Maze Runner by James Dashner.

Hey Guys,

Product Details:
Publisher: Chicken House 2010.
Paperback. 371 Pages.
Source: Bought Myself.
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Synopsis/Blurb: "If you ain't scared, you ain't human."
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He's surrounded by strangers--boys whose memories are also gone. Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It's the only way out--and no one's ever made it through alive. Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying...

I had heard so may great things said about James Dashner's writing and the amount of reviews I had read about this series was so high, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and so I purchase the series for myself.
From page one you are thrown in just like Thomas(the main character) not knowing what is going on, and just like Thomas you slowly learn through the book what is really going on. I really enjoyed that style of writing as you get to "experience" the storyline as much as the characters. You learn about the Glade, this place where boys live and they have to work to live and each person has their own little job to help run the glade. Throughout the beginning of the book Thomas feels as though is has to be a Maze Runner he doesn't know why, all he knows is he will become a Maze runner and he does. The maze runners job is everyday to run around the maze to find a way out, but the walls close in at night and that is also when the horrible "creators" come out to play. The Glade has it's own slang/accent and just like Thomas you have to learn what certain words mean and slowly through the book you understand what they are saying. The relationship between Thomas and Chuck is so heart warming, it's like they were best friends before and they picking up where they left off. All the way through the book you get this sense that Thomas has been here before and some of the boys "remember" him.
When the girl is entered in to the Glade everyone looks at Thomas as he was the last "newbie" on the block so he must know something. This is where the story gets very exciting and the twist within the story starts to take shape. What I loved about this book is every chapter is left on a cliff hanger so you can't put it down, as you want to know what's going to happen. This book certainly keeps you on your toes, but at the same time is not fast paced.
This book is a great read and I can't wait to read the rest of the series. Without spoiling it for anyone who hasn't read this book my favourite part in this book is the very last chapter... as I sat there and said out loud "Oh my god!!!!!!!" My fiancé thought I was weird talking to a book, but he talks to the telly haha.
I wouldn't say these were young adult books, as my nephew who is 11 has this book on his kindle and loves it that much he has read it twice.
See you soon.
Laura xx

A Place Called Here by Cecelia Ahern.

Hey Guys,

Product Details:
Publisher: Harper 2007.
Paperback. 484 Pages.
Source: Bought for me.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Synopsis/Blurb: Ever wonder where the lost things go? Ever since the day her classmate Jenny-May Butler vanished, Sandy Shortt has been haunted by what happens when something – or someone – disappears. Finding has become her goal. Jack Ruttle is desperate to find his younger brother Donal who vanished into thin air a year ago. So when he spots an ad for Sandy’s missing persons agency, he’s certain that she will answer his prayers and find his missing brother.But then Sandy disappears too, stumbling upon a place that is a world away from the only one she has ever known. Now all she wants, more than anything, is to find her way home.

I read Book of tomorrow a few years ago and really enjoyed it, so when my mother-in-law to be bought me this book from a car boot I was excited to read it.
Sandy Shortt is obsessed with finding lost things, she checks her bag over and over to make sure nothing is lost and if she does happen to loose something she does everything she can to find it again. Sandy has her on agency that helps find missing people and when she is on a case to find Jack's brother she herself becomes lost/missing. I really liked how this book starts off with a bit of Sandy's background and then how she is now missing. The book doesn't tell you how she became lost, but it's a heart warming story as she finally meets people she has been searching for, for years.
I liked how "here" and the real world are so similar yet they seem on two different planets. "Here" has all the missing things people have lost over the years, odd socks, books, diaries, you name it, if it's lost it's at "here"
Sandy starts to fit in at "here", she gets on with everyone, but when she looses her watch you get a glimmer of hope that there is a way back, as if it's lost it must be "here".
This book is a real tear filled story, which makes this book so loveable and is an easy read. This was written in 1st person for Sandy and the parts when Jack is searching for Sandy it is written in 3rd person. Now I really did like this book the way it was written and so on, but at the same time, to me it was too much of a chick flick. If you like those kinds of stories you will love this book, but for me I don't tend to enjoy books like this all that much. I have gave my copy to a new owner who does enjoy this types of books and she loved it. I guess as I have grown up my taste in "good" re-readable books has changed. This won't be the last chick flick book I will read though.
See you soon.
Laura xx

Dust by Patricia Cornwell.

