Interview with Jamie Baywood!

A little while back, Jamie Baywood sent me an email asking if I would like to interview her for my blog and, of course, I said yes! A few days later I sent her a few questions and she replied with these answers.

Hi there Jamie, thanks for coming to GeorgiaReviews...!
Thank you for having me.

What inspired you to write about your travels in New Zealand?
By the age of twenty-six, I was actually much happier being alone than dating, but I was completely bombarded by guys trying to date me in California. I read in a New Zealand tour book that the country’s population has 100,000 fewer men than women.  I wanted to have some me time and an adventure. New Zealand seemed like a good place to do so.

Did you keep notes or a diary through your trip and why/why not?
Yes, most of my book was written as the events happened. Reading my book would be similar to receiving emails from a friend living abroad. I didn't really come up with the distinct writing style. It’s just how I honestly observed things and described them. I only know how to write my truth. My truth tends to be stranger than fiction.

It would be impossible to write down every single thing that happen to me in New Zealand for over a year and it probably wouldn't be interesting to read. My book is 100% true. These are 100% my experiences. I have changed some the names, but not all of individuals and organizations to preserve privacy.

If you could pick 3 songs to sum up your trip, what would they be?
1. Santigold – L.E.S. Artistes (Listen HERE)
2. Kids of 88 – Just a little Bit (Listen HERE)
3. The Naked and Famous – Young Blood (Listen HERE)

There are some lines in L.E.S. Artistes that really apply to how I felt when I first arrived in New Zealand:

What I'm searching for
I can say I hope it will be worth what I give up
What am I here for
I left my home to disappear is all
I'm here for myself

Kids of 88 and The Naked and Famous were New Zealand bands I discovered during my time in there. I had the chance to go to a concert where they both performed. It was a great night.

What is your favourite genre to read?
My new favourite book is May I Ask You Something? by Cyan Corwine. I personally also find autobiographies interesting, but it really depends on who wrote it. One of my favourite books is collections of funny true stories like Area Code 212 byTama Janowitz.

What are you doing in your life at the moment?
I haven’t stopped travelling since I moved out of California in 2010.I never moved back to California. For the past three years, I’I've been disassembling and reassembling my life by moving to different countries. I've lived in five countries now America, American Samoa, New Zealand, Scotland and now England. Although I intended to have a solo adventure I ended up meeting my husband a Scottish man in New Zealand.
My husband is very busy working on a MA in Landscape Architecture. This gives me a lot of time to work on promoting my book and attending book talks throughout the UK.

We've actually lived in two different countries in the United Kingdom after leaving New Zealand; Scotland and now England. After New Zealand, we moved to Scotland, got married in a castle and ended up living across the street from Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh. Scotland is a sincerely magical place. There are so many castles in Scotland. Scotland has amazing architecture, beautiful mountains, lochs, beaches and sweet natured people. The landscape of the Highlands is very similar to the South Island of New Zealand. I love hearing the Scottish accent everywhere you go. After living in Edinburgh, I can understand how J. K. Rowling was inspired writing Harry Potter. I lived above a used bookshop that looked like where Harry would have bought his school supplies.

For unwanted and complicated reasons we had to move to England last September. It was devastating to have to move out of Edinburgh to Sheffield, England last year for my husband graduate school. We will have to live here until summer 2014.
I've designed, published and have been marketing Getting Rooted in New Zealand. Self-publishing is one person taking on all of the responsibilities typically held by teams of people in traditional publishing companies. It has been a steep learning curve.  I am currently booking meet the author events at libraries and book clubs throughout England and Wales between now and June 2014.

What new books are coming up in the future for you?
I plan to divide my books by the countries I've lived in. My next book will be about attempting to settle in Scotland. I plan to publish it late 2014.


Getting Rooted in New Zealand is available in paperback and ebook on Amazon HERE.
You can also follow Jamie on the following sites:
Facebook.com/jamiebaywood
Twitter.com/jamiebaywood
Pinterest.com/jamiebaywood
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7069448.Jamie_Baywood
amazon.com/author/jamiebaywood

Book Review!

