I HAVE NEWS!!!

I have news to share with you! I have been sitting on this for the past few weeks, but now I have given the a-ok to talk about it! So, here we go!

I was asked by the lovely people of the South Bank Centre to moderate two YA Book Club events as part of this year's Festival of Love!

If I had more time and wasn't having a tiny panic, I would insert a gif of someone panicking. I won't as while I am very nervous over this, I am oh-so-very-excited and very honoured over doing this.

So, quick story time. Are we sitting comfortably?

Last year, I did a tiny event at South Bank Centre with Casey (from Dark Readers) and Lucy (from LucyTheReader) about blogging hosted by Andy Robb (due to UKYA Blogger Awards). And all three of these will tell you that I got quite nervous before the talk happened. But once we started, I had a blast and didn't feel nervous. It was such fun!!!

Sometimes, doing things that scare us is a good thing.

Anyway, fast forward nearly a year later, the lovely people from South Bank Centre emailed me, asking me if I wanted to moderate these two YA Book Club events. And I took my time thinking over this (only a few hours. Maybe 24 hours...) as I was going "Can I do this and do this well?"

Not sure I will do this well, but am going to try my damnedest to do this right! To discover new stories and authors, discuss topics that these stories tackle, and see how other readers react (as reading and blogging is very sole thing).

So, yes! I am doing these two events and I am excited! The first is Saturday 9th July and the second is Saturday 20th August, both at 3pm till 4pm. You can get more details at http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/young-adult-book-club-97784!

BUT WAIT, I hear you type, WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING?!

Well... that is up to you guys. South Bank Centre will, in the next few days/weeks, tweet a poll of three titles. The title that wins will be the book to read. The second poll (for the August Book Club) will be sometime in June or July. (I've seen the list of the shortlist of books and we can talk OH SO MUCH about topics! Not saying what but OHH! We are going to get our teeth into these books and it will be delicious!). South Bank's Twitter is https://twitter.com/southbankcentre and I will retweet the poll on my Twitter/Facebook and I will be doing a lot of shouting.

Plus, if we have time in the first event, we might be able to talk about YA in general, I hope. Or blogging. If not, I will lurk outside for a while before running away and power reading next month's read!

But we shall be reading and chatting. Again, I am thrilled/honoured/terrified over this and I can not wait to get started (and again, thank you South Bank Centre for asking me).

#MurderMonth - Have I Failed?

I feel like I failed Murder Month.

I can't believe I typed those words and that am still typing. But I have said I would try and be more truthful on my blog and I feel it would be wrong to lie to you, dear reader. So, let me explain why I feel like I failed this themed month.

I know I haven't. I been reading/audiobooking stories that have a crime/thriller/mystery element within them since March. So I haven't failed. I worked my backside off to make this month the best I could try to be. And I tried really hard.

But after reading The Ersatz Elevator and Dead to the World, I just hit a wall. I hit a wall where I wanted to read, but I didn't want to read another murder. So, I took a tiny break. I read Sarra Manning's London Belongs To Us (which I am review in a few days time). This wasn't part of the plan, but I needed a break. I needed something light and fluffy. And I read this very fast so I thought "OK, I've had my reward. Now, I wanna read this book/that book/etc..."

And I have one very long list of books I want to read. I have them on Pinterest. I mean, look!

See. I had books. Loads. I had a plan of a few I wanted to read because other bloggers told me they were amazing. 

But I just couldn't settle. Nothing I picked up kept me. I started with Career of Evil, but stopped after 50 or so pages as I struggle with Robert Galbraith. Don't ask - it's a weird complex reason. Ok, not that - what about The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason. Couldn't get past first 3 chapters. Ok, try... nope. What about... nope. 

Nothing I could settle on kept my attention. I don't think I am in a reading slump as I started listening to the audiobook version of Chasing the Stars by Marlorie Blackman and I became hooked on that. 

Ok, I hear you dear readers say, maybe you hit a wall and had your fill on crime. What do you think you failed this themed month? 

Because I had this idea that this month was going to be filled of reviews and ideas on crime books. I wanted to push myself and to give you new, exciting, different stories. And I don't feel I have. 

