Favourite Fictional Couples

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

In celebration, I thought I'd list my top ten favourite fictional couples! Functional or dysfunctional, meant-to-be or doomed, who doesn't love a love story?

Caine and Diana (GONE series)
Cas and Anna (Anna Dressed in Blood duology)
Cassie and Evan (The 5th Wave trilogy)
Cathy and Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights)
Gaby and Rafa (Rephiam series)
Hazel and Augustus (The Fault in Our Stars)
John and Sarah (Lorien Legacies series)
R and Julie (Warm Bodies)
Sam and Grace (The Wolves of Mercy Falls series)
Nora and Patch (Hush, Hush series)

Love Molly x

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

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Book Signing at Waterstones

On Saturday, I had one of the greatest days ever! I spent the day at my very first book signing. All day I got to chat to readers and YA lovers, and not to mention recommend some of my favourite books. I couldn't help myself! Sometimes you just have to point people to Patrick Ness's The Knife of Never Letting Go or Jenny Downham's Before I Die.

The Waterstones staff were so friendly and encouraging, and I felt so welcomed. It was a mad rush being so close to Christmas, but they asked me how I was getting on every now and then, which was so kind of them considering how busy it was. 

I'm so proud ZA's sitting on the shelf with some of my favourite authors!

And let me tell you, there's something magical about staying in a bookshop all day and talking about nothing but books. Everyone who came to talk to me brightened my day, and I hope I brightened theirs too.

To everyone who bought a copy of ZA, I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you drop me a line to tell me what you thought. I always love hearing from my readers.

And thank you for coming and making my day awesome!

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

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The Owl Service - Alan Garner

I've had The Owl Service on my bookshelf for a long time. My writers' group told me to read it years ago. This is no exaggeration. I think it's been on my shelf for almost four years. So on a bookless free Saturday, I decided to pick it up.

The first issue I had with this book was its age. I rarely read books that are over ten years old, and this one's almost 50 years old. I didn't think this would matter, but even in the first chapter it felt very strange as it's so old-fashioned and dated. The dialogue especially suffered from this. I'm fairly certain children don't speak this way to one another in the 21st Century. By the end of chapter one, I wondered what I'd got myself in for as I struggled onwards.

The characters were bi-polar a lot of the time. One minute they'd be happy chatting to each other, and then they'd be arguing or fighting and hating each other. A lot of the time none of the characters liked each other at all, and I found it very strange. I could hardly keep up with their emotions they changed so fast. I also didn't feel like I got to know them very well. I wanted to know their fears and hopes and dreams, and I felt I only got a little snippet of that.

As for the plot, I'm not sure what was going on a lot of the time. I followed it, sure, but nothing seemed to happen.

It might be because this is aimed at younger readers than I'm used to, but this felt more like a short story than a novel. It seemed to end quickly, and I was left wondering what I was supposed to have taken away.

I'm not sure if I totally followed it. It's very bizarre and strange. I put it down thinking, what did I just read? I wasn't really sure what to think. I didn't particularly enjoy it or know what to say.

Just a very, very bizarre, old-fashioned book.

The Owl Service may have been great once, but today it's strange and old-fashioned.



Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

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Book Reviews: July-September

Here's another collection of my book reviews. These reviews are from July to September. Maybe I'm writing too many reviews again. Oh well. Don't worry, there will be many a NaNo blog post coming soon. In the mean time, enjoy :)



No Plus One - Steph Young and Jill Dickman 7/10 (Fangs, Claws, and Wings)

The Art of Being Normal - Lisa Williamson 5/5 (Movellas)

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - J.K Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany 9/10 (Fangs, Claws, and Wings)

My Heart and Other Black Holes - Jasmine Warga 4/5 (Movellas)

Follow Me Down - Tanya Byrne  4/5 (Movellas)

All the Bright Places - Jennifer Niven 4/5 (Movellas)

The Revenge of Seven - Pittacus Lore 7/10 (Fangs, Claws, and Wings)

The Infinite Sea - Rick Yancey 10/10 (Fangs, Claws, and Wings)

Phage - Mark Tamplin 7/10 (Fangs, Claws, and Wings)

The Last Star - Rick Yancey 10/10 (Fangs, Claws, and Wings)

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk


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The Revenge of Seven - Pittacus Lore

Before you read this review, please note that The Revenge of Seven is book five in the Lorien Legacies series.

