Sunday, 22 March 2020
Saturday, 21 March 2020
24 in 48 Social Distance Readathon TBR
This weekend sees an impromptu readathon from some of my favourites, the 24 in 48 team-yey!
They rather cleverly noticed that we might be spending a little more time reading in the coming weeks and thought that it would be wonderful if we could all do this together in the form of one of their very social 24 in 48 readathons. Yes we're going to be reading for 24 hours this weekend and I can't wait. You can see their wesbsite here for more details. We'll be using the hashtag #StayHome24in48
So I have been thinking a lot about my TBR, especially because my library books aren't due back anytime soon and I definitely have more time to prioritse what I want to read and when so my TBR is going to consist of some ebooks and audiobooks this weekend. I feel like my Kindle get neglected and I often wait for some of the newer releases to come out in audiobook before reading them so my TBR looks a little like this...
These are the ebooks I have to choose from this weekend
And these are the audiobooks I have to choose from...
A great selection, I think you'll agree? What are you planning on reading this weekend?
Friday, 20 March 2020
Blog Tour: Audiobook Review of Back to Reality by Mark Stay & Mark Oliver
Today is my stop on the blog tour for the audiobook Back to Reality by Mark Stay and Mark Oliver. I'm going to be sharing my review of the book with you and if you like the sound of that, you can click here to order your copy now. Don't forget to check out the other stops on the tour.
Here's what it's all about...
The bestselling 90s nostalgia time travel comedy
Jo's world is about to change forever, and it’s about time
Her marriage is on auto-pilot, daughter hates her, job sucks and it’s not even
Tuesday.
As Jo's life implodes, a freak event hurls her back to ‘90s Los Angeles where,
in a parallel universe, she’s about to hit the big time as a rock star.
Jo has to choose between her dreams and her family in an adventure that
propels her from London to Hollywood then Glastonbury, the world’s greatest
music festival.
Jo encounters a disgraced guru, a movie star with a fetish for double-decker
buses, and the biggest pop star in the world... who just happens to want to kill
her.
Back to Reality is a funny, heartwarming story about second chances, with a
heroine to rival Bridget Jones and the rock n roll nostalgia of Keith A Pearson.
The novel from the Bestseller Experiment podcast presenters Mark Stay and
Mark Desvaux. The Two Marks went to more gigs in the '90s than in any
other decade and are currently working on a time machine to see Prince in
concert.
Review: Well this was a wild ride of a read. I have read a few books in my time where we go back to alternate versions of the main character but I really like the way this book almost introduced 3 version of Jo for us to meet and enjoy. The time travel aspect of it meant that you really had to concentrate on the audiobook and might have worked better in a physical book so you could flick back and forth but I listened to the majority of this one whilst out on walks so I could really focus on that and nothing else.
Jo is an interesting character because we first meet her back in 1990 then we come to meet Jo when she is much older and a mum to a teenager. We are led to sympathise with her in her 'modern' life because her daughter is really testing her patience and her husband is just a bit shit... no spoilers here. I like the fact that the writers get us on side first and then take us on the journey with Jo. There are definitely points in the book where I don't feel like Jo made the best choices but that only made me like her more and want to read on to find out what the fallout from those choices would be.
I like the fact that we do jump around a bit between the different versions of Jo and we get to live a little as a celeb as well as finding out about Jo as a person through her past and future actions. I think it was a clever way to structure the story and must have taken a great deal of planning. As I previously mentioned I think some slightly better delineation between what time we were in and what time we are now might have been useful for the audiobook just because you can't see it clearly in front of you on the page but if you're giving the book your full attention you get brought up to speed pretty quickly.
I enjoyed meeting Jo and fully bought into the storyline and the lay lines of Glastonbury and this book definitely brought me a good amount of escapism at a difficult time.
About the Authors
Mark Stay co-wrote the screenplay for Robot Overlords which became a movie with Sir Ben Kingsley and Gillian Anderson, and premiered at the 58th London Film Festival. Author of the fantasy novel The End of Magic, he is also co-presenter of the Bestseller Experiment podcast and worked in bookselling and publishing for over twenty-five years. He lives in Kent, England, with his family and a trio of retired chickens. He blogs and humblebrags over at markstaywrites.com
Mark Desvaux writes fiction as Mark Oliver. He also authors inspirational non-fiction and online courses, and is a professional speaker in the fields of self-development and spiritual growth. He is chairman and co-founder of the charity Foodshare. As a bestselling recording artist (Urban Myth Club), Mark's two critically-acclaimed albums have led to appearances at festivals such as Glastonbury (which he tries to mention on every podcast). He lives on Vancouver Island with his family, surrounded by the beautiful mountains and seas, with chickens, bees and very tall trees.
