My top picks to catch up on and my most anticipated winter reads!

Due to the book buying ban since January, there are now so, so many books I need to buy and catch up on! Because there are SO many that I want, I decided I would choose the top four books of each month I missed out on (so May will be missing!) along with my top four picks for each of the upcoming winter months! I'm REALLY not looking forward to winter, but I am looking forward to a one month break from uni, more reading time and my birthday :)

Books I NEED to catch up on:

January:

Cinder - Marissa Meyer

Incarnate - Jodi Meadows

The Fault in Our Stars - John Green

Dragonswood - Janet Lee Carey

February:

Pure - Julianna Baggot

Pandemonium - Lauren Oliver

BZRK - Michael Grant

The Catastrophic History of You and Me - Jess Rothenburg 

March:

A Temptation of Angels - Michelle Zink

Pretty Crooked - Elisa Ludwig

Slide - Jill Hathaway

Illuminate - Aimee Agresti

April:

The Immortal Rules - Julie Kagawa

Masque of the Red Death - Bethany Griffin

Glimmer - Phoebe Kitanidis

Above - Leah Bobet 

What I'm anticipating this winter:

June:

Shadow and Bone - Leigh Bardugo

Arise - Tara Hudson

Rapture - Lauren Kate

A Girl Named Digit - Annabel Monaghan

July:

Something Strange and Deadly - Susan Dennard

Such A Rush - Jennifer Echols

Endlessly - Kiersten White

Seraphina - Rachel Hartman

August:

Stormdancer - Jay Kristoff
Losing Lila - Sarah Alderson

The Treachery of Beautiful Things - Ruth Frances Long

Kissing Shakespeare - Pamela Mingle

Survive - Alex Morel

August (For shits and giggles):
Heaven - Alexandra Adornetto
Because we all know how much I LOVED Halo and Hades... I can't wait for this because it'll be a really fun review to write, I can get my snark on.. and the best thing? IT'S THE LAST BOOK IN THE SERIES!

My apologies if you enjoy this series, I have no problem if you love it :) Just can't say I'm a fan myself!!

What new releases are you looking forward to?

Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Iron King (Iron Fey #1) by Julie Kagawa
Release Date: February 1st 2010
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Add it: Goodreads
Overall: ♥♥♥♥♥ 

Most of the books that I rate 5 stars (which I know, is a fair amount - I'm easily pleased haha), are books that I find myself dreaming about after I put it down to go to sleep. And I'm not just talking about dreaming of the characters/plot/what will happen next? I'm talking about dreaming of READING the next chapter WORD-FOR-WORD in the book. I've had that with books such as Unearthly/Hallowed, Daughter of Smoke, Hunting Lila and The Last Vampire series. THESE are the kinds of books I wish every book was like because they stick in my mind for ages and they make me all giddy just thinking about them!

For those who haven't read this masterpiece yet, Iron King is about a girl named Meghan Chase, who's four year old brother is stolen and replaced with a Changeling and taken into the faery realms. Meghan goes on an adventure (I'm sorry, I know it's a lame word, but I just like saying it) and discovers her best friend, Robbie is actually Puck-a faery, and meets a cait sith named Grimalkin along the way. Oh, and she meets a faery winter prince named Ash, who carries a sword and is moody and stuff.

Iron King was brilliant, I don't know why it took me so long to finally pick it up! It was fast paced, action-packed and the world building was phenomenal. As I've been researching faery folklore myself for my own attempt at a writing project, it was great to see that Julie Kagawa had obviously done her research to the nth degree.

As for the characters, lets start with Meghan... I loved her. She was well developed and she wasn't a heroine who just had supposed "flaws", she actually had flaws, she was real. Meghan was cheeky, fiery and she made me laugh. For example,
[Grimalkin]: "Try not to bleed so much on the thorns," ... "Right now anyone could follow us, and you are leaving a very easy trail."
[Meghan]: "Right, 'cause I'm bleeding all over the place for shits and giggles."
HAHAHA!

I love how faeries aren't portrayed as friendly fluttery things like Tinkerbell, and how they're actually badass, ferocious creatures.

Puck? TEAM PUCK. I AM TEAM PUCK. That's all I'm saying. I like Puck. I wish we saw more of him! He is caring, funny, exciting, adventure-seeking, a bit reckless and (I'm going to assume as he's a faery) gorgeous. He would do anything for Meghan and had nothing but her best interests at heart so WHY COULDN'T THAT BLOKE CATCH A BREAK? Seriously. He caught the shit end of the stick so many times! *cries* I want to see Puck :(

Okay, I lie. There was ONE thing I didn't like, and please excuse me for going on a tangent here, but I could understand if Meghan fell for Puck, but she falls in love with Ash. This is probably my ONLY pet peeve in the entire novel. I mean yeah, he was hot, could battle and could freeze things and whatnot but they barely knew eachother. Plus, Ash is a bit too moody, 'mysterious' and has too much angst for my liking. I just felt the whole thing between them was a little rushed and unexpected.

