Event Report: Bookshop Crawl

Yesterday I met up with my friend, A, to take part in a Bookshop Crawl for Independent Bookseller Week. The purpose, to raise awareness of Independent Bookshops.  The idea of the crawl is that you visit as many of your local independent bookshops as you can in one day. Loads of Vloggers and Bloggers all around the country took part.

So I researched the local Independent Bookshops in my area. Since the city I live in is pretty small, I wasn't surprised to have to widen my search. But the only bookshops I could find were in Hereford, where I've never been and would have no idea how to find anything. Instead, I took the train up to Bath.

  We started out the place at Good Buy Books, a small shop near the train station. When I say small... I mean tiny. It really didn't have many books, so unsurprisingly, we didn't find much to buy. I did manage to walk away with a Books Are My Bag tote bag though, so the trip wasn't totally wasted.

Second up was Toppings. Despite the fact that I lived in Bath for three years, this was only the second time I'd been in and I really regret that, because it really is a wonderful bookshop. There's a great selection of books, small tables and chairs scattered around the place and you can even get coffee while you browse. It's got an atmosphere that is exactly what makes a lot of Indie Bookshops nicer to browse than chain stores.

My browsing was slightly more fruitful as I came away with a copy of Undone by Cat Clarke.

Our final stop was, of course, the ever wonderful Mr. B's. We actually ended up going there twice. I came away with a lovely stack of books, including two that were recommended at the counter. The friendliness and constant recommendations of the staff is makes this shop, in my opinion, one of the
best.

We both really enjoyed the bookcrawl. It was exhausting and took a sizable chunk out of my bank balance, but I'm really glad I did it.

Do you have a favourite Independent Bookshop? Or just a favourite bookshop in general? Did any of you take part in the bookcrawl? I'd love to hear your opinions and stories.

Book Haul #1

So I've been cheating and not doing this, partly because I keep forgetting and partly because I couldn't think of what to call it. But then I thought, hey, it doesn't need a fancy name. It's better do it than not. So I've unimaginatively called it book haul!

These are all the books I've gotten from Netgalley or through the mail and haven't reviewed yet.

All the Netgalley books have the summaries from Netgalley. She Is Not Invisible has a summary from Goodreads.

Netgalley e-books

The Moment Collector by Jodi Lynn Anderson

The yard of this house is a graveyard of moments and everything left behind is a clue. And I am here to dig.

There's a ghost haunting 208 Water Street. She doesn't know who she was, or why she's still here. She does know that she is drawn to Maggie, the new girl in town, and her friends - beautiful, carefree Pauline and Liam, the boy who loves her. But the ghost isn't all that's lurking in Gill Creek... Someone is killing young girls all across the county. Can the ghost keep these three friends safe? Or does she have another purpose?

This book looks so cool. I've been holding it off reading it because I had other books with closer release dates but I can finally read it and I'm excited! Thanks Hatchette!

Between the Lives by Jessica Sh

irvington

The perfect life or the perfect love. You choose.

For as long as she can remember, Sabine has lived two lives. Every 24 hours she shifts to her 'other' life - a life where she is exactly the same, but absolutely everything else is different: different family, different friends, different social expectations. In one life she has a sister, in the other she does not. In one life she's a straight-A student with the perfect boyfriend, in the other she's considered a reckless delinquent. Nothing about her situation has ever changed, until the day when she discovers a glitch: the arm she breaks in one life is perfectly fine in the other.

With this new knowledge, Sabine begins a series of increasingly risky experiments that bring her dangerously close to the life she's always wanted. But if she can only have one life, which is the one she'll choose?

This is another book that I've been holding off reading and honestly the amount of times I've nearly given in and read it, it's only because I've had a massive amount of reading to do that I haven't given in yet. Thank you so much, Hatchette, I'm looking forward to it.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

DAY ONE The Georgia Flu explodes over the surface of the earth like a neutron bomb. News reports put the mortality rate at over 99%. WEEK TWO Civilization has crumbled. YEAR TWENTY A band of actors and musicians called the Travelling Symphony move through their territories performing concerts and Shakespeare to the settlements that have grown up there. Twenty years after the pandemic, life feels relatively safe. But now a new danger looms, and he threatens the hopeful world every survivor has tried to rebuild. STATION ELEVEN Moving backwards and forwards in time, from the glittering years just before the collapse to the strange and altered world that exists twenty years after, Station Eleven charts the unexpected twists of fate that connect six people: famous actor Arthur Leander; Jeevan - warned about the flu just in time; Arthur's first wife Miranda; Arthur's oldest friend Clark; Kirsten, a young actress with the Travelling Symphony; and the mysterious and self-proclaimed 'prophet'. 

I've heard so many good things about this book, that when I saw it on Netgalley I just had to request it. I'm really looking forward to it. Thank you Pan Macmillan.

