Daily Shenanigans, 14/07/2014: 'Richard III'.

If I could I would go to the theatre every day. I absolutely love it, and today's trip to see Trafalgar Transformed's adaption of Richard III was no exception to that rule. Mat arrived at mine about mid morning and we set about completing tasks before heading off to London. Firstly, Mat sorted out our consoles so that we could set about selling the ones we don't need anymore in preparation for our new flat. While he was doing that I decided to update my CV as it truly needed to be done. We had lunch then headed off to London. We actually spent most of our afternoon back and forth on the tube, travelling first to Stratford before returning to Central London. The intention was to spend the afternoon job hunting before having a nice evening and we were pretty productive. After getting lots done, we headed to a nearby Italian restaurant for some dinner.

After dinner we walked across the road to the Trafalgar Studios, picked up our tickets and then eagerly awaited the show. It was fantastic! I had a faint idea about the synopsis of the play though I actually had not ever seen it performed before or studied it. The first thing I noticed was the really cool set, which looked like something out of a 1970s war film. It was amazingly realistic, it even had lifts which I was so impressed by. The soundtrack was really attention grabbing, ever-present and adding plenty of atmosphere. I loved the costume designs too, it was a wonderful adaption of the play. Martin Freeman as the titular character was just phenomenal (and hilarious) I thought he did a great job at playing the villain. I was pretty impressed by the whole cast actually! 

I'm currently so tired, I'm having a lay in tomorrow before doing more jobs. 

Daily Shenanigans, 13/07/2014: Breaking the 'Book Buying Ban'!

Oops! I appear to, after three or four months of this ridiculous necessity to keep my shelves a bit clearer, have bought a couple of new books. Mat got them for me cheap at Tesco where he works and I'm very excited to read them. I bought Neil Gaiman's 'The Ocean At The End Of The Lane' and 'The Secrets Of Life And Death' by Rebecca Alexander. They both look like fantastic books and I can't wait to get into reading them at some point! Before I saw Mat this evening, I actually had work today. I ended up staying much longer than I was supposed to, so I was knackered when I got home. Mat had the car so he picked me up from the station and came round. I've been a little grumpy today so I won't make this post too long, as I want my bed.

Tomorrow is going to be so exciting because I'm off to watch Martin Freeman in Richard III with Mat, something that I never thought I'd get tickets for! We'll be in London for most of the day which I'm looking forward to.

Weekly Wishlist #21

I decided to do another book inspired Wishlist, as I'm in a real reading mood today and I have plenty that I want!

1) 'Boy, Snow, Bird'; Helen Oyeyemi. I've heard a fair amount about both this book and this author and I'm rather curious about this one. It has been dubbed as a re-telling of 'Snow White', though I also hear tales that the connections between the two stories are pretty loose, if existing at all. Nevertheless, I'd be keen to give this book a chance and make my own mind up. The cover is beautiful too!





2) 'The Scorpio Races'; Maggie Stiefvater. This is definitely one of those authors that I should have read by now. In fact I wrote on another Wishlist about my desire to read 'The Wolves Of Mercy Falls' series which I still haven't managed to do. What is wrong with me? Anyway, I saw this one on a fair few blog posts and it came highly recommended. I really need to read at least something by this author!




3) 'The Rabbit Back Literature Society'; Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen. This book has haunted my Amazon recommendations list for quite a while. I had never heard it before the first time I saw it on there, and now it pops up wherever I go. It certainly looks like a book well worth a read, having read the synopsis! It has sat in my Basket and not been bought for quite a while now. I think I'm going to need to get hold of it before it drives me insane!




4) 'Catching Fire'; Suzanne Collins. Heaven knows it took me long enough to read the first book of this series, and I really enjoyed it! So far, 'Catching Fire' is my favourite of the two already released films and so you would have thought that I would have picked the next one up straight away. Unfortunately, I have yet to buy it but it looks so promising that I really think I ought to get it down on my Wishlist.





5) 'The Strange And Beautiful Sorrows Of Ava Lavender'; Leslye Walton. I really fell in love with the cover of this book from the moment that I saw it. It's simplicity really drew attention to the title which piqued my interest even more. I've had a little read of the synopsis and was pleased to see it is of the Magical Realism genre, one that I really want to get into. It's received a lot of good reviews so I would love to give it a try!

