June 2017 Book Haul!

Hey everyone! Happy Friday! Usually I combine my hauls into my monthly wrap ups, but since June was my birthday month I received a lot of books and bookstore gift cards so I thought, hey! I might as well make a whole separate post to change things up!

So without further ado, here are all the books I acquired in June!

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: Yes, yes I did buy all 4 of the paperback 20th anniversary editions. No, no I do not regret it.

The Last Boy and Girl in the World

Eliza and her Monsters: I’ve already read and loved this one! A review will be out for it next week!

Illuminae & Gemina: Can’t wait to read these both!

Crooked Kingdom

Vengeance Road

Spindle

Frost Blood: My current read!

Strange the Dreamer

So those were all of the books I received and bought this month! I can’t believe it is already the end of June! Half of the year is over and I am not even close to beating my Goodreads challenge. Yikes I need to get on that!

What books did you buy this month!? Did we get any of the same ones? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to chat!

Goodreads & Twitter

TTT: The Best Books I’ve Read This Year… So Far!

Good morning everyone! Guess what I have decided to start participating in? Top Ten Tuesday!

Back when I first started my blog, over a year and a half ago, I used to participate in Top Ten Tuesday, but for some reason (that I don’t actually remember), I stopped. Scrolling throught these posts every tuesday has been making me miss participating, so I decided to join back in on the fun!

If you aren’t familiar, Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. You can check them out if you want to join!

*Disclaimer: these books are not in order!

#1: The Princess Saves Herself In This One by Amanda Lovelace

This is my absolute favourite poetry collection of all time. It was empowering and emotional, and ahhh just so good!

#2: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

The whole Shades of Magic series honestly just blew me away, plus it introduced me to one of my new fave authors!

#3: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

I finally caved on the hype and bought the whole series. Good thing I loved it! 😂 

#4: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

I bought this one because of the raving reviews as well, and I can confirm that it definitely lives up to all of the hype!

#5: The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

This was my most anticipated read of 2017, because Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda is my favourite contemporary EVER and Becky definitely didn’t disappoint. 👌🏻 

You are probably thinking “Emma that was only 5 books.” And yeah I know but out of the 19 books I’ve read this year, these are the ones I loved enough to include on this list. Hopefully I’ll read some more awesome books in the second half of the year!

What were some of your favourite books that you read this year? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to chat!

Also, I tried out something new for my header image and I don’t know if I like it or not. I am really struggling to find a theme and header image that I like…

Twitter & Goodreads

5 Of My Favourite Things About Harry Potter! #HarryPotter20

Welcome all witches and wizards to my Harry Potter themed post in honour of #HarryPotter20!

It has been 20 years exactly since Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published. So many people are saying that they can’t believe that it has been that long but honestly, I can believe it. 

I don’t even remember a time when Harry Potter wasn’t in my life. I read then when I was in grade 3, and have been utterly obsessed ever since, so it basically has always been with me.

A mind blowing thing to me is that now my sister, who is in grade 3, has started reading the Harry Potter books, (she is on The Order of the Phoenix) and it makes me overjoyed to see her reading them and slowly falling more in love as she reads each book.

Today, in celebration of the wonderful last 20 years of Harry Potter, I am going to share a list of my 5 favourite things about the Harry Potter series. Enjoy!

#1: Harry Potter ignited my love of reading.

I wouldn’t be here, blogging, raving about books, if it hadn’t been for Harry Potter. Harry Potter was the first series I fell in love with. It was the first series that hooked me in from the start and made me never want to stop. It was the series that made me want to pick up every book I ever picked up after, because it showed me how much joy I could get, just from opening up a book.

#2: Ginny Weasley 

She was my absolute favourite character from the whole entire series for probably five years. She still is in my top five of course but I literally wanted to be Ginny when I was little. She was strong, and that is what drew me to her the most I think. I mean come on, have you seen her in The Order of the Phoenix? She is a complete bad*ss! I am still quite a bit upset about how downplayed she was in the films, but I still loved movie Ginny to death as well. Also, will anyone sign my petition to get Ginny her own Funko Pop? How does she not have one yet?

