I recently celebrated my birthday and was lucky enough to receive some books from my family. Below, I will list the books I received and tell you a bit about them. As well, as talking about some others things from my birthday.

Synopsis: In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.

I have always been in awe of Michelle Obama and my mum and step-dad recently watched her documentary on Netflix and were so inspired by her they wanted to get me her memoir. I have never read any kind of auto-biography before so this is out of my comfort zone reading wise but I’m excited to give it a go!

Plot: In the town of Night Vale, there’s a faceless old woman who secretly lives in everyone’s home, but no one knows how she got there or where she came from…until now. Told in a series of eerie flashbacks, the story of The Faceless Old Woman goes back centuries to reveal an initially blissful and then tragic childhood on a Mediterranean Estate in the early nineteenth century, her rise in the criminal underworld of Europe, a nautical adventure with a mysterious organization of smugglers, her plot for revenge on the ones who betrayed her, and ultimately her death and its aftermath, as her spirit travels the world for decades until settling in modern-day Night Vale. Interspersed throughout is a present-day story in Night Vale, as The Faceless Old Woman guides, haunts, and sabotages a man named Craig. In the end, her current day dealings with Craig and her swashbuckling history in nineteenth century Europe will come together in the most unexpected and horrifying way.

I haven’t listened to the Welcome to Nightvale podcast in a long time but I know quite a lot about the Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home. Hopefully I won’t have missed too much vital information going into this book. I plan to read this for my ONTD November challenge.

Plot: Peter is quick, daring, and full of mischief—and like all boys, he loves to play, though his games often end in blood. His eyes are sparkling gold, and when he graces you with his smile you are his friend for life, but his promised land is not Neverland. Fourteen-year-old Nick would have been murdered by the drug dealers preying on his family had Peter not saved him. Now the irresistibly charismatic wild boy wants Nick to follow him to a secret place of great adventure, where magic is alive and you never grow old. Even though he is wary of Peter’s crazy talk of faeries and monsters, Nick agrees. After all, New York City is no longer safe for him, and what more could he possibly lose? There is always more to lose. Accompanying Peter to a gray and ravished island that was once a lush, enchanted paradise, Nick finds himself unwittingly recruited for a war that has raged for centuries—one where he must learn to fight or die among the “Devils,” Peter’s savage tribe of lost and stolen children. There, Peter’s dark past is revealed: left to wolves as an infant, despised and hunted, Peter moves restlessly between the worlds of faerie and man. The Child Thief is a leader of bloodthirsty children, a brave friend, and a creature driven to do whatever he must to stop the “Flesh-eaters” and save the last, wild magic in this dying land.

This is a book that has been on my list for absolutely ages! I just never picked it up! I love a dark re-telling and one of my favourites is Lost Boy by Christina Henry. It will be quite interesting to see how good this one is. I am aware though that this is a very trigger heavy book so I will have to be aware.

Plot: Tracker is known far and wide for his skills as a hunter: “He has a nose,” people say. Engaged to track down a mysterious boy who disappeared three years earlier, Tracker breaks his own rule of always working alone when he finds himself part of a group that comes together to search for the boy. The band is a hodgepodge, full of unusual characters with secrets of their own, including a shape-shifting man-animal known as Leopard.

I have heard so many good things about this book that I knew I just needed to read this. This book and the other book mentioned next are books I bought with a Waterstones gift voucher! I love a good gift voucher! I plan on reading it in December for my ONTD challenge!

Plot: The Kaul family is one of two crime syndicates that control the island of Kekon. It’s the only place in the world that produces rare magical jade, which grants those with the right training and heritage superhuman abilities. The Green Bone clans of honorable jade-wearing warriors once protected the island from foreign invasion–but nowadays, in a bustling post-war metropolis full of fast cars and foreign money, Green Bone families like the Kauls are primarily involved in commerce, construction, and the everyday upkeep of the districts under their protection. When the simmering tension between the Kauls and their greatest rivals erupts into open violence in the streets, the outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones and the future of Kekon itself.

So this is a new interest for me. I had seen amazing things pop up on book twitter recently and I decided to give it a go! I don’t know too much about this book but it sounds really good fun!

I was very fortunate to receive 2 gift vouchers for Waterstones for my birthday. I have decided with the money on those vouchers to only buy books from authors of colour. I looked at my shelves and it is not very diverse at all and I have decided to take action and read more diversely! So any of my purchases coming up unless it is part of a series I am currently reading I will be prioritizing authors of colour. This will not just stop after I have used the vouchers this will continue afterwards but I made the decision to use those vouchers in that specific way.