Autumn is finally here and I have to say I’m pleased at is my favourite season.  Bloomin’ Brilliant Books saw out the summer with a cracking September.  The month was started off in a great way with the All Fall Down blog tour, The Secret Wife blog tour and the Jacques blog tour.  Later in the month I was involved in the blog tours for Mistakes We Make, The Devil’s Work and my first review of a children’s book, Little Kitty.

I also read and reviewed Lizzie’s Christmas Escape, Buy Buy Baby, Matching The Evidence, Untouchable, Christmas Under A Cranberry Sky and A Cornish Christmas.

I was really lucky to feature an author Q&A with the lovely Caroline James and September saw the start of the weekly Author Influences feature which included James Raven, Kathleen McGurl, Tracey Sinclair and Susan Gandar.

October Blog Tours

So this month I will be taking part in the blog tours for The Secret Broker, Strangers, I know Your Secret, The Mountain In My Shoe, Her Last Breath and A Suitable Lie.

October Reading

I will be reading and reviewing Isolation Junction by Jennifer Gilmour, Black Widow by Chris Brookmyre, The Killing Game by JS Carol, Himself by Jess Kidd, Never Again by Nicky Clifford, Christmas Under a Starlit Sky by Holly Martin and Moondance by Diane Chandler.

Author Influences

Authors taking part in October are Karl Drinkwater (7th), Gill Paul (12th), Catherine Hokin (19th) and Sue Moorcroft (28th).  I really hope you will join us for these.

A huge thank you to all the authors for taking part in guest posts, publishers and authors for allowing me to read their books for review and all of you who visit Bloomin’ Brilliant Books.  Please feel free to comment on any of the posts, I love to hear your views!

Abbie xxx

  

August Overview

So the summer is coming to a close and we are heading into my favourite season, autumn.  I have to say I’m really looking forward to some cooler weather and so are the poor dogs with their thick coats. We had to buy Freya a fan which I think she liked…

Reading wise, it has been a great month!!! I was whisked away to Barbados in Coffee, Tea, The Caribbean and Me, was blown away by a totally unexpected ending in Saving Sophie, attended A Wedding In Cornwall, got a scary glimpse into a potential Britain of the future in To Retribution, was stunned by the beauty of The Museum Of You, broke my heart reading Dear Mother, got wrapped up in secrets and lies in The Perfect Girl, and met the psycho ex from hell in Baby!

Blog Tours

I was lucky enough to take part in three blog tours this month for The Unravelling, Saving Sophie and Good Girl Bad Girl.

10 Books of Summer Challenge

Unfortunately I didn’t succeed in my challenge, reading only six books out of ten, only managing to read The Color Purple by Alice Walker this month.  This is due to my own weak will in being unable to say no when I am offered amazing sounding ARCs!  What I have taken away from the challenge is that I will definitely try to make time each month to read at least one book that has been on my TBR list and that has been published for a while.  It felt really good to, hopefully, encourage people to read those books that have been out for a while. 

Sneaky Peak at September

September is already looking to be an exciting month! I am thrilled to be part of some amazing upcoming blog tours.  You can catch me on the following tours –

3rd September – All Fall Down by Tom Bale

4th September – The Secret Wife by Gill Paul

5th September – Jacques by Tanya Ravenwater 

12th September – Mistakes We Make by Jenny Harper

18th September – The Devil’s Work by Mark Edwards

I also plan to read Lizzie’s Christmas Escape by Christie Barlow, Matching The Evidence by Graham Smith, Black Widow by Chris Brookmyre, Buy Buy Baby by Helen MacKinven, and Untouchable by Sibel Hodge.  I’m sure this will be added to as I go along!

I’m also starting a new regular feature in which authors talk about the books that have influenced their writing.  This will kick off with crime writer James Raven on 7th September.  I’m really excited about this and hope you enjoy it!

Again I give huge thanks to the authors and publishers who give me the opportunity to read and express my views on their books, the brilliant bloggers who support and share and everyone who takes the time out to read my reviews and the guest posts.

Quote Of The Month

This month’s quote comes from the stunning The Museum Of You by Carys Bray.  The way Carys describes emotions and feelings takes my breath away!

‘When you grow up in the saddest chapter of someone else’s story, you’re forever skating on the thin ice of their memories’

 

July Overview

Wow! what a month July has been.  Have read some really brilliant books this month and featured Q&A’s with the lovely Louise Jensen and Susan Gandar and a guest post on why reviews are important by Tracey Sinclair.

I laughed my socks off at Melody Bittersweet and the Girl’s Ghostbusting Agency, was chilled and thrilled by The Sister, The Step Mother, Lying in Wait and The Madam.  I have also travelled back in time and to some exotic locations with some stunning historical fiction in The Sugar Planter’s Daughter, Mata Hari and We’ve Come to Take You Home.

Blog Tours

I popped my blog tour cherry this month, taking part in tours for Now and Then Friends, Mata Hari and We’ve Come to Take You Home.  I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of them and have more coming up next month.

I was mega chuffed this month to see part of my review used on a banner for Simon Booker’s Without Trace and by Claire Seeber’s response on Twitter to my review of The Step Mother – especially so, as I was not overly happy with the review I had written and was doubting it!

10 Books of Summer Challenge

I’m not doing particularly well with the challenge, mainly due to the fact that I can’t resist the books that I’m being asked to read for review or keep my mits off Netgalley.  I did manage to read Skin and Bones, The Things We Never Said and Unravelling Oliver.  I have wanted to get round to reading them for a while, so chuffed that I finally managed to.

