Welcome to my May wrap-up! May was an exciting month for me with a lot of things happening. Once again, I fell short of my reading goals for the month but! I got more read than I thought I would – six books in total. However, I’m beginning to doubt whether I’m going to read 100 books this year – mayhap I’m simply too busy.

I also feel like I keep getting a run of one or two books that I really enjoy and then getting bogged down with one or two that take me 3847 years to get through. This was true in May towards the end. But as long as there is hot chocolate in the world then I guess I’m alright with that.

Can we all also take a moment to SQUEEE because Cait @ PaperFury’s book is published TODAY!! I am sitting by my letterbox patiently waiting for my pre-order to arrive. Make sure you go and check it out and support a fellow blogger in doing so!

Now, shall we take a look at all the deals happening around the book world?

I am an affiliate with these companies, by purchasing your books by using my links I earn a small commission which helps support Upside-Down Books!

THE BOOK DEPOSITORY

As always there are many deals happening in this neck of the woods. The Book Depository offers world-wide FREE shipping which is amazing! They also have one of the biggest ranges of books you could ever want. Make sure you check out their BARGAIN section and grab a great deal or check out their TRAVEL writing guides! Ready to stock up your bookshelves? See their list of NEW RELEASES or perhaps if you’re feeling hungry, check out some INTERNATIONAL CUISINE.

WORDERY

Another awesome online seller with a HUGE range of books. Wordery also offers world-wide FREE shipping and is 100% worth checking out. Check out the short list for the WOMEN’S PRZIE for Fiction 2018 and have a look at their BOOK OF THE WEEK (Tom Fletcher anyone?) Thinking of travelling? See Wordery’s range of TRAVEL BOOKS!

ANGUS & ROBERTSON

Come support an Australian bookstore! Angus & Robertson offers FREE shipping on all orders over $60AUD to Australia and New Zealand and a great range of books. Make sure you check out some awesome deals in their EOFY sale! Also make sure to check out their BOOK OF THE WEEK, their WINTER COOKBOOK collection and their POCKET TRENCH CLASSICS!

BOOKTOPIA

Another Australian online store to support! Booktopia offers FLAT RATE shipping on all orders across Australia and New Zealand. Make sure you head over to see their EOFY sale and shop some special SIGNED COPIES. Not to mention you can get 25% OFF their Top 100 best sellers!

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Halt’s Peril
by John Flanagan 

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Author: John Flanagan
Published: 2009
Publisher: Random House Australia
Pages: 384 {paperback}

Will I continue the series? YES

I was so pleased to have picked this up and jumped back into the world of Ranger’s Apprentice. It’s one of my goals this year to finish off this series and I’m so nearly there. As long as I continue reading the others!! I thoroughly enjoyed this, as always.

My review

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Alexander the Great
by in60Learning

Genre: History, Non-Fiction
Author: in60Learning
Published: January 2018
Publisher: in60Learning
Audiobook Length: 1 hr
Page Count Equivalent: 41 pages {kindle edition} 

in60Learning reached out to me earlier in the year to offer me a copy of one of their audiobooks in exchange for an honest review – and I’m so glad they did. I finally got around to reading the book I chose and I LOVED it. The narration was great and the history was interesting, accurate and easy to understand. Highly recommend this company!

My review

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Flame in the Mist
by Renée Ahdieh

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Author: Renée Ahdieh
Published: May 2017
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Pages: 402 {paperback}

Will I continue the series? NO

I was SO disappointed with this. I found it fell hugely short of my expectations – the story was slow, uneventful and not even close to the Mulan retelling I was hoping for. I was utterly heart-broken to find this book so boring given how much I love Ahdieh’s other series, The Wrath and the Dawn.

Review to come

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Outlander
by Diana Gabaldon 

Genre: Historical Fiction
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Published: June 1991
Audiobook Publisher: Recorded Books
Audiobook Length: 33 hr
Page Count Equivalent: 627 {paperback}

Will I continue the series? YES

Oh boy did I love this one. Being an incredibly long audiobook (although the series only gets longer *nervous laugh*) it took me approximately twelve hundred years to finish listening to it. I thoroughly enjoyed every second of the book however and am so excited to continue the series!

Review to come

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Snow & Rose
by Emily Winfield Martin

Genre: Fantasy, Children’s Ficiton
Author: Emily Winfield Martin
Published: October 2017
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 224 {hardback}

This was such a sweet little book. It’s a fairytale centred around two girls who, after their father disappears into the woods and never returns, have to move into a run-down house with their mother. Not used to the lower class lifestyle they find adventures and magic in the woods to distract them from their misery. It’s really well done and such a pretty book!

