Hello, hello, hello! 

How is January treating you so far?

It's okay here, trying to get back in the swing of things and I'm mostly succeeding, except for Instagram, which unsurprisingly has fallen to the wayside a little as things become busier with work and home-ed commitments. 

However, I have been keeping tabs on a couple of bookish things this week and so I decided to do a little news style post. Here goes...

Goodreads Challenge Update

I've officially begun my Goodreads challenge this year, thanks to my daughter because we read an adorable little chapter-book called, The Pug Who Wanted to Be a Unicorn by Bella Swift. It is a Christmas book but it's incredibly sweet and has great morals. 

I'm also still reading The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. I think that I started this book back in November so it's been really slow-going but I love it so much. I'm about 100 pages from the end and I'm still waiting for all of the pieces to connect which is something I adore about the way that this author writes. 

What are you reading right now?

#NYALITFEST

I am determined to get to a book festival this year and since YALC is out of the question for me, I'm really hoping to get to the Northern YA Literary Festival i.e. NYALITFest especially since they're having a day dedicated to children's books this year, which is going to be a great way of finding books to read with my daughter. 

If you've been following @nyalitfest over the past week you'll have seen their steady announcements for guest authors and panellists. 

The list is extensive and I'm so excited to meet all of these fantastic authors. I've made a list of all of the authors and a few of their books below to help you make an NYALitFest TBR - I think more authors are due to be announced but this is the lineup as it stands today.

Wow, that's quite a lot of authors and I'm pleasantly surprised to see so much diversity, in the YA category at least. It's also great to see so many empowering children's books with girl leads.

So, what do you think of the lineup so far? Will you be at NYALitFest this year?

If you know of any other book festivals taking place around the midlands, let me know! 

Literary Podcasts

I received an email yesterday letting me know that BookRiot have started a new podcast called Novel Gazing. Truthfully, I hadn't realised that they had another podcast series simply called The Podcast. 

It probably sounds really stupid of me but I've never actually thought to search for book-related podcasts before so I want your advice, what bookish podcasts do you listen to and what would you recommend?

I did enjoy the first episode of Novel Gazing although it wasn't hugely my cup of tea. I'd prefer something a little more fantasy/YA based, so I might check out the general BookRiot podcast tomorrow if I have time. 

I'm also toying with the idea of starting my own...but I should probably try to manage the commitments I already have a little better before I start taking on new ones. 

Anyway, that's all for today. If you have any thoughts on anything above, feel free to comment below! 

Okay so, #bookstagram didn't go anywhere, I did. 

Life got in the way yada, yada, yada and I lost track BUT the other night, I found time to take a few photos and it got me itching to keep at it. So, I'm going to try carving out an hour or two each week to take a bunch of book pics.

If you're already on Instagram and you love nothing more than fawning over all of the pretty books, I'd love for you to come and join me @myendlessshelf. 

My Instagram feed has changed a bit since I first started #bookstagram. I'll be sharing one of my posts each day using either my own prompt/idea, or I might sign up a for a #bookstagram challenge depending on where the mood takes me. 

If you've read some of my other blog posts, or you follow me on IG already, you might know that I'm a home-ed mum, homeschooling my 5 year old. We read a LOT of books together and are currently taking part in #abookandagameaday home-ed challenge where the idea is that we read a book and play a game together every day. These photos aren't as polished as my other bookish photos but I do recommend some fantastic children's books (we're always on the lookout for diverse kids books, so let us know if you find any) and games. So, if you have a young child in your life and want ideas for future gifts, feel free to follow along with these daily posts. 

We're also big explorers and usually find somewhere new to explore each week, so you'll probably see a few photos from our adventures cropping up here and there alongside mini-book hauls now and again.

And that's all for now. A short post today, but I've included a slideshow of some of my IG photos below so you know what to expect and some behind-the-scenes shot from the other night. 

If anyone's interested, I'm using a Radiance Ring Pro for my lighting (this thing is monstrously powerful but so easy to use and has a really handy dimmer) and my phone to take the photos. I have a few backdrops and some props but it's mostly quite simple or just improvising with things I find lying around the house. 

