Love Overrules the Lawyer by Kerry Evelyn is a romantic fantasy, set in Cat’s Paw Cove, which you might remember from my review of Meows and Mistletoe.
This book takes place on an island off the coast of Cat’s Paw Cove, where magical beings exist, which you can only see if you were either born there, or if you drink a special potion.
Rachel and Javier were childhood friends, until Rachel confessed her feelings for him, and he bolted. They are given a second chance when Rachel returns to town, and works for the same company as Javier. This is his chance to win her back, and the magical properties of the area are sure to lend a hand.
If you enjoy fantasy romance books, then you’ll probably enjoy this. It’s a fun romp, which means it’s easy to read but a good pacing.
Hello from the end of my first week of the Magical Readathon! If you’re not sure what that is, have a look at my first post on it! For these N.E.W.T’s, I’m aiming for O in Ancient Runes, E in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and E in History of Magic, so that I can choose the career of Librarian! What I’ve been reading!
Ancient Runes A: Ehwaz (partnership) – read a book recommended by a friend I’ve read ‘I Kill Giants‘ by Joe Kelly. It’s about a little girl who talks a lot about killing giants whilst everyone else goes about their normal daily lives.
This was a lovely graphic novel, and one that made me cry.
Defence Against the Dark Arts A: Book that’s black under the dust cover I can’t remember how I found My Favorite Murder, but I’ve loved the podcast ever since, and as I’m up to date on their many episodes, and have tickets for their live show when they tour the UK this autumn, you might have an idea of how much I love it! I really enjoyed Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered! This was a look at the hosts, Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, and a little more about them as individuals and as hosts of a podcast that basically exploded due to popularity. There is also some awesome fan art! And that’s it for week 1! I read some other books as well, but they didn’t count towards the Magical Readathon!
It’s my favourite hobby, and when I wake up early, I’m excited to sneak out of bed, make myself a cup of tea, and read! I have a HUGE to be read pile in the house, and I have the GoodReads as an always open tab on my laptop, and as an app on my ipad and phone, as I might want to add or update a book at any time!
So yes, book addict might be a good description.
I’m telling you (or in some cases, just confirming what you already knew) as even though I love to read, sometimes it can be hard to choose what to read next.
I read for Netgalley, and that means there is an ever present list of books that I should be reading, and yes, I have made my bed by clicking on too many books going ‘oooh, yes please!’. Maybe book magpie might be a better description?
But anyway, I wanted to tell you about a readathon I discovered on Sunday night that has me excited!
What is a readathon?
It’s an event with a set time, where you have a target for how many books to read.
The readathon I discovered is the Magical Readathon by Book Roast. This is a twice yearly readathon, with a Harry Potter theme. And when I say theme, I mean, ooh, you need to look at some of the documents that have been produced!
In April you have the O.W.L’s (Ordinary Wizarding Level’s), where you have prompts for each subject, such as ‘a book with a symbol on the cover’, and you have a look at your to be read pile or list, and choose a book from there to read.
The second readathon is in August, and it’s the N.E.W.T’s (Nasty Exhausting Wizarding Tests), and for these you are aiming at a career. Yes, a career in the world of Harry Potter! What’s not to love?!
For the N.E.W.T’s, each subject has three levels, and you check the career guide for what levels you need. I’ve chosen Librarian for my first career. Maybe I’ll manage to do this, and then can look at another career and be a Curse Breaking Librarian, or a Wand Making Librarian! Who knows!
For Librarian, I need O in Ancient Runes, E in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and E in History of Magic.
But, what does that mean? The levels stand for A is Acceptable (so only 1 prompt), E is for Excellent (2 prompts) and O is for Outstanding (3 prompts!).
That makes 7 books over the rest of August in order to become a Librarian! Which sounds lovely, but then I need to choose the books! I’ve chosen from my physical to be read pile, and my kindle/ Netgalley list!
Here’s the list of prompts for the subjects I need to be a Librarian, and the books I’ve chosen and why!
Ancient Runes
A: Ehwaz (partnership) – read a book recommended by a friend
I’ve chosen ‘I Kill Giants‘ by Joe Kelly. It ‘s a graphic novel that was given to my husband as a present from a lover of graphic novels, so that sounds like a recommendation to me! I’ve had other recommendations, but this is one that we already had!
E: Book written in past tense
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal. This is a Netgalley book for me, and is written in past tense. I tried to choose one that was due out recently.
I pre-ordered it, and it’s sat on my shelf whilst I read Netgalley books, so I’m excited to have a reason to read it!
E: Gilderoy’s memory charm (grab a pen!) first book that you remembered just now from your to be read pile!
