March Wrap Up

March Wrap Up

Challenges:

I seem to be stuck in the pattern of reading 3 books a month but I've got some cool books lined up when I finish my current reads and Bird After Bird will be in my inbox today or tomorrow so I can't wait for that either.

Women Author Challenge

4. Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Total: 5 / 20

Indie Fever Challenge

n/a

Total: 4 / 24

TBR Pile Challenge

3. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
4. All He Saw Was the Girl by Peter Leonard

Total: 4 / 24

(Ongoing) Millionaire Challenge

30,700 (+ 11 unknowns) / 1,000,000 pages

Shelf Stacking:

Um, I'll do better and not buy any books next month as I'm going to Insomnia Festival which will be time consuming and expensive too! (Its a long weekend of gaming). But heck, I'm excited about these books!

DNF Review: Total Blueprint for World Domination by Jolene Stockman

Total Blueprint for World Domination by Jolene Stockman

Published: 1st August 2011 by Braincandy
Genre: Non Fiction / Self Help
Page Count: 106
Format: eBook
Source: Won from a blog / Copy provided by author

Synopsis: Target big dreams and build a plan to achieve them! You've got one life, one shot, and all the power to make it happen. Get ready to dream big and live big. It's all up to you. And it starts now. 

Total Blueprint for World Domination (17,000 words) is a powerful life-planning book for teens that will inspire. The book lets readers: 

*Explore hidden passions and find direction. 

*Create heart-pounding, toe-tingling goals. 

*Recruit an army for support. 

*Design a dream world and make it happen. 

*Achieve world domination step-by-step. 

Full of tips and tricks for tackling life's challenges, Total Blueprint for World Domination is a book that will motivate readers to take their life to the next level. 

Anything is possible. And anything is possible for you. Believe it. Total Blueprint for World Domination takes you from this very second to your greatest dreams. So, are you ready?

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon UK* / Amazon US
Free: Smashwords / B&N

Jolene Stockman: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

*When purchasing through this link, I will receive a small amount, once I have enough saved up I will put it towards a giveaway.

Review: 

3 / 5 stars
Did not finish

I believe that Total Blueprint for World Domination was one of the first ebooks I ever won and I'm pretty sure this was from a blog reviewing it, and the copy was then provided by the author, please excuse me if I am wrong because this was added to my Goodreads shelf in March 2012. However no matter how this book came to my kindle, it doesn't change my opinion.

I first started reading this book April 2012 and tried to fully invest myself into it, I made notes and took part with every aspect of it but ultimately I put it on hold and gave it the "its not you, its me" talk.

Finally last month I decided to take it off my on hold shelf and try and finish it, but as I'm slowly getting happier with did not finish books, I decided this was the best for this book.

But now I hear you ask, well why such a decent rating for a book you clearly didn't enjoy?

And its that simple, I didn't enjoy it.

Non fiction isn't my usual kind of reads, I figured I'd give it a go, how bad can a self help book be, and that's just it, it isn't bad.

But I am. I have too many issues with myself, too much anxiety and too much pessimism, to see how this book can be helpful for me.

Believe me I tried.

That is the whole point of the book after all, to better yourself and your life plans.

But all I could think was "ah yes, this could work, if I wasn't me".

So don't let me not finishing it put you off, because it is helpful, it has some very valid points.

However, I am not at a time in my life where I'm physically or mentally able to tackle my own problems just yet.

So all in all,, good book, just not for me.

Bought, Borrowed & Bagged (63)

Bought, Borrowed and Bagged hosted by Talk Supe is a weekly meme where you can share your book haul, ongoing events and news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Please Note: All images link back to their GR pages.

New Books

Uh oh, so did I ruin my book buying ban? Kind of. So my best friend came to visit last weekend and he'd won a £20 Waterstones voucher for this photography competition he entered, and he suggested I pick out some books that we'd both enjoy. Unfortunately I went over by £18 so... I owe him some money now. Anyway these are what I picked out. 

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice and Battle Royal by Koushun Takami are books I've been meaning to buy for ages, but they're also ones that I think he'd really enjoy.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline has been recommended to me by so many people and as we're both gamers I figured we'd both enjoy it, I'm still a little unsure but we will see.
Those were going to be the only books purchased, but heading to the till I saw Half Bad by Sally Green on buy one get one half price offer, so thats when Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell was picked up too, as this has been highly recommended by so many of the tumblr community.
I also got a copy of Kindred by Octavia E. Butler which is being published by headline publishers later this month, this copy was from Bookbridgr and its the first book I got from them, pretty happy to be able to try the site out fully now!

Recently on Northern Plunder

Attempting University
Review: Shattered Veil by Tracy E. Banghart
I'm really happy and proud with both of these posts so if you'd be as kind to check them out, it'd really mean a lot to me.

