Posted on by susannevalenti · 5 Comments

The freestyle writing challenge 🎉

Thanks to Caroline for nominating me for this cool challenge, I hope I do you proud! Check out her blog if you haven’t already – it’s really great.

So the challenge is as follows:

  1. Open a blank document. 
  2. Set a timer to 5 minutes. I’ve posted a topic at the bottom of this post for you to use as your inspiration but don’t scroll down until the second you’re ready to write! Once you start writing, don’t stop until the alarm sounds. 
  3. Don’t cheat by going back and spell checking or correcting grammar. (The challenge is only meant for you to reflect on your own control of sensible though-flow and for you to reflect on your ability to write with correct spelling and grammar.)
  4. You may or may not pay attention to punctuation or capitals. 
  5. At the end of your post, put down the amount of words you managed to write. 
  6. Copy and paste the entire passage on your blog post with a new topic for your nominees and post these rules too. I’m nominating three bloggers but feel free to choose as many as you’d like. Also no pressure for the people I’ve nominated if you don’t fancy it and feel free to have a go if I didn’t nominate you because I’d love to see what you write from my idea ☺️

This is the freestyle writing challenge I was given by Caroline:

You drop in unexpectedly on a friend to surprise them after returning from a long trip. You find their front door open and decide to go inside. After calling out and receiving no response you move further into the house. On inspecting the lounge you spot a bookcase across the room which has been dragged forward to reveal a door. You cross the room and hear angry voices approaching from behind. What do you do?

And this is my freestyle response, I managed 224 words 😁

The rain pounds down on my umbrella as I race down the street. I suppress a grin as I reach Jenna’s apartment block and let myself in with the code. She’s going to be so psyched to see me. 

I take the steps two at a time, almost tripping on the final one before reaching her floor. 

The smile slips from my face as I see the broken door. 

“Jenna?” I call uncertainly as I take a step towards it. 

A chill runs down my spine. I move closer and peer inside. 

“Jenna?” Her apartment is a mess, furniture flung everywhere and he belongings scattered. Her bookcase is broken on the ground and where it always stood there is a door. 

I’ve spent so much time in this apartment that I can’t count it but I’ve never seen that door. 

“Check inside!” Someone shouts from the stairwell. “Make sure no ones left alive. 

I duck into the apartment, my feet slip on an upturned book but I make it to the door. The handle is warm. I ignore the urge to run and twist it instead. 

Inside the air burns hot as a furnace and I recoil. 

“I’m gunna kill that little cow when I catch up with her,” the voice shouts, closer still. 

I step inside and slam the door, my heart racing. 

My nominations are:

Matt

Wordweheart

S.W.Lothian 

Your challenge is:

You wake up to the sound of a news broadcast. There has been an outbreak of some kind of disease that is sending people crazy. People are panicking. The streets are filled with looters and everyone wants to get out of the city. What are you going to do?

Posted on by susannevalenti · 10 Comments

The infinite playlist: songs for favourite OTPs tag 🎼

  

Thank you Tanazmasaba for picking me to do your new tag 😍 this is a really fun one and I’ll do my best to do it justice! 

So, the idea behind this tag is to make a list of your favourite books and what songs make you think of them. I can’t promise that my choices will make much sense to anyone else but I’ll give this a go lol

  1. Harry Potter – With a little help from my friends by The Beetles For me this is fairly self explanatory, Harry, Ron and Hermione forever 😍
  2. The Hunger Games – Killing in the Name of by Rage Against the Machine If Katniss’ mantra isn’t ‘f**k you, I won’t do what you tell me’ then I’m not sure what else it would be 
  3. Twilight – Halo by Beyoncé  I think the words pretty much encompass Bella and Edward’s relationship for me, for example ‘It’s like I’ve been awakened, Every Rule I had you breakin’, It’s the risk that I’m takin’, I ain’t never gonna shut you out!’ 
  4. Blood Red Road – 8 Mile by Eminem This song is all about struggle and trying to achieve something that seems out of reach without ever giving up which sums up these books about as well as the blurb
  5. Throne of Glass – Roxanne the Moulin Rouge version because it’s badass Okay so this one has nothing to do with lyrics but the feeling of the song is so gritty and raw and I just love it. 
  6. Divergent – Numb by Linkin Park It’s the lyrics again for this one, basically the whole song but here’s the chorus I case you don’t know it ‘I’ve become so numb, I can’t feel you there, become so tired, so much more aware, I’m becoming this, all I want to do, is be more like me and be less like you’ 
  7. Game of Thrones – Bad Blood by Taylor Swift I’m fairly sure that this covers the relationships between the Starks and the Lannisters and just about everyone else in the books too ‘now we’ve got problems, and I don’t think we can solve them, you made a really deep cut, and baby now we got bad blood’ ha 😂
  8. Prince of Thornes – Cry me a River by Justin Timberlake It’s not really the song in general but that ‘cry me a river’ I-couldn’t-give-crap-about-you attitude part of it really makes me think of this book because Jorg is such a sadist a-hole. (In the best possible way) 

That’s my lot lol here are my nominations for the tag but if this catches your eye and I haven’t tagged you then please do it and let me know!

