How far will a book take you?

My big loves are books and travel. But short of reading abroad or reading travel book, the two have remained separate entities in my life. Most of the books I read are set in fantasy lands, which is great and makes for some beautiful world maps, but it's not like you can pack your bags and pay them a visit (as much as you sometimes want to).

I loved Kate Mosse’s Languedoc trilogy; Labyrinth, Sepulchre and Citadel. They’re worldwide bestsellers, and with good reason. Set in Carcassonne, the mix of fiction and history, along with engaging heroines and a sprinkling of the supernatural, this series is an instant win in for me, and I’ve read them time and again over the last ten years or so. And when I was browsing SkyScanner the other day, I suddenly had an idea. Why not go to Carcassone?

So when it came to choosing the next destination for the next Gray mother-daughter trip abroad, I actually came to the table with a suggestion as opposed to our usual method of selection – putting a bunch of ideas in a jar and picking one at random. My suggestion was Carcassonne.

Mosse’s books have been such an inspiration, that I felt I owed it to the stories I've loved so much to see the place where they were born. That, plus the fact that France is a mere hop, skip and a jump from the UK and there are an abundance of cheap flights (thanks Easyjet!) and Air B&B deals made this one a no brainer. Plus, after the UK's questionnable decision to leave the EU, I feel like I should get all the hassle-free eurotravel in while I can still swan through immigration under the European freedom of movement law.

This is one of those wonderful times in my life where I can actually use the phrase "the book made me do it". Handily, Mosse’s books also come with a mini tour guide in the back of them, highlighting the spots where key scenes take place.

You're a better woman than me if you can resist this!

I'm so excited to finally see this beauty in real life! It's going to be a patchwork of flights, train transfers and remembering to drive on the right-hand side of the road whilst trying to not crash the hire car, but I can't wait! How I will fit three large, hardback books in my backpack remains to be seen...

First blogoversary!

Time flies when you're having fun!

In a typical Mikayla-esque instance of being so disorganised that I'm actually organised, I thought that I began my blog in May 2015 and started organising by first blogoversary wrap up. Turns out I actually released it into the wild on 13 July 2015, which makes today my first ever blogoversary! To celebrate, I've got a bookish bundle to give away (open internationally) below and a chance to get all mushy and gush about what a fun year it's been!

It's a testament to how much I love reading, blogging and the book blogging community that I still enjoy it as much now as I did when I started out. I do have a bit of a tendency to start things, only to lose interest after a few months, but I've had such a blast reading and blogging and meeting my fellow bloggers that I've yet to get bored. From skypes, Twitter chats, Goodreads recommendations, comments, weekly features, reviews (both writing and reading), blog tours and release blitz's, I've discovered so many great books and met so many wonderful and enthusiastic people that I really wish I'd started out sooner!

My year!
Posts: 98
Tweets: 2,723
Reviews: 39
Books read: 77
Beta reads: 14
Blogger weekly features: 21
Blog tours: 7
GIFs used: Who knows. Probably too many.
Some of the awesome people I've virtually met: Ally (founder and very lovely host of UK YA in the rain book club) @ Reading In The Rain, Lucy (founder and host of #ukyachat) @ Queen Of Contemporary, Anna @ Enchanted By YA, Jess @ Curioser and Curioser, Lydia @ Something Like Lydia, Carrie @ The Book Goddess, JD Wright @ Everealm, Kiara @ A Nerd And Her Books, Lily @ Sweet Love Books, Claire @ Claire Luana, Jessica @ A Great Read, Ardis @ Pondering The Prose, Emma @ Emma's Bookery. I feel like I'm forgetting more people than I'm remembering, but if I've taken away only one thing from this year, it's that book bloggers are some of the most wonderful and welcoming people you'll ever find! If you've followed me, tweeted me, skyped with me,  e-mailed me, sent me a book rec, commented on a post or anything; you are awesome, and you've made this blogging year for me!

Giveaway!
Three Storm Siren-inspired bookmarks (thank you Anna @ Enchanted By YA!),

tote bag and bookmark from Shakespeare & Co in Paris,

a $25 Amazon.com giftcard (or a £20 one for Amazon.co.uk for my fellow Brits!), a hardback copy of Assassin's Heart by Sarah Ahiers and a paperback copy of Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. It's open internationally and closes 31 July.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pre-read reviews

The other day I went to the movies with a couple of friends. I really wanted to see The Shallows, but I was outvoted. The reason? The verdict from the group was "because it's rubbish!"

When I asked if anyone had seen it, they all said no. So I had to ask how they knew it was rubbish. No one really had an answer, and we ended up seeing Independence Day instead (which really was rubbish), but no one seemed to have a problem passing judgement on something they'd never even seen. That bothers me. It's like everyone announcing online that the new Ghostbusters movie sucks, months ahead of it being wrapped, promoted or viewed. I had no idea there were so many crystal balls in existence!

And it's the same with books. On Goodreads yesterday, I found a book (I'm not saying which one, that's a can of worms I'm not going to open right now!) that had hundreds of five star ratings so I had a little look, thinking that it might be a read for me. But it quickly became clear that a lot of reviewers hadn't read the book. Hell, many of them had left five star reviews before the damn thing was even published!

