Miranda Mondays Exclusive Playlist from I'll Take New York by Miranda Dickinson

Its my turn to host a Miranda Monday this week and you guys are very lucky because I have an exclusive for you today. I have the songs that Miranda Dickinson used to inspire her as she wrote the fabulous I'll Take New York which is out on 4th December. I suggest you have a listen to these songs before, during or after reading the book and don't forget to click the link at the bottom to pre-order your book now!



For every book I write, I put together a playlist to inspire me. For I'll Take New York, these are the songs I listened to:

1.      World Spins Madly On - The Weepies
2.      Tourist - Athlete
3.      Fall for You (Single Mix) - The Whitlams
4.      Sing - Travis
5.      Amsterdam - Imagine Dragons
6.      Every Little Thing - Delirious?
7.      My Waltz - Bailey Tzuke
8.      U + Me = - Dan Black
9.      Stars - Dubstar
10.     Pulling Teeth - Newton Faulkner
11.     Audience of Souls - Emily Smith
12.     Caught Up In Circles - Chesney Hawkes
13.     Loud and Clear - Olly Murs
14.     Umbrella - Scott Simons
15.     Where to Go from Here - Teddy Thompson
16.     You Can Close Your Eyes - Carole King & James Taylor
17.     Someone You Need - Howard Jones
18.     Panic Cord - Gabrielle Aplin
19.     Ashes On Your Eyes - Deb Talan
20.     The Last Song (Acoustic) - Ben Carrigan

Thanks so much to Miranda for this playlist, I know I'll be heading to Spotify to give it a listen now. If you'd like to read Fairytale of New York (Miranda's first novel) before returning to that same world in I'll Take New York, I'm going to be doing a readalong leading up to the release date of I'll Take New York. So keep your eyes peeled for that. 

Click here to get your copy of I'll Take New York

Click here to grab a copy of her first novel Fairytale of New York

Letterbox Love #18 (the American edition)

Welcome to Letterbox Love, this is a UK meme, hosted by the lovely Lynsey at Narratively Speaking and inspired by The Story Siren's In My Mailbox. This post is a means by which to highlight the books we get in the post and beyond, and especially to bring attention to those books which may be sat on our shelves for a little while yet that we love all the same.

Ok so last week I went on a little shopping trip to the Mall of America in Minnesota. I knew I was going to buy some books and to be honest, i was pretty restrained when it came to the boos. The books below I've seen in some people's BookTube videos and so I definitely knew I wanted to get these. I got 2 from Barnes and Noble and 1 from Target (I love Target). I got...Can't Look Away by Donna Cooner...

It's Kind of A funny Story by Ned Vizzini and....

The collectors edition of Looking For Alasaka by John Green. 

Then, upon my return, I popped to Waterstones in Merry Hill Shopping centre and picked up The Bookshop Book by Jen Campbell. This is the official Books are My Bag book and I've been wanting to get this one since it came out, I've already had a flick through and it looks ace! 

I also picked up The Christmas Surprise by Jenny Colgan. I'm a massive Jennh Colgan Fan and so I can't wait to sit down with this one closer to Chritmas and indulge in some Rosie Hopkins Joy! 

Then, I attended Miranda Dickison's Write Foxy Event and we were lucky enough to each be given signed copies of The Accident by Cally Taylor. This is one of my favourite books of the year and so I am so excited to have a signed edition-perhaps I should do a giveaway of my other copy?

On Thursday, I was lucky enough to get tickets to a Marian Keyes event at Waterstones Piccadilly. Whilst I managed not to buy any other books whilst I was there, I did get a copy of her new novel, The Woman Who Stole My Life and got it signed. It was actually a Waterstones exclusive copy with sprayed blue edges and a deluxe book marker. 

Then I found out that Asda were doing their own sprayed edge copy of the book with sprayed pink edges for their tickled pink campaign so my Friday night treat (along with a bath and a book of course) was to go down and to Asda and grab myself another copy of the novel. They look so pretty together, I'm sure you'll agree. Ironically I actually read this book on my Kindle!

I also pre-ordered a couple of Christmas novellas which came through to my Kindle this week. They were Secret Santa by Scarlett Bailey 

And Christmas with Billy and Me by Giovanna Fletcher

Finally, I treated myself to a new audiobook for the plane which I didn't end of listening to after all (I watched divergent and TFIOS instead!) and that was 

So I've not been too bad when it comes to books over the past few weeks. Let me know below what you've bought or received, or if you've got any comments on the books I chose to pick up-happy reading! 

Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

The stunning sequel to Gayle Forman's international best seller,If I Stay - Now a major film starring Chloe Grace Moretz.

If you had a second chance at first love . . . would you take it?

It's been three years since Adam's love saved Mia after the accident that annihilated life as she knew it . . . and three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Julliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future - and each other.

Told from Adam's point of view in the spare, powerful prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.

Review: I'd been wanting to pick up this novel from the moment I put down If I Stay, I HAD to find out what happens next, but then I HAD to wait until the book was delivered! I love the fact that this is a sequel but this is a sequel three years on and from Adam's perspective when the last novel was from Mia's POV. I think that was a very good choice on the part of this author! You are dropped right into the action, we catch up with Adam and what he has been up to with his band and it becomes apparent straight away that whilst the first novel deals with death and grief and trauma as well as romance and love and friendship, this novel is going to be decidedly darker, Adam is not as well left him in If I Stay. 