Title- Twisted
Author- Holly Hook 
Genre- Young Adult, Fantasy
Format- e-ARC

Release Date- 15th December 2013
Buy HERE

Goodreads Summary-
Sixteen-year-old Allie isn’t like other girls. Instead of spending her summer break sitting around on the beach, she takes the epic vacation of a lifetime.

Tornado chasing.

And she’s not disappointed. Just a few miles from the town of Evansburg, Nebraska, Allie meets her dream of seeing a tornado. In person. She can’t wait to tell her friends back home. Never mind that her parents are going to kill her.

But her dream soon turns into a nightmare, and a strange event leaves her shocked. Confused. When she returns home to Wisconsin, something’s…different. Allie now bears a curse so awful, it could destroy everyone and everything she’s ever known.

With her best friend, Tommy, Allie must return to the plains to find a way to reverse it. She enters a world that she had never imagined, where she becomes a pawn in a fight to save the people of Evansburg from her fate…or to destroy them.

Initial Thoughts- A little while back, you may remember me participating in a cover reveal for a book titled Twisted by Holly Hook (you can view that post HERE). Shortly after this, the lovely Rachel Marks, a publicist, offered me a e-ARC to review this book. I got excited about this because I loved the sound of this book and could not wait to get my hands on it! Also, this was my first ARC so it gave me lots of confidence in my work.

Strong Points- The story had such a great premise and, when I heard about the cover reveal, I jumped at the chance to be involved! Starting reading, I loved this book and it was jam packed from the start, getting you hooked straight from the beginning.. Well, it should, unless you are me.

Weaknesses- This is not a criticism to the book but more to myself. I am not a fan of being out of my comfort zone so reading this genre was a little hit-and-miss, I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it. I seem to love every contemporary book I read but everything else is at two end of the scale, I either can not put it down or can not pick it up and I am afraid this was an example of the second.

I do however think that this would be perfect for any fans of the Fantasy genre and if you don't believe me, check out all of the great reviews already posted on Goodreads HERE.

Overall Rating- ❤

Book Cover Reveal!

The Romeo Club

by Rebekah L Purdy

Release Date: 03/25/14

YA CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE 

Summary from Goodreads:

THE ROMEO CLUB is Hitch meets The Secret of My Success.

What happens when you agree to help your brother “de-nerdify” so he can catch the attention of the popular Chloe Anders, and to everyone's surprise, he actually lands her?

And what if his equally geeky friends come running with girl wish lists of their own, offering money for your services?

Well, if you’re sixteen-year-old, Delyla Denson, then you start The Romeo Club. A secret club where she’ll teach these guys how talk, act, and be cool around girls. It’s a win-win situation.

She’ll get enough money for the awesome prom dress she’s had her eye on, and the guys, well, they’ll get dates and maybe learn how to do something other than beat the next level on their video games.

There are only two problems with this plan. One, her quarterback/track star boyfriend is getting jealous of how much time she’s spending away from him and decides to try and figure out what’s going on. And two, Delyla is kind of falling for her brother’s BFF, Trey who she’s been hanging out with a lot more. And who thanks to her help, has caught the attention of the beautiful, perfect, and popular, Portia Rickard. With Portia and Trey heating up, Delyla realizes that maybe the person she’s meant to be with has been in front of her all this time.

But falling for Trey means she’ll have to take drastic measures including sabotage, with a capital S.

About the Author:

Rebekah Purdy grew up in Michigan, where she spent many late nights armed with a good book and a flashlight. When not hiding at her computer and getting lost in her stories, she enjoys reading, singing, soccer, swimming, football, camping, playing video games and hanging out with her kids. She loves the unexplainable like Bigfoot, the Dogman, and the Loch Ness Monster (lots of good story material)! She admits to still having all the books she bought throughout her childhood and teen years, and she may or may not have an obsession with anything chocolate…

Author Links:

   

Cover Reveal Organized by:

Book Cover Reveal!

Hi guys, I know I said I wouldn't be posting until Friday at least but this is just a quick one, enjoy!

