Unpregnant by Jenni Hendriks and Ted Caplan

Veronica is top of her class - and somehow she's found herself gazing in disbelief at a positive pregnancy test. Even worse, her ex-best friend and the high school's legendary malcontent, Bailey, is the only one there to help. In this warm and darkly funny road trip story, Veronica and Bailey drive a thousand miles to an out-of-state abortion clinic - rediscovering their friendship in the process.

Hooked by the premise of a bonding-style road trip and the emotional roller-coaster of seeking an abortion, I was surprised at how much I loved and laughed at this book. Basically, Ronnie discovers she’s pregnant and her dreams of Ivy League university crash and burn, along with her parents’ and friends’ image of perfect Veronica. After her boyfriend tries to propose, spilling that he already suspected she was pregnant, Ronnie needs to go to another state to get an abortion as she is under 18 and can only turn to her ex-best friend Bailey to drive her nearly 1000 miles.

I thought I knew what to expect: tough emotional moments debating an abortion, telling (or not telling) the parents, the boyfriend’s reaction, and cute bonding moments on a cross-state road trip with old friends. Instead, I got a creepy-as-all-hell boyfriend who poked holes in the condom and followed them to try and convince Ronnie to not go through with it; I got Bailey in all of her Gothic, sarcastic, trespassing glory; and I got a ridiculous and hilarious journey involving a stolen car, a strip club, pro-life fanatics and a giant statue of an elephant. To name but a few!

I absolutely adored this, it was funny and insane but also raised great questions about consent, growing up, relationships and responsibilities. Plus forgiveness and the importance of true friendships, as Ronnie and Bailey grow closer after years of separation while Ronnie developed her “perfect” image. The whole story was just brilliantly written, heartfelt with insane laugh-out-loud moments. Highly recommended.

Thank you to the publisher for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Dangerous Alliance by Jennieke Cohen

Lady Victoria Aston has everything she could want: an older sister happily wed, the future of her family estate secure, and ample opportunity to while her time away in the fields around her home.

But now Vicky must marry—or find herself and her family destitute. Armed only with the wisdom she has gained from her beloved novels by Jane Austen, she enters society’s treacherous season.

Sadly, Miss Austen has little to say about Vicky’s exact circumstances: whether the roguish Mr. Carmichael is indeed a scoundrel, if her former best friend, Tom Sherborne, is out for her dowry or for her heart, or even how to fend off the attentions of the foppish Mr. Silby, he of the unfortunate fashion sensibility.

Most unfortunately of all, Vicky’s books are silent on the topic of the mysterious accidents cropping up around her…ones that could prevent her from surviving until her wedding day. 

Set in one of my absolute favourite periods of history, Georgian England: the finery, the manners, the drama! I adored this, it was a great mix of romance and mystery. 

Vicky was a pretty cool heroine – considering the limitations of the period, all she wanted to do was help run her family’s estate. She was headstrong and romantic and had learned all her life lessons so far from Jane Austen novels, which isn’t necessarily helpful when life proves to be far more difficult than Miss Austen had suggested. Between her older sister returning home from an abusive husband and a mysterious person trying to take over her family’s estate, Vicky suddenly has more on her plate than looking after the flock of sheep. Now, she must navigate the season and find an eligible gentleman to help her save the house and grounds, but that is surprisingly difficult. Apparently, even two hundred years ago, bachelors were a terrifying mix of trustworthy and absolute monsters! 

The characterisation and the setting was just incredible, and I completely fell into Vicky’s world of dances, trying to find love and surprising fisticuffs. It was really easy to read and I immensely enjoyed the tension and the stakes of Vicky needing to find a husband. Plus, it showed a side of the era that we rarely see, one with fighting for divorce and the intricacies of running an estate, especially as a woman. It was a lot of fun and I highly recommend it for fans of historical romance, duels at dawn and love in surprising places.

Thank you to the publisher for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Friday Reads: Dating You/Hating You by Christina Lauren

Christina Lauren is quickly becoming one of my favourite contemporary adult romance authors (although it is a duo!). So when one from their back catalogue was offer for 99p on Kindle, I snapped it up and started it almost immediately.

