New Books! #35

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A day-late, relatively shorter than usual, book haul post! 😀 Mainly this week, I’ve bought eBooks- two thirds of which were due to #TeaTime run by Epic Reads. I only got to watch last Wednesday’s stream for a few minutes, but I bought Patricia McCormick’s book and Paul Zindel’s book thanks to them! They look really interesting, and I love their new covers.

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A little about the other two titles:

THE HUMANS by Matt Haig: I’ve just wanted to read this for so long! The story seems really intriguing and the cover is striking and I keep looking at it in the Kindle store and in Bookshops. I decided I’d finally buy it- I hope I find it as awesome as a lot of people have said it is.

Looking at the Stars by Jo Cotterill: The cover is so gorgeous… and the synopsis had me really interested. I requested a copy from Random House recently and it arrived this week. I can’t wait to start it- Thank you, Random House! This had gone straight up to the top of the TBR, so I’ll be reading it very soon. As well as a review soon, there will also be a special post of some kind for this book, hopefully at the end of the month… *mysterious face* 😉 

So that’s my book haul for the week! Leave a comment linking back to your own book haul, or telling me what you think of these titles if you’ve read one before! ;D

I’m kind of glad that the majority of this was eBooks because the amazing to-read-wardrobe literally will not hold any more books. Oops.

Book Review: Boys Don’t Knit by T. S. Easton

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Published by Hot Key Books, 2nd January.

Boys Don't KnitGoodreads Synopsis: Ben Fletcher must get to grips with his more ‘feminine’ side following an unfortunate incident with a lollipop lady and a stolen bottle of Martini Rosso from Waitrose. All a big misunderstanding of course.

To avoid the Young Offenders unit, Ben is ordered to give something back to the community and develop his sense of social alignment. Take up a hobby and keep on the straight and narrow. The hot teacher he likes runs a knitting group so Ben, reluctantly at first, gets ‘stuck in’. Not easy when your dad is a sports fan and thinks Jeremy Clarkson is God.

To his surprise, Ben finds that he likes knitting and that he has a mean competitive streak. If he can just keep it all a secret from his mates…and notice that the girl of his dreams, girl-next-door Megan Hooper has a bit of a thing for him…Laugh-out-loud, often ridiculous, sometimes quite touching, and revelatory about the knitting world, Boys Don’t Knit is a must for boys and girls…

My Review: I was not expecting so many laughs and so much fun from this. I devoured the whole book cover to cover in one sitting; I literally couldn’t put it down! Tom’s book definitely isn’t one to miss this year.

Boys Don’t Knit is different from anything I’ve read. I read quite a lot of contemporary, but I’ve never come across something so original and something that brings such a big smile to my face as this. Ben’s accidental crimes were so funny, I couldn’t help but laugh as well as feel a little sympathetic. Ben decides a knitting class is the best for him out of a rather unappealing selection, mainly because the teacher he has a crush on is said to be running it. Ben’s knitting adventure is full of mishaps and classic laugh-out-loud moments. I loved reading about it! I literally had no idea where the book was going, but I wasn’t disappointed.

Ben reminds me of a male version of Tallulah Casey, from my old favourite Louise Rennison series, because they’re both such hilarious, brilliant protagonists. His family’s rather strange, and his secret obsession is the last thing boys are expected to be taking up, and anyone who reads his story will at least smile. Ben and his knitting obsession is hard to dislike. He’s so different from his friends, and really stands out. I loved the way that his knitting club, something he was half-dreading, turns into a lifestyle, and completely changes his life in a lot of ways. Ben’s such a memorable character. More like him in books in future, please!

I was giggling like a maniac for the most part, literally from the first page. The story starts at a hilarious point with his parents and from then on, I knew the book definitely was as hilarious as I’d been told. Reading this in one sitting at home, I guess I was kind of lucky. People would’ve thought I was a bit made if I read it in public. Tom’s writing is witty and sharp, and it’s so hard not to giggle at a lot of points. It’s a book I think both girls and boys will love, and I’m definitely going to be recommending it to anyone and everyone.

