Tag: Readers

Cover Reveal: Breachers – Anthony Thomas

Hi everyone!!
Today I am pleased to be taking part in the cover reveal for Breachers by Anthony Thomas! I think the book sounds amazing and I feel more than sure I’ll jump at the opportunity to read it once it’s published in September this year!
For now though, here is the opportunity to take a sneak peek at the cover and find out a little more about the book:-
Breachers
 
Breachers
By Anthony Thomas
Fiery Seas Publishing
Science Fiction
September 18, 2018
 

Jason Conners is the last person you’d expect to run into a burning building, unless of course there was something inside worth stealing. Call him what you want: criminal, thief, asshole, but hero? Absolutely not. Jason’s questionable behavior and disturbing antics can only be attributed to one secret.
He can change the future, but with great power comes great responsibility? Hell no. His ability makes him the best thief in the city, and nothing is off-limits. Until Jason’s carefree attitude gains the attention of the Rogues, and the government.
The Rogues want him to stop catastrophic events from taking place, and the government has their own agenda. When the hunt begins, Jason is caught in the crosshairs and learns that breaching is not as limitless as he thought.
Can this anti-hero give up a life of easy money and become the savior the Rogues need, or will it cost him everything—even his immortality?

 
Doesn’t that look fantastic?! I had read the book synopsis prior to the cover reveal on the publisher’s website and was interested at that point, but I know that seeing that on a bookstore shelf would definitely catch my attention!
What do you think? Is this a book that would catch your eye? Want to find out a little bit more?
 
Anthony Thomas
About the Author:
Anthony Thomas settled in the city of sin, though part of him will always remain in the small farming town in Northern California. When he’s not hunched over a keyboard, Anthony enjoys spending time with his wife, daughter and two dogs.
Social Media:
Website http://www.anthonythomasbooks.com/
Twitter  https://twitter.com/anthonythomasAU
 
 

Top 5 Inspirational Quotes by Terry Pratchett

So… WordPress very kindly informed me that my last post published this morning, Down the TBR Hole #5 was my fiftieth blog post! Hasn’t that gone pretty fast?!
I decided, in order to celebrate the occasion, I wanted to share with you my top 5 quotes by one of my favourite authors. To be honest, it isn’t just his ability to put pen to paper and write hilariously witty novels, all the while administering a good kick in the teeth to social issues like racism, sexism and corruption that I love. It was his attitude to life I admire.
Some of you may not know about Terry’s background.
At primary school he was told he would never amount to anything and as a teenager he left school with no qualifications. It must have been difficult to make your way through life with nothing to testify your ability. You certainly couldn’t do it now.
Whilst he had taken an interest in writing from a young age, he worked in a library before he started up in journalism. It was through his journalism role that he handed over his manuscript of The Carpet People to Peter Bander van Duren, which became his first published novel.
The point I am making is this. Terry was a grafter. He was by no means defined as (though I dispute) intellectually exceptional and he had far less of an education than the vast majority of people, but did he let that stop him? No. His determination is what inspires me. Just because he didn’t have an education, it doesn’t mean he didn’t know his shit. Here are just a select few of the things he had to say about life:-
Terry Pratchett insanityTerry Pratchett knowledge and ignoranceTerry Pratchett Light & DarkTerry Pratchett Open Mind QuoteTerry Pratchett Wisdom quote
These are just a select few of my favourite quotes – and there are plenty of them. Punch it into Google (other search engines are available) if you don’t believe me.
If we can all adopt a little of Pratchett’s attitude, I think the world will go a long way. Wouldn’t you agree?
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The Diary

When I started this blog, it was with the intention of getting myself into a routine of sitting down and to write. It didn’t overly matter what – it was the setting aside time that was the goal.
We all lead very busy, fast paced lives. I work thirty five hours a week, or doing the nine to five, as it is called. I also live by myself, so inevitably all those wonderful household jobs we love fall on me to do. Not only that, there’s people to see and things to do, so how do we find the time to manage everything?
On top of everything else, I initially set myself the task of twenty books this year. This is a goal I had never reached before. Circumstances meant I wasn’t spending much time at home in January; between going to work and visiting a close relative in hospital, my life was hectic. It was the reading habit I developed during this period that helped me knock my reading target out of the park. I had very little free time but I made the most of it. I needed something to relax and help me wind down at night to get to sleep. Reading served both purposes.
It was in April when I decided to start a blog. I wanted to take the plunge to write and I wanted to challenge myself further in terms of reading, so naturally my thoughts wandered to the idea of a book blog. There are many books blogs out there and I love to browse them myself in any free minutes I get. It was hardly an original idea, but the best way to inspire myself to write is by doing it about something I know and love.
I am pleased with how well I have taken to blogging as well as managing my extra reading; over the past few weeks I have really gotten to grips with it. I regularly post three times a week, on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. No longer am I depending on having read books so I can write a review post. I have been inspired by the many other book blogs out there to write book related content as well as reviews and that makes it easier to post consistently.
I am the type of person that needs organisation in order to see something come together, and that is how I have managed to pick my blog up and get it into shape. Yes folks… I got myself a diary. I was fortunate enough to decide to get one a few weeks before the start of school term, so I have an ACADEMIC for a full year instead of a few months! My projects are running January to December in my head so I’ll have to make the switch at some point though.
So this is what my diary looks like this week, for anybody interested.
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As well as the practicality of a structured diary, I love the use of colour, so I use different colours depending on the task:-

