RSM

So, you're all probably (or hopefully) wondering what RSM is... and if you follow me on Twitter, I might have mentioned this but... I'm taking a month off blogging. I am going radio silent on my blog And it's during he month of May. Hence, Radio Silent May (or RSM for short). Now, I imagine you're all reacting like this:

But I'm pretty certain you guys are reacting like this:

So, the story (yes, there is a long-winded story). Last year, I was reviewing books for the blog and I thought I was being... well, quite negative. I wasn't. I was going through a patch where all the books I read/review (whether I bought them in real book form/Kindle or review copy) in which none of them made me happy/bouncy. And I wanna read books that get me excited or make me continue reading into the wee hours of the morning. Those are the reads I want. So, I decide to take a month off reviewing books. And of course, sod's law happened and a read a ton of books I loved. So I changed it to being March or May that I would take my break for reviewing. And then I remember Clockwork Princess was coming out in March so I decided that my month off will be May. Which is perfect as it's my Birth Month so... I CAN RELAX! But then, in January of this year, I decide to take the whole month off from blogging. The plan was to keep the Smile posts up and do a theme week to keep you guys on your toes. But I thought "I want a break. I don't want to visit my blog every Monday to tweet/facebook what I'm doing.." so it became the month off from ALL BLOGGING!

Now, I sense some of you guys going "THIS IS IT! HE'S QUITTING BLOGGING!" and will do this to my Twitter/this blog post:

I AM NOT QUITTING! I'm not. Sometimes, a break does wonders (from school, work, life, etc) so why should a blog be any different? I'm afraid that, if I keep going, I will end up hating the blog and will stop altogether. And I think you and I (and this blog) have got a few more miles in us, haven't we?

So, my time off will be spent reading and I am going to review these books in June (oh, you are going to hate me by the end of June!). I just want to ENJOY reading the books without this fear of deadlines. And one or two of them are LONG reads so... yeah... So I disconnected my Twitter to my Goodreads so when June comes, all the reviews shall be surprises!

So, yes...  Sorry to spring this on you! Sorry for the shock. I wasn't sure I could write this posr without it going gushy (hence the GIF attack!). But, I am going to make it up to you now. This should cheer you up and, hopefully, make you forgive me when I return in June. Hopefully.

Now that I made it up to you, there's nothing more to say but...

SMILE - Authors Are ...

Source: bookfessions.tumblr.com via Andrew on Pinterest

DAMN RIGHT!!! 

My thanks goes to Pinterest (again). For the whole list of From Book Confessions, here's the link on Pinterest and here's the link to their tumblr. Enjoy the booky madness!

Books And Their Theme Songs - Volume 17

Yes, it's back again. Just when you thought I was going to kill this, another Book and Their Theme Songs post pops up. For those of you new to this, while I read books, I usually listen to music so this is my way of showing you what I was listening to while I was reading. I do hope you enjoy the songs.

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green
"Enjoy The Ride" by Morcheeba and "Breaking the Ice" by the NewNo2. 

WILD BOY by Rob Lloyd Jones
"The Spell That Left A Curse" by TheNewNo2. 


DEMON EYES by Scott Tracey
"Lies", "Living Dead" and "Power And Control" by Martina and the Diamonds & "Lena Run to Ethan" by TheNewNo2.





CLOCKWORK PRINCESS by Cassandra Clare
"Not Now But Soon" & "Lifeline" by Imogen Heap



FOLLOW ME DOWN by Tanya Byrne
"Follow Me Home" by Sugababes and "End of Night" by Dido

GoodRead - Follow Me Down

As you guys know, I kinda love Tanya Byrne. She's one of my fave authors from last year. And with her debut, Heart-Shaped Bruise, it was one of those stories that got under your skin and made you question the book long after you finished it. And after meeting Tanya twice (once last year at Foyles and the other a few weeks ago linked to the Essex Book Festival), I'm surprised she hasn't put a restaining order against me.

So, of course, when the lovely Sam from Headline told me at the Essex Book Festival event that she had sent me an ARC of Tanya's second novel, Follow Me Down, you can imagine how excited I was. And after reading my secret read (review for that book coming soon-ish), I dived into this...

