Phew,Thank God Its Friday!

Boy am I happy it's Friday! I have had a crazy week in work. I've had no time for blog posts, let alone any reading :( This makes me sad. BUT today is my last day in work and then I have a whole beautiful month to catch up on everything before I go back to University. Sweet! So, lets move on to Follow Friday. 

Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee 

This Weeks question is: Let's step away from books for a second and get personal. What T-shirt slogan best describes you?

Well ,considering the month I have had in work I think this one suits me the best. I do love my sleep! 

Don't forget to leave a link to your page, I'd love to see your slogan! Happy Friday.

Review: Douchebag Roulette by Marie Simas

Goodreads Info: Douchebag Roulette is the second release by bestselling author Marie Simas. Prepare yourself—this collection will have you laughing out loud! As one commenter said, “This is a small glimpse into some horrible universe, and I love it!” 

*Advisory: Mature humor, some adult content


*This book was kindly sent to me for a fair review by Defiant Press.


Douchebag Roulette is a short book (58 pages in all) that only takes about an hour to read.  Each story is a few pages long and Simas writes in such a blunt manner that it is sometimes shocking. This is very apparent in Gym Bush, which also happens to be one on my favourites. It was hilariously horrible, but being Irish, I have slightly crude sense of humour so it worked for me!


I particularly enjoyed The Smartest Douchebag and Scratch and Sniff Neil. Walmart Bingo was the perfect story to end with. It was amusing, involving a game that had me reading it out loud to my boyfriend, but was also a story about a random act of kindness that was lovely to read. 


While there were some funny moments in this book, there was also a darker, sadder side to some of the stories.  So I would remind you that there is an adult content and mature humour advisory. There were also a few spelling mistakes throughout the book which bugged me a little. 


Overall I enjoyed most of the stories. I think it would be hilarious to leave this book in your bathroom for guests to have a read of ;) I am interested in looking up Simas's first release "Do Tampons Take Your Virginity?"  3 out of 5 stars.

Follow Friday and Blog Hop!

Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee 

This Weeks question is: Name 3 authors that you would like to sit down and spend an hour or a meal with just talking about either their books or get advice on writing from?

1. J. K. Rowling for obvious reasons. I grew up with Harry Potter and was recently blown away by the final movie. I watched Rowling's speech at the London movie premier and I have to admit I got more than a little misty eyed! I'd love to ask her questions about the series and thanks her for bringing us Harry Potter. She is is great role model for so many people.

2. Paige Toon. I have recently finished Chasing Daisy by this spectacular author. Her characters are real people with flaws like everyone else. It makes them so easy to relate to. If they cry, I cry. Her books are easy to read and gripping throughout.

3. Diana Gabaldon. I just want to meet the genius who created Jamie and Claire Fraser. My favourite fictional couple! 

Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Crazy For Books and is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word! This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books!

This weeks question is: What’s the ONE GENRE that you wish you could get into, but just can’t?

Well I'd love to start reading Crime Fiction. My mom reads 2 or 3 books from this genre each week. She very rarely dips into another genre. To be honest I've never actually tried to read one! I just love my romance so much, I find it hard to break away from. Does anyone love to read crime? I'd love to finally give it ago if you have any good recommendations! 

Happy Hopping!

And the WINNER is...

Jessica from Peace Love Books!! 

Congratulations Jessica! I am so happy with Jessica's book choice. She picked One Day by David Nicholls. It truly is my favourite book at the moment and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Hopefully you'll let me know how you got on when you have read it! I'm sending you an email now to make sure I have your mailing address correct and all that Jazz! 

A big thank you to everyone else who took part in the giveaway! I had a lot of fun doing it so I'm sure there will be another one coming soon ;)

(I used random.org to pick the winner.)

Last Chance to Enter GIVEAWAY!

The time has finally come and I am excited!! I'll be picking the winner for my first ever giveaway tomorrow evening. If you haven't already entered it, hurry up and do so! I'll announce the winner on my blog and send them an email. They will have 48hrs to reply! Good Luck!