An Edited Life by Anna Newton. Another book that I pre-ordered and in this case because I enjoy Anna Newton‘s Instagram! It’s been on my physical to be read pile for a while, and was the first book that I thought of!
History of Magic
A: Read a fantasy
The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang! A book that I bought on impulse as it was on offer on Kindle one day!
E: Read a book that includes a map
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang. Another Netgalley book, and the sequel to the Poppy War, so why not! It does have a map in it, I checked!
This is the first time I’m going to be doing a readathon whilst blogging, so I’ll keep you updated, and anything else going on!
Earlier this year, I went to my first event at a literary festival, which those who know me will probably be surprised that I’ve managed to live this long without having gone to one!
Portsmouth BookFest, a literary festival, held in libraries in Portsmouth, and I went to a couple of events they held. One was Afternoon Tea with Deadly Dames, which was a talk from 4 female authors of crime fiction!
They had some prepared questions, and they each took turns answering them. It was an interesting mix of indie published forensic murder mystery (Carol Westron), what looked to be popular crime books (Sue Fortin), gay historical mystery (Charlie Cochrane), and historical crime (Nicola Slade).
The other was Portsmouth MysteryFest, which was held in Portsmouth Central Library, and was an all day event. Yes, an entire Saturday of murder mystery lovers, all in a room together!
The audience was mostly female, and there was a series of talks, on subjects such as ‘Bodies in the Library’ by Jennifer Palmer (whom I’d love to link, but I can’t find a page for her!), how a lot of crime novels have things happening in libraries, including bodies being found there. The examples were books such as Agatha Christie, ‘The Body in the library’, and Simon Brett, ‘The Liar in the Library‘ (which I’ve reviewed!). Speaking of Simon Brett, he gave a monologue called ‘Lines of Enquiry’, which was taking a humours look at police procedurals, and all of their cliches.
Because I was at a book event, I felt it would be wrong if I didn’t buy anything, so I came away with three books, which felt a bit rude, as I had to choose between all of the authors who had come to the event!
I’ve not read any of them yet, but they’re now on my lovely ‘To Be Read’ trolley, in my office!
If you’re interested, and to be fair to all of the author’s and others who gave their time, here’s the timetable for the day! Panel 1 ‘In the Reviewers’ Hot Seat’ Authors Diana Bretherick, Donna Fletcher-Crow, Leigh Russell, Sally Spedding and Carol Westron asked questions by Mystery People Reviewers Dot Marshall-Gent and Jennifer Palmer. ‘Research for Crime Writers’ where Judith Cranswick discussing her lessons of how much research you need to do versus the amount of research you need to put in the book! Simon Brett‘s monologue ‘Lines of Enquiry’. Panel 2 ‘Single Offender or Serial Killer?’ Authors Jeff Dowson, Christine Hammacott, Graham Minette, Lesley Thomson and Linda Regan (moderator as well), discussed stand-alone crime novels versus series. Series authors said it meant their characters can grow, stand-alone didn’t get bored of the characters. This is an over-simplication, as not everyone would fall into one of these two camps, but we know that Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan-Doyle definitely did! ‘Authur Conan Doyle’s real life investigations’ – Laura Weston discussed the two cases that Conan Doyle looked at, They were the cases of George Edalji and Oscar Slater. Dot Marshall-Gent talked about ‘Victorian crime writing’, mentioning Catherine Crowe, who wrote Susan Hopley, for which there is an argument that it’s the first detective novel! And last but not least, Jennifer Palmer talked about ‘Bodies in the Library!’
My review: ????? Cape May by Chip Cheek is set in New England in 1957, with Henry and Effie on their honeymoon to her childhood summer vacation spot, but they’re visiting it in the off season, and so it’s much emptier than she remembers. Pretty soon, Effie’s bored of the place, and wants to go home. It’s not like she remembers, and whilst Henry feels hurt, he’s willing to leave. And then they meet one of the neighbours, someone that Effie knew a long time ago. This is a tale of an innocent couple, meeting bored, rich people, who open their eyes to a different life. Can Henry and Effie’s marriage survive the ride? You’ll have to read to find out more! This is Chip Creek’s debut novel, and it’s a stonker! It’s so evocative, with the scene being set so well that you can believe yourself in a grey seaside town, the drizzle of rain, and the few people who would be there. Cape May was published on 30th April 2019, and is available on Amazon to buy on Kindle and on Waterstones. I’ve found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!
I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Orion Publishing Group (the publishers) for this book.
This is another post from 2010 that I was working on… I’ve finished it slightly, but mostly it was written then!
