The WWW Wednesday meme is currently hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words and is a great way to do a weekly update on what you’ve been reading and what you have planned.

To take part all you have to do is answer the following three questions:

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

Currently Reading

I actually have two books on the go this week which is a big improvement compared to last week when I was in a serious slump and not reading anything new. The first of these is Tower of Dawn by Sarah J Maas. I bought this a few weeks ago but had been putting it off as I was disappointed by the last book in the Throne of Glass series.

It’s very early days (I’m about 120 pages in) but so far so good. This book follows Chaol and Nesryn so a lot of new characters and places which I’m just starting to get my head round. I am loving how much simpler the story is in this. The last couple of books in the series had a lot going on and were starting to feel a bit too big in scale for my tastes. This has a lot more focus, one main storyline, one setting so suits me a lot better.

The second book I’m reading is Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling. I was pretty much just scouting around on Overdrive looking for something to read and came across this. I’ve been a fan of The Mindy Project for a while so have been curious about Kaling’s books. This is more a collection of essays on various different topics than one story which does make it pretty easy to dip in and out of. It’s also quite funny and light so it’s perfect when I have a little bit of time.

Recently Finished

Due to last weeks slump and the fact I seem to have started a huge big book in Tower of Dawn, I only managed to finish one book this week but it was definitely a good one. I’d received The Scandal by Fredrik Backman from NetGalley months ago but kept putting it off because it was different from my usual reads. Turns out that was a big mistake as this book is brilliant.

It wasn’t the easiest to get into in the beginning as there’s no real main character but rather switches between multiple perspectives from page to page but it really is an incredible story of a community where nothing matters more than Ice Hockey. You can read my full review here.

Reading Next

I’ve decided to try and slow my reading a bit as I still don’t feel like I’m totally out of the slump so if I manage to finish my current reads I’ll be doing well. I did receive My Side of the Diamond by Sally Gardner from Readers First at the weekend so if I do manage to finish ToD I think it’ll be next.

Have you read any of the books on my list this week? Any others you’d recommend? As always please feel free to leave comments and links below.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!!

The WWW Wednesday meme is currently hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words and is a great way to do a weekly update on what you’ve been reading and what you have planned.

To take part all you have to do is answer the following three questions:

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

Currently Reading

Ummm…. I’m not really reading any one specific book at the moment. After reading a lot last week I felt like I needed a day off and one day turned into two, then three. I may be in a slump. I’m doing what I usually do when this happens, re reading bits of old favorites and watching movies, until I feel ready to start something new.

Recently Finished

I was on holiday from work last week and the weather wasn’t great (plus my kitty cat wasn’t well) so spent quite a bit of time in the house reading which was sooo good. It’s been far too long since I’ve just spent whole days with a book. As a result I managed to finish 4 books. The first of these was The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman which I’d received from NetGalley. This is a prequel to Practical Magic and tells the story of the Aunts, Franny and Jet and their younger brother Vincent.

It’s probably more family saga rather than a book about magic and witchcraft and it’s a bit of a slow burner. I really struggled with the first half and was pretty close to DNFing but decided to stick with and I’m glad I did as it really picks up after around the 55% mark and turned into a very emotional read. You can read my full review here.

As Rules of Magic left me feeling pretty depressed I decided  Undercover Princess by Connie Glynn would be a nice, light read to cheer me up. I knew very little about the book or the author going in. I requested it based purely on the mention of a character obsessed with fairytales, a boarding school setting and some identity switching. Unfortunately I probably should have investigated further as this wasn’t great. It’s supposed to be YA but reads younger than that. The premise is good and I think it does have potential (and it’s really easy reading) but there’s something that’s just not working at the moment. It’s not published till November so will wait to post a full review.

