Believathon 2019 - Mary Poppins

• Title And Author: Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from Prime Reading
• Length: 228 Pages

As I said in my previous post, I struggled then DNFed North Child. And because of that, it threw my reading plans out of the window. I wanted to read the Believathon group book, Frostheart by Jamie Littler. I then wanted to read my advance reader copy of Elizabeth and Katherine Corr’s Throne of Swans. I was so excited to read them. But after DNFing North Child, I decided that I didn’t want to go near these titles just yet. I wanted one or two titles, a bit left-field choices, for me to read. Something I can read fast and something I can switch my brain off too. One of these choices was the new James Patterson 19th Christmas. But the other was going to be something I can read FAST as Nanowrimo is still going on and I know that I’m not going to hit the 50,000 word as I’ve written my conclusion and am now tying up loose ends and thinking “I kinda want to write a sequel. I want to know what happens next to these characters.” 

So, when I remembered that I can “borrow” books from Amazon’s Prime Reading, I thought I would have a look at titles that I borrow and to check my memory. And I saw I could request the original Mary Poppins. So, borrowed that and started to read, deciding that this could be my last Believathon read...

We all know Mary Poppins. Disney used the original stories as inspiration for the movie, starring Julie Andrews, and we all know that PL Travers disliked the Disney adaptation so much that she demanded that no one who worked directly with the original to be involved in the sequel (hence why it took so long for Mary Poppins Returns to be made, even though both Disney and PL Travers both wanted a sequel to be made). 

So, Mary Poppins. The Bank family are desperate. Their nanny has worked out. Who will look after the four Banks children: Jane, Michael and the twins? Then, the mysterious Mary Poppins appears, as if blown in on the wind. Firm but fair, Mary Poppins brings magic into the children’s lives. But she will only stay till the wind changes…

Believathon 2019 - DNFing North Child

I don’t normally talk about books I’ve DNF. I usually have the attitude of “This is my blog and I want you guys to discover books that make you happy, so I’m going to talk about books that I’ve read that make me happy.” and “Life is too short to read books that don’t work for you” (I shorten it in the past to “Life’s too short to read crap books” as a crap book for you could be a OMFG-I-Love-This-Book read). 

But this book I want to talk to you about for several reasons. One: I was reading it for the Believathon readaton. Two: I know you guys love this books and this proves my point that you should read widely when it comes to book bloggers/booktube/etc opinions as EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT AND HAS DIFFERENT TASTES AND OPINIONS!!! And Three: this book is interesting and I can see why this book didn’t work for me but could work for you, dear reader. 

So, North Child by Edith Pattou. Or East, if you live in the US. 

Quick summary of the book before I sink my teeth into chatting about it. 

Told from several points of view, we follow Rose, an unusual girl. She was born facing north and children born facing north travel far from home and will embark on a dangerous adventure. After she and her family make a pact with a enormous white bear, Rose finds herself travelling to a myserteous castle that holds a dark enchantment… and that’s not even half the story… 

This is a weird book and proves that different countries have very different attutides. In the UK, this book is called North Child and can be found the children/middle grade section of libraries and bookshops. In the US, this is called East and can be found in the YA section. But reading what I have read, I understand why the book is placed in both sections. 

Now, everyone I know in the book blogger/booktube world really likes this book and I completely get it. The writing is solid, the story is sweeping, everything about this is good. 

And yet… here I am. DNFing it and talking about it. Why? Because everyone has a different opinion and, you know what, that’s okay. It’s fine. We can get along nicely and be friends, right?

Ok, stay with me here as I’m kinda upset that I got to this realisation of DNFing (why is it I say I will be more brutal on DNFing stuff and sometimes, I am ruthless, and other times, it breaks my heart?). Because for the first few pages, I was on board. I was there! I saw what you all saw. 

But then, around the 250 page mark, something happened and I lost it. I got bored with it. The story dragged and I just couldn’t find the energy nor willpower to read it. I was shocked that a few days ago, I was invested with this story and these characters but now, now I just couldn’t bring myself to care. I was bored, oh so bored!