Hey guys,
So finally i have Dust. I have been waiting to get my hands on this little beauty for a year! Yes i know i could of got the e-book or hardback but the own all the Kay Scarpetta series in paperback and i want them all to match and i wanted to wait to read this book for when i have my own copy  and now that i have it....i started reading it in the car on the way home from buying it.
Well i leave it here i just wanted to share my excitement with you all

Sorry the picture is sideways i am writing this post on my mobile as i'm too excited to load my laptop lol
see you soon
laura xx

My Bookshelf Tour.

Hey Guys,
Today I thought I would do something different and do a bookshelf tour. Even thought my love for books has been since I was a little girl my old bedroom, when I lived with my mother, wasn't big enough for all my things and a bookshelf. My mother did have bookshelves but they were for her office for work books and DVD's so until I moved out I never had a bookshelf. Infact, I used to store my books in a plastic storage container underneath my bed and have small TBR pile on my bedside table. When I had space to have a bookshelf it was the first thing I bought for my new house.

Sorry the lighting isn't great in this picture but I wanted you to see an over view on my bookshelf. It's a standard white Billy bookshelf from Ikea With 7 shelves. I have sorted my books out to my liking. I would like to say these aren't all my books, this are all my favourites or TBR's.

Unless my books are in series I have my books in page number order. As they are already in genre order, but if I feel like a quick read I got to the start of shelf and if I want a bigger read I go to the end. I wouldn't normally do this, but I am currently doing the Big book challenge on Goodreads and I find it easier to find/choose a "big" book.

This is my Misc shelf. On my first shelf are a few Tess Gerritsen books that are stand alone books. Up to The Invisible ones are a few books that I have that are in a series but I haven't got the whole series yet. Then I have obsession series, Divergent series and Game series. As you can see there are other books they are the ones my fiancé bought for me recently. I also have two "ornaments" My butter beer cup from Harry Potter world and a small keep sake "For Daughter with love" which my mum got me for my 13th birthday.

This is my favourite shelf. This is my Patricia Cornwell series collection. I have read all of Patricia Cornwell's books and just waiting for Dust to come out in paperback. I also have a few others, on this shelf, I haven't read yet to fill the gap. As you can see I have a small Ornament on the edge of myself. SAW is my favourite film collection I have watched them countless amounts of times and still never got bored. In the film, there is a puppet called Billy and when I saw this as a earphone jack for you mobile I had to buy it, but from putting the phone in my pocket and bag Billy fell off so I kept him to sit on my "thriller" shelf. I think he goes well with the theme of the books.

This is to me is my "chick flick" shelf. These are all happy, love stories and I do have one thriller on this shelf as I ran out of space for it on other shelves but is the next book I am going to read. I didn't put an ornament on my bookshelf as I think the colours of the spines of these books are really pretty and should be shown off.

This shelf is also a "thriller/crime" shelf. By now I think you can guess my favourite genre. The Scott Mariani books are a series I just haven't got them all yet but as I have most of them I thought I but them on a shelf together. The slasher movies books isn't a novel it's a book with all the scary films in, and this books tells you all about the film, who wrote it, producer it and who's in it. As you can see I have a little Smurf reading a book on this shelf. I have had him for years and I always stick him with bluetack to make him stand up on things.

This is my kids/series book shelf. I have two books from when I was growing up. They are the two books my mum used to read to me the most when I was little and I have kept them for sentimental value. I then have the Meerkat Manor collection. I love Meerkats and my mum bought these me as a joke, but I like them anyway. They are ment for kids but one I will get the chance to read them to my own kids. Then I have the Harry potter library books and Harry Potter series. I also have Heidi, my nan(my mums mum) was Austrian which makes my quarter Austrian and she told me a story in Viennese once and even thought I didn't understand what she was saying, I asked what it was she told me it was Heidi and then bought the book for me. We would watch the film and read the book together I loved it and still do if I am honest. I also have the Twilight series, The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner Series.

These are my two childhood books that my mum used to read to me. Laura's Star was always my favourite as I am also called Laura it had a special place in my heart.

This is my "True Life" shelf. This are mostly real stories from celebrities and others about people/children that have bad lives to start with. As you can see I do have a couple crime/thrillers in there too, but i have no where else to put them.

This is my "Kathy Reichs and other series" shelf. I have most of the Kathy Reichs books and have recently started reading this series. On this shelf I put a small TBR pile and I also have my other series collections. They aren't all complete but, I wanted to keep these books altogether.

Well I hope you enjoyed this post, it was something different compared to book reviewing all the time.
See you soon.
Laura xx

The Abduction by Mark Gimenez.

