Month: December 2017

Favourite Books I Read in 2017

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I can’t believe we’re at the end of 2017, although every year seems to fly by, this year has definitely been one of the fastest for me! I’ve sorted through all of the books I’ve read so far (I’m optimistic as there are still hours left of 2017), to bring you a post filled with my top 10 books.

I found it quite difficult knuckling it down to my top 10 but without further ado, let’s get into it!

1) Cress by Marissa Meyer

I gave this book five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I really enjoyed the third book in The Lunar Chronicles series! Filled with wonderful characters, new and old. I love how Meyer intertwines the characters from Cinder and Scarlet (the first and second books in The Lunar Chronicles series) into Cress. Also, these books are jam-packed with lots of action.

Now I would put Scarlet and Winter (the second and fourth books in the series) under my top 10, however I thought out of the three books from the series that I read this year, I enjoyed Cress the most.

2) My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella I gave this book four out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I. LOVED. This. Book. I’m quite surprised it has taken me this long to pick up a book by Sophie Kinsella. I fell in love with her writing almost immediately. A fluffy, contemporary novel is always a winner with me. This book had me laughing out loud so many times! I loved the characters and locations that were in this story. I can’t wait to read more novels by Kinsella!

3) Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch I gave this book five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Again, this was a super cute and interesting contemporary romance. The setting is absolutely gorgeous, Jenna Evans Welch created great characters which I loved reading about. I found myself laugh out loud and rooting for Lina and a certain somebody. I loved how parts of this story were very relatable too. This was one of the first books I read on iBooks, which I actually enjoyed as I’ve always been skeptics about Kindle/iBook as I like to have a physical copy, however i still enjoyed it despite preferring a physical book.

4) Little Sister by Isabel Ashdown

I gave this book five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. This book gave me shivers all over. It’s quite a dark, disturbing psychological thriller which I thoroughly enjoyed. The narrative of this book is full of flashbacks from the past which unravels a lot between the two sisters and why there is so much tension and trust issues. I wouldn’t want to give too much away as it’s one of those gripping stories full of twists and tense moments that you should really get yours hands dirty in without knowing a lot from other readers spoiler reviews.

5) Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me by Lily Collins

I gave this book five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I adore Lily Collins so much, when I found out she was writing a book I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it! This book is so beautifully written and has a raw edge to it. Reading about Lily’s struggles, ex-boyfriend troubles and challenges gave me a huge insight to her past and general life and it just goes to show, we’re all human that go through highs and lows of life.

6) Blood on the Tracks by Barbara Nickless

I gave this book five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I was completely hooked on this book, right from the start! I loved the main character, Sydney Rose, she was an absolute badass but there was a vulnerability to her as well, which was from her past life when she was in the Marines. The author did a fantastic job to keep you guessing who the killer was in this book. I loved the relationship between Sydney and Clyde, her Belgian Malinois partner. I look forward to reading the next book in the series when it comes out.

7) Fully Functioning Human (Almost) by Melanie Murphy

I gave this book five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Just like Lily Collins, I simply adore Melanie Murphy! I pre-ordered this book and waited with impatience until the day I received it through the post. This book is such a personal, heartfelt masterpiece which I will hold dear to my heart. I laughed and cried throughout this book. I had such a strong connection with some of the feelings and situations she has been through, realising that I wasn’t alone. For those of you who don’t know, Melanie Murphy is a fantastic Youtuber.

8) Room by Emma Donoghue

I have given this book five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. This book was incredible, I loved the storyline and the way it was written so cleverly through the eyes of a five year old. It’s an amazing, heart-wrenching story of love and survival between a mother and her son. It kept me tightly gripped and holding onto the edge of my seat right up until the last page. A powerful novel which I think everyone should read.

9) November 9 by Colleen Hoover I have given this book five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. This book hit me right in the feels. I completely fell in love with the characters within the first twenty pages and from then on it was just incredible! I was not ready for the plot twist to happen, it caught me off guard and I had tears streaming down my face. I was rooting so badly for the two main characters to be together! Another book which I feel everyone should read, even if you’re not a huge fan of contemporary romances.

