All the Pink

Pink Cover Task

Never one to turn down a book challenge (thanks Nat for this one) I had a looksie through my bookshelves to find some very girlie and pink book covers. Below is the the extremely random selection I found and yes that is a Latin book...

These are UK editions so the covers may vary!

That Boy by Jillian Dodd Wallbanger by Alice Clayton Kennedy's Revised Latin Primer by Benjamin Hall Kennedy The Wishing Chair series by Enid Blyton Kook by Chris Vick What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick Jet by Jay Crownover

My Book Nerd August

Bookish August in Pictures

My images from the #livelaughbooksaugust book challenge:

Some were more successful than others.

Ooh the pretty colours...

Gotta love some book theme merchandise!!

Also there's still time to enter my special 2000th Blog Post Giveaway...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway T&C's:

I cannot be held accountable for winners & prizes - I am not responsible for missing prizes & anything lost in transit or any damage. Prizes are sent by standard mail (signed for and tracking is extremely expensive & I'd rather offer more prizes than pay more for postage) and will not be replaced (but proof of postage is gained) . I check all entries before giving out prizes to make sure your entry is still valid. I'm sorry kiddies but you need to be 18 or older to enter, or have a parent enter for your (or have recognised parental permission) as some of the books are for adults. I have purchased or been given these prizes for giveaway purposes & the giveaway is not linked to the publisher, author, company, or any social media unless stated otherwise. You use any product at your own risk & I will not accept responsibility for any reaction you may have to products. If you're not legally allowed to enter then your entry is void. Incomplete entries or giveaway only accounts are also void!! If you don't agree to these conditions please do not enter.

Love-a-thon - High Five Challenge

2015 Book Blogger Love-a-Thon

February 21-22, 2015.

Hosted by: Alexa Loves Books     Mini Challenge - High Five

Fab bookish things currently making me happy!

Book Love:
This is a tricky one because I have books I'm waiting on, old fav's I LOVE and those which I'm currently enjoying or have recently finished.
What's making me very happy at this exact time is the eARC of Joanna Wylde's Silver Bastard I'm currently reading! I freaking LOVE Puck. It's a spin-off from Wylde's Reaper's MC biker series and is fab in all it's dirty, gritty, naughty glory!

If you're not familiar with the series my previous reviews & author info are here:
Reaper's Property * Reaper's Legacy * Devil's Game * Reaper's Stand


Genre Love:
SO many, but I'm going to go with High Fantasy in both YA or Adult, so pretty much anything by Sarah J. Maas. Mainly I'll always be a Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones gal at heart! 
Or anything alien related - I finally got round to reading Melissa West's Gravity and I loved it! BUT Daemon Black from JLA's Lux series will always be my favourite alien!


Author Love:

This is easy and doesn't really need much explanation but I'm loving Jay Crownover, Jennifer L. Armentrout and of course J.R. Ward!

Blogger Love:
There are some amazing blogs and bloggers out there and I honestly couldn't play favourite with them. I'm really enjoying getting to know everybody involved in the Love-a-thon and from last weeks Covenant Readathon!

Bookish Merchandise:
Oh I love the little mini book charms. Amy A. Bartol gave me the one in the photo at a signing in Dublin last year. If anybody knows where to buy them please let me know :)

I'm always looking for quirky book merchandise and of course fangirl tee's, so any suggestions would be awesome...

You can checkout more book shelfies via Alexa Loves books (here) or the linky here!

Love-a-thon - Book Spine Poetry

2015 Book Blogger Love-a-Thon

February 21-22, 2015.

Hosted by: Alexa Loves Books     Book Spine Poetry Challenge.

It turns out book spine poetry is actually WAY harder than I had imagined but it's also really fun!!

Below is my first EVER attempt and it may be a little moody and dark but I hope you like my rather lame attempt...

So it reads:
Fateful Ugly love Haunted by Your Touch. Entwined with You As you like it. The Edge of Always Everything to Lose Beautiful Oblivion Losing it One Tiny Lie. Lover Mine Fallen Too Far Last Kiss Goodnight

Or with sneaky extra words added in and formatted:
This fateful, ugly love. I'm haunted by your touch. I'm entwined with you forever my love, as you like it. We're on the edge of always, with everything to lose.
This beautiful oblivion, I'm losing it because of one tiny lie. So lover mine, have I fallen too far? Can I have one last kiss goodnight?


You can checkout more book spine poetry via Alexa Loves books (here) or the linky here!

