The Overflowing Library

April has been an insane month for me blogwise. I'm still trying to throw off a horrible coldly/flu like bug I seem to have had since Christmas and therefore I've spent a lot of time at home reading in bed. Read in April Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman (3 stars) Summer Skin by Kirsty Eagar (5 stars) Kook by Chris Vick (4 stars) Here we Lie by Sophie McKenzie (3 stars) Royal Wedding by Meg Cabot (5 stars) London belongs to us by Sarra Manning (5 stars) Mystery and Mayhem by Katherine Woodfine et al (4 stars) You know me well by David Levithan (2 stars) The One we fell in love with by Paige Toom (5 stars) V for Violet by Alison Rattle (4 stars) The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware (4 stars) Eden Summer by Liz Flanagan (5 stars) Lying about last summer by Sue Wallman (4 stars) The Second Love of my Life by Victoria Walters (4 stars) The OMG Blog by Karen McCombie (3 stars) Nightwanders by CJ Flood (3 stars) Tall Oaks by Chris Whittaker (3 stars) Book of the Month ...

Battersea, 1961. London is just beginning to enter the swinging sixties. The world is changing - but not for sixteen-year-old Violet. She was born at the exact moment Winston Churchill announced Victory in Europe - an auspicious start, but now she's just stuck in her family's fish and chip shop dreaming of greatness. And it doesn't look like fame and fortune are going to come calling anytime soon. Then she meets Beau. Beau's a rocker - a motorcycle boy who arrives in an explosion of passion and rebellion. He blows up Violet's grey little life, and she can't believe her luck. But things don't go her way for long. Joseph, her long-lost brother, comes home. Then young girls start going missing, and turning up murdered. And then Violet's best friend disappears too. Suddenly life is horrifyingly much more interesting. Violet can't believe its coincidence that Joseph turns up just as girls start getting murdered. He's weird, and she fe...

Jess Gordon is out for revenge. Last year the jocks from Knights College tried to shame her best friend. This year she and a hand-picked college girl gang are going to get even. The lesson: don't mess with Unity girls. The target: Blondie, a typical Knights stud, arrogant, cold . . . and smart enough to keep up with Jess. A neo-riot grrl with a penchant for fanning the flames meets a rugby-playing sexist pig - sworn enemies or two people who happen to find each other when they're at their most vulnerable? It's all Girl meets Boy, Girl steals from Boy, seduces Boy, ties Boy to a chair and burns Boy's stuff. Just your typical love story. A searingly honest and achingly funny story about love and sex amid the hotbed of university colleges by the award-winning author of Raw Blue. My thoughts This book is so good. I actively hunted it own after loving Raw Blue and yay for Book Depository for now having Aussie titles that they ship for free directly to the UK....

In the Cornish town of Talting, everyone is famous for something. Until recently Rose was known for many things: her infectious positivity; her unique artistic talent; and her devotion to childhood sweetheart Lucas. But two years ago that changed in one unthinkable moment. Now, Rose is known for being the young woman who became a widow aged just twenty-four. Though Rose knows that life must go on, the thought of carving out a new future for herself is one she can barely entertain. Until a newcomer, Robert, arrives in Talting for the summer... Can Rose allow herself the chance to love again? Get lost in Victoria Walters' immensely touching debut novel, and discover a world that will capture your imagination and heart. My thoughts I picked up this book on a whim and I've very glad that I did I definitely think Victoria Walters could be a new auto buy author for me. Read in one sitting and very much enjoyed. Felt similar to a Lucy Dillon novel whose books I also real...

Another month, more books I can't wait to read Post-breakup Avery interviewing exes, classmates, and family to learn why none of her relationships have worked thus far. I don't know much about this book but one of my twitter friends who has excellent book taste was raving about it so naturally it had to go on my wishlist. Wish you weren't here… When Jill wakes up in a hospital bed with her leg in a cast, the last six weeks of her life are a complete blank. All she has been told is that she was involved in a fatal accident while on a school trip in Italy and had to be jetted home to receive intensive care. Care that involves a lawyer. And a press team. Because maybe the accident…. wasn't just an accident. With no memory of what happened or what she did, can Jill prove her innocence? And can she really be sure that she isn't the one to blame? This book looks awesome. I can't wait to get a copy.  The third super hot, super fun Jessie Jeffe...

Today I am delighted to be able to reveal the cover for Laure Eve's forthcoming book The Graces. The Graces sounds awesome and I literally cannot wait to read it. Synopsis Everyone said the Graces were witches. They moved through the corridors like sleek fish, ripples in their wake. Stares followed their backs and their hair. They had friends, but they were just distractions. They were waiting for someone different. All I had to do was show them that person was me. Like everyone else in her town, River is obsessed with the Graces, attracted by their glamour and apparent ability to weave magic. But are they really what they seem? And are they more dangerous than they let on? This beautifully-written thriller will grip you from its very first page.

A heart-pounding love story that grips like a riptide, and doesn’t let go… Fifteen-year old Sam has moved from the big city to the coast – stuck there with his mum and sister on the edge of nowhere. Then he meets beautiful but damaged surfer-girl Jade. Soon he’s in love with her, and with surfing itself. But Jade is driven by an obsession: finding and riding a legendary huge wave no one has ever ridden. As the weeks wear on, their relationship barrels forward with the force of a deep-water wave – into a storm, to danger … and to heartbreak. My thoughts I really enjoyed this book. Exactly what I've been wanting to read for a good while now. I loved that they main characters were easy to were really easy to relate to. I instantly warmed to them and found myself really invested in them from the outset. I loved the fact that it's YA contemp and a love story but from a male perspective. It was interesting to see the different perspective when most of the the YA contemps I...

