Saturday 28 January 2012

Taking A Break

Hello, everyone! You may or may not have noticed that I haven't really been posting a lot this week, but I just have literally been the worst at reading lately. I kinda suck, I know, but I think I'll be taking most of this week off too just so that I can catch up a bit a not feel under pressure to post stuff. I know it's a bit of a crappy reason, but I think I just need a short time to take a step back and just not be worrying about my blog as well as school stuff and everything, but I should be back by next Saturday at the latest! I guess I just wanted to explain why I haven't posted anything all week... Yeah.


Also, I've kinda been reading a tiny bit less YA lately (I'm 15 and I just want to experiment with other genres and stuff, and I've been reading more classics (and by classics I pretty much mean Sherlock Holmes) and everything) and that means I've got less stuff to post reviews on, if you get me, so I might try and review some of them on here too? I don't know. I just feel really crap and lazy for not having done much lately, like, not even memes... Gah, and now I'm just rambling.


But yeah. I'm not stopping or anything, just taking a few days off and trying to be a better blogger in the long run :D. I'll still be on Twitter and Tumblr and all that, like, I'm not abstaining from the internet, just the blog :)  Thanks for understanding! ;D

Monday 23 January 2012

Kiss Date Love Hate review

Kiss Date Love Hate
Luisa Plaja
February 2nd 2012 
Random House Children's (Corgi)


What if you could change your friends' lives and loves through the settings of a computer game...? 

Lex Murphy's group of friends have all dated, hated, ignored and lusted after each other for the last few years. If only there was a way of matching people perfectly to avoid all the unrequited love, dumping and drama! Then Lex's friend George is given a mysterious Sims-like game by his software-testing dad which involves building character profiles in the categories of Life, Looks and Love. Lex and George populate the game with avatars for all their mates, making a few 'wishful thinking' adjustments to the settings - and find that the next day these tinkerings have come true! But how long can this new calm, loved-up atmosphere continue?



Kiss Date Love Hate was an adorable, slightly nerdy, lovely book full of laughs and love and a properly realistic British teen narrative. While that realism may sometimes make the characters seem a bit off-putting, they are very relatable, and there's a sweet story at the centre of it all.


I must say that when I first heard about KDLH, I knew I had to read it. Come on! I love the premise for it, and I could tell that it was going to be a fun cute book that I'd like. It's about a computer game that can actually change people's lives! How cool is that? And as well as the awesome premise, it definitely shows the negative side of such a thing if it ever could exist, and I really liked the character development that revolved around this game and the idea of having the power.


I liked Lex, I guess, and she was definitely a believable teen, but there were times when she kind of annoyed me. Not to criticize her or anything, I could totally see where she was coming from, but she did kind of have the irrational mind of a teenager. There were times when she could be selfish and seemed like she was playing around a bit, but at the end of it, I did like her. And there was kind of a reason at the end of the book that explained quite a lot of it, but I think I'd of liked it more if that had been mentioned earlier on? But then I guess it wouldn't have really got the whole point across...


My favourite character was George, I won't lie. I want to give him a cuddle. Luisa, can you tell George and Lex that I find someone who consciously knows the difference between who and whom attractive? ;) I'm sorry, I love it when nerds are main characters in books and they aren't presented as the stereotypical douchey-nerd (you know the type I mean...).  Though he did have his moments of douchiness, he was a really nice guy, and I would go up to his room to see him LOTR posters anytime ;)


Drew was also really great, and I liked how he wasn't really all that he seemed. I like it when nice guys are the heroes, even if people don't think that they're nice guys at first ;) Also, the inclusion of the whole film making course was something that I really liked. Though reading books with awesome indie cinema's run by lovely old men who show LOTR marathons makes me want one. And that is sadly something that just ain't gonna happen... ;)


Kiss Date Love Hate is a really sweet book that I thoroughly enjoyed, and I definitely need to check out Luisa's other books! 

Saturday 21 January 2012

In My Mailbox (64)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren :)



For review:
The Look by Sophia Bennett (this came in a bright pink envelope, and the pages are pink-edged and it looks really cool. Thank you Chicken House!)
The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenburg (really excited to read this! I love the idea behind it)
Legend by Marie Lu (I have been waiting for this book for ages! Thank you so much to Puffin for these two!)

