Wednesday 24 December 2014

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you all have a fabulous time enjoying the holidays. I know that for me it will be a much-needed moment for resting, spending time with family, eating lots of cake (well, maybe more like eating lots FULL STOP...), and obviously reading!

Thank you for stopping by and sticking with me, it means a lot.



Friday 19 December 2014

The Friday 56 #5


The Friday 56 is a weekly blog meme hosted by Freda's Voice. The rules are simple:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56, or 56% in your eReader.
*Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post here in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.


It's that simple!



Monday 15 December 2014

Reading Challenges for 2015

Time for lots of hot chocolate. Yay!
So, it's December already and that means winter, hot drinks, Christmas lights and holiday spirit. I've already started humming Christmas carols while cleaning, and I'm slowly getting in the mood for all the holiday films. It may be just me, but I can't go by without seeing all the Christmas films on television! I'm way behind on my Christmas shopping (meaning I have yet to begin), but I've started my holiday reads, so I guess that says something about my priorities...

Of course, December wouldn't be complete if I didn't also start getting ready for the New Year. And that includes choosing which reading challenges I will participate in during 2015! I'm incredibly excited about this, since I've never taken part in any of these before. I've decided to keep it simple for this first year, only signing up to a few challenges, and see how it goes before stepping it up over the course of the next few years. So, here are the reading challenges I've decided to sign up to in 2015.

Saturday 13 December 2014

Book Review: Murder on the Hill by Kennedy Chase


I received an e-ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher: Monty's Tale Press

Published: 3 November 2014


Series: Harley Hill Mysteries #1

Pages: 252


Rating: 4/5

  

Blurb from Goodreads

Look out London, there's a new investigator in town! Harley Hill is a twenty-five year old woman in need of a new identity. Until now she's been known as many things: Thief, Bandit, The Girl Dressed Like a Ninja... 
When she's offered an investigative position at the Silvers Finders Agency, she decides it's time to go straight. But when a jewelry store break-in she's investigating turns into a murder case, Harley will need all her skills to find the killer and avoid the attentions of a Russian crime boss.
With the help of her new friends, and some from her underworld past, Harley faces a race against the clock. She'll need to uncover the secret behind the artifact left at the jewelry store if she's to catch the murderer. If she fails, it won't just be the job she loses - but her life.

Friday 12 December 2014

The Friday 56 #4


The Friday 56 is a weekly blog meme hosted by Freda's Voice. The rules are simple:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56, or 56% in your eReader.
*Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post here in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.


It's that simple!



Tuesday 9 December 2014

Teaser Tuesdays (Dec 9)


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away. You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser for this week comes from Murder on the Hill by Kennedy Chase:

The familiar London soundtrack of drilling and builders yelling at each other over a blaring radio drowned my words out. Of course, it all had to stop the moment I said, "I think it's only a matter of time before we find a body."
This quote is taken from an eARC, therefore it and its location may be subject to change in the final version.

If you like this teaser, be sure to check back for my upcoming review of this book!

What are your thoughts on this teaser? Would you keep reading?

Saturday 6 December 2014

Book Review: The Orphan of Torundi by J.L. McCreedy

I received an e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Publication date: 28 November 2014


Publisher: Penelope Pipp Publishing


Pages: 300

Rating: 2.5/5 

 

Summary


Sam is an orphan, raised by a pharmaceutical research mission in the little jungle island of Torundi, located somewhere between Oceania and Southeast Asia. Her life is quite peacefully divided between assisting the mission in their research and providing the occasional medical care to the local population. Until, after an unexpected encounter with a stranger, Sam is sent to an American boarding school in Malaysia, with no explanation whatsoever and strict instructions not to contact anyone back on Torundi. Determined to discover the reasons behind her banishment, Sam must learn how to juggle life as a high-school senior and her search for the truth, which might just include a secretive but very attractive lab assistant, an enigmatic corporation with illicit designs on Torundi, and a possible civil war in her beloved island.

Friday 5 December 2014

The Friday 56 #3


The Friday 56 is a weekly blog meme hosted by Freda's Voice. The rules are simple:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56, or 56% in your eReader.
*Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post here in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.


It's that simple!



Saturday 29 November 2014

Book Review: Premiere: a Love Story by Tracy Ewens

I received an e-arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Publication date: 27 October 2014


Pages: 272


Rating: 4/5 

Summary (from Amazon.com)

Samantha "Sam" Cathner gave up needing Peter years ago, but now her theatre needs his play. She knows how fairytales end once the house lights are up, so she steadies herself to work with the brilliant playwright who once broke her heart. Peter Everoad is back in Pasadena, the hometown he traded for the bright lights of New York as soon as he graduated. The Pasadena Playhouse, where his oldest friend and one time lover Sam works, is in financial trouble, and they need him and his new play Looking In.

Sam is flustered to reencounter this new version of Peter - as always, witty and smart, and now handsome and successful. But he's still the jerk who crushed her happily-ever-after. She's not going to let him waltz in and unsettle her carefully ordered life. But she's drawn to him and intrigued by the autobiographical undertones of Looking In - is the Pasadena debutante "Sally" supposed to be her? Can Sam ever really trust Peter again, or will the demons that drove them apart the first time tear them apart again?

Friday 28 November 2014

The Friday 56 #2


The Friday 56 is a weekly blog meme hosted by Freda's Voice. The rules are simple:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56, or 56% in your eReader.
*Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post here in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.


It's that simple!