Because of this, I feel like I failed. 

Ok, I know I haven't failed. I know this. No one is saying "You failed, Andrew!". Only I am doing that and I know I shouldn't. I shouldn't. Blogging is a hobby - a full time job of a hobby - but I want to do the best I can for this blog and for you guys. 

Ok, am going to stop now. Yes, I feel like I failed but I haven't. I'm going to keep trying to do the best  I can for this blog and, hopefully, keep enjoying myself. Once the fun is gone, that's when am going to stop blogging. 

But until then... 

#AwardUKYABBloggers - WINNERS & RUNNER UPS!!!

The voting closed and now, we have wonderful winners and delicious runner-ups! So, who fancies seeing who want what?

Best Adult Blogger

Winner – Michelle - Tales Of Yesterday

2^nd Place – Jim – YAYeahYeah

3^rd Place – Sally - The Dark Dictator

Best Teen Blogger

Winner – Amber - The Mile Long Bookshelf

2^nd Place – Lucy - Queen of Contemporary

3^rd Place - Georgia Dalton - TeenBookHoots

Blogger Spirit Award

Winner – Michelle - Tales Of Yesterday

2^nd Place – Viv - Serendipity Reviews

3^rd Place - Lucy - Queen of Contemporary

Best Male Blogger

Winner – Jim – YAYeahYeah

2^nd Place – George Lester

3^rd Place - Andrew – The Pewter Wolf

Best Female Blogger

Winner – Grace - Almost Amazing Grace

2^nd Place – Michelle - Tales Of Yesterday

3^rd Place - Miriam - Hello I Am Miriam

Best Team / Co-op Blog

Winner – Serendipity Reviews

2^nd Place – Bookish Brits

3^rd Place - The Big Book Project

Marvellous Blogger Award

Winner – Grace - Almost Amazing Grace

2^nd Place – Michelle - Tales Of Yesterday

3^rd Place - Luna - Luna's Little Library

Best Overseas Blogger

Winner – Cait - Paper Fury

2^nd Place – Jamie - The Perpetual Page-Turner

3^rd Place - Lili - Lili's Reflections

Best Booktuber

Winner – Lucy - Queen of Contemporary

2^nd Place – George Lester

3^rd Place - Stevie - SableCaught

Best on Social Media

Winner – Michelle - Tales Of Yesterday

2nd Place – Mariam - Hello I Am Mariam

3^rd Place - Jim – YAYeahYeah

Best Oldtimer

Winner – Amber - The Mile Long Bookshelf

2^nd Place – Viv - Serendipity Reviews

3^rd Place - Lucy - Queen of Contemporary

Best Growing Blogger 

Winner – Michelle - Tales Of Yesterday

2^nd Place – Virginie - Chouett Blog

3^rd Place - Chloe - Writer-On-Wheels

Best Newcomer

Winner – Jo Clarke - Booklover Jo

2^nd Place – Hannah Ha - Ninjas Reads Too

3^rd Place - Cintia – Reflectionofthebooks

Best Blogger Feature

Winner – 6 Degrees - YAYeahYeah

2^nd Place – Secret Serendipity Seven & Blogger Island Books - Serendipity Reviews

3^rd Place - Looks on Books - Casey Ann / Dark Readers

The 2016 UKYA Book Blogger Awards in numbers:

Something like 30hrs+ were spent backstage putting the awards together.

More than 100 nominations were put forward…

28 UKYA Bloggers made the longlist

33 UKYA Bloggers were on the shortlist

Over 2600 votes were cast in 14 categories

There were 16 lovely helpers and 1 host

On the 30^th May at 6pm (that’s tonight) there is 1 epic Book Lover / Awards Twitter Party and you are all invited!

