TGIF Look Back (2)

TGIF is hosted over at Mel Cusick-Jones's blog go check out her's and find out how to join in!


FUNNY – What made you laugh this week?
READING – What were you reading this week?
INSPIRED – What inspired you this week? 
DONE – What were you mainly doing this week?
ANGEL – Who was your angel/star of the week?
YUCK – What made you go ‘ewwww’ this week?

Correction - This is how I wish it had ended!

FUNNY - Well I'm always discovering hilarious things on the internet that make me laugh, a lot of them dissing Twilight. Before everyone damns me to hell for being a Twilight hater let me explain. I don't hate Twilight I just hate Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart and the fact Edward Cullen sparkle's like a fairy. Yes I do think Stephanie Meyer got it wrong and Edward was in fact queen of the fairy's but each to their own. Before I insult the millions of Twi-Hards out there any further look at the picture to the side. You HAVE to laugh at that whether your a devoted Twilight worshiper or not.

READING - I've not read too much this week because I have been way to busy. I have read Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning and City Of Ashes by Cassandra Clare. Go check out both my reviews! I'm currently reading A Great And Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, it's okay so far I'm waiting for it to speed up. Look out for my review.

INSPIRED - My inspiration this week has been other book blogs, I love seeing how they do things and getting tips to improve my own reviews.

DONE - This week I was mainly doing work, very boring work I may add. Sadly it has got in the way of everything else. This weekend I am working again so post's will probably be later.

ANGEL - My angel has been my friend - who you know from guest post's - Beka. She's been on and on at me to write more so a message for her: I am going to write more!


YUCK - All of those horrible TV shows like Embarrassing Bodies. The kind of thing that always happens to me is I lose the remote and while I'm searching for it frantically because I'm missing Vampire Diaries or Glee a really sick TV show will come on and I will be powerless to turn it off. It always happens.

What's your look back?
Email me at: confessionsofabookaholic@LIVE.CO.UK

Cover Reveal - The Rainbow Makers Tale

Anyone who read my review for Hope's Daughter will know that I am eagerly awaiting the second book. I loved the cover for Hope's Daughter but I think this one may be even better. I love the colors in the eye. The Rainbow Makers tale focuses more on Balik's story and I for one am happy about that because I really liked his character. 

"Outwardly, Balik is an obedient member of society on Space Station Hope...he follows The Council's systems, excels at school and seems happy to follow in his parents footsteps... But Balik's real life is filled with secrets he can share with no one. As he follows his suspicions about the space station into ever more dangerous territory it seems like his whole world will unravel around him...but he doesn't understand everything...things are wrong, he is sure of that - but why exactly, he doesn't know. When Cassie unexpectedly comes into his life, Balik struggles to find his balance. For years he's investigated the oddities of the world he lives in, but Cassie makes him question things in a different way... Can he believe in this girl who seems so much a part of the system he distrusts? Would she put a stop to his plans to break out if she knew what he was really up to? Balik can't be sure of anything - except the fact that he can't leave her alone."

Want to know more? Here's a note from the author:
The Rainbow Maker's Tale is the partner book to Hope's Daughter - telling the story from Balik's point of view - and so the cover reflects the artwork from there. Anyone who has read Hope's Daughter will know where the 'rainbow' idea comes from; it's only a little aside in the book, but for me it says a lot about the person Balik is and where his relationship with Cassie begins. The Rainbow Maker's Tale is due for release in summer 2012. 

I am looking forward to getting my hands on this book, are you?
Email me at: confessionsofabookaholic@LIVE.CO.UK

Blue Sky Days By Marie Laundry (Guest Review By Melanie Cusick-Jones)

Hello everyone, today I'm happy to say we have a guest review by Melanie Cusick-Jones. I'm happy about this for two reasons, One I love guest reviews and two it's less work for me! You may recognise her name, no it's not you going mad it's because she's the writer behind the amazing book Hope's Daughter (Read my review here). Anyway I will stop going on, enjoy the review.

With my YA reads this year, aside from The Hunger Games I've been trying genres that I don't normally read and as far as possible - indie debut authors. One of the things I like best about the good indie authors I've read is that the freedom of publishers and others shaping the book means that the story is exactly what the author wanted to tell and in the way they wanted it. If you look at an author as an artist, then this freedom is a good thing. 

