Sunday 30 August 2015

Until Friday Night - Abbi Glines SPOILER FREE Review


Title - Until Friday Night 
Series - The Field Party 
Author - Abbi Glines 
ISBN - 978-1-4711-2502-7
My Copy - Purchased From Amazon
My Rating -  5 / 5
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads - Amazon 
Genre - YA - Contemporary




So let me put a disclaimer here even though i have put this as YA its more for mature YA readers its got a bit of New Adult elements in it but thatis just a warning to people who are not fond of that in books.

Abbi Glines is a Auto Buy author for me so when i saw she was bringing out a new book i pre-ordered it and waited not so patiently for it to be released. When i first read the synopsis i was hooked i didn't read it till i had the book in my hand and it made me really excited to read it. 

Until Friday Night is set in Lawton, Alabama and it centres around West Ashby who is a Football (that is odd to call it that) Player and popular but he has a secret, his dad is slowly dying of cancer and he doesn't want to tell anyone. 

Maggie Carleton the new girl in Lawton has been Mute for two years since she experienced something so traumatic she doesn't think she will survive so she stops talking to protect herself. But when her cousins best friend West stats telling her his secrets she cannot keep quite anymore because he needs her to talk to tell him it will be OK. 
so from that first word, sparks a beautiful friendship with hopes of a relationship peaking through but they have many obstacles in their way the biggest Brady West's best friend and Maggie's Cousin he doesn't want anyone on his team even looking at Maggie so how will he react when they need each other to survive. 

I highly recommend this book it was emotional and heartbreakingly beautiful it was one of those books i wanted to read again straight after finishing. every emotion felt so real. 

So if you are a seasoned Abbi Glines fan or not i suggest you give this book a try  

Spoiler Review COMING SOON!!!

Until Next Time
Happy Reading 

Lair of Dream - Libba Bray SPOILER FREE REVEIW

 
Title - Lair of Dreams 
Series - The Diviners 
Author - Libba Bray 
ISBN - 9781907410422
My Copy - Net Galley
My Rating - 4 / 5
Where You Can Find It - Goodreads - Amazon - Waterstones 
Genre - Ya - Paranormal 



So first things first if you read The Diviners a while ago, i  suggest before you read this book either read a review or re-read the book because it has been a while since i read the diviners and i completely forgot most of the characters. now onto the review

Personally for me this book was pretty slow to begin with, it seemed to be jumping from character to character, and i really didn't think i would get through it but once it got passed halfway it picked up and it ended up a really good book with lots of questions for the next.

So in Lair of Dreams it starts a while after the first book, with Evie now famous for being a diviner and has her own Radio show and then we have Sam who is trying to look for clues to a Government operation called Project Buffalo, we get the feel of a Love Triangle between Evie, Sam & Jericho. So after the last books antagonist Naughty John (who scared the living daylights out of me) this new antagonist i wasn't sure about at first but there is a sleeping sickness in Chinatown and its spreading and a new Diviner power is discovered it allows the Diviner to walk dreams and we meet many new characters along the way and its twist and turns central. With a dream monster luring people to dream forever, a love triangle, new diviners, and so much more.

If you are like me and think this book is slow to begin with please persevere it gets better i promise.


Spoiler Review COMING SOON!!!

Until Next Time
Happy Reading

 

Thursday 27 August 2015

Thats What He Said Thursday's - Rush Finlay - 27th August 2015


So That's What He Said Thursdays was Created by Chapter Break and it is pretty much just a appreciation post for your favourite Male Protagonist's quotes to his girl. This is the first time i am doing this and to start i thought i would choose a guy who has so many quotes it was hard to decide which one to go with 

Rush Finlay
(Rosemary Beach Series - Abbi Glines) 

 “No man has ever loved a woman as much as I love you. Nothing will ever come before you. I don't know what else I have to do to prove to you that I won't let you down again. I won't hurt you. You don't have to be alone anymore. I need you.”





















Until Next Time 

 

Wednesday 26 August 2015

August 2015 Book Haul

Hello, so this month was a pretty good month i only brought books i have been wanting to read for a really long time so first lets do the Pre-Orders

Percy Jackson & The Greek Heroes - Rick Riordan

I Pre-Ordered this book as soon as i heard about it, reading about Greek mythology with Percy Jackson telling the Stories it is fantastic. He is such a Sassy narrator and the best part about this book was the fact it has the first chapter of sword of Summer in the back. 

