YA Choice of February 2014

With the Young Adult genre becoming more and more popular, each month I will be bringing you my choice of the newly released books which I must share with you all! This month's choice is...

Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

Released February 4th 2014

You can pre-order HERE.

Juliette now knows she may be the only one who can stop the Reestablishment. But to take them down, she'll need the help of the one person she never thought she could trust: Warner. And as they work together, Juliette will discover that everything she thought she knew-about Warner, her abilities, and even Adam-was wrong.

I chose this book because it will bring a close to one of my favourite series and I am therefore extremely excited/nervous to see how Tahereh draws it to a close. There have been so many little snippets posted around, full page photos posted to twitter and chapters on ignitemeunlock.com, us fans have been truly spoilt and that makes me so much more excited for the release!

Will you be buying Ignite Me or any other new releases this month? Leave me a comment letting me know!

The Life of an Author by Jackie Buckle!

A few weeks ago, Curious Fox sent me a copy of the book Half my Facebook Friends are Ferrets for review so I got into touch with the author to see if she would be interested in collaborating and she said yes! As Facebook Ferrets is written in diary entries, I asked her to write a morning in the life of an author and here is what she wrote, enjoy.

Saturday 11th January 9.30am- Coffee Shop
Today I am being a proper author! I have come into town early so I can nab a quiet table in my local coffee shop. I have a medium latte and a wedge of millionaire’s shortbread to keep me going. I am feeling guilty about the shortbread as I only had breakfast about half an hour ago. I’ll have to make it last.
I open up my laptop, begin to type and realise that the table I’ve chosen is a bit rickety. I debate moving to another but the other tables aren’t in as good a place. Besides, I bet J.K. Rowling didn’t let rickety tables put her off when she was writing the first ever Harry Potter in her local cafe. When you are totally focussed, rickety tables do not matter. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and focus, zen-like, on my writing.

9.40am
I eat the last bit of shortbread. How can anyone concentrate with a piece of chocolate, caramel shortbread next to them? It’s not possible. Anyway, now I can knuckle down to my writing.

9.50am
I’m having a bit of trouble thinking of things to write. No problem, I’m sure something will come to me. I mustn’t panic...

9.52am 
I start to panic! The problem is I only have this morning off so I have to make the most of this time. I must think of something to write quick or I’ll have wasted the whole morning!

10.00am
I buy another coffee. Coffee helps me think.

10.10am
The coffee shop is getting busy now. There are lots of people with toddlers and babies. There is a large group of women who have very loud voices and even louder laughs. “Hey, this is a cafe not a nightclub!” I feel like saying but instead I show my disapproval by looking slightly annoyed in their direction. They are too busy screaming with laughter to notice.
One of the toddlers has a tantrum. “If you don’t stop yelling, we’re leaving!” yells his mum.
“I want sugar,” says the toddler. “NOW!”
“Don’t YELL at me!” yells his mum.
Hmm...

10.30am
The coffee shop is heaving now and people are staring at me as I am taking up a table and my latte mug is clearly empty. I smile my best smile at everyone and go buy another.

11.00am
I’m feeling a bit weird and on edge - possibly due to the three coffees I’ve drunk. Also, the fact that I CAN’T THINK OF ANYTHING TO WRITE! isn’t helping.

11.15am
I pack up my laptop and leave the cafe. In the last one and three quarter hours I have written just one word and that was “Aaaargh!”
Feeling fed up, I start walking through the Park to my home. I think about the group of noisy women. I guess they must have been celebrating something. I wonder what it was? And that mum with her toddler - why was he so upset? Was he a sugar addict? (If so, I can sympathise!) and why was his mum so quick to lose her temper? Maybe she’d had some bad news and was coming out for a coffee to cheer herself up.
Hmm, lots of thoughts are rushing through my head.
I find a slightly damp bench in the park, open up my laptop and start typing away like crazy!

Wasn't this great? Thank you to Jackie for writing this for me, go give here some love on the links below! 

Read Josh’s blog - http://facebookferrets.wordpress.com/
Follow Jackie on Twitter - https://twitter.com/Jackie_Buckle
Find the book on Goodreads - 
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20418379-half-my-facebook-friends-are-ferrets
Buy the book on Amazon - 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Half-Facebook-Friends-Are-Ferrets/dp/1782020748
Read the reviews - 
http://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/book/9487/Half-My-Facebook-Friends-are-Ferrets-by-J.-A.-Buckle.html

Fandom Fashion! #1

I used to adore the website Polyvore, spending lots of time on there making sets of all the amazing fashion items I only dreamt of owning. However, recently I've been neglecting my account so I though 'Why not put books and fashion, two things I love greatly, together?'

And that is how how Fandom Fashion was born!