I went into this book a little wary because it'd been a year and a half since I finished book four, The Fall of Five. I couldn't really remember what was going on other than the basics, and I was concerned it was going to take me a long time to get into it. Massive credit must go to Lore, as it turned out I hadn't forgotten any of the main characters.

Even though I was thrilled to fall back into the story without much  of a worry, I struggled to get into it. It felt really slow to start, especially because everything is running out of time and some serious battles are about to happen. I just wanted to get on with it. I couldn't help but feel like a lot was saved for the next book as, to be honest, not that much happened in this one. The Revenge of Seven felt a lot shorter and simpler than usual. It didn't feel like it had quite as much plot. Not that there wasn't enough going on -- there was -- but it didn't feel as much as usual. There was less action than usual too, but it was still pretty intense.

Once I got into it, I read huge chunks at a time, and it didn't take me many sittings to devour the whole thing. I even bought the last two books before I finished this one! This series sort of grabbed hold of me when I read I am Number Four, and it hasn't seemed to let go of me since. I still have no idea how the series is going to end, and I love that.

As before, I liked Six's narration the best, and I was disappointed when her chapters were over. Nine and Six are still my favourite characters, but I do love all the Garde. They're all so different from each other, which makes them interesting to read about and kept me turning pages. I have to say though, the human characters didn't grip me nearly as much.

Unfortunately, I've only just finished The 5th Wave trilogy, and as far as alien stories go, I can't help but compare. I know I shouldn't because John and the Garde are awesome and we're not so fussed by the humans in this seires, but I'm afraid the awesomeness of The 5th Wave did make this a little less exciting than it would've been a few months previous.

Even so, I had a wonderful time reading this book, and I can't wait for books six and seven to come through my letter box.

The Revenge of Seven felt like a filler book, but was still intense and gripping!


Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, Jack Thorne

I know a lot of people loved The Cursed Child and a lot of people were disappointed by it and that's fascinating to me. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and it made me want to watch the play even more than I already did!

It took a little while to get into the format. After all, I've never read a play for pleasure before. I wouldn't call it a challenge to read, it was more of a challenge for my imagination. But as usual, I relish challenges. It was a little bit bizarre not to have any description, and a lot of people felt like it lacked 'magic' because of it, but I'm a dialogue girl, so I got on with it really well. It was exciting to read something not quite like anything I've read before.

I laughed more than I thought I would. Maybe more than I was supposed to. Not sure if that's a fault or not. It might just be me. Those Potters are still full of sass. 

It didn't take long for me to be speeding through the pages. I couldn't turn them fast enough. I was so desperate to know what was going to happen next. I got so into Act Two that I actually felt my body growing hotter and hotter. At one point I shouted at the book like an idiot. I was so invested that I kept gasping. I did it so much that I started to annoy my fiancé. 

I read all of Act Two and almost Act Three in one go. I would've read all of Act Three in one goo too if not for needing to eat and sleep and stuff. Stupid human necessities.

Although I wanted to stop and savour it, for the life of me, I couldn't. I actually couldn't stop myself. And once I realised that I felt like an addict. I wanted to savour each page because I knew I could only have the experience of reading it for the fire time once, but nothing could stop me from devouring the pages. This book made me an addict. A regular reading junkie.

However, for most of the book I wanted to follow round adult Harry, Ron, and Hermione and that really isn't the point. It took much longer than it should've for me to become invested in Albus, and that kinda made me think I was focusing on the wrong thing. Don't get me wrong, I loved Albus. Though Scorpius Malfoy was easily my favourite character, and I am not alone in that opinion!

I did start getting jumbled at times, but at least I could stop and think about it. I'm glad I read the script first. This way I know I won't get confused!

