Bookhaul August & September 2017

Hey you all! You may have noticed that my bookhauls for the months August and September were missing. I decided to wait with posting these hauls because they were kind of … pathetic haha. If it wasn’t for giveaways and review copies I probably wouldn’t have had any books to show you guys and girls. Luckily, Lady Luck favors the broke 😉

When I wanted to take a picture of the spines of the books in my bookhaul the pile of books promptly keeled over, which resulted in this picture that made me laugh really hard, because somehow it looks kind of cool.

Four of these books I got for free 🙂 I won Yuval Noah Harari’s Homo Deus in a giveaway by the magazine Libelle, I won Bloedwetten: Verlossing (English translation: Bloodlaws: Redemption) by Sophia Drenth in a Facebook giveaway by the author and Nienke Pool, I won Een fijne neus voor liefde (The secret of a heartnote) by Stacey Lee in a giveaway by HarperCollins Young Adult and I got Ster van Acht (Angel Star) by Jennifer Murgia as a review copy for Dutch Venture Publishing. The remaining two books I bought for a project I’m working on and will tell you more about when I’m finished 😉

So, what are these books about? (note: I added two descriptions in Dutch because these books will probably not be translated to English any time soon)

Homo Deus: A brief history of tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari:

Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to accept, but, as Harari explains in his trademark style—thorough, yet riveting—famine, plague and war have been transformed from incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces of nature into manageable challenges. For the first time ever, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals put together. The average American is a thousand times more likely to die from binging at McDonalds than from being blown up by Al Qaeda.

What then will replace famine, plague, and war at the top of the human agenda? As the self-made gods of planet earth, what destinies will we set ourselves, and which quests will we undertake? Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century—from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus.

Bloedwetten: Verlossing by Sophia Drenth (description in Dutch):

Neerlanders hebben hun angst verloren voor de bloeddrinkende Ath’vacii. Burgers gebruiken nu zelf gretig het pulver dat wordt vervaardigd uit Ath’vacii-bloed en bewonderen de machtige stem van een monsterlijke operazanger die eeuwen geleden onsterfelijk werd gemaakt.

Roan Storm is recent door de Ath’vacii tot het eeuwige leven veroordeeld. Hij verliest zijn grote liefde Maïa aan een sterfelijke mens. Samen met zijn staaljagers staat hij machteloos als zijn Bloedwet wordt misbruikt door zijn aartsrivaal.

Wanneer bloedhongerige mensen Ath’vacii beginnen aan te vallen en Maïa’s leven in gevaar komt, valt Storm dieper dan zijn resterende vrienden ooit hadden kunnen vrezen.

Structuring your novel: essential keys for writing an outstanding story by K.M. Weiland:

Is Structure the Hidden Foundation of All Successful Stories?

Why do some stories work and others don’t? The answer is structure. In this new guide from the author of the bestselling Outlining Your Novel, you will discover the universal underpinnings that guarantee powerful plot and character arcs. An understanding of proper story and scene structure will help you to not only perfectly time your story’s major events, but will also provide you with an unerring standard to use in evaluating your novel’s pacing and progression.

Structuring Your Novel will show you:

• How to determine the best methods for unleashing your unique and personal vision for your story.
• How to identify common structural weaknesses and flip them around into stunning strengths.
• How to eliminate saggy middles by discovering your “centerpiece.”
• Why you should NEVER include conflict on every page.
• How to discover the questions you don’t want readers asking about your plot—and then how to get them to ask the right questions.

Story structure has empowered countless bestselling and classic authors. Now it’s your turn!

Ster van Acht (Angel Star) by Jennifer Murgia:

See https://confessionsofaserialreadersite.wordpress.com/2017/09/01/to-fall-in-love-with-an-angel/ for a description and review of the book.

Een fijne neus voor liefde (The secret of a heartnote) by Stacey Lee:

See https://confessionsofaserialreadersite.wordpress.com/2017/09/20/love-is-in-the-air/ for a description and review of the book.

Storytelling in 12 stappen (English translation: Storytelling in 12 steps) by Mieke Bouma (description in Dutch):

Storytelling in 12 stappen is gebaseerd op de monomythe van Joseph Campbell en The Writer’s Journey van Christopher Vogler, ook wel bekend als ‘De Reis van de Held’. Voor schrijvers en verhalenvertellers vormt deze mythische verhaalstructuur een onuitputtelijke inspiratiebron.
In deze praktische schrijfgids behandelt scenarioschrijver en schrijfdocent Mieke Bouma dit verhaalmodel stap voor stap. Storytelling in 12 stappen biedt schrijvers en verhalenvertellers richtlijnen voor het construeren van sterke plots en het creëren van universele en levensechte karakters. Oefeningen en praktische opdrachten helpen bij het oplossen van schrijfproblemen, zorgen voor inspiratie en prikkelen de verbeelding.
Dit boek is niet alleen een avontuur voor auteurs, scenaristen, toneelschrijvers en producenten, maar voor iedereen die van verhalen houdt en ze wil (leren) schrijven of vertellen.  

