30 September 2015

Monthly Wrap Up: September

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I am telling you, I feel like I typed up one of these posts just last week. It’s crazy how quickly my month’s go by at the moment. It’s like time has sped up, or I’m just noticing more, but let’s not get all deep and philosophical and start discussing the relativity of time.

September has been a both bad and good month in terms if blogging and reading, of read lots and have been excited about blogging, but is also the month where I reached some kind of reaching blogging rut. It’s also been a month of stressing with work (an exaggeration, I never stress with work, but it has left me feeling a lot more run down than other months, who knew actual work was tiring?) so I’ve basically felt a bit exhausted. But that is over with now and I am back on my game (I hope). Below are the highlights of my month so enjoy.

September Reads

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September Posts

September Links

The Canon: 25 Book Blogging Prompts (always useful to have for those times you’re in a bit of a blogging rut)
Of Dragons and Hearts: Let’s Talk Spoilers
The Daily Prophecy: Popularity
Tea Between Books: Hype and Opinions

And there you have it, the month of September broken down to such small categories. What’s awful is that now we’ve gotten through September there are like 3 months until Christmas. I know because all the shops have started stocking Christmas stuff, which is completely unacceptable until November, that’s when you’re allowed to start thinking about Christmas. I am now going to go crack out all my jumpers and cardigans because it is autumn and that is the only acceptable clothing for the season.

Did you read any good books in September? I’d love to hear about them. And has anyone else started wearing cardigans and jumpers because it’s autumn, even if the temperature outside doesn’t require it?
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29 September 2015

Ten Books To Read If You Like X

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and this week’s theme is all about like for like recommendations. I will have a selection of books for you, rather than ten recommendations based upon one book, which seems too much and could get repetitive, it will be a couple of recommendations for several books. I hope you enjoy them anyway.

 

My recommendations are all romances because those are what came to mind when I was trying to think of some like for like recommendations for you folks. I hope you like them.

rusk university

First up we have my recommendations for fans of Cora Carmack’s Rusk University series, of which I am a huge fan. I may not enjoy sports in real life, but give me a good sports romance and I am pretty content in life. For those who are looking for another football romance then you should definitely check out Rush Me by Allison Parr, it’s not set at University but I still enjoyed it. A more adult football romance is the Chicago Stars series by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, I’ve only read Nobody’s Baby But Mine, which was pretty darn hilarious and so I plan on checking the entire series at some point (you know, when I’m not at risk of being killed by my towering TBR pile).

 

If you’re looking for more college sports romances I can also recommend a couple of different books for you, I’ve recently read The Year We Fell Down, which focuses on a couple of hockey players at college, it’s a bit more serious than the other books but still an excellent read. That book also links perfectly with my next rec of The Deal by Elle Kennedy as she partnered with Sarina Bowen to write a book, Him, which I’ve not read. Anyway, The Deal also features hockey players and I enjoyed both that book and The Mistake, they are excellent books and are perfect NA sports reads.

such a rush

These are a few recommendations for you folks who were fans of Jennifer Echols’s Such a Rush. I loved that book, you know, once I finally got around to reading, and the thing I liked most was the fact it was all about a girl trying to make her way out of the trailer park where she was born. A few suggestions for those who were also a fan of a girl from the wrong side of the tracks trying to make it our are I’ll Meet You There, all about a girl who is set to go to university and finally get out of her small town and the trailer she lives in until she meets a boy and several things lead her to question if it’s right for her to leave for college.

 

My other suggestions are Sugar Daddy because this begins with a grill growing up in a trailer park and is all about her journey to get out, it was awesome, there are more books to that series but I just haven’t read the yet. And my final rec is Stay With Me by Jennifer Armentrout, it’s not about a girl who has made it out of a trailer park, but it is about a girl whose mother is an addict and who has had to claw her way to college and to a better life. It’s a little different from the others but it definitely links up.

lucky harbour

And the last book I’m recommending based upon is Simply Irresistible and the entire Lucky Harbor series by Jill Shalvis. I am sure everyone is aware I am a fan of hers by now, and so I just had to do a few recs based on her series. First up we have The Sullivans series by Bella Andre, it isn’t set in a small town or anything, but instead is an entire family (a huge family) and that is what makes it good. I’ve only read one of the books, but I can tell it’s a series I will enjoy reading. It is about ridiculous at tomes, but it’s romance and it’s fun.

