...in pictures

 Next week's topic will be:

Sparkle / Glitzern

Please link you post to mine in time.
Submission period is between the 30st of November and the 8th of December
(11:59 pm CET).

...in pictures

This week's topic is:

Kitchen

 

 

...in books

Review

Thirteen Reasons Why

by Jay Asher

The author:

Except for six months in Wyoming, I've lived my entire life in California. It was during those six months in Sheridan, Wyoming that I came up with the idea for Thirteen Reasons Why. I've worked at an independent bookstore, a chain bookstore, an outlet bookstore, and two public libraries. Before those jobs, I worked at a shoe store, a trophy shop, and an airline. My very first writing award earned me a free fruit smoothie every day for a year. I've won a lot of awards since then, but that one tasted the best!

source: Jay Asher’s Blog

First sentences:

“Sir?” she repeats. “How soon do you want it to get there?”

Summary:

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list.

source: Goodreads

My opinion:

It took me quite a while to buy and read this book. I am not a huge fan of books dealing with those massive problems. It’s not that I would like to pretend everything is always fine but when I was in school we read a lot of those books and I think they scared me off that genre.

I heard so many good things about Thirteen Reasons Why from Blogger friends and when one of my students read this book and liked it I was convinced that I need to read it too. After buying it, it still took me weeks to pick it up and finally start reading it but after the first few pages I was hooked. I couldn’t believe it.

Jay Asher tells a story that deals with a difficult subject – (teenage) suicide and he does that in such an incredible way. I cannot really say what he does but the way Hannah’s story is told and interwoven with Clay’s converts this book into something special.

Thirteen Reasons Why is told from Hannah’s point of view as well as from Clay’s. One day when Clay arrives home from school he finds a box full of tapes, tapes recorded by Hannah. We as readers accompany Clay as he listens to all the tapes during one night and discovers that he is on the tapes too – he is one reason why Hannah killed herself. Through the audio tapes we also see Hannah’s side of the story and this is one element that makes this book so special.

It took me by surprise that I “enjoyed” reading this book because I was reluctant to trying it. Don’t be fooled it is not a light and quick read. It plays – really well might I add – with your emotions and takes you on a roller coaster ride. Hannah’s story is emotional, sad and unfortunately something that is part of our lives. I still cannot decide if what she did – recording those tapes and therefore, in a way, ruining 13 people’s lives – is justifiable but it certainly is a strong medium to show people how their actions affect others.

Jay Asher’s book left me thinking!

There is a whole Blog dedicated to Hannah’s story and her tapes. Check it out!

For more information about Jay Asher visit his Blog, his Facebook and Twitter pages.

...in pictures

I wasn't quite as sucessful in posting pictures over the last weeks, so here is a longer post to make it up to you.

Old

 

Forum Romanum, Rome

Cat

I don't have a cat and I am not a cat person but I figured out a way to post a cat picture anyways. Some weeks ago I went to the zoo with my mum to take some pictures. I love doing that and it sometimes is a real challenge to get good photos of moving animals but for this topic I got two really awesome ones.

 

The topic for this week's Photochallenge is:

Kitchen

If you want to participate, take a picture, post it on your blog and link it with my blog here.

...in books

Last months I celebrated my 1st Blogoversary and hosted a Giveaway.

Today I picked the lucky winner!

First I put all entries into a huge bowl, 

mixed the names 

and

picked the winner!

Congratulations Jana! 

 Jana, is a really awesome bookish girl, blogging at The Artsy Reader Girl. 

If you don't know her blog, check it out!

Jana is doing A Bookish Little Christmas in December!

A huge thank you for all of you who entered!

You are amazing!

Speaking of Christmas - I have a wonderful announcement!

I will do Blogmas here on the Blog from the 1st ot the 24th of December! 

Each day you will find a new Christmassy themed blog post here on My Life...

I can't tell you how excited I am and I cannot wait for December 1st. 

Only 5 days to go!