Although it hasn’t been exactly what I thought in terms of the story set-up, it’s been really interesting reading so far. Set in an agents office in LA, there’s loads of fascinating boys-club/feminist talk about the dynamics of the industry, especially as the romantic leads are practically pitted against each other after their two companies merge. Plus I'm really enjoying the fact that the female lead is a successful thirty-something year old - not seen very often!

I’m almost certainly going to finish this tonight and enjoy the final drama and hot romance that I’ve come to expect from Christina Lauren’s books!

Reading plans for the rest of the weekend are the other ebook I picked up on offer: Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey. What are you planning on reading this weekend?

The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

Everyone has been talking about this book! Renee’s latest novel is set in the 1870’s, in New Orleans, the city full of secrets, both human and mythical. Setting the scene for a new series, The Beautiful tells of Celine, a young woman fresh off the boat, hoping to find a new start in a new city, where no-one will know what she’s running from. Somewhat ironic, because it seems just about everyone in New Orleans is not what they appear.

A hunter is stalking the citizens of New Orleans, leaving young women with their throats mutilated. The police are baffled but Celine is starting to suspect that this so-called Court of Lions knows something. Part crime thriller, part swooping romance, this was stunningly gorgeous to read but honestly… it took me a while to get into. I don’t like to admit that, because everyone else has spoken so highly of it but I think that lyrical language, while amazing, didn’t suit my style of reading which is typically dipping in and out. Having said that, the ending massively picked up and I read the last 20 or so percent in one evening. 

What made it for me was the characters and the setting. New Orleans is a fascinating city and Renee’s style of writing made it seem so magical and mysterious, and the Court of Lions was just as mysterious as the city they inhabited. A group of not-quite-humans have sought refuge in the city and their leader was the charming and handsome Sebastian. Trouble was, he knew it, and pulls Celine into their tangled web, despite everyone’s better judgement. 

Although I had some trouble getting into the flow of the writing (which is entirely my fault, not the book’s), it was gripping and thrilling and darkly lyrical, perfectly encapsulating the feel of the magic of the city and all of its enigmatic inhabitants.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Places I've Cried in Public by Holly Bourne

As I’ve come to expect from Holly’s novels, this was a moving, poignant and highly topical story about an emotionally abusive relationship and how easy it is to lose yourself in that drug-like high called love. Told in two intermingling timelines, we see Amelie meet and fall for Reece, a cute and charming boy in a band, and six months later, Amelie retracing their steps to figure out why it hurts so much after the broke up. 

The premise was fascinating and oddly hilarious, as Amelie butts in on herself, warning us of the red flags that she should have seen at the time, like the casual claim Reece laid on her when they first met or the way he systematically removed her from her friends. All the romantic gesture that had Amelie swooning at the time, made her to angry months later. Even I was practically screaming at the book at times – for example, Reece gate crashes Amelie’s first gig to sing her a song and tell her he loves her. Um, rude! But most of the girls at school, Amelie included, thought it was the sweetest thing. No! But, of course, it’s easy to see in hindsight the terribly manipulative things he did. 

I saw Holly at the Bath Children’s Literature Festival at the end of September and she spoke about her writing process for this book. Holly knew it was going to be an ambitious project but wanted to book to be a rite of passage, a safe place for girls to understand the importance of healthy relationships, while remaining hopeful. Apparently, it was originally in second person and Holly had to re-write all the pronouns when she wanted to create the two timelines, which made the whole thing all the more complicated! 

Holly also talked about Reece, how a psychology student noticed that he has classic traits of narcissistic attachment disorder, and how she wrote him to be douche gift-wrapped in charismatic coolness. Reece is one of those characters that you love to hate, that you can’t quite put your finger on what makes your skin crawl about him. Holly wanted to prove that abusers blend in, that abuse itself transcends class and doesn’t discriminate to any particular “type” of victim. And Amelie doesn’t read as stupid or naïve, just caught up in a dramatic relationship and thinking its love. It highlighted the grey areas, especially in teenage relationships, where love can burn fast, and behaviours learned from rom-coms aren’t always healthy. It also emphasised the importance of listening to your gut, about recognising the red flags and being comfortable and confident enough in your relationship to speak up. 