Maybe it’s my mood, I told myself. It has been stressful at work and I can’t settle to the audiobooks I requested from local library or I bought months ago. I just need time. And so, I kept reading, and that feeling was still there. 

Then, the weekend just gone, I sat down to read it. I got three pages in, then picked up Twitter and, after having a chat with a fellow book blogger who was curious to read, I went “Have mine.” and I felt ok doing that. I was fine DNFing it because someone else was going to read this and love this book as it’s more up their street than mine. 

And that’s ok. This didn’t work for me, but at least I tried to read it and at least I knew when to put the book down and get out. 

Although, I got out a little late. The next book I was planning to read was linked to a book event I’m going to in the next few weeks and, because of this, I don’t feel ready now to read it so, gonna pick up something else instead.

This is why you have to do you when it comes to reading. Reading should be a pleasure, it should be fun and you have to do you. If you want to read books to the end, do that. You want to read this or that and DNF something that doesn’t work for you, do it! Reading should be fun and you should do you. 

Believathon 2019 - The Worst Witch Mini-Reviews

Sorry for my lack of write-up for my Believathon as the book I’m read (North Child by Edith Pattou) is taking a lot longer to read that I was expecting (meaning I’m not going to read the readathon’s group read - Frostheart by Jamie Littler - in time. Might try and read it over the Christmas Blog Break!). Plus, with Nanowrimo taking my time on the typing front and me listening to audiobooks that don’t really fit Believathon (so I’m putting those reviews/write-up’s up in December), I’ve kinda got myself a bit of a blog dip. 

So, SURPRISE! I have one big blog post over two The Worst Witch books! I have The Worst Witch All At Sea (the fourth in the series) and The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star (the seventh in the series). 

Hang on a moment. I need to put those blasted affiliate links up (do you use them? I’m curious on whether to keep them or only use one or two instead of four) 

• Title And Author: The Worst Witch All at Sea and The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star by Jill Murphy
• Publisher: Puffin
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from local library via BorrowBox
• Length: 224 Pages for Worst Witch All at Sea, 208 Pages for Worst Witch and the Wishing Star or 2 Hours and 5/9 Minutes 

So, with that out of the way (do those links make sense? I hope so!), let me do a quick write-up on each. 

In The Worst Witch All at Sea, Mildred Hubble and her classmates have been given a special treat: a week by the seaside. But Mildred is upset over her cat, Tabby, behind left behind, so she sneaks him with her. And with that, trouble follows. 

In The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star, Mildred makes a wish on a shooting star and, to her surprise, it comes true! A dog is waiting for her, but how is she going to keep him - Star - a secret from everyone, especially the formidable Miss Hardbroom? And with the school entering a contest to win an indoor swimming pool, you know trouble is going to come when disaster-prone Mildred is about…

Believathon 2019 - Spirit Walker

• Title And Author: Spirit Walker by Michelle Paver
• Publisher: Orion Children’s Books
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook 
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought 
• Length: 320 Pages

My first Believathon read for this month! Who’s excited?! 

So, as you know from last month, I devoured the first book in the series, Wolf Brother, most of it on the plane to New York (link to my write-up is here!). I love this world and I made a decision that I will try and read each book in the series once a month in the lead-up to the newest book, Viper’s Daughter, being published in April 2020. 

So, here we are with book 2 of the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series! 

Several months after the events of Wolf Brother, a strange sickness is creeping through the Stone Age Forest. It threatens the Raven Clan and after destroying the Bear with the aid of the World Spirit, Torak thinks he can find the cure. Word is that the Seal Clan has a cure and Torak decides to travel to them to find it…

Superpowers Don't Always Make You A Hero

SURPRISE! I have a slight curveball for you guys today as it doesn't exactly fit with my Believathon reading of children's books, nor does it fit with my Nanowrimo! I HAVE A CONTEST FOR YOU GUYS!