I don't typically set New Year Resolutions but I'm trying be more productive (and more accountable) this year. 

2019 was a bit of a struggle in terms of finding time to read and write between work, homeschooling and family commitments, but I'm really hoping to achieve more in 2020. 

My Goodreads challenge is 50 books, which may be a tad over zealous because I do want to focus mainly on my writing - more on that later. 

My reading goal this year is to read more of the books on my actual bookshelves instead of binge-reading so many books on my Kindle. To help, I've made a TBR jar that contains all of the unread books on my shelves (I think!). We'll see how it goes! 

Do you have a TBR jar? Have you found it useful?

I'm also reconsidering starting bookstagram, but instead of trying to take a new photo each day I'm going to try and take a batch each week to save on time. I also figured it'd be a fun home-ed lesson of sorts for my daughter to help out with the photos and practice her own photography. 

So, if you're on Instagram, feel free to follow me @myendlessshelf - if you do bookstagram I'll follow back!

Now, onto those all important writing goals!

This year I HAVE to finish my book! I've been working on it for almost three years now and I so badly want to complete it.

Editing is kicking my butt - I'm clearly awful at it and I'm just finding it really overwhelming BUT, I have made some progress lately and I'm determined to keep at it. 

On top of this, I want to upload an edited version of my LGBT short, The Midnight Cab to Wattpad (which is done, I just need to update it) and keep working on my other Wattpad WIP, The Witch and the Dragon's Sister, which is a children's book/short. 

When I'm not writing or reading, I keep being drawn back to another idea that I've had for a while now. I keep making notes on it and I'm almost ready to start writing it, which I can't wait for - it feels like a YA right now so we'll see how that one goes. 

I'm currently working on my new author website which I'm hoping to have live in a month or so. I really love the design and layout so far and I can't wait to get that published. 

On the blog, I'm not going to set a specific goal because truthfully, it can't be a priority with everything else going on in my life BUT I do want to blog more this year and, if I can stick to my reading goal, I should hopefully get out at least one review each week (fingers crossed!)

In other news, my daughter and I are approaching six months since we started our home ed journey and it's going great so far, she's reading so much she's putting me to shame! I'll also be celebrating seven years of being in business as a VA in February which I'm really excited about. 

And, that's it.

What about you? What are you planning or looking forward to in 2020?

I absolutely LOVE audio books, I love how they can make the story come alive and some of my favourite books are the audio versions. 

What I really, really loved about Audible was the ability to return books, something that Audible promoted to me as a feature. Something along the lines of:

"Don't like a book? Just return it and get another!"

or 

"Want another book but you don't have any credits? Just return a book in your library and we'll refund your credit!" 

I loved it! I had access to a vast audio-library that I could use much like a real library, swapping and exchanging books as I saw fit. 

That is, until I came across a recent tweet by @howlinglibrary who was highlighting another tweet by @MikeH5856.

Here's the tweet:

​Safe to say, that I felt pretty shitty after reading this tweet. 

It turns out that when you return a book on Audible, Amazon will refund your credit (that you've paid for), but they'll also bill the author for the book - so in effect, they're being paid TWICE for every returned book! WTF!

I mentioned this to my sister, another fond Audible user, and she had the same reaction of shock followed by guilt as she realised that we had, unintentionally, been costing some of our favourite authors money.

Money that they should NOT have to pay. 

Following the tweets above, I've seen differing opinions including readers saying that you should only return a book if you didn't enjoy it. But, let me ask you this, if you bought a book from your local bookshop and finished it, or even read a few chapters, would you then return it and ask for a refund saying that you hadn't enjoyed it? 

I know I wouldn't, so why is Audible any different?

Maybe it's the lack of a physical book that makes us feel like we're somehow getting something 'less' than we would if we bought a hard copy but then think about the additional work of the voice actors who spend hours upon hours bringing your favourite characters to life. 

Is that book really less valuable than a physical book? I don't think so, which is why I'll no longer be returning ANY book on Audible whether I like it or not. 

What about you? Did you know about this? What's your opinion on returning Audible books?

Happy New Year! 

I hope you've had a wonderful festive season and that you enjoyed lots of reading time and bookish gifts. 