  • Yellow – books I have started
  • Green – books I have completed
  • Pink – Blog related taks
  • Orange – Other writing related taks

In the back of the diary I also have a full list of the books I have read this year, and it looks like this:-

When I said I loved colour, I really wasn’t kidding.
I have fallen in love with the idea of bullet journals, but at the moment I don’t think I could juggle creating this as well as the reading and writing. Perhaps this is something to consider further down the line.
What I do know is this – the blog has helped my reading. Looking at that list above I can tell when I started the blog as the books I choose to read become for diverse. Yes, I still read a lot of Pratchett and other series that I have started, but they are more spread out and I try a few different books in-between.
The diary, since I started it has in turn been a great help to my blog. On the 22nd August, four months on from starting the blog (or thereabouts) I hit the milestone of fifty followers – I know that because I popped that little achievement in the diary!! I know I’m hardly a high flyer on the follower count, but I’m still pleased all the same. At that point I began posting regularly as opposed to sporadically and in just over three weeks, I now have just shy of seventy. Again, not huge, but a definite improvement in such a short time.
It’s safe to say that keeping myself organised is paying off for me. I’ll be keeping up the diary and the regular blogging.
I’m interested to know how you keep up your blogs. How do you plan ahead? Do you plan ahead, or post in the spur of the moment. It will be interesting to compare how different bloggers manage the workload.

Milestone! 

Hi everyone!!!
Thanks to you all, I now have fifty followers 😊

Source: Giphy
It’s a little victory I know, but it’s one I’m proud of. When I started this blog, much like other projects I wasn’t sure if I would keep it up or see it through. So far I have, and it is spurring me on more than ever to keep up with my reading challenge and to keep writing on a regular basis.
Once again I’d like to thank you all for your likes, support and comments! It means a lot to me 😊

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Book Review: Ewan Pendle and the White Wraith – Shaun Hume

Hi everybody!

Further to Monday’s post, as promised, I have finished reading Ewan Pendle and the White Wraith! I would like to thank Shaun for giving me the opportunity to read and review the book – being an independent/ self-published author, I may not have come across his work (at least for some time) had he not approached me directly.

A lot of reviews I saw initially compare the book to the Harry Potter series. Whilst I suppose it is true there is a similar introduction and is loosely based around the same concept I hope to steer anybody away from the idea that it is any kind of fan fiction. It is not. It is a novel of its own kind and has its very own story to tell.

 

Ewan Pendle and the White Wraith

 

Goodreads – Ewan Pendle and the White Wraith

“Ewan Pendle is a wonderful epic fantasy that’s perfect for Harry Potter withdrawals!” – AUTHOR Kayla Krantz

Ewan Pendle was weird. Really weird. At least, that’s what everyone told him. Then again, being able to see monsters that no one else could wasn’t exactly normal …

Thinking he has been moved off to live with his eleventh foster family, Ewan is instead told he is a Lenitnes, one of an ancient race of peoples who can alone see the real ‘Creatures’ which inhabit the earth. He is taken in by Enola, the mysterious sword carrying Grand Master of Firedrake Lyceum, a labyrinth of halls and rooms in the middle of London where other children, just like Ewan, go to learn the ways of the Creatures.

 

My Thoughts…

I will be perfectly honest and say it took a few days of picking the book up in stages to get me introduced to the characters and get into the novel. There is quite a bit of set up (as with any fantasy style book which does not follow “normal life” conventions) and I took my time getting my head around/into it. In contrast, I must have read the rest of the book over about 5 hours across two evenings!

The novel focuses on the life of Ewan Pendle, who spends his childhood being passed around from one foster home to another, never settling for more than a year before he is moved on again. It is common for foster children to feel like they do not fit in, but there is something unusual about Ewan that means he really does not fit in. He sees dragons eating out of dustbins. Creatures roam the world and it is the duty of the Lenitnes to both understand and protect various Creatures (and humans) from each other. To do this, the students are inducted to train at Firedrake Lyceum, run by Enola Whitewood.

Ewan enrols at this unique school upon the invitation of Enola, where he finally gets the chance to make friends and begins to learn and acquire some of the power that being Lenitnes demands.

