Let’s get the Monthly Tunes Out The Way

What I've Been Reading Around The Interwebs

What Books I’ve Read

In Case You Missed it

The lovely Kaja over at Of Dragons and Hearts nominated me for Liebster Award. Now, I’m sure some of you are aware that I have in fact received this award once before, but who am I to deny another the pleasure of nominating me again? I’ve decided I will skip the about me bits, and I’ll skip nominating others, both those parts were stressful. The questions asked part though, I love answering questions and you can all get to know a bit more about me.

What is your favourite summer memory?

This is a difficult one, I don’t know. I mean, I don’t specifically remember things from certain seasons or certain times, that’s just not how my brain works. I never did all that many exciting things in my summers to be honest. Which makes me a bit dull, I know. I think my current favourite summer memory is going to the zoo. Which I did the other week. So, I suppose, if I go based upon this summer, my favourite memory is going to Dudley Zoo.

It’s not so much a unique thing, but it was such a lovely day. A decision made on impulse with a friend where we decided we had to go to the zoo. We wandered around, saw various animals and had a laugh. I think they are my favourite kind of summer days. All my favourite summer memories are of deciding to do something impulsively with friends and then just having a laugh. I don’t get to do that as often anymore, since I started working impulse decisions cannot be made as I need to go to work. 

Have  a picture of some meerkats as representation of such a fun day.

What were your top 3 childhood reads?

Easy:

1. Harry Potter – because Harry Potter? It is probably always going to be one of my favourite series. These book really are the books of my childhood. I grew up with Harry. From the age of eight, when I was still in Year 4, I first discovered these books, and I carried on reading them right until the release of the seventh book. This is my top childhood read.
2. The Hobbit – I read it because my brother did. I t would have been around the time of Lord Of The Rings first being released and so we began reading these books. I loved it. It started slow, but by the end I was in love. I was crying and happy and this book just brings back such happy memories for me I think.
3. The Mediator series – I said before how me and one of my friends bonded over this book. It was seriously the book that brought me one of my best friends ever. We knew each other before and we walked home together. But I think it was reading this series that truly made us friends. It was so nice to find someone else who loved reading as much as I did and this series will always remind me of her and being about fifteen and walking home talking about the book. Handing books between backpacks for the other to read.

Tea or coffee? Both? Why?

I am a coffee drinker all the way. If I don’t get a cup of coffee in the morning, and another couple throughout the day, I am grouchy, irritable and I normally end up with a headache. I first started drinking it because that’s what grown-ups drink and because that’s what Rory and Lorelai drank in Gilmore Girls. I used to have about 3 sugars in it to make it bearable and I would have one cup when I got back from school. Now I average 3 cups a day, and when I was at uni it was essentially what I drank always.

It’s not that i have anything against tea, a nice cup of tea is sometimes exactly what you need. It is the drink I choose when I fancy something sweet. I am British so I believe there is only one type of tea and it is best served with dipping biscuits, such as rich tea or digestives. And I obviously know the perfect dipping time for any biscuit you have. But I could live without tea, I’m not so sure I could live without coffee.

Why did you start blogging?

I have been reading blogs for the past 4 years. I began with beauty blogs. I was trying to find the best high street make up and blogs seemed to be able to give me honest reviews on things. I extended my reading out in to style blogs then. because there is nothing more fun than seeing other people wearing clothes. It helped me learn more about fashion and finding my own style. I occasionally branched out to book blogging but I could never find any blogs I could relate to or any blogs where they read the same things as me. I don’t think it helped that I wasn’t reading as much at uni as I used to. I started uni and YA books did not seem cool then, so I stopped reading them and tried to read ‘serious’ adult fiction and would continually find myself bored with books and having no motivation.

It wasn’t until third year at uni, I turned 21 in the February and I got money from my mom to buy myself a Kindle. A silly purchase considering I hadn’t been reading much, but from what I’d read and seen of kindle books, they were cheap, and kindles seemed the best thing for me as I had to limit my book purchases as I needed to be able to get my books home at the end of the year. From there I began reading more and more. The Hunger Games was being made into a film so everyone was talking about it so I decided to read the book, the trailer looked good so why not? From there I dove into the world of YA dystopian fiction, which was booming. Then I discovered all these bloggers who were around my age and reading YA books. Then, the rest is history.

I read book blogs for a further 2 years. I was posting sporadic reviews on Goodreads and eventually just decided to take the plunge. I don’t know what motivated me to. I think I was just fed up of wasting my time on the internet and feeling I had no purpose outside of work. I needed something to occupy my time online and so I decided a book blog was the way forward. and several months later here I am.

What is your dream travel destination? Why?

