15 Years of Harry Potter

Bit late to say this but, this Tuesday just gone (26th June), Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone had its 15th Birthday (and I celebrated it being at Warner Bros Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter - pure fluke but an awesome one at that!). But to celebrate this, UK publisher Bloomsbury is looking for the Biggest Harry Potter Fan in the UK and Ireland!

In a letter that must be no more than 50 words (quite strict on that!), entrances must write why they LOVE Harry Potter. But, saying that, Bloomsbury is looking for creative so you can  draw, doodle or illustrate. BE CREATIVE ABOUT YOUR LOVE FOR HARRY POTTER!

Then, with your letter, you then post it in a special postbox that will be found in your local bookshop or library (or you can go to the website - http://harrypotter.bloomsbury.com/harrypottercompetition - and find your nearest. You can also go to the site and download the form, though this isn't compulsory). And that's it. You've entered.

Now, the prizes. The winner and 14 runner-ups will win a special edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It will be leather-bound, signed, dedicated and numbered 15th Anniversary of the book.

But the winner gets something extra special. The winner will win a family holiday to go to THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER at Universal Studios Resort in Florida!

I am entering this myself (If I didn't, what kind of fan would I be?), so the competition was opened on Tuesday 26th June and will close on Tuesday 31st July (Harry's and JK Rowling's birthdays, if memory serves me right...) and, of course, the winner and all the runner-ups will be revealed on Saturday 1st September...

To everyone who has entered or who is going to enter, I will you all the best of luck!

Books And Their Theme Songs - Volume 12

Another two months have gone past and more books have attacked the blog. And with the books, there has been music! I do hope you like the music and what book each have attached themselves too (some are easy reasons why. Others are... well... they have no reasons). I hope you enjoy them!

A CONFUSION OF PRINCES by Garth Nix
"Titanium" by David Guetta ft. Sia
INSURGENT by Veronica Roth
"Minds Without Fear" by Imogen Heap and The Dewarists & "Breath of Life" by Florence & The Machine


HEART-SHAPED BRUISE by Tanya Byrne
"For You" by Angus and Julia Stone



THE MATCH IN THE TANK by Edward Hogan
"Too Close" by Alex Clare



WITCH EYES by Scott Tracey
"Think About It" by Melanie C & "Lies" by Marina And The Diamonds





PRETTY GUARDIAN SAILOR MOON by Naoko Takeuchi 
(Guest Review for Portrait Of A Woman)
"Heart Skip A Beat" by Lenka

GLASS HOUSES by Rachel Caine
"Shut Eye" by Stealing Sheep


THE GODDESS TEST by Aimee Carter
"Alice (Disney Remix)" by POGO



WHISPER OF SOULS by Michelle Zink
"Riverside" by Agnes Obel

GoodRead - Whisper of Souls

When I found out that Michelle Zink had written ebook Novellas, I got excited (like Emma from Book Angel Booktopia). And when it was revealed that these three novellas were linked to her Prophecy of the Sisters trilogy, I was intrigued. I've only read the first book in the trilogy, and I do have copies of the rest of the trilogy and Michelle's newest novel, A Temptation of Angels, which I plan to read over the summer or fear Emma's wrath...

But with these novellas, all being released over a three week strength (by the time you read this, Amazon should hopefully have this and the second eNovella, Mistress Of Souls, out but Amazon has been a bit slow on releasing these) so it will keep you Prophecy of the Sisters fans happy till the final book, Circle of Fire, comes out in paperback.

In this, a prequel to the series, follows Lia's and Alice's mother, Adelaide. A human portal to the otherworlds, Adelaide is slowly losing her grip. With the souls and their leader, Samael, grow more restless, wanting to come through to cause chaos and wreck havoc. And if Adelaide gives in to her urges, her two daughters will suffer the same curse...

I love eNovellas where you spend money (£1.99) and you get what you've paid for. I have a huge issue when you spend money of an eNovella or short story and, within a few clicks, you've finished (as you guys are probably aware). With Whisper of Souls, it was a good meaty eNovella, that I stretched out over 2 days.

Maybe I over-hyped this in my head, but oh, how I slipped back into this world. I fell in love with this story. I just loved this story. Maybe it was because I slowly fell in love with Prophecy of the Sisters (though I haven't read book 2 or 3). But I loved this prequel of sorts, explaining what happened to Alice and Lia's mother.

I loved this, and I can't wait to read the second eNovella in the series, Mistress of Souls.

GoodRead - The Goddess Hunt

Last week, I reviewed The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter and called it a candy floss read. So, after reading this, I jumped head first into this ebook novella, The Goddess Hunt, which takes place in the middle of Goddess Test and Goddess Interrupted.

A trip to Greece sounds the perfect way to past the time for Kate while she's away from the Underworld and Henry. Expect she finds herself in the middle of a feud that has lasted for millennia. Castor and Pollux has been running away from Zeus and Hades's wrath. And the last person they should trust is Kate, the new Queen of the Underworld. But she wants to help them. But will she succeed?