Magini – books

Notyourmommasbookreviews 

KimsiangLim 

Xoxo

Posted on by susannevalenti · 24 Comments

Unpopular opinions Book tag

I was tagged to do this by the wonderful KimsiangLim. I’m excited to do it but I always find something to like in everything so apologies in advance for that fact that my opinions are never harsh lol

So here goes:

1. A popular book or series that you didn’t like.

  

Ok so I’ll start off right away by saying I did actually like this lol. It’s only that within the first three chapters, I guessed what the twist would be. I then read the book eagerly to find out if I was wrong (I wasn’t) and was a little disappointed to find that I wasn’t at all surprised. This is just the way my mind works and the reason I don’t generally read thrillers but I did like the writing style and thought the characters were really well put together. It was just that with all the hype I had been hoping it would be the beginning of me reading this genre and it wasn’t…

2. A popular book or series that everyone else seems to hate but you love.

  

Twihard till I die. (The Twilight Saga)  I don’t get why everyone feels the need to hate on these books but I love them.

3. A love triangle where the main character ended up with the person you did NOT want them to end up with (warn about spoilers) or an OTP that you don’t like. 

   

**Spoiler alert for anyone who has been living under a rock**

Gale was fitter, stronger, braver and actually suited Katniss. Fair enough she was never all that bothered on either of them but I always felt like everything with Peeta was forced on her through necessity and or guilt. And did I mention how fit Gale is? Because he’s so fit!

4. A popular book genre that you hardly ever reach for. 

Basically anything set in the present where normal things happen. I don’t know what you’d call those genres but I love historical fiction and my heart belongs to all thing fantasy and sci fi but there isn’t enough escapism in realism for me lol

5. A popular or beloved character that you do not like. 

  

Is she beloved? I have no idea but my gosh do I hate Catelyn Stark! In a good way because she’s written so well that I genuinely hate her passionately but it gets to the point where when I reach a chapter from her PoV in game of thrones and I won’t read on for days because I can’t bear to be in her company 

6. A popular author that you can’t seem to get into.

I genuinely can’t think of one. Maybe I’m lucky and have never come across one but it’s probably more likely that I just wiped any such incidents from my mind. 

7. A popular book trope that you’re tired of seeing. (Examples “lost princess” “corrupt ruler” “love triangle” etc.)

  

I’m not saying I dislike alien based books. I love them. What I hate is when there’s some mysterious stuff going on and it builds up so much and you’re all wtf?! But then it’s aliens in that annoying ‘we don’t have to explain anything now because it’s aliens’ way.  This sometimes applies to ghosts too. And it’s like oh we don’t have to have a logical reason for anything anymore and we can make up whatever rules we want because… Aliens. No sir. Just no. 

8. A popular series that you have no interest in reading.

I can honestly say I don’t have one and this is why; when Harry Potter was getting big I refused to read it because ‘it was popular’ there was a lot of hype about the release of the fourth book and I finally decided to give it a go and read a chapter.  The words ‘the boy who lived’ greeted me and I’ve never looked back. Then the Twilight books were ‘popular’ and I refused to read them. I even let someone tell me all the spoilers. Then I read them and loved them. So I vowed never to refuse something based on popularity again because funnily enough, it’s probably popular for a reason!

9. The saying goes “The book is always better than the movie or TV show adaptation” but what movie or TV show adaptation do you prefer to the book?

  
I enjoy them in such different ways that I find it really hard to say. I’d probably go with The Walking Dead because I love that show so much that I don’t read the graphic novels because I wouldn’t want to ruin the show (even though I know it differs massively anyway) if you don’t love this show yet you’re about to – seriously, watch it! 

My nomination is for anyone who wants to do it! Let me know if you do because I’d love to read your answers ☺️ xoxo

Posted on by susannevalenti · 11 Comments

Sisterhood of the world bloggers award 🏆

  
I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve been nominated for this award!😀 Thank you to jessylaw for my nomination 😍

The rules are:

  1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their site. 
  2. Put the award logo on your blog. 
  3. Answer the ten questions you were given. 
  4. Make up ten new questions for your nominees to answer. 
  5. Nominate ten other blogs. 

Here are my answers:

1. Would you prefer to read a series or stand alone books?

I won’t say no to anything but I love to read a series. I find that you can get to know the characters and their world so much better in multiple books and so I get more from them. 📚

2. Would you rather be a book reviewer or an author?

My dream has always been to be an author. I am addicted to the written word in every form and can’t stop putting pen to page. I don’t think I’d make the best reviewer because I always find something to like in everything and find it hard to criticise things. So all of my reviews would probably be 4 or 5 stars and the difference would be between me really liking it or loving it lol.📝

3. Your house has been robbed and your bookshelf has been raided. What’s the book you really hope is safe?

I’m pretty attached to my Harry Potter books. I’ve had the first three since I was around eleven and then I queued up at midnight to buy each of the others as they were released so the memory of getting each of them and staying awake through the night reading them is pretty special for me. 💫

4. What is the hardest thing about running a blog?

I would go with time management! It can easily take an hour or two for me to put a post together in the way I want it (usually because I spend hours trawling the Internet for the perfect meme lol). And then once it’s been posted the notifications start coming through as people like/comment and I can’t resist responding at once which can mean that it’s taking time from other things I should be getting on with 😓

5. What novel are you looking forward to reading next?

I’m super excited for the new Throne of Glass novel which is out next week 😱😁😆😲. I’m in the middle of reading the Game of Thrones books which I’m really enjoying but I’ll probably put them on pause to find out what happens next for Celeana! (Plus I’ve watched the TV show of Game of Thrones so I already know most of what happens there lol) 👑

6. Do you use an e-reader or paperback books?

I use both! There are some brilliant books available on kindle that you can’t get in paperback and I wouldn’t want to miss out on them even though I do love a solid copy. Plus my hubby built me a huge bookshelf which I instantly filled and there are still nine boxes of books in the loft so he bought me a kindle to help me save on the storage space 📚📚📚

7. Who is your favourite author?

Isn’t that like picking between your children? (I don’t have any children but I imagine it’s the same) I love J K Rowling, Brandon Sanderson, Trudi Canavan, Suzanne Collins, J R R Tolkien… This list could get really long and I can’t pick! 😱

8. If you could be any book character who would you be?

I love Celeana Sardothien from the Throne of Glass books, she’s a kick ass assassin with plenty of attitude and the right amount of vulnerability and she’s pretty damn cool so who wouldn’t wanna be her? 🔪(this is a sword not a kitchen knife 😕)

9. Why did you start blogging?

I’m an upcoming author and I find that in my real life I have very few people who are as passionate about reading and writing as I am so I wanted to find likeminded people to connect with over our crazy obsessive, slightly unhealthy book addictions lol 😸

10. What was the last book you read?

A Game of Thrones (I’m half way into the second book now too). I am addicted to the TV series and had put off reading them so that I didn’t spoil the show for myself (I know I did it backwards this time but it was on my tbr list for so long and the show looked sooo good and I couldn’t resist!) but now that the show has caught up with the books I decided it was high time to educate myself on what really happened! (So far it’s almost exactly the same but I’ve been told there are some difference coming 😬)

My nominees are:

  1. Fiddlerblue
  2. Dash McCallen
  3. Gracedowntherabbithole
  4. 007ravish
  5. Olivia Emily 
  6. Amanda
  7. Notyourmommasbookreviwes
  8. Nerdybirdy
  9. Thewriteedge
  10. Caroline Peckham 

And the questions for you are:

  1. Do you have a TV series addiction and what is it?
  2. Which book character would you secretly like to marry?
  3. What’s the most exciting thing happening to you this September?
  4. Are you a Christmas freak or a Scrooge?
  5. Which book world do wish really existed?
  6. Which book series has you wishing for more?
  7. Would you rather be a vampire or a wizard?
  8. Which magic power would you have?
  9. Happy ending or shocking twist?
  10. What’s the first thing you’d do if the dead started rising?

I hope you have fun with it! ☺️xoxo

Posted on by susannevalenti · 13 Comments

Sunshine Blogger Award 🏆☀️

I was nominated for this award by Kirstysbookshelf. Thank you so much for my nomination! You should check out her blog because it’s really great 😊

The rules for this blog are…

  • Thank the person who nominated you
  • Answer the questions from your nominater
  • Nominate eleven other bloggers for the award and give them eleven questions to answer

My answers:

1. If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?
I’d love to see the Great Barrier Reef, but then I’ve always wanted to do Route 66 too so I’m torn 😁

2. What book made you fall in love with reading?

Lord of the Rings! My dad used to read it to me when I was waaay too young for it and I loved it. It was the first ‘big book’ I ever read on my own when I was nine and I remember lugging this huge copy of it to and from school for reading time every day. I think it took me the best part of a year to finish on my own but after that I was hooked on books for life!

3. Do you have any pets? If so what?

I have two cats and two dogs. All rescues and all boys – I’m very outnumbered in my house! Here’s a photo of them posing on the stairs…

  
4. If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life what would it be?

I don’t think I’d be able to live without a Cheeky Nandos! 

