Pokemon Go Book Tag!

I'm actually really excited to do this! It's the first book tag I've ever done. I always love watching booktube videos of them and it never really occurred to me that I should do one on my blog. But anyway, here goes!

This tag was originally created by Read At Midnight - which you can read if you follow the link, I highly recommend you do! (All the pics I use belong to them)

I know most people would say Harry Potter for this, and HP is a big part of why I love to read. But when I think back to when I properly became obsessed with reading, my mind thinks of The Swan Princess by Zoe Marriott. I won the book in a raffle and it completely inspired me. I kept talking about it to all my friends who would roll their eyes and tell me to shut up. I'll be forever grateful that this wonderful fairytale like story with a kickass heroine came into my life.

Lord of the Rings. Easy.


Erm... I'm not too sure about this one. If a book is everywhere it doesn't usually affect my love for it. Read at Midnight chose Adult colouring books for this one and I think I agree. Although I was never a fan in the first place. I don't mind colouring books for adults, but now there seems to be one for EVERYTHING.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. I see a lot of dislike for it for being too similar to previous YA novels, but it's written really well and while the first book and the set up of the storyline might feel familiar by the third book its wholly unique.


Size doesn't really put me off. I'll often wait until I know I have a large chunk of time in which to read the book(s) so I don't have to keep stopping and starting it/them. I read all 8 Outlander books the summer after my first year of a-levels. I had recently been putting off reading The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss but since I have hour long bus journeys to university I eventually ticked them off my TBR.


This could literally be any book. SO many books keep me up reading late into the morning. I think the latest one was A Court of Wings and Ruin because its so big and I was utterly determined to finish it in one day. So I stayed up until about 4am to finish it. WORTH. IT.

OMG SO MANY CHOICES. I think my main ones are Feysand (Feyre and Rhysand...and also any other pairing in the ACOTAR series) and Kinej (Kaz and Inej). OH! and Lady Helen and Lord Carlston from The Dark Days Club. SWOON.

I'm gonna go with Caraval by Stephanie Garber for this one. I read it a while back but I just remember it being non stop action and me being unable to put it down because of that.










The Shadowhunter Chronicles, Grisha series and Maas's ACOTAR series. JUST KEEP THEM COMING FOREVER.


The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. I first started reading this years ago but when I first heard it about it I was SO sceptical. It sounded so strange! Cyborgs?? the moon is colonised?? AND Cinderella?? Even now I can't explain it to people, I just tell them to read.


I've still never read a Rick Riordan book. I think I would love his books but there's so many if I do end up loving them my bank account will hate me.

There are some really cool A Song of Ice and Fire editions that were really expensive and really limited but dammmmnnnnn they were awesome.




I just bought When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon and I've heard so many amazing things about it so I can't wait to read it for myself.


*Take a deep breath* Sarah J Maas, Leigh Bardugo, Cassandra Clare, Marissa Meyer, Ruta Sepetys, Kristin Cashore, Samantha Shannon, Laini Taylor, Sabaa Tahir, Renee Ahdieh, Diana Gabaldon, George RR Martin, Victoria Aveyard, Cristin Terrill, Katherine Arden. *Breathes out* I think thats everyone.

Tower of Dawn by Sarah J Maas springs to mind just because its been nearly two years since we have anything about Chaol. We last saw him in Queen of Shadows as he left to see if he could regain the use of this legs. I MISS him fiercely and I can't wait to get more of him and be introduced to a whole new continent in the ToG world. It's gonna be awesomeeeee.

Hope you enjoyed!

Lesley Pearse's 25 in 25 Blog Tour

To celebrate the release of global bestseller Lesley Pearse's 25 novel, The Woman In The Wood, each day for 25 days a different blog will reveal a fact about Lesley and her books. You can catch up and follow along using the hashtag #LoveLesley.
It's now day three of the tour and my fact is about Lesley's second novel: Charity.

Charity:  I wrote about the agony of giving up a baby for adoption because I’d been through it. I still think about my son fifty three years later.

The Woman in the Wood  

You can preorder The Woman in the Wood now. It's available from June 29th!

Maisy and Duncan have always had each other. Until the day they didn't.

One night in 1960, fifteen-year-old twins Maisy and Duncan Mitcham awake to find their father pulling their screaming mother from the house. She is to be committed to an insane asylum. It is, so their father insists, for her own good.

It's not long before they, too, are removed from their London home and sent to Nightingales - a large house deep in the New Forest countryside - to be watched over by their cold-hearted grandmother, Mrs Mitcham. Though they feel abandoned and unloved, at least here they have something they never had before - freedom.

The twins are left to their own devices, to explore, find new friends and first romances. That is until the day that Duncan doesn't come back for dinner. Nor does he return the next day. Or the one after that.

When the bodies of other young boys are discovered in the surrounding area the police appear to give up hope of finding Duncan alive. With Mrs Mitcham showing little interest in her grandson's disappearance, it is up to Maisy to discover the truth. And she knows just where to start. The woman who lives alone in the wood about whom so many rumours abound. A woman named Grace Deville.