Bought:
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (you guys know I'm kind of on a Sherlock high, right? Because I am. It's so freaking good! I think I'm going to include the series 2 dvd in next weeks mailbox... )

Won:
This is Not Forgiveness by Celia Rees. Thank you Kirsty from The Overflowing Library! This was for the BBC book challenge which she hosts and that you should definitely check out! This is another book that I've got a proof and a finished copy for.. I'm thinking I might use them as a prize pack for the ABC book challenge next month? :) 

On the note of the ABC reading challenge, April made this really great video explaining it and introducing it properly here: (here's the full post)


What did you get in your mailbox? 

Thursday 19 January 2012

Hollow Pike review

Hollow Pike
James Dawson
2nd February 2012
Indigo/Orion


Something wicked this way comes... She thought she'd be safe in the country, but you can't escape your own nightmares, and Lis London dreams repeatedly that someone is trying to kill her. Lis thinks she's being paranoid - after all who would want to murder her? She doesn't believe in the local legends of witchcraft. She doesn't believe that anything bad will really happen to her. You never do, do you? Not until you're alone in the woods, after dark - and a twig snaps... Hollow Pike - where witchcraft never sleeps.


Hollow Pike was an awesomely good, unique debut, full of twists and turns and a great balance between the norm and the paranormal. Also, awesome realistic female characters ftw!


I will admit that Hollow Pike was not all that much like I thought it was going to be. Like, I thought it was gonna be like, witchcraft for the whole way through, but the actual thing was way better. We're first introduced to Lis when she's moving to a new school, getting ready for a new life after being bullied really badly back in Wales, and, apart from the fact that she has some pretty freaky dreams, everything seems pretty normal. And I really enjoyed  that. It was kind of grounding.


But I have this thing with bullying in books, right? Like, it never really convinces me. It always feels a little bit fake, you know? Because I don't really buy the whole social hierarchy thing. I don't know if it actually happens, because it doesn't in my school. At least I don't think it does... Maybe I'm just too oblivious to notice. But I guess because I always see it happen in teen movies, it always feels a bit unnatural in books. And I got a lot less of that from this book because, even though I did think it felt a little bit off in places, I think James has had a lot of experience with bullying and stuff, and that really comes across.


Throughout the book there were these little nuggets of creepiness that really kept me reading though. I honestly couldn't decide who I thought the bad guys were going to be and the ending did take me by surprise. I really liked that he kept the traditional witchcraft thing, and I'd really like to learn more about the history of Hollow Pike. Okay, I'm such a freaking history geek that I want to know the history of a fictional town. I need to leave the house more...


I really liked Lis, even if I didn't like her decisions all that much at certain points in the story. I think that she was just very kind of normal despite her situation, and I liked her sense of humour. I think my favourite characters though were definitely Delilah and Jack :) But I also liked the fact that Kitty and Delilah were going out with each other they didn't really care what people thought of them. It didn't feel like it'd been forced or put in there for the sake of having a lesbian couple in a book to make it look like it's all cool with things and stuff. They were going out with each other because they loved each other and it felt really natural. I liked Danny too, and the fact that he was a bit of a geek, but I'm glad that the book wasn't romance centric and that it took a backseat to the actual story.


Hollow Pike is a great book about witchcraft, high school and bullying, and it all works seamlessly well together. Makes me excited for all the other wonderful British books I have waiting for me to read! ;)

Tuesday 17 January 2012

Blog Tour: On Location With Dave Cousins

Hello guys! Today I'm finishing up the blog tour for Dave Cousin's wonderful book, 15 Days Without A Head! Today he's going to talk us through some of the locations in the book and how he came up with the settings :) Please welcome Dave! :) 






The setting of a story can have a huge impact on the tone of a book. Imagine how different Hogwarts would have felt, had it been modelled on a comprehensive school in Birmingham, for instance!

15 Days Without a Head is set in Hardacre, a fictional satellite town somewhere in the south of England – although I’d like readers to feel it could be anywhere. Two of my favourite authors, Robert Westall and Robert Cormier, created the fictional towns of Garmouth and Monument respectively. Using these places as the setting for a number of their books, gave the towns a history and made them feel real. I always get a buzz of recognition when somebody in a Robert Westall book walks past the Fish Quay Sands, where Chas and Cem hang out in the Machine Gunners. I’d like to be able to do the same with Hardacre, which has already cropped up in the new book I’m working on. There’s even a reference to The Heights you might spot, if it survives the edit.