I adored Holly’s latest. Maybe a bit different to her other novels, it still highlighted the important issue recognising and having healthy relationships, romantic or platonic, young or old. I wanted to bundle Amelie in a hug and smack Reece in the face for most of the book, and even though I finished it a few weeks back, it’s still swirling around my head: how Reece could behave like that, how I wish Amelie was stronger in the first place to voice her worries, how emotion trauma is just as significant as physical and just as difficult to move on from. Definitely a winner of a book and one that all teenagers should read.

Books On My Autumn TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. 

Right, er... hello. So, between moving house, furnishing and re-decorating said house, having our first house guest and then starting work again for the new school year, blogging was unfortunately left by the wayside. But! I do not want to let this blog die a quiet death and so, here we go!

Books I want to read this autumn - well, there's quite a few and most of them aren't out yet so this is more of a 'books I want to buy this autumn'-type list. 

1 - How to Stop Time by Matt Haig - the last book for my Hogwartsathon TBR (hosted by Georgi at niffler_reads, if you're interested)

2 - The Places I've Cried in Public by Holly Bourne - picked this up at the weekend, planning on reading this ASAP, because my friend Alyce and I are going to see Holly this Sunday at the Bath Children's Literature Festival!

3 - Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell - due out early October, I pre-ordered the Waterstones fancy colourful edition months ago and I cannot wait to get my hands on it!

4 - The Toll by Neal Shusterman - the finale to the Scythe trilogy, this also featured on my 'Most Anticipated Reads of the rest of 2019'

5 - The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black - what can I say apart from argh? I'm hoping/planning on re-reading books one and two before this comes out, to really appreciated Jude and Carden (mostly Carden) so fingers crossed.

6 - The Prenup by Lauren Layne - picked this up on kindle recently, looked cute, easy to read and I'm a sucker for a good romance.

7 - The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman - another e-book, sounds like a fluffy and funny read about my kind of people: bookish people!


And that is actually it! My TBR is looking kind of sparse at the moment, especially while I'm waiting for all the books to come out, so my last few are sneaking on there, as I'm asking for them for my birthday in mid-October.

8 and 9 - Vicious and Vengeful by VE Schwab - after reading and completely adoring her Shade of Magic trilogy, I'm in need for some more of her stories and these sound amazing!

10 - Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - I know, I am so late to the party on this one! So looking forward to it though, everyone has said great things and I can't wait to get stuck in!


Let me know if we share any TBR goals and what books you're looking forward to this autumn?

Top Ten Most Anticipated Reads of (the rest of) 2019

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and now lives at That Artsy Reader Girl.


Below is a list of the books I am most excited for but still have to wait months before I can hold them. I've done them in date order because there's enough complications narrowing it down to 10 without trying to put them in order of preference!


1 - Storm and Fury by Jennifer L Armentrout - 11 June - I know this is already out but I have just this second (yesterday to you lot) heard about it and now I am equally desperate to have it as the rest! Pity I have to buy for, you know, my house first.


2 - Queen of Ruin by Tracy Banghart - 11 July - book two following the amazing "Grace and Fury", I am very intrigued to how this story will unfold.


3 - The Kingdom by Jess Rothenburg - 11 July - I heard about this on booktube and it sounds incredible, all about post-humanity and what makes us human.


4 - A Pocketful of Stars by Aisha Bushby - 8 August - I'd seen this around but after speaking to Aisha at Lucy Powrie's book launch, I'm all the more excited to read her debut.


5 - Loki: Where Mischief Lies by Mackenzi Lee - 3 September - anyone who knows me will be aware that I am a huge Marvel fan, especially Loki, so a prequel exploring his teen years? I am all over that!


6 - Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff - 5 September - I might not have read book two yet but I am desperate to get my hands on the full trilogy and to see the finale of Mia's journey.


7 - Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell - 24 Sept - need I say anything more that: argh!!!!


8 - The Places I've Cried in Public by Holly Bourne - 3 October - again: argh! New Holly Bourne!


9 - The Toll by Neal Shusterman - 7 November - the finale to the Scythe trilogy, I am beyond excited and might have done a squeal when the cover was released.

