2016 Reading Challenges

It's been a couple of years since I took part in a reading challenge. This year I've decided to get back into a reading/reviewing routine by signing up to two challenges. Not only will this get me reading a variety of genres and subjects I might not otherwise, it will also ease me back into my blogging. Healing Scribe has suffered from my silence the last two years. Reviewing books will ensure my blog sees at least some action in 2016! :-)

My two challenges are -

 

I did the Eclectic Reader Challenge in 2013 and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I'm back for another go! Shelleyrae at Book'd Out says - "the aim of The Eclectic Reader Challenge is to push you outside your comfort zone by reading up to 12 books during the year from 12 different categories."

This year the categories are -

1. A book about books (fiction or non-fiction)
2. Serial killer Thriller
3. Paranormal romance
4. A novel set on an island
5. Investigative journalism (non-fiction)
6. Disaster fiction
7. Steampunk sci-fi
8. Any book shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize
9. Psychology (non-fiction)
10. Immigrant Experience fiction
11. YA historical fiction
12. A debut author in 2016

I will choose my books as I go along.





The Non-Fiction Challenge hosted by The Introverted Reader is a new one for me. It's a simple challenge - just read non-fiction books. :-) Memoir, travel, history - whatever! If it's non-fiction, it counts.

I'm signing up for the Seeker level - read 11-15 non-fiction books this year. Again, I'll choose these books as I go along.


I'll start posting my reviews soon. Stay tuned...

Gratitude & puppy love

Today is National Dog Day. To celebrate I thought it was time for me to break my blog silence and finally write a post! Seeing as my life, at the moment, revolves almost exclusively around my beautiful fur baby Roxy, it makes sense that she's the one who inspired me to write.

I am overflowing with gratitude for my little pooch. When life gets me down she is always here to make me smile. Watching her chase a ball in the park, so carefree and full of joy, reminds me that things are not as bad as they might seem. Roxy has the ability to flood my heart with happiness and break me out of negative thought patterns. After all, who can stay cranky when you have this adorable face staring back at you...

Having Roxy in my life is good for my soul. Taking her for a daily walk gets me out of the house and into the fresh air. She is so cute that everyone is drawn to her, so I end up having fascinating conversations with people I may never have spoken to otherwise. And training Roxy gives me a focus and a purpose, something that helps me immensely. 

Roxy's puppy energy and her infinite reserves of love make my darling dog a treasured family member, one who enriches our lives in countless ways. Dog lovers the world over know exactly what I mean when I say that. 

So...Happy National Dog Day! 

Healing Scribe 2015

It's been a year since I wrote a post for this blog. Part of me is surprised I had nothing to say for that long. But the rest of me knows that I've been so focused on other things that it was inevitable my blogging would take a backseat.

For me, the second half of 2014 was spent creating a home. My hubby and I bought our first house last year, so instead of blogging I was doing DIY and interior decorating. It was fun for me to have such a huge creative project - I saw decorating my first home as a chance to use my creativity in new ways. And I came to find ripping down wallpaper, or painting, or choosing the right piece of furniture, to be incredibly satisfying. Now every time I walk into my house I feel pride at the home I've made and I can see that this house expresses a little about who I am.

And this year? Well...in February we got a puppy. Our 'fur baby' Roxy is a delight and brings a lot of joy into our home. But she also takes up a lot of my time! And I wouldn't have it any other way. :-) I adore my crazy puppy, and I'm easily getting lost in spending all day with Roxy - training her, walking her, playing fetch with her, cuddling up on the sofa together. In fact I've been so focused on Roxy that it's like I fell into a puppy-fog, of which I'm only now emerging. Everything has been about Roxy for weeks now. I've thought of little else. So you can see why blogging had become so low on my list of priorities! It was only in the last few days that I've felt my creative juices starting to flow again.

I'm still a little rusty, but at least I sat down and wrote something today. Maybe I'll be back here with more to say tomorrow, or next week, or next month. Or maybe in a year from now I'll find myself sitting down to write another rambling post like this one. Who knows?!

Bye for now readers. I'm off to take Roxy for a walk. :-)  

Healing Scribe 2014

My poor, neglected blog. It's already April and this is the first post I've written in 2014. Oh, the shame!

I have been pretty busy though...

After many years and many drafts I finally finished my second novel. It's called Missing Caitlin and it explores the aftermath of loss. But there's a twist! Of course I won't reveal it here, but I will say the book is set in an ordinary world where something extraordinary occurs.

