Emma's Bookish Lifestyle

About the Author Amanda Hocking is the USA Today bestselling author of the Trylle trilogy and six additional self-published novels. After selling over a million copies of her books, primarily in eBook format, she is widely considered the exemplar of self-publishing success in the digital age. Previously read titles Trylle Series These are Switched, Torn and Ascend.  Switched is the first in the series and the synopsis is: Wendy Everly knew she was different the day her mother tried to kill her and accused her of having been switched at birth. Although certain she’s not the monster her mother claims she is – she does feel that she doesn’t quite fit in . . . She’s bored and frustrated by her small town life – and then there’s the secret that she can’t tell anyone. Her mysterious ability – she can influence people’s decisions, without knowing how, or why . . . When the intense and darkly handsome newcomer Finn suddenly turns up at her bedroom windo...

Call of the Undertow by Linda Cracknell My rating: 5 of 5 stars I want to wallow in the cold Scottish waters of this story but this book was a full on 5 star read for me. I received this through my Moth Box Books Subscription box this month and is published by Freight Books a smaller and new publisher to me. Linda Cracknell's scenic and character descriptions draw you in and pull you like a harpie to the sea's of the northern Scottish coastline. The main story is that of Maggie, a female cartographer who has moved away from her Oxford home to escape the encompassing grief of an event that has taken place and impacted greatly on her. When she arrives to the small Scottish village, she is pretty much left to her own devices until such time as she befriends Graham in the local bird watching office. From this point her exposure to the small community she is living in opens up to her and she is asked by the local school to do a presentation and instil some in...

Sweet Tooth, Volume 2: In Captivity by Jeff Lemire My rating: 4 of 5 stars This volume continues where it left off, the main content of this story however is of Jeppards story about how he came to be the person he is now and why he handed Gus over to the Scientific Militia to become their guinea pig. This volume also brings to light some of Gus's earlier memories of life with his father and his fathers religious tendencies. There is clearly more to follow in this interesting series and I look forward to starting Vol. 3 shortly. View all my reviews

  Sweet Tooth, Volume 1: Out of the Deep Woods by Jeff Lemire My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is the first volume of Jeff Lemire's comic series Sweet Tooth. It is based on a young man named Gus who has survived a plague which has wiped out most of mankind and is slowly killing the remainder off. He is one of a few children during this time who appear to be immune to the plague and have developed animalistic elements as part of their DNA. Gus has deer antlers protruding from his head making him one of these children. In this opening issue we learn that his mother past and he has no memory of her and his father is in the last stages of the illness and has been training him to survive by teaching him survival skills such as growing his own food, hiding and medical skills. When his father passes things change for Gus and loneliness sets in opening him to a silly mistake in judgement. It is at this time that he meets Mr Leppard and decides to go with him o...

The Perfect Girl by Gilly Macmillan My rating: 4 of 5 stars To everyone who knows her now, Zoe Maisey - child genius, musical sensation - is perfect. Yet several years ago, Zoe caused the death of three teenagers. She served her time. And now she's free. Her story begins with her giving the performance of her life. By midnight, her mother is dead. Zoe's higher level of intelligence and musical abilities have given her the ability to see not only the immediate picture portrayed but a wider understanding of influences, events and major changes that have affected her life during the course of this book. I believe her strong aptitude for music is a magical thing to experience and I am sure many of us would like to have such an ability (I always loved art and drawing but never felt I was good enough). I do however feel that when this occurs in the early stages of a child like Zoe's life, it is the responsibility of the parents to ensure a level of normalcy is...

The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well by Meik Wiking My rating: 4 of 5 stars Well this lifestyle book was extremely interesting to read and part of me now feels like with a few further lifestyle changes to the ones I have made this year I can embrace fully the Hygge way of life. I suffer from both anxiety and depression and so at times it can be hard to handle large groups of people, events or parties. But the Hygge way of life is my idea of heaven, time spent with loved ones and close friends, country walks with my dogs, alone time curled up with a good book, blanket, candles, hot chocolate and some snacks. I have even managed to reinvigorate and ignite my enjoyment of cooking not just for myself but for and with others. If you are interested in lifestyles in other countries and how easy their ethos is adaptable to your own life choices I can highly recommend this Hygge lifestyle. If you are of a disposition that enjoys loud environments and l...

   How Much the Heart Can Hold: Seven Stories on Love by Carys Bray My rating: 1 of 5 stars  Despite reading 5 of the stories contained within this 7 story collection, I was unfortunately unable to finish and put the book aside. Now I would like to say from the outset that if from the title you are expecting romantic stories this is not the case, the premise behind this book is that each of the seven stories are written around the Greek terms for different forms of love. I however, did go in with my eye's open but was disappointed to find two dimensional characters, un-relatable and selfish characters and a female character with pretty much no self respect. There are two stories I enjoyed, the first was relating to the love one has for oneself, this felt extremely of the moment on a valid and relatable subject. The characters were emotive and I was invested in the story they were telling. The shining light however, in this collection, from those that I...