All posts tagged: sarah j. maas

Book Review – A Court of Wings and Ruin

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Hello everyone. I know I have been gone for an awfully long time, but I have now finished my PhD and started a proper job, and I work a lot, and I’ve just had no time for anything. But I finally refused to work on the weekend, and snuggled up with ACOWAR. I will keep this review spoiler free with regards to this book, and try as hard as I can not to give anything major from the previous two books away. My reviews of the previous two books: A Court of Thorns and Roses A Court of Mist and Fury For the most part, I was in love with this book, but by the end I was really disappointed. The big major battle at the end was what let this down for me. This story deserved so much more than what it got. I expected more of Feyre, but she spent the whole end of this book as a spectator. There are several battles in this book, and she sits a couple out, letting …

Throne of Glass Colouring Book

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Thank you to Bloomsbury Australia for sending me this awesome colouring book! So, I’m definitely late to the adult colouring book thing, but when this arrived in the mail, I literally sat there for hours colouring in while watching stuff on Youtube. I’m one of those people who can’t just sit and watch something, I always need to be doing something at the same time (but it usually means I get distracted from what I’m watching), so this was perfect. Although, it turns out I’m pretty terrible at colouring (staying inside the lines is HARD!). I really think more book series need colouring books, because I love being able to see other people’s interpretations of what characters and settings look like. There are pictures of lots of different characters in the book, and I was obviously super excited to see some of Manon and Abraxos in there. So, do you guys like colouring books? What other books would you love to see colouring books of? Find it at Amazon or The Book Depository Publisher: Bloomsbury Australia …

Book Review – Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

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First off, a big congratulations to ME because I submitted my PhD thesis this week! After four-years slaving away over a hot monkey brain (not really!) it’s finally done! YAY FOR ME!!! Anyway… Empire of Storms…(Come for the review, stay for my self-congratulations!) So as with most sequels, I won’t be giving out any spoilers for any of the other books in this series in this review, but I will STRONGLY encourage you to go read the first book, because this series is still A-M-A-Z-I-N-G-! This is now the fifth book in this series (if you don’t count the book of prequel short stories) and this series is still awesome. Firstly, we are introduced to lots of new exciting places in this instalment of the series, which was pretty cool. Like always there is plenty of our plucky young protagonist setting everything on fire (both figuratively and literally), and there are LOTS of ships in this book (both figuratively and literally – lots of fun, romantic times on the high seas to be had by …

Books and Tea – ACOTAR!

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Hello everyone, I’m sorry I’ve been a bit absent, but my thesis submission is looming (Due on the 1st of September, but I’m off to the International Congress of Immunology conference next week -terrible timing). During the plane rides I hope to finish Nevernight (which, so far, is insanely awesome), and I’ll be posting that while I’m away (wifi permitting), so stay tuned for that! I also wanted to take far more photos for today, but my thesis is taking up most of my time (urgh!), and I have a clinical trial meeting in about an hour, so I just snapped a few photos (forgive me?). But now, to some tea pairing! Feyre Archeron  – Blooming Tea This beautiful jasmine tea is a work of art, which continues to awe everyone who encounters it. This tea starts off as a simple ball of tea, but once it’s steeped it unfurls to reveal a beautiful bouquet of flowers. The fact that the beautiful florals manage to hold themselves together is pretty impressive.(Unfortunately, I seem to have run …

Books and Tea (where I match Throne of Glass ladies to types of tea!)

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I am an obsessive tea drinker, with a tea obsession that has on more than one occasion been described as a little bit excessive. And because tea goes so well with reading, I decided to match up the ladies from the Throne of Glass series with some teas that I think are perfect for them. Throne of Glass Tea pairings Caelena Sardothien from The Throne of Glass – Marron Chocolat Marron Chocolat is, to me, the perfect tea for Caelena. The strong full-bodied black base flavoured with bittersweet chocolate and sweetened with candied chestnuts suits both her strength and insatiable sweet tooth. Caelena would sip this while curled up by the fire with a piece of chocolate cake. Flavour profile: sweet, creamy, nutty   Manon Blackbeak – Snow Dragon Jasmine Probably my favourite green tea, this jasmine tea is incredibly fragrant and has an otherworldly depth and a sense of mystery. It conjures up feelings of solitude and jasmine flowers in winter. And also dragons. Flavour profile: Floral, fresh, vegetal   Nehemia Ytger – Tie Guan Yin (Iron Goddess) Earthy …

My Top books of 2016 (so far)!

