Bad Book Buying Habits Anonymous | Book Confession + Haul

Welcome to the Bad Book Buying Habits Anonymous. When was your last bookish purchase? I’ll start. Hi, I’m Joy and it’s been 0️⃣ days since I’ve last purchased a book.

Now, I may say buying second-hand books ‘don’t count’ but that doesn’t detract the fact I’m still running out of shelf space. 🙈 Anyway, rather than shame my book habits I wanted to display my latest book haul. We all know I’m always touting that I want to read more science fiction and thrillers. Well. I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole and loving it. 😁

What’s was the last book you bought/borrowed?

I’ve pre-ordered A Deadly Education and Kingdom of the Wicked and I’m planning to buy Raybearers later this week. I’m excited for both as they all sound so promising (plus I’ve so many positive reviews about Raybearers).

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Waterstones Mail | Book Hauls

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Hope everyone has been well. Given this whole situation, I’m fully aware of how we (okay, I mean myself) have taken full advantage of online shopping.

Anyway, props to the postal workers because I’ve received some book mail today. (I may or may not have obsessively checked the tracking every day since ordering but that’s not the focus here haha). Thankfully, I’ve managed to fight off temptation and reduce my original total of eight books down to four. Progress. Now, I’ve never worked in Waterstones, but I’ve ordered four books, paid for postage for one package and have been receiving each book one. By. One. (Insert privileged crying here). As of today, I’ve received two books. I’ve received the last book of a series (haha) and a standalone.

My anticipated book haul:

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (1/3 of Winternight series)

The Winter and the Witch by Katherine Arden (3/3 of Winternight series)

Pocketful of Crows by Joanne M. Harris (standalone)

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave (standalone)

Okay, I’ll be honest. I usually prefer UK covers over the US version and that definitely was the case for The Bear and the Nightingale. AND! Because vain Joy just had to purchase the UK versions, I disregarded the fact that the middle of the series was out of print. LOL. I usually prefer to have one type and one copy of a book/series but that usually isn’t the case. Have a gander of my The Folk In The Air trilogy: two copies of two of the books (first and last book) but!!! Again I’m missing the second book??!! I am noticing this reoccurring pattern here…

Okay. Let’s ignore my terrible shopping habits and marvel at the two gorgeous books!

 

 

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#ARCAugust Attempt |Book Thoughts

Oh no. I think I developed a new bad habit and it’s in the form of constantly requesting titles on Netgalley. What’s Netgalley? Netgalley is a website where you can request Advanced Reader Copies (ARC) of books in exchange for reviews and raising awareness/sharing the love. My little eager heart has been requesting all these amazing books and I know there are various posts recommending you to NOT request away. And yet, here I am…

I am unsurprised and unimpressed with myself haha. (Why am I like this?)

Does anyone have any specific criteria as to what they do and don’t request? Because I need an adult. How do I control myself?

I like to read broadly as much as I can, so I’m always open with genres but I can see myself falling into a hole of continuously requesting for books (and I kind of am already?). There are so many great books out there! I don’t want to overwhelm myself with all these commitments (but let’s be honest, I’m always overwhelmed haha). Also, I like to keep my ratio above 80% because lol it tells you to and my vanity likes the badge.

Anyway, I’m a temperamental mood reader, so here’s the plan: I’m going to join #ARCAugust. Or at least, attempt to.

In actuality, I had been planned to binge read all my ARCs and I happened to see a friend post they’re taking part in #ARCAugust so why not join?

Chosen Ones — April (the publishers threw a wishbone at me???? thank you??)

The Girl and the Stars — 30 April (currently reading)

Dark Skies — 5 May (writing review help)

Santiago’s Road Home — 20 June *date changed (writing review help)

The Midnight Bargain — 13 October (just go accepted??? wow thank you)

The Tea Dragon Tapestry — 13 October (currently reading)

How to Break an Evil Curse — 13 October (currently reading)

The Stitcher and the Mute — 12 November (my foolish self didn’t realise this was a SEQUEL; currently reading the first one)

The City of Zirdai — 21 June 2021 (AGAIN my foolish self didn’t realise this was a SEQUEL; currently reading the first one)

 

TO DO LIST:

☒ Read book ☐ write review ☐ post review close to the published date

There are three steps!! Three! Yet why is this so difficult? Why am I like this???

 

Anyway, how’s your reading going? Do you read any ARCs? Otherwise, how do you organise your reading?

 

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Book International Giveaway

To celebrate my Bookstagram anniversary, I’m holding an International book giveaway where there will be two winners. One winner will win a book of their choice equivalent to $25 and another winner will be an Australian based person who will win a bookish swag pack (candles, book art, book prints, etc.). 

For more details, check out my Bookstagram.

For more details of my International Book Giveaway, check out my Bookstagram. Here is the post.

 

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Bookstaversary (Bookstagram Anniversary)

Like many people, I’ve always enjoyed reading and then stumbled a little corner of the internet filled with fellow book lovers. I discovered Bookstagram, Booktube, and later, Book twitter and loved the concept of it. After many hours (possibly hours) of perusing Bookstagram and binge-watching Booktube, I decided to join the Book community. One year later, and who knows how much dollars spent, I’ve joined a beautiful community and filled the spaces of both my bookshelf and heart with amazing friends and books. 

I’ve made many book friends in the book community and they spark so much joy in my life. Not only do they hold bookish chats, readathons, but also go above and beyond and somehow sent me bookish candles for my birthday. How sweet and thoughtful! 

The candles my beautiful bookish friends gifted me included two candles—’Cardan’ and ‘Jude’. The two candles are inspired by the characters in The Folk in the Air trilogy (The Cruel Prince). The Cardan candle has a fruity aroma and smells so delicious! On the other hand, the Jude candle smells of cinnamon. Also, not only do these candles smell amazing, they are also gorgeous to look at!

Anyway, the past year has been truly amazing and I am so glad to have joined the online book community.

Bookstagram made me do it. Cruel Prince was the first book Bookstagram influenced me to read. This book is Illumicrate’s edition of The Cruel Prince. Also, look at the gorgeous candles my Bookstagram fam gifted me—aren’t they so pretty?

 

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Sneaking through the window | Book Rambles

Hello, everyone! My apologies for being a little MIA here. As some of you may or may not know, I’m a frontline worker. More specifically, my specialty lies in critical care (ughh I hate saying that lol). I’ll be honest, given the whole situation in the world, I’ve been feeling quite discouraged. Other than what’s going in the world, work had been (and continues to be) tough and whilst I work with amazing people like with every job, things can be busy and/or overwhelming. Not only that, I had a situation that made me question a few things and as a result lost inspiration to read, blog, and go on Bookstagram.

My self-growth tbr