IF YOU LIKE POISONINGS, BETRAYALS, MUTILATIONS, MURDERS AND FLESH-EATING FARMYARD ANIMALS, KEEP READING . . .

In this gripping follow-up to Percy Jackson and the Greek Gods, demigod Percy Jackson tells the stories of twelve of the original Greek heroes in all their gory, bloodthirsty glory.

Want to know who cut off Medusa's head? Which hero was raised by a she-bear? Who tamed Pegasus, the winged horse? Percy has all the answers . . .


The Taming of The Queen - Philippa Gregory 

Again i Pre Ordered this book as soon as i heard about it, it is the last book in The Tudor Court series and it is about Henry VIII's 6th and final wife Kateryn Parr.

Why would a woman marry a serial killer?

Because she cannot refuse...


Kateryn Parr, a thirty-year-old widow in a secret affair with a new lover, has no choice when a man old enough to be her father who has buried four wives – King Henry VIII – commands her to marry him.

Kateryn has no doubt about the danger she faces: the previous queen lasted sixteen months, the one before barely half a year. But Henry adores his new bride and Kateryn's trust in him grows as she unites the royal family, creates a radical study circle at the heart of the court, and rules the kingdom as regent.

But is this enough to keep her safe? A leader of religious reform and a published author, Kateryn stands out as an independent woman with a mind of her own. But she cannot save the Protestants, under threat for their faith, and Henry's dangerous gaze turns on her.The traditional churchmen and rivals for power accuse her of heresy - the punishment is death by fire and the king's name is on the warrant...

From an author who has described all of Henry's queens comes a deeply intimate portrayal of the last: a woman who longed for passion, power and education at the court of a medieval killer


Bitter of Tongue - Cassandra Clare 

I Pre Order these every month and i do love them a very short novella that give you an insight to how the characters are dealing with things from CoHF and Lady Midnight
 
When Simon is kidnapped by the fey, he’s amazed to find a friend in former Shadowhunter Mark Blackthorn. One of ten adventures in Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy.

After Simon is kidnapped by faeries (why is he always kidnapped?), he uncovers rumours of a secret weapon Sebastian left behind for the faerie queen. He must escape the Fey, relying on his only ally, former Shadowhunter and Dark Artifices character Mark Blackthorn.


Something Beautiful - Jamie McGuire

I Have been waiting for this story since i read Beautiful Disaster it is Shep and Americas story.
 
America Mason, a sassy undergrad at Eastern State University, is in love with a Maddox--Shepley Maddox. Unlike his cousins, Shepley is more lover than fighter, but a road trip to her parents' home in Wichita, Kansas could mean the next step, or the end of everything.






Until Friday Night - Abbi Glines 

I pre-Ordered this book because Abbi Glines is a auto buy author for me and i can now say along with every other series she has written it has become one of my favourites and this cover is the epitome of beautiful.

To everyone who knows him, West Ashby has always been that guy: the cocky, popular, way-too-handsome-for-his-own-good football god who led Lawton High to the state championships. But while West may be Big Man on Campus on the outside, on the inside he’s battling the grief that comes with watching his father slowly die of cancer.

Two years ago, Maggie Carleton’s life fell apart when her father murdered her mother. And after she told the police what happened, she stopped speaking and hasn’t spoken since. Even the move to Lawton, Alabama, couldn’t draw Maggie back out. So she stayed quiet, keeping her sorrow and her fractured heart hidden away.

As West’s pain becomes too much to handle, he knows he needs to talk to someone about his father—so in the dark shadows of a post-game party, he opens up to the one girl who he knows won’t tell anyone else.

West expected that talking about his dad would bring some relief, or at least a flood of emotions he couldn’t control. But he never expected the quiet new girl to reply, to reveal a pain even deeper than his own—or for them to form a connection so strong that he couldn’t ever let her go…


now onto the books that i have been wanting for a while and have finally brought ...

The Isle of The Lost - Melissa De La Cruz 
  
I brought this while food shopping and even though i am 20 yrs old i still love me a Disney film and decided to read this book because it has a really good premise and something very unique. 
 
Twenty years ago, all the evil villains were banished from the kingdom of Auradon and made to live in virtual imprisonment on the Isle of the Lost. The island is surrounded by a magical force field that keeps the villains and their descendants safely locked up and away from the mainland. Life on the island is dark and dreary. It is a dirty, decrepit place that's been left to rot and forgotten by the world.

