The Overflowing Library

These are my five star YA reads of 2017. There's no surprise that most of these are historical fiction as I've been embracing my inner historical geek completely this year. The House of Secrets by Sarra Manning I love a novel that splits between past and present and this is by of my favourite authors. I loved it. The last piece of my heart by Paige Toon I love Paige's books completely and this was no exception. Gorgeous and lovely all the way through. The Girl from the Savoy by Hazel Gaynor I loved this book because of the setting. I'm a sucker for 1920s anything so this was perfect for me.  Radio Girls by Sarah Jane Straford Another interwar novel I adored. I was particularly fascinated by this because it looked at the history of the BBC and had some links to the suffragette movement.  The wages of sin by Kaite Welsh I loved this book. It is the story of a female trainee doctor in Victorian Scotland. I am a ridiculous ...

These are my five star YA reads of 2017. I can't do a top ten. I read far more than the average person so asking me to cut this is cruelty at best. Book blogger cruelty. There's no surprise that most of these are UKYA titles. Margot and Me by Juno Dawson. I love novels that alternate between past and present and I always love Juno's writing. This was perfect for me All about Mia by Lisa Williamson I loved Mia as a character and read this in pretty much one sitting. Full of heart and just lovely. Unconventional by Maggie Harcourt I loved this book mostly because it appealed to my inner book geek. Loved the cameos from some of my favourite UKYA authors. I adored Aiden far too much as well. Lovely gorgeous boy. The State of Grace by Rachel Lucas I loved this book for the insight it gave me into someone living with aspergers. I loved Grace and it was a thoroughly cracking YA novel. Seven days of you by Cecilia Vinesse I just thought this was super cut...

I have an extensive list of books I can't wait to read that are released in 2018. It is ridiculously long as you'll see. I tend to keep myself a list so I know what to look out for each month on the library catalogue so I can get my reservations in early but I thought I'd share it on here for anyone who is interested to add to your wishl lists. There's a lot of UKYA titles. There are  also a few more adult titles than in previous years as I've found myself discovering more and more adult authors over the last twelve months. So without further ado here are the titles I'm hoping to get my hands on over the coming year January I'm most excited for The endless beach by Jenny Colgan. I only discover Jenny's books last year and binge read much of her backlist and love them all. I also can't wait to read more from these authors Bad girls with perfect faces by Lynn Weingarten The truth and lies of Ella Black by Emily Barr On a beautiful day...

I love this time of year because this is when I get lots of lovely picture books dropping through my door. I seem to only be offered them in the lead up to Christmas because of course books make fantastic presents and I'm always glad to take them for review because I love a great picture book. This year I've had a wonderful selection arrive and wanted to share a few with you in case you were looking for present ideas for small people. The selection of books I have received this year have been aimed at a variety of ages, fiction and non fiction and I've loved every single one of them. Illumanatomy by Kate Davis I loved illumanatomy. It comes with a viewer which is a big like those 3D glasses you had as a kid in the 90s except each eye hole is a different colour. Depending on which colour you look through you can see different layers of the human body. I did find the red layer harder to see than the others and I think therefore it's not necessarily the book to...

This month I've not read all that much from the library as I've been catching up with review titles but I have read a few crackers. I caught up with the Elly Griffith's Ruth Galloway series finishing up with The Chalk Pit. I won't say much about the series because if you haven't started them it won't mean anything to you. This was my favourite to date. I do love Norwich and this was set there and I loved it for that as well as seeing the character development over time. I'm dying to read the next one but think I'm going to have to wait until February for it. Audrey is over romance. Since her parents' relationship imploded her mother's been catatonic, so she takes a cinema job to get out of the house. But there she meets wannabe film-maker Harry. Nobody expects Audrey and Harry to fall in love as hard and fast as they do. But that doesn't mean things are easy. Because real love isn't like the movies... The greatest love sto...

If you believed  everything you see instagram you might come to the conclusion that being a book blogger is an expensive hobby. It certainly can be. Those purchases of books and bookish related items can really add up. However you do not have to spend anything to be a successful book blogger. Over the course of the year I have been actively trying to save money and cutting down book and bookish expenditure has been one area I've really focused.Obviously I did this to save money but also to help me refocus my blog on what I want it to be. I want it to be about things I actually read and love and not become a soulless advertising space for books I'm not all that fussed about just because I was sent a free review copy. Don't get me wrong I love free books, of course I do, but I want this blog to reflect me not publisher release calendars. It's been really freeing as an experiment. If I receive a book for review and love it of course I'll review and promote it arou...

Toil and Trouble Michael Strother at HarlequinTeen has acquired Toil & Trouble, an anthology of feminist stories of witchcraft, co-edited by Tess Sharpe and Jessica Spotswood and featuring contributions from Brandy Colbert, Zoraida Cordova, Andrea Cremer, Kate Hart, Emery Lord, Elizabeth May, Anna-Marie McLemore, Tehlor Kay Mejia, Karuna Riazi, Lindsay Smith, Nova Ren Suma, Robin Talley, Shveta Thakrar, Tristina Wright, and Brenna Yovanoff.  I very little about this book apart from it is witches and written by all those authors mentioned about. I want it. I want it now.  A spoonful of murder by Robin Stevens The sixth mystery from the bestselling, award-winning author of Murder Most Unladylike. Another book I know very little about but as I've loved the previous books completely I'm confident that this is going to be excellent.  From Twinkle with love by Sandya Menon Aspiring filmmaker and wallflower Twinkle Mehra has stories she wants to...