Wicked Valentine's Read-a-thon Wrap Up!

The Wicked Valentine's Read-a-thon has finished, and the whole thing was a lot of fun! Thanks so much to April, Tabitha and Bex of My Shelf Confessions for hosting this event!

How did I do? Well, I managed to meet all four of my goals, though admittedly not the last one quite as much as I would have liked. So... success! :-D

- Goal - finish 2 of the books I was already reading.
- Result - I finished 2 of the 3 books I had on the go at the beginning of the read-a-thon. I read:

- Goal - Take part in at least 2 mini challenges.
- Result - I participated in 4 mini challenges.
- Goal - Take part in one Twitter chat.
- Result - I took part in one of the Twitter chats. (the other was too late at night for me, otherwise I would have joined that one too. I love Twitter chats!)
- Goal - Visit and comment on other blogs taking part in the read-a-thon.
- Result - I visited other blogs and commented, though not as much as I would have liked. Hopefully will be able to visit a lot of people's wrap up posts though.

How did everyone else's read-a-thon go? Did you manage to meet your goals?


Updates from the Week:

I'm starting on Friday, so no Thurs updates.

Friday: Lots of reading time in the afternoon, especially at the laundrette (we accidentally pinkified some of our sheets, whoops!).

Black Feathers (Black Dawn Vol 1) - 10% read, 52% through
City of Bones - 38 pages read, 138 pages through
Of Mice and Men - 42 pages read, 42 pages through

Saturday: Not much time for reading as I was in town most of the day. Still made some good progress on Black Feathers though. Really enjoyed the Twitter chat!

Black Feathers - 63% through
City of Bones - still 138 pages through
Of Mice and Men - still 42 pages through

Mini-Challenge - Done!

Sunday: Finished Of Mice and Men, and then fell asleep on the sofa! Was a nice, relaxed day.

Black Feathers - 63% through
City of Bones - 145 pages through
Of Mice and Men - Finished!

Mini-Challenge - Done!

Monday: Busy day! Got a fair bit of City of Bones read at bed-time and stayed up a bit too late reading it... I was at a really good bit! :-)

Black Feathers - 65% through
City of Bones - 213 pages through

Mini-Challenge - Done!

Tuesday: So. Full. Of pancakes.

Black Feathers - 70% through
City of Bones - 236 pages through

Mini-Challenge - Done!

Wednesday: Good reading day, finished Black Feathers! Unfortunately, my laptop cable broke and I had to turn my computer off in the evening, so didn't get to be sociable or complete the last mini-challenge. Nevermind, it did mean more reading time!

Black Feathers - Finished!
City of Bones - 236 pages through

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares - Book Review

“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”

So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favourite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have written a love story that will have readers perusing bookstore shelves, looking and longing for a love (and a red notebook) of their own. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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I’m not sure I could ask for a better book to review on Valentine’s Day. Dash and Lily’s blossoming romance is one of the sweetest, funniest and most honest that I’ve read.

I loved the concept of this story, that the couple meet through a diary, performing a set of tasks and clues before they ever see each other face to face. The book opens with Dash’s point of view as he finds the little diary stashed in-between his favourite author’s works in a bookshop. The book dares him to prove himself by following some clues, eliminating anyone who the diarist would not be romantically interested in. Dash passes the test, but instead of leaving his name and number with the specified shop assistant, he leaves the diary, with a new set of clues. And so the dairy-flirting-treasure-hunt begins.

Through the opening chapter, both Dash and the reader gain a sense of what kind of person Lily is, and both are completely wrong! In the very next chapter the reader is introduced to the real Lily, a shy, optimistic and naive girl whose brother placed the diary in the bookshop in the hopes of finding her a date. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that not only are Lily and Dash almost exact opposites, they are also each forming entirely the wrong impression of the other. Dash is snarky, sarcastic and suspicious, and he hates Christmas. Lily is open, optimistic and cheery, and she loves everything about this time of year. Dash thinks Lily’s messages are ironic and her Christmas-themed clues are designed to tease him. Lily has a slightly more truthful impression of Dash (largely thanks to her helpful and hilarious relatives), but his sarcasm can sometimes fly over her head and she believes Christmas is all that's needed to cheer him up.

