Top Ten Tuesday: My Favourite Top Ten Posts

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke & The Bookish.

This weeks topic is:

My Top Ten TTT Posts!

Now this is in celebration of five years of Top Ten Tuesday, and the topic is to pick my top ten topics they have done in those five years. But it only makes sense to pick from the ones I have actually participated in. So, here it goes, here's my favourite top ten posts that I have taken part in.

The Top Ten Books I Force Others To Read

This was my FIRST Top Ten Tuesday post, so there was no way I wasn't going to include this on here. I actually struggled with the original topic, which was books I'd been forced to read. But I found it much easier to think of books that I force onto other people. This list has grown a lot since I originally wrote this post.

The Top Ten Books That Will Make You Cry

Some people don't like books that make them cry or others just can't cry when they're reading the book. I am not some people. I am the kind of person who starts sobbing as soon I start Deathly Hallows now because I know what's coming later on. I liked being able to share with you some total tearjerker books, in the hopes you would read them and be emotionally broken. Yup, I am a strange little human.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Summer TBR

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke & The Bookish.

This weeks topic is:

Top Ten Books on my Summer TBR

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she's at last returned to the empire- for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past...She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved by a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return. 

If you didn't realise this would be number one of my list then you are clearly new to the blog. Maas is the master as far as I am concerned and I will happily devour any little bookish morsel she will give me. I am desperate but scared for Queen of Shadows. Especially since when I met the author she said they aren't sending out any advanced copies. THAT MEANS BIG THINGS ARE COMING. DEATH!!!! Lots and lots of death that will probably make me cry. CHOOSE CHAOL WOMAN! Gah.... this series. I need this book. You can check out my gushing reviews of her books here: Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, Assassin's Blade & A Court of Thorns and Roses,

The Boy Most Likely by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Tim Mason was The Boy Most Likely To:-find the liquor cabinet blindfolded-need a liver transplant- drive his car into a house
Alice Garrett was The Girl Most Likely To:-well, not date her little brother's baggage-burdened best friend, for starters.
For Tim, it wouldn't be smart to fall for Alice. For Alice, nothing could be scarier than falling for Tim. But Tim has never been known for making the smart choice, and Alice is starting to wonder if the "smart" choice is always the right one. When these two crash into each other, they crash hard/Then the unexpected consequences of Tim's wild days come back to shock him. He finds himself in a situation that isn't all it appear to be, that he never could have predicted... but maybe should have,And Alice is caught in the middle.

My Life Next Door is one of my favourite books of all time, it's just so fucking adorable. Seriously, there is not better word for it. Plus it hit on topics that were hard hitting to me at the time and it made me cry. I have been absolutely desperate for this sequel ever since. Give it to me!!!

Monthly Recap: May 2015

I can't really do much of a recap on blog posts because, let's be honest, there haven't been any. I feel like I can't even call myself a blogger any more. I've posted two things in the entirety of May, which is absolutely ridiculous. I love my blog and I enjoy doing it, I'm just far too exhausted at the minute and have far less time to dedicate to it. Plus I'm struggling with other things. But I WILL get back on top of it.... eventually Just bear with me!

This month has been rather amazing for the events I've got to go to and all the amazing books I've got my hand on. The month might have been awful in every other way, but at least that all worked out. First I got to go to the filming of QI, which was absolutely amazing. I can't express just how excited and fan girly I got about the fact I was sitting three rows away from STEPHEN FRY! Oh, how I love that man. Plus I adore Bill Bailey and he was one of the guests on that day too.

My Weekly Recap: The GIANT Haul Edition

I had told myself that I was going to try my hardest to get back on top of things blog wise. I have kind of failed as of late.  (And by kind of failed, I mean epically failed!) But my job is taking up all my time and by the time I get home I just have 0 energy to do anything!

A lot of awesome things have happened since my last recap post. I got to attend the Hot Key Blogger Brunch and had a wonderful time. I came home with so many amazing books that I am slowly making my way through. I also went to the filming of QI. I got to be in the same room as Stephen Fry! It was incredible and I really hope to get the chance to go again very soon.

But the most awesome thing that happened was that I got to go and meet Sarah J Maas. I fangirled like an absolute crazy person but I couldn't help myself. I adore her and her books! They are next to HP for me and she's next to J.K. Rowling. Thanks to my sister and some wonderful people in the queue I actually managed to get all 10 of my books signed!!! I looked crazy next to everyone else. I literally had to bring a suitcase with me to carry my hardback and paperback copies to the event. Maas was absolutely hilarious and so friendly. I'm still fangirling right now.

Not blogging has helped me with my reading though, I've gone from being about 8 books behind on my challenge to being 11 books ahead. I just haven't stopped reading and I have read some awesome books. I've also read more New Adult thanks to some recommendations by Brittany, and I adored them.

My new job as a manager means more pay, which meant that I went a little bit crazy when I got my first pay check. I BOUGHT ALL THE BOOKS!!! And then I bought new bookshelves. And new shoes. And went out a lot. And just spent obscene amounts of money on far too many things. I WILL BE BETTER NEXT MONTH! I bought enough books to last me till the end of the year and then got all the review books in one go. I'm going to be SUPER busy reading wise.

 This isn't all of them, but I can't be bothered to hunt all the books down now to take a picture of them all. 

Get ready.... there's 85 books!

The Hot Key Blogger Brunch: What's coming in 2015!

On the 18th of April, I was lucky enough to be invited along to the Hot Key Books Blogger Brunch. There was absolutely no way that I was going to miss that! It was based at their offices and luckily that's only a twenty five minute train journey from my house, but I'd probably have gone even if it was the other side of the country. I adore Hot Key Books and they publish some amazing books, I couldn't wait to go and find out what they had coming up in 2015.

Photo by Zarina

I arrived nice and early and got to mingle with a few bloggers. I was attending by myself so felt a tiny bit shy and nervous*, but tried my best to make conversation with the lovely bloggers there. It was nice to meet so many wonderful people, especially when we all share a love of books. I tried to take some pictures of the event but I've been having a lot of issues with my camera recently, so most of mine came out really blurry. Luckily the wonderful Zarina over at Page to Stage Reviews has been kind enough to let me use a few of the ones she took at the event! Thank you, Zarina, you're a life saver!

*And by a little bit, I mean cripplingly shy! I am far too socially awkward and fail at small talk. 

Then we got taken through from reception into the main office, where we were presented with yummy breakfast food and drink. Here we had time to mingle and talk to everyone, have some munchies before heading into the boardroom. I have to say it, the Hot Key offices are absolutely stunning and I never wanted to leave. The walls were covered in gorgeous posters of some of their book covers, then they had shelves filled with wonderful books that I've either read and loved, or I am desperate to read.

Photo by Zarina

First up was James Dawson, who had a lot of wonderful things to say about blogger. He was there to talk about his new book All of the Above, which is due out 3rd September. His titles before this have all had a horror element to them, but this book moves away from that. It's a teen love story that sees a seventeen-year-old girl move from Bradford to Devon, where she has the chance to start over. She falls in love with a guy named Nico. But then has to deal with the fact she starting to fall in love with the charismatic Penny. It's a mix of prose and poetry and it sounds awesome!