June 2021
ANIMAL COMPANIONS!

‘Have you ever felt a connection to an animal friend? Or wished for your own magic creature to accompany you on an epic quest? Whether that be a fire-spitting dragon or a talking cat, for many readers animals are the perfect companions!’

Items inspired by The Raven Boys, Crescent City, The Priory of the Orange Tree, Kiki’s Delivery Service and Kingdom of the Wicked.

Crescent City Flower Pot designed by @ouroidae

TPotOT Metalmark designed by @no0nedesigns

The Raven Cycle pillow covers designed by @kdpletters

Enamel Pin  – Jiji from Kiki’s Delivery Service made by @layla_ashtar_shrine

Wrath from Kingdom of the Wicked Standee with artwork from @morhana0anagram

Tarot cards which I think are from Kingdom of the Wicked (mistake on spoiler card I think)

BOOK OF THE MONTH

Fire with Fire by Destiny Soria

✔ Exclusive cover
✔ Sprayed edges
✔ Artwork on reverse dj by @icandrawthingz
✔ Foil embossing on cover by @icandrawthingz
✔ Signed

Welcome to Closing the Chapter! I hope you had a great reading month?

Our month started off with a 10 day isolation as there were positive cases of COVID in my son’s class, luckily he escaped getting it! But he’s now finished school for the holidays….bittersweet as he has now left the school he’s been at for 7 years and goes up to senior school in September and I am one nervous Mum for him!

Just want to say sorry I’m absent, I’ve slipped a disc and I am fit for nothing at the mo!

In isolation I took part in the Off the Grid Readathon where you switch off social media and just read! I wasn’t too strict with myself but managed to read nearly 3 chunky books on those 3 days which was great for my total of 9 for the month!!

PHYSICAL/EBOOKS

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
See my review here.

The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare ⭐⭐⭐.5
See my review here.

Stars Above by Marissa Meyer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

See my review here

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare ⭐⭐⭐⭐

See my review here.

Captive of the Horde King by Zoey Draven – ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Claimed by the Horde King by Zoey Draven ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Madness of the Horde King by Zoey Draven ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

See my series review here.

Barbarian Alien by Ruby Dixon
⭐⭐⭐.5
See my review here.

AUDIOBOOKS

Jade City by Fonda Lee ⭐⭐⭐⭐

See my review here.

What did you read in July?

No longer will I go on about buying limits and what I’m going to do next month because I can’t stick to it and frankly, it’s boring!!! So these hauls will be what they are whether it be 3 books or 300 (my tbr is praying that it’s never anywhere close to 300!!!)

I hauled 4 books this month which actually isn’t bad for me!!!

PHYSICAL BOOKS

Untethered by Kaylynn Flanders

---

ARC

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

---

AUDIOBOOK

The Extraordinaires by TJ Klune

---

FAIRYLOOT

Fire with Fire by Destiny Soria

What did you haul in July?

When I read, I do like to munch some chocolate (not all the time, just for a treat!!!) and to my surprise today is National Milk Chocolate Day!

Apparently the National Confectioners Association created National Milk Chocolate Day and they want you to enjoy your favourite milk chocolate so who am I to say no to that?!

I’ve got my book and my chocolate buttons and I’m off to celebrate!

What do you like to eat whilst reading?

Top Ten Tuesday is featured by That Artsy Reader Girl It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Theme – Books I’d Want With Me While Stranded On a Deserted Island

I got all excited thinking I could choose 10 books and then realised that 10 really isn’t that many so I had to have a think and narrow down my list!

But I couldn’t narrow down to 10 so it’s 11!!!

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

---

House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

---

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

---

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

---

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

---

With Everything I Am by Kristen Ashley

---

Ride Steady by Kristen Ashley

---

Rock Chick Regret by Kristen Ashley

---

Taunting Destiny by Amelia Hutchins

---

Josh and Hazels Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren

---

Reapers Legacy by Joanna Wylde

Title: Stars Above

Series: The Lunar Chronicles #4.5

Author: Marissa Meyer

The universe of the Lunar Chronicles holds stories—and secrets—that are wondrous, vicious, and romantic. How did Cinder first arrive in New Beijing? How did the brooding soldier Wolf transform from young man to killer? When did Princess Winter and the palace guard Jacin realize their destinies? With nine stories—five of which have never before been published—and an excerpt from Marissa Meyer’s novel, Heartless, about the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Stars Above is essential for fans of the bestselling and beloved Lunar Chronicles.