10) Caraval by Stephanie Garner I have given this book five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Caraval is a jam-packed adventure novel, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The action is definitely one of the best things throughout this book. I really loved that this story revolves around the relationship of two sisters; Scarlett and Donatella (Tella). There was a dark feel towards this book with scenes of disturbing violence. I found this book very interesting and look forward to reading he next book in the series when it comes out.

If you guys have read any of my Favourite Books of 2017, let me know in the comments below what you thought of them.

Happy reading,

Claire ☺️

Christmas Bookathon: Day Thirty

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It feels like I while since I’ve updated my Christmas Bookathon, due to the festivities it has been a very busy couple of weeks.

Earlier this morning I finished Kissed By An Angel by Elizabeth Chandler which I chose for my fifth challenge to read an angel book.

I have posted my book review for Kissed By An Angel here if you’d like the check it out.

So this week (and the last) I have only managed to read one book again, plus I still have a few challenges to go and with there only being two days left of 2017 (with today being my mumma’s birthday 🎉 so basically one) I’m going to try and squeeze is as much reading as possible.

My sixth challenge, I have chosen to:

4) Read a book that you can make the word CHRISTMAS out of the title (can use the author’s name if you can’t out of the title). The book I have chosen to read is: Christmas Cakes & Mistletoe Nights by Carole Matthews

This book has the word Christmas in the title, so I ticked this challenge off quite easily from my list.

Also, I love both sides of this book without the sleeve on too, look how beautiful it is!

I look forward to reading this Christmassy novel and I’ll hopefully fit one more challenge in before 2018, wishful thinking!

Happy reading,

Claire ☺️

Kissed by an Angel by Elizabeth Chandler Book Review (Christmas Bookathon)

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In the early hours of this morning, I completed my fifth challenge for the Christmas Bookathon. The fifth challenge I chose was to read an angel book. The book I chose was:

Kissed by an Angel by Elizabeth Chandler

Synopsis (via Goodreads): Ivy and Tristan are meant to be together. Both stunningly attractive, brilliantly talented and very much in love, they think their happiness will last forever. When a terrible car accident shatters their world, killing Tristan and injuring Ivy, she must face life alone – or so she thinks. However, Tristan is watching over her as her guardian angel – so close she can feel his touch and hear his voice. And no one needs a guardian angel more than Ivy, because someone is trying to kill her. But if Tristan saves Ivy, his mission on earth will be finished, and he’ll have to leave her behind. Will saving Ivy mean losing her forever?

Continue reading →

Books I Received from Santa 🎅🏽

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Hello everyone,

I hope you all have had a lovely Christmas and enjoyed being around the company of your loved ones! I love being all together around Christmas, I think that’s what makes it magical for me.

To top this Christmas off, I received two lovely books from Santa that I had asked for! These were: Turtles All The Way Down by John Green and It Only Happens In The Movies by Holly Bourne.

I look forward to reading these two, in the meantime I have a few more books to get through before I can even think about starting these!

Did you guys receive any books from Santa this Christmas? Let me know which ones they were in the comments below.

Happy holidays,

Claire 🎄

Goodreads Comparisons 2016 – 2017

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Hi guys!

I saw in my emails the other day that I had received from Goodreads ‘What I’ve Read in a Year’ and wanted to see what the difference was between this year and last year so I decided why not make a post about it!

The first photo is of my 2016 total of what I had read. So as you can see I read 8,169 pages across 28 pages. I think this is such an incredible achievement to have read this much in one year, especially it being my first year joining Goodreads. I love that it shows you the figures of how many people read the same book as you as well.

In the second photo, it shows my 2017 total of what I have achieved. When I looked over my total I was completely amazed that I had read so much! 14,925 pages is such a big figure!

