The New Disney Princess Tag

Hello everyone!

Today I’m once again combining my loves of books and Disney in order to do the new Disney Princess Book Tag, for which I was tagged by the LOVELY Rosie from Rosie Freckle Reads (albeit a tad unofficially in the comments, when I mentioned my love for Disney 😂)

Let’s get onto the tag!

Rules!

1. Mention who tagged you or where you saw it
2. Tag the creators – The New Disney Princess Tag was created by Mandy and Zuky
3. Play a game of tag at the end!

Snow White
The Book (Like the Movie) That Started it All
Favourite Debut Book from an Author 

I’m making this my favourite debuts from 2017 for fairness, and some of those have been Prisoner of Ice and Snow by Ruth Lauren, Running on the Roof of the World by Jess Butterworth, Being Miss Nobody by Tamsin Winter and Noah Can’t Even by Simon James Green.

Cinderella
A Diamond in the Rough
Just Like Cinderella, You Didn’t Expect Much Out of This Character in the Beginning But Turned Out to be a Total Gem

As I was recently discussing this with someone, I’m going to say Jennifer Jones from Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy, who I expected to loathe but actually felt incredibly sorry for as I was reading.

Aurora
Sleeping Beauty
A Book That Makes You Sleepy Or Could Not Hold Your Attention 

Some recent disappointing reads in this sense have been Sea by Sarah Driver and Freshers by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison.

Ariel
Under the Sea
A Book With a Water/Ocean setting 

I can’t think of many books with a water/ocean setting, but two I love are Mermaid Magic by Gwyneth Rees and Mermaid Wishes by Carol Barton. I read both of these when I was young and I was captivated. I highly recommend them both to anyone looking for funny, sweet lower middle grade (Mermaid Wishes is absolutely hilarious in places, and I STILL enjoy rereads of that series just as much now.)

Belle
Beauty and the Books
Name a Book With the Best Bookworm/Book Lover 

I think I have to go for Harriet Manners here, don’t I?! What kind of obsessed Geek Girl fan would I be otherwise? 😂

Jasmine
The Thief and the Princess

Name a Book With an Unlikely Love Story (Either in Terms of Romance or a Book You Didn’t Expect to Love So Much)

A book I didn’t expect to love as much as I did is Fly Me Home by Polly Ho-Yen. If you’ve heard me speak about her debut Boy in the tower (which, for the record, I think is a masterpiece of middle grade and deserves every award imaginable and should be read everywhere) you’ll possibly be a bit shocked by this answer. However, I wasn’t at all a fan if her 2nd novel so I was hugely apprehensive going into this, and I honestly couldn’t have been more thrilled that it was very nearly on a par with Boy in the Tower and will possibly end up being as special to me as that book is after a couple of rereads.

Pocahontas
The Real Life Princess
Name a Book That is Based on a Real Life Person You Want to Read/Have Read

One of my favourite series ever, the 39 Clues, contains real historical figures and although it fictionalises some things there is a lot of real information in there too which I found fascinating and has introduced me to some amazing periods of history and people from history. 

Mulan
The Princess That Saves Her Country

Name the Fiercest Heroine You Know

Daisy from the Murder Most Unladylike Mysteries! She has many faults, but she’s feisty, fierce and a totally fabulous detective. Another awesome female detective I love is Emily Wild from Adventure Island by Helen Moss, and a YA heroine ho would fit this too is Lottie from Holly Bourne’s superb Spinster Club trilogy!

Tiana
The Princess with the Coolest and Most Diverse Crew

Name a Diverse Book Whether it is a Diverse Set of Characters or Just Diverse in General 

I’m going to go for Radio Silence by Alice Oseman for this question. It’s a wonderful book that I was totally gripped by (it was an utter pain having to stop for a few hours so I could do last minute revision for and sit my Modern Studies exam, let me tell you)

Rapunzel
Let Your Long Hair Down
Name the Longest Book You’ve Read

I’m pretty sure the longest book I’ve ever read is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix! My copy is 800 pages long, but I read it in a day the first I read them as it’s so phenomenally written and paced.

Merida
I Determine my Own Fate
A Book Where There is No Love Story/Interest or Isn’t Needed

I think I have to shout out to Beautiful Broken Thungs by Sara Barnard here. It’s an absolutely anazing book that tackles how messy female friendships can be and shows a character recovering from childhood abuse in her new home. 