...in pictures

 Next week's topic will be:

Kitchen / Küche

Please link you post to mine in time.
Submission period is between the 23rd of November and the 1st of December
(11:59 pm CET). 

...in books

Review

From Notting Hill to New York…Actually

by Ali McNamara

The author:

by Dan Martland

Ali McNamara attributes her over active imagination to one thing - being born an only child. Time spent when she was young dreaming up adventures has left her with a head constantly bursting with stories waiting to be told.
As a child Ali suffered badly from Rheumatoid Arthritis, and as a result was unable to participate in sport at school. But more than made up for that later in life when she qualified as a Personal trainer and Fitness Instructor, with a special interest in exercise as an aid to healing medical conditions.
When stories she wrote for fun on singer Ronan’ Keating's website became so popular they were sold as a fundraising project for his cancer awareness charity, Ali realised that not only was writing something she enjoyed doing, but something others enjoyed reading too. Ali lives in Cambridgeshire with her husband and two children, and when she isn’t writing, she enjoys watching too much reality TV, eating too much chocolate, and counter-acting the results of the previous activities with plenty of exercise!

source: Goodreads

First sentence:

“Scarlett, can you get me another glass of juice, please?”

Summary:

Scarlett O’Brien, utterly addicted to romantic films, has found her leading man. She’s convinced Sean is Mr Right, but the day-to-day reality of a relationship isn’t quite like the movies. With Sean constantly away on business, Scarlett and her new best friend Oscar decide to head to New York for the holiday of a lifetime. From one famous landmark to the next, Scarlett and Oscar make many new friends during their adventure - including sailors in town for Fleet Week, a famous film star, and Jamie & Max, a TV reporter and cameraman. Scarlett finds herself strangely drawn to Jamie, they appear to have much in common: a love of films and Jamie’s search for a parent he never knew. But Scarlett has to ask herself why she is reacting like this to another man when she’s so in love with Sean …

source: Goodreads

My opinion:

I love Ali McNamara’s style of writing! She is the author of From Notting Hill with Love…Actually (read my review here) and of Breakfast at Darcy’s (read my review here) and with From Notting Hill to New York…Actually she wrote her third masterpiece.

I enjoyed revisiting Scarlett, Oscar, Sean and all the other characters that I so liked reading about in the first book and for me it felt like being at a family reunion. The book takes us the New York with Scarlett and Oscar and as always with Scarlett life isn’t boring.

I was looking forward to this book from the moment Ali announced that she will write a new book and I was psyched to hear that she would write a sequel to her first novel. The publication date was in my planner for many months now and I was counting down the days until its release and then, on Tuesday I went into my favorite bookstore and found this book on display. Yes, I did a happy dance and I think I smiled for two days straight. I started reading it right away, finished it in two days and was sucked into the story from the very beginning. Scarlett’s trip to the Big Apple is fast paced and highly entertaining – I started giggling more than once while on public transport and earned many weird looks. As always she attracts chaos, awesome people and unusual problems and I’m sure being friends with Scarlett would be super funny and never boring.

All the characters from the first novel are part of this one plus many more – all awesome, nice, lovely, loyal and fun to be with. Scarlett’s movie addiction and her rarely intended movie moments play a big part in this story too.

I could ramble on and on about how much I loved this novel but I think it would be best if you go check it out yourself. If you are looking for an entertaining book with lovely characters and a wonderful story than this is it!

From Notting Hill to New York…Actually is the sequel to From Notting Hill with Love…Actually (read my review here) and will be published on November 22^nd 2012.

For more information about Ali visit her Homepage, her Facebook or Twitter page or read the author interview I did with her. 

...in books

In September I revealed the cover of Jennifer L. Armentrout's new book "Opal" 

the third book in the Lux series which will be out on December 18th, 2012. 

Today is the day of the official trailer reveal. 

No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger... and they know it.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

USA TODAY Bestselling author, Jennifer L. Armentrout, lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing, she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell, Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She also writes adult romance under the name J. Lynn.