When Adamma Okonma move from New York into England, she's a bit unhappy. She's moved away from her friends, her boyfriend, all because her father is Nigerian diplomat. So when her family put her in Crofton College, a boarding school in the middle of nowhere, you can guess her reaction. So when she meets Scarlett, she begins to think things are looking up. But Scarlett is secretive, wants to be center of attention, runs away without warning. Their friendship becomes destructive. And then something comes between them, tearing them apart.

Told in two timelines - Before and After - we see Adamma become friends with Scarlett and their friendship grown then destroy itself and then we see Adamma after something unspeakable happens.

So, you're probably wondering: is this book as good as Heart-Shaped Bruise? Or is it, as Tanya feared when she was writing this, a one hit wonder?

Oh, Tanya. Why did you worry? This book is just as dark, twisty and as addictive as Heart-Shaped Bruise. And, at the same time, it is very different from Heart-Shaped Bruise. Adamma is so different to Emily Knoll, as is Scarlett. Follow Me Down is very different from Heart-Shaped Bruise as Follow Me Down has two mysteries slowly intertwine together while Heart-Shaped Bruise is a dark revenge plot. The two mysteries - what happened to Scarlett and who is Adamma romantically involved with - will have you turning the pages and will have you guessing to the last page.

I loved this. I loved how this thriller kept me on the edge of my seat, staying up late at night and guessing till I closed the book. I think you guys, who love dark contemporary thriller, need to get your mitts on this. And when you do, NO JUMPING AHEAD TO THE END!

GoodRead - What Really Happened In Peru

When news was revealed that Cassandra Clare was writing a collection of tales of fan favourite, Magnus Bane, with two of her writer friends (aka Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson), the Shadowhunter fandom explode. Plus how the stories will be released to the fan was interesting (if you are a book publishing nerd): the stories would be released through the course of the year (sometimes, two stories per month) as an eNovella and, at the end of it, the stories would be put together in one volume and released as an actual book (well... that's the rumour. Am pretty certain this is the plan for the US. Not sure of Walker Books [the UK Publishers] plans as of yet.)

So, What Really Happened in Peru. The first in these eNovella, co-authored by Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan, tells us of Magnus's adventures in Peru. It also hints at why he's banned from Peru.

Now, I need to talk honestly about this so, be warned dear readers, spoilers will fly in this. If you don't want to know spoilers, then stop reading this review.

It was a fast fun read. We got a slight insight into Magnus's life before the Infernal Devices and Mortal Instruments series. We see him playful, at his most drunk (which gives us readers the best lines - "Magnus, you were flirting with your own plate.") and him enjoying life. Very much a summer read, fun and fluffy while you're lying by the pool or at the beach.

Which, brings me to this part of the review where most of you guys will hate if you're fans of Cassandra's world. Sorry, but I have issues. Well, three, mainly.

1. Writing - I know this is co-authored. I get that, but I found the writing slightly off. It was cheeky and fun, like Magnus. But as someone who has recently read Clockwork Princess, the writing felt different. As if Sarah wrote most of the story and Cassandra read it over, added a few details and that was it. This is my problem. It felt odd for me to read a character created by one author and yet written by another.

2. The story. It felt glossed-over. Which is odd for me to say that as there are times when reading I wish for more glossy read but this felt too slick, too rushed. We saw Magnus in Peru 4 times and these took place at different times and over last different lengths - one story was one mortal summer and it lasted only five minutes reading time and a second took several months/year and it took most of the eNovella. Why couldn't we have 4 eNovellas, each going more in-depth over his adventures? 

3. The ending. Right, this is why I warned you of spoilers. This point, and here is where my main issue is. The title of this eNovella is What Really Happened In Peru, which means fans should be be getting an answer to a question that has been bugging them for months/years: "Why is Magnus Bane banned from Peru?" The eNovella didn't answer this question. It gave a paragraph at the end, saying Magnus was banned for "crimes unspeakable" and he didn't know what these crimes were. So, the reason why he is banned is a mystery to himself and to us. Sorry, but... no. No, I am not happy about this. I feel... kinda lied to. And I hate it when authors LIE to their readers. Authors, do not lie to your readers!

