In My Mailbox!

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren Hello my fellow book lovers! It’s Sunday so that means it’s in my mailbox time! I’m so excited about a few particular books this week. I got some really good ones, so without further ado let’s bring out the books! Bought Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl Revelations by Melissa De La Cruz Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz Red Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells The Mage in Black by Jaye Wells Given/ For Review Matched by Ally Condie Entice by Carrie Jones So that’s what I got this week. I got the Blue Bloods and Jaye Wells books in a buy 3 for £5 deal or one for £1.99 on at The Works which was great! They only had the first and the third book in the blue bloods series but I’m going to keep stopping by to see if they get in the other books. I was so excited when Amazon UK had Beautiful Darkness in stock a week before its release date I cannot wait to read that book I loved Beautiful Creatures so much, and Hunger just looks awesome I really love the cover for it! If you follow me on twitter you will know that all I’ve tweeted about recently is how badly I wanted Matched so when Luisa from Chicklish offered me up her copy I immediately accepted. It arrived yesterday and I done one of my most enthusiastic happy dances ever to say I was ecstatic is an understatement so excited to read it! Thank you Luisa! And then I got Entice for review from Bloomsbury which looks great I have yet to read the other two books in the series but I’m going to get round to them soon because they look really good and I’ve heard nothing but praise for them. If you’ve read any of the books I got this week and want to leave me a comment letting me know what you thought please do and make sure you leave me a link to what you got in your mailbox this week. Here’s to another great week of reading ahead!

Book Bloggers Hop & Follow My Book Blog Friday!

Hello to all my wonderful followers and to hopefully some potential new ones! This Friday I’m participating in The Book Bloggers hop which is hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books and Follow my Book Blog Friday that’s hosted over at Parajunkee's View if you wish to take part please stop by there and sign the Mr Linky. This week’s question from the hop is… "Where is your favorite place to read? Curled up on the sofa, in bed, in the garden?" My answer: It really depends. If I’m reading in the day I don’t like to read in bed because sometimes I’ll get so comfortable that I end up putting my book down to take a little nap so that’s not productive when I want to read. So my place of choice in the day is on my armchair by the coffee table with a lamp on, a drink and something to nibble at snuggled up under a blanket. At night however I love reading in bed – when the house is silent with everybody else asleep it’s lovely to be all warm and snug lost in your book. But then in summer I love love love reading outside in the garden. A nice easy summer read along with a cocktail in the sun is my idea of heaven. So I guess to sum up I have a lot of different favourite places to read for different moods not just one set place. Well I hope your all enjoying my blog and I hope some of you decide to follow! I have a giveaway going on at the minute open internationally exclusive to my followers that you might want to check out here. Feel free to leave me a link to your blog and let me know your answer to this week’s question. It’s great to have you all here :)

Booking Through Thursday

Name a book (or books) from a country other than your own that you love. Or aren’t there any? Oh I read so many books from different countries! In fact some of my all-time favourites are translated. One of my favourite books of this year The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon is by a Spanish author and No and Me another book I enjoyed recently is translated from the French. On top of that I read many, many books by American authors. I don’t really mind where a books based or if it’s been translated I like books with all types of different settings and read books from other countries regularly.

