Cover Love: Stunning Series.

There is nothing I love more on my shelves than beautiful matching series covers! These are my current favourites:

The Grisha series by Leigh Bardugo

I finally brought Shadow and Bone as it was reissued last week in the UK and caught my eye. I love how the Russian theme is evident in the covers, I adore the font and they compliment each other so well!

 

The Selection by Kiera Cass.

The Selection is an old favourite and now I have all four books on my shelf I can appreciate how gorgeous they look together. I still love the evolution of the dress theme and the crown over the title.

 

What series covers do you love?

Much Love!

Lettie.

Xxx

Mini Reviews: July Edition!

Since Forever Ago by Olivia Besse.

Fresh off the heels of a devastating breakup, Riley Benson is a mess. But with her ingenious plan to become a ball-busting heartbreaker herself, she’s pretty sure she’ll survive. After all, what better way is there to get revenge than to move on?
Riley’s determined to become the perfect bachelorette—she’s going to drink like a bro, belch like a beast and swear so much that she’ll make even the most seasoned sailors blush. After all, those are the qualities that every guy’s secretly looking for…. aren’t they?
Max Fletcher is in love with the girl who gave him chicken pox and his first broken leg. When his best friend seems to finally be out of the picture, he can’t help but want to keep Riley all to himself. And, after coaching her with the very best of the very worst love advice, it seems as if he might actually get what he's wanted after all those years. But just as the two come to the realization that they're actually kind of perfect for each other, along comes a secret that threatens to tear them apart.

Thoughts

Fun quick read. I found Riley quite frustrating and a wimpy if I'm honest but I loved the rest of the cast. Max was such a sweet guy, I loved the way he feed Riley fake advice and how patiently he'd waited for her. He also had a great bromance with Evan who was so witty and had such funny ideas. Riley's housemates were fun as well. I liked how they complemented each other with Liz's sharp manner and Audrey's sweet dreamy nature. I loved how they stood up for Evan to Riley. All in all Since Forever Ago was an easy fun read with a great cast of characters.

Whisper to Me by Christina Lee

At college, Rachel has a reputation for being a sarcastic flirt with a thing for star athletes. No one at school knows that she’d had her heart ripped to shreds by her high school sweetheart, who’d driven them both off the side of the road on a borrowed motorcycle, and then abandoned her. No one knows the real Rachel Mattson—except one person…
Ever since he helped nurse his sister’s feisty best friend back to health, pierced bass player Kai Nakos has been head over heels in love. But the supposed bad boy can’t risk letting Rachel know the truth—especially now that the two of them are back in their hometown for the summer, together for the first time since the months following that fateful night. Never mind that Rachel’s ex is back, groveling for her forgiveness.
Shaken by her ex’s return, Rachel finds herself turning to the one guy she knows she can trust. Kai is willing to hide his feelings for her, just to have Rachel touch him again. After all, this is only a temporary fling. Until it becomes something more. But maybe it had been more all along.

Thoughts

I didn't realise this was part of a series until halfway through! It didn't really make a different as Rachel is home for the holidays so her college friends only make a brief appearance at the end. I liked Rachel and I especially loved her backstory and how she refused to let it define her. I did find her frustrating at times with her lack of communication! I didn't like how she had kept so many details of her life from her college friends but allowed them to share their dark secrets with her as well as how she'd kept Dakota away from her 'new' life. Dakota was absolutely lovely if a bit controlling, I would like to read a book on her relationship with Shane. Kai, I loved him! Kai clearly felt second best in his family so it was easy to understand why he'd stayed away from home. I loved how protective and caring he was towards Rachel without being overbearing. His love of music featured hevily in the plot and it was interesting to see someone approach music from a different angle than the usual band member plot. I loved that the plot didn't solely revolve around Kai and Rachel. Dakota and Shane were heavily featured as was the Casino and Rachel's mum's business. Kai's career was also central to the plot and I love that he found what he was good at as well as honouring his father's wishes. The ending was perfect, there was resolution, growth and scope for more books on the supporting characters!

Two fun easy reads with great characters!

Have you read the rest of Christina's series? If so which one should I read first?
Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Owned Authors.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by: The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's topic: Ten Authors I Own The Most Books From

I loved the sound of this topic! I'm just counting 'real' books as I think it's more accurate as a lot of my ebooks are deals or ARCs.

Tamora Pierce- 25

I pretty much own all her books except the Alanna quartet ironically!

Enid Blyton 20+

I loved Enid Blyton as a child and my family love book presents.

Jacqueline Wilson 15+

I think every girl/child in the UK loves Jacqueline Wilson and I was no different!

Diana Wynne Jones- 14

I am such a Diana Wynne Jones fan I knew she'd be high on this list.

Garth Nix 11

Garth Nix writes great series which I think boosted him up the list.

J.K Rowling 10

Of course J.K Rowling is on here- I think she'll be on most lists!

Lloyd Alexander 6

Another well loved fantasy author.

Lindsey Kelk 6

My favourite contemporary author, I love all of her books so far.

Lian Hearn 5

Tales of Otori is such a beautiful series I would love more from Lian Hearn.

Lauren Barnholdt 5

My long standing summer read favourite- if her books got published in the UK she would be even higher.

 

Link your post below and let me know who your most owned author is!

Much Love!

Lettie

Xxx

Summer Sign Ups!