The 100 Society by Carla Spradbery

For sixth-form student Grace Becker, The 100 Society is more than just a game; it's an obsession. Having convinced her five friends at Clifton Academy to see it through to the end, Grace will stop at nothing to carry out the rules of the game: tagging 100 locations around the city. With each step closer to the 100-mark they get, the higher the stakes become. But when the group catches the attention of a menacing stalker - the Reaper - he seems intent on exposing their illegal game, tormenting Grace with anonymous threats and branding their dormitory doors with his ominous tag.

As the once tight-knit group slowly unravels, torn apart by doubt and the death of a student, they no longer know who to trust.

With time running out, Grace must unmask the Reaper before he destroys everything she cares about for ever...

This is another book that I heard about before I saw it on Netgalley. It sounds like a really interesting read. Thanks, Hatchette.

Print Books

She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick

Laureth Peak's father has taught her to look for recurring events, patterns, and numbers--a skill at which she's remarkably talented. Her secret: She is blind. But when her father goes missing, Laureth and her 7-year-old brother Benjamin are thrust into a mystery that takes them to New York City where surviving will take all her skill at spotting the amazing, shocking, and sometimes dangerous connections in a world full of darkness.

I received this book a few days ago and sped through it. I love Marcus Sedgwick and I think writing about a blind girl is really interesting and a huge step for diversity in YA. Review on Monday. Thanks Indigo.

The Rain by Virginia Bergin

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

My thanks go to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with this e-ARC. 

Pages: 384

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Released: 17th of July 2014

One minute sixteen-year-old Ruby Morris is having her first proper snog with Caspar McCloud in a hot tub, and the next she’s being bundled inside the house, dripping wet, cold and in her underwear. Not cool. As she and Caspar shiver in the kitchen, it starts to rain. They turn on the radio to hear panicked voices – ‘It’s in the rain . . . it’s in the rain . . . ' That was two weeks ago, and now Ruby is totally alone. People weren’t prepared for the rain, got caught out in it, didn’t realize that you couldn’t drink water from the taps either. Even a drip of rain would infect your blood, and eat you from the inside out. Ruby knows she has to get to London to find her dad, but she just doesn’t know where to start . . . After rescuing all the neighbourhood dogs, Ruby sets off on a journey that will take her the length of the country – surviving in the only way she knows how.

What I Have To Say

Every so often a book comes along that really makes you think. What would happen if the apocalyspe came? What would happen if half the world suddenly died from a deadly disease? The Rain brought up a lot of issues that I hadn't even considered. What would happen to all the pets trapped in people's houses with no access to food or water. 

It was the mundane things such as this that made the book so fun to read. And the fact that Ruby cared so much about her neighbours. The way she had to knock on every door even if there was no chance of them being alive. That and that she went around rescuing all the dogs.

Although, Ruby was a really terrible character. I mean aside from her interest in celebrity magazines, which is just not to my taste, she often seemed heartless, especially towards her stepdad, who she just showed no grief for.

I did like that she developed well though. While still kerping the core of the character intact, the Ruby at the start of the book was so much more capable, not just at looking after herself, but using her brain as well.

I was disappointed about not seeing how a lot of the characters ended up though. Without giving too much away, there were a few characters that disappeared towards the end of the book that we never found out about.

Honestly, this book had a lot of potential, but it just didn't quite hit the mark. An enjoyable read that really makes you think, but don't expect too much from it.

The Secret Diary Of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su and Kate Rorick

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

My thanks goes to Netgalley and Touchstone for providing me with this e-ARC.

Pages: 400
Publisher: Touchstone
Released: 1st of July 2014

Twenty-four-year-old grad student Lizzie Bennet is saddled with student loan debt and still living at home along with her two sisters-beautiful Jane and reckless Lydia. When she records her reflections on life for her thesis project and posts them on YouTube, she has no The Lizzie Bennet Diaries will soon take on a life of their own, turning the Bennet sisters into internet celebrities seemingly overnight.

When rich and handsome Bing Lee comes to town, along with his stuck-up friend William Darcy, things start to get interesting for the Bennets--and for Lizzie;s viewers. But not everything happens on-screen. Lucky for us, Lizzie has a secret diary.

What I Have To Say

I think that my opinion of this book can be seen by the 61 highlights that I made on my nook. I'm not often one to highlight or write down quotes, although I'm trying to get into the habit, so having 1 highlight is something special, let alone 61. 

I think that the thing I liked the most was how strong the voices were. I thought that they might feel a little less real, compared to the videos, but as soon as I opened the first page Lizzie's voice was just straight in my head. Admittedly, I spent most of the book trying to watch the videos along with the book (which I highly recommend as a great way to read it), but even when I was away from the computer the voices were so strong, even the characters we don't see in the videos. 

What I liked about the book compared to the videos was that it was that it was so much more detailed. There's so much in there that we didn't get to hear about in the videos and other background stuff that make it feel even more real. Also, we saw a lot more of Lizzie's course and occasionally she spoke like a Mass Media Student, which we don't see so much of in the videos. 

