Book Review: Fearne & Holly, The Best Friends' Guide to Life PLUS 2 COPIES TO GIVE AWAY!!!

Here's what Fearne and Holly have to say about the book:

Hello! This is a book written by proper best friends- us!- who have been hanging out together for over 10 years. We thought that if we shared some of our own experiences and views on friendship, relationships, leaving home, studying or starting a new job, then it might help you on your own journey.
Inside you'll find loads of stories- some funny, some sad and some that make us cringe with embarrassment- as well as tips and advice on things like dating and looking good. We've included our best photos from over the years (even the dodgy ones!) and drawings that Fearne has done especially.
Let's face it, life isn't easy a times so we hope that this book will make you laugh, entertain you, but most of all that it might be a bit like talking to your very best friend. 

I really enjoyed reading this book, I would describe it as part-autobiography and part guide to life which is great as different readers will get different things from it. Fearne and Holly are  both highly successful women so it was very interesting to learn about their career paths and the many obstacles that they had faced. Obviously we don't all work within the media but their advice pretty much rings true in all walks of life and it is good to know that they too have endured cringe-worthy office Christmas parties! I found that I completely identified with their friendship, they are very different in so many ways yet they couldn't be closer as friends. My relationship with my best friend is like that; she is very much the louder, more social one but I know she does is one of the best people to bring me out my shell and make sure that I have a good time.
Everything is covered in the book, love, relationships, babies, work, home interior, friends, bosses, clothes, make-up, music, films, I could go on and on. It was good to see that Fearne and Holly don't feel that they have to agree on everything either, they simply respect each others view points and way of living their lives.

The Best Friends' Guide to Life is a really entertaining read and the book throughout is gorgeous to look at. As I said it is a bit like an autobiography in that it is discussing Holly and Fearne's experiences but then it is discussing life in general. I think it would make a great present for anyone who is a fan of these two ladies or just as lovely gift to your best friend, I'm sure there are loads of experiences and views on friendship that you will identify completely with.

The extremely lovely and generous people at Ebury Publishing have given me not one but two books to give away to readers of my blog. To win a copy then simply leave me a comment at the end of this post, unfortunately I can only send within the UK but this competition will remain open until Wednesday 24th November at midnight, good luck!!

Book Review: Welcome to my World by Miranda Dickinson

Close your eyes and imagine the world is your oyster...
And now imagine never seeing it. Welcome to Harriet Langton's world. All her life she's dreamt of travelling the globe, but fate always got in the way.
Working as a travel agent, the closest Harri comes to her dream destination of Venice is booking the trip for someone else. But everything changes when travel fanatic Alex drops in.
With boyfriend Rob tied up with work, Harris is persuaded to help Alex in his quest for love. But in her attempts to help, Harri is soon discovers a whole new set of problems. Now Harri is locked in a ladies loo cubicle at the village hall drowning in her sorrows.
Desperate to leave her life behind, will her dreams finally come true? Or will Harri's leap of faith be her biggest mistake yet?

I missed Miranda Dickinson's first book, Fairytale of New York so I didn't really know what to expect when I was sent Welcome to my World to review. What I got though was a lovely book that I couldn't put down. The book starts with Harri hiding in the toilet cubicle at the village hall, believing her life is over. We then see her recollections of what has happened in the past to lead up to this point. I love structures like this as you know that something dramatic has happened so of course you want to find out more.
There is a lot of irony in this book; Harri is a travel agent with an obsession with travel books and programmes, yet she has never left the country to actually explore the exotic destinations that she dreams about. Then we have her quest to find her friend Alex a girlfriend when her own relationship appears to be falling apart. However I did like her as a character; she is genuinely nice and goes out of her way to help several people in the book.
Alex is a great character too and it is evident from the beginning just how much he cares for Harri and just wants the very best for her. Along with Alex's mum, Viv and her aunt Rosemary, Harri has plenty of people looking our for her.
Miranda Dickinson explores how scary it can sometimes be to follow your dreams and what happens when you realise that what you really want has been right in front of you all along. It's hard to review this book without giving too much away and I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Welcome to my World is a great read though, extremely entertaining and romantic.


