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Thoughts of a Bibliophile


I reached 600 follower on Instagram! Instagram is one of my favourite platforms to use and I love taking bookish photos and looking at other bookish photos (nerdy I know but I really don't care because they are so beautiful!) But I have to say I have found it one of the hardest ways to build a platform on. For me every time I get a single follower I get excited and to have reached another 100 mark is just amazing!

So to celebrate and show my appreciation, I am giving away a signed copy of Children of Blood and Bone that has these beautiful sprayed red edges!

If that sounds like somthing you would like then have a look at my instagram post below for all the details on how to enter! 

If you already follow me on instagram, thank you so much for already getting me to where my account is now! If you don't but would like to, thank you just as much! 

Good luck!


A post shared by Kizzi May (@thoughtsofabibliophile) on Aug 14, 2018 at 2:14am PDT
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Title: Shadow and Bone
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Release: 2012
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: ★★★☆☆

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Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

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How has it taken me so long to read this trilogy? Six of Crows was one of the first fantasy books I read and is still one of my absolute favourites. I loved its characters and fun plot, but I did always feel as though I was missing a lot of the backstory from having missed reading the Grisha Verse. And I am so happy to be finally getting more into this world. 

It has one of the most unique magic systems in any of the books I've read. Yes, there is a lot of elemental magic which is pretty typical, but the way it works is so interesting. There are three main groups, which are then specialised further. The Corporalki is the order of the living dead. They are split into two, Healers and Heartenders. The former is pretty obvious and the latter can slow your heart down and kill you. They literally have death stare. Then there are the Etherealki, the order of Summoners. They are split into three, the Squallers who control air pressure, Inferni who control fire, and Tidemakers who control water. Finally, there are the Materialki, the order of Fabirkators, who are split into Durasts that can manipulate metal, stone and pretty much any other solid material. There are also the Alkemi who dabble in poisons and explosions. Pretty cool right?

I loved following Alina as she is thrown into this world of magic and her attempts to try and fit in. To be honest, she's a bit all over the place and doesn't really know what she's doing or who she really is. But for me, I thought this made her much more believable as a character and I liked her more for it. Who really has their life all sorted out at 17? 

I do want more from the villain. I feel like this book only brushed the surface and I want to know more about them and their motive. At the moment it's a bit clique with the whole hungry for power and destruction vibe but I hope I will find out more in the next two books. I won't say who it is as big spoilers there but I'm not sure yet. I also feel like he needs to do more evil. We didn't see a whole lot of evil actions from this character until the end and I want some more please!

Finally, the love interests. This is one of the things our main character is confused about and I have to say I did like one over the other. But that could never work and I'm not too keen on where it left off. Which I think makes me a bit evil as it is quite nice but I'm just not feeling it. I also don't feel like it really can work in their situation which makes it slightly less believable. I feel like that very abstract but I am really trying not to spoil anything! If you've read it, I hope you know what I mean and comment if you agree or completely disagree and are currently cursing your screen. Sorry!

And there we go! What did you think of the first book of the Grisha Verse or are you like me and so far behind you're only just getting to it/ haven't picked it up yet?

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Follow me on Twitter and Instagram here and here!
I would also love to be a friend on Goodreads,  you can find me here!


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Title: A Reaper at the Gates
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Release: 2018
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: ★★★★☆

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Beyond the Empire and within it, the threat of war looms ever larger.

The Blood Shrike, Helene Aquilla, is assailed on all sides. Emperor Marcus, haunted by his past, grows increasingly unstable, while the Commandant capitalizes on his madness to bolster her own power. As Helene searches for a way to hold back the approaching darkness, her sister's life and the lives of all those in the Empire hang in the balance.

Far to the east, Laia of Serra knows the fate of the world lies not in the machinations of the Martial court, but in stopping the Nightbringer. But while hunting for a way to bring him down, Laia faces unexpected threats from those she hoped would aid her, and is drawn into a battle she never thought she'd have to fight.

And in the land between the living and the dead, Elias Veturius has given up his freedom to serve as Soul Catcher. But in doing so, he has vowed himself to an ancient power that will stop at nothing to ensure Elias's devotion--even at the cost of his humanity


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I've decided not to do a proper review of A Reaper at the Gate, mainly because it is the third instalment of the Ember in the ashes quartet so I feel like a review would be pointless. It is still a review of a kind, but more discussiony, maybe a bit more spoilerish but if you haven't read it I don't think it will ruin anything. 

