BOOK THOUGHTS || Sing by Vivi Greene

*** please note, this review may contain spoilers***

Summed up in a sentence? "a pleasant, quick read!”

I received this book in exchange for an honest review through NetGalley, an eARC publishing site. This is no way reflects my views.

SYNOPSIS

America’s most famous pop star flees the spotlight to recover from her latest break-up in Maine—only to fall for a local boy and be faced with an impossible choice at the end of the summer: her new guy, or her music.

Multiplatinum pop icon Lily Ross’s biggest hits and biggest heartbreaks (because they are one and the same):

1. AGONY. (That feeling when her ex ripped her heart out of her chest and she never saw it coming.)

2. GHOSTS. (Because even famous people are ghosted by guys sometimes. And it sucks just as much.) 

3. ONCE BITTEN. (As in: twice shy. Also, she’s never dating an actor or a musician ever again.)

But this summer’s going to be different. After getting her heart shattered, Lily is taking herself out of the spotlight and heading to a small island in middle-of-nowhere Maine with her closest friends. She has three months until her fall tour starts-three months to focus on herself, her music, her new album. Anything but guys.

That is . . . until Lily meets sweet, down-to-earth local Noel Bradley, who is so different from anyone she’s ever dated. Suddenly, Lily’s “summer of me” takes an unexpected turn, and she finds herself falling deeper and harder than ever before. But Noel isn’t interested in the limelight. She loves Noel-but she loves her fans, too. And come August, she may be forced to choose. 

MY OPINIONS

Okay, so on first glance, I thought this may be a little bit corny. At the time of applying for the book on NetGalley, I felt I really needed something fast-paced that I didn't need to put too much thought into reading. And this was just that.

Whilst I was reading this, I couldn't help but think that this just screamed “Taylor Swift” (if I'm even allowed to say that) at me. That doesnt mean it was all bad, it just means that a lot of it was incredibly cliché. I just had to keep telling myself that the idea behind the book, and the writing style, wasn't meant to be designed for readers of my age, but rather for a younger audience.

The plot had enough substance to keep me interested, and I really did enjoy the blossoming relationship between Lily and the islanders. They didn't see her as some sort of celebrity, which really helped her develop her sense of character and development. Again, this was cliché and actually quite cheesy in some aspects.

MY RATING

Overall I've given this book three out of five stars. Had I been younger when reading this, I dont believe my feelings would have differed at all. Yes, this read was incredibly quick, and had some lovely moments, but I just didnt think this was right for me. I can see it having a bright future down the line, but personally, it wasn't something I could see myself re-reading in the future.

REBECCA RECOMMENDS: eARCS

Everyone who reviews books knows that there are means and methods to reading ARC books. As in, books that are given to reviewers and bloggers before or around publication date in order to boost their profiles on social media. So, how does a blogger get around to gaining eARCS?

There are a number of methods to getting to this point in your blog. Firstly, you need to make sure you have a blog with book content, reviewing or showing hauls. Posting frequently also helps, although this is not completely essential, as in some cases you can post reviews on websites such as Goodreads or NetGalley (a website I'll be telling you about in a moment).

How can a beginner blogger start reviewing unreleased titles?

Your best place to start is most probably going to be NetGalley. This website is a godsend for bloggers and reviewers alike. Signing up is completely free, and although they prefer you to have a blog or somewhere you post reviews, it isn't actually essential, which is a bonus for those just starting out. This is because they ask for your feedback on the book after giving it a rating, as well as asking you to answer a couple of questions before confirming you've read a book and submitting the piece. Once you read and review a book, it gets added to your 'Feedback to Approval Ratio'. This ratio is preferred to be over 85% by those at NetGalley, which means that the more you are approved for, the lower your ratio actually becomes. However, this ratio increases with the more books you read and review, meaning you're also more likely to be approved for books too! If you're reading and reviewing a load of books from NetGalley, and they all just happen to be from a particular publisher, you may be added to an Auto-Approval list, meaning that from that point, if you request a book by that publisher, you will receive that book almost instantly into your downloads.

NetGalley has a range of books for review, so there usually is always something for everyone. Whilst this is just an introduction to NetGalley, Elizabeth over at The Owlery has created a great video guide to getting to know NetGalley a little bit better, which can be found here.

Is there anything other than NetGalley?

