Thank You

Only a few hours to go before we say bye bye to 2014 and hello to 2015 and I just wanted to make a tiny note to you all.

It's a small note, but it's important to say it. Thank you.

Yes, I know that's a bit of an anticlimax but it's true. You guys are awesome and I want to say thank you. Thank you to the publishers who think my blog/opinion is good enough for their books and invite me to bookish events and say "Do you want to read this? We'll think you'll like...". Thank you to book shops and coffee shops for making me buy books and read them while I panic over if I ordered an extra hot skinny latte or a hot chocolate with all the works. Thank you to you guys for reading my blog &/or following my twitter/facebook/Goodreads/etc. Thank you for the book blogging community for chatting to me about books and making me discover new books/eBooks. Thank you to my family and friends who have to deal with me going "I can't right now. Am reading/blogging/am in London for bookish reason". And thank you to my other half (who I know will never read this) who has to deal with all of this and yet, still loves me because of it.

And who hasn't started a bonfire with all my books. (In case you are reading this, my other half, you dare touch my Harry Potters, I will destroy you in one form or another...)

There is too many of you to thank, but I do mean it when I say thank you. This year with my blog has been a bit harder than normal (there was one or two things I did think "Maybe I should just quit. This is no fun anymore...") and am still here, blogging in my little corner of the Internet, enjoying the fact I'm changing the blog up.

Yes, changes are a-coming. Slowly (this is me we're talking about).

Again, I just wanted to say thank you for staying with my blog, liking my blog and everything else that comes with this blog. I hope to get better with reviewing and reading and everything else blog-wise and real life-wise. Now, I will leave you so you can enjoy the New Year in and I will... well...

WILD BOY Launch Party!

Last Thursday, I was very kindly invited to the launch party to Rob Lloyd Jones's Wild Boy. And, like the true pro I am, I didn't take any pictures of the invite! In fact, the only pic I have is a photo of Saint Paul's on my way back to the tube station (because after two small glasses of white wine and a pint of beer on a stomach lined with no real food since 2pm, this seemed like the most sane thing to do!)

So, in a small lovely bookshop near St Paul's Cathedral (Daunt Shop, if you want to know), a group of family, friend, publishing people and bloggers join together to celebrate the publication of Wild Boy. And as you know from my review, I loved this book (if you haven't read my slightly gushy review, here you go!) and kinda want a sequel/need the BBC to turn it into a family evening TV show (come on! It'll be so good!). So, yeah... I loved this book.

And I got invited. Which is awesome so thank you Rob and Hannah for Walker. Thank you! It was so nice of you to invite me to this evening. Even though on the day in question, I was in work clothes/shoes so you had no idea who I was as my Twitter picture is of converse trainers....

So, the event itself was so much fun. It was nice to meet people I have chatted to on Twitter/email and meet them face-to-face. It was cool to finally meet Rob and try not to act like a stalker and beg him to sign my ARC (I didn't so you guys can breath a sigh of relief as he hasn't put a restraining order on me). And I met new people!

I FINALLY met Hannah from Walker Books who is always lovely when I email her questions and I remet Sean from Walker and they talked/ordered me to read Patrick Ness soon (PROMISE!) and chatted about Doctor Who, Firefly (a show I have never seen but *SHHH!* don't tell anyone!) and a few random TV shows from the past (what happens in Daunt Books, stays in Daunt Books). I met the lovely Kim Curran, author of Shift for Strange Chemistry, and we chatted about her book and I realised that I have completely got the book wrong (basically, I thought it was one thing when, actually, it's something cooler so guess what I'm going to buy on my next paycheck?) and she said how long it took to write her first draft of Shift's sequel, Control, and... OH MY GOODNESS! I met Non, Catnip Books editor, and we chatted very briefly about music (we both LOVE music!) and Stephanie from Usborne, who said she loves my tweets (are you feeling alright? You love my random tweets of cats wearing hats and me sobbing over Fictional Boyfriends?) and I met fellow blogger, Hannah from My Book Journey and our chats about books must have got us some looks (because we are that awesome). I, also, met James Dawson again (but it was a flying visit as... well... [should I really be telling you this?] he got off the wrong stop and accidentally gatecrash another event...)

This is a small "thank you" post. I'm not that awesome to write about Rob's very warm and very funny speech (because I have completely forgotten what he said). Although, Rob, we might need you to tweet a pic of the T-Shirt... please!

