2018 Book wrap up!!

So, for those of you who follow me on Instagram, you will have seen my #elfontheshelf posts that I have been doing as my 2018 book wrap up of the best books published (in my opinion) this year!! If you missed them, or you just want to see them again - here they are, with links so you can get your hands on them too!!

Forever Outnumbered by Simon Hooper - an autobiography from @father_of_daughters

Picture Perfect Cowboy by Tiffany Reisz, an Original Sinners spn off!

VOX by Christina Dalcher, a phenomenal and thought-provoking futuristic dystopian novel

The Mermaid by Christina Henry - the fourth of her fairy tale reimaginings

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton - one of the best books I've read this year!!

Dark Pines by Will Dean, his debut novel

When the Curtain Falls by Carrie Hope Fletcher - a beautiful entwined story, one past, one present meeting to create a stunning novel

Fierce Fairytales by Nikita Gill, a beautiful collection of poems and short stories based on the fairytales and given a feministic twist

Once Upon a Wild Wood by Chris Riddell, a gorgeous book destined for every child (and adult's) book shelf!

Clean by Juno Dawson, a deep and thought-provoking story of a teen addict and her road to recovery!

Taste the Dark by Nicola Rose, the first Elwood Legacy book and one of my favourite indie authors!!

Tilly & the Bookwanderers, the first Pages & Co novel by Anna James - another of my absolute favourties of the year and one of my new all-time favourites!!

Craft - How to be a Modern Witch by Gabriela Herstik, a manual for the witches of today

Mad Love by Paul Dini, Harley Quinn's story in fiction format!!

Little Red Reading Hood by Lucy Rowland, an updated version of Little Red Riding Hood with a bookish twist - what's not to like?

Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu, the beginning of the DC Icons series

Judgement Road by Christine Feehan, the first in a new series. The bikers of Torpedo Ink!!

Dinosaur Juniors; Happy Hatchday by Rob Biddulph, a lovely story of the day the dinosaurs hatched!

To Make Monsters out of Girls by Amanda Lovelace, the newest of her poetry collections and well worth a read!

The Magical Unicorn Society Official Handbook, a beautiful book for all unicorn lovers!

That's it folks! Check out some of these great books and get your hands on some of them - it's worth it!!

Merry Christmas - let's see what 2019 brings for us book lovers!!

The many writing positions of an author...

Over my few years of writing, I have had many people question some of the places I choose to write... some ask how I concentrate, others want to know how I can be comfy or why I'd choose to do it somewhere so public... my answer has always been the same: Even if I don't get a lot done, it's more than if I'd left the laptop at home!!

During November, while I was taking part in NaNoWriMo, I thought I'd document the places I wrote, bearing in mind that I was squeezing words into some days when I'd been at work all day long and then had other commitments. This was probably the best time to show off some of the places I take the laptop to keep on top of my word count...

So, here goes nothing!

My laptop lives on the dining room table, so that is usually my first port of call. I get a drink, find some food and get comfy on my chair to get typing. There's plenty of light in the day from the conservatory and at night, the lighting is good inside - the only downfall, it's not exactly the warmest room in the house, as my jumpers in the photos give away...

The second most common place to find me is snuggled up in my mermaid tail blanket on the sofa. My corner sofa is perfect for curling up in and writing away the hours... Again, the light is great throughout the day and it has the added bonus of being the warmest room in the house!

Plus, I have company in there these days too!! Loki likes having me in the living room because it means he can free-roam, and he always comes to see what I'm up to!!

Somewhere that most people struggle to understand why, or how, I write, is the pub... The local pub runs a music night twice a week, once on a weekday evening, and once on a Sunday afternoon. I have often been at work all day on both of these days, meaning that I haven't had the time to write. For me, listening to the bands play is only the same as having the TV on at home, so I take the laptop with me and get set up in a corner. 

This has to be my most commented on, and the one that I always attract questions from. Honestly, though, I don't find it distracting, plus it gets me out of the house and I get to spend my evening with Simon. It's a win:win situation!!

This year, I took my laptop to work with me a couple of times. I found that I had more than enough time over the two breaks a day to get in the 2,000 words I planned. There were no distractions there - though I did still get called on to fix a few problems... The biggest issue here was that I had to stop when time ran out, and I prefer to stop when it feels right in the story. I only did it a handful of times before deciding that there were better options.

