Top Ten Tuesday | Unfinished Finished Series

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Ten Finished Series I Have YET To Finish', and I found this topic really, really difficult. I'm amazed I managed to make it to eight, because for a while I honestly thought I might have to settle for three.

I love a good series, don't get me wrong, but I was wary of them for the past few years. I was tired of the same structure to every trilogy I picked up, which is one of the main reasons I read so few YA series nowadays. I've read quite a few first books in series, but I didn't want to include series on my list that I knew I wasn't going to continue. I hated Legend and I wasn't all that impressed with Angelfall, so there was no way those two were going to make their way onto my list.

In terms of series, I have a lot more finished series that I haven't started yet, never mind finished, so I wasn't going to include them either. And then there are the series I love that are ongoing, such as the White Trash Zombie series and The Lunar Chronicles, as well as a lot of graphic novel series that I love.

So in the end I managed to scrape together eight, and here they are!

The Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy: I didn't start this series until I was in uni, and I thought it was fantastic. I speed through these books and they're so much fun; I love Derek Landy's sense of humour. Then uni got in the way, and for whatever reason I just didn't return to the series - I want to, though! I read the first six, I believe, but rather than start at book seven I think I may actually re-read those first six and read the series in its entirety from start to finish.

The Dust Lands trilogy by Moira Young: One of the few starts to a YA trilogy that I loved was Blood Red Road, and even though I own Rebel Heart and Raging Star I still haven't read them. Boo me!

The Joanna Stafford trilogy by Nancy Bilyeau: This historical crime trilogy came to an end this year, and I read the first book, The Crown, in February. I enjoyed it (and reviewed it here!) and I got my hands on a copy of the second book, The Chalice, I just haven't read it yet. I'm not sure when I'll complete the trilogy as I'm hoping for the release of an edition of the third book, The Tapestry, that will match the two I already own.

The His Fair Assassin trilogy by Robin LaFevers: I have NO IDEA why I still haven't finished this trilogy, it's kind of ridiculous. Maybe this is something I should get to this month, because I loved Grave Mercy and Dark Triumph.

The If I Stay duology by Gayle Forman: Maybe Where She Went is more of a companion novel than a sequel, but give me a break, I'm clutching at straws here. I really enjoyed If I Stay, it's probably one of my favourite contemporaries, so I'd like to read Where She Went soon.

The Healer trilogy by Maria V. Snyder: I didn't love Touch of Power, but I liked it enough to want to know what happens next.

The Khalifa Brothers duology by Salman Rushdie: I had to read Haroun and the Sea of Stories when I studied postmodernism during my first year of university, and I loved it. Now I just need to get my hands on a copy of Luka and the Fire of Life.

The Fruits Basket series by Natsuki Takaya: Love the manga and love the anime, I just haven't gotten around to finishing the manga yet!

Which books made your list?

Top Ten Tuesday | Lights, Camera, ACTION!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Top Ten Books I'd Love To See As Movies/TV Shows'. I love adaptations; there's always the fear that an adaptation is going to be terrible, especially if it's an adaptation of a book you love, but from a critical point of view I find all adaptations fascinating. I love to know why certain decisions were made: why the costumes look the way they do, why that setting was chosen, why that actor was cast, how the director first came to know the book if they knew it before at all.

I love films and there are a few TV shows I adore, so while I'm certainly no expert I tried to assign a director to each of these make-believe adaptations because I thought it'd be fun to give an idea of the kind of adaptation that I'd love to see!

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson: I read this not too long ago, and Jackson has quickly become one of my favourite authors - she's certainly my favourite horror writer! Heavily inspired by the above cover, I'd love to see Henry Selick create a monochrome stop motion adaptation of this. We so often associate stop motion with children's films, and I think that combined with how grotesque you can make stop motion figures would make for a really atmospheric southern gothic film. Henry Selick's no stranger to adaptations, he's the director of Coraline and also the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and, most recently, The Box Trolls.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie: I had to read this during my first year of uni, and though I wasn't expecting to like it I ended up loving it. It's such a fun, vibrant story - well worth a read if you're a fan of retellings - and I think this would work wonderfully as a Studio Ghibli film. Studio Ghibli are also familiar with adaptations; they're the company responsible for the brilliant adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle!