So, with this, I kinda tempted to say avoid. But I won't. I am going to say this instead: if you want to read this, go for it. Here's something light and fun. However, if you are going into this expecting answers, don't hold your breath. If you are expecting answers, then hold onto your money for the time being.

The Book Sacrifice YouTube Tag

I saw this #Tag on YouTube as I follow GingerBookNerd (aka @JeffreyWest as I know him on Twitter), and after watching this video, I went and watched the original and a few of the people who replied (videos will be below this paragraph) and I knew I had to put this on my blog. I just knew. So, watch the videos to understand what I am about to do...

Watched them? Ok. So, basically, we all have books we hate. Yes, even us book bloggers. We are only human. So, we have 4 situations and we have to sacrifice a book to save ourselves.

Please note that this is meant to be fun and sharing our dislike over certain books as we ALL have a book that we CAN NOT STAND! So, please, don't take this serious and if I answer with a book you adore, don't bash me as this is MY OPINION.

We good? Ok. Let's do this!

1) An Over-Hyped book: Let's start this off with a Zombie Apocalypse! Let's say you're in a book store, just browsing, when BAM! ZOMBIE ATTACK! An announcement comes over the PA System saying that the military has discovered that the zombies' only weakness is over-hyped books. What book that everyone else says is amazing but you really hated do you start chucking at the zombies knowing that it will count as an over-hyped book and successfully wipe them out?!

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. Just... I don't know how to explain why this book would save me from zombies. But it would. I mean, breathable gel. BREATHABLE GEL! And then, after the whole book, we don't get the answer to what the lost symbol/word is! (and all I have now in my head is a scene from the Waking Dead but in a library. ZOMBIES READING!)

2) A Sequel: Let's say you've just left the salon with a SMASHING new haircut and BOOM: Torrential downpour. What sequel are you willing to use as an umbrella to protect yourself?
Out of all the question, this is the toughie! I don't want to go to my Goodreads and look up sequels that I give only one or two stars over, because that's cheating and I want my answers to be my first answer. The book that pop into my head straight away. And, after a lot of thought, my answer to this is Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix. This is the third book in the series and why I really like the series (I think my review of the final book in the series, Lord Sunday, is on the blog somewhere deep in the past when I was just making this up as I went along), I pick Drowned Wednesday because of one reason and one reason alone. I never finished the book. I got a few chapters in and I just lost interest. No idea why. I just fell out of it. I am planning to read it sometime this year but yeah.. this would be my choice. But I doubt it would save my new haircut as, the UK publication is quite small (that or I have a very fat head/brain). 

3) A Classic: Let's say you're in a lecture and your English teacher is going on and on about how this classic changed the world, how it revolutionized literature and you get so sick of it that you chuck the classic right at his face because you know what? This classic is stupid and it's worth detention just to show everyone how you feel! What Classic did you chuck?

As some of you are aware, I don't really read classics. And I have this "fear" of classics (let's not go there, shall we, dear reader?). So am torn over this answer between my answer and another classic I recent read a few months ago. But my answer for this is The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis. It's just the Christian overtones. It feels like it's been forced down your throat. And let's not go anywhere near the sexism issue I have...

4) Your least favourite book of life!: Let's say that you're hanging out at the library when BAM global warming explodes and the world outside becomes a frozen wasteland. You're trapped and your only chance for survival is to burn a book. What is the book you first run to, your least favourite book of all life, what book do you not fully regret lighting?

I don't even need to think about this one! Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell. I know this is a fairly thin book so this won't keep me warm for long (I really should grab The Complete Works of Shakespeare or Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke as they are THICK!) but oh, this book! The main issue I had with this book (as some of you are aware) is the overuse of the word says. He says this. She says that. There are other words than says!

That, in a weird twisted way, was fun. I think we should be more open about books we dislike or don't get along with (wihout bashing it to Kingdom come). If you want to do one of these your own, please do so. You can blog it or vlog it (I would say vlog it so we see your beautiful faces! I didn't as my camera scares me!) and link it to any of the vlogs above or my blogpost.