 

Then there is Summer in Napa and the St Helena’s Vineyard series, this is a small town romance series. Again, I’ve only read the one book, but it’s great, all about this small town in California and the residents there and I quite enjoyed that one and am eager to investigate the entire series. And finally there is the Rock Canyon Romance series from Codi Gary, this is a series I’ve been following from the start. It is just a fun romance series set in the town of Rock Canyon and it’s great, don’t know when there’ll be another one out, but I like the books published so far anyway.

 

Do you have any good recs based on the books on here? I’d love to hear them because who doesn’t need to add to their TBR list?

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27 September 2015

Sunday Summary: 27.09.2015

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Sunday Summary
I would like to take a moment to celebrate the fact my week off from work has begun! I’m quite excited if you can’t tell.
squeee yay oaweubhr
I get extremely excited by such small things, I have no real plans for my week off apart from catching up on some lost sleep and a bit of reading, but that is how my time normally goes if I have a week off with no plans. I may also attempt to get a few blog posts drafted up for when I inevitably want to vegetate on the sofa after work some times.

So, this week was filled with so many deliveries it was crazy! I love getting parcels in the post because it feels like getting a present (which you chose and paid for). First was a lovely book delivery from Book Depository, I didn’t say the other week, but I won an actual blog competition (I never win things) hosted by Alexandra at Twirling Pages. I got to choose a book from Book Depository under $12 and I chose Faking Perfect because it is a book I’ve been wanting to read for a while but not been willing to shell out the cash on because of my ever growing TBR list. I started reading that Saturday after being an emotional wreck after finishing The High Lord book (don’t even talk to me about that book, I love and hate it equally measure and am still recovering from those last few chapters) and it was the perfect read for the mood I was in.

I then had a hoodie delivered Wednesday (a purchase inspired by Gogglebox) and that was pretty exciting, but I also had a big box of books from The Works. It was quite exciting, but the delivery company for The Works is Hermes, and Hermes are notorious for leaving my parcels in our wheelie bin on bin day. I suppose, at least it’s empty when they put it in there, but it is frustrating as hell because I’m about 5”4 and reaching the bottom of a wheelie bin is hard! I full on had to whack my head in there to grasp the box at the bottom. Do you know what bins smell like?!? Not good, that’s what.

Aside from bin diving for my books, though, it was an exciting delivery (all books are below) and then I had my Bookworm Box for August delivered finally after the delay from being sent out as a few books for damaged. I was a bit annoyed both of my books are part of a series (I have to series in order, it freaks me out if I don’t, it makes me nervous) but I will still read them and let you know, and it’s for charity so it doesn’t count, right?

What I’ve Been Reading

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This is the week where I managed to get out of my reading rut! I finished the Sarah Fine book I started the other week, and then speed read the end of the series. Was it satisfying? I guess, but I’m happy to have committed to finishing the series. I then committed to reading another series, Canavan’s The Black Magician Trilogy and that was both amazing and frustrating as hell, but more on that another day. And then there have been my Saturday reads, I sped through Faking Perfect and began reading Red Queen last night. Hopefully I’ll carry on with this good reading again.

New To Me

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I told you I had a fairly big order coming from The Works, well it was 9 books I ordered!

I know I have a problem.

It all began because I was browsing the website and saw that they were had Red Queen and Ink & Bone both included in their 6 for £10 offer, they were both books I’d wanted for a while so I obviously had to find four other books to complete the deal. I then noticed Marie Lu’s Legend trilogy for £10 which would bring my order to the £20 free delivery, so I had to really. It would have been stupid not to.

Basically, I bought a lot of books, but it’s okay, I’ll read them eventually. I’ve just got to attempt a spending ban. My problem is I’ve never had the money to buy all the books I want before and now I do I seem to have no self control to stop myself buying. Oh well.

