Musing Mondays: Books I've Read

Musings Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm. In your post you have to answer one of the following prompts as well as the random question of the week:

I am currently reading...

Up next I think I'll read…

I bought the following book(s) in the past week...

I'm super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…

I'm really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…

I can't wait to get a copy of…

I wish I could read ____, but…

I blogged about ____ this past week….

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: What do you do with your books once you’ve read them?

I blogged about my experience with the book "Rebel of the Sands" by Alwyn Hamilton. I really loved this book so much. Every fantasy fan should read it ASAP.

When I finish reading a certain book I think about whether I'll read it again or not. If the answer is no, I book swap it or give it to my local library. I don't have enough space for my books in order to keep every single one.

Leave me a comment with your Musing Mondays blog post and I'll be more than happy to read it :)

Music Monday: Bulgarian songs

Music Monday is created by Lauren at Always Me. Every week you choose one or two songs to share, video of the songs and your thoughts on the songs (or any other thoughts you have). More for the rules and how to participate you can find here.

I'm going to share with you some of my favorite songs from my own country - Bulgaria. I hope you'll like them, since they are pretty good in my opinion. Since I have too many favorites, next week I'll share another portion of Bulgarian songs.

Ice Cream - Захир is a really catchy song. It's not that new, but I really like it. It's very summery, good for dancing.

Ice Cream - Захир

Жана Бергендорф - Невъзможни сме сами is another of my favorite songs. It's quite new and the video is really good.

Жана Бергендорф - Невъзможни сме сами

And a huge bonus Стефка Съботинова - Притури се планината. This is one of my favorite Bulgarian folklore songs. I really hope you like it, since it's one of our most loved songs.

Стефка Съботинова - Притури се планината

Do you want more Bulgarian songs? Please, share your opinion!

January Wrap Up

January is over! Which means that it's time for a monthly wrap up.

This month I read a total of 12 books, which is ok. I'm 4 books ahead of my Goodreads reading schedule. Hopefully this trend will continue throughout the next month.

Reviewed Books:

"The Beastly Arms" by Patrick Jennings

☆☆☆☆☆
Genre: Middle Grade

"All the Bright Places" by Jennifer Niven

☆☆☆
Genre: Contemporary

"But You Did Not Come Back" by Marceline Loridan-Ivens

☆☆☆
Genre: Non Fiction

"The Lost Tudor Princess: The Life of Lady Margaret Douglas" by Alison Weir

☆☆
Genre: History

"Rebel of the Sands" (Rebel of the Sands #1) by Alwyn Hamilton

☆☆☆☆☆
Genre: High Fantasy

Non-Reviewed Books:

"The Scandal in Kissing an Heir" (At the Kingsborough Ball #2) by Sophie Barnes

☆☆☆
Genre: Historical Romance

It was not as good as the third book in the series, but it was better than the first one. I enjoyed it, but it's not a fave.

"The King's Curse" (The Cousins' War #6) by Philippa Gregory

☆☆☆☆☆
Genre: Historical Fiction

Not my favorite book in the series, but a nice end to it. I really enjoyed it very much and I found the main character to be very believable and likeable.

"Brother Grimm" (Jan Fabel #2) by Craig Russell

☆☆☆☆
Genre: Mystery

I started this series just because of this book and I was not disappointed. A really good mystery novel with some unexpected twists.

"Let the Right One In" by John Ajvide Lindqvist

☆☆☆☆
Genre: Horror

It was not much of a horror novel, but I really, really liked it. I can't wait to watch the movies.

"Blindness" (Blindness #1) by José Saramago

☆☆☆☆
Genre: Science Fiction

I'm not much of a science fiction fan, because of all the terminology, but this book was really easy to read. I enjoyed it and I want to check out the second book.

"Flashforward" by Robert J. Sawyer

☆☆☆☆
Genre: Science Fiction

I can't believe I liked this book as much as I did. There was not a lot action there, but it was a fast read. If you like books about time travelling, you may love this one.

"Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray

☆
Genre: Contemporary

I was on the verge of throwing this book out of the window too many times. I felt like I was reading some kind of a parody of a book. It was annoying the hell out of me.

These are all of the books that I've read this month. Have you read any of them? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Book Review: "Rebel of the Sands" by Alwyn Hamilton

☆☆☆☆☆
Rebel of the Sands #1
Genre: High Fantasy
Source: NetGalley
Publication Date: Feb 4, 2016 by Faber and Faber Ltd

""Tell me that and we'll go. Right now. Save ourselves and leave this place to burn. Tell me that's how you want your story to go and we'll write it straight across the sand."

Dustwalk is Amani's home. The desert sand is in her bones. But she wants to escape. More than a want. A need. 

Then a foreigner with no name turns up to save her life, and with him the chance to run. But to where? The desert plains are full of danger. Sand and blood are swirling, and the Sultan's enemies are on the rise." - Goodreads

OMG, this was the best book ever!!!