There's one other YouTube Tag I wanna do for you guys. Not sure when I'll do that, though, as it needs patience and time for it. I wanna show a LOT of photos in that one...

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!

SMILE - That Feeling When You Finish a Book...

Source: lol-sotrue.tumblr.com via Andrew on Pinterest

You have no IDEA how many times in the past 12 months I've had this feeling!

My thanks to whoever uploaded this on Pinterest. Now, for the final time, if you are on Pinterest and want to follow me, click the link in the side bar and it will take you to my Pinterest boards!

GoodRead - The Art Of Up

As you guys probably know from my previous review of The Art of Finding Nemo (review here, if you fancy a quick read), I adore Pixar movies. And one of my faves is Up. I adore the story, the meaning, the music (how can you not listen to Married Life and not cry?!). I seem to be going through a "Must Read Books About Art" phase at the moment because as soon as I saw this, I knew I had to have it. It was one of those impulse buys that I did with no one going "You're spending your money on that? Is that wise? Surely you should be saving for your future...?"

Yeah, I bought it without anyone knowing till it was too late.

So, The Art of Up is exactly what it says on the cover. With a foreword from the director, Pete Docter, the author does short write-ups per the few chapters that this book have. Which means most of this book is art and design of the movie and, after reading The Art of Finding Nemo, it was very interesting to read the difference of how these movies were created (although I know most people won't buy both books and will only buy or read one of them). And yes, I drooled over the art and the sketches that started and known what it was turned into. And I understood why the characters were drawn the shapes they were...!

I loved it. I did enjoy reading this and it made me want to watch the film again (this was the same after I read Finding Nemo and I do have plans to watch them soon...)

So, if you are a Pixar fan or a fan of the movie, then you might want to give this a look...

GoodRead - Among The Nameless Stars

Another day, another eNovella review. And this time, it's the prequel to For Darkness Shows The Stars by Diana Peterfreund, Among The Nameless Stars (can I just say how I love both titles? Just saying).

Before Kai returned to the North Estate, before Kai left Elliot behind, before he joined the Cloud Fleet, Kai wandered, trying to make a better life for himself. But what he discovers isn't easy nor better...

Compare to the other eNovellas I have reviewed the last few weeks (but read in one week), this is quite a meaty read. It took around two days for me to read, whereas the others took just one day. I think it is, unlike the others that I have either read or I know the plot of the series ok, I knew NOTHING about For The Darkness Shows The Stars. All I know that it is a re-imagining of the Jane Austin novel, Persuasion, and as I haven't read or seen an adaption of this, I know NOTHING. So I just went with this prequel.

I enjoyed it. It was meaty and dark (and you guys know how I like my dark reads) and free (I love when authors write extra content then give it to their fans for free!). And it will give information to fans of the For Darkness Shows The Stars information about Kai. And there was chapters! I love eNovellas when they have chapters - makes it much easier to pause from reading and take a breath.

You didn't need to have read For Darkness Shows The Stars to enjoy this. So, you can read this to see if you liked the author's writing style. I quite enjoyed it, so will I get my hands on For Darkness Shows the Stars or its soon-to-be-released companion sequel, Across The Star-Swept Sea? I am tempted, though I'm not sure which. A re-imagining of Persuasion or a re-imagining of The Scarlet Pimpernal? We shall see... but I am going to keep my eye on this author...

Catching Fire Teaser Trailer!

Last night in the USA, the teaser trailer for Catching Fire was revealed. And, of course, the fandom exploded! It kinda reacted like this...

So, have you seen it yet? If not, it's HERE!



AND THIS IS THE TEASER TRAILER, PEOPLE! THE TEASER! Just imagine what the real full-length trailer will be like!

I adore it. It fills me with such hope. I adore that the politic undertones are there! I love that we hear Snow talk about Katniss and him wanting her dead as she has become a threat. I love the graffiti which I missed the first few times - The Odds Are Never in Our Favor. I love how we don't see any of the victors - a very smart move so we keep waiting for the trailers and giving the fans something to look forward to. And NO SHAKY CAMERAS! It looks cleanly-shot.