Yes. There's other websites available, and sadly, I haven't tried them, due to the fact that I really got on well with NetGalley. One website is Edelweiss, and although I haven't looked at it, I know a few others who have tried this website an do enjoy using it. E;lizabeth has also looked at this in one of her videos, again, really helpful, which can be found here!

Another option is entering giveaways. Authors (particularly on Twitter), often host giveaways to win a copy of their newest releases. Yes it means that you're one of x amount of people entering, but hey ho, it feels great to enter and then even win a competition!

 My final recommendation is following authors or agents on Twitter/Instagram/any social media. This is because they tend to advertise if they are looking for people to review authors work. For example, I was in contact with an agent who supplied me with a synopsis and cover of an upcoming book, and asked if I would be interested in a copy to review. From that, other authors and agents will get in touch with you, particularly if you're also quite active on social media.


So there we go, if you have any questions, or tips yourself, let me know down below!

Being Ruthless

If there's one thing I've learnt so far in 2016, it's that life is too short. Far too short. In the midst of family issues, and celebrities dropping like flies, along with career alterations and just life in general, I've started to focus on things that matter the most to me, and spending more time doing the things I love. Whilst this includes reading, some 'light' crafting, and filming for my YouTube channel and writing blog posts, it also means spending time with family, fiance, and friends.

So what does this mean for my blog and YouTube?

Absolutely nothing.

As soon as I finish a book, I'll be posting a collective review of my thoughts and feelings surrounding the book, its plot, characters etc. I'll still be posting videos as and when I can, with hopefully a variety of content.

But what about my reading?

Well, that's actually what I wanted to talk about in this post to be honest. I've FINALLY decided to make the executive decision of being ruthless toward my reading. I have such a huge TBR pile that it just has to be done. So how am I going to do it?

It's simple. If I'm reading a physical book, I'll give it 3 chapters, or between 30 and 50 pages, depending on what I reach first. If the book seems promising and I'm enjoying it, I'll see it out. If it isn't tickling my fancy, it'll have until the 50 page mark to redeem itself, or else it will be going on my DNF pile. If I'm reading an eBook, it will have between 10 and 20%, depending on the size of the book. If the book is large, I'll apply the 50 page rule, as long as my kindle has the page number option available. If not, it'll have up to 30% to redeem itself, or else I will be leaving it unfinished, It's a shame to have to be strict on myself and my reading, but when I have such a busy schedule, along with a continuous growth spurt of my TBR, it has to be done.

Have any of you had to be ruthless with your TBR? Or with anything else for that matter? If you have any more tips or tricks about being ruthless, let me know down below!

See you all soon with another post!

REVIEW || Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

***this book was received as an eArc in exchange for an honest review***

You want honest?

I've never read Cecelia Ahern.

Now, I'm well aware of just how popular her works are and how successful a writer she actually is. So when I heard she was venturing out of her usual writing realm and diving into YA, I thought 'good for her'. Well, you can only imagine my surprise at seeing her new novel available on the eArc site I use. I snapped that bad boy up.

So what is Flawed about exactly? Well, we follow Celestine, our main female character who is 17 years old. Lives with her parents and siblings, straight A student with an amazing boyfriend. One problem. There's this thing called the Guild. The Guild are there to protect the community, by preventing corruption and dishonesty in leaders BEFORE it has a chance to happen. How? They monitor your every move. If you do something morally or ethically wrong through any of your actions, you get punished, and are seen as flawed. The punishment is simple. You are branded - with a hot iron just like cows no less- in one of five places, depending on your sentencing. Those places each have a different meaning, and being flawed and branded restricts your freedoms and corrupts your quality of life. So what exactly does this have to do with Celestine, our seemingly perfect female lead? Well, she's faced with a rather tough decision, and whatever path she follows for that decision has grave consequences...

This book is phenomenal for a first time venture into YA fiction from an author outside the field. Throughout my goodreads updates, I found myself going through the motions with Celestine. When she was scared, I was scared for her. When she was worried, I was too. And so on. One thing I didn't like however, is that this is part of a series. The ending clearly leaves the series open to a number of different directions, but I felt it didn't have the closure I usually prefer, which naturally would come from a standalone piece.

Overall, I'm rating the book 4 out of 5 stars. I may pick up the sequel (if I remember to), but if not, I can leave the series knowing that I have been pleasantly surprised by yet another novel, with an ending open to interpretation for myself.

Have you read this book? Let me know down below and we can chat about it! (I promise I'm going to try harder with comment replies!)