Loving these chapter quotes 💅

If I didn‘t live in Australia and I could wear these ugly Christmas sweaters without getting heat stroke... I would!

HBD to Astrid Lindgren!

I first discovered Pippi as a movie, I watched the new adventures of Pippi Longstocking as a kid on repeat and was a fully fledged adult before I found, read and loved the books!

Pictured : Astrid and the actress who played Pippi in the original film.

Right in the fan fiction

O is for Obernewtyn

A series that in many ways defined my reading pathway in high school but that I haven‘t finished reading due to some rather extreme wait times between books! (The whole thing is out now though if you are interested)

#JolabokaflodSwap is back for its second year, hosted by @MaleficentBookDragon - I missed it last year but spending Christmas Eve with book and chocolate sounds like a tradition that I can embrace (if not pronounce).

If you are interested, head over to @MaleficentBookDragon ‘s page to sign up!

N is for The Nancys

Written for adults but with a 11 year old protagonist with a deep love of Nancy Drew and a rather big murder mystery to solve 👁 I ended up getting both my grandparents to read this ☺️ and we all enjoyed it (Nana perhaps most of all)

*interest in Hamlet intensifies*

M is for Merryll of the Stones - a beautiful book that spans Australia and Wales and completely captivated by teen self...

L is for Lioness Rampant, the fourth book in the excellent Song of the Lioness quartet

Not sure when I last reread this series but I‘m overdue for some Alanna time!

Anastasia, magical wedding planner to the supernatural has landed *the* wedding of the decade but things start to go awry when the grooms vampire mother is staked at the rehearsal dinner and all signs point to the human bride as the guilty party. Anastasia has to balance an angry boss, her own loyalty to her clients and an attraction to the rather handsome SPA officer on the case... This is a currently free kindle ebook.

K is for Key...

I bought this more than a few years ago on my first visit to Adelaide- mostly because it was a signed edition by a local author... it remains on my tbr

💡

Love that Dumbledore has a baguette in his pocket!

J is for The Just City...

I really like the clean edged simplicity of this book cover... of a book I received in a now defunct book box...

Although I remain unsure why Christmas is in the title (it‘s mentioned only once in the last chapter), I quite enjoyed this - even though I didn‘t quite crack the case - and indeed got swept up in more than one red herring, I did call the ending! This was originally published in 1947 - so the author was a contemporary of our beloved Agatha Christie!

I really wanted to love this - and there were a lot of positives but I felt it moved super slowly... like the book was halfway done before they even kind of maybe decided that they liked each other 🙄😂 that said, I‘d be keen to read the next one.

A very bad move, indeed.

I is for The Island and the Ring...

I freaking love this book and I‘m sad that I don‘t see it around much - I mean - our heroine is fleeing a burning castle on a war horse, holding a sword with a red cloak fluttering behind her...

I first found this in my high school library which was full of unlikely books (especially the junior library!) - no restrictions on the reading material ☺️

H is for How to Stop Time... yet another unread book from my bookshelf which I was super pumped for - since I bought this in London on holiday and happily added this hardback to my luggage 😂🙄

G is for Gods of Jade and Shadow...

One of my most anticipated reads for 2019 which I haven‘t gotten around to yet 😬

Another from my series that I used to love that I should finish but it‘s been awhile imma start at the start area of my kindle and I LOVED THIS! I love Nora, I‘m well on the way to loving Mick and the mystery element was enjoyable and a little surprising! There are 10 books in this series so wish this bad at finishing series human luck!!

F is for Fangirl...

A book I didn‘t read for ages because I was sceptical about all the gushing I‘d seen on Instagram 😂

🤔

E is for Esme‘s Wish, which I adored!

For me, Esme‘s feelings and the small indignities that come of being in a blended family were all too real!

D is for Deep Secret

Tbh, I think I have another copy on my shelf somewhere cause every time I come across it I think ‘oooh, I don‘t have this‘ 😂

Another one I was saving for the Christmas season... even though it turned out not that Christmas-y! This is a prequel to the Tiger‘s Eye mystery series and it‘s great but oh so short 🎅

I really enjoyed this, the examination of privilege was a key theme along side a quest to fulfil a sisterly promise which by the end was quite epic in proportions - loved the talking animal quest companions, the good wizard with a ceremonial white beard, magic carpets that wrap you up tight to fly, the origin of Snow White/Merlin and a librarian that turned into a owl in moments of stress...

‘Yes, yes, my name is... you would say... ah... Champion Smooth Stone Oysterbreaker, I think. Of the Yarrow River Clan‘ ...

“If I‘m not back by nightfall, come and take a very careful look,” said Anya “but I don‘t expect to need rescuing. I‘m not that kind of Princess.”

