5x5 Q's with Kylie from The Talking Teacup!

Welcome to 5x5 Q's, this week we're chatting to Kylie from The Talking Teacup!

Q: When did you start to take your blog seriously? I have been blogging on and off for year but it wasn't until February this year when I decided to buy a domain but I also decided to really work at my blog. I decided I wanted to invest time (and some money if need be) to really make it what I can. I wanted this to be a hobby I could really enjoy and a creation I could be proud of.

Q: When did you go to your first concert/festival? I have two firsts. The first time ever was to see one of my Dad's favourite musician, Graham Connors. I remember thinking it was soo cool to just see this guy sing in real life and he was soo talented.  The second was the first time I went without adults (hardcore I know) hehe. I was 17 and I went to see Good Charlotte live with one of my dear friends (who has sadly passed on now) I remember the two of us just jumping up and down like crazy and we sung loudly, so much so that I lost my voice for a week. I saw GC again a few weeks back, and I made sure to sing extra loudly just for my friend. :P 

Q: When did you get into reading? Since before I could read. I used to love my Mum reading me a bed time story, I even had the material books to take into bed with me and the rubber books to play with in the bath. Books have always been a part of my life. My Dad always said that toys he will sometimes say no to but if I asked for any book what so ever that would be something I would get, and as I look back now I see how much of a gift my parents gave me, always encouraging me to read. 

Q: When will you be famous? I don't think I want fame in the celebrity sense. No I am pretty sure I don't. I like my private life. I would like to think that I will be known as a blogger or reviewer or a great teacher. Actually I want to be famous by my future students, I want them to always look back and remember me... So I guess the answer to when, is in about 10 / 15 years when my very first students leave school and still think of me. 

Q: When... Right now and the future. I want to live for right now and plan for an amazing future. I will admit I am a worry wort who over thinks a lot and so the future to me is oh so scary at times, but I'd like to think (and pray) I have an amazing future a head of me. 

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Now, it's Kylie's chance to ask me a few questions... 

Q: What is your oldest memory? I have trouble separating memories that have been shared with me by family members or seen in photographs to what I actually remember but I find it hard to recall much before my primary school years.

Q: Where is your favourite place to read? I mostly read before going to bed although I wish I had an awesome rocking chair or comfy couch to read on, I'm always distracted from the story by an uncomfortable pillow or re-angling my reading light.

Q Favourite chocolate and why? I've never really had a favourite chocolate but this past easter, I bought the Lindt Chocolate Carrots and they're just so delicious.

Q: Who is your hero and why? It's been Hayley Williams for the past couple years, she seems to have such a cool and relaxed personality plus a real understanding of how to properly treat her fanbase that was until recently when her band split up and some details came out that shone a new light on her. I'm unsure as to what's real and what's been made up but I'm still a fan just not as intensely.

Q: What is one of your pet peeves? Something that seems to happen quite a lot is people interrupting me in conversation. They either talk right over the top of me or lose interest altogether. I'm not that boring, am I :)

Be sure to let me know if you'd like to participate in 5x5 Q's!

Waiting on Wednesday #50

Tris & Izzie by Mette Ivie Harrison

Oct 11th 2011  

I'm not all that familiar with the original but I'm hoping to pick up a few facts while also really enjoying the story of Tristan & Isolde that is hidden behind one of the best covers of this year :) 

Summary: A modern retelling of the German legend "Tristan and Isolde", "Tris and Izzie", is about a young witch named Izzie who is dating Mark King, the captain of the basketball team and thinks her life is going swimmingly well. Until-- she makes a love potion for her best friend Brangane and then ends up taking it herself accidentally, and falling in love with Tristan, the new guy at school. 

5x5 Q's with Manda's Movements!

Welcome to 5x5 Q's, this week we're chatting to Amanda from Manda's Movements!