Which brings me, finally, to my point. Why do people leave reviews, whether it be five stars or one star, for a book they haven't even read? Sure, you could argue that they're expressing their anticipation for something they're dying to read, but what if they hate it? That five start review suddenly looks a bit silly. When I tweeted my puzzlement, Goodread responded - which I appreciated, and this rant is in no way aimed at them! - that they allow pre-rating so people can show that they'd looking forward to a book. But that's what the "want to read" shelf is for.

It would be cool to have a pre-read excitement rating option seperate to the review rating option (I'd love to see some hype ratings vs review ratings), but reviewing books you haven't read can be quite damaging. Nobody - except the publishers perhaps - benefits from a swath of five stars reviews for a product that might not be five stars, even by the standards of those who've left them. It doesn't give constructive feedback to authors just starting out, sets unfair reader expectations and sets the bar unreachably high.

I don't make up my mind about what to read on other people's reviews, but I won't lie, they definitely help sway me if I'm on the fence about a book. A few great reviews can push me off onto the buying side, the same way an incredibly well-written scathing review, delving into some of the plot of the book (and there are plenty of those on Goodreads!) can make me laugh and then realise that perhaps the book isn't for me.

Sometimes it's easy to tell which reviewers haven't read the book, whether it's excessive exclamation points or a simple statement like "I can't wait to read this book", but digging through the reviews for this particular one, it became clear that many of the five stars were left before release. Those posted after seemed to be much lower. It gives a completely skewed view of how people recieved the book and makes me question every good review left for it, many of which may well be legit.

I don't read reviews to know how excited people were when the book was announced or the cover was revealed, I read them to know what people thought of the story and characters. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing at all wrong with looking forward to an upcoming release and raving about how much you can't wait to read it (we've all done it), but reviewing it?

Giving it a five stars, stated on Goodreads as meaning "it was amazing", defeats the entire point of a book rating site.

It seems a little unfair on the authors too. I'm sure most would love a ton of glowing reviews, but if you've got a million ratings at five stars, people are going to expect a lot from your book. Anticipation is one thing, unrealistic expectations are another. A good book seems worse than it really is when you're expecting something completely and utterly fantastic. I'm constantly told in my job about managing expectations; don't promise what you can't deliver and make sure people have a realistic picture of what you can and can't do for them. It's the same with reviews, be it books, movies or anything else that relies on word of mouth and recommendation. It benefits the few but not the many to promise the world and talk a big game, only to fall short of the bar you set. Even if you still did a good job, your promised a great job, and you didn't come through with it.

What does everyone else think about pre-reviewing books? Do you do it yourself?

A bookworm's adventures in Paris

I don't normally do non-book related things on my blog, but one of my other major passions is travelling. These days its more long weekends away than years abroad, but I make it a personal mission to get out of the UK every few months. Sometimes it's with friends or family, and other times it's solo. So when I went on a solo trip to Paris for a week, I decided I'd blog about it too, more for my own benefit than anything else. I figured I'd spread my blogging wings a little. If you want to hear about my adventures and/or Paris, read on. If you want me to stick to books, tell me to shut up in the comments.

Still with me? Then on to Paris!

I normally stay in hostels or guesthouses on my euro-travels, but a lot of my friends have been raving about Airbnb, so I decided to give it a try and booked a studio apartment in Bastille. I've got to be honest, I was getting more and more nervous about this from the moment my plane landed at Charles De Gaulle, mentally checking off every worst case scenario on the way to the apartment. Taxis from the airport are hideously expensive so I jumped on an airport shuttle bus to the city for about 18 euros and then got the metro to Bastille which saved me about 50 euros in taxi fare. I had the HostelWorld app locked and loaded on my phone, family members awaiting "they're not a psychopath" phonecalls and my dad preparing to do his best Liam Neeson impression if things went bad.

Airbnb: for those who like a little added anxiety with their choice of accommodation.

Luckily, my apprehensions were totally unfounded. I was met at the apartment by my host, Alex, who was an absolute sweetheart. She showed me around - she'd even stocked the kitchen with teabags and milk for me! - and on learning that I hadn't eaten since leaving the UK that morning, immediately invited me over to her apartment (she lived in the building next door) for dinner. I wasn't going to turn down a free meal! I'd heard about the expensive food in Paris, and my god some places were eye-watering! 10 euros will buy you a three course meal in the Latin Quarter, whereas the same money just about gets you a coffee and croissant in places around the main sights.

My advice for getting around? Public transport all the way. If anyone tells you Paris is a walkable city, they must run marathons in their spare time. Paris is a walkable city in the same way New York is a walkable city. Yes, you can walk from one sight to the other, but it will take you forever and you'll be knackered when you get there, so unless you want to spent your whole trip walking from A to B, the metro is your best option. The major tourist attractions are fairly scattered and the Parisian street system is absolutely insane too! If you visit Paris, you'll have to be Bear Grylls not to get lost. I was glad I bought an Everyman map guide with me. I looked like a complete and utter tourist unfolding my giant maps, but it helped me get my bearings without waving my phone around, and on more than one occasion it brought over someone asking if I was lost.

The magnolia trees were in full bloom too, so everywhere looks extra pretty!

