Winners! Is it you?

Time to announce the winners of my Kate Morton give away. I loved reading your replies about who you read and why, and now I have more authors books to devour myself. Yay! These books arrived yesterday and they are beautiful. I cannot wait to read one myself. Please email me at feistierkel @ gmail (dot) com with your address if you are named below. Thank you again to the wonderful onions at Allen & Unwin for giving us all an early look at a fantastic book.

Belinda H (from her tweet reply)
Lib
Truly Blessed Life
Atticus

Love books? Love to #win? Looky here!

My favouritest (is so a word :P ) book publishers in Australia, Allen & Unwin, have kindly allowed me to give away some copies of The Secret Keeper. The new and not-even-on-shelves-until-November book from Aussie author Kate Morton. Kate has 3 bestsellers under her belt already, and The Secret Keeper will be no different.


In a bucolic English summer at the end of the 1960s, a young girl witnesses a shocking crime. Fifty years later, she sets out to find out the truth, uncovering layers of mystery and deception. Moving from London during the Blitz to the present day, this is classic Kate Morton: a compulsively-readable, entrancing mystery with a long held secret to be uncovered at its heart.

1961: On a sweltering summer's day, while her family picnics by the stream on their Suffolk farm, sixteen-year-old Laurel hides out in her childhood tree house dreaming of a boy called Billy, a move to London, and the bright future she can't wait to seize. But before the idyllic afternoon is over, Laurel will have witnessed a shocking crime that changes everything.

2011: Now a much-loved actress, Laurel finds herself overwhelmed by shades of the past. Haunted by memories, and the mystery of what she saw that day, she returns to her family home and begins to piece together a secret history. A tale of three strangers from vastly different worlds - Dorothy, Vivien and Jimmy - who are brought together by chance in wartime London and whose lives become fiercely and fatefully entwined.
Shifting between the 1930s, the 1960s and the present, The Secret Keeper is a spellbinding story of mysteries and secrets, theatre and thievery, murder and enduring love.

I don't know about you, but that's enough to have me completely drawn in. Cannot wait to devour this one. Want to join me and win your own copy? I have 4 copies to give away! Simply comment and tell me your favorite Allen & Unwin author/s  and why (click through to a list!) Don't forget to like my facebook page here. Good luck!

Note: Open to Australian residents only

What are you about?

So, I have no idea what my blog is about. When asked to categorize it, I sort of say 'er.. parenting I guess, although, probably more cooking at the moment. Oh and books, I talk about books a lot...'

In other words, I have NO freaking idea. And just as I start to be concerned about this, and worry that I have no niche and no target, I remember I don't care. I just write about stuff. Stuff I want to talk about. Not many people read it, but that's okay, because it means I can talk about a hodge podge of life in general, and I'm not turning anyone off. Because when I started this blog, blogs were exactly that - a web log. A diary of someones thoughts and experiences. They were not big business, and they were not targeted to specific audiences. That works for me. So, on that note, here is today's hodge podge of everything that smooshes together in my life right now.

Books. I am reading non stop, and was reading a mix of fluff and crime and mystery, but have found myself freaking out too much at the scary books lately, so am on a run of fluffy chick lit at the moment that has escapism firmly planted in its ethos. Bliss. Given I've had this stupid cold/flu thing, it's quite timely.

Writing. Every time I open my... well, I suppose I can call it a story? A book it is not. My writing, anyway, every time I open the file I look at it, feel stupidly overwhelmed, and so promptly close it again. This is Not. Good. Writing. Practice. It's just that it's such a mash at the moment of research, fiction, time sequences are all over the place, and it's quite simply, a big fat mess. My lovely friend, Jess, tells me that the most difficult part of a story happens from 20-30,000 words and if I can get past this hurdle, things will be better. I can see how that is true, I just have no idea how to push through this portion that is the draft from hell.

Food. I'm all about Mexican this week. Because how good is Mexican food?! And it's so freaking easy to vegetarianise (made that word up). Right now in my fridge I have portobello mushrooms, capsicums, and onions marinating in fresh chillies, garlic, lime and lemon juices and paprika and cumin. Helloooo vegie fajitas! And every week I make refried bean burritos and chilli sans carne. So freaking good. So, I was scoping out more ideas for Mexi-Vegi goodness and I have some awesome recipes up my sleeve to try soon. Mexi pot pies, mexi pasta, vego nacho, and this interesting burrito bake that has me intrigued and uncertain, but curious enough to try.

Gertie the great dane now lives in a run for most of the day, she has her own leather couch and all. Spoiled rotten. And she has free runs 3 times a day for a couple hours. Given she mostly sleeps, this seems to work well, and keeps her safe. No more toxins and emergency vet bills. So far. Knock wood.

Parenting is as amazing as ever. I really am so lucky to have scored two of the coolest kids. Finn is 9 and the smartest kid I've ever known. His NAPLAN results were off the chart. Literally. Super smart, and sweet as hell, he's uber nerd like his parents, totally into Dr Who and Minecraft. Love it. Miss RJ is 3 and hilarious. Such a cheeky little bugger, thinks shes hilarious (and usually is). I currently have the worlds biggest Barbie Dreamhouse in my car for her birthday. I want to keep it.

