Saving June Playlists: The new Mix CD!

So I feel in love with Saving June by Hannah Harrington not only because the book was tragically awesome and stunning to read but of the music that lingered on every page and the fact that at the back of the book there is a track listing for the mix CDs that featured in the book.  They have a bunch of my favourite songs and here are a few I just want to hug for being special and awesome.

Read the book and enjoy the music in your ears!!

From the "Say My Name" CD

Hey Jude by The Beatles

Layla by Eric Clapton

Saving June Playlists: Oh music how I love thee!!

So I feel in love with Saving June by Hannah Harrington not only because the book was tragically awesome and stunning to read but of the music that lingered on every page and the fact that at the back of the book there is a track listing for the mix CDs that featured in the book.  They have a bunch of my favourite songs and here are a few I just want to hug for being special and awesome.

Read the book and enjoy the music in your ears!!

From the Nolite the Bastardes Carborundorum CD

Start Me Up by Rolling Stones

Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin

Under Pressure by Queen featuring David Bowie

Review: Dreams by Daniela Sacerdoti

GoodReads



“You’d never think it could happen to you. You’d never think that one day you’ll stand in a graveyard, rain tapping on a sea of black umbrellas, watching your parents being lowered into the earth, never to come back. It’s happening to me. They said it was an accident. Only I know the truth. My parents were hunters, like their parents and grandparents before them, hundreds of years back, scores of ancestors behind me, fulfilling the same call. I must follow in their footsteps. I am the only one left to keep the promise. I can never give up the fight, this fight that has been handed down to me, thrust upon my unwilling shoulders. I’d rather be buried with my parents, my brave, fierce father and mother, who lived and died by the Midnight motto: Don’t Let Them Roam.” 


Ever since her thirteenth birthday, seventeen-year-old Sarah Midnight’s dreams have been plagued by demons—but unlike most people’s nightmares, Sarah’s come true. Her dreams guide her parents’ hunt as Sarah remains in bed, terrified but safe, sheltered from the true horrors of the Midnight legacy. But all this is about to change. After the murder of her parents, she is cruelly thrust into a secret world of unimaginable danger as she is forced to take up their mission. Alone and unprepared for the fight that lies before her, Sarah must learn how to use the powers she’s inherited and decide whom to trust before it’s too late...


Review



I've been looking forward to reading this for some time because even though there wasn't anything that jumped out about the story straight away I just really liked the idea of a story set in Scotland and having dreams be part of the battle ground.  Dreams can attack in any way because they're dreams and there is basically nothing off the table of possibility.  Sarah Midnight is only 17 but her life has never been what you'd call normal.  She comes from a long line of demon hunters and family lines that fight the dark that evades their world.  The Midnight family has been cut off from other families but when both Sarah's parents die she is lost and has never had the hunting training most would have at her age.  Her aunt wants her to live with her family and Sarah can't let go of her family home or tell her aunt the truth of her demon hunting life.  She's the Dreamer and see's the demonic trouble before it happens and has lived in this nightmare dreams since she was child.  Her parents tried to protect her but no she's been left unharmed.  There is a war coming and she's in danger.  Until her cousin Harry turns up out of the blue to be her guardian and the Hunter she needs to teach her.  


The premise of this book really got me interested but what made me keep reading was the characters themselves.  They were all so unique in their voices and motivations that I would get sucked into one person's story and then when it changed to another I was desperate to hear what was going on with the next characters.  Though I will say that the jumping around between each character's internal thoughts was jarring to read at first because it happens in the space of sentence without any warning.  I got over it quickly though because I found myself wanting to know what Sarah was thinking and then what Harry was thinking at the same moment in a scene.  


Daniela Sacerdoti has a wonderful way of inviting you into the life of Sarah Midnight and the people that surround her.  There's punch after punch in the plot and the blooming romance in the story is so knee wobbling and swoon worthy that you are on tender hooks waiting for something to happen; good to bad.  I know that book 2 in the Sarah Midnight Trilogy comes out early 2013 but quite frankly that's TOO far away and I can't bare being left on the edge of my seat with the ending.  A carefully crafted and addictive start to a new trilogy.