Twelve Steps

by Veronica Bartles

Release Date: 03/25/14

Book Summary:

Sixteen-year-old Andi is tired of being a second-class sibling to perfect sister Laina. There in Laina's shadow, Andi's only noticeable feature is her pretty awesome hair. And even that is eclipsed by Laina's perfect everything else.

When Andi’s crush asks her to fix him up with Laina, Andi decides enough is enough and devises a twelve-step program to wrangle the spotlight away from Laina. After all, great hair must count for something.

Step 1: Admit she’s powerless to change her perfect sister, and accept that her life really, really sucks. OK, maybe that's two steps in one.

Step 4: Make a list of her good qualities besides great hair. There have got to be at least three good qualities, right?

Step 7: Demand attention for more than just her shortcomings, and break out of her shell. Easier said that done, but worth the effort in the long-run. 

When a stolen kiss from her crush ends in disaster, Andi finds that her prince isn’t as charming as she'd hoped, and realizes she may need a new program--perhaps with less steps!

As cracks in Laina’s flawless façade begin to show, the sisters work together to find a spotlight big enough for both to shine.

About the Author:

As the second of eight children and the mother of four, Veronica Bartles is no stranger to the ups and downs of sibling relationships. (She was sandwiched between the gorgeous-and-insanely-popular older sister and the too-adorable-for-words younger sister.) She uses this insight to write stories about siblings who mostly love each other, even while they’re driving one another crazy.   When she isn’t writing or getting lost in the pages of her newest favorite book, Veronica enjoys knitting fabulous bags and jewelry out of recycled plastic bags and old VHS tapes, sky diving (though she hasn’t actually tried that yet), and inventing the world’s most delectable cookie recipes.

TWELVE STEPS is Veronica Bartles's first novel.

Author Links:

  
Thanks to YA Bound Book Tours for letting me take part! Find more from them HERE.

My Bookish Christmas Wishlist!

Tomorrow marks two weeks till the big day, are you excited? I am!

Here is a list of a few things I asked my family for as Christmas gifts, all of which are book related.
Quick Disclaimer: This is not me bragging, I will be really will be grateful for all of the presents I receive and know how lucky I am to get anything at all.

Argos Floating Shelf in White (Buy HERE)

I already have one of these but it is currently packed with so many book, I physically can not fit any more on. As I have an ever growing collection, I thought it would be lovely to have another on which I can proudly display my personal library!

Allegiant by Veronica Roth (Buy HERE)

Another thing I already own! I have an ebook of Allegiant but really want a physical copy to complete my collection. I have one problem however, to match my existing copies I will need a paperback of the international edition and these are quite hard to come across.

Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson & Lauren Myracle (Buy HERE)

On boxing day last year, I ordered The Fault In Our Stars and since then have read every other book by him but two: An Abundance of Katherines and Let It Snow. Since it's a Christmassy book, I thought now would be the perfect time to read it and I am excited to see the writing from Maureen and Lauren.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Buy HERE)

I have seen many trailers for movie adaptation of this book and I know from experience that the book is always better so I have exceptionally high hopes for this book. History interests me greatly however I chose not to study it at GCSE so most of my fixes now come through historical fiction like this.

The Carrie Diaries 2 Book Set by Candace Bushnell (Buy HERE)

I have talked about this on my blog before so I won't go into too much detail but I love The Carrie Diaries TV show. This character is so well known so I want to read all about her as the show does not go into Carrie's head enough.

Amazon Kindle Gift Card (Buy HERE)

Very often, a book comes out which I think am apprehensive about so, instead of having to look at something I dislike on my shelf, I buy a Kindle copy. Other times, it can be cheaper to buy e-books. Also, some books or novellas are primarily electronic so this is a necessity for me!

What's on your christmas list and, more importantly, what are you giving this year?

Let me know in the comments below!

Topping Off The Week! #4

Hey guys! This week on GeorgiaReviews, we have another 'Topping Off The Week' post which involves me counting down a different thing each week. Each will be in no particular order, a jumbled mess of all things I love. This is not me telling you how to feel about something, just sharing my personal opinions with the world! Feel free to post your take on the subject of the week, just be sure to credit me and drop me a link to it so I can see your lists too! Today marks the second week in December, can you believe it? For this reason, I will be counting down...