I didn’t simply create Hardacre to emulate my heroes, however. Writing about real locations can cause problems. Apart from the obvious constraints of real geography, places evolve, the architecture changes, sometimes dramatically – and unless you know an area very well, there’s a danger you’ll get the details wrong. The locations in 15 Days Without a Head tend to be a combination of real places and invention. I can always see an environment in my head as I write, but later on I’ll often try to find a real place on which to base some of the details: what you can hear and smell – what it feels like to stand there.

The location I did need to research a little more thoroughly, was the canal that features in the second half of the book. When I wrote the original draft of 15 Days, my walk to work took me along part of the towpath of the Grand Union Canal in Hertfordshire. The canal in the book isn’t based on any particular stretch – I’ve taken a bridge from here, a view from there, a lock from further along. There was an incident towards the end of the book though, where I needed to check precise sightlines, angles and positions. That’s the one scene where I had to find an actual location, and take photos and video, to make sure that everything would be accurate in the story.

The telephone box shown on the cover is probably the most important location in the book. It is an unpleasant environment, somewhere Laurence feels exposed and vulnerable, but it is also the place that he believes will help him find a means of escape and resolution for his family. At lot happens to Laurence while he is inside the box. Despite the fact it is so small and, at first glance, ordinary, it provided a wide variety of opportunities in which to move the story along. 

The subliminal elements used to create atmosphere in a scene can be interesting and fun to play with. The way that a film-maker will use colour palettes and lighting for different locations and mood, dressing the set, even the actors appropriately. You can do similar things in a book with careful choice of adjectives, similes and metaphors. Heat plays an important role in 15 Days Without a Head, compounding Laurence’s sense of being trapped and under surveillance.

From the urban sprawl of Hardacre to the confined space of the telephone box, the locations in 15 Days Without a Head affect and inform the reader’s experience and perception of the story. Thanks for taking the time to let me show you around.

Thank you so much Dave! :)



Monday 16 January 2012

The Fault in Our Stars review

The Fault in Our Stars
John Green
January 10th 2012
Dutton


Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now. 

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. 

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.



I kind of really don't know how to write this review. I mean, I kind of don't want to because whatever I have to say about this book, everyone else has said, and I don't know if I can sum up my feelings in a way that will do this book justice. Because I don't think that anything but the book can do it justice. Though I'm going to give it a ruddy good try!


TFiOS is, no doubt, John's best book (that I've read by him), and regardless of whether you like John Green or whether you think he's crap, I still think you should read this book. Because it's just beautiful. Sure, like his other books, all the characters are a little too clever and a little too pretentious at times, but they're kind of glorious. And it's not because they have cancer or whatever (even though they do and it sucks because cancer and dying sucks). I don't really know why they were so great. I guess they were just, like, great people with great minds and it made me sad because they kind of had this need to do something great that they would be remembered for because they were already great. They didn't need to do anything great to become great, y'know? They just needed more people to remember how great they were. Yeah. This is what happens when I try to express my feelings in anything other than a keyboard smash.


I could kind of tell what was going to happen in the book. I won't say anything, but it didn't come as a surprise to me. It was what I was expecting. But it still hit me pretty hard, y'know? I spent a solid 50-100 pages kind of on and off weeping and laughing, because even though they're dying they're still so clever and funny and then they'd just say this one thing and it would spoil it all and I'd start tearing up again, and it's just so good. John Green's books are rarely full of surprises, but they are full of life. He always creates intensely vibrant people, and in this case they just so happen to live in an intensely tragic world. But he writes so beautifully, like, he gets the teen voice across so well that regardless of how clever/pretentious the things they're saying are, they're always carried with a barrel of truth, like, hard, teenagery truth. (I know I'm saying like a lot... I told you, not good at feelings!) And you just kind of sit there, reading these things, nodding along and wondering why you never thought things like that before, because they are so freaking true. I kind of want to go back and just underline all of the quotes I really liked, but I don't like writing in books.


I know I'm kind of waxing lyrical about it, and it may seem like I'm a John Green fangirl, and that I have nothing bad to say about it, but I kind of don't. It wasn't perfect or anything. There isn't a book out there that is perfect. But it is damn good. I think the worst thing I can say it about right now with my TFiOS fogged mind is that it made me feel things. I'm a pretty sensitive person, and I cry at books and films a lot, but I really hate doing it. I hate having feelings. Always have, yet I can't help having them. *glares at stupid tear ducts and hormones* But this is one of those books that I like, properly sobbed at. That's only happened 3 times. (Delirium, If I Stay, TFiOS, in case you were wondering.) So kudos, John Green. You did, indeed, succeed in making me feel ALL the things.


