tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25569367575614300572024-03-14T10:50:06.809-06:00Bookster Reviews'There is no friend as loyal as a book' - Ernest HemmingwayClionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.comBlogger205125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-19447569191347006652013-06-26T04:25:00.002-06:002013-06-26T04:25:56.699-06:00Goodbye...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I don't quite know to say this. Blogging had been a huge part of my life for over two and a half years, and I loved it. Having a blog was a fantastic experience for me - I found books I would never would have tried otherwise, discovered some of my favourite books, and best of all, I discovered the fantastic YA blogging community, and made loads of wonderful, book-loving friends.<br />
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However, you've probably noticed that for a good while I haven't been committed to the blog. I scarcely post reviews or anything else really, any more. And to be honest, I'm sad to say the reason why is that I don't enjoy writing reviews anymore. I've felt like this about the blog for a while, but I've tried to keep going, but there's no point in me continuing on with something I don't enjoy any longer. I've taken breaks, and they haven't made a difference, so I think it's time for me to call it a day :(<br />
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I am honestly really sad to be doing this - as I said, blogging has been such a big part of my life for so long, that it's strange to think I won't be doing it anymore! But I think it is for the best.<br />
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Thanks so much to all of the bloggers, authors, publishers that I've been in contact with over the years. Everyone was so kind - the book blogging community is definitely one of the nicest communities that I've come across, on or off the internet! I will miss chatting with you all! But, I will still be reading and commenting on some of my favourite blogs as much as I can - I'm not going to be totally gone!<br />
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Thanks to all of the publishers who sent me books, and I'm so sorry I haven't had the the chance to review them - each one was much appreciated!<br />
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I won't be deleting Bookster Reviews, as I've put a lot of work into it over the last two and a half years. I'll be leaving it up on the internet, and who knows, maybe some day I'll come back to it! But for now, - thank you and goodbye.Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-9871558995592030812013-06-03T10:01:00.000-06:002013-06-03T10:01:46.735-06:00Drummer Girl giveaway winner!Sorry for the late post - exams and all that! Anyway, I'm delighted to reveal the winner of the Drummer Girl make-up set and book is.....<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Robyn Logan!!!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Congrats Robyn, I've e-mailed you. A new winner will be picked if I do not get a reply by Tuesday, so make sure you do e-mail me back ASAP! :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thanks to everyone who entered and Templar for donating the prize!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-53794322550437078372013-06-02T06:32:00.000-06:002013-06-02T06:35:44.302-06:00REVIEW: Drummer Girl by Bridget Tyler<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhM_X5UG8Di3ViRO_PeBZJgiTwnse6VrlaRhrstgOmqqlluB6MFV1wPftV3pFhBVsInp11FuTzh4LTZiPJLxk9TILmuVMxiw69w3JTSHwZPKHu4j83kZeXXRl7f5Shqqa53nfJNwAN9bvs/s1600/drummer_girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhM_X5UG8Di3ViRO_PeBZJgiTwnse6VrlaRhrstgOmqqlluB6MFV1wPftV3pFhBVsInp11FuTzh4LTZiPJLxk9TILmuVMxiw69w3JTSHwZPKHu4j83kZeXXRl7f5Shqqa53nfJNwAN9bvs/s320/drummer_girl.jpg" width="207" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">It was supposed to be the summer of her life. Instead, 17-year-old Lucy finds her best friend Harper shot dead in an LA swimming pool. How did it come to this? Lucy Gosling is the drummer in Crush, a rock band formed by five London schoolgirls that has just won the UK semi-final of an international talent contest. But when the band lands in Hollywood for the big final, things are not quite as they seem. The band's lead singer, Harper, has just one thing on her mind - using sex, drugs and rock and roll, not to mention Crush itself, to win back her bad-news ex-boyfriend. Lucy must decide whether she's playing to Harper's tune, or setting the rhythm for the rest of the band</span> </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I really, really loved Drummer Girl! It's a really fantastic book. I loved the way it was told, from the perspective of all of the main characters, and some of the minor ones. I thought it was a great way to get an insight into lives of other characters, not just Lucy, and it definitely made the story move fast-paced and exciting! I haven't read many books that tell a story from multiple points of view, but after reading Drummer Girl, I'm definitely going to be looking for more! Recommendations, anyone?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I think my favourite element of Drummer Girl was the setting. It was so much fun to read about the girls lives in the music scene in LA! It was something different, and really interesting! It was so glamorous and exciting, but I liked the way we were also shown the dark side of the music business, and how the different girls dealt with the pressures. It made the whole idea of the girls being celebrities seem more real - we saw it wasn't just all fun parties and adoring fans, there was a negative side to the girls new lives, and this made it feel more personal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There was a large cast of characters in Drummer Girl, too many to go through fully, so I'll just talk about a few of my favourites</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">. I liked all of the five main girls, Lucy, Toni, Harper, Iza and Robyn, but Toni and Robyn were the most interesting - I enjoyed their stories the most and they were my two favourites. Harper was a great character too, and Lucy and Iza were nice, if a little boring... Skye really grew on me as a character, and Alexander was another fantastic supporting character.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The only thing I didn't like about Drummer Girl was the ending. I thought it was too rushed, and Lucy's ending was all a bit to perfect and convenient. And, also, nobody seemed very upset about the big thing that happened in the end, which really annoyed me. If the ending had been wrapped up better, I think this would have been a brilliant standalone, but I have a feeling there might be a sequel - I have mixed feelings about a sequel! I probably would read it though - I couldn't resist.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I loved Drummer Girl, definitely get your hands on a copy ASAP if you haven't already! It's is a brilliant book, the perfect summer read.</span><br />
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4.5/5<br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Source: For review<br />Format: Proof copy</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Age group: 13+</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Official Publication Date: 1st May 2013</span><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Publisher: Templar</span></span></div>
Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-48824373871382279682013-05-07T13:31:00.000-06:002013-05-07T13:31:46.324-06:00BLOG TOUR: Drummer Girl - Q&A with author Bridget Tyler and GIVEAWAY!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOqyLSR9_eb1LYfUa957rmEKkr1kOuBUMVQESB88rfaBFzK_OoIZwDYI19hvvVy6luAH5txD6ZTUUtn3fgOgzZLU1Mv4TDDMuco9GxSZnuJOfkCAd-Ej3w0nqgdFz2HW2XT-nyhdeENxuj/s1600/Blog+Tour+Image_revised+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOqyLSR9_eb1LYfUa957rmEKkr1kOuBUMVQESB88rfaBFzK_OoIZwDYI19hvvVy6luAH5txD6ZTUUtn3fgOgzZLU1Mv4TDDMuco9GxSZnuJOfkCAd-Ej3w0nqgdFz2HW2XT-nyhdeENxuj/s640/Blog+Tour+Image_revised+(1).jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2556936757561430057" name="_GoBack"></a><span lang="EN-GB">Today, I'm kicking off the blog tour for the the fab debut novel, Drummer Girl, by the fantastic new YA author, Bridget Tyler. I have a Q&A with Bridget about Drummer Girl and about being an author, and I also have a very special giveaway! Check the bottom of this post for details! Here are Bridget's fab answers. Enjoy!</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"> Hi Bridget! It's great to have you here on Bookster Reviews! For those who haven't read Drummer Girl, your debut novel, could you give us a description?</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Drummer Girl is the story of Lucy Gosling, a teenage drummer, and the band her BFF (and sometimes frenemy) Harper McKenzie put together to compete in Project Next – a reality competition show that offers them the chance to be rock stars. Lucy and Harper’s band, Crush, is very successful and takes them to LA for a summer of rock and roll, fun, boys, triumph and tragedy… if the Crush girls are going to make it through, shy Lucy is going to have to learn to believe in her own natural ability to lead her friends through the tumultuous waters of the music business. If Lucy can learn to believe in herself, then she may just find that she’s far more extraordinary than she ever dreamed!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">Where did you get the idea for Drummer Girl? </span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbZ0kYRy9n8-TSyuqoLHo2jGC3jHepgDkXh6XW0-QBDHSKHRErrMqub7d9wF6FU3LX_yRjwJBk-LZoXWf2FlWeJcolXLMjBp5FDiAuU3ZQWT3n_ban9Bj4-W40gQhI3vUHHF-npiA7VtRY/s1600/drummer_girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbZ0kYRy9n8-TSyuqoLHo2jGC3jHepgDkXh6XW0-QBDHSKHRErrMqub7d9wF6FU3LX_yRjwJBk-LZoXWf2FlWeJcolXLMjBp5FDiAuU3ZQWT3n_ban9Bj4-W40gQhI3vUHHF-npiA7VtRY/s320/drummer_girl.jpg" width="207" /></a><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I love telling stories about people finding out what makes them special and navigating the challenges that come with harnessing their abilities, their super powers if you will. Often, my stories involve a young woman discovering exactly that – a magical power or psychic ability that makes them more than the ordinary human being they thought they were. When I sat down to write Drummer Girl I wanted to see if I could tell the same sort of story, but in a real world scenario. You see, discovering that she’s actually got what it takes to be a rock star actually turns out to be a very similar experience for Lucy to discovering that she is actually a fairy princess or secretly a space alien with super powers. She discovers her abilities… then she discovers exactly how frightening and difficult it can be to harness those abilities. But, if she wants to reach her full potential (and save her friends) she’ll have to believe in herself enough to use her powers. The fact that Lucy was a real girl, living in a real world full of real problems that confront teenage girls like her every day made her all the easier to fall in love with! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I love the way that in the book, as well as having Lucy as the main character, we see what's going on from the point of view of lots of different characters. What made you decide to write the book like this?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">I considered staying in Lucy’s point of view for the whole novel, but it became clear very early that this was a story that needed to be told from several points of view. These girls have very different experiences of their summer in LA and the story just wouldn’t have been complete without seeing it from several different points of view. I actually didn’t plan on telling some of the story threads that ended up being the most fun to write. Skye, for example, wasn’t a point of view character until very late in the game… but her story is just too romantic and wonderful to miss! </span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bridget Tyler</td></tr>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Do you base any of your characters on yourself or other people that you know?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">My characters often start from people I’ve met – friends, family, acquaintances and co-workers… interesting people in the check-out line ahead of me at the grocery store. Real people are so much more complicated and contradictory than anything I could make up, which makes them a natural place to start when I’m building a fictional character. When I was writing the physical descriptions of Trent, for example, I drew on my own boyfriend (when you’re creating a dreamy guy, might as well start with the dreamiest one you know, right?). But Trent is nothing like my boyfriend, who is a scientist, not a rock star. They might enjoy talking about surfing together, if they ever met in person, but that’s about all they have in common. That’s how it goes with all of my characters – they might start out being based on a real person but they take on a life of their own pretty quickly. If they don’t, that usually means they don’t belong in the story. Skye is a great example of a character that really took turns I didn’t expect her to take. She started out as a fairly minor villain and became one of my very favourite characters in the book. </span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What are your favourite and least favourite aspects of being a writer? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Oooooh good question! My favourite part of being a writer is the moment when the characters take that leap from a collection of facts that I’m making up to suddenly being three-dimensional people who have stories that I can tell. It sounds weird, I know, but building a character feels a lot more like getting to know a friend than it does like inventing something. There’s a wonderful moment with every character when they suddenly become more than the sum of their parts, and that’s the very best part of writing for me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">My least favourite part of being a writer is proof reading! It’s so important, but I’m pretty terrible at it so it’s a bit like pulling teeth. I usually sit down with a lot of coffee and read the whole book or script out loud to myself. It really helps to find the typos and punctuation issues and it also helps me make sure that the dialogue feels real and the sentences flow smoothly.</span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">What is a typical writing day like for you?</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That depends on whether I’m working on a television show or not. Most writers have a particular time of day that they work best, and for me that’s early morning. When I’m working on a show, I get up, work out (when you sit in front of a computer all day the gym is a MUST) then I go to my office and work on my own projects for an hour or so before the writing staff gets going. When I’m off for hiatus, I get up early and write first thing. How long I work depends on what phase I’m in with a project. Sometimes, if I’m on a roll, I’ll write for ten hours straight. Sometimes, if I’m stuck, I’ll clean the whole house while I try to think through the problem I’m tangled up in. Most of the time, however, I work for four or five hours and then I go to the gym, get some lunch and do some research. Research reading, whether it’s for a current project or just on some topic I find interesting, is vital. You can’t have new ideas if you’re not learning new things all the time! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih8IsJM4KlCfEAHYhdq9LGKX0fERuFgzJajgoevt5Va_C9F_DCTd7sflNffb_18KAR_-0V8bUzSk_nb2aVd9Ryj9AIQrQKnm_0Ry6KGmJ02mdT90Hnm4az92RJc4P35laCaZMevfb2ZPe1/s1600/p+and+p.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih8IsJM4KlCfEAHYhdq9LGKX0fERuFgzJajgoevt5Va_C9F_DCTd7sflNffb_18KAR_-0V8bUzSk_nb2aVd9Ryj9AIQrQKnm_0Ry6KGmJ02mdT90Hnm4az92RJc4P35laCaZMevfb2ZPe1/s200/p+and+p.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">Do you have a playlist for Drummer Girl? Were there any songs/artists you listened to while writing it that helped you along the way?</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was always looking for upbeat, high-energy music while I was writing <i>Drummer Girl</i>. Kate Nash, Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Maroon 5, Mike Snow, Imagine Dragons… just to name a few. I also listen to a lot of movie soundtracks while I’m writing. The soundtrack to Joe Wrights’ <i>Pride and Prejudice </i>is a favourite, and anything by John Williams. Pixar soundtracks are also great to write to - so fun, but also dramatic and moody. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Are you working on any other books/series at the moment? What's next for you?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">I am on the writing staff of <i>Burn Notice</i> at the moment (it’s a USA Networks TV show about a down and out spy who solves mysteries, it’s really fun!) and I’m also in the process of casting my own pilot, which USA Networks is going to shoot this summer. It’s called <i>Horizon </i>and it’s about a young woman who discovers that aliens are visiting Earth during WWII. I love writing TV, but writing novels is one of my absolute favourite things to do, so I’m working on my next novel as well. It’s going to be set in a fantasy/science fiction world but just like <i>Drummer Girl </i>it’s the story of an ordinary girl who discovers how extraordinary she really is. </span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Thanks so much Bridget for those fantastic answers!</i></span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Now for the giveaway! The prize is...*drum roll*...a copy of Drummer Girl (ooh!) and this fantastic make up set (aah!)!</i></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiDE8XcUGyCzIFfVUmtf-e6te7ruD52yyXs_nJjgkR6JOxwW_rqelP4I553jR9QxG3xA1ZJcVA0SD6nW61i6jFSGwI7KDYJj2z1Knj-f7vzTK4xmFLFvN-g6WoUAsvOSEi6afQ-rvfFgnd/s1600/make_up+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiDE8XcUGyCzIFfVUmtf-e6te7ruD52yyXs_nJjgkR6JOxwW_rqelP4I553jR9QxG3xA1ZJcVA0SD6nW61i6jFSGwI7KDYJj2z1Knj-f7vzTK4xmFLFvN-g6WoUAsvOSEi6afQ-rvfFgnd/s320/make_up+photo.jpg" width="235" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doesn't this look great? I'm jealous of whoever wins! ;)</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Giveaway rules:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">-Open to UK residents only (sorry my international readers!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">-Prizes will be sent out by publisher.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">-Neither me or Templar are responsible for prizes lost in the post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">-You must be a follower of my blog to enter this giveaway </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The giveaway closes on the 21st May at 12:00am and winners be announced in the following couple of days.</span><br />
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<script src="//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script></div>
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<a class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/6740254/" id="rc-6740254" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a><br />
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<i>Drummer Girl was published by Templar UK on the 5th May. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Drummer-Girl-Bridget-Tyler/dp/1848776926">Amazon UK</a>, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16691515-drummer-girl">Goodreads</a>, or <a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/Drummer-Girl-Bridget-Tyler/9781848776920">The Book Depository</a>.</i><br />
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<i>Thanks to Templar for the prize!</i><br />
<script src="//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js"></script>Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-88273949401638156792013-04-15T14:29:00.000-06:002013-04-15T14:35:07.932-06:00REVIEW: Zom-B by Darren Shan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Can you love a bullying racist thug if he's your father? How do you react when confronted with your darkest inner demons? What do you do when zombies attack? B Smith is about to find out...</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now as you might know, I'm a HUGE fan of Darren Shan. Like, he and J.K. Rowling tie in my favourite author ever spot. Yes. He's THAT good. So I was freaking ECSTATIC when I heard about his new 12 book series late last year. I was a bit put off when I heard the topic was zombies (zombies bore me as bad guys :/), but since I was such a big fan I was still really excited. And although I liked Zom-B, I was honestly very disappointed. It wasn't <i>really</i> bad, but it's by far my least favourite Darren's books.</span><br />
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There were a few things I didn't like. Firstly, the characters. <strike>B was an incredibly terrible character.</strike> I didn't like B. He was mean, hypocritical, bullying, and racist. He was clearly not a nice person, and he actively bullies other people. I mean, what he did at the end was just awful! And then, he turns around and complains about what a bully his father is. What is that about?! He was a very inconsistent character. I know he was supposed to be flawed, as any good character is, but he was just really unpleasant, and I didn't connect with him at all. This was really a shame because I've loved and connected with the protagonists in all of Darren's other books from the very first page, and the good main characters are always a strong point in Darren's other books (for me anyway) So all in all B was a very unsatisfying main character. </span><br />
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The supporting characters were also quite weak. B's dad was horrible and I hated him, but he was a well-though out character at least, and was a <i>good</i> bad character, if you what I mean! B's mother was, I thought, a terrible person. She let her own child take beatings instead of her? No way, didn't like her at <i>all. </i>B had too many friends (all with mad nicknames) to keep track of, and they weren't really developed at all, so they can't be commented on.Vinyl was about the only one who had a personality. I liked him though, and I hope he's in future books! </span><br />
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I actually flew through Zom-B, it was short and easy to read, but not a huge amount happened, apart from towards the end. I think that's why I read it so fast! I still did enjoy reading it though (despite the characters), and I am keeping in mind that this is just an introduction to the series. I'm looking forward to future books, hopefully they will be more eventful! There was a few things left undealt with in Zom-B, like the hoodie people, and B's killer baby dreams, so I can't wait to see how they pan out!</span><br />
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Another thing I wasn't really mad on were the two twists at the end. Admittedly I didn't see them coming, but I didn't think they were good plot twists. The first, was honestly just totally irrelevant and random. I mean, why not just start off the book with that? I just didn't understand it. It was shocking, but it had no relevance to the plot, and the way people has been talking about the first big twist at the end, I had been really excited. I was just disappointed.</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I just found it a bit pointless</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> Not really satisfying for me I'm afraid! The second twist was surprising, but I wasn't in the slightest shocked or horrified, and it wasn't really a cliffhanger ending for me. I'm sure it's one that will be sorted easily enough, although I look forward to seeing how.</span><br />
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There was one thing I noticed that was quite similar to Shan's 'Saga of Darren Shan' (this isn't a complaint, merely an observation!). The strange, super tall, big eyed man was quite like Mr. Desmond Tiny. I was quite intrigued by him, I hope he turns out to be as interesting a character as Mr. Tiny!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I know this review makes it seem like I really didn't like Zom-B, but I did. It just had a few big faults, and it just wasn't as good as Shan's other books, but I still liked it, honestly, I did! ;) Don't expect to be blown away by the characters, and you would probably be better off starting off with perhaps a better Shan book (I recommend Cirque Du Freak or Lord Loss) but do give this a go if you get the chance - I can see the series does have potential, as long as B is sorted out - hopefully sooner rather than later!</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /> 3/5</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Source: Bought</span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Format: Trade Paperback</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pages: 240</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Age group: 12+</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Official Publication Date: 27th September 2012</span><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Publisher: Simon and Schuster</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">P.S. I've done up the blog a bit - let me know what you think in the comments or vote on the poll on the left :) Thanks!</span></span></div>
Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-44122734489181009982013-03-14T15:05:00.002-06:002013-03-14T15:06:34.646-06:00REVIEW: Diary of a Mall Girl by Luisa Plaja<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<em style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The mall is the heart of the fifteen-year-old Molly’s suburban town. Most teens hang around with friends there, get their first job there, and experience their first kiss there. And Molly? She actually lives there, in the complex’s residential wing, where she navigates the dramas of teenage life. But is living in a massive shopping centre as much fun as it sounds? Well, yes… and no. Find out the whole truth in Molly’s private diary!</span></em><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I LOVE Luisa Plaja's books, and I was so excited when I heard about Diary of a Mall Girl being published in novel form. I remember reading and voting on it back in 2011 on Fiction Express(wow, was it that long ago? Time flew.... :O) and I really liked it then, but (if possible) I loved it even more this time! I loved Molly, and Jewel, and Jamie and Liam and all the rest, but I especially loved Jasper! Jasper is my new favourite fictional boy. He was amazing, and I just loved him :) He was definitely my favourite character in the book! I loved him and Molly :) Molly was such a fantastic character, and her life was very fun to read about. There was always something going on in 'Diary of a Mall Girl', love triangles, main plots, sub-plots, main plots connecting with sub-plots... There was never a dull moment! I couldn't put it down, and I finished it in just a couple of days (which is impressive for me, because I've been really slow at reading lately!).</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I loved the fact that Molly lived in a mall. It was such a cool idea, and I was so envious - I kept thinking of all the things I could do if I lived in a mall. Keeping in mind, that I live in the middle of nowhere and the nearest shopping centre is half an hour away ;)</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I didn't like Molly's friends Ameera and Wendy. Ameera was incredibly annoying and had no mind of her own, and Wendy was really moody and irritating, getting cross at nothing, and that really put me off her. I suppose they did improve a bit, but I still wasn't really impressed. I really liked Jewel though, she was an interesting character. I wish we'd seen more of her though, she only popped up here or there, and I think she had a lot of character potential. Molly's brother Jamie and his friends Liam were lovely, I really liked both of them. Jamie was really funny, and Liam was so sweet!</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Since I had read Diary of a Mall Girl before on Fiction Express, I already knew all of the plot twists, but, honestly, that didn't take away from my enjoyment one bit! It was nice to read it again, and have it it novel form to read whenever. Diary of a Mall Girl is a brilliant book, just as wonderful as all of Luisa's other books. I loved it, and it's a definite must read for every teen girl!</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> Rating: 5/5</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;">Source: For review (A big thanks to the publisher for sending me this in exchange for an honest review!)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;">Format: Paperback</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pages: 272</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Age group: 11+</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Official Publication Date: 14th March 2013 - today!</span><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Publisher: Curious Fox</span></span></div>
Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-91417080702180814882013-03-05T14:54:00.003-07:002013-03-05T14:54:46.426-07:00REVIEW: The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an unexpected journey 'there and back again'. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent</i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>a large and very dangerous dragon...</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I read The Hobbit because I loved the movie, but I thought having seen the movie would take away from my enjoyment, but it didn't at all - I loved it! It's an absolutely fantastic book. Tolkien is an amazing author, and it is written brilliantly. With endearing characters, an exciting and eventful storyline, and flawless writing, The Hobbit is impossible to fault.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Hobbit is quite a long book, and it took me over three weeks to read! Admittedly it does contain a few lengthy descriptions of certain scenes which could be tiresome to read, but most of the time the descriptions are wonderful and they are one of my favourite elements of the book. Tolkien's writing is simple, yet so beautiful, which is one of the reasons why this book is so appealing to both adults an children!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The world Tolkien creates is amazing! I don't think the name of the world is mentioned in The Hobbit, but I know from hearing about Lord of the Rings that it's called Middle Earth. It is great though! Wizards, dwarves, elves, orcs, dragons and men that can turn into bears are just some of the creatures that feature in the book. Middle Earth is so fun to read about, and The Hobbit is the perfect book to escape from reality with!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There was a lot of characters, and most very likeable. I ,f course, very much liked Bilbo! He was a cute little hobbit, and I liked the way even though he wasn't very happy to be on this cold, wet adventure, he was still brave and clever and a great leader when the dwarves needed him. There was lots of dwarves, and my favourite was definitely Balin - there isn't much to be said about him, but he was lovely, and really kind to Bilbo even when the others weren't. Thorin was quite infuriating mostly , but he was alright sometimes! Gandalf was great - he was the character that always swoops in at the right time and saves the day, and I'll admit I have a soft spot for those characters, Gandalf being no exception!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I just wanted to note one thing - it's not a complaint, purely an observation, - I don't think there was a single female character in the whole book! Not even a minor one. Hmm.....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The illustrations by Alan Lee were beautiful, they were a great addition to the novel!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Hobbit is definitely worth a read and the movie is fantastic too - I don't usually say this about books and movies, but for The Hobbit, I think it's better to see the movie before you read the book. The movie is great (in my opinion) and it is quite different from the book, so if you read the book first, of course you will be critical of the movie (as anyone does when they see a book they love adapted into a film!) and it will take away from your enjoyment, but the two are quite different, so having seen the movie first won't take away from your enjoyment of the book. That's just what I think anyway! Whichever you choose to do, definitely try and both read the book and watch the film, because they're both great.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was disappointed to get to the end of The Hobbit because it really is unlike any other, and I knew I was going to miss reading it every evening! It has taken it's place among my list of favourite books, and I know it's one I'll be coming back to read again and again</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> Rating: 5/5</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Source: Gift</span></span><br />
<div style="background-color: #f8f9fd; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pages: 400 </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Age group: 8+</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Official Publication Date: 21st September 1937, this edition: 1st April 2008</span><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Publisher: Original Publisher, George Allen and Unwin, this edition: Harper Collins </span></span></div>
Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-60263695881059105042013-01-25T16:31:00.001-07:002013-01-25T16:31:23.603-07:00See you in a weekHey readers! This is a quick post to say I am going skiing in France for the week so I will not be able to post this week! I will miss you all, but I'll be back next weekend :) Au revoir! ;)Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-52230966436977762782013-01-24T10:58:00.001-07:002013-01-24T10:58:24.361-07:00REVIEW: Me, Suzy P by Karen Saunders<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH8szu1JBRxgk-5hV9yooulYUZ6800dmS9KYaGPUxDxjyPIaWcywaN1Wib9JWLHRGJDKpkF-e6MUB5nEW8sDGyKP2sx5rLRg6IlevJd8P5efwlg5D2QOgoZzEnI540zpkNJai1gH83_ZP_/s1600/Me_SuzyP_CVR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH8szu1JBRxgk-5hV9yooulYUZ6800dmS9KYaGPUxDxjyPIaWcywaN1Wib9JWLHRGJDKpkF-e6MUB5nEW8sDGyKP2sx5rLRg6IlevJd8P5efwlg5D2QOgoZzEnI540zpkNJai1gH83_ZP_/s320/Me_SuzyP_CVR.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm Suzy Puttock (yes, Puttock with a P), fourteen years old and a total disaster magnet. My life's full of ups and downs. My loved-up big sister Amber's getting married and wants lime green bridesmaids' dresses. I'm not happy about that. But there's this hot new guy, Zach, just started at my school. I am happy about that. Only... I've had a boyfriend since forever, Danny. So now I'm all kinds of confused!</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Me, Suzy P is a funny, feel-good teen book by a brilliant new debut author. Suzy Puttock is a fab character, she is very accident-prone and the situations she gets into are hilarious! She is a typical teenage girl, in the process of finding herself and discovering who her real friends are. I loved her and her life is a lot of fun to read about!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Suzy had two love interests, Danny and Zach. At the beginning, I really didn't like Danny. I wasn't mad about Zach either. As the novel went on, neither impressed me. In fact, I started to dislike them even more. Danny seemed quite selfish and uncaring to me, and Zach was just so frustrating! He was mean and rude, and I felt like screaming at Suzy when she didn't see through him! Eventually though, I did begin to warm to Danny. He improved a lot, and finally I actually quite liked him!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was laughing out loud numerous times, some of the stuff in the book was just hilarious. The scene where Suzy trips at the football pitch is probably one of the funniest things I've read in a book... There was never a boring moment in Me, Suzy P - there was a couple of minor supporting plots, so there was always something going on!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I loved the supporting cast - Millie, Suzy's best friend</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> was so funny, and really likable. Suzy's sisters were really unique and well-developed characters, I really liked them both too. They were really funny and lovely -well, Harry wasn't exactly 'lovely', but Amber was! Jade, the school's mean girl, was awful though, I didn't like her at all!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Overall, I loved Me. Suzy P. It's immensely likable and absolutely hilarious! I look forward to reading more by this fab author.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rating: 4/5</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Source: For Review - a massive thanks to the publisher for sending me this in exchange for an honest review.</span></span><br />
<div style="background-color: #f8f9fd; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Format: Proof copy<br />Pages: 352</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f9fd; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Age group: 11+</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: #f8f9fd; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Official Publication Date: January 1st 2013</span><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Publisher: Templar Publishing</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>To read an extract from Me Suzy P, click </i><a href="http://booksterreviews-cliona.blogspot.ie/2013/01/me-suzy-p-blog-tour-extract.html"><i>her</i>e</a>.</span></span></div>
Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-21695564422950638512013-01-14T11:20:00.000-07:002013-01-15T09:18:19.522-07:00Me, Suzy P blog tour - extractToday, Bookster Reviews is hosting the second stop on the blog tour of new teen novel,'Me, Suzy P' by Karen Saunders. Me, Suzy P was published by Templar on the 1st January, I am delighted to be hosting a spot on the tour, and I will be sharing with you all a fantastic extract from the book. But first, here's a bit about the novel... (and be sure to click <a href="http://karensaunders.co.uk/">here</a> to check out the other stops on the tour)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA15f550qEshIf67MwdMDm-tPmcpsKay8JZ-FHW6Uns412zavBNPsjFbKVp_8TU4McgundaAhPmZ4XCKDh5Jrwj25kcmGiKmh1vbbKBXzUyf_KKQolIWvmA3DEnTXNWgMEzbt3EMjr-6Bf/s1600/photo-me-bw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA15f550qEshIf67MwdMDm-tPmcpsKay8JZ-FHW6Uns412zavBNPsjFbKVp_8TU4McgundaAhPmZ4XCKDh5Jrwj25kcmGiKmh1vbbKBXzUyf_KKQolIWvmA3DEnTXNWgMEzbt3EMjr-6Bf/s1600/photo-me-bw.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karen Saunders</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>I'm Suzy Puttock (yes, Puttock with a P), fourteen years old and a total disaster magnet. My life's full of ups and downs. My loved-up big sister Amber's getting married and wants lime green bridesmaids' dresses. I'm not happy about that. But there's this hot new guy, Zach, just started at my school. I am happy about that. Only... I've had a boyfriend since forever, Danny. So now I'm all kinds of confused!</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>A hilarious tale of teenage Suzy Puttock trying to navigate the perils of school, families and boys.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></span> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And here is the brilliant extract - enjoy!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><br />
</i></span></span> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><br />
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<iframe align="middle" frameborder="0" height="752" src="http://www.book2look.com/embed/QrzEsmCa1Q&euid=13559575&ruid=0" width="1002"></iframe>Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-58881829940652616382013-01-12T16:14:00.004-07:002013-01-12T16:14:58.569-07:00I'm back!...best of 2012 and blogging resolutions!<i>Hey everybody! I'm baaaaack! *cheers* I'm so happy to be back blogging again! I had a lovely break, but I won't deny I missed you all :) For my first post back I'll be posting my new years (yes I know its way past new years -_-) blogging resolutions for 2013 as well as my top ten books of 2012. I'll start with my favourites of 2012 - in no particular order... ;)</i><br />
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<b>Divergent by Veronica Roth</b><br />
<b>The Fault In Our Stars by John Green</b><br />
<b>Vampire Academy: Frostbite by Richelle Mead</b><br />
<b>Dear Dylan by Siobhan Curham</b><br />
<b>Wonder by R.J. Palacio</b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUGVrWM5kq3ATcoRefEuIHglm7zop2NPrNjJRs5klA5AtWaUVITPFdMc8m2-auy4SinujyLthKeo0xQA9py4Z_mzpOLI5C9ECltAp-g0qycAv_INUahbei5V6ahaxetYfGmu-YU0a6Scm/s1600/images+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUGVrWM5kq3ATcoRefEuIHglm7zop2NPrNjJRs5klA5AtWaUVITPFdMc8m2-auy4SinujyLthKeo0xQA9py4Z_mzpOLI5C9ECltAp-g0qycAv_INUahbei5V6ahaxetYfGmu-YU0a6Scm/s1600/images+(1).jpg" /></a><b>Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale</b><br />
<b>And Actually... by Denise Deegan</b><br />
<b>The Look by Sophia Bennett</b><br />
<b>To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee</b><br />
(These are all amazing books, which I would highly recommend to you all!)<br />
<br />
And My Best Book of 2012 goes to....*drum roll*<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">And For Your Information... by Denise Deegan</span></b><br />
This book is AMAZING. It's moving, realistic, and just brilliant! I was going to just have the list my best books of 2012, I wasn't going to pick just one as the best, but this one stood out so much, I just had to give it a special mention!<br />
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<i>My blogging resolutions for 2013, which I AM going to stick to! - </i><br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Make more of an effort commenting on other blogs</li>
<li>Keep in contact more with my fellow bloggers (does that sentence make sense?)</li>
<li>Try and post at least two reviews a week</li>
<li>Be more organised about posts etc. on the blog</li>
<li>Only accept books for review that I really want to read - my for review TBR pile is way too big!</li>
<li>Take part in In My Mailbox once a month</li>
<li>Post a discussion post/interview, or something else other than memes or reviews at least once a month</li>
<li>Get to 300 followers by the end of the year (fingers crossed anyway!)</li>
</ol>
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<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixed3g-B5C0h52pTSpZfqLTr9ePBwlUdRvW5AOySb-gy-ooQtLgEBQ36MYMNgUruPzzsPnDu8XRGVAB_Xc0qeZcORrypSwHQOyWqhy2iYORNaY_6f-TgEZiRWi4a3hKjTaQ8WFH7j9zElU/s1600/bigstock_Vector_New_Year_s_Resolutions__15424310.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixed3g-B5C0h52pTSpZfqLTr9ePBwlUdRvW5AOySb-gy-ooQtLgEBQ36MYMNgUruPzzsPnDu8XRGVAB_Xc0qeZcORrypSwHQOyWqhy2iYORNaY_6f-TgEZiRWi4a3hKjTaQ8WFH7j9zElU/s320/bigstock_Vector_New_Year_s_Resolutions__15424310.jpg" width="318" /></a><i>So these are my late New Years Resolutions! I'll try my best to stick to them!</i><br />
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<i>And as for what you can expect from me in the foreseeable future - lots of reviews, a stop on the blog tour for Me, Suzy P by Karen Saunders this week, and I'll try and get an interview lined up for the blog too! So watch out - Bookster Reviews will be back with a bang *cue cheesy wink*</i><br />
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<br />Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-41994152696666665052012-12-13T07:59:00.000-07:002012-12-13T08:00:30.385-07:00Losing Agir Blog Tour: Q & A with author Liz Fisher-Frank<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIDrStH7iIxtMbGolN-1jbSEkR4BNG5WR-fQGdB-gd03SAe9LKZKT_aQprU1MvWKRnZSINiZ1H8SJvNfUBUoKgJjP1aeL70XvWmeiss43wCLMPitz1rD75UJ0bX9l3ujkuPvi1f01qUbqy/s1600/LOSING+AGIR+SMALL+JPEG-500x500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIDrStH7iIxtMbGolN-1jbSEkR4BNG5WR-fQGdB-gd03SAe9LKZKT_aQprU1MvWKRnZSINiZ1H8SJvNfUBUoKgJjP1aeL70XvWmeiss43wCLMPitz1rD75UJ0bX9l3ujkuPvi1f01qUbqy/s320/LOSING+AGIR+SMALL+JPEG-500x500.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Losing Agir: A story of courage, justice and love, crossing borders and cultures</b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 20px;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Partly based on fact. this is the story of two young people, united by experiences of family separation and loss, whom, in their search for justice, find friendship and even love.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is the story of Alice, a 15 year old in care and her relationship with Agir, a Kurdish boy smuggled into the UK following the violent destruction of his village in South-East Turkey. As Agir's terrible tale unfolds, Alice learns the truth about her strange and unnerving foster home. Against the backdrop of her own family tragedy, does Alice have the strength to challenge her foster father to free Agir from his clutches?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>I am delighted to welcome Liz Fisher-Frank to Bookster Reviews today, answers questions about her debut novel, Losing Agir. Her answers are fascinating, enjoy reading them everyone!</i></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #454545; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">1</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><b>) </b></span><span lang="EN-GB"><b>How did the idea for
Losing Agir come about?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I decided to have a go
at writing when, for a short period, I had to commute to London one day a week
and I wanted to do something on the train. For many years I’d been representing
young people in care through my work as a lawyer. So it made sense for my main
character to live in the care system. I’d also always been very interested in a
case my husband, a human rights lawyer, had taken to the European Court of
Human Rights in Strasbourg. In this case, a Kurdish village was attacked and
destroyed in the early hours of the morning. Villagers were pulled from their
homes, families were separated, homes were burned and livestock killed. The
village men were then forced to walk blindfolded, many of them barefoot,
through the snow for many hours to imprisonment. The court found, years later,
that the villagers human rights had been breached that day and they won their
claim for compensation. ‘Losing Agir,’ starts at the attack on this village and
sees my character, 16 year old Agir, separated from his family during that
chaos of that day. He later gets smuggled into the UK and there, in a slightly
sinister foster home, meets Alice, a 15 year old struggling to come to terms
with her own story of loss.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">2<b>)</b> </span><span lang="EN-GB"><b>Alice, one of the
central characters, is in foster care. Can you tell us about your own
experiences of working with young people in care?<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicj8kHur2NjGx5itbmP5w72J289PNsbgeSXF1XqmO3uDFUhTYl8gyH0E2EKo7lZjZ_0lrZxP3kLrdD2hqsWUdjUUVO5sJMlDYB0vUcuo_1VVLY91pmZrnMk4QHG-9JnEB0I4LP6VAnafXs/s1600/liz+fisher+frank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicj8kHur2NjGx5itbmP5w72J289PNsbgeSXF1XqmO3uDFUhTYl8gyH0E2EKo7lZjZ_0lrZxP3kLrdD2hqsWUdjUUVO5sJMlDYB0vUcuo_1VVLY91pmZrnMk4QHG-9JnEB0I4LP6VAnafXs/s320/liz+fisher+frank.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Author of 'Losing Agir, Liz Fisher-Frank</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have worked with
many young people living in the care system. What is so apparent is that their
stories are always so totally different as to how and why they are living in
care. For some, it’s because of </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">parental illness meaning that a parent, due to physical or mental health problems, simply cannot look after the young person. For others it’s because of family breakdown, bereavement or abusive relationships which mean staying at home is just not possible. Many of the young people I met have had very supportive and committed foster parents and/or children’s homes. However, some had not been so lucky. In my book, Alice is desperate that her new foster home is ‘the one, the one which works.’ Like so many young people, Alice has moved about the care system. Also, again, as can be a real problem for young people in care, Alice is having difficulties in seeing her brother who has been placed many miles away. These are just some of the problems which young people in care can experience. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">My feeling is that any young person, living away from birth parents for whatever reason, should be given the utmost support and help from our care system.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">3<b>)</b> </span><span lang="EN-GB"><b>Losing Agir was
published on Human Rights Day (10th Dec). Do you feel its important for young
people to learn about law and rights? </b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2556936757561430057" name="_GoBack"></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I feel it’s really
important for young people to have an understanding of law, rights and
responsibilities. During my work representing teenagers, their problems often
seemed to have many layers of complication. It always struck me that if help
and information was available very early on, there would be a good chance that problems
could be sorted out before they became too big and complex. I would love to see
more work done in schools about law and rights and if my writing could, in any
small way, raise an awareness of some issues, I would be delighted. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daniel Craig - not sure if he'd be the best actor to play a 16-year-old!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">) </span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><b>Did you have any
actors in mind when you were writing the central characters? Who would you like
to play Alice if the book was every brought to the screen?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now that’s a tricky
question as the thought of my story being adapted for screen is something that
I haven’t ever let myself even dream
about. But if you’re forcing me too, then, I think I’d struggle with any of the
famous names out there. If, in that wonderful world of daydreams, it was ever
screened and I had a say in the central characters, I would like Alice and Agir
to be unknown actors. I have very firm pictures of them both in my head, which I
tried to explain to my friend when she suggested that, if ever anything
happened with the book, it really would make sense to get Daniel Craig to play 16
year old, Kurdish, Agir. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">5<b>) </b></span><span lang="EN-GB"><b>Would you ever write
about Alice and Agir again? Where do you see them in 10 years time?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Yes, I think I would.