I wasn't going to sign up to any read-a-thons as I have my Summer Bingo Challenge to keep up with but then these three challenges popped up in my news feed...

Arc August

 
ARC August is a month long challenge Octavia hosts as a way to help motivate people to tackle their huge (and small) ARC piles.
Sign up here.

Why?
I've gotten majorly behind with NetGalley so I thought this would be the best motivation!
Aim?
I'm aiming to read 10 ARCs this August which should get be back on course!

The Monster Thons.

The Monster Read and Review-a-thons are a great chance for us all to get together, read some fabulous reads, and get to those reviews that we know have been sitting there waiting to be done for a little too long. Sign Up here.
I've chosen Reviewathon!

Why?
I had a bit of a reading spree so I need to do some hard core reviewing!
Aim?
I'm aiming to write a total of 14 reviews, two a day!

 

Beat the Heat Readathon

The Beat the Heat Readathon runs from August 11th to September 1st. What does this readathon entail, you ask? Well, read as much or as little as you want – the main point is to READ! You set your own goal, and for three weeks you read as many books as you can/want to reach your goal!
Sign Up here.
Why?
I just love readathons and this one sounds fun!
Aim?
I'm aiming to read about 15 books, so five more than Arc August!

Have you signed up for any readathons??
I'm really looking forward to these!

Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx

Behind the Blog: PGCE reading

Sometimes personal posts sometimes blogging posts!

I'm hoping to start a teacher training course in the Autumn so I've been doing some 'summer reading' to get ready and thought I'd share it with you.

So far I've mainly been focussed on picture books and 'Key Stage 1' books as they are quick to read and I got a good deal!

I tried to focus on books I hadn't heard of before instead of childhood favourites. They were all quite witty and full of good lessons. My favourite so far has been Rover by Michael Rosen, I loved how the story was from the dog's point of view!

I'm planning to move up the school years and read a few short 'chapter books'
I would love if you could comment any suggestions for what I should read next.

Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx
P.S Let me know if you enjoyed this type of post!

Mini Reviews: Diana Peterfreund Edition.

I had For The Darkness Shows Stars on my TBR for years so I snapped up the two novellas for free  without a second thought. I brought Among the Nameless Stars before For The Darkness Shows Stars just to be sure I would enjoy it and ended up buying the book about halfway through!

Before Kai joined the Cloud Fleet, he wandered… AMONG THE NAMELESS STARS
Four years before the events of FOR DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS, the servant Kai left the North Estate, the only home he’d ever known, and Elliot North, the only girl he ever loved, in search of a better life. But the journey was not an easy one.
Featuring narrow escapes, thrilling boat races and at least one deadly volcanic wasteland.

I loved how Kai came across, his determination shone through and how he committed to his values. The world building was brilliant for such a short novella, the Reduction was explained enough to interest you for the full novel yet you still felt like you understood as much as Kai did. I'm so glad I read this before For Darkness Shows The Stars as I feel that Kai came off as harsh and unfeeling initially and I may have been put off by him. I also like that it showed the Capital and more of the world as the estate is very isolated and it was good to see how the rest of the country was changing.


Discover how it all began…
New Pacifica was designed to be a tropical paradise, a refuge for humanity filled with natural wonders and technological marvels. A place of perfect peace, where “war” was only a war out of ancient history–or so the privileged teenage aristocrat Persis Blake had always been taught.
But then comes the revolution and the death of a queen, and suddenly it’s no longer enough for Persis to trust the words of her parents, the lessons of her teachers, and the decrees of the men in power.
One terrible night, Persis witnesses the truth: there are those who will stop at nothing to destroy her world… but is there anyone who could save it?
 The First Star to Fall was set in a different part of the world so it was great to get a glimpse of what it like before. I already love the differences between FTDS and Across The Star Swept Sky, the emphasis on science. New Pacifica seems like a more advanced place in some respects and I hope the 'cure' can be developed and exported. I also think this offered more insight into the Reduction as the people seemed to be much more aware of the science behind it. In a short novella I was impressed by the juxtaposing of the pretence and reality of NP through the extravagant party and just a short journey to the heart of the Revolution. I feel like the full novel will be more dangerous and risky. The characters, especially Persis, seem much more inquisitive and proactive. Looking forward to

I loved these novellas I think they were great at setting the world up and the main conflicts as well as giving important insights and background to the characters.
 
Do you enjoy series novellas?
Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx

Cover Love: Marked Men!

This beautiful series is out in paperback today with gorgeous UK covers! As much as I love the US covers  I like that the girls are in the front over here! I think they look sleeker and the taglines are perfect.

Marked Men is one of my favourite series, so much so that I haven't managed string together a review of any of them yet :/ They are well written books with great characters,( I have the series on preorder!), so if you see one I definitely recommend picking it up!

I will be looking out for them to add to my shelf.

Are you a fan of the UK covers?
Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx

Summer Bingo Challenge.

 
I've decided to do my own Summer bingo challenge! I was inspired by Bookish Bingo  hosted by Great Imaginations when I saw it on The Book Monsters. After realising I wouldn't read a few of the categories I decided to make my own!

 
Rules

• One square per book! For example if I read a new release YA book it could go in either box so one square per book spreads it out!
• This challenge will run 1st July until 1st September.

Let me know if you want to join in!
Much love
Lettie
xxx