Book Trailer - Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach

 Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach  Release Date: 4/7/13 

From Goodreads: "A chilling and intense first novel, the story of a solitary young woman drawn into an online world run by a charismatic web guru who entices her into impersonating a glamorous but desperate woman.

 When Leila discovers the Web site Red Pill, she feels she has finally found people who understand her. A sheltered young woman raised by her mother, Leila has often struggled to connect with the girls at school; but on Red Pill, a chat forum for ethical debate, Leila comes into her own, impressing the Web site's founder, a brilliant and elusive man named Adrian. Leila is thrilled when Adrian asks to meet her, flattered when he invites her to be part of "Project Tess." Tess is a woman Leila might never have met in real life. She is beautiful, urbane, witty, and damaged. As they e-mail, chat, and Skype, Leila becomes enveloped in the world of Tess, learning every single thing she can about this other woman—because soon, Leila will have to become her. An ingeniously plotted novel of stolen identity, Kiss Me First is brilliantly frightening about the lies we tell—to ourselves, to others, for good, and for ill."

I have been asked by Pan Macmillan to help spread the word around about this new book and its brilliant trailer. The internet has fast become the preferred method of contact amongst todays society and Kiss Me First  dives head first into its depths.

To view the book trailer just click here. It will ask you to sign in with Facebook and ask for access to your friends list, however it states; "Connecting with Facebook will not result in anything being posted on your Facebook profile or elsewhere, and your details will never be shared. We promise. Connecting to watch this trailer with Facebook is completely safe."

So why do you have to connect with Facebook I hear you ask? Well this trailer plays different for everyone who watches it and you will understand why when you watch it for yourself ;)

Australian Residents can visit the Kiss Me First webpage for your chance to win one of 50 advanced reading copies of this book!

Happy reading!
- Amy

The Husbands Secret by Liane Moriarty

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Release Date: April 2013
Pages: 416



From Goodreads: "To be opened in the event of my death

With one swift, vicious movement, she sliced the envelope open, and pulled out a handwritten letter.love you and the girls...
so sorry to leave you with this...
cannot bear

Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Shaffer & Annie Barrows

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
Release Date: June 2009
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
Pages: 280

My Rating: 

From Goodreads: "It's 1946, and as Juliet Ashton sits at her desk in her Chelsea flat, she is stumped. A writer of witty newspaper columns during the war, she can't think of what to write next. Out of the blue, she receives a letter from one Dawsey Adams of Guernsey - by chance he's acquired a book Juliet once owned - and, emboldened by their mutual love of books, they begin a correspondence.

Dawsey is a member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and it's not long before the rest of the members write to Juliet - including the gawky Isola, who makes home-made potions, Eben, the fisherman who loves Shakespeare, and Will Thisbee, rag-and-bone man and chef of the famous potato peel pie. As letters fly back and forth, Juliet comes to know the extraordinary personalities of the Society and their lives under the German occupation of the island. Entranced by their stories, Juliet decides to visit the island to meet them properly - and unwittingly turns her life upside down."

See below the bump for the review! :D

Waiting on Wednesday #22

Hi Everyone!

Waiting on Wednesday is a bookish meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine. For more information please visit her blog!

Want to see what I picked this week? Well you will have to see below the bump ;)

Waiting on Wednesday #21

Hi Everyone!

Waiting on Wednesday is a bookish meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine. For more information please visit her blog!

Want to see what I picked this week? Well you will have to see below the bump ;)

Waiting on Wednesday #20

Hi Everyone!

Waiting on Wednesday is a bookish meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine. For more information please visit her blog!

Want to see what I picked this week? Well you will have to see below the bump ;)

Waiting on Wednesday #19

Hi Everyone!

Waiting on Wednesday is a bookish meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine. For more information please visit her blog!

Want to see what I picked this week? Well you will have to see below the bump ;)

Teaser Tuesday #24

Hi everyone!

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB @ Should be Reading to give our readers a little preview of the book we are currently reading.

I have been hang out to read this one for SO long!! Thanks to the lovely Hannah @ The Girl in a Café <3

Make sure you see below the bump for more information :D

Personal Planner Mini Review & Giveaway

Hi Everyone!

Today I have something a little bit different for you all! The lovely people from Personal Planner contacted me wanting to know if I would be interested in receiving a planner and also doing a giveaway. Now I know that this is not a book review and giveaway BUT at the time I received this email I was honestly thinking that I needed a new planner to schedule my blog posts and keep organised. With that in mind I agreed to review and giveaway a Personal Planner!

