Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Read This Year!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish (Click the image to visit them).

Huge thanks go to them for hosting this feature, I’ve really enjoyed taking part this year and I’m sure this will continue in 2014!

For the final Tuesday of 2013, the topic of course is The Top Ten Books I read this year.

I thought it was only right to do this in descending order. Click the images to visit the Goodreads page, and the book title to go to my review (If I wrote one).

Title/Author: The Polaris Whisper by Kenneth Gregory
Genre: Fantasy
Published: September 25th 2013

It is a dark time. For decades Hakon the Black, the most feared Norse Lord of the ninth century, has conducted bloody and gruesome raids throughout Europe, and laid his claim upon the seas. But it is also a time of hope.

In the frozen wastelands of the north, Vidar searches for the Vestibule of Light. Alone, freezing and exhausted, he pushes on through the endless winter in the belief that once his quest is complete, he may return to the life he has left behind, and to Niclaus, the son he was forced to abandon. For Niclaus has a greater destiny – one foretold by Cado, the enigmatic Small Walker – and Vidar is but one player in the boy’s life. Cado has enlisted the help of protectors from all corners of the Earth to shield Niclaus: men whose worlds are connected by only the loosest of threads.

But as Niclaus becomes older, and the various worlds begin to converge, will Vidar and Cado have to make sacrifices beyond imagining to protect those they love.

Title/Author: Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
Genre: Horror
Published:September 24th 2013

On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and spunky twelve-year-old Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of devoted readers of The Shining and satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.

Title/Author: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Genre: YA/ Fantasy
Published: August 7th 2012

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king’s council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her… but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead… quickly followed by another.

Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Title/Author: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
Genre: YA/ Horror
Published:September 3rd 2013

Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black

Title/Author: Frost Hollow Hall by Emma Carroll
Genre: YA/Historical Fiction
Published: October 3rd 2013

The gates to Frost Hollow Hall loomed before us. They were great tall things, the ironwork all twisted leaves and queer-looking flowers. And they were very definitely shut.

Tilly’s heart sinks. Will’s at the door of their cottage, daring her to come ice-skating up at Frost Hollow Hall. No one goes near the place these days. Rumour has it that the house is haunted . . . Ten years ago the young heir, Kit Barrington, drowned there in the lake. But Tilly never turns down a dare.

Then it goes horribly wrong. The ice breaks, Tilly falls through and almost drowns. At the point of death, a beautiful angel appears in the water and saves her. Kit Barrington’s ghost.

Kit needs Tilly to solve the mystery of his death, so that his spirit can rest in peace. In order to discover all she can, Tilly gets work as a maid at Frost Hollow Hall. But the place makes her flesh crawl. It’s all about the dead here, she’s told, and in the heart of the house she soon discovers all manner of dark secrets . . .

Frost Hollow Hall is a thrilling historical fiction debut. Told in Tilly’s unique voice, it is a tale of love and loss, and how forgiveness is the key to recovery.

Title/Author: City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments #3) by Cassandra Clare
Genre: YA/Fantasy
Published: March 24th 2009

To save her mother’s life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters – never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.

As Clary uncovers more about her family’s past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadowhunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadowhunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he’s willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her newfound powers to help save the Glass City – whatever the cost?

Love is a mortal sin and the secrets of the past prove deadly as Clary and Jace face down Valentine in the third installment of the New York Times bestselling series The Mortal Instruments.

Title/Author: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Genre: YA/Fantasy
Published: August 10th 2012

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty’s anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen’s Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

Title/Author: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Genre: YA/Dystopian
Published: May 5th 2008

I CAN BELIEVE IT TOOK ME UNTIL 2013 TO READ THIS BOOK. FOOL.

Prentisstown isn’t like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee — whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not — stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden — a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?

Title/Author: The Selection by Kiera Cass
Genre: YA/Dystopian/Romance
Published: April 24th 2012

Oh how I tried not to love this book. It is totally trashy but I LOVE IT, OK!

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn’t want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she’s made for herself and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

Title/Author: Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Genre: YA/Fantasy
Published: October 1st 2008

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight – she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.

When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change.

She never expects to become Po’s friend.

She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace – or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away…

Happy New Year Everyone!