Life... well, life is pretty awesome right now. I am on track with stuff, I have happy texts pinging my phone most days of recent... ;) And I am looking forward to uni next year (enrolled already!) The only thing that could add a touch of sweetener is some more freelance, paid, writing work. So... Get in touch all you editors. I'm a good work. Guy. (Thanks, Lenny).

Picture Credit: http://weheartit.com/entry/40126860/via/abillest

Book time - Don't Breathe A Word

Am not very good at reviews but had to write about this book I just read. It's called Don't Breathe A Word and is by Jennifer McMahon. The first clue to how good it is, is that I read the entire thing in less than 24 hours, despite continuing my usual errands and whatnot. It was painful every time I had to put it down. It kept begging to be picked up again.

The book is creepy. Quite unsettling, yet fascinating and the mystery is really well written. Right to the very last word.

I won't include spoilers, but the blurb reads:


On a soft summer night in Vermont, twelve-year-old Lisa went into the woods behind her house and never came out again. Before she disappeared, she told her little brother, Sam, about a door that led to a magical place where she would meet the King of the Fairies and become his queen.

Fifteen years later, Phoebe is in love with Sam, a practical, sensible man who doesn't fear the dark and doesn't have bad dreams--who, in fact, helps Phoebe ignore her own. But suddenly the couple is faced with a series of eerie, unexplained occurrences that challenge Sam's hardheaded, realistic view of the world. As they question their reality, a terrible promise Sam made years ago is revealed--a promise that could destroy them all.


Really. I don't tend to read anything like this, fairies and whatnot are not really my thing. I don't know what compelled me to even read this, I think the crime element? Regardless, I will now be reading all of her other books stat. Loved it. Have a very definite book hangover now, and will struggle to pick up the next on my to-read list, without thinking about Sam, Lisa, Evie, Phoebe... And Teilo, The King of the Fairies.

/Shiver.

Book happy

I have read some great books recently, so thought I'd drop the names so those on the hunt have somewhere to look!

Firstly, I read Red Queen by Honey Brown. It's an Australian book, which always gets bonus points from me, and not a bad one at that. It's about 2 brothers, hiding out in the bush after a virus is wiping out the world, and how their hideout is infiltrated by a strange woman...

Next up, Room by Emma Donoghue. Have been meaning to get to this for months and months and finally nabbed it. I loved this book, just so well written and with such beautiful characters.

Nora Roberts - The Witness. I like her stuff, dead easy to read, sort of chicklit crime mix. This was another good read, and this was her 200th book. 200. That blows my mind. I guess she's doing something right!?

I also read Jodi Picoult's Lone Wolf. This was a while ago and I can't remember if I mentioned it or not, it was not bad. Typical Picoult, but nothing out of the box for me.

My new favorite author - Jojo Moyes. I mentioned in an earlier entry her book called Me Before You and because of it's power, I tried another by her called The Last Letter From Your Lover. She has a way of writing that just takes a simple story but crafts it into something more. They are not just love stories, they are truly poignant and lovely. Just beautiful writing. I adore her work.

Allen & Unwin again asked me to take part in another read-a-long with Bree. This time the book was called The Unfinished Journals Of Elizabeth D by Nichole Bernier. I loved this book, I tried to stop at the first break for the discussion but I couldn't put it down, I had to keep reading. I identified with the exploration of an individual as opposed to their role as 'Mother' or 'Wife' and that wanting something more, and what was going on... The characters were so real, they had flaws, they were uncertain, they had more than one dimension. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Another of my favorite authors has a book out and I didn't realise so I quickly grabbed it on kindle when I found out. Liane Moriarty's The Hypnotists Love Story is just as good as her previous works that I also love. Another Australian author, her writing is so easy to get lost in. I loved this book, amazing that I could empathise with all the characters, even the whacky Saskia. Love lost and relationships starting... all relevant to me and so I enjoyed that about it too.

Also mentioned in my last post was Jennifer L Armentrouts Lux series. Book 2, Onyx, came out last week and I immediately got into it. I really love Katy and I like where things went with she and Daemon in this book. I love that Katy is independent and strong for a YA female protagonist. We need more like her! Mind you, my kindle told me I was at 93% and just as it got super exciting... The End. The rest was a sample chapter etc. I almost cried! Now I have to wait until December for book 3! GAH!

Finally, last night I finished If I Stay by Gayle Forman. This was pegged as an emotional book that would have me in tears. Nup. I actually felt a bit robbed to be honest. I felt like there was opportunity for the author to really get into an emotional place with this and ravage the emotions... But she didn't get there for me. Not a bad book, simply okay.

That's a wrap!


Picture credit: http://weheartit.com/entry/35296248#

The magic of books

My friend, Dee, linked me to this video today. I watched it and by the finish, had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. Books are magic. This is so beautiful.