My Expanding Bookshelf

The first Challenge I will be participating in is the 2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge, hosted by Laura @  trips down imagination lane  and Michelle @  Because Reading . The challenge runs from 1st January 2016 to 31st December 2016 and you can sign up here before 1st March 2016. My 2016 resolutions are: Bookish resolutions Get Netgalley ratio up to 80% January - 57% February - 57% Read 20 physical books I already owned prior to 1st January January - 2 February - 4 Reread 5 books January - 0 February - 2 Finish 6 series January - Finished/Up-to-date = 2 February - Finished/Up-to-date = 3 Reach my Goodreads goal this year (65 books) January - 8 February - 14 Blogging resolutions Finish updating all blog posts to current layout January - A few updated this month February - All reviews updates! Just to update all other posts and make a few tweaks. Visit 4 blogs a week, so 16 a month (not including memes) (by visit I mean co...

Title: Did I Mention I Need You? Series: The DIMILY Trilogy Author: Estelle Maskame Published: 01/03/2016, Sourcebooks Fire Pages: 384 Source: Netgalley Format: Ebook Rating: 3/5 Love has no rules. It's been a year since Eden Munro last saw Tyler Bruce: her stepbrother... and secret love. Although they swore to ignore their feelings and put their family first, Eden can't help but feel excited when Tyler invites her to join him in New York City for the summer. But it's not like anything is going to happen. Eden is happy with her boyfriend Dean, and she knows gorgeous, green-eyed Tyler must have moved on as well. But as they spend the long, hot summer in the city that never sleeps, it becomes obvious that those old feelings are still there... simmering beneath the surface. Will Tyler and Eden be able to resist temptation? Did I Mention I Need You? is book two in Wattpad sensation Estelle Maskame's DIMILY trilogy: three unforgettable summers of secrets, heartbre...

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly of  Caffeinated Book Reviewer . It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

I saw The TBR Tag on Read All The Things ages ago and finally decided to give it a go. I'm definitely trying to work on reducing my current TBR number this year so felt it was quite apt. If you want to take part, then consider yourself tagged (remember to post your link in the comments to let me know).

Title: The Other Me Author: Saskia Sarginson Published: 05/03/2015, Piatkus Pages: 366 Source: Goodreads Firstreads Format: Paperback Rating: 5/5 Eliza Bennett has the life she's always dreamed of. She's who she wants to be, and she's with the man she loves. But Eliza is living a lie. Her real name is Klaudia Meyer. And Klaudia is on the run. She's escaping her old life, and a terrible secret buried at the heart of her family. This is the story of Eliza and Klaudia - one girl, two lives and a lie they cannot hide from. Psychological and suspenseful: the gripping story of one girl living a double life. From rising star Saskia Sarginson, author of The Twins and Without You. Perfect for fans of Maggie O'Farrell and Liane Moriarty.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by  The Broke and The Bookish . This week's topic is the top ten five books I enjoyed recently that aren't my typical genre or type of book. The following are all mysteries/thrillers that I have read in the last year and enjoyed. They make me want to read more of them.

Title: The Great Gatsby Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald Published: 11/04/2013, Picador USa Pages: 240 Source: Bought Format: Paperback Rating: 3/5 The exemplary novel of the Jazz Age, F. Scott Fitzgeralds' third book, The Great Gatsby (1925), stands as the supreme achievement of his career. T. S. Eliot read it three times and saw it as the "first step" American fiction has taken since Henry James; H. L. Menken praised "the charm and beauty of the writing," as well as Fitzgerald's sharp social sense; and Thomas Wolfe hailed it as Fitzgerald's "best work" thus far. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when, The New York Times remarked, "gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession," it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s that resonates the power of myth. A novel of lyrical beauty yet brutal realism, of...

