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Happy World Book Day! | #ImmerseYourself

Happy World Book Day! 

To celebrate, GWR are running a campaign to immerse yourself in the world of books and escape by train to the places some of our favourite books are set. They’ve hidden free return train tickets all over the South West and you can find out where to find your own on the Immerse Yourself page.

GWR have invited me to tell you about some of my favourite books set in the South West of England which is particularly handy because 1. it’s where I live and 2. it’s one of my very favourite places on Earth. I had so much fun picking out the books to feature – it made me realise just how many books are set in the South West, and some of my all-time favourites too!

Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy

Under the Greenwood Tree is probably a very controversial choice because I think most people would choose Tess of the D’Urbervilles as their favourite Hardy book – and I would too. Tess is a literary masterpiece that I insist everyone should read at least once in their lifetime. Under the Greenwood Tree, though, is an obvious choice for this list because I think it sums up West Country life in Hardy’s time perfectly.

Thomas Hardy created the fictional county of Wessex where he set the majority of his books, changing the names of towns and villages he was familiar with to make his own. Under the Greenwood Tree tells the story of a blossoming romance between a church musician and the new teacher that has moved into the village. It’s so much more than that, though – it’s an account of rural life, a snapshot of the beauty of the Dorset countryside. It’s a book that ambles along at its own pace and that’s why I love it so much.

The Rain by Virginia Bergin

Imagine this: a meteor hits Earth, which infects the water system — one drop can, and will, kill you. This is the premise of The Rain, and it is thrilling, fast-paced… and also hilarious. I love the main character Ruby so much because she reacts just like any other teenager I know would in an apocalyptic situation.

I especially loved reading it because of the mentions to places in the South West that I recognised — at one point, Ruby even drives past my hometown, which was very exciting! I could see a map of the places she was visiting in my head, like a SatNav moving along as I followed her. You’ll love this if you’re looking for more realistic apocalyptic fiction!

Red Witch by Anna McKerrow

Red Witch is the second book in Anna McKerrow’s Crow Moon trilogy, and is partly set in Glastonbury. I have fond memories of climbing up Glastonbury Tor a few summers ago, hair blowing wildly around in the wind, barefoot as I reached higher and higher into the sky. It’s a truly magical place, where you can feel the energy surrounding you. If you’ve never walked up the Tor, it’s something you should add to your bucket list!

Both of Anna McKerrow’s books have so far been set in the South West, with Devon and Cornwall separate from the rest of the UK due to the world fighting over the remaining oil reserves and on the verge of destruction. If I could, and if it was real, I would live in the Greenworld. I don’t even have to think about it; it sounds like my dream place to live.

Blue by Lisa Glass

Set in Cornwall, Blue combines surfing, romance, friendship and success. I love the main character, Iris, and as Blue is the first book in a trilogy, you get to know all of the characters intimately throughout the course of the books.

Lisa Glass invokes the setting really well – the windy beaches, the tourists, what it’s like to live near the coast. Having never surfed before, I was a little nervous about not understanding any of the references, but Lisa explains everything really well and is also a great advocate for girls in sport. A must-read for the summer!

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey is, arguably, the most underrated of Jane Austen’s novels, although the first she ever wrote (but last to be published). It’s mostly set in Bath and, as my closest city, I loved reading about the society in Jane Austen’s time and recognising the places she wrote about.

The other half of the novel is set in the gothic Northanger Abbey and Jane Austen writes this perfectly – it’s a satirical look on the gothic genre and demonstrates Jane Austen’s humour really well. I wish more people would read this! There are parts that are even better than Pride & Prejudice.


GWR single fares for city day and weekend breaks can be booked up to 12 weeks in advance, plus are great value!

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I want to know your regional recommendations! What are your favourite books set near the place you live?

This post has been sponsored by Great Western Railway, although all views and opinions expressed are my own. I’m a GWR customer myself and only ever accept sponsorship that I 100% believe in myself. 

Recommendations

March in YA : Ones to Watch

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March definitely seems like a quiet month on the YA front. Or maybe that’s just me? It’s going to be a month of catching up on books that I’ve missed out on in previous months and also getting ahead for the next few months too.

Here are some of the books I think you should be watching out for in March:

Crush by Eve Ainsworth

I first read Crush last summer and absolutely loved it. It’s quite easy to get fed up with stereotypical “boy meets girl and they fall madly in love, the end” type novels, so Crush is very refreshing. It tells the story of Anna who meets a boy called Will. He’s everything that Anna has ever dreamt of, but how much does perfect cost? It’s an emotional but captivating story told in a dual narrative about the toxic relationship, and dual narrative is what Eve does best.