Just one final thing, I know a lot of people are criticising this book by saying it reads like fanfiction, and it does, they're not wrong, but really? It's been nine years since we've had any Potter, and it's set well after the Deathly Hallows, so I don't think there would've been any way to avoid it sounding this way.

Whatever people think, I don't care. I loved every page.

I'm a true Potterhead forever!

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

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The Last Star - Rick Yancey

Before you read my review, you should know that The Last Star is the 3rd book in The 5th Wave trilogy (which you should read right now!). You have been warned.

I was half excited and half terrified to read The Last Star. I loved every sentence of this series, and I didn't want it to end. Plus, I knew if I read it, characters were going to die. But I had to brave it. I couldn't put it off any longer, even though I knew it was going to break me.

For some reason, it took me a little longer than normal to get into it. Maybe because I was terrified. But once I got into it, I felt myself reading too fast, but I didn't know how to stop. I did get to a point where I almost put the book down because I knew I was getting closer and closer to the end. I almost put the book down to save it. Almost. But I couldn't. I had to cover the words with my hand until it was time to read them. It was almost impossible to resist the urge to look ahead.

As with the previous two, The Last Star surprised and wowed me with little bits and pieces. Some of the sentences were just so right, they really struck home. As usual, such beautiful observations. Humanity has never been torn down and ripped into its bare basic form as much as it is in The Last Star. It's a masterpiece. Truly.

"No one tells you how close rage is to lust. I mean, the space between molecules is thicker."

As well as the beautiful thoughts and insights into human nature, the narration, as usual, was spot on. I've said it before, and I'm going to say it again, I totally adored Cassie's narration. It's so perfect. She couldn't sound any more real than she already does. And I'm so jealous of Yancey's skill.

The Last Star really is a rollercoaster ride. One minute I was laughing, the next I was trying not to cry. At one point, I had to put the book down to have a little cry. I've cried at many books in my time, but hardly ever have I had to put a book down to do so.

I'm not sure I have enough words to express how phenomenal this series is. There are literally no words for how mind-blowing The Last Star is. It made me think about life, love, fear, hope, faith, humanity. Everything. Like The Infinite Sea before it, this book tore me down and rebuilt me. Better. Stronger. This book did more than keep me entertained for a few hours. This book became me. I can't explain it any other way.
I am Cassie.
I am humanity.

I wanted to weep like a baby when I finished. I need a stronger word than beautiful. But that's all I have. Beautiful. I wrote down three goddamn pages of notes, and it'll never be praise enough.

New favourite book of the year. Dare I say it, new favourite book, period.


Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

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Phage - Mark Tamplin

"Dr. Sam Townsend faces the greatest challenge of his career--preventing a diabolical pathogen from being unleashed on the US population. Standing in his way are demons from his past, and a home-grown terrorist bent on destroying Sam."

I have never read a science thriller before (I'm not certain I've read a thriller before) so it was quite exciting to get into Phage, not knowing what exactly to expect.

My first fear was that I wouldn't understand what was going on. After all, Tamplin has a background in microbiology, which I have next to no knowledge in. However, everything makes perfect sense as long as you don't let the big words grind you down. Even though there were plenty of words I didn't know the meaning of, that didn't seem to matter, as it all made perfect sense to me. And let's just say I was an English-History sort of person at school, so don't let the microbiology stuff put you off. I must admit, I did end up skimming some of the heavy science stuff, but I enjoyed the way this book made my brain work a little harder than normal. We all need that from time to time.

Phage is told in a very black-and-white way, as I expected. But I wanted a little more emotion from all the characters. Plus, I wanted to get to know them a little better. They all had bits and piece of backstory, but I wanted to truly know them and feel what they were feeling. 

The way it was told also brought out some very bizarre and specific descriptions, especially when travelling. I don't know whether this was done on purpose or not, but it ended up irritating me to know that they turned a certain way at a junction to take the whatever road. Also, there were some very weird, real-life interruptions sometimes when the characters were talking to one another, which is the sort of thing that usually gets taken out, but for some reason, the characters get interrupted for no reason at all, which I just found odd. But again, I wouldn't be surprised if this was a style choice. Like I said, it's told in a very matter-of-fact way. The whole thing feels very realistic.

