Lost in a Good Book

2021 Goals

11 Jan 2021 Leave a comment

by Amy in General Tags: 2021 goals, goals

As I poke my toe tentatively into the new year I am reigning in any grand plans for my blog and aiming for something simple this year. I did think I was doing something simple last year, and while I met a couple of my goals in a roundabout, unplanned way, I am not going to put any pressure on myself. This blog is about sharing my love of books and reading and having a pressure to do it in a certain way is not something I want hanging over me right now. Instead, I am going to share my goals that I have some confidence I can achieve.

Get more AWW read

I have been doing the Australian Women Writers Challenge for a few years now and have seen my reading/reviewing numbers grow a lot. This year I aim to increase my numbers from last year and to match that with reviews since that was where I faltered last year. I will start with my initial goal but hopefully through the year I can bump that up and see where I end up come December.

Review more

This is a strange one given I tend to put up three reviews a week (when everything in my life goes to plan) but there were a few bumps last year and even when I was putting out consistent reviews I have a huge backlog from last year that I would love to get written up. 2020 was a huge year of reading for me and even if it means I am posting reviews months after when I read them I will be incredibly happy. For example I read all 30 Agatha Raisin books this past year and have Opinions about them which I would love to write about so hopefully they get up at some point this year, I also read some truly amazing books I need to shout from the rooftops about.

Read more YA

This was on the last year goals but I didn’t read as many as I liked, and it is an always goal because there’re so many out there I have yet to read and that have been on my TBR list for far too long. This is also including #LoveOzYa books, I’m looking at doing their bingo in October if they offer it up again to help me along, or I will redo a previous card in the meantime to help widen my reading.

These are super simple but I think it is a great way to keep doing what I love without becoming too chaotic and stressed with expectations and the inevitable let down come December when I realise I haven’t done anything from my bright eyed optimism in January. I know last year is not the year to hold as the standard or the norm but I have also been a tad notorious of being a bit neglectful in my goals so this might be my best chance at success. It’s also a chance to challenge myself and my reading in different ways. Fingers crossed anyway.

Do you have any reading goals for 2021? Are you doing any challenges to change up your reading or are you taking chances in different ways?

2020: Here’s Your Hat; Glad You’re Going

31 Dec 2020 4 Comments

by Amy in General

New Year’s Eve, the day I never thought would arrive. Not that I am trying to wish my time away, nor am I unaware that the world won’t magically reset tomorrow, but there is something about escaping from a year and starting fresh that has been the building block of every idea of New Year’s for the past however long and it’s one I am hoping to take advantage of.

Looking at previous end of year posts it is an interesting comparison: some were optimistic, some were reminders of the horrors the year held and the fear I was trying to contain. They are also full of the goals I aimed for, both succeeded and didn’t. It’s a great trip down the past of my wrap ups and I loved doing it again now but for different reasons. As I wisely said last year, and it weirdly still rings true this year, “While the world has been falling apart around us this year with incompetent governments and a wide variety of imbeciles ruining the planet with their greed, it has been a wonderful escape to lose yourself in books.” This year also included a pandemic and never leaving the house so there has been ample time to lose oneself in a book. Personally I had a pretty terrible year, but book wise I’ve had a brilliant year so don’t let anyone tell you books are not a great escape.

This year I participated in the Australian Women Writers Challenge again which was a lot of fun and I also did my bingo card where I discovered some wonderful new books and got to read some books long neglected on my TBR pile.
It’s a strange balance this year, my reading excelled – I read over 200 books this year which is absolutely mind boggling, but I didn’t get a chance to review a lot of them which means I have a handy back catalogue to work from next year.

In this dumpster fire year there are things I am going to cling to though. I am incredibly proud of myself for reading so much, even if my reviews were lacking at times, but at the same time knowing how difficult this year has been for me I am so proud of getting the reviews out that I did. I am proud I read so many new things and took chances on books I may not have, and overall I am proud to have tried my best when the universe decided I needed a challenge or two (or seven).

So as 2020 comes to a close I say to it thanks, goodbye, don’t ever come back.

Harvest (#5) by Nikki Rae

30 Dec 2020 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, The Order Tags: dark romance, four stars, nikki rae, The Order

Published: 29th December 2020
Publisher: Self-Published
Pages: 297
Format: ebook
Genre: Dark Romance
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

The Wolf has captured his prey, but that isn’t enough to satiate him. Like chess pieces, he has gathered all the members of House Chimera except one: Elliot.

