July Reading Round-off

Well I honestly don't know where July vanished to. Rather oddly it feels like I'm already in the third week of the holidays when technically I only finished work last Friday O_O I'm guessing it's because I'm doing my voluntary work at the library that my brain is so mixed up.

But anyway this is going to be a fairly succinct round-off for the last month of reading. I know I've said I will do reviews for at least the YALC books I read this summer and I will honestly try but best laid plans and all.... Dude I frustrate myself with my apparent lack of will to do the things I say. Maybe I will get them done and then I can link them from here, who knows what'll happen?

July's Reading
65. Dead Romantic by C.J. Skuse (2/7/2014 PM)
66. Take back the Skies by Lucy Saxon (3/7/2014 AM)
67. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas (4/7/2014 AM) *RE-READ*
68. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (4/7/2014 PM)
69. Scorpia Rising by Anthony Horowitz (6/7/2014 PM)
70. Lobsters by Tom Ellen & Lucy Ivison (7/7/2014 AM)
71. A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clarke (10/7/2014 PM)
72. Heart-shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne (17/7/2014 PM)
73. Glimpse by Kendra Leighton (19/7/2014 AM)
74. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski (19/7/2014 PM)
75. Persuasion by Jane Austen (23/7/2014 PM) *RE-READ*
76. Fearsome Dreamer by Laure Eve (25/7/2014 PM)

It was a pretty good month, only two re-reads would you believe it? *le gasp* and both excellent ones because seriously guys Persuasion is just one of the most feels-provoking Austen books and well Crown of Midnight is just plain fucking awesome.

Book of the Month
Out of the clutch of really fantastic books I read last month the stand-out book for me has got to be The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski. I had heard such amazing things about it that I had high hopes going into reading. It was such a vibrant fantasy world with two very distinct cultures and people, one that had been brutally suppressed by the conquering force and the other blithely lording it over them. The main character Kestrel is the daughter of one of the conquering Generals and living in the city that her father helped capture. When she ends up buying a slave for an outrageously large sum - something very unusual for her - she finds herself in an odd situation. What will she do with the sombre Arin? It was a vastly exciting and fast-paced story and the interactions between Kestrel and Arin are simmering with chemistry. Marie has created a fascinating world that I am really hoping we'll get to explore more of in the second book. I am already wracked with impatience for March 2015. *grabby hands*

Honourable Mentions
Really though so many of this month's reads were awesome - A Monster Calls had me crying at work in the library. Lobsters was full giggles and adorkable summer shenanigans. A Kiss in the Dark was heart-wrenching and tense. Heart-Shaped Bruise was inticingly aloof and surprisingly emotional for me at the end.

Blog Stuff
This has been quite a busy month for the blog, I did three MA-HOOSIVE posts following the awesome weekend at YALC which you can find here - Saturday, Inbetween Stuff, and Sunday. 
I did a rather odd Writing Ray post after I had a slight freak-out about my book and had to be talked down of the proverbial ledge of negativity. That post is here.
I also posted over here the video I did of my YALC book & swag haul - if you want to see that
I even did a Top Ten Tuesday post this past week because the topic was kinda awesome so have a nosy at that post if you like.
Yesterday's Writing Ray post was about the awkward questions you get from family/friends if you're a writer.

So that's everything I wanted to include. I may do another Writing Ray post in the next week and I want to really try and get a review done because otherwise I'll get months down the line and I'll have bloody forgotten what the books were even about let alone what I thought of them.

Have a great Friday folks, I'm gonna have a How to Train your Dragon rewatch tonight because I'm suffering from feels thanks to listening to the soundtrack for the last three days.

Ray x

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YALC Readathon Preparations

So later this month between the 23rd & 29th there is going to be a Readathon for anyone who fancies reading some of the books by authors who are going to be going to YALC in July. You don't have to be going to the Lit Con yourself but if you are it's an excellent opportunity to make sure you have read some of their works before you meet the authors.

The Readathon is being hosted by several awesome bloggers; Jess of JessHeartsBooks (Bestie Extraordinaire), Vicky at Books, Biscuits & Tea, Carly at Writing from the Tub, and Michelle at Fluttering Butterflies. For all the deets and to sign up with your own blog post click here to go to Jess's blog where there is a linky.

For my Readathon I've got a stack of books that I'm planning to try and get through. I won't be able to spend as much time reading as I would like *shakes fist at work* but I'm gonna try my best to work through these books in the week I've got. It's a pretty good-looking pile if I do say so myself. Only two new-to-me authors but most of these have been lingering on my TBR list for a while and this Readathon will be a great chance for me to finally read them.

On the Stack
Knife Edge by Malorie Blackman
Dead Romantic by C.J. Skuse
The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher
A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clarke
Trouble by Non Pratt
Say Her Name by James Dawson
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
More than This by Patrick Ness
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

A vair nice selection no? I have a good mix of Contemporary novels, of both the more light-hearted type and also the dramatic thriller type. Plus the dystopia entry from our Children's Laureate, Paranormal from Holly and the Horror/Supernatural entry from James Dawson.

There's no fantasy in this stack but I did read Amy McCulloch's debut book The Oathbreaker's Shadow the other week. And since the sequel to this is due out around the start of July I shall have to pick that up after the Readathon.

So that's what I'm planning to read for the YALC Readathon. Do you think I'm missing anything important? I have read several other books by the authors in the pile but I am aware that there are a lot of authors going to YALC that I've never heard of before. Although there is a limit to how much I can read in the readathon and what I can schlep to the Lit Con in the Trolley of Awesome (see Jess's Instagram for context).

But check back to ze blog on the 23rd for when the Readathon starts and keep an eye on Twitter for updates during that week.

Now to get on with last minute ironing,
Toodles chaps!
Ray

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Writing Ray - Mega Milestone

So a very short while ago I finished what is currently the last chapter of my book. And I finally passed 60,000 words. Y'heard right. SIXTY mutha-effing THOUSAND WORDS! :O

Dude I know *I'm* shocked as hell. When I started seriously writing this book back in January I had very little idea that I was going to end up here in June, well on my way to finishing writing my first book. I mean WUT? I have daydreamed ideas for years and excepting my Nanowrimo attempt of 2010, never really started writing any of the story ideas I had. I have several drawers full of notebooks with odd bits of scribblings about various ideas but nothing on the scale of tens of thousands of words.

I ain't finished yet though. I have at least 25K more that I need to write and that includes the first few chapters after the prologue and some important plot development sections from the middle of the book. So no slacking off for me. If the writing gods are nice to me maybe I can get this first draft complete by the time the summer holidays start so I can spend those sunny days *crosses fingers* in my garden editing and planning rewrites, but more likely plotting for book 2.

So there's that. Also I have to say a MASSIVE THANK YOU to my twinnie/bestie/Alpha Reader extraordinaire/Primary cheerleader Jess who has been such an awesome part of writing this book so far. Without her reading my scenes when I finish them, pestering me when I'm procrastinating and motivating when I am feeling wobbly, I do not honestly know if I would be at this milestone now. I love you to bits Jess and I can't express how much I appreciate everything you've done for me.

I do also owe thanks to my lovely, lovely boyfriend, Mark who has dealt most admirably with having a slightly crazy writer-girlfriend these past six months. He has given me the chance to write guilt-free on some evenings and then made sure I did my other work on others :P He has listened to me rant and ramble about my book even though he hasn't read all of what I've done (eventually once the first draft is done he will *have* to read the whole thing). He's given me hugs after I dissolved into a sobbing mess  when I wrote the DDS and he has kept me fantastically supplied with cups of tea. Sweetie, you possibly won't see this (unless you click the link on Twitter out of curiosity), but I love you and thank you for putting up with me through this. I will do my best to get my Spacey-Wacey work done as well as finish this book :P

Ok now I need to stop faffing about with gifs and do my ironing since I go back to work tomorrow for the start of my last term working as a TA at that school and I have *nothing* to wear. :S

Thank you again and here's to an exciting June of writing, reading and HOLY SHIT TFIOS!! *prepares all the tissues*
Laters
Ray

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May Reading Round-off - ALL THE RE-READS!

Afternoon my lovelies! As promised I come to you this Saturday afternoon with my May reading post. This was a much more reading-oriented month than April since I got very little writing done until this past week. So I have a much heftier list of books to mention although I do need to disclaimer now that I am failing massively at lowering my re-read count this year. SERIOUSLY GUYS IT'S A PROBLEM! Anyhow...

Books Read in May
30. To all the boys I've loved before by Jenny Han (3/5/2014 AM)
31. The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith (6/5/2014 AM)
32. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (8/5/2014 AM) *RE-READ*
33. The Taming of Ryder Cavanaugh by Stephanie Laurens (9/5/2014 PM)
34. Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder (12/5/2014 PM) *RE-READ*
35. Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder (13/5/2014 AM) *RE-READ*
36. Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder (13/5/2014 PM) *RE-READ*
37. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead (15/5/2014 AM) *RE-READ*
38. Frostbite by Richelle Mead (15/5/2014 PM) *RE-READ*
39. Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead (15/5/2014 PM) *RE-READ*
40. Blood Promise by Richelle Mead (16/5/2014 AM) *RE-READ*
41. Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead (17/5/2014 PM) *RE-READ*
42. Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead (17/5/2014 PM) *RE-READ*
43. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (19/5/2014 PM) *RE-READ*
44. Stealing Phoenix by Joss Stirling (21/5/2014 PM) *RE-READ*
45. Seeking Crystal by Joss Stirling (22/5/2014 PM) *RE-READ*
46. The Oathbreaker's Shadow by Amy McCulloch (26/5/2014 PM)
47. Scandal's Bride by Stephanie Laurens (27/5/2014 AM)
48. City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (30/5/2014 PM) *RE-READ*
49. City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare (31/5/2014 AM)

Have you realised the extent of my problem? Out of TWENTY books I read this month, only SIX were new reads!! That is a terrifying statistic for someone who also bought something like 20 books over the course of the month O_o I really need to get better at working through my TBR pile rather than re-reading books I've not read for a few years.

Not including my re-reads it's pretty easy to pick a Book of the Month - City of Heavenly Fire wins hands down. I was up til past 2am this morning reading it (downstairs in the lounge out of respect for Le Boyf so I didn't keep him awake with the light/crying). Since a lot of folk haven't had chance to read it yet because of shitty Amazon not despatching their copies etc. I am not gonna talk more about what I thought of it. I will only say that I am now wracked with Herondale feels and have a massive craving to Re-read the Infernal Devices trilogy *shakes fist*.

Honourable Mentions go to the fabulous Geography of You & Me by Jennifer E. Smith and also The Oathbreaker's Shadow by Amy McCulloch. The latter of these two is rather pertinent to upcoming bookish shenanigans in the UK.

As you may know there is going to be the first Young Adult Literature Convention held within the London Comic and Film Con on the 12th & 13th of July. I am going to be there along with the fabulous bestie/twinnie that is Jess of JessHeartsBooks and ahead of YALC Jess and several other UK book bloggers including Carly from Writing from the Tub, Michelle from Fluttering Butterflies and Vicky from Books, Biscuits & Tea are hosting a Readathon for people to read books by authors who are going to be at the YA Lit Con. The Read-a-thon is going to be from the 23rd-29th of June and if you're interested in taking part you can sign up HERE.

I shall probably be doing a post soonish on what books I'll be wanting to read ahead of the Con so I can get things signed by ALL THE AUTHORS who I'm dying to meet. *bounces excitedly* Seriously guys I cannot tell you how flaily I am gonna be that weekend, if I get words out to speak to people it will be a miracle so advance apologies if I seem totes weird to you. (I promise I'm only like that some of the time :P)

Anyways I need to skip off (metaphorically) and get some writing done since I'm nearing a milestone on Le Novel front :D Post on that soon...

Toodles darlings
Ray

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Writing Ray - Camp Nanowrimo The Final Stretch

I started this post on Sunday but as is often expected I got terribly sidetracked and since I spent most of the weekend worrying about my uncle I didn't get that much writing done anyway. But now that there is positive progress in that quarter I was able to chill enough to the point that I could write my socks off last night.

If you were on Twitter late last night you may have noticed that I went a little mad and decided to attempt to hit my Camp Nano goal before I went to bed. I only had around 1200 words to do so I thought in the 4 hours I had it would be a piece of piss. Not quite so easy but I did it nevertheless. That's right folks at around 12:07am this morning I wrote my 15,000th word on my novel and validated it to win my first Camp Nano!

Ironically enough when I copied and pasted my  Camp work in the website's validator it actually came out saying I had 15,001 words which is enough to make one twitch and write another 99 words to have a round number back.

I do still have two days to write more if I fancy, and I might do some since I reckon I am only one or two scenes from the end of book one. I will still need to go back and do the first 15K of the book and fill in the missing 10-15K from round the middle but that is gonna be the task for between April and July's Camp.

I'm hoping to maybe have the first full draft finished over the summer so I can have a go at editing it and hell I may try and write some of the second book during November's Nanowrimo! I'm hoping to start an Open University Creative Writing module in October so I may sneakily use my novel for some of the TMAs if I can. Or simply use what I learn from the module to help my writing in general.

All in all April has been a fairly productive month, in terms of actual numbers maybe not more productive than January through March since I was less stressed about it so didn't worry about the word count so much. But still 15K is all good stuff and some of these scenes are damn important and I hope that much of it will survive to make the final draft.

Depending on what extra writing I get done over the next two days I may do a last Camp Nano post but otherwise stay tuned for my April reading round-up probably on Friday since on Thursday Jess and I are going to see FREAKING LAINI TAYLOR Y'ALL!! *flails*. That will be a post in itself since I hope to get pics of the lady herself and of all the fun shenanigans we'll have plus it's likely there will be a haul of some sort *shrugs* y'know what book bloggers are like when they get together...

But anyways have a good evening
Ray

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March/April Reading Update

What do you mean March finished over two weeks ago?!

Ack yea in the mayhem of my impending Camp Nano shenanigans I completely forgot to do a March Reading Round-off post. Not that it was going to be a long post because of course I read a mere Four books!

Seriously 2014 is going to be the year in which I potentially write a novel (I'm being optimistically pessimistic as you never know with these things) but at the same time I'm probably going to read the smallest number of books since I started recording my reading totals. It's mad I tell you. Not to mention that I have some serious End-of-Series reading to do over the next few months since Dreams of Gods & Monsters arrived today, The Forever Song is coming at the start of May and City of Heavenly Fire is due mid-May. I gots to re-read like a madwoman!

So March's reading comprised of a somewhat eclectic mix of books; a re-read of Divergent ahead of my excursion with Jess to the Movie Premiere at the end of March (which was pretty amazeballs although vaguely disappointing in that our "mingling with the stars" was limited to zoomed in pics on my phone from inside the cinema). Then came a feverishly excited devouring of Half Bad by Sally Green which I shamelessly stayed up until 1:30am reading. Two weeks passed before I finished another book - The Sum of all Kisses by Julia Quinn because I sometimes need a dose of Regency fluff.

The last book of the month was a more out-of-nowhere read - All you Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka.  For those who have never heard of this book, it's the story which the upcoming (and awful looking) Tom Cruise film "Edge of Tomorrow" is based on. Basically a young Japanese man Keiji is flung into battle against an alien foe which has been systematically wiping out the human race. Keiji is bricking it as all his friends are dying around him and he can barely remember his meagre training. He manages to kill one of the aliens but he gets himself fatally wounded in the process. As he's dying he has an odd conversation with the legendary soldier Rita (more often referred to as the Full Metal Bitch), who has killed more of the aliens than anyone else left alive. Keiji dies and then wakes up... on the day before the battle. A bizarre loop of battle and death begins that Keiji has to try and figure out how he's going to break free of it.

I borrowed my boyfriend's copy of the book since I wanted to see what the story was like after hearing le boyf rant about his disgust of what the film had done to the book. It's a really interesting story that is a fun mix of Pacific Rim and Groundhog Day with some surprising emotional undercurrents. It is quite a short book - quite literally only 200 pages long so won't take very long to get through. I really enjoyed it and if you're at all interested in seeing the film STOP - go and buy/borrow this book and read it first. Trust me you'll feel completely differently about seeing the film afterwards. Tom Cruise has no business playing an 18yr old Japanese guy and Emily Blunt (as great as she is) can't really portray a 19yr old girl. Also as a disclaimer if you don't particularly like overly sweary books, this has a metric f**kton of f-bombs :P

April's Reading so far consists of two books; Joss Stirling's most recent book Storm & Stone which was a fun mystery/boarding school/thrillerish story. And this morning's re-read of Daughter of Smoke & Bone by the ever-lyrically masterful Laini Taylor (who I shall get to meet on May 1st with Jess *flails*).

So that's what I've been reading, let me know if you guys have read anything awesome lately.
Ray

p.s. Before anyone says it, Yes I am procrastinating writing my Scene of Doom *shhh*

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Books Read and Acquired - Blog the First!

Good afternoon my chickies! Just to prove that I wasn't having a one-day burst of blogenergy I have decided that it's about time that my Youtube Channel reconnected with my blog. During my long blog absence I was still making vlogs over on Youtube, there I started doing a little thing I called "Books Read and Acquired" where on a Saturday I would plonk myself in front of my webcam and witter about all the books I'd bought/borrowed/been given and also what I'd read over the past week. My own little one-woman meme.

Up to now I've done 12 of these vlogs (occasional gaps where I've not made a video for a while) and today I thought beforehand "I should totally post this on the blog as well" and here I am. I gotta warn you these videos are usually pretty lengthy (I can talk a *lot* when I put my mind to it), so if you can make it through the whole thing then the congratulatory cookies are on the table for you *grins*. Do excuse thumbnail pouty face.

 

Books Read

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (Re-Read)

The Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

The Second Book of General Ignorance by Johns Lloyd & Mitchinson

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

*Also Re-read* Seraphina by Rachel Hartman - REVIEW COMING SOON!!

Books Acquired

The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint (From the BHF)

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (From awesome Antique shop in Alfreton)

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (From the Works)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo (From the Works)

*Not Mentioned* The Second Book of General Ignorance (Also bought in the Works)

Unrest by Michelle Harrison (From Waterstones)

Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson (From Waterstones)

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers (From Coventry Waterstones)

Slated by Teri Terry (From Cov Waterstones)

Saving June by Hannah Harrington (From Cov Waterstones)

Revived by Cat Patrick (From Cov WHSmiths)

Myth & Magic: The artwork of John Howe by John Howe (From The Works in Derby)

The Illustrated Jane Austen Library by Jane Austen (From the Works in Derby BLESS YOU) 

So there yous go! If you want to catch yourselves up on the previous vlogs then please feel free to head on over to the Tube of You-ness and watch the playlist I will shortly be creating (link).

And now I shall be dashing off to go do a prodigious amount of ironing (which seems to be almost my occupation these days). Keep your eyebulbs peeled for the Review coming later this week. I may also post any vlog reviews I did during my hiatus.

Domestically Yours

LadyV

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