Song of the Current by Sarah Tolscer

Caroline Oresteia is destined for the river. For generations, her family has been called by the river god, who has guided their wherries on countless voyages throughout the Riverlands. At seventeen, Caro has spent years listening to the water, ready to meet her fate. But the river god hasn’t spoken her name yet—and if he hasn’t by now, there’s a chance he never will.

Caro decides to take her future into her own hands when her father is arrested for refusing to transport a mysterious crate. By agreeing to deliver it in exchange for his release, Caro finds herself caught in a web of politics and lies, with dangerous pirates after the cargo—an arrogant courier with a secret—and without the river god to help her. With so much at stake, Caro must choose between the life she always wanted and the one she never could have imagined for herself.

From debut author Sarah Tolcser comes an immersive and romantic fantasy set along the waterways of a magical world with a headstrong heroine determined to make her mark. (Goodreads)


THIS BOOK RIGHT HERE IS THE SWASHBUCKLING ADVENTURE STORY FILLED WITH PIRATES, MYSTERIOUS GODS AND BADASS FEMALES YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR. 

I don't even think I need to say any more really. That should totally be enough to have you rushing to buy this book. 

I've never read a book about living on wherries on a river, so reading this book was a complete new experience for me. For something I've never read about before, Tolcser  immediately managed to draw me in and make me feel comfortable in the world. I was constantly intrigued and wanting to know more. Tolcser sets up an extensive and layered setting for her story but at no point did I ever feel overwhelmed with world building information. Having a map definitely aided in imagining the journey. But also maps are just awesome. 

Without giving any details away, the plot kept my attention the whole time. The pacing was good, things aren't rushed and don't drag, it's brilliantly balances in the middle.

Caro is such an AWESOME protgonist. From the beginning, she commands the page. I cheered her on the whole way. She's intelligent, brave and loyal and I've totally fallen in love with her. 
She's also fiercely protective of her ship, so I wouldn't insult it. 

The 'arrogant courier with a secret' makes for some amazing banter between Caro and him...and maybe some chemistry. While he be extremely arrogant, you can't help but like him. He's also a helpful way for the reader to understand a bit more about boating. I know almost nothing about boats, so some of the lingo was lost on me, but having a character who knows less than me helped to connect with the book more. 

Song of the Current is a wonderfully strong first novel from Sarah Tolcser. I'm excited to see what comes next!

4 stars!

Thank you Bloomsbury for sending me an advance copy to review!

I WENT TO ROME! :O (Part 1)

I. GOT. TO. GO. TO. ROME.

I'm still unsure as to whether or not the whole thing was a dream. I haven't been back a week and I'm already so tempted to just book a flight back out there. For someone who loves history, Rome was overwhelmingly amazing. The structures that have survived 2000 years are honestly breathtaking.

Also: on just about every single tour we went on Hadrian's Wall and Newcastle were mentioned which had me and my friends smiling as the wall is close to where we live.

This is what I did in the week I was there:

Sunday 21st May - Arrival!

I had to get up at 3:30 in the morning to be at my friends house for 4 to drive to Leeds airport to catch our flight at 8:30. That time of the morning shouldn't even exist. It's way WAY to early.


Anyway, we got to our hotel in Rome around 3:30 in the afternoon, so after being up 12 hours already and flown manyyy miles...I looked ROUGH. So here's some pictures of/from my hotel because I look on the verge of death in the ones of me.



After dropping off our cases, we went to explore Rome a little. First mission: find the nearest metro station. Simple right? NOPE.
The directions from the hotel were at the end of the road go through the arches and you'll see it. We did that. No metro station. Turns out there's another set of arches further down the road.
Walking around in 33 degree heat trying to find a metro while jet lagged and tired definitely wasn't the highlight of my holiday!




The first thing we visited in Rome was the Ara Pacis aka this amazing marble alter. I ended up sitting down and just looking at it for most of the time we were there because SO. TIRED.

However it was really impressive. It certainly looks good for its age.







Monday 22nd May - First full day!

After a good rest we awoke refreshed and ready for our first full day in Rome. In the taxi from the airport we have been given a map of the city, which ended up being an absolute life saver for us. I honestly don't know what I would've done without it.

I ended up with the job of navigating us around the city, so my first job was to get us to the Pantheon. I can't explain how it felt to be inside that amazing building. My mouth was permanently on the floor.

Next we headed to the Spanish Steps. At this point of the day it was 34 degrees and little me who is accustomed to cold and rainy British weather was dyingggg. Even the shade is hot in Italy, the only difference is the sun isn't beating directly on you.



We then visited the Capuchin Crypt which was SUPER CREEPY. But you couldn't take pictures there, so have one from Google.

After sitting in a park and then eating at the Hard Rock cafe we went to see the Trevi Fountain as it got dark!

Funny story: It was insanely busy around the Trevi Fountain and I went to take a selfie with my friends when I heard someone ask if I'd like him to take a pic for us. My immediate response was of course and handed my phone over. I was then hit with a sinking feeling of OH GOD PLEASE DON'T RUN AWAY AND STEAL MY PHONE. Thankfully they were nice dudes who also left a cool selfie of themselves behind, which I will keep forever to laugh over.