Review for Sugar and Spice by Lauren Conrad

Sugar and Spice is the last instalment in the L.A Candy series. These books have been my sweet little guilty pleasures this year and although they may not be the best pieces of literature they keep me entertained which for me is the main thing. The L.A Candy series follows a year in the life of a group of young, L.A girls who have launched to fame through a hit reality TV show. These books are semi autobiography, semi fiction based on author Lauren Conrad’s time on MTVs hugely successful reality series The Hills. In Sugar and Spice things pick up where Sweet Little Lies left off. After recently being betrayed by supposed friend and co-star Madison, Jane’s fast learning who she can and can’t trust now that she’s living under the spotlight. Whilst the tabloids are trying to create a rivalry between the girls all Jane wants is to cut her frenemies out and take back control of her life and normality, but normal is hard to achieve when you’re the nations sweetheart and your ex-boyfriend from back home comes creeping out of the works. Add on top of that Jane’s current L.A crush Brandon and life proves to be just as dramatic off screen as it is on. Meanwhile Jane’s best friend Scarlett is having some boy troubles of her own. Her new boyfriend Liam is the guy of her dreams, sweet, kind and down to earth Liam has no interest in appearing on L.A candy – which would be perfect if the bosses of the show didn’t keep trying to set up flirtatious scenes between Scarlett and guys who are willing to appear on the show causing Scarlett’s real reality to come crashing down. As season 2 gets ready to air it looks like the girls have some big decisions to make about their lives on and off set but can both reality and reality TV ever co-exist smoothly alongside each other? What I love about the L.A candy books is that there’s never a dull moment. There’s always plenty of drama and backstabbing to keep you turning those pages and the characters of Jane and Scarlett are really admirable. If you haven’t read these books you may be lead to believe that it’s about blonde, ditzy, wannabes chasing fame in L.A and whilst there are some characters like that in the books the main characters Jane and Scarlett are nothing like that with Jane being a down to earth girl next door type and Scarlett an intelligent, ambitious, natural beauty. These girls are real and very relatable and likeable and it’s so entertaining seeing the girls trying to deal with being big stars in L.A and all the fakes and drama that comes along with it. On top of everything this series gives a very insightful look into reality TV and what really goes on behind the scenes in these shows told by a girl who’s experienced it all first hand. I’ve enjoyed these books a lot, there perfect light hearted escapism on days when I just wanted something fun to read. I thought Sugar and Spice was a great ending to a great series overall but I was a little disappointed by Jane’s love interest outcome especially because I liked a certain guy in particular but other than that I thought it was a perfect ending. Scandalous, dramatic and highly entertaining this is the perfect series to get lost in. The literary equivalent to a hot bubble bath and a glass of wine. Sugar and Spice will be loved by The Hills fans, reality TV show junkies and teenage girls everywhere. 3.5 stars. My Rating 3.5/5 stars ***1/2

200 Follower Giveaway!

As some of you may know from my happy tweets on twitter I recently reached over 200 followers! So to celebrate I thought I’d do a giveaway exclusive to my followers to thank you for all being so supportive and wonderful to me. Unlike my last contest this will be open internationally because I have a lot of followers from all over the place so it’s not fair to only include some of you. The books are from the UK though so you may not recognise them so I’ve included a description for you all so you can find out what there about . Read on for more details! Boys Don’t Cry by Malorie Blackman In Boys Don't Cry, bestselling author Malorie Blackman explores the unchartered territory of teenage fatherhood. You’re waiting for the postman--he’s bringing your A level results. University, a career as a journalist--a glittering future lies ahead. But when the doorbell rings it’s your old girlfriend; and she’s carrying a baby. You’re fine to look after it, for an hour or two, while she does some shopping. Then she doesn’t come back and your future suddenly looks very different. Malorie’s dramatic new novel will take you on a journey from tears to laughter and back again. Department 19 by Will Hill In a secret supernatural battle that's been raging for over a century, the stakes have just been raised – and they're not wooden anymore. When Jamie Carpenter's mother is kidnapped by strange creatures, he finds himself dragged into Department 19, the government's most secret agency. Fortunately for Jamie, Department 19 can provide the tools he needs to find his mother, and to kill the vampires who want him dead. But unfortunately for everyone, something much older is stirring, something even Department 19 can't stand up against… Please note that both books are ARC’s not finished copies. Boys don’t cry will be out in the UK October 28th 2010 and Department 19 31 March 2011- Department 19 is so new I don’t even have a finished cover to show you guys yet! Both sound like really brilliant books and one winner will receive both. Contest is open internationally but note that you do have to be a follower of my blog to enter. The winner will be checked up on and if that person is not a follower a new winner will be drawn. Rules

• Open Internationally
• Followers of this blog only
• Contest ends Monday 25th October
• ONE winner will be chosen by random.org
• The winner will be contacted via e-mail, and will be given 48 hours to respond. Otherwise, a new winner will be drawn
• Your details will only be used if you win

Now for your chance to enter please fill in the form, good luck! This Giveaway is now closed and a winner has been announced.