What I've Been Reading and Hey :)

A sheepish and friendly hey from me :)

Yep ~ I've been off-line for a fortnight while we were away seeing family. Missed you guys and thanks to those who emailed me while I was gone ~ how lovely are you!?! Looking forward to getting into my google reader and popping over to all your blogs. If you're new here HELLO! and leave me a comment so I can follow your link back, yeah? :)

It's raining here (I know, I always talk about the rain, you would too if you lived here :) but not flooding...

And schools on holidays, which means I am too (wahoo!) with my kids. We've got plans for board games and the beach and reading and lazing around in general and hanging out with mates.

Here's 6 books I read in the last fortnight. 

Some reviews coming up but here's a little teaser...

Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell

Started slow for me, but then suddenly I couldn't put it down.
Loved it, a re-read for sure.
Lyrical and atmospheric.
Even felt a little teary towards the end...
A re-telling of the Lady of Shallott in verse.
Featuring Camelot, Lancelot, Arthur and Tristan (from Tristan and Isolde)

Between Shades of Grey by Rupa Sepetys

This is a stand out

Once you've read this, I don't think you'll ever forget the story or events

Which are based on a true story

Left it with my mother-in-law to read

Made me feel awkward about eating yummy food over Christmas when half the characters were dying of starvation... still, I overcame the awkwardness by savouring the yummy stuff even harder :)

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

A fave read of the year already

This one got 5 stars from me on goodreads b/c:

• once I started I couldn't put it down
• I cried. Actually cried. Rare for me in a book. Okay, maybe I got on the verge of going all-out and bawling...
• The ending was perfect: real and sad and haunting and hopeful.

Need to read more of her work, hey.

Slice by Steven Herrick
Set in Katoomba ~ and I read it while in Katoomba :)
It's funny
and brilliant
and everything you'd expect from Steven Herrick.
See the watermelon on the cover? It's grinning. I couldn't stop smiling when I read this one.
It was also, sneakily, powerful and life-affirming.

And these last two? They were okay.

Losing Faith frustrated me.

I liked Life As We Knew It A LOT more than The Dead and The Gone. 

Any thoughts on the books I read?

What's the last book you read that made you cry?

xo Nomes