With the UK being pretty anti-smoker these days, it was weird that people in Paris smoked everywhere. I was constantly fighting through a cloud of smoke to get into cafes or walking behind someone puffing in my face. Apparently they sweep up 350 tonnes of cigarette butts on the street every year, and I completely believe this! Staff welcome you into a restaurant while puffing a cigarette in the doorway, it's cool how laid back they are about it, but it's still strange to a Brit! It kind of put me off sitting outside a lot of the time, which is a shame. Outdoor seating in Paris all faces outwards, not towards each other, so it's perfect of people watching. There are tons of Japanese restaurants around too, which is ideal for a ramen fan like me!

Is it weird that my first restaurant meal in France was sushi?

If you're a book-lover and you're in Paris, the Latin Quarter is a must! From the book stalls lining the streets to the infamous Shakespeare & Co bookshop, it's a bookworm's heaven! It's pretty much tourist central, with all sorts of languages and accents to be heard, but there's a lovely, relaxed vibe to the place and there are more books on offer than it's possible to read in one lifetime! Despite my terrible map-reading skills, I managed to stumble upon Shakespeare & Co. It's tiny, crowded and cramped, but I was in heaven. No photos are allowed inside (I guess they'd be rammed with people taking selfies) but trust me when I say, it's book paradise! From the floor to ceiling books, the book ladders that you can clamber all over and its YA section, I could have set up home under the stairs!

My spiritual home!

The Paris metro was ... an experience. I've travelled underground in virtually every city I've visited and had no problems (except New York. For some reason I just cannot get my head around it and always end up relying on the kindness of strangers to help me!) and Paris was no real exception. It's not the cleanest (that award goes to Tokyo) or most friendly (that one to Barcelona) metro, and those carriage doors wait for no one and you're likely to lose a limb if you cut it fine trying to get on board. They set off pretty quickly too. I accidentally stumbled into a French woman when the train got going, only to be rewarded with the word "putan" when I apologised in my best secondary school French. Google tells me that it means "damn it" or "whore". I hope it was the former!

I did all of the "must-sees" in Paris. The Eiffel Tower (awesome, and the view from the top is incredible!), The Louvre (underwhelmed by The Mona Lisa. In a huge room of incredible art, it's hard to see what makes it so special. I love the Napolean apartments, although I can completely understand why the French had a revolution!),

Too many chairs? Off with their heads!

the Arc De Triumphe, which I didn't realise you can actually go up (again, amazing views from the top! But be warned, there are a lot of stairs and no lifts),

Lots of very windy stairs!

the Champs-Elysees (and spent far too much money on fancy tea), Notre Dame (worth a visit, but I wouldn't rush back), the Paris statue of liberty (don't waste your time. It's a huge walk to get to along a street with few pavements, and when you get there it's just...there. Small and dirty and nothing is made of it) and walking along the Seine (lovely, but cold!).

With lots of bridges, most of which have padlocks on them!

But the best way to discover Paris is just to have a wander. It's quite nice walking the streets without knowing quite where you'll end up (as long as my mum doesn't hear me say that. She freaks out any time I go abroad alone!). I was a bit wary of beggars or tourist scammers given the issue with immigration that a lot of Europe is grappling with at the moment, and while there were homeless people on the streets, it's nothing compared with London. It was the first time I saw people with kids though, which made me feel horrible and my pocketful of change seem absolutely worthless. There were clashes between migrants and far-right protesters outside Stalingrad metro just before I arrived, and Alex told me it was best to avoid the area because of the huge number of people sleeping rough there. It was a bit of an eye-opener to see even the tiniest glimpse of what's happening on the continent. But at no point did I not feel safe walking around the city, day or night.

To stick to my budget, I took a couple of free walking tours with Discover Paris. These are informal tours where you meet a Parisian, usually a college student, at a certain landmark at a certain time and they walk you around some of the sights on whichever route you've joined. If you don't trust anything free, don't worry, you can tip at the end if you wish, and the guides will remind you of that fact a few times. It's kind of expected, and though a few tight arses did run away at the end without giving anything, I was more than happy to hand over 5 euros for the experience. I'd thoroughly recommend these tours! They were a great way to see the streets of Paris without fear of getting lost and the local guides had great knowledge, flawless English and were genuinely passionate about showing visitors around their city. The only downside is that they end miles from where you started, so it was back to the metro to figure out my route home! On one of these occasions I ended up at an older metro station that seemed totally abandoned except for me which was a bit unnerving given that it was about 10.30pm and nobody at all seemed to be manning this place. I was quite relieved when the train arrived!

I love the gothic Metro signs too!

It really cool meeting people from all over the world on these tours to. I buddied up with an Australian guy called Brett on my first walking tour and we ended up going on a couple more together, swapping travel stories and saying goodbye with the usual "see you again if you're ever in insert country of origin here" at the end of the day. It's weird how when you're abroad people go from strangers to friends and back again so quickly. Circle of travelling life, I guess!

