Cover Reveal: Reader, I Dumped Him...

Check out the stunning ebook by Lorelei Mathias. I love love love the colours.
Sounds like a cracking book!  

Reader, I Dumped Him... by Lorelei Mathias

Ebook is out 4th February 2016

This story is a celebration of the people that bring you back to life when your world closes in: your mates.
Relationships come and go, but the Break-up Club membership never truly expires.

Holly Braithwaite and loveable loser Lawrence have been together for five years. But the obvious cracks in their relationship can no longer be ignored and Holly soon finds herself saying ‘it’s not you, it’s me.’
In the shock aftermath of their break up, Holly finds unlikely companions in Olivia, Harry and Bella. Together, they form the Break-up Club, as they support each other through their mutual melancholy and find ways to love, laugh and function as human beings again.

Break-up Club meets every Sunday. Each week, as the comedy and drama unfolds, they discover a new BUC ‘rule’. And, one by one, the rules become vital markers on their journey to recovery . . .

‘BREAK-UP CLUB’
To our members, we’re the first emergency service.

Pre Order from: Amazon UK

Follow @LoreleiMathias 

The Deep

Title: The Deep
Author: Nick Cutter
Type: Paperback
Read: 10th January - 15th January 2016
Rating: 3/5
Published: 8th October by Headline

A plague is destroying the world's population. The 'Gets makes people forget. First it's the small things, like where you left your keys ... then the not-so-small things, like how to drive. And finally your body forgets how to live.

But now an unknown substance with extraordinary power to heal has been discovered in the depths of the Pacific Ocean. Nicknamed ambrosia, it might just be the miracle cure the world has been praying for.

A research lab has been established eight miles below the sea's surface, but all contact with the team has been lost. Dr Luke Nelson's brother is down there and as desperation for a cure outweighs common sense, he agrees to descend through the lightless fathoms ... perhaps to face an evil blacker than anything he could have imagined. 

When this book appeared on bookbridgr i didn't hesitate to request a copy. It sounded really intreguing from the go. I wanted to know more about 'the gets' and what it involved and what they were planning to do to cure it. What i got was something a little mixed.

The book is dark, its very messed up. Seriously you have to have one crazy imagination to think of half of the twisted things that go on in this book. But i did enjoy reading it. It was additive. We meet Luke who has been sent from Iowa to the bottom of the ocean. He's brother is working eight miles below to try and find a cure for the gets. Being at such a distance below the surface, with nothing but darkness surounding them, it messes with the occupants minds. Although most if not all are in total denial of such thing. They're all hiding it in their own crazy ways.

I loved the idea of this book. I don't think i've read anything thats been based under the sea. It's distrubing. It does give you the heebyjeebies of the dark. It messes with your mind too. Thats brilliant. But perhaps i drifted off from this as I wanted to find out much more of Lukes little boy who was taken years before. I want him and Alice to escape and get back to the surface. I wanted Luke and Clayton to make up. They did i guess, but I want them to get out together.

What disappointed me was the ending. And it's whats made me so confused about this book. I have no idea what i read. The ending threw everything out of the water for me. Did it fit? I'm not sure. I guess madness took over the situation and perhaps the ending was fitting. I am still so torn what it really meant. We also never actually find out much more about 'the gets' which this was the basis for the book.

Overall it was good. Its freakishly scary and dark.

Go Get it From: Amazon UK | Book Depository | Waterstones | Wordery
Follow @TheNickCutter

 

Die Again

Title: Die Again (Rizzoli & Isles #11)
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Type: Hardback
Read: 9th January - 10th January 2016
Rating: 5/5
Published: 30th December 2014 by Ballantine Books

Boston Detective Jane Rizzoli is on the case of a big game hunter found dead in his apartment, alone with the body of a beautiful white snow leopard he had recently been commissioned to procure and stuff for a high-profile museum in the area.

Medical examiner Maura Isles connects the case to a number of seemingly unrelated deaths where the victims have all been found hanging upside down, the hallmark of a leopard's kill.

Rizzoli follows the puzzling trail of clues all the way to Botswana, where she uncovers the unsolved mystery of a deadly camping safari six years prior. When she realizes the two cases are connected, Rizzoli must track down the sole survivor of the tragic trip to discover who - or what - is behind these gruesome deaths.