Overall, Boys Don’t Knit, was just awesome. The plot was witty but captured a teenage boy’s life really well, and how hard it is to fit in when you have a hobby no one else has. I’ve never seen or read a book anything like it before, and it’s a must whether you’re a boy or a girl, a teenager or an adult. It’s a laugh-out-loud book that I think might be the funniest book I’ve read in a good few months! Bonus: HUNGER GAMES REFERENCES. (“I’m Katnisssssss!” – you will understand after reading). I loved Ben, and Megan and Ben’s teacher-crush and practically everyone. I can’t recommend it enough!

My Rating: 

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I received a copy of Boys Don’t Knit from the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

 

An Experimental Post!

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A (slightly different than normal) book review: IMPOSTOR by Susanne Winnacker

Hi blogosphere! Yesterday I was jotting down ideas, for what kinds of new posts I could do this year. Last year was pretty much Review, Review, Haul, Review, Review, Haul, Event, Review, Review… It probably got pretty boring. I’d love to do more discussions this year on my blog, because they’re really fun to write but I’ve never actually published one before.

I was also fiddling around on some sites yesterday, working out ways to make my reviews look cooler, as I’ve already attempted this with my book haul posts.  I came up with what’s below! ;D It’s a book review, but I wanted to make it look a bit more fun and different from my normal, rather long ones that are entirely text. Behold: the Review-Graphic *cue heavenly choir music*. I don’t know if this has been done before…

I’ve picked a book that I recently loved, to experiment here with. I hope you enjoy the graphic, and that you’re left wanting to pick up a copy of the book… (:

Click on the image for a close up, if the text is difficult to read!

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I hope you enjoyed the mini-review and my review-graphic! I really recommend Impostor. It was such a brilliant start to a series; make sure you find the chance to read it! (: I’ll be eagerly awaiting the sequel, Defector, which is out in June (way to far away…. gah!)

Thanks to Liz for being very awesome and letting me borrow her copy!

New Books! #34

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Uh oh. I have a big book haul this week D: When shopping, I bought… nine books. Then my dad had a Big Bookish Clear-out, in which he sorted out a lot of books to boot-fair, etc. He gave me a lot too, and now I literally have no more room in my amazing TBR Wardrobe… I need a readathon soon to clear some room in there! (And there is talk with Debbie about this. We crazily thought about a 24 hour one on twitter…) Anyway, what I *think* is all of them!

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So, I’ll talk about a few of them! (:

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith: I saw a picture of this cover tweeted out by somebody that I can’t remember a while ago. I had the cover in my head for ages, because this edition is so gorgeous! The story seems really interesting and unique. I spotted it in a local Waterstones earlier this week. I didn’t realised it was such s big book, though!

ALL THE DOCTOR WHO BOOKS ;D (Summer Falls collection, plus the 11 doctors series by authors including Ben Aaranovitch): Summer Falls was found in an awesome local comic shop. It has the Melody Malone story, which featured a bit in the episode with 11, Amy Pond and the weeping angels, if I’m remembering right! I really wanted to read it and had no idea it was part of a cut three-novella collection. Excited for that! Also, The Works has six of the Eleven Doctors novels in a 3 for £5 sale. I couldn’t not buy them…

ADVENT by James Treadwell: I’ve heard a lot of bad reviews, but I’ve also heard many good reviews. I’ve read some extracts and the writing is very beautiful! A large reason I’m looking forward to this is because the hardback edition is so pretty… I think this was sent to dad when hit first came out, and it’s got a pretty set of quote bookmarks too! (:

Various Sherlock Holmes Novels by various authors: I’ve been in a Sherlock mood, because SHERLOCK SERIES THREE! (off task note: Wasn’t it awesome and heart-breaking and heart-warming and funny and scary and action packed and AWESOME? June did a brilliant thing on her blog about it.) These obviously aren’t about the Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock, but there are so many spin offs of the original by lots of authors. I’m kind of collecting them…

I would fangirl about more but I’d be typing for hours D: I’ll stop there! Have you read any of these, and what were they like? Leave a comment! (:

Book Review: The Queen of Dreams by Peter Hamilton

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Published by Doubleday (Random House books), 2nd January.