New Orleans. I have been fascinated by the Deep South and New Orleans ever since I watched X-Men The Animated series as a kid. Rogue and Gambit were my first ship. I adored their banter and their characters and so I’ve always been fascinated by where they came from. This fascination only deepened when I discovered fanfiction. The first fanfiction I read was for this pairing back when X-Men Evolution was on TV. I loved the show and somehow stumbled upon fanfiction in my browsing. Don't quite know how, but anyway that made me fascinated with New Orleans. Then, the fact that this place has this whole history, and the culture and just the place. I don’t know what it is that fascinates me, but I’ve always wanted to go. And this September I will be. I am excited.

If you could meet any famous person, dead or alive, who would it be? Why?

This is not a thing I have ever really thought about. I know people seem to have some idol, a person who has strongly influenced them and they would love to meet, I feel this is especially true of readers, but I’ve never had that. I suppose I would be interested in meeting someone like JK Rowling or JRR Tolkien just to ask them how they got their ideas and created such an epic world out of seemingly nothing. Or Dianna Wynne Jones because her writing was so lovely she had such an interesting childhood and life in general so it would be interesting just to hear her talk about things.

Do you have any book-related pet peeves (e.g. I hate people who underline things in library books)?

I’m pretty easy going when it comes to books. I hate when covers get all bent out of shape, but even then I don’t mind it, but annoys me. I don’t like the dustcovers and hardback covers getting scuffed, so I don’t tend to take hardback books out of the house. You know, that, and the fact they are heavy.

What is your favourite dessert?

Anything with chocolate involved. Maybe chocolate fudge cake. I really like chocolate, it’s a thing.

If you had to choose only 3 books that would survive the apocalypse, which three would you choose?

Harry Potter, because if there was an apocalypse I would want a series that started off bright and happy, got really dark towards the end and ended in a high note to help inspire people that things will get better.

Some fluffy romance book where the girl gets the boy and loves happily ever after. That could be any number of books but I think I would have to pick Bet Me because it is one of my favourite chick lit books ever.

Finally, a book with some humour in for the dark times, whilst also being educational. That book is obviously Bill Bryson’s History of Nearly Everything because it is both interesting and with his awesome writing is fun to read.

What are your hobbies apart from reading and blogging?

This is terrible, because I don’t have that many hobbies. When people ask me what I do in my spare time all I can think is read, watch TV and shop. They are not the best of hobbies to have. I used to adore drawing and playing around on Photoshop, but I just don’t have the time anymore, and I feel so dejected when I see my creations compared to others. I enjoy listening to music, there is nothing I enjoy more than to spend hours on the internet finding new bands and singers to listen to. I think my biggest hobby probably is shopping. I love spending money and creating different outfits, even if they are not for me. I used to spend hours on various websites which allowed you to create outfits, that was so much fun.

I suppose you could include playing video games but considering currently my gaming is no more hard core than Pokemon and The Sims I don’t know if that fully counts, but those things definitely take up many hours of my day.

What is your favourite imaginary creature?

This one is difficult for me, I suppose we’re limiting it to imaginary creatures from books but I’ll give you my film one anyway. That would be mogwais because did you see Gizmo? Freaking adorable.

And there you have it, you’ve gotten to know me a little better, although I feel bad because I started writing this what feels like a month ago and I’ve only just gotten around to posting it. I’ll try to be better, I’m just lazy.

I’m sorry guys. I’ve been a bit distant as of late haven’t I. Don’t worry, it’s not that I’m not interested or enjoying blogging, it’s mostly that my obsessive personality is obsessing over different things at the moment. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it all that much, but in less than two weeks I will be going on holiday for ten days. I plan to possibly write up a couple of posts and schedule them for you, but with my planning skills they is less likely to happen with every passing day. I don’t plan to do any blog writing whilst I’m away, I want to relax and have fun and since I am a bit of a worrier over normal things i don’t want blogging to add to that as this is where I can enjoy myself a bit, don’t want to ruin it. Anyway, holiday planning and shopping has been one mega distraction for the past month really. I’ve been getting more and more unbearable at work about my holiday because I am so damn excited. I haven’t left the UK since I was seventeen. I haven’t left the UK in nearly six years, that’s a really long time. I plan to make the most of my holiday, especially since I’m going to America (it’s at this point the Team America song starts playing in my head, it makes me giggle every time).

The other thing my obsessive personality has gripped on to instead of reading, is The Sims. I know I’ve mentioned this game to you before, but it’s like my go to game. Every few months I play it because I see sims pictures on tumblr and I remember my love for it. I then precede to become a hermit for a week or two as I play it obsessively, downloading all the custom content and generally terrorising my sims whilst pretending I’ve thought up really good stories for them in my head. And decorating things, I spend loads of time decorating houses and then realise the sims I want to move in can’t afford it. I know this phase will pass. I always does because nothing holds my interest permanently. I am hoping then my reading love will return, possibly in time for my million hour flight to America.

