"Whatever you've heard about Caraval, it doesn't compare to the reality. It's more than just a game or a performance. It's the closest you'll ever find to magic in this world . . .
Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval, the far-away, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show, are over.
But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.
Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But she nevertheless becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic with the other players in the game. And whether Caraval is real or not, she must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over, a dangerous domino effect of consequences is set off, and her sister disappears forever."
Caraval follows the story of sisters Scarlett and Tella, Scarlett is determined to go through with her wedding with a mysterious Count she has been writing letters to, yet she doesn't know his name and hasn't ever seen him. She believes this is her way of escaping the island she and Tella have lived on their entire lives and to escape from their abusive father.
Yet when she receives tickets for the Caraval, from "Legend" the master who she has written a letter two every year, her sister tells her she must go even with her wedding only 10 days away. This book has a little bit of everything, mystery, action, drama, death, romance and of course a little bit of magic. ``Even at the end I was trying to keep up with all the twists and turns not knowing who to believe. IT only took me an afternoon to read the entire book but I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope that there is going to be a sequel as there where quite a few ends left untied!
Let me know if you have read Caraval and what your thoughts are on it.
THanks for Reading, Sam x
"Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball, and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck (and her dad’s old costume), Elle’s determined to win…unless her stepsisters get there first.
Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons—before he was famous. Now they’re nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but Starfield fandom has written him off as just another dumb heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise. But when she disappears at midnight, will he ever be able to find her again?
Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom." - Geekerella, Ashley Poston
Geekerella follows the story of Elle, a modern day Cinderella, after her father passes away she is left living with her step-mother and twin step-sisters. With a less than happy home life Elle uses her blog as an escape, writing about her all time favourite TV show Starfield, which she is a major fan off. When she finds out teen heart throb Darien Freeman has been cast in the lead role Carmindor, she is less than impressed and you bet she is going to write about it. The book alternates between Elle and Darien, Darien also a huge fan of Starfield himself is worried he's not going to do the role justice, especially when he reads a blog post criticising the casting which has got thousands and thousands of views. Both will be attending ExcelsiCon, a convention started by Elle's father, Darien to promote his role as Carmindor and Elle who is determined to enter the Cosplay contest, and well you'll have to read the book to see what happens when the two bump into each other.
I really enjoyed reading Geekerella is captures the feeling of being part of a fandom/s and attending conventions and manages to keep it realistic all whilst capturing the nostalgia of the cinderella story where all so familiar with.
Geekerella is released on 4th April in the UK, you can read more about the author Ashley Poston
here, and more details about the book
here.
Thanks for Reading, Sam
"Carys and Max have ninety minutes of air left.
None of this was supposed to happen.
But perhaps this doesn’t need to be the end…
Adrift in space with nothing to hold on to but each other, Carys and Max can’t help but look back at the well-ordered world they have left behind – at the rules they couldn’t reconcile themselves to, and a life to which they might now never return.
For in a world where love is banned, what happens when you find it?"
The book opens with Cary and Max, they have had to abandon their space shuttle and are adrift in space, with no way back to the ship and with only 90 minutes of air left. The book flicks back forth retelling the story of how the pair met and what led them to being on board the ship and them counting down the minutes of air left trying to figure a way back to safety.
For me this is the best book I have read this year, at its heart it's a love story, of forbidden love. Carys and Max have met and fallen in love in a world that doesn't allow settling into committing relationships until you are established at age 35. As we follow the story via their memories we read how they met, the ups and downs of their relationships as they broke guidelines and how it led them to where they are now.
I read this is one sitting, I couldn't help it as much as I didn't want the book to end, with the counting down of the minutes I kept turning the pages having to know what happened. I thought the ending was very well done and unique.
I highly recommend reading this book, and if you already have let me know what you thought of it. You can purchase Hold Back The Stars
here.
Thanks For Reading,
Sam x
"Fiction is the best kind of reality"
Bookishly Ever After is the first book from the Ever After trilogy by Isabel Bandeira. This is a book about a girl, Phoebe Martin who loves books, and as I am a girl who loves book what a great thing to read about. Pheobe or "Feebs" is a full on fiction fan girl who takes her love life and flirting advice from her books (who doesn't ;) ) in particular she looks to her heroine Maeve from her favorite book 'hidden' who as well as being helpful for love life advice is also a skilled archer just like Feebs. Her friends tell her fellow band member Dev has a crush on her initially she doesn't believe it and well you'll have to read the book yourself if you want to find out what or even if happens between them.
