Welcome everyone :) Things may be a little slow at the moment as I am in my last few months of school so I am swamped with work and exams but if you had time to leave a comment it would make my day!

Wednesday 29 June 2011

The Queen Must Die Blog Tour

The Queen Must Die (Chronicles of the Tempus)I'm excited to share with you an extract from The Queen Must Die by K.A.S Quinn. The book has been released recently so now is the perfect time to get a copy after having a little taster!

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Think pink!

Katie Berger-Jones-Burg is a modern New York kid. She has a comfortable life; but her mum, Mimi, keeps getting divorced, remarried, divorced. Each time poor Katie is lumbered with a new name. And her dad has moved on to a new, younger wife. The only person who really seems to care for Katie is Dolores, the housekeeper. And with Dolores, it’s tough love.

Katie spends a lot of time in her bedroom. It’s very pink. I confess. I always wanted a pink bedroom. My teen lair had a Kelly green fitted bedspread, and curtains featuring large orange peace signs. But then I grew up in California in the era of peace.

Katie’s mother has bolted, the housekeeper is yelling at her, and her bedroom is her only sanctuary – and she hates pink. But the bedroom is the key to her time-travelling adventure – so pink or no – it’s a great place to be.

Extract

The Greek guy in the shoe repair shop was now tapping
on his window, so Katie moved on towards home. Mimi
liked to keep her busy, as this kept Katie out of her way, but
for once Katie didn’t have ballet lessons, tennis lessons,
yoga or t’ai chi. She ducked under the awning of her apartment
building, nodded to the doorman and punched the
elevator button for the eleventh floor. As she turned the
key in the lock, the sound of a Spanish soap opera greeted
her, loudly. Mimi couldn’t possibly be home, if Dolores had
the sound up that high.

‘Hey, Dolores,’ she called to their
long-time housekeeper ‘QuĂ© pasa? No Mimi?’ Dolores had
set the ironing board up in the kitchen. In front of her was
a small television, making big amounts of noise. On the
screen was a young woman with a serious hairdo and lots of
eye shadow. She was crying and screaming as two solid,
expressionless policemen led her away. ‘What’s the crime?’
Katie asked. ‘Did she rob a bank? Or murder her boyfriend?’
‘This show is not for you,’ Dolores said, without taking
her eyes off the screen. ‘It’s for grown-up people who know
about these things. And don’t go saying “hey” to me. Hay
is for horses. Mimi says you’re way too slangy.’

Katie looked in the refrigerator: macrobiotic crackers,
Swedish seagrass yogurt, freeze-dried salt cod, and a jar of
Mimi’s face cream. Turning from the fridge, she rummaged
through Dolores’s handbag and found a Snickers bar.
‘Mimi’s not here,’ Dolores added.
‘That’s obvious,’ said Katie, ‘we’re both having way too
much fun. So where is she?’
‘Well, baby,’ Dolores said. This was not a good sign.
Dolores only called Katie ‘baby’ when she felt sorry for her.
‘Mimi’s gone.’
‘Gone?’
‘To Acapulco. You know that therapist she’s been seeing,
Dr Fishberg? You know how she’s been saying, at last here’s
a man who understands her? Well they seem to have
become real good friends, and…’
Suddenly the Snickers bar didn’t taste that great.
‘Oh Dolores, she can’t run off to Acapulco and get married
again!’ Then something even worse dawned on her. Katie
Berger-Jones-Burg-Fishberg. Picking up her rucksack of
books she fled to her bedroom. This one she could never
live down.

Katie’s room looked nothing like Katie. While Katie was
tall and awkward with her father’s bushy black curls, this
was a room designed for a very different child: a small, delicate
golden-haired child – the child of Mimi’s imagination.
‘Think pink!’ had been Mimi’s motto when briefing the
decorator. The carpet, the lampshades, the curtains, the
cushions spanned the hues from candy-floss pink to sunset
rose – or, as Katie saw it, from pale vomit to inflamed
sunburn. Katie could have lived with it, except for the
wallpaper. Hundreds, but hundreds of whimsical fairies
fluttered across Katie’s walls. These fairies were very busy
indeed: waving their little sparkling wands, hovering over
large (pink) flower blossoms, standing on tippy-toe and
giving each other big wet kisses. Katie had spent endless
hours, throwing a baseball against the wall, attempting to
knock out the fairies one by one. While many of them
sported a black eye or a broken wing, Katie had barely
made a dent in their sweet little world. She looked at the
carpet. It might be pink, but at least it didn’t have a bunch
of fairies kissing on it.