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris: Okay, so obviously The Silence of the Lambs already has an amazing film adaptation starring the fantastic Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster - if you haven't already, watch it, it's so good - but I'm also a huge fan of the show Hannibal, created by the marvellous Bryan Fuller who's also adapting Neil Gaiman's American Gods for TV. I'm really hoping the show gets the rights to Clarice so they can eventually tackle the Silence of the Lambs story in the show.

American Vampire by Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque: I can't be the only one who thinks this would make a really fun TV series, right? I've really gotten into this series this year, and if it were to be adapted I'd love to see someone like Guillermo del Toro at the helm. I feel as though del Toro would be a wonderful fit because he could handle the darker, spookier elements, he's the director of Pan's Labyrinth and the executive producer of Mama after all, and he'd be able to co-ordinate all the action sequences, too, as he's the director of the Hellboy films and Pacific Rim. He's no stranger to TV, either - in fact he's one of the co-creators of The Strain, which just so happens to deal with vampirism.

My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland: Personally I think this would make such a fun Tim Burton movie. Just so long as Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter weren't playing the leads. Don't get me wrong, I love them, but it's time to give some other actors a bit of work! Burton has this habit of mixing bright, vibrant colours with really macabre situations (e.g. in Corpse Bride the land of the living is black and white, whereas the afterlife is bright and colourful) and I think that would work really well with this story.

Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant: I mean... this story's just meant to be adapted into a found footage horror movie, right? It'd be so much fun to watch, not to mention creepy as hell if given to the right creative team.

Rat Queens by Kurtis J. Wiebe, Roc Upchurch and Stjepan Sejic: I've heard rumours that this series is going to be adapted into an animated series, and I really, really hope those rumours are true.

The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau: There have been an awful lot of historical fiction adaptations on the BBC recently - The White Queen; Wolf Hall; Poldark; The Strange Case of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - but I'd love to see some more ladies in these adaptations, and given that so much of The Crown takes place in a nunnery I think it'd be a really fun crime drama to watch.

Feed by Mira Grant: Yet another Mira Grant book. You all know how much I love this one, and though I'd be worried that an adaptation wouldn't do it justice I do think this book would make an amazing TV show. Every episode could open with one of Georgia and co.'s blog posts, or at least that's how I imagine it.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman: I thought the adaptation of If I Stay was really good, so I'd love to see an adaptation of the sequel, too.

Which books made your list?

Review | The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau

The Crown

by Nancy Bilyeau

My Rating: 

Joanna Stafford, a Dominican nun, learns that her favourite cousin has been condemned by Henry VIII to be burned at the stake. Defying the rule of enclosure, Joanna leaves the priory to stand at her cousin’s side. Arrested for interfering with the king’s justice, Joanna, along with her father, is sent to the Tower of London.

While Joanna is in the Tower, the ruthless Bishop of Winchester forces her to spy for him: to save her father’s life she must find an ancient relic—a crown so powerful, it may possess the ability to end the Reformation.

With Cromwell’s troops threatening to shutter her priory, bright and bold Joanna must decide who she can trust so that she may save herself, her family, and her sacred way of life. This provocative story set in Tudor England melds heart-stopping suspense with historical detail and brings to life the poignant dramas of women and men at a fascinating and critical moment in England’s past.

When it comes to crime fiction, historical crime is the sub-genre I enjoy most. Shocking, I know.

I'm a big fan of C. J. Sansom's Matthew Shardlake series; as much as I do think there are way too many historical fiction books set at/around the Tudor Court (or at least too many that hog the spotlight, leaving no room for other periods of history) it's a brilliantly juicy setting for historical crime. But as much as I enjoy Sansom's books there's still something lacking in them: women. Or rather, women who stick around for more than one book who actively assist Matthew and Jack on their quests and aren't just there for one of them to fall in love with.

Enter The Crown. Female-led historical crime set during the reign of Henry VIII? Yes please!

As much as I can understand why, historical crime with female leads isn't something I come across often. They certainly do exist - Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin; Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters; The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley - but it's still very much a sub-genre predominated by male protagonists, so I'm sure you can imagine just how excited I was to start reading The Crown.