I jumped on one of the "hop-on, hop-off" buses on my first day. These big green buses are emblazoned with graphics and you might as well get on and off them with the word "tourist" stamped on your forehead in big red letters, but they're a brilliant way of getting around the city and the main sights if it's too far to walk, and you don't miss everything like you do on the metro, which can leave you feeling like you're playing whack-a-mole sometimes, just popping up above ground here and there. I ended up being sort of adopted by a New Zealand couple, Janet and David, for much of the journey after I helped them with their headphones (you get these headphones to plug in the the bus for an audio tour. If you can get past the horrendously stereotypcial "French" accordion music that plays between the info, it's pretty good). They'd come on their first holiday without their kids and I think they were missing them! We went for lunch in a sushi place and they insisted on buying me dinner which was sweet of them.

There's zero chance of blending in with the locals on board this thing!

One frustrating thing about travelling solo is that you can never get particularly good photos of yourself at all these landmarks! I really wanted a photo of me in front of The Lourve with my hand on top of the glass pyramid.

They have these plinths outside to make it easier, but the people who took my photo were so bad at it! Honestly, I'm just stood there with my hand in the air, nowhere near anything. But after a few attempts I just gushed about how great the pictures were and gave up.

Believe it or not, this was the best one!

But I actually turned out to be really good at taking them, so much so that I ended up with a queue of people asking me to take theirs, and I just ended up sitting on the floor for about ten minutes with people handing me their camera, then climbing onto the plinth and posing (top tip; you have to get low to get the perfect angle!). Someone actually tried to give me a couple of euros which was a bit weird. If my career falls on its face, I can always make my living as the official "hand on the Louvre" photographer I guess!

Selfies are the future!

I'd heard a lot of mixed reviews of Paris before I went. It's dirty. Parisians are rude. They hate tourists, Brits and especially British tourists. And yes, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. From my unfortunate encounter on the metro, the hideously expensive food, the strange and sometimes uncomfortable juxtaposition of wealth and poverty and the completely illogical street system full of busy people who I constantly felt like I was getting in the way of, there were a few stressful moments I could have done without. Not least when I got the the airport for my flight home to find the terminal I was flying out of locked down and armed police all over the place. Luckily my limited french was enough for me to get the gist that it would be reopening in time my flight, though I never did find out why security was extra tight. I was a bit afraid to ask, but then again, I'd much rather be safe than sorry, and a bit of extra waiting around is a small price to pay to travel safely.

It was a shame that the weather was a bit rubbish when I was over there. At one point it was actually snowing, and for pretty much the whole week it was raining, about to rain, or just finished raining. But I'm English, I'm used to it. I did have to buy a coat though, because I didn't pack one and it was freezing. It was a blast from the past shopping in C&A again! It closed down in the UK ages ago, so it was weird seeing one in Paris! But I had a brilliant time, and I'd go back again in a heartbeat - which is perfect since it took me longer to get to the airport than it did to actually get from Bristol to Paris. It makes me realise how lucky we are in the UK to have all this practically on our doorstep. If you're looking for a relaxing holiday, it's probably not for you. There's so much to see and do, you can be constantly on the go and still not feel like you've done enough before you run out of time and have to come home.

Home again!

This was my first solo tip of the year, the others have been with my sister and my best friend, so it was kind of nice to get back to my travel roots. My first foray into solo travel was my gap year, which, looking back on it now, I have no idea how I worked up the nerve to do, and while I love going away with friends, I'm just as happy to go alone if they're not interested. I'd rather go by myself than not go at all, that's my logic. I think you're so much more open to meeting people when you travel solo, and with no expectations to fulfill or compromises to make, you end up doing so much more than you'd ever expect.

Bon voyage!

Leaving bad reviews

I don't like leaving bad reviews. I'm no writer, but I can only imagine the amount of work that goes into writing and getting a novel published, much less the heart and soul that gets poured into a book. I'm pretty sure my little blog doesn't register particularly high on many radars, but even so, I feel a prickle of guilt leaving less than glowing reviews for books. And if I got the book on free review, the guilt goes up another notch.

I think it's important to be honest in my reviews. Wall to wall five stars reviews don't mean anything, I might as well go on to Goodreads and five star every book I read, and like my disclaimer says; all views and opinions are my own. My reviews ratings are great, good, average, bad, terrible. They're loved, liked, ok, didn't enjoy, hated. Just because I don't like a book, doesn't mean it's not a good book and doesn't mean someone else wouldn't love it and give it five stars. I try and make sure my reviews are balanced and about the bits I didn't enjoy, as opposed to dismissing anything as rubbish. But still...the guilt...I need a box of kittens on standby for when I click post.

I've luckily only come across two books for review which I one-starred, some I haven't liked and others I've been fairly indifferent to. But my latest one star review made me feel a little guilty. It was a debut author with a fairly new novel, but I just really, really didn't enjoy the book. Giving one star to Allegiant by Veronia Roth seemed easier, maybe because she's a best-selling author with a multi-million dollar film franchise to her name. Even so, I try and stick to a couple of basic rules of human decency when critiquing books.

Don't get nasty
When I beta read, I'm super careful to word my criticisms carefully. There are ways of saying things constructively and tactfully. "It was crap", "how did this get published", "x is a terrible writer". I've seen these and more, there's no need for it.

