One Lovely Blog Award and Sunshine Blogger Award

Clare: On Wednesday this blog was nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award and the Sunshine Blogger Award by Aeriko001 at The Reading Armchair - thank you so much for that, it was a really nice surprise!

One Lovely Blog Award:

The rules for this award are;

• Say Thank you to the person that nominated you
• Explain the rules of the award
• Say seven random facts about yourself
• Nominate other bloggers
• Display the badge/logo of the award in your blog

Seven Facts About Me;

1. I am terrible at thinking about random facts to put in. We had to do this when I started College and I panicked and just told them my address. Way to make a first impression!
2. My favourite colour is Green.
3. I am insanely in love with Christmas. I am one of those annoying people who start buying presents in January! And start saying CHRISTMAS IS NEARLY HERE in like September.
4. I love Cacti, to the point of ridiculousness. I currently have 6 on my windowsill (plus a venus fly trap) and they all have names. I love my little cacti children! 
5. I am an obsessive organiser. I actually have OCD and whilst this means a lot of silly compulsive things (like rituals). It also means I write so many lists and I constantly reorganise my bookshelves. It makes me a very organised reader.
6. In April I took my siblings (two brothers and my sister - Ann) up to London for their birthday. We went to the Harry Potter studios and I honestly feel homesick for them. It was the best place I have ever been to.
7. My top place on my To-Travel list is Siena, Italy because I've read so many books set there and I desperately want to take my youngest brother to the Palio (horse race) because I know he would adore it. 

Sunshine Blogger Award:

The rules for this award are;

• Answer 11 questions provided for you
• Nominate other bloggers
• Ask them 11 questions of your own

1. Which is Your Most Anticipated Book? Probably Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare. Or the second Six of Crows book. I have just read Six of Crows and I am in love with the world so I can't wait for the next one!
2. Do You Read Graphic Novels? Which is Your Favourite One? I am trying to read them but so far all I've read is Nimona - which I loved! I have a huge wishlist of Graphic novels I just have to find the money for them!
3. Which Was Your Favourite Book So Far This Year? Ooh, tough question. I'm going to choose two; Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo and Made You Up by Francesca Zappia. I loved both of them but for very different reasons.
4. Do You Like Winter? Love it. It's my favourite season, if you go out its all chilly and (hopefully) snowy and if you stay in you get soup and blankets. Plus Winter clothes are the best. (And Christmas!)
5. How Would You Like to Spend Halloween? I've only ever been to one Halloween party and it was good but I'm not really a party person. This year I am going to stay in and watch the whole Sharknado trilogy (another fact about me - I really love those cheesy terrible horror movies.)
6. Who Are Your Top 3 Authors? The three authors I get most excited about new books from are Deanna Raybourn, Maria V. Snyder and Cassandra Clare. 
7. Is There a Series You Would Like to Be Continued Even Though it Doesn't? Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White came to mind. It's a stand alone not a series but I really wish it were because I loved the characters and the idea. That said it was a really good and complete story. 
8. How Do You Choose Which Book to Read Next? I usually go by genre, my TBR shelf is organised by genre and then alphabetically by author so I usually read them in that order but sometimes I just go with what I really want to read. For my Classic books I have a TBR jar and I just pick a book each month.
9. Would You Buy a Book Just Because it Has a Beautiful Cover? Oh yeah! I have so many books I bought because of cover lust - and they usually turn out to be great books. So it works.
10. Do You Prefer Detailed Descriptions or Witty Dialogue in a Novel? Witty dialogue. I like description but the dialogue is usually what makes a book for me - mostly because I prefer character over plot so dialogue is a better way of getting to know the character. 
11. Which Book Would You Recommend? I am going to recommend Red by Alison Cherry. It was such a unique and fun read and I have heard pretty much nobody talk about it - it really deserves more love!

My Questions:

1. Where in the world would you most like to live other than where you currently do?
2. What is your favourite book or the book that means the most to you?
3. Can you remember what the first book you ever read just for fun was?
4. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life what would it be?
5. What would be your dream job?
6. If you were throwing a dinner party who would your top 5 guests be (alive or dead, real or fictional)?
7. What is your favourite genre of book?
8. Are you a cat person or a dog person?
9. If you could have any supernatural creature as your pet/sidekick what would it be and why?
10. If you could be any supernatural creature (eg. vampire/witch/ghost) what would it be and why?
11. Which fictional character would you most like to trade lives with?

