March Book Haul

Last month has been crazy! I didn't even have the time to read a lot... Two books... In a whole month... I am ashamed of myself! You already have my review of "Vic Mongol" and currently I'm reading "Loving mr. Darcy" by Sharon Lathan. I hope I'll finish this book before the end of this week. It's like a super slow read! Aaargh! 

This lack of time didn't hold me back from buying books though. Luckily! I stille have a huge TBR pile in my room after I went to a Book Outlet a few months ago, but I'm going to ignore that for a while. I'll show those outlet books to you later. I promise!

Because I'm currently into Booktube (I LOVE IT), you'll probably recognize the books I've bought and ordered this month. They're books everybody on Youtube is raving about, so they made me a little curious. Some of these books should have been on my shelves long before now, but I finally bought them. 

Here they are (I'm super excited about all of them!) 


1. John Green - The fault in our stars (couldn't stay behind!)
2. Rachel Gibson - Run to you
3. Markus Zusak - The Book Thief
3. Rainbow Rowell - Fangirl (ordered, still waiting for it)
4. Rainbow Rowell - Attachments (ordered, still waiting for it)

I have to say I really hate this cover of "Run to you"... I have another one (it isn't pretty either, but it's better than this one). The cover of "The Book Thief" isn't my favorite one either, but they only had this copy in my bookstore and I didn't wan't to wait for another one.

I'm looking forward to read all these books, but I have to read some others first. Finally I can start my two weeks of freedom! READING!

December - Christmas is coming!

I'm so excited about next month! For the first time in my life I'm planning on reading only books about a certain topic. Because I'm a sucker for Christmas, it wasn't hard to find the topic for next month! I decided to read 4 books about Christmas and I'm looking forward to it! It was hard to choose only 4 books for my challenge, but at long last I found these wonderful books!

I love every single day of the year, but I love Christmas just a little more. Maybe I even love the period just before Christmas the most! It's the time of waiting, looking forward to, cosiness, beautiful things in the shops, hot chocolate, ... All the things I need in my life collected at one moment. As a teacher I'm so lucky I have two weeks off during this wonderful period! I'm looking forward to it and will decorate my classroom too in the weeks before this holiday. 

If you have other tips for Christmas themed books (I prefer the ones with lots of love in them), you may certainly let me know! ;)

Eline

I cannot let you go without a Christmas song!

Wonderful want-to-reads on Wednesday

November has been a great month so far! I didn't have much time to read (too bad), but I had time to buy some new books, I got a good rating at the school where I teach Latin and History, I realised Christmas is coming... Nothing bad to mention at all! 
I really wanted to share my new books with you because they look so beautiful and their stories seem great. I can't wait to read them! The biggest pile I bought at a book fair that's organised at Antwerp, Belgium, every year. It's a big event here in Belgium with thousands of books, authors, gadgets for readers,... I can't skip this. I just HAVE to go every year! This is what I bought there the 3th of November. 

I know this is not the biggest pile of books you've ever seen, but the sad thing is books at this book fair in Antwerp are more expensive. Each year I say to myself "Don't buy books over there... They're cheaper in a store!", but each year I end up with a small pile of books. You can't go to a book fair and return without books, can you? 

What did I buy exactly?

Did you notice my love for books written by Rachel Gibson? Hehe, I love her books!

The last one I bought, is a little different. It's a book written by somebody who was signing his book at the fair. Because there was nobody interested and because he wrote a book about the things I teach about, I bought the book. It even is an autographed one :p (one of the few... hahaha).

This book "Romeinen en Barbaren" tells us the story about the fall of Rome in the West. I already saw a lot of books on this topic, but most of them were huge and when I read books for school, I don't want them to be huge. They just have to tell me the most interesting parts in not so many pages.

And now... last but not least... the book my mom bought me a few days ago because she thought it was "totally me". When I saw the book, I was sold immediately! I don't know if I can use this phrase in English :p. I just LOVED it right away! Here's a picture.

I adore this cover!!!

My mom knows me soooo well! This story is (obvious!) inspired by Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility". I believe it's a modern retelling of the same story. Looking forward to read this one! You all know I'm obsessed with Jane! :D

That's all I have to say for now! I'm planning on reading 4 books about Christmas in December. I will keep you updated and this weekend I'll probably  post something about that plan! I totally love Christmas, so it would be great to read Christmas themed books next month! 

