February’s Book of the Month!

February’s BotM is Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

After reading this book I can certainly see why it’s been receiving so much praise! This book is totally worth its hype and is so much more than just chick-lit. This is the incredibly moving story of a quadriplegic man who wishes to end his life legally in Switzerland and his carer the warm and likeable Lou who is on a race against time to show Will the beauty in life to make him change his mind before it’s too late. This was just such a beautiful, controversial, thought provoking and moving book, I read a lot of fantastic books this month but this one is one that really stands out to me and will be an all-time favourite for years to come. You can check out my full review here.

Books Read in February
8.) A Witch in Winter by Ruth Warburton (4*)
9.) Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (5*)
10.) Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler (3*)
11.) A Million Suns by Beth Revis (5*)
12.) Someone Else’s Life by Katie Dale (4.5*)
13.) The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis (4*)
14.) Bunheads by Sophie Flack (4*)
15.) Everneath by Brodi Ashton (4*)
16.) Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (4*)
17.) Two Truths and a Lie by Sara Shepard (3*)
Total Books Read = 10

This Month’s Book Awards
Best Plot: A Million Suns by Beth Revis
Best Writing: The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis
Best Cover: Someone Else’s Life by Katie Dale
Best Characters: Everneath by Brodi Ashton
Best Ending: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
Best Romance: Everneath by Brodi Ashton
Most un-put-down-able: Someone Else’s Life by Katie Dale
Most Memorable: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Best Moral: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Top 3 Most Recommended Books: Me Before You, A Million Suns, Someone Else’s Life

Books I’m Looking Forward to Being Released in March:
Welcome To Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan
The Look by Sophia Bennet
The Book of Summers by Emylia Hall
Fateful by Claudia Gray
The Last Echo by Kimberly Derting
The Repossession by Sam Hawksmoor
(Links lead to books Goodreads page for more info!)

Have you read any of the books I’ve read this month? What were your thoughts on them? Leave me a comment and let me know and don’t forget to treat yourselves to Me Before You – you won’t regret it! Here’s to another month of fab reading ahead!

It's That Time of Year Again! Happy World Book Day!

Happy World Book Day folks! Today is one of my very favourite days of the year for anyone out of the loop World Book Day happens once a year and booky sorts like publishers, authors, librarians, book sellers etc. get together to promote reading (especially in children) as much as possible. All around the world book shops and schools celebrate by hosting fun events for the kids, like going to school dressed as your favourite book character, and readings and games with authors. World Book Day is more famously known though as being the day where children under the age of 18 who are in full time education are entitled to a free World Book Day book and so are given a £1 book token that they can use to get one of the specially selected £1 books for free from their local bookshop.

This year there are some fantastic titles to choose from for all ages. So if your kids come home with a token all you have to do is go to your nearest Waterstone’s, if you live in the UK most across the country are taking part, let them pick a book on the special World Book Day £1 offer, hand over your token at the register and ta da! One book for every child absolutely FREE! Here are the books on offer for this year…

The What the Ladybird Heard Song by Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks (Ages 2+)
Winnie Flies Again by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul (Ages 3+)
Where’s Wally Now? by Martin Handford (Ages 5+)
Magic Molly: The Clever Little Kitten by Holly Webb (Ages 5+)
Roald Dahl's Fantabulous Facts by Roald Dahl (Ages 8+)
How to Train Your Dragon: The Day of the Dreader by Cressida Cowell (Ages 8+)
Big Day Out by Jacqueline Wilson, Illustrated by Nick Sharratt (Ages 8+)
Skulduggery Pleasant: The End of the World by Derek Landy (Ages 9+)

For teen readers or just fans of Young Adult like myself you can also get the fantastic Department 19 by Will Hill and/or The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson for just £1 each!

Or if none of the above tickle you’re fancy you can use your £1 book token to get £1 off any book of YOUR choice. How awesome is that?

Basically I think that World Book day is a fantastic way to spark a lifelong love of reading in young children. When on average one in three children doesn’t even own a book this day gives every young person a chance to own their very own book for FREE. Even as a grown up I still remember how excited I would get about World Book Day as a kid and today I’m a little envious of all the little ones who get to dress up as characters and have authors speaking at schools and get to play games at the library or bookshop and who at the end of a fun filled day get to go home with a brand new book that may be the first in a lifelong love of reading. Today is a day that I’m really passionate about and I hope that whatever you’re doing to celebrate today whether you’re taking the kids to their local library or bookstore or are simply an adult looking forward to reading a good book when you get home from work today I hope you all have a wonderful World Book Day and I encourage you all to take part in the celebrations in any way that you can! For more information on World Book Day visit the website here.

Review for A Million Suns by Beth Revis

WARNING
This is the second book in the Across the Universe series. Although this review will contain NO spoilers from A Million Suns by talking about the plot there may be unintentional spoilers from the first book in the series.