How have your weeks been? Does anyone have any sensible suggestions to curb book buying? I have been told to try getting a gift card for the year with my book budge and if I run out, sucks to me.
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26 September 2015

Where I Know Loyalty is Key, But Still Don’t Follow My Own Rules

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I have said before that I don’t wish to be a popular blog. It has never been my intention to gain vast number of followers. Instead I just want to be able to blog about what I want and be able to talk to people who are interested in things I say and who say interesting things back. I just want to fangirl about books to people, is that too much to ask?

As such, I have never gone out of my way on social media to shove my blog in people’s faces, mostly because I fail epically in knowing how to use most popular social media things. I am not a fan of Facebook, I browse twitter most days, but forget to push my own posts and am still scared to interact with others, then there is Instagram, which I love, but I can’t take pictures. I am just happy to post away and comment on the blogs I like and respond to comments here and attempt to visit those who loyally visit my blog (I’m not the best, I know).

I’ve seen a few posts lately about various parts of blogging (there are always a few posts like that, and I do enjoy reading people’s thoughts on how to blog) but the one which inspired this post was from Ashley at Nose Graze about getting blog followers from the right places and I couldn’t help agreeing with it. I don’t want people to follow my blog for the sake of a giveaway, or to carelessly follow to glance at my blog when they see an interesting post but then not really interact. What I want is to have followers who are interested in what I’m saying and who make the effort to comment when they have something to say. I do notice the same names in my comments on posts, and I love that, because it’s nice to see the same people coming back, that’s how you truly get to know other people in the blogging world.

hi oh no well fuck you then bastards

I think the best ways to get loyal followers and to encourage people to keep coming back is to interact! To speak to people on Twitter, comment on Instagram posts and read their blog posts and say something interesting.

I like to visit those who visit my blog and try and find something to say. I like to comment on people’s pictures or reply to them on Twitter and generally demonstrate that I am an actual real person too. The only problem with this is I am actually quite a shy person who is a little intimidated speaking to new people. I will join different social media sites but I just am terrible and speaking to new people, even over the internet. But the intent is there for me to interact, even if I do get a bit nervous before actually committing to the act.

I think you can tell when people are being genuine when commenting or visiting based on what they say, the short comments people leave to encourage people to visit their blog are all well and good (they are appreciated too, but I will always prefer the longer comments) but the people who leave essay long comments and have things to say, everyone will always like those comments best because someone has had to put the time in to type that comment in the first place. I try to be the person to leave those comments on other blogs and to keep leaving them on the blogs I love because it demonstrates I’m interested in what people have to say. It’s the same in other places, leave a good comment on a photo on Instagram or reply to a Twitter comment that interests you and keep doing that and people are far more likely to be interested in what you have to say as well.

Basically, be nice to other people and they’ll be nice back. I was reading an article the other day which said the best way to get people to like you was to like other people (this made me laugh because I am continually saying I hate people when faced with large crowds… or at work), but it is true. You are far more likely to like someone who is generally happier and makes the effort to be nice to you, that translates well to blogging. You are far more likely to visit someone’s blog who is nice, who comments and speaks to you online (without being annoying or a creepy stalker) because that is just how people work, we respond to people being nice to us.

How do you think it best to get loyal followers? And do you do anything to try and encourage others to keep coming back, or are you just merrily blogging in your own little world and content with how things are going?
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24 September 2015

Tonight the Streets Are Ours // It’s a Little Bit Different and I Liked It

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Release Date: 24th September 2015
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
My Rating:
From Leila Sales, the author of This Song Will Save Your Life, comes a compelling and relatable story about the hazards of falling for someone you haven't met yet.
Seventeen-year-old Arden Huntley is recklessly loyal. Taking care of her loved ones is what gives Arden purpose: it makes her feel like she matters. But she's tired of being loyal to people who don't appreciate her - including her needy best friend and her absent mum.
Arden stumbles upon a blog called 'Tonight the Streets Are Ours', the musings of a young New York City writer named Peter, and it feels like she's finally found a kindred spirit. When Peter is dumped by the girlfriend he blogs about, Arden decides to take a road trip to see him.
During one crazy night in NYC filled with parties, dancing and music - the type of night when anything can happen, and nearly everything does - Arden discovers that Peter isn't exactly who she thought he was. And maybe she isn't exactly who she thought she was either.