Fawn, Odette, and Marius are kept prisoner, forced to perform the Wolf’s most trivial tasks in exchange for a basement cell. The butler of Lyon Estate clings to reality while Master Lyon’s wife is a shell of herself. In the New Order, Fawn is key, and she struggles to infiltrate the Wolf’s mind while the Wolf uses her to lure the head of their House to his lair.

This game has been pre-planned, but that doesn’t mean the rules can’t change. Like any other predator, the Wolf has other needs. Fortunately for Elliot and Fawn, they have been trained all their lives for men with needs like his. Everything leaves a scar, but this might kill them. Can they survive not only the New Order Mansion, but the darkest parts of each other?

Note: I received a copy of this book to review from the author

I am super excited to be participating in the blog tour for Nikki Rae’s latest book Harvest. This is the fifth book in The Order series and it was full of the darkness, lust, pain, and power that this series has been synonymous with over the years.

Where in previous books there has been unease and anticipation, not to mention excitement as Fawn works to defy and bring down the system, there is a feeling of constant tension through this story as you never know where it will go and what these characters will do.

There is a greater focus on the dark romance and BDSM aspects of this story and it fills up a lot of the pages but everything has a purpose and Rae uses it well to show not only who is actually controlling who, but also as manipulation and to highlight how there are two agendas and purposes being played at the same time. There are clear warnings at the beginning of the book regarding the content but this is a topic that can be hard to read about even knowing the subject matter going in.

This isn’t a series you can jump into at any point, this one especially offers little in way of explaining the larger plotlines. Rae has built up a world through the past four books that show the depth of the world and these relationships and with this fifth it is a hint at what I hope to be a fantastic world crumbling conclusion it’s been building up to be.

After the shock of the previous book’s conclusion I wasn’t sure what I was going to be met with but this is a nice balance between furthering the story, enhancing the characters and their relationships, and being another small step in the bigger picture. Fawn alters between being strong and defiant, manipulative and able to master her emotions to trick when she needs to, and being weak and fragile. I’ve said before I love Fawn best when she is defiant and prepared to burn the world down so I’m glad I got a few glimpses of that in this book.

Expectations are tested and we see a few different sides to characters in situations we hadn’t previously. It was interesting to see Fawn struggle seeing different sides of these people, given her situation and experiences she should know people to wear different masks depending on circumstance and with such an imbalanced relationship she can’t expect that she knows everything about these people anyway, no matter how close they become.

This was a slow build but one that wasn’t unsatisfying. The tension and uncertainty around the Wolf’s actions and the unknown of how this group of people will act confined to a house, each with their own roles to play, was one that keeps you guessing and on edge. There are negotiations and punishments on both sides and the sudden shifts and the unexpected are what Rae does best. Spending an entire book on edge never knowing what could happen is a feeling that is perfect for the kind of story Rae is trying to tell.

You can purchase Harvest via the following

Amazon | Amazon Aust

Book Bingo 2020: A Success Because I Say So

28 Dec 2020 1 Comment

by Amy in Book Bingo Tags: book bingo, book bingo 20, book bingo 2020

What a year. I will keep saying that before every discussion about my achievements and non achievements because honestly it’s a miracle we got out of bed in the morning half the time this year.

In blogging and Book Bingo specific terms, I am super proud of my achievement on this card this year, even more than when I completed the whole thing in 2018. I got my fairy tale retelling done, I got a romantic suspense AND, more importantly, I got a play read! I was so excited, I have had that on there for so many years and I never did it but this year I have! So if we take nothing else from this dumpster fire year than at least I read a play.

Some of the books that I read this year were beyond incredible. Titles like Once and Future were phenomenal, plus getting to see the conclusion to the Truly Devious series with The Hand on the Wall. Even finally getting to read some classics like Animals of Farthing Wood was a great surprise. Since I did my reading this year mainly through audiobooks that tended to play a hand at what I read due to availability and access, but even so, the books I discovered and finally got to read because I had an audio to listen to was great. Some were also, how shall we say, not great, but I enjoyed the diversity of my reads and I took a lot of chances on books instead of sticking with ones I knew and in doing so I found some incredible stories.

Many of the books used on this card have been on my TBR list for years, like The Sun is also a Star and The Lightning Thief; series like The Lunar Chronicles I have been meaning to read every year and yet I never get far or don’t even start, but this year I went from start to finish and my gosh what an incredible experience that was! I also loved the titles I took a chance on because they fulfilled a bingo square and in doing so I got to read some amazing stories and gain perspective on a variety of experiences.

Check out my previous update for mini reviews or click the titles to read my review. I’m sad my reviews got a little behind this year but I am hoping to catch up next year so I will hopefully update the post with links when they are made.