I’ve read three books this week, an improvement, but I began The Burning Sky last week, so I don't think it completely counts. Also, Sugar Kisses was bad, like so bad, that I skim read the last half of the book to find out what happened in it. What I’m learning is that some of my cheap Kindle buys are not always the bargain they appear. Sometimes they are just rubbish stories so I should really start checking out reviews before hand. I did read Ugly Love, though, and loved it. Sure, it was a bit angsty for my liking, but it was also perfect. The writing was flawless, the characters were awesome and the book was exactly what I needed. It was intriguing without being too full on. It entertained me for a couple of days and ended perfectly. I then ruined it by following it up with a dud book, but what can you do?

I’d tell you what I’ve been watching, but it’s just Leeds and Reading on TV so that’s not interesting. I’ve not even seen the new Doctor Who yet. I’ll iPlayer it later, though. Is anyone else finding that they are gradually becoming less and less interested in Doctor Who despite loving and being obsessed over it a few years back? I don’t know if it;s that I’ve grown out of it or if something has changed to make me like it less, I think my biggest issue is that it now feels like a kids tv show but when it first came back there were episodes that made it feel more grown up at times, darker episodes and I don’t feel you get that as much anymore, you just get confused my Moffat trying to be extra smart.

But enough about Doctor Who, I will be back next week with more fun writing, and Doctor Who analysis I suppose if you really want it, but either way I’ll hopefully be back with more writing.

Book Two of the Witching Savannah series
Graceful trees and historic buildings fill Savannah, Georgia, but beneath the city's Southern splendor, its supernatural roots run deep. The members of local witch families grace the society pages...when they're not secretly protecting their magical work from dark forces.

Savannah resident Mercy Taylor may now be in control of the South's most powerful family of witches, but she's struggling to master her newfound magic. Pregnant with her first child and still reeling from a heartbreaking betrayal, she just wants to be able to use her supernatural abilities without accidentally destroying dishes or blasting the doors off buildings.

But when Mercy's long-presumed-dead mother suddenly returns, begging Mercy to keep her presence under wraps, the witch wonders how many secrets her family is hiding...and who she can really trust. And when the danger around her intensifies to deadly levels, Mercy knows she must discover the truth behind her family's magic—before it destroys her.

The second book in J.D. Horn's Witching Savannah series, The Sourcecasts a thrilling spell.

I’ve been a terrible blogger this week, and for that I am sorry. All I’ve posted is a TTT and this summary post. God, I’ve no excuse. I even have a review sat in my drafts all unposted and unloved. I’m going to be honest with you all and simply say I couldn’t be bothered.

So I visited a hairdressers in my life ever yesterday (yes, I’ve never been to a hairdressers before and I am 23, but my justification is my mom cut my hair because she was a hairdresser so she totally knows what she’s doing, why pay for what you can for free, right?) and it was an alright experience. I am never going to be enamoured with hairdressers but it was quick and pain free, whcih is all you can ask for really.

I have been bothered to shop this weekend, though. No books were bought. I was tempted though, guys. Walking away from Waterstones without a purchase was difficult, but I persevered and stayed strong. I bought some boots I’ve been eying up and Topshop and essentially just shopped myself out. It was wonderful.

Now, on this summary post now is the point I would tell you what books I’ve been reading this week… but I’ve barely read anything. A shock for me considering I average three books a week. It’s not that I’m in a slump, because I’ve still been reading. It’s just… Everything I’ve read had been enjoyable, but nothing has hooked me lately. Even the Glass series by Maria V Snyder didn’t grip me. If anything the third book left me a bit disappointed. And maybe that is the problem… I’ve been left disappointed by book lately which I was certain I would love.

I am currently reading The Burning Sky, and it’s interesting, if a bit dry. It’s not hooked me though. I’m intrigued, but don’t feel the need to keep reading outside of my commute and lunch hour. I think that is where my issue lies. Normally, you reach a point in a book where you become utterly gripped. It becomes all you want to do. All you want to do is immerse yourself in the fictional world and learn the stories of these characters and reach the end of the book. I’ve not had that feeling in a couple of weeks, which explains the slowing in my reading. I don’t know what has gotten into me, but I’m being left uninspired by what I’m reading

Maybe you guys can help. Are there any books which you have absolutely loved recently? Books which have gripped you, made you laugh, made you cry, the kind of book you want to tell everyone about and make them read immediately? If so, let me know so I can get on it.

That is my week anyway. I have been very dull and very free with the spending. I’m sorry I don’t have more interesting things to say. Really, unless you want to see all the pretty clothes I’ve brought I’ve been very boring, but since I am so not a style blogger photos of that experience will be very difficult to come by. Anyway, don’t forget suggestions for books. I’m going to go play The Sims now since I’m all excited for The Sims 4 being released next month. I’ll also work on some posts for next week I suppose. I want another discussion post, it’s been too long since I wrote one.