A Haul: October 2017

Hi, and thanks for stopping by.

It's that time again - I've done some pretty substantial shopping already this month, but I'm posting this haul early because I'm really hoping that I'll behave myself for the rest of the month now (seriously, I have SO many books unread on my shelves!!) I got these from a mixture of places, mainly Waterstones, World of Books and supermarkets. Let's get started!!!

Holly bourne’s it only happens in the movies

Audrey is over romance. Since her parents' relationship imploded her mother's been catatonic, so she takes a cinema job to get out of the house. But there she meets wannabe film-maker Harry. Nobody expects Audrey and Harry to fall in love as hard and fast as they do. But that doesn't mean things are easy. Because real love isn't like the movies...
The greatest love story ever told doesn't feature kissing in the snow or racing to airports. It features pain and confusion and hope and wonder and a ban on cheesy clichés. Oh, and zombies.

[As I'm editing this, I deleted my previous "looking forward to this" comment, because I've just finished it and it was a FABULOUS five stars.]

Kendare blake’s one dark throne

With the unforgettable events of the Quickening behind them and the Ascension Year underway, all bets are off. Katharine, once the weak and feeble sister, is stronger than ever before. Arsinoe, after discovering the truth about her powers, must figure out how to make her secret talent work in her favour without anyone finding out. And Mirabella, once thought to be the strongest sister of all and the certain Queen Crowned, faces attacks like never before - ones that put those around her in danger that she can't seem to prevent.

[I enjoyed Three Dark Crowns, so I was pretty happy to come across this in ASDA for a bargain at £3.50. I've been more in the mood for fantasy than usual lately, after enjoying this series so far, as well as The Sin Eater's Daughter & Red Queen.]

Katherine webber’s wing jones

With a grandmother from China and another from Ghana, fifteen-year-old Wing Jones is often caught between worlds. But when tragedy strikes, Wing discovers a talent for running she never knew she had. Wing's speed could bring her family everything it needs. It could also stop Wing getting the one thing she wants.

[I heard some seriously amazing things about this book when it was first published, and I've been really wanting to read it every since - I was really happy to find it on World of Books.]

Megan miranda’s all the missing girls

It's been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared without trace. Then a letter from her father arrives - 'I need to talk to you. That girl. I saw that girl.' Has her father's dementia worsened, or has he really seen Corinne? Returning home, Nicolette must finally face what happened on that terrible night all those years ago. Then, another young woman goes missing, almost to the day of the anniversary of when Corinne vanished. And like ten years ago, the whole town is a suspect. 

[This book I bought purely on impulse, because it sounded like it had potential to be a really great thriller. The girl-returning-home storyline reminded me slightly of Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, which was a great book. This cover is beautiful, right?!]

Ali land’s good me bad me

Annie's mother is a serial killer. The only way Annie can make it stop is to hand her in to the police. With a new foster family and a new name - Milly - she hopes for a fresh start. Now, surely, she can be whoever she wants to be. But as her mother's trial looms, the secrets of Milly's past won't let her sleep . . . Because Milly's mother is a serial killer. And blood is thicker than water...

[I heard about this book from booksandlala on YouTube - she recommends really great books in all genres, especially thrillers and hard-hitting ya contemporaries. i'd highly recommend her channel - although you'll be craving a book shopping spree after watching, be warned!]

Alex lake’s copycat

When an old friend gets in touch, Sarah Havenant discovers that there are two Facebook profiles in her name. One is hers. The other, she has never seen. But everything in it is accurate. Photos of her friends, her husband, her kids. Photos from the day before. Photos of her new kitchen. Photos taken inside her house. And this is just the beginning. Because whoever has set up the second profile has been waiting for Sarah to find it. And now that she has, her life will no longer be her own...

[Doesn't that blurb give you the creeps?! I think using social media in thrillers is such a clever way of creating horrible realism, which is super effective - it's something I've seen much more of in YA thrillers, though, so I'm interested to see how an adult-fiction author uses it.]

Rupi kaur’s the sun and her flowers

this is the recipe of life

said my mother

as she held me in her arms as i wept 

think of those flowers you plant

in the garden each year 

they will teach you

that people too

must wilt

fall

root

rise

in order to bloom

[Obviously this one is a little different to the rest - this is Rupi Kaur's new poetry book. I completely adored milk & honey, so I picked this up straight away when I saw it in Waterstones, despite the price being a bit ridiculous, in my opinion.]

Cat clarke’s torn

Alice King isn't expecting the holiday of her dreams when she sets off on a trip to the wilderness with her mates. But when her best friend Cass decides to teach mean girl Tara a lesson, Alice finds herself in a nightmare she can't escape.Now Alice is the guardian of a secret too horrific to tell; and a secret too terrible to keep. A secret that will change all of their lives for ever...

