YA Choice of January 2014

The young adult genre has really been taking off the past few years and I think that 2014 will be year it really takes off! For that reason, I thought I'd do a little spotlight each month to inform everyone of the unmissable releases so they don't go unnoticed. This month's choice is...

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

Released January 7th 2014

You can pre-order HERE.

For the past five years, Hayley Kincaid and her father, Andy, have been on the road, never staying long in one place as he struggles to escape the demons that have tortured him since his return from Iraq. Now they are back in the town where he grew up so Hayley can attend school. Perhaps, for the first time, Hayley can have a normal life, put aside her own painful memories, even have a relationship with Finn, the hot guy who obviously likes her but is hiding secrets of his own.

Will being back home help Andy’s PTSD, or will his terrible memories drag him to the edge of hell, and drugs push him over? The Impossible Knife of Memory is Laurie Halse Anderson at her finest: compelling, surprising, and impossible to put down.

I chose this book for January because, encase you didn't know, it is the second choice in Tumblr's Reblog Book Club. The first was Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell and because it was such a success, the site has decided to run the event again which encourages readers to discuss the book, creatively express their feelings and ask questions to the author. Also, Laurie has an impressive selection of popular releases under her belt including Speak and Wintergirls, two contemporary stories that deal with sensitive issues. I really want to read these soon too!

Book Review!

Title- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Author- Mark Haddon
Genre- Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary
Format- Paperback
UK Publisher- Vintage
Publication Date- January 1st 2003
Buy HERE

Goodreads Summary-
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a murder mystery novel like no other. The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger's Syndrome. He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbour's dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down.

Recently I have really had trouble reading, especially the past month. At the start of December, I had exams and then at the end, well I'm pretty sure you know what the problem was there. (Happy new year by the way guys, I hope it's the best yet!) For that reason, this book took a while for me to get through, a whole 10 days and it was only 272 pages long! The problem was not that I didn't want to read but I simply had something else that needed doing or was too worn out to concentrate. A few days after Christmas however, I was at my Grandma's house and picked it back up, reading 50 pages before I was picked up to go back home and once again, it was abandoned. Well, that was until 11 o'clock when it became glued to my hands and kept me up until a time I defiantly should of been asleep at to finish the whole thing so I could follow Christopher on his adventures.

Some people may not agree with this but I would compare The Curious Incident with The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Why, you may ask? Because it gives perspective to something I was blind to before. Going into this book, I did not know what Asperger's Syndrome was, never mind how difficult it was to live with. TFIOS does a similar job with cancer and that is why these are two of my favourite books, they help you to understand difficult situations. Upon seeing someone struggling with Asperger's, people would usually do one of four things:

1. Stop and stare.
2. Laugh.
3. Get angry.
4. Run away.

That is why I think this book is such an important read for everyone. We live in a cruel society which discriminates against may things such as race, ability and sexuality. If only we could understand each other better then maybe we wouldn't have so many many problems and maybe tensions wouldn't run quite as high. Imagine what we could get done in our world if only the people were willing to accept difference?

If you take one thing from this post, let it be this: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a must read for you, your mum, your little brother, anyone who will listen. Be sure to pick up a copy soon.

    

A Change is Coming.

My blog is currently rather rubbish and this is not me looking for attention, I know that because I modelled it off of other people and how I thought a book blog was supposed to be when setting it up. I reviewed books properly and professionally with sections under headings and all of that boring stuff but I don't want to do that any more! Inspired by a few posts I recently read by Tea Between Books HERE and Gypsy Reviews HERE, I want to blog more because I enjoy it and so I can share my feelings for a book with people however jumbled they may be, not because I have to. I want to do it for me!

For this reason, I will post when I want and not stress myself out with the schedule I had before which was miscellaneous on Tuesday, reviews on Friday and Topping Off The Week each Sunday. Sometimes, I really do not have time or have had a bad day so do not feel like posting. Now, on those days, I just won't!

Speaking of Sundays, that little feature has now been cancelled. Encase you are unaware, Topping Off The Week was a thing a did where I counted down a top 5 list. Making this right as I started blogging, I had never even heard of Top Ten Tuesdays by The Broke and the Bookish so had no idea they were similar ideas. Really, I should have done some research on the matter but nothing can be done now. I will occasionally post a few of these but again, I will not force it.

One final thing before I leave, I have been trying to improve the look of my blog and put more thought into my presentation so have been following a few tutorials from Hopeless Romantics. They really helped me so if anyone else needs tips, check these out! I added a slideshow banner with my recent posts which isn't working too well yet but hopefully with some practise things will work out great. Also, I have a better rating system now, it's balloons! I hope you love them when I post my next review which will be The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

If you managed to read this long, thank you and I'll be back soon, goodbye.

Interview with Jamie Baywood!

A little while back, Jamie Baywood sent me an email asking if I would like to interview her for my blog and, of course, I said yes! A few days later I sent her a few questions and she replied with these answers.

Hi there Jamie, thanks for coming to GeorgiaReviews...!
Thank you for having me.

What inspired you to write about your travels in New Zealand?
By the age of twenty-six, I was actually much happier being alone than dating, but I was completely bombarded by guys trying to date me in California. I read in a New Zealand tour book that the country’s population has 100,000 fewer men than women.  I wanted to have some me time and an adventure. New Zealand seemed like a good place to do so.