The plot is so intricate and well-thought out. There is always something going on, and as you get to the end, the tension really ramps up. However, sometimes our protagonist and friends seemed to lack urgency. Or maybe that was me just dying to know how it ended. The short chapters also made it super-easy to read a whole lot in one go.

Considering I had no idea what to expect when I turned the first page, I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed Phage so much more than I expected and imagine fans of the genre would fall easily into this book's trap. It didn't take me many sittings at all to absorb the whole thing.

Phage is an intricately carved, exciting science thriller that kept me reading.

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

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No Plus One - Steph Young and Jill Dickman

Blurb

No Plus One is the ultimate manual for living an amazing single life. Its stories teach nine critical lessons that cover the most pressing issues single women face: taking risks, getting over an ex, dealing with bad dating advice and keeping your standards high, among others.

This is a book for single women who want to live a great life without the anxiety of finding or keeping a man. No Plus One uncovers the beauty in being single. It holds the key to finding confidence and happiness while learning how to be bold, outgoing and graceful in the process.

Review

I feel like I should mention before anything else, that I am not single, nor have I been during my adult life. However, that didn't mean I didn't get anything out of this book. 

Although the lessons are mostly aimed at single women, I'm sure there's something to be learnt from it, no matter what you're going through. Long-term single people, newly single people, long-term relationship people, everyone. And I think that's one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much. It wasn't trying to convince me that single life was better than life in a relationship, and it wasn't trying to convince me that being in a relationship was better than being single. It just teaches lessons on how to be happy, whatever that means for you. And I don't know about you, but that's some pretty powerful advice.

No Plus One left me with a fantastic positive buzz that made me want to action the teachings of the book. I loved the little 'Homework' sections after each chapter and summaries to really drive the points home.

The book's aim is to help you learn who you are, what your limits are, and make you feel awesome. If that's not amazing, I don't know what is.

The only negative I can think of was that I spotted a few typos, and there were a lot of instances where I would've put a comma for clarity. But that might be my picky editor being let loose

With the positive attitude, personal anecdotes, and nuggets of advice, this was a very easy book to read.

Single or not, I'm sure there's something in it for everyone.

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

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All Change - India Taylor

Blurb

Saffron's life is turned upside down when she gets bitten by a strange girl. Nothing can prepare her for the events about to unfold. When the boy of her dreams, and most people's nightmares, falls for her, they quickly realise they are natural enemies by design. The supernatural world has never been so exciting, and so incredibly dangerous. Shifters, vampires and fey get together to fight the corruption that holds the country captive, and only Saffron holds the key. The real question is, whose side are the angels on?

My Review

All Change is the first in the Bite Me series and to be perfectly honest, I don't know if I was ready for this. I knew there were vampires and shifters, but when the other supernatural creatures showed up, I was bowled over. Luckily I love anything supernatural like this so I lapped it up. But I don't think I've read a book with so many supernatural creatures in it before--at least not in book one.

It seemed to get going very quickly. Too quickly in fact. I wanted time to stop so I could take a breath and work out what had happened. But instead, we were whisked on to the next thing. This is because the book is super ambitious and long as it is, and there's no time for dilly-dallying. But I needed some dilly-dallying. I wanted a bit more build up. I wanted Saffron to work out what happened to her bit by bit. This feeling followed me through the book, and I just wanted something more. I wanted every detail Taylor had about the universe she'd created. 

I adored the plot, I have to say. Something just kept me reading and reading. However, I wanted a little more from the characters. There were so many it was difficult at times to get to know them, and I would've loved the opportunity to know more about them as they're all so interesting. Though there were so many it was a bit confusing at times.

Saying all this though, I struggled to put it down.

Evaluation

Overall 7/10

All Change was an action-packed, ambitious novel with all your favourite supernatural creatures.

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

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Why #IReadYA

It is no secret that I read YA. In fact, I read pretty much exclusively YA. There's something about YA that you just can't get in any other genre. I love the depth of the characters and their emotions and how many adventures you can go on in a YA book.