Q: What is your daily life really like? Seeing as most days I spend at work it goes like this. Wake up at 6.30. Get ready. Leave for work. Spend the next half hour singing in my car. Spend 8 1/2 hours listening to people talk about their pets. More singing in car. Dinner. Internet. Read. TV Show. Blog. Then sleep round 11ish.

Q: How will the world end? I'm a firm believer in science so I believe the world will end when the Sun explodes. As for the human race? Zombie apocalypse of course.

Q: When did you go to your first concert/festival? Not sure of my exact first but the first I remember is Big Day Out 2001 with Rammstein and Limp Bizkit. Let's say it began my love of live music.

Q: Why do you think you enjoy reading? My reading habit is purely for escape. Life and all the things that happen in the world is just too much to handle sometimes and I'm all about escaping.

Q: Where would you like to be in 5 years time? Just somewhere that I'm happy. Hopefully I'll have travelled some more, be living in a house that is my own and have only true friends that I can trust.

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Now, it's Amanda's chance to ask me a few questions...

Q: Who would you most love to meet? I'd love to have a chat with Hayley Williams from Paramore infact dinner with the whole band would be entirely awesome. It'd also be really cool to run into Max Bemix, Alexa Chung or Jake Gyllenhaal but I'm sure I'd be way too nervous to have any sort-of real convo with those guys.

Q: What is your favourite song right now? I've been listening to Simple Math by Manchestra Orchestra on repeat since I first heard it. It's already taken over the most played tracks on my iTunes, I'm psyched for the new album.

Q: If you could be anywhere in the world, where would it be? I'd love to be in a moshpit for one of my fave bands especially if it was at one of the drool-worthy festivals like Bamboozle, Warped or SXSW. I've only been overseas once and would love to go almost anywhere but at the top of my list would have to be New York, Paris, Rome, London, etc.

Q: Is there a book/series that you're dying to see made into a movie? I'm really enjoying the Pretty Little Liars on TV, also by Sara Shepard, The Lying Game looks amazing but most of all, I'd like to see another Sarah Dessen book turned into a film. 

Q: What's a favourite memory of yours (that you can share)? I'm struggling to pick one that sticks out as most memorable for me but maybe the time I poked my cousin in the eye with a plastic fork?

Be sure to let me know if you'd like to participate in 5x5 Q's!

In My Mailbox #71

I can hardly believe this is my seventy-first time putting together an in my mailbox post, this one marks an awesome week in books which I've already started to make my way through reading-wise. Be sure to check out Kristi's blog, The Story Siren for my info on the blogopheres infatuation with this meme.

In Order of Excitement:

• What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen | So glad to have another novel from this awesome lady. If I don't love this one, I may as well give up on reading altogether.
• My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody | I'm pretty sure I'll be inspired to leave all my major life decisions up to the readers of my blog after reading this one and that'd probably make for a heap  more interesting posts than I currently have.

• The Liar Socety by Lisa & Laura Roecker | There has been a little bit of an uprising over the cover of this one but it's been slowly growing on me and I'm almost convinced to add a pink streak to my hair because of it!
• Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood by Eileen Cook | It feels like this one has been on my wish-list for ever and ever so it's great to finally have it in my hands now it'll probably only take me about a year to get around to reading it, ha!

• Stolen by Lucy Christopher | I've walked past this one at my local library so many times that I thought it was about time I picked it up for once.
• Attachments by Rainbow Rowell | I'm as shocked as you to see a non-ya book in my hands but I've had so many awesome experiences reading books written in alt-formats like diary entries, instant messages and letters that I thought it was about time I checked out another one.

• One Lonely Degree by C.K. Kelly Martin | I'm not so in love with the cover of this one but I've heard some good things about it so I'm giving it a chance anyhow.
• The Opposite of Amber by Gillian Phillip | This one sounds just a tad too creepy for my liking, I'll probably have to read it in the stark daylight.

Q: Which duo of books would you rather receive?