Joanna Stafford, the product of a Spanish mother and an English father, is our heroine, and what makes her all the more exciting is that she's a Novice at Dartford Priory. A nun in training! Give me a story with a crime-solving nun and I'm sold.

So often in fiction set in this period of history we are met with Protestant protagonists. This is no bad thing, but just as there have always been bad Catholics there have always been bad Protestants, too. One of the things I loved most about this novel was Bilyeau's honesty concerning the Catholic themes; there were several beliefs of Joanna's, or certain opinions she had because of her beliefs, that I disagreed with, but she was no less of an engaging character, she wasn't cruel, and her beliefs only made the story all the more authentic to me.

I also loved the atmosphere of the novel. I was christened Catholic when I was a teeny tiny baby, and my Mum and I often went to church when I was little. While I haven't been to church in years now, and my own beliefs lead more towards the agnostic than anything else, I've always found churches places of great comfort. I love the smell of them, and I always feel safe and at peace when I'm in them. Joanna's love for her priory and the way Bilyeau described it reawakened those feelings of contentment in me.

There were two reasons I gave this novel four stars rather than five. Firstly, it took a while for the story to get going. The novel opens with Joanna travelling to her cousin's execution and subsequently getting imprisoned in the Tower of London, and yet the time Joanna spent in the Tower was the dullest part of the novel for me. It was only when she returned to Dartford that the story really began to take off.

Secondly, I guessed the culprit about two thirds of the way through. I don't think that was entirely Bilyeau's fault - for those first two thirds I had no idea how the novel was going to end - but I like the outcomes of the crime fiction I read to surprise me, and this didn't knock me off my feet completely.

Even so, it was a great start to a historical crime series, and I look forward to reading The Chalice!

Reading Wrap-Up | January 2015

I'm very pleased to announce that January was a brilliant reading month for me, meaning I got the new year off to a fantastic start! I read ten books this month, and enjoyed all of them.

Burial Rites

by Hannah Kent

My Rating:

Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution. 

Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard. 

A stunning debut novel and a stunning piece of historical fiction. If you'd like to see more of my thoughts on it, you can find my review here!

White Ravens

by Owen Sheers

My Rating: 

Based on the fable of Branwen, Daughter of Llyr, this interpretation revives one of the most action-packed stories in the whole myth cycle. Moving this bloodthirsty tale of Welsh and Irish power struggles and family tensions into the 21st century, this retelling retains many of the bizarre and magical happenings of the original. After being wounded in Italy, Matthew O’Connell is seeing out WWII in an obscure government department, spreading rumors and myths to the enemy. When he is assigned the bizarre task of escorting a box containing six raven chicks from a remote hill farm to the Tower of London, he soon finds himself ensnared in an adventure that leaves him powerless.

My first retelling of the year was White Ravens, a retelling of one of the tales from The Mabinogion. I enjoyed it, and I look forward to reading more of these retellings!

Saga, Volume 1

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

My Rating: 

When two soldiers from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war fall in love, they risk everything to bring a fragile new life into a dangerous old universe. 

This month I finally started Saga, which I've been meaning to read for a long time now. I loved it. I love the originality of the character designs; I love Prince Robot IV, and despite being terrified of spiders I really love The Stalk, too. The chemistry between Alana and Marko is perfection and I just love this series so much. I love it!

Saga, Volume 2

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

My Rating: 

Thanks to her star-crossed parents Marko and Alana, newborn baby Hazel has already survived lethal assassins, rampaging armies, and horrific monsters, but in the cold vastness of outer space, the little girl encounters her strangest adventure yet... grandparents.

Did I mention I love this series?

Saga, Volume 3

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

My Rating: 

Searching for their literary hero, new parents Marko and Alana travel to a cosmic lighthouse on the planet Quietus, while the couple's multiple pursuers finally close in on their targets.

Like, really love it.