At first the situation seems hopeless, but then both Dash and Lily begin to change. Lily is right; Dash is, underneath the snark, a boy who needs a little more cheer and optimism in his life. Through Lily’s kindness and joy (and some very good cookies), he does begin to open up a bit more and to look at the world in a better light. For the first time he begins to enjoy Christmas. And Lily needs her boundaries to be pushed a little, to be treated more like an adult and asked the important questions that only Dash seems willing to ask her. Lily is upset about many little things in her life, mostly all due to the over-protectiveness of her family – which, as she puts it, is what causes ‘Shrilly’ to emerge. Dash helps Lily to gain confidence in herself and to stick up for herself a little more. As Lily toughens a little, Dash softens a little; it is clear that they are actually perfect for each other after all.

The book is written very well, with a lot of heart but also a lot of humour. There were several laugh-out-loud moments, especially Dash’s encounter with the local vigilante mummy-patrol. The characterisation is brilliant and it’s this that really makes the book so fantastic. Both Dash and Lily are wonderful characters, and their relationship as well as their interaction with others is always realistic and enjoyable. For me, Lily was the stand out character – she was always truthfully written and the most sympathetic, and the one who changed the most throughout the story. There’s also a fantastic range of side-characters who add plenty of humour and trouble to the plot.

Romantic, moving, funny and honest, and packed with great characters, Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares is a wonderful story.


Thank you to HarlequinUK and NetGalley for providing a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Top Ten Romances in Books

Top Ten Tuesday's going all squishy and romantic on Valentine's week, and asking us: what are our favourite romances from books? As I'll be doing a post on 'Romances That Melt The Ice' on March 1st for the Fire and Ice blog hop, some of these will be explored in more detail later... with prizes and goodies! :-D  Be sure to stop back then.

(Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Brookish. It's a lot of fun, so why not come join in!)

Top Ten Romances:

1) Sophie and Howl - from Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. Yep, you probably all know by now that I'm obsessed with this book, but the romance really is one of the best! Howl and Sophie are so perfect together, and very funny together too which makes for great reading. They're also both quite unusual characters, meaning that even though you can see the romance coming a mile off, it still plays out in fun, slightly unexpected ways.

2) Darcy and Lizzie - from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I wonder if anyone's list won't include these two! It's one of the most famous romances, and one of the best.

3) Westley and Buttercup - from The Princess Bride by William Goldman. If you haven't read this, you must! Or watch the movie - both are excellent. It's such a wonderful story, and very romantic alongside all the action and adventure.

4) Angua and Carrot - from the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. Werewolf joins City Watch, meets guard, werewolf and guard fall in love, guard finds out her secret, guard may or may not be the secret heir to the throne, werewolf already has a hard enough time dealing with fleas and doggy breath thank you very much... your classic love story really! This is comic fantasy, but the love story is actually very sweet, and Angua and Carrot are always fantastic characters.

5) Jane and Bingley - from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Another Jane Austen, and from the same book too! It sometimes feels like Lizzie and Darcy get all the attention, naturally so, as their relationship is more dramatic and Lizzie is the main character, but I think this book contains another really great romance. Jane and Bingley are one of the most adorable couples ever!

6) Ai and Estraven - from The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula le Guin. This is probably the one where most people will ask 'whaaaaat?' It's not traditionally seen as a romantic book. It's feminist, it's science fiction, it deals with important themes and heavy ideas, and this is what people tend to focus on. But, at its heart, it is a very romantic book and a great story. Whether you see the two main characters as just good friends or becoming something more (I'm firmly in the latter camp), it's heart-aching and breathtakingly told. For me, it's the best tragic love story I have ever read.

7) Dash and Lily - from Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. This is a recent read for me, and I just loved it! Dash and Lily both form completely the wrong impression of the other, then gradually get to know each other before ever having met. Although it almost seems like fate is against them at points, they keep getting drawn back to each other. And although they initially seem too different, it becomes clear just how perfect for each other they really are.