Daily Shenanigans, 12/07/2014: My first ever Blog Tour Post and Giveaway!

Today marks a pretty special day for my blog guys. I took part in Vanessa Morton's Blog Tour for her debut novel, 'Moonfall'. I really enjoyed the book, so I've been looking forward to posting my review for it. As well as that, the post included my first Author Interview and first Giveaway too! That's a lot of firsts! It has been so much fun taking part, thank you to all those involved for letting me be part of the tour. If you're interested learning more (particularly about the Giveaway for a free book) then follow this link. After all that, I had work which was pretty stressful, but it went fairly quickly I suppose. Mat came over for an hour or so before heading to a friends, and he brought me a present of some chocolate-filled croissants because he knew I'd had a hectic day. It was such a nice gesture that it instantly made me feel ten times better.

Tomorrow I have work (again) and a Weekly Wishlist to upload. Hooray! For now though, time for bed.

Book Review (Blog Tour - Interview and Giveaway!): Moonfall; Vanessa Morton.

Goodness me! Is it July already? So do you remember months ago me talking in a post about how excited I was to be invited to take part in my first ever Blog Tour? Well here it is! Vanessa Morton's 'Moonfall', the first in the 'Tales From The Levant' series is a book that instantly caught my eye on Netgalley and I couldn't wait to get stuck in. This post won't just include a review though, I have a Q&A with the wonderful author herself, and an International Giveaway for an E-Copy of the book for you lovely lot. I will also be using this book as a 'Quick Fix' entry! Before I start, I'd like to thank Vanessa for writing such a great book and taking the time to answer my questions, and Sami for getting me involved in the tour in the first place! If you want to keep following the Blog Tour and read some of the posts that have been up for it so far, then follow this link. There's a timetable at the bottom!

SOURCE: Netgalley
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: Moonfall
AUTHOR: Vanessa Morton
SERIES: Tales From The Levant (#1)
PUBLISHER: WEbook Publishing
PAGES: 245
GENRE: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Fantasy

RATING: 3.5/5 Stars

Blurb:
When sixteen-year-old Rachav drinks the Moon Temple’s forbidden wine, she hardly expects it to result in the death of a priestess. But when King Nur orders Rachav to serve the Queen of the Night - the kingdom’s powerful goddess - as restitution, Rachav’s identical twin, Zaron, has her own reasons for joining the priesthood and offers to take her twin’s place. But choices have consequences. Now Rachav’s family is in danger. As she uncovers the shocking reason why, she finds an ally in Salma, a brooding nomad who wields an ancient force powerful enough to destroy the entire kingdom. While the epic showdown rages above the city, Rachav plays a dangerous game of her own. Can she rescue her sister and right the wrongs of that fateful choice? Or will the king succeed and trap her in the doomed city?

What I Liked:

• The world-building was just ridiculously good in this book! Anyone who has read my reviews before knows I love stories that are well-grounded in context and this one certainly was. I was transported to a really different and interesting world and I really felt like Morton knew what she was writing about. It was so refreshing! I was impressed as well because there was a huge level of detail, and yet it never became overwhelming or boring to read. 
• The character relationships in this book were really interesting and I loved their interactions. For example, the relationship between Rachav and Zaron was so well-written and really reflected a true interpretation of twins who look identical but think differently. Also, despite it not being the main focus of the book, I loved the hints of romance I got between Rachav and Salma. In fact, the chapters that focused on Rachav's time in Salma's camp were among my favourites. I really wanted to read more of them and got extremely excited when I found out that this is the first book in a planned series!
• The plot was very memorable and I really liked the way it took a recognisable Biblical story of old, and mixed in elements of Fantasy. I thought that it was paced very well and I was hooked from start to finish! Vanessa Morton writes really well too, her style has a really nice flow to it that kept me wanting more.

What I Disliked:

• This is a pretty small issue but having read the book, I actually felt Rachav's initial decision to sneak into the temple to drink the forbidden wine was a little out of keeping with her character from that point onward. I would have maybe liked an explanation as to why she actually chose to do it. I felt a little thrown into the beginning but this feeling soon disappeared, it wasn't a huge issue.