Welcome to my World is in shops now, may thanks to the lovely Charlotte at Harper Collins / Avon for sending me a copy to review.

Book Review: A Winter's Wedding by Sharon Owens

Emily loves Dylan. And Dylan loves Emily. Their relationship is rock solid. Everyone says that are meant to be together, it's just a matter of when-not if- Dylan's going to pop the Big Question.
There's just one tiny fly in the ointment: Emily hates weddings. Which is fair enough seeing as she was jilted at the altar years ago by Alex, her supposed soul mate. Still, Dylan isn't Alex. He's gorgeous and sexy and scruffy and kind and more than worth taking a chance on...
But what happens when the ghost of Emily's Christmas past threatens to ruin everything? Can Dylan convince the love of his life he's different and that their wedding day will be remembered for the right reasons?
After all, with a sprinkling of snow and a touch of magic in the air, there's nothing quite like a Winter's wedding to warm the soul...

I really enjoyed Sharon Owen's last book,  The Seven Secrets of Happiness so I was very pleased to receive her latest book to review.
Emily is quite a mysterious character at the beginning of the book, I felt like she was quite sad and lonely. All we know about her is that she was born and raised in Belfast but that she moved to London a few years ago and barley has any contact with her parents. As the book goes on though, Emily starts de-cluttering the antique wardrobe in her bedroom and through the items she removes, we begin to learn more and more about her. This is how she meets Dylan as he is working in his sister's charity shop where Emily drops off the unwanted stuff.
Now Dylan is a lovely character, maybe a little too good to be true but I think these kind of men are always welcome in books. Just as the reader is slowly finding out more about Emily, so too is Dylan. He is quite an intriguing character as well, we don't know too much about him and there were several occasions where I wondered if he may have a skeleton or two in his cupboard.
My favourite character though was Arabella, Emily's disgruntled boss. She pretty much has a heart of gold but when her marriage hits the rocks, she becomes quite a comical character, hell bent on revenge.
A Winter's Wedding is obviously set in the winter and the run up to Christmas so it is a lovely book to read at this time of year or even to give as a Christmas present.
Sharon Owen has delivered another highly entertaining story with characters what you wouldn't mind having a cup of tea with. The book is published today and I recommend you give it a go, it's perfect reading for curling up with a mug of hot chocolate at this time of year.

Many thanks to Penguin for sending me this book to review.

Book Review: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Right I am a huge Roald Dahl fan, his amazing books are definitely what sparked my love of reading and I just couldn't get enough of them when I was younger. I think I actually believed I was Matilda, I looked a little like her as a child, had the horrible parents and could quite happily spend all day in the library (still could to be fair!). So I was so happy when my lovely husband arrived home from work with a present the other day, the lovely Book people had visited the hospital and he said that he couldn't resist getting me the Roald Dahl box set. He sometimes gets a little fed up with the amount of books we have in the house so to give me the gift of 15 books in one day was a beautiful surprise!
I decided to start with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and it was just as good as I remembered. Having grown up in Birmingham which has it's own chocolate factory, this was always a book that meant a lot to me.
Roald Dahl tells the story of the five children who win the Golden Tickets which will admit them to Mr Willy Wonka's fabulous chocolate factory. One of these children is Charlie Bucket and as Dahl explains, he is the hero of this fantastic tale.
As the children explore the factory and meet Mr Wonka's helpers, the Oompa-Loompas, four of them have quite nasty (and well deserved) accidents. You don't feel very sorry for them as Roald Dahl has gone to great lengths to explain how thoroughly unpleasant each one is. That is apart from Charlie who is the only child left at the end of the day. I love it when Mr Wonka explains that he is giving him and his family the factory as you know more than anything that merely visiting for the day was beyond Charlie's wildest dreams so owning it is beyond belief.
What struck me, reading this book as an adult is Roald Dahl's extraordinary use of language. He created some brilliant words which conjure up all kinds of things in the reader's imagination; I really do think he was a genius of children's literature.
I know that I am really going to enjoy re-reading these books. Do you have a favourite Roald Dahl book or character?