(ARC) Tour: My Life Undecided

My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody | Okay, maybe that was a bit melodramatic, but I’m sorry, I’m feeling a bit melodramatic at the moment. 

Here’s the deal. My name is Brooklyn Pierce, I’m fifteen years old, and I am decisionally challenged. Seriously, I can’t remember the last good decision I made. I can remember plenty of crappy ones though. Including that party I threw when my parents were out of town that accidentally burned down a model home. Yeah, not my finest moment, for sure. 

But see, that’s why I started a blog. To enlist readers to make my decisions for me. That’s right. I’m gave up. Threw in the towel. I let someone else be the one to decide which book I read for English. Or whether or not I accepted an invitation to join the debate team from that cute-in-a-dorky-sort-of-way guy who gave me the Heimlich Maneuver in the cafeteria. (Note to self: Chew the melon before swallowing it.) I even let them decide who I dated! 

Well, it turns out there are some things in life you simply can’t choose or have chosen for you—like who you fall in love with. And now everything’s more screwed up than ever. 

But don’t take my word for it, read the book and decide for yourself. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll scream in frustration. Or maybe that’s just me. After all, it’s my life.

If you're interested in participating in this blog tour, please first sign-up here and then comment on this post with your name and location.

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Reading time is limited to 7 days and reviews need to be written within a month.

Review: Stay by Deb Caletti

ONCE again, Deb Caletti has failed to live up to the hype. I constantly find myself comparing her contemporary style to the great Sarah Dessen and wonder how she manages to miss the mark each and every time yet I still end up adding her books to my wish list in the hopes of something brilliant.

STAY; April 2011 is based on the life of CLARA and her father as they venture into a beach side town for the summer before she goes off to college in the hopes of warding off her obsessive boyfriend. In alternating chapters of past and present, we learn how the whirlwind romance with CHRISTIAN began with eyes being met across the room at a basketball game to Christian eventually asking more and more intrusive questions and getting all too controlling for Clara.

I did find it quite curious that Clara fell into a new relationship while escaping Christian's over-protective style in BISHOP ROCK. And while FINN is a regular nice guy, it didn't really make sense for her to start dating after such a tremendous relationship but I'm sure a Caletti novel would lack without a fresh romance woven through the tale.

Overall, I found it interesting and frustrating to work through the depths of an abusive relationship from the safe distance of a teen novel without any real violence to shock us. If you've read a Caletti novel before this, you'll know what to expect as I don't think she really strays from her usual path. I just hope the author receives a little push in the right direction for her next novel as I believe she has great potential to be one of my favourites but I can easily understand why many would deem contemporary as a rather boring genre with this effort. 

THREE OUT OF FIVE STARS

Waiting on Wednesday #49

The Survival Kit

by Donna Freitas 

How delightful does this one sound? I love the idea of finding a personalized playlist just for me so I'll be eagerly anticicpating it's release in October.

October 11th 2011 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

A romantic and heartfelt celebration of both memories and new beginnings.

When Rose’s mom dies, she leaves behind a brown paper bag labeled Rose’s Survival Kit. Inside the bag, Rose finds an iPod, with a to-be-determined playlist; a picture of peonies, for growing; a crystal heart, for loving; a paper star, for making a wish; and a paper kite, for letting go.

As Rose ponders the meaning of each item, she finds herself returning again and again to an unexpected source of comfort. Will is her family’s gardener, the school hockey star, and the only person who really understands what she’s going through. Can loss lead to love?

5x5 Q's w/ Brittany from Nice Girls Read Books!

Welcome to another edition of 5x5 Q's, this week we're chatting to Brittany of Nice Girls Read Books!

Q: What would you most like to accomplish in the future? Probably all bloggers or avid readers say this, so I don't want to sound to repetitive, but I would absolutely LOVE a job in the publishing industry. I like to write, but I'm not sure I'm good enough! Even just an office job in some publishing company would suit me fine. As long as I'm working in some area related to books, I'd be happy. If we're talking 'dream job', I'd be an editor or an agent for authors.

