Feature & Follow Friday #2

Feature and Follow Friday is host by Parajunkee and Allison Can Read and give bloggers a topic to discuss each week while discovering new blogs. 

Q: What blogger inspires you? It can be any kind, it doesn't have to be a book blog.

I only really follow book blogs and as I'm relatively new to blogging it makes it hard to pick just a few, when there are so many. The lovely Kat and Stephanie (and now Archer!) (Cuddlebuggery Book Blog) and Taneika (Flipping Through The Pages) were the first that I started following, which lead me to start blogging too. Others that have, and continue to inspire me are Giselle (Xpresso Reads), Wendy Mocha ღ Latte (Cupcake and a Latte), Ashleigh Paige (The YA Kitten), Loretta (Between The Pages) and Wendy (The Midnight Garden). I love them because of their honesty, content, blog designs, and friendliness. Of course I continue to come across more great bloggers and it would be impossible if I tried to list every one, but in the general course of visiting blogs there is something that can be learnt from all bloggers out there, especially when you're a newbie like me. =)

WWW Wednesday #6

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?

• What did you recently finish reading?

• What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I'm currently trying to finish off two I have started but haven't had the time to finish. Those two being: 

Grace Unexpected by Gale Martin

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff

What did you recently finish reading?

I finished One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf. My review can be found here.

What do you think you’ll read next?

I have so many books to read I have no idea what I will read next. Some of the choices are:

The ones I have for review (Thanks to Netgalley, Simon & Schuster Inc, & Harlequin)

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

Or a snippet of the (way too many) books on my shelves. =)

Skylark by Meagan Spooner

Fated by Alyson Noel
Evernight by Claudia Gray
Everneath by Brodi Ashton
Fire by Kristin Cashore
Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
Burn Mark by Laura Powell
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Hmmm, how about a vote? You can pick one of the ones listed above for review or in the photo, or check out my TBR list on Goodreads (here) and in the comments leave me your link for this weeks WWW (so I can visit you!) and what you think I should read next! 

Teaser Tuesday #6

Before I start with the Teaser Tuesday, Delirious About Books can be found on Twitter and now on Tumblr and Instagram.  So come and join me there too! =)

Now on to Teaser Tuesday.....

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! 

"Before I could slip away, Goody's phone jangled, and his message button flashed fire-engine red. "Hold your caballo. It's the Batphone." Goody swiveled to face me, "Commissioner Gordon again. Wants to know if you're in."
Loc 482, 11% Grace Unexpected by Gale Martin

"The bald man howled, released his grip, and Masaro kicked the rat-faced man square between his legs. The fellow let out a high-pitched squeal and sank to his knees. Masaru dropped a hook across the bald man's jaw, sending himbackward into the bar to land on a pile of broken beach glass. He was picking up a table to clobber the rat-man when Yukiko's voice rang out over the chaos. 
"A little early in the morning, isn't it, father?" "
p.14 Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff

Please leave a comment with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here. Thanks! =)

Review: One Breath Away

Author: Heather Gudenkauf
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Release Date: 26th June 2012
Genre: Fiction- Contemporary, Suspense
Obtained From: Purchased


Read from August 01 to August 12, 2012

"‘He has a gun.’ ‘Who? Tell me, where are you? Who has a gun?’ ‘I love you, Mum.’’ An ordinary school day in March, snowflakes falling, classroom freezing, kids squealing with delight, locker-doors slamming. Then the shooting started. No-one dared take one breath… He’s holding a gun to your child’s head. One wrong answer and he says he’ll shoot. This morning you waved goodbye to your child. What would you have said if you’d known it might be the last time?" - Goodreads

I'm having a hard time summing up my thoughts on this one. While I can break down my over ratings (see below) putting it into words isn't as easy. 

Overall I enjoyed the story and even the changing POV didn't bother me, although most of the time I only wanted to read Augie's and Mrs. Oliver's. The other POV's were from Augie's mum Holly, Holly's Dad and the police officer Meg. 

World building was limited, and although this isn't a fantasy or something that requires detailed world building, however due to the new and old combination of the school and the limited details it made it a little hard to work out where who and what and how long it takes to get from A to C and B to D. That's the best way I can put it as I don't want to give away details. 

The plot was simple but effective with extra little twists that I didn't see coming. I found the story big on "keeping you guessing" (eg. it would suggest one person, then do away with that suggestion one way or another, then again with another and so on) and the gun man was not who I thought and the link to him was a bit weak, but plausible. It wasn't fast paced, until towards the end. There were times when I wanted to just get a chapter, and therefore a POV, out of the way and get the characters I wanted to know about. Therefore I found it a bit of a drag at points. 

The characters were good and well developed. With the changing POV you were able to get an insight into where they came from and what they have been through before now. You felt for them and what they were going through. 

The main thing I didn't like was that the narrative switched from third person to first person.

This was the first book I have read by Heather Gudenkauf and I'd definitely read another by her. This was a good read. =)

★★★★
 Really Liked It

Stacking The Shelves #5

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Thanks to the host Tynga's Reviews.

Guidelines:

• Create your own Stacking The Shelves post. You can use my official graphic or your own, but please link back to Tynga’s Reviews so more people can join the fun!
• You can set your post any way you want, simple book list, covers, pictures, vlog, sky is the limit!
• I am posting Stacking The Shelves on Saturdays, but feel free to post yours any day that fits you.
• Visit Tynga’s Reviews on Saturday and add your link so others can visit you!

• Visit other participants link to find out what they added to their shelves!

BOOK HAUL

I would like to say that I did really well and didn't add to my already huge pile of books to read.... but I'd be lying. Therefore without further ado ..........

For Review

Won

Thanks to Goodreads First Reads & Bloomsbury

Purchased

Free from Amazon

 

*My apologies, I had Defiance by C.J. Redwine on my list of freebies. I was mistaken. It is released 28th August 2012 and was not offered for free on Amazon. *

 If you want to know anything about any of the books, just click on the cover and you'll be taken to their Goodreads page. =)

 Leave me a comment and share the goodies you got this week, I'd love to know! =)

Friday Book Blogger Hop #5

This hop is hosted by Jen from Crazy for Books, Thanks Jen!

This weeks question:

Who is your go-to author when you are in a reading rut?

I haven't really been in a rut this year, but I've started reading a different genre of books this year so that might be why. I use to go for a light read prior to this year, and that was Sophie Kinsella. 

What about you? Leave me a link to your answer or post it in the comments! I'd love to hear your answer. =) 

WWW Wednesday #5

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?

• What did you recently finish reading?

• What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

 I'm still reading One Breath Away from last week, but I have recently started Grace Unexpected which is a chic lit/humourous novel and is so far sounding pretty good. 

What did you recently finish reading?

I finished an ARC of Throne of Glass which I really enjoyed and my review can be found here. 

What do you think you’ll read next?

Oh that's a hard one. Depending on how I fair with uni and if I finish my 2 current books over the course of this week then I will probably finish Stormdancer and one of the other ARC's. Unless something in the pile of books that I have accumulated over the past couple of weeks catches my attention.

Please leave a comment with your WWW Wednesday. I'd love to hear from you! =)

***If you want to learn more about the books, please just click on the covers. It will take you to Goodreads. =)