A Million Suns by Beth Revis
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: January 10th 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-Fi, Space, Mystery
Rating: 5/5 stars
Source: Bought

Goodreads Summary:
"Godspeed was once fueled by lies. Now it is ruled by chaos. It’s been three months. In that time, Amy has learned to hide who she is. Elder is trying to be the leader he’s always wanted to be. But as the ship gets more and more out of control, only one thing is certain: They have to get off the ship."

Review
I’ve experienced a lot of disappointment lately regarding sequels to books that I love. I adored Across the Universe, the first book to this series, and couldn’t imagine how Beth Revis was going to top it so to say I began reading A Million Suns cautiously would be an understatement. But not only did it break my streak of disappointing sequels, I also loved it more than the first book something I didn’t think was possible!

Like Across the Universe, A Million Suns launches into the action straight away with the first chapter revealing a huge twist that changes everything. With this twist revealed the book takes off and continues on this breakneck speed journey with never a dull moment. I read it in its entirety in one evening because I couldn’t put it down and when it ended I felt a little like I’d come off a rollercoaster. My heart was thumping, adrenaline was buzzing, and I was in this sort of awe struck daze as to what I’d just been through. Beth Revis’ books have a certain urgency to them and the high stakes and clever twists make them incredibly fast, thrilling, reads.

The book takes off a few months after the events that happen in Across the Universe and life on Godspeed is very different from how we left it. Elder is now leader of the ship and has made some drastic changes, the biggest being no more Phydus, the mind numbing drug, and no more lies especially those regarding the failing mission to Centauri-Earth. Godspeed is in chaos and with the residents minds clear from Phydus they are free to make their own decisions and in anger at being controlled all this time they want the Eldest system out and an election for a new leader in causing an uprising on board the ship. But when Amy and Elder discover a set of clues left behind from Orion that leads to a shocking truth about the ship the people of Godspeed are going to need their leader more than ever before.

This book like Across the Universe is told alternately through both Amy and Elder’s perspective. I especially enjoyed Elder’s chapters the most in this book because it was so interesting watching him try to navigate his way not only as a new leader but a leader of a ship in chaos. Amy’s chapters were also fascinating to read as she finds more pieces to the puzzle that Orion has left for her which reveals a huge hidden secret about Godspeed. Between the two alternating chapters there is never a dull moment if you’re not with Elder trying to control a failing ship then you’re with Amy on a race against time trying to figure out the next clue to the puzzle. What I loved most is how this books main focus is on the ship itself and the people who inhabit it, for one small space ship Godspeed has a lot of big secrets!

The only thing that disappointed me about this book was that whilst I really liked Amy in Across the Universe in this book I found her a little annoying at times but that alone wasn’t enough to take away from my love for this book. Overall A Million Suns was a fantastic sequel with a mind blowing ending. Beth Revis’ books just keep getting better and I can’t wait to read what promises to be an epic conclusion to this series when Shades of Earth comes out next year.

My Most Popular Blog Posts! (And I Want to Know What Are Yours!?)

The other day on Twitter me and a few other bloggers where discussing our most popular blog posts and it seemed that everyone had a range of different things. It really led me to thinking about what exactly makes a post popular? How much is down to content and how much is chance, date and time and where it’s linked to? I found it really interesting to hear what other bloggers most popular posts are their reaction to them and why they think that is. So Vicki at Cosy Books and I have decided to do this post to share with you our blogs most popular posts. We’d also love to know what yours are as well if you’re a blogger so please feel free to do your own post or if you don’t have time leave a comment with what yours are. We’re also planning a discussion post about this topic so all input would be hugely appreciated!