Don't get personal
It really bothers me when people say "so and so can't write for sh*t" or "so and so is talentless/lazy/a rip-off etc". I'm happy(ish) to criticise lazy plot developments and characters that seem ... "inspired" by more popular, successful ones, but criticise the writing, not the writer.

Don't get snarky
I admit, I enjoy reading a good snarky review. I gave myself a stomach ache laughing so hard at some of the epically snarky one star reviews of Fifty Shades Of Grey on Goodreads. But even if I utterly despised a book, I couldn't bring myself to write anything like that because I can imagine how I'd feel if it was my novel and someone was tearing into it. If you're a millionaire living it up on the NYT bestseller list these things probably don't worry you so much, but if it was me, that stuff would sting!

Keep it balanced
Even in a complete lost cause of a book, I can usually find something I liked. And I don't use the phrase "lost cause" in my review!

Try and find something nice to say
I was always told if you can't say anything nice then don't say anything at all. And I've been tempted to skip a review if I didn't really like the book. But I wouldn't think of myself as much of a blogger if I couldn't or wouldn't say anything that could be perceived as negative.

Put it down
I don't think there's anything wrong with DNF-ing books you just don't get one with. Life's too short to read bad books! If I'd promised an author a review, I'd get in touch and say I just wasn't feeling it, otherwise, I'd just stick it on Amazon and get started on the next thing in my tbr pile. Whether or not I'd review what I'd read and call it a DNF is another thing entirely, one I've not had to deal with yet ...

Does anyone else struggle writing, and especially posting, bad or even just less than glowing reviews? What are your coping methods?

Gorgeous cover art #2

Call me shallow, but I love beautiful books! If the story inside is great, so much the better, but I have been known to buy a book or two because they were so gorgeous. Hey, don't judge me! There are so many incredible books vying for my attention, I won't lie, artwork goes a long way in at least drawing me in. My last round of pretties was way back in October, but since then I'm been under near constant attack from books screaming "buy me, buy me!" With my tbr becoming a genuine health and safety hazard, I'm trying to stick to a "one in, one out" rule for buying books (I'll let you know how that works out!) but ... they're so pretty!

These Broken Stars
Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

Swoonworthy title aside, I love this dreamy, out of this world cover. The stars, the dress, the redhead (represent!), the colour combinations...it's just beautiful! If that wasn't enough, one of the characters is called Lilac LaRoux, which just became my bookish alias.

Cruel Crown/Glass Sword
Victoria Aveyard

Simple, yet effective. Given that the book is called Glass Sword I'm a bit puzzled as to why there's a glass crown on the cover, but I haven't read the book yet, so maybe it will make sense later. Whatever the reason, a perfect 10 for the artwork!

Rebel Of The Sands
Alwyn Hamilton

Somebody who already has this book, please tell me. Does it come gold foiled? It's gorgeous without, but it would be epically gorgeous with! I adore the font too, it's all very "Arabian Nights", which seems fitting given the book blurb. I loved The Wrath And The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh so I'm looking to read a little more middle eastern-inspired YA fantasy and I think this book would take pride of place on my bookshelves.

The Sleeping Prince
Melinda Salisbury

Like with the cover for the first book in this series, The Sin Eater's Daughter, I can't quite put my finger on what I love so much about this cover, maybe it's the whole thing. The colour combinations, the girl in the jar, the swirls in the water, I just love it. This is another one of those books with a different (albeit ever so slightly) US/UK cover which puzzles me. Don't mess with perfection!

Walk On Earth A Stranger/Like A River Glorious
Rae Carson

I prefer Like A River Glorious because blue is my favourite colour, but both of these covers are so striking I'd happily stare dreamily at either one of them for entirely too long.

Heartless
Marissa Meyer

Simple but effective. Despite the swirling thorns reminding me of an ex-boyfriend's tattoos, there's so much about this elegant design that I just love; the red on black, the roses and thorns, the sword and crown. Not all gorgeous cover art needs to be complex or intricate, sometimes it's just an ordinary premise done extraordinarily well.

Siren's Song
Mary Weber

After being a little disappointed with the cover of book two in this series, it's back on top form for the finale! Intricate details, snippets of story, the font, the symbolism, the colour ... I'm in love! (And the book's pretty damn good too ...)

The Rose And The Dagger
Renee Ahdieh

The cover for this book's predecessor; The Wrath And The Dawn, turned up in my last gorgeous covers feature and just ... *sigh*. The dagger-y cut outs are a neat little detail over the sunset colours. If the artwork is anything to go by, this book with be just as lush as TWATD, and I cannot wait to read it!

Lady Midnight
Cassandra Clare

I've never been taken with the covers of any of Cassandra Clare's books before. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy reading them, but the artwork has never struck me as anything special. But this one ... this got my attention the first time I saw it. More the premise than the art itself, it's beautiful, intriguing and slightly eerie, which is a winning combination in my eyes.






With the printed book market actually increasing in 2015 - in the UK anyway, I'm not sure about the figures worldwide - competition is fierce and I do believe that imagery goes a long way to drawing you in. Whether you read the blurb and drop it like a hot potato is another thing, but a beautiful cover is the hook, the story is the sale. And if the result is more of these beauties lining the shelves then long may it continue! Has anyone else been judging books by their covers? Is there any bookish artwork that's caught your eye lately?