The Queen of DreamsGoodreads Synopsis: Taggie and Jemima are summer holidaying on their dad’s farm, when they see a white squirrel wearing glasses . . . and soon after their father is captured and trapped in a faerie world that’s fallen to Darkness.

But why would anybody want to kidnap boring old Dad, especially the dreaded King of Night? Could it be that their family isn’t quite as ordinary as they believed?

My Review: I received The Queen of Dreams as a surprise in late 2013, and the cover was so gorgeous- I was excited to start it. I think it’s going to be a modern classic for children- ‘The new Alice in Wonderland’ is a fitting way to put it!

The Queen of Dreams follows Taggie and Jemima- two girls about to stay with their dad, currently divorced from their mum, on a holiday. Strange things surround their dad’s cottage… and within hours they’ve seen a squirrel wearing glasses leap down a well, then their dad is kidnapped, by terrifying creatures. I thought the squirrel thing was a bit too Alice in Wonderland at first, and was a little scared this book wouldn’t be very original. But, it really was! I enjoyed it a lot.

The fantastical world Peter Hamilton has created is vivid and beautiful. There are hidden realms, lost heirs to the throne, fairies flying in the sky, and a strangely loveable talking squirrel. It was so fun to get lost in the story, and at the last page I really wanted more! The book has a magical, personal feeling about it, because it was written for Peter’s children and two of the characters take his kids’ names. I found that really sweet!

Peter’s writing is descriptive and rich, and he’s created some really great characters. The king of night and the creepy people who begin to follow Taggie and Jemima are truly terrifying, and the main girls themselves are really fun to read about. There are themes of divorce and family in the book too, that I loved, and there’s a clever twist at the end of the book that left me aching for answers about the parents!

I loved the characters Taggie and Jemima, but at some points, I couldn’t really connect with them. That was one of a few parts of the book that I didn’t like! Also, events moved very quickly, and at a few points I struggled to keep up a little. I hope the pace slows down a bit in book two, so I can appreciate the writing better. Okay, The Queen of Dreams is a fantasy novel, but some parts I did find a little out of place, like a certain trip back in time to a well known place I can’t say anymore about… (:

Overall, The Queen of Dreams is a rich, imaginative and engrossing story. This is Peter’s first book for children, and I definitely enjoyed it. ‘m looking forward to hunting down Hamilton’s adult Sci-Fi novels, now, and the sequel to this! The Queen of Dreams is a mesmerizing story- a bit random in places, and sometimes very fast-moving, to me. However, I think a lot of children and adults alike are going to love it. I’m glad I got the chance to read it, as it’s definitely going to become a modern classic.

My Rating:

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I received a copy of The Queen of Dreams from the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

Book Review: The Almost Girl by Amalie Howard

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Published by Strange Chemistry (Angry Robot), 2nd January.

The Almost GirlGoodreads Synopsis (condensed): Seventeen-year-old Riven is as tough as they come. But coming from a world ravaged by a devastating android war, she has to be. There’s no room for softness, no room for emotion, no room for mistakes. A Legion General, she is the right hand of the young Prince of Neospes, a parallel universe to Earth. In Neospes, she has everything: rank, responsibility and respect. But when Prince Cale sends her away to find his long-lost brother, Caden, who has been spirited back to modern day Earth, Riven finds herself in uncharted territory.

