Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Things I like/dislike when it comes toromances in books 10/2/15

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!

Ok I'm going to divide this list into 5 of each because I think that's the best way to do this. I love reading romantic books and so this is the perfect time of year for me, loads of romance titles around and lots of romance to be had. There are SOME drawbacks to reading romance however and I shall outline 5 of these below as well as five things I love about romantic novels. 

1. I love the escapism of romantic novels, being taken away from real life and not knowing what will happen, that's true of all books as well but being swept up in a new romance is true escapism! 

2. I love the men. Writers can create the perfect man on the page, whether he exists or not, this is fantastic. 

3. The horror of bad dates. Everyone has bad dates, not everyone talks about them. Seeing them on the page is very reassuring. 

4. The first kiss. You will only have one first kiss but by reading romantic novels, you can have hundreds of them over and over again and each one of them different, excellent! 

5. When the girl totally rescues the guy. I love when a love story has a twist and ther are so many book around right now where the girl does just as much rescuing as the traditional male character would do. Feminism exists even in the world of romance novels. 

Now for the things I don't like so much...

6. Insta love. I really don't know who does like insta love. I've rushed into some relationships in my time but really some of these characters get together in the bat of an eyelash. 

7. Cheating spouses. You get a lot of these in romance novels and having been cheated on myself, I really can't stand it! 

8. The whole, I can't call him until he calls me thing. This is the antidote to point 5 above. I can't stand when girls are all like, oh he doesn't like me because I haven't heard from him. Well call him yourself then and find out, you have your own power of thought don't you?!

9. Cross wires. Now this may sound a little ambiguous but I really hate when characters get crossed wires and so miss vital moments of their blossoming relationship becaus they think the other one isn't into them or that they said something bad about them or that they're already married. We as the reader know what's really going on so why can't they wake up and smell the coffee too, again, just call him yourself! 

10. Whe then best friend doesn't get the girl. This is still happening far to often in the world of romance novels. There's a male friend and they're always there for the main female character and they've got a little bit of a crush but they know it'll never happen and in the end these guys are normally like 'I just want you to be happy, I'll be fine' when we totally want them to get the girl too-so frustrating! 

So threes my list, sorry there's no pictures this week but I was so empassioned by talking about love and hate the I didn't have time for pictures. I'll have more next week I promise! 

National Libraries Day

This weekend saw National Libraries Day. I'm very lucky because I have some excellent libraries near to me. My local library is an awesome library. Everybody is very friendly and it is open at times that are convenient to me which means I can visit regularly. They are open until 7 in the evening week nights and they're even open on a Sunday. They also have a quick drop box, just like with video rental stores, which means that even if I don't make it during opening hours, I can still drop my books back and not incur late fees.

There was a time in my life when I literally ran out of books. I read all the books that had been on my shelf, which was pretty impressive but I was looking for work at the time, doing a bit of supply teaching, a bit of bar work and a bit of tutoring but nothing that gave me a regular income or regular hours so I was reading a lot in my extended free time but I couldn't afford to go and buy books. At this time I relied on the library. I could read the books for free and they also carried the TES newspaper where I could search for jobs when it came out every Friday. I couldn't afford broadband at the time either and so this was a vital outlet for me for leisure but also for employment reasons-it was a real life line and whilst I no longer have a card for this particular library, or any plans to visit that part of the country again, it's still special to me and the place I discovered Bill Bryson.

I'm actually a member of four different libraries, greedy I know. When I moved house in the summer, one of the first things that I did was join the library but I'm still not that far away from my old library where I used to live. This is also an excellent library, a little bigger than my current library but I still use this library if I ever want to borrow audiobooks because they have an excellent selection and they only cost £1.50 to borrow. Which is a steal when you think about the cost of actually buying an audiobook. 

There is also an excellent library next to the school that I work in that I have built up links with through the school. I am also a member of this library so if I feel the need to browse some books and I only have five minutes in the day where I can do this, it is literally 2 minutes walk from my office to their front door, probably not even that! They also sell Starbucks coffee which Is a nice little bonus. 

This brings me onto the last library that I am a member of and that is the library in the town I grew up in. I am still a member of this library because I normally spend quite a lot of time at 'home' during the summer holidays and so I still use my old local library to borrow books and audiobook. My mum and I often travel quite a bit when I'm home and so I'll go and borrow an audiobook for the two of us to listen to in the car. This library had a gorgeous refit a few years ago and, although it is still relatively small compared to the other libraries I frequent, it is very high-tech and has a nice separate children's section as well as a young adult sections which includes young adult audiobooks. 

This library has sentimental value for me because, as a child, this is where I became more indepednt with my reading. I remember when I became old enough to have my own library card and when I realised that I had literally listened to all the audiobooks they had in the children's sections, just like in Matilda-I know! It was here that I began the transition from the children's section to the teen section to the adult section, at that time I didn't really know what I wanted to read but I knew I wanted to read something and so I tried Lord of the Rings, it wasn't such a hit with me as the hobbit had been some, years earlier. 