Make sure you see below the bump for more information!

Review: Creepy & Maud by Dianne Touchell

Creepy & Maud by Dianne Touchell
Release Date: October 1st 2012
Publisher: Fremantle Press
Source: Purchased by me
Pages: 220
 My Rating: 

From Goodreads: "Hilarious and heartbreaking, Creepy & Maud charts the relationship between two social misfits, played out in the space between their windows.

Creepy is a boy who watches from the shadows keenly observing and caustically commentating on human folly.

Maud is less certain. A confused girl with a condition that embarrasses her parents and assures her isolation.

Together Creepy and Maud discover something outside their own vulnerability — each other’s. But life is arbitrary; and loving someone doesn’t mean you can save them.

Creepy & Maud is a blackly funny and moving first novel that says; ‘You’re ok to be as screwed up as you think you are and you’re not alone in that.'"

Waiting on Wednesday #18

Hi Everyone!

Waiting on Wednesday is a bookish meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine. For more information please visit her blog!

Want to see what I picked this week? Well you will have to see below the bump ;)

Blogspiration #16

Hi everyone!

Blogspiration is a weekly book meme hosted by Kristin @ Growing Up YA and Sarah @Saz101. This meme was created to share with our fellow readers a quote/picture/video to do with bookish or bloggy or inspiring things.

See below the bump for what has been inspiring me this week!!

Review: Crewel by Gennifer Albin

Crewel by Gennifer Albin
Release Date: October 4th 2012
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Source: Received from publisher
Format: Australian Paperback
Pages: 360
Find it on Goodreads
My Rating: 

From Goodreads: "Enter a tangled world of secrets and intrigue where a girl is in charge of other’s destinies, but not her own.

Sixteen-year-old Adelice Lewys has always been special. When her parents discover her gift—the ability to weave the very fabric of reality—they train her to hide it. For good reason, they don’t want her to become a Spinster — one of the elite, beautiful, and deadly women who determine what people eat, where they live, how many children they have, and even when they die.

Thrust into the opulent Western Coventry, Adelice will be tried, tested and tempted as she navigates the deadly politics at play behind its walls. Now caught in a web of lies and forbidden romance, she must unravel the sinister truth behind her own unspeakable power. Her world is hanging by a thread, and Adelice, alone, can decide to save it — or destroy it"

Thank you to the lovely people at Allen and Unwin for providing me with a copy for review. This in no way influences my review, all opinions expressed are my own.

Where to even start with Crewel? It was a new and unique concept, at least to me. Being able to alter threads of time? Pretty cool!

Adelice Lewys has a gift. Or I guess you could call it a curse. In a world where women, known as Spinsters, can thread time, nothing is easy. Time is nothing but a blanket of sorts, made up of threads. Spinster contain the ability to weave new threads but to also rip existing threads. Altering life and causing death.

Adelice's parents spent her whole life trying to conceal her from the Coventry, they didn't want her ability to become known. By anyone. At the end of the school year all the girls under go testing, testing to see if they could become a Spinster. Adelice has managed to hide her ability her entire life, but she slips during testing. She slips and she knows. She knows that they will come for her that very same night.

She doesn't tell her parents, so when they show up her parents have to act quickly. Adelice gets shoved into a secret under ground tunnel she knew nothing about with her mum and her sister. While her dad is left there to by them some time. Their plan fails though. Adelice gets caught, and running from collection is punishable by death. Only she wakes in the Coventry to find herself in a cell. Surely that is better than death?

Adelice starts to develop her ability inside the Coventry and along the way she discovers that she isn't like the other girls there. She is far more special than she ever thought, than any of them ever thought.

A unique and fast paced read that kept me on the edge and wanting to know more. I pleasantly surprised to find such a unique read in Crewel. Can't wait to see where the second book takes us and a very big door was opened right at the end of this story.

If you liked this review then make sure to check out my review of The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld, another book revolving around the concept of time.

What do you think? Does this sound like your type of read?

Happy reading!

Waiting on Wednesday #17

Hi Everyone!

Waiting on Wednesday is a bookish meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine. For more information please visit her blog!

Want to see what I picked this week? Well you will have to see below the bump ;) heh heh

Teaser Tuesday #23

Hi everyone!

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB @ Should be Reading to give our readers a little preview of the book we are currently reading.

This weeks title I have chosen is one that caught my eye straight off the bat. Pretty excited to read this one!!