So...Blue Sky Days...this is a contemporary romance in the main, a genre I don't often read and so in some ways this was a refreshing change. In many YAs I read, the romance is something that comes along with action and angst and great danger. This book is almost a complete inversion of that model - the 'action' and 'danger' have significance and grow out of the romantic theme.

I'll not be giving anything away - as the blurb tells you - that after a beautiful initial romance, Nicholas becomes ill - so you can hopefully see what I mean about where the 'danger' comes from. In many ways it was good to read a book about real danger...the things that threaten people's lives every single day, the hardship that people have to endure through serious and terminal illness and how that impacts the relationships they have with those around them. 

I'd read several reviews prior to reading Blue Sky Days and knew that many readers had found this an emotional book to read - unsurprising given the subject matter - and I certainly found it thought-provoking for the same reasons, not necessarily identifying completely with Emma and her experiences, but her responses and perspective made me consider things in my own life that perhaps you don't take the time to focus on enough in daily life. Every moment for Emma and Nicholas becomes precious and special, placed under a microscope because of their situation, and their relationships with friends and family are very affectionate and open - despite their difficulties, it is a world many people would want to live in. 

Emma's narration is very interesting - it is so personal and open emotionally, that I felt like I were reading her thoughts in a diary. In this way it is unlike other YA books I've read - the depth of her self-reflection and knowledge were much greater than others I've read, however, this may be more typical of romance genre (and I wouldn't know!) :) In turn, all of the characters close to Emma are very similar - very emotionally open and articulate their feelings regularly through unguarded dialogue or affectionate gestures. Some readers might find that openness unusual - but as Emma regularly notes, she finds it hard to believe herself, given her past experience with her mother - and for the style of book, it all works together well. Right from the start of the book Emma is on a journey, transitioning from a life of eduction and boundaries to a new world of independence and she draws you into this as though you are absolutely a part of her life, just as Nicholas, Daisy and the other characters do for her. 

'Blue Sky Days' themselves - as you discover in the story - are these wonderful moments of time and clarity, when you look at the world around you and see what is truly important: the people you care about, the beauty in the world around you and the things that change your life. 

Blue Sky Days feels like a very personal book. The characters, situation and emotional intensity feel as though they come from real experiences and perhaps this is the case. I rarely read author's acknowledgements in books, but for this I did and feel that there is a real and important connection between the author and this story, more than most. And this brings me back to the beauty of indie authors - this is Marie Landry's and Emma's story, told exactly as it should have been. 

Overall a lovely book, to be read with the knowledge that you're delving completely into someone's life and - just as I read in another review - Blue Sky Days will make you feel. 

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Want to find out more about Melanie? Well she's a devoted blogger and reviewer at Aside From Writing and as I said before she's the author of Hope's Daughter which I really recommend you read.

Email me at: confessionsofabookaholic@LIVE.CO.UK

Hope's Daughter By Melanie Cusick-Jones

Hello everyone, I was sent a copy of this book from the author to review. I got sent it a while ago so sorry for the delay but I have been unusually busy. So many books so little time. Anyway Hope's Daughter is a dystopia/sci-fi novel but don't be put of by the genre. Usually when someone says the word sci-fi I automatically picture Star Wars or something like that but this is completely different. Hope's Daughter follows a young girl called Cassie as she lives her "normal" life in a perfect world. She has always believed everything she was told was true, that is until she meets Balik. When I say meets I mean they've known each other a long time but never properly. Balik has doubts about their supposedly perfect world, but who will be right?
Here's the synopsis:

"Life should be simple for Cassie.
For the small population of Earth survivors who live on the Space Station Hope everything they do is planned and scheduled, down to the cyclical food menus, their roles in the station, even how many children they have. Despite rigid controls directing her life, Cassie feels more out of synch than ever and worries she won’t find a place for herself within the station community. Perhaps that’s because she’s hearing things inside her head that can’t possibly be real. Or maybe it’s the regular elopements of her peers, heading off to a romantic future in the Married Quarter of the space station, whilst she’s never even been attracted to a boy – no matter how hard her best friend Ami pushes them at her. Then there are the odd questions her work placement partner Balik keeps raising. His questions are just as troubling for her as his distracting smiles and eyes that seem to see inside her. As Cassie draws closer to Balik she finds that everything else in her life begins to shift. He tells her things that call into question the system they live within. She can't believe he is right, but at the same time she finds it hard to deny the sincerity of his ideas. Could there be a connection between Cassie’s problems and Balik’s questions? The truth will drag them both to a terrifying and deadly conclusion beyond anything they could have imagined."