Unfortunately, this library is one of the many that faces the threat of closure and this makes me really upset. I know what an important place it was to me as a child and to my reading journey. When I go into the library now I will see people I grew up with and also children I have taught and it makes me happy to see it being so well used and being such a bit part of the community. People might argue that the next library is only a bus journey or car journey away but that isn't somewhere people will visit after school, that isn't somewhere that people will pop into on a Saturday morning as a weekend treat, that is something that people will have to make the conscious decision to make the travel arrangements to get there, and that's before we even consider all the groups and community projects that take place there. 

I'm very sad that one of the libraries that I frequent may close and hope that something changes to stop that from happening. 

As you can see, libraries are important to me and have been a big part of my life from my childhood, through my university days where I spent long hours from very early in the morning until very late at night writing essays and reading up on those essays in my university library, through bad times and now into better times. And that is why I celebrated national libraries day by visiting my local library and spending in some time just soaking in the books (I didn't borrow anything becaus I already had items on loan!)

Book Blitz: When Shadows Fall by Bruce Blake

Exciting book news about When Shadows Gall by Bruce Blake coming soon...

Blurb: A hundred times a hundred seasons have turned since the Goddess banished the Small Gods to the sky, leaving the land to mankind alone.

For Prince Teryk, life behind the castle walls is boring and uneventful until he stumbles upon an arcane scroll in a long-forgotten chamber. The parchment speaks of Small Gods, the fall of man, and the kingdom's savior—the firstborn child of the rightful king. It's his opportunity to prove himself to his father, the king, and assure his place in history. All he needs to do is find the man from across the sea—a man who can't possibly exist—and save mankind.

But ancient magic has been put in motion by a mysterious cult determined to see the Small Gods reborn. Powerful forces clash, uncaring for the lives of mortals in their struggle to prevent the return of the banished ones, or aid in their rebirth.

Named in a prophecy or not, what chance does a cocky prince who barely understands the task laid before him stand in a battle with the gods?

Links:

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SR1DFCE

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18453373

Author bio:

Bruce Blake lives on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. When pressing issues like shovelling snow and building igloos don't take up his spare time, Bruce can be found taking the dog sled to the nearest coffee shop to work on his short stories and novels.

Actually, Victoria, B.C. is only a couple hours north of Seattle, Wash., where more rain is seen than snow. Since snow isn't really a pressing issue, Bruce spends more time trying to remember to leave the "u" out of words like "colour" and "neighbour" than he does shovelling (and watch out for those pesky double l's). The father of two, Bruce is also the trophy husband of a burlesque diva.

Bruce's first short story, "Another Man's Shoes" was published in the Winter 2008 edition of Cemetery Moon. Another short, "Yardwork," was made into a podcast in Oct., 2011 by Pseudopod. Bruce's first Icarus Fell novel, "On Unfaithful Wings", was published in Dec., 2011 while the follow up, "All Who Wander Are Lost", came out in July, 2012. The third in the series, "Secrets of the Hanged Man", came out in July, 2013. The first part of his Khirro's Journey epic fantasy trilogy, "Blood of the King", was released Sept., 2012, book 2, "Spirit of the King," in Dec., 2012, and book 3, "Heart of the King," in Feb., 2013.

The two books in the Small Gods series, "When Shadows Fall" and "The Darkness Comes", were released in 2013, after which Bruce took a year out to concentrate on his family and career. Book three in the Small Gods series is Bruce Blake's current project.

Review: Bossypants by Tina Fey

Before Liz Lemon, before "Weekend Update," before "Sarah Palin," Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV.

She has seen both these dreams come true.

At last, Tina Fey's story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon -- from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence.

Review: this was such a funny read. I have started to read all my autobigraphies via audiobook now because I really like having the book narrated by the person that wrote it, although I miss out on the picture, unless I also own the hardback which in many cases I do, I really like the connection that you get from listening to someone that tells their own story. I also like the change from fiction to non-fiction every once in a while and right now I like my non-fiction to come in the form of these autobiographies.

I really enjoyed listening to this book. Tina Fey has a sharp and to the point way of writing and it means that you barely feel like you're reading, the book is over before you realise but in a good way. This book is filled with her opinions as well as facts and figures about her personal and professional life and so it gives you that little bit more than just a facts and figures kind of book. The opinions can sometimes be a little controversial and I loved the fact that she wasn't afraid to put any of those things out there. This being Tina Fey, there was a definite feminist undertone to some of the chapters which, again, I am all for and made me love this book even more.

There were some really interesting things to be learnt from this book and even if you have never watched £0 Rock or SNL then you will still find something to tempt you with this particular book and everything is explained as if you don't know anything about these things rather than assuming you are a fan and that is why you bought the book! Of course there are some really funny moments throughout the text, proper laugh out loud times as well as sniggering to yourself whist listening in the car times. There isn't anything shocking or dramatic, that's not how she's sold so many copies of the book-its definitely a positive, fell-good experience.

I will definitely be pushing this book onto other people and recommending it to anyone who loves a good laugh. It gallops on at a tremendous pace, it is light-hearted and witty. Although it does use the c word and the f word on several occasions, something which i found to be tremendously refreshing, there is nothing that is there for pure shock value, only to entertain your readers. I would definitely recommend this book in audiobook form although I'm sure reading the paperback or hardback will be just as much fun.