The Prize: The winner will have the option to receive one of the following books from Book Depository.

Passion by Lauren Kate

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

One Day by David Nicholls 

Check out the original post to enter!

CLICK HERE TO ENTER GIVEAWAY

Review: City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

**WARNING** This is the fourth book in the Mortal Instruments series so there will be spoilers in the goodreads summary and my review!

Blurb and Goodreads summary: Clary is back in New York and life is good: she's training to be a Shadowhunter and is finally able to call Jace her boyfriend. But nothing comes without a price. When Jace inexplicably begins to pull away from her, Clary is forced to acknowledge that she herself has set in motion a chain of events that could lead to the loss of everything she loves. Even Jace.


Meanwhile, internecine warfare among vampires is tearing the Downworld community apart, and only Simon — the Daylighter who everyone wants on their side — can decide the outcome; too bad he wants nothing to do with Downworld politics. Love, blood, betrayal and revenge: the stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels

I am a HUGE fan of this series and adored City of Glass. While I do think that City of Glass ended the series perfectly, I was still excited about the release of City of Fallen Angels. Unfortunately it took me a while to get into the story and it didn't live up to my high expectations. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed this book, just not as much as the others. 

In my opinion Simon is the main focus of this book. I was always a fan of Simon but not enough to want to read a book about him. I was looking forward to seeing how Jace and Clary were getting on. And while I am on that topic, I really felt their relationship was lacking at times. I think it is because I missed all the crazy, slightly sick, chemistry between them when they thought their feelings for each other were so wrong. Now that they can finally be together, some of that excitement and tension is gone. I missed it :( On the other hand, there were some hot kissing scenes between the two ;) Jace also didn't seem like himself. Everything that has happened in his life seems to have caught up on him and he has lost some of that arrogant sarcasm I had grown to love.

The supporting characters were better than ever. I really enjoyed seeing a more vulnerable said to Isabelle as she gets involved with Simon. I would love to have seen more of Alec and Magnus; but when they finally arrived, they did it with a bang. Magnus is my favourite supporting character; he is funny but sweet and he cares so much about Alec. Alec shows his jealous streak in this one, which gave me a few laughs! 

"Or there are plenty of pretty girls here, since apparently your taste goes both ways. Is there anything you aren't into?" "Mermaids," said Magnus into his fingers. "The always smell like seaweed."

Overall I found some parts of the story lacking and unnecessary but I did still enjoy it, particularly the second half. The HUGE cliffhanger at the end has left me worrying about whether what has happened can ever be reversed! I certainly hope so! I'm not looking forward to waiting for a whole year to find out! 

Over in Ireland we don't have the version of this book that includes Jace's letter to Clary from City of Glass; but the letter can be found at http://cassie-claire.com/cms/jaces-letter. I just want to write a few words about how much I loved it! I remember when I was reading City of Glass I was so upset that Clare didn't include the full thing! So obviously I was delighted the other day when I discovered this gem! Some quotes from the letter:

"I belong to you, you could do anything you wanted with me and I would let you. You could ask anything of me and I'd break myself trying to make you happy."

"As long as I can still dream, I'll dream of you."

Some swoon worthy stuff right there!

Initially I felt giving this book 3 stars was a bit unfair but then when I thought about it, I remembered all the times I put it down at the end of a chapter because I was a little bored. (mainly with Simon, I'm sorry to say!) And I would have liked to read Clary's viewpoint a bit more. So ya, 3 out of 5 Stars for this one. I am still looking forward to the next book in series!

Tuesday Teaser

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along.
Here's how to play:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! 

This week my teaser comes from Called Home: Two Hearts Answer by Gloria Schumann

A loud banging on the back door cut through the relative quiet. Both women jumped as the clung to one another, trying to wish the knocking away. Instead of vanishing, the knocking became more insistent. "I know there's someone in there," a deep voice boomed.