“What kind of Princess are you?”

“Not the kind that needs rescuing,” said Anya firmly.

The scream was very loud and went on for a very long time. Princess Anya, who was reading in the castle library, ignored it at first but eventually lifted her head from her book to listen... it was her older sister Morven screaming, which was not unusual, but the intensity and duration of this particular scream were quite out of the ordinary.

“Put me down and have that archer shoot me! I‘m a traitor”

“Don‘t be silly” said Anya. “Your a librarian who is unlucky enough to work for an evil sorcerer, that‘s all.”

A friend recently proclaimed this ‘too graphic to listen to as an audio book‘, I was sceptical - but now that I‘ve read it - I see her point! Quick read, slightly rushed ending but I enjoyed it!

Awhile ago I optimistically downloaded a bunch of book series that I loved in the early 00s but never finished (usually cause the library didn‘t always buy the lot) and this was one of them! Garnet is a witch with a dark past which lead to her sharing her body with (the) Lilith and Sebastian is a alchemist/vampire who can function in the daylight. There are a bunch of quirky side characters, a vampire ex bf and Vatican Witch Hunters... light fun!

C is for Charlie Bone... which is another series that I really should be getting back to 🤪 seeing as how I bought the set!

I patted this one!

My favourite horse on the field (they‘re all magnificent tho!). His name is Valiant 😍

Spending the weekend in rainy Ballarat to see Australia take on England in a jousting tournament at Kryal Castle... for some ashes or something super original 😂

Literally sat out in the rain to do this and 10/10 will be repeating the process tomorrow! I‘m hopefully that it will either not rain (unlikely) or that the swimming board that I bought to sit on will be more waterproof than what I used today 😂😂

I got my book signed! It was an extra specially good night because not only did I get to see my much beloved Garth Nix - he was ‘in conversation‘ with Amie Kaufman who is hilarious, asks great questions and can generally be relied on for quality banter ☺️ and then I went to see the new Terminator movie 🍿

October Wrap Up : 8 books! (4 library books, 3 off my shelf and 1 ebook) Am I still behind on my goodreads challenge? Yes. Is this a concern? Also yes. Favourite reads this month include : The Bone Charmer by Breena Shields, Harley Merlin & the Secret Coven by Bella Forrest (which is allegedly what grown up Harry Potter fans are reading now!), Early Riser by Jasper Fforde (still waiting on that last Nursery Crime book!)

B is for Black Maria

I was super excited to come across this at a rare book fair earlier this year but that excitement has not yet translated to me actually reading this book... I think I‘m reluctant to read DWJ books that I haven‘t already experienced because I don‘t want to not have the possibility of a new story, idk 😐

I was saving this for December... so I‘m a month early 😂 I‘m on a slippery slope for all out Christmas fun now! This is was great! Lots of quality banter, reflections on how life changes (from finishing up schooling and getting a ‘real‘ job to spending Christmas with your sister who has just become a vampire). Good set up for the next book (this one is a novella) with a mysterious vampire who seems to be following Gigi around...

I‘m participating in an ABC book challenge over on Instagram and thought I might as well share my photos here as well, I‘m not sure if my bookshelves will contain a book that begins with every letter of the alphabet - time will tell!

This was one of my absolute favourite reads of 2018 - it‘s sadly underrated!

I dare you not to sing it ☺️

If this is on your tbr now is an excellent time to start reading!

🤪😂

Post hand therapy lunch! Maybe tacos were not the best choice with this new finger splint...

And for a change of scenery from my all adult non fiction on my work desk all of the time... today I was blessed with a little junior fiction! FOR NARNIAAAAAAA!

Just bought my tickets to a weekend long Harry Potter marathon in December!

Films 1-6 on day one, home for a sleep and then returning for films 7&8 and the first two Fantastic Beasts films... which to be honest, I‘m not sure I‘ll stay for 🤪

Also just read that there is only going to be one more Fantastic Beasts film... I thought there was going to be at least 5?!

I finally got around to reading one of my most anticipated reads for 2019! I really enjoyed it! It‘s a tale of fate and freedom - two timelines for Saskia are caused when she breaks her kenning bone during a bone reading that determines apprenticeships. In the first, Saskia trains as a Bone Reader, in the second, as a tutor who uncovers something about a shadow market and deaths in her family that she wasn‘t meant to...

Simply beautiful! Look at those faces!!! I love Katie O‘Neill‘s use of colour - it‘s so restful and inviting, I can imagine loving living in this mountain village ☺️ especially if I got to hang out with the grumpy mountain camomile dragon 😂😍 such a cutie!

This graphic novel personifies MADCAP in that it is both amusingly eccentric and full of eccentric, reckless characters... excellent banter, loose plot, rather fun 😂