8) Hermione and Ron - from the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. It's not exactly the most swoon-worthy of romances... in fact, it's pretty awkward most of the time, but it built up slowly from the very first book, and it always felt so real and honest. And we were waiting for it for such a long time!

9) Clary and Jace - from the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. This is an interesting one to include, because I haven't read the whole story yet. But I love these characters: they're sharp and funny, and both give as good as they get. This also isn't a case of insta-love (which I'm not overly fond of) - we can really see the attachment and trust building between them. So, because I like them so much, I'm warily including them. Now don't do anything to let me down, Clary and Jace!

10) Fairytales - Fairytales in general. Not all include a romance, though many do, but I wanted to put this on the list because they're such romantic stories. Not necessarily the characters or their relationship, but the magic, the way the story is told, the ideas within them, true love... (I realise that slightly contradicts the previous point, but I actually don't mind insta-love in a fairytale). Good fairytales include the scary and the nasty with the pure and the wonderful - some show good winning out in the end, some end more tragically - but almost all of them are romantic.

Wicked Valentine's Read-a-thon Mini Challenges

The Wicked Valentine's Read-a-thon is a 7-day reading event hosted by My Shelf Confessions. There are mini-challenges every day, hosted by different blogs, and lots of lovely prizes to be won!

Sunday

Today's mini-challenge is hosted at Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

The challenge is to pick a dress, a date, and a means of transportation from different book covers.

I don't even want to tell you how long I spent poring over book covers for my dress choice. Much longer than I spent on the date, anyway!

Dress - From the cover of Everneath. This dress is gorgeous, and looks very easy to dance and swirl in.

Date - Alistair, from Dragon Age (the guy on the right). Hehe, so I'm cheating a bit because this is really a video game character, not a book character. But look, he's on the cover of a book! So it totally counts. And I can't pass up the opportunity to go to a ball with him can I? He's technically royalty, after all. Besides, you know he'd be a lot of fun, and would be making people laugh all night. Unfortunately I don't think the artwork captures him very well at all here, but it's the best I had.

Transportation - Considering the choice of date, nothing that swoops. Cos swooping would be bad. So we will be arriving in... Howl's Moving Castle! That's quite the entrance. :-D

Monday

Lines of Love: Today's challenge is hosted at My Shelf Confessions. The rules are to roll four dice and add the scores to get a sentence number. Then alter the sentence to make it as romantic as possible. You don't have to use the whole quote, and you can add words, but you can only add half the amount of words from the full quote.

Here's my random sentence:

 "Around him the world was cloaked in swirling clouds, low and grey and heavy with moisture."

16 words, so I can add another 8. And I don't have to use the full quote. Okay, here goes:

They kissed, cloaked in swirling clouds of petals, under the dew-soaked blossoms heavy with moisture.

Showcase Sunday #5

Inspired by Celine from Nyx Book Reviews, I've decided to combine several book haul memes into one post. Welcome to... Stacking the Showcase Sunday Post Shelves with Letterbox Love!

Showcase Sunday is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. Stacking the Shelves is hosted at Tynga's Reviews, and Sunday Post is hosted at Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. Letterbox Love is a special British book-haul meme hosted by Lindsey at Narratively Speaking.

This Week's Goodies:

 

Of Mice and Men

Holes

Pushing the Limits

Books Read Last Week:

  

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares

Giveaway!

There's still time to enter my GIVEAWAY of The Aylesford Skull!

Open worldwide, ends tomorrow!

Last Week's Posts:

Quite a slow week for posts, as I haven't been feeling very well. But on the plus side, I've been reading some really great books recently!

Book Review - Geek Girl by Holly Smale

Book Review - Artificial Evil by Colin F Barnes

Wicked Valentine's Read-a-thon Goals and Updates

Top Ten Bookish Memories


Other Stuff:

I've been writing a series of articles on 'Writing Rules and Fantasy' for Fantasy Faction. Each article takes a common writing rule and explains it, relates it to the fantasy genre, and then asks if and when the rule can be broken. Today was my last article in the series, all about Mary Sues. You can find them all here:

1) Show, Don't Tell
2) Adverbs
3) Kill Your Darlings
4) Conflict
5) Mary Sues

Artificial Evil - Book Review

Three hackers. A deadly plot. One chance to save humanity.

