Start of Summer #BookHaul

I don’t buy a lot of new books, but lately I’ve splurged a bit because so many friends are coming out with books I NEED… plus I won a book and got one for review and went to a library booksale.

SO! I thought I’d share pics of these books because they are so gorgeous and I’m so excited about them. 🙂 Here’s my April/May/June (so far) book haul.

I’ve mentioned King’s Folly by Jill Williamson (and I reviewed it, whaddayaknow) which was a review copy from Bethany House. But I have to show it again because #gorgeous.

I won The Firethorn Crown by Lea Doué in a giveaway from Clean Indie Reads, and it came all the way from from Nova Scotia/Cape Breton in Canada! How cool is that?? ^_^ It’s a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses, which I mayyy or may not have a gargantuan small obsession with, so I’m very excited to read it! 🙂

Paper Crowns by Mirriam Neal. I’M STILL BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS THAT THIS IS PUBLISHED AND I OWN IT AAAHH. ❤ ❤ ❤ I know I’ve mentioned it several times already but seriously, this book is one of my FAVORITEST of ever, and everyone needs to read it. Highly recommend. *nodnod* (And by “highly recommend,” I of course mean “YOU NEED THIS MARVELOUS BOOK IN YOUR LIFE GO GET A COPY RIGHT NOW YOU NEEEEED IT!”)

Songkeeper by Gillian Bronte Adams, which I read an e-ARC of before it came out, but simply HAD to get a physical copy! EEEP. Isn’t it lovely with its friends (Orphan’s Song and Out of Darkness Rising)? ^_^ (My review of Songkeeper.)

Aaand as I mentioned, the books by E. Kaiser Writes came out in print and I had to get these gorgeous beauties. THEY’RE SO PRETTY. She illustrated them, inside and out, and while I’ve only read Prince of Demargen so far (review here), I’m really excited about all of them. ^_^

THAW, 1-3:
Winter’s Child
Winter Queen
Prince of Demargen

Five Gems, 1-2:
Jeweler’s Apprentice
Traitor’s Knife

So! I’m really excited about my shiny new books. (I hardly ever get new books so this is really exciting. ^_^)

And then here’s my stack from a library booksale. (I’m noticing a green and gold theme…?)

Sabriel – Garth Nix (Really excited to read this one!)
The Thirteenth Tale – Diane Setterfield
The Time Paradox (Artemis Fowl, #6) – Eoin Colfer (Slowly collecting these…)
The Faerie Path – Frewin Jones
A Curse Dark as Gold – Elizabeth C. Bunce
Song of the Sparrow – Lisa Ann Sandel
Tales from Far and Near – Arthur Guy Terry
The Penderwicks – Jeanne Birdsall (I love this book! ❤ )
Conrad’s Fate – Diana Wynne Jones (I love this one too! ❤ )

Also a few picture books (Farmer Giles of Ham by Tolkien with a different illustrator, a Snow White illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, Oscar Otter illustrated by Arnold Lobel), a pamphlet on Scottish history, and a blank journal. 🙂 (I collect journals… it’s a very bad habit of this particular writer…)

I’m curious if you’ve read any of these or want to? What’s a book you got recently you’re excited about? I’d love to hear! Share all, page-dreamers of mine! 🙂

Dream away in those pages . . .

~ The Page Dreamer

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Reading Roundup #4: April 2016

“So… I remember part #1, but where is part #2 and #3?” you ask.

Ahem. Do not question.

I have not had internet much in the last… er… three weeks? and therefore have not been blogging, and I happen to feel like writing this short post but not those two (Feb. and March) just now… BUT I’M LEAVING ROOM IN CASE I GET TO IT. Yes.

So! My reading of April. Which… incidentally was VERY FEW. To be fair, though, one of them was ENORMOUS (looking at you, King’s Folly. 😉 ) and took me two weeks to read, which kind of adds up.

Rather than posting it four times, I… am arbitrarily sticking this 5 star image here and saying all the books I read this month were 5 stars. I don’t know if it’s, strictly speaking, true… I tend to have trouble with such things soon after reading. *shifty eyes* I think I originally rated Guards! Guards! 4 stars, but I don’t know if I liked it less than the other three I read this month, and I enjoyed it possibly the most because it was so funny? I dunno. My whole rating system is a mess. XD

1. Tales from Moominvalley – Tove Jansson

The last of the Moomin books I currently have (many thanks to my awesome cousin!) this one was a collection of Moomin short stories, which were SO fun! I loved them. ❤ (Especially the ones about Snufkin. I may need to do a whole post about Snufkin, or at least about the books I’ve read so far, because he’s such a great character!) Anyways the stories were all cute/awesome, some more than others, and I just kinda adored this book. ^_^

