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Please understand that all the reviews posted on this blog express my *personal* opinion only. I'm not an expert, just an avid book reader and I use this blog to point out things I like and dislike about the books I read.
Thank you for visiting and taking the time to read the reviews!
Who is she?
♥ a 26-year-old book fanatic
♥ compulsive book buyer
♥ mostly interested in chick-lit, historical reads (19th & early 20th cent.), YA
♥ not interested in crime & paranormal stuff
♥ will not read anything remotely religious
♥ favourite authors include Sophie Kinsella, Jodi Picoult, Marian Keyes etc.
♥ some of all-time favourite books include Wintergirls, We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Time Traveler's Wife, The Collector, Harry Potter, 1984 and many others
Tina Harding is a successful and ambitious estate agent. All is going according to plan and her painful past as a failed actress has been well and truly buried. Now she's a down-to-earth and hard-headed businesswoman ... Life, however, is full of surprises. While accompanying her more wide- eyed colleague, Chantelle, to a psychic fair, Tina herself falls victim to the lure of the Crystal Ball. She is warned that she must learn to trust her own decisions, and assured that the arrival of her soul mate is imminent. An elated Tina feels she has discovered a shortcut to fulfilment her very own life's SatNav. Enter the gorgeous sex-on-wheels property-developer Brian Steen, who is very keen indeed to get up close and personal with Tina. But, call it fate, call it karma or just sheer bad luck, their steamy encounters are destined to fizzle out every time. But Brian is a patient man ... up to a point ... and, with help from Tina's psychic guides, things are sure to pan out just fine ... aren't they?
Before I get into the actual review, can we please discuss the most obvious thing? THE COVER, of course! Oh my gosh, isn't it AMAZING? I swear I fell in love with it the moment I saw it and I've honestly been staring lovingly at it after I closed the book. I mean, WOW!!! The picture, the fonts, the little stars, the colours - everything is damn near to perfection! I think it would be even better if the cover was actually sparkly and the letters were embossed and if the tagline wasn't an ugly green colour, but overall you won't hear me complain! As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best covers ever so mad props to whomever designed it. Sadly it doesn't say at the back, but dammit they did a brilliant job!
Now that my cover gushing is done, it's time I talk about the book itself. Well, I'll admit I found it a bit slow at first, but then the plot really picked up, got rather dramatic and I ended up loving it! It's basically just about this girl Tina, a failed actress but now a very successful business woman, who doesn't believe in fortune telling and such, but after one reading, the gypsy's words keep echoing in her mind and she can't stop thinking about them ... She has another reading and many more over the phone (at one pound fifty a minute!) and by following her 'inner voice' (inspired by the voices of fortune tellers), she manages to turn her nearly perfect life into a huuuuuge mess and is left to pick up the pieces. Like I said, the story was a bit slow and it took forever for Tina to become interested in this fortune telling business, but then it really picked up and I found myself totally engrossed in it.
The book is well written for a chick lit and there are several hilarious scenes. For example, Tina falls for this this tycoon Brian and there is awesome chemistry between them, but they just cannot seem to actually get it on - something (ridiculous) always comes up and prevents them right before they get down to business. I was seriously thinking, "Jeeeez, will these two ever do it or what?!", but whatever prevented them each time really made me laugh because it was just unbelievable, haha. So did they or didn't them, you wonder? Read the book to find out. :p
All in all, I really quite enjoyed the book with its little twists & turns and hilarious bits. There were some serious moments involved, but overall it was a light and entertaining read I definitely recommend!