Fast Forward Monday

Fast Forward Monday Meme is hosted by Mysteriousrose over at Mysterious Books and gives us a chance to talk about what we will be reading/doing during the coming week!


Ah, two weeks ago was hectic, last week was even more hectic and this week is looking to be just as messy! I have had zero time for blogging recently :( Which is upsetting me greatly. So this week I am seriously going to make some time each evening to come online. I don't care how tired I am after work! 


I have lots planned for this week.

• I recently finished reading City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare and will be reviewing it very soon, maybe tomorrow!
• I will also be reviewing Douchebag Roulette by Marie Simas. 
• I have just started a new book called: Called Home: Two Hearts Answer by Gloria Schumann which I hope to have reviewed by the start of next week!
• Of course I will be taking part in a few memes here and there!
• AND, I almost forgot! On Thursday 21st I will be announcing the winner of my GIVEAWAY! I am so excited about it!! If you haven't already entered it, get on with it! Enter Here!

GIVEAWAY Reminder!!

Hey! Just wanted to post a quick reminder about my Giveway to celebrate reaching 100 followers. There still plenty of time to enter. I'll be picking a winner in 21st July.

The Prize: The winner will have the option to receive one of the following books from Book Depository.

Passion by Lauren Kate

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

One Day by David Nicholls 

Check out the original post to enter!

CLICK HERE TO ENTER GIVEAWAY

It's Friday!! (In case you didn't know)

Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee !

This weeks awesome question is: Let's step away from besties...What is the worst book that you've ever read and actually finished?

The worst book I read was Labyrinth by Kate Mosse. I had to force myself to finish it. It took me two weeks to read it, which is very long for me considering I had a lot of free time back then.

The characters were bland, the author frequently abandoned conversations halfway through and major events were badly described so i found myself rereading pages to try and figure out what was going on or what character was speaking.

What about you?

Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Crazy for Books and is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word! This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books!

This week's question is: Not actually a question! This week we all get a chance to promote a giveaway or two from the blogoshpere!

So I have picked Nic's giveaway over at Irresistible Reads. I chose it because I'm a follower of her blog and her giveaway is also open to internationals which is great cos..you know...I'm international!

Happy Hopping!

My Book Boyfriend #6

My Book Boyfriend is a weekly meme hosted by Missie of The Unread Reader in which we swoon over boys in books! I haven't been taking part for the last few weeks because I have been consumed by two young adult series and have already featured the guys from them as my Book Boyfriend. But today I'm back with a new boy in tow!


His Name and Address: Luis Castro from Chasing Daisy by Paige Toon. 
Profession: Formula one race car Driver
Appearance: Tall, dark and handsome - Olive skin, black hair, dark-brown eyes - What's not to like?

Luis has a reputation of being a party animal and womanizer but as the story progresses we see that while he is hilarious, he is also trustworthy and dare I say it...a bit vulnerable!


As far as quotes go, it is hard to share any with you guys without using Spoilers because this is a story of secrets and twists! I'm not going to write an spoilers though so here is a quote that really moved me at the time.


"You still haven't told me why you're here?" I prompt.
He looks uncomfortable. "Spur of the moment. I didn't want you to leave again."
"I was only taking a break for a few days."
"I couldn't be sure of that. I couldn't take the risk."
"I'm suprised you'd care that much."
He looks up suddenly and stares straight into my eyes. "I need you more than you think."
My heart does something funny and it dawns on me at that moment that maybe I need him too.

Review: Chasing Daisy by Paige Toon

Blurb: If you fall too fast... you might just crash. ‘You don’t have to worry about me. I have no intention of getting my heart broken again.’ Of course, I’m lying. I feel like Will is chipping a little piece of it away, day by day. It’s killing me... Daisy Rogers is in love – and that’s no good thing. It’s not that her very famous ex is neither out of sight nor out of mind, but that the man of her dreams, William Trust, has a girlfriend – a childhood sweetheart, no less. And as a Formula 1 racing driver, he puts his life at risk every day he goes to work. From Melbourne to Monte Carlo, and São Paulo to Singapore, Daisy and her best friend Holly travel the world as hospitality girls on the Grand Prix scene. But with more secrets between them than Paris Hilton has shoes, life promises to be nothing short of a whirlwind.