Those lovely people at Electric Monkey and I got chatting on Twitter recently about the third and final book in the Monster trilogy, Hero. I admitted that I hadn't read this trilogy nor the previous series this follows, the Gone series (PUT THOSE PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES DOWN!) but I wanted to do something as I know some of you guys LOVE this series. "Could I host a small contest or something for Hero?" I ask and they replied, stupidly fast, "Why not do a contest for the whole trilogy?"

So, dear reader, I am hosting a small contest where one winner will win the entire MONSTER trilogy!

Now, before I go any further, let me chat what this series is about. Set after the dramatic conclusion of the Gone series, we follow Shade who witness the dome coming down, thinking that it would be the end of the troubles. How very wrong everyone was. Shade swears to never feel powerless again and then, four years later, she finds part of the meteor that began it all and discovers that she is changing, mutating...

And that's where the real troubles begins...

Actually, let me throw this book trailer up. That might explain better than me!

So, to co-inside the release of the final book in the trilogy, Hero, Electric Monkey is letting me do a contest where one winner will win the entire MONSTER trilogy!

Now, before I go any further with rules (it's been a while since I've held a contest on the Pewter Wolf so bear with me), I do want to say that I have been told this trilogy does come with trigger warnings for violence.

Ok, now the rules/boring stuff. To enter the contest, you need to fill in the GoogleForm below. This is a UK address only contest and the contest will close on Friday 15th November 2019 at 7pm! The winner will be chosen at random using random.org, and then will be announced on Twitter. The winner will, then, be emailed by me to get their address so Electric Monkey can send them out! And don't worry - once all that's done, all info will be deleted.

All good? Any questions, pop me an tweet/email and will answer the best I can. All that is left to say is GOOD LUCK and may the odds ever be in your favour.

Believathon & NaNoWriMo 2019

Ok, so my plans for November 2019 have changed hugely from what I decided a few months ago when I was trying to get myself all organised for Christmas. 

So, the plan was to make November my NetGalley month - NetGalley November. NetGalley, for those of you not sure on the term, is a site publishers use for reviewers, booksellers, bloggers and librarians can read digital proofs/Advance Reader Copies (ARCs, if you want the shorthand) before or at release of the book. Now, I have used this site for years and my TBR (To Be Read) on it is a little out of control. I did a cull and sort out so it isn't as bad as it once used to be. But it is still out of hand. So, I did plan to do a month and tackle the heck out of it. 

Then, the announcement of Believathon came along... 

I am not going to tell you want it is as the host, booktuber Gavin will explain. But, if you want me to explain it, it's a month of reading children's/middle grade books. And as someone who reads Young Adult and is slowly branching into Adult, this sounded like fun! 

So, my reading plans have changed for November. I did read something, but it doesn't fit the themed reading month so I decided to put the review up on my Goodreads, if you want to read that! So, my month of blogging is a bare for next week or so, as I like to be ahead of self and I didn't get the chance to do so. 

And, at the same time of doing that, I randomly decided that I'm going to attempt to do NaNoWriMo this year. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is a themed month to try and write a novel. Now, it's not about being neat, it's about hitting the word count target. Now, I misremembered the number and thought it was 30,000. It's not. It's 50,000. [insert nervous laughter here]

Now, I have no plans to writing or publishing a novel (I don't think I have the thick skin to become a published author) but in my youth, I used to write stories all the time for the sheer joy of it. So, I thought now would be a good time to see if I can get back into writing. I don't plan to hit the target of 50,000. I would like to, if I can, try and hit 15,000 by the end of the month. I want to try and get back into the pattern of writing a little every day, if not on computer, then by hand. 

To help, I've decide to create a pinterest board to help inspire and hint at what I'm writing...

So, excuse me if this month's blogging goes a little by the wayside. But I might have bitten off more than I can chew. Plus, with Christmas and New Year next month (so I'll be taking two to three weeks off to celebrate), the rest of 2019 might be a bit... er... weird. Bear with. Everything will be under control and normal blogging service will resume next month or in 2020!