This is the 11th book in the Rizzoli and Isles series. I've never read them in order, i does help witht he back story but its not essential. I much prefer the crime and resolving it. Die Again has been on my shelf since the week it came out. I tend to freak myself out reading Tess' books, they can give me nightmares. So i put this one off and for some reason i just wanted to read it. I got through it in just about a day. Sometimes i feel bad doing so, as so much research goes into these books, that it seems like i'm rushing it. But i really enjoyed this one. It was addictive.

The stroy is split between Botswana and Boston. Africa and the US. We are first introduced to Millie who goes on a safari trip with her annoying and down right rude boyfriend Richard. They are there with five others and two guides. All is well until one of the guides is killed, at first it seems a tragic accident, eaten by animals. But then when one of the tourist is killed, it seems un-nerving and to top it off the truck won't start to get them out of the wild. So grouped together with just one clever leader, they decide to wait it out. Gradually more strange things begin to happen and Millie is caught between the rest of the party and the guide. Until everything gets even more crazy and it seems Millie is the only survivor.

Fast forward 6 years and a double murder in Boston of a taxidermist and a seemily unknown bring the case to light for Rizzoli. But how do these cases link with that of what happened to Millie six years prior.

Tess has a good way of writing, I honestly thought half way through the book i worked out who was behind all the murders. But alas I was totally wrong. It's a good twist and I dont' think anyone will see it coming. Tess leads you down lots of guess who routes and thats a damn good author.

The more I read about Jane Rizzoli the more I just adore her. She's fiesty, independant yet beneath it all at times is also scared. She fights for everything she truely believes in. I want to be a bad as her!

This is a fast action book, its full of drama, suspense and lots of big cats.
I'm keeping everything crossed that this isn't the last for the R&I series!  

Go Get it From: Amazon UK | Book Depository | Waterstones | Wordery
Follow @TessGerritsen

 

Paperweight

Title: Paperweight
Author: Meg Haston
Type: Paperback
Read: 7th January - 9th January 2016
Rating: 4/5
Published: 2nd July 2015 by Hot Key Books

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Struggling to deal with her brother's death and a past she refuses to confront, Stevie knows she has problems. But she's still furious about the fact that she's been packed off to a health clinic, in the middle of nowhere, where mobile phones are banned and communication with the outside world is strictly by permission only. The regimented and obtrusive nature of the clinic and its staff is torture to the deeply private, obstinate Stevie - and don't even get her started on the other 'inmates'. All she wants is to be left alone...

But as Stevie is about to find out, life is full of surprises. And she will prove herself stronger than she knows - even when her past finally catches her up in the most shocking and brutal way possible. 

I remember the only reason i brought this book was because I'd seen a picture of it on someones Instagram. It was a pretty cover, so i brought it whilst travelling in Ireland.

It's not often books, get to me in a way that makes me overthink. This book had so much raw emotion in it that it was hard not to think of it whilst i was doing other things. Paperweight is about Stevie, who is taken to a New Mexico treatment centre. At first I wasn't exactly sure why Stevie was taken there, but as the story goes on we discover that Stevie has an eating disorder. She's bullemic and she wants to die. In twenty seven days to be exact.

I was drawn to Stevie straight away. I found her tough. She had a huge front on her but she was determind. No matter what was going on she was fiesty. We hear her story and you begin to realise she's just a girl who needs someone to love her and tell her exactly what is wrong. Not have someone tiptoe around her and forget she's distroying herself.

It was a really raw and emotionally hard book to read. It is touching how graudal Stevie begins to realise she does need help and she is really in the best place. It's lovely to see her find a friend within the treatment centre and her shrink, Anna, was just someone who didn't judge, but listened to her and tried her best to help no matter how many times Stevie shot her down.

This is a story of finding your way back. It's hard.