Review Star Jar - Progress

When I started this blog, I started keeping track of my reviews using origami wishing stars. I appreciate this isn't a hugely novel idea, and I borrowed it from Anna over at Enchanted by YA, but I loved it so much I was inspired to start my own (and they say imitation is the greatest form of flattery).

I'm a bit of a crafter among my many sidelines, so I have a ton of wishing stars. Aside from that, I'm a total fidget and usually find myself with piles of wishing stars or origami cranes while I'm proofreading or watching tv. My - somewhat optimistic - aim is to fill the light jar on the right, with the stars on the left, colour coded with the review of each book I've read; gold for five*, blue for four*, yellow for three*, green for two* and red for one*, with the bonus map star for any with a world map.

And I love world maps!

So, how am I doing? Well, after failing to reach my 2015 reading goal - but being a whole three books ahead on my 2016 goal at the moment - I've racked up 50 review stars and six map stars.

As for the quality of reads, double thumbs up! Of the 50 books I've read and rated - a strangely high amount starting with the letter S - I've only had a single book that I hated enough to give one* (Allegiant by Veronica Roth in case you were wondering), with four two*, 15 three*, 12 four* and a whopping 13 five*.

World maps have come courtesy of Queen Of The Tearling, Invasion Of The Tearling, Snow Like Ashes, Storm Siren, Six Of Crows and Starborn.

I've strangely enjoyed keeping my review jar. There's something quite satisfying about dropping a new star in when I finish a book! And after a few years in the reading wilderness before I started blogging, I'm so happy that I'm enjoying so many of the books I am reading. Does anybody else keep a star jar? What's your method of keeping track of your reads?

Six YA Fantasy cliches and why I don't mind them

I love YA. And since starting this blog and chatting with other YA book fans I say it loud and proud! I get a lot of stick in some of my bookish circles for my love, particularly of fantasy YA. "It's so cliched" is one that is regularly leveled at me. True, there are certain ingredients that seem to make up YA bestsellers, and a few that seem to be legal requirements for the genre. But you know what? I still love them. And here's why.

The love triangle
The cliche - What's a girl to do? One's a sexy, mysterious, brooding and dangerous newcomer. The other one's a sexy, probably a big brother type figure that only gets his act together in pursuing the heroine when the other guy arrives on the scene.
Why I don't mind it - Come on, it's fantasy! Who doesn't want their pick of two insanely attractive guys? There's a reason this cliche pops up time and again in YA books too, it's often showcasing the different wants and desires of the protagonists, and interactions and dialogue between different characters paint so much more of a picture than infodumps or endless reams of internal diaglogue. Done for the sake of it, love triangles come off as needless. But done well, they up the stakes and ultimately say a lot more about the main and supporting characters than a standard "and they all lived happily ever after".

The Mary Sue
The cliche - She gorgeous. She's kickass. She's witty. Magic powers? She's got 'em. Master fighter in an obscure martial art? She'll pick up a weapon and put them on their ass like she's the one who's spent 20 years training. Plain at the start of the novel? All she needs is a "She's All That"-style makeover and boom. Stunner.

Why I don't mind it - First off, I'm not a huge fan of this term anyway. "Mary Sue" has become a bit of a redundant phrase used to describe any female protagonist who is gifted and doesn't have an immediately obvious, crippling flaw. For someone who complains about weak, ineffective heroines, I feel like a hypocrite for bringing this one up. There's a fine line between creating a believable, well-rounded character and the kind of mash-up of cliches that has me rolling my eyes to the ceiling, but it can be done. One of my favourite examples if Karou in Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy, mainly because you believe she can do all these things because of what you know of her. She isn't breaking out unexpected ass-kickery out of nowhere, she's trained all her life. She speaks so many languages because she uses her wishes. Besides, I don't want to read page after page of training montages, or the scenes where the characters spends months in a library learning an obscure language. The fact is, that stuff is boring. I love a good Mary Sue character, all I ask is that her backstory supports it.

The calm before the storm, aka the kiss before the sh*t hits the fan
The cliche - Our protagonist finally gives in to her desire for the brooding hero, probably at the beginning of the third act. The next morning, it all kicks off. The moral ladies, as my catholic sex ed teach would say, is that sex will incur wrath. In this case, the wrath of the plot.
Why I don't mind it - Dramatic plot twists pack more of a punch when they come out of left field. One gut punch after another means that they start losing their impact, and reveals don't get the weight they deserve when you're still reeling from the last one. A nice bit of down time gives the reader a breather, and if you're "awwww"-ing while you read and grinning like an idiot, the subsequent betrayal or drama hits ever harder.

The Tragic Upbringing
The cliche - She's not a bitch, she's just guarded because of some trauma in her past, usually the lost of her family, which is why she's free to run around all over the kingdom pursuing action and adventure. But a regular tragedy won't do, it's probably somehow, almost, nearly but not quite the protagonists fault, possibly relating to powers that are revealed later, leading to guilt as well as trauma.

