Find Me...
Ratings
Wednesday, 11 May 2016
Bout of Books Read-a-thon #16
The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 9th and runs through Sunday, May 15th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 16 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team
So I'm a bit late to the party but better late than never they say. I love read-a-thons as it pushes me a bit further to read a little bit more and I love the interactions with fellow book lovers in such events. I do live in a different time zone so sometimes the chats are hard to organise but I do try. I'll stop rambling, but this is just to say I'M IN!!! Will update my post with progresses etc tomorrow.
Goals
Wrap-up Update
I was able to complete all my goals, I even outdone myself by averaging to 178 pages per day which is alot better than my 100 pages per day original goal, I may up it to 200 pages per day next time.
I did visit and comment on 50+ updates but I wish I had done it over more days rather than just the 2 days I did it. One of those days I did the 50 and then another day I did about 10-20 more but I love socialising and encouraging participants through readathons, it's fun to meet new people, especially those that love the same type of books.
Hope to see everyone in the next one and thanks Amanda and Kelly for all the great effort and time you both take to organise.
Daily Updates
Monday 9th May
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff = 312 pagesTotal Books Finished = 0
Total Pages Read = 312 pages
Challenge - Describe yourself #insixwords #boutofbooks
"First-time Mum, Book, Makeup, Stationer-lover"
Tuesday 10th May
Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman = 75 pagesTotal Books Finished = 0
Total Pages Read = 387 pages
Challenge - Bookshelf Pic
This is my main bookshelf, it's got two levels not visible in this photo as it's very messy at the moment, I mean look at those shocking haphazard stacked books! 85% of my books are certainly on this shelf excluding my ebook reader.
Wednesday 11th May
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff = 287 pagesTotal Books Finished = 1
Total Pages Read = 674 pages
Challenge - Top 5 Books Written by Australian YA Authors
- Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
- Obernewtyn Series by Isobelle Carmody
- Between the Lives by Jessica Shirvington
- Pretties Series by Scott Westerfeld
- Illuminae by Amie Kaufman
*In no particular order
And OMG what a fool I am! I've been reading The Starbound Trilogy AND Illuminae and just realised that Amie Kaufman is based in Melbourne, Australia!!! Well you learn something everyday and this challenge certainly taught me something new :)
Thursday 12th May
Truthwitch by Susan Dennard = 120 pagesTotal Books Finished = 1
Total Pages Read = 794 pages
Today was a terrible read-a-thon day for me as I had Step-Mum duties; had to pick up my Step-Son who lives 1.5 hours (there and back) from home, followed by lunch, had to take Father in Law to Doctors, then everyone to the movies and then the Dentist for Step-Son.
In between all that I had to make an hour trip (there and back) to pickup a girlfriend from her post-op and drop her off at another girlfriend's home where she'll be recovering for the week. THEN, it was dinnertime and had to drop Step-Son home, take dinner to my two girlfriends (the nurse and the patient).
By the time I got home it was 9pm, I left the house around 9am so I had been out for nearly a whole 12 hours. I really should've listened to my audiobook as I certainly would have gotten some hours in there from all the driving LOL. By the time I got home I had a raging migraine, so I napped for an hour, then got up and FINALLY got to read!
Friday 13th May
Truthwitch by Susan Dennard = 251 pagesTotal Books Finished = 2
Total Pages Read = 1, 045pages
Saturday 14th May
A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray =18 pages
Passenger by Alexandra Bracken = 82 pages
Total Books Finished = 2
Total Pages Read = 1, 145 pages
Actually made it to a Twitter chat, I love the social aspect of readathons! I also visited 50 blogs today, which is always a goal for my #boutofbooks readathon to visit blogs and comment.
I would love to get another 355 pages in before the end but I highly doubt it as I'm very busy tomorrow.