The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

The Girl From Everywhere has one of the most amazing and intriguing synopses that I’ve read this year: a time-travelling pirate ship. Nix and her father can travel around the world and through time using old maps, but her father is determined to find the map that will reunite him with Nix’s mother. Problem is, this could erase Nix’s existence. How cool does that sound?! READ IT!

Half Lost by Sally Green

This is the concluding book in the Half Bad trilogy and I’m not entirely sure if I can handle the trilogy ending yet. The books have been so, so good and it will be very hard to say goodbye once Half Lost is over. If you haven’t started the trilogy yet, you should! You won’t regret it.

Half Bad review 

What books are you looking forward to being released in March? Have you, or are you going to, read any of my picks?

Recommendations

February in YA : Ones to Watch

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When looking through the pile of books being released in February that have been staring at me from my desk longingly for what seems like a very long time, there were a few that really stood out to me. So I thought I’d make it into a little feature each month, where I share a few of the releases that I think are ones to watch out for.

How Hard Can Love Be? by Holly Bourne

After staying up way past my bedtime reading How Hard Can Love Be?, I can tell you for definite that it is a book you must add to your reading pile immediately. It’s the sequel to Am I Normal Yet?, although I’m sure you could read it before without getting too confused, and whilst I loved Am I Normal Yet?, I loved How Hard Can Love Be? even more.

It’s set in America and follows Amber, who is visiting her mum for the first time in two years. There’s drama, cute romance and (most importantly) FEMINISM. That’s right, the Spinster Club is back and better than ever!

READ IT!

Needlework by Deirdre Sullivan

Needlework first caught my eye when I saw author extraordinaire Louise O’Neill praise it, so I had to check it out. It doesn’t sound like an easy read – it discusses child abuse amongst other things – but sometimes it’s good to push yourself outside of your comfort zone and discover the lives of people who lead, or have lead, very different lives to yourself – that’s part of the reason I read.

13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough

13 Minutes is my current read and I am loving it. It’s not my typical read and something I’d usually shy away from, but I knew from the moment it popped through my letterbox and I opened it up that I’d love it.

The book opens with a man discovering a body in the river of a girl. After jumping in to save her, she’s resuscitated after being clinically dead for 13 minutes (hence the title), but she has no recollection of the events that lead up to her being in the river. All she can remember is the panic, the rush of water, and the cold…

It’s a thrilling mystery and has me hooked. I can’t wait to read on to find out what happens!

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

I have to admit that I haven’t Red Queen yet, but I’m looking forward to marathoning both books this month. Glass Sword is the sequel to Red Queen and the books have taken the YA world by storm – they’ve been optioned for a film to be adapted by Elizabeth Banks, star of The Hunger Games, and I see people raving about them all the time. Definitely a must-read in February!

What are you excited to read in February?

Recommendations

5 Reasons Inferno is the BEST BOOK EVER + Giveaway!

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To celebrate the fact that Catherine Doyle, author of Vendetta and the upcoming Inferno, is releasing exclusive short stories on her website in the next few weeks, I thought I would share 5 reasons why Inferno is the best book EVER, ahead of my review in January. Read to the end for a giveaway of Vendetta and Inferno!

1. SO. MUCH. ACTION.

There isn’t a dull moment in Inferno and I couldn’t put it down when I was reading it because something exciting happens on every page which makes it impossible not to read on. I’ve said before about Vendetta that it’s as if you’re watching the events of the book take place rather than reading them, and I had exactly the same experience with Inferno. These books are PERFECT if you love books that you can’t forget about and can read in one go.

2. Sophie is one of the most realistic protagonists in YA

I love reading about Sophie because it feels like she is a part of me. She has flaws and there’s a particularly emotional scene in Inferno where I realised just how realistic Sophie is; I know I would have reacted in exactly the same way as she did. It makes me excited to read further on in the Blood for Blood saga in the future just so I can get to know Sophie even better.

3. DOUGHNUTS.

There’s an extremely cute scene involving a doughnut, hence the above picture and I can’t help but re-read it over and over again. If you need a reason to read Inferno as soon as it’s released, read it for this scene!

4. Awesome female friendships!

I love Sophie’s best friend, Millie, and her and Sophie’s relationship is the best. They’re always there for each other and we definitely need more relationships like theirs in YA. I want a best friend like Millie!

