Thursday 23 August 2012

Update: A Post Full Of Plaguey-ness

So since my last post was 10 days ago I figured some of you might be starting to wonder where I’ve been and it’s taken me 10 days to summon the energy to write this one single update which might give you an idea of just how crappy I’ve been feeling. If you follow me on twitter you may know that I’ve been ill with several things back to back for a few week’s now from a cold to my asthma playing up to whooping cough to a current ear infection my body has been full of plague yuckyness lately and after three weeks of being ill I’m beginning to forget what normal feels like, seriously guys I can’t remember the last time I had a good night’s sleep with my cough and now my cough AND my earache keeping me awake at all hours.

I’m on a load of different medication and between antibiotics and only having a few hours’ sleep a night I couldn’t string together a coherent review if I tried. I’ve put off and put off doing this post as I was so sure I’d be better soon but it just seems to be one thing after another so I’ve decided to take a blogging break for a few week’s so I can rest and get my immune system back into shape. I go on holiday in 2 week’s so I definitely want to be feeling better for that and then I was going to take a blogging break whilst I was away anyway so hopefully when I return on the 15th September I’ll be feeling much better and can get back to normal.

You guys have no idea how sucky I’ve been feeling with all this illness (or you might if you’ve seen my Moaning Myrtle tweets!) and how frustrated I am to be having to take such a long break from the blog especially as I was supposed to be taking part in Review Copy Cleanup this month but after a lot of thought I thought it would be wise to use the next two weeks to rest up.

I’m going to wrap up there and stop rambling on so I can go back to sleep, I hope you guys understand that I need to look after me for a while and as much as I love blogging and see it as a fun hobby not a chore it does take up so much time and focus when what I need to be focusing on right now is getting better.

I hope you all enjoy those last few weeks of summer, stay well, and happy reading till next time guys! See you in a few weeks!

Monday 13 August 2012

Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon: Final Update


The Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon is hosted by Jennifer at Some Like It Paranormal and Jude at In Between.

What I Read:
This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers (5*)
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins (4*)
From What I Remember... by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas (3.5*)
Raising Demons by Rachel Hawkins (4.5*)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (4*)
Spellbound by Rachel Hawkins (4*)
Total Pages Read: 2024
Challenges I Participated In: Wicked Summer Cover Challenge
Favourite Book Read: Hands down This Is Not A Test it was absolutely fantastic!
Final Thoughts: 6 out of 9 aint half bad especially because I was really poorly towards the start of the readathon and didn't really feel like reading at all! I am a bit disapointed that I didn't get around to Shatter Me though as that's one I was so sure I was going to read, but never mind, maybe next time!

 Lastly I'm going to leave you with the places and spaces I read during the readathon, enjoy!

Because I was ill my bed was definitely my prime location for this readathon!
Later on in the week as I was feeling better I took to my armchair with reading snacks.
And on one rare sunny day I even got to sit outside on our bench for an hour!

Thanks for all the fantastic support during the readathon guys! If you took part I'd love to know how you got on as well!

Sunday 12 August 2012

Letterbox Love (10) Another Vlog Edition!


Letterbox Love is a new meme hosted by Lynsey @ Narratively Speaking for UK based book bloggers to showcase the books that they’ve received each week.

As mentioned in the video I've been getting over a cold so please excuse the croaky voice!

    

Books Featured in this Video
Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs (Proof copy)
Breathe by Sarah Crossan (Proof copy)
Goodbye For Now by Laurie Frankel
Shadows by Ilsa J. Bick (Proof copy)
The Forsaken by Lisa Stasse
The Hunting by Sam Hawksmoor
Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter (US ARC)

For more information on the books featured click on the title of each book and it will take you to the books Goodreads page for a full description and so you can add it to your wishlists! If you’ve read or are looking forward to any of the books I got feel free to let me know what you thought about them or request reviews and such in the comments. And if you decided to do a Letterbox Love, Book Haul, IMM, Showcase Sunday, Mailbox Monday or whatever else featuring the books you got this week leave me a link as I’d love to check out your books too! ^_^

Saturday 11 August 2012

Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon: Days 6 and 7 Update


The Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon is hosted by Jennifer at Some Like It Paranormal and Jude at In Between.