Rating: 8.5/10


Published by Black & White Publishing and is available here and book shops now

Letterbox Love [5]

Letterbox Love is a weekly feature hosted by Lynsey on Narratively Speaking inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie

It came out of a group discussion on twitter for the desire and need for a UK feature to share our weekly grabs, buys and haul of a bookish nature as well as any other goodies we care to share.

From the ever EPIC booksellers at the Oxford Street Plaza Branch of Waterstones in London as a special gift given to me at the Geekhood Book Launch

My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf

LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia (flail)

How I Stole Johnny Depp's Alien Girlfriend by Gary Ghislain

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

From Stripes Publishing who I adore:

Geekhood by Andy Robb (Signed! EEP!)

From the fab peeps at Indigo: 

The Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin

The Double Edged Sword by Sarah Silverwood

From the lovelies at Strange Chemisty:

Blackwood by Gwenda Bond

Hurray for Geeks!

GEEK WEEK is nearly upon us my Geek lovelies and today is in fact an important day for your Geek Calendars.  It is International Geek Pride Day UK and to celebrate the wonderfully Geektastic Emma from Book Angel Booktopia has made a delightful Geek themed board on Pinterest.  

Not only is it Nerdilious but the whole idea of making a list, organising things and labelling into nice neat order is quite geeky in itself.  So go have a ponder at that board and also a few more links of Geek things

Firstly I'll point you to the Geek Pride UK twitter that is worth a look

Then this AMAZING article I found via Cecil Castellucci about what it means to be a Geek the "fake" geek and quite frankly it's a wonderful article and would recommend it highly.

This site was recommended to me by the brill Matt from and it's a great site about geeky things and how you can support your library is Geek The Library

I love The Mary Sue website for their news and articles and would yell quite loudly for you to go seek them out as well as Geek Tyrant and Den of Geek.  All three are great sources for Geek News online

There are MANY Geek based magazines depending on your particular breed of Geeky passion out there so seek and ye shall find!

Raimy recommended me a few geeky sources too and her favourites (that I haven't mentioned before) are a podcast known as Geek and Sundry  and Kotaku which is a fab gamer's website Raimy gave the big thumbs up to


One of my favourite geektastic based podcast sources in The Simply Syndicated website which has podcasts ranging from the nerdiest hardcore Star Trek, Movies You Should See which is filled from the brim with British humour and Masters of None which is not for those that like non sweary programmes but is SO FUNNY

Lastly I want to give you another hint or tease for one of my post for Geek Week which is going up on the 9th as it's my birthday and I wanted something wicked cool special.  

So it's a review but it's not an average one, it's not by me though I have reviewed the book myself AND it's a world exclusive!!!

Review: A Witch in Winter by Ruth Warburton

GoodReads


Anna Winterson doesn't know she's a witch and would probably mock you for believing in magic, but after moving to the small town of Winter with her father, she learns more than she ever wanted to about power. When Anna meets Seth, she is smitten, but when she enchants him to love her, she unwittingly amplifies a deadly conflict between two witch clans and splits her own heart in two. She wants to love Seth, to let him love her – but if it is her magic that's controlling his passion, then she is as monstrous as the witch clan who are trying to use her amazing powers for their own gain.

Although a perfect fit for the paranormal romance genre, A WITCH IN WINTER avoids fangs, excessive body hair and submissive female leads, and tells the heart-wrenching story of a couple meant to be together, but being forced apart. Seth is utterly irresistible and Anna is an empowered, proactive young woman with unimaginable magic inside her. This is fast-paced, sensuous writing with believable incantations inspired by Warburton's research into witchcraft legend and old English.


Review



This story kind of crept up on me because when I first started reading it I thought it was sweet and fun but wasn't 100% sure i'd really get it into it because it was quite light and airy to begin with.  However once the supernatural and witches element kicked in (which happens very quickly) I was sucked in and probably couldn't put A Witch In Winter down if I wanted.  The idea is a basic one but I liked that because it didn't over over the top with lots of scary mythology and could just focus on the characters and the plot at hand.  Seeing as this is just the start of Ruth Warburton's trilogy there is lots of room to grow in the world of Winter.  The eerie town has many secrets and a vast past that reminded me of other Witch books I love like Hollow Pike by James Dawson and Witch Child by Celia Rees.