Tuesday 25 November 2014

Teaser Tuesdays (Nov 25)


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away. You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser for this week comes from Premiere: a Love Story by Tracy Ewens:


Her skin knew he was there before her mind had a chance to catch up. Even after all this time, all these years, he could still change the air she lived in.

If you like this teaser, be sure to check out my full review of this book

Sunday 23 November 2014

Book Review: 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

I received an advance reader copy of this book from Story Cartel in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher: Story Cartel Classics

Pages: 256


Rating: 4/5


Goodreads Page

Amazon.com

Summary (from Goodreads)


This is the true story of Solomon Northup, who was born and raised as a freeman in New York. He lived the American dream, with a house and a loving family - a wife and two kids. Then one day he was drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in the deep south. These are the true accounts of his twelve hard years as a slave.

Friday 21 November 2014

The Friday 56, #1


The Friday 56 is a weekly blog meme hosted by Freda's Voice. The rules are simple:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56, or 56% in your eReader.
*Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post here in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url.

It's that simple!




Tuesday 11 November 2014

Book Review: Capturing Jasmina by Kimberley Rae


I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: BJU Press

Series: India's Street Kids #1

Pages: 101

Rating: 2.5/5

Goodreads Page

Amazon.com

Summary


Jasmina and her brother, Samir, lead an ordinary life with their parents in India. Then one day everything changes: a strange man shows up at their house offering them education and good jobs, and so their father sells both Samir and Jasmina to him. But instead of taking them to a school, the man leads the children to a sweatshop where they are to work as his slaves for a very long time - possibly forever. While Samir submits to his fate almost immediately, Jasmina never stops fighting to regain her freedom.

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Book Review: Omari and the People by Stephen Whitfield



I received an advance reader copy of this book from Story Cartel in exchange for my honest review

Publisher: ShirleyCastle Press

Pages: 360

Rating: 5/5

Goodreads Page

Amazon.com

Summary


In a nameless city on the edge of a desert lives Omari, probably the best thief ever to live there. On the verge of being exposed for his many crimes, Omari decides to set his house on fire, fake his death and start fresh somewhere else:
His mind sharpened to the fineness of a well-honed razor; a habit formed by a lifetime of cheating death. Without realizing it, he had undergone a swift and profound change: from dark despair to survival instincts.
What would have been a perfect plan turns into a catastrophe when the fire starts to spread and destroys the entire city. Aided by a mysterious old woman, and tormented by guilt over the destruction of the city, Omari must take the lead and guide the people to a better land across the desert, a land no one has ever been able to reach before. This is where the epic journey of this people starts. A journey fraught with difficulties, bandits, illness and more, where loyalties are tested, and a people will have to learn to overcome their differences and come together if they want to survive and reach the promised land.

Wednesday 29 October 2014

Book Review: The Golden Cage. Three Brothers, Three Choices, One Destiny by Shirin Ebadi




Format I Read/Publisher: Paperback, Rizzoli

Pages: 253

Rating: 5/5

Goodreads page

Summary


Conceived as a monument to all the victims of Iran's Islamic Revolution, The Golden Cage follows the lives of Shirin Ebadi's childhood friend Pari and her three brothers, as each of them subscribes to one of the different ideologies tearing the country - and their family - apart.

Tuesday 21 October 2014

Book Review: The Watcher in the Shadows by Carlos Ruiz Zafón


Title: The Watcher in the Shadows

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Series: Mist Trilogy #3

Format I Read/Publisher: Paperback, Mondadori

Pages: 268

Rating: 4/5

Summary (from Goodreads):


A mysterious toymaker who lives as a recluse in an old mansion, surrounded by the mechanical beings he has created... An enigma surrounding strange lights that shine through the mists that envelop the small island on which the old lighthouse stands... A shadowy creature that hides deep in the woods... These are the elements of a mystery that will bind 14-year old Irene to Ismael during one magical summer spent in the Blue Bay. Her mother has taken a job as a housekeeper for the toymaker, but his house contains more secrets than Irene and Ismael have bargained for.

Monday 13 October 2014

Book Review: The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafón


Title: The Midnight Palace

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Series: Mist Trilogy #2

Format I Read/Publisher: Paperback, Mondadori

Pages: 299

Rating: 3/5


Summary (from Goodreads):


Set in Calcutta in the 1930s, The Midnight Palace begins on a dark night when an English lieutenant fights to save newborn twins Ben and Sheere from an unthinkable threat. Despite monsoon-force rains and terrible danger lurking around every street corner, the young lieutenant manages to get them to safety, but not without losing his own life...

Years later, on the eve of Ben and Sheere's sixteenth birthday, the mysterious threat reenters their lives. This time, it may be impossible to escape. With the help of their brave friends, the twins will have to take a stand against the terror that watches them in the shadows of the night - and face the most frightening creature in the history of the City of Palaces.

Saturday 11 October 2014

Book Review: The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón


Title: The Prince of Mist

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Series: Mist Trilogy #1

Format I read/Publisher: Paperback, Mondadori

Pages: 202

Rating: 3.5/5


Summary:


In 1943, as the war sweeps across Europe, the Carver family decides to leave the city and move to an old house on the coast. But as soon as they arrive, strange things start to happen, and memories of an old tragedy are brought back to life. With the help of a new friend, Max and Alicia Carver begin to explore the secrets hiding in their new home, and discover the existence of a mysterious being called The Prince of Mist - a diabolical character who has returned from the shadows to collect on a debt from the past - embarking on an adventure that will change their lives forever.