5. THE FALCONES.

Obviously, if you’ve read Vendetta, you’ll know that the Falcones are at the centre of the plot, but in Inferno things get even more complicated. It means that we get to see even more of the Falcone family and more of their backstory is revealed. PLUS, lots more Nic and Luca. Which is what we all want.

The next Inferno blog post will be next Monday on The Dark Dictator.

Read The Girl on the Street, told from Valentino Falcone’s perspective, at www.catherinedoylebooks.com.


GIVEAWAY

Time for the giveaway! To win a copy of Vendetta and Inferno, all you have to do is:

Leave a comment telling me the protagonist you relate to the most, or a book that you couldn’t put down when you read it!

Make sure to leave your Twitter handle too so I can contact you if you win! Good luck!

Recommendations Uncategorized

A (Graphic) Novel Obsession

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I am in love with graphic novels at the moment. Especially with so much revision to do, they’re easy to pick up and instantly get into as they don’t take up the same amount of brain power as a 500-page novel would do.

I always used to be sceptical about reading graphic novels. It’s easy to get caught up in ‘literary snobbery’ and feel as if books with pictures in are slightly inferior, but I’m finally over that and I love graphic novels and everything in them – the words, the graphics, the vivid colours. They’re amazing!

Isabel Greenberg

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Recommendations

5 Books That Changed My Life

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Some books you can read and forget about after a few months, but there are others that stay with you for a long time afterwards. There are also those books that will always stick with you, no matter what, and have affected your life in some way. Here are a few of mine:

Jessie Hearts NYC by Keris Stainton

I love books for a wide range of reasons, but one of the main ones is because they’re always there when I need them most. When I was 12, a few months before I started my blog, my granddad died and it was something that affected me hugely, us being so close and me being so young. During the months after, I turned to books to help me through and one of these books was Jessie Hearts NYC. For this reason, it’s a book I’ve recommended a lot and Keris’s books, like Jessie Hearts NYC and Emma Hearts LA, are a great place to start for readers who are starting to read YA.

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

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Recommendations

5 Female Authors I Adore

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In the wider book industry, female authors often get overlooked so it is super important to support them as much as possible. I thought I would compile a list of some of my favourite female authors today. They all write books that feature either feminism or female characters who stand out as being realistic and passionate.

Louise O’Neill – Only Ever Yours and Asking For It

Louise is one of the biggest YA talents out there at the moment and with the recent announcement that she’s been signed to write two adult books for Quercus, I’m really excited to read her future books. Only Ever Yours has earned Louise comparisons to the likes of Margaret Atwood, which is no mean feat, and it is set in a dystopian future where girls are genetically engineered to be perfect. They are then raised to please the men of this fictional world, which leads you to question our own society and just how far away the world in Only Ever Yours is from ours.

Asking For it deals with the subject of rape and consent. It’s extremely harrowing and a must-read for people of all ages. It draws attention to what it’s like to be a woman in the digital age and, although I didn’t love every second of reading it, I came away knowing just how important the book is.

Holly Bourne – Soulmates, The Manifesto On How to Be Interesting, Am I Normal Yet?

I read Soulmates a few years ago and fell in love with it. Each page gripped me and I couldn’t put it down. Since then, I’ve become a huge fan of Holly’s and she is one of the loveliest people you could wish to meet. It makes me very happy to see her books doing so well!

The book that I could talk all day about is Am I Normal Yet?. The first in a new series, it tells the story of a girl recovering from OCD and anxiety, and her journey as she tries to fit in and be “normal”. The best part of it for me was the feminist group that Evie and her two friends set up. It allows younger readers to test the waters of feminism without it being forced on them and it’s a book that I’ll be recommending to everyone. Continue Reading

Recommendations

TRENDING: Did I Mention I Love You? and Did I Mention I Need You? by Estelle Maskame

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When I get sent books that have already-existing fan bases, I get worried. When I get sent books that have HUGE fan bases, I worry even more. When it came to Did I Mention I Love You? by Estelle Maskame, though, I was super worried. Estelle is incredible popular on Twitter with over 120,000 followers and had finished the three-book series by the time she was 16. However, it was this fact that made me want to read Did I Mention I Love You? right away to find out what all the fuss was about.

The first book, abbreviated to DIMILY, starts with 16-year-old Eden travelling across the country to visit her father in California, who she hasn’t seen for years. This means meeting her three new step-brothers, one of whom is Tyler Bruce. Tyler may be moody and have issues of his own, but Eden finds herself falling for him and the consequences could be shattering… Continue Reading