#3: What role models all the women in Harry Potter truly are.

J.K. Rowling wrote every single woman in that series to be so strong, and they inspire me every day. Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Molly Weasley, McGonagall, literally every single one. 👏🏻 

#4: The world, and how it was brought to life.

The whole world and magic in Harry Potter, and how complex and wornderful it all is, was brought to life perfectly in the films. It is honestly like the directors read my mind. To see our favourite novels brought to screen with amazing actors, filmography and editing definitely added to everything..

#5: How is will never die. 

You could take this two was. One way is: Jo keeps expanding on the world, whether it is on Pottermore, through Fantastic Beasts or through the theme parks. Or a second way: The books will never grow old. I can go back an reread them a million times and I will never get tired of them. 

I hope you enjoyed this post! I had a fun time reminiscing on my love for Harry Potter, thats for sure.

What is your favourite thing about Harry Potter? Let me know in a comment, I’d love to chat! (Especially about HP LOL!) And if you haven’t read the series yet, I hope all of this #HarryPotter2o stuff is making you want to pick them up!

Buy the 20th anniversary Harry Potter’s here: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin.

Twitter | Goodreads | Bloglovin‘

Emma’s Sunday Sum Up! June 19th – 25th

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you’ve had a great week, and weekend! 

This week’s sum up should be short because I’ve already raved about my biggest news like 10 times in my last few posts, but if you missed it, I am finally on summer break!

This means more time for reading, blogging and relaxing, I couldn’t be more excited!

On Thursday morning I had my last exam, so since then I’ve been reading, blogging and hanging out with friends. What a good start to summer, eh?

Friday has been the best so far, I would have to say. I rolled out of bed super late and then went and sat on the porch for three hours and read Eliza and her Monsters by Francesca Zappia all the way through. Spoiler alert for my review that will be out within the next two days: I loved it!

Buy Eliza and her Monsters here.

Other than that, I don’t have much other reading news. I am still making my way through Crown of Midnight, it’s really good too! I am still so happy to finally be reading the Throne of Glass series!

 
How has your week been? Did you do anything exciting or read any good books? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to chat!

Twitter | Goodreads | Bloglovin‘

EmmaTheBookLover Is Now On Twitter!

Hey bookworms! How did you sleep? I slept like a baby considering I am finally on summer holidays!

I feel like I might be bragging a bit, since I started yesterday’s post talking about the same thing, but oh well! I am just a happy, happy camper!

Today, I am just dropping a quick little post announcing that I made a bookish twitter! 

https://mobile.twitter.com/EmmaTheBook
This is my second attempt at using another social media platform (other than goodreads) in coherence with my blog, so let’s hope it goes well!

The think I like about twitter is that it isn’t as follower/like driven as instagram, and if you don’t tweet one day, nothing will change where as on insta, if you take a break everything honestly starts going downhill.*

I am super excited to be on twitter though! So much fun happens there, like I only got it yesterday and I already participated in a #IndigoTeenChat with Victoria Schwab, and she replied to my tweet! (I don’t know if this is a normal occurrence or not, but it felt pretty awesome to me 😂) Annnnnnd I also have a whopping 5 folllowers already! LOL

*Disclaimer that was just my experience and what I heard from other people who had similar experiences to me and what I saw happen to other people’s accounts. Bookstagram is great! Just not for me!

Do you have a bookish twitter? If so be sure to follow mine! My username is @EmmaTheBook (Lover wouldn’t fit in the amount of characters they allowed 😡) or click here! I’ll be tweeting reading updates, when I post new blog posts and random book stuff!

I Was Interviewed For A Magazine?

What time is it? SUMMER TIME! 

Yep, that’s right! I am on summer break! I had my English exam this morning and now I am freeeeeeee.

An accurate picture of how I looked running out of my exam^

It kind of hasn’t hit me yet that it is summer to be honest. I kind of just feel like I am on a short break. Plus it is kind of chilly out today, but I’m sure after a few days of sleeping in I will be used to my new summer schedule.