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

I couldn't escape this forever & it's for a very worthy cause to raise money and awareness for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Lou Gehrig's disease or what we call Motor Neurone Disease here in the UK.)
Head over to the the ALS website to learn more and to donate.

Thanks to my bestie Krissy for my nomination for the ALS ice bucket challenge (and for doing the back up filming after Dad messed it up & managed to miss the actual challenge)!

To donate to MND for motor neurone disease txt ICED55 £5 (or any other amount you would like to give) to 70070 or to donate £3 to Macmillan txt ICE to 70550 - I'm doing this in the England using the UK numbers (it's prob diff in the US etc)! I nominate Katie, Annie & Danielle (you blogger peeps escaped my nominations because FB wouldn't let me tag you).

Sorry for the poor video quality...

Now go get wet and raise some money...

Also have you seen the Matt Damon one where he uses toilet water? That's dedication! You can watch the video here at the Huffington Post site!

Or the always beautiful Henry Cavil getting soaked dressed as Superman?!
You can watch the video here at Hyperbole!

#IceBucketChallenge

Review: Shattered Promises by Jessica Sorenson

 

What they say: **Mature Content Warning** 17+ for language and sexual content. (A re-imagining of my young adult book, The Fallen Star, told as a New Adult Paranormal).

For twenty-one year-old Gemma, life has never been normal. She knows nothing about her past and has been haunted by the same monsters in her nightmares for the last few months. Unemotional and numb to life, she feels disconnected from everyone. Until the very first day she cries. After that, nothing in her life is the same.

Her emotions slowly surface and she starts experiencing love, happiness, and anger, feelings she never knew existed. But they leave her confused and she doesn’t know whether to embrace them or run away from them.

Her life only gets more complicated when she meets Alex. Sexy, arrogant, and secretive, Alex can get under Gemma’s skin like no one can. Yet she’s drawn to him by an invisible connection she has no control over. She’s also seen him before. In her nightmares.

Every part of Gemma’s mind is screaming at her to stay away from Alex, but every other part of her is begging to get close to him. But the closer she gets, the more she realizes Alex knows more about her than he originally let on.

As secrets about her past unravel, Gemma’s life becomes threatened. She needs to figure out what’s going on, before she winds up dead. But the only person she can turn to for answers is the one person she isn’t sure she can trust.

 

What I say: I read the Fallen Star series a while ago and although I enjoyed it I felt on occasion the tone of the story and dialogue didn't always match the plot. I wanted more detail on Gemma and Alex's attraction and to learn my about Laylen. This is where Shattered Promises comes in. Shattered Promises is basically a more adult version of the Fallen Star story!

 

I definitely preferred the older and sexed up version of Gemma and Alex. It removed a lot of the Twilight PG just-get-on-with-it annoyance. I also liked how Sorenson increased the action and pace in Shattered Promises.

 

In Fallen Star I found Laylen far more interesting than Alex and this interest carried over into Shattered Promises - there's just something about Alex which puts me on edge. Yes, he's swoon-worthy and mysterious and usually I like the brooding, sarcastic type (why HELLO Jace Wayland), but with Alex I often want to take a swipe at him!

 

Gemma, Gemma, Gemma! Well in this fantasy story (both the YA original and the NA reworking) she's really interesting and understated. Every time she's lied to, deceived or comes across another shocking revelation, I found myself routing for her and willing her on.

 

I enjoyed the more adult reworking Sorenson provided in Shattered Promises. As for whether it works across the series in general, well I'll reserve judgement until I've read them all. If you enjoyed the original, then you'll definitely appreciate Shattered Promises.

 

3.5 Stars in my Sky!

Review: Rocked Under by Cora Hawkes

 

What they say: Falling in love isn't always easy or pleasant. The intense and angst-filled story of Emma and Scott is a painful, gut-wrenching and exhausting portrayal of how hard it can be to let go...

Picking up the pieces and starting again in the US, Emma enrols in college with her cousin, Ashley. She is finally free to do what she wants and live how she chooses, and no man will ever rule her decisions or emotions again.

That is, until Scott Mason walks on stage...

Intense bad boy Scott is the lead singer of a popular local rock band. A ladies’ man and Ashley's long-time friend, Scott holds an instant fascination for Emma — she finds herself drawn to him, even though he represents everything she hates and needs to stay away from in a guy. He treats females like he does a cigarette — light it, use it, and lose it.

For her cousin's sake, Emma makes an effort to get along with Scott, but she soon discovers that there is more to him than first appears, making him even more dangerous in her eyes. Behind the façade of friendship, jealousy, obsession, fear and insecurity fester — an internal battle rages as she fights her attraction and does everything she can to stop history from repeating itself.