2153. Post-cataclysm. The last city exists beneath a dome where the mysterious benefactors 'The Family' tightly control the population with a death lottery and a semi-autonomous network.

All is well until the day family man Gerry Cardle, head of the death lottery, inexplicably finds himself the no.1 target of a malicious Artificial Intelligence. Gerry's numbers are up, and he has just 7 days to save himself, find the source of the AI, and keep the last stronghold of humanity safe.

Gerry finds help in the shadows of the city from two rogue hackers: Petal - a teenage girl with a penchant for violence, hacking systems and general anarchy, and: Gabriel - a burnt-out programmer-turned-priest with highly augmented cybernetics.

With his new team, Gerry discovers there is more beyond the dome than The Family had let on, and his journey to find the source of the AI leads him through a world of violence, danger, and startling revelations.

Everything is not as it seems. Gerry is not who he thinks he is. Evil can be coded…. Can Gerry and his friends stop it before it destroys humanity? (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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Artificial Evil combines cyberpunk with a post-apocalyptic world. Many, if not all, cyberpunks tend to take place in some kind of dystopian future, but this felt quite unique to me, merging computer speak, hackers and high levels of tech with a desert-wasteland landscape where much of civilisation has been destroyed.

These two sub-genres actually seem slightly incongruous together – how is it possible for the kind of sleek, high-tech gadgetry and virtual reality of cyberpunk, not to mention its themes of militant capitalism and evil corporations, to exist in a world that has been decimated and where physical resources are scarce? Post-apocalyptic stories tend to feature bands of humans fighting for their lives, perhaps re-building civilisation, not hacking elite security networks and constructing artificial life.

However, the author does pull this off extremely well. There’s City Earth, a domed super-city more reminiscent of cyberpunk settings, protected from the ravaged outside world. Inside, the populace is controlled by The Family, a mysterious and powerful organisation. Outside the city the world is a wasteland, but survivors cling to their old way of life, with machinery and gadgets and even robots. There are computers left from before the Cataclysm, and life-forms that are part-human, part-A.I., as well as some intelligent individuals with their own mysterious agendas. Add to this the idea that evil can be programmed, and viruses infiltrating the city and its people like demons. Gerry and his friends are techxorcists, hackers skilled enough to be able to ‘exorcise’ the demons from the network.

There are so many ideas swirling around in this book, and the author keeps them under control at all times, so that they seem to slide naturally together. The overall feeling is of something between Neuromancer, Blade Runner, Mad Max and The Exorcist. It’s kinda crazy, but it works.

While the world feels convincing, at the same time it seems slightly deceptive or false, like a high-def TV screen showing one, polished version of reality, as if we can never be quite sure what’s real and what’s not. The latter element complements the story perfectly, as everything Gerry has known collapses around him and he’s left struggling for answers as well as having to question his own humanity. Gerry is a very easy character to like; he’s confused but quick to adapt, is compassionate and skilled, he’s been cruelly torn from his old life, and despite everything that’s happened to him he manages to be sympathetic without being angsty. The book did remind me a few too many times just how special Gerry is, which got slightly annoying at points, but the revelation of who (or what) he is was very interesting.

The story is exciting and races forward from beginning to end without any bits that drag. There’s enough mystery to really intrigue the reader, but plenty of action and character development to keep all the unanswered questions from dominating the plot. Most of these are addressed at the end (in a great finale), with some cliffhangers for the second book. There’s also a satisfying revelation about The Family, turning them from what could have been a clichéd ‘bad guy’ into something much more ambiguous. I really liked this; it took the concepts and themes of cyberpunk but played around with the typical all-out-evil corporation-villain of the genre, while also exploring the more post-apocalyptic focus on normal humans' mistakes and immorality, and the fight to survive. I thought the book raised some interesting questions about evil (appropriately enough considering the title): where does evil come from? Can it be programmed? I would have liked the concept of artificial evil to have been explored even further, but I’m hoping that will be touched on more in the sequels.

