Friday 28 February 2014

Private Air - by Billy Bates


Original Cover
My own copy
The blurb:

When Sienna Harris joined the Australian Air Force as a flight attendant for the Prime Minister, she thought she’d hit the glam-job jackpot. But three years of weapons training, outback destinations, and a cheating fighter pilot fiancĂ©, and she’s realized it’s not so fabulous after all. Time to embark on a new adventure, this time to the prestigious world of international VIP aviation.
Sienna and her best friend leave behind their small-town lives for a glitzy career flight attending on a Saudi prince’s private jet. Money, parties, designer clothes, and exotic locations fill the job description, while the sexy pilot, Ted, makes it hard for Sienna to obey the “no fraternizing” rule.
But even the most opulent of journeys can hit turbulence. Sienna’s boss, the appearance-obsessed chief stewardess, issues diuretics and Botox with the uniforms and catering orders, and the prince is a man who’s never told no. Underneath its lush appearance, could this desert oasis be more of a muddy puddle?
The Devil Wears Prada meets Pan Am in this fun frolic to the glamorous side of air travel, inspired by the author’s own experience as a VIP flight attendant in Saudi Arabia and Europe.

My Opinion:

*Book provided by publisher on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Reading about flight attendants and this whole thing combined into a chick-lit novel attracted my interest immediately.

Sienna and also Kendi however seemed to be difficult characters for me to relate to. I found myself questioning their behaviour several times.
Reading about glamorous jobs and places is always exciting and special. Everything about their job was just over the top for me and I made some bad experiences with Arabs, so I was a little caught back.
That changed soon though, mostly because of the sexy lead male character Ted. He is the pilot and the way Sienna and Ted met was just so funny and entertaining. Their scenes were my favourites in the book, with lots of love, emotions and passion.

The writing was really refreshing and vivid, the perfect chick-lit and summer book on a relaxing sunny day.

Some things happening in the book came a bit abrupt and there was a time when too much was happening for my taste.

I was a little surprised about the ending, in fact it wasn’t a real ending for me. I wanted to story to go on and I hope we’ll hear more about Sienna and especially Ted.

All in all, an average book with funny scenes and moments.

Rating: 

My possible cast:

Sienna: Emma Roberts













Ted: Patrick Dempsey

















Billie Bates on Twitter: @BillieBates1

Website: http://billiebates.com


Thursday 27 February 2014

The Guestbook by Holly Martin

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Welcome to Willow Cottage – throw open the shutters, let in the sea breeze and make yourself completely at home. Oh, and please do leave a comment in the Guestbook.

As landlady of Willow Cottage, the young widow Annie Butterworth is always on hand with tea, sympathy or strong Norfolk cider - whatever her colourful array of guests require.  A flick through the messages in the leather-bound cottage guestbook gives a tantalizing glimpse into the lives of everyone who passes through her doors.

This includes Annie herself - especially now celebrity crime writer Oliver Black, is back in town. He might grace the covers of gossip magazines with a different glamorous supermodel draped on his arm every week, but to Annie, he’s always just been Olly, the man who Annie shared her first kiss with.

Through the pages of the Guestbook Annie and Olly, along with all the guests that arrive at the seaside retreat, struggle with love, loss, mystery, joy, happiness, guilt…and the odd spot of naked rambling!

Forget sending postcards saying ‘wish you were here’ - one visit to Willow Cottage and you’ll wish you could stay forever.

There is a review today on http://fairytaleendingbookreviews.wordpress.com/    

There is a huge range of colourful guests that come to stay at Willow Cottage, famous, funny, sweet, romantic, crazy, eccentric, rude.  But what if some of the guests were someone we knew really well.

Just for fun and as we are coming to the end of the blog tour now, I wanted to invite some of my favourite book characters to stay at Willow Cottage, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.  Although when writing anything Harry Potter related I knew I needed to call in an expert.  There was only one person to call.  So the gorgeous Victoria from Victoria Loves Books came swooping in on her broom to help me.


Saturday 14th May
Ron and Hermione Weasley

We arrived early this morning, Ron wanted to fly here, honestly!!  Ron knows I'm not very good at it. But I insisted we drive. Annie it is beautiful here, thank you so much for the flowers and champagne to celebrate our honeymoon.
Hermione Granger.  I mean Weasley.

Hermione I told you, you could have sat on my broom. I promise I didn't mean to do a loop last time you got on.
Ron

RONALD WEASLEY!!! Don't you hide from me. WHY is Hedwig here with a note from Harry saying he will arrive in time for dinner? This was supposed to be our honeymoon.
 
Oh! Bloody hell. Erm sorry about that. It's just, well... The Ministry asked if we could maybe look into something while we happened to be here.

Happened to be here? OH Ron, you didn't book this honeymoon did you? The Ministry did. I can't believe I didn't realise. You owe me Ronald!

Hermione don't be mad at Ron, it was out of our hands. I promise if you help we can have this cleared up in no time and I can leave you to have a proper honeymoon.
Harry

Harry! Time for a quick game of Quidditch?
Ron

WEASLEY DON'T PUSH YOUR LUCK!!!

Hermione it was joke! Honestly Harry, girls. I still don't get them.

Hermione, The ministry want us to look at an escaped Death Eater, last seen in this area. Pretending to be a muggle no less! Come on, without you, me and Ron are about as much use as a chocolate teapot.
Harry

Fine, FINE. I will help. But as soon as this is done you leave, then me and Ron can go back to relaxing.

Maybe one game of Quidditch before he goes??

Well I don't mind, I could probably stay around for a quick game...

NO you definitely haven't got time!

