Hiatus

Hi guys, I'm sorry I haven't been blogging much lately and I'm going to announce an official hiatus on my blog for a little while. I'm basically being messed around by my college halls and a landlord I was supposed to move into the house of next year. I risk loosing out on nearly £300, need to find a new place to live and get together a couple hundred quid to secure ANOTHER house. So as you can tell this is a very stressful time and I'm really sorry but I hope you guys will understand. When I have a minute to spare I will try and write up so reviews and queue them up on here but till then I hope you understand.

-Iona

Saving Mary Blog Tour

Author Deidre Haverlock has stopped by my blog today with a guest post for her Saving Mary Blog Tour. Also two posts in one day? Aren't you lucky. Check this book out! My review will come sometime in the next week.

Book Lust!

I've decided I'm going to do a post about the books I am currently lusting over. And I mean REALLY lusting. The type of lusting that makes you think "screw the fact that I need to pay a deposit on a rental house sometime in the near future, these look too good to walk away from." So here they are, the books I feel I might just need in my life soon.

So what books do you guys feel you need in your life and have any of you read the ones I'm desperate to get?

Interview with Michelle Scott

Michelle Scott, if you've been paying attention to my blog, is the author of the Lilith Straight series. She's a lovely woman and I had the chance to email her a few times, all though embarrassingly I didn't even realise she was the author at first she was so nice and I hadn't had a chance to read the books at that point. However she did answer some of my questions so enjoy.

Me:     What inspired you to write such an interesting and unique book series? 

Michelle: I wanted to write a series about a woman who, through no fault of her own, is faced with an impossible decision: either she must follow in her mother’s footsteps by becoming the Devil’s handmaiden, or she has to pass the position on to her eight-year-old daughter.  I’ve always loved stories in which characters are forced to make extreme choices because I think it’s when those choices are made that the person’s true nature is revealed.

 

Me:      As a Teen/Young Adult who was your favorite author? And would you say that has changed now you're an adult? If so, to whom?

Michelle: I started reading Stephen King when I was in high school, and I still love his work.  Even now, he manages to scare the stuffing out of me!

As a teen, I was also very interested in dystopian fiction like George Orwell’s 1984 and Adolous Huxley’s Brave, New World.  Although I’m not as much of a horror reader as I used to be (SK spoiled me for all others, lol), I still love a good dystopian novel.  The Hunger Games trilogy have been favorites of mine.  I also like to read more nonfiction than I used to.  I find books like The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean fascinating.

Straight to Hell- Blog tour and competition to win an iPod

I have been lucky enough to participate in the Straight to Hell by Michelle Scott blog tour. I have two books to review and an author interview which is so exciting as I've never been part of it before.

The summary : The moment Lilith Straight dies, the Devil appears to claim her soul and cash in on a longtime family curse. Now, Lilith has no choice but to work for him. The job is bad, the boss is worse, and she can't imagine how she'll explain her new reincarnation to her eight-year-old daughter. But then an arrogant, yet oh so yummy, incubus shows up...and hell heats up just a little more.

This book is really interesting and different to anything I have ever read before. It's an adult books with very adult themes so I wouldn't suggest it for any of my younger followers, but It is definitely a good fun read.In fact the humor and the characters are the best thing about this book.

Bout of Books Challenge

I could not participate in the read-a-thon for this challenge but the confessions questions they had to go along with it seemed really fun so I wanted to answer them.

Physical book or eBook?
Physical. I have a Kindle, which I do still enjoy reading, but I always prefer tangible books and now that most kindle books are almost the same price as their corporeal counterparts I will buy the physical books more often because they contribute to my long-term dream of having a library in my house.

Paperback or Hardcover?
Paperback. I find hardcovers harder to read. They usually look a whole lot nicer but I don't want to pick them up in case I damage them, which I usually do.

 

Reality or Make-believe?

Is this like non-fiction vs. fiction? Because if that's what it is I pick fiction any day of the week.

 

Adult or Young-Adult?
I'll read either but I usually prefer YA. I'm in my last teenage year and I find I just prefer stories about people of a similar age to me.

 

Dog ears or Bookmarks?
I am such a terrible bookworm but I dog ear my books. I don't like when people completely trash books but I like my books to look like they've had a little loving and not just sat untouched on my shelf.

 

Breaking the spine or Barely open the book? 
If you open a book you're likely to break the spine, but I'm assuming this question means opening it so wide that it will never close properly again and the spine folds perfectly in half? I could never do that to a book. My mum does. That's not loving a book, that's abusing it. 

Tea or Coffee?
Tea. I'm British. I like my tea like my men. Dark, Strong and Sweet.

 

Reading in bed or On the couch?
Bed. Reading is something I always do in the quiet of my room

 

Series or Standalone?
Either. Sometimes people make series just to make money or for the sake of writing a series which can spoil and drag out a story, but some stories can't be told in just one book, so it just depends.

 

Original or TV Adaptation?
I like both. I'm a media girl, I am doing a course in film (and its applicable to television) so I love to see how people can transform and change the written word into something beautiful visually. That being said sometimes an adaptation is better, sometimes it's worse, sometimes it's bang on. As with everything, it just depends.

 

 Defy motion sickness or Audiobooks?
I cannot read a book in a moving vehicle. I tried many times as a child and would have to sit with my mum for an hour eating and drinking something in a nice quiet still place to get over the feeling of wanting to violently throw up. However I don't listen to many audio books either, I'm much more of a music girl when it comes to long journeys

 

Author crushes or Who-was-that-guy-again?
I admire, but don't crush on authors

 

Interview or Guest post?
Either is good

Hope you guys join in with this. 

-Iona

Updates, Competition News, Extracts etc...

Hi everyone. Sorry I went on a mini impromptu hiatus for a little while, I was having some boy issues and really I just haven't been in the mood for reading or blogging, I've just wanted to be away from anything that requires actual thought. But I'm back now!

I am participating in a blog tour for the Lilith Straight series with Dani from Pen to Paper next week which shall be so much fun. I am reviewing both the first two books and having the author here for an interview. Goodie!

I also wanted to thank every one who participated in the giveaway, if you weren't following closely the winners were already announced but seeing as how all their prizes have now gone out I'd like to congratulate Linda and Robin for winning. I hope they like the books they receive. I am currently reading and enjoying I Capture the Castle and I will do a review on it when I'm finished as well as Insurgent when I get round to reading that.

Today I found an extract from a book that sounds pretty amazing and I really want to just go out and buy it even though I know I shouldn't because I am a poor student who should be saving my money for food, but here is the book extract. The book is The Gathering Dark by Leigh Bardugo and is released tomorrow.

Hope you're all having a great week.

-Iona