Do not be fooled by the cover of this book. it may seem like your typical glittery chicklit novel, but it is so much more than that. I was truely moved by this book. It is an easy read; I read it in a day because I couldn't put it down. I am having trouble putting how much I loved this book into words. I just want to go all fan girl crazy on this review.


The story follows Daisy Rogers, a hilariously offensive individual, who is running away from her family and a very famous ex boyfriend. Daisy works as a 'bun tart' or front of house girl for a Formula 1 racing team. I had no prior knowledge of F1 and had no desire to learn about it. However, Toon provides the perfect amount of detail to help the reader understand the world of F1 while still keeping the storyline interesting. She also does a wonderful job creating the exciting but nerve-wrecking atmosphere present at big races like F1.


 As you can imagine, Daisy soon falls head over heals for Will, on of the drivers on the team. But poor Daisy had to fight these feelings as Will has a long-term girlfriend. To make things even more exciting, enter Luis, the second driver on the team. After an explosive run in with the infamous Luis Castro, Daisy can't seem to stay out of his way. Both drivers are the complete opposite to each other, bringing out two very different sides of Daisy. I was laughing out loud at the hilarious fights between Luis and Daisy and then swooning over all the little sweet, awkward moments between her and Will. 


And just when you think you know what's going to happen BAM, there is the mother of all twists. I was completely gobsmacked. Daisy is such a likeable character. I felt that I knew her and when her heart broke, so did mine. It is a tale of secrets, glamour, drama, romance and heartbreak. It had me laughing one minute and crying the next. I have read a few reviews where people have said the ending is a bit predictable but franky I think being able to predict something comes as a bit of relief after the crazy curve ball in the middle!


I absolutely adored this book and I just can't do it justice. Like my emotions through out the book, my review is all over the place! But anyway it's a book that I will be reading again, which is saying a lot because I rarely reread books. There is just not enough time to go backwards!


5 Stars!

GIVEAWAY Reminder!!

Happy 4th July!! Hope everyone is having a blast! Just wanted to post a quick reminder about my Giveway to celebrate reaching 100 followers. There still plenty of time to enter. I'll be picking a winner in 21st July.

The Prize: The winner will have the option to receive one of the following books from Book Depository.

Passion by Lauren Kate

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

One Day by David Nicholls 

Check out the original post to enter!

CLICK HERE TO ENTER GIVEAWAY

I'm working like crazy at the moment in a new job and I won't have much time for blogging over the next couple of days. I have a review coming up for Chasing Daisy by Paige Toon that I cannot wait to share with you guys. It was an AWESOME read!

Review: The Wrong Path by Vivian Marie Aubin du Paris

Title: The Wrong Path
Author: Vivian Marie Aubin du Paris
Pages: 106
Release Date: Tomorrow! 2nd July
The book was kindly sent to me by the author for an honest review.


GoodReads Summary: Annabelle's life was finally going according to plan. She had the right group of friends. Her childhood crush had finally started to notice her. She was pretty, popular, and in love. 
And then one terrible night at a party Will enters her life and everything changes. 


Will is the polar opposite of his older brother Trevor—Annabelle’s new boyfriend—the popular, straight-A, quarterback high school star. He's wild, charismatic, and full of secrets. He's completely different from anyone Annabelle has ever known, and soon their accidental run-in becomes a pattern as Annabelle finds herself seeking him out wherever she goes. Despite his open hostility with his older brother, Annabelle is drawn to him, wanting to be with him. Will opens a new world for Annabelle, one where she can shed her carefully constructed mask and be herself. 


But being with Will comes at a price. And when tragedy strikes, she has to make a choice between the two brothers. 


And the wrong one means losing everything forever.

