Weekly Tales – 30/11/2014

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Welcome to my weekly wrap up on Tales Of Yesterday where I share what I have been reading this week, what books I have bought or have been privileged to have received and any general bookish or sometimes not so bookish things I have been up to over the past week.

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Currently Reading

So I finally finished The Diviners by Libba Bray this week (You can find me review here).  I then started this wonderful book –  Trouble by the super lovely Non Pratt.  I’m really loving this book so much (I hope to finish it later).  Its full of humour, fab relatable characters (I love Aaron so much), and a bump. This book covers some really serious issues in a fab way.  I can’t believe I have left it so long before reading it!  Shame on me!

You can find out more about this book on Non Pratt’s website or as I am hoping to finish this book later check out my review which will follow shortly.  I may also have a bit of a surprise after the review fingers crossed.

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Book Post

I have been extremely lucky and privileged this week to have received some books from publishers to review.

Firstly I would like to thank the wonderful Lovereading4kids , the publisher Simon & Schuster and the author Abi Elphinstone for organising and sending me a copy of this little beauty which I cannot wait to read and review for lovereading4kids and my blog.  Not only am I super excited to read this but it has also been stolen off me by my 9 year old son who is loving it!  Reviews to follow soon.

Publisher – Simon & Schuster Ltd

Publication Date – 26th February 2015

Twelve-year-old Molly Pecksniff wakes one night in the middle of the forest, lured there by a recurring nightmare – the one with the drums and the rattles and the masks. The Dreamsnatcher is waiting. He has already taken her dreams and now he wants her life. Because Moll is more important than she knows…The Oracle Bones foretold that she and Gryff, a wildcat that has always been by her side, are the only ones who can fight back against the Dreamsnatcher’s dark magic. Suddenly everything is at stake, and Moll is drawn into a world full of secrets, magic and adventure.

The lovely people at Quercus organised a book bundle for my sons school following Piers Torday winning the Guardian Fiction Children’s Prize 2014 .  I was also lucky enough to receive the same bundle.  It included two of Piers Torday’s books, The Last Wild and The Dark Wild (which is a sequel to The Last Wild) and a review copy of a book out next year called Stonebird by Mike Revell which looks absolutely fantastic.  Thank you to Lauren at Quercus and as always reviews to follow soon although my son has his eyes on these also.

Publisher – Quercus

Publication Date – 1st August 2013

This is a story about a boy named Kester. He is extraordinary, but he doesn’t know that yet. All he knows, at this very moment, is this:

1. There is a flock of excited pigeons in his bedroom.

2. They are talking to him.

3. His life will never be quite the same again…

Publisher – Quercus

Publication Date – 4th September 2014

Twelve-year-old Kester thought he had discovered the last wild animals in the land. He thought his adventure was over. He was wrong.

Below the sparkling city of Premium, deep underground, a dark wild remains: animals who believe the time is right to rise up against their human enemies.

And soon Kester realises: he is the only one who can stop them.

Kester Jaynes saved the animals. Can he save the humans too?

Publisher – Quercus

Publication Date – 5th February 2015

When ten-year-old Liam moves house to be closer to his dementia-suffering grandma, he’s thrown into an unfamiliar place, with a family that seems to be falling apart. Liam doesn’t remember what his grandma was like before she became ill. He only knows the witch-like old woman who snaps and snarls and eats her birthday cards. He wants to fix it, but he can’t.

Walking his dog one day, Liam discovers an old stone gargoyle in a rundown church, and his life changes in impossible ways. The gargoyle is alive. It moves unseen in the night, acting out Liam’s stories. And stories can be dangerous things…

Seeking revenge against the bullies at his new school, Liam tells a story about the gargoyle attacking them. When one of them ends up in hospital, a regretful Liam vows never to go near the gargoyle again.

But his grandma’s illness is getting worse, his mum isn’t coping, and his sister is skipping school… What if the gargoyle is the only thing that can save Liam’s family?

I was also lucky enough to win and receive an audio book of Flirty Dancing from the author Jenny McLachlan to listen to via audible.co.uk.  I’ve downloaded it ready and I can’t wait to listen.  I’ve not listened to an audio book in years!

Bea Hogg is shy but fiery inside. When national dance competition Starwars comes to her school looking for talent, she wants to sign up. It’s just a shame her best friend agreed to enter with school super-cow Pearl Harris. Bea will fight back! But when school hottie, Ollie Matthews, who also happens to be Pearl’s boyfriend, decides to enter the competition with Bea, she will have more than a fight on her hands.

This warm, nuanced, hilarious story about friendship, fortitude . . . and dancing is impossible not to fall in love with. Jenny’s voice is fresh and convincing, and she handles both darker and lighter elements of the story with equal panache.

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NetGalley

This week I have been extremely lucky to have been approved on NetGalley to read the following books –

Publisher – Harper Impulse

Publication Date – 4th December 2014

The first short story in the fun & flirty #LoveLondon series from exciting new chick lit author Nikki Moore!