So. Yeah. The Fault in Our Stars. It's pretty good.

Saturday 14 January 2012

In My Mailbox (63)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren :)



Bought:
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. (I think this is going to be in everyone's mailbox this week! SO EXCITED! But I took off the signed copy sticker and now there's sticker gunk on the cover and it's sad making... Jeez, I am stupidly OCD about books.)
Smoulder by Brenna Yovanoff ( I much prefer the US cover/title, but I am excited to read it!)

Review:
Hollow Pike by James Dawson!! (I LOVE YOU ORION/INDIGO)
Kiss Date Love Hate by Luisa Plaja (This book looks immensely cute. Thank you Random House!) 

What did you get in your mailbox? :)

Thursday 12 January 2012

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight review

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
Jennifer E Smith
January 2nd 2012
Headline


Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's in seat 18C. Hadley's in 18A. 

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.



Just as a little note, I will not be referring to the book by it's full title for the whole review. Because it's really long. If you hadn't noticed that.


This book made me want to melt into a puddle of adorableness. I think that's about the best way I can sum up my feelings for this book. I loved it because it made me feel warm inside, and gave me happy fuzzy feelings by the end of it. I may have possibly hugged it. I probably did... That seems like something I would do.


A lot of people have compared this book to Anna, and while it's true that if you didn't like Anna (who are you and WHY DO YOU NOT LOVE IT?!) then you will probably not like this, but I don't think they have that much in common. They're just both lovely YA books. And this book managed to achieve so much in its 200 or so pages. It's the perfect length, quick and fun to read with enough depth to keep you emotionally involved with the story, and I must've read it one sitting. Couldn't put it down! I was too busy shouting at Hadley and Oliver to get the hell together already!


On the note of Oliver, I LOVE HIM. Honestly, why are British boys in books always so lovely! They're not in real life, as far as I can tell. Why are they so charming and cheeky and wonderful! WHY? Not that he was perfect or anything, because I loathe 'perfect' boys in YA. He had problems too, and he wasn't nice all the time, and he had feelings and stress and things happening in his life. But he was smart and funny and he read Dickens and just leave me here to swoon and things.


And Hadley. I liked seeing her go through what she was going through, and I could get all of her stress and stuff, and I loved the conversations between her and Oliver and how they just got on so well, and while like, a lot of this book isn't really properly possible, it does give you hope that public transport can provide a person with whom you could spend a lot of your life with. That was unnecessarily wordy. But you get my point right?


So this review is a bit of a shambles, but that's how coherent my thoughts about this book are. It's just wonderfully... wonderful. And I hight suggest it if you're feeling sad about things. Happy making books are good books :D I'm going to go away now.

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Waiting on Wednesday #65

Endlessly
Kiersten White
July 24th 2012


The third book in the Paranormalcy trilogy. 

The final chapter of Evie's adventures. Old friends, new ones, all wrapped up in impossible decisions. And some ball gowns. Because what's a life of normal and paranormal drama without a ball gown or two?


So this book doesn't even have, like, a proper blurb or anything, but you know my love for this series! I can't wait to see how it ends! And then be really sad because it's over...


Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine :)

Saturday 7 January 2012

In My Mailbox (62)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren



This is the last 3 weeks of books.
Gifts:
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (if you don't follow me on Twitter, I'm a massive fan of Sherlock, and my mum thought it was high time I read the books, so... I also have Jeremy Brett's version waiting for me to watch!)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (again, I've been wanting to read this for ages, and my mum never buys me YA for xmas/birthdays, so she bought me some classics I wanted instead)
The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie (I've been pretty big on mysteries lately.)

Bought:
Torn by Cat Clarke (AWESOME.)
Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick (Love me some post-apocalyptic zombies)
A Gathering Light/A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead! (Finally! Dimitri!)
Gone by Micheal Grant (I've been meaning to start this series for ages)
Knife by R. J. Anderson (the one that looks like it doesn't have a cover. But it does, it's just really shiny. But it's also really pretty, so!)
Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O'Malley (One of the graphic
 novel series I've been meaning to read since I saw the film 2 years ago...)

