Showcase Sunday #9

Deadlands series by Lily Herne*

The Humans by Matt Haig and Whatever it Takes by Adele Parks

Showcase Sunday is hosted by the lovely Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. It's a chance for bloggers to show of their weekly book swag and an opportunity to meet other bloggers and talk about all things bookish!
I hope everyone's had a wonderful week. I know some fellow book bloggers have been getting involved with a 24-hour readathon. I'm definitely going to participate next year, I've had enjoyed checking out everybody's updates on their blogs and Twitter.  
I received the Deadlands series for review from Constable & Robinson. The books are written by a mother-daughter writing duo, Sarah and Savannah Lotz. I think it's a really good idea to team up with someone to write a book, particularly with a family member. It's a dystopian book series about a zombie apocalypse in Cape Town. 
I also got The Humans by Matt Haig and Whatever it Takes by Adele Parks at World Book Night 2014. I met some of the featured authors at the Library of Birmingham including Matt and Adele (who were lovely!). It was a really fun night and I really enjoyed hearing about all of the author's inspirations and experience with reading.
Make sure you let me know what book goodies you've received this week! 

*Thanks to Constable & Robinson for sending me the Deadlands series

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World Book Night 2014

I celebrated World Book Night for the first time last night! I'm embarrassed to admit that I'd never heard of it before, but I'm so glad I know of it now. 
World Book Night is run by The Reading Agency and it is an event that encourages reluctant readers to pick up a book and experience the joy of reading. "Because everything changes when we read."
There were all sorts of attractions happening at the Library of Birmingham including pop-up book clubs and a Q&A seminar with best selling authors Adele Parks, Matt Haig, Jane Fallon and Ben Aaronovitch. 

The Q&A quickly turned into a lively debate and discussion about books and reading. It was really interesting to hear the authors different views and which books have inspired them. The main theme of the evening was to be unashamed about reading. Be proud of the books that you enjoy and don't follow the crowd just because a certain book or genre is in vogue. 
They also all agreed to not feel guilty about abandoning books you don't enjoy - life is too short to waste time on bad books! 
I managed to ask my own question to the group and received some wonderful responses and advice regarding my own writing. At the end of the event managed to met Adele Parks and Matt Haign who signed the books they were giving away.
I also collected four more World Book Night books which I am going to donate to my local hospital and will hopefully be doing my bit to convince a reluctant reader to pick up a book!

Did anybody else celebrate World Book Night last night? What did you get up to?
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Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson Review

Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson

Who would you be if all of the memories you held dear suddenly vanished? You certainly wouldn’t be the person you are right now. SJ Watson explores that topic amongst others in Before I Go to Sleep.

This book was lent to me by my dear friend Sophie, who has recently set up her own book blog, there’s no posts just yet, but there soon will be, so check her out at Phie Alyce Reads. This book is one of her favourites, so naturally I was intrigued. 

Before I Go to Sleep is a psychological thriller that follows the story of Christine, who wakes up every morning with twenty years of her memory missing. It’s like an evil version of 50 First Dates - and I loved it! 

I read this book in less than a week because I just had to know what was going on. You only hear things from Christine’s perspective you’re constantly questioning who you can trust. 

I’d defiantly recommend this book if you like crime books or psychological thrillers. And for those local the West Midlands, SJ Watson comes from Stourbridge! If that isn’t a good enough reason to pick up this book than I don’t know what is. 

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Showcase Sunday #8: Lolito by Ben Brooks

Lolito by Ben Brooks

Showcase Sunday is hosted by the lovely Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. It's a chance for bloggers to show of their weekly book swag and an opportunity to meet other bloggers and talk about all things bookish!

Happy Easter Sunday everybody! What's everybody been getting up on this lovely long weekend? I visited Worcester yesterday with my boyfriend for this year's Record Store Day and on Good Friday I went to the Sea Life in Birmingham and took a selfie with a penguin! As you do...
This week's Showcase Sunday is considerable smaller than last week's sizeable offering. There's something special about this book though. A few weeks ago I was approached by anonymous blogger, The Girl in the Moonlight. We've spoken quite a few times on our blogs and on Twitter and struck up a friendship, so I was really glad when I received her email.
She suggested that it would be fun for us to read the same book, one we haven't read before, and then review it. I've always loved how personal books can be and how people perceive things differently - so, we thought we'd conduct a little experiment.
After discussions through email, we decided on Lolito by Ben Brooks. This book is an adaption of Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov and I've had my eye on it since Carrie Hope Fletcher suggested it in one of her videos. I'm really looking forward to arranging a time for our joint post, and glad I've gotten an excuse to pick up this book! 
What's everybody up to today? I'm having a nice relaxing day with my mom and boyfriend. Pyjamas, films, board games and cheese! How about you?
And don't forget to drop off your Showcase Sunday links in the comments! 

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Book-to-film adaptations I'm looking forward to in 2014

I can't even cope with the amount of films I want to see this year. A lot of my favourite reads have been turned into movies that will be gracing the silver screen in 2014. Here are the ones that I am most looking forward to:
NUMBER 3: Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson 

There isn't an official film trailer just yet, so we're going to have to make do with the book advertisement. I'm currently reading this, I've only got about another 50 pages to go, and it's incredibly gripping! Imagine 5o First Dates but evil! Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth are starring in the remake, so it's set to be a good one! 

