UPCOMING RELEASES: AUGUST

August is right around the corner, as are the publication of these exciting new books!

The World Doesn't Require You by Rion Amilcar Scott

20th

First up, isn't this cover just great? The minute I saw it I was intrigued. This is a short story collection and I think all of these stories are set in Nigeria and we follow all kinds of different people. It's always difficult to predict what a short story collection is going to be like or what it really is about until you've read it, but I'm definitely going to give this a go.

A Fire Sparkling by Julianne Maclean

1st

This is a historical fiction novel about a woman who discovers a photograph of her grandmother that rattles her and as she digs deeper into her family history, we're transported back to World Word II and see her grandmother's love, loss and courage during wartime.

Keeping Lucy by T. Greenwood

6th

This is a historical fiction novel set in Massachusetts in 1969 and we follow a mother who gives birth to a daughter with Downs syndrome and then has the child taken from her when her husband sends their daughter off to a school for the feeble minded. Sounds extremely heartbreaking, but interesting as well! I've never read any books dealing with this topic before, so I'm very interested in it!

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

6th

This is a YA retelling and it's about this family living in isolation at a manor and initially there are twelve sisters but when they start dying, it's believed that the family have been cursed by the gods.

The Swallows by Lisa Lutz

13th

This is a mystery thriller set at a prep school where the new creative writing teacher gives his students an assignment and the students answers raise some disturbing questions and eventually sparks a gender war with deadly consequences. Sounds totally crazy, but I feel like it could also be really good! Also, the cover is obviously gorgeous!

BOOK HAUL: JULY

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

S P O N S O R E D : O N E  B O O K  S E N T  B Y  P U B L I S H E R

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This year is flying by and July is already almost over! For me, I'm pretty okay with that because the closer we get to autumn the happier I am. The summer here has been pretty all right, a lot milder than last year and we've had a bit of rain here and there which is good for the nature (and for those of us who just like being inside!)

Today is actually the first day of the three weeks I've got off for the summer, which is pretty amazing! I've got trips to Gothenburg, Bergen and London planned which I'm obviously very much looking forward to. One is a trip with one of my best friends, one is with my family and one I'm flying solo which is fantastic. I'm also planning on getting loads of reading in, which is the best part of having time off work!

So hopefully, I'll have time to get to some of these books I've got this month (although going to London with all its wonderful bookshops is probably going to do very little for reducing my physical TBR, let's be real!)

( a f f i l i a t e  l i n k s  +  b o o k  m a r k e d  *  s e n t  b y  p u b l i s h e r )

The Burning by Laura Bates

No Friend But the Mountain by Behrouz Boochani

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Solar Bones by Mike McCormack

Bring Me Back by B. A. Paris

The Puppet Show by M. W. Craven

Unnatural Causes by Dr Richard Shepherd

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak

* The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

The Quick Roasting Tin by Rukmini Iyer

I hope you're all having a great day and enjoying the summer!

BOOK REVIEW: THE SIXTH EXTINCTION BY ELIZABETH KOLBERT

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

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Title: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
Author: Elizabeth Kolbert
Published: 2014
Language: English
Pages: 336
Rating: 3/5

Summary:
Over the last half-billion years, five mass extinctions have occured on Earth and in this, Elizabeth Kolbert explores how we're probably in the midst of a sixth one and this time, humans are likely the cause of it.

Review:
I really enjoyed this book and I feel like I learned a lot from it!

This is written in an accessible way and it's pretty easy to read, even if you have very little knowledge of this topic beforehand. The chapters all focus on a single species, some who have already gone extinct (like dinosaurs) and some who going extinct now and throughout these chapters, we get a pretty solid overview of all the mass extinctions, inlcuding the one going on right now. I think this makes a difficult topic very easy to understand for most people.

Now, I do think there's a little bit of a lull in the middle chapters, where I found my interest waning quite a bit. While I found the overall theme of extinction really fascinating, some of the species she looks into weren't really all that intriguing.

It was an eye-opening read though and I'm really happy I read it, even if it did make me feel quite a bit of anxiety about the state of the Earth (as if I wasn't worried already).

You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads

#FRIDAYREADS

TRY A CHAPTER: TRANSLATED FICTION

BRITISH LIBRARY CRIME CLASSIC: MURDER UNDERGROUND

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

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This is one of my favorite covers on my shelves! The lovely Murder Underground by Mavis Doriel Hay.

NEW ON MY TBR

BOOK REVIEW: RED RISING BY PIERCE BROWN

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

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Title: Red Rising
Author: Pierce Brown
Published: 2014
Language: English
Pages: 389
Rating: 4/5

This is the first book in the Red Rising trilogy.

Summary:
On Mars, the Reds, the lowest class in a color coded society, are working to extract enough elements from the ground to terraform the planet so that humans can live there. At least that's what they've always been told.

