Archive for June 2017

My Net Galley TBR #amreading #books #BookWormProblems #TheStruggleIsReal

If you're a bookish a person like myself, you've probably seen #BookwormProblems on social media at some point. Well, another one that springs to mind as I write this post is #TheStruggleIsReal. This is because today I'm talking about that ever growing mountain that is my to be read list (TBR).

It would take far more than one blog post to list all the books on my TBR so today I'm going to limit to listing just those from Net Galley... which is still a LOT of books.

I'm way behind on my Net Galley TBR, and not because I haven't been reading. I have. It's more a case of adding more books to my TBR before I've read the ones already on it. What's a girl to do when they keep releasing so many awesome sounding books all the time?!

Anyway, here's a look at the current state of my Net Galley TBR. Let's start by looking at those that have been on my list for a while:

I'm currently reading Little Girl Lost by Carol Wyer. I'm having a bit of trouble getting into it, and the whole child molesting part had me putting it aside. That said, I went to look at the reviews that have been left for it so far and noticed that a lot of them commented on the fact that they felt the same way at the start but that it was worth carrying on. Apparently it all makes sense in the end. With that in mind I'm giving it another chance and will continue reading. I've read another book by the author, in a completely different genre, that I loved. Hoping this one will win me over along the way.

I'm also hoping to finish more from this list over the summer months. As you can see, there's quite a mix.

Now let's look at the newer books on my TBR. These are the ones I've recently been sent by publishers:

I'm really excited about all of these, but the two that I particularly can't wait to read are One Of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus and The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher.

About One Of Us Is Lying:

Five students go to detention. Only four leave alive.

On Thursday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention. Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. Nate, the bad boy, is already on probation for dealing. Cooper, the jock, is the all-star baseball pitcher. And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app. Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident.

On Thursday, he died. But on Friday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they just the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose? Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

About The Princess Diarist:

When Carrie Fisher recently discovered the journals she kept during the filming of the first Star Wars movie, she was astonished to see what they had preserved—plaintive love poems, unbridled musings with youthful naiveté, and a vulnerability that she barely recognized. Today, her fame as an author, actress, and pop-culture icon is indisputable, but in 1977, Carrie Fisher was just a teenager with an all-consuming crush on her costar, Harrison Ford.

With these excerpts from her handwritten notebooks, The Princess Diarist is Fisher’s intimate and revealing recollection of what happened on one of the most famous film sets of all time—and what developed behind the scenes. Fisher also ponders the joys and insanity of celebrity, and the absurdity of a life spawned by Hollywood royalty, only to be surpassed by her own outer-space royalty. Laugh-out-loud hilarious and endlessly quotable, The Princess Diarist brims with the candor and introspection of a diary while offering shrewd insight into the type of stardom that few will ever experience.

Despite having so many books on my TBR my current feedback ratio is 73%. Not bad. Keep in mind I don't just read books I get from Net Galley. I have plenty on my bookshelves, and get sent a lot of books from authors, and publishers to review too. Not to mention great finds found on Amazon.

Want to know the truth? Even when I know I have so many books on my TBR list, I still add more to it. I try to put a ban on myself from time to time, but then along comes another awesome sounding book that yells "You must read me!" and there I am adding to my TBR again... I will eventually get round to reading them...

Do you struggle to get through your TBR too? Are you constantly adding more books to your list despite having plenty already on it? What books are on your summer reading list this year?

Today I'm sharing with you an excerpt from Pyramids (KOSMOS Episode 4). Enjoy :)

Excerpt:

The group made it's way down a dark tunnel. Bek was leading the way, and making sure they kept up a quick pace.

"Listen, Ani" said Matt touching his arm to slow him down. "I need to go back. I can't come with you."

"It's not safe to go back" said Ani. "We need to get to the East bank."

"I need to go back" said Matt and they both stopped walking. "I appreciate you looking out for me but I need to get back to my home. The only way for me to get there is to go back to where you found me."

"This tunnel takes us out into the gardens. From there you will be able to leave the West bank and make it to the city on the East bank."

"But I don't need to get to the city. I need to get back to where those... what did you call them... Colossi were. By the Nile."

Ani didn't look convinced. He averted his eyes and looked down. "The star" he said, and bowed before Matt.

"What are you doing?" asked matt confused by this sudden change in character.

"I didn't know... I would have... sorry my God" stammered Ani without raising his head.

"Didn't know what?" asked Matt. "And get up. You're making me feel nervous bowed over like that."

Ani shot up. "As you wish my God. I am here to serve you."

"Stop it," said Matt. "Why do you think I'm a God all of a sudden?"

"The necklace" said Ani. "You wear to star of the time God."

Matt put his hand to the pendant. "You know this pendant?" He didn't know whether to scream with joy or cry. Finally someone who knew about the pendant. "Tell me everything you know. How does it work? How can I make it take me home?" The questions poured out of his mouth.