Upcoming on Northern Plunder

Review: Total Blueprint for World Domination by Jolene Stockman
March Wrap Up
Review: Uzumaki Vol 1-3

Lauren's Progress

Read in 2014: 8 / 70
Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Currently Reading:
Memory's Wake by Selena Fenech

News from Lauren

So my University post is up and I have plenty of work there to share, pretty happy with how it turned out! I've also had another deadline pass which I got exactly the same result in so at least my work is at a constant (and better than average) level. I'm at home this weekend so no doubt this wont be updated before it goes live, but I'm probably having a really good time, there is actually a book waiting for me at home from BookBridgr which you may want to check out if you're from the UK or Northern Ireland. Anyway, I hope you've all had a lovely two weeks, and read some great books. If you've read anything breath taking, let me know! Shattered Veil definitely falls under that category for me.

Please note that I've implemented a new drop down menu at the top but some pages are still in progress so the links haven't been added yet!

Review: Shattered Veil by Tracy E Banghart

Shattered Veil by Tracy E Banghart

Published: 28th February 2014 by Tracy E Banghart
Genre: Young Adult / Science FictionSeries: The Diatous Wars #1
Page Count: 377
Format: eBook
Source: Author

Synopsis: When everything that defines you is stripped away, who do you become?
~
For Aris, a talented wingjet pilot, war means sacrificing everything: her home, her name, her face—and the one promise she swore she’d never break.

In the small village of Lux, everyone flies wingjets, but nobody flies them like Aris Haan. When she’s not dancing through the skies, she’s spending every minute with Calix, whom she’s loved since childhood. They plan to Promise, but instead he is sent to defend their dominion against a bloody invasion. Determined not to lose him, Aris follows, joining an underground network of women inside the male-only military. Using secret technology that allows her to pass as a man, she becomes “Aristos”, a Flyer in a search-and-rescue unit. 

As Aris grows stronger on the battlefield and more comfortable in her guise as Aristos, her personal mission becomes less and less clear. When she and her enigmatic commander, Major Vidar, uncover an astonishing conspiracy that could destroy everything, she must make a choice that will determine not only the fate of her heart, but the future of her dominion.

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon UK* / Amazon US / Smashwords / TBD / B&N

Tracy E. Banghart: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

*When purchasing through this link, I will receive a small amount, once I have enough saved up I will put it towards a giveaway.

Review: 

5 / 5 stars

I was fortunate enough to receive an early copy of Shattered Veil for review after being contacted by Tracy to see if I was interested, and with how her other books kept me so entertained I just had to agree. This will in no way effect my opinion of the book.

It took me a few days to find the time to fully invest into Shattered Veil but once I started I just couldn't stop.

Since finishing this book at almost 3am in late February I have written two short reviews, one an initial reaction to finishing the book on Goodreads which reads:

"Oh my god. I love it. So much. 
I've enjoyed Tracys other books a great deal but I feel like this one just showed how much better she can write even though the others are great too but like woah okay it's 2:37am and I don't even want to sleep because this was just too good *squeals* I avoid war books because I don't like how real it is, which is why I enjoyed her paranormal-ish books so much but but but highly recommend."

The other I wrote on a tumblr to have it listed as my recommendation for next month that had to come under the genre of "New Beginnings" which we could interpret as we so wished, this read:

"Shattered Veil is a newly published book by Indie Author Tracy E Banghart, as well as the first in a new series, the story is about Aris as she makes some important decisions to follow the boy shes loves into a war to help defend her dominion - to do so she must start a new life disguised as a man. (#this is so much more than a love story #its about a strong female character who realises her new life #her new her #changes her for the better #and in result changes the world #changes her reason for fighting in the war #and just All round happy awesome powerful female characters #lots of feminism ideals here guys #super awesome)"

We have to keep our recommendation short so I went over into the tags to express how much I enjoyed this book.

(Once the post goes live with our New Beginnings recommendations I'll include a link here)

So now I'm sat here thinking I need to write an even better review that does this book even more justice for how much I adored it, but I'm afraid that I can't meet such a standard.

Aris is such a strong character from the very start, whether that is clear to all readers or not. Some may see her as naive and childish for having this perfect life planned out with her ~one true love~ when there is such a devastating war going on.

But isn't that how we all live before our eyes are opened?

And did you have to relearn to walk, and find a substitute for when you couldn't?

Well I don't know about you, but I didn't.

After facing reality that her and Calix couldn't be as perfect as they had hoped when he gets selected to head to fight the war as a Mender, she takes the only opportunity she has to be with him.

This means going under great training and secrecy to join the war efforts herself, as a flyer for search and rescue.

Only trouble, women aren't allowed to join the army but with cutting edge secret technology she is able to do just this, along with many other unknown women too.

So Aris becomes Aristos.

Whilst here she is faced with a lot changes in what she knows of the world, but also within herself. 

The development of Aris throughout the book is great and I love how true the whole word and scenarios feel!

An even greater plus is that Aris isn't the only strong female character, we also have part of the story told from another, older female character who is the leader of one of the dominions and has to go through a terrifying and painful ordeal too!

I can not express my love for this book enough, it just makes me so happy and excited to think back to every moment of it, that I can't wait to read it again in a few years but also that at some point we'll get a sequel where I can fall back in love with this world all over again.

I need to buy a copy to sit on my shelf amongst all my other favourite books.