover art which is listed on Goodreads. It's adorable with the little heart doodles. I think it fits the story quite well.


First Impression from the Blurb ;
"Understudies never get to perform
. . . which is why being Juliet's understudy in the school's yearly "Evening with Shakespeare" is the perfect role for Emily. She can earn some much-needed extra credit while pursuing her main goal of spending time with Wes, aka Romeo, aka the hottest, nicest guy in school (in her completely unbiased opinion). And she meant to learn her lines, really, it's just:
a) Shakespeare is HARD,
b) Amanda, aka the "real" Juliet, makes her run errands instead of lines, and
c) there's no point because Amanda would never miss the chance to be the star of the show.
Then, Amanda ends up in the hospital and Emily, as the (completely unprepared!) understudy, has to star opposite the guy of her dreams. Oops?"
Going into this book, I already assumed I'd like it, it seems like a cute love story and I'm a sucker for romance. I was also curious as to how the play would turn out, would Emily rock the play and get the guy of her dreams or would she totally ruin the play, I couldn't wait to find out.

Rating ; 4


Review ;
I loved this book, it definitely was a funny, cheesy love story. You have Emily, the main character who is a complete klutz, she's always embarrassing herself but she doesn't let it get to her, she just laughs it off. There's also Jill and Kayla, Emily's best friends, who help out with getting over embarrassing moments with her crush Wes. Jill and Kayla are the perfect friends, they are always there for Emily even when she messes stuff up for them. Wes, of course is the guy Emily has a crush on and let me tell you, he seems close to perfect. He's so sweet and caring. Then there's Amanda the mean girl, she just so happens to be perfect as well, she's pretty, popular, and she get's what she wants, and she wants Wes. This book is a fast read with a lot of funny moments that you can't help but to laugh out loud about. Romeo & What's Her Name is a great book if you love romantic comedies, you'll love this book. You get to see Emily try to get the boy of her dreams while she not only keeps embarrassing herself but she has to ace the play for her best friends, her grade, and so that she doesn't embarrass the rest of the cast (including Romeo, Wes) but how can she when  "a) Shakespeare is HARD,
b) Amanda, aka the "real" Juliet, makes her run errands instead of lines, and
c) there's no point because Amanda would never miss the chance to be the star of the show. " but can she do it?


The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins Book Review

Judging a Book By Its Cover ;
I know you're not supposed to judge a book by it's cover.. but I do. I like an aesthetically pleasing book cover, I love how it looks on my shelf, etc. So for The Girl on the Train I got this book cover ;


I like how simple and cute it is. I love the font, it suits this cover very well. I also like the train tracks going up the cover with part of a face showing, it comes off as a mystery type book just based on the cover and it is, so it works well. I know there are at least two other covers for this book and I think this one is my favorite.
First Impression from the Blurb + Movie Trailer ;
"EVERY DAY THE SAME
Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and night. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. Jess and Jason, she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.
UNTIL TODAY
And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel goes to the police. But is she really as unreliable as they say? Soon she is deeply entangled not only in the investigation but in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?"
This sounded so intriguing to me. This is the first suspense thriller/mystery book I've actually read which is shocking to me because I love mysteries. I also saw the movie trailer way before getting the book and I really liked it so when I saw this book at Goodwill for $1 I immediately got it and I'm so glad I did.

                           Rating ; 4 
           Review ; For the first few pages this book was a slow read to me it didn't seem that interesting then around page 6-7 the book began to pick up a bit. I liked the style of writing, how it was from three different peoples perspective, like it's their journal/diary. But early on I felt like I already knew how the book would end but boy was  I wrong and I realized that just pages later when a plot twist ruined my prediction. After that I was hooked and I kept trying to guess how it would end and boy was I surprised. I didn't love the characters but they were realistic, I know people like this exist and everyone fights their own demons, I liked how Paula Hawkins gave some back story to the main characters that lets you in on why they are the way they are. I know a lot of people didn't like the "hot mess" characters but I  felt for them. I didn't like all of their mindsets and I didn't approve of most of their actions but I was still hoping things would work out for them in the end. What I took from this book is people are not always what they seem to be, looking into somebodies life from the outside you might think they are perfect or they have the perfect life but you never really know what goes on behind closed doors. Also you could know somebody for years and never really know them. All in all I really enjoyed this book, I loved the thriller aspect and how I didn't want to put the book down, I wanted to know what was happening with each character.