If you're interested in reading this book, then this is your lucky day as I have an extra copy that I am now giving away! This giveaway is OPEN TO EVERYONE and it closes on July 3rd, 2011. All you have to do is fill out this little form here and tell me why you'd like to read this book. The winner will be picked with the help of random.org and emailed shortly after the deadline. Good luck! :)
This is slightly embarrassingly overdue and for that I sincerely apologize, I've just been terribly busy lately and when I'm busybusybusy, things either slip from my mind or I keep putting them off - I'm sure you all know the feeling and I hope you'll find it in your hearts to forgive me? :)
As some of you may remember, I hosted a giveaway for a copy of THE FINISHING TOUCHES by Hester Browne a while ago and I'd like to thank everyone entered this giveaway, I really enjoyed reading your comments about feminism (this explains the picture, yes). I was quite fascinated by your opinions and this was probably my favourite giveaway that I did - well, certainly the most interesting, hehe!
Just like the World Cup, my WAGs' World giveaway ended a few days ago and it's high time I announced the winners too, isn't it? Sorry it took me so long, but the past few days were really busy ... Anyway, without further ado, the two people who get all three books in the WAGs' World series aaaaaaaarrrrrrreeeeeee ... *drumroll*
Congrats, girl! If you can, please email me your postal addresses so I can send out your prizes! :)
On a different note, I was recently contacted by Mandy @ Feminist Review, who found my review of The Finishing Touches interesting enough to post on the site. However, I suggested rewriting my review from a more feminist point of view as I felt the original one was too general. Mandy agreed and you can now read my additional thoughs on the book @ Feminist Review - in it, I mostly wonder if the new courses offered at Tallimore Academy are something feminists should immediately dismiss or perhaps use to their advantage? Read more here.
Anyway, as I ended up with an extra copy of the book, I figured this is the perfect opportunity for me to do a , don't you think? Sadly I don't have the time to create a Google Doc form right now so we'll make it more simple this time - to be entered, just leave a comment telling me your thoughts on feminism ...Do you consider yourself a feminist? Is this something you're concerned with or it doesn't really bother you much? Also feel free to let me know if you're a follower or if you tweeted about this giveaway - that'll just make you even more awesome! :) This giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY and it ends on Tuesday, July 20th at midnight your time!
Firstly, the awesome amazing fantastic book called THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE (my review here) is out today and to celebrate its release, the fabulous people at Walker have put together a fantastic trailer - it's the cutest, check it out:
I love it - it's nearly as amazing as the novel itself! Furthermore, here are some fun facts about this book trailer:
most of the outdoor scenes were shot at Hampstead Heath, London
Lennie is played by Georgina Leonidas and the actor who plays Joe is Plamen Kirtchev
The US trailer for this book has been out for quite a while - and here it is again in case you haven't seen it yet:
This one is BEAUTIFUL too, but I think I prefer the UK one ... What about you? :)
Secondly, the author of this amazing debut, Jandy Nelson, can now finally be found on Twitter - feel free to follow her.
Lastly, I have two winners to announce ... The winner of a shiny new copy of THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE + a T-shirt + post-its iiiiiiiiis ... LAUREN @ I Was a Teenage Book Geek! The winner of my (long overdue, but very successful) DELLA SAYS: OMG! giveaway iiiiiiiis ... blueicegal @ Fantasy 4 Eva!
Massive congrats to both girls - please email me your postal address so I can send out your prizes! Thanks to everyone who entered and best of luck next time! :D
It's cover talk time again, woohoo! Yeah, it's been a while, but I just had so many other reviews and interviews to post that I just couldn't squeeze it in, but now the time has finally come to spotlight two covers that got my attention recently - one took my breath away and the other one made me raise my eyebrows, heh. As always, I mean no offence - I'm just expressing my humble personal opinion and you're more than welcome to disagree - tastes differ, after all. :)
Anyway, this week I decided to spotlight two books that both deal with the subject of angels. Quite frankly, this sort of books are way out of my comfort zone so I must confess I didn't really read the summary for either of the books below, I'm just focusing on the covers, which really are special.
Cover Win:HALO by Alexandra Adornetto Honestly, doesn't this cover just make you go, 'WOW!'? I think it's absolutely beautiful and I'd buy it for the cover alone, I don't even care what it's about. I'm not usually not a massive fan of "non-drawn" covers as I don't think there's anything amazing about a picture with some text on it, but this one really is beautiful and I can tell that a lot of thought and effort was put into it.