Thrown out of her comfort zone but with the mindset of a soldier, Riven has to learn how to be a girl in a realm that is the opposite of what she knows.  Riven isn’t prepared for the beauty of a world that is unlike her own in so many ways. Nor is she prepared to feel something more than indifference for the very target she seeks. Caden is nothing like Cale, but he makes something in her come alive, igniting a spark deep down that goes against every cell in her body. For the first time in her life, Riven isn’t sure about her purpose, about her calling. Torn between duty and desire, she must decide whether Caden is simply a target or whether he is something more.
My Review: The Almost Girl was a book I was really interesting in reading just by the synopsis. When I saw the gorgeous cover, I was even more excited! The Almost Girl is a Sci-Fi, epic adventure, that I had really high hopes for. It was a great read, but there were a few faults that I had with it. The world building is absolutely brilliant: I think that was definitely my favourite part of the novel! The idea of a technologically advanced, parallel universe, had me really intrigued. I haven’t read much like that before and loved the concept that a girl from this Sci Fi world had travelled to our Earth, to conduct a search. I loved the Vectors, too: Almost like zombies- re-animated dead bodies programmed to be killers. Terrifying. It was all really vivid and real.

I thought it would be very action-packed (and it was, a lot) but there were also contemporary themes of teenage rivalry, tension, etc. I wasn’t really expecting that, but liked that addition at first. I grew to dislike slightly, further into the story. Riven’s been explained as this ruthless soldier, but suddenly, about halfway through the book, she’s developed all of these complex emotions and… I didn’t really get it! She was a great character a lot of the time, but I found her personality pretty confusing. Another thing that confused me a lot was the whole Cale/Caden thing. Two characters, completely alike, with similar sounding names? So hard to keep track of… It made it hard for me to understand their relationships with Riven. That made me enjoy the story less, which I’m really sad about. If i’d found it explained better, I think I would’ve liked it even more.

I found the story hard to get into. The prologue really drew me in; Amalie’s narrative hooks and air of mystery in her writing had me really curious! After the first few chapters, to about 175 pages in, I found I wasn’t that hooked anymore. I decided to leave the book for a while and come back to it later. I did so, and  found the next parts much better! I became completely engrossed in the story and addicted to Amalie’s writing. Then, in the last fifty pages, I didn’t feel that anymore. Maybe I wasn’t entirely in the mood for a sci-fi, maybe the plot was just at its best in the middle… I’m not sure!

Overall, The Almost Girl was a fun read. It’s an epic Sci-Fi concept that really interested me. I really couldn’t get into some parts… This book took me about a week to get through. However, it did definitely have its action packed, engrossing parts, so I did enjoy a large amount of it. The characters, and their backgrounds and ties with each other, were pretty confusing to me. They were hard to follow at points! However, some of the genius plot twists in the middle and the world building definitely made up for it. A complex read, but also really original. I think a lot of Sci-Fi fans will love it.

My Rating:

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I received a copy of The Almost Girl from the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.

A 2013 round-up!

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2013, you went STUPIDLY quickly. But you were an awesome year. 😀 I started blogging in May 2011, but I started blogging properly, I guess, at the beginning of this year. I’m really glad I did: 2013 has been so awesome mainly thanks to the blogosphere! I’ve been to some publishing lunches, and I got into going to events at various bookshops. I’ve met a ton of lovely people this year- authors, bloggers, publicists… It’s been so brilliant!:D

Here’s my round up of 2013, in picture-infographic-ish-things, because I felt a bit artsy. They probably don’t look as awesome as I imagined them… If it’s hard to read them, click on them to bring yourself to a bigger version of the image!

I’ve mentioned a lot of bloggers in one picture: But I’ve met so many people that I think I have missed some out. If I have, I’m really sorry! You’re still very awesome ;D All of the bloggers I’ve met this year and through blogging as a whole have had super-awesome blogs.

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You can find links to all the sites I’m on in the widgets bar on the left, apart from Netgalley, because that’s not a social network!

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Post Edit: I realised that the ratings are wrong because I gave a lot of things X and a half hearts this year! These are rounded up.

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Hopefully that’s all the things covered! ;D I quite enjoyed making those infographic thingies so maybe I’ll do more posts like this for different subjects soon… I’m really happy with this year bookish-blogging wise. Again- big thank yous and hugs and virtual cake to all of the lovely authors and publishers I’ve read books from! It’s been awesome meeting lots of new people, too. I’m looking forward to meeting more people and reading more books and carrying on with blogging in 2014!