Find Jennifer on: Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website | Blog

...in books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish.

This week the girls at The Broke and Bookish want to know my:

Top Ten Authors I'm Thankful For

Monica McInerney - for being a wonderful person and for sending me my first signed books ever

Ali McNamara - for her wonderful novels, tweet and for being truly amazing

Michelle Madow - for being so approachable as an author and for believing in her dream

Gail Carriger - for introducing me to Steampunk novels and for creating the most lovely werewolves and vampires

Terry Pratchett - for creating the Discworld, a place to go when you want to flee this one

Cassandra Clare - for creating Jace (and Will)

Stan & Jan Berenstain - for making my childhood full of happy memories of me and my parents sitting on the sofa reading Berenstain Bears books, through which I learned English

Amy Plum - for writing incredible, amazing and unique books

JoAnna Carl - for setting one of my favorite cozy mystery series in a small town chocolate shop

Sophie Kinsella - for writing books that instantly pull me out of a bad mood, reading slump or to which I'm always turning when I need a little pick me up

...in books

Review

Timeless

by Michelle Madow

!!If you haven’t read Remembrance and Vengeance by Michelle Madow

this review might include spoilers!!

The author:

Michelle Madow was inspired to write Remembrance after seeing Taylor Swift's "Love Story" music video while a junior at Rollins College in Winter Park, FL. The song and video gave her the story idea about a high school girl reincarnated from Regency Era, England. She handed in the first chapter as a homework assignment for class, and when her teacher and fellow classmates wanted her to continue writing, she decided to go for it. By the end of the school year, her first novel was completed! Michelle lives in Florida, where she is hard at work writing more novels for young adults.
Along with the Transcend Time Saga, Michelle Madow has written two other young adult novels, both which will be developed into series’.

source: Goodreads (adapted)

First sentence:

“I can’t believe you’ve never mad s’more’s before,” Drew said, jabbing a marshmallow with an iron s’more stick and handing it to me.

Summary:

It’s a race against time!
In Remembrance, Lizzie and Drew changed the course of fate so they could be together.
In Vengeance, Chelsea set fate back on its original, deadly path.
Now, strange things keep happening to Lizzie. Things that are omens of darkness to come. A curse has doomed her to die an early death, just as she did in her past life. To make things worse, even if she can figure out who cast the curse, it's irreversible. There's only one option left for her to save herself. It's crazier than anything she's heard yet, and to do it, she'll need Drew and Chelsea's help.
Because to make things right, they must go back to when it all began …

source: Goodreads

My opinion:

With the Transcend Time Saga Michelle Madow took the lives of ordinary high-school teenagers and turned them upside down, mixing it with magic and twists and created something wonderful.

Timeless is the final book in the saga. I personally find it hard to finish a beloved series and say goodbye to characters I grew fond of but this novel was just the perfect ending to a wonderful series. Maybe I will finish some of my other beloved series now too.

Once again we join Lizzie and Drew who just recently started a relationship after many ups and downs both humanly and magically induced. Unfortunately, as we as readers know after reading Vengeance, Chelsea cursed Lizzie, her ex-best friend. So now the three of them need to find a way to safe Lizzie from death once again.

Timeless tells a unique story and features lovely characters that for me came to live right away. Lizzie’s pending death and how to prevent it is the main storyline but the former friendship between Lizzie and Chelsea plays a huge role too. This part of the novel feels so real and is something that most certainly happened to many of us – being “at war” with a best friend over a boy but it hopefully didn’t take turns like the one in the book.

For me Michelle’s way of writing is perfect – after some pages I forget that I am reading a book and a film starts playing in my mind instead. This is what makes a book incredible.

With Timeless Michelle wrote yet another awesome story with a gripping plot and lovely characters that I can highly recommend!

The books in the Transcend Time Saga are:

• Remembrance (read my review here)
• Vengeance (read my review here)
• Timeless

For more information about Michelle Madow visit her Homepage, her Blog, her Facebook and Twitter pages or read the author interview she did for my blog.

