Monday, May 14, 2012

Books of the Month: March and April

A HUGE (belated) happy mother's day to all those awesome mums out there :D
My husband and my eldest son came home Saturday night (after being away for two weeks) so I enjoyed mother's day very much so. Also, got a book from Reuben and Carissa. CHECK IT BELOW
Me and my Mother's Day present :)
The new Laura Buzo (!!). Slightly poor quality shot, it's called: Holier Than Thou. Extremely brilliant and 100% crushworthy. Speaking of Laura Buzo ~ I know you all know just how much I LOVED her debut, GOOD OIL which has previously only been available in Australia. So I am THRILLED it has an international release, different cover and title. Even more thrilled it is available on netgalley! If you love Aussie YA and new adult fiction, you seriously can't go wrong :)

Laura Buzo's debut novel Good Oil, being published as Love and Other Perishable Items.
If you're a netgalley user ~ fingers crossed Random House approve you :)

Speaking of belated...So, here's this feature/meme I started. And, while I've muffed up the time of posting, I am still  sharing with you guys what I have been reading. Brace yourselves (haha). Actually, it won't take you long to see what I have been up to...



I am *nearly* ashamed of my reading count for the last two months.


Books I read in March



It Had To be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Contemporary romance and guilty pleasure read. Perfect for when I had no energy for reading, but still needed something to do at night. 


Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
YA historical. This one had a lot of hype and I think that raised my expectations too high. My review will be up tomorrow. 


Free Falling by Nicola Moriarty
Australian contemporary and all round brilliance. I loved this one, so much. SO MUCH. My favourite book of the year, so far. (on a side note, tried to buy this one for my mother in law for mother's day and went to every shop that sells books in Coffs and no one had it! A true travesty)


The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
A reread before seeing the film. Good times. (The book, actually, the film was also fun even though I didn't necessarily think it was good ;))

Books I read in April


I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Oh, I so very much loved this. Truly my kind of contemporary. Gorgeous and compelling and touching and a tiny bit fairy-tale-esque. 100% recommended.


The Good Daughter by Honey Brown
Australian contemporary (adult) (Mini Review) My gosh, Honey Brown can write. I loved the feeling right from the first page of being in the hands of a gifted writer: words and sentiments so beautifully articulated, all my five senses were engaged in this novel due to Brown's talent in evoking, well, EVERYTHING.

From the outset I assumed I would love this: Kirsty Eagar lists it as her favourite Australian novel (oh! This had me running for it) It's won, like, a bazillion awards.

It's duel-y narrated by two high school students, one male, one female. Perfect for a YA-loving adult: an adult novel seen through teen protagonists. BRING IT ON.

I cannot fault the writing and delivery, which means my three stars are all about taste. Unfortunately this was a tad bleak, claustrophobic and harrowing for this girl who like a bit more sunshine and light in books. I needed to come up for air by the end, no doubt the authors intent. Whew. 

I Came To Say Good bye by Caroline Overington
Australian contemporary. I had been meaning to read this for a while, and it was oddly written but strangely compelling. The story has lingered but I still don't know if I really enjoyed it. Weird feeling :/ 

Audio




Incurable by John Marsden
Really loving the Ellie Chronicles on Audio. Very well narrated and i always love spending time with the tomorrow gang.


Tell me a Secret by Holly Cupala
The audio of this was truly brilliant. I saw this one recommended from April (Good Books and Good Wine) in a top ten audio list, so treated myself to it from Audible. As for the story itself, initially I loved it, but by the end, I was less enchanted. I think I found the last few months of the story a bit hard to buy? And somewhere along the line it lost it's charm. Odd, when that happens. not sure if my mood changed or if it was the book? Who knows?


So, it's been a quiet year for me so far, with more of a lean towards adult fiction than usual. So far, I've read three books this may (one Aussie YA, one Australian adult thriller and one YA dystopian), and I'll be chatting about them in a couple of weeks. I have also started a number of books and not finished them :/ Some I abandoned forever, others are on hold. 

See you guys around xo Nomes

17 comments:

  1. Yay for having your honey and boy home :) Happy Mother's Day to you too doll!

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  2. Hey Nomes!

