Month: September 2019

Sunday Summary – 29th September 2019

We’re at the end of another week and it’s time for my Sunday Summary post again! Where is this year going? Someone, please tell me… I’m genuinely interested. The nights are drawing in and the clocks will be changing soon. It’s probably my favourite time of year – I like to shut the dark out and get cosy in the evenings. I just wish it was a bit… drier. With the remnants of a hurricane heading our way in the next day or two, it doesn’t look like that is going to happen!!

Shall we take a look back at what I have been up to this week?

On Monday I had a lot of fun writing my Reader Problems Book Tag. It’s been a little while since I have taken part in a tag and written a little about myself, so it was overdue. I enjoyed reading other bloggers’ responses to the questions asked.

Then, on Wednesday, I shared my book review of Simon Says by Jo Wesley for the organised blog tour. If you haven’t read my review already then please do; I absolutely loved this book and it’s my second favourite of the year (so far)! It covers a harrowing subject, but does so really well. I’m already confident that I will re-read this book in years to come.

Finally on Friday, after nearly a month of other commitments, I shared a First Lines Friday post. My chosen book was perhaps a little bit predictable, but I just can’t stop talking about it! I make no apologies!

 

Books Read

I have spent this week with all my attention on Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. As of last week’s update, I had read 20% of the book. Considering the length of this book (just over 600 pages) I’ve done well to get to 74%. I’m going to be making a real push to finish this in the next day to two as a new month is upon us. You know what that means… a new reading list!

I’ve been a little better with making progress with Visions of Zarua this week. That said, I am going to have to up my game and listen for longer a day if I want to have my review ready in time for the blog tour. I need to get back into the habit of listening to audiobooks when getting ready in the morning. That extra half an hour really makes a difference. I managed it to finish listening to Six of Crows, so I can do it again.

 

Books Discovered

I have another addition to the TBR this week. After reading some fabulous reviews, and in light of the spooky season, I have added The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware to the list. I have also suggested it to our company’s book club for the October Read of the month as it’s a psychological thriller.

 

Coming Up…

Things are about to go a little bit crazy and I have no idea if I am ready for it. I have been blogging for two and a half years now, and the last couple of years I have laughed at the idea of blogtober. Who could possibly post every day for a month?

Well, I am hoping me. I am a more active blogger than I have ever been before, and I like a challenge. So, I’ve decided to try blogtober! This can either go really well or disastrously wrong, but I want to try. I also have a holiday coming up very shortly to take into account, so… this is going to be fun?

It’s going to be fine. Totally fine. I have a plan. This is how week one of blogtober is going to look:-

Tuesday 1st October – October Reading List

Wednesday 2nd October – Book Review: Thran Book 1: The Birth

Thursday 3rd October – Author Interview: Brian McLaughlin

Friday 4th October – Shelf Control

Saturday 5th October – A Day in the life of a Book Blogger

Sunday 6th October- Sunday Summary

Are you taking part in blogtober? Do you have any tips for me? Otherwise, what have you been reading this week?

 

 

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First Lines Friday – 27/09/2019

Happy Friday everyone! It’s nearly the end of the week and I am so excited for the weekend! Not only that, but today is also the Macmillan’s Coffee Morning and I am organising today’s event at work. By the time you are reading this, I’ll probably have tucked into a cheeky slice (or two)!

As ever, I’m back again with my (mostly) regular fortnightly feature post – First Lines Friday. If you want to sample something new without the bias of a front cover, then you have come to the right place!

Which book am I featuring today? Here are the first few lines from today’s featured book: –

 

Only dead people are allowed to have statues, but I have been given one while still alive. Already I am petrified.

This statue was a small token of appreciation for my many contributions, said the citation, which was read out by Aunt Vidala. She’d been assigned the task by our supervisors, and was far from appreciative. I thanked her with as much modesty as I could summon, then pulled the rope that released the cloth drape shrouding me; it billowed to the ground, and there I stood. We don’t do cheering here at Ardua Hall, but there was some discreet clapping. I inclined my head in a nod.

 

 

You may have guessed what book this is already… and I will not stop talking about it! I finished reading it only recently and I wanted to share the opening with you. Whilst not full of action, the opening reflects the introspective nature of a character that has helped to build a corrupt society and risen to power as a result – well, as much as women can anyway…

Hers is just one perspective out of three in this fantastic novel. Would you like to find out what it is?