Thursday, 19 March 2020
Review: Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed
Jamie Goldberg is cool with volunteering for his local state candidate - as long as he’s behind the scenes. There’s no way he’d ever knock on doors to ask people for their votes…until he meets Maya.
Maya Rehman’s having the worst Ramadan ever. Her best friend is too busy to hang out, her summer trip is cancelled, her parents are separating and now her mother thinks the solution to her problems is political canvassing - with some awkward guy she hardly knows ...
Going door to door isn’t exactly glamorous, but maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world. After all, the polls are getting closer - and so are Maya and Jamie. Mastering local activism is one thing. Navigating the cross-cultural crush of the century is another thing entirely.
Review: I was excited to read this book because I love everything by Becky Albertalli and this was my first Aisha Saeed read. I thought this book was just going to be a cute YA romance but this book was relevant, romantic and realistic. The romance took a back seat to the friendship and political aspects, which I loved.
I really loved how timely everything in this novel was from their pop culture references of The Office, rideshare services and Target to the political climate. I loved that these authors put their own experiences in this book and so it came out to be something that is incredibly true to life. Because of this the book isn't always sunshine and happiness so acre should be exercised before you pick this one up.
I liked the characters in this novel, their friendship with each other and their relationship with their families and I could see both of them reflected in pupils that I have taught over the years. I would loved to hear more from these characters, perhaps to find out where they go from here.
I think that personally I was looking for a little more romance in this book when I came to it but that was just my personal choice at the time and I perhaps would have preferred there to be a little more romance between other characters but I really did enjoy the political aspect of this storyline and would even have liked for that to be even more prevalent than it was.
Let's have more authors taking risks like this in terms of putting both politics and pop culture in their books and also highlighting friendships during pivotal times in our lives.
Wednesday, 18 March 2020
Guest Review: The Break Up by Tilly Tennant
Lara and Theo are meant to be. They just don’t know it yet…
Lara loves her job as a wedding planner. She gets to organise other people’s perfect days and make sure nothing ever goes wrong.
Theo loves his job as a jazz musician, working unpredictable hours and giving other people great nights out.
Lara knows she’s got high standards. But there’s nothing wrong with getting things right… so why has it stopped her finding Mr Right?
Theo knows people think he’s a bit scruffy, a bit too laid back. But there’s nothing wrong with setting your own pace… if only he could find someone who wanted to live life at his speed.
It’s okay, though. Lara gets to come home in the evening and have heart-to-hearts with her greedy grey cat Fluffy. And Theo can come home in the early hours and unwind with his loyal cat Satchmo.
What they don’t know is that it’s the same cat.
And when they find out – standing in the street in their pyjamas, both on the hunt for their lost pet – sparks of the wrong sort will fly…
Review: As a huge fan of anything written by Tilly Tennant, I was really excited to find that she had a new book out and couldn’t wait to get started reading. As I anticipated, the story had me drawn in right from the start, laughing and crying with its characters right to the end.
On what she feels has to be the worst night of her life, wedding planner Lara arrives home to find a bedraggled kitten begging to be let in out of the rain. Although never having planned to have a pet cat, Lara takes him in, and Fluffy soon becomes her new best friend and confidant. However, while searching the streets for him one night, she discovers that Fluffy has been two-timing her with musician Theo, who believes that the cat (known in Theo’s house as Satchmo) belongs to him. The argument over cat ownership rages on for some months where Lara unfortunately can’t seem to stop bumping into Theo, but her feelings of annoyance are gradually changing to something else, perhaps even attraction. Meanwhile, Lara’s business is growing nicely, some of her experiences with weddings being hilarious, but others horrendous. Lara’s young assistant, Betsy, and her mother, Fay, also add humorous episodes to the narrative.
I very much enjoyed this light romantic comedy. As well as a nice balance of romance and humour, the story covered quite a range of emotions as Lara suffered betrayal from one direction, found real friendship from another and picked herself up from despair to success in a new venture; a really heart warming tale. I liked all of the main characters in the story, with the obvious exception of Lara’s ex and her difficult clients. I’m not sure I could deal with people like that and remain professional. I was a little worried about Theo and how he could make a living with his casual approach to his music; perhaps he was working more than came out in the story. The only thing that did disappoint me slightly was that the book came to an end quite suddenly. I felt that there was something missing between the last two chapters. That said, I think that this is definitely another Tilly Tennant book that would make a nice addition to anyone’s collection.
Tuesday, 17 March 2020
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