February Wrap Up 2016

This month I read 7 books. Not as good as my 10 books I read last month but the books I read this month where mostly all over 300 pages so that's my excuse. This month's theme seems to be 're reads, if you checked out my discussion post Is Re Reading like comfort food you know I love 're reads so I ran with it this month. Onto the books:

After This Night (Seductive Nights #2)  the word for this book was underwhelmed, I enjoyed the first book in the series but this just fell a bit flat for me. I struggled with giving it a 2.5-3 star rating. Fifty Shades Freed (Fifty Shades #3) was a re read. If you follow my blog you know I love this series. I think this was my third or fourth time reading Fifty Shades Freed.

His Wicked Games (His Wicked Games #1)  and Truth or Dare ( His Wicked Ways #2) I really enjoyed. These first two books is Lily and Calder's story and the next books are about other characters. These are adult streamy romances and I just thought they where fast paced and interesting and I love seeing Lily and Calder's relationship develop. Just so good. I gave both these books 4 stars.

I have read 9 of the morganville Vampire books but am currently 're reading the first nine so I can continue with the series. This month I 'read the first three, Glass Houses , The Dead Girls Dance and Midnight Alley if you like vampire books you will like these. I gave Glass House, 4 stars and The Dead Girls Dance and Midnight Alley, 5 stars.

How was your reading month? Let me know in the comments below.

Sunday Post #31- I brought all the books!

The Sunday Post was created by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer  this is a post where we recap the going on's on the blog the previous week and the week coming up as well as the awesome books we have received for review, brought or gifted.

How has your week been? Mine has been eventful, setting the fire alarm off in work, having to use my first aid for real, buying all the books. An eventful week. Hopefully this week isn't as eventful. I celebrate 5 years blogging this Wednesday, 5 YEARS!!!! Where has the time gone!! Look out for a celebration post and giveaway on Wednesday. This week I had some fun posts. I especially enjoyed introducing a new monthly feature, my numbers ones which will be number ones other than bookish things I enjoyed in the month. 

So let's see what happened this week on the blog:

15 Bookish Things About Me 

Bad Boy by JC Reed & Jackie Steele Release Day #Giveaway

Speedy Review's- 3 books, 3 minutes

Fairy Loot - A New Monthly YA Subscription Box

My Number Ones of the month

This week:

This week I have my February wrap up, my 5 year blogoversary post with a giveaway, a long over due waiting on Wednesday, First Nights Review and a game of Kiss, Marry, Cliff.

Note: I currently have a Twitter Giveaway happening, hop over to win here

To the books:

Wildfire in his arms is the second book in a series. I won a paperback of this book VIA Headline Eternal's Twitter. It's a western romance that actually sounds pretty good. Unspeakable is one I went to buy before but never did so when I saw it again and only for £2 I  had to pick it up. It sounds very emotional and is a LGBT book.

I received an ARC of Kill The Boyband VIA Macmillan this is released in the UK in May. This just sounds like such a fun read.

Fangirl I have been wanting to pick up for so, so long. I own Attachments and Carry On by Rainbow Rowell but have always been drawn to Fan girl so I am excited for Fan girl to be my first Rainbow Rowell book. How to be single I picked up because the movie looks hilarious and I really want to see if the book is the same.

Finally I picked up Room that just sounds so harrowing and intriguing. I know this is a Oscar nominated movie and is crucially acclaimed. I think this will be a tough read but worthwhile.

Let me know how your week has been in the comments below.

My Number Ones Of The Month

My number ones of the month is a new monthly feature where I name my number ones of certain things from that month. The topics may change each month. My sister over @ a bookish redhead is also taking part in the feature and if you want to take part in the feature next month, leave me a comment below with a way for me to contact you. Let's go!

My number one TV Show:

This scene is one of the most powerful of the series so far 

I am loving Code Black aired on W in the UK. It is a medical drama set in a Los Angeles emergency room where most of the time it goes into "code black" where there isn't enough resources or staff to deal with the amount of of patients entering the emergency room. I love hospital dramas and this is full of drama and it feels more gory and more real life than a lot of medical dramas I have seen over the years. Apart from all the medical dramas the characters and there storylines are so captivating and I am rooting for many of the characters and their relationships. 