​I've had some fantastic bookish gifts this Christmas and birthday (also in December) including; a gorgeous Harry Potter moleskin notebook (not a book to read, I know, but a great writing gift), a Harry Potter - Magic of the Movies book (yes, there's a Harry Potter trend here.) I was also really grateful to receive a Waterstones voucher which I used to buy Children of Virtue and Vengeance (with its gorgeous blue sprayed pages) and Queen of Nothing. I also picked up The Pug Who Wanted to be a Unicorn for my daughter, which we're both enjoying. 

Then, as a further treat, my lovely sister took me out for my birthday to the bookshop where I picked up a gorgeous sprayed edges and signed edition of Deeplight by Frances Hardinge which looks and sounds incredible, Infinity Son by Adam Silvera which I spotted and completely freaked out as I had no idea it was out already - I honestly CANNOT wait to dig into this book, and Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eagar because the blurb grabbed me and thanks to my current read (The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern) I'm a little obsessed with bees.

I've added these to my TBR jar (more on that in my next post) and I can't wait to start reading them. 

I've decided to use Goodreads for my 2019 review as I love looking back at all of the fun facts/info about my reading year. 

In 2019, I read 50 books, less than in previous years but I wanted a smaller goal to coincide with my heavier workload and homeschooling my daughter. 

This totalled 13,398 pages with my shortest read being Fence by C.S. Pascat, which I didn't enjoy half as much as I'd hoped, and the longest being M/M time travel romance, Downtime by James Allen, which truthfully, I didn't even remember when seeing it listed and had to re-read the blurb and my review, but I did enjoy it. It's strange how you can really enjoy a book but then forget almost everything about it....

The most popular book (on Goodreads) that I read was The Deal by Elle Kennedy which incidentally, I really did NOT enjoy. 

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman (which is absolutely incredible by the way) was the highest rated book that I read in 2019. 

I've read so many amazing books this year, and some not so great. I've enjoyed books by new-to-me authors alongside some incredible re-reads. 

My favourite LGBTQ+ book of the year HAS to be Alex in Wonderland by Simon James Green because it was just so wholesome, British and downright hilarious that I couldn't stop reading it - it even inspired an impromptu trip to the seaside that I just loved. 

My favourite re-read of the year was, without a doubt, Blind Beauty by K.M. Peyton, a story I loved as a teen and almost dreaded re-reading in case I didn't enjoy it again, but I did and it was perfect. 

My favourite new-to-me book of the year was easily Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson which I devoured and fell in love with.

So, there you have it, my 2019 year of books in review, alongside a few recommendations for your own TBR. 

​What about you? How was your year of reading in 2019?

This cold has me feeling pretty sorry for myself at the moment but since I can't sleep, I figured re-reading some of my favourite *comfort* stories would do the trick. 

This book was actually an accidental re-read since I'd forgotten that I'd already read it back when I had my Kindle Unlimited subscription and so I bought it again and got a sense of deja vu pretty early on. 

However, that didn't detract from my enjoyment of this book. While it is very short (I read it in just over 2 hours), the characters have great chemistry, depth, and there's just enough plot to keep things interesting. 

The book really only features the two main characters, with very few and brief appearances from minor characters which works in its favour, keeping the story on track and the tension building throughout. 

I love how naive and clueless Fielding and Mick seem to be, Mick especially, but what I love most is how their relationship progresses with relatively little amounts of drama and angst. 

“I want you to teach me how to kiss,” Fielding said in his most arrogant voice. It came out as a demand, like Fetch me the lamp from the sideboard, wench.

For me, this was the perfect, sweet as sugar, grin-inducing book that had me smiling despite the fact that I can only breathe through one nostril.

If you're a fan of innocent, clueless characters and slow-burn romance reminiscent of Anyta Sunday, you'll love Blame it on the Mistletoe.  

TW: Abandonment and homophobia. 

You'll have to forgive me for the poor quality of this post as I'm struggling with a stupid cold right now and my eyes really hurt. It's a little ironic that I started listening to this audiobook a few weeks back when I was sick and now I'm under the weather again just as I've finished it - I blame the crying and the emotional turmoil this book put me through.

