February is upon us...

.....6 days ago in fact, but let’s just pretend! January has flown by this year really quickly; I can’t quite believe it’s gone already. Books I’ve read this month (some of which I’m aiming to review) are:

·         The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

·         Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

·         Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

·         Torment by Lauren Kate

·         Passion by Lauren Kate

·         The Mill on the Floss George Elliot

Has anyone read/got any opinions on these?

I’ve achieved most of my January resolutions which is fab: I’ve kept in contact with friends who live far away- more so than in previous months anyway, prepared for my theory test, and have been eating relatively healthily so I’m pleased with that J Is anybody still sticking to their new years resolutions or are they long forgotten?

Februarys resolutions: Pass my theory test (ACHIEVED!), get up at a reasonable time every time and stop sleeping until really late, meditate twice a day for 20 minutes,  and to average one review a day on dooyoo, a website I’ve recently discovered where you get paid for writing reviews, on literally anything, from books to make-up to camera’s to breakfast cereal – I haven’t actually checked if there are reviews about cereal, *goes off to check* well knock me down with a feather, there are literally hundreds of reviews on breakfast cereal! Anyhow, my current total is at £1.45 after writing just 3 reviews, but cheques aren’t sent out until £50 is reached so I’m aiming to boost my total this month… let’s see what it is when we reach March… I’m sensing a challenge!

Heather x

Follow Friday :)

Follow Friday time again :) This months question is: Define what characteristics your favorite books share. Do they all have a kick ass heroine or is the hot love interest the Alpha Male?



Answer: It's all about the characters for me. The writing quality and style, the setting, the storyline, the dialogue etc etc yes of course it's all important but I have to really engage with the characters. If there are brilliant characters then I can forgive problems in any other area. I don't necessarily have to like or love the characters, some of my favourite books have characters I cannot STAND - it's more that I have to feel some kind of emotional connection to the characters, they have to be interesting,  complex, fully fleshed, out, believable people that could exist. The best books for me have characters I wish were real as I'd love nothing better than to meet them to find out even more about them, and what makes them tick.

It's the characters that I'll always remember from my favourite books, above anthing else, and it's them that keep me reading and engaged, they completely make or break or book. If I feel nothing but... meh towards the characters then the book has no chance of making it to my favourites list. This could be a controversial opinion but it's discovering new characters that's at the heart of why I am and always will be a book lover and feel joy upon starting a new book.

Heather xx