Blog Tour: Dead End
So today is a super exciting day. I am, as you probably
know if you hang round these parts on a regular basis, a lover of a good
thriller and a lover of a good police procedural and a lover of a good story. I
have a lot of love. With all that in mind, it took me approx.. 0.25 seconds to
say that YES, I absolutely did want
to share an extract of Rachel Lynch’s new novel Dead End with you all.
Review: A Little Life
Here’s the thing. I have absolutely no idea how to review A Little Life. No clue. I have feelings,
lots of feelings, but I don’t really know exactly what I want to say.
I got lost in this book. That’s the first thing.
Review: New Boy
I love a good
retelling. Love love love, and, I am
especially fond of a good Shakespeare retelling. Have been, in fact since I
first watched 10 Things I Hate About You about
20 years ago and wow I hate working that stuff out because it makes me feel old.
Anyhow. Hogarth
have a Shakespeare series wherein famous writer type peeps pick one of his
plays and put a new spin on it, so you’ve got Margaret Atwood doing The Tempest and Anne Tyler doing The Taming of the Shrew and, the one I
am going to chat about now which is Tracy Chevalier (The Girl With the Pearl Earring) doing Othello.
WHAT FUN.
A Little Summer Reading List
Last summer I
did a post about books I’d already read that I thought would be fun to read on
the beach (you can read that here if you missed it then).
Well, it’s
summer again now, kind of – although it’s been ridiculously windy and glum
today but we’re just calling it a blip, the blue skies will return; I have
faith – and I’ve booked two trips this week, one with my BFF and one with My
Best Guy and it got me thinking as most things do, about books.
I’m not going
to throw a load of books off my shelf at you this time, because books are heavy
and they hurt, but instead we’ll chat about the new and forthcoming books this
summer that I think would make nice holiday reads (although this has got me
thinking about all the books I own and haven’t read and perhaps THAT could be a post also but I
digress…)
Summer lends
itself to a certain kind of read for me – I like a thriller in the summer more
than at any other time I think – give me some sunshine and a good psychological
mystery. I also feel like summer lends itself perfectly to romance or a good
coming of age story. And if it has a road trip theme then I am SO THERE. A
light easy read I can fly through and get lost in whilst I sip a gin and tonic.
That’s what I want from my summer reads; we’ll save the deeper stuff for when
the nights are drawing in, thank you.
So, if you want
to spend your hard-earned cash on shiny new releases this summer and are
looking for some pointers then these are the ones I have my eyes on.
Disclaimer: I haven’t
read a single one of these so if they don’t float your boat then I AM VERY
SORRY.
Blog Tour: Alone Time
I don’t mind
telling you that this book took me right outside of my comfort zone.
Not in a bad
way. More in a ‘my comfort zone is a very fictional story and this is not that’
kind of way. I made a little promise to myself at the start if this year
though, that I was going to try and read more of books that are not novels –
more non-fiction, more memoirs, more poetry, more short stories – and so when I
was offered the chance to have a read of this one, I shrugged my shoulders and
thought ‘why the hell not.’
And here we
are.
Rosenbloom
is a travel columnist for the New York Times. In this book she’s visiting 4
cities in 4 seasons. On her own.
All by herself.
Alone.
As a girl who
really wishes she were brave enough to date herself and is endlessly envious of
those who can sit at a bar on their own with a gin and be perfectly content in
their own skin; who can go to the cinema and not flinch at ordering just one
ticket; who will happily sit in a coffee shop and not be hiding behind a book
or endlessly scrolling through Instagram, the idea of this really appealed to me.
I think there’s
a part of all of us that in some ways yearns for solitude and there’s a lot to
be said I think, for the kind of experience you could get of a place if you
explored it on your own, in your own time and on your own terms. It helped that
the cities Rosenbloom was visiting were cities I
was keen to know more about. I already love New York (no other city ever made
me glad) and Istanbul, Florence and Paris are all on my list.
Really,
this book had my name all over it. Apart from it actually has Stephanie
Rosenbloom’s name all over it cos she wrote it, but you know what I mean.
Quick May Wrap Up
Ah May. How I have enjoyed you.
May is a smashing month isn’t it
– spring has actually definitely sprung, usually, and is even sometimes even
edging into summer and everything is colourful and joyful and lovely. I have loved this May loved loved loved.
I think mostly because I’ve spent
so much time with so many of my faves and the sun has shone and it’s just been
fabulous. Everything seems brighter in the summer amirite?
What I
did:
SO MUCH GOOD STUFF. GET COMFY
THIS MIGHT TAKE A WHILE.