An exciting story, good characters, a really well-written world, and quite a unique vision of a future setting – I really enjoyed Artificial Evil and I'm looking forward to book two!


Thank you to Colin F. Barnes for providing a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Wicked Valentine's Read-a-thon - Goals and Updates

The Wicked Valentine's Read-a-thon has started! This is a week-long reath-a-thon, in which participants simply challenge themselves to read as much as possible. There will be mini-challenges and Twitter chats (#wwreadathon), and it looks like a lot of fun! Join in here.

My Goals:

I'm actually not feeling too well at the moment, so it's tempting to just set my goals as 'read and sleep'! :-) But I definitely want to try to take part as much as possible, so, here are my relaxed goals for the week:

- Finish at least two books (I've got three on the go at the moment, so hopefully this should be easy enough)
- Take part in one of the Twitter chats
- Do at least two mini-challenges
- Visit and comment on other participants' blogs


Updates:

I'm starting on Friday, so no Thurs updates.

Friday: Lots of reading time in the afternoon, especially at the laundrette waiting for the laundry. My husband managed to pinkify some of our white sheets, then in an attempt to fix them managed to get a semi-circle of bleach on the bath-mat, lol! >_<  Good job I'm not one of those precious-about-home-things people. I'm only really precious about books! :-)

Black Feathers (Black Dawn Vol 1) - 10% read, 52% through
City of Bones - 38 pages read, 138 pages through
Of Mice and Men - 42 pages read, 42 pages through

Saturday: Not much time for reading as I was in town most of the day. Still made some good progress on Black Feathers though. Really enjoyed the Twitter chat!

Black Feathers - 63% through
City of Bones - still 138 pages through
Of Mice and Men - still 42 pages through

Mini-Challenge - Done!

Sunday: Finished Of Mice and Men, and then fell asleep on the sofa! Was a nice, relaxed day.

Black Feathers - 63% through
City of Bones - 145 pages through
Of Mice and Men - Finished!

Mini-Challenge - Done!

Monday: Busy day! Got a fair bit of City of Bones read at bed-time and stayed up a bit too late reading it... it was at a really good bit! :-)

Black Feathers - 65% through
City of Bones - 213 pages through

Mini-Challenge - Done!

Tuesday: So. Full. Of pancakes.

Black Feathers - 70% through
City of Bones - 236 pages through

Mini-Challenge - Done!

Wednesday: Good reading day, finished Black Feathers! Unfortunately, my laptop cable broke and I had to turn my computer off in the evening, so didn't get to be sociable or complete the last mini-challenge. Nevermind, it did mean more reading time!

Black Feathers - Finished!
City of Bones - 236 pages through


Wrap Up:

So, by the end of the read-a-thon I've managed to complete all of my four goals, though admittedly not the last one as much as I would like:

- I finished 2 of the 3 books I had on the go at the beginning of the read-a-thon.
- I participated in 4 mini challenges.
- I took part in one of the Twitter chats. (the other was too late at night for me, otherwise I would have joined that one too. I love Twitter chats!)
- I visited other blogs and commented, though not as much as I would have liked. Hopefully will be able to visit a lot of people's wrap up posts though.

Success! :-) How did everyone else's read-a-thons go? Did you manage to meet your goals?


 

Geek Girl - Book Review

Harriet Manners knows a lot of things. She knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a "jiffy" lasts 1/100th of a second, and the average person laughs 15 times per day. What she isn't quite so sure about is why nobody at school seems to like her very much. So when she's spotted by a top model agent, Harriet grabs the chance to reinvent herself. Even if it means stealing her Best Friend's dream, incurring the wrath of her arch enemy Alexa, and repeatedly humiliating herself in front of the impossibly handsome supermodel Nick. Even if it means lying to the people she loves.

As Harriet veers from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly enthusiastic father and her uber-geeky stalker, Toby, she begins to realise that the world of fashion doesn't seem to like her any more than the real world did.