My Top Ten Most Popular Posts

1.) My most popular post of all time is My First Year as a Blogger Summed Up! A post which has had 3,019 Pageviews but only 5 comments so you wouldn’t think it comments wise! I think this could be my most popular post for a number of reasons, one it was a very popular meme going round at the time, two it has links going to several other blogs, three it features a lot of books and information about blogs and blogging and could be an ideal post to read if you’re looking to start a new book blog. And fourth it has a picture of the Fuentes brothers I mean who doesn’t want to see that right?
2.) In second place hot on the tails of my number one post is Passion Blog Tour: Lauren Kate’s Favourite Luce and Daniel Moments including a scene from Passion and upcoming and final book Rapture! I think the title for this one pretty much speaks for itself. This series is hugely popular worldwide and on the tour I was lucky enough to give readers a sneaky glimpse of what to expect from not only new book Passion but also Rapture the final book. This was also linked up to a lot of places like the books Facebook page and Lauren Kate’s facebook page. Random House did a fantastic job of promoting it and this post still gets a few page views every week to this day!
3.) Third is a review, yay! And it’s for the last book in possibly my favourite series ever Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead. I was lucky enough to read this book on embargo before the release date so I managed to get my review up pretty speedy and close to the books release. I think that and the fact that again it’s the last book in a hugely popular series really played a part in the success for this one. But because it was never really linked to anywhere I like to think my actual review and love for that book factors in somewhere too!
4.) Next up is my 1st Blogoversary Giveaway. This was an awesome giveaway (if I do say so myself!) giving away a choice from my favourite books. Again the numerous books mentioned I think had something to do with this posts success and also the fact that it was my blogs birthday and all of my lovely readers wanted to pop over and say congrats! And of course who doesn’t like winning books? Especially when it’s international!
5.) Fifth is strangely a random In My Mailbox post. These always do well on my blog and get a lot of views but I really can’t place my finger on what makes this one so special. I’ve had bigger hauls so I guess this is one of those posts where I just got lucky and a lot of people must have been following IMM that week! I think this is one of those posts that just had to do with timing.
6.) In sixth place is one of my personal favourite posts my Scary, Spooky and Supernatural – Jess’s top pick’s for Halloween! I absolutely loved writing this post and this is another one that still gets a lot of views today! This one was never linked up to anywhere but I think it’s just one of those fun posts that people enjoy and again it recommends a lot of books in one post.
7.) Next is another review this time for Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick. Funnily enough when speaking to Vicki one thing that we found is that Angel books seem to be VERY popular as they featured in both of our top posts. This one has never been linked to anywhere and I didn’t receive this one for review or get it early. I think it’s just a popular series and hopefully people like the review!
8.) Keeping with the theme for 8th is ANOTHER angel related post this time with a review for Passion by Lauren Kate. Basically what I said above for this one except I did get this one early for review. Further more proof that people seem to really love books about angels!
9.) In at 9th place is another post that I loved writing it’s one of my Random Rambling posts this one talking about My Top 10 Bookish Peeves and Loves. This one isn’t a meme and so isn’t linked to anywhere. It doesn’t even really feature any books or exclusive information so it seems like people just liked this one in general for the content and writing which is a nice thought. I love writing my Random Rambling posts so it’s nice that one of them has made it into my top ten!
10.) And last of all is a post from when I was a newbie blogger and took part in the Book Bloggers Hop. And I think that the reason for this one’s success is purely because it’s a popular meme and like with the IMM post it must have been a very busy week with lots of people taking part!

So that’s it for my popular posts. Make sure you stop by Cosy Books for Vicki’s most popular posts! Again we would LOVE you to take part in this if you too are a book blogger partly for research on a discussion post but mostly because we are nosy! Even if you’re too busy to take part we would love for you to leave your top 3 posts or any thoughts you have in the comments but if you do decide to do a post feel free to leave a link in the comments we would love to read them.

Breaking News!! J.K Rowling’s New Book Deal

Yes. I’m not shitting you my friends. J.K Rowling queen of book land has today announced her plans to write and publish her first novel for adults. Here are all the official, important stuffs that you no doubt want to read…

"Little, Brown has world English rights to the first novel for adults by JK Rowling, the company announced Thursday morning. Little Brown UK publisher David Shelley will serve as Rowling's editor and Michael Pietsch will oversee publication in the US. All other details--title, pub date "and further details about the novel will be announced later in the year." But one important element has been settled: While the world waits for Pottermore and the Harry Potter ebooks, Little, Brown promises they will publish "both in print and ebooks."

Rowling says in the release: "Although I’ve enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series, which has been published so brilliantly by Bloomsbury and my other publishers around the world. The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry's success has brought me, and with that new territory it seemed a logical progression to have a new publisher. I am delighted to have a second publishing home in Little, Brown, and a publishing team that will be a great partner in this new phase of my writing life." Rowling was represented by Neil Blair at The Blair Partnership."
- Publishers Marketplace

Wow. I kind of gave up hope that this day would come I mean Jo certainly doesn’t need to write another book after the mammoth success that was Harry Potter, but with all of the Harry Potter films now finished with I think this is a really good time for the next chapter in Jo’s writing life. I don’t mind that her new book will have nothing to do with Harry or that world and that it’s going to be different. I don’t think anything will ever compare to Harry Potter it was a masterpiece, a little piece of real life magic, and that stuff surely only comes around once in a lifetime? So I’m reluctant to compare the new novel not only because they will be so different but also because I really do believe that Harry Potter was a rare and beautiful thing. Instead I’m mostly intrigued to read something new from Jo and to see how she’s developed as an author since writing the Harry Potter books and to as an adult now enjoy an adult book by her, hopefully as much as I did the Harry Potter stories when I was a child. How do you guys feel about this news? As soon as I hear any more info on the title, cover, synopsis etc you can rest assured that I will be all over it and keep you updated! Feel free to fan girl/boy me in the comments, let’s get our celebration on! *puts on the sorting hat and jigs around with a butterbeer*