Sunday 15th May
Passenger by Alexandra Bracken = 80 pages
Their fractured light by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff = 20 pages
Total books finished this week = 2
Total pages read = 1,245 pages
Was extremely busy today with one of my Step-kids birthday so I had 5 children which included 3 of my step children, their step brother and one friend. So I was very busy all day with All you can eat lunch and roller skating. Was extremely surprised I even got to read as much as I did by the time I got home I was exhausted.
Was extremely busy today with one of my Step-kids birthday so I had 5 children which included 3 of my step children, their step brother and one friend. So I was very busy all day with All you can eat lunch and roller skating. Was extremely surprised I even got to read as much as I did by the time I got home I was exhausted.
Monday, 29 February 2016
The Selection by Kiera Cass ~ Review
The Selection
by Kiera Cass
Website | Goodreads | TwitterSeries: The Selection #1
Released: April 24, 2012
Format: Audiobook
Publisher: Harper Audio
Narrator: Amy Rubinate
Genre: Young Adult Dystopia
For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.
But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.
Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself—and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.
~ Review ~
The Selection initially caught my attention soon after it's release because of it's beautiful cover, I just love covers with beautiful dresses! However, with so many newly released books constantly flooding the blogosphere I haven't gotten the chance to read this until now. I borrowed the audiobook from my library and I am so glad as I just loved this book!
America Singer lives in a somewhat dystopian world where the society is based on a caste-system. The lowest being 8s mostly destitute and homeless, and 1s being royalties, the Singers are 5s, they are Musicians, Artists and Performers, and despite not being in the lowest castes they still found great difficulty in making ends meet. So when The Selection was announced, a lottery of 35 women chosen to compete for the Prince's heart, America's Mother was more than ecstatic to finally show to the world how important her America is, however, America doesn't feel the same enthusiasm. After much debate, tears, and fights America decides to enter the lottery, fairly certain that she would never get picked...if she only knew.
The story is great, and unlike many dystopian novels I enjoyed the fact that Cass provides the readers with an explanation as to how the world came to be the way it is and why there is a "selection" process. Kiera really put a lot of thought into the history and background of her story, this I truly appreciate.
The characters are fantastic and I truly felt like I was within the pages of its story, watching people I actually know. They were built and created very well that I could see them in person as if they were acting the scenes in front of me, this is how Kiera Cass made me feel with The Selection.
The writing was well done, Kiera introduces snippets of little information in which you can grasp and later through the book be like "ah...that's when it started happening" or "oh...that's why this happened" and I truly love that because you can see that the writer didn't simply write away, you can tell the writer really constructed the story and did it well.
I enjoyed this novel so much that I swiftly picked up The Elite straight after and currently reading The One. I cannot wait to continue the entire series, so please stay tuned for the rest of the series reviews.
Saturday, 27 February 2016
Stacking the Shelves #21
Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. It's main purpose is to showcase the books you've obtained (borrowed, won/gifted, given for review or purchased) for the week gone by. To participate, link to your own STS post here.
Book Hauls!
This is my little book haul from a city St Vincent's de Paul Shop, and whilst these books are simply amazing and I'm yet to see it anywhere else they were oh so expensive compared to the normal prices of shops like these at my area...but oh well, it's going to charity.
I'm really excited to read The Penguin Book of Etiquette by Marion von Adlerstein as I really loved The Passionate Shopper (pic below), so I'm hoping that this Author does it again for me. Do you have any recommendations on books with a similar theme to these? Please comment below if you do.
That's all for me for now, see you next time.
Have a Great weekend!
Wednesday, 24 February 2016
Burning Midnight by Will McIntosh
Burning Midnight
by Will McIntosh
Website | Goodreads | Facebook | TwitterReleased: February 11, 2016
Publisher: Pan MacMillan
Genre: YA Adventure
Source: Publisher
Buy It Now
How much would you pay for superpowers? Fast-paced action adventure with a world-changing twist...
For fans of The Maze Runner and The 5th Wave, this debut YA novel from Hugo Award-winner Will McIntosh pits four teens against an evil billionaire in the race of a lifetime.
