Books That Make Me Go Oooooh (25) Struck By Jennifer Bosworth

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US COVER

Struck By Jennifer Bosworth
Published In The UK By Doubleday Books
Due For Release 1st March 2012
Amazon LINK
Goodreads LINK

"Mia Price is a lightning addict. She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.

Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities, populated by millions of homeless. Downtown is a wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the attendees drawn to the destruction by a magnetic force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power in the wake of the disaster, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing prophecies. They know she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the worse storm that is yet to come.

Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but he’s hiding a more sinister truth. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must unleash the full horror of her strength to save them all."

I've had quite an obsession with freak weather and apocolyptic scenarios for sometime now (I'm still 50 / 50 on whats going to happen in 2012 - Just saying!!)  So this really fits the bill.  Also throw in a guy with a sinister secret - sounds AWESOME!!!  
The UK Cover Hasn't Been Released Yet, So For Now Here Is The US Art Work

Top Ten Books On My TBR List For Winter

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog feature hosted by the awesome people at The Broke and the Bookish

I have so many books that are on my TBR pile full stop, so this will be tricky listing just 10.  To make it slightly easier I am just listing the books I already own.....

1. The Night Circus By Erin Morgenstern
This looks and sounds stunning.  I just need to find a good chunk of time to dedicate to it

2. Blood Red Road By Moira Young
This has been on my shelf a while, so eager to read it

3. Night School By C.J.Daugherty
SO excited for this!!

4. Ultraviolet By R.J.Anderson
Another one I have had for a while, but sounds fantastic

5. The Other Life By Susanne Winnacker
Heard some great stuff about this

6. Arcadia Awakens By Kai Meyer
Excited by the sounds of this one

7. Crossed By Ally Condie
SO Excited for this!!!

8. Birthmarked By Caragh O'Brien
Had this one for a while, and so eager to read it

9. 172 Hours On The Moon By Johan Harstad
This sounds very different to my usual reads but very cool

10. Desires Of The Dead By Kimberley Derting
I LOVED the Body Finder and am uber excited to get on to the next part

In My Mailbox (40)

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I had the most Incredible week!!  I got invited to my very first blogger event (Squee) with the lovely guys at Atom Books.  It was just the best night & a full report on the evening shall follow soon.  For now here are the books I got this week.....

WON

Ashes By Ilsa J Bick

I won this from the lovely Laura at Sisterspooky: Book Fangirl  I've been wanting to read this for a while now, so am thrilled to have the chance

 From ATOM Books

They really did spoil us!!  We got to take any books that we wanted from a selection on tables and we were all given ARCs of some of their new titles

 Hades By Alexandra Adornetto

Breaking Dawn By Stephenie Meyer

Quarantine By James Phelan

Lost In Time By Melissa de la Cruz

Guardian Of The Gate By Michelle Zink

Circle Of Fire By Michelle Zink

 Pretty Little Liars 2 - 5 By Sara Shepard

House Of Night Tote Bag

Night School By C J Daughtery

172 Hours On The Moon By Johan Harstad

Trapped By Michael Northrop

The Witch Of Turlingham Academy By Ellie Boswell

Hoping you all had great weeks too?!!

Leanne 

xoxo

Review - The Scorpio Races By Maggie Stiefvater

"Stay alive, stay astride, stay out of the water... Every November, the Scorpio Races are run beneath the chalk cliffs of Skarmouth. Thousands gather to watch the horses and the sea that washes the blood from the sand. The mounts are capaill uisce: savage water horses. There are no horses more beautiful, more fearless, more deadly. To race them can be suicide but the danger is irresistible. Sean Kendrick knows the dangers of the capaill uisce. With one foot in the ocean and one on land, he is the only man on the island capable of taming the beasts. He races to prove something both to himself and to the horses. Puck Connolly enters the races to save her family. But the horse she rides is an ordinary little mare, just as Puck is an ordinary girl. When Sean sees Puck on the beach he doesn't think she belongs. He doesn't realize his fate will become entwined in hers...."