Last year for #IreadYA week I posted a blog about Books Nobody's Reading That Everyone Should Be Reading, celebrating some of my favourite YA books that for some reason other people aren't reading and shouting about! Since then, I can't say the list has changed that much so I won't be writing a new one. Instead, I'll do something different.

Here are a list of reasons to read YA;

• YA says things other genres are afraid of saying
• You can fall in love over and over again
• You can enter a world nothing like your own
• You can learn about real issues
• You make imaginary best friends
• You will laugh and cry--sometimes at the same time
• There are endless possibilities
• YA teaches you that you are not alone

There are thousands of reasons to read YA, but I think the most important one of all is:

YA is honest.

You want to know what it feels like to be heartbroken, bullied, trapped in an apocalypse, the chosen one? Whatever you want, it'll be there, ready for you.

YA is a world that anyone can escape to, not just the young adults the books are marketed to.

So pick up a YA. You might be a changed reader.

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

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The New Hunger - Isaac Marion

A Spoiler Free Bit About The Book

*Prequel to Warm Bodies*

Julie Grigio and her parents are looking for a new home.

Nora Greene and her brother are looking for food, shelter, and safety.

The dead man is looking for the answers to his many questions.

The three groups must stumble on as looking back and stopping is not an option.

My Review

I was excited and nervous about picking up The New Hunger as I loved Warm Bodies so completely. I was a little scared of my massive expectations.

I shouldn't have been worried as one chapter in, I was hooked. The simplicity of the first chapter drew me in. The dead man's point of view seemed empty and melancholy in only a few paragraphs. I should have remembered how Marion is the king of feeling.

I'm afraid to say that I have almost nothing to write as I couldn't think of a single thing to criticise.

The description was so fantastic I was right there in the moment. Some thoughtful phrases I'd never considered before made me truly enter the world Marion had created. There were some amazing lines that chilled me and made me grip the book tighter, but they were interspersed with lines that would make me laugh, causing me to be constantly on edge. And of course, turning pages.

There's something so horrible and beautiful about prequels because you know exactly how they have to turn out in order for the first book to take place and that horrible foreboding follows you on every page. If anything though, it made me read faster.

The New Hunger is short and easy to read and I didn't want it to be over. It was perfectly crafted. I can't say anything more.

The New Hunger takes my third spot on the Molten Reading Challenge: a book recommended by a friend.

A book recommended by a friend: The New Hunger by Isaac Marion (recommended by Dad)

Evaluation

Overall 10/10

Would I recommend it? Yes, but please read Warm Bodies first.

Would I look up the author? Yes, can't wait for the Warm Bodies sequel The Burning World!


The New Hunger was poignant and full of feeling.

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

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Kellie's Diary - Thomas Jenner and Angeline Perkins

A Spoiler Free Bit About The Book

Nine-year-old Kellie finds herself in a world of monsters. She must be brave in order to find home where she's hoping Mum and Dad will be waiting for her.

My Review

I didn't quite know what to expect with this to be honest. I was questioning how much of the world could pass through a nine-year-old's head. But the result was creepy and intense.

The entire thing is written in diary entries which are short and easy to read. However, I have some serious issues with the diary form and they were highlighted by the young protagonist throughout. Diaries tend to lack dialouge and Kellie's Diary had no dialouge whatsoever. I love dialouge and the absence of it stood out so much. I understand Kellie is alone for the majority of the story but even so, I was craving some sort of conversation.

Also, because of the lack of dialouge and the fact that Kellie was alone for pretty much the whole story, there are almost no secondary characters. The few people we hear about we don't know. I needed some other characters to add another dimension. I guess if Kellie had any adults around her she'd be safe and they'd be no story to tell but even so.

The diary also led to a lot of telling and not showing. Kellie would say things like "I was so scared" which makes me feel nothing as a reader. I couldn't feel her fear at all as it wasn't described. But a nine-year-old wouldn't know how to describe it so I lost out on feeling much of anything.