‘Now, this Dr Fishberg,’ Dolores was yelling from the
kitchen, ‘he doesn’t seem half bad. At least he’s not that
yoga instructor she was mooning over last year. Breathing.
All he ever talked about was breathing. As if we didn’t
know how to breathe. We wouldn’t be alive if we didn’t
know how to breathe.’
Dolores was right. Mimi’s men were as wide-ranging and
temporary as the rest of Mimi’s enthusiasms. There had
been the tennis pro, the enema expert, the guy with the
flotation tank and then the professor upstairs – the one
who went on and on about parallel being and the temporal
psyche of history. But still – Fishberg!


---


If that doesn't get you excited about The Queen Must Die I don't know what will! Keep an eye out of it in shops. The next blog tour stop is at 

Above Average Below Special so be sure to check out the extract over there!


Tuesday 28 June 2011

Top Ten Tuesday (2)



Top Ten Bookish Websites/Organizations/Apps, etc. 


1. Goodreads - this is something I use everyday to log the books I've read and to stalk follow people to find new books I want to read.


2. The Book Depository - the perfect place to find books in pretty much all formats with free worldwide shipping. I use it for hardbacks mainly!


3. NetGalley - It is just fabulous. I can get arcs for my kindle and read them before release date! How awesome


4. S&S GalleyGrab - pretty much the same as NetGalley. Fabulous for arcs!


5. Audible - I haven't used it much but it looks like an amazing source for audiobooks. I think I need a yearly subscription!


6. Txtr - This enables me to put my S&S galleys onto my iPad! I don't know where I'd be without it.


7. readitswapit - a great book swapping site in the UK. It is simple and easy and just fab!


8. YA Lit - A great source for upcoming YA releases!


9. Kindle app - I can read all my kindle books on my lovely, pretty iPad. Score.


10. Bluefire app - I can put netgalley titles on my iPad. As you can tell I love reading on my iPad.


So that is is for me. What are your favourite bookish sites/apps?



Sunday 26 June 2011

In My Mailbox (26/06/2011)


In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi from The Story Siren.




For Review


Undead by Kirsty McKay
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore


Library


What Happened To Goodbye by Sarah Dessen


Audiobooks


Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by Ann Brashares
All American Girl by Meg Cabot
All American Girl: Ready or Not by Meg Cabot
Artichoke Hearts by Sita Brahmachari




If any of you have audible subscriptions can you tell me whether you like it, if there are any drawbacks etc? It would be really helpful :)


What did you get in your mailbox?

Friday 24 June 2011

Read, Review, Recommend (8)

Friday has rolled around again. Sorry for being MIA, I had my last exam this week (YAY) and had a little maths party in pizza express. So, busy week. Today I have Tessa from From The Bookshelf of T.B. with her recommendation


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Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie

Author: Jordan Sonnenblick

Publisher: Scholastic


5 out of 5 stars

“Will you just leave me alone!”  You slam the door in your little brother’s face.  Taking deep breaths, you close your eyes and try to calm down.  But you just can’t when you open your eyes and see the destruction he’s caused.  You hear your brother start to cry and run downstairs to mommy.  Ugh, what an annoying little twerp.  Your whole room is trashed… and I mean everything.  Purple paint is splattered on your walls, your books are all torn in half with pages scattering the floor, and most of all, your drumsticks are broken in half and tossed on the floor!  He touched your precious drumsticks!  You can’t contain your rage as you scream into your pillow, letting it all out.  You don’t know how long it’s been, but later your mom walks in and says through her tears, “Honey, your brother has cancer.”  Suddenly, the world spins…

Steven Alper knows exactly how this feels.  His little brother, Jeffrey is the MOST annoying little boy on planet Earth.  He does everything possible to bother and irritate Steven, and yet Steven is always the one who gets in trouble for everything.  After all, Jeffrey is only five years old.  And what’s worse, not only is Jeffrey adorable, but he also adores Steven.  The only problem is that in the process he destroys everything.  But how can you stay mad at a cute little boy like Jeffrey?

Steven not only has Jeffrey to deal with, but as an eighth grader he has school, girl issues, and playing the drums to focus on.  Life can be rough at times, and extremely hectic, but Steven’s life is about to be turned upside down.  It was just a normal morning at home, but after a sudden nose bleed, Jeffrey was rushed to the hospital.  Who knew that something was wrong, how could there have been a way to know?  Jeffrey was diagnosed with cancer, at only five years old.  What will this mean for Steven, and how will Jeffrey take it?  Where’s that annoying little brother when Steven needs him the most?  All is revealed in Jordan Sonnenblick’s heart-wrenching, yet laugh out loud story of one boy’s journey learning to cope and deal with the impossible in, Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie!

