November and December Book Haul

Over the last month and a half or so, I have ended up with a few new books, due to both my birthday and Christmas being in December.  Here's a picture of them.

Books:

1)  Four: A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth

2)  The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

3)  The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson

4)  Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

5)  Literary Listography by Lisa Nola

6)  The Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black

7)  A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

I got Four from my aunty as a high school graduation present, and had an unfortunate accident a day or so later when my sister dropped a fruit smoothie on it.  It didn't ruin it too much, luckily, and I was still able to finish it.  It surprised me, because I wasn't expecting to like it, but I loved it.
I bought The Retribution of Mara Dyer for myself.  It had a fairly different tone to the other two books, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
The Bane Chronicles was a birthday gift, and I am currently up to the third story.  I'm not overly impressed so far, but considering there are 9 stories to go, my opinion may change.
Attachments was also a birthday gift which I have not yet started but am very excited to get into.
Literary Listography was a birthday present too, and is not a novel but more of a journal with cool prompts on each page, such as "Books That Made Me Cry", "Characters I Would Not Get Along With" and "Fictional Crimes I've Witnessed".  I've loved filling in the pages (I'm not finished yet!) and getting to remember books I've read over my life so far.  I'd highly recommend it for anyone who loves books and reading!
The Iron Trial was a Christmas present (I mentioned I was going to get it in my last haul).  It's kinda irritating me because it's a really awkward size and shape that doesn't match any of my other books (yes, I'm one of those people).  But, again, I'm excited to get to it finally!
A Thousand Pieces of You was another Christmas gift which I requested - and I'll be honest, I mostly wanted it for the stunning cover, but the concept is intriguing as well.  Parallel universes?  Count me in!

In other news, I've been pretty absent from this blog because... I'm in a reading slump.  I've been in said slump for approximately the last month, and it's really frustrating me!  I can't review what I haven't read!  I've read two books in December - The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater and My True Love Gave To Me edited by Stephanie Perkins.  I also decided to DNF Hysteria by Megan Miranda.  I've picked up book after book (I'm currently 'reading' The Bane Chronicles, Heir of Fire and The Book Thief), but none has really stolen my interest and kept me reading.  I'm enjoying The Book Thief so far though, so maybe it will be the one to pull me out of this never-ending slump.  I can only hope!

I got my results for VCE last week, and am pleased to say that I am happy with what I got.  Now I just have to wait and see if I get an offer from my university course of choice.  I will update you on this if it happens - I don't want to jinx it!

I have also found out this morning that I am going to be away from the internet for a week, starting Sunday, as I'm going on a holiday.  So, as I've had no time to pre-prepare posts, the blog is going to be vacant for yet another week.  Expect to be bombarded with new-years related posts on my return!  They'll be about 5 days late, but better late than never, hey?

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas (or  happy Thursday, if you don't celebrate it) and have a great start to the new year!