Cover Artwork: The Holders by Julianna Scott

17-year-old Becca has spent her whole life protecting her brother – from their father leaving and from the people who say the voices in his head are unnatural. When two strangers appear with apparent answers to Ryland’s “problem” and details about a school in Ireland where Ryland will not only fit in, but prosper, Becca is up in arms.

She reluctantly agrees to join Ryland on his journey and what they find at St. Brigid’s is a world beyond their imagination. Little by little they piece together information about their family’s heritage and the legend of the Holder race that decrees Ryland is the one they’ve been waiting for—but they are all, especially Becca, in for a surprise that will change what they thought they knew about themselves and their kind.

Simple and pretty cover, I like the contrasting deep colours.. I also think the title is interesting.. what do you guys think of the cover and the book if you've read it or plan to read it?

Noughts & Crosses series by Malorie Blackman

First here are the new lovely jackets for her series!

Also here is Malorie herself talking about the lastest addition to the series: Double Cross and it's book trailer! Enjoy! 

Have a lovely weekend.

The Classics: Wuthering Heights

This is the first edition to my set of classic reviews! Wuthering Heights has been the first ever classic novel that I have read and I wasn't disappointed. At first I found it difficult to get into the old fashioned way of speaking but once I got used to it I found I enjoyed that style. Although I've noticed.. they tend to ramble on a little bit in classics, don't you think?

Wutehring Heights story line has actually really grown on me and it's a refreshing change from lovey dovey young adult books, which generally end happily/only deal with minor issues (not that I don't love YA books)... because this book was real, the problems the characters had to over come or live with were real.

Surprisingly I found myself sympathising with Heathcliff, he was just broken hearted, the stable boy who never got the princess; although he did take things too far some of the time.. but isn't that what love does to you? I think it classically portrays how love happens most of the time in the real world, it's not simple, it's complicated, there are secrets and possibly someone else involved, theres that one that got away.

For most of it I liked Catherines character too and her story is very sad, but even after she's gone she stays with the characters for the rest of their time. I didn't dislike Mr Linton either, it wasn't his fault he fell in love with her too. There weren't that many characters I disliked, Linton (the boy) towards the end and the man that looks after the Heights maybe.

The characters lives were very tangled, like they lived alone on the moors away from the rest of the world, and since they were characters who liked to isolate themselves anyway I guess all they needed were each other.

For those who have read the classics I would love to hear your opinion/other you enjoyed, and for those who haven't yet ventured that way, what are you scared of? If you're young.. I'm 17 and I loved it.. give it ago!

Overall I really liked Wuthering Heights and I'm sure it will be read over and over by me during my life.

Trailer: Crusher by Niall Leonard - Published Tomorrow!

Random House Children's New Teen Website

PRESS RELEASE 

5th September 2012 Random House Children’s Publishers launches new teen website TotallyRandom

TotallyRandom books, a new website aimed at teen and YA readers, launches today by Random House Children’s Publishers (RHCP). Over the past 3 years RHCP has built an active teen community via Facebook and teen mailing lists and the new site provides a platform to grow this community, connecting readers from some of RHCP’s most successful teen brands including Lauren Kate, Christopher Paolini and Malorie Blackman, and introducing them to up and coming teen and YA authors.

The design and content of the site has been shaped by two surveys run by the Consumer Insight team using the RHCP teen mailing list. From the surveys, RHCP now has a group of over 200 TotallyRandom VIPs who receive exclusive previews. A key element of the site is discoverability – the second survey was entirely focused on how teenagers talk about books. RHCP are using the most popular terms that teens used as signposts across the site which will help users to engage with and discover books relevant to them. The site was designed and built in-house by Simon Wilkes in the group digital team.

The site launches with a feature on Jenny Downham before the forthcoming release of the Now is Good film adaptation of her YA novel, Before I Die.

Suzanne Riley, Digital Marketing Manager, comments ‘The launch of our new TotallyRandom books website gives us a fantastic hub to connect and build our existing teen and YA book-loving communities that already exist on social media. It will allow us to introduce fans of existing YA brands to new authors, as well as featuring exclusive and user-generated content. The design and functionality of TotallyRandom has been shaped by consumer insight work with a teen reader panel, which we hope will lead to strong levels of engagement and discoverability across the site. We are now exploring opportunities to work with partner sites to engage new readers, and we will continue to shape content and features based on regular feedback from our users.’

http://www.totallyrandombooks.co.uk

For further information please contact: Lauren Bennett Tel 020 8231 6439 / Email lbennett@randomhouse.co.uk

Saturday Snapshot - August 18th

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by At Home With Books. To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky below. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Wow- August 18th... summer is really getting away from me now.. but that means it's nearly winter and christmas.. the end of the year is my favourite time of the year. 

This week has been not the best, I've been a little under the weather and speaking of weather, ours has been horrible.. so I spent the week working, feeling overly tired and not nearly doing as much healthy eating and exercise as I had been.. also I've had a painful wrist for a while now.. and work has been agony with it! 

however.. ending on a great note, as I mentioned last week.. I got my AS (half my two year college A-level) results on Thursday.. and I hadn't been worried all summer, or even that much on the way there.. (maybe because I really did try... I spent a solid month revising in my room basically haha) ...

Me and one of my friends were late, so it was a little hectic, and had to run to get our results.. that was fun in boots.. anyway.. so you curious? 

I was literally speechless, I mean I knew 3 of them would be like that because I had done most of it already.. but I really thought English would be a B.. which I guess would have been good.. but to finally be able to say 'I got straight A's' it was just amazing, the best I could get.. and I got it! I still can't believe it, I'm just so happy, and I hope to maintain those grades next year and add the stars to them! 

I spent the day with my friends, we we're a little childish in maccy's with balloons (which we tied to our wrists and took home with us in my friends LITTLE car.. and went shopping with.. I may or may not have walked past a Morrinson's staff guy and hit him in the face with the balloon..) this sweet little old worker in maccy's with a bowtie gave us a toy from happy meals to celebrate our results.. that was cute. (and yea I basically did eat junk all that day...)

Hope you have all had a lovely week and enjoy the weekend! See you next week! 

Saturday snapshot: August 11th

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by At Home With Books. To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky below. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Wow - Summer is really flying now! (specially since I'm working all the time)

I spend Monday through to Thursday running/working out in the morning then working at night and then on Friday I spend my day off with my friends playing badminton and swimming.

I actually don't have any new pictures from this week! So here's a few of my old photography snaps for you to look at. 

This shot is from a couple months ago now, I was just playing really, I think it portrays my love for healthy eating - which I am doing so well at now! 

And this is what my TBR pile looked like this time last year.. some of those are still in my TBR.. however there is no such thing as a 'pile' anymore.. more so stacks of them everywhere! 

And this is one of my favourite shots from my AS photography exam earlier in the year.. which I am getting my results for my first year of A-levels (half way there!) on Thursday.. so you'll be seeing a picture of those next week!

Today I am working both jobs.. from 8:30-2:30 and then the other one from 6-10 (or later if it's busy)... so lets hope I can survive it!

Hope you had a lovely week - with less work than me- and enjoy your weekend. (I really need to find time to read moreeeee!)