BUT… summer is not what this post is about! I have some exciting news! 

A few months ago, I was interviewed for an online magazine called Stay Bookish!

Exciting right!!!!?

Emily @ emnemilybooks writes the blogger interview page, for Stay Bookish, and I was the first person she ever interviewed for it!!! I was so excited and it was so much fun! 

So, if you want to read a little interview all about me, check out Stay Bookish Magazine!!! And let me know what you think! I am featured in the second issue (the summer one) and the spring issue, which was their first ever issue, is up to read as well!

*I was not sponsored by Stay Bookish in any way shape or form to writ this post, I just honestly had a good time being interviewed!

Emma’s Sunday Sum Up! June 12th – 18th

Hey guys! I’m about to leave for some Father’s Day plans but I thought I’d write my sunday sum up quick!

This past week was pretty bland to be honest. I basically worked on my summatives for school, had a few end of the semester presentations, and am getting ready for exams! The next time I post a sunday sum up (aka next sunday) I will finally be on summer break! Woo hoo!!!!

Amidst all of the school chaos, I did manage to read! I finished Throne of Glass, loved it of course, and started Crown of Midnight. I’m not too far into that but my goal is to get it finished my the end of this coming week.

Last night I celebrated my friend’s birthday with a bunch of my friends! We went to Lush after hours and got to make bath bombs, do face masks and shop! It was honestly the best thing ever!

And if you know me, you would know that I love Lush! I’ve been a fan for years now, from their bath bombs, to face mask, to exfoliators, I love all of their products! Plus they are cruelty free and did minimal packaging which is just a great bonus!

Today, for Father’s Day me and my family are getting together with my aunts, uncles and cousins for a BBQ and to hang out! It’ll be really fun!

Some fun summer things that are happpening, I am going to start bullet journaling in July! I’ve been wanting to bullet for months now but I never had time to set one up nicely, but now I do! I’ve already started my July spread and although I am not the most artistic person ever, I am really having a good time! 

I am also going to have a summer collective journal, which I am going to start as soon as I am on summer break! I am travelling a bunch in the summer so I thought a summer journal would be fun to keep memories in! Also, at the end of the summer I can do a journal flip through post to show you guys!!!

How was your week? Do you like Lush and their products? If yes, what is your favourite product???And do you have any Father’s Day plans? Let me know in a comment, I’d love to chat!

The Days Of The Week Book Tag!

In honour of the weekend, I thought I would do a book tag, (since I haven’t done one in probably a year now 😳). It is the Days of the Week Book Tag!!! It’s a short little tag, that I saw yesterday on Thrice Read, so I thought I’d give it a go!

Monday: A book you’re too lazy to read.

For Monday, I am picking more than just one book, but a series! The Outlander series has been on my TBR for years now, and I even own them all (since my Nana gave them to me!) but have a read them yet? Nope. I mean come on? Some of those books are over 1000 pages!

Tuesday: A book that was hard to finish.

Me, Earl and the Dying Girl was a real tough one for me. I went into it thinking it would be great since there was so much hype around it but came out the other side despising it. And I dragged it on for a while*, reading it seemed like a chore because I certainly wasn’t enjoying myself. 

*looking back now I definitely should have DNFed it. 

Wednesday: A book you haven’t finished.

I rarely ever put a book down without finishing it, like I honestly cannot think of the last book I DNFed, so I am going to go with a series I haven’t finished yet! I mean there are quite a few, but the first series that comes to mind is The Mortal Instruments. TMI is such a loved series, and I read the first three books even before joining the blogosphere, but I never continued. Can’t remember why, but all the hype still hasn’t led me to give the series another go. 🤷‍♀️ 

Thursday: A book you don’t recommend.

The Maze Runner. There are so many better series to read and honestly I liked the movie better than the book. 😳

Friday: A book you can’t wait to be released.

A book that is almost a whole year away from publication, that I am already dying to get my hands on is Leah on the Offbeat! It’s a spinoff of Simon Vs., told in Leah’s perspective, I cannot wait!

Saturday: A book you want to reread right away.