On both of my photos it shows two books that I read by Jessica Serra Huizenga; Mad Addiction and Sick Pleasure. I think Huizenga is so underrated, especially if you enjoy contemporary, romance novels. She has a way with words which will hook you in straight from the first chapter. She has three books out at the moment from the Crazy, Beautiful series. I hope she brings out more books soon, because I’m in need of some sexy, romantic stories! If you’re interested and would like to check Jessica Serra Huizenga Huizenga out, you can click here to check her Author’s Profile our on Goodreads.

How many books have you guys read this year? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy reading,

Claire 🎄

The Brotherhood of the World Award

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A few days ago, I was nominated by the lovely Lili over at Lili’s Blissful Pages for The Brotherhood of the World Award.

Here are the rules for this award:

  • Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.
  • Answer the questions sent to you.
  • Nominate around ten bloggers.
  • Create your set of questions for the nominees.
  • List the rules and display the Brotherhood of the World logo in your post.

Questions from Lili:

  1. The reason why you start your blog?

I started my blog because I wanted to write more about the books that I have read and share my love for books with others.

2. How did you come up with your blog name?

Honestly, I was drinking tea at the time when I was creating my blog and I simply put two of the things I love in life: a cup of tea and books!

3. What’s your most read genre?

Oooh, good question! I think I read from the dystopian and contemporary genres quite a lot. I’m not entirely sure what is my most read genre, but it’ll most likely be between those two.

4. Which do you enjoy more; reading or writing?

Another good question! I do love to write about the books that I love but I think I enjoy reading more. Sometimes I find it hard to get my point across with words without it sounding confusing to others!

5. Do you have a favourite reading spot and where? And why is it your favourite?

My bed. I love to read in my bed, where I’m all snuggled up under my duvet with a hot drink beside me and a good book. There’s nothing better (in my opinion) than being warm and reading a book. It’s my favourite because it means that I won’t be distracted by family members downstairs or the television.

Now it’s my turn, I nominate:

Questions to be answered by the nominees:

  1. If you were able to choose which author you could go to dinner with, who would you choose and why?
  2. What’s your favourite time of the year?
  3. What’s the last book you read?
  4. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be and why?
  5. When you’re not blogging or reading, what do you do in your spare time?

Thank you very much to Lili for nominating me, I really enjoyed answering these questions! To those of your who I nominated, it’s not compulsory so you’re more than welcome not to do this award. To those of you who decide to do this award, I look forward to reading your answers!

Happy reading,

Claire 🎄

The Sunshine Blogger Award

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Good morning everyone! I have been nominated for The Sunshine Blogger Award by the lovely Amy over at The Little Book Nerds.

What is the Sunshine Blogger Award?
The Sunshine Blogger Award is given to those who are creative, positive, and inspiring, while spreading sunshine to the blogging community.

How does it work?
-Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
-Answer the 11 questions sent by the person who nominated you.
-Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
-List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.

Amy’s Questions for me:

  1. What is your reading goal for 2018?

I haven’t thought this through completely as of yet (which is a bit dangerous as we’re very close to 2018!) I know that I’ll go higher than 30 books which was my reading goal for this year and I completed that in August! *round of applause*

2. What do you do when you are in a reading slump?

Normally when this happens I tend to binge tv shows or watch a marathon of movies to try and give me some space between books. Eventually I come back around!

3. What is your top 5 books of 2017?

Good question! Top 5 books that I read in 2017 (in no particular order): Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch, November 9 by Colleen Hoover, Geekerella by Ashley Poston, My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella and Sick Pleasure by Jessica Serra Huizenga.

4. Who is your Number 1 fictional crush at the moment?

At the moment, it probably is Benton James Kessler from November 9 just because I finished this book a couple of days ago and I loved how he was portrayed.

5. What is your favourite genre?

I find this a difficult question because I really enjoy all different genres, I guess it would have to be action/adventure.

6. Which season do you read more in?

It honestly depends on how busy I am around that time of year, for me it has nothing to do with the seasons.