#bookloverparty #awardukyabbloggers

Aditi @ A Thousand Words A Million Books

Amy McCaw @ YA Under My Skin

Andrew @ The Pewter Wolf

Annalise @ AnnaliseBooks

Aurelija @ myblinddatewithbooks

Chelley Toy @ Tales Of Yesterday

Chloe @ Writer-On-Wheels

Cintia @ Reflection of the Books

Emma @ Howling Reviews

Georgia Stencel @ The Books Bandit

Jesse @ thatjessebloke

Kaavya @ outlookonabook

Kaisha @ thewritinggarnet

Rachel Kennedy @ Ya-bberingBooklover

Rebecca @ Rebecca McCormick’s Authorial Blog

Virginie @ Chouett

See you at the Twitter celebrations tonight! 

A big thank you to all the helpers:

I hope you enjoyed the 2016 UKYA Book Blogger Awards. 

Murder Month #re3 - Dead to the World

Yes, this is still a Murder Month post. I never said anywhere that I would't go back and reread/relisten to a story if the mood takes me. And you can blame Megan from Reading the Days Away for me going back to Dead to the World.

Now, if you haven't read my first review of Dead to the World, you can click on here and have a snoop. This is a relisten (aka a #re3) so I won't go too far in depth with the story.

Instead, let's talk about my experience with this.

I forgot how addictive Charlaine Harris can be. With Fool Me Once audiobook, it took me nearly 2 weeks to listen to just under 4 hours. With Dead to the World, it barely took me 3 days. I just got hooked into this world and the way Johanna Parker read Sookie. For me, the reader is quite important for an audiobook and Johanna just got the story.

However, the story itself might not come under Murder Month. There is a mystery with Sookie's brother, Jason, vanishing and while the mystery does take place over the course of the book, it's really Sookie's reaction and struggle to cope.

But with a memory-loss vampire, Eric, needing her protection and help, it doesn't take much of Sookie's mind as she believes the witches who hexed Eric are the same people who kidnapped Jason so the stories do run parallel until the end.

This is a fun read, and I do want to read more Sookie Stackhouse, but after trying (and failing) Fool Me Once audiobook, I just wanted something fun. And I did. It was good. Now I feel the itch to read/audiobook another Charlaine Harris *eyes the Midnight series (actually, I reviewed the first audiobook in the series, Midnight Crossroad, a few years ago...)

Murder Month - The Ersatz Elevator

I didn't think I could slip this book into this month. Which I was fine with. But when I researched this series randomly on Wiki, it said this series comes under Mystery (as well as gothic fiction, absurdist fiction & steampunk) so here it is.

After the events of The Austere Academy, the Baudelaire children are moved to 667 Dark Avenue to live with their new guardians, Jerome and Esme Squalor. But Violet, Klaus and Sunny know that Count Olaf will find them and will try to steal their fortune. But with friends in dire danger and no way to save them, what can the Baudelaire orphans do?

This is an odd book. The Austere Academy is the book in the series that really kicks off the long running mystery that the series has, and The Ersatz Elevator hints to little titbits that might solve the mystery of not only the mysterious deaths of the Baudelaire's parents, but also to Lemony Snicket himself.

But this is a book that falls on old patterns (if it aren't broke, don't fix it, right?) and while this is good for a younger reader (target audience is middle grade), for someone in their very VERY late 20s (I heard that snort of laughter), it feels a bit repetitive.

But, weirdly, I like this book a lot more than The Miserable Mill and The Austere Academy. It felt a little meatier, and because of the new developing mystery, I wonder if this is why. Because now it feels like the series is going somewhere and is adding new twists and characters that makes me think Lemony Snicket knows what he's doing, rather than just repeating the plot...

If you're a fan of the series, you can't skip this one. It introduces characters and ideas that, I hope, are important to the series. But if you haven't read this series, start at the beginning with The Bad Beginning and see how you go...

Murder Month - Mystery and Mayhem

When I first heard of this collection of short stories, I was intrigued. Plus, this was when I actually started planning Murder Month (as in getting books/ebooks/audiobooks at the ready) so when I saw this on NetGalley, I couldn't resist requesting and holding for the best. To my surprise, I was approved (I'm not great at NetGalley books) so I started within a 48 hours of approval.

12 authors. 12 short stories. 12 mysteries to solve. Can you solve the crimes before the detectives do...?

Am going to keep this short as I don't want to go too in-depth as this is a collection of short mystery stories and I didn't make that many notes of these, but this feels perfect for middle-grade (oh, how I dislike this term! No idea why but I do) readers who enjoy reading mysteries.