A lot of tension is lost because we know she's all right because she's writing the entry. This made the pace seem very casual throughout. We miss all the action and therefore the danger never truly hits us.

The whole thing was short and I read it in one sitting feeling like I'd missed something. There didn't feel like much of a plot and I disliked the choice of form.

I'm sure if Kellie's Diary was written in something other than the diary form, it would've been much more gripping.

Evaluation

Overall 5/10

Would I recommend it? No. The idea was creepy but the execution wasn't right.

Would I look up the author? No.


Kellie's Diary was creepy at first but the danger was too far removed for my liking.

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

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Girl of Nightmares - Kendare Blake

A Spoiler Free Bit About The Book

*Sequel to Anna Dressed in Blood - read my review of Anna here!*

Cas is back! Everyone come read!

"Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-gets-sucked-into-Hell story."

My Review

It's been a whole year since I read Anna Dressed in Blood so it's about time I got stuck into Girl of Nightmares. It's an understatement to say I was excited. I adored Anna Dressed in Blood, it was one of the best books I read in 2015 and I was hoping Girl of Nightmares would be one of my favourite books of 2016 . . .

So far it is! Blake stood her ground and wrote another phenomenal story. Watch out, this is going to be a gush fest!

Honestly, I was hooked by the first sentence. I'm not even exaggerating. If anyone's considering reading it, here's the first sentence: 

"I think I killed a girl who looked like this once."

Go, go read it!

But seriously, spending time with these characters was an utter joy. It's hard to explain but the words and pages just rolled by so easily. I did not want to put it down and I couldn't stop turning pages.

As I reached the end, I felt like I was hyperventilating it was so intense. I was reading with trembling fingers and holding my breath. Just . . . whoa. Magic.

The only possible thing I could think of to criticise was the fact that the adverbs started to annoy me half way through. But that was it. I can't think of a single other thing to say!

Anyway, I loved it. Truly.

Evaluation

Overall 10/10

Would I recommend it? Yes! Just go and read it!

Would I look up the author? Yes! Put a few of Blake's books on my to-read list!

FAVOURITE BOOK OF 2016 SO FAR!

That's another one for the Molten Reading Challenge.

An impulse buy: Girl of Nightmares - Kendare Blake

Girl of Nightmares was breathless, intense, and phenomenal! 

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

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Liebester Award Nomination

A little while ago, quite a few months now (okay I'm lying, it's been over a year!), I was nominated for the Liebster Blog Award by the lovely Fairley Lloyd. Now you should be as confused as I was when I discovered this because, hey, I've never heard of such a thing. That's okay because Fairley explained it on her blog and I'm sure she won't mind if I steal a few paragraphs!

 Well, I took the time to do the research. It's pretty simple! 

In the words of We Loved Here: 

"The Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. So, what is a Liebster?  The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome. Isn't that sweet? Blogging is about building a community and it's a great way to connect with other bloggers and help spread the word about newer bloggers/blogs."

There are only five rules for this:

1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
2. Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you’ve tagged to answer.
3. Choose 11 people and link them in your post.
4. Go to their page and tell them.
5. No tag backs!

So now back to me, hi! Here are eleven things about me.

1. I'm an author who's been writing for six and a half years straight pretty much which has led to eleven books!

2. I've recently started up my own publishing company: Molten Publishing

3. I'm addicted to NaNoWriMo and plan to take part in it indefinitely.

4. I've almost got 50 books on my bookshelf I haven't been able to read yet. 

5. I'm more of a fangirl than I let on. But that's okay. It's okay to get so excited about something that it makes you crazy.

6. Since discovering Movellas almost three years ago I've been as involved with the community as possible and I still can't believe that there's such a nice writing community on the internet.

7. I've self-published four of my books.

8. I wrote a trilogy before I was eighteen years old and still believe this to be one of my greatest achievements to date.

9. I love zombies and even took part in a Zombie Run in 2012 which was awesome.

10. I love dogs and have lived with at least one from the age of five until two years ago. But I've only written dogs into two of my books.

