My year in books...

As we approach the end of another year, I thought I would reflect back on what I have achieved reading wise over the year. After all I started this blog initially as a 'book blog'.

This year hasn't been all that prolific for me in terms of reviewing books... REAL LIFE has gotten in the way of this mostly and I do find myself having less and less time for writing full detailed reviews. However, I have continued to read a lot, as always.

Mainly the 2nd half of this year I have been reading a lot of older books, I've been in a bit of a retro vibe! And also, the amount of kindle one-click purchases appearing on my bank statement was getting to epic levels so I actually thought I should knuckle down and actually read the books I have been collecting and putting on my groaning bookshelves! Which, I admit are mainly of the old school variety...

oooh, look at all the pretty colours...

Old skool romance FTW!

And surprisingly I have actually made my way through quite a lot of them!

Going forward, I am thinking of different ways to continue to keep this blog as a book based blog at its core. Such as mini, on the go reviews as I'm reading books or just a monthly summary and star rating... I've not quite decided.

But whatever happens, don't worry I'm still out there reading and enjoying romance novels as aways. Maybe one day I'll actually get through my entire book collection...

Two NEARLY full book shelves (p.s. theres also two more 'non romance' bookshelves in the other room...)

Xx

A Slight Obsession...

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, I wasn't feeling well last week so I took a break from most things until I felt better!

Anyway...

Things on the writing front are going really well. Upfront Centre Stage is gaining momentum, I have rewritten my first 4 chapters and I am MUCH happier with them. I felt my previous ones, especially the first, just weren't showing enough of my voice and were a little too awkward sounding.

Also I have found that now that I have plotted a little bit (with the help of my new friend The Board) I'm much more motivated to continue writing. On some days I have been getting close to writing 5k, which I am so pleased with.

Now, you may be wondering what all this has to do with the title of this post.

Well the answer to that is that I am currently suffering from a book addiction - in particular buying new books! Which isn't a good habit to have at the moment when I am trying to find the £11,000 it's going to cost to remodel our bathroom and kitchen!

Last week I bought nearly 15 new books (some brand new, some second hand, and a few ebooks!). Someone on twitter mentioned that there needed to be an ebook addiction support group, and I think I may need that. I counted up and my ebook numbers reached close to the 300 mark... gulp! I don't even want to go into the number of books I have on my shelves, they are bulging once again and I only had a clear out a few months back.

In an effort to try and curb this unnecessary addiction I have been going to the library a lot. I live next door to my local one, I'm in there nearly everyday checking out new books or ordering ones in. The other day I had such a large pile that they slipped out of my hands on my way to self service checkout and crashed down on the floor causing a very loud noise in the small and quite library... Embarrassing.
But at least it only cost my pride and not my depleting funds!

Sitting at my desk this morning after trying to cram my newest acquired books on the shelves I have decided I need to actually read EVERY unread book on these shelves. I mean really, it is unacceptable that I am buying books when I have so many yet to read. All I can say is that if there was ever a nuclear explosion or something that I somehow survived, which caused me to be trapped in my house then I would have plenty of entertainment.

I'm not going to buy any more books.

Stop rolling your eyes... I'm not!

Nope, instead I am going to get whatever I want that is new from the library and make an effort to actually read all those unread books on my shelves.

Or, I'm going to try my damnedest anyway. If you catch me in Waterstones... well, perhaps you could pretend you didn't see me!

Of course, gifts don't count and are always welcome ;-)

What books have you read/bought recently?

Xx

Pretty much sums it up!

Policy is boring...

As you may have noticed I do a lot of book reviews on this blog! That is something I love doing and will continue to do so even though I am no longer being silly and trying to read a book a day or more. However, I feel the need to add a page of information about my reviews to make it clear how I go about things.  I have received a few books from authors to review and to avoid any confusion the information will include what I will accept, etc.

This will be posted on it's own page, on the tabs above, but I am posting it now as an update.


