November 2015 Book Round Up

November has been a very funny month for me and reading. Everything seems to have taken me ages to get through and I've just had no motivation at all. As you can tell from my list most of what I've read has been very short too. This isn't to say that I haven't enjoyed what I have managed to read, in particular I'll give a mention to Yonder (A Southern Haunting #1) by LeeAnne Hansen as I'm still thinking about it now and I can't wait for the next book. I've also been behind on my reviews and blogs but I'm hoping to catch up on them all in the next few days.

The books I read in November are as follows, though I am also still working my way through War and Peace (slowly, though far quicker now I have a buddy!) and Showcase: World's Finest which I will hopefully finish in the next couple of days.
Book 1 - Seriously Mum, Where's That Donkey? The Photos! by Alan Parks - 3 Stars
Book 2 - Yonder (A Southern Haunting #1) by LeeAnne Hansen - 5 Stars
Book 3 - Chef Maurice and a Spot of Truffle by J.A. Lang - 4 Stars
Book 4 - Yogscast: The Diggy Diggy Book by the Yogscast - 5 Stars
Book 5 - Death of a Dapper Snowman by Angela Pepper - 5 Stars
Book 6 - Death Comes eCalling by Leslie O'Kane - 4 Stars
Book 7 - The Girl With The Blue Umbrella by Heather Awad - 4 Stars

Now onto the future, I have actually been planning blogs that I want to do and having ideas that I'm excited about sharing! I am going to try and be a lot more organised about when I blog so it is more regular and I may even try some sort of loose schedule, but we'll see how that goes. One thing that you can look forward to, is once I've finished cataloguing and organising my book shelves I will be letting you take a peek at them, possibly even in video form!

That's all from me this month, I hope to bring you a far bigger round up at the end of December. If you don't already you can follow me @NerdishMum on Twitter so you can tell me what you're currently reading or if you've read any of the books that I've read this month.

Yonder (A Southern Haunting #1) - LeeAnne Hansen

I was lucky enough to receive an e-book copy of Yonder (A Southern Haunting #1) direct from the author LeeAnne Hansen in exchange for an honest review.

Before I get into my review proper, I would just like to say that I think I have found one of my favourite quotes ever, on page 45 the main character Isabel says "There's nothing like the smell of old books. They smell like memories" This is just such a true statement, I think I'm actually going to make myself a bookmark with this on it.

The book is set in the 40's and is about Isabel who is called home from New York due to the death of her father and then becomes intertwined in amorous advances from two of her brothers childhood friends, Benjamin and Charles. All the while she is haunted by a young boy, but why?

The book is rich in details about the time period from the war to the coming out balls. You get the feeling of it being a simpler time right on the cusp of change. It all sets the tone nicely for the story about Isabel.

I really liked Isabel, she's a strong female character who for the most part knows what she wants. She does frustrate me at points with how young she seems, but if you look at the kind of childhood she had and how women were seen in this time, it does make sense. Charles is just awful and pompous and I didn't like him right from the beginning! He is just far too smarmy for my taste, Benjamin however seems to be a southern gentleman who makes the occasional goof. I really liked Benjamin and as you can imagine I was rooting for him throughout the story. The romance is done really well and it didn't feel tacky which is the reason I very rarely read romance books, the romance in Yonder felt real to me. I also have to point out that the love scene is beautifully done, very sensual and I didn't feel embarrassed reading it.

The haunting starts off subtle almost and then it becomes more intense and blatant as time passes. I loved how you could be enjoying a nice simple scene and then all of a sudden the child - Eli, appears and something happens. Isabel is the only one who can see him and she needs to figure out what he wants or what she can do to help him. When you find out who he is (I'm not saying as I don't want to give any spoilers because you need to go read this yourself!) and his story, my heart broke. It was so well written and so well thought out, it takes you by surprise and rips your heart out at the same time.

My only "complaints" - are slightly spoilery but nothing too much, stop reading now though if you want to know nothing and start again on the next paragraph - are that I wanted to find out what Charles and Isabel's fathers had done to Samantha (I can guess to a point but would like to know the details) and I wanted to know the reason that Isabel's father had disowned her brother Doug. I really would like to know the answers to these questions, but I may get lucky and they get answered in the next book.

I thoroughly loved this and I am looking forward to the second book already. If you haven't read this yet, you need to go and try it. Thank you to LeeAnne for allowing me the pleasure of reading her book.

I started reading Yonder on the 31st of October 2015 and finished it on the 9th of November 2015
I gave Yonder 5 stars on Goodreads

October 2015 Book Round Up

Ooof I am so behind! I've been very busy, I've been on holiday and I've also been busy reading a book for an author before being sent to the publisher which has been an interesting but time consuming experience. It feels like I didn't read much in October but I definitely read some interesting books.

Book 1 - Batgirl/Robin: Year One by Chuck Dixon - 5 Stars
Book 2 - Black Butler, Vol. 9 by Yana Toboso - 5 Stars
Book 3 - Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 1 by Tsugumi Ohba - 5 Stars
Book 4 - The Tales of Beedle The Bard by J.K. Rowling - 3 Stars
Book 5 - Half Lies by Sally Green - 4 Stars
Book 6 - Cyclops, Vol. 1: Starstruck by Greg Rucka - 5 Stars
Book 7 - Infinite Crisis: Fight For The Multiverse by Dan Abnett - 4 Stars
Book 8 - A Death In The Family: A Detective Kubu Mystery by Michael Stanley - 4.5 Stars
Book 9 - Black Butler, Vol. 10 by Yana Toboso - 5 Stars
Book 10 - Black Butler, Vol 11 by Yana Tobos - 5 Stars
Book 11 - Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - 2 Stars

I'm hoping to be back blogging regularly from this week onwards and I have two reviews in the process and coming out in the next couple of days. I may also blog about the decision I have made about War and Peace so keep a look out for that.

What is everyone else reading at the moment?