I had my doubts about this book since a) I couldn’t really remember Raven from the Creepy Hollow series and b) I didn’t think any other character in Creepy Hollow would make a impact on me the way that Chase did. I decided to just read a few pages to see what I thought of the book and I was instantly sucked in.
Raven comes from a very wealthy family and is “practically royalty” according to her mother. What Raven’s parents don’t know is that Raven has a close (and forbidden) friendship with Flint, one of the guards.
When Raven is caught in the middle of a dangerous murderous plot, Flint is the only one around to help her.
This is a really fast read and I loved getting a look at a completely different part of Creepy Hollow. I would love to see more from the upper classes of Creepy Hollow.
I didn’t like Flint as much as Chase (will I ever like anyone as much as Chase? Doubtful) but I thought he was a great character nonetheless. I especially enjoyed seeing Tora as a kid. I would love if the next Creepy Hollow novella was about her.
This is a quick but entertaining read that fans of Creepy Hollow will love!
I usually do my book hauls at the beginning of the month since I only buy books from the SPCA booksale. This month however, things were very different.
I did go to the SPCA booksale as usual and since Bargain Books was nearby, I popped in for a visit. I came across a section marked “on promotion” with pretty much every book I ever wanted. I literally stopped to hold a few of the books. The books didn’t have prices on them but the saleslady told me that they were all R69 each. So I bought a few. Bye-bye birthday money.
Then there was the review copy of “Heartless” that Pan Macmillan sent me. I also got a copy of “The Unknown Journey” by S K Sewmungal.
My copies of “A Court of Thorns and Roses” and “A Court of Mist and Fury” by Sarah J Maas were delivered from Readers Warehouse. I already read these books but I really wanted print copies. They’re so gorgeous!
How cute is that magnetic bookmark? I NEED more
My dad took a week off from work so I decided to drag him back to Bargain Books so that I could get the remaining books in “The Mortal Instruments” and “The Originals” series. If you can’t tell, I came home a very happy bookworm.
I swore off books for the rest of the year. But then Exclusive Books had a sale for Cyber Monday- R199 for six to eight books. I don’t shop at Exclusive Books at all because their books are so expensive but this sounded like a really good deal. And it was SO worth it! One of the books I had in my mystery box was “The Chemist” by Stephenie Meyer. I was really interested in reading “The Chemist” but didn’t really like the price so this is so perfect!
What was your book-haul for November? Have you read any of the above books? I’d love to know below!
I love love LOVE retellings. I don’t know why because how often can you read one story rewritten? (If you’re me then the answer is “very often”) Here are a few of my favourite retellings.
1) The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer: The Lunar Chronicles is a series of futuristic retellings of several fairytales. While I had my doubts about this series, I instantly fell in love once I started reading it.
2) A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas: This is a fae retelling of Beauty and The Beast and it’s impossible to put down.
3) The Wrath and The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh: This is a retelling of One Thousand and One Nights. Honestly I’ve never read One Thousand and One Nights but this synopsis was too compelling to resist.
4) And I Darken by Kiersten White: This is a story based on Vlad Dracul…except in this version Vlad is a kickass female named Lada.
5) Alice Takes Back Wonderland by David D. Hammons: This book gave me all the feels. This is mainly about Alice going back to Wonderland but there are several other fairytale characters in this book.
This book was so thrilling! Unfortunately life got in my way so I didn’t start this book as soon as I wanted to. Not being able to instantly dive into this book upset me so I ended up reading the ending first (and then spoiled the entire book for myself). Aside from that very stupid mistake on my behalf, I absolutely loved this book. I was so thrilled to see Jinx and Quinn again. There is so much of character development in this book. I started off hating characters and wishing them dead (I can’t help it. Some of the characters were really hateful) but by the end of the book I really liked them. This was a super-fast read that was difficult to put down. Fans of dystopian fiction will love this book! The characters are incredible and so very clever! The writing is great and the plot is unique. This book blew my mind.