I'm really not sure I like Adam as a character in this novel, whilst i Liked him in the previous novel, I'm not sure I'm crazy about what he has become. I think though that this is down to circumstance and what he has been through and so I really didn't hold it against him, I still wanted to find out Where She Went. Mia too is a very different character from the first novel she is much stronger now, much more independent, which I liked, but she is also in a much darker place because of the loss and the grief and the new life that she has, but I still really loved catching  up with her life and seeing what ending she would be left with at the end of the novel. 

One of the really great things about this novel is the setting. I love books set in New York and so we get some wonderful descriptions of the city and Mia and Adam get to see secret places that Mia has found during her time there. The pace of the book wasn't quite a quick as the previous novel, i wasn't desperately running the pages dying to find out what would happen next, but because of the length of the book, I still read it in a day!

Overall, if you've not read any Gayle Forman before then this duet of novels would be a great place to start. They are easy reads but thoroughly enjoyable and well worth the short time it takes to read them. Most key issues are covered in both books as well as so they are well rounded reads. I didn't enjoy this novel as much as the first but I still found it a pleasant book and it was great to have some closure on If I stay!

Review: The Woman Who Stole My Life by Marian Keyes

Stella Sweeny is back in Dublin. After living the dream in New York for a year - touring her self-help book, appearing on talk shows all over the USA and living it up in her 10-room duplex on the Upper West Side - she's back to normality with a bang. And she's got writer's block.

Stella wants a clean break as she didn't exactly leave New York on a high. Why is she back in Ireland so soon? Who is it who keeps calling? Stella wants to get back to being the woman she used to be. But can she? And should she?

Review: there's always a great sense of anticipation surrounding a new Marian Keyes novel, and you always think to yourself, am I going to enjoy this one as much as the last? Well I though this novel was very enjoyable. It felt very different to her previous stand-alone novels (i.e. those not about the Walsh family) a little but darker and yet still with that hilarious Irish humour and charm! It's one of those novels that drops you right in the middle of things, you meet Stella, you discover she is back in Ireland but she really doesn't want to be, and you know that she is a writer. The rest of the characteristics about Stella, you have to pick up as you read about events that are happening and have happened to her and I really enjoy a novel that allows you to do that, gives you a bit of credit for your ability to decipher what is going on with characters and plot without being explicitly told so.

I'm undecided as to whether I like Stella as a character or not. Just to state that this in no way impeded upon my enjoyment of the book overall. I found her to be a little indecisive and selfish but not in an overtly selfish way because she still takes care of her kids and the rest of her family, but just in the way she makes some of the larger decisions in her life, or doesn't, as the case may be. The supporting characters in this novel are just as well-developed and just as major players and the main characters and I really enjoyed reading about the quirks of Stella's children, Betsy and Jeffrey, and her husband Ryan. They were all really interesting characters, larger than life and totally unique.

Of course there is a lovely man to ogle over in this book too, never fear! Mannix is a wonderful character. I did grow to like him slightly less as the novel progressed, but he is a hot doctor who is called Mannix, what's not to like?

There are some great settings in this book, in Ireland and in New York. I realty like the fact that that novel is set between these two locations and the descriptions of life on the road in America are also really interesting and really well-developed, not detail is left out. The humour in the novel is still right-on. Whilst there are some very, very dark moments in the book, there are some seriously hilarious moments too, and some just random things happen which is just a real break from everything being so serious all of the time. Sometimes the novel did feel a little darker and a little more serious, but this is a reflection of life, I suppose, so I can't really complain about that.

A Marian Keyes novel is something that can be enjoyed at any age, at any time of year and whatever mood you're in, and this novel is no exception. Although it is a large book and not particularly fast paced, it never felt like a chore to read and I actually read it very quickly considering its size and general structure. It is definitely something for fans of this writer and represents something a little bit different for those that have never read anything by her before! I would definitely recommend reading this, and any other Marian Keyes novel for that matter-it would make an excellent Christmas present!

Write Foxy Inspiration Day with Miranda Dickinson

On Sunday I was lucky enough to attend a fabulous writers' inspiration day hosted by the wonderful Miranda Dickinson-Write Foxy. The structure of the day was various inspirational talks by some fabulous published authors with breaks for coffee, cake, writing, more cake, more food, maybe a bit more writing in between. 

The event took place in The Village hotel in Dudley and featured a group of writers hoping for some inspiration and to learn what it's means to Write Foxy. 

We were treated to goody bags as well which included notebooks and pens, of course, sweets, of course, and we were also given notes on the various speakers and notes from them too on things such a structure, plotting and editing. All very helpful stuff!  

The writers speaking to us are all fabulous ladies who each have a different style of writing and are all wonderful in their own writes. First up was Hannah Beckerman, author of the dead wife's handbook. She spoke to us about plotting and planning and definitely inspired me to get my plan out of my head and onto some paper, or perhaps a spreadsheet-no excuses not to write then! She gave us lots of other pearls of wisdom and was also a joy to chat to! 