Harry Potter Fever!!

I am a HUGE fan of the Harry Potter books and films! Bloomsbury launched the new signature editions on November 1st, they are stunning, I already have the books but I may just have to get my hands on a set of these. To celebrate, Bloomsbury have a brand spanking new Harry Potter website for you to explore:

http://www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter

Plus they have a new facebook fan page which you can join:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Harry-Potter-UK-Book-page/166482176703640

So you can go along and have a little look at those and wait in excitement for the new film which is out this month!!!

Book Review: Out for Blood by Alyxandra Harvey

Hunter Wild, vampire hunter and star pupil at a top secret slayer academy has a crush on a guy called Quinn. He's tall, dark and very handsome. He's also a vampire, and one of the infamous Drake brothers at that.

As if forbidden love wasn't bad enough, something strange is also happening at the Helios-Ra academy. Vampire attacks are increasing, students are mysteriously falling ill and the teachers seem completely clueless. It's up to Hunter and her friends to put things right... that is, if she can get a certain immortal out of her head long enough to think about anything else. 

This is the third in the Drake Chronicles series by Alyxandra Harvey. I wasn't that big a fan on the second one but Out for Blood has reaffirmed my belief that this is a great series for young adults.
I loved the character of Hunter Wild, she is extremely feisty and has such a lot of responsibility and expectations placed upon  her. When things start to go wrong at the prestigious slayer academy that she attends, she knows that she has to step-up and find those responsible for hurting her friends. Whilst doing this she has to enlist the help of Quinn Drake, he is a member of the head vampire family and Hunter has been trained to stake vampires on first contact. However, staking is the last thing on Hunter's mind when she is around the delectable Quinn. Alyxandra Harvey builds up the tension  between these two characters so well. It reminded me of Bella and Edward in Twilight, they both know it's wrong but they just can't help themselves.
Out for Blood has a great pace to it, there was so much to find out that you can't help turning the pages. The next book isn't out until November 2011, I know that I will not be the only one grabbing a copy to find out what happens next.

You can read the first chapter of Out for Blood by clicking here.

Many thanks to Bloomsbury for sending me a review copy, it was published yesterday so look out for it in the shops!

Book Review: Dracula's Guest, A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories Edited by Michael Sims

Before Twilight and True Blood, vampires haunted the nineteenth century, when brilliant writers indulged their blood thirst imaginations, culminating in Bram Stoker's legendary 1897 novel, Dracula.

Acclaimed author and anthologist Michael Sims brings together the finest vampire stories of the Victorian era in a unique collection that highlights their cultural variety. Beginning with the supposedly true accounts that captivated Byron and Shelley, the stories range from Aleksei Tolstoy's tale of a vampire family to Fitz James O'Brien's invisible monster to Mary Elizabeth Braddon's rich and sinister widow, Good Lady Ducayne. Sims also includes a nineteenth century travel tour of Transylvannian superstitions, and finishes the collection with Stoker's own Dracula's Guest- a chapter omitted from his landmark novel. 

This book is a fantastic treat for anybody interested in this genre. Michael Sims has put together a brilliant collection of stories and I loved being able to read more about the author's and the origins behind them.
I think that vampires are always going to be popular within the world of fiction, the Twilight phenomenon has brought them to the fore again but they are a creation that allows so many different themes and ideas to be explored in one story. Bram Stoker's Dracula is one of my favourite books so it came as no surprise that Dracula's Guest was my favourite story within this book. There is something about Bram Stoker's writing that entices you in even though you know you are probably going to come across something that is pretty scary.
Bloomsbury have produced a stunning book to look at, I completely fell in love with it. This would make a brilliant present and I know that it will be sitting on my book shelf for many years.

Dracula's Guest was published on 30th October, many thanks to Bloomsbury for sending me a copy for review.