Anna and Elsa
Frozen Hearts
A Book in a Winter/Cold Setting 
I’m going to cheat a bit and say Prisoner of Ice and Snow again. It’s world building of snowy, icy Demidova is too incredible not to.

Moana
How Far I’ll Go
A Character That Goes on a Journey 

Alfie from Defender of the Realm (and Dark Age) by Nick Ostler and Mark Huckerby goes on some epic actual and emotional journeys in these books. I’m both excited and terrified to see what the 3rd book will hold for him next year!

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you’ve enjoyed the post. I’m taggimg Hannah and Rebecca, as I’m pretty certain they’re both Disney fans too!

See you soon with a new post 

Amy xxx

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Bookish This or That Tag

Hello everybody!

Today, I’m taking part in the ‘Bookish This or That’s tag, for which I was tagged by Ayla!

Let‘s get started!

1. Audiobook or Text Book?
Considering I’ve only ever listened to one audio book (The Mum Detective by Gwyneth Rees, when my eyesight was still too bad after my surgery I was unable to read myself), I’ll definetely need to go for text books!

2. Paperback or Hardback?

Paperbacks. I don’t hate hardbacks anywhere near as much as I used to (I used to take dust jackets off and leave them bare as I thought they were so annoying 🙈) but there’s something much nicer about a paperback.

3. Fiction or Non Fiction?

As I can’t even think of a non fiction book I’ve read, I’ll need to say fiction!

4. Harry Potter or Twilight?

I’ve never read Twilight (nor do I want to) so it’s Harry Potter all the way for me! (Even though I was INCREDIBLY late to the HP party, I’m so incredibly glad I got there eventually)

5. Bookshop or Online?

I tend to prefer going to a bookshop, as it’s more interactive and fun, and I really REALLY love the feeling of bookshops. I do buy from Amazon etc too though!

6. Standalone or Trilogy?

Of these, I’d go for standalone, but I actually favour longer/open ended series, if I’m honest.

7. Sweet and Short or Heavy and Long?

Sweet and Short I think. My preferred length for books is between 300-400 pages (unless it’s Harry Potter, in which case I think are all almost exactly the perfect length for the plot) and I also definetely favour books which are lighter in tone.

8. Cosy Read/ Reading in the Sun?

Until this summer I’d probably have said reading in the sun, but this year it just didn’t hold the appeal it usually does, so I’ll have to go for a cosy read indoors!

8. Hot chocolate or coffee?

I don’t drink either!

Thank you so much for reading! I’m tagging Kelly and Louise ! I‘d love to hear in the comments or on Twitter @GoldenBooksGirl about some of your reading habits, both inspired by these questions and in general! 

Amy xxx

The Disney Book Tag

Hello everybody! 

Today I’m combining two of my favourite things in the world; books and Disney.

This tag was created by Kat from katytastic, and I was tagged for this by Meg , and I loved coming up with my answers (although I found a few super tricky!)

Let’s begin! 

1. THE LITTLE MERMAID- A CHARACTER WHO FEELS LIKE A FISH OUT OF WATER

I don’t think it’ll come as a surprise to many of you that I’m choosing Harriet Manners from Geek Girl. Harriet doesn’t feel that she fits in, and I love her journey of realising that she doesn’t need to be super cool, she just needs to be herself, as she’s pretty awesome.

2. CINDERELLA- A CHARACTER WHO GOES THROUGH A MAJOR TRANSFORMATION 

For this I decided to go with Hazel Wong from the Murder Most Unladylike Mysteries. Hazel has developed so much from when we first met her in Murder Most Unladylike, and it’s been a privilege to see her change into someone much more confident and happy with themself.

3. SNOW WHITE- A BOOK WITH AN ECLECTIC CAST

For this, I’ve picked Prisoner of Ice and Snow by Ruth Lauren, which has a really awesome cast of characters who are all trying to break out of prison. I loved all of them and I cannot wait for the sequel (I’m also really looking forward to this actually coming out so I can rave properly about in my review on the blog tour and also so you can all read it and rave with me!)

4. SLEEPING BEAUTY- A BOOK WHICH PUT YOU TO SLEEP

For me, I think this has to be Sea by Sarah Driver. This was the Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month back in March and I was super excited when I bought it, but I just couldn’t get into it at all, and it felt like a chore to get through it. I don’t think I’ll be reading the sequel.