On Friday I received bookmail (yay!!!) as the copy of 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You I’d won in a Readers First giveaway winged it’s way through my door. I’d read the first few chapters of this and just couldn’t resist starting it immediately. It’s probably not a book everyone will enjoy (there are a shockingly high number of people who DNFed it on Goodreads) but honestly I loved it. It’s got a very odd format which is almost like a script for about 70-80% of the story. Literally pure dialogue (or IMs or text messages) with no descriptions, actions or thoughts. Dialogue is usually my favorite part of any story so this just worked for me and it’s so funny. I still teeheehee just thinking about it. You can read my full review here.

The fourth and final book read over the weekend was The Lifeguard by Richie Tankersley Cusick. This is part of the Point Horror series and was one of my favorite books when I was younger. I’d actually completely forgotten about it until I was doing a Top Ten Tuesday a few weeks ago about childhood favorites. When I then spotted it on Kindle Unlimited I couldn’t resist. I’m not sure I would still say it’s a favorite but considering it’s almost 30 years old it’s held up pretty well and it was fun to revisit a book I read a lot.

Reading Next

Probably depends what I’m in the mood for but I have many, many choices including the following:

Have you read any of the books on my list this week? Any others you’d recommend? As always please feel free to leave comments and links below.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!!

The WWW Wednesday meme is currently hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words and is a great way to do a weekly update on what you’ve been reading and what you have planned.

To take part all you have to do is answer the following three questions:

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

Currently Reading

I started reading The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman at the weekend but I have to admit I’m finding it a bit of a struggle. It’s the prequel to Practical Magic, is set in the 60’s and 70’s and follows the aunts (Franny and Jet) growing up and discovering their powers. I was really excited to receive this from NetGalley as while I haven’t read Practical Magic it’s one of my favorite films. I think though I’m finding it a bit slow and drawn out. I keep finding excuses not to read it which is never a good sign.

Recently Finished

I’ve had a few days off work (last chance before it gets really hectic) and the weather hasn’t been great so I’ve managed to squeeze in quite a bit of reading and finished three books. The first of these was Invictus by Ryan Graudin which I’d received from NetGalley. It’s about five teens travelling through time to smuggle goods and I absolutely loved it. I do love time travel stories (the whole paradox thing fascinates me) but with this I also really liked the writing style and I loved the cast of characters. Definitely one I’d recommend and you can read my full review here. And, if you don’t want to start a new series, it’s a standalone so you have no excuse 🙂

Second book finished this week was  Moonlight over Manhattan by Sarah Morgan which I also received from Netgalley (I’m now at 79% people). I love Sarah Morgan books and always look forward to her Christmas romances, they’re perfect for getting you in the festive spirit. This one has a shy and very kind main character, a sexy ER doc as the love interest and a misbehaving dog so needless to say I enjoyed it a lot. You can read my full review here.

The third and final book finished this week was The Haunting by Alex Bell. I recently read and loved two of the authors other creepy horror stories, Frozen Charlotte and Charlotte Says, so couldn’t resist this when I spotted it for 99p on Amazon. It’s a really quick and easy read and while not quite as good as the Charlotte books it still completely sucked me in. This time it’s a haunted hotel rather than some creepy little dolls but with things moving around, a curse and maybe the ghost of a witch in the cellar it’s still a spooky read.

Reading Next

I came across my copy of The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey yesterday when I was looking for something to use for a teaser and it’s made me very tempted to pick it up next. I’m in a bit of a horror mood at the moment (I watched IT and the Descent on Monday). I also really want to get above that 80% mark at NetGalley so I think I may also pick up Undercover Princess by Connie Glynn or The Break by Marian Keyes.

Have you read any of the books on my list this week? Any others you’d recommend? As always please feel free to leave comments and links below.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!!

The WWW Wednesday meme is currently hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words and is a great way to do a weekly update on what you’ve been reading and what you have planned.

To take part all you have to do is answer the following three questions:

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

Currently Reading

At long last I’ve finally started reading Invictus by Ryan Graudin. I received this from NetGalley and have had it on my want to read as soon as possible list for a while but was putting it off until I had the time to savor it. I’m currently around halfway through and it’s everything I was hoping it would be. There’s just something instantly likeable about Graudin’s writing and I love pretty much every character. I kind of want to join the crew and go travelling in time with them.