What I Read: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky & Spellbound by Rachel Hawkins
Number of Pages Read: 406
Pages Read Total: 1872
Books Read Total: 5
Challenge: No
Reading Snacks: I haven't had any chocolate for 2 weeks now because with my asthma it tends to aggravate it but since I'm feeling better I treated myself to one GIANT triple chocolate chip muffin and it was delicious! I'm a real chocolate lover so it was so good to eat something chocolaty again and it was only after I finished it that I realised I didn't get a snack picture...ooops! Guess I just couldn't wait to eat it!
Non Reading Activity: So yesterday I didn't do an update because I fully intended to get out in the sunshine with my book but then it clouded over and it just didn't happen so instead I spent a big chunk of yesterday watching Pretty Little Liars and Lost but I still managed to fit in a good chunk of Spellbound before bed too so overall although it may not have been the best reading day it was a good day.
Thoughts: 5 books down! I really enjoyed Perks and I'm excited to hopefully tackle the rest of Spellbound today and see how this series ends! It would be great if after Spellbound I could squeeze in one more book before the ‘thon’s over but we'll see how we go...

Thursday 9 August 2012

Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon: Day 5 Update


The Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon is hosted by Jennifer at Some Like It Paranormal and Jude at In Between.

What I Read: Raising Demons by Rachel Hawkins
Number of Pages Read: 359
Pages Read Total: 1466
Books Read Total: 4
Challenge: No


Reading Snacks: Today's snack of choice may seem a bit of an odd combination to some people but I swear it's good! Peanut M&M's mixed in with Sweet Cinema Style Popcorn. A friend of mine introduced me to this combination and they work so well together! It works with any flavour of popcorn really but I think it works best with either sweet or salted. Seriously, if you like Peanut M&M's and popcorn you should give it a try!
Non Reading Activity: I read solidly throughout the day so was finished with my book around 9pm so I watched a few more episodes of Lost before bed, yay!
Thoughts: Today was a most excellent day, I sailed through my book without even trying, it was an awesome book (4.5 star rating!) so reading it was effortless and I also hit my highest page count for this readathon so far in 359 pages. We're due some nice weather over the next few days in the UK so I'm hoping to fit in some reading in the garden if it's nice enough. I have a busier day ahead on day 6 with having to tackle the housework and jobs I've been putting off in favour of reading so I'm going with my shortest read next The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I've heard amazing things for this book and after reading my friend Ellie's review I'm even more excited to finally be picking it up!

Wednesday 8 August 2012

Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon: Day 4 Update


The Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon is hosted by Jennifer at Some Like It Paranormal and Jude at In Between.

What I Read: From What I Remember... by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas
Number of Pages Read: 146
Pages Read Total: 1107
Books Read Total: 3
Challenge: No
Reading Snacks: American Style Salted Pretzels yum yum!


Non Reading Activity: When I finished my 3rd book I decided my eyes and brain needed a little break so spent the rest of the evening watching the Olympics, on twitter, watching New Girl and then watching Youtube video's before bed, now I feel re-charged and am hoping to tackle an entire book on day 5.
Thoughts: I'm starting to feel much better now, my coughs settled down so that means I've been getting a better night’s sleep giving my body chance to fight my cold, my appetite is back, and I'm ready to start getting back to normal, wooh! However I might milk this snuggling up in bed all day reading thing for one more day, I was too poorly to take advantage of it before, and you guys won't tell anyone I'm starting to feel better right? ;)

 When reading in bed for a long time, does anybody else have this problem? 

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Signing Up For The Review Copy Cleanup!