A Breath of Frost (The Lovegrove Legacy #1) by Alyxandra Harvey

In 1814, three cousins-Gretchen, Emma, and Penelope-discover their unknown family lineage of witchcraft. Beyond the familiar manicured gardens and ballrooms of Regency London, a dangerous, alluring new underworld visible only to those with power is now open to the cousins.
But unbeknownst to them, by claiming their power, the three cousins have inadvertently opened the gates to the Underworld.
Now the dead, ghouls, hellhounds-and the most terrifying of all: the spirits of dark witches known as the Greymalkin Sisters-are hunting and killing young debutante witches for their powers.
And, somehow, Emma is connected to the murders…because she keeps finding the bodies.
Can the cousins unravel the clues and mystery behind their heritage and power before their gifts are stripped away …or even worse, another witch is killed?

I really wanted to love this. I’d heard good things about Harvey even though I never got round to her other series, The Drake Chronicles. The cover drew me to it (so pretty) and I loved the synopsis, but unfortunately I just couldn’t get into it.

That being said, I’m not entirely sure if the book is to blame or if it was a timing issue. I was so busy I was trying to snatch 15 minutes here and there to get through it but every time I picked it up my heart wasn’t in it and I found it hard to follow, which probably wouldn’t have been an issue if I had time to sit down and read it for longer periods of time.

The book started promising enough. It was action-packed from the off and I really loved the humorous tone of the narration.

In a nutshell, A Breath of Frost is about three cousins who discover they are witches, just at the same time that they have more important things to worry about such as debutante balls and finding husbands. When their powers are awakened, an ancient evil known as the Greymalkin is too and we follow the cousins through the discovery of their ancestry, their powers and responsibility, and generally just trying to stay alive. Oh and throw in a bit of Romance too, of course. (I liked Cormac a lot!)

Breaking into a dead woman’s house was easy work since she rarely complained. Breaking into a dead witch’s house was a different matter entriely.

We come across vampire pigeons, goblin markets, LADIES WITH UNICORNS…As I’m writing this really starting to wonder how I didn’t ADORE this book. I even found the writing beautiful and inventive at times:

“The others looked at her as if she were made of spiders and thorns”

A girl meandered out of the shrubbery, her long, pale hair, falling like shining swan feathers to her waist. She was all moon-beams and mist, delicate pearls and orchids, apart from the wickedly jagged knife at her belt.”

So why did I find it so hard to read? Answers on a postcard please.

I found a lot of similarities to The Worst Witch too, (with Daphne being the mean one but most talented, and Emma being rubbish and getting up to all kinds of things) albeit a more grown up, Regency Era Worst Witch.

What’s not to like? I might have to give it another go at some point!

Disclosure?: Yep, I received a copy from the publisher/author in exchange for an HONEST review.
Title: A Breath of Frost (The Lovegrove Legacy #1)
Author: Alyxandra Harvey
Details: Paperback, 496 pages
Publication Date: January 2nd 2014 by Bloomsbury Children’s
My Rating: 3/5
If you like this try: Nightworld by L.J Smith

Festive Thursday (part 2)!

We should be used to this by now shouldn’t we!? Christmas happens every year. We say we are are going to be prepared and not stress out but every single year December just seems to fly by without warning.

It’s not like I have loads of things I HAVE to do at Christmas, my mum practically does everything, all I am in charge of this year is the Christmas dinner starter and the pigs in blankets, but there are always too many things that I want to do in the lead up to Christmas but never get round to, because it goes so bloody fast!

I did cross making Christmas pudding vodka off my list this year at least. But I didn’t get round to making a Christmas cake, or gingerbread, and I haven’t even watched A Muppet’s Christmas Carol yet. I know, disaster right!?

I did however attend London Santacon which is quickly becoming one of my favourite days of the year. That is me bottom right, I have no idea who that other Santa is.

Here’s the low-down on Santacon from http://:www.santacon.co.uk :

Santacon is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious celebratory parade of Christmas cheer, goodwill, and fun. It is not a membership organisation, just a traditional event in London, created by whoever wants to take part. There is no particular reason to dress up in Santa suits, run around town, give gifts, sing songs, have strangers sit on our laps, and decide who is naughty or nice – but it’s a lot of fun – so Santa does it anyway. Everyone loves Santa and Santa loves everyone!”

Memorise these answers to important questions that may arise:
Who’s in charge? “Santa!”
What organization are you with? “Santa.”
What are you protesting? “We’re not protesting we’re celebrating.”
Why? “Because it’s Christmas!”
How did you get here? “A sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.”
Where are you going next? “I’m only allowed to tell you if you wear this hat and buy me a beer.”