I've read a few of TJ Klune's books now and while his books always pack an emotional punch, I think the narrator, Sean Crisden, did a particularly fantastic job of bringing that emotion out through his voices for Bear, Otter and Ty. I also really liked his voice for Creed while I found Anna a tad annoying (both in character and voice). 

I'm not sure how authors like TJ Klune manage to pack so much emotion and pain into a book and yet still have the ability to make you laugh, even through the heartache you share with the characters. 

I haven't yet read a TJ Klune book that hasn't made me cry, or at least brought me very close to tears and Bear, Otter, and the Kid was no exception, I found myself sobbing into my pillow during certain scenes and then laughing out loud, usually at something Bear or Ty said, at others. 

Bear is a fantastic character. He has so many depths and I love the storm and earthquake imagery the author uses to illustrate his anxiety and fears. It's a theme that builds throughout the book and is a beautiful metaphor for his inner turmoil. 

Bear and Ty (the Kid) have a beautiful relationship and I love Ty's intelligent humour. The little eco-terrorist is my favourite character and so reminiscent of Artemis in The Bones Beneath My Skin. I love the way that TJ writes kids and I cannot wait for his upcoming book, The House in the Cerulean Sea for this very reason. 

Otter is also a wonderful character and his evolving relationship with Bear and his dedication to both Bear and the Kid is moving and powerful to behold. 

TJ has written a book containing so much pain (a lot of it via Bear's mother - god, I hate her) and this book had me holding my breath in so many places, just hoping and wishing that everything would work out (this author has a habit of being mean to his characters and readers!) but I'm going to spare you a spoiler and let you find that out for yourself. 

Overall, this is a book that I fell in love with, with characters that made me laugh and cry. It's a heavy book, but at the same time it's light and with love, laughter, and family at its core. If you love TJ Klune, if you love heartfelt, meaningful and emotional romances, this is the book for you. 

TW: sexual assault, body image issues and anxiety.

So, this is it, I'm finally at the end of my Devil's Rock series binge and I'm kinda disappointed with how it ended - I just can't help but feel a little let down with this book. 

Maybe it was reading all the books in the series back to back but by this point I just feel bored (for want of a better word) with the same, repeating format. I swear there were even sections of text that were almost exactly the same in this story as in some of the previous ones. 

There was just no spark, no emotional connection between me and the book (and between the two main characters). I could barely stand the female MC, I found Gabriella really annoying, whiny and hypercritical at times. 

Cruz I did like, for the most part, but his character felt underdeveloped and just stuffed into the 'dark, brooding, misunderstood' type-cast mould that his character just felt really two dimensional. 

For me, there just wasn't much of a story here. Just lots of nonsensical back and forth between the two characters, and supporting characters who were just annoying and distracting. 

Overall, this book sadly just didn't do it for me but it doesn't mean that I love the other books in this series (or the author's other books) any less. 

TW: Rape, Drugging, Abuse, Predators. 

So, it seems that I subconsciously decided to binge read this entire series. I'm going to blame that decision on the crappy, cold British weather we're having right now and my longing for a bit of heat. 

I wasn't disappointed. The fourth book in the Devil's Rock series focuses on Hale (Sweet Hill's Sheriff and all around golden boy) and Piper (the girl from the wrong side of the tracks with a dark secret) - tale as old as time, right?

Truthfully, I didn't expect too much from this book but it pleasantly surprised me. Aside from the dialogue which felt a little stiff and unrealistic in places, the chemistry between Hale and Piper was great, especially as Hale is revealed to be a little more of a 'bad boy' than he first appears.  

Piper is funny, strong and confident and was the key to how invested I was in the outcome of this story. 

This book is a romance, can be read as a stand-alone (although I recommend that you do check out the rest of the series) and features a sweet HEA. As with the other books in this series the author does deal with some pretty dark themes and there are references to rape, abuse, murder and predatory behaviour. 

This is meant to be a dark and gritty romance series so bear that in mind if you do decide to give it a try. 

I loved the tension that was built between the two characters in this book and I devoured the whole thing in a couple of hours. 

If you're looking for a book to keep you warm on these cold autumn nights, the sizzling chemistry between Hale and Piper will certainly do the trick.