New Bookish Merch + A Sale! - Redbubble & Society6

It's February 29th and Redbubble are celebrating with 29% off hoodies and sweatshirts and 20% off everything else! Head over to my Redbubble Store and check out some of my new bookish designs! The offer code is LEAPDAY.

I'm also in the process of uploading all my designs to Society6 for those of you who are interested! I haven't got everything up yet, but I do have a promo code for you below for the designs that are already up:
https://society6.com/rainilyahead?promo=Z7TX34JVWDBC

If you buy anything from either store, use the tag #rainilyaheadshop so I can see!

Happy leap day!

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February Wrap Up // The Art of Justifiably Breaking a Book Buying Ban (Plus a Book Signing!!)

What an amazing month of reads! February has raised the bar for the rest of the year, and with another 10 months, I'm not sure if I'll be able to top it!

TTT // Books Outside of my Typical Reading Habits

Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.
If you're new to my blog, then you may not know that I'm a little bit obsessed with Fantasy. The genre makes up a huge portion of my reading. I like to think my reading interests are quite broad, but this preference has me often neglecting other incredible genres. In 2015 I read so many good books outside of the fantasy genre, which has encouraged me to read even more widely this year.

The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig // time travelling pirates

Title: The Girl From Everywhere (#1)
Author: Heidi Heilig
Genre: Historical, Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Warnings: -
Rating: 2 stars
Goodreads Review | Book Depository

Read as part of the Diverse Reads Book Challenge.
An ebook copy of this book was provided to me via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was really excited to get started with this book. The Girl From Everywhere has a premise that was completely original to me, and for that I was very curious to see how it would play out.

Favourite Book Dedications // On Fear of Failure

I never paid much attention to book dedications in the past. I often found that they were three or four words thanking a couple of people which although is important to the author and to whom they are dedicating the book to, is not particularly noteworthy to me.

But sometimes part of the author shines through in their dedications. They can range from funny to very sweet, which is why I always try to make a note to not skip them.

TTT // Songs That I Wish Were Books

Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.
This is in many ways a spin-off of my Music Match Monday posts, but instead of matching a book to a song, I will be listing songs that would make beautiful books.

1. Roman Holiday by Halsey

This is the most positive sounding song on Halsey's album, Badlands, but still has some sadness behind it. It would make an amazing road-trip song where the characters run away from their past lives to start anew.

Hamilton Book Tag

I am total Hamilton trash. But at this point, who isn't? If you haven't heard about this revolutionary musical, it's about the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton told in rap form. Sound weird? That's what most people think before they hear it. It's written and stars Broadway genius Lin-Manuel Miranda who also wrote the music and stared in In The Heights, another of my favourite musicals. Even if you hate musicals, listening one song from the Hamilton will be enough to change your mind. I saw this book tag on the wonderful blog Stardust and Words and knew I had to take part! Check out maureenkeavy - the creator of this tag! Without further ado, let us begin!

Signed Books

Book signings are the best. I scan through the events page on the Waterstones website far more than the average person ought to, because book signings are just so fun. Not only do you get to meet authors you admire, but you also get to meet people with your shared love for reading, which I often find more memorable than the signing itself. I'm here to give a little tour of some of my signed books.

Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate // I was totally knocked off my feet

Ttile: Seven Ways We Lie
Author: Riley Redgate
Genre: Contemporary
Warnings: drug use, teacher/student relationship
Rating: 4.5 stars
Goodreads Review | Book Depository

Read as part of the Diverse Reads Book Challenge and the LGBTQIA Reading Challenge. An ebook copy of this book was provided to me via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I can rarely tolerate contemporaries, so I don't know what possessed me to request this ARC when I saw it floating among the books on Netgalley. Perhaps it was the intriguing undertone that comes with the topic of the seven deadly sins. Perhaps it was becasue of the promise of a pansexual protagonist. Whatever ethereal being entered my body to cause me to make such an obscure decision, I do not have a single regret about reading this book.

I Am Malala // inspirational is not a strong enough word

Title: I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education and Changed the World
Author: Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick
Genre: Autobiography
Warnings: references to terrorism, one scene with guns
Rating: 5 stars
Goodreads Review | Book Depository

Read as part of the Diverse Reads Book Challenge.

An ebook copy of this book was provided to me via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Malala Yousafzai is an extraordinary human being who I have admired for years. Her work towards promoting education for women caused gained her much media attention, and as a result she gained attention from the Taliban, who shot her in 2012 on her way home from school. Since then, Malala has continued to work towards education across the globe through peace talks and The Malala Fund, and became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson // Bursting with Colour

Title: Ultraviolet
Author: R.J. Anderson
Genre: Paranormal
Warnings: Set in mental facility, topic of mental illness (will be discussed in this review), mentions of self-harm
Rating: 4 stars
Goodreads Review | Book Depository

Read as part of the Diverse Reads Book Challenge. 

After a series of events she cannot remember, Alison is sent to a mental facility. The one thing she can recall is her classmate Tori disintegrating before her eyes, and she believes she is the cause.

TTT // Books that Dive into the Future

Top 10 Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week I had the choice between the past and the future, and since I don't have any favourite eras in history to read about, I thought I'd look at some interpretations of what our future will look like.

Music Match Monday // Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Music Match Monday is a feature hosted here at Astronomical Books where on the first Monday of every month I match the lyrics of a song to a book and explain why they go together so perfectly.

A Little Bit // Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

Song: A Little Bit by Drew Gasparini
Book: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
My Book Review | Goodreads Review | Book Depository

I've only found lately though, that I've had this hard time finding my own way / I'm a little bit lost, a little bit found, I'm a little bit...

Yes, I did match a book about coming out with a song about coming out. But both main characters are called Simon, so my mind automatically placed them together.

The stories are actually pretty different. Book Simon is a teenager forced out of the closet, and Song Simon is leaving a voicemail for his mother. But what really linked these two together was that both the book and the song are emotional yet full of wit and pop culture references.

Both Simons have this huge awkwardness about them that makes them so loveable. If you haven't already, listen to the song and read the book because I can gaurantee you will fall in love with both like I did.

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