I thought this was a really cute book and it was nice to see a main character who was unashamedly different really into her knitting, archery, band, and of course her books. The excerpts throughout the book from 'Hidden' were a nice touch as well.
For me the books starts of a little slowly but once it got I enjoyed reading it and will definitely be checking out the next installment when it is released. If you interested in reading Happily Ever After you can check it out
here.
Thanks For Reading
Sam x
The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama; and yet its inhabitants are troubled. Sergeant PJ Collins hasn't always been this overweight; mother of two Brid Riordan hasn't always been an alcoholic; and elegant Evelyn Ross hasn't always felt that her life was a total waste.So when human remains are discovered on an old farm, suspected to be that of Tommy Burke - a former love of both Brid and Evelyn - the village's dark past begins to unravel. As the frustrated PJ struggles to solve a genuine case for the first time in his life, he unearths a community's worth of anger and resentments, secrets and regret.Darkly comic, touching and at times profoundly sad. Graham Norton employs his acerbic wit to breathe life into a host of loveable characters, and explore - with searing honesty - the complexities and contradictions that make us human.
I'm a fan of Graham Norton, and so when I saw he had released his debut novel I thought it was worth a read. I have to saw I really enjoyed this book. Set in Duneen, a small Irish Village, the novels centres around a set of bones found on a building site in the village. We meet Sergeant Collins, who at 53, overweight and with having no lasting relationships feels he has become a bit of laughing stock, we follow him as he tries to deal with his first murder case, as well as the arrival of Detective Superintendent Dunne from Cork who has taken control of the case. We follow the story from person to person as more details of the case emerge and the secrets of the villagers are set to be revealed.
It may be a crime novel but I don't feel that is what draws you into this novel, Norton has done a great job at setting up the scene of village life and you get drawn in by the characters and their secrets and more importantly how they react and how they cope when their secrets are revealed. Overall I thought this was a really good debut novel and I hope their are more fiction books from Graham in the future.
If you're interested in reading Holding you can buy it HERE.
Thanks for reading, Sam
So Christmas is fast approaching, and if you're anything like me then you probably haven't bought (or thought of) a single present. Personally I like to leave my shopping until at least the beginning of December, I like going late night shopping when all the decorations are up the get in the festive mood. So if you're struggling for ideas I have cobbled together a few book related gifts that have caught my eye this year, which will be good for the book lovers in your life.
- Book Voucher - National Book Tokens can be spent in thousands of bookstores as well as online
Price : from £5.00
- Personalised Book Mug - For combining two of life's simple pleasures, reading a good book and having a nice cup of tea.
Price: £9.99
- Book Subscription Gift Box - Get a hand-selected wrapped book delivered to the person of your choice. You can choose between 3,6 or 12 month subscription so if you're feeling generous you can have a book delivered once a month for a year. The Willoughby book club have many options to choose from, so you're sure to find something suitable.
Price: Start at £29.99
Book tote bag - A tote bag is a handy gift for anyone but if you can find one with a good quote on even better, The Literary Gift Company have a good range of book related totes I particularly like the Neil Gaiman one (pictured below):
Price: £6.00 (for one pictured)
Book Quote Print - If you know a quote that someone loves why not get them a print, Bookishly have some lovely ones on their website. They also have loads of other great gifts for book lovers.
Price: from £19.00
Thats all for now, I hope you have found some inspiration from the list!
"Whoever is born here, is doomed to stay 'til death. Whoever settles, never leaves.
Welcome to Black Spring, the seemingly picturesque Hudson Valley town haunted by the Black Rock Witch, a 17th century woman whose eyes and mouth are sewn shut. Muzzled, she walks the streets and enters your homes at will. She stands next to your bed for nights on end. Everybody knows that her eyes may never be opened.
The elders of Black Spring have virtually quarantined the town by using high-tech surveillance to prevent their curse from spreading. Frustrated with being kept in lockdown, the town's teenagers decide to break their strict regulations and go viral with the haunting, but in so doing send the town spiraling into the dark, medieval practices of the past."
Being October, and with Halloween just around the corner what better time to recommend a horror book. It's not often I read a "horror" book not because I get scared mostly because I don't usually find them frightening but I had saw this novel had received good reviews and so thought it was worth a try.
Hex tells the story of a small town called Black Springs which has been haunted by a 17th Century woman by the name of Katherine Van Wyler who appears around town anywhere from living rooms to the woods scaring local residents with her horrible stench and her eyes and mouth sewn shut. The town's residents have accepted her as a way of life and observe her every move, whilst trying to stop outsiders from learning of her existence.