My only worry is that people are going to see as a Gale-driven trailer. We only see Peeta for a few scenes and that's it. With Gale, we see quite a bit of him (but then, that happens in the book!).

Reactions guys. What are your reactions?

SMILE - Being Human Is...

Source: monster-hugs.tumblr.com via Andrew on Pinterest

My thanks to whoever put this on Pinterest! Remember, if you're on Pinterest and you want to follow me, click on the link in the sidebar. I promise, I won't say this for much longer!

MORE THAN THIS Cover Reveal

Earlier today/yesterday/outside of the Tardis, Walker Books revealed the cover for Patrick Ness's new novel, More Than This. Ready? TA-DAH!

Very different from his Chaos Walking trilogy covers. And gives nothing away! Which is fine with me because, as much as I want to read this, I want to know very little/nothing at all about this book. I want to go into it blind. And I plan to read The Knife of Never Letting Go (a book that has been in my To Read pile for a VERY long time!) before I attack this beast which is released in the UK, US and Australia at the same time in September. 

Ah, screw it! The publishers has sent me a Press Release and am going to read it. And am going to copy and paste the good bits. So, ready? Here we go... 

A boy called Seth drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments, losing his life as the pounding sea claims him. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is that possible? He remembers dying, his bones breaking, his skull dashed upon the rocks. So how is he here? And where is this place? It looks like the suburban English town where he lived as a child, before an unthinkable tragedy happened and his family moved to America. But the neighbourhood around his old house is overgrown, covered in dust and completely abandoned. What's going on? And why is it that whenever he closes his eyes, he falls prey to vivid, agonizing memories that seem more real than the world around him? Seth begins a search for answers, hoping that he might not be alone, that this might not be the hell he fears it to be, that there might be more than just this...

FORTUNATELY, THE MILK Cover Reveal!

We have a cover for Neil Gaiman's new children's book, Fortunately The Milk, and it is bright! Got your sunglasses at the ready? One... two... three...!

I warned you it was bright! And doesn't it look nuts and awesome!? This looks like one that will delight children of all ages (and yes, this does include you adult-baby folk!). Sadly, we have to wait till September. SEPTEMBER!

To tie us over, we have drawings from within the book, drawn by Chris Riddell! ENJOY!

Bloomsbury, are you SURE we have to wait till September? I want this NOW!!! 

GoodRead - The Art Of Finding Nemo

As you guys are probably aware, I adore Pixar movies. I own most of them and seen all bar two of them (I know, I fail but SOON!!!). Two of my fave Disney Pixar movies are Up (I sob every time I watch it. I'm not ashamed to admit that!) and, one of my favorite movies EVER, Finding Nemo. And, in the past few months/years, I seem to be have a thing for The Art of books on how a movie is made. I did try to buy The Art of Rise of the Guardians (a Dreamworks movie, and no, I haven't seen it yet!) but when Amazon screwed up my order, I cancelled it and saw this for second-hand so I HAD to have it. I had to. There was no thinking it over. I bought it within a few minutes of seeing it (I had to find my credit card).

So, The Art of Finding Nemo. It's exactly what the title states. With a foreword from John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton (the main two of Pixar), this shows the art work the people involved in making this movie from the beginning to the later stages. And I drooled over each and every picture, which ranged from quick and cartoony to very serious and very indepth.

And I loved it! Loved to discover how one of my fave movies was created. And I discovered several pictures that I DESPERATELY want to frame. Might ask Disney/Pixar for a print to hang on my wall. Yes, I am that sad!

If you are a fan of the movie or interested in art, this is for you. Enjoy. And remember, JUST KEEP SWIMMING!



PS - I have one other The Art Of in my stack and I will read it soon. If you're smart, you know which one I have...

PPS - THERE'S GOING TO BE A FINDING DORY!!!! *flails*

GoodRead - The Queen's Army

Another day, another eNovella review. I'm seem to be going through a blitz/binge of them lately. And why not? Am enjoying myself. Today, am going to talk about The Queen's Army, eNovella that is sandwiched between Cinder and Scarlet.