2. Guards! Guards! – Terry Pratchett

I read this as a belated part of March Magics… My first ever Terry Pratchett book! Yes, I’m slightly addicted… I’ll definitely have to try some more of his books. 🙂 It’s technically “adult” and had a bit of language/rudeness, but mostly it was really good, and I simply LOVED all the humor and bizarre hilarity of all the fantasy tropes being flipped on their heads and… basically I could quote it all day (if it wasn’t a library book and already gone back…) and laughed a lot and it was so so so much fun. Huge thanks to Sarah for recommending it, and to March Magics for actually helping me get around to reading a Pratchett! I have hopes of perhaps reviewing it… I did in fact make notes for a review before having to send it back to the library so PERHAPS this shall happen…

3. Songkeeper – Gillian Bronte Adams

Oh my. The much-anticipated sequel to Orphan’s Song was INTENSE, I tell you!! I reviewed it on my other blog… This book, though! ❤ And all my favorite characters returning from Orphan’s Song… Suffice to say it was really good, if dark, and I’m really looking forward to book 3! EEK! 😀

4. King’s Folly – Jill Williamson

Also intense and GINORMOUS and epic and… kinda dark, yes (I’m noticing a trend?) and basically I’m so happy to have Jill fantasy again and I love aaaall the characters. I’m also super super happy that I don’t have to wait a full year for the next book to come out, since it’s coming out in December. THIS IS GLORIOUS NEWS. I need it ASAP. I also reviewed this one on my other blog.

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So that was what I read in April! All really good, and a very ODD collection of books… o.o But, ya know, that’s not surprising for me. 😉

Have you read any of these, or do they sound interesting? How was your April reading? 🙂

Dream away in those pages . . .

~ The Page Dreamer

Stands of Night {April 2016}

First Wednesday of the month means it’s time for Nightstand Books, a monthly meme of what-we’re-reading, hosted by Jenelle Schmidt and D.J. Edwardson. (Jenelle called her post today “Stands of Night,” which I honestly didn’t understand for a second, and then I decided to steal it because I LOVE that. XD)

So without further ado, my nightstand this month…

• Tales from Moominvalley by Tove Jansson – I actually just finished this one, the last of the Moomin books I currently own. This one was a collection of short stories (read aloud, of course!) and oh! Such a delight! ^_^ My favorite was called The Last Dragon in the World and featured one of my favorite friendships i.e. Snufkin and Moomintroll. THEY ARE SO AWESOME AND ADORBZ. Snufkin is like my favorite character ever and he was MAGNIFICENT in this one! ❤ I love him so much. LINK: {on Goodreads}
• Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett – Leftover from March Magics, I’m determined to get this read before it returns to the library! I started it last night, made the belated discovery that there are no chapters, and promptly stayed up till 2 a.m. before I had the willpower to put it down… (Which is bad, given that I have a cold and should have been asleep! Ahem.) But so far it’s HILARIOUS and doesn’t take itself seriously and has FOOTNOTES (and one of the footnotes had footnotes! *flails*) and it subverts so many fantasy tropes… Anyways I’m having fun with it. 🙂 LINK: {on Goodreads}
• King’s Folly by Jill Williamson – I’m going to start this monster of a book shortly… I’m very excited! ISN’T IT PRETTY?? I got this for review from Bethany House so I was SO ecstatic when it showed up in the mail a few days ago! Also, the book actually released yesterday! Check out Jill’s post on it and enter the giveaway for a signed copy! ^_^ I’m slightly nervous to read it because it’s technically for adults and people say it’s dark, but I’m also extremely excited because Jill is an incredible writer and I’ve missed her writing fantasy so it’s awesome that this one’s out now! Anyways I’ll hopefully have it read and reviewed within the month. *fingers crossed because I actually have a review deadline and this book is so enormous and I may die. Ahem* (BUT IT’S SO PRETTYYYYY!) LINKS: {on Goodreads} {Amazon} {Barnes & Noble}

And then my “virtual” nightstand because sadly ebooks do not pile prettily…

• Songkeeper by Gillian Bronte Adams – Currently reading this sequel to Orphan’s Song! *squeals* I just started it so I’m not too far in, but it’s already quite enjoyable and exciting and I love the writing, especially the humorous tilt to it when we’re in Amos’ point of view! XD This book is releasing on April 15th, and I’ll have a review for it up by that date! (Fingers crossed that I get it read and reviewed on time…) LINKS: {on Goodreads} {Amazon pre-order}
• Defying Shadows by Ashley Townsend – I’m excited to beta-read this third installment of the Rising Shadows Trilogy! It’s going to be LONG but it’s going to be worth it. XD That will be releasing sometime soonish. And I’m excited about it because timey-wimey/Robin-Hood-ish/and I need to know what happens with Will and co! LINK: {on Goodreads}

So that’s what I’m going to be (very) busy reading this month! I just hope I will manage to get them all read (on time)! Funny how that likes to happen where you sign up for things and then suddenly they pile up and happen at the same time! 😉 But I can’t really complain because these are all going to be awesome. I just know it! 😀

Do any of these look intriguing or have you read them? What’s on your stand of the night? 😉

Dream away in those pages . . .

~ The Page Dreamer