So happy to be back in the world of The Lunar Chronicles and to read the stories of how they all really began, stories we’d heard about but not in real detail, from their perspective.

The whole gang had their own little short, it was like looking into their memories!

My faves were:

The Keeper – Scarlet’s grandmother, Cinders beginnings and Scarlet!

The Queens Army…..WOLF…..say no more!

The Mechanic – when Kai met Cinder for the first time, from Kai’s pov. It was CUTE!!!!!

The last story was a wedding….and I revelled in it!

‘And she had every intention if being blissfully happy for ever, ever after.’

• 

As I said in my earlier post – please don’t hate me! I warned you this was coming!!!

In my post earlier in the month I told you that I’m a certified Christmas nut and want to celebrate the magic of Christmas but put a Summer twist on it!

Today I bring you……

CHRISTMAS IN JULY – decoration edition!

Instead of a Christmas tree, decorate a few pineapples!

• 

Start planning your Christmas (buying bits each month really keeps the cost down..as long as you remember what you bought!)

Put up outside fairylights,

Take a family photo in the sun for your Christmas card,

Slip n slide instead of sledging,

Make a Christmas in July playlist of all your fave Christmas songs,

• 

Watch Christmas films!!!!

What would you suggest?

• 

Firstly….please don’t hate me! I warned you this was coming!!!

CHRISTMAS IN JULY – Food and drink edition!

In my post earlier in the month I told you that I’m a certified Christmas nut and want to celebrate the magic of Christmas but put a Summer twist on it!

Here are some food and drink type things I thought I might try out……and you could too!

That great Summermas drink, chocolate milkshake instead of hot chocolate!

Here’s a lovely recipe:

BBQ turkey but have with salad and corn and maybe a cheeky cheese platter wreath?

• 

Candy cane cocktails or maybe a cranberry marg?!

• 

Santa Strawberries – strawberries with squirty cream on the top (and then eat them!)

• 

Really the possibilities are endless!

What food can you think of to eat I’m summer….but add a Christmas twist?!

Simon Lewis has been a human and a vampire, and now he is becoming a Shadowhunter. But the events of City of Heavenly Fire left him stripped of his memories, and Simon isn’t sure who he is anymore. He knows he was friends with Clary, and that he convinced the total goddess Isabelle Lightwood to go out with him…but he doesn’t know how. And when Clary and Isabelle look at him, expecting him to be a man he doesn’t remember…Simon can’t take it.

So when the Shadowhunter Academy reopens, Simon throws himself into this new world of demon-hunting, determined to find himself again. His new self. Whomever this new Simon might be.

But the Academy is a Shadowhunter institution, which means it has some problems. Like the fact that non-Shadowhunter students have to live in the basement. And that differences—like being a former vampire—are greatly looked down upon. At least Simon is trained in weaponry—even if it’s only from hours of playing D&D.

Join Simon on his journey to become a Shadowhunter, and learn about the Academy’s illustrious history along the way, through guest lecturers such as Jace Herondale, Tessa Gray, and Magnus Bane. These ten short stories give an epilogue to the Mortal Instruments series and provide glimpses of what’s in store in the Dark Artifices.

It’s no secret I hated Simon I’m the 1st three TMI books and then he grew on me and came into his own but his inner monologue did get on my nerves a bit here and I had a new firm favourite in George Lovelace.

There were some stories here I loved especially loved the faerie one, the baby one, the Jack The Ripper one (Will!!) and I really enjoyed seeing the parabatai ceremony!

That last one though. That had me shocked!

And my fave line of all time…..’Magnus Bane is the sexiest of them all. He can be High Warlock of my pants.’