Where I try and tell you my initial thoughts and fail.


I’ve read Sales’ last book, This Song Will Save Your Life, and really enjoyed it, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to have the same experience with this book. Sometimes authors can just write one book you really connect with, thankfully Sales is not one of those authors. Tonight the Streets Are Ours was everything I wanted in this book. I got a fantastic contemporary read with good character development with an interesting story and a good friendship.

Tonight the Streets Are Ours follows the character of Arden, who is a good friend, recklessly loyal and who sacrifices a lot for those she loves. She has been raised to believe love is giving up everything for those you care about, putting their needs first because that is what her mother has shown is the way to go. Events happen which lead Arden to question herself and how she acts and whether or not she is being taken advantage of. She feels as if she loves too much and no one seems able to return the amount of love she gives to them. It is really quite an intriguing and awkward story at times. You can relate to Arden’s teenage dilemma of feeling like there is no one in the world who cares as much as she does, it is an age old question of being a teenager whether you are different to everyone else, it may not necessarily be about how much you love, but everyone questioned if they were different in some way.

This book is all about characters, and this is where I will tell you about them and why you should love them too.


I could relate to the awkwardness of Arden's character, she is quiet and a thinker. She does not immediately act but instead plans and thinks of the consequences and tries to put the needs of those around her first. It can often mean she comes across a bit plain and boring, but that’s okay because her best friend, Lindsey, is her opposite and helps bring out another side to her.

Lindsey is very much a reckless character who acts first and thinks later, which is a far more fun character to read about, but it does lead to some issues in the book. I think you need the characters of Arden and Lindsey together, though, because Arden could come across as boring otherwise. As for Lindsey, she would come across as reckless and uncaring if it were not for Arden, they balance one another in their friendship.

There was also the character of Peter, he spends a lot of the book simply as a person writing a blog, it was interesting to follow a story following a reader of the blog and see how she interprets the character of Peter before she travels to try and meet him. I’d never fully considered how people can be different from their blogging character before reading this book and I have to say I found it really interesting. I know people may have disliked the character of Peter, but it’s easy to forget he is just a teenager who is a little lost. He very much reminded me of Lindsey with his impulsive behaviour and his character, unfortunately for him he doesn’t have a best friend like Arden who helps him tone down some of his less likable characteristics. That was how I saw it anyway, I viewed the character of Peter as being a bit lost and in need of a guiding hand which he did not get. I would have been interested to hear more of his story, but then the life of a hipster tortured artist has been done and wouldn’t be interesting, I suppose.

It was amazing how Sales managed to get so much of the characters like Peter and Lindsey across without them actually having vast amounts of page time. You are very much in Arden’s head, but I still felt like you got hints of the real characters beyond how Arden saw them.

This isn’t about romance, this about people and that rocks.


I think the thing I enjoyed most was the fact that there wasn’t a romance to drive the story and take focus away from the characters and the actual people in this book. It is a rare thing for me to say I’m glad there was no romance, romance is normally my driving factor in books (I’m a sucker for romance, and what?) but for once that isn’t what this book needed. Instead, you simply got a book about characters and friendship. It was all about character development and that was what made it so enjoyable because you don’t get enough books free of romance in the young adult genre. This is one that definitely stands out for that fact.

So… to summarise.


As a whole, I adored this book. It isn’t one of my favourite books of the year, but it was one that will hold a special place in my heart for being different. This is a book which does not try to be anything more than about a girl and her journey from discovering a blogger to doing something reckless with her best friend. It was a joy to read a book driven by characters and their own journey in growing up. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a contemporary read which is a little bit different and for one that will get you thinking.

I think it may have been that I enjoyed this book as much as I did simply because it was different to anything I’ve read lately, but I honestly don’t care. Have you ever found yourself reading some thing completely different to what you normally read and loved it for how refreshingly different it was?
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