This book is an absolute must-read for anyone looking for a fun read that touches on serious and deep issues.  Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie made me feel raw emotion, and I was surprised at how easily I could shift from crying with tears dripping onto the page, to suddenly smiling through the tears and chuckling along.  Jordan Sonnenblick’s writing had this magical affect on me, and I was able to feel everything that he was trying to get across the page.  A fantastic read for pre-teens and teens alike with its heart-warming story.

I think one of the main reasons why I enjoyed this book so much was the fact that the writing felt very easy-going and it was as if a boy in the eighth grade was truly talking to me right then and there.  The writing in Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me mad and it made me hopeful.  It was extremely humorous to read about Steven’s retellings of many of Jeffrey’s crazy incidents.  It was also very cute to read the parts of the dialogue that were Jeffrey’s.  His five-year-old cuteness was evident, and there was nothing to do but smile.

The story behind Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie was very real as well.  I was able to relate extremely well with Steven and what he was going through.  My own grandpa was diagnosed with cancer, and within a couple of months he passed away.  I really felt like I had a connection with Steven, like how suddenly the news was thrust upon me, and who knew how it would all turn out.  Also, during the story Steven is in the eighth grade, just as I am.  It was a cinch connecting with the stresses of junior high that Steven experienced.  I’m sure many readers can relate to Steven and Jeffrey’s own story.

I would actually have enjoyed to have seen this book be a bit longer though.  I felt like my journey with Steven and Jeffrey was over much too soon.  I can’t wait to read some more of Jordan Sonnenblick’s other books such as, Notes from the Midnight Driver.

To sum it all up, Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie is a powerful book that will have you feeling an array of emotions.  With a lighthearted take on everything, this read will be sure to have you laughing along even in the most saddening of times.  Join Steven as he learns what really matters in life and just how important family is in, Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie!

-This is T.B. with Another Book Back on the Shelf…
Until Next Time, Keep Reading!

----

Thanks so much Tessa!

Friday 17 June 2011

Read, Review, Recommend (8)

Read, Review, Recommend is back! Today I have Schuyler from Dystopian Divas. Here is the book she chose to recommend to you all!


-----------



Memento Nora (Memento Nora #1)

"A teen struggles to hold onto her memories--and her identity--in a world that wants everyone to forget--and keep on shopping. Three dynamic teens come together to create a comic book of their memories." ~from GoodReads.com

 Nora James is into having "glossy" days: ones spent shopping for the latest trends, watching her favorite shows, and spending time with friends just like her. So when she witnesses an event that won't leave her mind, she wants to go back to being glossy--by going, as so many do, to a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic (or TFC). Only once she's there, she decides she doesn't want to forget. This decision leads her to find different friends and learn truths about the world around her--scary things. With the help of new friends Micah and Winter, she embarks on a project to write these truths. Thus, an underground comic called "Memento" (meaning "remember") is born. 


This slim novel charts the path of the three main characters, Nora, Micah, and Winter, in turn. Despite the grim reality of the world around the teens, Smibert inserts flashes of humor and also a celebration--of art and its power to heal and to revolutionize. The underground comic is a notable example, but there is also sculpture, architecture, graffiti and tattoo art. Reading this book made me want to read more about these types of expression, and make more of it, too.


All three of the main characters are compelling and very different from one another. Yet as the book progresses we see factors that tie them together, as each sees the way the other lives and thinks. This is often showed through the sharing of memories. As a reader, I pondered my own memories, and how it has felt to share the more traumatic ones with others. It has often left me feeling more whole, and closer to the person with whom I've shared. In Memento Nora's world of forgetting, there would be no such cathartic moments. There would be no real therapeutic times--just a pill to take the bad thoughts away.


As a person with PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), I had to think very hard about whether I'd want a pill to forget. PTSD has harsh symptoms like nightmares, flashbacks, and acute anxiety. There are days when these symptoms are strong, when I know the temptation to go to a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic would be a terrible struggle. However, my memories--even the traumatic ones--are also what help me to understand myself and others. Without that, I'd just be...glossy. Without cares, but also without the capacity to be truly caring.

Memento Nora is a dystopian book that has at its heart the meaning of friendship. The meaning of what it takes to care about people and the world around you. I personally loved it, and since it's to be a trilogy, am ready for more!


Schuyler Esperanza (Diva Schuyler) is blog manager for the group blog Dystopian Divas, at http://dystopiandivas.blogspot.com. Dystopian Divas celebrates dystopian fiction, and books with dystopian elements, such as post-apocalyptic stories. If you’d like to submit a post to the blog, the Divas are currently accepting submissions.


------

Thank you so much Schuyler!