But hidden in the mysterious Forbidden Fortress is a dragon's eye: the key to true darkness and the villains' only hope of escape. Only the cleverest, evilest, nastiest little villain can find it...who will it be?

Maleficent, Mistress of the Dark: As the self-proclaimed ruler of the isle, Maleficent has no tolerance for anything less than pure evil. She has little time for her subjects, who have still not mastered life without magic. Her only concern is getting off the Isle of the Lost.

Mal: At sixteen, Maleficent's daughter is the most talented student at Dragon Hall, best know
n for her evil schemes. And when she hears about the dragon's eye, Mal thinks this could be her chance to prove herself as the cruelest of them all.

Evie: Having been castle-schooled for years, Evil Queen's daughter, Evie, doesn't know the ins and outs of Dragon Hall. But she's a quick study, especially after she falls for one too many of Mal's little tricks.

Jay: As the son of Jafar, Jay is a boy of many talents: stealing and lying to name a few. Jay and Mal have been frenemies forever and he's not about to miss out on the hunt for the dragon's eye.

Carlos: Cruella de Vil's son may not be bravest, but he's certainly clever. Carlos's inventions may be the missing piece in locating the dragon's eye and ending the banishment for good.

Mal soon learns from her mother that the dragon's eye is cursed and whoever retrieves it will be knocked into a deep sleep for a thousand years. But Mal has a plan to capture it. She'll just need a little help from her "friends." In their quest for the dragon's eye, these kids begin to realise that just because you come from an evil family tree, being good ain't so bad.


The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold 

I saw this at the cinema and absolutely loved it and i have wanted to read the book since then but never got around to buying it, so when i saw it in The Works (A Discount Book Shop) i immediately picked it up.

The Lovely Bones is the story of a family devastated by a gruesome murder -- a murder recounted by the teenage victim. Upsetting, you say? Remarkably, first-time novelist Alice Sebold takes this difficult material and delivers a compelling and accomplished exploration of a fractured family's need for peace and closure.

The details of the crime are laid out in the first few pages: from her vantage point in heaven, Susie Salmon describes how she was confronted by the murderer one December afternoon on her way home from school. Lured into an underground hiding place, she was raped and killed. But what the reader knows, her family does not. Anxiously, we keep vigil with Susie, aching for her grieving family, desperate for the killer to be found and punished.


The Kings Sister - Anne O'Brien 

I have been meaning to pick up this book because of the blurb its sounds like a tale of love and family and having to choose who to betray and it just sounds amazing. 

1382. Daughter of John of Gaunt, sister to the future King Henry IV, Elizabeth of Lancaster has learned the shrewd tricks of the court from England’s most powerful men. In a time of political turmoil, allegiance to family is everything. A Plantagenet princess should never defy her father’s wishes. Yet headstrong Elizabeth refuses to bow to the fate of a strategic marriage. Rejecting her duty, Elizabeth weds the charming and ruthlessly ambitious Sir John Holland: Duke of Exeter, half-brother to King Richard II and the one man she has always wanted. But defiance can come at a price. 1399. Elizabeth’s brother Henry has seized the throne. Her husband, confident to the usurped Richard, masterminds a secret plot against the new King. Trapped in a dangerous web, Elizabeth must make a choice. Defy the King and betray her family. Or condemn her husband and send him to his death. Sister. Wife. Traitor. She holds the fate of England in her hands.

Virgin Widow - Anne O'Brien

Another book by Anne O'Brien i have been meaning to pick up this time because of the female lead i fell in love with Anne Neville's story back in 2013 when i read The Kingmakers Daughter by Philippa Gregory and this is a different take on it it is about her first marriage that leave her a traitor in France. 
 
I was a penniless, landless petitioner, my Neville blood a curse, my future dependent on the charity of those who despised me… Anne Neville is the heiress and daughter of the greatest powerbroker in the land, Warwick the Kingmaker. Trapped in a deadly tangle of political intrigue, she is a pawn in an uncertain game, used by the houses of Neville, York and Lancaster alike. In England's glittering, treacherous court, not all wish to see the Neville's raised high. The Earl of Warwick's ambition and pride lead him into an attempt to depose the Yorkist King; his treason forces his family into exile. Humiliated and powerless in a foreign land, Anne must find the courage and the wit to survive in such a dangerous man's world.


The Curvy Girls Club - Michelle Gorman 

I have seen this book on Kindle Daily Deals for 99p a lot so when i was on the train going to The Tower of London i forgot to take a book with me so i brought this book on my kindle app on my phone.