The book just reminded me how much I loved the videos. It was funny, intelligent, heartbreaking and full of scenes to make you swoon (or you know, have a stupid gooey smile while reading). I got absorbed in it in just the same way as I did the videos, it didn't even matter that I'd seen them before. And it made a wonderful companion to read along with the videos.

I could think of  a million things to say about the book and the diaries and still never manage it. It's really just something you need to experience yourself. 

The Shadow's Curse by Amy McCulloch

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

My thanks go to Netgalley and Random House for providing me with this e-ARC

Pages: 323

Publisher: Random House Children's Book Publisher 

Released: 3rd of July 2014

Raim is no closer to figuring out the meaning of the broken vow that sentenced him to exile for life. But with his former best friend now a tyrannical Khan who is holding the girl Raim loves captive, he finds it hard to care. Every day, he and Draikh learn more about their powers, but it quickly becomes clear that he will never be able to stop Khareh and free Wadi unless he can free himself from the ultimate taboo of his people. Reluctantly, Raim begins the long journey down to the dangerous South, to find the maker of his oath.

In Khareh's camp, Wadi is more than capable of devising her own escape plan, but she's gradually realising she might not want to. The more she learns about Khareh, the more confused she becomes. He's done unquestionably bad things, horrific even, but he's got big dreams for Darhan that might improve their dire situation. What's more, rumours of a Southern king massing an army to invade Darhan are slowly gaining ground. Only if the Northern tribes can come together under a single ruler will they have the strength to fight the South - but what if that ruler is an impulsive (albeit brilliant) young man, barely able to control his ever-growing power, and missing the one part of him that might keep him sane? Whoever conquers the desert, wins the war. And the secret to desert survival lies in Lazar, which is set to become the heart of a great battle once again.

What I Have To Say

I feel like this book was better than the last, everything was much tighter, although I'm not sure I liked the storyline so much. It was good, but didn't surprise me as much as the first book did.

One thing I really liked was the way that the Seer-abilities worked. The fact that the Seer could see the possibilities and the ways that the future could turn out rather than just what would happen. It's a much more believable way of manipulating and Seeing the future.

It was also good to see some of the things that Kareh was doing because the last book had quite a sudden change between Raim's friend an the murderous dictator that he becomes.

I think that Raim was a little too dependent on Draikh though. Especially towards the end of the book when he shouldn't really have been. He grew a little but I'm just not sure it was really enough. 

Still, I really liked the ending. It felt like a natural conclusion. Both books are really worth reading. 

Every Second Counts by Sophie McKenzie

Synopsis (from Netgalley)

My thanks go to Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for providing me with this e-ARC

Pages: 407
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Released: July 31st 2014
Other Books In The Series: Split Second

Nowhere is safe for Charlie and Nat. They have each other, but Roman Riley's networks could reach them at any time. Charlie believes the only option is to go undercover in Riley's team, and sneaks away from Nat to pursue her plan alone. Nat is desperate to find Charlie, but his family are in danger and Riley is coming ever closer. Even if Nat and Charlie can find each other again, could being together be even more dangerous than being apart . . .?

What I Have To Say

I'm really not sure which I preferred, this book or the first. I feel that the ending of this one was a lot better. It was really tense and gripping. A book that demands your attention until it's over.

I adored how manipulative Roman was. How everything was part of his plans and Charlie and Nat could do nothing but play into his hands.

The ending was perfect as well. It was just the right balance of satisfying and accepting the least bad option. If it had been an ending where everything turned out brilliantly and the country ended up in the hands of someone who would do everything right, it would just have undermined the honesty and realism that both books presented.

Like it or not, there is no perfect government.

Event Report: John Green Party

So on Saturday night, I went to the John Green party at Birmingham high street Waterstones. I didn't really know what to expect but they said there would be cake so I thought it would be cool. Although the cake part ended up being a bit disappointing.

The friend I was supposed to be going with had to cancel last minute, which made walking into a room full of people I didn't know, being unsure what was actually going to happen, really nerve-wracking. Luckily I managed to sit with three girls (and met more awesome people later on) so it was fine.

The event started with announcements of some future events ( Maze Runner Party, Lauren Oliver Signing and the Launch of Alice Oseman's Solitaire, all very exciting) followed by a really hard TFIOS quiz (who can remember the name of the drug Hazel was on?).

We were given awesome goodie bags (see picture above), even though they're both ones I've already read. Though the new John Green covers are so pretty and I've been wanting a hard copy of The Year of the Rat so I'm keeping both!

Then we were let loose to buy books (all buy one get one half price), raffle tickets and event tickets, eat cake and chat. The cake consisted of a table of nibbles with a disappointing lack of cake. There were cake balls, which you have to try if you get the chance, but they were 50p each. The money went to a cancer charity, which is great, but after delicious cupcakes at the Laini Taylor signing, I expected more.

The raffle was filled with loads of amazing prizes that I didn't win, and I mean loads. So many people were made happy by winning T-shirts and signed posters and star prize goodie bag that I'd have sold my soul for.

The whole event was just amazing. I met a ton of people and had a lot of fun. The cake, while being a lie, was lovely and I can't wait for the next event.