Book Event: Derek Landy Guildford Waterstones

So I have another great event to tell you about being held at Waterstones in Guildford.
They are hosting Derek Landy the author of the Skulduggery Pleasant series on Thursday 13th September from 7pm.

Derek will be talking about his books and his experience as an author, answering questions and of course signing copies of his new book Kingdom of the Wicked.


Tickets are £3 and can be purchased instore.




Hope to see you there.

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

From Goodreads: I won't tell anyone, Echo. I promise." Noah tucked a curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone touched me like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins? His dark brown eyes shifted to my covered arms. "You didn't do that-did you? It was done to you?" No one ever asked that question. They stared. They whispered. They laughed. But they never asked.

So wrong for each other...and yet so right.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with freaky scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

Echo Emerson just needs to be left alone. She isn't part of the popular crowd anymore and spends most of her time hiding her arms and herself away from everyone, her parents have divorced, her brother died in combat and her babysitter is now her step-mother. Why can't she remember what happened the night she nearly died, the night which left her with the scars on her arms and her mother with a restraining order.

Noah Hutchins just needs to finish high school so he can get a full time job, apply for custody of his two younger brothers and take them from their foster parents, then they can start to be a real family again.

Who would of thought that two people from such different backgrounds, actually need each other?

I really liked Echo as a main character, she tried to portray herself as snarky and strong willed when actually she was breaking inside and her father had control over her life, after meeting Noah she started to stand up for herself. Her memory loss was a good addition to the story and really kept me wondering exactly what had happened, I particularly liked that she discovered the truth in small snippets of information, it would of been easy for Mrs Collins or her father to tell her but it made the story more intriguing that it was left for Echo to remember. Noah was as well written as Echo and his issues were just as real, they didn't feel like just a filler. He had a bad attitude, bad grades and a fierce reputation at the start of the book after meeting Echo he calmed down and became a more thoughtful and less selfish person, I liked how Katie developed him as a character, he definitely won me over.

The story moved at a good pace not too fast that you couldn't keep up but not too slow that you lost interest, the dual narrative helped me to connect with them and it is fast becoming my favourite way for a story to be told.

The supporting characters were well developed and had their own stories and purpose, this helped the story progress for me without taking the limelight away from Echo and Noah. I really grew to like Beth, she was a interesting character and I liked her protectiveness over Noah and her budding romance with Isaiah, I will definitely be picking up Dare You To when it is released to find out more about Beth's story.

To be honest the only thing I didn't completely love about this book was the cover, it's ok, but for such an astounding debut I think it is a shame to have just an ok cover. I much prefer the American cover.

Pushing the Limits was a sucker punch of a story, so beautifully and tragically told that now over a week since I finished reading I still can't get it out of my head, full of brilliant one liners and descriptive prose it really is going to be a hard book to beat, without a doubt my favourite contemporary of the year so far.

Pushing The Limits is published by MiraInk and will be released on the 3rd August 2012

Pushing The Limits Book Trailer

I have recently finished the incredible Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry, my review is coming soon but I wanted to share with you the new book trailer 

What do you think?
Are you looking forward to reading Pushing the Limits?

Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon

 I have signed up for the Summer Wrap Up Read-A-Thon hosted by Some like it paranormal and Inbetween writing and reading. 

I only started blogging at the start of the year and I have already been blown away by the book blogging community. I unfortunately don't get a massive amount of time to read or blog due to a stressful job leaving me with only small amounts of reading and blogging time during the week, because of this I have already started to fall behind on my reading so when I saw about this read-a-thon I decided to give it a go.

The Read-A-Thon runs from 4th - 12th August and you can read as little or as much as you like. I have decided to tackle the Soul Screamers series as I have only read book 1. I will be starting from the beginning and am hoping to finish the series so far by the 12th August. Wish me luck!

To find out more or sign up for the read-a-thon head over to Inbetween writing and reading or Somelikeitparanormal

Book Event: Queen of Teen After Party, Waterstones Guildford

On a very rainy Friday evening I finished work and made a mad dash to Guildford. As soon as we got out of the car we got caught in a freak 10 minute downpour, Neil and I headed to Weatherspoons our meeting place with other bloggers before we all walked to Waterstones.

  Soaked and desperately trying to dry out my books (Night School took the brunt of the rain) we waited with Lily for Caroline and Jess to join us, despite them actually living in Guildford it took them well over an hour to get parked (tip: never drive in Guildford during rush hour)

 Once they arrived we quickly caught up and then Caroline headed to the station to meet Bella, Cicely and Rhys. We then walked the short distance to Waterstones and then waited patiently outside.

Finally we were allowed in, the shop had put out tables of books for each author and more importantly lots and lots of cake - most handmade by the lovely Jess.

The authors made their big entrance down the stairs with the Queen of Teen winner Maureen Johnson going first, Maureen was actually wearing her original prom dress, she couldn't turn round incase of indecent exposure and was in fact holding it up by keeping her arms tightly against her body. Maureen's speech set the mood for the evening, having the crowd in fits of laughter especially with the line "My dress is falling off, my crown is falling off, everything I have on except my shoes is falling off me". Maureen then made a quick exit to get changed whilst the other authors introduced themselves.

Very blurry photo of the prom dress!