The book starts of calm enough however the books builds and builds getting more horrifying throughout, thing going from bad to worse to beyond. I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend picking up a copy, you can find it here, the book was first published in Dutch and according to the author's notes had had its ending changed for this English version so if anyone out there has read the original please get in touch on twitter and let me know the original ending,
You can find more about the author Thomas Olde Heuvelt here.
Thanks For Reading, Sam
So I've read quite a few books recently but there just haven't been
good books for me to recommend. I thought about what else could I write, and one of my favourite things to do beside reading is to listen to podcasts, so I thought each month I could highlight what podcast I've really been enjoying.
Recently I have been obsessed and I mean
obsessed with My Dad Wrote A Porno, currently on it's second series hosted by Jamie Morton, Alice Levine and James Cooper each week they read a chapter from Belinda Blinked written by Rocky Flintstone an "erotic" novel by Jamie's father. The term erotic is used very loosely the novel and podcast attempts to follow along with the adventures of Belinda Bloomenthal a pots and pans saleswoman, which I know might not sound the sexiest of jobs, and you would be correct, but you would be surprised by what she gets up to.
One of my favorites episodes this season is a footnotes episode featuring Rachel Bloom, bringing together two of my current obsessions crazy ex-girlfriend and this podcast. They have also had other celebrity guests including Elijah Wood, and Daisy Ridley.
This podcast is absolutely hilarious I tend to listen to it in the car on my way to work, and now can't wait for it to be Monday just so I can get my next fix. It gets me laughing out loud, basically crying to myself every time, often resulting in some funny looks from other drivers but I don't care you have to give this podcast a try, I mean it has to have had millions of downloads for a reason.
Check out the My Dad Wrote A Porno website
here, where you find out more about the podcast as well as listen to all of the episodes.
So I think it's fair to say this book has received very mixed reviews. The thing is this is just the script for the play and so you can't really expect to read it the same way you can with a novel. The good thing is is your a Harry Potter fan which I most definitely am, the your already familiar with the characters and the world they live in so you can more fully immerse yourself in the world. I don't necessarily think you have to have read the previous novels to enjoy this(not that I understand why you wouldn't want to) as I think the story can be seen as a standalone novel but of course the back story helps.
Obviously I imagine being lucky enough to go and watch the play would be 1000x times better than just reading the script, however that really isn't an option for me and I imagine many many others, who like me haven't got the money, and don't live in London so at least we have the script and get a feeling for the play and the story.
Of course for Potter fans this is a nice extension to the story we all love, we get to catch up with the families, see whats everyone is up to and how the years have treated them since we left them 19 years ago! For me I enjoyed reading it, its quick to read and I loved the few hours I got to spend back the world of Harry Potter.
Let me know if you have read Harry Potter & The Cursed Child and what you thought about it, and don't forget to leave me your book recommendations.
Thanks For Reading,
Sam
"Evie Snow is eighty-two when she quietly passes away in her sleep, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. It's the way most people wish to leave the world but when Evie reaches the door of her own private heaven, she finds that she's become her twenty-seven-year-old self and the door won't open.
Evie's soul must be light enough to pass through so she needs to get rid of whatever is making her soul heavy. For Evie, this means unburdening herself of the three secrets that have weighed her down for over fifty years, so she must find a way to reveal them before it's too late. As Evie begins the journey of a lifetime, she learns more about life and love than she ever thought possible, and somehow , some way, she may also find her way back to her long lost love . . ."
I'll start of by saying I am a big fan of Carrie, and have been subscribed to her youtube channel ItsWayPastMyBedtime for years. She comes across as such a nice genuine person, not only can she sing, and act and be an all round talented person it turns out she can also write a really good book.
On the Other Side is the first fiction novel from Carrie Hope Fletcher, and follows the story of Evie Snow as she finds she is unable to enter her own heaven, following her as she tells the secrets she has kept during her life and by unburdening her secrets, with a little of magic for help, will lighten her soul so she can enter her heaven.
Like I said I love Carrie and so I had high hopes for this book, and I wasn't disappointed, It is a charming novel with a love story at the heart which after reading will give you that warm fuzzy feeling. Overall definitely worth reading and a good debut novel, and a perfect easy read for over the summer.
Let me know if you have read this book and what you thought of it, also don't forget to leave me your book recommendations!
Thanks For Reading,
Sam