Do you know when I said that I'm not going to get any books for awhile because I can't
read them because of uni?
That was a lie.
Oh my god these are so heavy.
In my defense...I didn't buy half of these.
Hello everyone!
I am Ashleigh, and today I'm going to be doing a book haul, basically.
I got remember when I got these books from so it could be October.
It's just a recent book haul really.
I wasn't intending on buying books because I literally can't read anything besides my
uni reading at the minute.
But that obviously happened.
That plan went SO well.
But quite a lot of these were actually sent to me and I have reason for buying everything.
But I'm going to talk about the books because even though I can't read anything until like,
Christmas break, I can talk about them.
I'm excited.
I'm beyond excited for some of them, as you'll see.
But anyway.
We're going to talk about books now.
So the first book that I got was actually bought quite a while ago, but this is Athelstan
which is a very small nonfiction book.
This is one of the Penguin Monarchs.
I've read two of these now, I've read Mary I and Victoria.
I told myself I wouldn't buy any more of them until I'd read the ones that I have.
I have done now, so I'm going to just buy them one at a time as I want them.
But yeah, I didn't know where else to start apart from the beginning.
This is about the first king of England.
He has a really good name.
Like, King Athelstan.
That's badass.
I love it.
Next up we have a book that I preordered and it was released in...September?
Was it?
Oh my god when was it released?
Hang on.
Haaang on.
September!
So we do go into September in this book haul, but whatever.
But this is Vengeful by V.E.
Schwab.
This is the second book to the vicious duology, and Vicious is about two boys who figure out
that they can give themselves superpowers with science.
And as I always say, it's a very morally grey story.
You don;t know who's the bad guy, they have very grey morals and it's just a really good
story.
So this is the second book.
It's huge.
I did want to read this the second it came out but uni started so I haven't done that.
But I'm very excited to get to it.
And this is the collector's edition.
It's so stunning.UGH.
We love a nice hardcover.
I don't actually like hardcovers that much but there's quite a lot of them in this book
haul.
In fact, most of the books in this book haul are hardcovers.
I'm now going to go into the books that were sent to me because I have another Victoria
Schwab book, and this is The Dark Vault by Victoria Schwab.
And this is a bind-up of her earlier books The Archived and The Unbound, which I have
wanted to read for years but they are really hard to find in the UK.
So I was so glad to find out that Titan Books were publishing this bind-up edition.
And I saw one of the publicists for Titan Books tweet about having some of these copies
for reviewers, and I was like "pleaseee could I have one?" and she very kindly said yes.
So thank you very much!
And I am very excited.
This is about...I'm just going to read the synopsis because it says "Imagine a place
where the dead rest on shelves like books.
Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures only librarians can read.
The dead are called Histories and the vast realm in which they rest is The Archive.
Mackenzie Bishop's grandfather first brought her here 4 years ago when she was 12 years
old, frightened but determined to prove herself.
Now her grandfather is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless keeper,
tasked with stopping often violent Histories from waking up and getting out.
Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves and she knows fear for what it is;
a useful tool for staying alive.
I just - I mean, Victoria Schwab is one of my favourite authors and I will read everything
that she releases.
So here we are.
I love the fact that all of Victoria Schwab's books have like a white, black and red theme
in the UK.
It's incredible.
My Schwab Shelf is looking fine as hell.
The next book that was sent to me for review is Between Worlds: Folktales of Britain and
Ireland by Kevin Crossley-Holland and illustrated by Francis Castle.This is exactly what it
says it is, this is a collection of British folktales.
It doesn't need any more explaining than that.
But this was sent to me by Walker Books and when they offered me this, I just had to grab
it up because - grab it up?I meant snap it up.
I had to snap it up because I love folktales, fairytales, myths, lots of different things
like that.
And I haven't read that many from Britain, so...y'know.
I had to.
And this also has like a really stunning underjacket.
It's so pretty!
Apart from the cockroach on it.
That's not so pretty.
But the owls and the butterflies and the deer are very nice.
But I am actually currently reading this.
I'm just under halfway through.
I'm reading it very slowly because like I said, uni reading is taking over my life.
But yeah.
I just thought it was the perfect one to pick up now because I can't read a lot at a time
so like, I can pick up these and just like flip through short stories or like read one
fairytale at a time.
And eventually I will finish it.
When that may be, I don't know.
But we'll find out in a future wrap up of some sort.
The next book was sent to me by Simon and Schuster, and that is The Boneless Mercies
by April Genevieve Tucholke.
And this again I'm just going to read the synopsis because...I'm not good at explanations.
But this just says "This is a story of mercies and witches.
Of reeds and thorns.
Of women and giants.
Frey, Ovie, Juniper and Runa are Boneless Mercies, death-traders hired to kill quickly,
quietly and mercifully.
It is a job for women, and women only.
Men will not do this sad dark work.
Frey has no family, no home, no fortune, and yet her blood sings a song of glory.