Make sure you see below the bump for more information :D

Blogspiration #15

Hi everyone!

Blogspiration is a weekly book meme hosted by Kristin @ Growing Up YA and Sarah @Saz101. This meme was created to share with our fellow readers a quote/picture/video to do with bookish or bloggy or inspiring things.

See below the bump for what has been inspiring me this week!!

Review: The Boy Who Fell to Earth by Kathy Lette

The Boy Who Fell to Earth by Kathy Lette
Release Date: March 1st 2012
Publisher: Bantam Press
Pages: 320
Source: Borrowed from Jodie
Find it on Goodreads


My Rating:


From Goodreads: "Meet Merlin. He's Lucy's bright, beautiful son -- who just happens to be autistic. Since Merlin's father left them in the lurch shortly after his diagnosis, Lucy has made Merlin the centre of her world. Struggling with the joys and tribulations of raising her eccentrically adorable yet challenging child, (if only Merlin came with operating instructions) Lucy doesn't have room for any other man in her life.

By the time Merlin turns ten, Lucy is seriously worried that the Pope might start ringing her up for tips on celibacy, so resolves to dip a poorly pedicured toe back into the world of dating. Thanks to Merlin's candour and quirkiness, things don't go quite to plan... Then, just when Lucy's resigned to a life of singledom once more, Archie -- the most imperfectly perfect man for her and her son -- lands on her doorstep. But then, so does Merlin's father, begging for forgiveness and a second chance. Does Lucy need a real father for Merlin -- or a real partner for herself?"

Thanks for letting me borrow this one Jodie! You have really opened my eyes to a whole new genre for me!!

I'm really not sure where to start with this review. I guess I will start by saying that I wasn't expecting to love this book as much as I did. I believe I even uttered the words "it is one of my new favourite books" to Jodie. I KNOW. That's big.

The Boy Who Fell to Earth is a wonderful combination of brilliant, witty, heart breaking, quirky, eye opening and funny. I could seriously throw all the adjectives around for this one. Kathy Lette is a genius. Yep. I said it. Genius.

Merlin is one of the most entertaining characters I have ever come across, and I read. A lot. He has Asperger's but this book is written in such a way that you don't feel sorry for him. He is so uniquely and genuinely him that you can't help but love and appreciate everything he says. His mind works so differently to mine that I often found myself thinking "why didn't I ever think about it that way?!" I am desperately wishing I had written down some quotes for you guys! Why didn't I do that?! Ugh how silly of me.

Now this story is more about Lucy, Merlin's mum, I found. It was written from her point of view. Lucy is struggling. She loves Merlin to no end but she doesn't know how to cope sometimes. He gets bullied in school but she can't afford to put him in a special needs school, and she was denied help from the government to do so. Her husband left not long after Merlin's diagnosis and ever since Lucy has been off men. There just isn't room for a man in her life when Merlin needs her so greatly. Only Merlin may not need her as much as she thinks. She coddles him too much, he is bright and smart but lacks in social skills which can often get him into a bit of a mess. I was really impressed with Kathy Lette's writing style. I liked that this was from the mothers point of view. It can't be easy having a kid with Asperger's and she finds herself wondering if she had done something wrong during her pregnancy. Don't get me wrong, Lucy loves Merlin, but it would be difficult to see your child struggle with Asperger's and Lette captures the essence if this greatly.

Things start to get real interesting in The Boy Who Fell to Earth when Archie shows up. Oh Archie, never have I found myself loving such a character. He is Lucy's cousins ex hubby, who is an Aussie (woop woop go us Aussies!) moves in with her because he needs a place to stay. He is a rock star, or well he used to be but he still holds the same beliefs that he did when he was one. He does nothing, I mean nothing around the house. He gives Merlin porn filled magazines among many other things. But he is great with Merlin. His first conversation with him had Lucy cringing to see what Archie's reaction would be but he brushes it off and makes a joke of it. He becomes an (interesting) father figure for Merlin and slowly captures the heart of Lucy. But with her ex husband just on the other side of her front door, she gets thrown around an emotional roller coaster.

A truly moving and quirky story that left me wanting more. This is a very new read for me, I generally try to steer away from adult books that have deep issues, from past experience I get too caught up in the sadness and end up bawling my eyes out. But this was a refreshing take on Asperger's taking a serious topic and giving it humor and love and all the things you could want in a story.

I highly recommend this to anyone and everyone. If this isn't your typical read then I more than highly recommend it to you. It might open some new doors for you like it did for me! If you are a fan of John Green's quirky and beautiful writing, then this might be one that you like. See my review of An Abundance of Katherines by John Green.