The first point I want to talk about is how faced paced it was! I a lot happens in quite a short time to a lot of characters. I think this stemmed from having three points of views so each storyline didn't have enough time to go into lots of detail, and sometimes it was just too rushed. I'm the kind of reader that likes some description to ground the scene, and I like a lot of time to read about my favourite characters. At some points, somthing quite significant or interesting would happen in one paragraph, and already it was moving on. I don't see how the POV could have been done any other way as there needed to be three points of views to tell all that was going on logistically, (although I did find myself wanted to race through Elias and the Blood Shrikes chapters to get to Laia's) but I would have been quite happy if the book had been bigger. After all, who wouldn't want to spend more time reading this series?

I also really hope to see more of Musa, the character who acts like Laia's (kind of) fairy godmother, in the last book. I felt he left way too early. He brought a lighter feel to the book with a lot (A LOT) of death and hurt and destruction. And whilst he definitely does not have a light past, he represents the hope for the future that Laia had almost forgotten about in her determination to destroy the Nightbringer. 

Speaking of the Nightbringer, I loved reading about his history. It seems so relevant and I can completely imagine some human going in and ruining something that didn't need to be interfered with and therefore dooming the rest of their kind when the king they destroyed comes back to utterly destroy them in return. But are we to feel sympathy towards the Nightbringer? Whilst I don't think I do because he's still done very evil things, I can understand why he is now so hateful. And he is definitely getting his revenge. I would love to know more about that world before. It's moments when reading bits like this when I wonder whether or not Sabaa Tahir already had this background planned out even from the first book. It seems so far from the Blackcliff setting of An Ember in the Ashes but looking back, it all links and makes complete sense. Authors are magic I swear. 

I did find myself wanting to throw the book in frustration a few time, but then not being able to as I had to keep reading to find out what happened next. If you haven't read this yet then prepare yourself for the number of devastating things Laia, Elias and Helene have to go through. If you have read this, are you hanging in there? Or trying not to go and cry in a corner like I am... I had a lot of moments when I wanted to ask Sabaa Tahir how she could be so cruel and wondered if there could be another way but nope. The characters were to be destroyed one way or another. Hopefully the next book everything resolves itself with lots of sunshine and rainbows with a nice pink bow on top, leaving everyone happy and perfect. Yeah, probably not but a girl can hope!

That's pretty much all I have to say, what were your thoughts? 

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Follow me on Twitter and Instagram here and here!
I would also love to be a friend on Goodreads,  you can find me here!

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As this month started off a with a pretty slow start for reading, I think I actually managed to read quite a bit and read some really good books! July was the first full month of my holidays (I've just left school so this summer is long one) and I hope I am able to keep this reading momentum going throughout August. 

Here I have my monthly wrap up for July and my TBR for August which I hope to read all of but I have just bought two new books which may take priority as I have been wanted to read them for soooo long! I hope everyone had a good month of reading and don't forget to comment below any amazing books you read this month. I really feel in the contemporary mood so if you have any recommendations for those, I would love to hear them! 

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Title: Circe
Author: Madeline Miller
Released: 2018
Genre: Adult Fantasy and Mythology
Rating: ★★★★☆
Dates Read: 29th June to 9th July

Circe is a retelling of the Greek god Circe and takes you through pretty much her entire life. It is a beautifully written and interesting book to read and if you are at all interested in mythology, should be very near the top of your to-read pile. There are droplets of other stories other than Circes woven into the background which made me more and more intrigued to learn more about the many mythologies there are. As someone who knows very little on the subject, I learnt more about the birth of the Minotaur, the Trojan War and general godly going ons than I thought I would. What this book also made me realise that they are a lot darker and disturbing than reading Pery Jackson and the Lighting Theif would let one... 

Whilst it took me quite a while to read as it is a dense book with heavy topics and the pace of the story wasn't exactly rapid, I felt like that was best for the story it was telling. After all, an entire lifetime (or eternity as she is a god) banished to an island wouldn't expect to see much drama so Circe really had a much more exciting life than would be expected.  

If you want to know more about what I thought, read my full review here! 

Title: To Kill a Kingdom 
Author: Alexandra Christo
Published: 2018
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: ★★★★☆
Dates Read: 9th July to 13th July 

I read the first 150 pages of this very quickly whilst on my flight back from holiday, and read the rest in a similar way once I have caught up on some much needed sleep. This is a book of sirens, princes and adventure and my only real issue with it was that it was too short. 

I love the friendships in this, the reminded me a lot of the Dregs from Six of Crows. They have a similar banter and made me smile a lot whenever they appeared back on the page. The romance was good, if not completely predictable but for me a felt this was a much more lighthearted fantasy and it fit with the story. As it was so short and is a stand-alone, it is difficult to get into all the political elements that normally accompany a fantasy, which in some ways is good as it does make for a much lighter read than a normal fantasy, but in otherwise it left me feeling as though the story could be a lot more fleshed out. I also wanted to see more of the characters as I wasn't ready for it to end. 