10 - The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black - November - another again: argh! The full-on howls I sounded at the cliffhanger ending of "The Wicked King" annoyed everyone around me and I need to know what happens to Jude and Carden!

Top Ten Characters That Remind Me of Myself

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and now lives at The Artsy Reader Girl


It's been a while since I did one of these but this week's prompt is rather interesting. I do tend to see little traits of myself in lots of characters, but I struggled to come up with ten that I really identified with, as an introvert that adores books but won't stop talking and wishes to be braver than she acts sometimes. Anyway, here's my list of characters that remind me of myself, at various points in my life.


1 and 2 - Claire and Eve in Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine - off to a good (cheating) start with two very different girls on the surface but are not only great friends in the books but also remind me of myself; Claire for her smarts, although mine was literature and hers is Physics, and Eve for her Gothic wardrobe (which I have grown out of) and mindset (which I have not).


3 - Daisy in Giant Days by John Allison - although Esther's fashion sense is incredible, Daisy, with her randomness, her love for the environment, her shyness until she's drunk, is much more similar to me!


4 - Cress in Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer - not the super-long hair, it's the overactive imagination and terrible shyness that I relate to in Cress, especially in my teenage years.


5 - Posy in The Little Bookshop of Lonely Hearts by Annie Darling - definitely her hardcore love of books!


6 - Romy in The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James - for her fangirl habits, not her engineering smarts!


7 - Phoebe (and friends) in Freshers by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison - Phoebe and gang is quite similar to my group of friends at university. Although I didn't live in halls, we totally got up to a bit of mischief and bonded over our mutual weirdness.


8 - Cath in Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - another similar experience to mine at university, it also took me a while to find my place. I also relate hard to Cath's fangirl tendencies.


9 - Kizzy in The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers - I am all about Kizzy's strange outbursts and constant hunt for snacks.


10 - Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen - again with the Gothic mindset, Catherine's habit of letting her imagination get away from her is also one of my more annoying traits.


So there you have it! Do we share any similar character traits? Or do you relate to completely different characters - I do tend to see myself in the heroines rather than villains. Let me know in the comments!

Friday Reads: The Flatshare and The One Who's Not The One

Hello and merry Friday, everyone! Apologises for my absence (did anyone even notice?) but work and life just got on top of me. Plus, I've only just finished my re-reads of the Morganville Vampires series so I didn't really have much to update you on! Speaking of: Morganville just as amazing as I remember!


This week I've been reading The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary - yes, the book that everyone's on about at the moment - and The One Who's Not The One by Keris Stainton. Both are contemporary romances, Keris is of course a favourite author of mine and The Flatshare is Beth's debut. I'm enjoying them both immensely, although barely started one and about a third of the way through the other.


Last week I read The Quiet at the End of the World by Lauren James and I cannot stop thinking about it! How I wish this book had been around a year ago, I could have written a (hopefully) amazing essay discussing the post-human condition in comparison to "Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep?" Yes, I am well aware how much of a nerd I sound.


I also read Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren, finished that in two days, and that was incredibly adorable. And, great plus side: I have their whole back catalogue to work through!


Plan for this bank holiday weekend: finish The Flatshare and I'm sure I'm going to have lots of thoughts when I finish it, so look forward to that (maybe)!


What are you reading this long weekend? Let me know!

Friday Reads: Morganville Vampires

Happy Friday and happy March, everyone! Can’t quite believe that, February passed in no time at all, didn’t it? So, here’s my not-really-regular reading update for you!


I’ve been re-reading the Morganville series by Rachel Caine, one of my all-time favourite series of books. I haven’t read the first books in the series since university, so at least 7 years ago – jeez, that makes me feel old! – and I’d forgotten a lot of the details and the order of events. Right now, I’m on book five of fifteen and I am falling in love with them all over again.


Possible spoilers ahead


It is a long series, like I said fifteen books total, but so much is jammed in there and I just fly through them – they are un-put-down-able in a way that not many books are for me. Plus, I adore meeting these characters again, humans and vampires. The Glass House four are so freaking cute, and I had forgotten how tough Claire is from the beginning: she has a ridiculous learning curve! 