Once the introductions were made it was finally time to meet everyone. I queued up to meet Maureen first, who was as quirky in real life as she is on Twitter, she was completely lovely and she had us in fits of giggles, I adore everything written by Maureen Johnson so it was amazing to finally meet her. I think I was probably the only person who took The Bermudez Triangle with me, one of her first books and my favourite, I am so happy to have it signed.

Maureen posing in her crown

After meeting Maureen I headed straight over to see James Dawson who's debut novel Hollow Pike is a must read so if you haven't yet, you need to soon. James was as lovely as I hoped and was really happy to talk to us and had lots of kind words for us bloggers, I can't wait for the release of his second book next year. Definitely an author to watch.

James posing with Hollow Pike

After all of this excitement I also got to meet C.J Daugherty the author of the amazing Night School, who was so lovely and happens to live nearby so decided to pop along to see everyone, as I mentioned my copy of Night School got ruined by the rain so I brought another copy and CJ very kindly signed it for me, we chatted for a while (unfortunately I couldn't get any clues about book 2!) and now I am so excited for its release it will definitely be a preorder for me!

Here is the pile of books I got signed, they are now take pride of place on my bookshelf.

A massive thank you to all of the authors and to Guildford Waterstones for holding the event, I can't wait for the next one.

The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour - Leavesden Studios

I am a huge fan of Harry Potter. I love the world that J.K. Rowling has created and how it has been transformed for the big screen. For my birthday in May Neil brought me tickets for the tour at Leavesden studios and we finally visited this weekend.

After the amazing Queen of Teen after party on Friday we drove straight to the Village hotel in Elstree which was to be our bed for the night in preparation for the Harry Potter tour. I had a very restless sleep as I was so excited, like a kid at Christmas. After waking up at 7am and a quick breakfast we finally got on the road luckily the hotel was only 15 minutes from the studio.

The tour is situated in two purpose built units aptly named J and K, we headed inside, had a quick look round the gift shop and then got straight into the queue.

The Great Hall

The tour starts at the huge Great Hall which took my breath away, unfortunately you are guided for this bit of the tour and they do tend to move you on quickly so make sure you have your camera ready. After the Great Hall the rest of the tour is self guided, I would say give yourself at least 3 hours to go round the sets and props which includes a green screen area where you can ride broomsticks and the Wesley's flying car (we queued for about 45 minutes for this, but as we were leaving the queue had doubled). Between the two units there is a back lot where you we finally be able to taste Butterbeer and knock on the door of 4 Privet Drive.

The second unit has a lot of information on the creatures from the films and how they were brought to life and the famous street everyone wants to see Diagon Alley, which was as impressive as I thought it would be. I really wanted to go on a huge shopping spree - Of course starting at Flourish and Blotts!

Diagon Alley

  Overall I think the tour is a must see even if you are not a huge Harry Potter fan I believe you will still get some enjoyment out of it. I'm already planning my next visit! 

The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines

From Goodreads: Being the good girl isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Ashton Gray has grown weary of playing the part to please her parents, and to be worthy of the town’s prince charming, Sawyer Vincent. Maybe That’s why she’s found herself spending time with Sawyer’s cousin, Beau, while he’s away for the summer camping with his family. Beau is nothing like her perfect boyfriend. He’s the sexiest guy she’s ever seen, dangerous in ways she’s only day dreamed about, and the one guy she should stay away from. 

Beau never envied Sawyer his loving parents, his big nice home, or his position as quarterback. He loves him like a brother. Which is why he's tried everything in his power to keep his distance from Sawyer’s girlfriend. Even if he has loved her since the age of five, Ashton is Sawyer’s girl, so therefore she’s off limits. But when Sawyer leaves for the summer, Ashton, the one girl Beau would move Heaven and Earth for, decides she wants to get into trouble. Stabbing the one person who’s always accepted him and stood by him in the back, is the cost of finally holding Ashton Gray in his arms. Is she worth losing his cousin over?.... Hell Yeah.

This has been on my wish list for a while so when I did my round up of kindle books I knew I had to finally download it, and boy am I glad I did. Any one who knows me well will know I have been having a real problem finishing books recently and The Vincent Boys was completely what I needed to get me out of my reading slump.

The Vincent Boys is about Ashton and her friendship with cousins Sawyer and Beau, the three of them were inseparable growing up, Aston and Beau always causing mischief and Sawyer was always there to get them out of trouble, but then Sawyer and Ashton start seeing each other and everything changed. Ashton started acting perfect so she could be good enough for Sawyer whilst Beau watched from a far, secretly in love with Ashton and knowing that deep down the wild child she used to be was still there.


 Sawyer goes on a camping trip with his family leaving Ashton at home over the summer, with her only friend Leann busy with either work or her boyfriend she is pretty lonely, she starts to spend time with Beau who makes her realise that maybe she or Sawyer aren't so perfect after all.


The Vincent Boys was a relatively quick read, having read nothing by this author I wasn't sure what to expect and found some of the dialect a little off putting at first but soon stopped noticing it. I really enjoyed the Vincent Boys, I didn't particularly warm to Ashton as a main character until near the end of the story, one of my favourite characters is Lana so I will definitely be checking out the sequel The Vincent Brothers as she is the main character, this is currently available for 77p from the Kindle store so quick download this and decide who is your favourite Vincent.