Top 5 Albums of 2013

Night Visions - Imagine Dragons
If you do not love this album you cannot be from this planet. These guys make the most incredible songs, each is different and there are so many! I double dare you to insult this artwork, the sky in the background is all purple and blue and cloudy and I have lots to say about it. I really wanted to see them touring the UK this month but tickets sold out so fast, there's always next time, right?

Favourite Song: Demons (Listen HERE).
Download the album in the UK HERE

Bad Blood - Bastille
Back before Bastille burst on to the scene with Pompeii, I was a huge fan so, when hearing of their album's release, pre-ordered a signed copy. This was a big deal for me, it was the first thing I used my bank card to buy online and my first signed merch! Upon arrival, I put it into my computer and fell in love all over again. Each song was great and Dan's haunting voice was as perfect as ever.

Favourite Song: Overjoyed (Listen HERE).
Download the album in the UK HERE

The 20/20 Experience (Part 1 & 2) - Justin Timberlake

I was not a huge Justin Timberlake fan before this beauty was released, the only reason I bought it was as a gift for my mum's birthday. She started playing out loud when ironing and cleaning and I started rather liking it. After the release of Mirrors, I was completely hooked and could not stop myself from purchasing the second part which is just as good!

Favourite Song: Murder ft. Jay-Z  (Listen HERE).
Download the album in the UK HERE

Long Way Down - Tom Odell

After taking the Critic's Choice award at the 2013 Brit Awards, I knew Tom Odell had to be amazing to fill the shoes of previous winners Ellie Goulding, Florence & the Machine and Adele. His debut album Long Way Down shows just why he won such a highly respected award, with his original voice and fantastic piano skills, this young man was always destined for attention.

Favourite Song: Another Love (Listen HERE).
Download the album in the UK HERE

If You Wait - London Grammar
I do not actually own this album yet but I have listened to it in full and Christmas is coming up so I've dropped my fair share of hints. I discovered this band from their Live Lounge performance and could not get over how Hannah (the lead vocalist) reminded me of Florence Welch! They are not too well known yet so I feel that I must spread the secret of London Grammar.

Favourite Song: Strong (Listen HERE).
Download the album in the UK HERE

The Rainbow Rowell Read-A-Thon!

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't posted this weekend, I had a few personal issues so my blog took a back seat for a few days. I'm back though and I'd like to introduce you to something amazing...

For the past 2 weeks, I've been really excited waiting for this to month to arrive, not only because it's officially Christmas (yay), but also because we get to celebrate the work of one of my favourite authors, Rainbow Rowell! I first heard about this when I saw THIS post over on fellow book blog Fluttereal Flight so check that out!                                                                                                                     There will be three parts to the read-a-thon, each held on a different blog, but I will only be participating in two of there however. These will be Eleanor & Park on Fluttereal Flight and Fangirl on PaperGrey. These will be easiest for me because I already own a copy of each of these books so have read them previously and have lots to say and both are on top books of 2013 list!

Apparently, there shall be swag giveaways for people that participate in quizzes and discussions so be sure to check out their blogs throughout the month (don't forget Looking For The Panacea for Attachments as well HERE). One last thing too, there is a hashtag so be sure to tag #RRMonth in any of your tweets regarding the month!

Movie Review- Spoiler Free!

Title- The Way, Way Back
Starring- Liam James, Steve Carell, AnnaSophia Robb, Sam Rockwell
UK DVD Release- 26th December 2013
BBFC- 12A
UK Distributor- 20th Century Fox
Pre-Order The DVD Here.

IMDb Summary
Shy 14-year-old Duncan goes on summer vacation with his mother, her overbearing boyfriend, and her boyfriend's daughter. Having a rough time fitting in, Duncan finds an unexpected friend in Owen, manager of the Water Wizz water park.

Initial Thoughts- Upon watching the trailer, I thought this would be a lovely little film which I'd just chuckle along to, especially after hearing the line 'I think you're a three'. Also, AnnaSophia Robb rocks, she's great in The Carrie Diaries and I adored The Bridge to Terabithia when I was younger (I still do now) so was excited to see her doing something else.