As for the vampires, it is fascinating that in a genre where vamps are usually the love interest, these are the bad guys but complicated and not really humanised because they are monsters in disguise. Especially with the main three, Amelie, Oliver and Myrnin – they are terrifying, no doubt, but also are used to playing the long game so when humans like Claire come along and make them feel things, they appear and act eerily human. Then there’s vamps like Sam and Michael and you forget that they are supposed to be the enemy, right up until they’re hungry and you’re a walking buffet. Every character is so rich and complex, and I love learning about them and seeing them blur the lines between good and bad. Can you tell I love these books?


Apart from that, no reading or book-related news to report. My professional life is plodding along nicely with the new job, and personal is getting interesting: my fiancé and I are looking to buy a house! It’s all very scary and confusing and adulting is hard! Wish us luck, we’ve got a while to go until we are ready to move out and I’m already exhausted.

Mini reviews: The Plus One, Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow and Genuine Fraud

The Plus One by Sophia Money-Coutts

The Plus One [n] informal a person who accompanies an invited person to a wedding or a reminder of being single, alone and absolutely plus none

Polly’s not looking for ‘the one’, just the plus one…
Polly Spencer is fine. She’s single, turning thirty and only managed to have sex twice last year (both times with a Swedish banker called Fred), but seriously, she’s fine. Even if she’s still stuck at Posh! magazine writing about royal babies and the chances of finding a plus one to her best friend’s summer wedding are looking worryingly slim.

But it’s a New Year, a new leaf and all that. Polly’s determined that over the next 365 days she’ll remember to shave her legs, drink less wine and generally get her s**t together. Her latest piece is on the infamous Jasper, Marquess of Milton, undoubtedly neither a plus one nor ‘the one’. She’s heard the stories, there’s no way she’ll succumb to his charms…

I expected a quick and funny read from this book, but I didn’t quite enjoy it like I’d hoped. It tells of Polly, a young woman who works for a gossip magazine, who is unhappy with her job and her life in general. Fed up of waiting around for the guys she likes to text her back, she goes out on a job to interview Jasper, the Marquess of Milton, and gets that tingly feeling. I’m going to be honest – I read this a good six months ago and apart from being very underwhelmed by it, I can barely remember a thing! Which says a lot about the book itself. Very light-hearted, Polly doesn’t really take herself too seriously and neither did I – I just couldn’t, not with the way she behaved, made a slight fool of herself and bared her heart to a guy who probably didn’t deserve it. The romance was alright but the sex scenes were eh. The fat-shaming made me cringe and there was no real development, not from Polly and her non-existent career plans, and minimal from Jasper who needed to give up his bad-boy ways and commit to an actual adult relationship. A very quick but not entirely enjoyable read.


Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review [gifted]

Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow by Siobhan Curham

Fourteen-year-old Stevie lives in Lewes with her beloved vinyl collection, her mum... and her mum's depression. When Stevie's mum's disability benefits are cut, Stevie and her mother are plunged into a life of poverty. But irrepressible Stevie is determined not to be beaten and she takes inspiration from the lyrics of her father's 1980s record collection and dreams of a life as a musician. Then she meets Hafiz, a talented footballer and a Syrian refugee. Hafiz's parents gave their life savings to buy Hafiz a safe passage to Europe; his journey has been anything but easy. Then he meets Stevie... As Stevie and Hafiz's friendship grows, they encourage each other to believe in themselves and follow their dreams.

Although probably too young for me, as the protagonists were early teens, I really enjoyed this. It tells of Stevie, struggling to keep up with school and juggle her mum’s depression, and her budding friendship with Hafiz, a Syrian refugee with a love of football. They bond over wanting to escape the harsh realities of life and despite the big cultural differences, it was a heartfelt story about friendship and overcoming those differences and realising that we are all just human. It was such a joy to read, bringing together the dramatic realities of refugees and war with mental illness and the meaning of family, bridging the gaps between cultures with the love of food or friends or music. Like I said, it was a little young for me but I still really appreciated the very important message Siobhan was trying to accomplish: people are worth it.