Helen and I took Molly for her
first afternoon tea for my birthday. She was excellent value with her cheeky
smile and her ‘more jam please’ – kid loves scones. Like with most months I try
to squeeze as much Molly-time in as I possibly can so we also spent an
afternoon in and out of the paddling pool on her decking and went out for
breakfast and a play on the park. She’s at a really excellent age at the moment
– nearly 3 – and just makes me laugh.
The first weekend in May was bank
holiday. We’d briefly discussed going away for the weekend but ended up staying
at home and I’m so glad we did because it was amazing. The weather was the
hottest – like actually I think it broke May Day records – and it was pretty
much what perfect weekends are made of: road trips with the roof down, paddling
pools and brunch and badminton and prosecco and all the things I love with the
people who make me smile. Heaven.
Blog Tour: Love and Ruin
I absolutely loved this book. Loved it. I knew I would: I
also really loved The Paris Wife and
I’m so there for largely fictionalised accounts of actual events. Like The Crown. That’s like a documentary in
my head, you know?
Blog Tour: Days of Wonder
I read Keith Stuart’s debut novel A Boy Made of Blocks last year (I talk about it here) and I
absolutely loved it, so when Sphere got in touch earlier this year and tempted
me with a copy of his new book, Days of
Wonder, I pretty much bit their hand off. This has been one of my most
anticipated books of the year and you cannot imagine how happy I am to sit here
and say it does not disappoint.
I loved it.
I loved it as much as I loved A Boy Made of Blocks.
I may have loved it more. I already want to read it again.
I’m going to tell you why.
Review: The Smoke Thieves
It continually surprises me, actually, how much of a little
fantasy fan I’ve become. I can remember when I was growing up and my Dad used
to read all these sci-fi and fantasy novels and I was all WHY WOULD I WANT TO
READ BOOKS ABOUT DRAGONS AND MAGIC AND PLACES THAT AREN’T REAL AND THINGS THAT
COULD NEVER EXIST and now I am all grabby hands for all of those things.
Anyhow. In that vein, let us talk today about the first in
Sally Green’s new series The Smoke
Thieves.
Sidenote: you may have heard of Sally from her Half Bad trilogy, and if you haven’t,
well, you should get on that. S’good.
So The Smoke Thieves is
new, and it’s about a princess preparing for a political marriage, the guard
she’s in love with, a servant hungry for
revenge, a boy who isn’t sure what he wants to do with his life and steals
things just because he can, and a thirteen year old girl who spends her life
being bait for a demon hunter.
I KNOW, RIGHT? ALL THE GOOD THINGS.
Quickfire Reviews
Quickfire Reviews is a thing I do very sporadically when
there are books to talk about that I should have reviewed but haven’t.
Sometimes I didn’t like these books enough to want to review them; sometimes I loved them but time got away from me;
and sometimes, less is just more. Also it’s something a bit different which is
what I am all about this year – being more than just review after review.
So here we have it, grab a KitKat and settle down.
Things I've Spent My Money on in May
Here is a new post which is a little twist on my things that I have seen and liked series
(those are one of my fave kinds of post to do because it’s like shopping
without the spending. Or without actually owning the thing so not like shopping
at all but you know what I mean). This is different in in that this post, which
may become a regular thing*, is only
things that I have actually put my hand into my pocket and purchased and which I
think you should propbably purchase also.
*when I say ‘a regular thing’ I obviously mean as regular as
anything ever is on this blog. Also, don’t hold your breath because I’m also
trying to be thrifty which makes this the most ill-timed post in the history of
posts.
So, here we are, 5 things I have spent my money on in May.
Repeal the 8th. #Together4Yes
Oh here I go, about to get not-bookish and a little bit
opinionated. It happens sometimes but it’s fine – it helps keep things fresh
and I kind of had to make this post because I’ve seen a lot in recent weeks about
the Irish Referendum to repeal the 8th amendment and it’s really got
me thinking because actually, it continually baffles me that this is even a thing.
I mean, having a baby changes your entire life, carrying a baby changes you in ways you
cannot imagine and so the decision to become a parent or not is perhaps one of –
if not the most – defining decisions a person can make don’t you think? How
can it be fine to take that decision away? To make the making of that decision
a criminal offence?
Review: A Thousand Perfect Notes
Beck hates his life. He hates his violent mother. He hates his home. Most of all, he hates the piano that his mother forces him to play hour after hour, day after day. He will never play as she did before illness ended her career and left her bitter and broken. But Beck is too scared to stand up to his mother, and tell her his true passion, which is composing his own music - because the least suggestion of rebellion on his part ends in violence.
When Beck meets August, a girl full of life, energy and laughter, love begins to awaken within him and he glimpses a way to escape his painful existence. But dare he reach for it?
Well then.