There’s nothing Holly Winterlake loves more than Christmas and skating, so working as an Ice Marshall at London’s Somerset House is a dream come true.

Noel Summerford hates the festive season and is a disaster on the ice, so taking his godson to Somerset House is his idea of the nightmare before Christmas!

Things are bound to get interesting when these two collide…

With a forty foot Christmas tree, an assortment of well meaning friends and relatives, and a mad chocolate Labrador, will this festive season be one to remember … or forget?

I cannot wait to read this and I would like to say a big thank you to Netgalley and all of the publisher for approving me to read this – very excited!  Review to follow soon.

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Bought Books

The wonderful Waterstones Piccadilly, London had one of my favourite adult fiction authors, Patricia Cornwell in for a talk and a book signing a couple of weeks ago.  Unfortunately as it was a weekday I was unable to make it, but they managed to get me a signed copy which I was able to pay for over the phone and they posted it out for me!  I was over the moon.  Thank you so so much Waterstones Piccadilly you have made this life long fan very happy!

I have also broke my pre Christmas book buying ban and visited my local Waterstones picking up these pretties….ones a Christmas read and the other is ready for a book event on the 5th December at Waterstones Birmingham with no other than the wonderful E Lockhart who is currently book touring around the UK!  I cannot wait!

‘The horror on the train, great though it may turn out to be, will not compare with the horror that exists here, in this house.’ On Christmas Eve, heavy snowfall brings a train to a halt near the village of Hemmersby. Several passengers take shelter in a deserted country house, where the fire has been lit and the table laid for tea – but no one is at home. Trapped together for Christmas, the passengers are seeking to unravel the secrets of the empty house when a murderer strikes in their midst.

“As a girl, Frankie knows she is supposed to play by the rules, but the rules were made by Old Boys for boys and therefore are not her rules to begin with.” – THE NEW YORK TIMES So Frankie Landau-Banks decides to take matters into her own hands, outsmarting the secret all-male society at her rich kid boarding school by tricking the members, including her own boyfriend, into believing her increasingly outrageous commands are their leader’s. Undaunted by her male peers, Frankie contests the old-fashioned idea that it’s the boys who rule the school proving that girls are not to be dismissed – even by her own father, a former member of the all-male society himself!

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Blog Tours

I have been invited on my first ever blog tour this week by the publisher Simon & Fig and Kim Nash . Look out for my review of the book below on the 6th December!  Thanks Simon & Fig and Kim Nash!

Publisher – Simon & Fig

Publication Date – 5th November 2014

Cake is often a major part of life’s celebrations, both big and small. From birthdays to wedding days, cake, in all its delectable concoctions, marks joyous occasions with a sweetness that can’t be beat. But even better is the love that is shared when two people connect over a sweet confection. Maybe it’s a cute new guy wreaking havoc on a broken heart, or a beautiful woman testing the limits of love, or an old beau stirring up long lost desires. Whatever the circumstances, cake can always be relied upon to save the day when it comes to affairs of the heart. In this collection of short stories, cake is the delicious center around which each tale unfolds and romance blooms.

When single mom and journalist, Olivia, sets out to find romance in Cindy Arora’s “Cake Therapy,” she gets a little help from her friends and more than a few slices of cake to coax her off the couch and into the arms of a truly great love. Lucie Simone’s “Aprez Vous” finds success-driven Tara in Paris reminiscing of her long lost love, Jean Marc, and her niece bound and determined to reunite them. In “The Heart-Shaped Secret of Raspberry Jam” by Sue Watson, cake enthusiast, Milly, meets her match in the kitchen, and other places, when new owners take over the tea rooms where she works and her talents and her heart are put to the test. And Scott, mayor of a small seaside community, flirts with political suicide in Joel Zlotnik’s “Her Charms” when he falls for new-in-town Nicole, an entrepreneur with a passion for cupcakes, and whose latest venture proves a little too sexy for the sleepy beach town.

From San Francisco to Paris, from small towns to tea rooms, this anthology tempts readers with humor, style, romance, and the powerful aphrodisiac that is cake. Petit Four is four stories, frosted with love.

Tales Of Yesterday Blog Tour Date – 6th December 2014

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#IndieAdvent

I am over the moon to be writing a guest post for Jim over at YA Yeah Yeah ‘s #indieadvent feature throughout the month of December celebrating our favourite independent bookshops.  Look out for my guest post behind door number 19 and for daily guest posts from fab bloggers.  Jim is also encouraging people to join in the conversation using the hashtag #indieadvent on the following days – join in the chat.  I think this is a wonderful idea and big congrats to Jim for all his hard work and effort with such a wonderful project.

Have you read any of the books above or would you like to chat about anything else in this post?  Will you be joining in with #indieadvent ? I would love to hear from you.  Please feel free to comment using the reply button at the top of this post or why not follow me on twitter and send me a tweet – @chelleytoy

Happy Reading