 

The Testaments – Margaret Atwood

In this brilliant sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, acclaimed author Margaret Atwood answers the questions that have tantalized readers for decades.

When the van door slammed on Offred’s future at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale, readers had no way of telling what lay ahead for her–freedom, prison or death.

With The Testaments, the wait is over.

Margaret Atwood’s sequel picks up the story more than fifteen years after Offred stepped into the unknown, with the explosive testaments of three female narrators from Gilead.

“Dear Readers: Everything you’ve ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book. Well, almost everything! The other inspiration is the world we’ve been living in.” –Margaret Atwood.

 

Is The Testaments on your TBR? Have you read it already like me? As always, I would love to hear from you!!

 

 

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Blog Tour Book Review: Simon Says – Jo Wesley

Hello everyone and welcome to today’s blog tour post for Simon Says by Jo Wesley! I have absolutely loved this book and I’ve been eager to share my thoughts with you all! Well, today is the day my friends!

 

Simon Says

Her life may not be perfect but she’s happy. Until she makes a terrible decision – and learns the hard way that home is not a place of refuge.

Not while Simon lurks in every shadow.

He groomed her as a teen: terrorised her into fleeing, leaving her baby behind. Now the man who destroyed her childhood has become the perfect father to her teenage daughter. And her return threatens his future.

A desperate man is a dangerous one.

Simon says she must leave or suffer the consequences. She refuses.

Now it’s his move. Because it’s not enough to face your demons.

Sometimes, you must destroy them.

Purchase Links – Amazon UK     Amazon US

 

My Thoughts…

As soon as I finished reading this book I rated it the second-best I have read this year. Out of just over 50 books, that’s no mean feat. My regular readers will know just how much of a fan I am of Margaret Atwood and I have been raving about getting and reading The Testaments. It is probably THE THING I have been looking forward to the most this year. I picked up my copy of The Testaments on the 10th September, fully expecting to set all other books aside to devour it. But I couldn’t. I had to know how the story and events of Simon Says panned out. I consciously CHOSE to keep reading this magnificent psychological thriller. Let me tell you why.

You know in your gut what happened to this poor girl from the very beginning… why she was forced away from her home and her family to start again. Cindy, aka Karis is very much down on her luck. After surviving a close shave with death, she takes her children to the only other place she knows – her old family home. Back where it all happened, Cindy is forced to face her demons, the neighbours, and Simon.

The narrative is split in two; half the chapters narrate the story of Cindy as a fourteen year old girl and the other half in present day. Each timeline unfolds in a way that spurs you on to read the next chapter to find out what happens next. It is horrifying to watch Simon manipulate Cindy by buying her trust, pushing the boundaries further and further until he does the unthinkable. It’s awful and disgusting to know what happened to her… but you can’t help reading more. Thankfully, we are spared some details of the event, but we know exactly how it made Cindy feel once she realised what had happened later on.

What is more harrowing is that this happens to people, anyone, but especially children. When families don’t believe (or don’t want to believe) the truth then the victim suffers all the more. This book takes you on a real rollercoaster ride of emotions – upset, anger, pity and a lust for vengeance and justice on Cindy’s behalf.

I was captivated from start to finish. You would hope that very few people could ever have been in Cindy’s position and lived through the abuse and torment she has. That said, she is completely relatable as a woman. The trauma she has experienced in her life hasn’t affected her so much that it serves to alienate her. If anything, it has empowered her. Over ten years have passed since the fateful event, but becoming a mother has brought out a strength in her that she didn’t have back then – the desire to protect her own children from the man that ruined her life.

I cannot stress enough just how fantastic this book is! It’s on my list of books to re-read and I’ll definitely read more books by Jo Wesley. I hate that the subject matter of the book is even a thing, but it is handled so well. I love the book!

 

Author Bio

SIMON SAYS isn’t my first thriller. Several unpublished novels went before it, but there was something about this story that made me come back to it time-and-time again. Although it was written in 2015, recently a few author friends encouraged me to publish it as they remembered reading it years before.

I used to work in an office where the wider team comprised people working with drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence and general community safety. I wrote SIMON SAYS during this period and my team provided information and advice. Also, the Red Watch team at the local fire station read my first chapter during their tea break and advised on a couple of points to make it more accurate (I thought it would be one person, not the whole team reading it!).

Currently, I am completing a novel in another genre but I really enjoy writing thrillers, so I am planning my next one.

Twitter – https://twitter.com/JoWwriter