And as this is a collection of stories, this is a cool way for readers to discover new authors and series (I believe three of these stories are connected to book series, published by Egmont and other publishers).

However, as this is a collection of short stories, this is a mixed bag. Some stories will grab your attention and others won't. It will depend on you and your tastes - some stories will just click with you, while others won't.

This sat in the middle of the road with me. Some of the stories just worked and I devoured, while others I just skimmed. But this is the nature of story collections.

#AwardUKYABBloggers 2016 - LONGLIST!

WE HAVE A LONGLIST! WE HAVE A LONG LIST!!! It's getting exciting now, isn't it?! 

Luna wanted to say thank you to all her little helpers (makes us sound like elves to her Santa. I'll take that. So, excuse me a few moments...) 

Aditi @ A Thousand Words A Million Books

Amy McCaw @ YA Under My Skin

Andrew (HEY! THAT'S ME!) @ The Pewter Wolf

Annalise @ AnnaliseBooks

Aurelija @ myblinddatewithbooks

Chelley Toy @ Tales Of Yesterday

Chloe @ Writer-On-Wheels

Cintia @ Reflection of the Books

Emma @ Howling Reviews

Georgia Stencel @ The Books Bandit

Jesse @ thatjessebloke

Kaavya @ outlookonabook

Kaisha @ thewritinggarnet

Rachel Kennedy @ Ya-bberingBooklover

Rebecca @ Rebecca McCormick’s Authorial Blog

Virginie @ Chouett

Voting for the SHORTLIST is via Luna’s Little Library who is hosting the UKYA Book Blogger Awards this year. Just follow this link here http://wp.me/p2oSQx-3Vy (this is due to some techy problems last time, so it's just easier all round to go to Luna's site and vote. 

The voting closes on Friday 27^th May 2016 (SO VOTE! GO ON!)

Don’t forget to share the love by using the hashtag #awardukyabbloggers on Twitter (or on your Facebook - WHY NOT!) 

So, 26 UKYA bloggers made the UKYA Book Blogger Awards LONGLIST year (am confusing myself but from what I understand - Lunda can correct me if I am wrong - this longest covers all the categories and these got verifiable votes but not enough to make the short list). So, basically, your vote COUNTS A LOT! GO TO THE SITE AND VOTE LIKE HECK!!! Oh, the links below are to the peep's Twitter (bar one, which I couldn't find for love nor money so that link is to their blog... Hope that's ok!)

UKYA Book Blogger Awards LONGLIST

Annalise - Annalisebooks

Ben - Benjaminoftomes

Beth – Bibliobeth

Charli - To Another World

Dani Reviews Things
Debbie - Snuggling on the Sofa

Denise - The Bibliolater

Emma - Howling Reviews

Hollie -  Hollieblog

Holly - Lost in a Library

Huriyah & Nalisha - SugarQuills 

Jenny -  Wondrous Reads

Jessica - Paper Utopia
Julianne - This Fleeting Dream

Kaisha - The Writing Garnet

Katie - queenofteenfiction 

Maia - maiaandlittlemoore 

Miss Meira Dee

Nicola - Nicola Reads YA

Olivia Mitchell – Rewrite This Story 

Rachel Kennedy - Ya-bberingBooklover

Rebecca - Rebecca McCormick's Authorial Blog

Rita - Weaving Pages

Sanne - booksandquills 

Sarah – Feeling Fictional

Sophie - So Many Books, So Little Time

Stacey - The Pretty Books

YA Fictionados

Good luck everyone! And remember...!

Murder Month - Lying About Last Summer

As soon as I heard this at the Scholastic Blogger Brunch, I knew I had to read it as soon as it came out, and with the thriller vibes I got off it when it was being described, I knew I had to read it sometime within this month.

Last summer, Skye's sister died. Her parents think sending Skye to a holiday camp for beggared teens will help her move on with her life. Move forward.