Recently Finished

Last week was pretty hectic with the bathroom and boiler installation but other than a few minor issues that still need to be sorted I think it’s more or less over (thank goodness). I did end up doing quite a bit of hanging about the house but there was a lot of noise and interruptions so not a huge amount of reading.

I did however manage to finish a couple of books, the first of which was Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. This was the pick for my real life book club and I have to say I absolutely loved it. I listened to it on audio but I’m very tempted to buy a physical copy as I think it’s one I’m going to pick up time and time again. It’s so funny and heartbreaking and completely real. It’s possibly my favorite book of the year and I would recommend to everyone.

The second book finished this week was Cold Blood by Robert Bryndza which I received from NetGalley. This is the fifth book in the Detective Erika Foster series (although it could be read as a standalone) and again Erika and the team are on the hunt for a serial killer or could that be killers. I really like this series and this book was a very enjoyable read. Erika is a great character and I love her attitude. It does suffer from some of the same issues as previous books (silly little irritating mistakes and inconsistencies) which kind of forces me to take the rating down but it’s still a great read and a series I’d recommend.

Reading Next

I posted a Fall TBR list at the end of last week so my next reads will almost definitely come from that (well unless I go to the bookshop). Given my current and last couple of books I think it’s time for some romance or fantasy so will probably go for either The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman or Moonlight over Manhattan by Sarah Morgan both of which are from NetGalley.

Have you read any of the books on my list this week? Any others you’d recommend? As always please feel free to leave comments and links below.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!!

The WWW Wednesday meme is currently hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words and is a great way to do a weekly update on what you’ve been reading and what you have planned.

To take part all you have to do is answer the following three questions:

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

Currently Reading

I seem to have been reading nothing but YA sci fi for the last week (more below) so I decided to abandon my plan to pick up Invictus next and am currently reading YA horror There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins instead. I’m around halfway through and for the most part enjoying it. It’s not as creepy as I hoped, it’s more a slasher style horror (kind of like Scream), but there’s also quite a bit of romance in it which I’m really liking. Perkins does write great romances.

On audio, I started listening to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. This is actually my next real life book club book but I didn’t have time to read it so I’m multi tasking and listening to it on the move. I haven’t gotten particularly far (probably only a couple of hours in) but I’m really loving it. The narrator is brilliant and I think I’ll be looking out for more of her books as well as the authors.

I’m still fighting my way through ARC mountain so The Fireman by Joe Hill is still on hold for the moment.

Recently Finished

I’ve been making great progress on my TBR again this week with three more books finished (let’s not mention the books I added). The first of these was the book I was midway through last week, The Dazzling Heights by Katharine McGee. This is the sequel to The Thousandth Floor, which finished with a bit of a cliffhanger, so it’s been one of my most anticipated reads and it didn’t disappoint. It’s a futuristic thriller about a group of teens who live in a thousand story high tower in Manhattan. As in the first book the story begins with a death and then flashes back to the events leading up to it to reveal what and why and most importantly who.

It is such a frustratingly addictive read. The author throws so many twists in that you are truly guessing up to the very end and even then expect another red herring. I may have screamed I was soo frustrated at one point. I did however really like how the characters and the relationships developed. One character in particular surprised me. My full review will be up later this week.

The second book finished, Nyxia by Scott Reintgen, was also a YA sci fi, this time with 10 teens on a spaceship heading for another planet. They’ve been chosen for a very special and lucrative job but there’s a snag, only 8 of them will actually get the job and the money. They have the length of the journey to beat the others in a series of individual and team challenges.

As you can probably tell just from this the story is pretty similar to Ender’s Game or that bit in Divergent where Tris has to compete to stay in Dauntless. It is an enjoyable read but it’s not particularly original. You can read my full review here.