Personally I really enjoyed this book, it was completely different to anything I had read before. It was really interesting and the storyline really raised many questions in my head which I got the answers to later on in the book. It's one of those books that you try and work out before the ending. I admit halfway through I thought I had worked it out but when I got to the end I realised I was partly right but the true depth of the story I had no clue about. I would recommend this book to anyone who would enjoy intriguing, complicated stories. I would rate this book 4.5/5 stars.
If you want me to review your book or want to do a guest review don't hesitate to contact me.
 Email me at: confessionsofabookaholic@LIVE.CO.UK

WWW Wednesday (February 1st)

Hello everyone, It's W...W...W...Wednesday. No I do not have a stutter that's really what its called. WWW Wednesday is hosted by Should Be Reading. To join in just answer these questions:

1) What are you currently reading?

2) What did you recently finish reading?

3) What do you think you'll read next?

Here's my answers:

I'm Currently Reading:

Hope's Daughter by Melanie Cusick-Jones. I'm really enjoying it so far, it's really hard to stop reading it. Highly addictive, a great new dystopia (I think) novel. I don't want to give too much away but I'm really loving the male lead. Have you read it? What do you think? Review coming soon (or as soon as I've got enough time to finish it, I'm busy busy busy).

I Recently Finished:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I really loved this book, enough to give it 5 whole stars which was hard for me as you know how much I love awkward numbers. I found the storyline utterly captivating and the main heroine didn't irritate me (A first!). I found her strong and didn't need to be saved by her true love every five minutes which was really great. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. To find out more read my full review.

I Think I Will Read:


Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer next. I quite liked the first book in the series Nightshade (Read my review here) so I decided to buy the second. Since then there has been so many other books that got in the way but I am determined to read this next but who knows, it may have to wait a little longer. My friend just finished it and said it's kinda depressing so it depends what kind of mood I'm in. Maybe I will regret not reading it sooner, you never know. Have you read it? Is it any good?

What about you? Tell me about your WWW Wednesday, what do you think of the book your currently reading? Or the one that you just finished. Leave me links to yours or if you don't have a blog just leave me a comment :) Thanks for reading.
Email me at: confessionsofabookaholic@LIVE.CO.UK

Author Interview: Melanie Cusick-Jones

Hello everyone, time for my third interview. If you have actually been listening to me rambling on you will know I am currently reading Melanie Cusick-Jones' relatively new book Hope's Daughter, as you can see I also interviewed her and this is what she had to say:

Q1: What inspired you to write such a unique book? 

Before I started writing Hope’s Daughter I’d been working on another project for a long time – literally five years – and was feeling a little uninspired. There was a new author competition I saw advertised with a UK publisher and I thought I’d put something new together for that to get me out of the rut I was stuck in. The competition deadline gave me five months to write something new. Around that time I’d been reading a lot of sci-fi: Philip K Dick, H G Wells and as I’d not seen a huge amount of sci-fi YA I thought I’d try it. The story grew too big for the 80,000 word count limit of the competition, but I loved the characters and the world I was building so I just carried on and finished it. In terms of the specific inspiration for the story, it’s very difficult to discuss in detail without spoilers.

Q2: How old were you when you began writing?

At school I’d done little creative pieces like most people did – plays, poetry – and enjoyed that. At uni I studied English Literature and wrote an ‘epic poem’ for one class and then a morality play for another and it reminded me how much I enjoyed the creative side of things, rather than just reading and writing about other people’s work. When I finished uni in 2003 I decided that I’d try writing a book and have spent the time since then learning how to do it! 

Q3: Who is your most inspirational person?

At one time I’d probably have answered with some worthy famous writer or thinker. Now I’d say my son. When you spend lots of time with children – which I’d never done before – you really look at life and the world in a different way. They will focus on the tiniest, most insignificant things like dust in the sunshine or how water ripples in a puddle and find real magic in it. For fortunate children who have comfortable lives, the freedom of simple happiness and ‘just doing’ is lovely to see and to be honest, it reminds you of what is really important, which gets lost sometimes when you’re older.

Q4: What is your favourite quote?

Ooh, that’s a good question. Some people are very quotable – I’m not I waffle far too much when I talk – I like practical, honesty and so I’ve always liked this:

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” —Oscar Wilde

Q5: What is your favourite book?