NUMBER 2: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl was one of my favourite books I read last year, and have been looking forward to the film adaptation as soon as I heard about it. CAN'T WAIT! 

NUMBER 1: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

OF COURSE. This is the film every bookworm is looking forward to. The book is superb. If you haven't picked up yet, do so. (That's an order!) I cried at the trailer... I have a feeling I'm going to be very emotional when I watch this. Okay? Okay.

What films are you looking forward to this year? Let me know! 

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Precious Thing by Colette McBeth Review

Precious Thing by Colette McBeth*

Precious Thing is the debut novel by former BBC news correspondent, Colette McBeth. It's a psychological thriller that explores the complexities of female friendships. 
The book focuses on Rachel and Clara who are old school friends. Anybody who's had a best friend can relate to their relationship. When they were younger they thought that nothing could tear them apart. But as they got older, they grew apart. Rachel is now a successful TV crime reporter, and when she is sent to cover a story of a woman's disappearance she has no idea that it's her oldest friend is the "star" of the case. 
This book got quite a few comparisons to Gone Girl, and I can see why. There are many twists and turns, and was unable to predict the ending. I had a "mind-blown" moment whilst reading the last chapter which I really enjoyed!
The language wasn't as well written in certain parts. There is also some grammatical errors which sometimes reduced my enjoyment of the book as rather than being wrapped up in the story, I was mentally editing sentence structure.
That being said, the plot was so gripping and the characters were well-rounded. Relationships were fully explored and I genuinely didn't suspect what happened in the end. I think you can tell that Precious Thing is Colette's first novel, however she has a great imagination and captures emotions so well that I can forgive the occasional language mistakes.
I'm looking forward to reading her next book as I see a lot of potential in her writing. 

*Thank you to BookBridgr for sending me this copy to review! 

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Showcase Sunday #7

Showcase Sunday is hosted by the lovely Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. It's a chance for bloggers to show of their weekly book swag and an opportunity to meet other bloggers and talk about all things bookish! 

It's a big one this week, book fans! This is probably my biggest Showcase Sunday post to date. I have some exciting news to announce, I was approached by GeekTown last week! They want me to write some book blogs for their website - and here are the mammoth amount of goodies I've received since. 
All of these books, except for City of Bones, will be reviewed on the GeekTown website so keep an eye out for that. They all fall either into the thriller or fantasy category, genres that I have been reading more of recently, so I'm very pleased to add these to my ever-growing collection. 
City of Bones was given to me as a gift, and will be reviewed on this site once I get around to it (I definitely have quite the stack to be getting on with!)
What did everybody else receive this week? Let me know and leave your Showcase Sunday links in the comments! 
If you love thriller books, you should enter my book give-away to win a copy of The Three before it's release date! Find out more here. 

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BOOK GIVEAWAY! The Three by Sarah Lotz

Four disasters. Three survivors. A message that will change the world. 

The Three, written by Sarah Lotz, follows the events of Black Thursday. The day that four passenger planes crashed at almost the exact same time in four different parts of the world. 
Four survivors. Three are children. The fourth only lived long enough to record a voice message on her phone. A message that changes everything. 
     ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 
If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know that I was up to something: I was planning my first blog giveaway! 
I've been reading a lot more crime and thriller books recently and The Three sounds right up my street. Think Stephen King meets Lost! If you love thrillers, mysteries and suspense, then The Three should definitely feature on your reading list. 
The Three isn't officially released until May 22nd, however, I'm happy to announce that Hodder and Stoughton have been kind enough to team up with Adventures of the Bookshelf and we'll be giving away a copy of the book to one lucky reader to devour before release date!! 
The giveaway will run for a week and there's lots of different ways to enter. Each task is worth a different amount of entries, the more you complete, the more chance you'll have of winning. 
Fancy winning yourself a copy? Then enter your details in the Rafflecopper form below: Competition is UK only and closes on 12am on 19th April. Get your entries in quick!
  a Rafflecopter giveaway


Make sure you download the The Three eBook sampler here and if it has really grabbed your attention, you can pre-order now on Amazon.


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The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer Review

Firstly, I can't fully express how beautifully written this book was. I was left completely breathless by this book - which was slightly embarrassing as I finished this book on a cramped train on the way to work! I wanted to exclaim how great this book was, but had to keep my excitement under wraps. I usually grab a coffee with an old work friend on mine in the mornings, and the first thing I did when I saw her was thrust this book in her face! 
I've since done the same to my boyfriend now that my friend has finished reading it. The story follows 19-year old Matthew and his struggle with mental health. In the opening pages you discover that his older brother Simon, who had down-syndrome, died in front of Matthew when they were both children. 
The Shock of the Fall explores topics of mental health, tragedy and grief. You are introduced to his parents and his grandmother. It's interesting to gain an insight into each family member and their coping mechanisms. However, the story is told from Matthew's perspective alone, and can sometimes feel untrustworthy. 
A feature I loved about this book is that it often switched between fonts and word layouts. The book is written as if Matthew is typing up and sometimes he is not using a computer, but a type writer, sometimes he doodles on the pages. It gave the impression of reading someone's manuscript rather than a novel. Matthew often speaks to you directly, which made the book even more emotional.
Nathan Filer won the Costa Book Awards for The Shock of the Fall and I must say it was completely deserved. This book is so beautifully written and handles sensitive subjects incredibly well. There is also an interview with him in the back of the book which I really enjoyed reading - all books should have this included! 
I'm completely shocked that this is Nathan's first book and I'm really looking forward to reading more of his work in the future. I can't recommend The Shock of the Fall highly enough.