I’ve spent this morning looking at blogs, doing chores, and thinking, oddly enough about passions.
What I mean by passion is something that I can’t live without, something that could almost be described as a need, except I view need as something that you have no control over – you *need* to breath, whereas I am passionate about reading, and other things, but I’ll come on to those.
Reading is one of those things that I was slow to warm up to. I struggled when I was at primary school, but I seem to have been making up for that struggle ever since. I am, as best can be described, a bookworm. I read anything and everything, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have an opinion on what I read.
Other things that I am passionate about would be my fiance, my friends and family, writing (note from present me – I’ve not done much of that the last couple of years, and this blog is my return to writing!), and history in general. These are the things that make me up, and I think that if you take one of them away, then I wouldn’t be me, or at least not as much!
But where does passion become obsession? It’s very easy to point at the craze of vampires, and to look at Twilight fans, and say that they are obsessed, but is that because of their age (the books are written for young adults), or is it just that vampires are a subject that has fascinated us for many years, and that we’re seeing how many people are fans because of the media and the internet? Look at Anne Rice, and now True Blood, the series based on the books by Charlaine Harris. Many people are reported to have flocked to New Orleans over the years, to see the setting, and to imagine the characters that Anne Rice made, walking down the streets.
It could be the case that these are just the books that are now available. When I was growing up, the books that I could find in my local library were Anne McCaffrey, and Diana Wynne-Jones if i was lucky, and I’m only in my late 20s (another note from present me – I am no longer in my late 20s….!). The books that young adults/ teenagers have access to now is amazing – there are so many fantasy and sci-fi books written for them specifically, which I think is fantastic, but is a very interesting comment on the way that authors have changed over the years. Is it that more fantasy and sci-fi authors are writing for young adults, or is it that publishers are publishing more of these? Either way, I look forward to introducing my niece and nephews to these books when they’re older.
I read a lot, and I’m quite a fast reader normally, but this year has been so busy that I’ve not read anywhere near the normal amount, but some of the books I’ve read this year have been amazing, and so I thought I’d share them!
I’m steering clear of ones that are in the middle of series, because that’s useless to someone who hasn’t read the series to date, and I know a lot of people are intimidated by the idea of reading a lot of books in a series, so let’s just skip those!
I’m part of the Sword and Laser bookclub, which reads one book a month, and it’s discussed on their podcast, and also on the forums on GoodReads.
This year, we’ve read the following books, which I’ve thought were brilliant!
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison – best described as court intrigue, and so well written!
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett – gods have been killed, and the country is trying to recover after various miracles no longer work.
Uprooted by Naomi Novik – the Dragon, Lord of the land, takes a girl every ten years to be his servant, but this time there’s a couple of changes.
Previously, Sword and Laser have read Ready Player One by Ernie Cline, but I was lent the book this year, and enjoyed it so much! I’m a little reluctant to try Armada, Ernie Cline’s latest, as I’ve heard it’s not as good, but I might bite the bullet in time!
And on the same lines, Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman (of whom I’m a bit of a fangirl!) and Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal, which is Regency romance, but with a magical twist, and I shall be looking for more of her books!
I really enjoy the Freakonomics podcast, and their 3 books (Freakonomics, Superfreakonomics and Think Like a Freak) have also been really fascinating, although you can read basically the transcript of a podcast episode in some of the chapters, so you have been warned!
Yes Please by Amy Poehler was an impulse pickup at the library, and was so good! I’m now trying Parks and Recreation, because I want to keep her around somehow! You need to read her book, and have youtube on standby to go and search for the various standup sketches! My favourites have to be the award ceremony hijinks though! Beauty Pageant, George Cloony and of course Bono.
There’s still a lot of 2015 left, so I might still come across something that blows everything out of the water! What’s yours been?
I do love Goodreads – they make keeping track of what I’ve read before, and what I want to read so much easier than it used to be!
This is my username and picture, because I love(d! Nom!) that bird!
Whenever I go near a bookshop or library (usually after having smelt it out, according to some!) I am normally looking at my phone, and then at a book in my hand, working out where I am in a series, or if I’ve liked anything else by the author, or even what other people have thought of the book (anything with a very low star rating gets set gently back on the shelf! Too many books, too little time!)
This is my current view when I look at my stats, and I do love the information that I can see, such as longest book, how many books read, and you can see what I’ve rated them!
Yes, I do rate a lot of books as being 4 stars…
And then I remember how many books are on my to read list…….
So if you see me in a book shop or library, remind me that I don’t need to find new books, just read the ones I want to read already!
My review: ???