First off, I want to thank NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for giving me the chance to read this awesome book!

For me it was the perfect mix between The Demon Cycle and The Arabian Nights. The world building was so great and everything was so vividly described that for these past two days I was sent to the Sahara desert. And I loved it! Everything felt so real and it was like a movie inside my head with me playing the lead.

The characters kicked ass! I was in love with their sass and their overall behaviour. Amani is now hands down one of my favorite heroines. She had sass, brains and knows how to stay alive...well, she did try really hard to get herself killed, but she survived. Jin was also a very well developed character. I would love it if the next book is told both from Amani and Jin's POV. It would be fantastic to go inside his head.

I really liked the interaction between the characters. None of them was just there, everyone had a purpose, which was really great. I was fond of the romance in the book - really smooth and subtle.

The mythology used in the book was a really nice touch. I loved all of the creatures and the way they were portrayed - the Djinnis, Buraqis, Nightmares and all tha jazz. Everything fitted the setting so perfectly. Nothing was redundant.

I honestly can't believe this is a debut novel. It was definitely more than I expected, which makes me so happy and appreciative. "Rebel of the Sands" has everything I love in a novel - well developed characters, gripping story, great world building and whole lot of action. The only bad thing I can say about the book is that I need more and I have to wait for the second one. Anticipation is killing me...

Library Hunt #1

Welcome to my first ever Library Hunt!

So, I went to the library yesterday to return a huge pile of books and of course I returned home with another one. The pile could have been bigger, but we are allowed to take only up to 7 books.

The only two books I was planning to get are:

"In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex" by Nathaniel Philbrick, which I didn't even know was a book. I've only heard about the movie and I have plans to watch it.

"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie, which I've heard mixed things about, but I really want to give it a try.

The other books I just got on a whim, because they sounded interesting. I've never heard anything about them, but I hope I'll like them.

"Mandala Road" by Masako Bando - it doesn't have a high rating on Goodreads, but I may be pleasantly surprised.

"The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" by Sherman Alexie - while searching for "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian", I found this book, so I decided to pick it up.

"Of A Boy" by Sonya Hartnett - I know nothing about this book. It sounds like a mystery novel.

"Broken" by Shy Keenan - I really like reading sad books and I have a thing for non-fiction books about child abuse or hard childhood in general. I'm sure I will like this one.

If you've read any of these books, please share you thoughts in the comments! Also, do you like the format of this post? Because I can may be include pictures from my local library while browsing through the books, if that is going to be interesting for you! Any opinions will be very much appreciated.

Book Traveling Thursdays: Re-Read for 2016

The Book Traveling Thursdays meme is created by Danielle at Danielle’s Book Blog and Catia at TheGirlWhoReadTooMuch. Every week you choose a book for your blog post that fits the weekly theme (which you can find in the Goodreads group), you share why you chose that book and finally post picture of the original cover, the covers from your country, your favorite cover, and your least favorite cover.

"Because some books stay with us forever!! Choose a book you want to re-read in 2016."
I haven't re-read any of my books last year, but this year I have some books, that I really have to re-read. I am going to choose "The Left Hand of God" by Paul Hoffman since I really want to finish the series this year and I love re-reading the books. This is one of my favorite YA Fantasy/Dystopia series, so if you haven't read it yet, give it a try.

Original Cover:

I really, really like the original cover. It's what drawn me into this book.

Bulgarian Cover:

Almost the same as the original.

Favorite Covers:

                   1) UK                                        2) Italian

I absolutely adore the UK cover. Especially the frame with the snakes and the swords. As for the Italian cover - doesn't it look a little bit like Assassin's Creed? I love it!

Least Favorite Cover:

The only edition I do not like is this Chinese edition. I don't hate it, but it is really my least favorite.

Have you read this book? What do you think about it?
If you have a Book Traveling Thursdays blog post, share it in the comments. I would love to check it out :)

Top 5 Wednesday: Disappointing Eye Candy

Top 5 Wednesdays was created by gingerreadsLainey and there is a Goodreads group where you can find a list of participants as well as Top 5 Wednesday topics.

Today it's all about those gorgeous covers that lured us into reading a certain book and then slapped us across the face with its awfulness.

"Fallen" (Fallen #1) by Lauren Kate

The cover is breathtaking, but the book is a complete disaster. I did not like it at all.

"Looking for Alaska" by John Green

I really like the cover, but the book was not my favorite. After reading "The Fault in Our Stars" every other book by John Green seems to fall flat for me...

"Divergent" (Divergent #1) by Veronica Roth

The movie was bad, but the book is worse. Such a shame, since the cover is beautiful.

"The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

I'm expecting some really negative comments, but it's true - I did not like this book. I really tried but it was not something spectacular. But the cover is gorgeous.

"Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception" (Books of Faerie #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

This book is definitely better than "Shiver", but I was not blown away. But the cover is lovely.

These are my disappointing eye candies. Share your Top 5 Wednesday in the comments :)