Cover Fail:THE UNFINISHED ANGEL by Sharon Creech I'm sure there's a good explanation for this cover, but I just can't help disliking it. It's just boring and blah. :( I've noticed this book on another blog where quite a few people called the cover 'adorable', but I just don't see it myself. I would never pick this book up in a bookshop or bother to read about it online, the cover is just too off-putting. I'm sure I'm very wrong to judge this book by the cover as it's aparently very good and it won the Carnegie medal, but still. Luckily, the book was re-designed for the paperback release, which looks a bit better and more like something I'd bother picking up off the shelf in a shop. But the original just makes me frown, I'm sorry.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Do you agree or disagree? Let me know! :)
ps: Before I wrap this post up, I still need to annouce the winners of my Ilana Fox competition! Thanks to everyone who entered - I had nearly 200 entries! And yay for Google Docs for making it so easy to pick winners with the help of random.org (yes, I know I'm late)! Anyway, without further ado ... The two winners of SPOTLIGHT are TINA and NATALIE & the winner of THE MAKING OF MIA is Iffath - please EMAIL ME in the next two days to claim your prizes! Congrats, girls, and I hope you enjoy your faaabulous new books! :)
Bears, Boys and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots by Abby McDonald is out today and to mark this special occassion, I'll also be announcing the winner of my extra copy of Life Swap, Abby's excellent debut. The giveaway ended last night and there were more than 150 entries - thanks to everyone who entered! Aaaand the winner iiiiiiis ... *drumroll*
Congrats, you lucky chick - please email me your details so I can send the book out asap! ps: The lovely Jenn-ay from My Tea Time is Book Time posted a quick Q&A with me the other day so feel free to check that out if you'd like to learn more about yours truly. :)
Today is a big day: March 2nd in the official publication day for BEFORE I FALL, an incredible YA debut by Lauren Oliver. The blogoshere has been gushing about it for months so if you haven't heard about it, you must've been living under a rock and you really need to get with a program - trust me, you do not want to miss this amazing book - scroll down to see how YOU can win a brand new copy of BEFORE I FALL along with some signed bookmarks!
Here's a quick plot summary:
"Sam Kingston is dead. Except she isn’t. On a rainy February night, Sam is killed in a horrific car crash. But instead of seeing a tunnel of light, she wakes up in her own bed, on the morning of the same day. Forced to live through the same events – the drive to school, skipping class, the fateful party – she struggles to alter the outcome, but wakes up again on the day of the crash. What follows is the story of a girl who comes of age in a matter of days. Who discovers, through heartbreaking insights, the consequences of her every action. Of a girl who dies young, but in the process learns how to live. And who falls in love . . . a little too late."
I got a chance to read it online (legally) on a HarperCollins site a few months ago. I wasn't supposed to review it, but the book affected me so much that I just could not resist, I had to get it all out of my system. I described it as a book with "NICELY COMPLEX PLOT, WELL STRUCTURED, WONDERFUL CHARACTERS, BEAUTIFUL WRITING, THOUGHT PROVOKING, EMOTIONAL - ALL IN ALL, AN OUTSTANDING DEBUT!" You can read the whole review here and this book honestly moved me so much that it ended up being my second favourite book of 2009 and virtually *everyone* who has read the book so far has been amazed by it - it's just the kind of a novel that really makes you think and stays with you forever.
Oh and guess what - the foreign rights for this book have already been sold to FOURTEEN countries even before this book was officially published. Yes, that's how good it is! :)
Both the UK and the US trailers have been released - they're both great so click here to watch them!
The woman we have to thank for this incredibly powerful book is LAUREN OLIVER (visit her official site), who is not only so very talented but also unbelievably nice! I was lucky enough to interview her and please find her answers below!