And, at first, the camp's not the bad. Yes, there are some people there that Skye dislikes and some of the activities remind Skye too much of her sister. But then the text messages start. The texts that can't be possible. As they sent on an messaging app, in a private group. And only two people know the passcode for the app. One is Skye and the other is her sister...

Is her sister talking to her? Is she really dead? Or is someone at the camp playing a cruel and sick game with Skye?

As you guys are aware, this is my Murder Month where I read books that have a crime/thriller/mystery element to them. And while this book does have a thriller/mystery element to it, what this book does really well is explore grief. Grief is a subject that some books, I have found, tackle very badly. Not all, but some. And as someone who has gone through grief/is going through grief (depending on how you look at me/it), it's refreshing to see a book that looks at grief and shows that every person goes through this very differently. We have several characters who are going through this and each character is going through it or is coping with it differently. This is refreshing to see.

The book itself is very interesting. There's something addicted about this book, and I can't put my finger on what it was that made me speed through. The writing was strong and the mystery over the mystery texter made me suspect every person about the camp. No one was safe from the "Who Doing This?". When the truth came out, I was surprised over it. I didn't see it coming.

This book, while keeping me on the edge of my seat, did have one or two problems. There was one storyline that I saw coming, and was surprised over how the characters missed it. Yes, I get they (and us) are caught up with the mystery texter, but I couldn't help getting annoyed over how not aware they were. Because of this, I wasn't the biggest fan of the final few pages. It could have been a little bit more meatier, I feel. Either more in depth or just an extra few pages.

I did find this an addictive read, and I can't wait to see what Sue writes next.

Murder Month - The Leaving

I remember Bloomsbury asking if I wanted to read this, and there were two reasons why I went yes. The first was the tag line - Six were taken. Five came back" and the second was the fact that this book was described as a must for We Were Liars fans. Even the author, E. Lockhart, wrote a tiny piece for this book on the cover (you might be able to just see it...)

Eleven years ago, six five-year-olds were taken without a trace. But eleven years has passed and five of them are back. They're sixteen and they are... fine. They are dumped in a playground in the dead of night and the five have to find their way home.

Scarlett returns to a house with a mother she barely recognised. She has no memory of what happened to her the past eleven years. But she remembers Lucas. Lucas remembers Scarlett too - but both can't remember anything from the past eleven years. They remember nothing.

And they or any of the others remember Max - the sixth victim. He hasn't come back and everyone want answers. Including Max's sister, Avery.

This is an interesting thriller. I sped through this and found it full of twists and "Wait! What?" moments. Once I found my stride (which was very quickly), I couldn't put this book down. It remembered me very strongly of We Were Liars. Both books tackle the issue of memory and ask "Can we trust our own memory?" and "Should we trust the narrators?" - something both authors do really well.

The story is told from 3 points of view: Scarlett, Lucas and Avery. Both Scarlett and Avery have unique storytelling techniques while Avery is the most straight-forward. This is the show the difference in what the characters went through.

And it was interesting to have each character see the aftermath of the disappearances and the re-appearances for themselves, even though Avery lived through it. It makes the characters interesting and complex.

The mystery was gripping. I really wanted to know why Scarlett, Lucas and the others couldn't remember what happened to them and why they only seem to remember one image. This is what kept me going forward. I had to know! And with Tara adding more and more twists, it more I wanted to know why.

I do have problems. Two, to be precise.

The first was how certain elements of the book were tackled. These kids have been missing for eleven years and yet, barring the start of the book, the media seems to nowhere to be seen. No one had to deal with journalists banging on their front door, trying to break it, phone hacking. There was very little of something I am sure the news outlet would crave. Plus, some characters acted not how I expected when their child returns to them after eleven years. Tiny elements just felt off and not true, somehow.

The second is the resolution. It's got to split readers. Some will get it and understand. Others will not and maybe feel checked. I'm somewhere in the middle. It makes sense to me and I get it, but I wish there was something more to it. I feel like it missed something. Maybe a reread is in order so I can see if I missed clues! But like I was saying, the ending is very much a Marmite ending - you either going to love it or hate it.

Though I sense this isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, I found this a gripping read and believe fans of We Were Liars will devour it!