So, thank you. THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU for a wonderful time. I feel very lucky and honored to go to these events and if I acted like a chihuahua, it's because all book people (authors, publishers, other bloggers, etc) are my rock stars so I was trying to "fit in" and "be cool", which must be a weird sight for you all so, for that, I apologise.

Now, for those of you, the wait is over. The only photo I took that Thursday night!

Surprise International Contest!

SURPRISE!!! 

As you are probably aware from the sidebar that I have gone over 100 followers/friends/spammer/whoever you are. I have also got a stupid number of people following me on Twitter and a tiny number of Pinterest and Goodreads (I'm very picky on Goodreads, I've noticed). So, as a small thank you for following me on this weird journey of reading, I thought a thank you was in order. So, here is a international contest to win £13 British Pounds of books from The Book Depository!

Yes, I know £13 is an odd number but as we are in 2013 (and 13 is my lucky number), seems a good number to pick for this contest!

To enter, you must fill in the form below. That's it really. The contest will close at 3pm UK time this Sunday (10th February) and then I will be emailing the winner the news that they have won and asking for what books they want. So, my lovelies. Enter and good luck!

Oh, if you are unsure if The Book Depository ship to your country, PLEASE CHECK BEFORE YOU ENTER.

Good luck everyone!!!

MY FIRST EVER INTERNATIONAL CONTEST!

You read that right! After how ever many months of me going "I'm Going To Do An International Contest soon...", "Still Soon" and "Right after I eat this Orea Cheesecake" (one of my old work chums makes the most amazing Oreo Cheesecake!), I am finally getting my finger (and credit card) and to give you guys this contest as a small thank you for reading my blog, chatting to me on Twitter and general making reading and review a fun (yet at times, hair raising) experience. And I wanted to give you all an Easter treat...

So, what am I giving away? Well, I am giving you £15 of books through the Book Depository, as they will ship books to most places ROUND THE WORLD (if you're not sure if they ship to you, quickly go there now and check. If they do, BRILLIANT! You can enter!).

And what you do with the £15 (or what that equals up to in your local currency) is up to you. You can order a book that you are dying to read, get a book preordered, get the book that's linked to the latest movie, get a different country's version of a book you love or treat yourself to a book that's not available in your country...

I could list books that you might like or want, but I won't. The list will be long and there's no point as, if you win, the choice of whatever book you want (within the price range) will be yours!

So, if you want to enter, check if The Book Depository to see if they send books to your country, fill in the form below, and good luck! The competition will close on Easter Sunday at 9pm BST (so, after the UK [and I] finish watching Once Upon A Time]). Again, Good luck and thank you!

EXCITING NEWS!!! (aka MundieMoms Did What?!)

I AM VERY EXCITED! VERY VERY VERY EXCITED! And I was VERY HAPPY late Tuesday night & throughout the whole of yesterday. Why, I hear you ask. Well, because of the image below.



I AM ON MUNDIEMOM'S AFFILIATE LIST!!!

I told a few people about this and I just got blank stares, but to me, this is a HUGE deal! Not only is my little (slightly insane) blog on another blog's affiliate list, but it's a huge blog site that I ACTUALLY use and love (I discovered them while I was reading the Mortal Instruments trilogy as it was called back then!), but I am on a list with other blogs that I love and have huge respect for like Fallen ArchAngel, Girls in the Stacks and Wondrous Reads!

I can't tell you how thrilled and honoured I am about this! I just want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to MundieMoms for thinking my blog is WORTHY enough to be put on the list!

Well, actually, I think I should take a small paragraph to say thank you to every book blogger who I met, tweet, and facebook for all the advice, book excitement and general making me feel like I'm not the only book addict in the world. Thanks guys! You are awesome!

Anyway, because of MundieMoms putting me on their affiliate list, I was asked if I had a Blog Button. I didn't so after manic tweeting about ideas, HTLM coding & advice (must thank Iffath from Love Reading X who helped ALOT, but also thanks to Jennifer from Fallen ArchAngel, Mitali from Alley Of Books & Jeremy from Novel Thoughts!), I HAVE A BLOG BUTTON! YEAH!!! So, if you want it on your blog (if you want), you can have one!

Now, I wanted to show you the image I used and the image I was considering using, but after asking twitter, I decided against it... But again, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!