February '19 book haul

Good morning bookworms!
We’re experiencing a really strange end-of-season heat wave in Aus at the moment, so I’ve been lying under an air-conditioner instead of reading everyone’s blog posts this week. I’m so sorry! I will catch up on the weekend! (It was 41°C today – roughly 106°F.)

As per the new normal, we are splitting this into four sections: book boxes, book purchases (mail and in-store), review books (physical and digital), and bookish merch.

I subscribe to three monthly boxes: OwlCrate, FairyLoot and the book-only subscription for LitJoy. Here is what arrived in February:

• Owlcrate’s February theme was Whimsical Beasts, and the book was Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto (OwlCrate exclusive cover below)
• The OwlCrate box for February also had a really sweet graphic novel in it: The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neill and it was ADORABLE! (OwlCrate exclusive cover below)
• I also received the FaeCrate The Wicked King box with the alternate covers for The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King, but unfortunately the box was damaged in the mail, so I’m being sent another ?

Unfortunately I am still waiting on the February LitJoy and FairyLoot boxes, so they will be in next month’s wrap up!

Very busy month on book mail, which was nice (but expensive!), and I’ve already finished two of them:

• The Girl with the Whispering Shadow – D.E. Night
• Heartstopper Vol 1 – Alice Oseman
• Lola and the Boy Next Door – Stephanie Perkins
• Isla and the Happily Ever After – Stephanie Perkins
• Always Never Yours – Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka
• The Unexpected Everything – Morgan Matson
• The Bear and the Nightingale – Katherine Arden
• The Fallen Kingdom – Elizabeth May
• Fierce Like a Firestorm – Lana Popović
• Emergency Contact – Mary H. K. Choi
• The Hating Game – Sally Thorne
• 99 Percent Mine – Sally Thorne

I went to a writers thing in Melbourne called YA Day, and because I am very fortunate, I received an ARC of one of my anticipated reads for this year from the author himself. (And he signed it because he’s totally badass like that!)
I also won a copy of C. G. Drews’ latest book, and Allen and Unwin sent me a thriller (?).

• DEV1AT3 – Jay Kristoff (ARC: thank you Jay)
• Hunter – Jack Heath (thank you Allen and Unwin)
• The Boy Who Steals Houses – C.G. Drews (ARC: thank you Hachette Australia and Date-A-Book)

I’ve started ordering replacement pins from when I lost all of my jewellery during the break-in over Christmas. I’ve had orders come in from Four Seasons Fox and Kit Cronk Studio, as well as some pins I bought at a market in Melbourne. I may have also bought a mug from Kit because it was Raven Cycle inspired!! The mug is pictured below!

So … basically I got a lot of books this month. I’m not sure it was smaller than January, and I’m hoping that March is less again?!