With my slight change in job role recently, I found myself working away during November, and working very long shifts while I was there, which threw a spanner in the works as far as keeping on track with my word counts. The answer - take it away with me of course!

The events I ran were author interview style talks, meaning that once everyone was in and seated, there was an hour where I was sitting on the bookstall with no customers... So, I took my laptop with me and got plenty written in the hour gaps while the talks were taking place. A perfect remedy! (I didn't get a photo of this - I just forgot) I also had a little time on the Friday evening before bed, where I got comfy and did some writing in bed before catching some Zzz's ready for the next day. I actually got in front of myself a little over these couple of days!!





Another place that is catching on for me is the coffee shop that Simon likes to use at the weekends - BarberBarista is the local Barbers and coffee shop that opened up recently in the bottom of the village. Simon is one of their most regular customers, and we often find ourselves in there when we're free at the weekends. I took my laptop with me and Simon took some work and we had breakfast one morning before a late start at work for me!

I even got cake!

The only other place I found myself this month was on the bed. When I lived at home this was probably my most common writing place, but when I have a whole house, I don't often find myself up there in the daytime. This day, I decided I wanted the space to lie down. I don't last long before I get uncomfortable though and have to go in search of a different place!

So, that's most of them - what do you think?! Weird, or normal?! 

November Wrap Up

Another month - this one a little slower for new books due to my participation in NaNoWriMo - I spent a lot of my time writing this month, so reading had to take a back seat, but I did throw in some old favourites that I could read easily.


I picked up Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell at the end of October, which spilled over into November. This was another one that I'd had on the shelf for a while but not gotten around to due to it being non-fiction. I was intrigued to see how many times I'd think 'Yep, been there...' whilst reading it.

~~~

Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea. A book-lover's paradise? Well, almost ...

In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff, who include the ski-suit-wearing, bin-foraging Nicky.

He takes us with him on buying trips to old estates and auction houses, recommends books (both lost classics and new discoveries), introduces us to the thrill of the unexpected find, and evokes the rhythms and charms of small-town life, always with a sharp and sympathetic eye.

~~~

I didn't actually finish this book - I was severely disappointed with it. Of all the things I see on a daily basis at work as a bookseller, this book had none of that. It was just one guy's reasonably dull life story and his bookshop.

Check out my review here.


After forgetting to read it on Halloween, I obviously had to sneak in Mischief by Tiffany Reisz. I've read this before, and love the entire Sinners series.

~~~

When Nora's young lover Nico admits he's always wanted to celebrate a real American Halloween, she summons him to Halloween Town, USA—a.k.a. Salem, Massachusetts—for two nights of nothing but candy, sex, and mischief.

If necessary, they can skip the candy.

Featuring characters from Tiffany Reisz's award-winning Original Sinners series, this standalone erotic novella is the perfect Halloween treat.

~~~

One I've read before, so the review is an old one, but the sentiment stays the same. Check out that review here.

While I was still trying to plow my way through Diary of a Bookseller, I picked up an old favourite that I could just read without having to pay too much attention. Not Until You by Roni Loren, one of the Loving on the Edge novels.

~~~

On the night of her graduation, innocent veterinary student Cela decides to play a game of ‘Never Have I Ever’ with the two hot neighbours she’s been harbouring a secret crush on. Cela thinks she’s earned a wild night before she has to move back home under the watchful gaze of her family. But what starts out as a simple game is about to take a very sensual turn.

Ian Foster is tired of playing games. With his membership to The Ranch, an exclusive BDSM resort, Foster has a life most guys would kill for. But lately, his need for dominance is no longer satisfied via one-night stands. He craves the full surrender of a woman – a submissive of his own.

But when his quiet, sweet-as-sugar neighbour shows up at their door with a bottle of tequila and an invitation, Foster decides he and Pike may have time for one more fling…

~~~

Another reread for me - I love the entire Loving on the Edge series and often find myself picking these up when I just want something easy to read. Check out the review for Not Until You, here.

When Tiffany Reisz's new novel, Picture Perfect Cowboy landed on my doorstep, it would have been rude not re-read it straight away, despite the fact that I'd read it as an Advance Reader Copy only a couple of months ago... Right?

~~~

Jason "Still" Waters' life looks perfect from the outside—money, fame, and the words "World Champion Bull- Rider" after his name. But Jason has a secret, one he never planned on telling anybody...until he meets Simone. She's the kinky girl of his dreams...and his conservative family's worst nightmare.