"It is not for a poor boy like me to know the secrets of the Gods" said Ani looking at Matt wide eyed.

"But you've seen this pendant before? You call me a time God. You must know something about it and how it works?" Desperation rose in his voice and it took all his willpower to not grab Ani and shake him.

"The hieroglyphics on the walls of the pyramid. They show the time God with the pendant. Legend has it that the time God was a close friend of the Heh."

"The Heh?"

"The eternal God, Heh. He who holds a notched palm branch in each hand. They are used for ceremonial time-keeping," explained Ani.

"So this Heh, he knows about the pendant?" asked Matt trying to clear his thoughts.

"The Heh knows everything" said Ani.

"Where can I find the Heh?" said Matt shaking.

Grab your copy of Pyramids (KOSMOS Episode 4) at http://amzn.to/2rzMHfk

Today I'm sharing an excerpt from Gunpowder (KOSMOS Episode 2). Enjoy! :)

Excerpt:

Matt lifted the lid from one of the barrels and looked inside to find it full of black powder. It appeared to be charcoal, but with a strange smell to it. Matt sniffed the air. It had an sharp, sour aroma to it that made him gag a little. Wow, this dream sure is realistic, he thought as he swallowed down the bile in his throat.

Footsteps sounded from outside. They were coming this way. Matt jumped behind the barrels to block himself from view. Wow I'm a coward in my dreams too, he thought, as he tried to make himself as small as possible.

"I'll bring in more barrels later on tonight. It's safer to do it with the cover of the night", said a short man. He was wearing some kind of strange tights, with puffy looking shorts over the top. Matt's gaze worked its way up. A large cape hung around his shoulders, and a large collar fanned out around his neck. On top of his long dark hair sat a brimmed hat with a fancy looking feather sticking out of it. He had a long moustache and beard.

I must be in some kind of theatre, thought Matt. He used to love going to the theatre. His dad would take them every year around Christmas time. It had been one of their family traditions.

"We should have enough gunpowder to do the job now. Twenty barrels, plus the sixteen we brought in over during July", said the other man. This one was tall, with a more powerful build. He had thick reddish brown hair, a flowing moustache, and a bushy reddish brown beard. "Just make sure you bring some firewood and coal to conceal it."

"Will do John" said the short man.

"I'll be back myself tomorrow to check on everything. We can't have the gunpowder decaying like it did before. We need to stand station. The moment is almost upon us, and we must be ready". There was no doubt that the taller of the two men was the one in charge. "Wintour will drop by to check on things over the next few days too", he added. He took a step closer to the barrels and Matt froze.

"Right you are" said the short man. Then the two of them, satisfied with the conditions of the room, left shutting the door behind them.

Matt let out the breath he'd be holding. Gunpowder? He was sat behind barrels of gunpowder? Great hiding place idiot he told himself. It's a good job this is all a dream or this would all be highly dangerous.

Grab your copy of Gunpowder (KOSMOS Episode 2) at http://amzn.to/2qOBeUW

Today I thought it would be fun to share 10 random facts about the KOSMOS series with you. A bit of 'behind the scenes' fun ;)

So here we go...

1) I'm writing the KOSMOS series for my 9 year old son, who wanted "something with time travel, but not too long". He gets put off by big books, but loved the idea of a serial fiction with new episodes each month.

2) I'm meant to have finished writing the whole series by now but I'm way behind schedule (I will finish it soon though promise ;)).

3) One of my favourite characters from the series is Alexia from Gladiator (Episode 3). She's girl power in person.

4) I loved writing Gunpower (Episode 2) as Bonfire Night is one of my favourite festivities from the when I was in the UK.

5) In The Soldier (Episode 5) the shadow (Atom) makes his first appearance, even if Matt doesn't realise the danger until All That Jazz (Episode 6).

6) Matt ended up in Egypt in Pyramids (Episode 4) because my son was studying it in history at school.

7) I'm building a board on Pinterest with pics of what I see the characters looking like: https://it.pinterest.com/jolinsdell/dream-cast-for-kosmos/

8) I started writing the series as part of this years A Story A Week challenge.

9) I designed and made all the book covers myself :)

10) When I was trying to work out how Matt would travel through time I did some research into the possible means of time traveling via theoretic cosmic phenomena. Specifically the idea of cosmic string introduced by physicist J. Richard Gott, back in 1991.

These are string like objects that some scientists believe were formed in the early universe. These strings may weave throughout the entire universe, thinner than an atom and under immense pressure. Naturally, this means they'd pack quite a gravitational pull on anything that passes near them, enabling objects attached to a cosmic string to travel at incredible speeds and benefit from time dilation. By pulling two cosmic strings close together or stretching one string close to a black hole, it might be possible to warp space-time enough to create what's called a closed timelike curve.

So.... in theory, it became possible for an object e.g. a special necklace type object with advanced technology allowing it to contain somehow a cosmic string, to be a time machine. e.g. a person wearing the necklace could travel through time ;)