Without wanting to spoil the ending, the book is left in a place whereby both
characters still have a lot more to do in their lives. I would really like to
write about this and the twists and turns their lives inevitably take. Just now
I am focusing on the publication of my next two books, ‘Discoveries,’ (the
story of 15 year old who finds out she is adopted) and ‘The Silk Slaves of
Bangalore,’ (the story of a young person who uncovers the use of child labour
in the silk industry). After that, it would be great to revisit the world of
Alice and Agir and see how things are.</span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Thanks for those fab answers Liz! Readers check out Losing Agir, published by Live It Publishing, and is out now. It is available to buy on <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Losing-Agir-courage-crossing-cultures/dp/1906954682">Amazon</a> or <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Losing-Agir-Liz-Fisher-Frank/9781906954680">The Book Depository</a>.</i></span></span></div>
<br />Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-20161526809988731892012-12-11T12:25:00.000-07:002012-12-11T12:25:25.258-07:00Blogging slump...Everyone, I can't hide it any more...I'm going through a blogging, and a reading, slump. And, as we all know, the only way to get over it is to take a break for a while. I am going to miss all of you and your fab blogs, but the truth is, I just amn't enjoying writing reviews at the moment, and I'm not motivated to write any posts! So I'm going to totally remove myself from the blogoverse until sometime in the new year, when I'll write a list of my favourite books of 2012, and a serious new year's blogging resolutions list!<br />
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Over the Christmas holidays, I'm just going to relax, and hopefully read some great books that will get me out of my reading slump! So until the new year, goodbye everyone!Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-26433561777141941832012-12-04T12:55:00.001-07:002012-12-04T12:55:26.130-07:00Happy 2nd Birthday Bookster Reviews!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to Bookster Reviews, happy birthday to me :)<br />
<br />
It's Bookster Reviews' 2nd blogoversary - I cam't believe it's already been two whole years since I started blogging! Blogging has really had such an impact on my life, I can't imagine<i> not</i> blogging! I've made so many new friends through blogging (I won't name everyone, it'll take ages and I'll probably accidentally leave someone out!), discovered most of my favourite books, and just had loads of fun over the last two years! I've been through blogging slumps (actually I'm going through one right now, unfortunately, but more about that in a couple of days!) and reading slumps, but I've got through them, and I'm really happy with how Bookster Reviews has turned out! Over the past year I've discovered loads of new blogs, books, and have become more active in contacting publishers, authors etc. Blogging is a wonderful experience and I just love everything about it!<br />
Thanks to everyone, bloggers, authors, publishers, who have helped me and been a friend to me over the last two years - I really appreciate you all! I remember two whole years ago, I read a single book blog and was just in awe of it. I never though I could do something like that! So to everyone who has helped me:<br />
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I just want to give a special mention to Zoe at <a href="http://bookhi.blogspot.ie/">Bookhi</a> - we both started book blogging at the same time, and she was the first blogging friend I made, and we're still blogging friends now, after all this time! Her blogoversaey is around now too, so happy blogoversary!! You're the best, Zoe! :D</div>
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Annnnnnd one last time:<br />
HAPPY BLOGVERSARY BOOKSTER REVIEWS!!!!<br />
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(sorry for the post being a couple of weeks late)Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-38818160104220254052012-11-12T14:51:00.002-07:002012-11-12T14:51:54.268-07:00REVIEW: Shift by Em Bailey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"There were two things everyone knew about Miranda Vaile before she'd even arrived at our school. The first was that she had no parents - they were dead. And they were dead because Miranda had killed them."</span></i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> Since her breakdown last year, Olive has become the school loner, so she can only watch as new girl Miranda latches on to her old best friend, class queen bee Katie. Soon Miranda is talking like Katie, dressing like Katie - even going out with Katie's boyfriend. And then Katie dies. Olive is convinced Miranda is somehow responsible, but the only person who believes her is Lachlan, the hot boy who won't take the hint that she wants to be left alone. And then Miranda turns her attention on Olive. She makes life so much fun that soon they are best friends. But what price will Olive have to pay for this new friendship?</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Shift is a thrilling, psychological, and utterly captivating book. It's different from anything I've read before, and it's addictive and exciting - I was on the edge of my seat the whole way through! There's always something going on - the author doesn't waste time with descriptions, it's action all the way through. I loved it! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I liked the way there was two different plotlines - the mystery of what was going on with Miranda, and then the mystery of what exactly the 'big thing' that happened to Olive a few months ago. It kept me reading till the very end, because I was just dying to know what had happened/what was going to happen. The only thing I didn't like was the way that the author dropped some pretty obvious hints throughout the book about what had happened to Olive. I prefer when twists in books are like bombshells, when you're totally not expecting them! There was a few genius twists in the book though, that I definitely didn't see coming! There was one at the end of part 1, and I honestly just sat there re-reading the paragraph over and over, I was so shocked! It was so clever, and I absolutely didn't see it coming!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Every one of the characters were intriguing and unique. Miranda is so creepy, but at the same time there's something very alluring about her. She's such a fascinating character. She's horrible, but still fascinating! What she was doing to Katie and then Olive was creepily subtle. I didn't understand how Olive didn't realise what Miranda was doing to her, when she was the one person convinced of Miranda's guilt nearly the whole way through. Olive was a strange character - I liked her though. She was fragile, and she's one of those people you just want give a big hug to! I LOVED Lachlan, he was a fantastic love interest! He really cared about Olive and they were so cute together.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I loved the ending of Shift. It was so exciting, and the book's climax was just - OMG. I'm being honest, my heart was literally racing in that scene! It was a very satisfying ending, even though is was left open to interpretation...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I think the idea of Miranda being a sort of a shapeshifter was a fantastic one - it's so original and it's refreshing and interesting to read such an unusual story. Shift is not a book to be missed. It's a brilliant, heart-racing and fast-paced novel!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> Rating: 4.5/5</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 18px;">Source: For Review - a massive thanks to the publisher for sending me this in exchange for an honest review.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Format: Paperback<br />Pages: 304</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Age group: 12+</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Official Publication Date: 7th May 2012</span><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Publisher: Electric Monkey (an imprint of Egmont)</span></span></div>
Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-48670478483642720992012-11-07T10:01:00.001-07:002012-11-07T10:01:11.337-07:00The Feathered Man blog tour<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>I am delighted to welcome Jeremy de Quidt to Bookster Reviews for the blog tour of his new novel The Feathered Man. He has written a brilliant post about Halloween when he was a child - enjoy!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>(Sorry about the terrible photo alignment - I'm terrible at computer stuff!)</i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih5pZHXnkwX9IK-cRIAEOOGj-XlcRG1r84Ci4S4P6EBk87iXfxgvfQECQCWvEaz_eb-ak2q7JmEsSRcgx_wI0EsEc_dq879AJrIe0iZVrqzgElZniS5vdaOkwOababdWupj71oiaJZDxwC/s1600/dfb_jdequidt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih5pZHXnkwX9IK-cRIAEOOGj-XlcRG1r84Ci4S4P6EBk87iXfxgvfQECQCWvEaz_eb-ak2q7JmEsSRcgx_wI0EsEc_dq879AJrIe0iZVrqzgElZniS5vdaOkwOababdWupj71oiaJZDxwC/s1600/dfb_jdequidt.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTSPD2gkGYjRNJUszRRTq1qSo9I9QBpOxd-OgSk0hRGuASou0MS7AmPvABfvPtg4O70U1twA289eroQzAXcc4gX9-R-B0JIi_9ViNcA6bXzQ7ua0iJpSHn2w3H7yZqpV_GIPmH4hoqydyq/s1600/fesather.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTSPD2gkGYjRNJUszRRTq1qSo9I9QBpOxd-OgSk0hRGuASou0MS7AmPvABfvPtg4O70U1twA289eroQzAXcc4gX9-R-B0JIi_9ViNcA6bXzQ7ua0iJpSHn2w3H7yZqpV_GIPmH4hoqydyq/s320/fesather.jpg" width="214" /></a><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Halloween wasn't made anything of in my house when I was a
child. The shops might have had toffee apples in, and I can remember them
alright, but as for Halloween itself at home - it just was another day. People didn't dress up and go from door to door then, not like now. I’m glad they do,
now. I like that. We always make a pumpkin lantern and leave it on the wall
outside. I like the sound of the gate going and hearing the muffled
conversations. I like turning out the light and slowly opening the door to see
who’s there. A couple of years ago I whipped it open as fast as I could and
growled at the ghosts and ghouls on the step - it wasn't quite what they’d been
expecting and the shrieks and screams that went up could have woken the dead -
which is, after all, what Halloween is really all about - waking and
remembering the dead. I knew that much even when I was growing up as a child in
a house where Halloween was just another day. But you see for me it wasn't the
day that was the problem, it was the night. As the afternoon drew in and
darkness began to fall, I started to wonder what really did happen when all the
lights were out and the clock struck midnight on Halloween. I began to wonder
with growing disquiet what the graveyard at the church - the one that I walked
past everyday on the way home from school- was really like in the darkness; all
those crooked headstones and the green coloured chips of glass that were strewn
over the white marbled graves, the bunches of withered flowers in the little
vases. And suddenly the dark wasn't a place I wanted to be in - even a trip
with rubbish to the metal dustbin down the path by the back door was done as
quickly as I could do it - down the steps, take the lid off, bang it back on
and get back in and shut the door - keep all that darkness out. But as the
evening wore on there at the end of it, like some grim, awful train
approaching, would be bed time and the house would be clicking and cold and
quiet, and whatever was outside, all that remembering of the dead, would come
knocking on my bedroom door. One year in the weeks before Halloween, Mr Jones
died. He was the old man who’d lived in the house next door. I remember the
absolute terror of lying in bed that Halloween night and thinking that Mr Jones
was going to come tapping on my window, dressed in his old brown jacket and
grey trousers, a bunch of withered flowers in one hand, and broken chips of
coloured green grave glass in the other. That night lasted for ever. I remember
it now.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I even looked on the frost covered path the next day as I
went to school to see if there were any pieces of green grave glass dropped
there. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I still wonder to this day what on earth I’d have done, if
there had been.</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Wow, fantastic (and creepy!) post Jeremy, thank you for that!</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>The Feathered Man was published by David Ficking Books on the 1st of November, and is now availible in all good bookshops, as well as Amazon and The Book Depository.</i></span></div>
Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-18369135732975135602012-11-04T06:02:00.000-07:002012-11-04T06:02:18.337-07:00REVIEW: My Now or Never Diary by Liz Rettig<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; orphans: 4; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kelly Ann has only just come to her senses and realised that G, the boy she’s fancied all year, is a total nerd and Chris, the boy next door who’s been in love with her all year, is actually the man for her. But does that mean she’ll live happily ever after with Chris, discovering the joys of sex and smugly advising her friends in the ways of true love? Of course not. With the help of her faithful friends Liz and Steph, Kelly Ann manages to muck it all up and finds that the path of true love never runs smoothly! Can her relationship with Chris survive being found by his parents semiclothed in their living room on the day of his surprise birthday party? Or her wild girls’ holiday to the domain of the holiday rep, Faliraki? Can Kelly Ann get through all these crises and manage to singlehandedly look after her sister’s baby and the fake baby school have given her as a project too? A hilarious riot of teenage fumblings, terrible teachers and skincare made from porridge.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kelly Ann has to be one of my favourite fictional heroines of all time. She's such a brilliant character! She's hilarious and some of the things she comes out with are just genius. She's very naive at the same time though, which can be irritating sometimes, but at other times it can be a contributing factor to her lovableness! It annoyed me the way that she was convinced that Shelly was such a good friend, when it was obvious she wasn't. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Stephanie and Liz are fantastic friends to Kelly-Ann, and I love them too! The friendship the girls have is so real and lovely! Stephanie changes in this novel, for the better. She grows up, and she becomes a more genuine person. Liz stays much the same, and doesn't really have a huge part in the book, but she's still great to have around as a character, because she's so funny!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I still don't know about Chris! He's the only flaw in the book in my opinion. I don't dislike him, he just doesn't feel real to me at all. His and Kelly-Ann's relationship doesn't feel genuine, and he doesn't come to life for me!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One of my favourite things about this series is that it's so true to life. Kelly Ann's experiences with friends, family, school, boys and everything else are realistic, and very relatable! This series describes the highs and lows of being a teenager, with no sugarcoating!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I flew through reading My Now or Never Diary. These books are so readable, and are literally impossible to put down! The (usually) short diary entries make the reader keep going and going, and you hardly notice the pages fly by! The author is amazing, it honestly feels like I'm actually reading Kelly Ann's real diary!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My Now or Never Diary is hilarious - the situations Kelly-Ann and her friends get themselves into are hysterical! If you need a good laugh, this is the series to read.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I know this is a short review, but to be honest I don't know what else to say - the Kelly-Ann series is fantastic, and if you're a teenage girl who hasn't read it yet, you're seriously missing out! My Now or Never Diary is one of the funniest books I've read, but it's also heartwarming and very likeable - like Kelly Ann herself! It's a great part of the series, not to be missed!</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> Rating: 4.5/5</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Source: For Review - a massive thanks to the publisher for sending me this in exchange for an honest review.</span></span><div style="background-color: #f8f9fd; line-height: 18px;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Format: Paperback<br />Pages: 320</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Age group: 13+</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Official Publication Date: 1st June 2006</span><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Publisher: Corgi Childrens (an imprint of Random House Childrens Books)</span></span></div>
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Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-75889197158365164562012-10-18T14:44:00.001-06:002012-10-18T14:45:07.041-06:00REVIEW: The Twice-Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones by Susie Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>On her thirteenth birthday, Blue makes a desperate wish. To be transformed into a cool, confident teenager. Enter Red, appearing from nowhere like a wacky fairy godmother. She's only visible to Blue - in fact, she IS Blue, but a year older. With Red by her side to guide her, Blue can avoid all the gruesome embarrassments! But her future self causes a heap of crazy trouble - and there are dark secrets she's not telling...</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Twice Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones is a short book and it didn't take me long to read it - but it certainly made an impact on me! I loved everything about the book. The characters, the writing, the storyline, and the ENDING! </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bluebell was a lovely character. She was kind and quite insecure, and very likeable as a main character and narrator. Red was...a strange character. I didn't think she should have kept so many things from Bluebell, but I suppose for the sake of the story it had to be done! There was a brilliant cast of supporting characters - I loved Bluebell's friend Fozzie, Bluebell's fantastic sister Tiger, and of course, the mysterious Merlin!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I liked the idea of Bluebell's 14-year-old self coming back to guide her - I've always loved time-travel in books, and I liked Susie Day's take on it. Although it wasn't actually as it seemed... </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Twice Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones seems like a light-hearted read, but it's much more than that - there is real depth in it. The themes of family, friendship, and gaining confidence in yourself are important in this book, and Susie Day portrays them skillfully and subtly. I also liked the themes of music and photography - I love when a character is passionate about one or two things in particular in a novel, especially when they are also interests of my own as well.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I finished this book reading late into the night, because honestly, I couldn't <i>stop</i> reading! The book is so enjoyable to read</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">, and also, I dying to see what happened in the end! The ending totally threw me - I was NOT expecting it. At all! After I had finished, I just sat there for about five minutes with my mouth open, thinking about the amazing book I had just read. I wish I could say more about it, but I can't (because it's a massive spoiler obviously!). You'll just have to read it for yourself!</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Twice Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones is much more than it seems from looking at the cover. It is a wonderful novel, and will break your heart!</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: center;"> Rating: 4.5/5</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Source: For Review - a massive thanks to the publisher for sending me this in exchange for an honest review.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Format: Paperback<br />Pages: 177</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Age group: 9+</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Official Publication Date: 2nd August 2012</span><span style="background-color: white;"><br /><span style="line-height: 18px;">Publisher: Marion Llyod books (an imprint of Scholastic)</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-33373641935996858252012-10-14T10:33:00.005-06:002012-10-14T10:33:54.738-06:00Letterbox Love # 9<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFdRmGTQhZWDANvqLfulu1HfmXN2LIIYcauOVarv7IM8yPu7K0eQUrdE70x101BRw3mw3Zx7VVUUyPTQ05w9mgp4945ohOdT3OrVM9e4iBNN1jSenZzcqWPk_lI9rPJoRSuilcbLgR_o47/s1600/Letterbox+Love.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFdRmGTQhZWDANvqLfulu1HfmXN2LIIYcauOVarv7IM8yPu7K0eQUrdE70x101BRw3mw3Zx7VVUUyPTQ05w9mgp4945ohOdT3OrVM9e4iBNN1jSenZzcqWPk_lI9rPJoRSuilcbLgR_o47/s1600/Letterbox+Love.JPG" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Letterbox Love is a weekly meme, hosted by Narratively Speaking. It's a great way of sharing what books you receive every week, and I'm delighted to be taking part!</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">This is my Letterbox for the past I don't know how long! I haven't had a chance to do a LL in ages so this is all the books I've received in (as I said before) I don't know how long! So here they are:</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><b>For review:</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><i>Double Cross by Malorie Blackman</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">This is the Fourth book in the fab Noughts and Crosses series - the series has been newly released with new covers, which are fab! I can't wait to read this - thanks Random House!</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Falling To Ash by Karen Mahoney</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Reading this now and struggling to finish it - I'm not sure about this one to be honest!</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>A Reckless Magick by Stephanie Burgis</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I've only read the first in his series, but I can't wait to read the second one then this one - and look at that fab cover!</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>The Pendragon Legacy: Lance of Truth by Katherine Roberts</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I read the first book in this series last year, and it wasn't my cup of tea - I'm not sure if I'll be reading this one!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Winterling by Sarah Prineas</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I hadn't heard about this one before it arrived, b</span>ut<span style="line-height: 18px;"> it sounds really brilliant and mystical! Thanks </span>Quercus<span style="line-height: 18px;">!</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Me, Suzy P by Karen Saunders (proof)</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">This looks like a fantastic book, I'm really excited to start reading it! Thanks to Templar publishing for this and the above two books :)</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Professor Gargoyle: Tales from Lovecraft Middle School by Charles Gilman</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">This books looks like fun - and it has a really cool cover. You know the way you get some cards and things and when you turn them from side to side they have two different pictures? </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">(sorry, terrible </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">explanation) </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Well, it''s like that - it's so cool! :D</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> Thanks Quirk Publishing for this.</span><br />
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<h1 class="parseasinTitle" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span id="btAsinTitle"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Won:</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>One Mum's Enough - Book 1 (Families in a Step-Chain)</i></span></h1>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Little Miss Perfect - Book 4 (Families in a Step-Chain) both by Ann Bryant</span></i></h1>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I won these two of the Girl Heart Books website and there was a mix-up in which book I was meant to be sent, so I ended up with two - not that I'm complaining! Hehe :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>What did you get in your letterbox?</b></span></span>Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-19895010742501028682012-10-04T14:21:00.003-06:002012-10-04T14:21:43.993-06:00REVIEW: Dear Dylan by Siobhan Curham<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1YPTF1n3LTqhP3fEgGzvvEm9dgeSxTY2_EQT5IiKc7TBny3vmfyrNlZoIiiMFe5CETL8adJ2XO-2qenFeMi68NLJQQ2PlH3GzAo4pBHyziAPy5pyX_fI1Xei1q0bs6rTNz4B1d3TdKelR/s1600/DEARDYLAN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1YPTF1n3LTqhP3fEgGzvvEm9dgeSxTY2_EQT5IiKc7TBny3vmfyrNlZoIiiMFe5CETL8adJ2XO-2qenFeMi68NLJQQ2PlH3GzAo4pBHyziAPy5pyX_fI1Xei1q0bs6rTNz4B1d3TdKelR/s320/DEARDYLAN.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A first crush.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">An unexpected friendship.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A dream come true.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Dear Dylan! </span></i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thanks so much for your email and I'm sorry about my last one when I said I love you. I hope you don't think I'm a weirdo mentalist?!!! It's just that I was watching Oprah yesterday and she said we should all say we love each other a whole lot more. Not to everyone of course. There's no way I'd tell my scummy step-dad that I love him because that would be lying. But the thing is, sometimes when I watch you on TV, I feel as if you're talking just to me and it makes me feel less alone. I know you probably get loads and loads of fan mail but I wanted to ask you - could we be e-mates? </span></i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Yours hopefully, Georgie xxx.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="background-color: white;">I've been dying to read Dear Dylan for ages - all I had read were glowing reviews of the book. And, well, this is going to be another glowing review! </span>