What did you get in your mailbox? :)

Friday 6 January 2012

Torn review

Torn
Cat Clarke
December 22nd 2011
Quercus


Four girls. One dead body. A whole lot of guilt. 
Alice King isn’t expecting the holiday of a lifetime when she sets off with her classmates on a trip to the Scottish wilderness, but she’s not exactly prepared for an experience beyond her darkest nightmares… 
Alice and her best friend Cass are stuck in a cabin with Polly, the social outcast, and Rae, the moody emo-girl. Then there’s Tara – queen of mean. Powerful, beautiful and cruel, she likes nothing better than putting people down. 
Cass decides it’s time to teach Tara a lesson she’ll never forget. And so begins a series of events that will change the lives of these girls forever... 
A compelling story of guilty secrets, troubled friendship and burgeoning love.



When I turned the last page of Torn, I was honestly a little bit taken aback at how much I'd enjoyed it. Well, I'm not sure if enjoyed is the right word... I mean, of course I enjoyed it! But I guess it was a little bit like Stolen or something. It was a little bit evil in the way that all the things you didn't want to happen happened, and even though you knew it was the right thing to do, it kind of hurt to read it. I wanted to shout at Alice a lot in this book for doing the RIGHT thing. That's pretty bad, right?


It was kind of unnerving as well, because while the other girls were very strong personalities, Alice was just incredibly normal. It's kind of scary to think that this could happen so easily, just getting caught up with the peer pressure to do something bad, and the way it all happened was so feasible... There were times, though, when I thought it got a little far fetched, but it brought completely back with the grief and the guilt. Honestly, I wasn't expecting it. I thought the book was just going to be about the 'prank' and nothing more than that, but it ended up being a really strong contemporary about guilt and popularity, and what some people will do just to get to the top.


I loved that there was so many layers to it, and seeing how each of the different characters reacted to what they'd done. And learning the truth about what had actually happened that night. There were some bits that genuinely chilled me, just because of how cold and cunning some of the characters had been... (no spoilers here!) 


I also loved the whole romance element. It was really well done, considering the implications of it, and the conditions under which it was formed. I think that Cat pulled it off really well, and it was just so intense, especially by the end. There was just so much emotion and honesty in it. And just the end of the book in general. I'm only going to say really generic things about it because I want you to feel all that emotion completely untainted, but it was cruel. Like, you might not think that when you start it, but when you've been through that whole journey, it was just completely wicked. But in that kind of WOW way. And it just made me like the book even more.


I honestly cannot recommend this book enough to people who like this kind of contemporary. I can tell you that it's called Torn for a reason - because of the books content, yes, but also because of how much it will tear you up as a reader. It isn't sad or anything, and it (probably) won't make you cry, but it will make you feel, and that's the most important thing.


I really want to write a longer review for this book, I need to talk about it! But I can't do that without spoiling it all for you, so you have to read it! So that we can talk about it on Twitter and GR and stuff! Honestly, it's brilliant. 

Thursday 5 January 2012

Cinder review

Cinder
Marissa Meyer
January 5th 2012
Puffin Books


Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future. 

In this thrilling debut young adult novel, the first of a quartet, Marissa Meyer introduces readers to an unforgettable heroine and a masterfully crafted new world that’s enthralling.



Cinder was a book that kind of took me by surprise. When I first started reading it I didn't really get into it that much, and I must admit I felt it had a kind of slow start, but after a while I found that I really didn't want to put it down, and I read the last part of the book in one sitting. It's kind of a grower, but it's a book worth your patience.


Cinder herself was actually a really great character. Despite her pretty horrible life, and her being a cyborg and getting treated like a lesser life form (which I didn't really get because Cyborgs are awesome. Maybe that's just me though... I watched a LOT of Teen Titans when I was younger and all) she wasn't a mopey, pathetic heroine at all. She was feisty and kind of made the best out of her situation, even when things got really, really bad. Like, if that was me I would've been a complete wreck and moaning about how unfair the world was and all that. But she takes it and she fights back and I admire her for that. Also, she wasn't a swooning, quivering wreck at the sight of Kai, and not only was he handsome, he was a prince! Yay!


Kai was also really great. He, too, had a lot of pressure on him, because he's royalty and he's about to become the leader of a country, and there's some crazy space woman who wants to marry him (for malicious purposes of course.) Which, if you ask me, is a lot of crap for a 18 year old to have to take. But he was nice, and he dealt really well with all of the stuff that was going on with his life. Though I'm a little bit concerned about his reaction to Cinder at the end... 