Here’s the thing and I’m going to be honest about it: I mainly
wanted to read this book because I follow C.G Drews on Instagram and her page
is the prettiest and that led me to her blog which is one of my faves, actually
and that is that - I wanted to read her
book because I enjoy her online presence. That said, I was pretty sure she
would be able to write – you can tell from her blog that she can write, I just didn’t quite
expect…this.
Wow. This is not eloquent. This is why I have not written a book.
Review: I Was Born For This
This book fascinated me.
Like actually. I was so invested and so interested, perhaps because parts of it
felt really relatable and perhaps because it felt really relevant and was a
really interesting take on a really interesting story. To be honest, anything
to do with fandom always peaks my interest because it’s something that, to a
degree, I am familiar with.
Review: Cross Her Heart
Promises only last if you trust each other, but what if one of you is hiding something?
A secret no one could ever guess.
Someone is living a lie.
Is it Lisa?
Maybe it’s her daughter, Ava.
Or could it be her best friend, Marilyn?
Cross Her Heart publishes 17th May 2018. You’ll just have to wait to find out…
Blog Tour: If He Wakes
I love a book
that I can pick up and that has me turn turn turning the pages til I’m done, especially
when, like over the last couple of months, I’ve been in a bit of a reading
slump. If He Wakes, the debut novel
from Zoe Lea is that book. I read it a while ago but I’ve been holding off on reviewing
because, well, because today is my spot on the blog tour and it would have been
a little but counter-productive to post about it before then.
Quick April Wrap Up
Well. This bank holiday weekend
has just been brill and marv. There are no words to express quite how much I love
it when the sun is shining.
However, I am not here to talk
about that today. I am here to talk about April.
The Wrong Man: Author Visit
Guess what
guys! Today I’ve got the lovely Kate White here to talk about her new novel The Wrong Man and all things writing!
Grab a cup of tea and get cosy!
35 Facts About A 35 Year Old
Apparently I’m
middle-aged now. So I’ve been told. Which, well it seems like a pretty harsh
thing to tell me but I guess that makes it no less true. The truth hurts and
all that. Anyhow, let’s celebrate my middle-agedom with a list of things about
me that you may or may not be aware of.
Also, here I am in Monaco last summer when I was still youthful.
Blog Tour: The Leavers
I am a little bit in love with The Leavers, the debut novel from Lisa Ko. Seriously, a little bit
in love. This book has wriggled under my skin and stopped there. I couldn’t stop
reading it, and when I had to, I could think of little else but getting back to
it. It’s quiet this book, quiet but wow so powerful and I am super excited to
tell you all about it today so MAKE YOURSELF COMFORTABLE.
Things That I Have Seen and Liked: Cacti!!
It’s that time again, whereby I browse the internet and add
a load of things to my virtual shopping basket and pretend I have more
disposable income than I actually do. Which, actually, is one of my favourite
things to do. Also, I’ve been on holiday for the first part of April and read
not as much as I would like due to the high levels of activity that were part
and parcel of said holiday and as such this blog has taken a little bit of a
backseat. Fret not though as there is LOTS of bookish stuff on the horizon and
until then here’s a fun fact about me: I’m a bit of a crazy cactus lady at the
moment I won’t lie. I cannot stop buying them. I have cacti on my desk at work
and in my house and I’ve bought them as gifts for My Best Guy and I just love
their little prickly selves and you know what, the internet is FULL of cactus
related goodies that you (I) can fill your (my) house with and here is a list
of my faves.
Quick March Wrap-Up
March. We’re a quarter of the way into 2018 and so far I
don’t love it.
I absolutely definitely spoke too soon back in January when
I was all YEAH 2018 because let me tell you a thing – so far this year has sucked. Still, it does not do to dwell
on these things does it, and in amongst the days when I just wanted to curl up
in bed and cuddle and pretend life wasn’t happening, I still squeezed in a fair
amount of smile-worthy adventures.
Book Haul: March 2018
Oooh, I haven’t done a book haul for AGES. But I also
haven’t done much reading so instead of talking about what I have read I figured I may as well talk
about all the books I’ve bought to add to the piles of books I haven’t read. Ha. Also I like a list.
What's In My Make-Up Bag
My Spring TBR
There’s this feature hosted over at The Artsy Reader Girl called Top
Ten Tuesday where by a prompt is posted every Tuesday to blog about and I
think it’s excellent and I take part in it VERY SPORADICALLY (because actually
I’m a little bit rubbish). Anyhow, the prompt this week is Top Ten Books on My Spring TBR and I thought YES, I have a spring TBR and I am in need of
blog inspiration and I’M GETTING INVOLVED.
I don’t have a particular reading mojo for the spring (I don’t
have a reading mojo at all right now HELP ME), it’s not like winter, or summer when
there are books I yearn to re-read or genres I feel weirdly drawn to, but I do,
as it happens have a small list of books that I would like to read before my
birthday at the end of April and this is that list.