Anna is what she'd call a normal girl with nothing that special about her.  She's just average and she's used to that.  Once she accidentally puts a love charm on the school hot boy Seth (one of my favourite names btw) things not only get weird but dangerous for Anna as well as Seth.  Magic is a dangerous element and Anna doesn't know how to use it and she's got power in her she didn't know existed.  She soon finds herself stuck in between a battle of wills over her power with two factions of the Witching world.  Both want her to learn to use her power and grow as a Witch but one wants her to use her power for their own ends.  Trusting people may be just as dangerous as the magic she's discussed within herself.


Ruth Warburton is a strong writer coming through on the UKYA scene and she has a real grasp on how to make her characters shine in the moment, weather it's through humour or honest raw emotions.  There is one moment when things were getting scary for Anna and an unseen force was terrifying her and it truthfully freaked me out too.  I made sure my windows were locked and secure before I went to sleep that night.   I'm so glad that the lovely Casey from Dark Readers was able to nab me an advance proof copy of the sequel A Witch in Love so I can jump back into Anna's world as quickly as I can.  A Witch in Winter is a fun and scary journey as Anna finds out about herself and Winter.  Who knows what more there is to discover.



Rating: 8.5/10


Published by Hodder Children's Books and is available here and book shops now

That Girl On The Cover Doesn't Look Like Me: A Mild Rant

I am not pretty

Before you all start yelling at me or sending in compliments then let me explain.  In my head I'm not because I am just me.  I'm not fishing for compliments (in fact I actively avoid them) because since I was a young teenager I wasn't pretty in my head.  If I'm honest I wasn't pretty on the outside when I was a teen either because I was very over weight, lived in baggy clothes and didn't wear make up like the pretty skinny girls at school.  I was funny, nice and had talent for the creative things but I just wasn't a stand out beauty like the other girls.  It's a fact.

Then when I reached my early 20s I had had enough and dieted (sensible with exercise and joining one of big weight loss programme clubs in the UK) and lost nearly 3 stone.  I could go into Topshop and find jeans that fit, I could shop in the whole of New Look.  Though in my head I was still the chubby geeky girl that didn't get asked to dance at the parties.  As a side note I also developed a condition called hyperthyroidism where my thyroid over worked and made me lose even more weight without trying.  It went scary skinny and yet I STILL could only see the "muffin tops" or the imperfections!  I'm all better now and a healthier weight.

Now this does relate to books before you think I've jumped out of the crazy tree.

I saw the lovely Zoe Marriott tweet about news for the trailer for her forth coming book FrostFire and I asked for details (because Zoe's book are AMAZING) and she told me there was casting news but they were having trouble finding a girl to cast as the Main Character because she needed to be both not white and not emaciated.  I couldn't believe that it would be that hard to find but Zoe told me differently.  It wasn't that there aren't actress out there that would possibly fit this mould but they were proving very hard to find.

I don't know why I was shocked because I'm grown up in a media driven world where female role models in the celebrity world have gotten skinnier and skinnier since I was 13.  I remember thinking as a chubby 14 year old 'Oh I wish I could be a size 12 and pretty like the cool girls'  and now I am a size 12 and all I want is to be that bit smaller still.

Looking at all the YA book covers in my bookcases I see beautiful and amazing covers that could be pieces of art in their own right but all the girls are generally what I'd call super skinny.  They wear flowing evening gowns or tight fitted tops and skinny jeans and this is the image that is put across to the reader when they pick up the book.  It says 'This is the hero in your story and to be like her and have her moral strengths and rewards you need to look like her'.  Why?? Why do you need to be this likely photoshopped model type to be the hero.  I can't even remember the last female main character in a YA book that I read that was quite clearly an "average" weight or on the bigger size.  I have read them and loved them but there just aren't many compared to all the floaty ball grown and fierce warrior girls.   The lovely Raimy from Readaraptor even agreed with Zoe and myself about the skinny girls on the covers and even though we all agreed that skinny is ok but we couldn't understand why that was all there was.