Strong Points- As suggested by the trailer, this movie was super funny! There were some hilarious one-liners such as when Owen (played by Sam Rockwell) says 'Please let your lady friend know this conversation was entirely about her.' The step sister made me laugh too, she was like a tamer Regina George! A very nice unexpected twist from my initial thoughts was the serious side to the film, behind all of the humour was a really good storyline about a lost boy just needing an escape.

Weaknesses- I honestly thought there were some stupid holes in the plotline, the developing romance between Duncan and Susanna was really underdeveloped and I thought it was rather unbelievable as the characters knew nothing about each other. I also disliked the ending as it left many questions unanswered but I won't spoil that for you!

Overall Rating- ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

Be sure to check out the trailer below.

New Books! #1

Bought

Title- World After

Author- Susan Ee

Genre- Young Adult, Paranormal

Format- Kindle eBook

UK Publisher- Hodder & Stoughton

Buy Here.

Bought

Title- Heroes

Author- Robert Cormier

Genre- Young Adult, Historical Fiction

Format- Paperback

Condition- Secondhand

UK Publisher- Puffin

Buy Here.

Sent For Review

Title- Twisted

Author- Holly Hook

Genre- Young Adult

Format- eARC

UK Publisher- ?

Buy Holly's Books Here.

Topping Off The Week! #3

Hey guys! This week on GeorgiaReviews, we have another 'Topping Off The Week' post which involves me counting down a different thing each week. Each will be in no particular order, a jumbled mess of all things I love. Don't forget, this is not me telling you how to feel about something, just sharing my personal opinions with the world! Feel free to post your take on the subject of the week, just be sure to credit me and drop me a link to it so I can see your lists too! As it is only a month till Christmas, I thought I'd get into the festive spirit so this week, we have...

Top 5 Christmas TV Adverts

Sainsbury's (Supermarket)
Yes, it is predictable so all the way through you are waiting for him to turn up but does those children's reactions not make up for that? It just made me 'aww', even before their dad turned up. The way they recorded this message and sang for him anyway was sweet, I cannot imagine not having a parent there for me so these kids are so strong (if this is real and not staged that is).

Tesco (Supermarket)

Isn't this so original? I've never seen an advert made of 'home movies' before (they were, however, staged by actors). The details added make it special such as showing how the family grows over time and a new child is born, then grows and we see him pull his first cracker. The filters make it so believable, like somebody could of reached into their cabinet and retrieved lots of old video tapes!

Very.co.uk

Fearne Cotton is such a huge style icon in the UK and I always love her new collections so when I saw her in the new advertisement, it made me happy! The whole set-up is incredible, with people suspended in a moment while the world goes on around them. The camera angles work well too, the way they pan in and out, seeming to bounce off of the focus make it perfect!

Coca-Cola

When this makes it's way to your TV screens, you know it's that time when you can officially get excited! When it made it's way to my TV screen 2 weeks ago, a huge smile spread across my little face. This is such an iconic advert, we all know what those bright red trucks symbolise without even reading their label. Did you know that the urban myths around Coca-Cola and Santa are, in fact, just myths though?

John Lewis

The Bear and The Hare does nothing but strengthen this store's reputation at creating the best adverts to get you in a wintry mood. Last year's The Journey featured an amazing cover of The Power of Love by Gabrielle Aplin and this year is no different. Lily Allen has lent her voice to Somewhere Only We Know, creating another chart topping hit which you'll always find when turning on the radio.

Trailer Review- Spoiler Free!

Title- Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters
Starring- Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry, Sarah Hyland
UK Release Date- 19th February 2014
UK Distributer- entertainmentone
Buy the book here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vampire-Academy-book-Richelle-Mead/dp/0141328525/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385146187&sr=1-1&keywords=vampire+academy

Summary-
Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, half human/vampire, guardians of the Moroi, peaceful, mortal vampires living discretely within our world. Her legacy is to protect the Moroi from bloodthirsty, immortal Vampires, the Strigoi. This is her story.