Monday:
Annie I'm so sorry about the couch, it's just, well Ron's wand still isn't perfect and well I don't think he quite meant to turn it into a cow. As soon as I find it I will get it turned back into a couch, I mean a floral cow can't be that hard to find…
Hermione x

Yeah sorry about that Annie, stupid bloody wand...
Ron

Right Harry who are we looking for exactly and what have they done? Also we aren't going to be bumping into any dementors are we?

Hermione, I think I have found Lucius Malfoy, yeah you heard right, Malfoy! There is a cave on the beach and I'm almost positive that I saw someone in a cloak heading that way.... Who else could it be?

Ok, right well we need to come up with a plan. But Malfoy's dad? How on earth did he escape?

Harry I say we just head down there right now, surprise attack?
Ron

Ron I absolutely agree. Hermione’s plans never actually go to plan do they? Let’s go!


Tuesday:
Harry, Ron if you are playing Quidditch somewhere I will not be held responsible for my wand hand... Yes ok we found Lucius, doesn't mean you can run off and play.  There is still that ruddy great big cow with flower print running wild!!

Hermione, ok yes we did play a little Quidditch, but whilst doing so we found the cow, it's now a couch again. I'm off, have a great honeymoon and come for dinner when you are back.
See ya Ron, try those romantic tips I told you about!
Harry

Is it only me that thinks its a little quiet without Harry around?

Yes Ron! Only you. Honestly. Let me make you dinner you silly fool. Boys!!


The blog tour continues tomorrow with http://jackcroxall.co.uk/  and they’ll be a review on http://lauraslittlebookblog.blogspot.co.uk/



@GGBookTours

Wednesday 26 February 2014

*BOOK SWAP - I Love The 80s by Megan Crane*

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Today I have not a normal review for you guys. The wonderful and amazing "The Girl in The Moonlight" and I decided to do a book swap and recommend each other a book to read and then review for our blogs. So here we go :) If you like this idea and would like to try it as well you can contact us both on Twitter: @forfrodobaggins and @skydreamersimi



I Love the 80s – by Megan Crane

My own copy
Original Cover
















The blurb:

Jenna Jenkins was getting married to her long-term boyfriend, Adam, and she was sure her life was all coming together. Until Adam left her for a twenty-three-year-old yoga instructor. To ease the pain, Jenna threw herself into her teenage memories of the late, great Tommy Seer, killed when his car crashed off a bridge in 1987, when she was just twelve, and focusing on the man who has been - and always will be - the true love of her life, however worrying that may seem to her best friend, Aimee. One day, working late, or thinking about Tommy at her office after dark, a freak accident sends Jenna back to 1987. It's a few short months before Tommy will die and Jenna's job is apparently working as his assistant. But Tommy is not the guy she imagined. He's mean and rude and obnoxious. But he is still deliciously good-looking. When Tommy takes her into his confidence, she starts to see the real him beneath the image and finds herself more in love than ever. He suspects someone is trying to kill him - and she knows it won't be long before they succeed. Why is she here? Is she meant to save his life? But how can she without revealing the bizarre, unbelievable truth?

My Opinion:

The lovely lady recommended me I Love the 80s by Megan Crane and I am so glad she did, I absolutely loved this story. The title is very catchy and so is the cover with the choice of colours. I read the blurb and thought: Sounds interesting and different.

Jenna is a total 80ties girl, but she lives in the 21st century. Well, her office is covered with 80ties posters and pics, the most important one: Tommy Seer her forever musician crush.
Her boyfriend left her and she is still not herself, after 8 months. She lives in her own little world, where everything is about the 80ties.

A freak accident sends her back to 1987. First she thinks she is dreaming all this, but it gets more real with every second she’s there.

And she gets to meet Tommy and she can spend a lot of time with him.
Of course she was really confused first and I loved the scenes where she tried to figure out what happened to her.

Tommy Seer, with his gorgeous green eyes. It turns out, he’s not who Jenna thinks he is. He is different and she gets to know him from a total different angle. I liked that he was very different from other main male characters and I needed my time to understand him, which is a good thing though.
Their start is a bit difficult, because he only thinks she’s a groupie, but I love the way their relationship developed.
Jenna knows that someone is trying to kill Tommy, she also knows when he dies and so she tries to find out more about it.

The two of them get closer and Jenna enjoys getting to know the real Tommy, she is falling in love. One of my favourite scenes in the book was, when Tommy suddenly realised what he actually feels for Jenna. The way Megan wrote this was just perfect in my eyes.

Of course there is still the fact that Jenna travelled back in time, how to explain something like this? Well, eventually she has to tell Tommy and he doesn’t believe her. She’s back on the stalker/groupie status. She doesn’t give up and still wants to safe Tommy.
One thing she says, changes his opinion and he’s finally true to himself and Jenna.

I loved the ending, it was full of drama and action and it was so fascinating.
It was great to see Jenna change and become herself again. Tommy and Jenna are so perfect together, not the typical couple, which I really liked. They way they understand each other and treat each other is special and magical.

An amazing novel with so much drama and love. It’s romantic, believable, funny… it’s BRILLIANT and so gripping, I couldn’t put the book down. ♥ 


Rating: 

My possible cast:

Tommy: Jackson Rathbone


















Jenna: Emmy Rossum
















Megan Crane on Twitter: @megancrane

I recommened her The Life List by Lori Nelson Spielman. It's one of my favourite books and it has a great message. Lori's style of writing is marvelous  You can find her blog here: http://thegirlinthemoonlight.blogspot.ch and her review for The Life Listhttp://thegirlinthemoonlight.blogspot.ch/2014/02/book-swap-life-list-by-lori-nelson.html
You can find my review of The Life List here: http://skysbookcorner.blogspot.ch/2013/11/the-life-list-by-lori-nelson-spielman.html

It was such a pleasure lovely and I hope we can do something similar again soon :) xxx