Thank you to the publisher for my copy in exchange for an honest review [gifted]


Genuine Fraud by E Lockhart

Imogen is a runaway heiress, an orphan, a cook, and a cheat.
Jule is a fighter, a social chameleon, and an athlete.
An intense friendship. A disappearance. A murder, or maybe two.
A bad romance, or maybe three.
Blunt objects, disguises, blood, and chocolate. The American dream, superheroes, spies, and villains.
A girl who refuses to give people what they want from her.
A girl who refuses to be the person she once was.

Typical of E Lockhart, this is a teen psychological thriller told backwards. That took some getting used to, piecing the threads together the wrong way! While I did like this story, it was a little predictable – which is either a comment on Lockhart’s writing or my detective skills, I’m not sure which! Saying that, there were still a couple of shockers and the overall story of Jules and who she really is was very interesting to read and unpick. Jules was a fascinating character – so obviously a psychopath, she cleverly adapted to any social situation and used disguises and accents to get what she wanted. She was also truly horrible, but also had a pretty good reason for acting as such, which we discovered near the end of the book. As for Imogen – well, yet another spoilt rich kid who wants to discover who she is by lying to her parents and running away. Their dynamic was quite toxic and I really must applaud Lockhart for writing characters that I simultaneously love reading about but hate as people. Another knockout from Lockhart, as far as I’m concerned.


Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review [gifted]

Friday Reads: Kingdom of Ash and Theatrical

In some ways, I can't believe it's already halfway through January. In others, that first week back to work after Christmas doesn't half drag, does it? Anyway, I'm here with a little reading update.

This morning I finally finished Kingdom of Ash, the finale to the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas. I started the mammoth of a book on the 1st of the month if you can believe it! I know it's nearly 1000 pages but that is a long time for me to be reading one book. Part of that was because I couldn't take it to work with me - no way was I carting that to and from work every day! So, finally finished it and I'm... conflicted. 

Now, despite all the gossip and drama with SJM's books, I do like them. But because it has been so long since I read the book before, and I just point-blanked refused to buy/read the Chaol spin-off book, I couldn't remember a lot. And I mean a lot! Names, places, shared histories - pfft, gone from my brain. So I don't think I got max enjoyment because of that. The other thing was, of course, the length of the book. I did enjoy the last 100 pages or so, that last big battle and the happy-ever-after wrap-up, but the toing and froing between all these groups of people, sometimes overlapping, sometimes not even really doing anything, that got boring quickly. All in all, glad I read it and completed the series but it wasn't the grand finale I expected, I think.

The other book I'm reading is Theatrical by Maggie Harcourt. I started this last week and I'm halfway through, just reading it on my kindle in my lunch breaks. Really loving it so far, I love the theatre and would so love to know more about the goings-on backstage, plus I've been looking forward to this book since the summer and I needed a contemporary story to break up Kingdom of Ash and my next read, which is going to be The Wicked King by Holly Black.

Let me know what you've been reading and enjoying so far this month and see you next time!

New Year, New Blogging Strategy?

Hello! As you may already be aware, this blog has very nearly died a death and I accept complete blame for that. I really haven't been putting in the effort - life didn't exactly snap back to normal after I finished university like I thought it would and honestly, blogging has been the last thing on my mind. But I don't want to abandon this blog (although, honestly, I'm a little tempted)! However, things are going to change around here.

Obviously, I haven't really been around much and that's because I went back to work in September to a major regime change and general re-structure. That means for a while, I was at risk of losing my job, the rest of my team and I had to apply for our jobs and the whole department got a reshuffle. It was all very confusing for about 3 months. But then, good news! I was interviewed and offered a job in a different department for full-time hours!

(Note for the confused: for three years, I have worked part-time in a college library. Starting in the new term, i.e. next week, I will be working in the Learning Support section of the same college.)

What this means, apart from more money, is that I'll be working a lot more than I've been used to and therefore am unlikely to be blogging or even reading or checking book-twitter as often as I do now. But I have a plan! I think. I'm going to write more relaxed, reading-update-style posts and have a monthly mini-review round up. That way, I still write formal reviews but also you guys, if you care, can stay up to date with my reading progress - and probably prod me if I'm getting behind! How does that sound?

Let me know if there's anything you'd like to see happen on this blog, and if you have any reading resolutions for the new year?