I really liked the world that Marissa created, though I did find some of it to be a bit far fetched... And I still don't get the cyborg hate. Do people usually hate cyborgs in things? Why does everybody hate cyborgs?! They never did anything wrong apart from being kind of nearly not completely human. But still, why do people find that so hard to over look? Sorry. The cyborg rant ends NOW.


I kind of found the plot a little bit predictable, and I could tell a lot of the revelations before they happened, but I still enjoyed it regardless. One little niggle I have (which isn't actually with the book) is that I really, really wanted this to be a series of interconnected standalones, like Wicked Lovely or something. I kind of wanted a closed off ending, even though it would've been really rushed, but we'll just have to wait and see about what happens when the next book comes out! Though I can't really see how she can drag Cinder's story out through 4 books...


Cinder is a little hard to get into, but totally worth it if your into futuristic (but not really dystopian) books. A great read! 

Wednesday 4 January 2012

Waiting on Wednesday #64

Scarlet
A. C Gaughen
February 14th 2012


Many readers know the tale of Robin Hood, but they will be swept away by this new version full of action, secrets, and romance. 

Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. Helping the people of Nottingham outwit the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham could cost Scarlet her life as Gisbourne closes in. It’s only her fierce loyalty to Robin—whose quick smiles and sharp temper have the rare power to unsettle her—that keeps Scarlet going and makes this fight worth dying for.


I wasn't all that excited for this until a little while ago, when I realised it was a retelling of Robin Hood. Then I was all psyched about it. Also, I've been seeing it on people's lists for 2012 a lot lately and I ave to say I agree. It does look like it's going to be awesome! I love the cover :)


What book are you waiting on the Wednesday?


Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I'm Most Excited For In 2012

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish where bloggers make lists about books and other suitably bookish things. This week we're doing books that we're most excited for in 2012.

1. Incarnate by Jodi Meadows. Have you seen that cover? It is simply stunning. And I love the premise for it too. 

2.  Hollow Pike by James Dawson. Yay UK authors!  This sounds like it's going to be an amazing book, and the few people who already have ARCs say that it's brilliant so that's going to be one to watch out for ;)

3.  Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare. I want this book to make me cry big fat massive ugly tears, and to have the most tragic ending possible, but I know that probably won't happen. But just so you know, I'm team I-hope-they-all-end-up-alone. 

4. Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins. You understand my love of these books. Do I really need to say it again? ;)

5.  A Million Suns by Beth Revis. I adored AtU and though I can't quite remember what happened at the end, I still can't wait for AMS!

6. Insurgent by Veronica Roth. Again, does this really require an explanation?

7.  The Last Echo by Kimberly Derting. Undoubtedly one of my favourite series. I can't wait for the newest addition to come out! Jay and Violet are the loveliest couple.

8. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. That is the level of my excitement. And it comes out in 7 FREAKING DAYS. SOMEBODY HAPPY DANCE WITH ME!

9. FrostFire by Zoe Marriot. I think this is coming out this year... I loved Zoe's book, Shadows on the Moon and I can't wait to read her other stuff to wait me out until this comes out!

10. Endlessly by Kiersten White. I kind of don't want this series to end, but I really can't wait to see how it's all going to conclude. I love Evie and Lend and will be really sad to see them go, though!


Sunday 1 January 2012

Reading Resolutions For 2012

Happy New Year everyone! It's 2012 and I'm pretty darn exciting. I mean, have you seen all the books coming out this year?! Yeah. EXCITING STUFF. But I'm just going to dull down the excitement a little but while I bore you with my reading resolutions for 2012!



  1. Read 100 books, at least. Hopefully, like, 105, so that I've read at least 1 more than last year ;)
  2. Read Harry Potter! I think it's about time I finally read the HP books, eh? Though I'm a bit worried with last one... If the film made me cry as much as it did, the books will KILL me.
  3. Watch The Lord of The Rings trilogy and read The Hobbit. One does not simply walk into Mordor. I need to PREPARE. And amp up my nerditude.
  4. Read more graphic novels. Partially so I can make it look like I've read more books, but more because I really want to read Scott Pilgrim, Sandman and The Walking Dead.
  5. Read at least 1 classic/adult/something a bit different book a month. I'm not expecting to stick to this one too much, but I do want to read more classics and broaden my reading horizons a bit. I know I have my blog responsibilities but I'm only 15! I want to read books completely inappropriate for me, and explore books a little bit more. Find out what I like and don't like.
Urm, I think that's it for now! What are your reading resolutions for 2012? :)
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