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<span style="background-color: white;">I loved everything about this book. The characters, the format, the storyline, the writing - this author can do no wrong in my eyes! I loved Georgie - she was such a brilliant main character She was kind and brave, and I thought Curham portrayed her as a teenager perfectly. I think I'm quite like her - I felt I could relate to her and some of the issues she had - that's probably one of the main reasons I loved her character so much!</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">There was another character who was my joint favourite with Georgie - I just couldn't pick between them, they were both too fantastic! I'm not</span> <span style="line-height: 18px;">going to say who the character was, because it's actually a a spoiler - but if you've read the book you'll know who I'm talking about. This character was so wonderful. They were kind, thoughtful, helpful and caring. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Dear Dylan also had a very realistic and well thought-out set of secondary characters; I didn't like Jamie at first, but once we got to know him he really grew on me! He was great for Georgie and was just all-round lovely. I hated Tone-Deaf (Georgie's step-dad), with a passion - he is definitely one of my top 5 most hated characters of all time! I also really disliked Jessica, Georgie's 'best friend' she was so horrible and mean and a really bad </span>friend <span style="line-height: 18px;">to Georgie, especially when </span>Georgie <span style="line-height: 18px;">need her most. I wasn't sure about Georgie's mum - she was quite selfish, and didn't appear to care about Georgie's feelings but she showed she was brave in the end, and I began to - sort of - like her better.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I really liked the e-mail format. I thought it was a fun and different way to read a book. I liked the way some things could be included that wouldn't really be included in first person narrative, because Georgie and the other character were talking </span><i style="line-height: 18px;">to</i><span style="line-height: 18px;"> each other - it's difficult to pinpoint </span><i style="line-height: 18px;">what</i><span style="line-height: 18px;"> exactly, but it was just things that would seem strange if they were included in a first person book - but they fitted in this book, since the two characters were talking <i>to </i>each other. It was a really clever way of writing a book too - the (mostly) short enough e-mails made it very difficult to put the book down, and I flew through it!</span></span></span><br />
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The dual narrative was fantastic - it was interesting to get to see things from both characters point of view, I loved that element. And I just LOVE Siobhan Curham! She's such a fab writer - she makes the reader not want to stop reading, she makes the characters come alive on the page and feel so<i> real</i> - and she writes beautifully! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Dear Dylan is heartbreaking, heartwarming, funny, and original. It deals with real life issues such as domestic abuse and bullying, and it will move you! It is one of the best books I've read this year, and one of my favourite books of all time! Siobhan Curham is an amazing author and I can't wait to see what she comes out with next. If you're looking for a good book to read - don't hesitate to read Dear Dylan. Trust me - you won't regret it!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> Rating 5/5</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Source: For Review - a massive </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">thanks to the publisher for sending me this in exchange for an honest review.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Format: Paperback<br />Pages: 288 </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Age group: 11+</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Official Publication Date:</span> 2nd April 2012<span style="background-color: white;"><br />Publisher: Electric Monkey</span></span></div>
Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-2294753420556890122012-10-01T13:11:00.003-06:002012-10-01T13:11:49.010-06:00A Reckless Magick by Stephanie Burgis release day!<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Kat's back for her third adventure, and as per usual, social disaster is following in her wake - When the Stephenson family travel to a grand country house on the Devon coast for Kat's sister Angeline's wedding, Kat is stalked by a dangerous magical enemy and finds everything she thought she knew about her late mother called into question. With smugglers, sabotage, tangled romance and plenty of magic activity at work, it's the job of Regency England's feistiest twelve year old to protect herself and her family from impending ruin.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Happy book birthday to A Reckless Magick! This is a brilliant series - make sure you get your hands on this soon!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Check out Stephanie Burgis's website: </span><a href="http://www.stephanieburgis.com/books/a-reckless-magick-stolen-magic/">http://www.stephanieburgis.com/books/a-reckless-magick-stolen-magic/</a></span>Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-43421435748361901282012-09-28T09:51:00.000-06:002012-09-28T09:51:01.492-06:00REVIEW: Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiAnPZ-FUKPUEgF3Bw-qpIn6pQKgyE7EedmEc94dwTnlBer7Q5k0sRtVsrIraYjWFAk_py0-jOXwSNwNRPbJ-en9BC7sWQL7iQbxvE2pcHfkrPIDPn9efyu19X0voxAViMQNNRyKsaNi3k/s1600/sweet+venom+uk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiAnPZ-FUKPUEgF3Bw-qpIn6pQKgyE7EedmEc94dwTnlBer7Q5k0sRtVsrIraYjWFAk_py0-jOXwSNwNRPbJ-en9BC7sWQL7iQbxvE2pcHfkrPIDPn9efyu19X0voxAViMQNNRyKsaNi3k/s320/sweet+venom+uk.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Watch out, all you mythological beasties roaming the streets of San Francisco - There's a new kick-ass team of demon-fighters coming your way - Meet Grace, who just moved to San Francisco. It's a tiny bit scary, starting over, but it gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks exactly like her turns up to fight the monster. Then, there's Gretchen, who is fed up of monsters pulling her out into the small hours, especially on a school night. Getting rid of a minotaur is just another notch on Gretchen's combat belt, but she never expected to run into this girl who could be her double in the process. And Greer, who has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But everything tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they're all sisters. These three teenage descendants of Medusa must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.</span></i></span><br />
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I absolutely loved Tera Lynn Childs' 'Fins' series, and had pretty high expectations for Sweet Venom. And while I liked it, it did disappoint me. There were good and bad points to this book - I'll outline them all for you in this review.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'll start with the negatives - I may as well save the best for last!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the characters: Grace, Greer and Gretchen were all likeable, (yes I liked Greer even though she was a snob!) but they were really<i> typical </i>characters. The plain, clumsy girl, the tough girl, the snob girl with the fragile inside layer - it's all been done before! I found them to be boring and predictable. I also didn't like Nick at all - he wasn't even cute, he was just annoying. I did like Milo though, and Thane seemed like an interesting enough character, but all round the characters didn't impress me. They felt very one dimensional - not real at all!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the plot: I honestly had no idea, even towards the end of the book, where the story was supposed to be going. We basically just heard about Gretchen and Graces' (quite boring) lives. Greer didn't come into the book till near the end, and I can't help wishing that she wasn't mentioned in the blurb - discovering that the three girls were triplets could have been a great twist, but it wasn't because we knew that it was coming. That's another thing - there were hardly any plot twists. There was the one about Una at the end, but I didn't really feel shocked - maybe it's because to be honest, I didn't care about the characters!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now I'll move onto the positives:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> the writing: I love Tera Lynn Child's writing, and this book, despite all of it's flaws, was pretty fun to read! It was humorous and just all round quite enjoyable to read.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the Greek mythology: as some of you probably know, I'm a a huge fan of Greek mythology! The author took the myth of the monster Medusa, and portrayed her to be a guardian instead - not evil. It was a really interesting take on the story, which the author wrote cleverly. I also loved reading about the fights between the girls and the beasties, and learning about the monsters they fought - I would have loved if more information was included in the book, but that probably would have bored some people!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Conclusion: While Sweet Venom had a lot of flaws, I still liked it, and enjoyed it. The ending is a good one, and makes me want to read the next book soon! I think this is a series I will be continuing with - hopefully I'll enjoy the next book more!</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> Rating: 3/5</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Source: For Review - a massive </span><span style="background-color: white;">thanks to the publisher for sending me this in exchange for an honest review.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Format: Proof<br />Pages: 320</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Age group: 12+</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Official Publication Date:</span> 1st September <span style="background-color: white;">2012</span> <span style="background-color: white;"><br />Publisher: Templar Publishing</span></span></div>
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<br />Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-78384105699706093102012-09-16T08:16:00.000-06:002012-09-16T08:16:32.113-06:00Letterbox Love #8<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLRkJDEmFOXU1dR6WEPXO7swaWI4-Fwxo7I3tmxL3N2mhlL8H4iU3B5L-bxkLzW9xJwp7NaNv9Dkf0Gim6i5Oijp3epg_epxPadMKSIXsPjGuAi8y2iC7rJWUrC_BXCLgtQi7KpHzm3kRk/s1600/Letterbox+Love.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLRkJDEmFOXU1dR6WEPXO7swaWI4-Fwxo7I3tmxL3N2mhlL8H4iU3B5L-bxkLzW9xJwp7NaNv9Dkf0Gim6i5Oijp3epg_epxPadMKSIXsPjGuAi8y2iC7rJWUrC_BXCLgtQi7KpHzm3kRk/s1600/Letterbox+Love.JPG" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Letterbox Love is a weekly meme, hosted by Narratively Speaking. It's a great way of sharing what books you receive every week, and I'm delighted to be taking part!</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"> </span>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Hi everyone! I'm really sorry about now posting much this week, I though I would have more time :/ And I've just found out that my computer will be out of order for the next week (my dad is fixing something or other :L) so I won't be able to post this week either! And I also won't be able to read or comment on posts - sorry guys, I'll miss you all! </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Anyway, here are my books: (sorry for no pictures - didn't have enough time!)</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Saving June by Hannah Harrington</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I've been wanting to read this for so so long and now I have it and I'm so so happy! This sounds amazing, I was delighted when this and Pushing The Limits arrived in the post!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I can't wait to read this one! It's gotten amazing reviews, and it sounds fab :) Thanks Mira Ink for this and Saving June!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>For The Record</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Billy Templar's War by Ellie Irving</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I'd never heard of either of these before they turned up in the post, but I though For The Record sounded so good that I read it practically straight away when I got it! I liked it and will review it soon :) I'm also looking forward to reading Billie Templar War - I especially love that cover! Thanks Random House for these!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Sammy Feral's Diaries of Weird by Eleanor Hawken</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">This looks like a a fun read, maybe a bit young for me, but we'll see :) Thanks Quercus!