5. THE LION KING- A CHARACTER WHO HAD A TRAUMATIC CHILDHOOD 

The only character who immediately comes to mind for this is Suzanne from Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard (which you should definetely read if you haven’t yet, it’s phenomenal). Her childhood was so horrific and it’s watching her recover from it that makes BBT a hard read in places.

6. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST- AN INTIMIDATING READ

I’m unsure whether this means intimidating in length or content, so I’ll answer both. The longest book I’ve read is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but in honesty I was so hooked by this point that I devoured it in a single day. In terms of content, I think a book I found intimidating in content was To  Kill a Mockingbird, which I had to read for English last year.

7. ALADDIN- A CHARACTER WHO GETS THEIR WISH GRANTED 

I really struggled with this question, so I fell back on my trusty old BSC to help me (if you don’t know what the BSC is, it’s the Babysitters Club, which in my opinion are amazing and I will not hear A SINGLE WORD against, unless you want to moan about some characters with me 😊)

Anyhow, my answer to this is Stacey (one of the characters I most like to moan about, but I digress), who gets to move back to Stoneybrook from New York, at the cost of her parents getting a divorce.

8. MULAN- A CHARACTER WHO PRETENDS TO BE SOMEONE THEY’RE NOT

This was another question I found tough, but in the end I chose Scarlett from the Secret Cooking Club series by Laurel Remington. Scarlett really finds herself in these books, and she has to pretend to be very different to herself for a few reasons in the first book, and in the second she juggles with being true to herself online (can you tell I’m trying not to spoil the storylines of these for you? 😂)

9. TOY STORY- CHARACTERS I WANT TO COME TO LIFE

This was hard for the opposite reason to the past two- I have so many characters I’d love to meet! I think my top picks would have to be The Gods from Who Let the Gods Out (especially Hermes, who I hated in book 1 and adore after book 2), the Spinster Club Girls (for obvious reasons; they’re totally awesome and have good snacks) and also the characters from Geek Girl as I’ve read them so many times I feel like they’re my friends already. 

10. DISNEY DESCENDANTS- FAVOURITE VILLAINS

I’m hoping to do a full post about this to tie in with Halloween in October, but a few of my absolute favourite villains are every villain from Who Let the Gods Out, they’re all such incredible villains, Lucretia Cutter from the Beetle Boy books and also Cruella de Vil, from the One Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith.

I’m tagging Charlotte, Rosie and Andrew! If you’d like to do this, please feel free!

See you soon with a new post

Amy xxx

The Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag

Hello everybody!

Hope you’ve all had a fabulous weekend 😊. Today I’m taking part in the Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag, for which I was tagged by Meri from Life Stained Pages. 

Let’s just ignore the fact that I’m technically 2 months late in doing this, please 🙈

On with the tag!

1. Favourite book of 2017 so far–  I’ve read some amazing books this year, and I have a whole host of favourites. One that sticks out is Running on the Roof of the World by Jess Butterworth. VERY few books make me cry. This managed it several times over, and I couldn‘t have been more blown away by it‘s absolute brilliance in general. If you haven‘t read it, I can‘t recommend it highly enough!

2. Favourite sequel– Some sequels which have really impressed me this year are Beetle Queen by M.G Leonard (I’ve finished both of these in one sitting, and I couldn’t be more excited about the 3rd book coming out next year), Confetti and Cake by Laurel Remington (look out for my review of this soon!) And Forever Geek by Holly Smale.  I’ve just read Simply the Quest by Maz Evans over the weekend too, and it’s also a superb sequel.

3. Recent release you haven’t read yet and want to- Too many! I’m especially excited for Chris Russell’s Songs About Us and the Secrets of Supernatural Creek by Lauren St John (it has been a LONG 4 years since the last Laura Marlin Msytery, but I want to wait until I have time to reread both the White Giraffe series and the other Laura Marlin books). Also, Piglettes by Clémentine Beauvais and Being Miss Nobody by Tamsin Winter

4. Most Anticipated Release for the 2nd Half of 2017- I’m looking forward to quite a few, but I’ve had my eye on The Empty Grave by Jonathan Stroud and Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend for AGES.

5. Most Disappointing Book of the Year- I’m a pretty big Sarah Mlyknowski fan, so I was devastated by how much I disliked her newest release, The Girls’ Guide to Summer. I actually found it so bad I didn’t finish it, and I’m now unsure about whether I’ll bother with any of her other new releases after this. I honestly can’t think of a single thing I enjoyed about this book.