Let's start with the standard question: What was the inspiration for Before I Fall? It's such an original book so I do wonder how you came up with the idea for it! Thanks! The idea for Before I Fall came from a bunch of different places. I used to spend a lot of time trying to imagine, in as much detail as possible, a “perfect” day: the kind of day I wouldn’t mind reliving forever. So I’ve always had that question in my mind. Additionally, I’ve always been interested in the mean girl phenomena and in themes of change and redemption—and ultimately, even though Before I Fall has a very strong narrative structure, I do see it as a character-driven book about change.
How long did it take to write the book? I imagine it must've taken a while since the story is so complex. Were there any particular scenes you were struggling with? How did you get published in the end? You know, I was working from an extremely solid and intricate outline, and generating the outline was certainly the most difficult and time-consuming part of the process, I would say. The actual writing of the book only took about five-six months. It was surprisingly easy, actually, as was the publishing process; I believe my agent managed to get us a deal within a few days.
However, before people start throwing shoes at me, I will say this was not my first attempt at publication. I had previously completed two adult novels, neither of which was ever sold.
Can you tell us more about this "universe" (for the lack of a better word) where Sam finds herself reliving the last day of her life seven more times? [SPOILER ALERT! PLEASE DO NOT READ ON IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK YET.]
Hmm. I mean, in some ways I envisioned it as kind of a limbo. She is able to effect changes in the lives of the people around her, and so alter the legacy she will be leaving behind, but ultimately she is still penned in by the ultimate circumstances of her death. I guess you could say that that—that event, that death—is the concrete limit, the axiom on which her other actions must be based. That’s why, for me, there was never a question of allowing her to live on at the end.
Which five words would you use to describe Before I Fall? Redemptive; realistic; hopeful; sad. That’s only four but I think they are sufficient.
How did you decide on the title? Did you have any alternative titles in mind? Originally we called the book IF I SHOULD FALL, but we felt it was somewhat too ephemeral and also very similar to IF I STAY, a book that was being released at the time. But it took us about 500 titles to get from IF I SHOULD FALL to BEFORE I FALL, if you can believe it! I'm terrible at titling. :)
Would you change anything about the book now if you could go back? Is there anything you wish you could've written differently? There is much I would change on a line-by-line level. I feel I've already grown and developed as a writer, and there are certain phrases in the book that don't feel quite right to me anymore. But on the whole, no; I'm happy with the book's overall structure and content. I'm not one for regret, in any context!
The book will undoubtedly be a massive hit and I wouldn't be surprised at all if it were turned into a film. Should that happen, who would you like to see starring in it? Oof. I don’t know! I can only hope your predictions for the book’s success are correct. I actually can see Kristen Stewart playing Sam, and I’m not just saying that because she starred in Twilight! And I could completely see Dakota Fanning playing Lindsay; she looks just like the way I envisioned Lindsay in my hed.
What was the best and the worst thing you've heard/read about Before I Fall so far (in terms of reviews etc.)? The best thing I’ve heard was that the book has caused a girl to reconcile with her mother, from whom she was semi-estranged; also, a blogger told me that the book helped her grieve the loss of a younger family member. People have been generous so far in terms of criticism, but probably what most aggravates me is when people think that I’ve included a superfluous quantity of drinking and drugs. We really did drink that much in high school! I was just trying to depict my experiences realistically. And besides, the whole point of the book is how unfulfilling those moments can be, and how what really brings happiness are moments of true connection and sharing.
What you working on now? I am editing my second book, DELIRIUM, which will be released in early 2011. It’s very different from Before I Fall, a kind of dystopian Romeo-and-Juliet story, and I am very, very excited about it.
* * * * *
To celebrate this awesome day, I'm also hosting a One lucky winner will win a hardcover copy of BEFORE I FALL and some *signed* swag! Here's what you have to do in order to be entered into this contest:
you have to leave a comment telling me WHY you'd like to win/read this book (+1)
you have to be a follower of my blog through Google Friend Connect (+1)
Those who are more determined and want to have more chance of winning can get more entries by:
Scroll down for more info on how to win a copy of AIR KISSES!