Cally Taylor was next to speak, she spoke to us about the editing process. I found this very interesting as I haven't actually done any of this yet and her structured way of editing will prove to be very useful in the near future I am sure. Calmly has written in various different genres. One of her rom Coms is about to be made into a film, Home For Christmas and she also brought us copies of The Accident which was signed and is one of my very favourite books this year, as you will know! It was wonderful to meet Cally at last! 

Tamsyn Murray was next to speak to us. She spoke about the structure of novels and how to plan a structure and check the balance of tension in our writing. This was very interesting and she used a very familiar picture book in order to illustrate her point. Her session was fast-paced and really engaging. Her children's books are fab and she also writes Rom Coms under a different name! 

Finally Miranda Dickinson spoke to us. She talked about what write foxy is and what being a writer means. Her talk was very inspirational and you can totally see why she has 5 best-selling novels under her belt and an awesome new one coming out in December! 

I also got to meet lots of other lovely writers who, in themselves, were a real inspiration. It was great to se so many people at different stages of their writing career and people with different ideas and worries just like me! This was a great way to kick of NaNoWriMo for me and I'm sure the inspiration will help me hit the 50000 words and then some! 

Thank you to Miranda for organising the event and thanks to the other lovely authors for inspiring us with their words. The next Write Foxy event is in February and I couldn't recommend it strongly enough. Not matter what stage of your writing career you are at, this workshop is truly inspirational and an excellent way to spend the day! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/write-foxy-writers-inspiration-day-february-2015-tickets-11388516359?aff=eorg 

Top Ten Tuesday: books I want to reread 4/11/14

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!

Ooo this is a good one. I have a bit of a problem with re-reading in that I just can't seem to find the time to fit it in! So there are tons of books I'd like to read again. I've actually managed to reread 3 books this year which is MASSIVE for me. But here's the list of books I'd also like to re-read. Some of them are favourites, some are first in a series, perhaps I'll get to some of them by Christmas! 

1. The Secret Dreamworld of A Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

2. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

3. Girl With A One Track Mind by Abby Lee

4. Wonder by RJ Palacio

5. The Greatest Love Story of a All Time by Lucy Robinson 

6. About A Girl by Lindsey Kelk

7. I Heart New York also by Lindsey Kelk

8. The Chalet a School Series by Eleanor Brent Dyer

9. Starbucked by Taylor Clark

10. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Review: The Atlas of Us by Tracy Buchanan

How far would you go for the one you love the most?

When Louise Fenton flies to Thailand to find her mother, Nora, after the Boxing Day tsunami, she fears the worst when the only trace she can find is her mother’s distinctive bag. In the bag is a beautifully crafted atlas owned by travel journalist Claire Shreve, with her notes and mementos slipped in-between the pages. The journal tells the story of Claire’s struggle to find her place in the world following a life-altering revelation, and a tumultuous love affair.

Louise treks across Thailand's scarred landscape, exploring Claire’s atlas to try to make sense of the connection between this woman and the mother she is so desperate to find.

As devastated people are beginning to put their lives back together, Louise uncovers the secrets that nearly destroyed Claire and the man she loved – the same secrets her mother has been guarding all these years …

THE ATLAS OF US will take you on a moving and enthralling journey across the globe, and into the most intimate spaces in a relationship. And it will find its way into your heart.

Review: I have to be honest- I really didn't enjoy this book very much. I had high hopes for it, but they were really not met. I thought the premise behind the book, a bit of a mystery surrounding family in the wake of the tsunami, sounded really promising, space for drama and intrigue as well as a hint of sadness and there was bound to be a love story in there somewhere right? I was just really disappointed by the storyline as a whole. I found myself switching off in parts and struggle to remember every detail of the entire book now because it really hasn't stuck with me (and I've literally just finished reading it!) I think for me, the potential was there for a lot to happen and nothing much really happened. 

I thought the structure of the book was excellent, stories running alongside each other but during different times, knowing that the two stories would tie up at some point and the mystery would be revealed. The stories didn't tie up until the very last moment and I didn't really attach myself to either story. I think that Clare's story kept me more interested than Louise's story. There was definitely more drama there and more things happened, but i thought that perhaps they were happening just for the sake of it and sometimes things didn't really contribute to the plot at all. I'd didn't get Louise's character at all and so I think that's why I didn't like her story as much. 

The characters in Clare's story had a lot about them, they all had hidden pasts and secrets they were keeping from one another despite promising not to, however, although I was drawn to these characters, I didn't feel connected to their stories. I felt Louise was pretty flat as a character and I don't really understand where the other characters in her storyline came from or how they fitted in. 

I did read this book in its entity, persevering until the end to see if anything grabbed me but it really didn't and I really have struggled to find something interesting to say about it. There are exotic settings but the description didn't particularly whisk me away there. There are interesting characters, but I dint really feel any connection with them and there are interesting story lines, but they didn't really tie together for me so overall I didn't really enjoy this book or get what I was expecting from it. It won't put me off picking up other books from this author in the future though, but this just wasn't for me.