I am going to nominate three bloggers whose posts always make me smile when I see them in my subscription feed and who joined at roughly the same time as us (I think the One Lovely Blog award is intended for newer blogs?) Thank you again to Aeriko001 - it really means a lot to us that you chose to nominate Dual Reads! 

Lillie @ Little Lillie Reads

Sofia @ Bookish Wanderess 

Claire @ Art and Soul (I know you already have Sunshine Blogger but it's worth repeating and besides you definitely deserve One Lovely Blog)

Ann Reviews: Just Like The Movies by Kelly Fiore

Title: Just Like The Movies 

Author: Kelly Fiore

Series: If Only... #7 (series can be read out of order)

Pages: 279

Format: Hardback

Rating: 4/5

Blurb: Pretty and popular track star Marijke Monti is confident about almost everything – she’s got great friends, a great family, and she’s on her way to the State Track Championship. In fact, the only thing Marijke isn’t confident about is her relationship with Tommy Lawson. 

Lily Spencer has spent her entire high school career preparing for the future – she’s participated in every extracurricular activity and volunteer committee she could. But, at home, she watches her mother go on date after date with dud-dudes, still searching for “the one.” Lily realizes that she’s about to graduate and still hasn’t even had a boyfriend. 

While they live on each other’s periphery at school, Lily and Marijke never seemed to have much in common; but, after a coincidental meeting at the movie theater, Lily gets an idea – why can’t life be like a movie? Why can’t they set up their perfect romantic situations, just in time for their senior prom, using movie techniques?

Once the girls come up with the perfect plans, they commit themselves to being secret cohorts and, just like in the movies, drama ensues.

"You know what would be great? If life could be like the movies."

I really enjoyed this book but I was very annoyed when I got to about the second chapter and it spoiled the ending of Pitch Perfect for me, as I had not seen it yet. I would recommend that you watch some of the romantic films before you read this book because it may well spoil some endings for you if you don’t. But if you are more of a film buff you will probably like the references.

The characters in this book developed as the book continued and as the main characters Marijke and Lily become friends and start to change one another for the better. I could relate to Lily more as she is more like me. She tried to stay in the background of things until Marijke pushed her to be more self-confident and to be noticed instead of being in the background. Marijke was also a good character because she develops as she becomes friends with Lily and realises that there is more to life than running and her boyfriend.

I liked the way the plot developed and how the ending wasn’t just in the last chapter but it was thought through and strategically written so that not everything good happened in the last few chapters. The plot was predictable yet I still loved it.

This was a well written book and I enjoyed it. I was in a bit of a reading slump when I read this book because I had a lot of homework to do but I didn’t want to put it down and I had finished it after about 2-3 days. Overall it was a very enticing book and I liked it. 

The only bad thing about it was that it was very focused on love and there were not really any mention to how the characters changed and became bolder and more active in school life. It would have been better if it had mention something other than the love side of things. 

Overall I would recommend that you read this book because although I didn't like that it was very 'lovey dovey' it was a good book and I enjoyed it. A good short read for if you are looking to read something when you don't know what to read next.

You can also find us on Goodreads (Ann and Clare) to keep up with what we are reading

Friday Reads 2nd October 2015

Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice, the idea is to grab a book, turn to page 56 (or 56% in an e-book) and find any sentence (no spoilers!) and then post it. Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are currently reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence and impressions about the book.

Clare:

I have just started my Classic of the month Washington Square by Henry James and I am aiming to read about 60 pages this weekend. I am also currently reading A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn which I am very much enjoying so far. When I have finished that I will be moving on to Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon which isn't remotely Halloween-y but it's just arrived and I am not allowing myself to put new books on the shelf and forget about them any more like I used to!! And then if I get time I will be reading Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick. I have already been mildly spoiled for it so I'm not sure how much that will affect my enjoyment of it but hopefully I will like it.

Book Beginning;

"I stared down into the open grave and wished that I could summon a tear."

This isn't as compelling a start as her Silent in the Grave series had but I love how Deanna Raybourn always jumps right into the story, there is action pretty soon after this but she still manages to set the scene without me getting bored for a second which is great.

Friday 56;

""Be so good as to let me know what is going on in this house," he said to her, in a tone which, under the circumstances, he himself deemed genial."Going on Austin?" Mrs Penniman exclaimed. "Why, I am sure I don't know! I believe that last night the old gray cat had kittens?"

