Updates: 5 months in and the whole world ahead of us

 

After a little thinking, I decided this was a post worth writing considering I've yet to post any site updates. (If you've been a lurker you may have noticed the recent drastic layout change though!) Whilst my blog is far from a successful and established book blog, I've reached what seems to me like a mile stone in my blogging: I've been lucky enough to have a couple of authors personally contact me about the possibility of reading and possibly reviewing their books.

I originally started this blog 5 months ago with the plan of discussing my thoughts on books and recording my journey into the publishing world. I've always considered reviewing books to be part of the former but at no point did I expect to be contacted by an author – I'm equally honoured and quite frankly flabbergasted by this situation. I have no idea how the authors found me, but I feel so grateful for the opportunity to have someone send me their work to read. I feel like DTW has come a long way since last November. I may not have a million subscribers, but I consider this to be massive progress in the right direction as a both a book lover and for my future career in publishing.

I feel it's important to mention that any books I have been sent to review will always reflect my honest views. I have nothing to gain from false depictions so I have no reason to lie. I know a lot of readers (myself included) can be put off by sponsored posts but I hope this will assure you that my reviews will always remain true to my real opinions.

As for recording my journey into publishing, I've been so focussed on University and my numerous blogs and hobbies that I've barely had time to think of anything else. I'm hoping to get some direct experience of the publishing industry some time between now and my third year of University, but I guess it'll have to wait until this year is over with before I can make any progress. It's a bit of a disappointment but I guess it gives me plenty of time for self improvement instead.

I will be aiming to post more here now I've got to this point. Clearly I'm doing something right, so now it's time to shine! The content I'm not exactly sure of yet. More of the same previous stuff (including reviews, favourites etc.) but I'd also like some new content so I believe it's time to do a little brain storming!

Until the next post! ♥

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Book of the Month: January

My book of the month for January is actually one of the first books I read this year. I'm pretty grateful that I managed to read an awesome book to start off my year too. :) The book I picked is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

I really enjoyed reading this book and managed to finish it within a couple of days. There were parts that I didn't like but of the trilogy this has to be my favourite book. Whilst I didn't particularly like Katniss or the following two books, the first book starts off really good. We're introduce to the country of Panem which is America of the future, where the districts (towns) outside of the Capitol city are forced intro submission through yearly "reapings". Reapings consist of a girl and boy between 12 and 18 chosen at random to go into The Hunger Games - a death match in which the last man (or woman) standing wins.

Whilst the idea isn't completely new to me (I am a Battle Royale fan after all!), The Hunger Games is able to distinguish itself through the romance aspects of the book. I absolutely love Peeta (one of Katniss' love interests), he's so lovely and caring. Katniss on the other hand is a lot more difficult to like. I was with her at the beginning of the book and I wanted her to survive, but the emotional connection I had with her was lost pretty quickly. Whilst reading the book, I was more interested in the romance than the aspects of battle and war, which I think is why I disliked Katniss: I wanted to see less calculation and more of her giving into her emotions. But I guess you need to be that person if you're trying to survive during battle.

My review on the whole trilogy is coming up soon, so I'll stop here. I've also decided to incorporate a rating system in my reviews based on my goodreads rating of a book!

Rating:    

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2012 Reading Challenge: February Progress Report

I've been slacking on my reading this month so I decided that a monthly progress report would help motivate me! (I'd also see have a visual of all the books I'd read over the year ^^)

Apparently I'm two books ahead at the moment. Which is probably from the fact that I read seven books in January just to get a head start.

Pathetically, I've only read one book so far during February. But I have books that I've start for uni (and haven't been able to finished) and I also have a life too. So as much as I'd like to, I can't spend all of my time reading.

I will try to fit in one other fiction (unrelated to University) book in this month though! Lots of small goals will lead me to greater success so I'll be making goals midway through the month just to make sure I achieve my final goal!

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

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