My number one Song:

Little Mix- Secret Love Song (Feat. Jason Derulo)

My number one Youtube Channel:

I love YouTube and especially book tubers and I am loving Regan from Peruse Project videos. 

My number one celeb story:

Basically anything to do with Kanye West. He has had so much drama this month, spats with people on Twitter numerous times , saying he's poor and needs money, taking forever to name his new album and thinking he's going to be president. Enough said.

My number one food/dessert:

Cadbury's Amaze Bites, in Orange flavour. I swear I can eat tubs and tubs of these. They are bits of double blended soft brownie covered in delicious Cadbury milk chocolate and come in three flavours. 

My number one bookish merchants store:

Imagine owned by Evie Seo

Elvis Seo Bookish Designs ,her stuff is incredible and I can't wait to get my hands on some stuff. 

My number one interest of the month:

I have been loving colouring in. I just love it. My favourite colouring books are Johanna Basfords colouring books. So pretty!

My number one gift received/brought:

I was sent Broken Sky by the publisher and it is the best gift as its one of my most anticipated books of the year.

That's it for this month. What has been some of your number ones?

Fairy Loot - A New Monthly YA Subscription Box

Bookish Subscription boxes are all the rage lately and I have been looking to try one for so long but a lot of them have been based in the U.S. and we all know how shipping is, so you can understand my excitement when I found a UK based bookish subscription box and the name Fairy Loot made me even more excited, it just makes it sound even more magical. 

So your all wondering how can I get my hands on one? Well let's talk to the creation behind Fairy Loot.

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself.

Hello! My name is Anissa, and I love YA books - fantasy, specifically! :) I have always loved books, but 2 years ago was when I first discovered the book blogging world. I started blogging for a couple of months, then stopped for a year or so (I didn’t have time with my studies, sadly) and recently came back. I still feel very new to this whole world, but I enjoy every minute of it. The people I’ve met on here are just so amazing, I wish we could all be in one room drinking tea and talking about books.

Tell us why you wanted to create a subscription box?

Well, I was inspired by some other very amazing subscription boxes out there, particularly Owlcrate and Uppercase. I loved the whole idea of a subscription box with some bookish goodies in them, and realised there wasn’t many of them in the UK/Europe, so I thought… Why not? I mean, it could always not work out, but I’d rather give it a shot than not try at all. :) I thought it would be great to focus the themes of fantasy as well, since it’s the genre I know most about.

What the name fairy loot? (I have to say I love the name)

Thank you! I’m so glad you like it - I really love it too. I guess I was sitting there thinking about all the different types of fantasy creatures I loved, and then decided on fairies. And then loot, for their treasure, because fairies must have epic treasure, right? :)

What do we receive in the fairy loot box each month?

In each box you will receive one hardcover YA book, and 3-4 bookish goodies. We hope to have promotional items such as bookmarks, posters, and signed bookplates in each box, but depending on the publisher/author that isn’t always possible. And they are lovingly packed and sprinkled with fairy dust, of course.

How will you determine what is going to be in the fairy loot box monthly?

It’s a lot of hours of research, phone calls, and emails. It’s a lot of fun, but also quite difficult to find exactly what you’re looking for and making sure it will be ready in time. I’ve got lots of ideas for different items, and each month will have something different. I love finding handmade and unique items to put in the boxes!

Do you ship internationally?

Yes, we do! :) Our shipping prices vary depending on the country of shipping, but we ship worldwide.

Why should we try a fairy loot box?

I fully believe FairyLoot is a special experience that readers will love, and we’ve put so much work into making our boxes special and unique. We have a secret feature that we haven’t told anyone about yet, but we’ll release the news after the first box has been shipped - we think you’ll love it! A FairyLoot box is a real treat, and the books and goodies (among other things!) is something not to be missed. :)

We all want a fairy loot box now, don't we, so here's all the nitty gritty details:

One box of Fairy Loot costs £22.99 + shipping
A 3-month subscription costs £67.99 + shipping  (COMING SOON)
A 6-month subscription costs £134.99 + shipping (COMING SOON)

Order a box here

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What do you think of this subscription box? Have you subscribed to any subscription boxes?

Speedy Review's

This is a new feature where I bring you speedy reviews. These are quick fire that shouldn't take you more than a minute to read. So let's go!!

If you get this, you rule!!