Review:
This is one of the most entertaining and enjoyable books I've read all year.

I've seen this compared to The Hunger Games and I feel like that comparison is accurate. It has a lot of the same elements to it, like how unfair the society is and how our main character is from the lowest class etc. I think there's something really compelling about that kind of thing, because it mirrors things in our society that is not great, which is what dystopian novels are supposed to do. It's an exciting, enthralling and fun book to read.

I quite liked our cast of characters in here, although there are a lot of them and it's sometimes a little hard to keep track of everyone. I also really like the setting, I felt like I could really picture the different places and feel the atmosphere of them.

One thing I will say though is that I was surprised by how the story being set on Mars felt strangely irrelevant; the Mars is depicted in this book is basically kind of just like Earth, and I would've loved to see a little bit more of the... space aspect of it. I also thought the story did drag out a little bit in parts, especially in the middle and then I've also heard people say that this isn't YA, but it definitely is (although it feels less so than for instance The Hunger Games).

It's not an entirely revolutionary story, but there's something incredibly compelling about in nonetheless. I'm very much looking forward to reading the next one in this series, as I'm curious to see this world expand and learn more about it. I'd highly recommend it to all my science fiction fans out there.

You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads

UPDATED: THE CRUELTY FREE MAKE-UP AND SKINCARE I USE

BOOK REVIEW: BRING ME BACK BY B. A. PARIS

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

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Title: Bring Me Back
Author: B. A. Paris
Published: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 338
Rating: 3/5

Summary:
A woman disappears on a trip with her boyfriend in France and resurfaces twelve years later when someone thinks they spot her close by to where her boyfriend is now living with his new girlfriend.

Review:
This was a pretty all right mystery thriller, but nothing to go crazy over.

This has just enough suspense to keep me going, but definitely had some dull parts in it. I think it starts off a lot stronger than it finishes and I didn't really care very deeply about the ending to be honest, I just wanted to know what happened so I could move on with my life. The characters are okay, although I think they're a little forgettable and the mystery was interesting enough.

Overall, I feel like this is very much your average mystery thriller. It's not bad but it's not like you're really missing out if you don't read it.

You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads

#FRIDAYREADS

3 CLASSICS PERFECT FOR SUMMER

BOOK REVIEW: YOUR TURN TO DIE BY SUE WALLMAN

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

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Title: Your Turn To Die
Author: Sue Wallman
Published: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 264
Rating: 1/5

Summary:
A group of teenagers with their families gather at an old house to celebrate the New Year, as they do every year, but this time around, they discover a dark secret about the house they're staying in.

Review:
I don't know why I even bothered to finish this book because it was just not my jam at all.

I liked the concept of the story, which is why I picked it up in a bookstore when I saw it, but there was very little about this that I liked when I started reading it. The writing style is fine, it's very easy to read and the setting is semi-okay but the mystery was boring and the characters vapid, bland and uninteresting to read about and some of them were insufferable. A lot of what was going on just felt really stupid to be honest.

I'm sure some people would enjoy this, but for me, this was just not a good book. There are far better and more enticing mysteries out there you're better off spending your time on.

You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads

THINGS I LIKE NO. 24

It's time to share another one of my favorite things, this time from LUSH! I've previously told you about the Charity Pot Hand and Body Lotion, as well as their fresh face masks, but for some reason I totally forgot to tell you about this one!

I ran out of this Vanishing Cream a few months ago, but stopped by LUSH the other day and picked up another one. Now, this one is a cream I don't use every day, I only use it on the days where I wake up and my skin feels dry, so instead of using a toner before I put on my makeup, I use this for a bit of moisture and it works really well.

On my skin, this sinks in super fast and a pot will last me for a really long time. I quite like the smell of it, which is surprising, because I usually don't love lavender, but it's not too overpowering in this one. It's also got rose water in it, as well as shea butter and it's just perfect for me. It's also, of course, cruelty free (as are all LUSH products).

BOOK REVIEW: THE END WE START FROM BY MEGAN HUNTER

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

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Title: The End We Start From
Author: Megan Hunter
Published: 2017
Language: English
Pages: 129
Rating: 2/5

Summary:
In the midst of an environmental crisis that floods all of London, a woman gives birth and soon becomes a refugee.

Review:
I feel a little ambivalent about this one and I find I don't really have that many thoughts or feelings about it.

I really liked the writing style of this, but I sort of wish there had been more of it in this. A lot of what is happening is sort of vague and I just wanted to know more about what was going on. I liked the characters, but again, I wish I had gotten to know them better. The whole thing just feels a little bit short to me.

The ambience the writing creates in this and the setting is so interesting, but I just felt like none of it really made it across the finish line to make me care. So overall, a little bit of a disappointing read.

You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads

JULY WRAP UP PART I