Covers sell books.  We are told not to judge a book by it's cover but who's to say the book cover isn't judging us.  

I want to be happy in how I look and feel like I could be one of the girls on the cover too but even though I may physically look like some of them I don't feel like I do.   That's what happens after years of feeling like I wasn't good enough or thin enough by the images we see in teen and women's mags, the celebrities and pop stars on theTV and the ever narrowing waist lines on the high street window displays.  

I can't say I have an answer to the problems.  I would be bold of me to say I did or that any one person is to blame.  I love the covers of the slim girls ready for battle in their leathers or the haunting ladies in lace gothic dresses but why do they all look the same.  Is it too much to ask to see more variety?  I guess there need to be more stories with average looking girls but I'm sure most girls in the stories I read describe themselves as average looking or not overly pretty at some point and yet the model representing them on the front are GORGEOUS!!   I want more of a mix in the girls I see.  I want to have girls of all sizes in the pretty dresses and for teen girls of a range of dress sizes to see the cover and feel ok about being different or the same as the model on the cover.  That goes for male characters on book covers too.  What blokes do you know that all look like the muscle bound or athletic types in their generic skinny jeans with *those* hips

My name is Laura.  I am about 5 foot 6 inches tall and I weigh about 10 stone 3 pounds.  I AM AVERAGELY AMAZING.  To some I may be lovely and pretty and i'm ok with you thinking that.  That's lovely in fact but I wish I could have thought that when I was growing up no matter how I looked.  

I hope that maybe some readers will see this post and think again when looking at the girls on the cover of the book they are reading and enjoying.  Maybe they'll remember it's only a cover and they too can be the hero.  That there is room for variety in the YA book covers that I love.  So we can see all types of models on the covers and love them all the same.  They don't have to be emaciated or obese.  They can be healthy, big and small, kick some ass and get the guy if they want.

Or they can just kick some more ass.

Review: The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry

GoodReads


This dark and thrilling adventure, with an unforgettable heroine, will captivate fans of steampunk, fantasy, and romance. On her 18th birthday, Lena Mattacascar decides to search for her father, who disappeared into the northern wilderness of Scree when Lena was young. Scree is inhabited by Peculiars, people whose unusual characteristics make them unacceptable to modern society. Lena wonders if her father is the source of her own extraordinary characteristics and if she, too, is Peculiar. On the train she meets a young librarian, Jimson Quiggley, who is traveling to a town on the edge of Scree to work in the home and library of the inventor Mr. Beasley. The train is stopped by men being chased by the handsome young marshal Thomas Saltre. When Saltre learns who Lena’s father is, he convinces her to spy on Mr. Beasley and the strange folk who disappear into his home, Zephyr House. A daring escape in an aerocopter leads Lena into the wilds of Scree to confront her deepest fears.


Review



Lena Mattacascar (a pretty good character name if I do say so) is a girl that's been made to feel different all her life.  She's different in her appearance with her oddly long fingers and feet and she's different in her self as she has a strong will and desire to be adventurous that most young ladies of her town do not.  Set in the eerie Knoster, a town with secrets and fears of it's own as it boarders onto Scree where tales of Perculiars and criminals roam and work.  It's here that Lena wishes to travel to and find her father who left her as a child and fear could hold answers as to her strange features and if she is half Perculiars.  


Along the way to finding a safe passage to Scree Lena crosses path with Thomas Saltre, a Police Marshall with a vendetta against Perculiars and those that help them, Jimson Quiggley, a young charming man hired to work in a private library and shows kindness to Lena when most don't and Mr Beasley, a reclusive type that has a great mind for science and hires Jimson for his private library but could be hiding more than books in his large house.