Thursday 16 June 2011

Discussion: Audiobooks

I have an audiobook virgin. Never have I ever listened to one. That makes me sad. I can't read on car/bus journeys so I need to pass the time somehow. It has only recently come to me that audiobooks would be a great way to pass time. I also have a major long flight to New Zealand this summer so in preparation I have been to the library getting audiobooks to upload to itunes!


I have only gotten one book so far and that is Artichoke Hearts by Sita Brahmachari. It looks like a really sweet read and something to test whether I like audiobooks or not. I shall definitely be getting some more from the library. It only cost me £1.60 to borrow it for 3 weeks but I was able to put the songs on my ipod so I can return it quickly. 


What I want to know is whether you listen to audiobooks? Are there any good audiobooks you have listened to recently? Do the readers of the book put you off sometimes? Where do you listen to audiobooks?

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Waiting On Wednesday (8)



And Then Things Fall Apart
Arlaina Tibensky

July 26th 2011

And Then Things Fall Apart



Keek is not having a good summer. She and her boyfriend have just had their Worst Fight Ever (on the subject of her virginity, nonetheless), she’s been betrayed by a best friend, her parents are splitting up, and her mother is on the other side of the country tending to Keek’s newborn cousin, who may or may not make it home from the hospital. Oh, and Keek’s holed up at her grandmother’s technology-barren house with an abysmal case of the chicken pox. In Keek’s words, “Sofa king annoying.” 


With her world collapsing around her, Keek’s only solace comes from rereading Sylvia  Plath’s The Bell Jar and typing on an old electric typewriter. Keek—whose snappy narrative voice is darkly humorous and hysterically blunt—must ultimately decide for herself which relationships to salvage, which to set free, and what it means to fall in love.



How great does that sound? A typical discovery about love and self acceptance. I am so excited. And how amazing is that cover?

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Favourite YA Books

As a book blogger and an avid reader I'm always wanting to find out new great books to read. My TBR Pile is already huge (around 900 books long) but I want to know what YOUR favourite books are. 


There are going to be two stages: the suggestion of titles and the voting process. This is going to be done by age categories rather than age.


Stage 1:


Fill in this FORM


Multiple titles can be added to each age group
If possible write the genre next to it in brackets


Please fill in this form and help to spread the word :) Thank you!

Monday 13 June 2011

Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

      Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1)

Title: Shiver
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: Shiver #1
Pages: 434
Publisher: scholastic 
Release Date: October 5th 2009 (UK)
Source: For review

Rating: 4 stars



Grace and Sam share a kinship so close they could be lovers or siblings. But they also share a problem. When the temperature slips towards freezing, Sam reverts to his wolf identity and must retreat into the woods to protect his pack. He worries that eventually his human side will fade away and he will left howling alone at the lonely moon. A stirring supernatural teen romance.


I am very late on the Shiver bandwagon. I have been hearing great things about this book for months. I attempted to read it earlier in the year but I was in a reading funk and gave up. I am very glad I picked it up again. I can't say I loved it but it was a very enjoyable read.


It started off a little slow for me unfortunately. I didn't see what the hype was about. As I got further in it picked up and I was reading 50-60 pages without even noticing. It dipped in and out, slowing down and speeding up. Some parts of the novel I just had to push through.


The characters were the highlight for me. I loved both Grace and Sam and their relationship together. This is what a good paranormal romance is like. I can't really say there wasn't instalove because there kind of is but it isn't the traditional type for they have known each other for a long time, just not in the conventional sense. There were steamy moments but their relationship was based on love, not lust. That was very important to me.


The secondary characters were also fabulous. I loved Isobel. She was Hi-freaking-larious. She is just so funny without being to be. The characters, even the less frequent ones, were well developed and stood out.


The writing was good. It had a really natural flow and the poetic nature of it was just breathtaking at times. I am definitely interested to pick up her other series purely because of the writing.


The ending was semi expected yet not at the same time. I sort of had two ideas of where the ending would go and it did go one of the ways I expected. The getting there though was the interesting bit and not so expected after all.


The book was good. Some parts were a little on the slow side but some parts just completely captivated me. I am definitely doing to be reading the next instalment Linger.

Sunday 12 June 2011

In My Mailbox (12/06/2011)



In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi from The Story Siren.







RAK


Delirium by Lauren Oliver (Thanks Rebekah)


For Review


Popular by Gareth Russell
Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs

Brother/Sister by Sean Olin

Friday 10 June 2011

Review: The lying Game by Sara Shepard

   The Lying Game

Title: The Lying Game
Author: Sara Shepard
Series: The Lying Game #1
Pages: 307
Publisher: Harper
Release Date: March 31st 2011 (UK)
Source: For review

Rating: 4.5 stars







I had a life anyone would kill for.