Z must leave his family. He must join the Queen's army. It should be an honor, so refusing is not acceptable. He must become a soldier for his Queen and learn to fight. Fight to the death.

Unlike most of the stories from the Lunar Chronicles, this takes place on Luna and is told from the point of view of Z, a lunar. And it was interesting. I always imagined a lunar very different from how this story depicted them. And the story itself, how a child became a soldier... that was interesting too. Though there were moments I went "That's horrible!". I believe Marissa might have touched on some of these in Scarlet but in here, we see it and there is flinching.

This helped a lot on why characters behaved the way they did in Scarlet - this is a very character driven story and this help explains things if you read Scarlet and you had questions. Now, to read this before or after? I read this after Scarlet so I was reading this going "Oh, you have no idea what's going to happen to you, do you?" and getting tense. But I knew all the info and this cleared a few things up. I do worry that if you read this before you read Scarlet, you will pretty much guess most of the plot for Scarlet, BUT you will have the histories of the characters so it's very conflicted.

If you're a fan of the series, read it if you can! You can buy on your kindle or read of Tor.com for free!

SMILE - Treats? Him?

Source: weheartit.com via Andrew on Pinterest

My thanks goes to Pinterest. If you want to follow me on Pinterest, click the link in the sidebar!

Farewell Lizzie Bennett

It's been over a week since The Lizzie Bennett Diaries came to a close. Most fans are still in shock. Most fans have gone nuts and demand a DVD (which is gonna happen - within 24 hours of the Kickstart, asking for $60,000, it got over $239,000 and had over 3,500 backers [at the time of writing this, there's 5,328 backers and a WHOOPING $358,938 has been donated!] The money will go towards the DVD production, future projects and towards everyone's salary) or for it to be aired on TV (oh, come out E4, BBC Three or 5Star! You should SO air it! And Doctor Horrible...).

And to think, this is a webshow which was made on a tiny budget and came out of a conversion between one of the creators, Hank Green (of Vlogbrothers fame), and his wife.

So... my story. I can into the series quite late. Episode 59 late. That's right. I came in when we saw Darcy. And after watching one or two episodes, I figured I had to watch the whole series as... well, why not. I "wasted" a weekend playing catch-up so, when episode 60 came out, I was up to speed and addicted. Twitter is dangerous to feeding my addiction. And while I sense some fans are curled up on the floor, going "NO! LIZZIE!", I'm going "Oh, Lizzie. The ride was fun!" So... let's throw some random videos at you. Enjoy!


"What if he's gay? What if he's a serial killer? What if he's a gay serial killer?"


"Excuse me, Lizzie..." (MY FIRST LIZZIE BENNETT VIDEO!)


"You were unaware?! Then why don't you watch my videos?!" (I have gifs for these here and here!)


"SHE TOUCHED HIS ARM!" screams the fandom while its flails!


"... and you guys didn't really think I would leave you hanging like that, did you?" (THE TIE GIF!)


"Lizzie? What are you and dear Charlotte doing in here?"

Finding Dory

As you guys know, I am a bit of a Pixar fan. One of my fave movies from Pixar is Finding Nemo. I can actually quote lines from the film (mainly Dory's), so, of course, when the rumours/the news that Pixar was going to make a sequel last year, I had mixed feelings. While I was excited, I had fears. What if the movie sucked? What if the movie screws up my love for the first movie? So, the news was revealed...



IT'S CONFIRMED! IT'S GONNA HAPPEN!

So, reactions. Are you excited or scared over this news? Or leave your fave line from Finding Nemo or best Dory line!

GoodRead - Clockwork Princess

We've FINALLY got our hands on the final book in the Infernal Devices! And with the strict embargo, the lovely Hannah from Walker Books couldn't send Clockwork Princess till the book's general release! That's how tight security was on this book and keeping the spoilers away from the fans till after the book's release!

Tessa should be happy. All brides should be, right? But having Magister's shadow looming over the London  Institute doesn't put her in the right frame of mind. He wants one more thing to complete his master plan against the Shadowhunters - Tessa. And it's not only that. There are forces within the Clave doubting the London Institute's claims that the Magister will strike soon. With allies turning heir back on Tessa and her friends, the Magister makes a move that puts lives in danger. But can Tessa defeat the man who murdered her brother? Who will win Tessa's heart - Will or Jem? And will there be a happily ever after? 

