Top Ten Tuesday: books at the top of my summer TBR list

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week the participants post their top ten to a specific topic.

Hey guys! I'm back from my forced blogging break (read about it in yesterday's post if you want) and trying to make up my mind about a summer TBR. I never really plan what to read when apart from review books, but I have a lot of unread-but-owned books right now and here are some that I want to read over the summer, in no particular order.

Phoenix, by Elizabeth Richards
Okay, it technically hasn't arrived yet, but it's on its way and I neeeeed it so I will read it the minute it gets here!

The Secret of Ella and Micha, by Jessica Sorensen
I've owned it for months and finally want to read it! I'm way behind on my NA challenge and I remember all the good reviews of this one. Also, summer makes me feel more like reading contemporaries.

Legend, by Marie Lu
Owned it for a few weeks and its really short, so if I ever to to the beach/lake/whatever, it'll come with me :)

Looking for Alaska, by John Green
I gave this to my sister for Christmas, who has now borrowed it back to me... months ago. I finally need to sit down and read a John Green book but I know it'll make me cry so I kinda have to be in the right mood for it.

Sins & Needles, by Karina Halle
I'm itching to read this! It sits on my kindle among a lot of other awesome NA books. Tattoo artist. Con artist. Yes please.

The Edge of Never, by J.R. Redmerski
Are you starting to see a pattern? Also, road trip.

Lola and the Boy Next Door, by Stefanie Perkins
I really liked Anna and the French Kiss and I'm so glad the matching paperback of Lola will be out soon-ish! It sounds like a great summer read :)

Exiled, by M.R. Merrick
Because it's been on my kindle for around a year and it sounds awesome and now there are already like 3 more books in the series and I'm way behind...

Flesh and Blood, by Kristen Painter
I devoured book one and I have book 2 on my unread pile. And I need some vampires every once in a while, especially if the worldbuilding makes the story refreshing in the way that book 1 did!

A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness
My friend is a huge fan and gave me her much-read and abused copy. She's been wanting to discuss it with me for nearly a year, so I must get round to it this summer ^^

What do you think of my list, and what are you planning to read this summer? Does the season influence your genre-reading-patterns?

Stacking the Shelves: Embers of Dreams hanging on Strings

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews to showcase all the books we got in the past week. Those can be bought, won, gifted, for review, borrowed, print or ebooks... no matter, just share what you got :)


This week was pretty good for me! A bunch of these books have been on my TBR list for a long time, and with my current reading speed I hope to get to them soon :)


Bought in print:

Dreamfever, by Karen Marie Moning
Graceling, by Kristin Cashore

Dreamfever was fantastic but the ending was such a horrible cliffhanger!!! And the next book isn't available in the right format. Thank god my friend has it, but she's in Belgium till Monday >.< I even asked her for a small spoiler because I couldn't take the suspense. And I usually loathe spoilers with a passion.
Graceling I've wanted to read for sooo long! I even bought it in German but then never read it because I don't like translations (I didn't know it was *that* book when I bought it). I love the cover!

eBooks:

Anathema, by K.A. Tucker
Strings, by Kendall Grey
Ember X, by Jessica Sorensen

I really like the cover change for Anathema! I don't really know what to expect from the book but it sounds really interesting.
Strings should be fun. Just read the description XD
I already own Ember, but this is an 'updated' version that is more New Adult-ish than the previous one. I hope my old version wasn't changed because I'd love to read and compare both. Oh, and it was free on amazon when I got it, but no promises that it still is...


What do you guys think of my haul? Have you read any of the books? And what did you get in the past week?

My Six Month Blogoversary & Giveaway

Wow. I can't believe my half-year milestone of blogging crept up (and past) me like this! I seem to be forever unprepared for these things. I made my first post here on May 24th, though theoretically it might be better to count the days from when I posted my first review, which would set the six months mark at December 16. I wanted to post this a little in advance, but then end-of-semester-madness and near-disaster happened.

No matter which way you put it, time simply flew for me this past year! Half a year ago I never could have imaged the place I feel I'm at with this blog right now. I never thought I'd be reading ARCs (okay, they're digital so far but so what?!) or that my blog would have around 500 followers! That number seemed astronomical. And though I know not every one of you reads each of my posts, I want to thank you all for sticking around! I'm happy about every pageview and every single comment makes me smile before I even look at it! I feel like I've come to 'know' some of the more regular commenters and their blogs a bit. I know this sounds silly - it's just a few lines after all. But I feel that way anyway.