SO when she hears of a monster slaughtering men, women and children in a northern Jarldom,
she decides that it is the mercies' one chance to change their fate.
But glory comes at a price..."
I was sent this to take part in an Instagram tour, and can you blame me for wanting to
join because it's the exact sort of Young Adult fantasy that I love to read and also
it is absolutely stunning, so I would have this on my Instagram any day.
Next up is a book that literally arrived about two minutes before I started filming this
so good timing.
This is Poppy Field by Michael Morpurgo and illustrated by Michael Foreman.
This is a book that was written in collaboration with the Royal British Legion, which means
that every sale of this, £1 of it goes towards the Royal British Legion.
And this is Michael Morpurgo writing the story of why the poppy is the UK's symbol of remembrance
for the soldiers who died in the war.
The illustrations in this are absolutely stunning.
Like they're all black and white, and then the only like actual colour is red because
poppies.
And I'm just very intrigued to see how Michael Morpurgo tells the story because he used to
be one of my favourite childhood authors so I'm really quite intrigued about this one.
This again will be featured as part of an Instagram tour, which will be uploaded once
this video is up so yeah.
I will link the photos for both of the instagram tours that I've mentioned down in the description
box so that you can head over and there will probably be a more coherent description of
this book in the caption of that photo.
So yeah.
I'll also probably put up photos of some close ups of the illustrations as well so yeah,
if you want to see - if you want to have a closer look at this book then be sure to go
and check that out.
Next up we have one of the most exciting pieces of book mail I have ever received in my life.
Because - are you ready?
Are you ready?
I don't think I;m even ready.
I have an ARC of The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon!
IT'S SO EXCITING!!
As you probably know, Samantha Shannon is probably one of my all-time favourite authors,
and this is literally a standalone epic fantasy by my favourite author ABOUT DRAGONS.
Can we just.
It's huge.
I think it's - yeah it's pretty much 800 pages.
It's OVER 800 pages.
So...UUUUGH I'M SO EXCITED FOR THIS.
I sent a request for this book and I didn't know I was getting it.
Like I didn't know they'd seen it nevermind accepted it so then it just turned up one
day and I nearly cried when I opened that package because I wasn't expecting it.
I am so excited for this book.
As always I am going to link the books that I mention in this video down in the description
box because I'm not going to give a synopsis for this because I specifically remember Samantha
Shannon saying it was really hard to summarise what happens in this book because there's
that many different storylines.
So I'm not even going to try, but there is a link to the Goodreads page down below.
But yeah, the front just says "A world divided.
A queendom without an heir.
An ancient enemy awakens."
I can't even get over how thrilled I am to have this.
I am slightly gutted though because it turned up like two days before I started university
again, which means I haven't been able to start reading it because it is so bloody huge.
And I don't know whether to start reading it and get through maybe a chapter or two
at a time and just like, read it really slowly, or to just wait until my christmas break.
But then that's really far away and I want to read it now.
Ohhh I don't know what to do.
Help me decide.
Leave your thoughts down in the comments because I don't make decisions.
But yeah.
In case you couldn't have guessed by now, very excited to have this book.
And thank you Bloomsbury for making my entire life.
I mean, all you can see is the huge brick of orange behind me now.
The final book that I was sent this month was actually sent to me as a surprise.
I had no idea this was coming but it was sent to me by Quirk Books and sounds exactly like
the sort of thing that I would read.
Which you will soon see because the rest of this video I'm dubbing "the feminist section"
because apparently I was in a very particular mood this month and wanted to read about feminism.
SO the rest of these books are nonfiction relating to feminism.
They're all quite similar.
But that's fine because I love them, so yeah.
Anyway.
The book that was sent to me by surprise is Girl Squads: 20 female friendships that changed
history by Sam Maggs and illustrated by Jen Woodall.
Doesn't need any more of an explanation really does it?
It's about girl squads and amazing female friendships because there's like this huge
misconception that women should be pitted against each other so when women are actually
friends, and good friends, they can literally change the world, which is the point of this
book.
I've just repeated the synopsis to you.
But on the back it has like a list of areas that it covers so there are artists, athletes,
doctors, divers, writers, rebels, warriors, women, friends.
So yeah.
It literally is just like a compilation of different stories of different people.
It's got some really stunning illustrations in it.
And if I can judge from the cover - wow what happened to the lighting?
But if I can judge from the cover itself, it looks like it's going to be quite diverse
as well which is fab.
And the illustrations actually carry on onto the actual cover as well, like the hardcover
not just the jacket.
So it is stunning and I am very excited to read this.
Literally what just happened to the sun like, did it just decide to go home for the day?
Oh wait it's coming back out.
We're getting there.
Yay that'll do!
Oh ok it's getting a bit bright now.
But I did buy the remaining three books and the first one is Feminists Don't Wear Pink
(and other lies) which is amazing women on what the F word means to them, curated by
Scarlett Curtis.