~~~

Another dip into Tiffany Reisz's Sinners world and another amazing book. She never disappoints - check out the review from back in the summer here.

I decided that I should at least attempt one new book this month, and after giving up on Diary of a Bookseller, I picked up Waterstones' Book of the Month, The Librarian by Salley Vickers.

~~~

Sylvia Blackwell, a young woman in her twenties, moves to East Mole, a quaint market town in middle England, to start a new job as a children's librarian. But the apparently pleasant town is not all it seems.

Sylvia falls in love with an older man, but it is her connection to his precocious young daughter and her neighbours' son which will change her life, putting them, her job and the library itself under threat.

How does the library alter the young children's lives and how do the children fare as a result of the books Sylvia introduces them to?

~~~

This one wasn't really my thing, so it took me a while - in which time I kept reading some others, and kept this one for traveling to and from work...


I picked up another Loving on the Edge novel one evening while I was home alone, and read it over just a couple of days. Call on Me by Roni Loren is another of my favourites in the series.

~~~

Oakley Easton wants two things: to be a good mom to her daughter and to ditch her less than ideal night job. Hooking up with bad boy drummer Pike Ryland? Not on the agenda. She needs a promotion. Not sex, tattoos and rock ’n’ roll.

Pike isn’t about to let Ms. Prim and Proper shut him down so easily, especially when he stumbles upon Oakley’s sexy night job. She’s only playing a role on those late night calls with strangers, but when he gets her on the line, all bets are off. He won’t stop until that sultry voice is calling his name for real.

But as they move from anonymous fantasies in the dark to the flesh-on-hot-flesh reality of the bedroom, the risk of falling in love becomes all too high. And the safe, quiet world that Oakley’s worked so hard to create is about to be exposed to the one person who could ruin it all.

~~~

A quick read over just a few days, and some fluffy company while Simon was away with work. Check out my review here.

Still plodding through The Librarian - a good book, just not really my thing...


Up next was another new one for me - I have a few of these left in the series still sitting on the bookshelf unread so I decided it was time to keep going... Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh, a Psy-Changeling Novel.

~~~

When a brilliant changeling researcher is kidnapped, DarkRiver sentinel Mercy, a cat, and SnowDancer lieutenant Riley, a wolf, must work together to track the young man-before his shadowy captors decide he's no longer useful. Along the way, the two dominants may find that submitting to one another uncovers not just a deadly conspiracy, but a passion so raw that it'll leave them both branded by fire.

~~~

She never fails to impress - this book opened with a bang and had me hanging on to the edge of my seat in places. Check out my review here.

Nearly finished The Librarian

Something else I've been reading this month is Kelley Armstrong's Wolf's Bane, the new novella linked to her Women of the Otherworld Series. A trip into the future as the children of the world become teenagers and start living their own adventures at a summer camp for supernaturals - what could possibly go wrong?!

It was released on the Radish app, episode by episode - not my favourite way to read a book, I won't lie - but I wasn't going to wait till the paperback haha... Will just have to reread then!



Picked up another Psy-Changling novel here but didn't finish before the end of the month, so will run that over into the December wrap up.

I finished The Librarian... I have to say that literary fiction is just not my thing. I found this book hard going, but did persist and am glad that I did. The book held a beautiful message about just how much books can impact a child's life. Something which I think needs to be more widely considered when bringing up children!!

Check out my review here, though it doesn't say much as I don't like leaving bad reviews...

And the next wrap up will come shortly before the end of the year! I have already started my year's wrap up where I am showcasing some of the brilliant books that have been released this year... check out my Instagram feed daily for my posts, and I will collate them into a blog post at the end of the year/beginning of the new year...

Till then, V x

NaNoWriMo Winner!!

Today was the last day of NaNoWriMo and I had just under 300 words left to write. I got a little carried away and wrote over 2000... My official end count was 50,072 words, not a bad turn out!! That makes me a...

I had a bigger goal in mind when I set out at the start of November, however, I also normally try and to make sure that writing is my main priority! That didn't happen for me this year as I had my change in job happening, and I was working a hell of a lot of overtime due to staffing changes and events... So, I am incredibly proud to have reached the official 50k end count and got my certificate.

The book I was writing, The Original Sin, will be book five in the Hidden World Novels and if all goes to plan, which it rarely does, just to point that out, I will have it with you by early Spring!!