Before Watching-
I have read the first four books in series but gave up a third of the way through the fifth as I disliked the way the plot was going. I will still be seeing the movie, though I am apprehensive as to how a man know for Mean Girls could possibly do this film justice. The posters look original, is there a reason nobody has done this bright green? I don't know but I still do love the marketing, the bright pink looks amazing.

After Thoughts-
I love the amount of time and effort which has gone into this movie, especially the little things such as the title cards and the redesign the Weinstein Company logo to look like fangs dripping blood! It looks well put together. Is that series of clips with everyone flashing teeth just a little bit cheesy or what? Not that I'm complaining, they seem to be going for that angle which is good because that's the type of thing films such as The Mortal Instruments got slated for, at least they admit it. When Sami as Mia says 'Back off blood whore, he's mine now', all my worries about her casting faded. Zoey owned Rose this as well, I was also hesitant about her casting but the delivery of the line 'Let's make tonight our bitch' made me squeal with excitement. Is it just me or was there no cat in the books? I don't remember anything about that. And the dresses for the dance, how elegant does Lissa look? Living up to her princess title no doubt. Oh, and one last thing, Dominic Sherwood just completes the film, I loved Christian from the books so I'm sure I'll adore movie Christian even more.

Be sure to check out the trailer below.

Interview with Kasie West!

A couple of weeks ago, the lovely Kasie West agreed to participate in an interview with me. I sent over some questions and these are the answers I got back. 

Be sure to follow Kasie on twitter: www.twitter.com/kasiewest

Check out her website: http://www.kasiewest.com/

What led you to writing, how long have you wanted to do this?

I kind of fell into writing. It was never something I thought I wanted to do. I’m not one of those writers who wrote stories on her wall when she was a toddler. I was a reader. I loved to read very much. Still do. One day about seven years ago, I had an idea for a story and my husband encouraged me to write it. So I did. I loved writing so much. The story was awful (I didn’t know that at the time) but the process of writing hooked me. So I kept writing and kept trying to get my stories published and then I wrote Pivot Point.

What is your favourite genre to read?

I love all sorts of genres, but my favorite right now (and for a while now) is contemporary. I love the emotions and characters of a good contemporary. And I love how generally relatable the stories are.

How challenging do you find it to write both contemporary and fantasy?

It’s definitely something I can’t do simultaneously. I have to have a whole different mind set when I write the different stories. But I enjoy writing in both genres so I enjoy the challenge.

What music do you listen to while writing, who inspires you?

Maybe surprisingly for some, I don’t listen to music when I write. It distracts me. I get caught up in the lyrics and I start to sing and/or type them. I’m not saying that songs don’t inspire me. I’m definitely inspired by songs I hear in the car when I’m driving or when I’m working out. I hear lyrics and music that prompts ideas or storylines. But when I sit down in front of the computer to write them, it is silent. But I’m a fan of cheesy alternative rock ballads. Secondhand Serenade, Mayday Parade, The Fray, etc.

 Do you draw on personal experiences in your stories?

Sure, I think experiences in my life have influenced the way characters in my story react to certain situations. And definitely settings work their way into my stories. But not necessarily scenes or people. Those are all made up.

Which of your characters would you say is most like yourself?

I’m sure there is a little bit of me in all my characters even though I try not to do that. My sister in law says that Caymen sounded the most like me, but I think Caymen is way more dry and sarcastic than I am. I can’t tell a joke without laughing at myself.

What information can you share about your upcoming books, On the Fence and The Fill-In Boyfriend?

On the Fence is my contemporary that comes out on July 1, 2014. It is about a girl with three brothers who ends up falling for the neighbor boy who happens to be her really good friend. She’s a tom boy who loves sports and driving fast and running. Her competitive nature leads her to challenge the boy next door to a game of ‘who knows who better’ that they play on lonely nights with a fence separating them in the back yard. It’s a fun book that I hope fans of The Distance Between Us will love.

The Fill-In Boyfriend is a book about a girl whose boyfriend dumps her in the parking lot of prom. The problem with this is that she’d been bragging about this boy, her long distance boyfriend, to her friends for months and this was the first time they were actually supposed to meet him. So she decides to snag a boy she sees waiting in his car to pick up his little sister from prom and has him pretend to be her boyfriend. He plays the role a little too well but then leaves without her ever learning his real name. I love this book and the release date is way too far away. I wish I could share it with you all way sooner.