Coming up in August

I’m very excited to be kicking August off with a Q&A with Tom Bale and sharing the blurb and cover for his new book which is published on 1 September 2016.  I will be taking part in two blog tours for The Unravelling by Thorne Moore on the 4 August and Good Girl Bad Girl by Ann Girdharry on 22 August.  Other books I’m planning to read include –

The Museum of You by Carys Bray

Dear Mother by Angela Marsons

The Perfect Girl by Gilly Macmillan

Coffee, Tea, the Caribbean and Me by Caroline James.

As always I send a huge thank you to the authors and publishers for letting me read their books in exchange for a review, the other fantastic bloggers I have met and everyone who takes time to read my reviews.  It’s greatly appreciated!

Quote of the Month

This month’s quote comes from Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent.  It’s one hell of an opening line and really sets the tone for the whole of the novel.  How can you not read on after this? –

‘My husband did not mean to kill Annie Doyle, but the lying tramp deserved it.’

June Overview

I am a little late getting this post out due to family circumstances that resulted in me taking a break for a week, however, it’s better late than never!  

June has been a great month for reading with me reading far more than I had planned for, mainly due to my inability to keep away from Netgalley! I had my first venture into the sci-fi/dystopia genre with The Transition by RJ Tomlin.  I was totally creeped out by My Husband’s Son by Deborah O’Connor and was blown away by the debut novels Without Trace by Simon Booker and What We Didn’t Say by Rory Dunlop.   Last To Die by Arlene Hunt provided me with the perfect sociopath for the month in Caleb Switch and Love or Nearest Offer by Adele Geras provided the perfect break from all the tense thrillers.  I was a little disappointed by Baby Doll by Hollie Overton but say it’s worth checking out as I know loads of people have loved it.  

My 10 books of summer challenge hasn’t got off to the greatest start with only two books read, but hopefully I will catch up and complete it.  Thank God I didn’t do the twenty book challenge!!  I read The Children Act by Ian McEwan and an old favourite of mine, The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.

 I am absolutely thrilled with how the blog is going and have now had over 10,000 visits, so a huge thank you to everybody who has visited, shared and commented.  It’s really appreciated.  

Coming up in July

July is going to be a very exciting month!!! I am thrilled to be having Louise Jensen on the blog for an author Q&A and will be featuring my review of her stunning debut novel The Sister.

 I am also taking part in my first ever blog tours! On the 17th I will be hosting Now and Then Friends by Kate Hewitt and on the 29th the debut novel by Susan Gandar, We’ve Come to Take You Home, which will also feature a Q&A session.  

I was chuffed to be nominated for the Liebster Award by the lovely Charlotte at Whispering Stories so watch out for my post on that.  

Other books I will be reading this month are –

Melody Bittersweet and the Girls Ghosbusting Agency by Kitty French

The Step Mother by Claire Seeber

The Sugar Planter’s Daughter by Sharon Maas

The Madam by Jaime Raven  

I am going to try and stick to this this month, but it’s bloomin’ difficult so I imagine that this list will increase as the month progresses! 

May Overview

Well May has been a pretty mad month, in a good way. Bloomin’ Brilliant Books went from being just a Facebook page to this blog! Being a bit of a technophobe it took some doing (spending seven hours trying to suss out how to point my domain name to my host was not a particular highlight!!!) but I got there and I’m quite pleased with it. I still have some bits to sort out on it but I’m sure it will be a continuous work in progress. We also hit Twitter which initially for me was a bit like social media with ADHD but I’m slowly getting used to it.

Reading wise, it’s been a hell of a month!!! I have been in an addictions therapy group in Mark Billingham’s Die of Shame, met Jack and Vera from Corrie on a body farm in Angela Marsons’s Play Dead (my hubby informs me that body farms do exist in the USA!), been wooed by an alleged serial killer in Sharon Bolton’s Daisy In Chains, was blown away by Jane Corry’s debut thriller My Husband’s Wife and chased chickens with Kitty Lewis in Christie Barlow’s Kitty’s Countryside Dream! I have been lucky enough to love every book I have read this month and am grateful to all the authors, publishers and Netgalley who have granted ARCs in return for reviews.  I can highly recommend each of these books.

 

Plans for June

My reading for next month will include The Transition by R J Tomlin, a young author who is self published and publicizes his books on the streets of Leeds.  This is a venture into a different genre for me, being a sci-fi/dystopian novel, but I like to try new things!  I will also be reading two cracking looking thrillers – Last To Die by Arlene Hunt and Baby Doll by Hollie Overton – which I am really looking forward to.  The reading group I am part of are reading Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain, an old favourite of mine (how could I not love a book that is narrated by a dog!) so I’m looking forward to re-visiting that.   I will also be reading Kate Hewitt’s  Now and Then Friends ready for Bloomin’ Brilliant Books first ever blog tour, which I’m really excited about! So my reading for June is going to be an eclectic mix, which I love.

Reviews will also be posted for two fantastic books – Louise Jensen’s The Sister and Joanna Cannon’s The Trouble With Goats and Sheep – both stunning reads.
I have been so lucky to come across some lovely, friendly, supportive bloggers, authors and publishers. All in all May has been a blast!

I hope you have enjoyed reading my reviews and continue to visit. Please feel free to comment, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.  Your support is really appreciated.

My Quote of the Month

‘…one never really knows a person properly.  Especially ourselves.  Every human is a melting pot of contradictions.’ (My Husband’s Wife by Jane Corry)