UK Cover

I've had an ARC of this for quite sometime now, thanks to my lovely friend Jenny at Wondrous Reads.  She knows what a huge Maggie fan I am and how eager I was to get this book.  I finally got round to reading it!!

I LOVE the UK cover.  It goes in really well with Maggie's other UK books, but still keeps its individuality.  I approve greatly and bought the book as soon as it came out partly for its prettiness!!
The US cover is also beautiful and has much more of an adult look to it.  Quite a great cover for adults to have a sneaky read of YA!!

At first I did have some difficulty connecting with the story.  I had never read or even thought of rabid / zombie / evil horses from the sea before and so took me a while to grasp the idea.  I did get there though and enjoyed it when I did get there.

I was kind of expecting to read this epic story set in an American style landscape, so I was suprised to discover it definitely wasn't in America.  You are never really told when it takes place, but I felt the names were very Yorkshire like so my mind kept taking me there.  I've since read some of Maggie's notes and think she was going for more of Irish / Scottish style.  I was kind of close!!

US Cover

There are so many relationships in the book and I loved reading of the developments.  Even the human / animal relationships were beautifully formed.  As an animal lover this was something I could really relate too.  Feeling isolated, but finding friendship with a faithful companion.
I even began to think of Puck's horse Dove like I do my dog (Tilly) She like Dove is small and sweet and rather scared.  I began to feel even more worried about Dove because of that.

This had your usual villan.  I HATED this character!!  I seriously wanted to inflict pain on them.  This either shows I am rather violent minded or Maggie is just THAT great a writer.  I'm going for the latter!!

I loved that this book had kind of short chapters.  For me it really built tension and made me want to devour the book even quicker.

I was so happy with the outcome of the story.  It was wonderful to know that this is a standalone story and so no more harm could come to characters I had become so fond of.  I felt really heartwarmed and satisfied!! 
This is a great new tale from Maggie and hope Shiver fans will give this a go, even though it has a different theme.

Rating 4 Out Of 5

This Is Published In The UK Scholastic

This Can Be Purchased HERE and from good book retailers

Books That Make Me Go Oooooh (24) Tempest By Julie Cross

Waiting On Wednesday is a brilliant book blog feature hosted by Breaking The Spine  

Tempest By Julie Cross
Published In The UK By Macmillan Children's Books
Due For Release 5th January 2012
Amazon LINK

"Jackson Meyer is hiding a secret. He can time-travel. But he doesn't know how he does it, how to control it or what it means. When Jackson, and his girlfriend Holly, find themselves in fatal danger, Jackson panics and catapaults himself two years into his past, further than he's ever managed before, and this time he can't find a way back to the future. All the rules of time-travel he's experienced so far have been broken and Jackson has no choice but to pretend to be his younger self whilst he figures out a solution. Jackson is tearing himself apart with guilt and frustration, wondering if Holly survived. He's also become the target of an unknown enemy force and it seems even his dad is lying to him. Jackson is racing against time to save the girl he loves, but to do that he must first discover the truth about his family and himself.

And stay alive"

I actually heard about this from Becca Fitzpatrick, who was going to have a book of the same name but in the end changed her title.  

This made me check the book out and I have to say it sounds amazing!!  Have already heard some other people talking about it too and that has me even more excited.  Bring on January!!!

Top Ten Authors I'd Love To Have At My Thanksgiving Feast

 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog feature hosted by the awesome people at The Broke and the Bookish

Well this is an interesting list for me not being American.  Sadly I have never got to celebrate a thanksgiving, but if anyone would like to invite me at sometime, I'm so up for that!!!
I guess I'm just going to do a list of authors that I'm thankful for and so would quite like to hang out with them.....

•  J K Rowling

Does this need an explanation??  She is my hero and would be on my list for nearly every feast I could think of!!

•  The Bronte Sisters

Their lives totally fascinate me and I'm hugely Thankful for the impact they have had on my life!!