Good reads 

Book: Innocence Taken

Author: Devin O'Branagan

Pages: 154

Source: Previous Free Ebook Download

Rating: ✪✪✪

Innocence Taken is an adult erotica romance novella. The story involves Angeline who is a smart woman who has had to take care of herself and her sister from a young age now her sister has gone missing and she was last seen in a Denver Brothel. Along with the help of sexy PI Cody Angeline begins her journey into the world of sex, intrigue and pleasure. 

Positive

The story line is not like your typical erotica story line in some ways and the same in others.. The sex scenes where typical of most erotica sex scenes they where graphic but not as graphic of some of the sex scenes I have read in erotica books.

Negative

I would have liked it too be longer and develop the characters and the relationships and storylines more. But for a novella it is what it is and I was happy with that.

Overall it was an entertaining read. I was intrigued by the story and the character's.

Goodreads

Book: Unbound

Author: Kathryn Taylor

Series: Colours Of Love #1

Pages: 242

Source: E ARC VIA Netgally

Rating: Between ✪✪ .5 - ✪✪✪

In a nutshell

Sheltered innocent girl, Rich mis understood man into secret kinky stuff. Girl meets man, falls straight in love he shows her the "light" things happen .

This was just OK. It was an interesting story but I just think there was loads of gaps,  it just felt like I needed more in a first book. The characters where just OK, I dont think they where fully developed enough. This was a translated to English book, I think done badly. I don't know if I will be continuing with this series. It was just meh. 

Goodreads

Book: A Night to forget

Author: Jessica Wood

Series: A Night to forget (#1)

Pages: 126

Source: Previous Free Ebook Download

Rating: ✪✪ 

The tag is what stays in Cancun stays in Cancun and I wish this book has stayed in Cancun. Harsh you might say but....

I really didn't enjoy this book and I hate to say that about a book. It had so much going for it. I am a sucker for insta love but this book just took the biscuit. The writing felt stale and the characters felt two dimensional. I just feel that this book could have so much potential with more details and editing but it just didn't satisfy me. I do kinda want to read the second book to see what happens and if it makes a little more sense but I don't want to pay the price for it!

Bad Boy by JC Reed & Jackie Steele Release Day #Giveaway

Bad Boy by J.C. Reed and Jackie Steele (Book 3)

Release Date: February 23rd, 2016

Full length, 350pp

Synopsis:

I should have seen it coming.
Sexy? Handsome? Trouble? Check, check, and check.
Is he messing up my life? Hell yes.
All the signs are there: he is a bad boy.
Even his name is a lie. Too bad I married him. I can't wait to get divorced. Does this make me sound crazy?
I know I should avoid him, run as fast as I can. However, when a harmless misunderstanding lands me in a foreign prison cell, my dear, lying husband is the only one who can get me out. Crap. I shouldn't accept.

But how to say no to trouble when said trouble is the one who makes me fantasize all the dirty things he could do to me?

BUY LINKS:

Amazon US ~ Amazon UK ~  Barnes & Noble ~ iBooks ~ Kobo

Author J.C. REED

Website; ~ Facebook; ~ Twitter

Author JACKIE STEELE

Website; ~ Facebook; ~ Twitter

;

(open worldwide)

Giveaway sponsored by author Reading Away The Days is not responsible for this giveaway.

Win a Kindle Voyage & 2x signed print copies of Bad Boy (INT) Ends 14th March 2016
a Rafflecopter giveaway

BAD BOY by J.C. Reed and Jackie Steele is now available worldwide on Amazon, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.

15 Bookish Things About Me

This is inspired by a book tube video I recently saw from Jesse The Reader where he listed 25 bookish things about him. I decided to do this but instead of 25 I picked 15 as in all honesty I couldn't think of 25 :) Here goes:

I have never listened to an audio book.

I don't tend to read fantasy or dystopian.

I therefore haven't read The Hunger Games or Divergent

I 're read books all the time, it's a problem

I prefer paperbacks to hardbacks.

I am a slow reader BUT

I read faster on my kindle!

I cry at books ALOT whether it's because there sad or happy

I read ALL the time, on the bus to work, on the bus home from work, while am making dinner, you get the point

I usually prefer US book covers to UK book covers.

I do Judge a book by its cover. 

My favourite book of all time is a series and its the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness.

I prefer Ron to Harry &

Jacob to Edward

My favourite childhood books where the Mr Majeika books by 

Humphrey Carpenter.

