April Book Haul

HI, MY NAME IS CHLOE AND I AM A BOOKWORM
So I bought a lot of books in April, and it was all because I found this £3 bookshop in Bristol, where all the books are obviously £3. And is if that wasn't good enough, they had a offer on of buy 4 books for £10. So being the massive bookworm that I am, I wasn't about to pass up the chance to buy books for cheap.

So here are all the books I've bought this month...

THE BOOKS

'All I Know Now' by Carrie Hope Fletcher. This book is a mixture of stories from Carrie's life as a teenager and advice for people who might be going through the same things she did. For example, there are stories and advice on bullying, heartbreak and making friends. I'm about a third of the way through it and it's great. If you are a teenager, you probably need this in your life. And if you're not a teenager, you still probably need this in your life. 

'The Song of the Quarkbeast' by Jasper Fforde. This is the sequel to his book 'The Last Dragonslayer' which I read a few years ago and loved. This book is about Jennifer Strange who is running an employment agency for magicians. I bought this in the £3 bookshop!

'How We Met' by Katy Regan. I hadn't heard of this, but the cover was what made me want to buy it, it's so pretty! This book is about a group of friends who have to try and find a way of living without their friend, Liv, who has just died. I'm not entirely sure what else happens in it other that because I haven't read it yet, but it sounds like a good YA/romance novel, so i'm excited to get into it! This is also from the £3 bookshop.

'A Long Way Down' by Nick Hornby. This book is about 4 people who all end up on the roof at the same time, all with the intention of killing themselves. But when they all meet, they stop each other from doing that. I hadn't heard of this book until picking up, but I did know about the film adaptation of it, which I thought looked quite good from the trailers. Plus, there is a quote from Johnny Depp on the back, saying that he loved it, which seems like a good sign. AND, it was £3 so I couldn't really not buy it.

'Flyte' by Angie Sage. This is the sequel to her book 'Magyk' and is part of the Septimus Heap series. I read 'Magyk' a few years ago (at the same time as I was reading The Last Dragonslayer weirdly) and really enjoyed it, so as this was just £3 I decided to pick it up and continue on with the series. This book is about Septimus' mission to rescue his adoptive sister Jenna, who was kidnapped by their brother, Simon Heap, who clearly has turned bad. It's very magical as they're all wizards, and as it's predominately aimed at children, it's a pretty light and easy read. 

'Days of Blood and Starlight' by Laini Taylor. This is the sequel to 'The Daughter of Smoke and Bone' which I read last year and absolutely adored. I'm not exactly sure what this one is about, and to avoid spoilers for those of you who haven't read the first book, I won't write what the blurb says here! But the first book is about a girl called Karou who runs errands for Brimstone, who has raised her. However, the door that leads to 'Elsewhere', a more magical version of earth, is closing and Karou needs to decide whether to stay in her normal life in Prague or go to Elsewhere. I'm so excited to start reading this because the first book was brilliant!

'Lips Touch' by Laini Taylor. This is a collection of short stories, that are all connected by the theme of kissing. The three stories are called 'Goblin Fruit', 'These Spicy Little Curses' and 'Hatchling'. All three stories are very magical, but all with a slight hint of darkness in them. I have read this one, and I loved it! My favourite story from it was 'Goblin Fruit' but they were all excellent. 

'Sophie's World' by Jostein Gaarder. This book was actually lent to me by my best friend Amber (the person from my blog post 'Human Stories' <3) so technically it shouldn't be part of this haul, but hey this is my blog and I make the rules. This book is about a young girl called Sophie who starts getting letters in her mailbox about philosophy. She doesn't know who is sending them and so tries to find out. It's part fiction, part philosophy lessons, and it's all very mysterious. 

FIN

And so that is all the books from the month of April. Well actually I also got 'The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender' by Leslye Walton, which Mr B's sent me for the reading year that I have with them, but it's at home so I couldn't photograph and include it in this because I'm at university right now! But that book was amazing, so I'd definitely recommend it! 

Let me know in the comments if you have read any of these books, or if not, tell me if you bought any books this month! 