 

 

 

Love is in the air

Hey you all! It’s time for a new review 🙂 Two weeks ago I came across a giveaway post by HarperCollins Young Adult, naturally I took a chance to try and win one of the books they were giving away as HarperCollins is one of my favorite publishers ❤ And Lady Luck was with me, because I won Een fijne neus voor liefde (The Secret of a Heart Note) by Stacey Lee. When I first came across a description of this book I put it on my wish list right away as I love romantic stories that have supernatural elements in them. I especially love stories where the main character has an ability that has to do with one of the five senses. So, the description of this book really made me curious and very excited and I wasn’t disappointed because this story was awesome! Let me first give you a description and then I will tell you why you have to read this book 😉

Sometimes love is right under your nose. As one of only two aromateurs left on the planet, sixteen-year-old Mimosa knows what her future holds: a lifetime of weeding, mixing love elixirs, and matchmaking—all while remaining incurably alone. For Mim, the rules are clear: falling in love would render her nose useless, taking away her one great talent. Still, Mimosa doesn’t want to spend her life elbow-deep in soil and begonias. She dreams of a normal high school experience with friends, sports practices, debate club, and even a boyfriend. But when she accidentally gives an elixir to the wrong woman and has to rely on the lovesick woman’s son, the school soccer star, to help fix the situation, Mim quickly begins to realize that falling in love isn’t always a choice you can make. 

I loved everything about this story! Mim is one of those characters that crawls under your skin. She’s friendly, extremely loyal, quirky, funny and strong willed. In the beginning of the story the reader experiences how narrow Mim’s world is thanks to her talent and her overbearing mother. Eventhough Mim doesn’t like all the rules she has to abide she does it without much complaining or drama. She’s a good daughter who listens to her mother. Her mom rewards her for this by giving her even more tasks and responsibilities in the family business. So, when Mr. Frederics, Mim’s math teacher, comes to their house ordering a love elixir for the librarian Ms. DiCarlo it’s Mim’s job to ensure ms. DiCarlo gets the elixir. Mim does what she is told, but the cup of coffee she puts the elixir in turns out to belong to someone else than ms. DiCarlo and as a result Ms. Sawyer drinks the elixir. Mim is afraid of her mother’s reaction to her mistake and decides to keep it a secret. She has no choice to correct her mistake before Ms. Sawyer starts to get feelings for Mr. Frederics. Naturally, everything goes wrong after that. Mim has to tell someone her secret and decides to confess everything to Court, Ms. Sawyer’s son and the soccer star of Gaudalupe High. Together they go on a hunt for ingredients for a potion that will cure Ms. Sawyer of her feelings. But, some ingredients are hard to find. As a result Mim and Court spend so much time and experience so many adventures together that the unthinkable happens: Mim falls in love… The one thing she can never do according to the rules that are passed on from one aromateur to the next since the Middle Ages. However, Mim can’t help it, she can’t deny her feelings, although she tries her best to avoid skin contact with Court so she doesn’t loose her abilities. But, when Court is in danger and she’s the only one around to help him, can she turn her back on him and protect her abilities or will she risk everything to save him?

I really liked Court. He is sweet, nice, protective of the people he cares about and an all-around good guy. I loved how he saw Mim for who she really was and the way in which he kept her from harm. The love between Mim and Court moves slowly and is so sweet and cute that you can’t help but read this book with a big smile on your face.

The writer is really good at portraying emotions and the relationships between people. The bond between Mim and her mom was extremely realistic. Because of this realism you feel for Mim when her mom is hard on her and insensitive towards her feelings, but you never dislike her mother because you can see where she’s coming from. The relationship between Mim’s mom and her twinsister, Mim’s aunt, is also portrayed really well. Sisters don’t always get along and sometimes fights can result in distancing, but somehow, most of the time, these fights can be resolved and the sisterbond proves stronger than anything. That’s a powerful and beautiful message, I think ❤ The bond between Mim and her best friend Kali is written just as realistically. I loved how Kali and Mim tried to help each other, but eventually learned that sometimes you have to stand up for yourself and can’t rely on someone else’s help. I also really loved the fact that at the end of the book Mim learns that love has a way to happen all on its own and that sometimes magical abilities can’t change whom someone falls for. Sometimes love is meant to be 🙂

I loved the fact that this book revolved around smell and flowers, herbs and all living, growing things. In most books hearing and seeing are the most important senses, so, it was refreshing to read a story where smelling took centerstage. As a flowerlover myself I could smell most of the mentioned plants and flowers the whole time I was reading this book. Isn’t it amazing how written words have the power to do that?

The pace and tension in this book were really well dosed and I couldn’t stop reading once I started. The blending of magic (or Mim’s special ability) with a first love and a race against the clock worked perfectly. If you’re looking for a lighthearted love story with some magic in it and lots of obstacles along the way this is most definitely the book for you! This is without a doubt a must-read 🙂