Happy reading and writing and blogging and everything for next year, everyone! :p

The Christmas Spirits

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By Whitley Strieber, published by Coronet.

The Christmas SpiritsGoodreads Synopsis: George Moore is a modern day Scrooge, a futures trader who drives his staff hard, and won’t let his assistant go home to look after her autistic son on Christmas Eve.

Like Scrooge he is mean with money, but he is also mean with his sympathies and his time. He has to swerve to avoid putting money in a charity box and also crosses the road to avoid a family he thinks are probably gypsies on his way to dinner at a cheap cafeteria. An old man sitting nearby looks as if he might be looking for the warmth of some human contact. George refuses to meet his eye and hurries home.

Various slightly odd, even disconcerting things happen. He encounters a nun who looks like an elderly child. He sees a Santa in the window of a department store, who seems to emerge from his Grotto, look confused, and is then surrounded by small elf-like figures who drag him back behind the curtains. Finally, when he arrives back in his apartment the old man from the cafeteria suddenly appears and reveals himself as George’s old mentor in trading and in greed. Bill Hill reveals that he is dead and that he has come to give George a warning. He warns George he will have three visitors that night, and then in a flash he disappears.

So it comes about that, as Bill Hill said, George receives three visitors that Christmas Eve, just as Scrooge was visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. But these are not the ghosties and sprites that frightened Dickens’s readers. George’s visitors are more ambiguous, more frightening to a modern sensibility. They are visitors that will give even today’s reader goose bumps.

My Review: I haven’t read a lot of festive books this month! But, I wanted to try and read one very Christmassy one so I picked up this. I love A Christmas Carol, and I love grim, modern stories too: So putting those two together should be really awesome.The Christmas Spirits I wasn’t really sure about! It’s a quick, quite fun read, but at the same time, it was too short to grow to like the story very much or have a really layered plot.

George Moore is a really realistic modern day version of Ebenezer Scrooge. He’s tight with money, hates giving to charity, and despite being a millionaire he still lives in an old flat and only eats discounted things just to keep his bank balance high. He didn’t seem very unique to me though; but I guess that wasn’t the point, because he is a modern version of a classic character! There were points where you really, really hate him, and points where you quite like the changes happening to him. He does develop a lot throughout the book, but I couldn’t really connect to him or any of the other characters. Was that because they weren’t detailed on enough, or because it was such a short read? I don’t know!

The plot, for an under-200-page story, was a bit… all over the place, to me. This book was pitched to me as a scary read, thanks to the quote on the front of my copy. I didn’t find it was terrifying. If anything, I think this book was intended to be a feel-good story… thanks to the quite heart-warming ending. In the first hundred pages, I was a little lost. Nothing was explained really well in my opinion, and everything moved really fast. There were parts of the book that were really good ideas, and well written but didn’t… go with the story! Such as, the scene with the orphans and Moore being charitable, but everything goes wrong. It was slightly unrealistic, but well written . It took up a large part of the book, but didn’t quite match with the story. If you took it out of the novel, the other events wouldn’t have really been affected. I just felt some things were put into the book for the sake of it. Parts didn’t really fit together for me.

Though there were a few points of the book that I disliked, I really did love the ending. Despite a bit of a haywire plot, everything seemed a lot better in the last 50 or so pages. It’s predictable, because I know the events of A Christmas Carol and Tiny Tim, and I really did love that ending, with George Moore finally being less heartless and pretty much saving the day. It was a really sweet ending, and I think it definitely made up for the rest of the plot, which I just really couldn’t get my head around!

Overall, The Christmas Spirits definitely wasn’t an amazing, unforgettable book. But, at the same time, it did have a lot of good points. I wish it could’ve been longer: That would’ve given the story more time to unfold properly. A lot of points felt rushed and really hasty to me! George Moore is a clever representation of the classic Scrooge character, but I did find it a lot harder to grow to love him at the end like I grew to love the classic, original Scrooge. Recommended for anybody who wants a festive, but short read; though of course, the original is the best and this one was quite hard to get into!