Sully is a sphere dealer at a flea market. It doesn't pay much - Alex Holliday's stores have muscled out most of the independent sellers - but it helps him and his mum make the rent. No one knows where the brilliant-coloured spheres came from. One day they were just there, hidden all over the earth like huge gemstones. Burn a pair and they make you a little better: an inch taller, skilled at maths, better-looking. The rarer the sphere, the greater the improvement - and the more expensive the sphere.
When Sully meets Hunter, a girl with a natural talent for finding spheres, the two start searching together. What they find will change more than just their lives... Because the entire world fights over spheres, but no one knows why they're here or what their powers are... until now.
~ Review ~
Burning Midnight by Will McIntosh is a fast-paced and exciting journey which will take its readers from the seat of their homes to hunting super-power-giving-spheres, along the way dodging very dangerous people and all the while forging unbreakable bonds.
From the premise of the synopsis I did not think I would enjoy this novel as much as I did. Upon receiving this book I had not heard of this novel nor of its Author so I wasn't sure what to expect, sure the premise sounded interesting but I certainly did not think I would enjoy it as much as I did. From its first few pages, it had me hooked, asking questions and turning pages just to find out the answers to these questions.
The world in which Burning Midnight is set at isn't much different to our world, the main difference being this world has spheres, when two of the same coloured spheres are "burnt" (touching both to either side of your temples) it gives that person some kind of power whether it be forgetting a memory, being better looking, smarter, faster etc. Like all things with a value, humans soon finds a way to exploit it financially.
David Sullivan is a sphere trader at the local markets, trying to help his single-Mother out financially, Hunter Valdez is a sphere hunter, when the two meet paths their adventure begins.
I absolutely enjoyed the fast paced adventure ride that McIntosh takes his readers on. Everything about it was fantastic, the story line was original and inventive, the pacing was fast and adventurous but not rushed, the characters were multi-dimensional and their relationships and friendships were relatable and realistic. Even the Villain you can come to understand, I certainly didn't sympathise with his greed but you understand him as a person.
The story is truly fantastic and it is certainly worth the read. Being a standalone novel, the Author tied the end up nicely which is where I find a lot of adventure books lacking. I would still love to read more about this world and the characters, but alas it was still a satisfying ending and I found myself feeling wowed once I turned the last page. I highly recommend this book to those that enjoy adventure stories and I cannot wait to read other Will McIntosh novels.
From the premise of the synopsis I did not think I would enjoy this novel as much as I did. Upon receiving this book I had not heard of this novel nor of its Author so I wasn't sure what to expect, sure the premise sounded interesting but I certainly did not think I would enjoy it as much as I did. From its first few pages, it had me hooked, asking questions and turning pages just to find out the answers to these questions.
The world in which Burning Midnight is set at isn't much different to our world, the main difference being this world has spheres, when two of the same coloured spheres are "burnt" (touching both to either side of your temples) it gives that person some kind of power whether it be forgetting a memory, being better looking, smarter, faster etc. Like all things with a value, humans soon finds a way to exploit it financially.
David Sullivan is a sphere trader at the local markets, trying to help his single-Mother out financially, Hunter Valdez is a sphere hunter, when the two meet paths their adventure begins.
I absolutely enjoyed the fast paced adventure ride that McIntosh takes his readers on. Everything about it was fantastic, the story line was original and inventive, the pacing was fast and adventurous but not rushed, the characters were multi-dimensional and their relationships and friendships were relatable and realistic. Even the Villain you can come to understand, I certainly didn't sympathise with his greed but you understand him as a person.
The story is truly fantastic and it is certainly worth the read. Being a standalone novel, the Author tied the end up nicely which is where I find a lot of adventure books lacking. I would still love to read more about this world and the characters, but alas it was still a satisfying ending and I found myself feeling wowed once I turned the last page. I highly recommend this book to those that enjoy adventure stories and I cannot wait to read other Will McIntosh novels.
This post is sponsored by
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Follow Me
