All the packages

I've pre-ordered quite a bit over the past few months, and for some reason they've all come out at roughly the same time as me expecting other deliveries. So the past couple of weeks have been present after present at my door. I'm not complaining. My bank account is but I'm going to ignore it's desperate screaming just as I always have. 

I had a little dilemma getting my hardback of Empire of Storms, I ended up having to order it online because of distributors and such, and I was worried about how long I waited before doing anything and if there would even be any hardbacks left. (In hindsight there's always hardbacks for Sarah J Maas' books so really I would have been fine.) I've not got far into the book yet, maybe 150 pages or so but I can already see things are starting to escalate, and I'm already loving the vibes between certain characters. hahahahahah

The new thin pages to accommodate for the sheer size of this book are super smooth. Like rub-your-face-against-it smooth. I'm somewhat terrified of touching it and ripping them, which is why I also have a paperback to use for the actual reading. Soon enough Sarah J Maas is going to have her own shelf in my room, she's taken over 90% of my top shelf already!

I have so many candles in my house, most of them are Yankee Candles. Fragrances like Apple Cinnamon Cider, Black Cherry, and French Lavender. But I keep seeing people on instagram with book themed candles which look amaaazing. I came across Castle of Fables on Etsy and ended up being in a high speed chase to buy some of her highly coveted soy candles. 

Ironteeth Clan is probably one of the prettiest candles I own. It has a strong fragrance of chocolate and vanilla. Whilst this is a little bit sweet for my tastes, I still love this candle and it's going to sit on my bookshelf in front of Empire of Storms. 

Rhysand is definitely something that I can see fits well with his character. Jasmine, obviously. Citrus for his sharp tongue (heuhhueehhhuehuhehueh), and Noir and Violets for his dark side. The pale lilac colour really goes nicely with the Jasmine scent. 

Rowan Whitethorn is perfect. Snow, Pine and Wind. Exactly as it is in the books. It smells so fresh and obviously pine and snow remind me of winter so of course I love it. The amber and spices in it as well suit me so well I just ugh. 

GIVE ME TEN. 

I missed out on getting The Night Court candle this time, but I'm desperate to get it the next time CastleofFables reopens their etsy shop. 

Apple Cinnamon Cider is basically Christmas in a jar. It smells so nice and it calms me down so much. Work got a very early copy of Gemina! I know I'm probably missing out on a very nice hardback, the hardback for Illuminae is gorgeous, but as I have a paperback for Illuminae I'm quite happy with the two matching. Plus I'm not actually sure if the hardback will be coming to the UK? I've only ever seen it in the US, like in Barnes and Noble. As much as I like books, I don't like overseas charges. And of course I had to pick up a copy of Crooked Kingdom. I also entered Books with a Bite's Crooked Kingdom pre-order giveaway! I didn't actually expect to win though! I'm the unluckiest person ever, my Goodreads giveaway list is just a long list of 'no'. The first 100 pre-orders get a tote bag and a signed bookplate! Lucky me! 

Forgive the crappy frame but look at the beauty within it. Charlie Bowater makes beautiful original artwork, this one The Court of Dreams is just absolutely gorgeous. Even more so in real life than it was on the website. I don't really buy artwork lightly, so when I do I'm essentially saying "I want to look at this for the rest of my life." The frame I bought is just a little bit too small for what I want, the signature is half covered and I think I want to get a frame with a white border to really centralize the print. The frame didn't come with the print, I bought it separately without thinking about it too much! Whoops!

All in all I probably need to stop spending money, maybe I will one day. But now that we're seeing more scarves, gloves, pumpkin spice, slipper socks and generally cosy things, I'm going to want to build a fort of books and stay there forever. So that whole 'saving money' thing might be a little bit tricky. 

Listen to the soundtrack of my life for the months of September and October:

I regret nothing.

Okay, so I just spent a lot of money on bookish things and I don't regret it at all. Some of you might remember my post about A Court of Mist and Fury fanart and how I gushed over Charlie Bowaters prints and how I wanted to spend lots and lots of money on her stuff. Well...

I did it! After getting money for my birthday yesterday and having no clue what to do with it, I was prowling through my favourited shops on Etsy practically made an instant purchase. I'm sooo excited for my print to get here, I have a space on my wall which desperately needs filling and I know exactly whats going to go there. Pictures to come! Here's a glimpse of Charlie Bowaters prints. 'The Court of Dreams' is still avaliable here! 

Next up, I had been looking for a UK seller for some amazing soy candles featuring fragrances titled 'The Night Court', 'Rowan', and various fantasy themed things, and on twitter I saw castleoffables and a pretty picture of a candle called 'Ironteeth Clan'. After browsing through their page and clicking on their Etsy link, I was debating how much I wanted to spend on overseas shipping and then I saw 'London, England'. As the shop was due to be reopened this weekend I set up an email alert so that I would be instantly told. Unfortunately, that email must have gone straight to my junk as I only found out by people tweeting about their shopping! So I pretty much flew out of bed, grabbed my laptop, and started adding to cart quite swiftly. Within 3 hours everything was gone!

I managed to pick up 'Rowan', 'Ironteeth Clan' and 'Rhysand'. I did have 'The Night Court' in my cart but as I was paying it sold out! As that was the one that I had been looking at for a while I was a little disappointed, but I've been reassured they'll be restocking soon. I'll just have to be quicker next time!

I love bookish things and I love the detail that people put into their products. Etsy is usually where I find all of these things as well, its such a great platform for people to make something and put it out in the world for people to enjoy. If I had any shred of talent then I might have made an Etsy shop by now. Unfortunately the best I can do is baking, and even then I prefer to bake for the pleasure as opposed to on demand. Instead I'm quite happy to enjoy other peoples creativity!