Introduction

One of my passions is reading and as such, a feature of this blog is book reviews. The majority of the books I read and review I have acquired myself. Either bought in either physical form (brand new or second hand), ebook form via most ebook stores and read using e-reading apps available for the iPad, or borrowed from my local library.
The books are usually chosen by me, but I am always interested in recommendations.

Review Copies

If you are an author or publisher and would like me to consider reviewing your book(s) please contact me via email -
everydayisthesameblog (at) gmail (dot) com

Please bear in mind the following criteria for my acceptance of a book.

What I will review

I mainly read books that fall in the 'women's fiction' area, including mainstream/general fiction, romance including category and single title, chick lit, suspense etc. This is not an exhaustive list.

What I will not review

I read most things.
I don't tend to read erotic romance/erotica, however a book that falls within this category yet has strong romantic (or other) elements - where the sex is secondary to the rest of the story and not gratuitous - may be considered at my discretion. Other books I do not read are paranormal, inspirational, historical, sci-fi, horror, action, etc. But once again, these may be considered.
Definite no-no's are books that include indecent content, taboo subjects, and unnecessary violence especially towards children and animals.

I'm not here to judge what you read, it's just that I chose not to.

Format

I am happy to receive books in physical or ebook form. For ebooks please be aware that I use an iPad to read on, I have most e-reading apps (iBooks, Kindle, Overdrive, Bluefire, Kobo) so it will need to work on those platforms.

About my reviews

All my reviews will be in the form of a blog post on here. The post will include a cover image, title and author info, publisher's info, category line where applicable, year and date of publication, ISBN, and blurb.
Please note that the publishing info and the ISBN will usually relate to the UK release of the book - let me know if you would like to have release info for other countries included.

The reviews will consist of my rating followed by my summary and review.

I don't like every book I read! Where I have chosen a book myself and end up not enjoying it, it's more than likely that I simply will not write a review for it. However if the book has been sent to me for review, then the review provided will be honest and detail why I didn't like it.

I do not resort to insults (especially towards the author), nor do I use unnecessary snark. Reading is subjective and while I may not like something another person will. I'm British after all, and we are unfailingly polite!

Turnaround

Books sent to me will be prioritised as soon as they are received. I would hope to read the book and post the review within 14 days. However, life does sometimes get in the way so I can't always promise this.

My rating

I know it is sometimes difficult to understand the different review ratings out there. Here are mine in the simplest possible terms:

1 star - Hmm, I really didn't like this one. Sorry!

2 stars - I didn't like this, but some bits were OK. Perhaps this was not for me...

3 stars - I enjoyed it... but not all of it. Who's perfect though, right?!

4 stars - Really, really enjoyed it! Yes, some bits were better than others but that's life!

5 stars - Absolutely loved it! It was amazing, brilliant, great, fantastic... etc!

A half-star is used when I am being indecisive and can't decide to be more negative or more positive... I'm indecisive a lot!

Other stuff

I also post my reviews on goodreads as well as tweeting my review including a link. *If you would like me to '@' you in the tweet you must let me know as I wouldn't automatically do this.

I am also happy to host authors and/or giveaways here on my blog. In fact it would be my pleasure to do this, please email!

I would be interested in reviewing other stuff including products if this suits my interests. Please contact me by email to discuss.

I DO NOT review unpublished work, and I am not able to provide critiques to your work.

Where to find me

email - everydayisthesameblog (at) gmail (dot) com

Twitter - @RLAeverydaysame

Goodreads - RLAeverydaysame

Thank you

Xx

365 books in 365 days Challenge .... The End!

Well, I did it.

On the 19th March 2011 I decided to set myself the challenge of reading 365 books in 365 days and document it in the form of reviews on this blog.

Yesterday, Sunday 18th March, I read my 365th book.

I would love to say that it has been easy and/or fun however at times it hasn't, but I was determined to complete it and I am so proud that I have done so!

Along with the reviews, I have also kept a track of some figures and stats, in a note pad that my husband colloquially named my serial-killer book, which I will post about later.

I would like to thank anyone who has read this blog, whether it was once, twice, or everything.