And as her old life starts to fall apart, the question is: will Harriet be able to transform herself before she ruins everything? (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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I can’t remember the last time I laughed out loud so much while reading a book. The kind of nostalgic ‘I have been that person’ laugh. Only, I think I was more like the person you get when Harriet and Nat meet in the middle. A general appreciation for clothes and glitter and pretty things but accompanied by a slight bemusement with fashion and a whole heap of geekiness on top. Yep, that was me.

This book is fun. Really fun. It’s light-hearted and easy to read, but it also has some deeper messages too. Harriet is a wonderful main character, quite clueless in a lot of ways, but not frustratingly so, and although she is very clever about geeky things, this never feels forced. For example, when she tells the reader various facts, compiles lists or makes equations, it always seems to complement whatever is happening in the story at that point, or it serves to tell us more about Harriet’s character, rather than feeling stuck in for the sake of it. The geekiness to girliness ratio is also just right. I think Harriet is a character everyone can love.

I absolutely loved Holly Smale’s writing. This book has so many well-observed details about people and life, and small moments that are described perfectly. For example, when Harriet tells her dad that she’s been spotted by a model agency, his delight is compared to the shining of a million smug fairies. This just sums up parental pride (confirmation that their child is The Best Child) so beautifully. When something happens that puts a strain on best friends Harriet and Nat’s relationship, a rather tactless boy compares the tension between them to the Cold War. He observes that Harriet is like America, trying to act as loudly as possible in the hope that it will all just go away, whereas Nat is Russia, cold and quiet and frosty.

Those are just two examples of the wonderful way in which everyday moments are captured. You know the writing in a book is good if you keep getting the urge to quote bits at whoever happens to be around you (don’t read this book at the doctor’s surgery – a room full of sick people doesn’t appreciate constant giggling).

The story itself is thoroughly enjoyable, and I was hooked. I read this book extremely quickly because I simply couldn’t stop. Harriet and Nat attend the Clothes Show in Birmingham (been there several times on school trips, and the descriptions/atmosphere were spot on), and Harriet is spotted by a modelling agency. From there, the plot races quickly through Harriet’s first modelling experience and her desperate attempts to control all the tumbling pieces of her life. From the moment her picture is taken at the Clothes Show, it’s pretty obvious what’s going to happen, and at each stage the story is fairly predictable. However, I didn’t mind this at all, as it’s the way the story is told that makes it so good – with little unexpected moments (hiding under the table and meeting Nick - and I love Nick!), humour, and a knowing twinkle.

This book also had a great bunch of supporting characters and they were all written as well as Harriet, which can be rare in novels told in first-person. Annabel, Harriet’s dad and Wilbur were all wonderful, and each had a very distinct voice. Nick was the perfect accompaniment to Harriet, and very funny, and Toby cracked me up many times (while also really creeping me out). I loved Nat, and I was so pleased with the way she was written. This was one way in which the story absolutely did not do what I expected, and I was really grateful for that. Nat was a very believable character – of course she was upset about her dream being so rudely snatched away, seeing her best friend stumble into what Nat had always wanted, but at the same time she was truly supportive. Nat is the kind of friend we all want, and I liked that Harriet’s big mistake was not trusting her enough.

And finally, the book ends on exactly the right note. Harriet has come to understand that accepting who she is, and just being herself, is the most important thing. She sees that fashion and modelling were never the cause of her problems – the problem was her attitude. But this isn’t a ‘Geeks are great and girly stuff sucks’ message. It’s ‘like what you like and don’t let others tell you that you can’t’ message. Be geeky and girly if that’s who you are.

This is a great book – funny, well-written and observant, and with a lot of heart and some wonderful moments. And I now have the urge to refer to my other half as ‘my little pot of bean paste’, just once, to see his reaction!


Thank you to HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for providing a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Top Ten Bookish Memories

Time for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and this week it's our Top Ten Bookish Memories.