This is a tough question, there are just too many great books! Ones that immediately spring to mind are: Human Is? Short stories by Philip K Dick; great YA would be The Hunger Games and A Thousands Splendid Suns is an amazing story, perfectly written.

Q6: Have you got another job alongside/before you started writing?

Yes, my ‘day job’ is in property management, which can be quite demanding mentally and that’s why it takes me so long to get a book written! 

Q7:  Are you in the process of writing a book or planning to start and have you got any other books out already?

I’m currently working on Outlanders and Islanders, which follow on from Hope’s Daughter – as I started working on the ideas in 2010, I’d hope to complete them and release in 2012. The Rainbow Maker’s Tale, which tells the story of Hope’s Daughter from Balik’s perspective is half completed as well and so I’ve got that to finish too.

Q8: Why did you choose my blog in particular to have a review of your book on? 

As a fellow Brit and bookaholic – we already have some things in common J and then looking at your reviews and favourite books we like similar things. As I think I probably write the kind of book I’d like to read myself – hopefully it’ll be your ‘cup of tea’ too! (Very English and proper lol)

9) who is your favourite character you have created?

It has to be Cassie I think – as much as I love Balik and another character I’m working on forOutlanders – Cassie is my favourite. She’s a smart girl, who thinks for herself and because I don’t do high maintenance at all I struggle with girls who whine and need rescuing all the time (whether it’s a personal crisis or one of epic, dystopian proportions). We all have bad days, but suck it up and sort yourself out! However, I don’t expect Cassie to be a robot - at the same time she knows when she needs a bit of help and of course she has excellent taste in men.

Q10: who is your favourite author? 

I think the one writer I’ve never found a fault with is Khaled Hosseini – his stories, characters and beautifully detailed writing construct the perfect novels for me. Perhaps that’s why there’s only two: quality over quantity?

Q11: What is your favourite genre?

I like most things, but probably historical fiction because there’s so much variety. It can be any time period, any country – there’s always something to learn in a fictional world based on real events and places. Some of my favourite books: The Russian Concubine, Snowflower and the Secret Fan,Memoirs of a Geisha, all transport you to another world and let you see it through the eyes of fantastic characters.

Q12: What tips would you give aspiring writers out there?

Just do it – would be the first thing. Open the laptop or pick up your pen and start doing it. You’ll write some real garbage probably, but you’ll also start to develop your skills and a style that you like. Once you’ve started, just keep at it and practise. Over time the words will come easier and flow faster; your first drafts will be better and you’ll learn how to manage the complexities of putting together a novel.

A couple of my favourite ‘writing games’ to help you practise: watch the news or pick up the paper – take the first headline, photograph or story you see and build a very short back-story to it. Writing on something you had no idea about forces you to be extra creative. Another tool is to take random words (adverts will do) pop them onto a list and then write some mini-scenes which each have to include that word – this works really well if you have your own characters you want to develop (I’ve used it inOutlanders to get myself into the ‘world’ of that book). Alternatively you could pick one of your favourite book characters and write it for them fan-fic style. All good practise and you know what they say: practise makes perfect! 

  

Find the author:

Blog – cusick-jones.com

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hopes-Daughter/120936811342768

Buy the book:

You Tube Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/kLuf6DKg8I8

Amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/Hopes-Daughter-Ambrosia-Sequence-ebook/dp/B006KLYIAG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325852637&sr=8-1

Amazon.co.uk - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hopes-Daughter-Ambrosia-Sequence-ebook/dp/B006KLYIAG/ref=sr_1_5?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1323777164&sr=1-5

Apple iBooks -http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/hopes-daughter/id487926380?mt=11

Barnes and Noble -http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hopes-daughter-melanie-cusick-jones/1107928425?ean=9781618426710&itm=1&usri=hope%27s+daughter

I hope you enjoyed the interview and please look out for my review of Hope's Daughter coming soon. Also there may just be a giveaway, see I can be cryptic. Okay that was a really bad attempt of cryptic-ness but oh well. So you have a giveaway and a  review to look out for. I'm spoiling you! If your an author and you want me to interview you and/or review your book, contact me. Also I haven't had any applicants to do guest reviews except Beka (check out her review on the guest review page) So I would appreciate it if someone could give it a go.

Email me at: confessionsofabookaholic@LIVE.CO.UK