[I've read two other Cat Clarke books so far and enjoyed them both, Girlhood in particular, and this blurb just made the story sound so intriguing and unmissable! I really hope it lives up to my hopes. P.S. I'm not trying to be metaphorical with the "torn" front cover, it's just a (rare) issue with buying second-hand.]

cat clarke’s entangled

Seventeen-year-old Grace wakes up in a white room, with table, pens and paper - and no clue how she got there. As Grace starts writing, pouring her tangled life onto the page, she is forced to remember everything she's tried to forget: falling hopelessly in love with Nat, and the unravelling of her friendship with her best mate Sal. But there's something missing. As hard as she's trying to remember, is there something she just can't see? Grace must face the most important question of all. Why is she here?

[This plot just sounds so unique and interesting! As soon as I read this blurb, I knew I needed to read the entire book to find out what on earth is going on?! I'd love to know, spoiler-free, what you thought of this if you've read it! Man, I really hate covers with human girls on...]

Gillian flynn’s dark places

Libby Day was just seven years old when her older brother massacred her family while she hid in a cupboard. Her evidence helped put him away. Ever since then she has been drifting, surviving for over 20 years on the proceeds of the 'Libby Day fund'. But now the money is running out and Libby is desperate. When she is offered $500 to do a guest appearance, she feels she has to accept. But this is no ordinary gathering. The Kill Club is a group of true-crime obsessives who share information on notorious murders, and they think her brother Ben is innocent.

[I've read and enjoyed Gone Girl & Sharp Objects a lot, so I was keen to get to Dark Places. It definitely sounds like it might be that bit darker again, but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless. Not to be superficial and keep going on about covers, but I wish I had the black one to match my others, not this horrible movie still.]

Sarah alexander’s the art of not breathing

One minute Eddie was there. And the next he was gone. Five years on, and it's Elsie who's lost. All she knows is the pain she feels. Pain that her twin Eddie's body has never been found after that day on the beach.Then she meets Tay; confident, cool and addicted to free-diving. He says it's too dangerous for her to join; it's too dark, too scary, too deep. But what does he know?He doesn't know that being underwater is the only time Elsie doesn't ache for her brother. That diving gives her flashbacks. And that uncovering the secrets of that day is the only way for Elsie to start breathing again.

[I was interested in this story mainly because of the inclusion of a sibling relationship, especially as it seems that will be at the core of the plot. Over the summer, I read quite a few YA contemporaries about dealing with grief, so it'll be interesting to see how this compares.]

Jeffrey eugenides’s the virgin suicides

This is the story of the five Lisbon sisters - beautiful, eccentric, and obsessively watched by the entire neighbourhood. The boys that once loved them from afar are now grown men, determined to understand a tragedy that has always defied explanation. For still, the question remains - why did all five of the Lisbon girls take their own lives?

[This is a novel that I've been wanting to read for a really, really long time, so I can't wait to finally do it!! I feel like quite a few books in the last couple of years have followed this sort of theme, so I'm really interested to read the "original".] 

Lexa hillyer’s proof of forever

Before: It was the perfect summer of first kisses, skinny-dipping, and bonfires by the lake. Joy, Tali, Luce, and Zoe knew their final summer at Camp Okahatchee would come to an end, but they swore they’d stay friends.
After: Now, two years later, their bond has faded along with those memories.
Then: That is, until the fateful flash of a photo booth camera transports the four of them back in time, to the summer they were fifteen—the summer everything changed.
Now: The girls must recreate the past in order to return to the present. As they live through their second-chance summer, the mystery behind their lost friendship unravels, and a dark secret threatens to tear the girls apart all over again.

[I've heard about this book quite a few times, and I'm really excited to read it, although I wish I'd had it in time for summer! I love camp stories - How Hard Can Love Be? and The Names They Gave Us were both amazing stories set at camps.]

Michelle falkoff’s pushing perfect

Kara has the perfect life. She gets perfect grades. She never messes up. Until now. Because perfection is an illusion, and Kara has been struggling to maintain it for as long as she can remember. With so much pressure to succeed, it’s hard not to do whatever it takes. 
But when Kara takes a new underground drug to help her ace the SATs, she doesn’t expect to get a text from a blocked sender, telling her to follow a set of mysterious instructions—or risk her dark secret getting out. Soon she finds herself part of a group of teens with secrets of their own, who are all under the thumb of the same anonymous texter. And if they don’t find a way to stop the blackmailer, their perfect futures will go up in flames.

[The premise of this is really exciting and unique - it reminds me vaguely of Jeanne Ryan's books, in its premise, one of which I really enjoyed, the other not so much - so we shall see!]

So that's it...! Yeah, I bought a lot...and it's only the 8th of October as I write this. So, when I said I was going to be so well behaved and try not to buy anything else this month, you can translate this to mean: I've already bought a month's worth a week in...

P.S. I also got send this beautiful arc of A Pocketful of Crows from Orion Books - I'm super grateful and can't wait to read it!

Till next time

Katie