My review

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They Both Die at the End
by Adam Silvera

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Author: Adam Silvera
Published: September 2017
Publisher: HarperTeen Audiobook Length: 8 hrs
Page Count Equivalent: 373 {paperback}

I’m so excited that I’ve finally read a Silvera book. People rave about his stuff all the time and this was a fantastic audiobook. It’s got all the feels and such a good little story to it. I can’t recommend this one enough.

My review

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• I talked about what it was like working for Disney
• I reviewed some books:
  • Snow and Rose by Emily Winfield Martin
  • Alexander the Great by in60Learning
  • Halt’s Peril by John Flanagan
• I did my April book haul
• I did my April wrap-up
• I discussed the up-coming releases for May

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As a small announcement, you all know that I’ve been taking a break from BookTube. I honestly didn’t expect myself to have time again to pick it back up  . . . . butttt – I think I will be. So stay tuned for that, there may be new videos to come in the near future!

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Looking for a new and exciting book club to join? Come have some fun with Casey and I over at the Squabbing Dragons! We’re a Goodreads book club and we focus on reading Sci-Fi/Fantasy books that are underrated! This June, starting on the 17th, we’ll be starting Mimus by Lilli Thal so go grab your copy!

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Genres Read:

Pages Read:

Total: 2,051

Progress Towards Goodreads Challenge:

28%, or, 28/100 books

I’m over 10 books behind . . . let us pray.

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Like I said, May was a busy month for me. I’m working two jobs at the moment and settling into a new Mon-Fri routine. WHICH I’M EXCITED ABOUT. Hulloooo weekends! The family has been doing a lot of planning for our family holiday next year so that’s all been terribly exciting too.

I’m also facing the wonderful prospect of potentially having a new job! And dare I say it . . . it’s a publishing gig. LADLES AND JELLYSPOONS – my life is back on track. So it’s now your god given duty to cross your fingers for me that all these plans come together. I’m going to be one happy eggplant when they do.

I was literally just racking my brains trying to think what on earth I did with my life this month apart from work and I remember it was MY BIRTHDAY wooo! I am officially 22 years old and pretending to be an adult. I had a lurvly birthday and, yes, I received a few books which you’ll see in my next book haul!

I did also visit a bookstore cafe on Mother’s Day when I went out for lunch with my mum. Twas a cool little cafe – Millpoint Book Cafe if you’re interested.

I SUPPOSE, I should talk about the future too. I feel like it’s the first time I can see my future for ages. I have the holiday to look forward to and am furiously saving as much money as I can from all the work hours I’m pulling. I’m excited at the prospect of a new and perfect job. But most importantly I’ve got a routine and calmness back to in my life. Which means I’m starting to write consistently again.

I’m setting aside time to. get. my. book. done. And I’m thrilled. I so want to just smash out the rest of it and get on with it – so hopefully that will happen. I should also have more time to get more blog posts up because it’s eating at my soul the little amount I’m doing. Plus, I’m going to try once more to keep running my BookTube channel – with just four videos a month, as a bit of fun. I’ll give you the low down on that one when it actually happens.

Movies I Watched:

Infinity War, 2018: 7/10 stars
This was a re-watch. I totally went to see it again in the cinema because there was a special for it. Can you blame me? I think not. I’m also pretty sure this is the only film I watched all month . . . whaaaa?

TV Seires I Watched:

Fawlty Towers, 1975: series 2
I finished this! FINALLY. I finally watched the last episode of this and it was glorious and stressful. Such a funny little show – I’m going to have to go on the hunt to find some other British comedy to keep me going.

Race to the Edge, 2018: series 6
I finished this too! This is unheard of! I’m really sad that this one is done, I absolutely loved this kids show soooo much. But we’ve left off events where they start at the beginning of How to Train Your Dragon 2 – BTW, who’s excited for movie number 3?!

Lost in Space, 2018: series 1
Jayden and I are slowly making our way through this series and it’s so good and so frustrating at the same time. I just want to get to the end to find out what happens!!!

Downton Abbey, 2015: series 5
Say what, you bet I finished this one too. I can’t believe how many different series I got through this month! I’m so excited to FINALLLLLYY have gotten to the end of series 5 . . . just one more whole season to go now.

Masterchef Australia, 2018: series 10
Heck yeah I’m keeping up with this. I love me some Masterchef . . . even if it is on like 9227 times a week. But seeing as I’m done work at 5 most days heigh ho you bet I have the time to watch it!

Westworld, 2016: series 1
And I started a new series. Literally on fire with my TV shows this month. I’m really enjoying this one too!! I’m very curious as to the direction it’s heading in.

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Tick! May done! 

What was your favourite book that you read in May? 

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~~ Kirstie ~~

Follow @ozbooksnail