I got fewer books from the SPCA booksale than I usually do:
So I decided to just check out what Bargain Books had since they had really great books when I visited last month. They didn’t have any of their “3 for R99” books but I did find great bestsellers for R69. It took some time for me to choose (their selection was amazing!) but I finally picked six. I chose “Winter” and “Scarlet” by Marissa Meyer, “Last Sacrifice” by Richelle Mead, “The Duff” by Kody Keplinger, “The Originals: The Resurrection” (this was actually a mistake. I thought I was choosing “The Originals: Rise” but I ended up picking “Resurrection” instead which really hurt my heart) and finally “Let It Snow” which is an anthology I’ve been eyeing for a while. While these books were alot, they were books I really wanted so I was thrilled. I did however have some regret about the books I left behind. Thankfully my mother lent me some money and I was able to buy a few more. This is where things get interesting.
My mother lent me R140, enough for two books. I decided to put some of my own money so I could buy two more. So I chose “Soundless” and “Bloodlines” by Richelle Mead as well as the second and third books in the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. During my previous trip to the bookstore I saw that my card wasn’t working but I hoped that this time would be different. I knew for a fact I had money so I had no idea what could possibly cause my card to fail. Anyway, I made my way to the till where the manager greeted me with “Back again for more books?”and I responded with a bright and bubbly “yes.” The lady paying next to me declared “You can never have too many books”. This is a sentiment I usually agree with but as an unemployed person, my book-buying was getting to be a bit problematic. So I told the woman with a laugh, “There is such a thing as too many books when you’re unemployed.”
I paid for my books and hoped for the best as I handed my card over. It failed. Sighing, I asked the cashier to please take out two of the books. “How much are they?” asked the woman who was paying next to me.
Still cheerful on a book-high, I answered “R69 each.” In the back of my mind, I could picture her buying the books for her kids and how happy they would be to get such great books at such low prices. But then she did something I never would have expected anyone to do- she took out a R100 note and placed it on the counter. “No, you don’t have to” came my automatic response to anyone giving me money. My mind still hadn’t processed what was happening.
“Take it,” she insisted firmly. “From one book-lover to another.” She sounded so certain of herself that all I could do was mentally calculate how much more I needed to pay. I handed the remaining amount to the cashier, my mind still reeling. I tried to find the woman to thank her. Did I thank her? I didn’t know. I didn’t remember. It all happened so fast that it seemed like a blur. I looked around me in confusion, trying to find the woman or a camera crew. Who pays for other people’s books? I’ve heard about “paying it forward” but that’s not a book-thing or a South African thing. Was I on TV? Was someone filming me? But no matter how hard I looked I couldn’t find the kind lady or the camera crew. Eventually I decided I must have been having some really odd dream. I dreamt of buying books all the time. Why shouldn’t this be any different? But once I got my change back and got ready to leave the store, the manager remarked “lucky you”. So maybe it wasn’t a dream. “I can’t believe that just happened,” I replied. I spent the rest of the morning trying to figure out exactly how everything happened because it was so mind-blowing. I’ve heard of stories about “paying it forward” but I never ever thought something like this would happen to me.

My Complete Haul
Have you read any of these books yet? What did you think of them?
I reviewed an advance review copy of this book in return for my honest review.
I was so thrilled to finally read this book. I’ve been waiting for this book to release since last December and it certainly didn’t disappoint.
Sophie has sworn off love after her last relationship went bad. She has feelings for her online friend, Lex but it doesn’t matter since she and him will never meet. Or will they? As Sophie and Lex grow closer, Sophie meets Caleb. Caleb is the best man for her sister’s wedding and he is annoyingly happy all the time. Caleb’s bright friendly personality is the exact opposite of Sophie’s sarcastic, not-always-polite nature. As they’re forced to spend time together Sophie starts to develop feelings for Caleb while Lex suggests that he and Sophie meet.
My favourite part of this book was that I knew how it would end. Rachel Morgan’s books always have a twist and it delighted me to no end that I managed to figure it out. The actual ending was a bit predictable to me but I loved it nonetheless. I found the character of Sophie easy to relate to. Unfortunately since I saw so much of myself in Sophie I ended up hating Caleb’s happy nature. (Seriously dude, why are you always happy? Are you eating Happy Pills for breakfast?) I thought Caleb made a great love interest for Sophie especially since they were so different. I loved how Lex’s character was pretty well-developed even when he was a million miles away and all the you could see of him was his messages to Sophie.