But seriously, the overall epicness of everything else made up for that. I couldn't stop reading and as I said, I dreamed I was reading it. So that's a good sign to me! And, if you haven't read Iron King yet, DO SO NOW! It's awesome! I need the others immediately.

Julie Kagawa, I love you. (I know this is a rushed proclomation, but you've stolen my heart)

Waiting on Wednesday (8)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature at Breaking The Spine which allows you to spotlight upcoming releases that you're really keen for!!

Author: Sangu Mandanna
Release Date: August 28th 2012
Publisher: Balzar & Bray
Add it: Goodreads

Eva’s life is not her own. She is a creation, an abomination—an echo. Made by the Weavers as a copy of someone else, she is expected to replace a girl named Amarra, her “other”, if she ever died. Eva studies what Amarra does, what she eats, what it’s like to kiss her boyfriend, Ray. So when Amarra is killed in a car crash, Eva should be ready.

But fifteen years of studying never prepared her for this.

Now she must abandon everything she’s ever known—the guardians who raised her, the boy she’s forbidden to love—to move to India and convince the world that Amarra is still alive.

 Why I'm Waiting:  Seriously, this just sounds AMAZING. Eva is the understudy of another girl's life? I'm so curious as to which direction this is going to go in! Is it going to be super creepy? Post apocolyptic? Supernatural? Plus, the cover is gorgeous <3

Author: Scott K. Andrews 
Release Date: September 18th 2012
Publisher: Abaddon
Add it: Goodreads

“After the world died we all sort of drifted back to school. After all, where else was there for us to go?” Lee Keegan’s fifteen. If most of the population of the world hadn’t just died choking on their own blood, he might be worrying about acne, body odour and girls. As it is, he and the young Matron of his boarding school, Jane Crowther, have to try and protect their charges from cannibalistic gangs, religious fanatics, a bullying prefect experimenting with crucifixion and even the surviving might of the US Army. Welcome to St. Mark’s School for Boys and Girls...

Why I'm Waiting: Honestly? It's the cover and title that first drew me in. The cover looks like a photo taken from war and the title accompanying it just seems so.. Chilling. I think this entire premise just sounds fascinating and so DIFFERENT! It doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard of!

Stacking the Shelves (1)

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly feature over at Tynga's Reviews which allows us all to drool with one another over any books that have been added  to our bookshelves both physically and virtually!

I did have a HUGE two paragraphs written up here, but my Blogger isn't letting me scroll down or anything so I can't see what I'm doing :( I've decided to do my VERY FIRST VLOG! PLEASE excuse the dodgy quality/rambling/not making any sense. I was a little nervous and didn't really know what to say. Also, sorry Brodie for not pronouncing your blog name right, I can pronounce it, just not on camera apparently hahaha!

Let me know what you reckon ;)
If you enjoyed my video, please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel at TaneikaReads :)

Won:
Storm by Brigid Kemmerer

Bought:
Everneath by Brodi Ashton
Starters by Lissa Price

What did you add to your shelves this week :)

White Cat by Holly Black

White Cat by Holly Black
Release Date: June 2010
Publisher: Gollancz
Add it: Goodreads
Overall: ♥♥

I've had a busy past few weeks at uni so I haven't had much time to read or write reviews :( Though I am very happy to say that I have finished all my assignments for the semester including a 20 page report then a 36 page report! WOO! Okay, so last week, I had a nice review half written and I leave my computer for a bit to go do other things and I come back to find that somebody closed the window that my review was being written on. So please excuse if this seems half-assed, it probably will be :)
In short, I'M SORRY I LOVE YOU!

White Cat tells the story of a boy named Cassel who is part of a family of magic workers, but isn't a worker himself. There are different types of workers; luck workers, dream workers, memory workers, death workers and transformation workers, the practice of these are illegal whether the worker is using their magic for good or for bad. When he was 14 years old, Cassel murdered one of his friends, but he doesn't remember exactly what happened. White Cat begins with Cassel finding himself on the roof of his boarding school one night after following a white cat in his sleep. This leads Cassel to discover secrets that his family have been keeping and other things he doesn't know.

I've seen *so many* awesome reviews for this so I sorta had high hopes but I was pretty disappointed.. I think the major problem I had overall was simply the fact I couldn't engage or connect with the characters or the story. I'm not saying I didn't really enjoy the concept, because I did, but unfortunately I found the majority of the story fairly predictable and a bit dull. I figured out the major twist of the story very early in so when it was actually revealed, I felt really let down. Although, I thought the end of the book was pretty cool and it did leave me feeling a little bit surprised with the turn of events, and I also loved the fact it didn't end with a cliffhanger! YAY!
But yeah... That's probably the extent of my excitement :S

For the brilliant and fascinating premise, I thought it was a bit dull to be honest. The pacing was a bit strange - I didn't feel compelled to read at all (in fact it took me AGES to read, as in a good week and a bit), I just read Harry Potter in my spare time!! The pacing was good, but it just wasn't exciting enough for me and it didn't keep me reading. I could read a chapter and then put it down for a good 10 hours! I'd read something else and not even think twice about the book. I love books that keep me thinking about them, that keep me thinking about the characters. I love books (and hate books) that DISTRACT me in the middle of a class because I can't stop thinking about the characters, or what will happen to them next. I suppose I found it dull because I found it predictable as well, so I didn't feel a if I HAD to read the next chapter immedietely. I don't dislike all books that I find predictable. I don't mind finding something predictable if I enjoy the journey the character takes to get there. If the journey to that point keeps me engaged or entertained then I'm going to be a lot less disappointed when I find my prediction was right!