7. If you could have two authors to co-write a book, who would they be?

Ooooooh! I would choose Marissa Meyer and Jessica Serra Huizenga, it would be an action/adventure novel mixed with very sexy, romantic scenes.

8. Where do you read the most?

On my bed, it’s where I’m cosiest.

9. Do you take a book everywhere you go?

Literally E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E I go!!!

10. Do you break spines or keep them unbroken?

I try my absolute hardest to not break the sounds of my books, but it has been proven difficult with some books. If you guys have any tips on how to stop this from happening, that would be really appreciated!

11. What do you enjoy most about reading?

Entering all these different worlds and lives of incredible fictional places and characters is probably what I enjoy most about reading. I’ve loved reading from such a young age and I’m glad it’s never changed.

Now it’s my turn, I nominate:

Questions to be answered by the nominees:

  1. What do you love most about blogging?
  2. What’s your story behind your blog name?
  3. What’s one of your favourite quotes?
  4. Which book/series makes you happy?
  5. What distracts you most from reading?
  6. What five things are you grateful for?
  7. Which author would you ask to write your biography?
  8. What is your favourite sound?
  9. Which (if any) book series have you DNF’d?
  10. Are there any movie adaptations you prefer more than the book?
  11. If your life, as it is up to this point, was made into a film what song would be playing during the end credits?

I hope you guys liked this post and thank you to Amy for nominating me! To those of you who I have nominated, it’s not compulsory so you’re more than welcome not to do this award. To those of you who decide to do this award, I look forward to reading your answers!

Happy reading,

Claire 🎄

November 9 by Colleen Hoover Book Review (Christmas Bookathon)

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Last night I completed my fourth challenge for Christmas Bookathon which was to read a book with a number between 1 to 12 in its title. I chose November 9 by Colleen Hoover.

This book is split into two point of views by the main characters; Fallon O’Neill, an ex-child actor who had a bright future ahead of her and Benton “Ben” James Kessler, an aspiring novelist, who enters Fallon’s life on November 9th. Fallon was a victim in a fire at her father’s house two years prior to meeting Ben, on November 9th. She has physical scars over one third of her body, which led her to stop pursuing her acting career as nobody would accept her in the Hollywood world due to her scars being visible. This knocked her confidence completely, by being rejected over and over again, audition after audition. That is until Ben walks into her life and makes her realise how beautiful she is on the inside and out. Fallon is moving to New York to try and audition for Broadway and make a life over there on the same day that she meets Ben. After only spending a couple of hours together, they soon realise there is chemistry there and they don’t want whatever is happening between them to end. Are they going to be able to continue a relationship between two cities? How will it work out?

Continue reading →

Christmas Bookathon: Day Seventeen

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It has been a really busy week for me! I didn’t manage to pick up my book more than twice in the week as I had my Christmas work-do, my friend’s birthday party, I caught up with my friend for an evening and I went to a LANY gig as well this week! However, I have literally just finished November 9 by Colleen Hoover for my Read a book with a number between 1 to 12 in its title. This book has left me so emotional!

Below is a variety of gifs which show exactly how I’m feeling right now:

I literally cannot function.

Tomorrow I will write a book review for this incredibly written, heart-aching novel. Also, Colleen Hoover is one of MY FAVOURITE authors!!! I can’t believe I’ve never read a book of hers before!

So, this week I have only managed to read one book, however it’s one I’ll hold close to my heart and will love forever (I’ll probably re-read it over and over and over again each year, because I really didn’t want it to end!!!)

For my fifth challenge, I have chosen to:

9) Read an angel book

The only book I could find amongst all of the boxes I have in my room and the spare room was Kissed By An Angel by Elizabeth Chandler.

I can’t remember this story as I read it back in secondary school, so I look forward to re-reading this and hopefully I’ll enjoy it as much as my teenage self did in school!

That’s all for this week,

Happy reading,

Claire 🎄