A Room of One's Own

by Virginia Woolf

My Rating: 

A Room of One's Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf. First published on 24 October 1929, the essay was based on a series of lectures she delivered at Newnham College and Girton College, two women's colleges at Cambridge University in October 1928. While this extended essay in fact employs a fictional narrator and narrative to explore women both as writers of and characters in fiction, the manuscript for the delivery of the series of lectures, titled "Women and Fiction", and hence the essay, are considered non-fiction. The essay is generally seen as a feminist text, and is noted in its argument for both a literal and figural space for women writers within a literary tradition dominated by patriarchy.

I've been meaning to read this for the longest time, so I finally got myself a copy and read it during my bus rides to and from work. I loved it; there are entire extracts from this I'd love to print out and stick on my wall.

Saga, Volume 4

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

My Rating: 

Visit new planets, meet new adversaries and explore a very new direction, as Hazel becomes a toddler while her family struggles to stay on their feet.

When do I get Volume 5?!

The Meat Tree

by Gwyneth Lewis

My Rating: 

A dangerous tale of desire, DNA, incest and flowers plays out within the wreckage of an ancient spaceship in The Meat Tree: an absorbing retelling of one of the best-known Welsh myths by prize-winning writer and poet, Gwyneth Lewis.

An elderly investigator and his female apprentice hope to extract the fate of the ship's crew from its antiquated virtual reality game system, but their empirical approach falters as the story tangles with their own imagination.

By imposing a distance of another 200 years and millions of light years between the reader and the medieval myth, Gwyneth Lewis brings the magical tale of Blodeuwedd, a woman made of flowers, closer than ever before: maybe uncomfortably so.

After all, what man has any idea how sap burns in the veins of a woman?

Next I read another Maginogion retelling. I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed White Ravens - it's very weird - but it was still an entertaining and original read.

The Crown

by Nancy Bilyeau

My Rating: 

Joanna Stafford, a Dominican nun, learns that her favourite cousin has been condemned by Henry VIII to be burned at the stake. Defying the rule of enclosure, Joanna leaves the priory to stand at her cousin’s side. Arrested for interfering with the king’s justice, Joanna, along with her father, is sent to the Tower of London.

While Joanna is in the Tower, the ruthless Bishop of Winchester forces her to spy for him: to save her father’s life she must find an ancient relic—a crown so powerful, it may possess the ability to end the Reformation.

With Cromwell’s troops threatening to shutter her priory, bright and bold Joanna must decide who she can trust so that she may save herself, her family, and her sacred way of life. 

I was craving some historical crime in January, and as the latest Matthew Shardlake book isn't out in paperback until March I decided to pick up the first book in Nancy Bilyeau's Joanna Stafford series. It was just what I was in the mood for, and it was great to read some female-led historical crime. Look out for my review!

Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass and Sorcery

by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch

My Rating: 

Who are the Rat Queens? 

A pack of booze-guzzling, death-dealing battle maidens-for-hire, and they're in the business of killing all god's creatures for profit. 

It's also a darkly comedic sass-and-sorcery series starring Hannah the Rockabilly Elven Mage, Violet the Hipster Dwarven Fighter, Dee the Atheist Human Cleric and Betty the Hippy Smidgen Thief. This modern spin on an old school genre is a violent monster-killing epic that is like Buffy meets Tank Girl in a Lord of the Rings world on crack! 

I really want to read more graphic novels this year, and I think reading five in January has certainly gotten me off to a good start. I really enjoyed Rat Queens; I adore Violet and Dee Dee in particular, and I'm looking forward to the animated series!

What did you read in January?

What's Up Wednesday! | 28/01/15

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk as a way for writers and readers to stay in touch!

What I'm Reading

Since last week I've read The Meat Tree by Gwyneth Lewis, which is probably the weirdest thing I've read so far this year, and The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau. The beginning of the novel is a little slow - which you wouldn't expect considering the majority of the beginning takes place in the Tower of London! - but with a little patience things soon livened up. If you're interested in reading some female-led historical crime then I recommend giving this book a try.

On Monday I finally picked up Half Bad by Sally Green which I'm reading alongside Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight!

