I'm Back and Summer Reading!

I looked a bit like this a few weeks ago-
only it was a lot colder and less sunny!

Hey everyone! You may have noticed that I hadn't posted for a few weeks until yesterday and that's because I decided to take a bit of a break this summer to spend time with my friend from Italy who stayed for the month and get used to my new job. I had a really fun summer holiday in Cornwall and although I didn't get in nearly as much reading as I hoped, I did read some brilliant books. However I'm glad to say that I'm back now because I definitely missed blogging!

Here's what I read:

Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Septys

Just Listen by Sara Dessen

Daughter of Xandu by Dori Jones Yang

Velvet by Mary Hooper 

Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman

Beautiful Days by Anna Godbersen (review later this week) 

In other news, I did my first ever guest post over at Rebecca Books as part of her summer themed week last month on the topic of summery covers. Rebecca has a wonderful blog and this week had a great line up of posts so if you're interested, go and check out my post here.

I've got a few reviews planned but posts might not be as regular as usual in the next few weeks as I get used to the extra school work I'll be getting from starting GCSE courses. So, things should be back to usual soon but just bear with me for the moment!

The summer holidays and summer reading!

Today I finished school for summer- yay! I know in the US schools get a longer summer holidays than the 6 weeks given in the UK so that's why it might seem a bit late. So summer means sun (if I'm lucky!) and lots of reading and I thought I'd share with you the 16 books are on my line up to read this summer:

• Eight Keys by Suzanne Le Fleur

• Daughter of Xandu by Dori Jones Yang 

• Die For Me by Amy Plum

• A Song For Summer by Eva Ibbotson ( I actually thought I'd read this one as it's been on my shelf for a few years but it turns out I haven't!)

• These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer

• Just Listen by Sarah Dessen (my first Dessen after I was recommended her books)

• Witch Child by Celia Rees

• The Keeper's Daughter by Gill Arbunthnott

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

• Troubadour by Mary Hoffman

• The Traitor's Smile by Patricia Elliot

• Emma by Jane Austen

• The Betrayal of Maggie Blair by Elizabeth Laird

• River Secrets by Shannon Hale

• The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (my first Philippa Gregory)

• Shadows On The Moon by Zoe Marriott

I probably won't get through them all but I want to use all the free time I have in the holidays to get through as many of the unread books that I own as possible and I'd like to read at least 10. There are some favourites I'd like to re-read too such as Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Anne Of Green Gables by L.M Montgomery and Party Shoes by Noel Streatfield.

Also, I might not post as regularly or consistently as usual because I have an Italian friend staying with me for a month who I only get to see once a year so I want to spend time with her. There will also be one week where I won't be updating, which is about three weeks from now.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? What are you planning to read this summer?

UPDATE: Extending my blogoversary giveaway for a week!

Hey everyone! This is a quick update to let you know that I have decided to extend my blogoversary giveaway until next Sunday (26/6) so if you haven't yet entered, this is your chance to do so. It's international if you live in a country that the Book Depository deliver to and there are 10 fabulous books that the winner can choose from. 

To find out more and to see the books the winner can choose from, visit the giveaway post HERE! Thank you to everyone who has already entered and to those who have helped by spreading the word- I really appreciate it  =)

The commenting problem continues and (amended) please help solve!

Hey everyone! I just want to let you that my Blogger commenting problem still hasn't been fixed even though the Blogger help page says the commenting blip has been solved. I know I'm not the only one battling with Blogger probelms too.  So if I'm usually a regular commenter on your blog but I haven't posted it recently or don't visit back in a meme post then that's the reason why- I apologise. I am still reading your posts! It's very annoying :(

I have figured out a way that I can comment on blogs without being signed in but only if a blog has the name/url commenting setting turned on. The only problem is that you can't turn that setting on separately from allowing anonymous commenters too, which could possibly mean spam. If you are willing to turn this option on (Blogger's spam catcher catches all my spam comments) in your blog settings then I- and other people experiencing the problem- would be very grateful but I totally understand if not. didn't have this setting turned on before this problem either in case of spam! However to do this, go to the settings panel in your Blogger dashboard and check the 'anyone can comment' box.

For the meantime please bear with me while I try to find a solution and I'll let you know if it gets fixed. If anyone else experienced the same problem and got it fixed, I'd be grateful to hear!




 Thank you to some brilliant advice from Joanne at Slice Of Life , I've now found a solution to the problem- thank you very much Joanne! This is where my plea comes in.

 I can comment on blogs that have 'full page' or 'pop up' commenting enabled in the comment settings in the settings tab of the Blogger dashboard. So I -and I'm sure all the other people experiencing the same problem- would be extremely grateful if other bloggers enabled this option on their blog in order that everyone can comment until the problem is fixed. Thank you so much if you do decide to this or spread the word- I really appreciate it!

Stephanie <3

Reading Challenges Summer 2010

After looking around at other people's book blogs, I noticed that many were taking part in reading challenges so I decided to take a look at them and decide which ones I would like to participate in. I have decided to join one as unfortunately I do not have as much time to read this summer as I would like:
 
Historical Fiction Challenge 2010

I love this challenge button!

This challenge is held by Royal Reviews with help from Alaine at Queen of Happy Endings from 1st January 2010 to the end of December so there is still plenty of time left. As you can tell from my reviews, I read a lot of historical fiction books normally so it would be nice to recognise this by taking part in the challenge and finding out about more hf through other bloggers taking part.

There are 4 levels to this challenge:

-- Curious – Read 3 Historical Fiction novels.

- Fascinated – Read 6 Historical Fiction novels.
-- Addicted – Read 12 Historical Fiction novels.

-- Obsessed – Read 20 Historical Fiction novels

 

I am just going to aim to read as many as I can in the time and see where I get to but if I counted all the hf books I've already read this year then I will have definitely reached Obsessed by Decemeber! Also, I am not going to list the novels I'm going to read in advance here as I do not know yet so I will update in my reviews of the hf books that I read and wrap up in a list in a post at the end of the challenge.
 
Here is the link to the challenge welcome post if you are thinking of joining in yourself, whether you are a book blogger or not:  For those of you are not inclined towards reading historical fiction there are other great challenges for a variety of genres listed there too.
 
Look out for more soon!

Summer and Beyond Reading List

Check out my reading list under the page heading 'Reading List' - you might find a book that take your fancy!

Thanks!