Pivot Point is available now. You can buy it in the UK from this link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pivot-Point-Kasie-West/dp/0062117378/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1384695811&sr=1-2

Split Second will be released on 11th February 2014. You can preorder it in the UK from this link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Split-Second-Pivot-Point-Kasie/dp/0062117386/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384695811&sr=1-3.

The Distance Between Us is available now. You can buy it in the UK from this link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Distance-Between-Kasie-West/dp/0062235656.

On The Fence will be released on 1st July 2014. You can preorder it in the UK from this link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/On-Fence-Kasie-West/dp/0062235672

The Fill-In Boyfriend will be released at some time in 2015. As of now, there is no preorder link.

To see my review of The Distance Between Us, click on this link here.

All images taken from http://www.kasiewest.com/. 

Topping Off The Week! #2

Hey guys! So, this week on GeorgiaReviews we have another 'Topping Off The Week' post which involves me counting down a different thing each week. Just be warned, as always, there will be spoilers! Each will be in no particular order and this is not me telling you what to do, just telling you my personal favourites! Feel free to post your take on the subject of the week, just be sure to credit me and drop me a link to it so I can see your lists too! The images I chose are the editions which I own. This week, we have...

Top 5 Book Series

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

(Image from http://thehungergames.wikia.com/wiki/Category:The_Hunger_Games_book_covers)
I won't lie to you, I only read these books after seeing the first movie! At first, I was apprehensive to pick up the series, the movie blew me away and, as I wasn't such a big reader at the time, I wasn't sure it would live up to my expectations. However, I was bought the books for my birthday and decided to give them a try which was a great decision! My only main dislike is that my absolute favourite character Finnick dies! *cry, cry* It also conflicted my views on the love triangle, as when seeing the movie, I shipped Everthorne but after reading the books, I'm all for Peenis...

You can buy the books in the UK here.

The Juliette Chronicles by Tahereh Mafi

(Image from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13455782-shatter-me)

Wow, where to start... Let's start with Warner, that's always a good idea right? This guy is just my the best character in the series if you ask me. That scene with the dog just made me 'aww'. And we can't forget Juliette, she's pretty damn bad-ass! That ability of hers is so cool, apart from the fact she can't touch people obviously but still, there are ways around that. The way the books are written as well, with crossed out lines and chapters of varied lengths is so original! I loved this about the series and just can't wait for Ignite Me to be released.

You can buy the books in the UK here and here.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

(Image from  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13335037-divergent?from_search=true)

If you'd asked me before I had read (well, attempted to read) Allegiant, this would totally have been one of my top 5s but now, it just barely scraped a place because the Divergent and Insurgent were so incredible. I think it was the dual perspectives and everything happening too fast to process. I will still finish the book, I just need a little break for now. I did however love how widely diverse the characters were, black & white, thin & fat, gay & straight, strong & weak. They covered all types of groups and did not put these as less vital roles, take Uriah for example.

You can buy the books in the UK here.

The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

(Image from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7171637-clockwork-angel?from_search=true )

This is the type of series that grows through each book. I was apprehensive to pick these up, I had just finished The Mortal Instruments and was unsure as to whether I would be confused and muddle up the two plots. But, after an assuring tweet from Ms Clare herself, I went ahead and marathoned these back-to-back. These three books haunts you for weeks after you finish, I couldn't read anything else for a while. I don't think I ever cried so much at a prologue before, this took my heart and broke it again and again.

You can buy the books in the UK here.

Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

(Images from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11408650-the-unbecoming-of-mara-dyer?from_search=true)

This plot hooked me before I had even read the first page. What the hell is going off? I have no a clue. As messed up as it is, and it is, these books are actually incredible. It is so strange reading something and not knowing whether or not to trust what is written on the page. The revelation at the end of second book was so crazy, I could not even begin to wrap my mind around the fact that it was staged! The way Noah's room was described left me in awe, so many book, so much jealousy! (Can you be jealous of fiction characters? Probably).

You can buy the books in the UK here and here.