So this is basically a collection of short essays by famous women on different aspects
of feminism.
So we have people like Emma Watson, Zoe Sugg, Kiera Knightley, Lydia Wilson, Angela Lee,
Bromwyn Brenner, Evanna Lynch, Saoirse Ronan, and a lot of people that I've never heard
of before so I will be looking into the people as I read them.
I've just realised, I was looking at the contents page and like literally all the women are
listed on the back.
So I don't know if you can read that but if you can, that's all the women.
Maybe just pause the video and have a little look through.
I basically bought this because I saw on twitter that Penguin Books - which is the publisher
of this book - were set to do a collaboration with Topshop for this book.
And they set it all up, it was all nice and there was a nice stand in Topshop, and then
Topshop took it down 20 minutes later.
SO then on twitter there were people - including myself - wondering why this was happening,
asking Topshop for a statement, and when they DID release a statement, they basically made
up something about like, they had to prioritise the manufacturing process.
And it apparently in no way said anything about them being against feminism.
Which I think is a lie because if you are prioritising the manufacturing process and
the money over empowering your customers, because the main customer income from Topshop
is young women, so they might not have been readers originally and they might have picked
up a book like this.
And it could have made them feel empowered, or like, even just raise awareness of the
issue.
And it's just really weird that they agreed to it and then took it down 20 minutes later.
It just does not make sense at all to me.
And even if there was something like the manufacturing process or whatever it was that they said...it's
not like Topshop are going to go bust if something like this failed.
I mean they would've gotten a lot of positive publicity from it as well so it's just like...why
did they do it?
Why?
So yeah, I was tweeting about that.
I will link the tweets down in the description box if you want to go and have a look.
But basically Topshop kind of shat all over this book and I decided to buy it because
everyone was talking about it and I was like "you know what, I'm going to support that
instead" so...thanks Topshop for unwittingly advertising this to me because you obviously
didn't want to.
But then the next two books I actually got because there was a literature festival in
my city in October and I went to a couple of events, both of them for feminism and for
these two books.
The first one was Can We All Be Feminists? which is Seventeen Writers on intersectionality,
identity, and finding the right way forward for feminism.
Again, doesn't need more more of an explanation than that.
For some reason nonfiction feminist books are really good at explaining what they are
about in their title.
So thanks for that because it makes my job a lot easier.
But the person that we saw talk for this was Soofiya Andry, who writes the essay in this
called Deviant Bodies.
And I just found that fascinating, like she is such an interesting person to listen to
and I was very glad that I went.
She has signed her essay in this.
I'm not going to find - oh there it is!
She actually spelt my name wrong and then felt bad and scribbled it out, if it wants
to focus.
There we go!
Yeah she spelt my name wrong and then felt bad, and I was like no because that means
I've now got a story in it.
I can tell the story of the time when I met you and that happened.
But yeah.
Because I heard someone talk about it and it was really interesting, I had to buy the
book.
It was a given.
And then the final book, again, I went to an event for it because this is What Would
Boudicca Do? by E. Foley and B. Coates.
The two authors came in to talk about this book and this is a book that I'd seen around
a lot.
It says "everyday problems solved by history's most remarkable women".
I'd seen this book around a lot and it attracted my attention, so then when I saw that there
was an event for it I was just like I NEED to go!
I need to.
And I'm so glad that I did because it was incredible.
Ugh.
Again this is signed and...yeah.
It's just, I was so...excited to have this book afterwards that...ughhh I don't know.
It's just, words apparently allude me right now.
But yeah.
Also the cover on this is absolutely stunning.
I love it so much.
And just how grumpy Boudicca looks because honestly same.
One of my friends said I have the same eyebrows as her which makes me laugh.
Can you see the resemblance?
Can we just like, make her life-size?
Could I be Boudicca?
I even have the Starbucks cup, oh my god!
Give me a sword and a crown and I'll just like recreate this cover.
Does it work?
But yes!
Those were all the books that I have received and bought lately.
So it's very exciting times.
Like I am SO excited for every single one of these books - which, I mean, obviously
I am otherwise I wouldn't have accepted them or bought them.
But I just want to read them ALL right this very second and it's frustrating me so much
that I can't.
But it does mean that eventually, one day, I have a good choice of books to choose from.
Ugh my christmas break is going to be so hard to choose books for.
If I'm not writing essays, which I will be.
But hopefully I can squeeze a bit of reading in somewhere.
My heart feels so full now because I'm so excited about these books.
I hope you enjoyed the video!
Let me know if you've read any of the books that are out already or if you've added any
of them to your TBR.
I don't think there'll be another book haul until the new year because Christmas, so yeah.
Appreciate this one while it's here, woooo!
But yeah.
I hope you're havening - havening?
I can't talk.
I've been talking for that long that words don't exist anymore.
But I hope you're having a lovely day, and I shall see you next time with a new video.
Bye!
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