Lucy Powrie

For my first post, I must tell you all how boring I am. Reading, and I know I shouldn’t really be talking about it, is one of the only things I do. Without reading or blogging, I would most probably have nothing to talk about. Now, you’re probably wondering why I’m taking part in this if I do nothing other than read but I’m hoping that this will encourage me to talk more freely about the things I do and also find a reason to write about something each month.

Music

I don’t listen to a lot of music but when I do I listen to the same artists. This month I’m loving Please Don’t Say You Love Me by Gabrielle Aplin.

It was also Red Nose Day this month and, because of it, my school decided to do sit down Zumba to this song by One Direction:

I’ve also set up a new Twitter account this month, which is technically reading related but I’m really struggling of things to say here. You can find it here: @readingperks

I’m also going to be making more of an effort to go on Tumblr and have set up an account which you find at the URL: readingperks.tumblr.com

I promise you I’ll try and be more exciting next month! I’ll try and think of things to add beforehand so that I don’t freeze whilst writing and forget what I was going to stay.

Hope you all have a fab April! 

Embracing My Inner Geek is a weekly post featured on Queen of Contemporary where I ramble about random and geeky stuff. 

This week I’m going to be asking for your help!

I’m going to be creating a board in my school’s English department to encourage reading. I really need your help and ideas because I want to make this look as best as I can so that people will feel that they want to pick up a book.

I’m thinking of doing a book of the month with a summary and picture of the author but that is the only idea I have so far. I’m also thinking of putting up posters of upcoming books. 

I want this board to be something that people will look at instead of just walking past because, as you know, reading is really important to me and I want other people to read, too.

So if you have any ideas then please write them in the comments below and I’ll probably use a lot of them.

I know this is an incredibly boring post but I really am in need of your help and I promise that I’ll try and write something a lot more exciting next week!

Don’t forget to wear your geekery like a badge!

With huge dystopian elements and brilliant writing, Wither seemed very promising and I was quick to think it was like The Hunger Games; and although there are many similarities, this is no The Hunger Games. 

Set in futuristic America, Wither explores the ideas of what would happen if we were to find a cure for cancer. For something that affects a lot of us nowadays (most people know someone who has suffered), DeStefano has shown us that, actually, things could be a lot worse. In this world, the lifespan of people has dramatically dropped; men live to 25, women live until 20. In this thought-proving read, DeStefano has wrenched readers hearts from their bodies and made them feel exactly what the characters are experiencing.

Going back to The Hunger Games, I thought that, at the start, the way in which DeStefano wrote from Rhine’s point of view was very similar to the way that Collins wrote from Katniss’ perspective. Rhine had been thrown in to this crazy situation and torn from her old life. It was very easy for the reader to feel sympathetic because from a young age was responsible for her and her twin brother’s life. She had a lot of pent up anger and it was easy to understand her feelings from the narrative.
I was horrified by the character of Cecily. Being the same age as me, it was frightening to see the way she was. If that was me, I know that I would act completely different. Cecily was a complete antithesis of Rhine which their interactions with each other more dramatic and it really added tension.
Linden was the House Governor and husband to the sister wives- Jenna, Rhine and Cecily. He only wanted his wives to be happy and, having not experienced the things that the girls had, he was a little bit clueless to their needs. But this made him the character that he was and I can see why many people would choose Team Linden over Team Gabriel- Gabriel being the servant that Rhine felt an attraction to.

This novel is full of amazing world building and DeStefano really tells the readers the nitty gritty details that makes them a part of the world. I found the illusions interesting. They’re intriguing and show the reader that the world that has been written about is very fake.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have already borrowed the second one from my library because I am still living in the world that has been created, even after putting down the book.

Publisher: Harper Voyager
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Number of Pages: 358
Format: Paperback
Acquired: Borrowed from library

Behind the scenes, I have been busily organising and changing certain things about the blog. I decided to do this after attending a blog talk that Carly Bennett from Writing from the Tub did at my local library when I came to the realisation that, really, I didn’t need to be doing as much as I did. 

I used to post everyday and it started to become strenuous. So I’ve now decided to create a schedule and at the moment it looks like this:

Monday- Review

Wednesday- Discussion

Friday- Review/Discussion/Interview

Saturday- Embracing My Inner Geek (This might not be posted every week but I will be posting it on a Saturday from now on).

Sunday- Letterbox Love

This is subject to change and there will be times when I may post more or less, especially with some monthly features that change every month. 

I’ve also decided not to Tweet as much because I really had become addicted and it also means that I can spend more time reading than on my phone! Although I still go on Twitter, I’m not as active and I’m finding that I’m not losing pageviews either, which I was a little worried about.

I’ve started labelling my posts which is something that I tried to do before but forgot about and it’s much easier to now find posts.

I’m sure there are a lot more changes that I’m in the process of making but I really can’t think at the moment! If there’s anything that you’d like to see on Queen of Contemporary then I’d love it if you could comment below or you could send me an email, which you can find on the contact page.

After reading Tempest, I knew that I had to read Vortex. Tempest left on a huge cliffhanger that left me reeling and I really didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. Vortex, it is safe to say, blew me away.

The pressure is on. After making a tough decision, Jackson Meyer must try and get on with his life. It’s not easy to let go of the girl you love but maybe it won’t be so hard, now that Jackson has other things on his mind. In his new role at Tempest, a division of the CIA, Jackson has to work hard. And when a new, conflicting division, Eyewall, turns up, the drama really starts.

After reading a few reviews for Vortex, I wasn’t sure what I would think of it. Quite a few people said that this was a very different novel to Tempest and so I was a little wary. I really shouldn’t have been so cautious, though, because, in my opinion, this novel was ten times better.

One of the major themes in this novel is change. As a character, Jackson has grown and adapted to fit the focus of the book. We finally see him mature from an inexperienced boy to a full grown adult, with a lot of responsibilities. I certainly thought that this different version of Jackson was a much better one.

There really are some shocking twists in this novel, especially the ending. I really had to stop myself from crying at the end because it was extremely emotional. Cross has the ability to make the reader laugh one minute, and cry the next. I may need a box of tissues when reading the third book.

The Tempest novels really do have some of the best covers. I know that they’re one of the first books I see when I enter the teen section of my bookshop and that is because they’re quite different to any other covers. Vortex, particularly, is spectacular and I love the bright shades of blue that ensure it’s not missed.

Vortex really surprised me; maybe because a lot of sequels are a bit of a disappointment nowadays. I’ll definitely be reading the final instalment in the trilogy because I just have to know what happens next.

Seeing as though Google Reader is shutting down in July and Google Friend Connect will probably be going with it, I’ve decided to register my blog on bloglovin’. I don’t have many followers on there at the moment but I’d just like to quickly mention how good it is.

It is easy to transfer the people you follow via GFC over to there and you can also follow WordPress blogs, both appearing in your feed. I’m so pleased about this because I’ve been having to save about 50 blogs in my favourites tab so that I can comment on both Blogger and WordPress blogs and now I can finally have them in one place.

It’s so easy to sign up for a bloglovin’ account and it will probably take you about 2 minutes. Transferring all of the people from your Google Reader feed is also quick and all you’ll need to do is click a few buttons. 

From the Bloglovin’ About page-

You can also choose to receive daily emails on posts and it will notify you when you get a new follower.