Why I don't mind it - As long as I don't feel like I'm being fobbed off, I have no issue with this cliche. Name a great adventure in books or movies, and it usually starts with a devastating loss for the main character. (Braveheart is stil the most haunting example of this. It still gives me chills to this day!) It's hard to explain a character giving up their life if they're happy and settled, or fighting for change if they have everything they want. If they're already living happily ever after, where's the motivation? Where's the journey? Where's the redemption? Where are the stakes? All key ingredients in a gripping read. Just don't use it to try an excuse your character having no redeeming features!

The insta-love
The cliche - Girl meets boy. Her eyes meet his, which will probably be described as the colour of some jewel or other, and, despite the fact they barely know each other, it's love. Not lust, although that's there too, love.
Why I don't mind it - A friend of mine is a relationship counsellor over in Australia, and part of her training was being shown a show reel of highlights from Disney, The Notebook, Dirty Dancing etc. to show what they're up against with people's expectations. We're conditioned from childhood to believe in happily ever after and the whole "Disney Prince" thing. So it makes sense that this would be a big factor in books. Eyes meeting across a crowded bar when you've had too much tequila or painfully awkward blind dates that you want to kill your friends for setting up do not make for good read in a fantasy book. Besides, the plot is usually trying to get enough information across, insta-love negates the need to spend chapter after chapter on setting up another plot thread. And we accept it because that what we've been taught.

The One
The cliche - Surprise! The heroine we've been following as she scrabbles around in the dirt with the commoners is actually the long lost princess from that long ago conquered kingdom that keeps getting mentioned. Who saw that coming? Except everyone, because it was obvious from the get go.

Why I don't mind it - Come on, who doesn't like to think that they're Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries with a long lost kingdom waiting out there for them somewhere? Who doesn't love a rag to riches story? Fantasy is just that, it's endless possibility and about reaching as high as you can and dreaming without limits.

So there you have it. A takedown of some of the most regular criticisms I hear about YA. And I don't give a damn, I still love it! Does anybody else get stick for their reading choices? Or are there a few cliches you're sick of seeing in the genre?

Things I've learned as a book blogger

About four months ago I stopped stalking other people's book blogs and decided to set up my own. Well, I didn't stop stalking other blogs, I still do that. But now I have my own too. I was a bit nervous venturing into to world of blogging. The internet doesn't have a reputation for bringing out the best in people. What if I got a load of abuse? What if people hated it? Or what if no one read it at all and I had to shut the whole thing down? As it turns out, setting up my blog was one of the best things I've done in a long time! I've had so much fun blogging and meeting fellow bookworms!

I don't claim to be any sort of book blogging expert by any stretch of the imagination, far from it. I'm still a blogging newbie and get kind of start struck seeing all these incredible blogs with thousands of followers, but I'm muddling my way along, picking things up as I go, and it turns out you pick up a lot when you're blogging books. Since I seem to have come down with a case of the warm and fuzzies at the moment, I'm greatful for all of them.

Book bloggers are lovely
You will never virtually meet - I've haven't been able to get to any bookish events and meet any bloggers in real life yet - a nicer bunch than book bloggers. Honestly, the people I've met through my blog, Twitter chats, Goodreads etc have been wonderful. The online bookish community is incredibly supportive and welcoming to new people and there are so many ways to get involved with chats and readalongs and just generally share your passion for reading. No matter how obscure your favourite book it, you'll find someone who loves it just as much as you do. Don't be afraid to reach to reach out!

You'll never be satisfied with your own blog
It's called blog envy, and we all get it. Beautiful photos of utterly gorgeous and pristine bookshelves, a font you really wish you'd used, a post you really wish you'd written, a layout that's miles better than yours. You will see it. It's taken me a while, but I've stopped chasing the elusive perfect blog rabbit. I've got my blog to a stage I'm happy with and am running with it. Maybe I'll redesign somewhere down the line, but the important thing to remember is; it's your blog. Don't try and make it anyone else's.

You don't have to be a vlogger
I'm camera shy, so being a booktuber is not for me. I keep my blog old school. We're not obsolete yet! There are a whole load of us out here who don't venture onto Youtube or in front of the camera, just as many who do. So whatever your preference, you can do either or both!

You'll never be free of your tbr
What was once a tbr book became two. Those two books became a tbr pile. That pile became a health and safety hazard so then I had a tbr bookshelf. Then two. The upshot is, I will never be free of books to be read. Be warned, we book bloggers are as fantastic for recommending great reads as I am terrible at resisting them! Just embrace it!

There aren't enough hours in the day
You always want to be doing more. Reading, writing, blogging, whatever's your bag, you'll wish there was more time to do it. Or you could get paid to do this for a living. Alas, if you could, there would be one hell of a queue!

There's nothing wrong with loving books/YA
None of my friends are big readers, and the term YA is practically cursing in my book group. One of the guys describes is as the reality tv of literature. We've now agreed to stop discussing the issue because we were butting heads every month and the others were getting sick of listening to us and I was about ready to commit murder. But blogging and meeting so many fellow YA readers has made me realise that there's nothing at all wrong with loving YA! It's a shame that books and reading have got such a bad rap, and that huge swaths of people who do read seem willing to dismiss a whole genre, but when you get online, you'll find out where everyone else who loves YA has been hiding all your life! It's so wonderful to be able to share your love of books with other readers and not get judgey stares and raised eyebrows. I'm tempted to make my book group picks when it's my turn all YA, but I might get kicked out, so maybe I'll just slip one or two in there...