The Peculiars was very fitting of it's title for me because I felt like it was a peculiar sort of storey and left me feeling unsure if I loved it or just felt a bit okay about it.  I found the story an interesting idea and can see the potential for more books in the series and the meeting of history and the supernatural in a twisted Steampunk way was fun.  However I didn't feel like I had one defining moment when I read it that made me utterly fall in love with it.  I did enjoy it but I always felt like I was on the brink of falling in love with it but never quite getting there.  I'm not sure if i've just ODed on historical and supernatural fiction recently and that's why just how I felt by the end of the story.


I loved the growing relationship between Jimson and Lena and how Lena was finding out who she really was but also learning that what you are or what people label you as doesn't mark you as a person.  I found the scenes in the library beautiful because I have a real love for libraries in books;  they make me feel a bit at home.   Things that did make me feel a bit off about the story was how there seemed to be an answer for everything.  Confused?  Let me explain.  When questioned about where Mr Beasley got his money there was a quick easy answer.  When asked where certain characters disappear to or appeared from it was explained in a few sentences almost like you'd been told before but just weren't listening.  Personally I found it a little annoying but it didn't happen too often that it made me stop reading or disliking the book overall.


I think if you like your historical mystery books, a bit of supernatural adventure and a hint of romance then The Perculiars is a good romp and the cover is stunning to have on the bookshelf. 



Rating: 6.5/10


Published by A&CKidsUK and is available here and book shops now

Geekhood Blog Tour: The Return of the Geek

PART ONE TO THIS TALE IS HERE

I asked Andy about Geekhood 2 because I knew he was working on it and I couldn't resist.  It was too tempting.  I don't know what I can tell you detail wise so to avoid getting footwear thrown at me from Stripes (Andy probably won't care seeing as he told me anyway), I'll just say it sounds just as funny as Geekhood and the setting is prime with comedy adventure and mishaps.  Plus Andy did first hand research which made me snort and giggle just hearing about his experiences so on that basis it must be worth a read!  The first Geekhood has these great characters that leapt off the page for me because they felt like I'd known them in real life and in some cases been them too.  They had elements of real people in too and Andy took what he'd seen and sprinkled them in Archie and his friends.

Back to warrior man.  He's dry and now needs his detail.  He need red eyes and red on his suit and then lots of grey and stuff.  Plus there was silver paint involved that matched my nail varnish.  This was most pleasing.  

Back to the Geek chat and now it's our other shared passion; Music.  My obsession is My Chemical Romance and Andy's is The Rolling Stones.  Same level of geekery but different bands.  Andy has made it his mission to teach me the way of the Stones (I am the best student; bought 3 records and loved 'em) and I gave Andy a mixed and long list of my musical taste (He gets a C cause he opened and read the email but as far as I know that's it. To be fair it was a MAMMOTH list).  Gig stories were shared and it summary Andy seen a butt load of Stones gigs even the secret shows and I'm a sad strange individual that camps outside days before to get front and centre barrier spot.

The big question for me was about what else Andy read's himself.  He's an author and thus his reading habits and recommendations are a must to find out with my detective ninja skills.  There are 3 main genres he reads and those being YA, adult fantasy books and Crime and Psychology Books.

Recommendations were as follows: Tolkien (obviously; and then his jaw hit the floor when i said I'd never read Lord of the Rings), Stephen Donaldson , the Mr Gum books by Andy Stanton and Hero by Perry Moore and Brian Masters who writes the crime psychology stuff so I have no clue who that is. HA.  He loves the YA books but the trouble was a lot of books where the kids loses their parents or they divorce etc they suddenly find they have a magical past or such but in Geekhood he wanted to write about a character who was going through the say rough stuff that kids do but made his own magic in his Geeky per suits and makes his own magical place every time he picks up a RPG rule book or turns on a Star wars DVD.

I wish I could tell you all the tales shared but this post is pretty epic already so check out one classic on Daisy Chain Book Reviews Blog tour post.  It's too funny!  OH THE GIGGLING FIT I HAD HEARING THAT TALE!

Once my warrior paint work was dry I got to varnish him up and he was finished all shiny.  You can't see this but I have my smug face on.