One thing she knows for sure is that if she breaks her rule, it may destroy her.

Warning: Contains mature content — recommended age 17+

 

What I say: Holy Moly! Rocked Under is one hell of an emotional read! Emma has moved from England to the States to start Uni and live with her cousin Ashley. Emma is immediately drawn to Ash's rocker friend, the gorgeous man-whore Scott.

 

Cora Hawkes really puts her characters through the ringer in Rocked Under and the reader is drawn in to Emma and Scott's emotional journey. The first time I read Rocked Under I both loved and hated it in equal measures. Emma has some serious issues with trust. Because of her fathers mistakes Emma refuses to be drawn into a relationship with a badboy like Scott. This results in vast amounts of pain and some pretty messed up situations.

 

At times Emma reminded me of Abby from Beautiful Disaster. Through her denial she hurts them both. Scott is completely besotted with Emma and tries everything to win her over, but some of his methods leave a lot to be desired - Boys, bringing other girls home to make a girl jealous is always gonna bite ya in the butt!

I liked Scott and really felt for him when Emma couldn't seem to cut him loose but wouldn't date him. BUT he does do some pretty shitty things. In many ways Scott was a musician version of Travis Maddox, but with even more issues.

 

Emma tries dating the somewhat sneaky Adam to convince herself she doesn't want or need Scott, whilst Scott er 'dates' *ahem* hooks up with a lot of women. I really wanted them to get their act together and for Emma to stop denying the inevitable.

 

I enjoyed the angst in this one, even if I did suffer heart palpitations on several occasions. It's a good book and if you like emotional scenes then you'll enjoy Rocked Under.

 

4 Stars in my Sky!

 

My fav non-spoilery quotes:

• "It’s the person you are inside that counts and you’re beautiful. You’re beautiful outside, too, but that’s not what’s got to me."
• "I had no intention of getting involved with a tattooed, spikey-haired rock dude who wore his waistband under his ass cheeks, slept around and had commitment issues. Those were the types that had me running from the hills." 
• "One day, Scott, you're going to fall in love and I hope she's the one to say no to you and makes you chase her forever."
• "It's always been you. I’m incapable of loving anyone else. It's you or no one."

Review: Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire

 

What they say: Finally, the highly anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestseller Beautiful Disaster.

Can you love someone too much?

Travis Maddox learned two things from his mother before she died: Love hard. Fight harder.

In Walking Disaster, the life of Travis is full of fast women, underground gambling, and violence. But just when he thinks he is invincible, Abby Abernathy brings him to his knees.

Every story has two sides. In Beautiful Disaster, Abby had her say. Now it’s time to see the story through Travis’s eyes.

 

 

 

What I say: Like SO many others I really enjoyed Beautiful Disaster and found myself quickly engrossed in the complicated relationship between Abby 'Pigeon' Abernathy and Travis 'Mad dog' Maddox. For the purpose of this review I'm going to presume you're familiar with Abby and Travis's story from book #1.

 

The only problem I really had with book #1 was how Abby treated Travis. I felt she messed him around too much and didn't give him enough credit for trying to change. I also found her a bit whiny at times, but I still enjoyed their story in Beautiful Disaster. I was extremely excited when I discovered that Jamie McGuire had retold the whole story from Travis's POV.

 

Thankfully in Walking Disaster McGuire has totally delivered! Not only do we get the scenes from book #1 Travis style, but McGuire also added lots of brand new scenes. I felt this helped to gain a much better understanding of Travis.

 

At times it was heart-breaking to see how unhappy Travis was and his almost obsessive love for Abby. Seeing certain scenes from Travis's POV made me want to harm Abby, until I remembered a lot of her actions were as a result of her awful father. Travis isn't completely innocent though; he baits Abby, almost stalks her and totally overreacts a lot of the time. These extreme emotions are totally alien to him and he has absolutely no idea how to handle them.

 

I had forgotten how much they squabble, and how long Abby makes Travis wait. I loved how dysfunctional and beautiful they were together, and how in the long run, they both wanted the same thing. A great story and a real treat to have a whole book in the guy's POV!

4 Stars in my Sky!

My fav non-spoilery quotes:

• "You Travis Maddox, are kinda sexy when you're not being a whore."
• "Abby, She's a pigeon. A demonic pigeon that f**ks with my head so bad I can't think straight."
• Did women deserve to be treated like sluts? No. Did sluts deserve to be treated like sluts? Yes. I was a slut.