Where Confidence is the New Black. Fed up with always struggling to lose weight, best friends Katie, Ellie, Pixie and Jane start a social club where size doesn't matter. It soon grows into London's most popular club - a place to have fun instead of counting carbs - and the women find their lives changing in ways they never imagined. But outside the club, life isn't as rosy.


The Help - Katheryn Stockett 

i have been meaning to buy this book for a couple of years but it kept being pushed out by all the new books coming out so when i was out and walked past a second hand book shop this book was outside on one of the tables so i brought it. 

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step....

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobodies business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.


In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women--mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends--view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humour, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.



So that is all for this month 
Until next Time
Happy Reading

TBR Shame

Hi all, so i keep buying books and i will admit i do have way more read books than unread but for me i am still unhappy about the amount on my TBR so i have decided to shame myself and hopefully that will kick my butt into gear and either read more or stop buying books (like that will ever actually happen, but a girl can dream) so as of 22nd August 2015 i have 117 books on my tbr and they are

  1. Panic - Lauren Oliver
  2. Wake - Amanda Hocking
  3. Lullaby - Amanda Hocking
  4. Severed Heads, Broken Hearts - Robyn Schneider
  5. An Abundance of Katherine's - John Green 
  6. Will Greyson, Will Greyson - John Green & David Levithan
  7. Everyday - David Levithan
  8. Sisters Fate - Jessica Spotswood
  9. Remember me - Sophie Kinsella 
  10. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
  11. Lament - Maggie Steifvater
  12. Brave New Love - Paula Guran
  13. Days of Blood And Starlight - Laini Taylor
  14. The Host - Stephenie Meyer 
  15. Envy - Gregg Olsen
  16. Betrayal - Gregg Olsen
  17. The Fallen Queen -  Emily Purdy
  18. The Taming of The Queen - Philippa Gregory
  19. Devils Consort - Anne O'Brien
  20. The Kings Sister - Anne O'Brien
  21. Virgin Widow - Anne O'Brien
  22. To Defy A King - Elizabeth Chadwick
  23. The Gates of Rome - Conn Iggulden
  24. The Death of Kings - Conn Iggulden 
  25. The Fields of Rome - Conn Iggulden 
  26. The Six Wives of Henry VIII - Alison Weir 
  27. The Lady In The Tower - Alison Weir
  28. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
  29. Bring Up The Bodies - Hilary Mantel
  30. Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky
  31. The Bone Setters Daughter - Amy Tan
  32. The Jewel of St Petersburg - Kate Furnivall
  33. Pale Rose of England - Sandra Worth
  34. A Great & Terrible Beauty - Libba Bray
  35. Warleggan - Winston Graham
  36. The Black Moon - Winston Graham
  37. The Four Swans - Winston Graham
  38. Young Henry - Robert Hutchinson
  39. Elizabeth's Spy Master - Robert Hutchinson
  40. Shakespeare's Local - Pete Brown 
  41. Fields of Blood - Ben Kane
  42. Clouds of War - Ben Kane
  43. The Plantagenet's - Dan Jones
  44. A Breath of Frost - Alyxandra Harvey
  45. Night Circus - Erin Morganstern 
  46. Grave Mercy - Robin La Fevers
  47. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
  48. The Luxe - Anna Godbersen
  49. The Help - Kathryn Stockett
  50. Blood Red Snow White - Marcus Sedgwick
  51. The Fellowship of The Ring - J R R Tolkien
  52. The Two Towers - J R R Tolkien
  53. The Return of The King - J R R Tolkien
  54. Half Bad - Sally Green 
  55. Alice in Zombieland - Gena Showalter
  56. Alice Through The Zombie Glass - Gena Showalter
  57. Nightfall - L J Smith
  58. Shadow Souls - L J Smith
  59. Midnight - L J Smith
  60. Unseen - L J Smith
  61. Nightworld: Volume 1 - L J Smith
  62. Nightworld: Volume 2 - L J Smith 
  63. Nightworld: Volume 3 - L J Smith
  64. Blue Moon - Alyson Noel 
  65. Dark Places - Gillian Flynn 
  66. Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn
  67. Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
  68. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
  69. Prince of Shadows - Rachel Caine
  70. The Book of Tomorrow - Cecelia Ahern
  71. P.s I Love You - Cecelia Ahern
  72. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
  73. Dracula - Bram Stoker
  74. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
  75. The Invasion of The Tearling - Erika Johansen
  76. A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness
  77. Shadow of Night - Deborah Harkness
  78. Book of Life - Deborah Harkness
  79. Tithe - Holly Black 
  80. Ironside - Holly Black 
  81. Valiant - Holly Black
  82. Die For Me - Amy Plum
  83. Until I Die - Amy Plum
  84. If I Should Die - Amy Plum
  85. The Forrest of Hands and Teeth - Carrie Ryan 
  86. Pretties - Scott Westerfeld
  87. Specials - Scott Westerfeld
  88. Across The Universe - Beth Revis 
  89. The Immortal Rules - Julie Kagawa
  90. The Eternity Cure - Julie Kagawa
  91. Sisters Red Jackson Pearce
  92. Dark Inside - Jeyne Roberts
  93. Elixir - Hilary Duff
  94. Dancing in My Nuddy Pants - Louise Rennison 
  95. ... And That's When It Fell Off In My Hand - Louise Rennison
  96. ... Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers - Louise - Rennison
  97. ... Startled By His Furry Shorts - Louise Rennison
  98. Luuurve is A Many Trousered Thing - Louise Rennison
  99. Stop in The Name of Pants - Louise Rennison
  100. Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me - Louise Rennison
  101. Cress - Marissa Meyer
  102. Living Dead in Dallas - Charlaine Harris
  103. Club Dead - Charlaine Harris 
  104. Dead To The World - Charlaine Harris
  105. Definitely Dead - Charlaine Harris
  106. Dead As A Doornail - Charlaine Harris
  107. From Dead To Worse - Charlaine Harris 
  108. All Together Dead - Charlaine Harris 
  109. Dead & Gone - Charlaine Harris 
  110. A Touch of Dead - Charlaine Harris 
  111.  Dark Desires After Dusk - Kresley Cole
  112. Demon From The Dark - Kresley Cole 
  113. Dreams of A Dark Warrior - Kresley Cole
  114. The Lying Game - Sara Shepard
  115. Beautiful Darkness - Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
  116. Beautiful Chaos - Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
  117. Beautiful Redemption - Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl













