When unlucky-in-love Sam bumps into her first boyfriend, the charming but roguish Charlie, she falls head first for him all over again. Even though he broke her heart, she's determined to win him back - even if she has to chase him all over London… Sam’s friends have their doubts about whether cheating Charlie is really the man for her, but they have their own problems to deal with. Uptight Mara is struggling to trust anyone after a bad break-up; sexy corporate go-getter Claudia has her self-confidence rocked after a health scare; and sensitive, intelligent Ed, has been secretly, hopelessly in love with Sam for years… As Sam chases her lost love like a woman possessed, getting into ever more outlandish situations and making a fool of herself in the process, she finds herself wondering just how far she’ll go to win Charlie back. Or will she finally see what’s right under her nose?   ...

The captivating debut children's novel from popular television historian Lucy Worsley is an exciting and charming glimpse behind the scenes of the Tudor court. I would often wonder about my future husband. A knight? A duke? A stable boy? Of course the last was just a wicked fancy. Eliza Rose Camperdowne is young and headstrong, but she knows her duty well. As the only daughter of a noble family, she must one day marry a man who is very grand and very rich. But Fate has other plans. When Eliza becomes a maid of honour, she's drawn into the thrilling, treacherous court of Henry the Eighth . . . Is her glamorous cousin Katherine Howard a friend or a rival? And can a girl choose her own destiny in a world ruled by men? My Thoughts I really enjoyed this book. I loved how well it did the history and how it makes it a read I can give to my students without being worried they'll come away with loads of ridiculous misconceptions about the time period. I really enjoye...

Powerful, darkly funny and heart-breaking, Shtum is a story about fathers and sons, autism, and dysfunctional relationships. Ben Jewell has hit breaking point. His ten-year-old son Jonah has severe autism and Ben and his wife, Emma, are struggling to cope. When Ben and Emma fake a separation - a strategic decision to further Jonah's case in an upcoming tribunal - Ben and Jonah move in with Georg, Ben's elderly father. In a small house in North London, three generations of men - one who can't talk; two who won't - are thrown together. A powerful, emotional, but above all enjoyable read, perfect for fans of THE SHOCK OF THE FALL and THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME. My Thoughts I really enjoyed this book. It gave me real insight to how it must be to have a child with autism and the lengths you must have to go to to make their needs met as well as all the feeli...

I’m very lucky.   I’ve spent a lot of time on, or in , the water, both in my work for Whale and Dolphin Conservation (www.whales.org) and as a surfer, on my own search for waves. I’ve travelled all over: France, Barbados, Morocco, Canada and more. But when I came to write books, featuring surfing, and the rescue of stranded whales (in the one I’m writing now), I chose to set them here in the UK and specifically Cornwall. Why? Firstly, I simply know it better.   I’ve spent more time patrolling the Cornish coast’s coves and beaches looking for waves, than anywhere else. And especially in autumn and winter, when the storms hit, the waves are bigger and the crowds are thinner. For me, that’s when the place really comes alive.   The clichés of winter surfing are all about driving through hard rain, squeezing into cold rubber, and getting battered in heavy swells. In other words, you’d have to be a masochist.   Yes, all of the above is part of th...

A million girls would kill for the chance to meet The Point, but Nina’s not one of them. She’s the new assistant to the lead singer’s diva fiancée, and she knows it’s going to suck. She quickly learns that being with the hottest band on the planet isn’t as easy as it looks: behind the scenes, the boys are on the verge of splitting up. Tasked with keeping an eye on four gorgeous but spoiled rock stars, Nina’s determined to stick it out – and not fall for any of them … The new novel from the popular and highly-acclaimed author of You Don’t Know Me , The Look , and the Threads series. My Thoughts I really loved this book. For me the mark of a good book is one that I can fly through effortlessly without realising I'm doing it. This book was very much like that. I sat down to read a chapter or two and next time I looked up I was over half way through. I loved that it was based around a band. Over the years I've craved books like this mostly because I think they...

“My name is Harriet Manners, and I will always be a geek.” The fifth book in the bestselling, award-winning GEEK GIRL series. Harriet Manners knows almost every fact there is. She knows duck-billed platypuses don’t have stomachs. She knows that fourteen squirrels were once detained as spies. She knows only one flag in the world features a building. And for once, Harriet knows exactly how her life should go. She’s got it ALL planned out. So when love is in the air, Harriet is determined to Make Things Happen! If only everyone else would stick to the script… Has GEEK GIRL overstepped the mark, and is following the rules going to break hearts all over again? My thoughts I find it really hard to review books which are several in in a series. I can never gauge what to say which isn't going to spoil the book but also be helpful. Therefore I'll say this. Head over Heels was another fun Harriet story which I really enjoyed. She's as quirky as always but you can see th...

5 HOUSES THAT INSPIRED HEATHE RWICK HALL Headley Grange  picture taken from http://www.headley-grange.com/ I can’t remember when I first got the idea for a rambling country house as a setting for The Point as they struggle to write a new album, but it might have been inspired by Headley Grange, where Led Zeppelin recorded some iconic albums in the 1970s. In photos, the house looks nothing special in itself, but my imagination was fired by the way the band used it to hunker down away from their fans and bond together musically. I stole so many details of those days for Love Song – like the Rolling Stones mobile recording studio outside (I used the exact studio, though the real thing is now in Canada), the drumkit in the hallway, where the acoustics were most atmospheric, and even the relaxed, off-hand way the band behaved there: (Wikipedia) Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti (About IV: “ . Jimmy Page later recalled: "We needed the sort of facilities ...