Q: How did you get into blogging? For a few years now I've been reading a lot and recommending YA titles to my friends to read. I wanted to have somewhere I could keep track of my thoughts as well as share them with anyone who wanted my opinion. Goodreads was a great way for me to do that, but I wanted something more personal and something that would keep everything organized as I wanted it. I also wanted to share my excitement for upcoming titles and just talk about books in general.

After a bit of googling I found some of the very first book blogs I ever came across. I admit, the thought had never even crossed my mind before! I immediately set out to make one of my own! I haven't regretted the decision yet!

Q: When did you get into reading? My passion for reading started when I was really young. I used to go to the public library with my mum (also an avid reader) when I was little and hire out Goosebumps, The Sleepover Club and things like The Nancy Drew Diaries (or whatever the revival series for kids was called, there were heaps of them). In 6th grade I had my first taste of Harry Potter and that was the first series I REALLY got obsessed with, like a lot of people my age. I think Harry Potter really upped the standards for me.

Q: Why is "paranormal fantasy" your favourite? A lot of people complain that the genre is being clogged with some not-to-good reads lately. I agree, but you just have to know where and when to dig out the good ones - there are still some great titles that breathe new life into the genre. The thing I love most about it is that it's just so different from everyday life. If I'm going to read, I want to go on an adventure and step into the shoes of the main character. I don't want to step into another boring reality, such as 9-5 workdays and office romances. Paranormal fantasy gives me that. Some of the authors are just so creative and come up with incredible ideas!

Q: Where would you like to travel most in the world? Without a doubt, Paris. I know it's a pretty generic answer but I'm just so in love with the city. I started teaching myself the French language last year, urged on by the fact I hoped to someday travel there. I'd do the touristy thing for a few days, but after that I'd just immerse myself in the culture and be a part of the atmosphere!

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Now, it's Brittany's chance to ask me a few questions... 

Q: What's the best thing about being an Aussie book-blogger? The tight-knit group of awesome Aussies who read YA, there seem to be more and more of us popping out of the woodwork everyday. I especially love the huge amount of book trading that goes on between us, we even started our own little group on goodreads - The Aussie Swap.

Q: How long have you been blogging and was there any time in which you thought 'I'm going to give it up'? The first post I ever made on this blog was way back in 2007 but the beginnings of a book blog didn't rear its head until late 2009. There will always be a doubt in the back of my mind that this community and my participation will one day cease but it's been great for such a long time so I just have to enjoy it while it lasts.

Q: If you could change one thing about your blog, what would it be? I'd like to eventually have quality posts scheduled for every day of the week where I use my creative writing skills for interesting discussion posts. I'd also really like to knuckle down on writing one review a week, I seem to be slacking on this a little lately. I guess I'd also like to see a new layout one day but I'm afraid I just love this one too much.

Q: Other than reading, what passion has made a big impact on your life? MUSIC! At the age of about 16, I discovered a few cringe-worthy artists like Simple Plan, Good Charlotte & Kisschasy which led me on a whirlwind tour of discovering so many awesome bands. They shaped my teenage years so much that I really wonder what my life would've been like without the awesome community of music loving fans I discovered.

Q: What irks you most about other bloggers? The amount of arguments that seem to go on in the background of the book blogging world is tremendous over silly things like who originally created particular memes and who deserves more review books, I'd just like to remind those people that we are sharing an interest of books and not actually starting world war III :)

Be sure to let me know if you'd like to participate in 5x5 Q's!

Daily Dose #21

I love that so many people have taken this meme under their wing and are enjoying the theme. It's brilliant to pop over to random blogs and catch some inspiring images. If you'd like to participate in Daily Dose, simply make a post on Monday with a bunch of images you find magical and hope to inspire your readers with then share the link below.

♥ holly

All images lovingly found on We Heart It!