2020 Release: One of Us is Next by Karen McManus

Reread: Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling

Set in Australia: The Ex by Nicola Moriarty

POC Author: 10 Things I Hate About Me by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Transgender MC: I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman

Non Fiction: Queerstories ed. by Maeve Marsden

Lesbian MC: Pulp by Robin Talley

Mystery: The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson

Debut Author: The Library of Lost Things by Laura Taylor Namey

Own Voices: Love From A to Z by S.K Ali

Self Published: Harvest by Nikki Rae

Fairytale Retelling: Fairytales for Feisty Girls by Susannah McFarlane

Free Choice: Once & Future by A.R Capetta

Finish A Series: The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

On TBR Pile: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Romantic Suspense: Charlotte Pass by Lee Christine

Play: Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

Movie Adaptation: The Sun is also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Gay MC: Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

Shortlisted Book: When Billy Was A Dog by Kirsty Murray

Historical: Pennies for Hitler by Jackie French

Classic: Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann

Rural: All I Want For Christmas is Rain by Cori Brooke

Horrible Histories: Horrible Christmas by Terry Deary

25 Dec 2020 Leave a comment

by Amy in 5 Stars, Non Fiction Tags: Christmas, fun facts, horrible histories, junior non fiction, non fiction, trivia

Published: 6th October 2016
Publisher: Scholastic
Pages: 96
Format: Paperback
Genre: Non-Fiction
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – 5 Stars

It’s history with the NASTY bits left in!

Do you want to know:
– A very rude pantomine song?
– Why making Christmas pudding used to be a crime?
– How to get rid of carol singers?

Horrible Christmas tells you all the festive facts you ever wanted to find out but were too stuffed full of mince pies to ask.

It’s Christmas time and what better way to celebrate than with a fabulous book that tells you everything you know about Christmas is either wrong or even more interesting than you thought? Legendary series Horrible Histories has taken hold of Christmas and filled up this fabulous book with trivia, fun facts, and a whole heap of history both intriguing and horrible all relating to this the festive season.

The book is also incredible funny and quirky and I loved learning all the facts about Christmas and the surrounding myths and associations. There are multiple quizzes to test your knowledge and it is fascinating about all the old traditions that have either been forgotten or the ones that live on today but I had no idea of the original reasons why. There’s some science in there too as the realities of Santa’s sleighing and reindeer endeavours are worked out with maths and logic (a lot funner than it sounds), plus the horrible bits of history that wouldn’t be Horrible Histories without it.

The book is laid out with pictures, colours, and trivia boxes and full page stories. There are topics like chapters breaking up the book into relevant information like Christmas Carols, Christmas History, Rotten Christmas etc that keep the topics together but there is still general crossover. Great to pop in and out of when you need a certain fun fact.

I love learning new things and fun facts and trivia are some of my favourite things in the world so this book is right up my alley and it is presented in such a fun and non-intimidating way that it is easily accessible. It isn’t just page after page of facts, the best part is you learn things in different ways, not just quizzes, not just the fact lists but with storytelling and humorous writing too. Information like the first Christmas card was printed in 1843, or that kissing under the mistletoe comes from a Druid tradition are told in clever ways that are interactive and make it a fun experience.

My favourite fun facts from the book must be included here because they are wonderful:

There were no angels around when Jesus was born. The reporters wrote in Greek of ‘angelos’ being there which is not Greek for angels, it’s Greek for ‘messengers’.
Silent Night was first played on a guitar.
The first record of Christmas being written down is in 1038 in a Saxon book where it appears as Cristes Maesse.
Little Jack Horner (of thumb in pie fame) was actually a monk who (supposedly) tricked Henry VIII out of a land deed at Christmas.
In the 1600s the Germans decided that the Christ Child should be worshipped at Christmas. They called him Christkindl – German for Christ Child. This became Kris Kringle and became a name for Santa Claus instead.
Rudolph was created for an advert in 1939
In the 1800s Christmas had almost died out but Charles Dickens bought back its popularity with ‘A Christmas Carol’.

There’s definitely a lot more but these ones stood out. There’s so much to learn in this book about old customs, traditions from Victorians and other eras, other countries, present day and the past. It is fascinating to see what feels like an ingrained tradition or idea is actually manufactured or something so old was really a simple thing at first.

If you have been a fan of Horrible Histories in the past this is a great addition with a nice holiday theme, but if this is your first experience of Horrible Histories it is also a great book because you get to learn a little more about Christmas and its history and love the joyfulness that is Horrible Histories.

You can purchase Horrible Christmas via the following

QBD | Dymocks | Amazon