Tell me some bookish things about you below.

Sunday Post #30: Its been a while

The Sunday Post was created by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer  this is a post where we recap the going on's on the blog the previous week and the week coming up as well as the awesome books we have received for review, brought or gifted.

It has been a while since I did a Sunday Post. If you follow my blog you will know my posts have been sporadic since mid October. To cut the story short I just had a bit of a blog slump but now am back with fresh ideas and feeling ready to tackle some blogging. So how is everyone? Read anything good lately? Give me some recommendations of books I need to be checking out. 

This week on the blog:

I had such fun this week with my two blog posts. The first was Is Re Reading, like comfort food? And the second was Taylor Swift Has A Squad, I want one! [Original Tag] which I had the most fun ever doing. I made up my bookish squad. I would love to see you all doing your bookish squads, I promise it's such fun. If you do it tweet me @teamwolf1988 so I can see. 

Talking Twitter, it's my favourite social media platform I love chatting with loads of book lovers and its a great way to keep up to date with all things book wise. Am always on there daily am kinda addicted. 

This week I have some more fun posts coming up. I am loving just posting fun bookish posts and not feeling like I need to review books every day. I have 15 bookish things about me, Speedy Review's and a new feature my Number Ones which will be a monthly meme with my number one things of the month not necessarily bookish. I hope you stop by this week to check them out!

So needless to say am having a fun time blogging now and I hope it continues. If I was to mention all the books I have got since my last haul we would be here all day. So am just going to mention a few I got recently:

Goodreads

I received a ebook of An Indecent Proposal for review VIA the author. 

Goodreads

I won an ebook of Hello from Eric @ Novel Ink on Twitter. I have heard amazing things about this book.

Goodreads

I received a paperback of Broken Sky VIA Usborne Publishing. This is one of my most anticipated of the year and am currently reading it and really enjoying it.

Thanks for stopping by. Leave me your Sunday Posts so I can check them out.

Taylor Swift Has A Squad, I want one! [Original Tag]

Taylor Swift has her squad of her favourite ladies as seen in her Bad Blood Video and I thought if Taylor Swift has a squad I want one and I especially want a bookish one!

According to the ever helpful Wikipedia a squad consists of 9 people excluding a "leader". So to obtain my squad I am going to pick 9 bookish character's I think will give me something different in my squad and will therefore make the ultimate squad! Here we go:

The first that comes to mind is Magnus Bane from TMI by Cassandra Clare. Magnus would be my "supermodel" of my squad, he's super cool and stylish and can kick ass at the same time. 

I would then have Shane from the Morganville Vampire Series by Rachel Caine. He is my bae. (yes am really using the word bae) He is loyal, can kick ass and I would just love to see Magnus and him together I think they would hate each other and it would be so amusing for me.

I need some girl power to kick ass so I would have Rose from Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. Rose is my ultimate kick ass girl. I need her on my team! 

We need some hotness to look at in my squad so I would definitely have to have Eric from Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris. Eric is one of my top book boyfriedns and he's a vampire, we need a vampire on this squad.

I think I need someone to help control this lot as am only playing pretend leader. So I think a good second in command would be Matthew from the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. If you have 'read the series you know Matthew is a born leader, an alpha plus he's my book boyfriend!

We need some more ladies up in this squad so I would have Anna from the It Girl series by Katy Birchall. She would keep everyone entertained as she is hilarious! And I would love to have Cassie from the 5th wave trilogy by Rick Yancey, as again she's kick ass and resourceful. She would definitely not get on with Rose. In all matters I don't think anyone would get on with Rose. 

The last two members of the squad would be Dobby because you have to have some one from Harry Potter and he is my favourite and Magnus can give him some of his clothes. And finally Christian from 50 Shades by EL James, he's good with knots and stuff!! :)

What you all think of my squad? I kinda love it! I tag you all as I want to see your squads, if you do the tag tweet me @teamwolf1988 so I can see.  But I want to tag some people especially as they would make my "bookish blog squad"

Kerry Ann @ A Bookish Red Head

Becca & Lisa @ Lost In Literature

Sarah Jane @ The Book Life

Tiffany @ About to read

Trish @ Between My Lines

Lori @ Writing My Own Fairy Tale

Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer

Shannon @ It starts at midnight

Sasha @ abookutopia