Top 5 Christmas Films:

1. Santa Claus, The movie – (No, not the Tim Allen one although I am also a fan of that.) Me and my mum nearly always watch this on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, in our pjs, lying on the sofa. Bliss.

2. The Muppet’s Christmas Carol – I broke my own tradition this year by failing to watch (and sing) this while I’m wrapping presents. But do not fret, a viewing is on the cards.

3. Home Alone – This is what I actually watched this year when I was wrapping my presents, and according to my Twitter and fb feeds, I think the whole of the UK was watching it too.

4. ELF – Or ELLLLLLLLLLLLLF as I like to call it. This has been a steady climber to the top of my list. Every time I watch it I love it a little bit more. Even though I usually hate Will Ferrell films.

5. Gremlins – It’s between this and Die Hard. Both of them aren’t always thought of as Christmas Films, and are obviously quite different to the rest but they are awesome, and definitely ARE Christmas films.

Others worthy of mentions are Bad Santa for the lols, Narnia for the magic and Black Christmas from the rubbish slasher remake. And one that I have shockingly never seen – It’s a Wonderful Life. This year has to be the year! And I went to see Frozen last night, it was AMAZING. One of the best Disney films I’ve ever seen!

Bookwise:
I recently finished (and enjoyed) Starry Night by Deborah Macomber. You can read my review here.

Next up is The Night Before Christmas:

All Lydia’s ever wanted is a perfect Christmas…
So when her oldest friends invite her to spend the holidays with them, it seems like a dream come true. She’s been promised log fires, roasted chestnuts, her own weight in mince pies – all in a setting that looks like something out of a Christmas card. But her winter wonderland is ruined when she finds herself snowed in with her current boyfriend, her old flame and a hunky stranger. Well, three (wise) men is traditional at this time of year..

If you missed part 1 of my festive antics, you can see it here.
I’m not sure if I’ll be posting next week or not, it depends on how much time I get so I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas/Holiday/Family time etc!

WWW Wednesday (18/12/2013)

Happy Wednesday guys! As always, thanks to Should Be Reading for hosting. Click the image to visit.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading? • What did you recently finish reading? • What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading: I’m still reading A Breath of Frost but almost finished. It has been good in places but it hasn’t really kept my attention to be honest.

Recently Finished: Starry Night. When I was about 150 pgs into A Breath of Frost I made the mistake of picking this up. I couldn’t put it down – it was just what I needed, a fluffy, cheesy, festive read. Review

Up Next:The Night Before Christmas – another fluffy cheesy festive read. I don’t mean that in a disparaging way by the way, I love these kind of books! Good fluff!

Leave a link to your post so I can check them out!

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors that were new to me in 2013!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish (Click the image to visit them). This week the topic is Top Ten authors that were new to me in 2013.

So this is all a bit rushed because IT’S CHRISTMAS AND I’M BEHIND ON SO MANY THINGS (deep breaths), but I really wanted to take part because I’ve discovered so many great new authors this year. So here goes:

1. Kiera Cass (The Selection; The Elite) Obvs
2. Kristin Cashore (Graceling; Fire; Bitter Blue) I miss this series 😦
3. Emma Carroll (Frost Hollow Hall) This was my first ever ARC review. Loved it.
4. Kenneth Gregory (The Polaris Whisper) Another ARC review, Kenneth recently tweeted me to say that they used one of my quotes in the book launch promo video (below). Chuffed!
5. Sarah J. Mass (Throne of Glass; Crown of Midnight) Celaena has been one of my favourite characters this year.
6. Glynis Cooney (Daughter of Camelot) I loved this Arthurian YA adventure.
7. Rachel Hartman (Seraphina) This was only the 2nd book I read this year, but it definitely stands out as one of the best.
8. Rachel Cohn & David Levithan (Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist; Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares) I’d read some Levithan before but never these two together, I love both of their collaborations.
9. Debbie Macomber (Starry Night) I just reviewed this here
10. Terra Harmony (Water) I need to read the other books in the series!

 

The Polaris Whisper Book Launch:

It looked like a great event. What made you list? Feel free to leave a link!

Festive Reads Review: Starry Night by Debbie Macomber

’Tis the season for romance, second chances, and Christmas cheer with this new novel from Debbie Macomber.

