My Latest Book Haul! (07/05/16)

As I'm sure many of you are aware, I'm coming up to a rather stressful time in my schooling right now. The dreaded A-levels. As I'm taking 6 subjects (well 5 if you don't count General Studies, which most people don't), you can probably imagine that I have paper coming out of my ears and I'm reciting chemical equations in my sleep. Well, not literally. (Not yet anyway!)

Yesterday I had a half-day as my double biology lesson was cancelled. Because of that, I had originally planned to pop into town (Plymouth) and go book shopping to kill some time before catching the bus home with my brother's girlfriend. Unsurprisingly where my brother is involved, there was a change of plan so I could go straight home from school. However, as I'd sort of built myself up for a good spot of book shopping, I decided to go ahead and treat myself anyway. The only problem was money.

Although I will actually get a pretty big student loan next year, especially for staying at home, this summer I intend to learn to drive and therefore a lot of my loan (if not all of it!) will be spent on car insurance. So I decided to to limit myself to only the money I had on me. If I used my card, I think I would have made myself bankrupt!

£34 later I had a nice collection of 6 books, although a little sad as I had to put a few back.

1. A Court of Thorns and Roses; Sarah J. Maas

2. A Court of Mist and Fury; Sarah J. Maas. I took their last copy and it was signed! I didn't even realise they were selling signed ones!

3. The Force Awakens; Alan Dean Foster. I've been considering buying this for a while as Star Wars is my absolute favourite series of all time and, as it was part of 'buy one get one halfprice' I went for it.

4. Trouble Twisters; Garth Nix and Sean Williams. I had never even heard of this book, but a copy signed by Nix was in the reduced section for only £1 so I went for it!

5. Rebel of the Sands; Alwyn Hamilton. Although on my tbr, there were many books I wanted instead. In fact, I nearly chose The Heir by Kiera Cass over it but as it was 'buy one get one halfprice' with Star Wars, I ended up buying it.

6. Happily Ever After; Kiera Cass. A toss up between this one and The Heir, I decided I'd finish off America's story first. The reviews of The Selection, The Elite and The One are all on this blog. Although not too impressed by The One, I just knew I had to read Happily Ever After sometime. 

Gift Cards

Whether it be Christmas, birthdays, or any other celebration, gift cards are always labelled a terrible gift (usually along with socks).
I can, to a certain extent, see why. Yes, they seem unoriginal and perhaps like you barely know the person. Furthermore, they also tell you exactly how much that person has spent on you, either making you feel unappreciated or perhaps like they've given you a lot more than what you spent on them.
However, I personally feel like they are wonderful gifts! A friend of mine gave me a £10 Waterstones one for Christmas, saying that she didn't potentially want to get me the wrong book, and I'm okay with that. As long as you get someone a gift card for something they enjoy (it would have been stupid to get me one for a clothes shop for example), it means that you avoid any chance of buying something dreadful. As I read so much, it would have been really difficult to get me a book that I haven't already read, without risking it being something I wouldn't like. This way, I can pop along to Waterstones after Christmas and buy anything that takes my fancy - it also avoids the stress of buying presents for the giver!
Of course, family or a significant other should probably warrant a little more than a gift card, but for friends and colleagues, I do believe that gift cards are a fantastic idea and require a bit more thought than just slipping a £10 note inside their Christmas card.

All I need to do now is to decide which books to spend it on!