British Books Challenge 2014: The round up!

The British Book Challenge was set up to show support for British Authors. By signing up I promised to read at least 12 books by British Authors. That’s equal to one book a month.

It’s safe to say that I exceeded this challenge this year.

• Witchfinder– Ruth Warburton
• Darkness Watching– Emma L. Adams
• Forbidden– Tabitha Suzuma
• The Savages– Matt Whyman
• The Look– Sophia Bennett
• Della says OMG!- Keris Stainton
• Who Framed Klaris Cliff?- Nikki Sheehan
• Storm and Stone– Joss Stirling
• Dear Dylan– Siobhan Curham
• Dead Jealous– Sharon Jones
• Follow Me Down– Tanya Byrne
• You Don’t Know Me– Sophia Bennett
• The Drowning– Rachel Ward
• Dead Silent- Sharon Jones
• Hollow Pike– James Dawson
• The One Plus One– Jojo Moyes
• Through The Looking Glass– Lewis Carroll
• Red Ink– Julie Mayhew
• Kiss Me First– Lottie Moggach
• Trouble– Non Pratt
• Johnny’s Girl– Paige Toon
• The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson– Paige Toon
• Running Girl– Simon Mason
• Little Women– Louisa May Alcott
• A Room Full of Chocolate– Jane Elson
• A Kiss In The Dark– Cat Clarke
• The Madness– Alison Rattle
• Keep Your Friends Close– Paula Daly
• A Commonplace Killing– Sian Busby
• Echo Boy– Matt Haig
• The Magician’s Nephew– C.S Lewis
• Geekhood– Andy Robb
• The Sound– Sarah Alderson
• The Private Blog of Joe Cowley– Ben Davis
• You’re The One That I Want– Giovanna Fletcher
• Flyaway– Lucy Christopher
• Thirteen Weddings– Paige Toon
• Dandelion Clocks– Rebecca Westcott
• Say Her Name– James Dawson
• Longbourn– Jo Baker
• Riot- Sarah Mussi
• The Year Of The Rat- Clare Furniss
• Wedding Night– Sophie Kinsella
• Another Way To Fall– Amanda Brooke
• By Any Other Name– Laura Jarratt
• Peter Pan– J.M Barrie
• Smart– Kim Slater
• Tape– Steven Camden
• Precious Thing– Colette McBeth
• Fallen Grace– Mary Hooper
• Have A Little Faith– Candy Harper
• Golden Boy– Abigail Tarttelin
• The Anti-Prom- Abby McDonald
• The Wind In The Willows– Kenneth Grahame
• Flirty Dancing– Jenny McLachlan
• The Lie- Helen Dunmore
• Noughts and Crosses– Malorie Blackman
• Another Night, Another Day– Sarah Rayner
• More Than This- Patrick Ness
• Half Bad– Sally Green
• Eeny Meeny– M.J Alridge
• She Is Not Invisible- Marcus Sedgwick
• The Girl Who Walked On Air– Emma Carroll
• Dangerous Boys– Abigail Haas
• Daughter– Jane Shemilt
• To Be A Cat– Matt Haig
• Unhooking The Moon– Gregory Hughes
• Before We Met- Lucie Whitehouse
• The 100 Society– Carla Spradbery
• Salvage– Keren David
• Lobsters- Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison
• Fifteen Bones– R.J Morgan
• Knife Edge– Malorie Blackman
• The Girl Who Wasn’t There– Karen McCombie
• Cloud Busting– Malorie Blackman
• Trust Games– Simon Packham
• No Going Back– Alex Gutteridge
• The Memory Book– Rowan Coleman
• The Ask and The Answer– Patrick Ness
• Christmas With Billy and Me– Giovanna Fletcher
• Monsters of Men- Patrick Ness

Bookish Bingo Wrap Up

I participated in Bookish Bingo  which was hosted by the lovely ladies over at Great Imaginations. I managed to read a book for EACH of the squares. I’m very proud of the reading I managed in the months of April, May and June. I’m totally getting involved in the summer edition of Bookish Bingo. I found it was a great way to get some of those pesky books off my TBR shelf, and I discovered some new books along the way.

