Fanmade Nightshade Cover

I heart this cover so much so I made a fanmade which is not nearly as good as the original.

Original Cover

Fanmade Cover

                                                                                  

Told you my one's not as good, and the other one is amazing. Still yet to read this book. :)

Click on either for a larger view.

Knife - R.J. Anderson - Review

The reason this review is so short is because the book was so amazing I was stuck for words.

Book: Knife
Author: R.J. Anderson
Publisher: Orchard Books
ISBN: 9781408303122
Rating: A

Once upon a time, a fairy is born. She lives in an old oak tree at the bottom of a garden with the rest of the fairy folk. Never has she known a time when life hasn't been hard, with many dangers and much adversity. But when she becomes the Hunter of the group and learns to do battle in the outside world, her adventures really take off...Don't read this book if you're expecting fairy dust - the last thing Knife is likely to wield is a magic wand...

This book found its way to my heart, where it is under lock and keep.

Not many ways to describe this book. Took me two days to write the review and let me tell you this book was amazing – I cannot wait to read the next two and for the fourth one to come out.

The book is a sort about trust and loyalty in a sense. It is about a faery who basically wants more out of life than the usual. She wants to explore not just the outside but her emotions too.

I don’t think it is a YA book. Definitely an 11+/children but not YA. It verges on a romance but not enough of a romance to be classed as a Teen/YA.

I liked the variation of the two worlds, and how all the pieces slotted together as you read on.

Trust me on one thing – I finished the book – then I went round my local town shoving my hands into holes in oak trees looking for faerys.

Well done Anderson – I <3 your book. 

The Radleys - Matt Haig - Review

Book: The Radleys

Author: Matt Haig

Publisher: Walker Books

ISBN: 9781406330281

Rating: A+

Meet the Radleys: Peter, Helen and their teenage kids Clara and Rowan. An everyday family who live in a pretty English village and juggle dysfunctional lives. So far, so normal. Except, as Peter and Helen know (but the kids have yet to find out), the Radleys happen to be a family of abstaining vampires. When one night Clara finds herself driven to commit a bloodthirsty act of violence, her parents need to explain a few things: why is their skin is so sensitive to light, why do they all find garlic so repulsive, and why has Clara's recent decision to go vegan had quite such an effect on her behaviour...? But when mysterious Uncle Will swoops into the village, he unleashes a host of shadowy truths and dark secrets that threaten to destroy the Radleys and the world around them.

The Radleys... It was a gothic, but also a light, fast-paced, thriller. I loved it. It was good the way it was stretched out over a couple of days! Very Clever.

          The book made laugh out loud so much. The comedy was well thought out and helped to lighten the gothic them of Vampires. That is one thing I loved about this. For a Vampire book, it was actually really light, which was great because recently everything I’ve read has been really heavy and I guess it was nice to get a break. It is a good, and quite different plot which I most enjoyed.

The characters were cool, and I think the book was on the verge of having to many characters but just stayed safe. Sequel? I wish. I love the way the kids have not an idea they are vampires thirsting for the blood of humans, and how they found out, freaked and fell in love. The book has a bit more maturity than other books, I guess treating you as a more responsible person? At least that’s the feeling I get.

Favourite character... this part always gets me stuck. Who, who? I think it’s gonna be a couple this time, yes it is... EVE AND ROWAN!!! OMG they are so perfect together, with a caring and unconditional love for each other. All the better when Eve was converted. They were by far my favourite – Eve and Rowan forever – or should I say – FANGS FOREVER!!! Don’t take it personally (all you dead (and alive) but I am sucker and a hardcore fan of the Undead – whatever form they’ve taken.

The only problem was it was a very obvious plot and the whole story sort of unravelled before you even got to the part. That was the only flaw in the book.

The book is the classic vampire novel with a modern twist. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the difference of it so yeah! Well done Matt – You’ve created a book that I lurrrv!

Facebook Page Launched

The Excellent Reads Facebook page was officially launched today!!! |SO EXITED| You can acsess it by going to the sidebar and scrolling down to the facebook 'Like' widget.

Vampire Academy - Blood Promise - Richelle Mead - Review

Book: Vampire Academy: Blood promise

Author: Richelle Mead

Publisher: Puffin Books

ISBN: 9780141331867

Rating: A-

How far will Rose go to keep a promise? The recent Strigoi attack at St. Vladimir's Academy was the deadliest ever in the school's history, claiming the lives of many. Even worse, the Strigoi took some of their victims with them - including Dimitri. He'd rather die than be one of them, and now Rose must abandon her best friend, Lissa - the one she has sworn to protect no matter what - and keep the promise Dimitri begged her to make long ago. But with everything at stake, how can she possibly destroy the person she loves most?

Blood Promise didn’t live up to Shadow Kiss. It was very different to be away from the academy whilst reading, but it was good. I... I’m really stuck for words on this; I don’t know what to say. I think there wasn’t too much effort in this book and was only written as a bridge between Shadow kiss, and Spirit Bound. Definitely the worst book in the series, so far. Positively I was happy when I thought Dimitri had died, but as we know – I was wrong. The Leech survived.

Lissa... wasn’t really involved in the story, neither was the academy hence the name Vampire Academy. Richelle tried writing from the perspective of both Lissa and Rose, and too be honest from the little of Lissa’s life I read about it was more interesting than Rose’s. Positively I liked the ending with the big fight and Lissa being compelled to commit suicide.  I like the fact that it introduces lots of memories of Dimitri and Rose, but some of them were just page fillers.                    

I mean yeah it was sort of good but to be honest the 5 stars I gave it on GD was only because I <3 the rest of the series. Like I said, not much to say about this and yeah, I was disappointed. 

Reckless Tour - Cornelia Funke - Event

On Saturday 2nd of October 2010, i had the honor of going to see Cornelia Funke on the Reckless tour where I manage to get some book signed, which you can see here. It was great, and really interesting, she's such a nice woman, and I'm so happy that I had this opportunity. If she ever comes back to UK I will definitely see her again.

In my mailbox #4

Okay, So technically this isn't in my mailbox - but I needed somewhere to show the Cornelia Funke books that I got signed so here they are.

 Comparison View

Side View

Reckless signed page

Inkheart signed page 

 Inkheart front view

Reckless front view