For now though, I have some reading and editing to do, and then the first draft to finish! See you on the other side...

Oh..... We're half way there....

As the end of the day draws near, that's halfway through the month - halfway through the 30 days of writing... 15 days in and I am hovering at just above an average word count to achieve the 50,000 words that NaNoWriMo sets us as a goal. Disappointingly, I am nowhere near my personal goal of 75,000 words, unless something serious happens between now and the end of the month. I am happy that my document has reached 50,000 words though, even if I haven't written them all this month. My actual word count for this year's NaNoWriMo is 25,598 words... That's 598 more than I needed to hit the halfway mark today!!

I'll take that for now...

The story is going well, there have been a couple of new developments, and a strand of the planned story that hasn't seemed to develop yet, but it's going steadily, and it is a lot better than the last attempt I made at it!!

Keep your eyes peeled on Instagram as I have been posting some of my writing pictures. Today's post featured Loki bunny being very cute and distracting me from my writing while he was playing with his stacking cups...

Well, back to it I suppose - I'll let you know how I get on at the end of the month - and I might look into blogging my various writing positions... I seem to have many of them!

Wish me luck!

October Wrap Up

Another month gone by filled with books! What other way is there to spend the days than by reading them away?!


I started out this month with the Waterstones Thriller of the Month, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton.

~~~

Somebody's going to be murdered at the ball tonight. It won't appear to be a murder and so the murderer won't be caught. Rectify that injustice and I'll show you the way out.'

It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks explode overhead, Evelyn Hardcastle, the young and beautiful daughter of the house, is killed. But Evelyn will not die just once.

Until Aiden - one of the guests summoned to Blackheath for the party - can solve her murder, the day will repeat itself, over and over again. Every time ending with the fateful pistol shot.

The only way to break this cycle is to identify the killer. But each time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is determined to prevent him ever escaping Blackheath...

~~~

An intriguing read and one that I wish I could see the planning for - don't get me wrong, I spent half the book as confused as they come - but I could not put it down!!! I have honestly never read anything like this before and it should be on everyone's to-read pile!

Check out my review here.


Next up I started Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig, a book I've had since meeting him at the Doncaster event of the launch of the book back at the start of July. I'm not a huge non-fiction fan so I have been putting off reading it, but have many people who have read it say that I was missing out. So I finally decided to give it a shot with my newly acquired reading on the tram time.

~~~

The world is messing with our minds. Rates of stress and anxiety are rising.

A fast, nervous planet is creating fast and nervous lives. We are more connected, yet feel more alone. And we are encouraged to worry about everything from world politics to our body mass index.

How can we stay sane on a planet that makes us mad? How do we stay human in a technological world? How do we feel happy when we are encouraged to be anxious?

After experiencing years of anxiety and panic attacks, these questions became urgent matters of life and death for Matt Haig. And he began to look for the link between what he felt and the world around him.

Notes on a Nervous Planet is a personal and vital look at how to feel happy, human and whole in the 21st century.

~~~

Because I was struggling with the non-fiction angle, I was looking at my shelves for something light and quick to keep me going and picked up Cherish Hard by Nalini Singh.

~~~

Sailor Bishop has only one goal for his future – to create a successful landscaping business. No distractions allowed. Then he comes face-to-face and lips-to-lips with a woman who blushes like an innocent… and kisses like pure sin.

Ísa Rain craves a man who will cherish her, aches to create a loving family of her own. Trading steamy kisses with a hot gardener in a parking lot? Not the way to true love. Then a deal with the devil (aka her CEO-mother) makes Ísa a corporate VP for the summer. Her main task? Working closely with a certain hot gardener.

And Sailor Bishop has wickedness on his mind.

As Ísa starts to fall for a man who makes her want to throttle and pounce on him at the same time, she knows she has to choose – play it safe and steady, or risk all her dreams and hope Sailor doesn’t destroy her heart.

~~~

I picked this up after work on the Tuesday night and read it until it was time for tea. After food and catching up with American Horror Story with Simon, I picked it back up while he finished off some work stuff. I had to tear myself away from it at bedtime and picked it straight back up again the next morning, staying in bed until it was finished. Three sittings. Approximately eight hours work!! 

It was amazing!! Check out my review here, then go buy yourself a copy and get reading - I have the second one already!!


I was still reading Notes on a Nervous Planet...