Murder Month - DNFing Fool Me Once

If you know me or my blog well, you guys know that I hate DNFing books/ebooks/audiobooks. Hate it so much. And with this themed Crime/Thriller month, I didn't want this to happen. I didn't want to DNF anything. So, the fact I DNF an audiobook I got for review is just... well... makes me feel like an awful book blogger.

But, like I have said in the past, audiobooks are my experiment reads. I always seem to want to try new things out on audiobooks in the past few months so it's lethal when Leanne from Midas emails me about upcoming audiobooks from Audible...

I have never read Harlan Coben before. But after I read the synopsis of Fool Me Once and watched the book trailer for it, I was very intrigued. It just sounded right up my street.

For those not aware of this book, Fool Me Once, Maya has just buried her husband. She has a two year old daughter and she suffers from PTSD from her days of being special ops. So when a friend gives her a nanny cam, Maya just takes it to please her friend. But early one morning, Maya checks the nanny cam, and sees something that isn't possible. Her dead husband playing with their daughter...

This screams that I would have liked it. A thriller where you can't be sure what's fact and fiction. Something that screams twists and turns. So, where did it go wrong? Why, after nearly four hours, I went "I have to stop"?

It's a mix of things, which reminds me that even though I like a genre, I'm not going to enjoy reading all the books within that genre.

The first thing is that I am not use to a slow thriller. I like my crime/thriller books to have pace, to have a hook. And this felt lacking. It was too slow paced for me.

Because of the pacing, I found myself getting bored very easily and had to push myself very hard to return to the story. This was my huge problem - I need a reason to return and that wasn't there.

I probably now sound nit-picky, but Maya, our lead... I had huge problems with her. I see what Harlan was trying to do. He wanted Maya to be an unreliable lead - like what we see in The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl. He wanted us to mistrust her judgment. But I had issues with her. She wasn't likeable and I never warmed to her. And I never thought "Is this real?" as I think the story was told in third person. If it was told in first person, I think it would have kept my attention for longer.

Also, there were times I couldn't help but wonder. Did the author write this story with a male lead and then, either very late in the writing or in the edits, decided to change the lead's gender?

I have to say this again: I listened to under 4 hours worth so this isn't a review. So, why, WHY are you writing this post, I hear you cry? Because I don't want to lie and go "Look at all the cool crime books I read". I want to show you guys that I tried to be braver - try and push myself as a reader and blogger - and sometimes, it worked and otherwise, it didn't.

And that's not a bad thing. Some stories will grab you by the throat and make you sped through to the end, and others won't. That's not a bad thing, dear reader. It's a good thing to try new things and there's no shame in reading the first few pages and going "Actually, this isn't for me."

Murder Month - The Blue Violet

And now for something a little lighter in this month of murder, we jump into the world of Wells and Wong in this short eNovella, The Case of the Blue Violet. Instead of being a case of murder, this short is a story about a letter...

Daisy Wells, President of the Detective Society, writes this tale where one of the Big Girls in their school - Deepdean School for Girls - asked Daisy and Vice-President of the Detective Society, Hazel Wong, to help over a very puzzling romantic mystery. Which should be easy - Daisy and Hazel have solved three murders, after all...

I have to admit that this is quite short and is a filler for the series (this takes place between the third and fourth books in the series, First Class Murder and Jolly Foul Play). So fans of the series will like this a lot as it's a quick teaser to fill the time between books.

What fans will like about this short is that, while the mystery is gentle and perfect for younger readers (and after all the very adult-heavy crime I have been reading - this was hugely refreshing!), but this tale is told from Daisy's point of view, and her voice is hugely different from Hazel, who writes the novels. She's much lighter compared to Hazel, less serious and is more impulsive. I can see what Robin Stevens wrote this short over mysterious love letters from Daisy's point of view, rather than Hazel's, who is more suited for the seriousness of murder. Daisy's voice would be far too jarring.

This is probably a good taster for new fans who want to try and see if they like this series. And this is very much a fan story.

However, if you are an older reader, you might find this far too light and fluffy. But you might want to check out the series as this does tackle murder and the plots are fiendishly clever. I have two to read and I can't wait to get start.