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Camp NaNoWriMo

Last Sunday I made myself a commitment - in April I attempt to write 10,000 towards a novel!
For those of you who haven't heard of NaNoWriMo before, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. It encourages authors, both new and experienced, to write an entire novel in the month of November.
I've always wanted to participate but never thought I had a good enough idea - plus I've never really indulged in creative writing that much except for my blog and my personal diary. This is why starting off with the camp appealed to me. The word count goals can be much shorter than the 50,000+ word count expectation of the regular NaNoWriMo. 
The camps run on April and July and you can set yourself a much shorter word count goal - anywhere from 10,000 to 999,999! You set up your profile, and are put into a "cabin" of fellow writers to talk to for support. There's also a large forum where everyone participating can chat to each other. 
I'm setting myself a challenge of just 10,000 words this month, and might participate again in July to expand upon it further. I have no set plot or story in mind just yet, I'm purely typing up character developments and passing thoughts and hoping that it will all nicely come together at the end of the month. That's the plan anyway!
If you've ever fancied yourself as the next JK Rowling (haven't we all?!) then I'd definitely recommend getting involved with this. It's also a really good excuse to write everyday. Sign up here - come on, it's not too late!

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Showcase Sunday #6: The Good Children Roopa Farooki

Showcase Sunday is hosted by the lovely Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. It's a chance for bloggers to show of their weekly book swag and an opportunity to meet other bloggers and talk about all things bookish! 
I've received another book from BookBridgr this week. It was a surprise that it came so quickly as I'd only requested it a couple of nights before. The Good Children is set in 1940s Lahore, Punjab. The book is centred around four siblings who are brought up to be "good children".
Obedience and honour seem to be the two main running themes in this book. The tag line is Leaving home is one thing, going back is another. This book seems perfect for me as I enjoy reading about families, and the conflicts and struggles they sometimes have to face together. 
Thank you again to BookBridgr and Tinder Press for sending me this to review. I can't wait to get stuck in! 
What did everyone else buy, borrow or receive this week? 
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The Perfect Leaving Present: How to be an Explorer of the World by Keri Smith

Last week marked the end of an era for me. One of my oldest and closest friends has moved from our home town to sunny Portsmouth. We had a big old leaving do that saw her off with style. We both got a little wobbly (definitely not alcohol induced...) and if I said it wasn't an emotional night, I'd be a barefaced liar. 
Of course I was going to buy her a farewell present, and ended up finding this gem in my local book shop. She was already a fan of Wreck This Journal, so knew she'd welcome a second Keri Smith book to her collection. 
This book seems incredible for someone who is travelling or moving to a completely new city. The pages encourage you to go outside and create art with objects and observations you discover on your journeys. 
Perhaps you know someone who is backpacking or leaving for university, this would be the perfect tool to get them outside and exploring their surroundings! 

I added some pictures and in-jokes on the opening page. (Some of these photographs were even retrieved from the deep dark achieves of MySpace...) It was lovely going through all the photographs of us both throughout the years, but probably didn't help my emotional state! 
How to be an Explorer of the World is a brilliant leaving present. I love Keri Smith's books as she encourages her readers to be imaginative and creative. This one in particular is great if your loved one is moving to a completely new city.
Have any of your closest friends or family relocated far away? How do you keep in touch? I'm already mentally planning a million trips to Portsmouth and she's only been gone a week! 

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April Book Challenge: William Wordsworth - Everyman's Poetry

We're officially a quarter of the way through 2014. This year is going far too quickly for my liking, although it's been a good one so far! 
Hands up if you've been tricked by an April fool today. Both of my hands are proudly raised in the air. I was silly enough to believe that there had been a sunflower invented with a USB port inside the stem. Not my finest moment...
It's also that time of the month when I pick out a new book to read. As a part of the 2014 book challenge, I'll be reading a book from the writer displayed on my Waterstones Literary Quote calendar.
I really like the design of this month's quote. I'm really looking forward to seeing flowers start to spring up all over the place. There is something magical about the spring time.
I'll be reading a collection of poems by William Wordsworth this month. I've not come across many of his poems before. As far as I'm aware, he wrote a lot about nature and the changing seasons, which is perfect for this time of year.

It'll be nice to get some poetry back in my life. I'll be sharing out some of my favourites on the blog as I'm reading through the collection.
What are you planning on reading this month? Alongside this, I want to finish Precious Thing by Colette McBeth and Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson, that was given to me today by a friend of mine. 

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