Go Get it From: Amazon UK | Book Depository | Waterstones | Wordery
Follow MegHaston

 

Carry On

Title: Carry On
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Type: Hardback
Read: 2nd January 2016 - 6th January 2016
Rating: 5/5
Published: 8th October 2015 by Macmillan Childrens Books (UK)

Simon Snow just wants to relax and savour his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, but no one will let him. His girlfriend broke up with him, his best friend is a pest and his mentor keeps trying to hide him away in the mountains where maybe he'll be safe. Simon can't even enjoy the fact that his room-mate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can't stop worrying about the evil git. Plus there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. When you're the most powerful magician the world has ever known, you never get to relax and savour anything.

Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you'd expect from a Rainbow Rowell story - but far, far more monsters.

This Book. Is. Amazing.
Rainbow Rowell first introduced us to Simon and Baz in the book 'Fangirl'. The main character Cath wrote Carry On fanfiction about the two characters. In that book, i was so-so about the story. I loved the fangirl story, but I was also so torn on the Simon & Baz stuff. It was so Harry Potter.

Admitedly like everyone else, when we found out Rainbow was actually going to write her own version of Carry On, i was excited. Like crazily slow. I just didnt' really have a clue what to expected. Which was good. I pre-ordered the book and was super excited when it arrived. I just kinda never got around to reading it, partly because I was in a reading slump and secondly, the hype. I was scared. What if it didnt' live up to such. I feel bad when that happens.

But alas. I picked it as my second read of 2016 and I don't regret waiting either. This is Rainbows take on the two characters. It's nothing 'additional' to the story in Fangirl. Its completly seperate.

So the story, its fantasy, it's magical and its so not Harry Potter. It's also very british! I loved that so much. Simon Snow is the chosen one, the one who will save the world of Mages, cept he is pretty terrible at controlling his magic. Baz, is his arch enemy, but they have to put up with each other, they share a room. The story takes place in Watford, and the final year at their for both Simon and Baz. When the start of the new school year comes, Simon cant' wait to get back, but when Baz doesnt' appear back at school for well over six weeks, Simon gets worried. But he cant' work out why, is it because Baz is working on ways to distroy him.

The story is told via Baz, Simon, Penny, Agatha and a few other main characters. I liked that alot, it was great to see things from everyones view point. The magic side of the story was great, not eveyone had the same level of power, and it was set in the "normal" world, and the spells were very fun. It was hard to read them without a sing-song voice in your head. The magic spells were your everyday nursery rhymes. And you think by just saying these words, how easy it was to understand what the spells meant.

I loved Penny as a character, she was so there. Just saying it as it was, being all geeky and yet smart and clever. She and Simon together were pure gold. I did love Baz as well. He's sensitive side came out at times and you realise he is just like everyone else. The main draw of this book, which i'm sure the hype was all for is how Baz and Simon getogether. It's a cute romance, its gradual and confuses Simon more than Baz at first. It's addictive. I wanted more of them.

The book moves on fast after the first "book" and you find out the story, who killed Baz' mum and how can the student get justice and why does Simon get caught up in so much trouble. Simon as a character was sometimes annoying. He seemed immature at times and always thought the Mage would be his go to person. The twist is good. I loved it.

However this book is very british, i think i loved it more so because of that. There has been alot of research go into how us Brits are on a day-to-day basis and the things we say. Who our british icons are (yay for the Ant & Dec part) and our swearing (tut-tut!).

I'm glad i went into this book, cautious and without expectation. It exceeded everything I thought it would. Rainbow doesnt' write fantasy books and with this being her first, she got it right. I truely loved the book and would tell everyone worried about it being a HP rip off, to just read it, forget HP as this isn't anything to do with it. The likeness ends pretty quickly!

I want more!!!  

Go Get it From: Amazon UK | Book Depository | Waterstones | Wordery
Follow @RainbowRowell

This Raging Light

Title: This Raging Light
Author: Estelle Laure
Type: Paperback (ARC)
Read: 1st January 2016
Rating: 4/5
Published: 7th January 2016 by Orchard Books

How is it that you suddenly notice a person? How is it that one day Digby was my best friend's admittedly cute twin brother, and then the next he stole air, gave jitters, twisted my insides up?

Lucille has bigger problems than falling for her best friend's unavailable brother. Her mom has gone, leaving her to look after her sister, Wren. With bills mounting up and appearances to keep, Lucille is raging against her life but holding it together - just.
A stunning debut to devour in one sitting, Laure captures completely the agony and ecstasy of first love.