And like many epic tales the night wore on and the geese started butting against the boat and driving Andy loopy-er and so it was time to leave for my journey home on the train.  I don't know what you've got from this Geek post but all I can say is Andy Robb is a Geek.  I am a Geek.  Geekhood is so funny and has so much truth in it that it's even more brilliant and you should go buy it asap.  It was an awesome Geek day and I didn't fall into the river once. YAY!

GO BUY GEEKHOOD

For more info on Andy head to his nifty website or his twitter and for more on Geekhood check out the Stripes Publishing website!

Geekhood Blog Tour: A Bloke, A Blogger and a Boat

When Laura said she’d like to host a post on the Geekhood Blog Tour, I was chuffed to bits. As you might know, she has offered an astonishing amount of support for my book; support that I much appreciate. So, when she agreed, I thought that it might be nice to try and do something a bit different. After a bit of head-scratching, I decided upon introducing her to one of the Geekiest of Geek Pursuits: painting miniatures. One mid-morning, Laura, quite bravely I thought, came down to my stretch of the Thames and suffered a dinghy-trip to my boat, where she suffered my cooking. Amidst all the laughs and questions, I gave her the basics on painting a White Scar Space Marine. If you don’t know what I’m on about, hang in there – I think all will be revealed in Laura’s Geek Week.

That's Andy.  In a hat.  It's rather a holey hat but a hat none the less

Anyhow, what Laura’s put together is what happened that day on my boat on the Thames. And I’d like to thank her for her selfless support and generosity of spirit. But I know she gets a bit blushy when people say nice things, so I won’t.

Right Andy's done talking so now it's MY turn :)

Andy Robb has written a book called Geekhood (published by the good folk at Stripes Publishing in June)  and I begged to read it and then couldn't stop telling people about it.  Loved it to pieces because not only was it a kick ass read but it spoke to me and the little geek girl inside me.  Here's the summary:

If you haven't worked it out yet, girls don't do this. They don't come to the Hovel. They don't like goblins and dragons. They don't paint miniatures. They don't play role playing games or re-enact fictional battles. And they don't talk to Geeks like me especially if they're pretty. And this girl is pretty. What do you do if you're a fourteen-year-old Geek, and a Beautiful Girl has appeared in the midst of your geeky world? And she seems to like you... For Archie, the natural reaction would be to duck and cover ... run for the hills ... buy a new model elf... Anything but risk stepping into the Real World. But even Geeks have to put their heads above the parapet at some point. With his mum barely able to contain her excitement that her son is about to join the human race, and his step-father, Tony the Tosser, offering crass advice, it's time for Archie to embark on a daring Quest to win the Beautiful Girl's heart and shake off his Geekhood for good...

Andy Robb lives on a boat, it's like a floating Tardis and thus cool.  He invited me over as part of this blog tour and who was I to refuse; it's a boat.  Yes I'm easily amused.  The boat is pretty much as you'd imagine when picturing a Geektopia.  Every little shelf or wall had a Geek touch from guitars hanging (including I am told on signed by the Rolling Stones), autographs and comic lithographs, a mound of built LEGO (he says it's his lad's but we both know this is a lie because LEGO is cool and should be played with daily) and he's already set up the work station for the day.

I've done Art at school but painting a teeny tiny plastic figure is hard.  I soon had to whip out the old Geek glasses for the detail stuff.  Like in Geekhood you start with a wash all over to pick out and highlight al those details and give him a worn look.  You want your warrior to look a bit battle worn.  

Geekhood is Andy's debut novel and he's had quite a varied history of jobs.  Actor, Movie set caterer, tattoo artist (what? random but cool) which led onto just doing the fake tattoo for movies and clubs.  He's got stories that'll leave you in stitches for each of these careers.   It's brilliant but he's a Geek at heart so his best tales are the Geek war stories which we traded off with.  He won. *sulk face*

Once my little White Scar Warrior was dry next came highlighting some parts with the heavy black.  If i'm honest Andy showed me how to do it and the areas to highlight but because we kept with the Geek chat I just kept highlighting at random.  I need to be stopped. I was refocused by Andy and painted my warrior's wee gun black because a weapon must by black and dirty.  This dried pretty quick and then came dry brushing which is what you'd think.  Painting with a dry brush.  Brain surgery this code is not.  I was to do this flicky thing with the white paint so it made the White Scar look dirty in a way but good dirty.  Like he'd seen a few fights and wasn't fresh out of the little warrior shower all shiny.