6. Biggest Surprise– I was so pleasantly surprised by Girl Out of Water by Nat Luurtesma! It’s the closest thing in humour I’ve ever read to Geek Girl (I think I’ve made it pretty clear how much I love Geek Girl), and I’m unbelievably excited to read the sequel next summer 🌞

7. Favourite new author- the best debuts I’ve read this year have been jaw-dropping levels of amazingness, and they are Prisoner of Ice and Snow by Ruth Lauren (I don’t want to say too much about this yet, as it isn’t out until September, but it’s so original/clever/phenomenal) and Running on the Roof of the World by Jess Butterworth. 

Both of these authors are definetely new favourites of mine, and if their debuts are anything to go by, I’ll never stop reading their works! I Was also lucky enough to win a proof copy of A 2018 book by Laura Steven called the Exact Opposite of Okay, which I couldn’t have loved more! Laura is lovely too, so she is also a new favourite author of mine.

8. Newest fictional crush- I don’t really go in for these too much, but I do have a soft spot for Étienne from Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. I also loved Max from The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord, and Jones from The Names They Gave Us, by the same author.

9. Newest favourite character–  I love a lot of characters! Some particular favourites this year include Noah from Noah Can’t Even, Alex from See You in the Cosmos, Elliot from Who Let the Gods Out, Wing from Wing Jones and Izzy from the Exact Opposite of Okay. I adore so many more though, these are just a couple!

10.  Books that made you cry- I‘m not a big crier. As above, Running on the Roof of the World managed it, and I was tearful at a few points of the Exact Opposite of Okay too. I also cried at a certain part of the Start of Me and You. I sobbed while reading Forever Geek as well, as I was so sad about the series being over. The end pages of The Hate U Give also made me cry a little bit.
11. Book that Made You Happy- I feel like I’ve already mentioned most of the books that have made me really happy this year! Don’t want to keep naming the same books over and over 😂

12. Favoutite Book to Movie Adaptation- I can’t actually remember seeing any this year.

13.  Favourite Review of 2017 – I’m proud of all my reviews, mainly. I loved writing one for Running on the Roof of the World though, as I couldn’t heap the praise it deserves on it if I live to be a thousand. I think I’ll feel similarly with my reviews for Prisoner of Ice and Snow and Exact Opposite of Okay. 

14. Most Beautiful Book You’ve Bought this Year- This one is hard! I picked up Emery Lord because of her covers, which I’m really pleased about. I also bought Sea by Sarah Driver partly for the cover, but I didn’t love it, so I slightly regret that one. I’ve not read it yet, but Alice Broadway’s Ink was also choose from the cover! I buy based on covers more than I should… 😂

15. Books You Need to Read by the End of the Year- I have, like most bookish people I know, got a slightly out of control TBR. I need to read as much of that as possible, and I’d also like to slot in some rereading of favourite books like the 39 Clues series, Pony Club Secrets series and Lauren St John’s 2 middle grade series. I’d also like to read some more children’s classics. Some particular priorities are the Wolves of Willoughby Chase, The Starlight Barking and Gobbolino the Witch’s Cat!

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you’ve enjoyed the post. I’m tagging my friend Louise from Book Murmuration! I‘d love to hear about some of your favourites of the year so far in the comments! 

Amy xxx

Blogger Recognition Award

Hi everybody! Happy weekend! 😊

For today’s post, I’m going to be doing the Blogger Recognition Award tag, which I’ve been tagged for 3 times, by Rebecca , Sam and Rachel.  

The Ice Lolly Book Tag

Hi everybody!

Today I’m writing a book tag post, but you may not have heard of this tag yet, as Charlotte, Louise and I decided to make one to celebrate summer (which was a very, very fun Twitter conversation!). The idea is comparing books to ice cream, and as I love both I can’t think of anything better.

I Dare You Book Tag

Hello everyone!

A few days ago, Donna at The Untitled Book Blog tagged me in the I Dare You Book Tag.

The rules are: you must be honest, you can’t not answer a question and you have to tag 4 people to join in

Which book has been on your shelves the longest?

The honest answer to this is I’m not sure, but one of the first book series I ever loved was the Pony Club Secrets books by Stacy Gregg so I’m going to say them. My copies are now incredibly tatty, but I still reread them at least a couple of times a year as I love the world so much and I know it so well.