•  William Shakespeare

This guy is a legend.  He has done so much for the literary world and we should all be totally thankful for him!!

•  Jane Austen

Another great - I love her books, even if her stories were all basically the same.

•  Enid Blyton

Everyone has been told at least one of her stories in their life.  She helped form us all

•  Roald Dahl

He is one of the masters in Children's book writing.  I'd love to hear more of his life stories!

•  Cassandra Clare

Having just attended one of her talks, I can say she is awesome.  I'd like to hear more of her tales

Cassie Clare Event At Foyles

On 26th October I was one of the very lucky attendees of the Cassie Clare talk And signing at Foyles bookshop in London.  It was the only event Cassie was doing in England this year and was also the first opportunity I was getting to meet her.  I HAD to go and very luckily the awesome Laura at SisterSpooky: Book FanGirl managed to book us tickets EEEEE!

My Pretty mask!

Our day of awesome started with me meeting Laura at her local train station and making our way to London.  We did our usual mad rush to Foyles, there we met up with the awesome Andrew at The Pewter Wolf.  We had a major fan session over all the pretty books in the YA section - we all worked out that we want more than we can afford & also have time to read Eeek!

From there we made the epic journey up to the top floor.  This walk really makes you realise how unfit you are.  I was somewhat puffed out I am sad to admit!!

Upstairs we had to join the long queue of people to get in the events room.  We had about a half hour wait so gave us great opportunity to geek out some more, with talks of everything teen that we love!!

Cassie during the talk

Just as they started to lead people in to the room the wonderful Becca arrived - YAY!  We now had a full party and so could get really excited, if a more excited state was possible!!

We got to the events room were all told to pick ourselves out a scary mask from a big box.   I picked myself a rather beautiful witches mask (my dog didn't think it so nice though)
A little later we were told to look for a coloured dot in the mask - if you had a colour you won some stuff, sadly all of ours were colourless :(  But we did get to pick up some free book swag at the end, so no complaints!!

Sarah looking rather pouty

We took to our seats and waited for everyone to be seated.  Literally the room was PACKED!!  You could easily tell how popular this event was.
Cassie was then led out with her interviewer and also fab author friend Sarah Rees Brennan!  Cassie and Sarah seemed equally as excited as all of us.
They started off with Sarah just asking Cassie some basic questions and then went on to a pop quiz where members of the audience got to win bits related to Cassie's work.  This made me realise I have a terrible memory and need to study harder when going to events.  I mean we should all be able to name the cats in the Tmi series right?!!!
Next up Sarah picked questions that the audience wanted answers for.  There was some talk of mangoes that went right over my head!!  Still unsure of that one!!  But subjects like South Carolina were easy to pick up on - Cassie has some saucy minded fans!!!
We then went on to a speed round of questions where everything was done very fast and very short.  Cassie shocked us all with her epic speed and quick thought up answers.  She knows her stuff!!
The talk lasted around an hour and was just fantastic, so entertaining and filled with laughs.

 Next up we had to journey back down to the main floor and joined another big queue.  This time for the signing.  To add to the excitement Sarah was also signing which was fantastic as I had a couple of books that needed signing from her too.
This queue did take quite a while, but that is completely down to Cassie having written so many great books.  We were all more than happy to wait our turn.  I had about 6 books that I wanted signed, some people had even more.  Luckily for us Cassie was more than happy to sign everything and chat with us all.
Cassie asked me if I was team Will or Team Jem, which I had to say I'm really not fussy!!  Both are such awesome characters.  I ended up saying I was team lover of all - I think that suits me well!

Cassie and Sarah kindly had a photo with me, which I adore - this needs to go on my wall of awesome I think!!

Cassie, Me & Sarah

This was such an incredible event which I would love to thank Cassie, Sarah, Foyles & Walker Books for making it so special

In My Mailbox (39)

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Very quiet week bookwise this week.  Actually didn't think I would have anything to post today & then a wonderful book came in the post yesterday wooohoooo!!  I'm pretty excited for this book too, so.....