I've also been working on a screenplay. It's a romantic comedy set in London. It's fun spending time imagining a Matthew McConaughey-type guy running around my city. (This is 00s rom-com Matthew I'm imagining, definitely not Killer Joe or True Detective Matthew! ;-)

So I've been preoccupied. And I've let my blog sit untouched. I feel sorry for Healing Scribe. She's always so good to me. She waits patiently for me to gather my thoughts and get my hands on the keyboard and type something. And she never judges what I deliver. She loves every word I write. :-)

Here's hoping I can get my act together and get back to my blogging. But if you don't see much of me, you'll know where I am. Picturing Matthew McConaughey with his shirt off... ;-)

2013 Australian Women Writers Challenge Completed

After discovering the AWW Challenge only halfway through last year, I was excited to have a whole year to participate in the 2013 challenge. As this was one of three reading challenges I signed up for this year, I decided to set myself an attainable goal - read one book a month.

I also decided to read across a range of genres and I certainly enjoyed immersing myself in the wonderful worlds created by authors who were new to me. I've definitely discovered some authors I will be sticking with in the future.

I read YA paranormal, speculative, romantic suspense, romance, short stories, urban fantasy, literary, memoir, contemporary, historical, and humour. A great list!   

The twelve books I read for the 2013 AWW Challenge were ...

Shadows by Paula Weston

And All the Stars by Andrea K. Host

As Darkness Falls by Bronwyn Parry

The Paler Shade of Autumn by Jacquie Underdown

Inherited by Amanda Curtin

Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur

A New Map of the Universe by Annabel Smith

In My Skin by Kate Holden

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

The Heaven I Swallowed by Rachel Hennessey

What Women Want by Nelly Thomas

Haze by Paula Weston


You can find my reviews here.

2013 Eclectic Reader Challenge Completed

I'm very grateful for Shelleyrae at Book'd Out and her Eclectic Reader Challenge because this year I have discovered a variety of new authors and genres that I otherwise would never have read. It's been a fun ride! :-) Some of the genres were not to my taste, but others have grabbed my attention enough to ensure I'll be returning to them again.

The twelve books I read for the challenge were...

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (translated fiction)

Slayer of Gods by Lynda S. Robinson (historical mystery)

As Darkness Falls by Bronwyn Parry (romantic suspense)

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (made into a movie)

The Edge of Never by J.A Redmerski (new adult)

Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur (urban fantasy)

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (dystopian)

In My Skin by Kate Holden (memoir)

Letters Never Sent by Sandra Moran (LGBT)

The Hunt for Atlantis by Andy McDermott (action adventure)

What Women Want by Nelly Thomas (humour)

Haze by Paula Weston (published 2013)


You can read my reviews here.

Book Review: Haze by Paula Weston

Gaby Winters' nightmares have stopped but she still can't remember her old life. Still can't quite believe she is one of the Rephaim - the wingless half-angels who can shift from place to place, country to country, in the blink of an eye. That she was once the Rephaim's best fighter. That demons exist. That Rafa has stayed.

But most of all, she can't quite believe that her twin brother, Jude, might be alive.

And Gaby can't explain the hesitancy that sidetracks the search for him, infuriates Rafa, and sends them, again, into the darkest danger.

Haze is the second book in Paula Weston's 'Rephaim Series' and I have been eagerly awaiting its release all year. I bought the book when it came out in October, but held off reading it until this month so I could round out the 2013 Australian Women Writers Challenge with a book I was guaranteed to love. Also I thought it was quite fitting that I began and ended this year's challenge with the same author! :-) 

Reading Haze in December also allowed me to complete another of my 2013 challenges - the Eclectic Reader Challenge, which called for a novel 'published in 2013'. So a win-win :-) 

I devoured Haze in one day. I was up until 1am to finish it. It is that good! Weston is a pro when it comes to creating tension on the page. I couldn't get enough of Gaby and Rafa's blossoming romance alongside the rapid action of demon-slaying and Fallen Angel intrigue. I believe this is the secret to Weston's successful novels - they are the right amount of love and action. The heat between Gaby and Rafa certainly takes a back seat to the real story of the Angels, and yet it is still there lingering on every page. All this leads to a powerful cliffhanger that sent me straight onto Weston's website to find out when the third book - Shimmer - is released. Oh, if only I could read it now! I'm desperate to find out what happens next. Alas, I'll have to wait until mid 2014.

What I loved the most when I read Shadows back in January was Gaby's strength. It was great to read a female character who could hold her own amongst demons and yet remain relatable to we mere mortals. In Haze, more of Gaby's strengths and weaknesses are revealed and we slowly learn more about this fantastic character and the past she has forgotten. Weston writes Gaby so well that I feel I know her personally. Likewise with Rafa, who despite his many secrets, is a character that I feel very invested in. I can't wait to discover what will become of them both.

Haze picks up right where Shadows left off and follows Gaby as she deals with the fallout of the fights she had in the first book, and as she searches for her twin brother Jude. Mainly taking place in the great Aussie setting of Pan Beach, this sequel definitely creates more questions than it answers, but that's what I loved about it. And it's a brilliant strategy by Weston - get the reader hooked, but don't reveal too much. It's a sure-fire way of getting the reader to return to the series again and again. It worked for me - I'll be counting the days until I can read the next installment of this gripping series.