The final book finished was Bloody Scotland, a collection of twelve short stories by twelve Scottish crime authors. Each story is set in a different iconic Scottish building from Edinburgh Castle to Stanley Mills. There’s murder, revenge, Vikings and even a siege and most stories are exactly the right length for my daily commute 🙂

I should have a review up later this week but in the meantime I posted a Q&A with one of the authors, the brilliant Denise Mina, as part of the blog tour which you can find here. Despite some of her responses I’ve been assured no animals were harmed as part of the Q&A.

Reading Next

For some insane reason I’ve decided to get both a new bathroom and a new boiler installed next week (does it really matter if the boiler’s making weird noises and my shower is leaking) so I suspect my reading and possibly blogging time will be drastically reduced. I am however hoping to get my current reads finished and maybe make a start on one of the following ARCs (I’m determined to hit that 80% feedback ratio this month)

Have you read any of the books on my list this week? Any others you’d recommend? As always please feel free to leave comments and links below.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!!

The WWW Wednesday meme is currently hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words and is a great way to do a weekly update on what you’ve been reading and what you have planned.

To take part all you have to do is answer the following three questions:

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

Currently Reading

Yet again I seem to be in the position of juggling a few different books at the moment but I’m mostly reading The Dazzling Heights by Katharine McGee which I received from NetGalley. It’s the follow up to The Thousandth Floor which I read last year and really enjoyed. It’s classed as a YA sci fi as it’s set in New York in the year 2118 but really it’s all about social maneuvering and back stabbing with a bit of blackmail on the side. I’m not sure I particularly like any of the characters but it definitely makes for some interesting reading.

I was asked last week to join the blog tour for Bloody Scotland, the book, so I’m also working my way through it at the moment. For those who don’t know Bloody Scotland is an annual crime writing festival held in Stirling. This year they’ve joined up with Historic Environment Scotland to produce a collection of short stories. Twelve of Scotland’s top crime writers (including Chris Brookmyre, Stuart MacBride, Val McDermid and Denise Mina) were asked to write a short story set in one of twelve iconic Scottish buildings. I’ve been dipping in and out of this and very much enjoying. There’s a good mix of stories and I can confirm that the story set in Edinburgh Castle is seriously disturbing.

I’ve had to prioritize ARCs over the last week so I’m afraid I still haven’t made any progress with The Fireman by Joe Hill. I’m not abandoning it but it does look like it’s on hold for a bit.

Recently Finished

I seem to have got my reading mojo back this week and finished off four books. The first of these was The Border by Steve Schafer, a story about four Mexican teens forced to try and make the crossing into America. Illegal immigration is definitely a hot topic at the moment so this book seems particularly relevant. It definitely makes you see things from a different perspective and I’m sure challenges a few people’s views. It’s a dangerous journey that a lot don’t make so there are more than a few harrowing moments but there’s also hope, a few laughs and even some romance. I didn’t expect to like this as much as I did. You can read my full review here.

No one can say my reading tastes are not diverse as after a contemporary story about Mexican teens just trying to survive I moved on to historical romance Alex and Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz. It’s a fictional account of the romance between Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schulyer and is quite a sweet and enjoyable read with a surprising number of similarities to Pride and Prejudice (but obvs not as good).

The third book finished this week was completely different yet again. I’d been anxiously watching the letter box and at long last my copy of Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart finally arrived from Readers First. Needless to say I couldn’t resist starting it more or less immediately and as it’s one of those books that you can’t put down I ended up finishing it the same day. I think I still prefer We Were Liars but this is a really great read. You can read my full review here.

The fourth and final book finished was the audio book of the final part of the Hunger Games series Mockingjay. It’s been fantastic listening to these books, there was so much I’d forgotten. It may however have been a mistake to listen to the end while driving (I may have gotten a little upset).

Reading Next

A ridiculous number of ARCs sitting on my NetGalley shelf seem to be getting released this month so I think my next reads are going to be the following:

Have you read any of the books on my list this week? Any others you’d recommend? As always please feel free to leave comments and links below.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!!