Character Review ;
Rachel ; At first I didn't like Rachel, she was so weak and felt she needed her ex, I didn't like the way she acted after 2 years of being separated from her ex she was obsessed with his life and other people. Also I didn't like that she was an alcoholic. She relied on alcohol daily but she knew she became a different person while she was drunk. I loved the writing because it was accurate on how some alcoholics black out and don't remember things, etc. I'm on the fence on how much I liked her in the end, I mean she had a gut feeling and she went with it but again she was obsessed with other people's life to find the truth out in the end. With all that being said I was rooting for Rachel to stop drinking and get her life together to move on and try to be happy which I like to believe happened after the book ended.
Anna ; I didn't really care for Anna, she was the other woman and was perfectly fine with it, in fact she liked it. I also didn't like how she hated the house she lived in and the way Rachel acted, Anna felt scared of Rachel and that she might hurt the baby but she didn't leave the house, she stayed, I feel like most mothers would automatically leave if they felt their child was in danger. In the end of the book Anna definitely shocked me.
Megan ; At first when you read about Megan through Rachel's thoughts you couldn't help but like the picture perfect "Jess" but later on you actually get to see that Jess is actually Megan and Megan's life isn't so perfect. I liked that Megan wanted to experience life, she needed that rush but I quickly changed my opinion on that when I realized how she wanted to get the rush. Also after learning her big secret I was disgusted, even knowing it was an accident and she was young I just couldn't get over it. But yet again I was rooting for Megan, she wanted to get her life together, she wanted to come clean.


"Life is not a paragraph, and death is no parenthesis"

Watch My Library Grow #1

I decided to start a series called "Watching my Library Grow" just to see the progress of my little book collection. I know I'll never have an actual library (because I have a small apartment) but I like the idea.
So before I started collecting book again, this was all of my books ; boook
Most of these books were gifts and some I bought years ago in a huge bundle on ebay. The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe I bought online for really cheap. The gorgeous leather-bound Mark Twain book was bought at a yardsale for $1!
So after I got my bookshelf (on black friday from my boyfriend as an early Christmas present) I started collecting books that I found for cheap.
First I found a few books at Habitat for Humanity. Their books are 10 cents each but I already had a bookbag full of books so I only got a couple. Plus most of their books are vintage books in bad condition.
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I got The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg, The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United StatesTwilight by Stephanie Meyer, and This is Where I Leave You by Johnathan Tropper. I want to get all of the Twilight books because I only read the first one but I don't want to pay too much for them so I'm only purchasing them preowned. I've never heard of the other ones but the synopsis sounded good and for 10 cents I didn't care.
Next I got books from Goodwill, I went to two different Goodwills a few different times and found quite a bit of books.
The prices on these books ranged from 99 cents to $1.99
I got When You Don't See Me by Timothy James Beck, The Hidden Summer by Gin Phillips, After You (The second book to Me Before You) by JoJo Moyes, Everybody Rise by Stephanie Clifford, Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner, The Swan Thieves by  Elizabeth Kostova, Crossed (the second book in the Matched trilogoy) by Ally Condie, A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (which I'm currently reading), and lastly I got three books from the Outlander series which I was pretty excited to find (for 99 cents each) because I saw Sasha from abookutopia raving over it in a few videos, so I got Outlander (Outlander #1)Dragonfly in Amber(Outlander, #2), and Voyager (Outlander, #3).
Here is a photo of all books on my bookshelf, it's bad quality because it's from my phone, I'll upload a better one asap. I can't wait to have it full of books.


The very top shelf has photo albums on it, the second one has my leather bound books and the Luxe series by Anna Godberesn which is amazing, the third shelf has the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy which I haven't read yet, fourth shelf has the Gemma Doyle trilogy which is a favorite series of mine and it has two magazine organizers with scrapbooks in one and blythe/doll fashion books in the other, the fifth shelf has contemporary books, and the bottom shelf has a stack of books that I don't own the whole series for.
So that's pretty much it for this post, I hope you enjoyed and I ca
n't wait to make more posts.

<3|Bella

About Me & This Blog


I figured the first post I should do is a post with a little bit about me and this blog.
For starters this blog is about books (obviously). I originally had this post and a few others on WordPress but annoyed with the creative limits and decided to stick with Blogger. Here I will be posting book reviews, book shelf updates, book hauls, and more bookish posts. I used to love books, reading to escape was one of my favorite things to do as a child but as I got older books weren't as important to me. I would read on and off throughout my teenage years but last year before I moved I owned around 20 books and I sold most of them in a yard sale before I moved into my first apartment. Then I started reading again and I stumbled upon booktube and I've been hooked ever since. My next post will have a bookshelf update of before and after I started collecting again and you'll be able to see the huge difference, and I've only just begun.

As a child my favorite books were the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Narnia series by C.S Lewis. I also loved books by authors like Barbra Park, Beverly Clearly, Lois Lowry, and  many more.

Now a few favorites of mine are Looking for Alaska by John Green, Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, The Luxe series by Anna Godbersen, and the Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray but I have to say I haven't read alot lately so these can change at any point.
I'm not sure what genre I like the most as I tend to read plenty of different genres and I like to at least give a book a chance regardless of the genre. I've found myself liking genres I'd never expect to like so I recommend at least trying out different genres.

And to end this post I'll add a few facts about me. My name is Haley Isabella and I'm 23 years old. I'm from West Virginia. I love art, I make polymer clay charms/jewelry and I customize Blythe dolls/dolls clothes.  I love photography as well.



That's pretty much it for my first post, I'll try to post at least once a week.
<3|Bella