Bought

Crossed By Ally Condie

Eeeeeee!  I am so excited to read this!!!  I LOVED Matched and can't wait to read more of the story!!

This week also marked the release of The Hunger Games Trailer OMG!!!  So I'm also going to post that for your viewing delights, yeah it wasn't in my mailbox but I'm gonna break the rules :D

Enjoy my pretties xoxo

Epically Epic Book Launch Event

The Awesome Kimberly Derting has yet another fabulous book called The Pledge which I have heard AMAZING stuff about.

Kimberly is holding an Epic launch event on 20th November - all the details are below!!

So wish I could go, just a shame there is that great big pond in the way!!!!!

Books That Make Me Go Oooooh (23) Dark Parties By Sara Grant

Waiting On Wednesday is a brilliant book blog feature hosted by Breaking The Spine  

Dark Parties By Sara Grant
Published In The UK By Indigo
Due For Release December 2011 / January 2012 #DarkDaysOfJanuary
Amazon LINK
Goodreads LINK

"Sixteen-year-old Neva has been trapped since birth. She was born and raised under the Protectosphere, in an isolated nation ruled by fear, lies, and xenophobia. A shield "protects" them from the outside world, but also locks the citizens inside. But there's nothing left on the outside, ever since the world collapsed from violent warfare. Or so the government says...

Neva and her best friend Sanna believe the government is lying and stage a "dark party" to recruit members for their underground rebellion. But as Neva begins to uncover the truth, she realizes she must question everything she's ever known, including the people she loves the most"

So firstly look at it.....Its GORGEOUS!!!  Now Go read the blurb.....AMAZING!!  This sounds a little dystopian to me, which has me so excited straight away.  I need to read this as soon as possible!!!!

Top Ten Books That Have Been On My Shelf For The Longest But I've Never Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog feature hosted by the awesome people at The Broke and the Bookish

I've been looking forward to doing this one, as I'm hoping it may push me to actually get into my TBR pile that is bursting!!

1. Uglies By Scott Westerfield
I'm surprised I haven't read this yet, as it sounds like one of the first dystopia style books.  I know I'm gonna love it!

2. Prom Nights From Hell By Various authors
I haven't read an anthology in years, although I own quite a few of them.  I'm quite eager to actually read another Stephenie Meyer story.

3. Sisters Red By Jackson Pearce
This just looks fantastic and why I have not got round to it yet I don't know.  Sweetly looks just as great.

4. The Eternal Ones By Kirsten Miller
Again this looks amazing, I so need to read it!

5. Beautiful Creatures By Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
I've heard pretty good things about these books.  I need to challenge them soon

6. Raised By Wolves By Jennifer Lynn Barnes
I got this pretty much when it was released.

7. The Sweet Far Thing By Libba Bray
I loved the first two books of this series, so no idea why I haven't read the finale yet

8. The Luxe By Anna Godbersen
I love historical style books, so I really should get on this

9. Glass Series By Maria V Snyder
These I have no idea why I haven't read them yet.  I ADORED her other series & am sure to feel the same about these!!

10. The Forest Of Hands And Teeth By Carrie Ryan
Why have I not read this??  Its got zombies!!!

In My Mailbox (38)

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Had  a very quiet week, been a proper little housewife without actually being married - No Fair!!  

BUT I got sent some INCREDIBLE stuff this week, here we go...

For Review

 Clockwork Prince By Cassandra Clare

This was sent to me from the wonderful people at Walker Books.  I did a crazy squeal when I saw what was in the envelope - can't wait to get started on this!!  I LOVED Clockwork Angel

Won

 This Dark Endeavour By Kenneth Oppel

I won this from the Fabulous people at Fierce Fiction.  Sounds Amazing!! 