The idea is to basically recreate the outfit worn by one of your favourite characters, whether that be on a book cover, TV programme, anything goes!

What better way to kick this series off than with one of my favourite books, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I adore this book, and so wanted to express that through this post. I'm also thinking of doing mini-reviews of books I read a while back so let me know if you'd be interested in them!

Cath's cover outfit is so cute! It's pretty and girly but also the shoes are a little edgier, saying 'Hey, sometimes I like to listen to Kanye West and dance around my room'. You know what I mean?

It's been such fun to put together this interpretation and I encourage you to do the same! Also, if you can think of any other great characters then please let me know who's look I should recreate next!

Book Cover Reveal!

Holly Hearts Hollywood

by Kenley R. Doonan

Release Date: Spring 2014

Summary from Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Holly Hart wants to be a star. She moves to Los Angeles from the small town of Cedar Junction, only to hear she’s too fat and ugly to be a famous singer.

But when Shell Shocked Records looks past Holly’s plus-size and less-than-graceful-personality to offer her a recording contract,Holly cannot believe her good fortune. On closer inspection, however, the the record execs want Holly to do all the singing, and a thinner and more beautiful girl, Lacey, would lip-sync and get all the credit. Holly goes for it because after all, she wanted to sing.

Contractually bound to secrecy, Holly is more than happy to sit backstage while Lacey shimmies in the limelight and basks in the fame. Before she knows it, Holly is friends with Serena, the pop-star daughter of a music-mogul, flirting with an intern, and developing a strange half-friendship with the seemingly bipolar Lacey.

When Grayson Frost, the biggest country star in America, and coincidentally, a former school bully begins dating Lacey, Holly hopes t he won’t recognize or torment her.

Through a series of embarrassing and weird events, Holly gets to know Grayson and learns that he is much nicer and more mature than he was four years ago. Holly is horrified when she starts falling for him. When Grayson admits he fell for Lacey's voice, what is a girl to do when she can’t legally tell the truth at the moment when the truth matters the most?

About the Author:
From nine to five I am a home insurance agent. At all other hours of the day I am a young adult author, singer, dancer, cat lady, fangirl, wife, bookworm, and internet enthusiast. My favorite pastimes include crying over really good books, riding with my husband on our motorcycle, and binge-watching seasons of television shows. When I’m not working or writing I like to perform in local community musical theatre productions.

Author Links:

   

Cover Reveal Organized by:

WANTED!

Recently, I've been struggling to post anything that is actually any good. I don't remember the last time I did a review because I've been so busy with school work and general life that I just never read any more! And this brings me the point of this post:

CO-BLOGGER WANTED!!!

I really love this blog and the community built around it but I cannot do this alone so I have decided to throw in the towel and search for some help! By bringing in another person, I know that I can have more posts up, better quality writing that is not rushed and a support there when it is needed.

Of course, I would do a whole re-design of the blog, Georgia Reviews doesn't really work for two people. Also, I would like an equal here. You would have freedom to post as you wish but I would prefer to proof read anything and I think it would be good if you read my work before it was posted as well. Of course you do not get free rein over what decisions are made but, as long as we discussed things first, I am willing to let you have lots of say in things!

I do have a few criteria I wish for you to fit. Here's a list below:

• Be young! Not too young but not too old either if you know what I mean? I'm 15 so someone around my age would be lovely, I'd like to have things in common and be able to get along well with you! (Does that sound like something from a dating website? Sorry about that.)
• Have a little experience writing reviews! Whether it be for a blog, magazine or just on Goodreads, I'd like to see some of your work please.
• Love Young Adult books! My entire blog is YA related so this one is very important. The occasional New Adult or Adult review wouldn't kill anyone but predominately for youngsters like me.
• Be reliable! I need to know I can trust you to share the work load with me, writing reviews and posting other features too such as book hauls and discussions.
• Communicate well! It is important that you are able to respond to emails the same day and will always get in touch with me before making decisions.
• Be committed! It would be great if we could both post at least two posts a week, to keep the blog busy and you must also be dedicated to reading too.
• Be honest! When writing posts, you honesty is greatly appreciated, especially when writing reviews for books sent for review from authors or publishers.
• Know your way around Blogger! It would be great if you could actually use this website seen as though this is where I write from. A little knowledge or design would be fab as well, hopefull I should be getting Fireworks soon to work on graphics but if you can do that stuff too, that would be great!

I know that is a long list but after reading this,  if you are still interested, email me at georgialberry@outlook.com for more information. Please include your name, age, previous experiences and anything else you may think relevant in this email, thank you!

Also, until I find somebody, I will be searching for guest posts (specifically reviews but anything else would be greatly appreciated too). If you would like to help me out, please also contact me on the email address above.

Sorry this post has been really long and boring but I hope you consider and thank you for reading, goodbye.