I haven't reached this point but from what I can tell the Doctor thinks there is something shady going on and Mrs Penniman is either keeping secrets or being oblivious but it does lead to a whole absurd argument about cats that I love!

You can also find us on Goodreads (Ann and Clare) to keep up with what we are reading

Clare Reviews: Prima Donna by Karen Swan

Title: Prima Donna
Author: Karen Swan
Series: No
Pages: 576
Format: Paperback
Rating: 3.5/5

Blurb: Breaking the rules was what she liked best. That was her sport. Renegade, rebel, bad girl. Getting away with it. Pia Soto is the sexy and glamorous prima ballerina, the Brazilian bombshell who's shaking up the ballet world with her outrageous behaviour. She's wild and precocious, and she's a survivor. She's determined that no man will ever control her destiny. But ruthless financier Will Silk has Pia in his sights, and has other ideas …Sophie O'Farrell is Pia's hapless, gawky assistant, the girl-next-door to Pia's Prima Donna, always either falling in love with the wrong man or just falling over. Sophie sets her own dreams aside to pick up the debris in Pia's wake, but she's no angel. When a devastating accident threatens to cut short Pia's illustrious career, Sophie has to step out of the shadows and face up to the demons in her own life.

"Our lives are going to filled only with music and beauty from now on. We're on our way."

I have enjoyed every Karen Swan book I've read but I was nervous to start this one, perhaps because it sounded different to her other books in some way. I needn't have worried. The charm of her writing and her characters was as present here as it is in her other books. It is an earlier book and I thought that showed at the beginning, there was a fairly awkward start to the book - plenty of action and characters introduced but I thought perhaps the way the characters were introduced, with whole paragraphs of description about how they looked felt a little off.

Pia and Sophie were both very strong characters to read about, I did feel like Sophie was more likable from the start of the book but by the end I was more in love with Pia. Sophie did annoy me a bit towards the end because she just kept making decisions that just made no sense to me, the book would have been a lot shorter if she didn't keep making silly decisions. Pia on the other hand started the book very self-centered in a lot of ways, but over the course of the book she became more soft and more human. Which may have had something to do with her backstory that was revealed. This is a common part of Karen Swan's books, with her characters having tragic backstory's that are hinted at but when revealed definitely tug at your heartstrings. Pia's backstory was fairly obvious from the beginning but her way of telling the story and the way in which things were resolved were really great in my opinion. Sophie on the other hand had a story that, whilst it definitely made me feel for her, also seemed to come out of nowhere. I don't think there were any hints to it nor was there anything in her behaviour that could have hinted to it.

The romantic stories were very much put to the side of the story, which is by no means a bad thing. For one of the characters her love interest doesn't appear until right near the end of the story and for the other she battles with him a lot throughout but they don't get together until practically the last page. I liked both romances, I do almost wish they had been resolved slightly earlier in the story, so that the focus then could be on Sophie and Pia's live afterwards because I would love to know what they plan to do next. Considering so much of the book is about Pia's quest to further her ballet career and Sophie moving out of Pia's shadow and becoming an artist, there wasn't much emphasis on that at the end. And whilst I kind of understand from Pia's point of view, I wish I knew what Sophie was going to do next other than romantically.

The side characters were interesting although not perhaps that well developed. Apart from Pia and Sophie every other major female character seemed to be either bitchy or really fickle which is a trend in books I really hate. Their was a rivalry between Pia and another ballerina that I wish had been handled differently and I wish that female friendships, outside of the friendship between Pia and Sophie, were more developed or just existed full stop. 

Overall this isn't my favourite Karen Swan book, I do think her writing and her stories have gotten better over time, but it was a very enjoyable read and I thought the last third of the book was very strong. I especially liked all the ballet descriptions, I do love ballet although goodness knows I could never do it. And I am always so surprised by how much ballerinas put themselves through and I loved how that was done through the book.

 You can also find us on Goodreads (Ann and Clare) and on Twitter (Ann and Clare) to keep up with what we are reading

September Wrap Up & October TBR

Ann: I didn't read as much this month as I did last month, because school started and there was a lot going on. In September I read a total of 5 books; 4 of which were 5 star books but my favourite one was the one that I just finished reading!
Ann's Favourite Book of the Month:

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness: 

I loved it so much, it was a really good book. It was really funny. Clare does have a full review up for this book, which is listed below, if you're interested in finding out more about it.