 The Hunger Games Poster & Mockingjay Pin

So these aren't books, but they come from a book series so in my eyes fit.  I was one of the Top Ten fans on The Hunger Games UK facebook page and got sent these awesome bits :D

That was my weeks Stash!  Hope you all had a great bookish week!!

Leanne 

xoxo

Review - Dark Matter By Michelle Paver

"'What is it? What does it want? Why is it angry with me?' January 1937. Clouds of war are gathering over a fogbound London. Twenty-eight year old Jack is poor, lonely and desperate to change his life. So when he's offered the chance to be the wireless operator on an Arctic expedition, he jumps at it. Spirits are high as the ship leaves Norway: five men and eight huskies, crossing the Barents Sea by the light of the midnight sun. At last they reach the remote, uninhabited bay where they will camp for the next year. Gruhuken. But the Arctic summer is brief. As night returns to claim the land, Jack feels a creeping unease. One by one, his companions are forced to leave. He faces a stark choice. Stay or go. Soon he will see the last of the sun, as the polar night engulfs the camp in months of darkness. Soon he will reach the point of no return - when the sea will freeze, making escape impossible. And Gruhuken is not uninhabited. Jack is not alone. Something walks there in the dark." 

Original HB Copy

I had been told that this was rather a scary book, so thought its Halloween - perfect time to read a book to scare me.  Here are my thoughts.

I have the black hardback cover, so shall review that cover.  Very dark obviously.  You can just imagine the coldness and isolation that is featured in the book by looking at the cover.  Quite an eerie feel to it too.

The book is told mostly through a diary, so is all from the perspective of the character Jack.  You get given a brief rundown of his life and how is where he is at the start of the story and the realisation that he wants more and so embarks on this epic adventure.
It was from the start of the expedition  that the story started to make me feel very uncomfortable and not really enjoy the story.

This is a lot my own fault as I was expecting a more war time story I guess, but that hardly gets a mention.  This is all about the trip to the Arctic and the time spent there.  Its somewhere I don't really know a great deal about, but guessed its a very isolated place that's not going to have a supermarket just down the road.  I hadn't accounted for the fact that a fair amount of animal (mainly seal) hunting would happen.  I am the biggest softie when it comes to animals and although I don't like reading of any animal killing I could have coped with a little.  For me there was just too much and it was kind of brutal at times too.

New PB edition

I really enjoyed reading of Jack's personal developments and how he changes the way he thinks.  He builds a beautiful relationship with one character quite unexpectedly.  That I loved!!

The story reaches a thorough conclusion with most ends tied up.  But I have to say I was left feeling a little confused as to what the whole purpose of the story was.  What the author was trying to tell me with the story didn't feel that clear.  I'm sure that is just my airheadedness showing itself again and their is likely to be a very obvious reasoning staring me in the face.

Sadly this book really wasn't my cup of tea, but by no means is a terrible book or anything.  Just maybe I need to investigate my reading material a little more carefully next time

Rating 2 Out Of 5

This Is Published In The UK By Orion

This Can Be Purcashed HERE and at good book retailers

Books That Make Me Go Oooooh (22) Insurgent By Veronica Roth

Waiting On Wednesday is a brilliant book blog feature hosted by Breaking The Spine 

Insurgent By Veronica Roth
Published In The UK By Harper Collins Childrens Books
Due For Release April / May 2012
Amazon LINK
Goodreads LINK


"One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so."

Divergent was probably one of my favourite books EVER!!  That has got me well and truly excited for this follow up.  And besides everything I will get to read of my book husband Four again - yep that boy is mine <3

Ten Books That I Read That Were Outside Of My Comfort Zone

 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog feature hosted by the awesome people at The Broke and the Bookish

I missed doing this last week as pesky life got in the way as it sometimes does, but I'm happy to be racking my brain thinking of top tens again!!
I'm not sure that I'll be able to think of ten for this list as I am rather predictable and stick to the genres I know and love.  There are a few though that definitely left me feeling some what uncomfortable.