Here are my reviews:

1. Chains

2. Flyaway

3. The Wrong Boy

4. Shadow and Bone

5. Wedding Night

6. A Million Little Pieces

7. Dandelion Clocks

8. Fruit Of The Lemon

9. The Anti-Prom

10. Breadcrumbs

11. The Great Gatsby

12. Birthmarked

13. Dear Killer

14. The Fat Girl

15. Wanderlove

16. Side Effects May Vary

17. Where’d you go Bernadette?

18. Smart Girls Get What They Want

19. By Any Other Name

20. Die For Me

21. Tape

22. Golden

23. Just Like Fate

24. Warm Bodies

Here is the board for the next Bookish Bingo game. Will you be playing along?

Click on the bingo board to get to Great Imaginations blog!

By Any Other Name

How did I get it?:
It was a gift!

Synopsis:

I picked up the book and thumbed through the pages. Names in alphabetical order, names with meanings, names I knew, names I’d never heard of. How to pick? Nothing that would stand out, nothing that would link me to the past –those were the instructions. The past. As if everything that had gone before this moment was buried already.

Holly is fifteen years old, but she’s only been “Holly” for a matter of months. Because of something that happened, she and her family have had to enter witness protection and have all assumed new identities. All, that is, except her sister Katie, who is autistic. Starting at a new school mid-term is hard enough at the best of times, and Holly has no clue who she is any more. Lonely and angry, she reaches out to friends – new and old. But one wrong move will put all their lives in danger.

Thoughts:

I was kindly sent this book by my Secret Santa, and I’m only just getting around to it! You know what it’s like being a bookworm and having far too many books to read! I haven’t read Laura Jarratt’s debut Skin Deep, but I hear that it is very good! Maybe it’s another book to add to my ever-growing TBR list.

By Any Other Name follows Holly, who is in the Witness Protection programme after experiencing something terrible. The reader learns little snippets throughout the book, but it is not until nearer the end that the full story is revealed. By Any Other Name essentially is about identity and making sense of who exactly we are. Holly finds it particularly hard to start over, she yearns for her old self and her old friends. She feels really out of place in her new environment. Although our reasons for starting over are completely different, I could understand where Holly was coming from. From living in many different places due to my father’s job, I could somewhat relate to Holly about how hard it is in a new town and starting from the beginning again.

I was really impressed by Laura Jarratt’s characters. At first, I didn’t find Holly very likeable, but when she started to loosen up a bit, I began to understand and relate to her more. I also thought Joe was a great character. His appearance made people judge his character, but there was a lot more to him than first met the eye. Holly’s little sister Katie is a fantastic character. I think it’s really important that we do have characters with autism and other conditions in literature. I always find it fascinating and want to know much more about them. I loved the bond between Holly and Katie. Holly was incredibly protective over her little sister and I found that heart-warming.

By Any Other Name didn’t take me long to read. I felt like sometimes the pace slowed right down, but keep with it, as it speeds up towards the end when everything starts to fall apart!

Would I recommend it?:
Yes!

Stacking The Shelves #49

Click on the image to take you to Tynga’s blog to learn more!

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you’re adding to your shelves, be it buying or borrowing. From ‘real’ books you’ve purchased, a book you’ve borrowed, a book you’ve been given or an e-book they can all be shared!

As ever, click on the book image to get to its Goodread’s page!

This week I received my package from my Secret Santa from the UK. I will be writing a post about it all nearer Christmas, but this is what arrived in my box this week!

I am a very lucky girl! I am particularly looking forward to reading Red Ink and By Any Other Name. I hadn’t heard of Raw Blue, so I’m looking forward to finding out what it’s like!

What did you add to your shelves this week? Please feel free to leave your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by your blog.