I'm going to admit this here and now: I much prefer the Infernal Devices over the Mortal Instruments (well, what I have read, which is the first three. Although, I am looking forward to the movie - the trailer of which is below!). And I enjoyed reading this as much as the previous two within this series so... will the finale live up to the rest of the trilogy?

Oh yes. Yes, it does.

It was wonderful returning to Tessa, Will and Jem and the world of Infernal Devices and finally, FINALLY, getting answers to questions that have bugged me since book one! Cassandra gives us the answers - some of which are so straight-forward, you bang your head against your palm and go "How did I not see that?!" while others you have to read and think it over before you realise that the clues were there...

The epilogue - I feel I have to write about that as I sense it will split the fandom/readers. You are going to be in 2 camps. You are either going to go "Oh, what a lovely ending" or "NO! HOW COULD CASSIE WRITE THAT?!" (that seems to be the reaction to most epilogues, I find), but to me, I am in the "Oh, what a lovely ending" camp. It just fitted (and Cassandra explains why in her "A Note About Tessa's London" bit) and, shockingly, it gives everyone the ending they want (writing this without spoilers is hard, but I sense I revealed something).

This just went perfectly with the rest of the series, and with rumours that Cassandra Clare in writing another trilogy linked to the children of these characters (as well as The Dark Artifices), we shall see if I return to the world of the Shadowhunters, but to me, this is a perfect ending to a friendship, whichever I return or not.





PS - not sure if anyone else noticed this, but there's a tiny mistake in chapter 10. In one scene, we have two chapters in a shop. A third character looks at some paintings on the wall, which is impossible as he's back at the Institute. So.. yeah... Not sure how I saw that but... yeah... bar the mistake, loved this book! 

City of Bones Trailer!

Who fancies seeing the trailer of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones movie trailer? Anyone? Well, you are in luck... 

My reactions: am actually surprised. I have watched trailers to book adaptions and loved them, only to watch the movie and go "Oh God! That was awful!". So, while I am very surprised over how good this trailer is (the CGI [the door and demons!], the accents, the "Mom, I'm coming home!"-"No, no, no! You can't come home. You understand me. You don't come home!" exchange [very Mother/Daughter] , I am going to keep an open mind over this movie till I watch it (although I do want the Infernal Devices trilogy to become a movie series. That would ROCK!). 

But there's one thing that bugs. Just one thing. The runes! OMG, the runes! There meant to be tattoos but they look like make-up and those temporary tattoos you get when you were a child! They don't look like tattoos!

GoodRead - Glitches

I got this free on Kindle. Free! And on its own! I know you can get it as one of the five stories from the Fierce Reads Anthology, but I randomly saw this on Twitter and went "I have to have it!" and managed to get it! I think I downloaded this after I read Scarlet. Am surprised I haven't read it till recently...

In this prequel of Cinder, we see Cinder as she is bought into her new family five years prior to the novel and her realising that she will never fit in with them... 

It's short! I read it over a course of a day, on and off (I was working!), and I just wanted more. I wanted to know more. I wanted to know more about this young, shy Cinder. I wanted to know more about her stepfather, Garan (who we see very little of). I wanted (and still do) want more about Adri. Oh, I have so many questions about Cinder's stepmother from reading just this eNovella, it's a bit stupid. I need Marissa to write a story about her or from point of view. 

But this was good! It set up the story of Cinder. It fed me till I could make time for Marissa's other eNovella, The Queen's Army. But these novellas are a good way for you to discover if you like the author's writing style if you are unsure on wanting to read the series. 

I did, and really enjoyed myself. And the story is free in the Fierce Reads Anthology or, if you don't have a eReader, you can read it here on Tor.com. 

SMILE - Stay In Bed Today!

My thanks goes to whoever put this image on Pinterest. If you're on Pinterest and you wanna follow me or just the SMILE board, click on the links and follow! Have an ace Monday!