I recieved an arc copy of this book from Maximumpopbooks as a thank you for taking part in their first ever secret santa. Although the ISBN on the book is for the hardback version, I recieved it in paperback form and the cover is not the same as this. I actually prefer the arc copy. The title reflects back in the light and its just stunning.

I picked this up as my first read of 2016, as i wanted to read this before its due date of 07/01. It's an easy book and can be read in a day. The book is of Lucille & Wren, sisters who are left alone by their mother and have to learn to live on their own. It doesn't seem too bad except Wren is only 9 years old and Lucille is barley 17. They have only one hundred dollars to get by, to pay the bills and live as normal. Lucille does a lot of growing up fast when she tries to keep everything together to make sure Wren isn't taken away.

The book is good. I enjoyed reading about Lucille and Wren, i enjoyed their sisterly togetherness. I loved that no matter how hard it was, they stuck by each other. Lucilles best friend Eden, tries to help as much as possible, but I think she grew jealous and therefore selfish of Lucille. Eden is a twin and knows Lucille is in love with her brother Digby. A romance does ensue but i think although its what Lucille wanted, it probably came at a difficult time and confused both parties a lot.

Lucille takes on a job as well as looking after her sister, going to school and dealing with the house. And we get glimpses into little graces that are mysteriously given to the two sisters. Cupboards full of food, a garden given a make over, of which neither girl knows who is behind it. At the end we find out and its great how they have angels watching them.

We never know where their mum is, just that she's not here where she should be. We find out more about their dad, and why most people in the town ignore the two girls. It's a tough life for both and i really felt for Wren, who went from being a happy 8/9 year old to suddenly realising that her parents didnt' care and she had to put on a brave face whilst trying to avoid all the questions. Its gotta be hard. 
Its a wonderful book.

Go get it From: Amazon UK | Book Depository | Waterstones | Wordery
Follow @StarLaure

 

2016 aims and challenge!

Happy New Year!! I'm so excited to finally be able to pick my goodreads challenge for 2016. I've aimed higher this year. I've gone for 60 books. I usually stick to 50 and always go over, so why not do a real challenge and aim higher! Fingers crossed I can do this. 

I'm not one who can pick a TBR pile, my whole book shelf is a constant TBR shelf. I can't ever pick books in advance and say 'okay this month i'll read this' - well done if you can - but I get bored, or I worry I'm missing something else much more fun. So I won't have set order of ever reading any books this year. 

The only thing I do want to do within the reading challenge is to branch out - so within the above I wish to do/ find books that will come under the following. No book can be classed as more than one category.

- Read a classic

- Read a banned book

- Discover a new author

- Read a book published in 2016

- Read a book over 600 pages

- Read a childrens book

- Read a Graphic Novel

- Read an ARC

- Read a book translated to english

- Read a book more than 100 years old

- Read a Triology

- Read a play

- Read a book that was turned into a movie

- Read a book I was given

- Read a book based on a true story

- Read a book that scares me (or an author)

- Read a book set in a different country 

- Read a book with an animal on the cover

- Read a book with a number in the title

- Read a mystery or thriller

- Read a book set into the future

- Read a book with a one word title

- Read a book based on it's cover
- Re-read a book on your shelf
- A book with a character that has your name

I think by doing this, I'm not tying myself to any one particular book and should reduce my reading shelf dramatically, if i stop buying of course (it's not going to happen but a girl can hope!).

On a personal level, I want to have fun in 2016, I really want my job to get better. I want to start enjoying it again rather than dread going there. I want to study something but not be forced to do so, and I want it to be something I enjoy. I want to get more involved with blogging and start speaking to other bloggers, and learn from them. I want to get more involved in the book community, because from the oustide, it's a brilliant one! 

I also hope to gradually come out of my comfort zone in everything I do. I can do it, I'm probably just too lazy to do so. I also want to use my reading to be more social. How that will happen is beyond me, as reading is such an isolating thing, but I'm going to see if i can find book groups locally or something. We're already in the start of planning 'World Book Day' at work - this year finally dressing up! I want to that to succeed! 

Overall I just want to be happy for 2016 and read more books.