Timeless will be published on November 20^th 2012.

...in books

 

Showcase Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits & Tea which was inspired by In My Mailbox from Kristie at The Story Siren.

It is a possibility for us to show what amazing books we got during the week. 

Wow, long time no see! I didn't buy any books during the last three weeks but this week was different. On Tuesday I went into my favorite bookstore to browse a little and there I saw it...

From Notting Hill to New York...Actually by Ali McNamara

The sequel to From Notting Hill with Love...Actually which I loved. 

You can read my review here.

Do you know Jamie the awesome girl behind The Broke and Bookish and The Perpetual Page-Turner? 

No? 

Are you kidding me?

Go check her out! 

She's amazing! 

But...

...(almost) everytime she posts a review, I add the book to my mile long list of books I need to check out. This week's review was no exception but instead of adding it to a list I added it to my Kindle.

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway

So if you go and check out Jamie's blogs - which you should - than be prepared to add quite a few to your TBR list.

...in pictures

 Next week's topic will be:

Cat / Katze

Please link you post to mine in time.
Submission period is between the 16th and the 24th of November.
(11:59 pm CET)

...in books

Review

I heart New York

by Lindsey Kelk

The author:

Lindsey Kelk is a British writer and children’s book editor. When she isn’t writing, reading, listening to music or watching more TV than is healthy, Lindsey likes to wear shoes, shop for shoes and judge the shoes of others. She loves living in New York but misses Sherbert Fountains, London and drinking Gin & Elderflower cocktails with her friends. Not necessarily in that order.

source: Lindsey’s Homepage

First sentences:

The aisle looks really, really long.

Summary:

When you're running away from a broken heart, there's only one place to go...Adjusting tiaras at the foot of the aisle, Angela and her best friend prepare for the wedding of the year. But events don't go as planned. And when a girl is in possession of a crumpled bridesmaid dress - and can't go home - New York (for the very first time) seems like an excellent idea. Angela's new friend Jenny Lopez gives Angela a whirlwind tour of the city that never sleeps, and a makeover. Who hasn't dreamed of starting afresh with a sassy New York wardrobe, a new haircut and a trip to the make-up counter? Before she knows it, the new Angela is getting over her broken heart by having dinner with two different boys. And, best of all, she gets to write about it in her fabulous new blog. But it's one thing telling readers all about your romantic dilemmas. It's another trying to figure them out for yourself!

source: Goodreads (adapted)

My opinion:

I was in desperate need of a light and fluffy fun book to read and I found it in I heart New York. Last year while being on a road-trip through Western Australia I read Lindsey Kelk’s The Single Girl’s To-Do List on my Kindle and loved this book so much that I bought it afterwards so that I can have it on my bookshelf (yes, nerdy – I know). I wanted to read her I heart series for such a long time and I cannot believe I did it sooner.

I heart New York tells the story of Angela who ran away from London after she found her fiancé cheating on her. A one-way ticket to New York might be the solution. We as readers experience Angela’s heartbreak and decision to go to New York firsthand and I felt so sorry for her. I know first hand how it feels to be cheated on (well kind of cheated on but that didn’t made this icky feeling go away) and I know how important it is to have friends surrounding you. So how do you manage not to wallow in self-pity when you just fled from your friends and family and are living in a hotel in a foreign city? Right, you befriend or in Angela’s case get forced into a friendship with a member of hotel staff.

I love Lindsey’s style of writing and flew through this book in less than a day and went out to buy the second and third book in the series as soon as I finished the first. I haven’t started the second book yet because I love to savor books in series but I will read them pretty soon.

The story is hilarious and I had to laugh out loud more than once which entitled me as the weirdo in public transport but whatever!

If you are looking for a quick, entertaining read than you should definitely check out Lindsey Kelk’s I heart New York.

The books in the I heart ... series are:

• I heart New York
• I heart Hollywood
• I heart Paris
• I heart Vegas
• I heart London

For more information about Lindsey visit her Homepage and her Twitter page.