Thanks for reading, make sure to follow me for new posts at least once a week!

Love Chloe x

All WE Know Now

CARRIE
If you are someone who spends a lot of time on Youtube (like me) then I'm sure you already know Carrie Hope Fletcher, or as she goes by on youtube, ItsWayPastMyBedtime. And if you do know her then you'll also know that her book, All I Know Now, came out last week. I very excitedly went into Waterstones this week and bought my copy of her book, and then sat down in their café with a latte and a big slice of millionaires shortbread and began reading it.

And so, in celebration of Carrie's book coming out I decided to tell you five things I have learnt during my nineteen years of life, or more simply, all I know now...

1. Bread Makes You Fat
Now this one might seem obvious to you lot, but picture a 14 year old me, happily watching KickThePJ videos and not watching Scott Pilgrim vs The World. It wasn't until I watched that film a few years ago that I understood a lot of the references PJ had made in his videos about it. So when PJ said in a video that bread doesn't make you fat, I stupidly took his word for it (I don't know why, I was young). Cut to me watching Scott Pilgrim vs The World and hearing the rest of the line and it's then that I find out that bread does make you fat. My mum confirms it. My world is shattered. I can't eat endless amounts of bread and not get fat. Now, let's get real here for a second; I still eat a lot of bread, that will never change, bread is my one true love. But I do now know that it's definitely not good for me.

2. Your Makeup Doesn't Come Off When You Sleep
Well that's not strictly true, it does come off when you sleep (the evidence is on your nice was-white pillow), but it doesn't properly come off. When I was first getting into makeup in my early teens I remember my mum telling me to take my makeup off before going to bed, and I responded my saying 'It comes off when I sleep, I don't need to.' YES YOU DO YOUNG CHLOE. Taking your makeup off before going to sleep is the best, and easiest, thing you can do if you want clearer skin. It stops dirt and oils from building up and plus, it feels so good after a long day (unless you have really good makeup on, then it just feels heart-breaking, but you gotta power through that pain).

3. It's Better To Have One Flower Than 100 Weeds
This is basically just me saying, it's okay to not have hundreds of friends, but making it about plants because why not. I have never been good at making friends, and I have about eight years of experience in not having friends in my classes. (I was that one person who loved seating plans in school because it meant I didn't have to worry about not having friends to sit next to!) But I've come to realise that it's okay to not have loads of friends, as long as the friends you do have are rad as heck. If your friends are amazing and love you as much as you love them then don't you worry about only being a three person group. And it's far better having just a small handful of wonderful friends than having lots of fake friends who don't really care about you (speaking from experience here, trust me on this).

4. Don't Do Anything Once You've Painted Your Nails
I am the worst at chipping freshly painted nails, I've been known to chip or scratch my nail varnish within minutes of painting them, so when I say wait at least an hour before you do anything when you've just painted your nails, TRUST ME.

5. Fuel Your Passion 
Whether your passion is writing, photography, playing guitar or acting, fuel it! If that means spending hours practising, or grabbing five minutes to write something when you have the chance, then do it. My dream is to be an author and it always has been (apart from that weird time when I was very young and wanted to be an ice cream van driver), but for some reason between the ages of about 11 and 14 I stopped writing. I have no idea why, but I am constantly grateful for the forums on a gaming app I used to play that made me start writing again. Because of those forums I rediscovered my love of stories and writing, and now here I am five years later studying creative writing at university and getting my passion for writing fuelled every single day. So don't give up on your passions, keep going with them, and you'll reach your goal soon. Promise.

VOILA


Well, there we go, five things I know now. I hope some of those helped you, even if it was just a little bit. If you want more life lessons then make sure you go read Carrie's book because it's wonderful.

Thanks for reading, remember to follow me as I post once a week (and very often more)!

Love Chloe x

HAVE SOME LINKS:
'All I Know Now': https://www.waterstones.com/book/all-i-know-now/carrie-hope-fletcher/9780751557510
Carrie on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ItsWayPastMyBedTime
Me on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGiddyElf