Blog – Page 75 – Lyndsey Hall

The Liebster Award

Hello lovely folks! I had the pleasure of being nominated for the Liebster Award twice, so massive thanks to both Louise @ Dragonspire UK and Julianna @ Blots of Ink and Words for the love! This is going to be another long one (22 questions!) so grab a cup of coffee and get comfy for a while.

The Rules

Thank the person(s) who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
Answer the 11 questions they gave you.
Nominate 11 blogs and let them know they’ve been tagged.
Give them 11 questions to answer.

Julianna’s Questions:

Why did you start blogging? I’ve had a couple of blogs over the years, a personal one, a craft business one and now my book blog. I suppose the reason I’m drawn to blogging is to hopefully make some online friends and feel part of a community of people with similar interests. I’ve definitely found that with this blog! I’m also hoping to publish my novels and would love to have a little network of potential readers!

What’s your favourite thing about blogging? I love the support everyone gives each other in the book blog community! When I started I would never have imagined being tagged and nominated for awards by some of the amazing blogs I follow, I just thought I’d sit quietly in a corner of the blogosphere, like at school discos when no one asked me to dance. But you’ve all taken me into the fold and I love you for it 😀

What causes you the most pain (bookish related)? Having to DNF books I’m just not enjoying. I’m trying to struggle through The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine at the moment, forcing myself to read ten pages a day at least, but it’s just not gripping me and I feel like I’m wasting time I could spend reading something I love. I think I’m going to have to give in soon as I’ve got library books that need to be back soon and I know I could tear through them in days as it’s a series I love, whereas TSQ is taking weeks.

What are the main reasons you’ll follow a blog? When someone follows my blog or likes/comments I always pop over and have a quick look at their most recent posts to see if I fancy following them. If it’s another book blog with reviews of books I’ve heard of or read, or are pegged as YA or fantasy, I’ll almost always follow as I love discovering new books through people’s reviews. I like blogs that are easy on the eyes, but to be honest I mostly follow via WordPress Reader so the format doesn’t actually matter. I also love following fellow writers, so posts on the craft of writing appeal to me too.

What type of book covers do you like the most? I love really simplistic covers, like Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor, All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater and The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo.

I prefer them to not have people on, but if they do then something like Lauren Kate’s Fallen series, where you don’t see her face, or A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, and The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson are right up my street.

What’s your favourite genre of books and why? Fantasy. I read more YA than anything else, but I do love MG fantasy too, Harry Potter was the series that got me hooked as a teen, Percy Jackson is a great series too, I haven’t read them all but I hope to. And my current Adult fantasy obsession is the Broken Empires series by Mark Lawrence. I just love the escapism of fantasy, the creativity of the world building, the magic and monsters, and the way that fantasy tackles the really big issues of morality, courage, love and justice without shoving it down your throat.

Why did you start reading? My dad got me into reading as a kid, I don’t even remember when it started or what my first book was, but I read the entire Animal Ark series by Lucy Daniels, the Ms Wiz books, and anything else I could get my hands on. Book fairs at school were my absolute favourite, and visiting the mobile library when it came to my village. Harry Potter kept me reading throughout my teens, and then I dropped off a little during uni, but as soon as I finished with coursework and dissertations I was back on the bandwagon!

What happened if someone walked up to you and tried to fight you? Good question. Is it a physical fight? Do they have a weapon? I’d probably run away, I’m no athlete, I don’t think I could take someone in a physical fight. If it was just a war of words I might be able to hold my own briefly, but I absolutely hate confrontation so I’d definitely end up telling them where to go and walking away. Quickly.

What would your “happy place” include? A huge bed, lots of blankets, my dog Bailey, unlimited pizza and ice cream, and every book on my Goodreads TBR. Oh and my husband can visit, once a week.

What would you do if you were stranded on an island? See above. Except, probably less blankets and more sun cream.

(Did I hit eleven questions yet?) What makes you bored? (Is it writing questions?) Watching my husband ten pin bowl (he plays competitively and is actually very good, but that doesn’t make it a good sport to watch, unfortunately).

Louise’s Questions

Fanfiction: Do you approve or disapprove of it? If you write it, should you keep it separate from your original author writing or shout about it? I love fanfics, I used to write them when I was a teen (Harry Potter mostly) but I prefer to write original stuff now and just read other people’s fanfics. I’m not sure whether fanfiction should be kept separate, some big authors started as fanfic writers, like Stephanie Meyer and E. L. James, so it can definitely help you to get discovered. I suppose it depends if your official readers would enjoy the stuff you write for fun, otherwise I guess you could just use a pen name.

Do you have any pets? If yes, what are they, and how do they help/hinder your writing? If no, what would be your ideal pet? Yes! My beautiful German shorthaired pointer Bailey, she’s my best friend, and I wrote two pointers into my WIP The Fair Queen as an ode to her. She does get in the way of me writing when she wants walking right when I’m in the middle of a big scene, but our walks are the times when I think about my story and come up with new scenes and plot twists, so I wouldn’t have it any other way.

What was the first story that inspired you to write? Why should we read/watch it? Well, I started thinking about the story for my novel The Fair Queen last summer when I was deep in a book hangover post A Court of Mist and Fury, so while my book is nothing like Maas’s I think it was probably that that pushed me to give writing a go – I wanted to create characters someone would love as much as I loved Sarah J. Maas’s. If you like YA fantasy (or adult fantasy, it’s a bit sexy and dark!) and you haven’t read A Court of Thorns and Roses you should definitely give it a read. Book one is OK, but book two is the best book I have ever read, hands down.

The thing that inspired me the most was my surroundings, I live right by Sherwood Forest and we got our dog last February so I was walking her every day in the woods by my house and a story just started to come to me.

If you could have or achieve any one thing this year, what would it be? (Writing or otherwise!) I really want to find an agent to sell my first novel this year, I’m taking part in Pitch Wars in August and really hope to get a mentor to help me perfect my pitch for the agent round in November. Fingers crossed I end up with an agent before the end of the year!

Do you have a day job in addition to writing, or is writing your day job? I do have a day job, I’m a marketing manager for a small accounting firm, and I really enjoy it.

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? Bonus points for pretty pictures 🙂 I don’t think I can narrow it down to just one place, but I have a bucket list for each decade of my life, I’m almost done with my twenties (I turn 30 next year and only have one thing left to achieve!) and I’ve already picked my ten goals for my thirties. So, in the next twelve years I hope to go to Australia, Las Vegas, and Hawaii. Disneyland is one of my favourite places, I’ve been to Paris and Orlando, so I’d love to go to California. I’m going on a big family holiday in September to Singapore and Thailand which I’m really excited about, it’s a once in a lifetime kind of trip that I never expected to take, and there’s a Universal Studios there so I can’t wait to visit!

Who is your favourite heroic character? What makes them special? This is such a tough question, I tend to fall for secondary characters way more than protagonists. I’m going to go for Aelin Ashryver-Galathynius from Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, even though she’s definitely more of an anti-heroine. She went through a really terrible experience, but she came out the other side so strong and is a really selfless and courageous person. Also, I love the sass.

Do you write every day, ad hoc, or have a different schedule? I write ad hoc mostly, but I’ve found that I do much better with structure, so NaNoWriMo is my best writing time. I couldn’t write every single day, I have too many other things going on, but I’m always thinking about my projects, fleshing out my outline or character profiles, so I might not write every day but I work on my stories every day.

What do you find most challenging about writing? Why? Definitely letting people read my writing, I’ve given a few trusted friends and family members my novel to beta read and I’ve had some great feedback but it’s absolutely terrifying!

Who is your favourite villain? Why are they so nefarious? Can I choose Maleficent? She’s technically a villain, even though I guess the movie makes her out to be more of an anti-heroine… I just think she’s wonderfully evil and clever. And my husband says I’m just like her… 😀

If you could have two fictional characters brought to life, who would you choose and why? Hmm, only two? Let’s go for Hermione Granger – perfect bookish best friend, I think we can agree. And Dorian Havillard, because he loves books and puppies. That’s it. That’s the only reason……….

Phew, that was fun!! OK, now to choose from all you fabulous bloggers to nominate. If you’ve already done this one or don’t feel like it, no worries! Equally, if I haven’t tagged you but you want to give it a go, have at it.

Tanya & Shanya @ Twin Bookmarks
Jacqueline @ Bluejay Books
Holly @ Nut Free Nerd
Nadwa @ Painfully Fictional
Sarah @ Between the Pages
Heather Lauren @ Heather Lauren Reads
May @ Forever and Everly
Breeny @ Breeny’s Books
Christine @ The Story Salve
Mel @ Mel to the Any
Katie @ Read with Katie

OK, you lucky people, here are my eleven (seriously? eleven?) questions for you:

If you could live in any fictional world (doesn’t have to be fantasy, just any book world) which would it be?
Which fantasy creature would you love to have as a pet?
If you could control one of the elements (earth, air, water, fire) which would you choose?
Do you prefer tea or coffee? How do you take it?
Would you rather be too hot or too cold?
What’s your favourite colour?
Team Edward or Team Jacob?
Go to your Goodreads to read list, what’s the fifth book on your list?
Ketchup or mayonnaise?
Do you prefer paperbacks, hardbacks, ebooks or audiobooks?
Who would be your dream book boy/girlfriend?

So that was definitely my longest blog ever! I hope you guys enjoy getting to know me a little better, congratulations for actually making it to the end! Best of luck with my questions, I can’t wait to see your answers, tag me in your blog so I can find your posts.

Lyndsey

Ten books my dad would love

Hey, hey! This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is a Father’s Day freebie so I’ve decided to share with you all 10 books my dad either loved, or would be right up his alley. As per usual, TTT is a meme hosted by the lovely ladies over at The Broke and the Bookish, pop over and join in the fun!

(I’m going to cheat a little bit here, because I have a dad and a stepdad, so I’m going to mix and match!)

Believe Me: a memoir of love, death and jazz chickens by Eddie Izzard

This is the book my dad has actually asked for for Father’s Day, the new autobiography of his favourite comedian, Eddie Izzard. It was my dad who got me into reading as a child, he bought me every single one of the Animal Ark series by Lucy Daniels, took me to the mobile library, sold all of my Animal Ark books on eBay when I outgrew them. My dad was always a reader and he passed the trait on to me, and I’m eternally grateful.

Mr Mercedes by Stephen King

I started a book exchange at work a couple of years ago, the basic premise being you leave a book you don’t want and take one you do. Someone left Finders Keepers by Stephen King, and knowing my dad loves a good King novel, I took it. I didn’t realise it was actually the second in a trilogy. Mr Mercedes is the first, so I definitely need to get my dad a copy.

A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin

My stepdad loves Game of Thrones on TV, so for Christmas I bought him the whole series of books (so far). I’m hoping to borrow them at some point…

Origin (Robert Langdon #5) by Dan Brown

My stepdad also loves the Robert Langdon novels by Dan Brown, he’s read them all so far, but Origin comes out in October so I’ll probably buy him a copy for Christmas.

A Time to Kill by John Grisham

You can’t beat John Grisham for a good court room drama. I remember watching the film with Matthew McConaughey and being really moved by his performance, a friend told me once that it wasn’t in the script for him to cry during his closing speech but he got so emotional and they kept it in the final cut. I love that. My dad loves The Firm and lots of other Grisham novels, so this would be right up his street. Grisham actually wrote a sequel called Sycamore Row back in 2013, so I could even get him the set!

The Midnight Line (Jack Reacher #22) by Lee Child

My stepdad loves Jack Reacher novels, I’m not sure if he’s read every single one, but The Midnight Line comes out in November so I guess that’s another Christmas present sorted for him!

Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling

My gran (my dad’s mum) bought me the first two Harry Potter books when I was eleven, she’d heard they were popular and I had never heard of them before she gave them to me. So, thank you to my dad for getting me into reading, and thank you to my gran for introducing me to the books that changed my life and got me hooked! My dad read all the books as soon as I finished them, and he loved them almost as much as me.

In search of Duncan Ferguson: the life and crimes of a footballing enigma by Alan Pattullo

My dad is a huge Everton fan, Duncan Ferguson was his favourite player, and actually lived on the same street as my aunty and uncle for a while. He kept pigeons apparently. My dad loves an autobiography/biography, so I think he’d enjoy this one.

Lewis Hamilton: Triple World Champion by Frank Worrall

My stepdad on the other hand is a big Formula One fan, in fact we’re all going to Singapore in September for the Formula One (and a cruise round Thailand and Malaysia!). Lewis Hamilton is his absolute favourite, last year for his 50th birthday my mum took him to Silverstone and I bought him an official Hamilton polo shirt.

The Martian by Andy Weir

I loved the film of this and I’ve heard great things about the book. I think both my dad and stepdad would enjoy this, as my dad likes sarcasm and dark humour, and my stepdad loves sci-fi – mainly because he genuinely believes aliens exist and would probably think it was a true story!

And that, in a nutshell, is my dad and stepdad. Is anyone else’s father figure into crime thrillers and sporting autobiographies? My husband is the same, I wonder if it’s common amongst men, or if I just have a type? Leave your TTT links in the comments so I can see what your dad is into and maybe not feel so confused!

This was a bit of a departure from my usual, super girly book posts, I hope you enjoyed the change! Next week it’ll be back to regularly scheduled programming, I promise!

Lyndsey

Review: Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Magge Stiefvater Review

I am really burning through The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater! I’ve already downloaded The Raven King and as soon as I finish listening to Nevernight by Jay Kristoff I’ll be getting stuck into the series finale.

If you haven’t read the first two books in the series, you can check out my no spoiler reviews here: The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves.

TL;DR Gansey is still looking for Glendower, Adam is still proud, Ronan is still angry, and Blue is still independent. Maura is missing, the Grey Man is back and his boss, Greenmantle, is on the hunt for the Greywarren (now aware that it is a who and not a what).

At the end of The Dream Thieves, Maura left a note for Blue to say she was going looking for Artemus – Blue’s father, who disappeared while Maura was pregnant and hasn’t been seen since. Now Maura is missing too, underground in the caves beneath Cabeswater.

Persephone is still helping Adam to master his powers and strengthen the ley line. His bargain with Cabeswater is effecting him more and more, making him darker and moodier, although he has learnt how to interpret its attempts at communication, which are often terrifying manifestations and visions.

“For so long, he’d wanted Gansey to see him as an equal, but it was possible that all this time, the only person who needed to see that was Adam.”

Ronan is still trying to figure out a way to save his mother, and all the other dream things that fell to sleep when his father died. He’s getting closer, his mother is now living in Cabeswater, where she seems to function again. Unfortunately, his dreams are encroaching more and more on his daily life, forcing him to sleep in his car rather than endanger Gansey by dreaming up a hornets’ nest inside Monmouth.

“Ronan was angry-every one of his emotions that wasn’t happiness was anger.”

Ronan and Adam spend a lot more time together in this book, working together on secret plans and using their connections to Cabeswater to try and fix the problems that the gang are battling – namely Greenmantle and his obsession with the Greywarren.

“They regarded each other. Adam fair and cautious, Ronan dark and incendiary. This was Ronan at his most truthful.”

Blue and Gansey’s relationship develops really nicely in this book, they continue to grow closer despite the obvious barriers – the fact that Gansey will die within twelve months and Blue will kill her true love if she kisses him. So, small, surmountable obstacles then.

“Blue was perfectly aware that it was possible to have a friendship that wasn’t all-encompassing, that wasn’t blinding, deafening, maddening, quickening. It was just that now that she’d had this kind, she didn’t want the other.”

Colin Greenmantle and his wife, Piper, are absolutely brilliant villains – funny, snarky and completely immoral. Colin replaces the baddie from book one, Barrington Whelk, as the boys’ Latin teacher at Aglionby, which leads to some hilarious exchanges between Colin and Ronan in Latin. Piper is a fabulously self-serving, sharp-tongued, blonde bombshell with a seriously dysfunctional moral compass. Their relationship is just fascinating, I don’t think I’ve ever loved a couple of villains as much as the Greenmantles.

“She drifted towards the bedroom, on her way to have a bath or take a nap or start a war.”

The other star of this book is Jesse Dittley, a man who’s family farmhouse sits on top of a cave they suspect Glendower might be buried in. As it turns out, the caves are cursed and eventually kill every member of Dittley’s family, including his father and grandfather. He finds Blue’s short stature fascinating and seems to be permanently shouting.

“I AM JESSE DITTLEY. DID YOU NEVER EAT YOUR GREENS?”

We also get to know Malory, Gansey’s British friend, much more in this book. He travels over to Henrietta, accompanied by his emotional support dog, and helps the gang find the caves where the believe Glendower to be hidden.

“Malory, unhopeful: “I don’t suppose you have any tea?”

Jesse: “DO YOU WANT EARL GREY OR DARJEELING?”

Malory: “Oh, sweet heavens!””

I listened to Blue Lily, Lily Blue in two days (I was doing a lot of decorating and gardening due to us moving house next month) and I enjoyed it slightly more than The Dream Thieves. There are a couple of songs in this book, one being the moody and traditional Blue Lily, Lily Blue, the other being the catchy and annoying Murder Squash. I love the layers of art in these books, Maggie Stiefvater is a musician as well as a writer and always creates music for her books – one of the treats of listening to the audio books is not only hearing these songs aloud, but hearing Maggie playing her own music at the beginning and end of each book.

One of my favourite things about The Raven Cycle is the slow development of romantic relationships. The obvious one is Blue and Gansey, who aren’t able to be together because of the aforementioned curses, but also because they don’t want to hurt Adam, who liked Blue first. In this book we finally start to see some hint of romance between Ronan and Adam (that might be a spoiler if you know literally nothing about The Raven Cycle, but if you spend any time at all online – especially Tumblr – then you’ll already know, as I did, that they get together).

It’s been hinted at very subtly throughout the series that Ronan is gay – by subtly, I mean it’s not openly stated and he isn’t constantly eyeing up guys, it is suggested that he feels something stronger than friendship for Gansey in the beginning, but that feeling is obviously not reciprocated. It isn’t at any point (that I noticed) suggested that Adam is gay, or bisexual, until this book, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how their relationship develops in The Raven King.

I gave Blue Lily, Lily Blue 4.5 stars, because it was a more gripping read than The Dream Thieves and had less elements I wasn’t a fan of – if anything, the only thing I didn’t love was Malory, I’m not sure his presence really added anything to the story. The tension and suspense is still present in this book, and I am dying to seeing how it all pans out in the final book.

Have you read The Raven Cycle? Which of the four books was your favourite? I’ve seen online that a lot of readers weren’t happy with the finale so I’m slightly apprehensive, but I really need to see what happens to these characters now, I’m so invested!

Lyndsey

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