...in books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish.

This week the girls at The Broke and Bookish want to know my:

Top Ten Books I'd Want on a Desert Island

  

I did this particular TTT post during a freebie week in May 2012. I will do this again this week and we can all compare if my Desert Island books have changed in the last six months. You can read the TTT I did in May here. 

Here are my current Top Ten Books I'd Want on a Desert Island:

Cassandra Clare's City of Bones
 

Sophie Kinsella's Twenties Girl
 

Sophie Kinsella's The Undomestic Goddess
 

Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters

Donna Leon's Acqua Alta
 

Jill Shalvis' Christmas in Lucky Harbour 

(which is cheating because it is a two books in on edition)
 

Gail Carriger's Soulless
 

Cornelia Funke's Inkheart
 

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 

(in my opinion the best of the series)
 

Gervase Phinn's The Other Side of the Dale

Don't forget to enter my Blogoversary Giveaway!
Only 11 days to go!

...in pictures

Last week we had a beautiful sunset and I reacted quick enough to take some pictures. 

...in pictures

 Next week's topic will be:

Old / Alt

Please link you post to mine in time.
Submission period is between the 9th and the 17th of November.
(11:59 pm CET)

...in books

Review

Once Upon Stilettos

by Shanna Swendson

The author:

photo by Julian Noel

Once upon a time ...

A little girl learned to amuse herself by making up stories in her head. She turned everyday activities into exciting adventures, and she made up new adventures for characters from her favorite movies, TV shows and books. Then one day she realized that if she wrote down those stories, she'd have a book! But that was crazy, she thought. Real people don't become novelists. That was like deciding you were going to be a movie star. You couldn't just go and do it. But, it turns out, you can, and she did. She realized her dream of becoming a novelist and seeing her stories in bookstores. And then she started to wig herself out by writing about herself in the third-person. This is her story.

For more information about Shanna Swendson check out her Bio on her Homepage.

source: Shanna’s Homepage

First sentences:

It all began with the red shoes.

Summary:

Click your heels three times and say, “There’s no place like Bloomies!”
Katie Chandler’s life is pure magic–literally. As an executive assistant at Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc., she’s seen more than her share of fantastical occurrences. A mere Manhattan mortal, Katie is no wizard, but she’s a wiz at exposing “hokum” pocus, cloaked lies, and deceptive enchantments. And she’s fallen under the all-too-human spell of attraction to Owen, a hunky wizard and co-worker. Owen, however, is preoccupied. Someone has broken into his office and disrupted top-secret files, and it reeks of an inside job. CEO Merlin (yes, the Merlin) and taps Katie and her special ability to uncover the magical mole.
Keeping her feelings in check while sleuthing alongside Owen, Katie is shocked to discover that her immunity to magic is waning, putting her in grave danger. Soon she’s surrendering to the charms and enchantments of everyone and everything around her, including a killer pair of red stilettos. Katie must now conjure up her natural instincts to get to the bottom of the break-in, regain her power, and win the wizard of her dreams.

source: Goodreads

My opinion:

Once Upon Stilettos is the second book in the Enchanted, Inc. series by Shanna Swendson.

Katie Chandler still works for Magic, Spells and Illusions, Inc., loves her job and finally managed not to freak out every time something magical happens around her. But then her parents call and want to join her and her friends for Thanksgiving and Katie begins to panic. Can she keep her abilities from her parents?

The story of the second novel is as entertaining and funny as the first book. The interactions between magical and non-magical folks are hilarious and the whole story runs smoothly. If there is a company as MSI, Inc., and I really hope there is, than I would love to work there. The story is convincing-as convincing as any paranormal book can be and still highly entertaining. The main plot line was a bit obvious to me but that may be because I read many mysteries, watch many crime series on TV and always try to solve the mysteries quicker than the main person in those books or series. So it might be that I am a bit trained to solving mysterious plotlines or it might be rather clear.