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Hello, everyone, and welcome to July. So I’ve read some pretty great books in the first half of 2016. I think my lowest rating was a 3.5/5 so that’s pretty good. Although I haven’t had a huge amount of time to read as I’ve been writing my PhD thesis, so I’ve only really finished books that have really grabbed me. But I’ve still read some really great books, and here they are (in no particular order). A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas (review) My goodness I love this series. I just cant get it off my mind. I think about it all the time. It’s just fantastic. Sarah J. Maas is my Queen.   Morning Star by Pierce Brown (review) This series is just one of the most phenomenal series I’ve ever read. These books have always been there to get me through difficult times when I’ve found it impossible to read anything else. I also named my new puppy after one of the characters, so I think that shows my love …

Book Photography Tips (#1)

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So some people on Tumblr said they might be interested in seeing some book photography tips. And rather than do a massive post I thought I’d focus on one particular tip at a time. These tips will be pretty specific to people using a DSLR as I don’t know how to do any of this on a camera phone (because I don’t use mine much). These will also require that  you have a basic knowledge of using your camera (exposure, aperture, and ISO). I haven’t really picked the best book to demonstrate this with as the cover has a grainy texture, but oh well. Photography Tip #1 – Always shoot in RAW (if you can). Many cameras by default will collect your images as JPEG files. JPEG files are fine and usually what you will need at the end, but you have much higher flexibility if you shoot in RAW format. RAW format basically saves all the data from the photograph, the exposure, shadows, highlights, etc, and this allows you to basically change any of …

ACOMAF MUG GIVEAWAY!!!

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So I bought this AWESOME ACOMAF mug on ReadatMidnight‘s society6 page, but I accidentally bought two of them, so I will be giving one away (to an Australian resident – as shipping is expensive – sorry). HOW TO ENTER: You can do ANY of these things: Comment on this post (and be following me) Reblog the giveaway post on Tumblr (and be following me) Repost the instagram GA post and dont forget to use the #acomafmugga (for an extra entry give me a shoutout!) Don’t forget to tag me (and follow me) You don’t have to do all these things but you get an entry for each one. TERMS and CONDITIONS: You must be an Australian Resident You must be willing to give me your address You must be over 18 (or have a parents permission) You must respond within 24 hours of being notified or I will pick another winner No giveaway blogs/accounts The giveaway will close on the 8th of July 2016 (midnight Sydney time). Goodluck and may the force be with you.

Pastry Book Tag!

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Bookwormaniac created (I think) this tag, and I saw it on Readwatchreviewblog and decided to tag myself because I thought it looks fun, even though my coeliac’s disease means that I have absolutely no idea what most of these taste like (except macarons which are usually gluten free! Whoo!). And I haven’t done a tag in forever. So, let’s start shall we? Croissant: Name a popular book or series that everyone (including you) loves.   A Court of Thorns and Roses. Tumblr is all about this series right now, and with good reason. It’s just so awesome. All of tumblr can’t be wrong. Easy. Next!   Macaron: Name a book that was hard to get through but worth it at the end. How are macarons easy to get through? they are so tiny and delicate. Anyway, although gone girl was incredibly addictive and I read it in no time, it was difficult for me as I actually know an Amy Dunn, and I’m still traumatised from my encounter with her. So terrifying. If you think Amy …

Book Review: A Court of Mist and Fury by The Queen, Sarah J. Maas

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Hey, everyone! I’m back from the dead! Life had been closely resembling the seventh layer of hell for a little while, and I was sort of dead inside, but not I have a new little puppy thawing out my frozen heart, so I’m back! Yay! Anyway, thank you very much to Bloomsbury for sending me a copy of A Court of Mist and Fury for review. As per my usual protocol, this being a sequel, I will not be mentioning spoilers for either book in the series, so this will probably be a rather short review. What is this series about? It’s a fantastic re-telling of Beauty and the Beast, but with faeries and super dark scary monsters, and an awesome artist/hunter heroine. If you want more information about the first book in the series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, you can see my review of that here. What did I think? Uh… I loved it, of course. It’s Sarah J. Maas and she has some kind of God-like storytelling powers that make me …