What I'm Writing (+1 Writing Goal)

Right now I'm mainly working on short fiction. There are a few competitions and calls for submissions that are ending in a couple of weeks and I want to make sure I enter/submit as much as I can. A few of the competitions I'm aiming to enter are the Mslexia Short Story Competition, a competition for women writers, the BBC Opening Lines Competition, a chance to get your story read out on the radio, and The Winston Fletcher Fiction Prize, a competition for people who work in advertising, marketing and any related businesses.

Over the past few days I also had a little brainwave concerning a plot point in Bloodroot and Bracken that's been bothering me for a while, which is just what I need. I love it when solving a problem rekindles my passion for a project that's been around for a while. 

I haven't forgotten my latest character, Mab, either; I'm hoping to use some of the notes I have to write something for one of the competitions I'm entering.

Writing Goal: Redraft 'Dead Beautiful', finish 'Crying Wolf' and draft something from my Mab notes.

What Works For Me

Deadlines. I wish I was one of those people who did work gradually and got everything done and dusted before the deadline, and once in a blue moon it does happen, but for the most part I have the tendency to leave things to the last minute. Most of the time I don't even do it on purpose, I'll try getting something done but I can't seem to be able to get into the zone unless there's a deadline hanging over my head that's slowly but surely helping me to develop a stomach ulcer.

This proved especially true for me at the end of last week when I discovered that, if I wanted the chance to apply for funding, I needed to have sent off my PhD application no later than the 23rd. So on the 22nd and the 23rd I worked my arse off until it was done and dusted.

(In my defense a) I'd never worked on a PhD proposal before so I was a little lost, b) pretty much the entire week before I was away at a friend's and didn't have time or access to my laptop, and c) I thought I had until the end of January. It's still no excuse, but it makes me feel better.)

What Else Is New

It's been a strange sort of week. On Friday I sent off my first PhD application - eek! - then my parents and I ate Chinese food and I introduced them to The Book Thief; I haven't watched the film since it came out in the cinema so it was nice to see it again.

Then over the weekend both my best friend and my nana ended up in hospital. My best friend is now appendixless after hers had the nerve to burst, and my poor nana, who in my eyes is invincible, has been poorly for a little while. My uncle took her to hospital after her leg swelled up and it turns out she has septicemia. She was very poorly, but now she's wide awake and she's regaining some of the weight she's lost recently and keeping her food down, so fingers crossed she'll be back to her usual self very soon. 

I'm back at work this week after my week off, and you know you enjoy what you do when you're glad to get back. I'm very lucky to have a job that I enjoy. I've mentioned before that this year I'm working on the centenary of Alun Lewis, who was a Welsh English-language writer during WW2, and this week I got to proofread something very exciting: his unpublished novel. What could make that more exciting? Being able to read and hold the original manuscript. It's very cool.

So what's new with you?

What's Up Wednesday! | 21/01/15

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk as a way for writers and readers to stay in touch!

What I'm Reading

I haven't done any reading since last week, so I'm still in the middle of The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau and Valour's Choice by Tanya Huff!

What I'm Writing

I'm still working away on the story with no story; my protagonist's still very talkative, and if nothing else I might be able to turn what she's telling me into a short story!

I also really need to get my PhD application finished, because the deadline's Friday - eek!

What Works For Me

Always having a notebook with me! I never go anywhere without a notebook and a pen in my bag, and it's saved me from losing ideas many a time.

What Else Is New

On Saturday I travelled up to Doncaster to visit a friend of mine from uni, and I just got back today! I had a great few days there that included skittle cocktails, rocking out to a live band's cover of Livin' On A Prayer, walking around Clumber Park, shopping, going to see Into the Woods (great film!), having a look around Cusworth Hall (and their tearooms!) and, the main reason I went, going to see Matthew Bourne's ballet production of Edward Scissorhands.

It was stunning. Matthew Bourne is a British choreographer who's well known for his dark ballet productions; he's done a production of Sleeping Beauty that involved vampiric faeries! You wouldn't think Edward Scissorhands would be possible in ballet form, but it was absolutely gorgeous and we had amazing seats - we were only on the second row, and right at the end of the show we got snowed on when they released foam from the ceiling!

If any of you have the chance to go and see it, go and see it!

What's Up Wednesday! | 14/01/15

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk as a way for writers and readers to stay in touch!