Enjoy your evening or day and see you next time!

Lots of love!

Eline

Preview "The Beach House" + Detachment

Today I found something really great in the mail: a book! Yes, I know as a reviewer you receive books in the mail from time to time, but every single one makes me happy and is special to me! The effort authors make to write this book and send it to me, means a lot and is appreciated over here! 

Thank you authors!

The book I received today is "The Beach House" by Helen McKenna. What a beautiful one! I hope I will enjoy it (but I think I will... love the covertext). Review will follow in a few days/weeks.

If you want the book trailer for "The Beach House", here it is! 

I expect this book to be something I enjoy reading. The covertext gives me the idea it's going to be a book with interesting content without being too heavy. It seems to be a story where there will be love and hate, where past and present will intertwine, where people will really discover themselves. Just the kind of stories I like to read! I hope my expectations won't be something to dissappoint me, but most of the time I'm not wrong when I expect a book to be good. We'll see about that when I finished reading it ;)

Before I read this book though, I'll have to finish "The Elephants of Shanghai" by Stephen Jared. A book that I like so far. After that I have to read "Keeping Score - A guide to love and relationships" by Marc Brackett. I know this one is on my list for quite a while, but I didn't read it sooner because I wasn't in the mood to read a book about love and relationships (if you know what I mean ;) ). Totally over it for a while now, so I think I will be able to read and review this one too very soon!

I also wanted to let you know I watched "Detachment" last night. Finally! I really wanted to see this movie for a long while because I'm a teacher myself and I worked for several months as an interim teacher in a school with difficult students near Brussels. Good reason to see a movie like this one and I haven't regretted it! Loved it, though I thought it was strange sometimes. Have to admit I did cry now and again (but hey, I do this all the time when I'm watching movies by myself :p) 

Here you find the trailer of Detachment too ^^ 

xoxo

Book Trailer "The Scent of a Soul"

One of the books on my list is "The Scent of a Soul" by Jennifer Thompson. I'm looking forward to read this book and am happy to share with you the beautiful trailer for the book. The music is lovely and I hope it tells us something more about the style and the atmosphere of the book. 

If you want to win this wonderful book, please visit author Jennifer Thompsons' blog and enter the contest. http://jenniferthompsonbooks.blogspot.be/

ENJOY!

Looking forward to "The Miniature Polar Bear"

I always had a thing for children's books and that's why I'm glad to offer author Sarah Scott some promotion for her upcoming book "The Miniature Polar Bear". I have to be carefull with my words. It's not "just" a book, it's more! It's an interactive book app for children of all ages. Great idea in these times where everything is about computers, Ipods, Ipads,... and real books are becoming old-fashioned (I hate that trend and don't follow it, but it's part of our world I believe). 

The concept is really good in my opinion because the readers of this book will not only get a compelling story about a little boy with a big imagination who finds a miniature polar bear under his bed. They'll also get beautiful animations, music and hear voiceovers. Their imagination will be stimulated in more than one way. It will be a sort of book that's more attractive for the children of this age. Don't get me wrong, I still believe children should read actual books instead of playing on all these devices BUT this IS an actual book. The great thing is that it's ON one of these devices and uses the advantages of it!

What about the story? Well, I believe it's gonna be a good one (although I haven't read it myself so far). Sarah tells us something about Jimmy, a little boy with a wonderful imagination. When he joins his family for a trip to the zoo, he gets intrigued by the polar bear and wants one for himself. And believe it or not... Jimmy finds a miniature version of this bear underneath his own bed! This is the start for some great adventures for Jimmy and his new little friend. Along with the adventures come some trouble for the boy, but he does everything in his power to protect his fluffy companion.

When this book comes out, it'll be understood by lots of children around the world because Sarah makes sure to add as much translations to the app as possible. I for sure would give her some help with the Dutch translation since I really believe in this project!

Want a sneak peek of some images? 

If you'd like to have some more information about the book or offer Sarah some help with finishing her project, please visit this site:

http://www.indiegogo.com/miniature-polar-bear