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly of  Caffeinated Book Reviewer . It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

Title: The V Girl Author: Mya Robarts Published: 20/06/2014, Mya Robarts Pages: 363 Source: Netgalley Format: Ebook Rating: 3/5 ROMANTIC DYSTOPIA FOR MATURE YA READERS. In post-apocalyptic North America, rape and sexual slavery are legal. Lila Velez, desperately wants to lose her virginity before the troops visit her town and can take it away by force. She makes plans to seduce her only friend, Rey, the most attractive man in her town. Lila does not love him, but he is the only man that has shown her true affection, an affection she is willing to take as a substitute of love. Lila's coping mechanism to her mother's rape and kidnapping is her secret. A secret that will bring her closer to Aleksey, a foreign, broody man that she distrusts because his links to the troops and his rough, yet irresistible appearance. He offers Lila an alternative to her plans, a possibility that terrifies her... and tempts her in spite of herself. All the while Lila will have to find a way t...

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by  The Broke and The Bookish . This week's topic is all about music and books... I was stuck for ages trying to think of a way to spin this, but I've decided to go with top ten songs titles that would make great book titles (or even stories)... This will more than likely be a bit random, but you'll also get a bit of an insight into the eclectic music I like... Before I Fall to Pieces, by Razorlight Sad Beautiful Tragic, by Taylor Swift Dream Catch Me, by Newton Faulkner The Man Who Can't Be Moved, by The Script When She Was Mine, by Lawson Because of You, by Kelly Clarkson The Kids Aren't Alright, by The Offspring Somewhere Only We Know, Lily Allen   (I know this is a cover but still, it's beautiful) Good Time Girls, Nathan Carter Just a Girl, No Doubt Follow me via  Goodreads ,  Facebook ,  Twitter ,  Bloglovin  and  Pinterest . Feel free to leave a...

Title: Red Queen Series: Red Queen #1 Author: Victoria Aveyard Published: 10/02/2015, Orion Pages: 383 Source: Netgalley Format: Ebook Rating: 3.5/5 This is a world divided by blood - red or silver.  The Reds are commoners, ruled by a silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change. That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power. Fearful of Mare's potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime. But this is a world of...

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly of  Caffeinated Book Reviewer . It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

I used to use my local library all the time when I was in school.  Source I even spent every lunchtime in my school's library. My friends and I were pupil librarians and we practically had the run of the whole library. And then, when I started University, the only library I had time for was the University library. And that wasn't an enjoyable experience. However, last summer I started going to my local library again. (I then had to stop again when I got my job.) And unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed.  Source The availability sucks. I can deal with books I want that are already out on loan. It's the complete lack of decent books the library has on its system that gets to me. All those months I went to the library last year and I never left with a book that was already on my TBR. I walked around that place looking at my Goodreads trying to find any book on that list. And I couldn't find any at all (except for the Classics). To be honest, I ...

Title: When Everything Feels Like the Movies Author: Raziel Reid Published: 14/02/2016, Atom Pages: 176 Source: Netgalley Format: Ebook Rating: 1/5 Everyone wanted to break me. But stars aren't broken, they explode. And I was the ultimate supernova. My name was Jude. They called me Judy. I was beautiful either way. School was basically a movie set. We were all just playing our parts. The crew, the Extras, the Movie Stars. No one was ever real... especially me. I didn't fit any category. All the girls watched me - I could walk so much better than them in heels, and my make-up was always flawless. All the boys wanted to, well, you know... even if they didn't admit it. They loved me, they hated me, but they could never ignore me. I only had eyes for Luke. A red carpet rolled out from my heart towards him and this year, on Valentine's Day, I was going to walk that carpet and find my mark next to him. It would be like a dream. But my dream was going to turn into a ...

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by  The Broke and The Bookish . This week's topic is a Valentine's Day freebie. I'm going to do my top ten romantic quotes.

Title: The Heir Series: The Selection #4 Author: Kiera Cass Published: 06/06/2015, HarperCollins Children's Books Pages: 342 Source: Netgalley (10 chapter teaser) & Bought Format: Ebook teaser & Paperback Rating: 4/5 Eighteen years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won Prince Maxon's heart. Now the time has come for Princess Eadlyn to hold a Selection of her own. Eadlyn doesn't expect her Selection to be anything like her parent's fairy-tale love story... but as the competition begins, she may discover that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought. A new generation of swoonworthy characters and captivating romance awaits in the fourth book of the Selection series!

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly of Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share our news. A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.