I think this is a book that you'll either love or hate. My distaste for this  book is mainly due to the fact I couldn't connect with the characters and I didn't really care about finishing it. I WILL be reading the next book out of curiosity and just because I have this horrible thing where I HAVE to finish a series! (Damn you, House of Night and Halo)

In which I fangirl over Shirley Marr

So I'm actually in the middle of doing a uni assignment and for said assignment, I was going through newspapers, mostly the West Australian, from the past couple of weeks to find relative articles. I was looking through a newspaper from the 24th April and came across the book section and decided to have a squiz, not expecting to see any books that would capture my interest... Then I discover Shirley Marr's newest book, Preloved, has been featured! Now, I'm kinda, sorta in love with Shirley you see. Although I'm not sure if she's aware of this :S We live in the same city, she is super dooper friendly and I'm in love with her novel, Fury! (Which you can read my gushing review for here). So of course I'm excited to get my hands on Preloved!

Sorry about the dodgy photo, but incase you can't read the review it says,
"Amy Lee has got problems. She plays second fiddle to her impossibly beautiful best friend Rebecca, doesn't fit in at school and can recite the ghost warnings her Chinese mother has filled her head with since birth. So when Logan appears out of a trashy 1980's locket, Amy finally has someone who is hers - or does she? Marr is a witty, inventive writer and Preloved is full of warmth, humour and retro supernatural. Will appeal to girls who love Twilight - and especially to those who don't."
No author, published in The West Australian, 24th April 2012.

Okay, my favourite part of that review? THE LAST SENTENCE. Oh my god. I want to meet whoever wrote this review and give them a high five. That sentence is basically the reason I'm writing a blog post about this (apart from the fact that I just got excited about this being in the West). Well, that's all I wanted to tell you :) and I should probably get back to finding suitable news articles (yayyy...).

Preloved by Shirley Marr
Goodreads
Website
Blog

Preloved was released on April 1st (I would've gotten it but the book-buying ban prevented that... Not anymore *cackles*) and can be purchased online from:

The Book Depository - Free shipping worldwide (Currently unavailable at this time)
The Nile - Free shipping for us Aussies :)
Fishpond - Also Free shipping for us Aussies (we're so lucky!)

So, ahem. I'm going to go finish up this assignment (and just quietly, order Preloved). <3

Book Haul :)

So as you're all probably aware of, a couple of weeks ago, the Story Siren was caught out for plagiarism which you can find out more from Smart Bitches Trashy Books, Beautifully Invisible and Grit & Glamour. Whilst I'm sitting on the fence about this whole hoo-hah. I'm definitely against plagiarism, so as a result, I won't be participating in the In My Mailbox meme anymore. Instead, I'll just do my own little book haul (which I've noticed a lot of other bloggers doing as well) and if there is another type of meme, let me know :)
I've even made my own thingy ma-jig (the above picture), which was a big effort because I made it on Microsoft Paint (aren't I such a pro!).

On another note, I'd like to apologise for my extreme lack of blogging lately. Turns out the second year of university is a lot harder than the first! So I haven't had a lot of time for reading for fun or blogging. But I am trying, and I do miss you guys :(

So without further ado, here is my haul for this week :)

 Awhile back, I donated to Michelle Madow to help her with her US tour! In return, I scored a signed (and personalised!) copy of her two books, and a signed bookmark! These books are my first personalised books ever so I will be treasuring these <3 I love you! So, a huge thankyou to Michelle Madow for being so lovely and signing and sending these all the way from Florida!!

Now, one thing you must know guys (please don't smite me), Amy and I finished our book ban. WE LASTED FOUR FREAKIN MONTHS OKAY! I think that was pretty awesome. Now, one of us gave in and broke the ban (I'm not telling you who for fear of being smacked on the hand or something) but the other was definitely not complaining. WE HAD ENOUGH! WE STUCK IT OUT FOR SO LONG!
So as a result, I ended up with A Game of Thrones, I have actually been told to watch some of the TV show before I read the book, which has me questioning those people but they reckon it'd be more enjoyable that way? I'm not sure. Opinions? Also, I bought the first volume of Death Note the other day :) I was wandering around in Dymocks, relishing in the fact that I could actually purchase something and instead of buying a book, I ended up buying manga. Hey, it was cheap and I've been hanging out to read the Death Note manga :)

Bought:
Rememberance by Michelle Madow
Vengeance by Michelle Madow
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Death Note Vol. 1: Boredom by Tsugumi Ohba

PS - What do you think of my little makeover? I got bored of the old one, so attempted a new header :) Does it look okay?

I don't know what to ask you guys :) Seems we're all doing our hauls on different days!