Carrie Slayton, a big-city society-page columnist, longs to write more serious news stories. So her editor hands her a challenge: She can cover any topic she wants, but only if she first scores the paper an interview with Finn Dalton, the notoriously reclusive author.

Living in the remote Alaskan wilderness, Finn has written a mega-bestselling memoir about surviving in the wild. But he stubbornly declines to speak to anyone in the press, and no one even knows exactly where he lives.

Digging deep into Finn’s past, Carrie develops a theory on his whereabouts. It is the holidays, but her career is at stake, so she forsakes her family celebrations and flies out to snowy Alaska. When she finally finds Finn, she discovers a man both more charismatic and more stubborn than she even expected. And soon she is torn between pursuing the story of a lifetime and following her heart.

Filled with all the comforts and joys of Christmastime, Starry Night is a delightful novel of finding happiness in the most surprising places.

Alaska, stargazing and a brooding man, what more could you want this Christmas?

Starry Night has everything I was looking for in a cozy Christmastime read. As soon as I picked it up, I just wanted to snuggle under a blanket with a mug of mulled wine in front of an open fire. I had to make do with a radiator but that’s beside the point.

Carrie is a headstrong, career-driven young woman who is grateful to be working for a respected newspaper but frustrated about her lack of progression. She’s bored of attending glitzy parties and charity events and writing about what people are wearing so when the opportunity comes up to prove to her worth to her boss she jumps at the chance.

But of course there are many obstacles in Carrie’s way. First she has to find reclusive Finn Dalton, and then she has to get him – a stubborn loner with trust issues when it comes to women – to agree to an interview. And then there’s Alaska itself, with snowstorms looming Carrie could easily get stuck in wilderness with a man who really doesn’t appreciate her imposing, and to top it all off, her deadline and Christmas is swiftly approaching.

There were things I really loved about this book. The writing is simple and flawless making it such a quick, easy read. I’ve wanted to go to Alaska my whole life so the setting is what appealed to me initially and it didn’t disappoint on that front.

With all of those things working for it, the romance had such great potential but I felt a bit let down by it in the end. I think Finn’s broody, damaged exterior melted away just a bit too quickly, as if he just changed overnight. I found it a bit hard to believe, but it didn’t stop my overall enjoyment.

I enjoyed the relationship between Carrie and her family, and also Finn’s dog, and I was happy that it was written from both Finn and Carrie’s point of view. It also reminded me a bit of How to Lose a Guy in 10 days and I love that film.

This is the first book I’ve read by Debbie Macomber, and it certainly won’t be the last. Locate an armchair, put it in front of a fire, and give Starry Night a whirl.

Disclosure?: Nope, I bought it.
Title: Starry Night
Author: Debbie Macomber
Details: Paperback, 272 pages
Publication Date: October 8th 2013 by Arrow
My Rating: 4/5
Is it a Keeper? I think so…

Festive favourites #1: Christmas Stories by Charles Dickens

I rescued this book from my parents attic a few years back. When I say rescued I mean borrowed. When I say borrowed, I mean stole. I don’t really remember being read it, but I do remember the cover and the smell of it. It’s one of my favourite books on my shelves.

Synopsis:
“A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth” contains three of Charles Dickens most popular Christmas-time stories. In “A Christmas Carol” we have the classic story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly old man who is visited by ghosts prior to Christmas to show him the error of his ways. In “The Chimes” we have the story of Toby Veck, a poor working-class man who has lost his faith in human nature. On New Year’s Eve he is visited by spirits who show him that nobody is born evil, but rather that crime and poverty are constructs of man. In “The Cricket on the Hearth” we have the story of John Peerybingle and his family who have a guardian angel in the form of a cricket who is constantly chirping on the hearth. These classic holiday tales will delight readers of all ages.

Festive Thursday – Part 1.

As I was deciding what to put in this post it dawned on me that there are only 2 Thursdays (this one included) left before Christmas Day…and I have already done SO MANY festive things to talk about so I am going to let some (badly taken) photos do most of the talking.

And so it Begins:

My Christmas excitement this year started the same way it always does; when I received a package from my Mum & Dad containing some chocolates, advent calendars for me and my flatmate Dora, and the message ‘Santa is Coming’, which cracks me up every time.

Preparations:
– One of the first things I did was set about making some Christmas Pudding Vodka. Gotta get your priorities right.