Talk about your guilty pleasure! I just wanted to curl up in bed with this book, a cup of tea and stay there forever. When I had finished reading I really missed it!


Annabelle is the 'in' crowd in school. The type of group that would remind you of the movie Mean Girls. I have to say Vivian really nailed the characters and the group dynamics on the head. Having gone to an all girls boarding school myself, I know the kind of people that she included in her book. They may seem like loyal, fun loving friends, but if you step out of line they will turn on you so fast and you can say goodbye to your 'friends'. This is what poor Annabelle has to deal with every day. The fear that she will be kicked out and left alone. But when she starts dating Trevor she finally feels like things are going her way.

Annabelle is too naive and soft at times, but I could still relate to her. I was that girl who got worried when my friends climbed trees and made me join them. I was always the one who worried about how we were going to get down. So I saw bits of my younger self in Annabelle which was nice. It bothered me how often she cried. Sometimes I just wanted to shake her and tell her to man up and enjoy her time with Will.

And then there is Will, *sigh*, mysterious, charming, secretive, gorgeous Will. Every scene with Will (and there are many) left me grinning like a lunatic at my laptop. Will is a true swoon worthy character. He has a bad boy reputation but around Annabelle he is kind, considerate and her knight in shining armour.Will and his shirts definitely earned a place in my heart! He is the strongest character in book and he brings out a side of Annabelle that no one else has seen. Some of the scenes (ahem...the lake) between Will and Annabelle are completely thrilling and beautiful.

What the story boils down to is which brother will Annabelle choose? Which path will she take? Will she stay with her perfect, kind and popular boyfriend Trevor, securing her place in the 'in' crowd? Or will she choose bad-boy Will, and risk losing everything she has worked for? What would YOU choose?

The Wrong Path is not solely a love story, but a coming of age story, where a young girl is struggling to discover who she really is and what she wants out of life.

I really enjoyed reading this book, I found it difficult to tear myself away from it. If you want a romance that you can *SQUEE* along with then this is for you. I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars.


Author's blog: http://vivianmarieaubinduparis.blogspot.com/
Author's Website: http://www.vivian-marie.com/

Follow Friday and Blogger Hop!

Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee 

This weeks question: Q. ACK! Your Favourite book/movie character (example Hermione Granger played by the Emma Chick) just walked into the room! Who is it and what would be your first reaction? 


Ah! This is a tough question...There are so many. I think I'm going to go with Jace Wayland from City of Glass by Cassandra Clare. (a slightly older version of him would be nice) He is funny and sarcastic and has this 'I don't give a crap' attitude that I love. But at the same time he is so vulnerable and hell bent on protecting those he loves. And he is YUMMY! Covered in scars and tattoos that all Shadowhunters have. If he walked into the room I'd go completely fangirl on him. I'd jump into his arms screaming.
Once I thought I saw Robert Pattinson in town and I actually nearly threw up. I didn't...and it wasn't him! 

Jamie Campbell Bower will be playing the part of Jace in the City of Bones movie. Something to look forward too!

Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Crazy for Books and is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word! This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books!

This week's question is:

“What keeps you reading beyond the first few pages of a book, and what makes you want to stop reading a book and put it back on the shelf?"

I recently stopped reading a book after the 4th chapter (it is not something I do often or like to do) but I just found it so boring. It was all descriptive writing. The author described the surrounding forests and plant life for pages and then moved on to the mountains and the people's appearance. By the 4th chapter I still didn't know anything about the characters, or who was even the main one. There was very little dialogue or action. I like books that describe the setting but this was too much. 

What keeps me reading? I'm not too sure...I am a big fan of dialogue and relationships. If it started with a witty character I'd be quite intrigued. Or some mysterious/curious opening like 'I heard a noise outside my window'. I loved the opening line of The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd

"In the middle of my marriage, when I was above all Hugh's wife and Dee's mother, one of those unambiguous women with no desire to disturb the universe, I fell in love with a Benedictine monk."

PSSST! Check out my Giveaway below!