We all want our own libraries
Yeah, self explanatory really. If we had our way, I think 90% of us would have our own libraries. And a fair few of them would resemble the one that Belle gets in Beauty and The Beast.

It's easier than you think
If you're kind of thinking about setting up your own book blog but don't know where to start or think it might not work out I have one piece of advice. Do it! Setting up a free blog is super easy, there's no pressure to post if you're feeling uncreative, no word counts or deadlines. I blog for fun while I'm working full-time (not while I'm at work obviously. I'd get fired!) and studying part-time along with having a social life which is constantly doubled booked because my organisational skills suck, but have racked up about 40-50 posts since I began, just for the love of doing it. Sometimes you might feel like you're shouting into the void, but if you love what you do, keep doing it! And with a little luck, someone else might like it too.

Gorgeous cover art

Is it just me, or are books getting more beautiful? If you're a regular reader of my blog or follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you'll know I'm a little obsessed with beautiful books. They don't often stay beautiful in my clumsy hands, but I'm a sucker for gorgeous cover artwork, just as a dodgy cover can put me off reading a book I'd otherwise been keen on. Here are some of the prettiest of the pretty that I've picked up recently.

Sorcerer To The Crown

The image doesn't do it justice, but if you haven't seen a hard copy of this book, it's gold foil on a black book and looks absolutely stunning! I'm more than a little magpie-esque, shiny things immediately attract my attention, and the incredibly intricate detailing is utterly gorgeous. It was the sole reason for me picking up this book (the blurb sold it to me!). I haven't read it yet but fantasy, magic and old timey England, what's not to love?

Snow Like Ashes/Ice Like Fire

I'm (im)patiently waiting for my hard copy of Snow Like Ashes to arrive (due tomorrow!) but I'm already in love with the covers of both it and the sequel. The gateway to the other worlds is beautiful and the contrast just gorgeous.

The Wrath And The Dawn

I've just started this book but I'm already hooked by the intriguing cover. There's something about the cover that just gets me. I don't know if it's the colour, the patterns, the girl's clothes and jewelry, what it is, but it just conjures up all sorts of images of exotic, far away lands and at the same time makes me immediately want to start reading. Who's the girl? Who is she watching? Why is she hiding? Who's watching her?

Queen Of The Tearling

Simple, yet effective. This image is so powerful on its own that I'd personally prefer the blurb and recommendation to be dropped entirely. The UK version in my opinion is so much better than the US version which is a far more generic fantasy book sort of cover. Out of interest, anyone know why publishers go for different US/UK covers? One is always miles better than the other and I always wonder why publishers don't just use the best cover everywhere.

Red Queen

Another simple yet striking image (the covers for Glass Sword and Queen's Song are equally stark and gorgeous), the bright red blood on the silver crown is nice intro to the reds vs the silvers theme in the book. Beauty and danger, promise and threat, it's the kind of visual juxtaposition that I just love.

The Sin Eater's Daughter

I love this book (and the recent cover reveal for the sequel The Sleeping Prince is equally dreamy) and the cover. I can't quite put my finger on what I love so much about this cover, maybe it's the whole thing. The colour combinations, the girl in the jar, the swirls in the water, I just love it. Again, this is another one of those books with a different (albeit ever so slightly) US/UK cover which puzzles me. Don't mess with perfection!

Lorali

In a word; beautiful! From the font to the seascape to the iridescent scales, I fell in love with this book the moment I set eyes on it (and happily the book turned out to be fantastic).





Any other bookworms out there as shallow as I am? Does cover art matter to you at all when you're buying and choosing what to read? What are some of your beautiful book favourites? Let me know in the comments!

Books in the wild

There are two things you can be sure of when you venture into the world of book blogging.

1. Your to be read pile will grow faster than you can ever possibly hope to read it.  

2. You will look at your bookshelf solemnly, because it will never be as gorgeous as some of the epic shelves on display on the likes of Instagram and Twitter.

I'm off to a bad start on the bookshelf front as it is. My hard copies tend to get dog-eared, broken spined and just generally battered in ways I don't fully understand. They've fallen into lakes, been used to kill spiders, propped up overheating laptops, got covered in sticky fingerprints and on one occasion been thrown out a moving car to get my attention. (Hmmm, actually, maybe I do understand how many of my books got in such a sorry state!) In short, they're well loved, but they're not pretty.

Since I have neither the patience nor the inclination to keep my shelves in any sort of order and none of my books are pristine anyway, I've taken a different tack when its to photographing bookish things; Books in the wild. I'm incredibly lucky where I live. Right next to the city for work, but minutes away from the coast, moors and some epic scenery, and because I'm an outdoorsy kind of girl, I'm usually out there when it's not raining sideways.

So whenever's practical, my books come with me. I'm not much of a photographer (although I'm finally going on some photography training through work so who hopefully I'll get better), but still, I click away quite happily. Although I didn't pick the best time to start making an effort with this feature just as summer ends, this is my new thing, so keep an eye on my Twitter and Instagram for my strolls and snaps!