Feature and Follow Friday #6

This is a meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. It's where you meet other book bloggers and share the follower love. A question is also asked every week.

To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
2. (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
5. If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn't have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed.
6. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
7. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers!

Q: Have you had a character that disappointed you? One that you fell in love with and then "broke up" with later on in either the series or a stand-alone book? Tell us about him or her.

A: Gosh, this is a hard one... I'm gonna have to pick Conrad from The Summer I Turned Pretty.  He sounded quite mysterious and charming to start with but as the book developed he just became moody and played around with Belly's feelings which was tres annoying!  I'm Team Jeremiah all the way!!!!!

How about you?  Leave me your FFs and if you'd like to follow please do so by GFC or Linky Followers (which is in desperate need of some more to fill the box!)

Happy reading,

Beverley x

Feature and Follow Friday #5

This is a meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. It's where you meet other book bloggers and share the follower love. A question is also asked every week.

To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
2. (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
5. If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn't have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed.
6. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
7. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers!


Q: Fight! Fight! If you could have two fictional characters battle it out (preferably from books), who would they be and who do you think would win?

A:  I would choose Edward Cullen from The Twilight Saga and Peeta Mellark from The Hunger Games!  Even though Edward is probably more lethal, I am currently IN LOVE with Peeta and I think he would win - after all he survived The Hunger Games, didn't he?  And that obviously takes tactics :P  I used to be OBSESSED with Edward and the Twilight books but I've recently moved off them (so has everyone!) and  I'm loving the hype surrounding THG.  I NEED to read the books 'cos the movie was just too damn good...

How about you?  Leave your thoughts below and please follow by GFC or Linky Followers... or both!  :)

About a Month Hiatus...

As you may or may not know, I'm currently studying and revising for my upcoming exams and I went back to school today :(

I'm announcing a short hiatus from the blog as I really need to focus on school work but I will be doing a few occasional memes and I promise to keep you updated on anything new.

And I went to see The Hunger Games movie at the weekend with my friends.  I LOVED it so much and I NEED to read the books badly!  Have you seen it?  What did you think?  I will be writing a review on it so that will be up soon - hopefully!

Bye for now,
Beverley x

REVIEW: Skin Deep by Laura Jarratt

Name: Skin Deep

Author: Laura Jarratt

Publisher: Electric Monkey

Date published: 5th March 2012

Pages: 377

Source: Chicklish

Rating: 5 stars


Originally posted at Chicklish

'I wanted to say this morning, only you ran off... Sorry if I was rude.'  The boy from the boat grinned, looking straight at me.  'Your surprised me, that's all.  The scar' - he touched his face - 'took me by surprise.  I didn't mean to be rude.'  I gaped at him. Nobody ever, ever mentioned the scars.

After the car crash that leaves her best friend dead, Jenna struggles to rebuild her life.  But every stare in the street, every glance in the mirror, makes her want to hide away.  And then Ryan turns up - a tall, good-looking traveller unlike anyone Jenna's ever met before.

Can he help to put her world back together, or will he just break her heart?

  Skin Deep is a beautiful novel about fourteen-year-old Jenna who meets a polite, good-looking traveller called Ryan. Jenna luckily survived a car crash which killed her best friend, but she herself did not get away easily and half her face was burned. Hidden behind a mask for half a year, her confidence and self-esteem is blown especially without Lindsay to look out for her. And then by chance she meets Ryan - a handsome, gentlemanly traveller. As their friendship develops, he builds her confidence and helps her come to terms with her disfigurement. But will he shatter the pieces in her life that she has so carefully glued back together during their relationship?

I am so glad that I was asked to review Skin Deep because otherwise I would probably have overlooked it and then I would have missed out big time! Laura Jarratt writes beautifully and brings a fresh, vivid voice to YA fiction.  Before I started reviewing/blogging, I always had the misconception that debut releases were dull and boring but Laura Jarratt demonstrates that newcomer authors can write just as beautifully as experienced writers. 

In the first half of the novel, the reader gets to know the characters through the alternating chapters between Jenna and Ryan, and nothing really happens. It charts the beginning of Jenna and Ryan’s friendship before following how it develops into something more. Looking back I wondered why I didn’t give up on reading it but then I figured that it was because it was very interesting to see how Ryan was helping Jenna break out of her shell and that was more page-turning than any fancy plot!  The climax hit me in the face when I least expected it and I felt my heart sink a little, hoping that I wasn’t going to be disappointed by one of the characters. From then on I was rushing through the book, desperate to find out the ‘truth’.

The characters in Skin Deep are so believable and easy to empathise with. The sensitivity with which Laura created the fragility of Jenna strikes a poignant chord within the book. Despite the reader probably finding it near impossible to understand the sheer pain Jenna had to go through, her vulnerability and innocence allows us to see life through her eyes. She refuses to venture too far outside and prefers to remain inside the safety of her own home, away from the looks that she is given from strangers. I pitied her greatly and I just wanted to give her a reassuring hug.  And then we get on to Ryan… Ryan, Ryan, Ryan. I could ramble on about him but I’ll try and spare you the gushing.  He’s so unlike how the typical traveller boy is portrayed.  He’s charming, polite and most of all he realises beauty is skin deep. He looks past the scars on Jenna’s face and sees her for who she really is. He convinces her that her disfigurement doesn’t define her and that she shouldn’t let staring eyes affect her confidence. He seems like an older sibling, but it’s clear from how the book continues that he doesn’t just want to fill the role of caring big brother. But is he really that amazing or is he just another guy taking advantage of a scared, vulnerable girl?