Clare: 

I am currently just 38 books away from completing my Goodreads challenge this year and I have already read more books than I did in 2014 so I'm proud of myself for that!

This month I read a total of 36 books of which 6 were 5 stars as well as a whole lot of 4.5 star worthy books! Which made choosing my favourite book of the month rather difficult! So I cheated and chose two (sorry)!

Clare's Favourite Books of the Month:

The Uninvited by Cat Winters: 

I bought this book off the strength of a review from someone I trust. And that trust was not remotely misplaced. I think, if left to myself there is a good chance I would never have picked this book up. I hadn't heard anything about it before reading the review, and although the description is interesting it doesn't fully prepare you for how incredible this book is. It was beautiful and surprising and really made me think. And I can't wait to read more from her. I do have a full review listed below.


Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo:
I will have a full review up for this on Monday, but dear god this book. It messed with my emotions and my head and I have so many thoughts and feelings about these characters and I just need Book 2 now! This is so, so much better than the Grisha trilogy and I am just kind of in awe right now.

Clare's Reviews in September:

• Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray
• The Uninvited by Cat Winters
• The Other Side of Midnight by Simone St. James
• The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
• An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
• Ash & Bramble by Sarah Prineas
• Maid of Wonder by Jennifer McGowan
• The Singular & Extraordinary Tale of Mirror & Goliath by Ishbelle Bee
• The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Ann's TBR for October 2015:
My TBR for next month doesn't have many books on it because I have a lot of school work to do but here are the ones I plan on reading.

I am really excited to read all of these and can't wait to read them!

Clare's TBR for October 2015:

The majority of my TBR for October will be made up of pre-orders since all my favourite authors seem to be releasing new books in one big batch! My pre-orders will be definite reads since I am still determined not to add to my TBR and read books as they come in. I am starting my next Uni module on Saturday so I am not sure how much time I will have for reading but I should be fine - I am fairly confident in my ability to balance! I am also trying to write more reviews, I'm on top of all my review requests so I don't feel overwhelmed. In October I am upping my reviews to every Monday, Thursday and Friday and every other Saturday. 
For Review:
All of these books were received from Netgalley.


Pre-Ordered:

Whilst they're not all fitting in to my Halloween theme for my reading this month, there are some that look like they could be appropriately creepy/chilling. I am especially looking forward to A Madness So Discreet for Halloween and the closer it gets to release the more This Monstrous Thing calls to me!Carry On has been one of my most anticipated reads all year however so that's the one I am absolutely most excited for with A Curious Beginning a close second - Deanna Raybourn has never let me down yet.

I would then also like to read some other books that fit into my Halloween-y mood!

Cat Winters and Simone St. James are both authors I tried last month and found I loved, and Sandra Byrd has been recommended as a similar genre, so I am looking forward to that. Katie Alender is an author I've been dying to read for a while now but I scare so easily, when I heard that this book is on the less scary side I thought it might make a good starting point. I have had Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children on my shelf since it first came out and I need to finally read it. I've been a bit scared but the trilogy is complete now so I have no excuse! I tried to read Black Ice a while back but wasn't in the right mood but since I am now I thought I'd give it another go. 

Classics Wrap Up:

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - Ann: I wasn't able to finish Little Women this month because of school and being ill and just not having a lot of time to read so I will be carrying it forwards into October.

The Wings of the Dove by Henry James - Clare: 4/5. I did enjoy this a lot more than the last book I read of his (The Golden Bowl) but I don't feel like it was as enthralling as The Portrait of a Lady was. The characters were the main strength here. Milly was a lot more vibrant than I had expected her to be and Kate a lot less callous and I found myself loving both girls. I cared less about the men in the book but then I always find that in a Henry James novel, whilst the women stand out in my memory I can usually not even remember the men's names.

Classics TBR:

Ann: I will be aiming to finish Little Women this month since I wasn't able to last month.

Clare: I have a lot of Henry James on my shelf so I'm not totally surprised that I pulled another of his books out of the TBR jar. This is quite a short book in comparison to other Classics on my shelf so I'm feeling confident about it. I don't really know what it's about but maybe that's a good thing!? 

I think we both had quite a good reading month in September and we are definitely both looking forward to a whole lot of creepy, scary Halloween books for October! Let us know what you think of these books and what you read in September or plan to read in October!

You can also find us on Goodreads (Ann and Clare) to keep up with what we are reading