Top Ten Books On My Winter TBR Pile

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. I didn't make headway into my Autumn TBR AT ALL sadly, so hopefully I do better this time around.

1. Night Beach by Kirsty Eager. I haven't read any Kirsty Eager and everyone tells me how amazing she is, and this one has been sitting on my bookshelf unread for far too long.

2. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. I have heard good things about this from reviewers I trust so I'm excited to see what it's like.

3. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. I have wanted to read this for so long and I recently bought it on Audible, I'm hoping the audiobook is good.

4. The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth. I picked this up at the Sydney Writer's Festival last week and I'm really keen to read it soon - I loved Forsyth's take on Rapunzel in Bitter Greens.

5. Girl Defective by Simmone Howell. I started reading this recently but I've been in a bit of a funk so I decided to put it aside until I can really enjoy it.

6. Petals on the Wind by V.C. Andrews. Yes, I'm going to continue on my recap journey. First I finish Flowers in the Attic, then it's on to Petals.

7. The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp. I have this on audiobook and I'm really curious about it but I
m worried it will be totally depressing.

8. Searching for Sky by Jillian Cantor. This book sounds kinda bizarre but I'm definitely intrigued.

9. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I feel like the last person in the world who hasn't read this book, and I want to get to it before I see the movie.

10. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. I got the Audible edition and it sounds like a really great way to experience it.

Review: Such Sweet Sorrow by Jenny Trout

I almost didn't read this because the cover put me off (it's pretty, but those kind of covers tend to come with books I don't like), but the concept intrigued me, and I ended up really enjoying it, so I'm glad I gave it a go! Basically, this is what would have happened if Romeo didn't die from poison at the end of Shakespeare's story, and went on a quest through the underworld with Hamlet to find Juliet and bring her back to life. If you don't think that sounds awesome, this obviously isn't the book for you. If you do - well, then, you might just like it!

I loved the characters in this book. I'm not overly familiar with Shakespeare's Hamlet (I had to study it for uni but only read the parts I needed to get by, ahem), but I adored him in this. He's conflicted and angsty but also brave and good and warm-hearted. Romeo I liked a lot less for most of the book, though he grew on me in the end. I loved the growing friendship between Romeo and Hamlet. It was like an old school, really dangerous and kinda dark buddy roadtrip.

I think Juliet was probably my favourite character. I admired her fierceness and strength - being dead obviously brought out the best in her. I was totally shipping Hamlet and Juliet for a big chunk of the book (whoops), but there were some touching scenes between Romeo and Juliet in the latter half that brought me back onboard the canonical ship. Mostly.

The journey through the underworld, and the various tests and mythological creatures the trio has to face, makes for an action-packed, entertaining plot. I found it hard to put the book down at times. I loved the way Trout intertwined so many different strands of mythology and literature to create her own world. If you're a purist then this probably won't be for you, but personally I found it really interesting.

The writing is strong throughout the book, and there are some really beautiful moments. The pacing is good, and I liked the ending, although it definitely left me wanting more. I hope there's a sequel! 

Rating: 4/5

Fine Print

Published: February 2014, Entangled

Source: Netgalley

Get It: Book Depository

Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014!

Happy 2014! Hope it's a delightful year for everyone. 2013 had its ups and downs for me but I definitely ended the year much happier than I started it, so I'm excited to see where 2014 takes me! However, I didn't blog anywhere near as much as I wanted to in 2013, especially in the latter part of the year. One of my goals for this year is to get back into regular blogging, bring back some of my features, create new ones and review every book as soon as I've finished it! At the moment I'm about 14 reviews behind, eek! So expect a lot of reviews from me in the next week or so because I really want to catch up and start off on a good foot.

I did a lot better on my 2013 challenges than I did on the previous year. Still not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with my progress:

• Aussie Author Challenge: Aimed to read 12 Aussie authors, and I read 20! Yay!
• Australian Women Writers Challenge: Aimed to read 10 books by Aussie women and I read 17. An improvement on the year before.
• TBR Reading Challenge: Aimed to read 36 books from my 2012 TBR pile, and I got through 20. Not awesome.
• Goodreads Reading Challenge: Aimed to read 75 books, and I finished 71. So close!

All in all I think I did well. The key for me seems to be not doing too many challenges. So this year, I'm focusing on:

Aussie Author Challenge, hosted by Booklover Book Reviews.

Aim: "Kangaroo" level.

- Read and review 12 titles written by Australian Authors of which at least 4 of those authors are female, at least 4 of those authors are male, and at least 4 of those authors are new to you;
- At least 6 fiction and at least 2 non-fiction, and at least 3 titles first published in 2013 or 2014.

Australian Women Writers Challenge, hosted on its own dedicated page.

Aim: I want to read 20 books by Australian women this year. 

Audiobook Challenge, hosted by Hot Listens and the Book Nympho

Aim: "Stenographer" level.

-Listen to 10-15 audiobooks.

New Release Challenge (a personal challenge)

Aim: Keeping up with the Publishers 

-Read at least one new release a month, a total of 12 books published in 2014.

Goodreads Challenge

Aim: Read 75 books.

Here's to blitzing goals this year!