Out of the books I read 14 of them were sent to me by the authors. A huge thank you to the following authors for that -

Heidi Rice
Sarah Morgan
Liz Fielding
Wendy S. Marcus
Kate Walker
Nicola Marsh
Lucy King
Maisey Yates
Samantha Hunter
AJ Nuest


All of the books I read for this challenge were new reads, I had not read them before. Naturally along the way there have been some casualties, or DNF's, which I did not include in the challenge.

These were -

The Rancher's Reunion - Tessa Radcliffe (Inspirational is not my thing)
Fallen - Michelle Hauf (Paranormal is not my thing either!)
The Italian Millionaire's Virgin Wife - Diana Hamilton (Heroine came accross as though she was a child!)
Return Match - Penny Jordan (hero and heroine were first cousins - couldn't read it!)
Temporary Measures - Leigh Michaels (hero and heroine were third cousins - again couldn't read it!)
Cheap Thrills - Tiffany Wild (just didn't enjoy it!)

I think out of 365 books to only DNF 6 books is pretty good going!

I will continue to read (of course!) and review books, although I am going to have a little break from it all!

Once again thank you to all of you who have follow me along this very crazy challenge.

Happy reading.

Xx

Top 5 Friday ... Books

I have been wanting to do a 'Top 5' series in the style of High Fidelity for a while. But, it's only this week that I have finally been able to actually get up-to-date with my reviews as well as all the other events that seem to have happened in the last couple of months.

Anyway, I am here now and I thought I would start off with one of my favourite things to do, i.e reading, and give you my 'Top 5' books.

Contrary to what you might think I don't actually read 'only' romance, I love a lot books in most genres. Give me a book over the television any day!

Where possible the cover images are those I first read as most of these books have had many re-prints and re-issues with different covers.


5-


Message from Nam - Danielle Steel

Yes, I know that it is dreadfully uncool to like Danielle Steel books and apart from this one I don't think I have read any of her others. But this one has been with me for a long time, it was a book my mum ordered in to our local bookshop (no Amazon or Waterstones back then!) especially for me, after we had watched the TV Movie adaptation during the summer holidays one year, which by the way is quite crap but my young self enjoyed it. It was the book that started it all... and by "all" I mean two things.
Firstly, this book started my love of romance books, without reading it then I wouldn't love all things romance now. This book along with Barbara Taylor Bradford's A Woman of Substance were my introduction into 'women's fiction' in general.
Secondly, this book started what can only be described as an OBSESSION with all things to do with the Vietnam War. After reading this I went on to devour any non fiction book, TV show, or Movie about Vietnam I could find, I was fascinated about it. Even to this day I continue my obsession, the Wikipedia page about it is one of my most frequented webpages. If you want a Vietnam War movie recommendation, I'm your girl...!
I still have my original copy on my bookshelf, it has been read many times over the year and survived many, many house moves!
It may be uncool, but I love this book.


4-


Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding

I am too young to remember the original Bridget Jones's Diary column that ran in The Independent and even the original release of this book. But I promise you this, I read it BEFORE it was made into a movie. I don't mind the movie by the way, apart from the fact that Bridget really should have been portrayed by an English actress and it was 'dumbed down' a little (my opinion btw, don't stone me!), the book is waaaayyyy better.
I remember when I read this, it was the summer I turned 15 (1999) and the 2nd book had just come out and there were whisperings about a movie and my friend leant me her copy telling me I 'had' to read it. So I did, and I loved it, and I continue to love it to this day. I have read it maybe 3 or 4 times and it never gets old or less humourous. What I love most about it is its innate 'Britishness' and the dry humour that goes arm in arm with it.


3 -


Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell

When I became a teenager, I found myself turning very liberal, much to my parents disgust. Suddenly I became aware of political aspects that I did not like, which I had not given a hoot about before. And on one of my many stints in devouring anything on a particular subject that I could get my hands on, I came across the idea of dystopian futures and found this book.
It's a terrifying yet utterly fascinating book, that has had a huge effect on the English language. Although I don't think I can really forgive it for giving us reality TV, groan!
I loved this book, it impacted on me hugely, I actually did a whole design project based on themes from this book in my first year at university, and it continues to do so. When I first met my husband I convinced him to read it and it has become one of his favourites as well.