Shaun cleverly lays down the foundations for the plot early, leaving us guessing after each chapter how different characters are all going to come together. The first chapter thrills us with Betony and her secret mission; later we meet the mysterious Jack Mangrove and learn of plots to kill the real Monarch of England. Following all these twists and turns through the perspective of young Ewan kept me as a reader engrossed entirely! Young or old, we are all as green as Ewan to the world of the Lenitnes and Vilhmied and our understanding gradually begins to grow with him.

There are also those characters that you love to hate; the teacher that picks on you and makes you run laps around the “Pain Yard”, the typical “it” club of the school year who bullies everybody not in the clique… the class weirdos and that nerdy girl with braces.

This really is a book for all us misfits and I hope to see more from Ewan and friends in the future as there is a lot of potential for this as a series! I really hope that this author gets more exposure and readers because it truly is deserved.

My next read, which I’m admittedly about a quarter of the way through already is “The Green Mile” by Stephen King. Though I can’t make any promises, I wouldn’t be surprised if I can get the book finished and review published by Monday.

Until next time, peace out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. For a while I was the nerdy librarian girl with braces, greasy hair and usually had my nose buried in a book – surprise surprise.

Review: Reaper Man – Terry Pratchett

Hello everyone!

Following my last review of “The Pale Horseman” by Bernard Cornwell I advised that the next book I was planning on reading and reviewing is “Reaper Man” by Terry Pratchett – the 11th book of the Discworld series.

I began the series towards the end of last year and initially found the books difficult to get into; it took me three attempts to read “The Color of Magic” all the way through without mashing my brains. It is safe to say that Pratchett has a very specific writing style and sense of humour, which has grown on me, albeit over a bit of time.

There are a lot of things I could say about Pratchett. As a person I have a lot of respect for him, having come to know his background. Perhaps that is a post for me to share with you all another time. For now, I’ll focus my attention on the book to hand.

Goodreads – Reaper Man

‘Death has to happen. That’s what bein’ alive is all about. You’re alive, and then you’re dead. It can’t just stop happening.’

But it can. And it has. So what happens after death is now less of a philosophical question than a question of actual reality. On the Disc, as here, they need Death. If Death doesn’t come for you, then what are you supposed to do in the meantime? You can’t have the undead wandering about like lost souls. There’s no telling what might happen, particularly when they discover that life really is only for the living…

My Thoughts…

As the title suggests, this novel focuses around the role of Death. Over the years doing his duty of taking people into the afterlife and moving them on, he has acquired snippets of personality from them. He is curious about life and in previous books, has tried to experience what it is to be human. The other Deaths of the Universe deem this not to be fit – he is removed from his post and made mortal.

Whilst arrangements are made to replace Death, there is a buildup of life force on the Discworld as nobody truly dies, including 130 year old wizard Windle Poons who becomes undead, despite the numerous attempts and best efforts of the other wizards to see him off for good!

There is a particular element to the story which I didn’t really understand. We learn of the mysterious appearance of thousands of snow globes, which hatch as a result of the build up of life force. I won’t go into too much detail here, but whilst this element of the story is entertaining for humorous reasons more than anything, to me it lacks purpose. The only apparent link this plot line has to the story of Death is in relation to the build up of life force acting as a catalyst. I don’t recall any particular explanation as to where the snow globes came from, their history or previous effect on the Discworld. This is unusual for Pratchett; usually his storylines have very full descriptions and context but I was lacking understanding for this one.

With the inevitability of the Discworld and the involvement of wizards and the undead, vampires and were-people, obviously everything goes disasterously wrong. I found this part of the narrative actually left me with more absent-minded questions than answers really. Whilst trying to get my head around it in the shower I found myself thinking of questions much like the chicken and egg theory – which came first… the snow globe or the city?! Stupid I know. I have come to the conclusion Pratchett came up with the idea for this particular plotline during the early hours of the morning after a drunken night out.

Sorry Pratchett, I love the book overall, but absolutely not this part. If anybody has some better understanding of this section of the book, or I have missed something please let me know.

I have to say my favorite part of this book was the end. Whilst Death is mortal he comes to work for Miss Flitworth, helping bring in the harvest. I think she helps him to understand what it is to be human; to be imperfect but accepting of it. Whereas Death may have at one point had a very flippant attitude to life, he develops compassion for fellow humans. If you want to find out how, you’ll just have to read the book! No spoilers here! It is a very poignant and touching moment the first time he shows it so you can’t miss it! It also makes itself apparent with Miss Flitworth in the last few pages of the book, though if you’re not paying attention, you might miss some part of it. I had to read it over a few times before I understood what happened.

Overall, I would recommend the book as a good read. There are some sections I found myself wanting more from, but perhaps I have interpreted them wrong. If anybody else has read this book, please let me know your thoughts!

For my next read, I’m going to be reading the works of an author I haven’t encountered before. The book in particular I am reading is “Ewan Pendle and the White Wraith” by Shaun Hume. I’m looking forward to sharing my thoughts with you all already!