    I saw the pic of your son helping his pops out on twitter and i was just so in awe of him. i think it's so wonderful how he is out there helping people in need with his dad. truly inspiring. I'm glad you got to have them home for mothers day. and what a lovely present! Holier Than Thou and I'll be there look so brilliant. I can't wait to buy them and dig into them asap :) glad you enjoyed them hun. hope the moving and packing is going smoothly <3

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  3. What a fantastic Mother's Day gift, I hope you LOVE Holier Than Thou, it's one of my faves for 2012!

    And I really, really want to read Free Falling and I'll Be There, they sound fantastic!

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  4. Thanks for the heads up about Netgalley, Nomes! (I've been wanting to read Holier Than Thou forever, but hadn't managed to get myself a copy). A much better Mother's Day gift than flowers or chocolates, in my opinion. ;)

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  5. Aww your kids are so sweet! Belated Happy Mother's Day, Nomes. :) So I've said this on Twitter but I really want to get copies of both Holier Than Thou and Free Falling. I still haven't given Fishpond a try and I keep hesitating because of the issues that other people have had with the site.

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  6. Great reads Nomes! I'm gonna grab myself a copy of Free Falling. I loved I'll be There so much, it was so beautiful, plus that cover just makes me drool :)

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  7. *waves* It's always nice to see you around here. I like the new feature, and I'm excited to read your upcoming reviews.

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  8. I was so happy when I heard there was another Laura Buzo book coming out! I think I might need to brave Fishpond again! LOL

    And I requested Good Oil/Love and other Perishable Items, but RH doesn't seem to like me much so I'm not counting on getting approved, and I might just re-read my Aussie copy.

    Also, I hope you liked SEP's It Had to Be You more than I did, I think that's a series that improves with each book, though the first couple of them didn't impress me much!

    anyway, Happy Mother's Day (really belated 'cause in my country we celebrate it on the 10th).

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  9. I liked Holier Than Thou, but I LOVED Good Oil and it just made my heart hurt. I'd definitely recommend it to those looking for New Adult, not just in uni, but past uni, living away from home and actually working.

    I have to remember that I want to read I'll Be There, it sounds so good, glad you absolutely loved it! :) I'm adding Free Falling to my Goodreads.

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  10. Yay yay i just bought my copy of holier than thou, i loved Good oil so much (A lot more than i would expect for a fairy tale ending kind of girl.)
    My boss at the bookshop where i work feels my love for Laura Buzo and we both did a little dance when Holier than thou came in.

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  11. i can't wait to read your review of Holier Than Thou.

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  12. I loved Good Oil too! I actually can't wait to read Holier Than Thou! I've read some interesting reviews so far! I've also got a copy of I'll Be There which I really should get around to picking up! Also I think I will have to check out Free Falling especially if you enjoyed it so much! :)

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  13. Awww, sorry to hear Grave Mercy didn't live up to your expectations! I haven't read it yet (partly because I am intimidated by its sheer size!) but I have heard really good things from a number of bloggers. Hopefully it won't let me down! *crosses fingers*

    And I've been wanting to get my hands on Good Oil for a while now, so hopefully I won't have to wait too much longer now that it will be published internationally! :)

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  14. I always try to think about what I'm going to say in my comments to you but then I have to knock off the first two or three things because they are unfit to say in front of the entire internet world. That said, I'm glad you're listening to more audiobooks (natch), that you read an SEP and are thinking of reading more, and that you got Holier Than Thou. Happy Mother's Day, Cruiser!

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  15. I can't wait to get my hands on Holier Than Thou! What a brilliant present :) I must start dropping some major book-related hints next mother's day!

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  16. Woohoo love the Mother's Day gift! I think I have Good Oil on a bookshelf somewhere, if not I might grab a NetGalley copy of Love & Other Perishable Items. I'm trying to get my hands on a copy of Free Falling and looks like I should add The Good Daughter to my wishlist ... I'm a fan of bleak & harrowing lol

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  17. Super new for Laura Buzo! I love the new cover and title for Good Oil. Can't wait to get my hands on Holier Than Thou.

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Thanks for the commenty love :)