Laura Jarratt’s intriguing style of writing along with a cast of easy-to-warm-to characters makes Skin Deep a heart-wrenching debut which you will not want to miss. It is truly inspiring and thought-provoking, and made me realise that there are things in life which you shouldn’t take for granted.  Please read this, you certainly won’t regret it!

Thank you to Luisa for letting me review this book for Chicklish!

100+ Followers!

I am so happy to announce that A Reading Daydreamer has reached 100+ followers!!!!!  I started the blog in January and I never thought that I would be able to achieve a three-digit follower count this soon so thank you all so much for clicking that Follow button!  I LOVE you guys and I wish I could dish out free cupcakes to you all for being so wonderful!

I was planning to do a giveaway once I reached 100, but I never thought it would be this soon.  As I'm in the middle of revision and endless heaps of school work, and with the dreaded exams around the corner, I just don't have the time to organise a giveaway at present but... once summer kicks in and all the exams are over which should be about mid-June, I promise I will have a giveaway for you guys (maybe I will have reached 150 followers by then? *crosses fingers*)!

This also means I won't be blogging that much from now on so I hope you guys will still stick around, I appreciate every one of you!

Have a happy Easter break!

Beverley x

Feature and Follow Friday #4

This is a meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. It's where you meet other book bloggers and share the follower love. A question is also asked every week.

To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
2. (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.
5. If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn't have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed.
6. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"
7. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers!


Q:  Have you ever bought a book because of a bad review?

A: Nope, since starting the blog, all the books that I have bought have been given really good reviews.  If I don't know what to read next, I turn to other book bloggers and read their opinions and views.  Most of the books that I want are due to FANTASTIC reviews everywhere in the blogosphere so if there's a bad review of something, I won't be tempted to read it.

How about you?

Please follow me by GFC and I promise to check out your blog :)

REVIEW: Torn by Cat Clarke

Name: Torn

Author: Cat Clarke

Publisher: Quercus

Date published: 5th January 2012

Pages: 372

Source: Red House

Rating: 5 stars

Four girls. One dead body. A whole lot of guilt.

Alice King isn’t expecting the holiday of a lifetime when she sets off with her classmates on a trip to the Scottish wilderness, but she’s not exactly prepared for an experience beyond her darkest nightmares…

Alice and her best friend Cass are stuck in a cabin with Polly, the social outcast, and Rae, the moody emo-girl. Then there’s Tara – queen of mean. Powerful, beautiful and cruel, she likes nothing better than putting people down.

Cass decides it’s time to teach Tara a lesson she’ll never forget. And so begins a series of events that will change the lives of these girls forever...

Torn revolves around four girls who must deal with the horror and guilt of another girl’s death.  After an ‘accident’ on a school trip, Tara – a selfish and horrible girl – dies, leaving everyone shocked and confused.  But was it really an accident?  Or is there a hidden secret?  Alice, Cass, Polly and Rae have opposed views on what they should do next: Alice and Rae want to reveal the truth; Cass and Polly think they should keep their mouths shut.  As friendships break and new relationships form, the girls all deal with the situation in their own way, making Torn a very compelling read indeed.

The story opens at Tara’s funeral, setting the mood for the rest of the book.  I enjoyed the places where ‘Ghost Tara’ was incorporated: it helped me realise that despite her horrid personality, her death was unjustifiable and allowed me to feel pity for her.  I liked how the ‘secret’ isn’t revealed straight away and the flashback worked really well, allowing the reader to get to know the characters.  At times in the beginning, I wanted to say ‘Hurry up and tell me what exactly happened!’  Cat Clarke kept me at the edge of my seat as I desperately tried to find out the truth.  Initially, I thought the start was awfully slow-paced but I soon came to realise that it was a very clever way to keep me turning the pages! 

As the book is told from Alice’s point of view, I found it really easy to warm to her. I switched between feeling sorry for her and wanting to shout at her.  I could feel her innocence and her desperation to put things right and I knew that deep down she wasn’t a bad person.  However, when she develops her relationship with Tara’s younger brother Jack, I was incredulous.  I felt like shaking her to her senses.  If Jack discovered what happened, his heart would be shattered.  Ironically, it was Jack who made her see sense. 

As for the other girls, it was hard to get to know them as well.  It was horrible to see the friendship break between Alice and Cass as they seemed very close before everything happened and they could have done with each other’s support.  It was difficult to empathise with Rae, the dark emo-girl, but once the events unfold, it becomes clear that she felt just as guilty as the others, if not worse.  The character who I felt great loathing for was Polly.  Initially, she appears to be a meek, innocent girl who is eager to please but by the end, she grew into a deceiving, manipulative cow.  She had me completely fooled.

Torn is a very compelling read with an interesting plot.  It kept me turning the pages and gripped me from page one.  It is truly a wonderful book full of lies, love and friendships.  It deserves 5 stars, no doubt!  I can’t wait to read more of Cat Clarke’s books!

Thanks to Charlotte at Red House for sending me a copy of this fantastic book!

Happy reading and daydreaming,

Beverley x