Have you read this? What did you think? Do you have any recommendations of books that are similar or have the same feel?

Happy reading!

Waiting on Wednesday #16

Hi Everyone!

Waiting on Wednesday is a bookish meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine. For more information please visit her blog!

Spirit by Brigid Kemmerer

Released: May 2013 (US) No AUS date yet :'(

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Series: Elementals #1

From Goodreads: "With power comes enemies. Lots of them.

Teaser Tuesday #22

Hi everyone!

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB @ Should be Reading to give our readers a little preview of the book we are currently reading.

This weeks title I have chosen is one that caught my eye straight off the bat. Pretty excited to read this one!!

Make sure you see below the bump for more information :D

Blogspiration #14

Hi everyone!

Blogspiration is a weekly book meme hosted by Kristin @ Growing Up YA and Sarah @Saz101. This meme was created to share with our fellow readers a quote/picture/video to do with bookish or bloggy or inspiring things.

See below the bump for what has been inspiring me this week!!

(t)GIF Fridays! #2

Hi everyone!

It's time for (t)GIF Fridays round 2!! DING DING DING! 

I just can't get enough of animals doing silly things and this is no exception!

This potato is to this cat like books are to me. In other words. How I react when I see my favourite book or when someone starts talking about my favourite book. Hehe!

Happy friday everyone and have a lovely reading filled weekend!

Review: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Of Poseidon by Anna Banks
Release Date: June 1st 2012
Publisher: Hardie Egmont Grant
Pages: 324
Series: Of Poseidon #1
Source: Borrowed from Jade <3
Find it on Goodreads
My Rating: 

From Goodreads: "Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen — literally, ouch! — both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma's gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom . . .

Told from both Emma and Galen's points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance."

See below the bump for the review!

Waiting on Wednesday #15

Hi Everyone!

Waiting on Wednesday is a bookish meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine. For more information please visit her blog!

Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter

Release Date: February 2013

Publisher: Hyperion

Series: Heist Society #3

From Goodreads: "Katarina Bishop and W.W. Hale the fifth were born to lead completely different lives: Kat comes from a long, proud line of loveable criminal masterminds, while Hale is the scion of one of the most seemingly perfect dynasties in the world. If their families have one thing in common, it’s that they both know how to stay under the radar while getting—or stealing—whatever they want.

Teaser Tuesday #21

Hi everyone!

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB @ Should be Reading to give our readers a little preview of the book we are currently reading.
 
This week I have chosen a book that I have been dying to read for a long time and finally was able to borrow it from a friend!!
 
See below the bump to check out what book it is :D

Blogspiration #13

Hi everyone!

Blogspiration is a weekly book meme hosted by Kristin @ Growing Up YA and Sarah @Saz101. This meme was created to share with our fellow readers a quote/picture/video to do with bookish or bloggy or inspiring things.

 

See below the bump for what has been inspiring me this week!!

(t)GIF Fridays! #1

Hi everyone!

Not sure how this is going to go down but thought I would give it a shot anyway! I was out for a nice chocolately splurge with Rebecaa @ Reading Wishes and Hannah @ The Girl in a Cafe, talking about GIF's. Now if you didn't know, which you probably didn't, Hannah is a little obsessed with GIF's ;) Sorry to let that cat out of the bag Hannah!

Anyway I was laying in bed the other night thinking about my blog and thinking about GIF's and thinking about Fridays.  I don't know what happened, all of a sudden BAM, I thought: 'TGIF! heh heh that's like GIF with a T at the start.' Then I thought that maybe I could do TGIF Fridays! I thought it would be a cool idea. I don't know if it will stick but hey, us internet folk seem to love all things internet related! GIF's included! Am I right?

So much of the time I find that GIF's can convey emotion so much better than words. Especially when there are just so many feels!

Enough of the blabby blabby. Here it is, my first (t)GIF Friday! Let's see how we go!
 

I freaking love this GIF. Who DOESN'T love dogs? How I feel when I walk into a bookstore and double take because a book I wasn't expecting to be out, is already out. Squee!

Feel free to share with me any GIF's that you like! I rather enjoy discovering new ones XD

Happy reading!

 

Review: Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Release Date: October 1st 2012
Series: White Rabbit Chronicles #1
Publisher: HarlequinTEEN
Source: received from publisher for review purposes
Format: Paperback
Collins | Book Depository | Amazon
My Rating: 

Alice Bell has lived her entire life with her father telling her and her sister about the monsters that roam the night time. Her father has always obsessed about the monsters, never letting his daughters out at night from pure fear of them. Everyone thinks that he has lost the plot.