Review: The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

Grief, love, regret, guilt, accident, fate, obligation – words aren’t fully able to describe the
often traumatic vagaries of life. This harrowing novel tells three stories, of three different
women, and three families. Connections emerge as the alternate stories are told over
seven crucial days in their lives, beginning on a Monday and ending on Easter Sunday.
Cecilia, Tess and Rachel are such good women ... they have lived blameless lives albeit
with one having endured a tragedy which links them all when two husbands’ secrets are
revealed. The world they know becomes a much more threatening one, and they are each
challenged in different ways.

Review: this is the third Liane Moriarty novel I have read and they all have a similar feel to them, however this sits ok with me because I really enjoy that particular feel. They seem to me to be completely different to anything else in this genere and that is why I enjoy them so much, this was definitely another 5 star read from this author for me and I can't wait to get started on her latest offering! 

The characters in this book are, like the other novels, normal middle class middle aged women who all have something dark in their past or indeed their present. They're all fairly likeable characters and all characters that we can relate to people in our own lives. The husband's secret in this case is the link that ties the three main characters in this novel together and it is so cleverly written that you don't discover everything about the secret until literally the last moment-something which I really loved. 

Like all Liane Moriarty's books, this was fast paced and full of energy, jumping between one character and another so you always have to utter the 'one more chapter' call so you can carry on with one particular characters storyline-but then you get sucked into another storyline and absolutely have to keep going with that one! I would've loved the chance to sit down an devour this in one long binge read because I think it would have been high adrenaline stuff but this book most definitely kept me going on my daily commute. I listened to this book on audiobook and so I found myself snatching every spare moment to keep reading it. 

I like the fact that this book is set in Australia because it is something a little bit different form the usual London or USA settings and so it had a. Refreshing but a little bit exotic feel about it. Overall I really loved this book, I found it easy and quick to get through but satisfying in both content and ending. The character were easy to relate to and the mystery element of the novel kept you guessing right the way through. This book has a fantastic reflective epilogue which I loved and so was well rounded to the last moment-a fabulous read! 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Women's Fiction Books I Can't Believe Ihaven't Read 3/2/15

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!

There are some books on this list that i seriously can't believe I haven't read (IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT I OWN ALL OF THESE) so I'll jump right into the shame of it all...

1. About a Girl by Lindsey Kelk

2. Johnny Be Good by Paige Toon

3. Anything by Carole Matthews-Oh the shame!

4. Anything by Jill Mansell-see above!

5. Vince and Joy by Lisa Jewell

6. Vivien's Heavenly Ice Cream Shop by Abby Clements

7. Along the same lines... Ice Creams at Carrington's by Alexandra Brown

8. The Year of Taking Chances by Lucy Diamond (I so wanted to read this as soon as it came out, why haven't I?)

9. Spare Brides by Adele Parks

10.  Seeing Other People by Mike Gayle

I could go on and on. The most shameful ones are hidden in the middle of the list and don't forget, I own most of these books and books by these authors I just haven't had time to get them off my shelf!

I hope your lists aren't as shameful, please leave me a comment below to let me know what you think of my 10!

Review: Age, Sex, Location by Melissa Pinentel

A hilarious and refreshingly honest foray into modern dating, Age, Sex, Location is Bridget Jones's Diary for HBO's Girls generation.

An American living in London, Lauren is intelligent, beautiful and loves to party. So why can't she convince a man she isn't after something more serious than scrambled eggs and goodbye in the morning?

Determined to snare some regular male affection, she embarks on a project: each month she will follow the rules of a different dating guide - from refusing to pay the bill to chatting up every man in her path - and will switch seamlessly to the next book at the end of each month. 

Lauren's love life is about to get scientific . . .

Review: I knew this book was going to be fun from the moment i began to read it, or even when I read the blurb and it certainly lived up to my expectations! The book reminded me a lot of one of my favourites -Bridget Jones Diary-and I think that same pacey feel and someone who is trying out various different ways to find a lover made it even more enjoyable for me. Each section of the book covers a month in Lauren's life and which dating guide she is using that month. This make for some very funny moments and also some thought-provoking incidents. 

Any person who has every been on a date, be it good or bad, will relate to this book whether you are male or female, single and loving it or in a relationship and loving it! The story is told in such a way that the writer is speaking directly to you as an audience and so you have no choice but to join her on her dating experiment! I found the character of Lauren very easy to like and very easy to get along with as the book goes on. Her friends and acquaintances all had redeeming qualities as well which always helps when you're reading a book!

One of my favourite things about this book, aside from the fantastic comedy, was the ending. The ending was a realistic and everything I hoped it would be. I don't want to spoil anything so I won't talk about specifics but I just really loved the way the ending was woven into the storyline and the way it was constructed was just perfect for me. 

Overall this book was an easy read because of its deliberate yet laid back pace, it laugh out loud humour and its closeness to the reality of life and the dating world. I loved every minute of it and it makes a nice break from your usual, girl meets boy story because of its candid honesty and its different take on the world of dating in the twenty first century!