Did you keep notes or a diary through your trip and why/why not?
Yes, most of my book was written as the events happened. Reading my book would be similar to receiving emails from a friend living abroad. I didn't really come up with the distinct writing style. It’s just how I honestly observed things and described them. I only know how to write my truth. My truth tends to be stranger than fiction.

It would be impossible to write down every single thing that happen to me in New Zealand for over a year and it probably wouldn't be interesting to read. My book is 100% true. These are 100% my experiences. I have changed some the names, but not all of individuals and organizations to preserve privacy.

If you could pick 3 songs to sum up your trip, what would they be?
1. Santigold – L.E.S. Artistes (Listen HERE)
2. Kids of 88 – Just a little Bit (Listen HERE)
3. The Naked and Famous – Young Blood (Listen HERE)

There are some lines in L.E.S. Artistes that really apply to how I felt when I first arrived in New Zealand:

What I'm searching for
I can say I hope it will be worth what I give up
What am I here for
I left my home to disappear is all
I'm here for myself

Kids of 88 and The Naked and Famous were New Zealand bands I discovered during my time in there. I had the chance to go to a concert where they both performed. It was a great night.

What is your favourite genre to read?
My new favourite book is May I Ask You Something? by Cyan Corwine. I personally also find autobiographies interesting, but it really depends on who wrote it. One of my favourite books is collections of funny true stories like Area Code 212 byTama Janowitz.

What are you doing in your life at the moment?
I haven’t stopped travelling since I moved out of California in 2010.I never moved back to California. For the past three years, I’I've been disassembling and reassembling my life by moving to different countries. I've lived in five countries now America, American Samoa, New Zealand, Scotland and now England. Although I intended to have a solo adventure I ended up meeting my husband a Scottish man in New Zealand.
My husband is very busy working on a MA in Landscape Architecture. This gives me a lot of time to work on promoting my book and attending book talks throughout the UK.

We've actually lived in two different countries in the United Kingdom after leaving New Zealand; Scotland and now England. After New Zealand, we moved to Scotland, got married in a castle and ended up living across the street from Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh. Scotland is a sincerely magical place. There are so many castles in Scotland. Scotland has amazing architecture, beautiful mountains, lochs, beaches and sweet natured people. The landscape of the Highlands is very similar to the South Island of New Zealand. I love hearing the Scottish accent everywhere you go. After living in Edinburgh, I can understand how J. K. Rowling was inspired writing Harry Potter. I lived above a used bookshop that looked like where Harry would have bought his school supplies.

For unwanted and complicated reasons we had to move to England last September. It was devastating to have to move out of Edinburgh to Sheffield, England last year for my husband graduate school. We will have to live here until summer 2014.
I've designed, published and have been marketing Getting Rooted in New Zealand. Self-publishing is one person taking on all of the responsibilities typically held by teams of people in traditional publishing companies. It has been a steep learning curve.  I am currently booking meet the author events at libraries and book clubs throughout England and Wales between now and June 2014.

What new books are coming up in the future for you?
I plan to divide my books by the countries I've lived in. My next book will be about attempting to settle in Scotland. I plan to publish it late 2014.


Getting Rooted in New Zealand is available in paperback and ebook on Amazon HERE.
You can also follow Jamie on the following sites:
Facebook.com/jamiebaywood
Twitter.com/jamiebaywood
Pinterest.com/jamiebaywood
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7069448.Jamie_Baywood
amazon.com/author/jamiebaywood

Book Review!

Title- Twisted
Author- Holly Hook 
Genre- Young Adult, Fantasy
Format- e-ARC

Release Date- 15th December 2013
Buy HERE

Goodreads Summary-
Sixteen-year-old Allie isn’t like other girls. Instead of spending her summer break sitting around on the beach, she takes the epic vacation of a lifetime.

Tornado chasing.

And she’s not disappointed. Just a few miles from the town of Evansburg, Nebraska, Allie meets her dream of seeing a tornado. In person. She can’t wait to tell her friends back home. Never mind that her parents are going to kill her.

But her dream soon turns into a nightmare, and a strange event leaves her shocked. Confused. When she returns home to Wisconsin, something’s…different. Allie now bears a curse so awful, it could destroy everyone and everything she’s ever known.

With her best friend, Tommy, Allie must return to the plains to find a way to reverse it. She enters a world that she had never imagined, where she becomes a pawn in a fight to save the people of Evansburg from her fate…or to destroy them.

Initial Thoughts- A little while back, you may remember me participating in a cover reveal for a book titled Twisted by Holly Hook (you can view that post HERE). Shortly after this, the lovely Rachel Marks, a publicist, offered me a e-ARC to review this book. I got excited about this because I loved the sound of this book and could not wait to get my hands on it! Also, this was my first ARC so it gave me lots of confidence in my work.

Strong Points- The story had such a great premise and, when I heard about the cover reveal, I jumped at the chance to be involved! Starting reading, I loved this book and it was jam packed from the start, getting you hooked straight from the beginning.. Well, it should, unless you are me.

Weaknesses- This is not a criticism to the book but more to myself. I am not a fan of being out of my comfort zone so reading this genre was a little hit-and-miss, I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it. I seem to love every contemporary book I read but everything else is at two end of the scale, I either can not put it down or can not pick it up and I am afraid this was an example of the second.

I do however think that this would be perfect for any fans of the Fantasy genre and if you don't believe me, check out all of the great reviews already posted on Goodreads HERE.

Overall Rating- ❤