Just Arrived #12

It felt like birthday and christmas rolled into one when I finally could order new books again in the beginning of last week after not been able to for almost a month. Today they arrived! Yay :)

The Liberation of Alice Love - Abby McDonald; 29 - Adena Halpern, Forget You - Jennifer Echols

Girl Racers - Janet Gover; Just Look at me Now - Nell Dixon

Hello Again - A few short reviews/ratings

Hello again!

I'm back in Sweden, which means I have my 'bigger' laptop back ( it was getting a bit annoying with my 10.1'' laptop). Anyway, I had a great time this last month and I did a lot of reading. Because it would take too much time right now I've decided to only give you a quick run-down of the books I've read ( I saw that there are a lot of reviews out there already and I'm kinda late - due to the 'no-internet-connection).

I thought I'll start with the one i liked the most and continue with the others (without order - I could never decide which one would be second, third and so one..it all depends on the mood, they are all different somehow..and anyway it is after all what I think, my subjective opinion..my perception changes everyday anyway).

• You're the One that  I don't Want - Alexandra Potter                                                                         I'll be honest with you here. I've been waiting like forever for this book. I've had really big/great expectations. I've been in love with A.Potters books ever since I've read: Be Careful What You Wish For, I've liked all her books since and the ones before that with the exception of Me and Mr. Darcy. For once a book actually lived up to my high expectations. I really loved it. I read it in one afternoon at the pool. I didn't notice the warmth, didn't have the urge to go into the water. I just wanted to read the book! Of course it wasn't perfect, no book is. On the blurb on the back of the book it states that Lucy was 18 when she first met Nate, on the first page inside the book it says that she was 19. Why, why, why, do these mistakes happen? They make my crazy! The other thing I didn't like was the 'naivety' of Lucy when she first got back together with Nate again, she should have known that something wasn't right. And what's up with all the randomness? But I really liked the prose, the writing, the interesting plot, the newness of the plot, the moral of the story. I greatly enjoyed this book!
• Single in the City - Michele Gorman                                                                                                   I had no idea what to expect of this book. I heard that it was once called: The ex-pat diaries. The blurb and the title simply made this book irresistible for me. Me being somewhat of an ex-pat myself. ( I moved to Sweden by myself when I was 18). I found Single in the City simply hilarious. It's funny, wonderful and a really great holiday/summer read.
• The Not-So Secret Diary of a City Girl - Abby Spencer                                                                     This book was a bit different from the others. I liked it, of course. But I just couldn't see the connection between the blurb and the book. And what is up with it's title? Her diary is on-line for like five minutes. I really was expecting something different. But this book really is worth reading. It had me interested from page one to the end. I liked Alex, I liked Laura - smart and girly and human (like all women are, the men just haven't realised it yet!). What this book needs is a name-change so that it stops misleading the readers.
• The Final Hitch - Samantha Scott-Jeffries                                                                                          As you all know, I never finish books I don't like. So even this one was good-enough to finish. I've read the first one in the series - I Do, I Do, I Do  and really liked it, so of course I had to read the second one. I found it a bit too predictable, Harrisson a bit too nice/likeable, and the plot a bit too slow. But all in all it was a good enough beach-read.
• Katy Carter Wants a Hero - Ruth Saberton                                                                                          This little gem really really surprised me. What a wonderful book. This book has it all. A likeable funny, clumsy, real heroine and a relationship/connection that feels so real you find yourself getting jealous. It goes straight to the heart I tell you. This book is so funny, so wonderful, the storytelling feels so real, so close to the heart that you'll never want it to end. You'll dread the final page, you'll want it to go on forever. Ok, maybe I got a little carried away with this one. But, please, give it a chance. It may surprise you!                                                

Desperate Book-Shopping

Hello everybody!
I'm back from Spain again. I had a wonderful time, lot of time to read. The 9 books I brought with me weren't enough and the last few days were quite boring, suffering from withdrawal anxiety from having nothing to read.
Anyway, now I'm back in a place where I at least have an internet-connection and this morning I hurried to town. Of course, there were no english books, or at least, the ones they had I also have. But I managed to find one:

Melissa Hill - Please forgive me

I normally don't like to read books that are translated, thereof the problem with finding books this morning. I like to read books in their language of origin. In the end I bought these three books, with a little compromise:

Jessica Bird - Wenn es plötzlich Liebe ist; CécileKrug - Die Sache mit Edgar; Silke Neumayer - Die Männerversteherin

Anyway, it's only the first one that is originally in english, the second one is translated from french and the third actually is written by a german author. They looked lovely so I bought them :)

Hiatus

I'll be away for 15 days and will not have any internet-connection at all. I'm sorry for any inconveniences this may cause. I'll answer all e-mails when I'm back again.

and of course, I'll be reading lots..so many reviews to look forward to!

New Books #1

These I found yesterday in an all-English bookstore in Zurich!

This one arrived yesterday. I ordered it in Sweden, where it arrived last Thursday when I already had left Sweden. A dear friend sent it to me here in Switzerland..not it is here..YAY :)

Review #2 'Living La Vida Loca' - Belinda Jones

I think that you are all familiar with my somewhat unconventional review-style by now.


Living La Vida Loca by Belinda Jones

I've been really looking forward to reading this book after falling in love with Belinda Jones' books after reading Into the Blue. It wasn't easy to put on my *to-be-read-on-holiday* pile of books, but I knew it would be worth the wait, and it was!

I was basically hooked from line one and couldn't put it down until I had read the last page. For me it didn't feel like the normal, often shallow, chick-lit. And even though it really is the perfect beach-read with all the exotic places, the dancing, the hot guys and the mojitos it is also much more than that. It has a deeper layer that draws you in. It isn't just about dancing and travelling to Argentine, Spain and Cuba. It isn't just about filming the Reality Tv Show and it isn't just about Love and Romance. For me this book represents a journey to find yourself. About self-esteem, epiphany and standing up for yourself. About believing, believing in life and dreams. About letting go, really letting go, the difficulties about feelings and emotions. But most of all it is about friendship.

This really summarizes this book for me: " What do you do when you realise that you're not good enough to have your dreams come true?" - "You have to come up with new dreams." (Belinda Jones 2010, Living La Vida Loca, p.24)

I really like Belinda Jones' writing. It's so real in the descriptions. You can see the exotic places, feel the textures of the dresses, hear the music, feel the warm breeze, smell the spices. It draws you in. When the heroine is talking about wanting to experience the 'perfect dance' you almost get jealous, longing, suddenly wanting one of your own. But later you realise that you actually get one too, while reading, you can feel it, almost touch it.

To sum it all up, it's a perfect summer read, not too heavy and deep in the story/plot but not to fickle and shallow either. It's fun but also makes you realise a few things. The ending was sadly a bit rushed, but that doesn't diminish the book in the whole.

Holiday Books

Hello everybody

I'm sorry that I have been so quiet lately. There were a lot of wonderful days, I spent them outside, reading, having fun and spending time with friends. I didn't have much to read. Now however I'm away on holiday for a month, for the next ten days I'll be having wifi/internet connection, so I hope to post a few reviews about the books I'll be reading.

These are my holiday books:   (one book, I Heart Paris by Lindsey Kelk, is missing from the picture, but it arrived in Sweden today and my friend will send it to me here, so I should have it next week)

I'm really really looking forward to reading them....
So, now I'm off, reading...