BBT

Review Copy Cleanup is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea and Celine from Nyx Book Reviews, to find out more about it or to sign up click their button!

There are so many fabulous sounding books coming out over the next couple of months so that means that my review pile is through the roof! I'd like to get around to as many of these books as humanly possible and share what I thought with you guys, so when I saw this challenge on Vicky's blog I thought, perfect!

         

I have a really large selection of books to choose from so I don't want to limit myself to what I'm going to read by stating down a few here and sticking to a list, it will be much more fun if I can just choose what I want to read from my piles on a whim, there are a few that I do REALLY want to make sure I get read though and those are the books I've pictured above. I also really want to tackle a few Netgalley books as they always tend to get neglected in favour of actual review copies.

I'm taking part in a readathon at the moment so am taking a little break from review books so I don't have the commitment of having to write reviews for them all but as soon as that's over on the 12th you can bet I'll be attacking those review books for the rest of August! Wish me luck! Hopefully I'll get lots read and reviewed :)

Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon: Day 3 Update

The Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon is hosted by Jennifer at Some Like It Paranormal and Jude at In Between.

What I Read: From What I Remember... by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas
Number of Pages Read: 316
Pages Read Total: 961
Books Read Total: 2
Challenge: No
Reading Snacks: I finally has a snacky picture to show you! My cough is finally starting to settle down which means I can start to introduce some dairy again so I went for some mini muffins which only have the tiniest amount of chocolate in with them being y'know mini and all! They're mainly really fluffy sweet muffiny goodness and are perfect bite sized snacks for a readathon! I also had a bowl of my favourite crisps Walkers Sensations Thai Sweet Chilli which are sweet and spicy bites of deliciousness. Yay! For having my appetite back and finally being able to break into the readathon snacks!


Non Reading Activity: As well as currently watching Lost I also started to watch Pretty Little Liars when I got sick, mainly because I'm not allowed to watch Lost without my brother as he's addicted to it too and I have to wait for him! I'm not as addicted to Pretty Little Liars as I am to Lost its kinda cheese and far-fetched at times but the whole mystery to who A is is pretty addictive! I watched a couple of episodes of this when I felt like taking a reading break and I only have a few episodes of season 1 left to go!


Thoughts: So I didn't manage to finish a book today but From What I Remember is a pretty big book so I wasn't expecting to anyway. It's good so far but I have to admit not as good as I was expecting it's really fun though and I am enjoying it and looking forward to seeing how it ends as I take it into day 4.

Monday 6 August 2012

Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon: Day 2 Update


The Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon is hosted by Jennifer at Some Like It Paranormal and Jude at In Between.

What I Read: Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
Number of Pages Read: 323
Pages Read Total: 645
Books Read Total: 2
Challenge: Wicked Summer Cover Challenge
Non Reading Activity: I spent most of the day solidly reading, but I did spend a lot of time in the morning catching up with other readathoners and bloggers I follow and I did the Cover Challenge which took up a good couple of hours hunting down all of the covers but was, although at times frustrating, really good fun! I felt so satisfied when I finally found them all!
Thoughts: I'm doing a lot better than I thought I was going to hitting my original target of a book a day which I set before I got sick. If I had to describe Hex Hall in one word it would be FUN! I'm a little bit in love with Sophie and want her as a friend. She's loyal, smart, but most of all HILARIOUS. For example early on in the book there’s a werewolf charging at her ready to rip her throat out, Sophie is a witch and could, you know, easily defend herself but in her panic what does this particular witch do? She shouts "BAD DOG!" people! *Snort* I stinkin’ love Soph already and can't wait to get around to the next book. The Hex Hall series would be the love child of JK Rowling and Louise Rennison for sure and I'm hoping to read the whole series during the readathon, but next up I think I'm going to take a little trip down contemporary lane...watch this space!

Sunday 5 August 2012

Summer Wrap Up Read-a-Thon: Wicked Summer Cover Challenge, I gots them all!

The Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon is hosted by Jennifer at Some Like It Paranormal and Jude at In Between.

The challenge is to find the following items in book covers...

 Sun 
A teeny bikni 
Beach umbrella 
Sandcastle 
Oceanscape or a beach scene 
Sunflower 
An American flag (4th of July) 
Lemonade/Iced Tea 
Sunset 
Sailboat 
Camping equipment (tent, sleeping bag, etc.) 
Sunglasses 
Swimming Pool 
Sun bather 
Picnic 

 I found them all!

Summer Nights by Allie Spencer for Sun, Oceanscape or a beach scene, Sailboat.

Tan Lines by J. J. Salem for A teeny bikni

The Beach Cafe by Lucy Diamond for Beach Umbrella and Sunglasses

Sandcastles: Part 1 by Robbie Snelgrove for Sandcastle

Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella for Sunflower

Pop Tart by Kira Coplin and Julianne Kaye for An American Flag

Recipe for Love by Katie Fforde for Lemonade/Iced Tea

When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle for Sunset

Over You by Lucy Diamond for Camping equipment (tent, sleeping bag, etc.)

Swim the Fly by Don Calame for Swimming Pool

Sweet Little Lies by Alison Bond for Sun bather

To the Moon and Back by Jill Mansell for picnic

Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon: Day 1 Update

The Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon is hosted by Jennifer at Some Like It Paranormal and Jude at In Between.

What I Read: This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers
Number of Pages Read: 322
Pages Read Total: 322
Books Read Total: 1
Challenge: Readathon TBR
Reading Snacks: None! With being ill I've completely lost my appetite and I'm not allowed anything yummy anyway which sucks as everybody knows one of the best things about a readathon is the snacks! My dad did cook me one of my favourites for dinner though, coconut curry! It was delicious and I'm hoping the spices will help blast away my cold!
Non Reading Activity: Today was spent pretty much in bed alternating between reading and sleeping, sounds perfect I know, but not so much when you have to stop every few minutes to cough a lung up! I did come down stairs for food though and I watched an episode of Lost over lunch. I've started to watch the DVD boxsets for the very first time and I'm hooked and currently on season 2 so you may be seeing a lot of Lost episode mentions in my none reading time. I also spent some time on twitter stalking other readathoners...naturally ;)


Thoughts: One book down already and it was a fantastic one at that! Definitely a 5 star and my favourite out of all of Courtney Summers' books yet. So far my reading is going well, now if only I could just kick this illness' ass and I could enjoy the mountain of yummy snacks I bought...

Saturday 4 August 2012

Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon Day 1: My TBR


The Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon is hosted by Jennifer at Some Like It Paranormal and Jude at In Between

My Readathon To Be Read Pile


From Top to Bottom
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Hex Hall Series:
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
Raising Demons by Rachel Hawkins
Spellbound by Rachel Hawkins
White Wedding by Milly Johnson
This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers
Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
From What I Remember... by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas

Nine days, nine books! Well at least that was the original plan… before I got sick. I have laryngitis, a cold, AND my asthma playing up and haven't done any reading for days because of it. But I'm still determined to at least take part and try my best with the readathon. Needless to say this will be a more relaxed readathon for me this time around. Whereas last time I really pushed myself this time I need to prioritize getting better over reading which means, no staying up late to finish a book! *Glares sternly at future self.* However I DO have the advantage of being ill and needing some peaceful resting time to read so we'll see how we get on!

I have a nice selection to choose from over the next few days from chick-lit, to paranormal, to dystopians, to contemporary. I've got some shorter quick reads, some medium sized, and a couple of bigger books but the one thing they all have in common is that I really wanted to read them this summer, so this readathon fits in perfectly!

I'll be updating on the blog, my goodreads, and twitter whenever I can and I've already kick started day 1 by making a start on This Is Not A Test in bed this morning (SO good so far!) I'd like to read as many of these books as I can before the readathon's over so wish me luck! :)
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