Lots of firsts on this list! In no particular order, my ten twelve best bookish memories are:

1) Starting the blog - Deciding to start this blog was such a good decision! At first I wasn't sure what to blog about; I just knew that I wanted to blog. I'd just joined Blockbusters and had been given a 14-days-of-free-films voucher, so I thought - why not reviews? Naturally, this became nearly all book reviews, with some films and games as well, and the blog has now become such a great reflection of me and my loves! And when the blog's still in its very early days, that first little face popping up on Google Friend Connect... so exciting. :-)

It will be my first blogiversary in April, and I'm sure that milestone will be another best bookish memory!

2) First review copy - This was from an indie author, a lovely woman called Greselda Heppel, and thankfully I really enjoyed her book (Ante's Inferno). Being asked to read and review someone's book, because they put value on my opinion - that's an amazing feeling!

3) First book convention - Such an amazing experience! Went from extremely nervous and not knowing anyone, to chatting quite naturally with people and going to get food with them by the end of the day. Everyone is so friendly at book conventions, and everyone will happily talk about book for hours - rooms full of my kind of people! Plus, meeting authors and hearing them read from their books is a pretty squee-inducing experience. I'll be going to conventions every year from now on!

4) Mr. Bankvole - When I was very young my dad used to make up and tell me stories about Mr. Bankvole and other wildlife living by a river. He'd do all the voices. I can still remember these so well!

5) Reading the final Harry Potter book - What a moment! Ending that series that I grew up with. Amazing, but also very sad.

6) Reading Howl's Moving Castle (and every re-read) - This is my special book, the one that will always give me a happy feeling.

7) First short story acceptance - Okay, this one's more writing than reading related, but this was such an incredible feeling!

8) First Read-a-thon - This was the 'Magnificently Magic Read-a-thon' hosted by Faye at A Daydreamer's Thoughts. I had so much fun doing this, and now I look out for as many read-a-thons as I can - I love them!

9) Being credited as an editor of a novel for the first time - This was a long time ago, but I still remember the excitement. Crashin' the Real by Deb Hoag. My name in the front of the book, and in her acknowledgements! Squeal!

10) Being accepted to write articles and book reviews for Fantasy Faction - One of the biggest genre sites online! I love this site and the people there, and being part of the staff writing team is wonderful!

Okay, I'm a big cheating cheater, because I'm going for two more...

11) Winning the first Book Drum competition - I won the competition for my profile of Homer's Odyssey, a fantastic story that I've loved for a long time.

12) Writing for the Fantasyland Herald - Because this is just so much fun, and sure to spark plenty more great memories!


What about you? What are your best bookish memories? Anything you're looking forward to or hope to achieve?

Showcase Sunday #4

Inspired by Celine from Nyx Book Reviews, I've decided to combine several book haul memes into one post. Welcome to... Stacking the Showcase Sunday Post Shelves with Letterbox Love!

Showcase Sunday is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. Stacking the Shelves is hosted at Tynga's Reviews, and Sunday Post is hosted at Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. Letterbox Love is a special British book-haul meme hosted by Lindsey at Narratively Speaking.

 My First GIVEAWAY!

Have you entered my FIRST EVER GIVEAWAY yet? You can win a copy of The Aylesford Skull, the first steampunk novel in 20 years from James Blaylock, one of the founding fathers of steampunk! This is part of Titan's The Aylesford Skull Swashbuckling Book Tour.

You can enter on the REVIEW post or the INTERVIEW post.

(open worldwide!)

 This Week's Goodies

Library books, charity shop, and one present:

Ebooks:

Thanks to HarlequinUK and NetGalley for the review copy of Dash and Lily's Book of Dares.

 Books Read Last Week

 

Last Week on the Blog

The Aylesford Skull - Book Review and Giveaway!

James P. Blaylock, steampunk legend - Interview

The Iron King - Book Review

Top Ten Tues - Most Frustrating Characters

The Pros and Cons of Being a Gaming Couple

Darksiders II  - Game Review

I signed up for February's Review Copy Clean-up

I made a book poem for the TBR Pile Challenge

Other Stuff

I signed up to take part in the Fiery Hot Reads for Icy Cold Nights blog-hop event. Be sure to check here on March 1st for my post and giveaway, which will be about... Romances That Melt The Ice!