Overall Conclusion:

This book was an good read and one I really enjoyed. I am a big fan of well-written Historical Fiction and this definitely checks that box. I also love the inclusion of Fantasy in any book, it's my favourite genre. Guess what, this one has that too! Another aspect I really enjoyed was an obvious connection between Rachav and Salma but it was built slowly. And I love slow-building romances, it just feels so much more natural and right. I had a slightly rocky start with this book admittedly, but I enjoyed it far too much not to give it an awesome rating. I can't wait to read Book two!

Author Interview:

1) So this is your debut novel! What inspired you to pick up the pen and write it? 

In the beginning, I wanted to write entertaining stories for my daughters because they were studying ancient history and most of the historical fiction we found was either authentic and dull, or it was interesting, but not very accurate. My goal was to write authentic yet entertaining stories.

2) What challenges, if any, did you face in bringing your idea to life? Is there anything you would do differently? 

At first, I researched much more than I wrote. I ended up with tons of details and a story that read more like a research paper than a novel. The year before I signed my publishing contract, I had cut over 25% of the story to restore the original vision of entertainment! Now I'm more selective when choosing authentic details, and I don't let it get in the way of the story!

3) I really like the cover design! Who actually came up with it? 

I'm glad you like it! My publisher, WEbook, has a creative team that designs their authors' covers. I asked them to feature a moon and this is what they came up with… it's awesome!

4) 'Moonfall' has, in my opinion, a really interesting plot concept which I’ve not really seen before! Where did the idea come from? 

My daughters were studying the ancient Levant, and we'd been talking about the legend of Jericho, did it really happen and what would it be like for a teen to live inside the walls? I discovered that supernatural events were normal—even expected—in that era, which added a fascinating yet authentic layer to the story.

5) How easy was the process of getting your book published? 

My publication story is not typical. I've been a member of WEbook for several years. It's a social network where writers submit their work through successive rounds of peer judging. The process can lead to an opportunity for publication, as it did for me.

6) Do you consider writing as your career? 

Writing is my passion, but it doesn't support me … yet! I still have a career by day, and I squeeze writing into my evenings and weekends.

7) Out of interest, name the last few books that you read which you really enjoyed! 

My tastes are eclectic. During the last few months, my favorites were Doctor Sleep (Stephen King), Iscariot: a Novel of Judas (Tosca Lee), and I always keep a book of poetry going—right now it's English Romantic Verse.

Wow so many exciting things on this post, and I really enjoyed reading this book, and conducting the Q&A! Now for something even more exciting for you guys, a chance to win a free copy of the book itself! It is an E-Copy and so the Giveaway is open internationally. Enjoy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Daily Shenanigans, 11/07/2014: Back on schedule.

Today has been pretty productive for me. I read Vanessa Morton's 'Moonfall'. I am waiting until tomorrow to post the review because it will be my first ever Blog Tour post but I'm so excited for you guys to see my thoughts on the book, I really enjoyed it! There'll also be an Author Q&A and a Giveaway so stay tuned! Other than that, I did a lot of chores around the house today and mostly started sorting out my upcoming blog posts and planned reads because it really needed to be done. I was so glad for my day off today, it let me catch up a bit. I'm back onto reading 'The Silent History', it's good to be back on schedule.

Tomorrow I'm working again but obviously my previously mentioned Blog Tour post will be up, and I have some other bits and bobs to be getting on with.

Daily Shenanigans, 10/07/2014: Holiday approaching!

My morning started off pretty well, even tough I had to get up early. I had work but it was a pretty short shift today and it went so quickly. Before work though, I finished 'Lord Of The Flies' and wrote my Life Of A Blogger post! I didn't have time to do the review until much later on in the day though. After work I came home, quickly got changed, then went straight back out to Mat's! We went with his family to get all the necessary food and supplies for our trip to Wales next week, which I'm so looking forward to! Last time I went to Wales, I visited a friend of mine in Cardiff and had a great time! Llangollen promises to be a little quieter but still looks so interesting and beautiful. Thank goodness for the new camera, just in time for a great holiday. After shopping, we went back to Mat's and had dinner and then I was a tad boring and fell asleep. I don't know what came over me, I just suddenly felt ridiculously tired. It was for those reasons that I ended up posting my review of 'Lord Of The Flies' much later!

Tomorrow, I have the day off. I will be doing a lot of reading, plenty of blog bits and generally catching up with myself a bit.