OK so that is it for My TBR shame hopefully this will kick me into reading again 

If You have read any of these books and think i should read it straight away comment and tell me so i can get right on it. 


Until Next Time
Happy Reading 


Tower of London - 1st August 2015

Henry VIII
Hi, so i went to The Tower of London earlier this month and it was really fun so i decided to share it with you. I have been there before about 4 times it is probably one of my favourite places to go in London for a day out.

All in all it takes me about 70 minutes or 1 hour 10 minutes to get to Tower Hill Underground Station, i left my house at 7:53 and i got there 9:30 when i first got there i always go through the "subway"  (a tiny little tunnel that you walk under) because when you walk out the other side you have this beautiful view of The Tower welcoming you.

 When i first got there i didn't really take any pictures, i went into the royal mint but was in a bit of a rush so i didn't take any pictures, then i went into the Crown Jewels and you are not allowed to take pictures in there.












 Traitor's Gate the entrance Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Princess Elizabeth and many others have taken

 Next i went on a Yeoman Warder (Beefeater) tour
that lasted 45 minutes where we went around the grounds and was told some of the history like how Anne Boleyn's lips supposedly kept saying her prayer even after her head was chopped off.


 Then i rushed to the moat to get a good seat for the Joust that was happening
















                                      
Then i went and had something to eat, from the Armouries Cafe. Then i went into my Favourite p[lace inside of The Tower, The White tower the oldest and most beautiful part of the Palace.
I'm scared of heights so when they are re-doing the stairs to get into the white tower and replace then with scaffolding and you have people above you jumping it really made my heart skip a couple beats but i finally got in and as per usual it was phenomenal.











                                                                 
                                                                 







































 Once i came out of The White Tower i went to the Lawn just outside and there was a play on with Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII





















































































The i went into Torture at The Tower where they had THE RACK and many other torture devices 














Next was the Medieval Palace 
























































Then from The Medieval Palace you go through to the wall walk and you are walking round what would have been the defences and the view is breathtaking it gets me every time and i have seen it lots of times. 















































































and the final place i went was the Memorial for the people who were killed in the privacy of The Tower itself among them 3 Queens of England and nobility a like 

Anne Boleyn , Katherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey 


  

Well that is it for my trip to The Tower of London if you are ever in London you should visit this magnificent Fortress. 

Until Next Time 

 (sorry about some of the blank spaces the pictures were playing up as i was putting them on)