I had to follow Cherish Hard with the second book, Rebel Hard by Nalini Singh. After the quick read of the first book, I had high expectations of this one...

~~~

Nayna Sharma agreed to an arranged marriage in the hope it would heal the fractures in her beloved family… only to realize too late that a traditional marriage is her personal nightmare. Panicked, she throws caution to the winds, puts on the tiniest dress she can find, and ends up in the arms of a tall, rough-edged hunk of a man who has abs of steel—and who she manages to mortally insult between one kiss and the next.

Abandoned as a child, then adopted into a loving family, Raj Sen believes in tradition, in continuity. Some might call him stiff and old-fashioned, but he knows what he wants—and it’s a life defined by rules… yet he can’t stop thinking about the infuriating and sexy woman who kissed him in the moonlight then disappeared. When his parents spring an introduction on him, the last woman he expects is her. Beautiful. Maddening. A rule breaker in the making.

He’s all wrong for her. She’s all wrong for him. And love is about to make rebels of them both

~~~

It did not disappoint! Check out my review here.

Still working my way through Notes on a Nervous Planet...

Having bought a bunny this month, I obviously went out and bought a book to help me understand him and learn how to look after him and train him up. 

Training your Pet Rabbit by Patricia Bartlett was the one that came up tops for me when looking for one that would teach me how to train him as a free-roaming indoor bunny.

~~~

Books in Barron s Training Your Pet series give inexperienced pet owners detailed advice on how to care for and train different kinds of caged pets Rabbits selecting good candidates for training Bonding with a rabbit Rabbits natural behaviour traits, and how to modify them Training a rabbit to come on command, sit, walk on a leash, and more How to design caging that incorporates fun activities for the rabbit Selecting healthy treats as rewards for good behaviour Setting up a training area . . . and more.

~~~

A good read, very informative and some good lessons to help with training! Check out my review here.


Still slogging through Notes on a Nervous Planet...


Cuddled up on the sofa on Sunday evening, I picked up The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle.

~~~

The Last Unicorn is a tale for any age about the wonders of magic, the power of
love, and the tragedy of loss. A unicorn, alone in her enchanted wood, discovers that she may be the last of her kind. Reluctant at first, she sets out on a journey to find her fellow unicorns, even if it means facing the terrifying anger of the Red Bull and malignant evil of the king who wields the Bull's power.

~~~

I have always loved this story. As a child, it was one of my favourite films, and it was only recently that I learned that it was a book. Of course I was going to buy it and read it...

Check out my review here, which to be fair doesn't say much other than how it is one of my new favourites!! 

I finally finished Notes on a Nervous Planet... Not going to lie, very disappointed, not a fan I'm afraid - in my opinion, it was hard work and a rather depressing read... Check out my review here.

After a post on Instagram by Tiffany Reisz advertising her Halloween reads, I realised that I still hadn't read The Headmaster, one of her earlier works that just seemed to have escaped me when I binge read near enough everything she had out at the time. Her books are my favourites and I own all of them possible in print, and got to meet her this summer! Awesome...

~~~

A fever dream of desires fulfilled…

Nestled in the shadow of the Appalachians is where Gwen Ashby stumbles upon the William Marshall Academy, and she's given a trial position as a literature teacher. The gothic boarding school seems trapped in time yet it feels like home the moment Gwen arrives.

She's charmed by the lovely buildings, bewitched by the eager students…and utterly seduced by the headmaster. Edwin Yorke is noble, handsome and infuriatingly proper. But his tweedy exterior and courtly manners conceal a raw sensual power that Gwen longs to unleash.

It's strangely thrilling to be the only woman on campus—save one other. An eerie white-clad figure roams the grounds by night. She never speaks. She leaves no trace. But this ghostly blight on Gwen's new dream life is the key to the Marshall Academy's mysterious allure.

~~~

I downloaded this on Saturday night while waiting for Simon to set up for the gig he was playing. I read some of it then and finished it off on Sunday whilst helping my sister out. Amazing book - I sort of had the ending pegged, but not quite, but it didn't alter just how much I enjoyed each twist and turn!!

Check out my review here.


I have another one already on the go but will save that one for November's wrap up as I am only a few pages in at the minute. This month could be a little slower as it is NaNoWriMo and my main concentration this month is writing me new Hidden World Novel... books will of course be read, but maybe not at the normal pace!!

Till next time readers!!