Then someone did.

The worst part of being dead is that there’s nothing left to live for. No more kisses. No more secrets. No more gossip. It’s enough to kill a girl all over again. But I’m about to get something no one else does—an encore performance, thanks to Emma, the long-lost twin sister I never even got to meet.

Now Emma’s desperate to know what happened to me. And the only way to figure it out is to be me—to slip into my old life and piece it all together. But can she laugh at inside jokes with my best friends? Convince my boyfriend she’s the girl he fell in love with? Pretend to be a happy, carefree daughter when she hugs my parents good night? And can she keep up the charade, even after she realizes my murderer is watching her every move?

From Sara Shepard, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Pretty Little Liars books, comes a riveting new series about secrets, lies, and killer consequences.


I LOVED this book so much. I have only read the first in the Pretty Little Liars series but I have to say I much prefer this one. Why? I can't quite tell you. I liked being able to get to know Emma and Sutton really well as they are the only two main characters. 

The narration was extremely unique. It was written in Sutton, the dead twins, point of view. It felt like a mix between first and third person as it was a third person narration of Emma yet a first person narration from Sutton. I thought this was cleverly done and it incorporated Sutton's reactions to Emma's discoveries about her life.

The plot was full of mystery and surprises. The drip drip of information of Sutton's life and how she died kept me on edge and made me keep reading. It was done very effectively. 

The characters were all really great. Sutton's group of friends revealed a lot about Sutton's character and the life she led. They also developed the plot and really added an extra dimension. Ethan was also a lovely edition to the story!

The ending was good. It left off at a good place and had enough surprises to keep me intrigued for the next book. I was surprised by some aspects of the ending yet it seemed plausible in the novel.

The book was great overall and I am so intrigued to read the next book Never Have I Ever.

Thursday 9 June 2011

Discussion Post: Book Trailers

Books trailers do not make me buy books. I rarely even see a book trailer before I buy the book. I'd rather read a summary than watch a trailer. That being said there are a few I do like.




I Think the trailer for The Summer I Turned Pretty really encapsulates the book and portrays the summer vibe perfectly!




Not only is Across The Universe an incredible book but I love the trailer too!





What a great trailer! It is punchy and to the point and reflects the book really well.




What book trailers do you like? Do they make you buy books?

Wednesday 8 June 2011

Waiting On Wednesday (7)

Never Have I Ever by Sara Shepard 
(The Lying Game #2)

August 2nd 2011


Never Have I Ever (The Lying Game #2)

I can't seem to find a summary yet. Sorry!

I Just finished The Lying Game and I just adored it. It was full of drama and mystery and excitement and I cannot cannot wait until the next book. In comparing the first books of Pretty Little Liars and The Lying Game, The Lying Game wins in my opinion. Not too long to wait now for Never Have I Ever!!

Tuesday 7 June 2011

Revview: A Small Free Kiss In The Dark by Glenda Millard

     A Small Free Kiss in the Dark

Title: A Small Free Kiss In The Dark
Author: Glenda Millard
Series: None
Pages: 218

Publisher: Templar Publishing 
Release Date: May 1st 2011 (UK)
Source: For review

Rating: 3 stars



Two young boys, an old tramp, a beautiful teenage dancer, and the girl's baby--ragtag survivors of a sudden war--form a fragile family, hiding out in the ruins of an amusement park. As they scavenge for good, diapers, and baby formula, they must stay out of sight of vicious gangs and lawless soldiers. At first they rely on Billy, the only adult in the group. But as civil life deteriorates, Billy starts to fall apart. Skip, who is barely into his teens, must take over and lead them on a search for sanctuary. This complex and haunting exploration of life on the edge and what it takes to triumph over adversity is a story about the indomitable nature of hope.



A Small Free Kiss In The Dark is a sweet book about a boy who doesn't have a place in the world but finds a place under extraordinary circumstances.


Skip, a young boy narrates the story. He has an innocent yet tainted view of life, making his narration seem very sincere. He is sweet and kind and I grew attached to him. Billy, his older companion is sweet too and their relationship is very touching.


The plot was a little slow and not much seemed to happen. The book focused more on a child's view on the world during war and his interactions with people. It isn't fast paced or active. It is mellow and slow, unravelling slowly, discovering more about the characters with each turn of the page. 


The ending was sad but a perfect ending to the book. It summed up the world they were living in. Devastation with a little hope.


The book wasn't hugely memorable and at times hard to get into. That being said if you are looking for a book based on characters and don't mind a slow plot then I'm sure you will enjoy this!

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