TO BE CONTINUED....RETURN AT 2PM FOR PART 2!

Top Ten Blogs/Sites You Read That AREN'T about Books

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can't come up with ten, don't worry about it---post as many as you can!

Food gawker

I warn you don't look at this site before you eat or if you're hungry.  Drool-worthy photos of yummy food and links to how to make them!

Craftster

A place where you can find some seriously genius ideas of DIY and crafting.  I adore the forums because it's a real mix of all sorts of ideas.  My favourite pages are the clothes DIY and gift ideas too.

Twitter

That counts right??  I spend more hours on there talking than talking to people in real life.  I CARE NOT

Empire magazine

One of my fav sites for movie news.  

Simply syndicated

A great source of funny and geeky podcast from a bunch of cool ass funny people

Tumblr

It'll steal your soul and hours out of your day but you just can't quit

LOLcats

WHO DOESN'T NEED LOLCATS IN THEIR LIVES??? WHO??!??

Event Post: Heart Shaped Bruise book launch

Being invited to the launch of Heart Shaped Bruise made me a giddy little bunny because I just love Tanya and she's one of the loveliest writers I've gotten to know via Twitter.  Not only that but it seemed like every other UKYA author I adored and had yet to meet was going too. Keris Stantion, Cat Clarke, James Dawson, Liz Kessler, Susie Day and a last minute guest Sarwat Chadda.  Utter brain meltdown and muppet flail doesn't even cover my reaction.  It was also being held at Daunt books, Marylebone which I'd never actually been to before.

I was shocked I didn't really get lost finding the shop because me plus a map can never end well.  As soon as I went in the shop you could see the buzzing at the back of the shop which looked like the library from Beauty and the beast which is my dream place to live.  That or just a cool home.  Sidetracked; sorry!

So as soon as I got in I spotted Leanne from District YA and her mum Sue so went and said hi and catch up and the sweety that is Sam Eades from Headline came straight over to greet me and get me a drink (only juice folks.  i'm a good girl!).  The whole evening seemed like a blur because one after another came bloggers I knew or hadn't met before but felt like I knew and authors that made me muppet flail inside my chest.  What was even cooler for me was how excited they seemed to be to meet me!! I had Keris come over and hug me and show me her new book with my name in the thanks section (FLAIL), Cat Clarke pointing at me across the room as she came in and get all smiley at seeing me (ME! OMG!).  James Dawson who I just A-DORE was just the nicest person ever and even gave me one of his Queen of Teen badges (go Team Jamesty!).  Also I finally got to meet the lovely Jenni from Juniper's Jungle along with the always fab Viv from Serendipity Reviews, Liz and Mark from My Favourite Books and Caroline from Portrait of a Woman.

Me and Keris! FLAIL

The speech Tanya gave was so nice and humble too and I loved seeing her thank her mum who was at the event because the authors always have so much love for their family and friends and seeing that makes me feel all smiley.  Being able to say thanks to the people that have supported you is aces.  I grabbed myself a cake pop before they were all nabbed and may never find another cake that I loved more than that cake pop.  For serious.  Then I got to meet Tanya herself who was in whirlwind of hi's and hello's but made a special trip over to say hi to us and I got the biggest hug.  

We finally got kicked out of the shop as it closed and made our way to the pub round the corner and I ended up staying there till gone 11pm.  I was one of the only bloggers at the pub sat at a table with all these authors who I fawn over on a daily basis.  I kept thinking I should pinch myself or just keep quiet in case they realised I was still there and hadn't gone.  That didn't happen of course because I just can't be quiet.  I'm a loud person and had a ball!

Tanya signing a book for Susie Day

Thank you SO much to the lovely people at Daunt Books for hosting the event and Headline for inviting me and of course the adorable Tanya Byrne for just being her wonderful self.