The characters are all wonderful, entertaining and life-like. The CEO of Magic, Spells and Illusions, Inc. discovers team-building seminars and the chief of personal tries to convert the abstract terms into a successful team-building activity which once turns out rather weird even for magical folks. The whole team of MSI, Inc. and all of Katie’s friends and family are a lovely and entertaining bunch and really well portrayed.

I can highly recommend this book to all fans of magical, fantasy and light paranormal books. If you look for an entertaining read, pick up this series.

Once Upon Stilettos is available at Amazon in paperback and for your Kindle too. You can also buy it at Book Depo.

The Books in the Enchanted, Inc, series are:

• Enchanted, Inc. (read my review here)
• Once Upon Stilettos
• Damsel Under Stress
• Don’t Hex With Texas
• Much Ado About Magic

For more information about Shanna Swendson visit her homepage or her blog.

...in books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish. 

This week is a freebie week which means we can make up our own TTT topic. I thought about it for quite a while now and the idea hit me this morning. I am one of those readers who automatically buys books that have specific words in the blurb or address specific topics. Those words appeal to me and instantly makes me want to read or at least buy it. 

So my Top Ten list will be:

My Top Ten words/topics that instantly make me buy a book 

1. Shakespeare - for some reasons I am obsessed with the bard. Not that I have read every play or sonnett he wrote, neither have I visited Stratford upon Avon or went to every of his plays. I just love having books dealing with Shakespeare, his life, the Elizabethan area and I don't care if the are fiction or non-fiction. So I own biographies (three, I think), retellings of his works, a paranormal novel dealing with him as a vampire hunter (I think) - I don't care what this book is about as long as it deals with Shakespeare.  
2. Italy or to be more specific Tuscany - as I am living in Europe I spent many holidays as a kid and teenager in Tuscany, a beautiful part of Italy, walking the streets of Florence, eating ice cream in Siena, sitting at the beach in Viareggio, ... Tuscany always felt like a magical place. The landscape, the people, the architecture, the language, etc. So when a book is set in Tuscany I have to have it! 
3. London - I am in love with this city! I would move there instantly if someone would garantie that I would have all the money I need to rent a good place to live because London is so terribly expensive. This city feels like home! When a book is settled there I buy it - doesn't matter what it is about. I usually read blurbs and when I only spot "London" I don't bother reading on I just buy it. This way many books found their way into my house that I love like crazy and I discovered authors I might not have found otherwise. 
4. I will buy a book when it deals with teachers, teaching, school. I always wanted to become a teacher and I am studying to become one soon. This love for books dealing with teachers and schools developed more recently (over the last 4 years) and I discovered some great books through it. 
5. Cooking - I own quite a collection of cookbooks and books about cooking but I am a sucker for books telling the story of someone who wants to cook, learns to cook, owns a restaurant, bar, coffeeshop, etc.
6. Books - do I need to say more? Books about books - amazing!
7. Bookstores - yes, I consider this topic different from the books about books-topic. I love reading about people owning bookstores, working in them, etc. I think that this is my own little dream; owing a small bookstore with a café attached. :)
8. Terry Pratchett's Discworld - I love his style of writing and I am building my Discworld novel collection one book at the time. This series contain books dealing with the witches, the Night Watch in Ankh-Morpork, the wizards at Unseen University, DEATH (capital letters are a must here). I like them all but my favorites are those books dealing with the witches because nobody is as entertaining as Nanny Ogg singing the Hedgehog song and Granny Weatherwax complaining about it. 
9. Road trips - reading about road trips is almost as good as being on them yourself. I love learing about new places through books and reading about places you know and visited through a character's eye is something really special. 
10. Characters with special "powers" - paranormal books are so "in" right now and I love reading them but I gravitate towards books dealing with witches. I don't know why but the concept of witchcraft and magic is something that really fascinates me. 

So those were my top ten things I love to read about in a book. 

I would love to know yours, so leave them in the comments. 

!Don't forget to enter my Blogoversary Giveaway! 

Only 19 days left to enter