My Rating:

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I borrowed a copy from Dad’s bookshelves!

New Books! #33

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I hope everyone had a bookish Christmas! (: I did, and got some awesome-looking books, though I’ll probably be buying more in new year sales soon. Since I last did a book haul at the beginning of December, I’ve also bought a lot of books, but I tweeted a lot of pictures so you might have seen some! They’re not in this post today. However, here’s most of the Christmas haul:

Gifted for Christmas:

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I’ll highlight a few! ;D

Fortunately, The Milk… by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell (Special edition): I had this on my kindle and, like a few other illustrated eBooks, I think I could’ve enjoyed them even more in physical format! This copy was signed because Foyles have exclusive editions in pretty slipcases and all of them are signed! Squeee!

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (Folio Society Copy): I saw this in the Folio Society’s catalog a while ago and it’s a really beautiful edition. I’ve enjoyed a few of Ray Bradbury’s stories before but this is his classic, most famous one- and I haven’t read it! ): This copy’s a slipcase edition too, and the illustrations inside are so pretty. I’m looking forward to it!

Curtsies and Conspiracies by Gail Carriger: Squeeee. SOAP. SOPHRONIA. VIEVE. I’m so excited to read more about them! I’ve really been looking forward to finding a copy of this, since I finished Etiquette and Espionage. This is definitely getting bumped up the TBR Pile (:

NYX- Wannabe (Vol 1) & No Way Home (Vol 2) from Marvel: This graphic novels look so awesome, and really different from all of the rest of the Mutant comics. Before, it’s all been about the Jean Grey School. But now: IT’s about the Mutants who are still struggling in the human schools- this is set in New York. I started the first Volume earlier and it’s amazing so far: Really gritty and action packed and emotional and… whoa.

Ta-Da! So that, along with all of the other TBR books from before, has probably made up my whole next year of reading… Tell me what you thought of any of them as a comment/ tweet! And, link back to your own hauls ;D (Also, I like my new collage-y format. I fiddled around on Picmonkey a lot. Hope you like it!).

The GIF Tag!

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Hawwa is a blogger @ It Was Lovely Reading You, and she made this awesome tag called The GIF Tag. Her post made me laugh so much, so I really wanted to join in! :3 This is what Hawwa said:

“Today i’m posting a tag i made up after thinking, why not? I use GIFs a lot. I fangirl a lot. The two go together, so why not make a tag to show what type of GIF reactions you would use in certain situations. So the GIF tag was born! *drum roll*”

So YEAH. Awesome, awesome tag. I don’t think I’ve done a bloggy tag before but I’m hoping to do more in 2014- a lot of people have tagged me in various things… Here we go! ;D

when you meet: someone who likes reading

Stoked

someone who hates reading

WTF? Abandon thred

someone who reads

Jon Stewart Fangirling

someone who doesn’t read

Oprah Sad Yes

someone who’ships’ the same characters as you

Colbert High Five

waiting for the last book in a series

description

finishing the last book in a series

OMG OWL!

book to film adaptions

gw-dance

when an author kills off a favourite character

I Give Up

in a book shop

Cookie Monster Dance

finding out an author you love is writing a new book

Excited Adventure Time

Hawwa will notice that I didn’t do *all* of them… well there were a few that I couldn’t actually find awesome enough gifs for, and I was laughing like a nutter doing this and had to stop myself ;D

So… I am going to tag someone now! I’ll go for Charli @ To Another World– happy GIF-ing Charli!! (:

This post would’ve gone up tomorrow, but tomorrow it’s Christmas!! ;D I may not be blogging for the rest of the week, as I’ve been contemplating a short break to organise 2014 posts. But, there might be a review up on Friday! So merry Christmas for tomorrow, bookish people! (: