Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books That Will Make You Swoon 11/2/14

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists over there at The Broke and the Bookish. I'd love to share my lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

And interesting one this week, I love reading romance novels and I love to swoon over a gorgeous man or a swoon-worthy event. I have to say though, I haven't read about many swoon-worthy men very recently so I'm going to have too dredge some up in my memories to come up with my top ten today! 

1. Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. Luke Brandon-need I say more?

2. Sex and The City by Candace Bushnell. A bevy of men and accessories, definitely swoonable! 

3. The Grestest Love Story of All Time by Lucy Robinson. The title says it all really, but Dave-oh Dave! 

4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen-Mr Darcy!!!!!

5. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen-Colonel Brandon all the way! 

6. It Started with a Kiss by Miranda Dickinson. Spending a whole year searching for the guy that kissed you, definitely swoon! 

7. Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone. This love story definitely made me swoon! 

8. The Fault in Our stars by John Green. This one was just so touching, I swooned back onto my pillows on more than one occasion! 

9. First Last Kiss by Ali Harris. Oh my goodness, so much swoon! 

10. The I Heart Series by Lindsey Kelk. I swoon over Alex every single time! 

Let me know if you've swooned over these books too, or what made it onto your list of books to swoon over. Have a great week! 

Review: Bonkers by Jennifer Saunders

Jennifer Saunders' brilliant comic creations have brought joy to millions for three decades. From Comic Strip to Comic Relief, from Bolly-swilling Edina in Absolutely Fabulous to Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia, her characters are household names.

But it's Jennifer herself who has a place in all our hearts. This is her funny, touching and disarmingly honest memoir, filled with stories of friends, laughter and occasional heartache - but never misery.

From her childhood on RAF bases, where her father was a pilot, to her life-changing encounter with a young Dawn French, on to success and family, the book charts her extraordinary story, including the slip ups and battles along the way.

Review: aww what a lovely, touching autobiography! I was hooked into this book straight away and found it compulsive reading right from the first page, literally such a quick read because you feel like Jennifer saundersnis speaking to you and only you and you want to finish this wonderful conversation that you're having with this fabulous comedienne before going away and doing anything else. I actually got this on audiobook and as it is read by the author, this feeling of being in conversation with her intensified even more. 

I love the structure of this book because, like any goo autobiography which is designed to keep you entertained, it doesn't simply go over event chronologically, there are massive tangents to go off and on and she merely highlights events that were key for her, not making a massive event over the more trivial points, or the points which will make a better sale of the book. She knows her audience and knows the kind of anecdotes that they will want to hear about her relationship with her comedy partners, her husband and her battle with breast cancer. 

I have to admit that whilst I was a big fan of Jennifer Saunders before, I am an even bigger fan now! She just makes herself so endearing to hear readers and you don't even realise the amount of things she's been involved in and this book lays them all our for you, showing how much of a struggle it was for her in what was predominantly, a mans world, to make it big. She loves her friends a family and you can tell she enjoyed telling some of the tales that she told in this book, even if It was a massive effort to sit down and write it! I would recommend this book to anyone, it would make a fantastic present for someone who doesn't normally read because it is just such an easy book to get into and makes you want to get to the end before even moving again. 

Sorry this has been such a short review but it was just a lovely autobiography! 

Video Reveal! The Guesbook by Holly Martin Teaser...

Last week I brought you a cover reveal for The Guestbook by Holly Martin. I Subsequently met Holly at the Launch for Rosie Blake's How To Get A (Love) Life and she was lovely which makes me even more excited to be bringing you this gorgeous video teaser for her book. If this video doesn't want to make you snuggle down and read her book then I don't know what will, without further ado, I'll let you sit back and watch... 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqvEk6r1BZ0&feature=youtu.be

Keep your eyes on the blog for more fabulous books being reviewed next week, I've got quite a queue of them! 

Review! Who Framed Klaris Cliff by Nikki Sheehan

People used to call them 'friends' and said how they were good for your brain. And then a day came when all that changed . . . when they became our enemy.

Now, anyone found harbouring a rogue imaginary person is in for the Cosh, an operation that fries your imagination and zaps whatever's in there, out of existence.

That's why I wish Klaris Cliff had never shown up. And why I know that proving her innocence is the last hope I have of saving myself.

Review: I was sent a proof of this book to review and read it after having met the author at a fabulous event organised by the publishers. I am lucky enough to have a signed copy of this fabulous cover as well. This book wasn't entirely my taste but I think it was a well written story and such an original idea for a novel. Hearing the author talk about imaginary friends and the research she had done into this area, I could see how much work she had put into this novel. The concept that imaginary friends are banned and they're going to zap children's imaginations in order to remove these friends because they are causing havoc in society it hilarious but also terrifying. When asked about how this reflects society today, the author said that the research into imaginary friends hasn't seen any deflation in the number of children having imaginary friends, but I think that there really is a metaphor for children losing their imagination and creativity because of the technology that they use today compared to the amount of technology they had access to say, twenty years ago, and I think that this is a really good media to explore that issue through.

In terms of the structure of this book, it was definitely a slow burner. It took me a while to get into it. The chapters are really short though which meant that this was a super quick read. At first I felt a little like everyone knew what was going on and who people were except me. When I got to know the characters, however I got much more into the storyline. The story follows main character Joseph trying to prove that Kalris (the imaginary friend of Flea) isn't doing the things she has been accused of, that other people were to blame. The ending of the novel is a belter skeeter ride of him sharing this evidence chapter by chapter and then discovering something even more exciting. The twists and the turns at the end of the novel had me desperate to discover the real truth behind the whole thing! 

I wasn't sure about the character of Joseph. He has his best friend who lives next to him, and his dad, but he does seem like a bit of a loner and not very endearing. Having read the book, I see that these character traits were necessary to allow the imaginary friend storyline to take place, but I don't know how many readers will warm to him. Flea was a lovely character, I loved the innocence and belief there and the other members of the Cliff family were just random, I couldn't work out if they were meant to be strange or just perceived as being strange. 

Overall I think this was a really original novel and I'm glad I read it because its something really different for me, but I wouldn't say I enjoyed every second of it. I think it will definitely appeal to young adult readers and those who enjoy a smattering of fantasy or dystopia in their reads. I think the pace of the book was good (once it got going) and it won't take many readers more than a couple of days to get through. A really interesting, well-researched storyline. 

Review: How to Get A (Love) Life by Rosie Blake

Some people book last-minute holidays, walk barefoot in the grass or party on a week night. Not Nicola Brown. Nicola is the kind of girl who double-locks the front door, leaves the plastic covering on new furniture, sticks to a super-strict diet and definitely, absolutely Does Not Date.

Her colleague Caroline – loopy, warm and exasperated by her, knows that Nicola's reluctance to lose control means she's living only half a life. And so she lays down the gauntlet: Nicola must cast aside her hang ups and go on as many dates as it takes to find true love in time for Valentine's Day.

The pick of local men is, quite frankly, a bit rubbish. And there are only three months until February 14th. Surely it's an impossible task? But, as Nicola is about to find out on her dodgy dates, letting go isn't quite as scary as she imagined. In fact, it's rather a lot of fun...

Review: I was very lucky to get a review copy of this fabulous debut novel and I was extreme,y excited to read it. This is just the kind of book you need to banish those Winter blues. It's funny and light-hearted and has that all important chick-lit formula. I loved the concept behind the story-the idea that Nicola has to find a date before valentines day, a challenge if you will. We've all been in the position of need edging a date for a certain event or time in our life and it made it all the more fast-paced that Nicola had that deadline. 

The structure of the book is great and definitely makes for some page turning. Each chapter is introduced with a personal ad, all of which link to the events of the previous chapter. These all end with a different box number so I'm not sure if these are inspired by real life,or just the fictional events in the story, it made each chapter start with a chuckle though... It's also wonderful because Nicola goes on all these disaster out dates. Again people will identify with these dates because we've all been set up with someone entirely unsuitable or ended up meeting someone from an Internet date and them turning out to be not quite who we thought they were...

I really liked he main character of Nicola. She began the book a little weak, overruled all the time by her brother and her workmates but she really came into her own as the book went on. I really liked her relationship with her boss, James and her attitude to all these failed dates. There is a storyline which involves her starting a carpentry class and describes her achievement when she actually made something, I think that this was a real turning point for her in the novel and I really respected her from that point on. 

This book definitely has a happy ending, for all the characters. The date that Nicola does end up with is the one I was rooting for all along, and I'm sure many readers will feel the same. Some parts were definitely a little predictable, but that's what made the book more enjoyable for me, I knew what I was getting and I was happy with that. If you're looking for something light and funny and very much against the slushiness of valentines day then this is definitely one for you. Fans of other chick-lit writers will definitely find something special here and it's a lovely quick read that will keep you entertained this valentines day! 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books That Will Make You Cry 4/2/14

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists over there at The Broke and the Bookish. I'd love to share my lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Such a good list this week. I'm a massive cry baby and will cry at an awful lot of things so you can assume that these books made me bulb for a good proportion of the time. This list was also incredibly easy to put together and I could probably give you a top 50 books that made me cry, these are the big ones though, these ones required more than one tissue and left me looking for a cuddle afterwards... 

1. One Day by David Nicols

2. The First Last Kiss by Ali Harris

3. The Mummyfesto by Linda Green

4. Away by Barbara Wolfe

5. By my Side by Alice Peterson

6. Dearest Rose by Rowan Coleman

7. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

8. Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone

9. Just For Christmas by Scarlet Bailey

10. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Read this books, they are wonderful, but read them with a tissue and a cuddle nearby. (Guinea pigs cuddles work very well)

Winner of my 1000 follower giveaway...

Sorry it's taken me so long, been a busy weekend. But the time has finally come to announce the winner of my giveaway this week. You've had a week to enter and thank you to all 15 of you who did. I wrote all of your names down... 

Popped them into my special 'prize draw bowl'...

And picked out a lucky winner.....

And the winner was.... 

Well done Jill. Get in touch with me via email, Facebook or twitter and let me know which address you would like me to send your bumper prize package to.

Thank you all for taking part and look out for other giveaways on my blog soon!