Not being social and part of the community enough is one thing I regret quite a bit at this point. I'm shy about approaching people, and I don't really know where or how. Are there forums or websites where bloggers 'talk shop', so to speak? Or is it all on Twitter? Another problem is that I'm so busy I often don't have the time to catch up on my twitter feed at all. This was especially bad for the last month or so. I overbooked my university schedule this semester, and along with my two jobs and occasionally meeting friends and reading and writing (not as much as I'd like) it's just all getting a bit much. That's also the reason why there have been more promo/meme posts lately and less reviews - something I want to balance out better in the future! I can't wait for the holidays and I hope I'll do better next semester!

There are still things I want to improve. Like a header, or a blog button. If you have any suggestions about what type of post you'd like to see, feel free to tell me in the comments! I've also been thinking about adding a weekly poetry-meme for a while now. What do you think of that?

Enough of my prattling and rambling. This is a celebration post after all, so let there be presents and a giveaway! Unfortunately, since it's so close to the holidays, I have to watch my money a bit so I can't give away two packages of three books each like last time, but I have selection of both old and new releases for you to choose from. Also, to help get the word out there about some indie authors I really enjoy, there's also a rafflecopter for a kindle eBook of your choice from the selection. So there are TWO rafflecopter forms for you to fill out and TWO chances to win. Both giveaways are INTERNATIONAL but please check the rules for details!


Rules:

• One entry per person / household. I check IP addresses.
• You must be at least 13 years old.
• Giveaway is international provided that The Book Depository ships to you. For the eBook giveaway you have to be able to accept kindle gifts.
• I will email the winner and they'll have 48 hours to respond. After that time has passed, I'll pick someone new.
• You may enter one or both rafflecopter forms.
• I will check all entries before picking a winner. Cheaters will be disqualified.
• Once the book has been shipped, I am no longer responsible for it.
• I will choose whichever edition is cheapest on The Book Depository.
• If a book is from a series and you already have it, you may choose a different installment of the same series.
• I reserve the right to change entry options or end the giveaway early.

If you have any questions, either email me or send me a tweet @Butterfly_Ghost. Good luck to everyone, and happy holidays! :)

Paperback choices:






a Rafflecopter giveaway

Indie eBook choices:


 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Stacking the Shelves: Dystopian & Steampunk Edition

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted at Tynga's Reviews that allows us to showcase all the bookish goodies we got in the past week. These can be print books, ebooks, bought books, borrowed ones, review books, swag... you got it, you share it.


Books I had ordered that finally arrived:

Black City, by Elizabeth Richards
Divergent, by Veronica Roth
The Infernal Devices Manga: Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Clare (illustrator: HyeKyung Baeck)
Parasol Protectorate Box (books 1-5), by Gail Carriger


If you've been following this blog for any amount of time you know how much I've been CRAVING Black City!! I got it yesterday and I'm already more than halfway through. You can see the sticky notes. I got Divergent today on a whim. I was feeling sad (I'll explain later) and buying books in a physical store makes me happy. I've wanted the Infernal Devices manga ever since it was first announced - I love the series and I love manga, so... perfect combination. I've also been meaning to read Gail Carriger's books for forever so when I saw a boxset (at a great price) would be out, I preordered it. I need more steampunk in my life.


From Netgalley:



Dance of Shadows, by Yelena Black
Elemental: The First, by Alexandra May


Bought:



The Secret of Ella & Micha, by Jessica Sorensen


For a blog tour:



The Breakaway, by Michelle Davidson Argyle

What did you get this week?

Spooktacular Giveaway Hop: Choose 1 of 15 books

Hey guys :) Welcome to my stop of the Spooktacular Giveaway Hop, hosted by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer & The Diary of a Bookworm. There are about 500 blogs participating, so make sure to hop along with the linky at the bottom of this post.

I love Halloween! I don't get to do much because the event isn't really celebrated in Switzerland much, but I love all the pictures of costumes and decorations that show up on my twitter feed around this time from the Americans I'm following.

And of course, I love spooky books and movies. So let's get to the goodies ;)

There will be one winner who can pick one of the following books:









Click the covers to check the books out on goodreads. Those are all books I have either read and loved or heard awesome things about.


Rules:

• Open internationally as long as The Book Depository ships to you.
• One entry per person / household. 
• Duplicate entries or any other type of cheating results in deletion of all your entries. I will check ALL of them before I pick a winner.
• You have to be at least 13. You have to be 18 to pick one of the following: Drawing Blood, Lost Souls, Halfway to the Grave. Those are NOT YA.
• The winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before I pick someone new.
• The cover/edition of your pick may differ because of regional restrictions. I will order paperbacks if available (Ember will be kindle format, as I cannot order paperbacks from amazon.com and it's unavailable from TBD).
• I am not responsible for what happens to the book after I've ordered it for you.

Now have fun and enjoy the spooky season!




a Rafflecopter giveaway