Ali's sister desperately wants to perform in a dance recital. The only problem? It's at night, and her father would never go for it. This is where Ali steps in. For her sister she would do anything. Ali's birthday is coming up and her parents constantly forget, not much changes this year. Ali convinces her mum that it's ok, if they go to the recital. Somehow her parents are convinced and they go. The recital is a great success but now it's night time, and the Bell's are out in the open. 

Waiting on Wednesday #14

Hi Everyone!

Waiting on Wednesday is a bookish meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine. For more information please visit her blog!

Mind Games by Kiersten White

Release Date: February 19 2013

Publisher: HarperTeen

Series: Mind Games #1

From Goodreads: "Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future. 

Teaser Tuesday #20

Hi everyone!
Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB @ Should be Reading to give our readers a little preview of the book we are currently reading.

 The Boy Who Fell to Earth by Kathy Lette
Release Date: March 1st 2012
Publisher: Bantam Press
Pages: 320
Find it on Goodreads

"I tried hard to redeem the situation, but when Adam kissed me goodbye at Paddington station the next day it was with all the zeal of a tree sloth searching for a bit of wilted algae." - 117

"It was then I found myself looking at my ex-husband with new, warmer eyes, as though I had borrowed Merlin's vision. Listening to his Mellifluous tones, licentious feelings crept up on me, like fish twining through seaweed. I felt myself moving towrads my ex, as if drawn by the inexorable pull of a thread." - 263

What are you currently reading? Feel like giving me a little teaser?

Happy reading!

Blogspiration #12

Hi everyone!

Blogspiration is a weekly book meme hosted by Kristin @ Growing Up YA and Sarah @Saz101. This meme was created to share with our fellow readers a quote/picture/video to do with bookish or bloggy or inspiring things.

Even the smallest things in life can make a difference. Never underestimate the power you have. You could turn someones whole day around with just a smile. I know that there are days I have when I just feel meh at work and lovely chatty customer comes in to the bookstore and completely changes how I see the day.

What has been inspiring you of late?

Happy reading!



Review: Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Release Date: October 2012 (first published 2001)
Pages:336
Publisher: Canongate
Format: Movie tie-in paperback
Source: Borrowed from a friend
Find it: Goodreads | Collins (AU)| Dymocks (AU) |Book Depository (INT) | Amazon (INT)

My Rating: 

From Goodreads: "Pi Patel is an unusual boy. The son of a zookeeper, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior, a fervent love of stories, and practices not only his native Hinduism, but also Christianity and Islam. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.

The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional-but is it more true?

Life of Pi is at once a realistic, rousing adventure and a meta-tale of survival that explores the redemptive power of storytelling and the transformative nature of fiction. It's a story, as one character puts it, to make you believe in God."


See below the bump for my review :)

Waiting on Wednesday #13

Hi Everyone!

Waiting on Wednesday is a bookish meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine. For more information please visit her blog!

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi 
Release Date: February 2013
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
Series: Shatter Me #2

From Goodreads: "Juliette's world is beginning to unravel.
Everything is falling apart changing.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point-the headquarters of the rebel resistance. There she discovers other people with abilities. Abilities they have learned to control. And for the first time in her life, Juliette has hope. Hope that she can have a life with Adam. Hope that her touch can be used to save instead of destroy.

Teaser Tuesday #19

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB @ Should be Reading  to give our readers a little preview of the book we are currently reading.

Warrior Princess by Frewin Jones
Release Date: February 1st 2009
Publisher: Eos
Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon

"Watch my sword, not my face!" he said. 'I'm going to stab you, not bite you!"

Guest Review: Can You Keep a Secret by Sophie Kinsella

Hi everyone! 

I have something very special in store for you today! A guest review!! My lovely friend, Sophie is here today to review one of her (and my) favourite books! Now here is a bit of background! Sophie and I met through a mutual friend and have since become really good friends! We convinced each other to start blogs. Mine a book blog and hers a beauty blog. Well here we both are now! So please make her feel welcome (though I know you will!).

Blogspiration #11

Hi everyone!

Blogspiration is a weekly book meme hosted by Kristin @ Growing Up YA and Sarah @Saz101. This meme was created to share with our fellow readers a quote/picture/video to do with bookish or bloggy or inspiring things.