A book that I recently finished but want to dive right back into is Throne of Glass! Good thing I have 5 more books (that are out) to follow up with!

Sunday: A book you didn’t want to end.

The Book Thief, my favourite. From the moment I opened it up to the first page I knew my reader life would be changed. I seriously get teary eyes thinking about my love for that book.

I’m a little rusty when it comes to book tags but I hope you enjoyed the post! I think tags are a great way to talk about a more diverse selection of books, instead of my usual favourites! (Even though I did still mention the all time fave, The Book Thief, it is truly inevitable, I can’t not mention it!!!)

I do want to tag some other bloggers to do this tag since I had so much fun!

May @ Forever and Everly

Jackie @ toomuchofabooknerd

Emily @ emnemilysbooks

Beth @ Reading Every Night

Kyla @ seeliepages

And if I didn’t tag you, you should definitely still do this one! It was super fun, and I was never tagged either so! 🤷‍♀️ 

Did I mention any of your favourites (or least favourites)? Let me know in a comment, I’d love to chat!

My Summer Reading Plans!

I feel like I am finally coming to the end of school, projects are due, summatives are done, exams are coming, and I only have four more days of class! It is crazy! And I am crazy excited for summer! 

With summer comes time! I can finally spend a whole day reading/writing/blogging and not have to worry about school work! 

There are a few reading plans/goals I have for summer ’17, so I thought I’d share them!

#1: Read 20 books!

I am SO behind on my goodreads goal… like too far to even admit, so I have to use my time to catch up! I think I read about 15 books last summer, so I thought I’d challenge myself with 20 this year!

#2: Finish the Throne of Glass series!

This month I finally started Sarah J. Maas’s first series, and I want to finish them before Tower of Dawn comes out, and summer is the perfect time! I’m also already on Crown of Midnight so only 4 more after this one!

#3: Start/finish at least 3 more series!

Half of my shelves are full of series that I’ve either started and not finished, or haven’t even started at all, so this summer I need to knock some of them off my TBR! Some choices are:

• Illuminae & Gemina
• The Grisha Trilogy & The Six Of Crows Duology
• The Darkest Minds Trilogy
• The Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy
• This Savage Song & Our Dark Duet
• The Miss Peregrine’s Series

And honestly there is more. I NEED to read some of these! 

Those are my three goals/plans for summer reading! Pretty simple but I don’t want too much pressure while summer reading because 1) It is for fun! and 2) I don’t want to fall into a slump!

Do you have any reading plans for the summer? How many books are you planning on reading?

Also, if you love any of the series I mentioned in #3, please let me know! If a lot of people suggest one I’ll read it first!

I am also thinking about doing a little follow up post to this in September, to see if I met my goals, so stay tuned for that!

Emma’s Sunday Sum Up! (On A Monday LOL) June 5th – 10th

Hmmm my series name doesn’t seem to match up with the day of the week… 

Sorry about that! I hope none of you were on here waiting for a post yesterday and didn’t get one! But better late than never, right?

Last week, (the weekend more specifically) was crazy! 

On Tuesday I finally caved and started Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas! Guys, it is amazing. I know, I know, everyone told me I would love it, and quite frankly, I knew I would love it too, but now that I am actually reading it… I love it even more!

I am over halfway through, but didn’t finish yet because of my crazy weekend, but I’ll be sure to finish it this week!

On Friday I went to my cousins high school graduation! It was super fun and I’m so proud of her! She is also moving closer to where I live for college, (she currently lives an hour away but for the next few years she will be just across town!) so I am super pumped for that as well!

Saturday morning I got up bright an early to go take my G1 (or learners permit) driving test! I passed of course and now I can legally drive, with restrictions, of course, but still, I can drive!

From Saturday to Sunday I had a ton of my friends come over to celebrate my birthday! We hung out and had a camp fire and it was so much fun! We got no sleep of course so I am still tired, but it was worth the sleep deprivation! 😂 

Overall last week was awesome for me! And I only have 7 more school days until summer! 

Did you have a good week? Did you start or finish a good book? Let me know In the comments, I’d love to chat!