5. You’re trapped on a desert island and only have one book, one film and one cd. What would each be?

Ahhhh this is torture! I think (and this could be completely different if you asked me tomorrow) I’d have to have Harry Potter (please let me have the whole series 😇 but if not I’d go for Half Blood Prince – probably). Then I think I’d want Jurrasic Park and I’d take Miley Cyrus Bangers because she always makes me smile!

6.What’s the best book you’ve read this year?

Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas. I’m fangirling so hard for this series and can’t wait for the next instalment in September – I think I’ve triple checked my pre order on Amazon 500 times to make sure it’s definitely coming😆

7. What’s the worst book you’ve read this year and why?

This is tough because I don’t generally dislike anything I just like some things more than others lol. But I would say Vengence by Amy Miles. This is a big spoiler but basically everything was going terribly wrong, she lost her leg, was stuck in an awful prison, everyone she loves dies…. And then they magically go back in time to less than half way into the first book and go ‘damn everything went terribly, let’s make some different choices so that doesn’t happen’ and that’s how it ends which to me meant that everything I read was pointless as it will now never happen and as it was the end of the series it’s not like I’ll ever find out what happened with them making these other choices 😡

8. Do you have a favourite band/musician?

Again I find it hard to pick favourites but my top few would be Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Eminem 🎶

9. Do you have a book you would love to see turned into a movie or TV series?

I’d love to see the Throne of Glass series made into probably a TV series. If they did it on the level they did Game of Thrones I think it would be immense 

10. What’s your party trick?

I can reliably incorrectly guess the sex of any pregnant woman’s baby. 100% of the time, I’m wrong 😊

11. Other than reading, what else do you like to do?

I’m a bit of a gym geek, I love to work out while binge watching TV series.  I like going to the cinema, taking naps at my friends’ houses and fan girling over many many things!

My nominations are…

And my questions are…

  1. If you could be one book character who would you be and why?
  2. Which Hogwarts house would you be in and who would be your favourite teacher?
  3. Would you rather spend your life on a spaceship bound for a new world or stay behind in the ruins of earth?
  4. Do you think you would survive a zombie apocalypse and what would be your tactic? 
  5. Would you rather have a pet dragon or magical powers?
  6. What’s your favourite book and why?
  7. Who would you cast to play you in a movie of your life?
  8. What are you counting down the days on your calendar for?
  9. Which bad guy were you secretly hoping would win?
  10. If you were cursed and turned into an animal, what would you want to be and why?
  11. Which book world would you want to live in?

Have fun with it guys 😊 xoxo

Posted on by susannevalenti · 14 Comments

Randy – the guy who always dies 😲

I have a special place in my heart for Randy (Randy Random is his full name). He or she turns up in every story, be it book or film and every time they die I cry ‘Randy nooo!’ (Ideally while kneeling in the rain with a camera zooming away from above my head but that’s not always possible).

  
Sometimes the main character will have to fight their way through a group of Randys, killing mercilessly until they find the big baddie. Once they reach the bad guy with a name they’ll pause, have a conversation or even a crash of conscience meaning they can’t bring themselves to pull the trigger. But no one ever cares about killing Randy!

  
At other times Randy will be helping the main character, only to be shot down next to them. They will probably earn themselves a line to mention their passing but will never be thought of again. 
Often Randy has no official name, no actual speech and no real description beyond perhaps male or female, dark or blonde. So I name them Randy and I salute them! 

  

Posted on by susannevalenti · 18 Comments

Book hangovers, that awful moment when you realise all of your new friends don’t really exist 😭

You’ve all been there, you finish a book (or even worse complete a series) just to be spat back out into the real world without so much as a farewell. 

There’s something dreadfully final about completing a journey through a piece fiction that no amount of re-reading can cure. 

You miss your fictional family! Sure, they’re all still there, living their adventures between the pages but where are you? On your way to school or work, talking to your friends and families about trite things like what’s for dinner or who’s used the last sheet of toilet paper. 

‘No!’ Screams your subconscious. ‘I was saving the world this morning and falling in love last night!’ Where’s the justice? Where’s the closure? And why doesn’t anyone understand that you can’t unload the dishwasher because the whole world just ended!

For all you fellow book hangover sufferers I want you to know that I feel your pain. We can come together and share our angst… 

I am currently suffering with two particular hangovers that haven’t shifted despite me reading multiple books since they were caused. 

The first was the end of the Divergent series which sent me into a hysterical rage. I actually threw the book across the room, making my cat glare at me and causing my husband to ask if I had serious psychological issues.

The second has a more hopeful outlook. I am eternally reliving the world of Celaena Sardothien, I ask people ‘what do you think will happen next?’ They push their shaping carts away from me quickly, taking their children but the hand. But that’s okay. Because September is coming and then I’ll get some answers! 😊

Are any of you suffering? Maybe together we can find a way through our pain, I’d love to hear comments from fellow sufferers.