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Icespell by C.J. Busby</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I loved the other two books in this series, and I can't wait to read this one, it looks like so much fun! Thanks to Templar! </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">What did you get in your letterbox this week?</span></span></span>Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-30974032626447603402012-09-12T11:09:00.000-06:002012-09-12T11:09:28.348-06:00REVIEW: Debutantes by Cora Harrison<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It’s 1923 and London is a whirl of jazz, dancing and parties. Violet, Daisy, Poppy and Rose Derrington are desperate to be part of it, but stuck in an enormous crumbling house in the country, with no money and no fashionable dresses, the excitement seems a lifetime away. Luckily the girls each have a plan for escaping their humdrum country life: Rose wants to be a novelist, Poppy a jazz musician and Daisy a famous film director. Violet, however, has only one ambition: to become the perfect Debutante, so that she can go to London and catch the eye of Prince George, the most eligible bachelor in the country. But a house as big and old as Beech Grove Manor hides many secrets, and Daisy is about to uncover one so huge it could ruin all their plans - ruin everything - forever.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">I really liked Debutantes by Cora Harrison. The characters are colourful and life-like, and it's a really fun book to read. During a lot of the book, there actually isn't much going on, but honestly, that didn't bother me, because it was written so beautifully that I just loved reading the book, even if there wasn't much happening in the story.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18px;">I loved the time period the book is set in, as well</span><span style="line-height: 18px;"> as the backdrop of Beech Grover Manor and London. The descriptions were wonderful, and I could picture clearly the big house and it's many rooms, as well as the city of London and the scenes of the dances the girls attended. The descriptions were precise but not boring, and the writing was one of my favourite features of the book!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Th characters were fab! I can't pick a favourite of the four girls, but I really loved Rose and Daisy. Rose was really funny, coming out with her newspaper headlines all the time, and I could relate to her (I want to be a journalist too!). Daisy was so lovely! It was fascinating, hearing about her film-making - I knew nothing about film making before reading this book, and now I feel very clued in ;D. She was a good main character, and I felt for her when she was going through tough times! Poppy and Violet were nice too, but Poppy didn't really stand out to me, and Violet could be a moan sometimes!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I didn't really know where the story was going for around three-quarters of the book, and that didn't really bother me, but luckily the story started to pick up just as I was getting a <i>little</i> restless. Something that bothered me about the book was the fact that there was this really big plot twist (I actually saw it coming, but that's ok :) ) and the characters didn't seem fazed at all! It was something that would be really shocking if it happened to you, and Daisy was semi-upset about it for like five minutes, and then just acted as if nothing had happened afterwards! That annoyed me :/</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">And of course I can't review this book without mentioning the stunning cover! It's GORGEOUS! It seems so perfect, and is probably one of my favourite ever book covers :D Is it just me or does that girl remind you of Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood)?! </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Debutantes has great characters, is brilliantly written, and is so fun to read.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"> It's a really enjoyable read, and I'm delighted it's going to be a series!</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"> Rating: 4/5</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Source: For Review - a massive </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">thanks to the publisher for sending me this in exchange for an honest review.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Format: </span>Paperback<br /><span style="background-color: white;">Pages: 320</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Age group: 11+</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">Official Publication Date:</span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">2 August 2012</span> <span style="background-color: white;"><br /><span style="background-color: white;">Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books</span></span></span></div>
Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2556936757561430057.post-55979895504760107302012-09-02T13:46:00.000-06:002012-09-02T13:46:31.538-06:00Letterbox Love #7<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOizc022zkhi2RLs3nyaWC__Ttct28eapMIBXpK9vKRU2kadMgj_zq2M6Wl6NCaWbegHTI8cR-QTei1wzUwX3TcGun25hDvEKQjqkoeDS3sK-CVC9eP07AnHPdCqu885BxEPzomquqZcgn/s1600/Letterbox+Love.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOizc022zkhi2RLs3nyaWC__Ttct28eapMIBXpK9vKRU2kadMgj_zq2M6Wl6NCaWbegHTI8cR-QTei1wzUwX3TcGun25hDvEKQjqkoeDS3sK-CVC9eP07AnHPdCqu885BxEPzomquqZcgn/s1600/Letterbox+Love.JPG" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Letterbox Love is a weekly meme, hosted by Narratively Speaking. It's a great way of sharing what books you receive every week, and I'm delighted to be taking part!</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">I'm baaack! :) This is my LL for pretty much all of August, so I have a lot of books! I will be posting more regularly in September now that I'm back to school, so expect lots of reviews and hopefully an LL every week! :) Now, here are my books:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><b>Won:</b></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPng8R6KgIhR1UzH4R6Y7QTDajnpDa3LesLrbVr8qKVbf8IJ72sBjw1YoGDWjbiCZCZVFeKXFdGfFvW3TnyvqqjCoSNCsOW0mf9f2T8aj-8y0GZ9X85d7M_8yGG_7IQZA3PjwiuswLOBaZ/s1600/IMG_2630.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPng8R6KgIhR1UzH4R6Y7QTDajnpDa3LesLrbVr8qKVbf8IJ72sBjw1YoGDWjbiCZCZVFeKXFdGfFvW3TnyvqqjCoSNCsOW0mf9f2T8aj-8y0GZ9X85d7M_8yGG_7IQZA3PjwiuswLOBaZ/s320/IMG_2630.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><i>Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">I've heard great things about this author, and this looks like an emotional read, one I've been wanting to erad for a while now! Thanks to Caroline at Portrait of a Woman for this!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><b>For review: </b></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk9JbPInMxkleHKLM0JCr7Hu1BtARJvPr8eQT1oZ5WAlPaTCNRlFNJdMJ4B-z4456Ii5dnfSw9cu_u4rgCGW5mo-nHnglhvdPr41KXlVYCNmUVhqEOQ4eLuQKVDiqYU8fTMAxtHrKxQhoi/s1600/IMG_2752.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk9JbPInMxkleHKLM0JCr7Hu1BtARJvPr8eQT1oZ5WAlPaTCNRlFNJdMJ4B-z4456Ii5dnfSw9cu_u4rgCGW5mo-nHnglhvdPr41KXlVYCNmUVhqEOQ4eLuQKVDiqYU8fTMAxtHrKxQhoi/s320/IMG_2752.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>The City's Son by Tom Pollock</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">I hadn't heard anything about this before it turned up (thanks Quercus!) but I've since seen a few reviews, positive and negative! However, it's a beautiful hardback edition, and I hope to read it soon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Breathe by Sarah Crossan (ARC)</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">This sounds so amazing! I'm been looking forward to this for aaaaaages :D I can't wait to read it! Thanks Bloomsbury :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Jenny Q: Stitched Up by Pauline McLynn</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">I love Father Ted, and this book looks and sounds hilarious! Thanks Puffin :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Dear Dylan by Siobhan Curham</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">I've been wanting to read this for ages, it's gotten rave reviews and the story sounds fantastic :) Thanks to the author and to Electric Monkey for this!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Crusher by Niall Leonard (ARC)</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">This doesn't sound like my usual thing, but I'm looking forward to giving it a go, it sounds quite different :) Thanks Random House!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Torn by David Massey</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">I haven't read many war book before, but this looks brilliant. Thanks Chicken House!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRIjmE-C3WqMuQw6cbA_NZh17fYwrMHDxeRP0GV9s7HnxH9VHozEu-bw5Sd_b71ibFTfhdzrFMRCpTcSx4QHcq_1J0cANjN7ncwtOH8DnG049OyuzFlsO-j3pRN5QmX6FwSSfitGrUnNWC/s1600/IMG_2755.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRIjmE-C3WqMuQw6cbA_NZh17fYwrMHDxeRP0GV9s7HnxH9VHozEu-bw5Sd_b71ibFTfhdzrFMRCpTcSx4QHcq_1J0cANjN7ncwtOH8DnG049OyuzFlsO-j3pRN5QmX6FwSSfitGrUnNWC/s320/IMG_2755.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><i>Debutantes by Cora Harrison</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>Tempest by Julie Cross</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>Starcrossed by Josephine Angilini</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>Abandon by Meg Cabot</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Thanks to Macmillan for these! I've already read and loved Debutantes, (how could I not, look at that cover!) and am looking forward to reading the others books too.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6VNQGM1MGs9-aCB957A4t0wZstDZFFmAjzjx4x0Fhiy0VuPrVek6g7PVvwp70JHLlXID5L10J5BlNxt-1ZEdlrp9ZGl4sOeoSDPLRg7ckAAvZSIRU44K4edwjmi1JxWw3YZnjX9h-s2Ii/s1600/IMG_2761.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6VNQGM1MGs9-aCB957A4t0wZstDZFFmAjzjx4x0Fhiy0VuPrVek6g7PVvwp70JHLlXID5L10J5BlNxt-1ZEdlrp9ZGl4sOeoSDPLRg7ckAAvZSIRU44K4edwjmi1JxWw3YZnjX9h-s2Ii/s320/IMG_2761.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>The Twice-Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones by Susie Day</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">This came with a candy cane thing, which was delicious ;) This looks fab, thanks Scholastic!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggG2Wb6K7O3slweXfoW3XZgeTEVFaw5KN_dqvQjJO0zZRhcQ6HUOo2b3ooavMFZP1u_UMsbIwNQrtnlrrzPXVkMf4u-0TLnUZtmIAzep4DC1azpifT0-hsJOaKlRgW9Ip1F97qX91_0pBG/s1600/IMG_2757.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggG2Wb6K7O3slweXfoW3XZgeTEVFaw5KN_dqvQjJO0zZRhcQ6HUOo2b3ooavMFZP1u_UMsbIwNQrtnlrrzPXVkMf4u-0TLnUZtmIAzep4DC1azpifT0-hsJOaKlRgW9Ip1F97qX91_0pBG/s320/IMG_2757.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcCVS4RUZAY4atiwc7q5chSyyYkFY1P9Q-w0OLsLgVmlsr1n1dwAuyKiov1c6rp_v5DbYtMztiTaqseW6httYohY-v6PG8i_guBBiauMxNHdx55QVYRmVF86SJLhAKrL0hSMSr8S4LH5Jx/s1600/IMG_2759.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcCVS4RUZAY4atiwc7q5chSyyYkFY1P9Q-w0OLsLgVmlsr1n1dwAuyKiov1c6rp_v5DbYtMztiTaqseW6httYohY-v6PG8i_guBBiauMxNHdx55QVYRmVF86SJLhAKrL0hSMSr8S4LH5Jx/s320/IMG_2759.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The awesome purple edges! :)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>The Wolf Princess by Cathryn Constable</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">I hadn't heard of this before it turned up, but it came with a lovely letter from the publisher, and now I'm totally intrigued, it sounds amazing! It came in gorgeous purple packaging...with sparkles :') Thanks soooo much Chicken House!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjifrXxARV4gAnQoCEIIUOpLkHdKTSsO8y4v4YisY_Ht4T1fbIUgloxMHTC88VPPG-toukWF7pRLDeBttELbYiNKm8DjA1_uPeluL-5fbXsqiThYuyfewlcGL0khe2pSf3qN9sGR2gWxzD/s1600/IMG_2756.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjifrXxARV4gAnQoCEIIUOpLkHdKTSsO8y4v4YisY_Ht4T1fbIUgloxMHTC88VPPG-toukWF7pRLDeBttELbYiNKm8DjA1_uPeluL-5fbXsqiThYuyfewlcGL0khe2pSf3qN9sGR2gWxzD/s320/IMG_2756.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Library:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>Vampire Academy: Blood Promise by Richelle Mead</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i style="line-height: 18px;">I</i><span style="line-height: 18px;">'ve already read this (but won't be reviewing it). It was good, but a bit disappointing compared to the others books in the series. If any of you have read the VA series, which is your favourite and least favourite book? And are the fifth and sixth book better than the fourth?! ;)</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Borrowed:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Losing Lila (not pictured)</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">REALLY looking forward to starting this :D I loved Hunting Lila, and I've heard this is just as good! yay :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>What did you get in your letterbox?</b></span></span>Clionahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05130992935152800696noreply@blogger.com11