The TBR Shelf

Thanks to Between the Lines for todays feature, The TBR Shelf. It's my very first time participating and so far it seems like a brilliant mini-combo of Waiting On Wednesday & In My Mailbox.

1. What's new on your Shelf?

BLOOM by Elizabeth Scott

2.  What have you just finished on The Shelf?

LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR by Stephanie Perkins

3. What book are you most desperate this week to get on The Shelf?

THE ONE THAT I WANT by Jennifer Echols

Q: What Is Most Exciting About Your Shelf ATM?

Monthly Movie Madness

Once again, I am prevailing with this movie feature. It seems without Quickflix, I wouldn't be making as many waves with my movie wishlist but we'll have to see how things turn out when my subscription is cancelled in a couple weeks hopefully I have a whole lot of classic xmas movies to share. Until next month, happy movie watching!

The Best               The Worst  

What I Saw At The Cinema

• I Don't Know How She Does It (2011) ***

What I Watched On DVD

• August Rush (2007) ***
• Beastly (2011) **
• How To Deal (2003) ***

What I Caught On TV 

• The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (2010) ****
• Coraline (2009) ***
• He's Just Not That Into You (2009) ****
• Ratatouille (2007) ***
• 
  The Questions

1. The "Brilliantly Funny" Award
   He's Just Not That Into You. I really wasn't expecting much from this movie but with a huge cast of amazing stars, it's almost impossible not to love.
2. Most Anticipated
   Coraline. I have wanted to see this movie ever since I heard Hayley Williams ranting about how awesome it was. Unfortunately I didn't really seem to enjoy it as much as I had hoped :S
3. Fave New Actor
   Victoria Justice. I've always held a huge dislike for the Nickelodeon channel star and her tv show, Victorious but for some reason this movie has won me over and I hope to see more of what she's got! Plus Victoria's awesome curls have inspired me to try them out for myself ASAP!
4. Most Memorable Character
   Remy from Ratatouille. After a particularly bad run-in with a mouse a few months back, it's pretty insane to see this movie on my list of most-liked and I have to put it entirely down to the awesome personality and cooking skills of Remy!
5. Most Disappointing
   Beastly. Why, oh why were you so terrible. I should've known better after feeling exactly the same way about the book by Alex Flinn but I think I was hoping for the best with Vanessa Hudgens, Mary-Kate Olsen & Alex Pettyfer.
6. Most Surprising
   The Boy Who Cried Werewolf. I caught this by chance while flicking channels the other day and I'm really glad to have found it! It is definitely one of the better Made for TV Movies, Well Done Nickelodeon :)
7. Greatest Ending
   August Rush. Although it was incredibly corny, it still managed to bring a tear to the eye :S
8. Most Worthy of a Rerun
   He's Just Not That Into You. One of the few quality chick-flicks, I'm definitely keen to see this once again.
9. Best Movie Poster
   Beastly. It works really well and even shows off a bit of the backstory of the film.
   Overall Best & Worst
   He's Just Not That Into You. I think it's a mix of surprise and great storytelling that has made this film a winner for me. If you haven't seen this one yet, probably due to the weakling title, go out and get it anyway :)
   I Don't Know How She Does It. I should deffo pay more attention to the ratings on IMDB, they clearly called it a 4/10 way before I even thought about seeing it at the cinema but for some reason, I went along anyway and ended up mildly disappointed.
   
   

Q: What Movies Have You Seen Lately?

2011 #xmaswishlist

Hello Christmas 

You're just around the corner yet I've been thinking about my wish list items for what seems like such a long time. Enjoy, hopefully you can find something to add to yours or even suggest some items you think I might like :)

The Muppets Rainbow OPI Nail Polish

Country Road Tote Bag

Wonderstruck Perfume by Taylor Swift

Vans Shoes

Ticket - Soundwave Festival 2012

Daily Dose #24

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 found on We Heart It!

Review: The Book of Tomorrow

The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern

Released: 3rd December 2009

Publisher: HarperCollins

Rating: ***

Review: Even though, I rarely venture out of my beloved YA, I can only sing praises for Kristi and her In My Mailbox featurette for introducing me to such an enchanting chick-lit novel of a leather-bound book that holds tales of the future for our protag. 

After a lifetime of never having a care in the world, Tamara Goodwin is forced to readjust to life in the country-side without her father by her side when a worldwide empire is lost and never spoken of again. 

To be expected, Tamara's mother goes into a state of total disrepair which leaves the sixteen-year-old with much distress throughout the novel. Another cause of concern, is the ever so curious character of Aunt Rosaleen who keeps a tight-lip on each and and every little detail, not even allowing Tamara to check the mail or look in a photo album. 

Although, I did enjoy the alternative setting of Ireland, I often found myself skipping paragraphs when it came down to it. The long-winded descriptions of the countryside and its surrounds just weren't for me and are nothing I'd expect from an author as successful as Cecelia Ahern, whose 2004 novel P.S. I Love You was transformed into a film. 

Overall: I feel the key reason I picked up this book wasn't as much of a centrepoint of the novel as I had expected yet I am glad this quirky book found it's way into my hands as it was highly enjoyable with many twists and turns.

Cover: I'm liking the cover, it shows a little bit of the magical side of the book while also being extremely pretty. The folded corner just makes you want to read the book asap, well it did for me anyway.

Q: What Did You Think of This Book?

The Reward Challenge - Stage #5

I've never really been a fan of reading challenges, but I decided to put this one together purely to tackle my giant reading pile by rewarding myself with a pre-order here and there. A few bloggers have since joined in and now it's become a fully-fledged meme, so feel free to participate :)

Stage 5     

Read Five Books = Reward

Read in October: 

• The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter ***
• The Book Of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern ***
• Divergent by Veronica Roth *****

Read in November: 

• WTF by Peter Lerangis ****
• The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith ****

Bought/Reward: 

• Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Books I'm Falling Into This Month

It's a brand new month, which means new reading material for me! I've given myself a little bit of room, allowing for any surprise awesomeness that may turn up in the next couple weeks. I'm hoping for Nicholas Sparks, Ally Condie & Jay Asher most of all but we'll see how that pans out.

Below you will find my tentative reading pile for this month.  I am really excited for quite a few of these books! November is probably one of my favourite times of the year as you can just feel the craziness of Christmas and New Years looming but with plenty of time to wrap-up everything before the end of the year.

Let me know in the comments if you've read any of these, what your thoughts on them are, or if you want to pick a few to read along with me!  Be on the look out for upcoming reviews for these books.

The Personal Choice:

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins | After one of my most anticipated books of the year failed to turn up at my doorstep (I'd forgotten to finalise my pre-order at TBD), the lovely peeps at Aussie Book Swap were able to send me a copy out ASAP. I'm pretty sure I'll be reading this one first up as it's predecessor was beyond awesome.

The People's Choice:

Stolen by Lucy Christopher | This one is for all those Aussie YA fans out there in the world wide web who can't seem to find retailers who stock our beloved books. I'd passed this one by many times at the library but it wasn't until recently that I really took a closer look at the summary that really pulled me in. Let's hope this one turns out to be so much more than a Bear Grylls style diary.

The Publisher's Choice: 

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith | The first thing that really drew me into this book was the extremely pretty cover art, unfortunately I ended up with a totally different version but I'm still super keen to pick this one up. I guess it fits in with both the chick-lit and YA crowd?

Q: What are your thoughts on this months pick of books?