11. I've written a book review for every book I've read for the past two and half years. Now I don't think I can stop.

Q&A

1. What's the number one thing you love about reading?

Disappearing from reality and imagining things that are impossible. George R. R. Martin said "A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only once" and I don't think anyone's ever been more correct. 

2. Who is your favourite fictional character?

What an evil question! This depends on so much! Mayor Prentiss from the Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness is my most ultimate favourite character just because he's so well constructed. Caine and Diana from Michael Grant's GONE series are incredible. I want to be friends with Gaby from the Rephiam Series by Paula Weston. But I would love to meet Harry Potter, Katniss Everdeen, Tris Prior and Augustus Waters of course, who wouldn't?

3. Who is your least favourite fictional character?

This is a lot harder than I thought it would be because I like most characters, especially the bad guys. I guess I hated Julian from the Delirium trilogy by Lauren Oliver. I've just realised who my least favourite fictional character is and that's Daisy from Meg Rosoff's How I Live Now which I hated from start to finish.

4. Have you read a book/book series that you felt was underrated?

The Unearthly trilogy by Cynthia Hand was incredible and yet I've never heard of anyone else reading it. I have no idea why this is because I loved the entire thing. I read books one and two in three or four days!

5. Have you read a book/book series that you felt was overrated?

I read the first Vampire Academy book and thought it was just awful. Also How I Live Now, which I've already mentioned. I can't believe how much fuss that book made.

6. What's your favourite book genre?

 YA all the way.

7. Who is your favourite author?

I have a few: Carrie Ryan, for writing what she loves; Patrick Ness for taking me on crazy adventures; Michael Grant for all the action; and John Green for all the emotions.

8. What is your favourite book?

Evil question number two. My all time favourite books are The Forest of Hands and Teeth, The Dead-Tossed Waves and The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan.

9. How long does it take you to finish a book? (depending on it's length, of course.)

If I like the book, between two days and a week, regardless of its size. If I don't like it, possibly over a month.

10. Have you ever cried over a book? (If so, which one/ones?)

Okay, deep breath, here we go. Harry Potter, Mockingjay (The Hunger Games), Allegiant (Divergent), The Fault in Our Stars, Looking for Alaska, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Before I Die, Life on the Refrigerator Door, LIGHT (GONE), The Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking), Hallowed (Unearthly), I Don't Want to Kill You (I Am Not a Serial Killer), Son's of Destiny (Darren Shan), The Book Thief, Raging Star (Dustlands) and probably a million more!

11. What book would you recommend that everyone should read?

This will have to be a list again. The Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness, The Forest of Hands and Teeth Trilogy by Carrie Ryan, The Rephiam Series by Paula Weston and The Dustlands Trilogy by Moira Young.

That took longer than I thought! So here are the people I tag: 

Squonk (adventureswithsquonk), Chloe (poeticchances), Lily Anna (lilyannablog) and Georgia (storiesinbooks) 

(Unfortunately I don't know 11 bloggers so you have my permission to tag yourself!)

And here are your questions, they're all book related!

1. What book character do think is most like you?

2. Do you prefer the goodies or the badies and why?

3. Do you ever get annoyed when literary characters do stupid things? Do you have an example?

4. What book disappointed you most?

5. What book surpassed your expectations most?

6. What genre are you sick of?

7. What do you prefer to read, a long series or a stand alone novel?

8. Where's your favourite place to read?

9. Which fictional character would you like to meet?

10. If all the books in the world were getting destroyed and you could only save five, which five would those be and why?

11. Who's your favourite author that most people don't know of?

Sorry that took me so long to finish! This blog post has been in my drafts for over a year but finally I got round to it.

Thanks to all the amazing bloggers out there and everyone listening to them!

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

Visit me on Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / Movellas / NaNoWriMo

The Power - Rhonda Byrne

A Spoiler Free Bit About The Book

The Power is from the author of the crazily successful The Secret and is all about love and positive thinking.

My Review

Now this is a little strange for me because not only is this book not YA, it's also not fiction at all. I'm not sure if this is why it took me so long to read or because I was swimming in the deep sea of NaNoWriMo.

The Power is unlike anything I've ever read. I've never read a self-help book before (can I even call it that?) but this one made me think that maybe I'd like to read another. It was so full of great positive lines that I would feel fantastic after picking it up and reading a little section. It made me buzz with smiles and try and put the teachings into action . . . but that's easier said than done. The longer I went from picking it up, the harder I found the message to digest. It seems a lot more difficult to action in the real world. Byrne is teaching that you can just ignore emotions like sadness and anger but in reality, this is a mammoth task. I don't know whether this can be counted as a flaw of the book but the further removed I become from it, the more I found I couldn't do what Byrne suggests.

I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on non-fiction books but I will say this: The Power was incredibly repetitive. Love is the strongest force. Love don't hate. Turn away from hate and negative emotions. If you believe you receive. They are all the basic messages. The Power seemed to me to be these phrases repeated and re-worded and over-explained over and over again. Don't get me wrong, the message was beautiful, but she seemed to run out of material insanely quickly. Although it is a phenomenal performance of writing so much and saying so little.

Though don't get the wrong impression, I did enjoy it, it just started to exhaust me after a while and I was glad when it was over. I'm grateful for the messages Byrne teaches in The Power, but I felt like I needed a lie down afterwards.

Evaluation

Overall 6/10

Would I recommend it? Yes. If you need a little pick-me-up, this book is for you!

Would I look up the author? No. I think sticking to my YA fiction is the best bet.

The Power was a beautiful read though rather too repetitive for me.



*Author Note: I have for so long been proud of saying I've reviewed every book I've read for the past two and a half years but now that I own my own business and am reading non-fiction also it just doesn't make sense. The Power will be my last non-fiction review. I will however continue to review all fiction that I read. The non-fiction will still be added to my 'Books Read' list and given a star rating on Goodreads but there will be no review. If you want to know what I thought of one of these non-fiction books please feel free to ask! Thanks and love to everyone reading my blog!*

Molly Looby

Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

Visit me on Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / Movellas / NaNoWriMo

Secret Life of a Book Blogger

Welcome to my Secret Life of a Book Blogger post! Thanks so much to Georgia from Stories in Books for tagging me!

1. How long have you been a blogger? Two and a half years on this blog. I tried blogging a few times before and could never really get on with it. But now I think it's stuck!

2. At what point do you think you'll stop blogging? I don't want to stop! But I think the busier I get the harder it will be to update weekly. But hopefully I won't stop!

3. What is the best thing about blogging? Writing in a different way than I'm used to. Writing non-fiction posts once a week helps me grow as a writer and of course reviewing all the books I read helps too!

4. What is the worst thing? Having to set it all up the way I want it. Font, size, all that jazz. It's all about the words for me so the formatting really bores the pants off me.

5. How long does it take you to create/find pictures to use? I don't tend to use pictures - like I said, it's all about the words. It would be incredible to be able to create my own artwork though wouldn't it?

6. Who is your book crush? Book crush? Character from a book you mean? Rafa from the Rephiam Series by Paula Weston off the top of my head.

7. What author would you like to have on your blog? Any and all of them! But specifically Carrie Ryan, Moira Young, Paula Weston, Patrick Ness, Michael Grant, and of course J.K. Rowling.

8. What do you wear when you write your blog posts? Whatever I'm wearing that day . . . this seems like a bizarre question. More often than not I'm wearing jeans. Scratch that, I'm always wearing jeans.

9.  How long does it take you to prepare? It depends what it is. My book reviews start off as bullet points as I'm reading a book and sometimes they take me half an hour to write but sometimes they can take me an hour. Depends on how much I loved or hated a book!

10. How do you feel about the book blogger community? I think it's brilliant and I wish I knew more book bloggers!

11. What do you think one should do to get a successful blog? Writing interesting posts that people want to read is a must but I think more importantly getting your personality across. That's the difference between a blog post and an article, right?

I'm tagging Adventures with Squonk and Poetic Chances.

I'm so glad to have been a part of this! Now back to work . . .

Molly Looby
Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready
molly@moltenpublishing.co.uk

Visit me on Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / Movellas / NaNoWriMo