This book captures perfectly the delights and chaos that occurs when family come together especially during the magical time of a wedding (am I the only one who finds weddings magical? Coz I really liked the way the wedding festivities were done in this book). This book was well-written and I loved seeing characters from previous books. However I wish I had seen more of Adam from The Trouble With Flirting. I don’t know if this is the last book in the series or not but I really want to see more of these characters. This book was sweet but left a hole in my heart when it ended. I think all fans of contemporary romance fiction should try reading this series.
Every bookworm knows how difficult it is to find space for books. Here are my tips to save space on your bookshelf so that you can buy books without worrying about where you’re going to keep them:
1) Store your books horizontally- I don’t know the science or logic behind this but somehow I can store more books horizontally than vertically. If you don’t mind not having access to some books (ie, the ones at the bottom of the pile), stack your books horizontally.
2) Utilise the space near your ceiling- if you have space near your ceiling you should be able to store books there as well.
3) Mix and match genres- I would love to have a shelf dedicated solely to one author or genre. Unfortunately I cannot afford that space or cost. Instead my shelves consist of “read” and “unread” books which are then divided into sections depending on genre. This makes it easier for me to find the book I need while still using as little space as possible.
4) Get rid of books you don’t need/read- yes this option hurts me as well but think of how much joy your books could bring to someone else. I usually donate my books to a charity where they sell it. It’s a win-win. Someone buys your books and you’re supporting a good cause.
5) Play book tetris- books come in different sizes so you sometimes an unusual gap in your shelf can be used to store a book (or three).
What tips do you use to save space on your shelves? I’d love to know.
The first Saturday of the month is the day that the SPCA hosts their monthly booksale. It is also today! Here are the books I bought:
Lots and lots of Nora Roberts and J.D Robbs (I’m a bit disappointed that the books aren’t in such good condition like last month but I was really ecstatic to have Nora Roberts books. I love her work!)
I also made a quick stop to Bargain Books and got these gems on special:
I read the first 3 books in the series so I’m really excited to see how this ends.
I’ve yet to read a Colleen Hoover novel that doesn’t leave an impact and this one is no different. In fact I was having a pretty great time with this book and was sucked in until I realised “Wait! This is a Colleen Hoover book. Something has to go wrong and it’s going to hurt when it does.”So I read. And I read. And then the bad thing happened and I cried. I cried because it was nothing that I had expected. Nothing on the internet, the book’s synopsis or even Colleen Hoover’s social media alerted at precisely what the conflict in this book would be. Believe me, the conflict is MAJOR! I understand the importance of not revealing spoilers so I’ll try my best not to (it’s so damn hard not to!). I will however say that this is a book that every woman needs to read. The significance of the words “It Ends With Us” is beautiful.Lily and Ryle have an instant connection when they meet. Despite Ryle’s aversion to relationships the two of them are blissfully happy. Then they’re not. Lily’s first love returns to town and her relationship with Ryle is threatened. Except Lily’s ex isn’t the only risk to both her relationship and happiness.I couldn’t put this book down (except for when Colleen Hoover’s words moved me and then I needed to share them on social media). I cried throughout the last few chapters but I enjoyed them nonetheless. Lastly (and this might be considered a SPOILER SO PROCEED WITH CAUTION), I especially loved that I was able to fall for the villain in this novel. He was flawed but he was an amazing person. I loved that I was able to hate him and love him at the same time. I pitied him but I desperately wanted him gone. I’ve never felt such complex emotions for a fictional character before. I’ve always enjoyed Colleen Hoover’s work but this is a work of art.
I was so eager to read this book that I bought it as soon as I saw it without even bothering to look at the price. I am a huge fan of Melissa Delport’s writing but “Rainfall” had me sobbing like a baby so I never reviewed it. Reading “My Name is Simon” however is such a comfort after “Rainfall”. This isn’t a full novel but Simon’s character and his motivations are shown so well. As much as I hated him it was impossible not to feel for this guy who has had most of his life ripped from him. I desperately wanted to hate this book (to match my initial hatred of Simon) but I couldn’t. “My Name is Simon” is incredibly well-written and the book finishes beautifully.
Raven by Rachel Morgan