What I'm Reading

I didn't read some of the books I'd planned on reading in the past week; I'm still in the middle of The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau and I set Kate Mosse's The Winter Ghosts aside for the time being because I just wasn't feeling it.

But since last week I've managed to read A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf and the first four volumes of Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples which, unsurprisingly, is now one of my new favourite series. Right now I'm still reading The Crown and yesterday I started Valour's Choice by Tanya Huff, which is a piece of female led military sci-fi by one of my favourite authors!

What I'm Writing (+1 Writing Goal)

I'm still writing from the POV of the character I mentioned last week. There's still no apparent story, she's just telling me about how her parents met and came to open their restaurant. I'm hoping for some sort of story to become apparent eventually because she's a character I'm really enjoying, and she now has a name: Mab Hu. A fitting name, I think, for someone with a Welsh mother and a Chinese father.

I also have some short stories I need to be working on, especially if I want to enter some of the competitions I've come across recently. One of my short stories is driving me up the wall and has been doing so for about two years; it's been finished for a while, but there have been so many drafts because I still haven't quite found the best way to tell it.

My Writing Goal: Redraft 'Sati' for the umpteenth time.

What Works For Me

Sharing my work with others. It's not for everyone, but I spent four years at university in seminars where other people critiqued my work and my writing improved so much during that time. I'm still in touch with the people from my MA course and whenever one of us writes something that we're unsure of there's always someone who's willing to take a look and give some honest, constructive advice. Sometimes just hearing someone else say 'I really want to know what happens next' is enough to get me back to my keyboard.

What Else Is New

Honestly, not a lot! On Sunday I went shopping in Cardiff; it's a great place to shop because it's the capital of Wales, but it doesn't feel like a capital city. It's very wide and flat and you can still see the horizon, so, unlike London, you don't feel boxed in.

I ended up buying myself a bunch of new tops including a Beauty and the Beast top, an Aladdin top, a Ravenclaw top and a dinosaur top, as well as some Harry Potter pyjamas and a unicorn jumper which might just be the cuddliest thing I've ever owned. You know you're all jealous of my fashion sense. 

I think I deserve an award for just buying clothes; I even went into Waterstone's and came out empty handed, which is a miracle!

But yesterday I received an ARC of Mistress Firebrand from the lovely Donna Thorland who, after seeing it mentioned on my blog as one of my most anticipated reads of 2015, kindly asked to send me a copy. I'm really looking forward to reading it!

What's new with you?

What's Up Wednesday! | 07/01/15

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly feature created by Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk as a way for readers and writers to stay in touch!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

What I'm Reading

Since the last WUW I've read My Family and Other Superheroes by Jonathan Edwards, The Christmas Surprise by Jenny Colgan, Witch by Damian Walford Davies, Burial Rites by Hannah Kent and White Ravens by Owen Sheers.

Right now I'm reading The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau, and just this morning I started The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse. I'm taking part in the Bout of Books 12 this week; I haven't set myself any challenges because they only stress me out and I don't want to turn reading into something that brings me stress. I'm taking part so that I can get 2015 off to a great reading start!

With that in mind I want to try and finish both The Crown and The Winter Ghosts this week, and I also want to try and read The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier, Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers and A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf.

What I'm Writing

I'm ashamed to say I've written barely anything over the holidays! I'm aiming to enter a few writing competitions so I've been trying to tweak, complete and write some short stories that have been stuck in my head for a while. One story in particular has been driving me nuts, so some of the people from my MA course are very kindly going to read it and tell me what they think.

Then yesterday inspiration struck, so I started scribbling in my notebook during my lunch break. I don't think any character's voice, without a story, has ever come through so clearly before; I won't say much (because I'm not even sure what it is yet!), only that whatever it is is from the POV of a biracial dragon whose parents own a Chinese restaurant.

What Works For Me

Actually writing when I get a new idea. I have this habit of thinking of an idea and 'saving it' for later, as though writing it later is going to make it somehow better, but most of the time when I do that what actually happens is that I convince myself it's a bad idea or I forget something (especially if I don't have something with me to jot the idea down!) and the idea doesn't get written the way I want it or it doesn't get written at all.