I’ve heard about this a lot in recent years but never tried any, nor made any of my own. There are loads of different recipes out there (Google is your friend), so I chose the simplest one with the least ingredients and it turned out great.

– I am already making my second batch as I drank too much of the first and was supposed to give it away as presents. Oops.

– I put up some decorations whilst listening to the Michael Bublé Christmas album and A Very She and Him Christmas. Zooey Deschanel has such a beautiful voice!

– I also made some cute little gift tags/tree decorations out of Fimo modelling clay.
This is 2nd year that I’ve enjoyed making these. I’m not really a crafty person and get bored with fiddly things quite easily but it’s hard to wrong with Fimo.

These are nice to put on ribbons and tie around gifts and the lucky recipient can then hang them on their tree if they so wish. My family were really impressed last year.

Christmas Booze:

It is not Christmas without an abundance of booze in my book, and Bailey’s is one of my favourite treats at Christmas. The coffee flavoured one is dangerously yummy. Mulled Wine is also up there, and is probably one of my favourite things about Christmas in general. It’s really simple to make at home and can not fail to make you feel all festively warm and fuzzy inside. But the lazy pre-made bottles will do too.

One of the best places to buy mulled wine though, is at the German Christmas Markets which are so popular these days. I have a little collection of ‘mulled boots’ that I’ve bought from my local Christmas market in previous years. This year however, our market is quite disappointing so when one of my friends told me that the Christmas market in Birmingham where she lives is the 2nd largest in Europe, the train ticket just seemed to buy itself.

They didn’t have boot mugs, but oh my, was it Christmassy!

And I wanted to eat EVERYTHING.

And then there were books:

I started reading A Breath of Frost, and Starry Night. And I must say, as soon as I picked up Starry Night I didn’t want to put it down so I’ve abandoned A Breath of Frost for now. Not that I wasn’t enjoying it, but it’s just not Christmassy enough right now.

Coming up in part 2 next Thursday: My favourite Christmas Films and SANTACON!!

Happy Holidays!

WWW Wednesday (11/12/13!!)

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading? • What did you recently finish reading? • What do you think you’ll read next?

Check out the pretty covers this week! ❤

Currently Reading: A Breath of Frost – Alyxandra Harvey. I’m enjoying this, but not loving it yet. It  does keep getting better though.

Just Finished: The Knife of Never Letting Go – Patrick Ness. Loved, loved, loved it. I attempted to put it into words here. Definitely in the running for favourite read of the year.

Up Next: Starry Night – Debbie Macomber. Let’s get festive!

Leave you link in the comments and I’ll come and visit! Happy Wednesday!

Also join my blog discussion: What is the average time-span of a book blogger?

Blog Talk: The average time-span of a Book Blogger?

I’ve been doing this blogging thing since May, so just under 7 months, and I still consider myself pretty new to it. I’m constantly coming across things that I feel I should be including on my blog, and spotting things that I can improve on, such as the quality and volume of reviews, keeping more up to date in the book world, and ways of making my blog look better. For me, it’s a work in progress (as is trying to read quicker!!). Some things work, and some don’t, but I’m just enjoying sharing my book-geek, fangirling ways with the blogosphere.

Because I still feel like a Newb at this, I always just assumed that most of the blogs I follow and love have been around for much longer than mine, and are more established, experienced sites. But more and more lately I’ve been seeing ‘6 months’ or ‘1 year’ anniversary posts or ‘I hit 100 followers’ posts and I’m always surprised that those blogs haven’t actually been going for very long. Which led me to wonder two things:

1. How long is the average time-span for a book blogger?

There’s no doubt about it, book blogging is a lot of work. A lot more work than I was expecting, so I guess it’s not surprising that people would start them up and realise that they just don’t have the time, or will to continue.

2. What is the key to longevity?

Like I said, I’ve been enjoying blogging a lot, and quite soon after I began it just became part of my life. But it is hard to keep motivated sometimes. With working full-time, blogging, and trying to have a social life, my own writing has well and truly taken a back-seat so I do sometimes think what is the point? I just hope the pros (free books, writing practice…) continue to outweigh the cons (too many hours in front of a computer, lack of sleep…).

So I ask you, lovely Bloggers: How long have you been blogging/ How long do you think the average time-span for a book blogger is? And what keeps you going?

And go!