"Jean Bennett knows as much about football as she does astrophysics. But when she moves to the bright lights of Sydney and falls in love with a star footballer, Josh Fox, she has to learn - fast. Thrown eyelashes first into the world of WAGs, Jean is way out of her league. She navigates her way through semi-finals, a gruelling social calendar and salacious scandals on Josh's arm, safe in the knowledge he belongs to her or so she thinks. But as her hair gets blonder, her heels higher and her tops lower, Jean begins to wonder who she's become."
I loooooved Zoë's debut novel Air Kisses and I've been waiting for a new book by her for months and I was over the moon when my copy arrived! My hopes for it were quite high, but while it doesn't quite give Air Kisses a run for its money, it was still a very enjoyable book - another light but entertaining hit by Ms Foster, as expected!
Plot-wise, not a lot happens, but just as I was thinking that the book is getting slightly predictable - bang - there was a small twist! I can't exactly say this book is boring when Jean's life suddenly gets turned upside down and she finds herself in a shiny world where she doesn't know what to believe and who to trust. One moment she was a simple girl working in a beautique, dreaming of being a jewellery designer and generally minding her own business, but the next moment she is swept of her feet by a high profile footballer and thus becomes one of the infamous WAGs. Sure, her life becomes more glamorous and exciting, but on the other hand she has to deal with Josh's crazy ex, rumours, annoying fans and other 'perks' that come with the territory. Remind me again, why would anyone want to be a WAG? Is it all worth it? I guess so since people (especially in the UK) seem to be fascinated by them. I can say I'm one of them, but it was still interesting to read about the lives of these WAGs - and Zoë should know what she's talking about since she was a WAG herself for nearly a decade. I'm shocked to hear that the book hasn't been released in the UK yet when that WAG-obsessed nation would love this stuff, especially with the World Cup coming up and all when the WAGs will be all over the place! Fingers crossed one of the UK publishers has the sense to publish it asap, it would be a shame not to since it has so much potential there!
Oh and another thing while we're on the subject of plot - the book ends in a massive cliffhanger, grr! I read the last line and thought that surely this can't be the end?! Zoë, darling, I'm afraid we'll need a sequel here stat so I do hope you're already working on it? ;)
The best thing about this book is easily the writing itself! I've gushed about it before, but I honestly love the way Zoë writes, be it books, blogs or tweets, she just has this fantastic way with words and I can't get enough of it! It's very witty in a way and modern and yet very real (swearing included), and I think it really helps in bringing the characters to life so you can't help but take a shine to them! In this novel, I perhaps thought some characters were slightly underdeveloped (namely Josh and Tess) while my favourite character was probably Collette, Jean's sister, she cracked me up! Frank was also a nice side character and I was quite impressed by Cam until he let me down. (Oh and I loved the small cameo appereance by Hannah from Air Kisses!) But on the whole, the characters are a lovely bunch and the writing is fantastic, as always! Can't wait to see what Zoë comes up with next!
Sadly this book isn't available outside Australia yet (boo!), but if you'd still like to find out more about it, then click here and let Zoë introduce you to the book! She's also appeared on TV not once but twice to discuss the book so feel free to watch those! If you can't take take all the teasing anymore and desperately want to see what all the fuss about Zoë amazing writing is about, then scroll down and see how you can win a copy of her debut novel!
And now finally ! I really enjoyed Air Kisses and I want you to enjoy it too sooooo I'll be giving away a shiny new copy of AIR KISSES, Zoë's brilliant first novel which was published in the UK by Allison & Busby. This contest thingy is open worldwide and it will end on 25th February at midnight. Here's what you have to do in order to enter:
you have to leave a comment saying you want to be entered;
you have to follow my blog;
Optional:
for an extra entry, follow Zoë on Twitter (trust me, you won't regret it, hehe)
for extra two entries, tweet about this contest (provide link) or post on your sidebar.
The winner will be chosen with the help of random.org. Good luck! :)
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