2-



Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

I know this is only a novella but I'm still keeping it in there.
I didn't read this book through choice, it was actually a set book in my curriculum for English Literature in high school. But literally from the first page I was hooked, I remember the first day we were given our copies in class and our homework was to read 2 pages or something silly like that, instead I read the whole thing that night as I could not put it down. And I remember being frustrated in classes when we would have to read sections as a class so that everyone finished it, and hanging back to talk to my teacher about it and it's themes!
And yes, I admit I cried. It's a beautifully told story, which doesn't sugarcoat it's themes of loneliness or circumstance.


1-


The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

Sorry for the crappy image, this was the best one I could find of the version I read.
This is again a book that I didn't read through choice, but boy am I glad I did! This was a set book for my English Literature A Level, and I loved it straight away.
I was also pleased that it fitted in with my interest in dystiopia, just like Nineteen Eighty-Four!
While I admit to not really being a feminist, some of the feminist themes in this book have really stayed with me. I really love all the social critques it includes and I think it is an absorbing and quite scary book. I have probably read this book about 5 times, and always find new layers to it.
Although please don't watch the film, it's awful, and so unlike the book.


What are your 'Top 5' books?

The tale of too many books ...

Any of you who reads this blog regularly and/or follows me on twitter(not including you darling [husband] since you must read this by law!) may be aware that I have recently been on holiday to New York City! I have only mentioned it, like, a couple of thousand times! I will get round to posting some of my photos very soon.
I love going on holiday in the US and New York in particular as it is one of the coolest cities in the world. I had already decided that while in the US I would indulge myself by purchasing a couple of books from the many Harlequin lines available over there.
Well, a couple turned into a few, a few turned into a bunch, and not long after a bunch turned into LOADS! There was just so much choice that I actually got way too excited and ended up buying so many books that it became a bit of an obsession, "how many" I hear you ask, well you'll find out soon!

I was a bit naughty and took some photo's of the selections on offer in a couple of the bookstores I went in (they always tell me off when I try to take photos so I had to do it stealthily!)



These ones are from Barnes and Noble Union Square, quite a big selection!





Barnes and Noble Fifth Avenue




Half of the selection in Borders Madison Square Garden (an assistant was lurking so I couldn't take a photo of the other half!)


I bought the books in bunches, we went to some of the same areas more than once and I somehow ended back in the bookstores, and by the end of the week those bunches had, er, bred!

I can't be bothered to type the title of every single one I bought so I'll just post the photos I took of each bunch! (If the title is unclear and you want to know what it is just email me!)


1st bunch




2nd bunch, my husband bought these for me from a bookstore he found in Grand Central Terminal called Posmanbooks. Sorry for the blurry photo here!




3rd bunch




4th bunch (can you tell the quantity is starting to grow!)




5th bunch




6th bunch




7th bunch. We found this pre-owned book shop near Times Square called Book Off that had loads of Harlequin books for 1$ each! A DOLLAR EACH! As chief shopping bag carrier I think my husband breathed a sigh of relief when I managed to restrain myself to 12!




8th. Another one bought by my husband, he found it in a random convenience store, CVS I think.




9th bunch




10th bunch. These were bought on our last day, Borders had a 'buy 4 and get 5th free' offer so, of course, I had to make the most of it!!



And that's it. Have you been keeping count? No? I didn't think so, the total is 72!
It's official, I'm both a book and shopping addict!

I can't wait to start reading them all, they look beautiful on my bookshelf. Some of the lines we don't get here in the UK so I really wanted to try and be diverse as possible. I was really pleased with the American Romance titles and the one from the Love Inspired line, which I have been dying to get hold off!

Now, if you excuse me I have some research to do on shopping addiction...