•  The Taker By Alma Katsu

This one definitely had me shifting in my seat with a feeling of unease.  It is so enjoyable, but very different to my usual reads

• Dark Matter By Michelle Paver

I have literally just read this and it wasn't quite my cup of tea.  There was a fair bit of brutality towards animals and they will never make me comfortable

•  Touch The Dark By Karen Chance

This was the first adult themed book I had bought, but I didn't realise it was adult at the time.  Imagine my surprise when this got rather steamy.  I know there are books that are a hell of a lot more racy, this one just took me by surprise

•  Numbers By Rachel Ward

This one made me feel uncomfortable as the lives of the kids although having a supernatural twist, felt somewhat real and very pessimistic.  I felt rather sad on finishing it.

•  The Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins

Now everyone knows I love this series, but when I read the Hunger Games I had never read anything like it before and so it was definitely a revelation to me

Becca Fitzpatrick Signing At Foyles

Back in October I had the pleasure of attending the Becca Fitzpatrick talk and signing at Foyles in London.  I was so excited for this event for several reasons -

• I've never been to an event at Foyles before
• Becca is the coolest author & I adore her
• I get to see some awesome friends again

I think they were all pretty solid reasons to attend and boy am I glad I did!!!
My adventure started by meeting my very good friend and fellow blogger Laura from SisterSpooky: BookFangirl  We had plenty of bookish and geeky things to discuss, so that kept us busy until we arrived in London.  We worked out we were in fact slightly later than we had planned.  A very fast walk ensued, with phone calls to Becky (Laura's cousin and my good friend) who was also attending the event.  Literally as we got to Foyles I started to geek out as Becca Fitzpatrick walked in the store before us.  I was trying to be cool, but failing epically by loud whispering to Laura 'Look that's Becca' I honestly am trying to find my cool factor!!!

 We then had a mad rush up 3 flights of stairs to the roof of Foyles, where the talks are held.  Its quite a small intimate area, but absolutely perfect for these book events.  There was a projector on the back wall, showing all of the Hush, Hush saga covers and a gorgeous antique style chair that was reserved for Becca.

We took to our seats, but not before getting to speak to some of our blogger friends - these events have so many perks - meeting authors, evenings out, seeing friends, buying books - Heaven!!!

After a very short wait Becca finally walked in chaperoned by two topless winged guys - not such a bad sight I can confirm, but they don't match up to the Patch in my mind!!!

Becca launched into a talk about how she thought of the books and the long process it takes - you really don't realise how long these books take to make it onto your bookshelf & all the hard work and even rejection that goes into them.  I really wouldn't be cut out to be an author!!

Becca then took questions from her eager audience, that were at first reluctant to ask questions but eventually couldn't stop (I didn't ask any questions, as I am a scaredy cat that doesn't speak to large amounts of people)
Several people asked questions about Silence which had Becky & me covering our ears as neither of us have read the newest installment yet - I'm just so slow right now!  Luckily my memory is not so wonderful and I can't remember anything major and so have remained unspoilt for when I get to read my copy.

After the talk we all got to go and get our books signed.  I had actually met Becca the year before, so already had my copies of Hush, Hush and Crescendo signed.  I just took along my gorgeous Red edition of the book.
We were fairly close to the back of the queue, which was quite a shame as most of the front of the queue got to have some yummy looking mini cup cakes.  I was GUTTED to miss out on those, but meeting Becca seriously helped that pain!!
After about 3/4 of an hour it was our turn to get our things signed.  Becca looked straight at me and said 'Hi Leanne' I was GOBSMACKED!!  Obviously Becca has had a huge impact on my life, but I never thought she would remember me a year after meeting her for the first time.  It shows how the little conversations on Twitter and facebook can build real connections with awesome people in all walks of life.  Finally Becca posed for a picture with me!!