This has worked for me very recently! The story I mentioned above isn't exactly a story yet, it's just this very loud character talking through me; I have no idea what I'm going to do with what she's telling me once she's finished talking...

What Else Is New

I had a great Christmas and New Year! I spent Christmas with my family and got some great presents, including a bunch of books and DVDs I'd been after. And then I spent New Year in York, the most haunted city in Britain, with my best friend; we shopped, ate, drank, went to the cinema to see Night at the Museum 3 (and I totally teared up near the end; I'm going to miss seeing Robin Williams in new films) and binge watched the first three seasons of Parks and Recreation. Why have I never watched that show before?

I'm still enjoying my job and my wages, and last night I bought tickets for me and my parents to go and see The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. I enjoyed it - I certainly enjoyed it better than the other two films which, while good, felt very much like "Bilbo and the Road Trip" to me - but I think I'm always going to love The Lord of the Rings more. Eowyn's my home girl.

What's new with you?

Top Ten Tuesday | Santa Baby, Slip a Story Under the Tree | Twelve Days of Christmas!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find out everything you need to know about joining in here!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

This week's theme is 'Top Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Bringing This Year'. I had to narrow it down to ten, because books are mainly what I ask for every birthday and Christmas - in fact I'm pretty sure my family and friends are sick of me asking for them by now.

I've decided to split my list into two mini lists; one of them being historical fiction and the other being science fiction. Why? Well because historical fiction is probably my favourite genre, and science fiction is the genre I've really started to learn more about and appreciate this year.

So, without further ado, here are my top ten!

Historical Fiction

Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers: I'm desperate to get my hands on a copy of the third and final book in the His Fair Assassin trilogy! I fell in love with this trilogy after reading Grave Mercy and Dark Triumph earlier this year, and I can't wait to see how LaFevers wraps this story up. I've put it on my Christmas list (in fact most of these books are on my Christmas list) so I'm hoping my parents will be kind enough to put a copy of this book beneath the tree for me!

The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau: Who doesn't want to read some historical crime with a nun for a protagonist? I've heard great things about this series, and I'm really eager to read some female-led historical crime.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein: Frankly it's appalling that I haven't read this book yet. It's been on my TBR for far too long and I need to read it, because I've heard nothing but amazing things about it.

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine: A retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses set in the '20s? Yes please!

The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier: As any regular reader of my blog will know, I've fallen in love with Daphne du Maurier's work this year and I'd really like to read this. I'd love to see how she writes time travel!

Science Fiction

Valour's Choice by Tanya Huff: Tanya Huff's one of my favourite authors, but so far I've only read her fantasy fiction. I love her Blood Books and now I'd really like to give some of her science fiction a try. I love the premise of Valour's Choice, and I'm a big fan of all the female-led sci-fi I've been seeing lately.

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout: I've heard a lot of people describing this as 'Twilight with aliens'. While I no longer like Twilight, though I won't deny that I did like those books when I was a teenager, I do want to see what this series is all about for the pure and simple reason that it sounds fun. Not every book we read needs to be an amazing, groundbreaking piece of literature. Sometimes I like reading books that have been written purely for the sake of bringing enjoyment to the reader, and this sounds like one such book. Not only that, but I've actually been hearing mainly positive things about it.

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund: I'm not the biggest fan of Jane Austen. At some point I want to reread Persuasion, the very book that made me dislike her in the first place back when I was around 18, to see if I can appreciate Austen more now that I'm older, but before that I'd like to give For Darkness Shows the Stars a try, because it is a sci-fi retelling of Persuasion. There's a chance that reading this might actually make me more eager to reread the book that inspired it, so I'm hoping to find it under my tree on Christmas day!

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner: Honestly one of the main reasons I want to read this book is because it has such a gorgeous cover, but it's also another a book I've heard nothing but great things about. Even if the idea of being stranded in space gives me the heebie jeebies.

Alienated by Melissa Landers: Like Obsidian, this sounds like another fun bit of sci-fi. I'm slowly getting into the genre, so I'm not quite into epic sci-fi just yet. I love sci-fi that combines people from outer space with people from earth, so this is right up my street!

Which books made your top ten?