If you want to know more of what I thought, you can read my full review here!

Title: Legendary
Author: Stephanie Garber
Release: 2018
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: ★★★★☆
Dates Read: 13th July to 15th July 

I wrote a review of Caraval, the previous book to Legendary and it wasn't one that raved like all the others I had seen. I felt disappointed that I didn't seem to love it as much as everyone else and it left me not too keen to get onto Legendary. This was the second time I had picked up this book, the first time I only managed to read one page before putting it down, but I am so glad I returned to it.

I feel as though I now have to same love for this book as everyone else seemed to have for Caraval. In Legendary, there is so much more depth to the world and Tella, who you find out is a much more interesting character than I would have thought previously. I loved reading from her perspective and I hope it continues from that in the next book. 

If you want to know more of what I thought, you can read my full review here! 

Title: Eleanor and Park
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Release: 2012
Genre: YA Contemporary 
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Dates Read: 16th July to 17th July

After reading quite a lot of fantasy, I definitely felt as though I needed a break. I picked up Eleanor and Park at random and sat down to read it, and I read it in pretty much one sitting. About a boy Park who is the son of an ex-army soldier and a hairdressing mother, who sits next to the new girl Eleanor one day on the school bus. Eleanor is the new girl who wears strange clothes that are far from cool and who everyone avoids until park begins passing her his comics to read, and then his music.  But it isn't all so nice and happy. Eleanor comes from a very broken home, with a father that doesn't care all the much and a mother who is remarried to an abusive and neglectful man. 

I enjoyed this read and it was a nice break. Eleanor and Park's romance was very cute and the kind teenagers dream of, especially when they feel they don't entirely fit in - which I am sure is how most teenagers feel no matter what it looks like from the outside. But for me, the ended was a bit of a disappointment. The tension built for a while, but then it all just fizzled down and I was left feeling meh. I was hoping for a bit more drama (but is that me just being a bit of a pessimist and hoping something worse was going to happen? Probably!)

Title: More Happy Than Not
Author: Adam Silvera
Release: 2015
Genre: YA Contemporary, LGBT
Rating: ★★★★☆
Dates Read: 24th July to 25th July

Have read History is All You Left Me and crying my eyes out, I was excited to read Adam Silvera's debut novel. Whilst I managed not to cry at this one, that doesn't mean it wasn't as filled with deeply moving and emotional topics. 

More Happy Than Not is a story about a sixteen-year-old boy who is dealing with his depression just a few months after his father committed suicide. Not only that but he is also discovering confusing feelings for his new friend Thomas and has to cope realising who he is in a society that doesn't fully accept him. 

This book has so much involved in it that I am sure I have missed things. There are so many different things to take away from it but I loved the sense of hope that I thought it portrayed, even with the many harrowing topics it dealt with. 

If you want to know more of what I thought, you can read my full review here! 

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I have some pretty chunky books here and a very busy month ahead so whilst I hope to read maybe one or two more then these, I decided it was best not to overestimate what I could achieve. I few of these books have been on my TBR for a long time now and I really want to tick them off. 


I really want to get stuck into a series as I've been reading either a lot of stand-alone or new releases of series which I always think makes the story feel a bit more disjointed. I only have one book that is part of a series so I may change what I end up reading, but this will give me a bit of guidance when I don't know what to read next. 

The four books on my TBR are:

The Queen of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton

Spinning Silver my Naomi Novik 

Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine 

They Both Die in the End by Adam Silvera

*two books just arrived in the post this morning so I may have to read them too! They are:

A daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor 

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

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So there we have all the books I read in July, and all the books I hope to read in August! What is on your August TBR?

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Follow me on Twitter and Instagram here and here!
I would also love to be a friend on Goodreads,  you can find me here!

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About me



Hi, I'm Kizzi, and welcome to my blog! I am a UK blogger who loves to talk anything book related!

The main genre I read is fantasy as I love their elements of weird and wonderfulness!

I am currently working on outlining my first novel and I want to keep a record as I work my way through it, so plan on posting updates every now and again when I get to any big land marks but I post more updates on my Instagram account so feel free to check that out in the link below.

If you have any book recommendations or reviews you would like to see, or writing projects you want to discuss, I would love to talk about them with you so please email of dm me on Instagram :)

Thank you for visiting my blog and happy readings!

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      • Signed Children of Blood and Bone Giveaway!
      • Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo | Book Review
      • A Reaper at the Gate by Sabaa Tahir | Book Review/...
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