This was such an amazing event that will be treasured in my memory for years to come!!  Many thanks to Becca, Foyles & the lovely people at Simon & Schuster

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Mainly my week has been looking after my Mum.  She finally had her gall bladder removed, so is feeling all kinds of sore.  Means I get to put my nurses hat on and try and care for her as best as I can.  I just hope I don't poison her with my cooking!!!

Had a much quieter week bookwise.  But did buy myself a couple of gorgeous additions for my TBR pile!!

The Night Circus By Erin Morgenstern

Not much need be said about this, just LOOK at it - so stunning and sounds wonderful too!!

The Scorpio Races By Maggie Stiefvater

I'm currently reading my ARC copy of this, but I love the finished copies cover so much I had to treat myself to that too!!

Hope you guys had a great week??

Leanne 

xoxo

L.A Weatherly Angel Swag Giveaway

I was very forutunate to meet the lovely L.A.Weatherly for a second time recently at a Twilight convention.  I was given some swag - some of which is signed that I thought would make a fabulous giveaway.

You could win -

Signed Bookmark

Signed Poster

Angel And Angel Fire Samplers

All you have to do is complete the form below

Review - Angel By L A Weatherly

"Willow knows she s different from other girls. And not just because she loves tinkering around with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into peoples futures, know their dreams, their hopes and their regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where she gets this power from... But Alex does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows Willows secret and is on a mission to stop her. The dark forces within Willow make her dangerous and irresistible. In spite of himself, Alex finds he is falling in love with his sworn enemy."

UK Cover

I've had my copy of this just over a year now.  I bought it as Lee was doing a signing at a Twilight convention I was attending and would never pass up the opportunity to meet the authors of books.  I have to admit though that I didn't really feel an overwhelming urge to read the book.  I really think that was down to the UK cover that just doesn't do it for me.  The girl looks somewhat freaky and the colours just don't work for me.  Having now read the book, I so regret judging this book by its cover - I so enjoyed it!!!

The star of the book is a girl named Willow.  She is basically the girl I wish I could have been growing up.  She is so comfortable in her own skin.  She wears what she wants and is exactly the person she is.  What a fantastic role model for all girls out there!!

This story is very different to any Angel based story I have ever read before.  This was totally refreshing and opened my eyes to a completely different way of seeing how angels could be perceived.

US Cover

You get to read this story from the perspectives of different people on different sides of this big battle, which again is amazing.  You can see every one's point of view and has you at times wanting to shout out the actual truths over what people think.  I found this really emphasised the story and didn't break any mystery or suspense.

Our two main characters are Willow and Alex.  They are both some what dysfunctional and have what would be considered strange upbringings.  Yet they are thrown together through apposing factors and yet find this heartwarming common ground and understanding.  Its truly wonderful.

The story lost pace for me a little in the middle, but got back on track for the end.  There is quite a time constraining passage in the book which had me imagining the movie of this book, with an epic romantic rock song playing over the top.  It made me quite excited!!!

This has to be one of my favourite angel themed books I have read and has left me itching to read the next part of our unexpected duo's tale

Rating 4 Out Of 5

Published In The UK By Usborne

This Can be Purchased HERE and from good book retailers

 ANGEL GIVEAWAY HERE!!!!

Books That Make Me Go Oooooh (21) Pandemonium By Lauren Oliver

Waiting On Wednesday is a brilliant book blog feature hosted by Breaking The Spine 
 
Pandemonium By Lauren Oliver
Published In The UK By Hodder
Due For Release March 2012
Amazon LINK

"I'm pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.

Lauren Oliver delivers an electrifying follow-up to her acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Delirium. This riveting, brilliant novel crackles with the fire of fierce defiance, forbidden romance, and the sparks of a revolution about to ignite."

Delirium was without doubt one of my favourite reads of 2011.  It was a story that I could immerse myself in 100% and have since recommended it to so many people.  I'm so desperate to know what happens next & know I'll find it hard to put down my copy once I get it!!!

The UK cover hasn't been released yet, but here is a peek at the US cover.  I wonder what beauty we will get???