Before I go any further, I want to talk about the cover. When I first saw this on Amazon, I was kinda scared of it. Doesn't she look a bit like a zombie? This isn't the model's fault as this is the same model used on both The Goddess Test and Goddess Interrupted covers, and if you look at the pictures used in the Goddess Interrupted trailer (see below), there are other pictures that they could have used. Unless they are using one of them for the cover for the third book in the series...

This is a fast read. I read it within a few hours. And this is very much a filler story between book one and book two. With fans of the first book, we read some chapters from Henry's point of view, which is very useful for me as I didn't really relate to him while reading book 1. So, while I still don't get why Kate is in love with him (I mean, seriously?! Am I the only one who thinks that Kate is suffering from Stockholm syndrome?), I felt like I understood him better and could relate to him a bit more.

But I got the feeling that this was written after book 2 as, at the end of Goddess Hunt, there was a tiny extract of Goddess Interrupted, and it wasn't mentioned. All that was mentioned was "You got us lost that one time...". And I sense that Castor and Pollux won't be referenced in the books again.

But I did like this. And I attacked the UK publishers, Mira Ink, on when the third book in the series (and the next ebook novella, The Goddess Legacy) will be out. And they told me that the third book will be out in April 2013. 2013?! That might be hard as this could be most people's replacement for their Twilight Saga addiction...

GoodRead - Elemental

I randomly came across this on Book Probe (hi Braiden) while trying to find his review of Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff. Though I’m pretty sure I have seen the first book in the trilogy, Storm, on Goodreads through other book bloggers wanting to read it. But it was reading Braiden’s review of Storm and he mentioning that there was a prequel, Elemental, did I decide to treat myself to both these on my kindle.

Emily Morgan keeps her powers of being an air Elemental a secret. She knows what happens to people who flaunt their powers. As she works on a summer job, she gets in connect with Michael Merrick, an earth Elemental. He could level cities and cause earthquakes if he wasn’t careful. Which makes him sexy. And extremely dangerous.

But they get drawn to each other. And Emily’s family don’t just want Michael to stay away from Emily. They want him dead.

Now this is a prequel that’s set 5 years before the events of Storm takes place, so it was really a taster – a teaser – of what this series is about. And I really liked it. It was a fast read and, though I read it over two days, when you think how much time I spent on it, it was only really an hour. Maybe even less than that.

This is a set up story where we get to feel out what it’s like to be an Elemental. I’m pretty sure Storm will tackle this further (and yeah, I have it on my kindle so I know what I’ll be doing next time the UK gets a thunderstorm!). I do like this story and I can’t wait to find time to read Storm!

Not much of a review, I know! Will try harder next time...

SMILE - Teddy Bears

My thanks to Fell From Fiction's tumblr! A little joy of a tumblr!

FrostFire Blog Tour

I have news for you! I'm taking part in the FrostFire Blog Tour! Frostfire written by Zoe Marriott is going to be one of THOSE books that most book bloggers are going to get excited over after the awesomeness of her previous novel, Shadows On The Moon. I am ashamed to say I haven't read Shadows (I told a few bloggers this and the looks I got from them was... well... they weren't kind...) but I do fully intent to read both these books soon. 

So why am I telling you I'm taking part in this tour when, normally, I slip them in on the sign of the blog? Well, today, all the bloggers taking part are revealing what FrostFire's book trailer looks like... Just to wet your book lust... Enjoy! 

GoodRead - The Goddess Test

When the lovely peeps at Mira Ink asked a while ago if I wanted to read the second book in the Goddess Test series, I was excited. But I had to admit to them that I hadn’t read the first book in the series, The Goddess Test. So, very kindly, they gave both books and told me to read them when I can as they had seen pictures on Twitter of my To Read pile...

Fast forward several months later and, while I am reading a heavily intense novel, I grabbed the Goddess Test, needing something extremely light and fluffy to break the tension...

Kate Winter’s mother is dying. Her dying wish is to return to her home town, Eden, and Kate is willing to do anything for her mother. So when she comes to Eden, she sees something impossible happen. She saw a young man, Henry, bring a dead girl back to life. Claiming to the be the Greek god, Hades, Henry offers Kate a deal. He’ll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests...

If she succeeds, she will become a goddess, immortality and become Henry’s wife. If she fails... her mother will die, and that frightens Kate more than she thought possible...

Now, before I go any further, I want to stress something really important. I like myths. I do, and I’m pretty sure most of us here know most Greek myths. Now, I want to say this: if you are expecting Aimee Carter to stick to the myths, then you are in for a nasty shock. She modified each myth to set the story which she is writing. If you’re expecting a heavily-laced book filled with Greek myths, then you better put it down and walk away. You have to accept that this book is a YA romance and... well... is a bit of a candy floss read.

I say this in the best way. Fans of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga and Julie Kagawa’s Iron Fey series will love this series. It’s one of those books they (and I) sat down with and lose you, making this book become addictive reading. It’s one of those summer books you can read on the beach. It’s perfect for this time of year!

Of course, there were a few things I had problems with. The main problem I had was Henry. He’s not your typical love interest – seeing as he is God of the Underworld – but he felt flat at times. No real emotion at times you expected them. But, you are writing a God so I will let it slide for now...

But I really liked this book. Perfect summer reading that will distract you from the sport. Will attack the sequel, Goddess Interrupted, soon me thinks...