My Expanding Bookshelf

Title: Not If I See You First Author: Eric Lindstrom Published: 31/12/2015, HarperCollins Children's Books Pages: 321 Source: Netgalley Format: Ebook Rating: 3.5/5 Parker Grant doesn't need perfect vision to see right through you. That's why she created the Rules: Don't treat her any differently just because she's blind, and never take advantage. There will be no second chances. When Scott Kilpatrick, the boy who broke her heart, suddenly reappears at school, Parker knows there's only one way to react - shun him so hard it hurts. She has enough to deal with already, like trying out for the track team, handing out tough-love advice to her painfully naive classmates, and giving herself gold stars for every day she hasn't cried since her dad's death. But avoiding her past quickly proves impossible, and the more Parker learns about what really happened - both with Scott, and her dad - the more she starts to question if things are always as they see...

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: Unnatural Deeds Author: Cyn Balog Published: 01/11/2016, Sourcebooks Fire Pages: 288 Source: Netgalley Format: Ebook Rating: 4/5 Secrets. Obsession. Murder. Victoria is about to discover just how dangerous it can be to lose yourself.  Victoria Zell doesn't fit in, but she's okay with that. All she needs is the company of her equally oddball boyfriend, Andrew. She doesn't care what anyone else thinks... until magnetic, charming, mysterious Z comes into her life, and she starts lying to everyone she knows in an effort to unravel his secrets. And then something terrible happens. Someone is dead and it's time for Victoria to come clean. Interspersed with news clippings and police interviews, Victoria tells her story to Andrew, revealing her dark, horrible secrets... secrets that have finally come back to haunt her.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by  The Broke and The Bookish . This week's topic is ten scary books on my TBR. Well... books I've put on  my horror shelf anyway... I'm don't think I really have many scary books...

Title: The Shining Girls Author: Lauren Beukes Published: 04/06/2013, Umuzi Pages: 384 Source: Gift from work colleague Format: Ebook Rating: 3/5 The girl who wouldn't die. Hunting a killer who shouldn't exist. Chicago 1931. Violent drifter Harper Curtis stumbles upon a hlouse that hides a secret as shocking as his own twisted nature: it opens into other times. Harper uses it to stalk his "shining girls" across decades - and cut the fire out of them. He's the perfect killer. Unstoppable. Untraceable. Until one of his victims survives and turns the hunt around. Chicago, 1992. Kirby Mazrachi's determination to find the man who tried to kill her has taken over her life.  The cops no longer return her calls. Her mother copes by writing morbid children's books. Her only ally is Dan, the burnt-out ex-homicide reporter who covered her case. As Kirby closes in on her would-be killer, what she finds is... impossible. Murders scattered across the decades a...

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.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by  The Broke and The Bookish . This week's topic is eight characters I'd name a child after. Well... names I like anyway...

Title: Get Back, Imagine... Saving John Lennon Author: Donovan Day Published: 01/10/2015, Park Slope Publishing Pages: 268 Source: Netgalley Format: Ebook Rating: DNF (33%) Imagine going back in time and befriending The Beatles at the height of their fame. Imagine seeing "the boys" interact onstage and off, hanging out with them in the dance clubs of London, visiting John & Paul at Paul's house across from Abbey Road Studios. Imagine all the questions they'd ask when they learn you're from the future - questions about how music is recorded, whether their music will last, if anyone will people remember The Beatles. And then John Lennon asks the biggest question of them all - "What will become of me?" That last question sets 17-year-old Lenny Funk off on the adventure of his young life with a goal that seems impossible - to stop John Lennon's assassin, Mark David Chapman! Lenny Funk is able to time travel thanks in part to his grandfather...

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: Our Zoo Author: June Mottershead Published: 09/10/2014, Headline Pages: 288 Source: Gift from parents Format: Hardback Rating: 4.5/5 When George Mottershead moved to the village of Upton-by-Chester in 1930 to realise his dream of opening a zoo without bars, his four-year-old daughter June had no idea how extraordinary her life would become. Soon her best friend was a chimpanzee called Mary, lion cubs and parrots were vying for her attention in the kitchen, and finding a bear tucked up in bed was no more unusual than talking to a tapir about granny's lemon curd. Pelican, penguin or polar bear - for June, they were simply family. The early years were not without their obstacles for the Mottersheads. They were shunned by the local community, bankruptcy threatened and then World War Two began. Nightly bombing raids turned the dream into a nightmare and finding food for the animals became a constant challenge. Yet George's resilience, resourcefulness and tenacity ev...

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by  The Broke and The Bookish . This week's topic is eight books I read because they were recommended across the blogosphere.

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: Stealing Snow Series: Stealing Snow #1 Author: Danielle Paige Published: 06/10/2016, Bloomsbury Childrens Pages: 384 Source: Netgalley Format: Ebook Rating: 3.5/5 Seventeen-year-old Snow lives within the walls of the Whittaker Insitute, a high security mental hospital in upstate New York. Deep down, she knows she doesn't belong there, but she has no memory of life outside, except for the strangest dreams. And then a mysterious, handsome man, an orderly in the hospital, opens a door - and Snow knows that she has to leave... She finds herself in icy Algid, her true home, with witches, thieves, and a strangely alluring boy named Kai. As secret after secret is revealed, Snow discovers that she is on the run from a royal lineage she's destined to inherit, a father more powerful and ruthless than she could have imagined, and choices of the heart that could change everything. Heroine or villain, queen or broken girl, frozen heart or true love, Snow must choose her fa...

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by  The Broke and The Bookish . This week's topic is my top ten favourite villains.

Title: Holding Up the Universe Author: Jennifer Niven Published: 06/10/2016, Penguin Pages: 368 Source: Netgalley Format: Ebook Rating: 2.5/5 From the author of the New York Times bestseller All the Bright Places comes to a heart-wrenching story about what it means to see someone - and love someone - for who they truly are. Everyone thinks they know Libby Strout. the girl once dubbed "America's Fattest Teen". But no one's taken the time to look past her weight to get to see who she really is. Since her mum's death, she's been picking up the pieces in the privacy of her home, dealing with her heartbroken father and her own grief. Now, Libby's ready: for high school, for new friends, for love, and for EVERY POSSIBILITY LIFE HAS TO OFFER. I know the part I want to play here at MVB High/ I want to be the girl who can do anything. Everyone thinks they know Jack Masselin too. Yes, he's got swagger, but he's also mastered the art of fitting in. ...

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.

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% March - 52% (This better start going up real soon!) April - 54% May - 56%  June - 54% July - 54% August - 56% September - 60% Read 20 physical books I already owned prior to 1st January January - 2 February - 4 March - 8 April - 9 May - 10 June - 10 July - 12 August - 14 September - 15 Reread 5 books January - 0 February - 2 March - 2 April - 3 May - 4 June - 4 July - 4 August - 5 September - 6 - Well it's safe to say I've smashed this one!! Finish 6 series January - Finished/Up-to-date = 2 February - Finished/Up-to-date =...