Hey Again,

Product Details:
Publisher: Sphere First Published 2007, My Copy 2013.
Paperback. 503 Pages.
Source: Bought by myself.
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Synopsis/Blurb: Ben Brice lives alone in the New Mexico wilderness where he battles memories of Vietnam with oceans of Jim Beam. Miles away in Texas, his estranged son, John, an Internet geek-turned-billionaire, half watches his daughter Gracie's soccer game while conducting business on his cell phone. When her mother Elizabeth arrives, the coach reports that her uncle has already collected Gracie. But Gracie has no uncle -- she was kidnapped. From international best-selling author Mark Gimenez comes a terrifying thriller in which dark family secrets make the finding of ten-year-old Gracie Brice more uncertain with every passing minute. And so begins a furious race against time to save Gracie from unknown kidnappers. With the FBI camped out in the Brice mansion, the family offers a reward of $25 million. Somehow, Ben and John Brice must find Gracie before it is too late. As the story unfolds with riveting twists and turns, the reader discovers that behind the kidnapping is an extraordinary government plot that could change the course of American history. And time is running out . . .

With this book the blurb did it for me, I was so excited to read this book. I will say from the off I wasn't 100% as it did take me a few chapters to get into, but once I did start to enjoy it turned into a great page turner.
Each main character has their own background, problems and loss; Elizabeth, Gracie's Mother, when Gracie goes missing she pushes everyone away and gets mad at anyone and everyone, John, Gracie's Father, his world is turned upside down and collapses before him, Ben, Gracie's grandfather, stops drinking everyday and jumps at the chance of proving himself and helps to find Gracie and Paul Ryan, Detective, feels the same as Ben that the police have the wrong guy. Ben and Paul start to work together and put their heads together to find Gracie and I thought even though Ben had never been a brilliant Grand father he was the only one really trying to get her back.
Halfway through the book I started to not like it so much, it was too much about war and Ben and less and less about Gracie. I thought the "connection" between Gracie and Ben, was a bit far fetched for me, how he could sense she was cold or tired or alive and the way she could sense he was coming for her was to me a bit strange. You hear about twins having this pull but not between granddaughter and grandfather you don't.
*SPOILER* Towards the end I got so bored as it just turned into some war book from Ben's past and  the people who had taken Gracie was just for Revenge, which was a bit crap to me. As it had been 30 years and now they decide to kidnap his granddaughter.. I mean come on. If I am totally honest if the revenge wasn't because of some war years ago I probably would have enjoyed it, but as I don't like books about history and war all that much it ruined it for me. If you did enjoy this book far enough, but just because of the war thing it was ruined for me.

See you soon,
Laura xx

Best Day of the Week...Friday.

Hey guys.
Today's posts is a little different it's not a review or haul but it still is bookish.
Friday's to me is the best day of the Week and no it's not because no more get ups as I work on Saturdays but because newspapers do a weekend spread they offer good films to watch in cinemas and DVD's, TV programmes to watch, games to play and of course books to read.
As I work in a newsagents I get the chance to read through the papers daily but Friday's I always skip to the "something for the weekend" part. Now all papers are wrote by different people so each give their own views but I love reading the mini reviews and what's hot at the moment and what's not so hot. They sometimes do author interviews which I enjoy reading as I like to learn how they got into writing books and stuff. I have found not all newspapers do do this spread in the papers but most of them do.
If I read a review and like the sound of the book I not the author and title down and research it when I get home so see what other people think.
This is a short post but I hope you enjoyed it.
Do you buy newspapers to read about the books? If so comment below tell me which paper is your favourite one to pick up.
See you soon.
Laura xx

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Things (That Aren't Books) That I'd Like To Own

Hey Guys.

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish.
This weeks Top Ten are Bookish things. Things you would like to have or do actually already have.
This is my first post of Top Ten so I hope you enjoy this post.

1) I do actually already own this. I saw this mug on the opening credits of Debra's Bookcafe videos on youtube and had to get it. My fiancé actually bought it for me, for Christmas.

2) Even though I have a full bookshelf and wouldn't have space to use bookends. I really like these. They are generally basic but to me stand out so well as it's just two people reading a book and I love them so much.

3) A kindle. I don't mind what type it is as long as it has a light for background so I can read in bed whilst my fiancé sleeps without him moaning about the lamp being on. The reason I don't one of these already is because I prefer books, there is nothing better than holding a book and enjoying it's feel, smell and pages, but I am getting asked more and more to review books for publishers but they are all e-books so I guess I must bite the bullet and get one.

4) Now this one, i'm not even sure you can get but when I was looking on the internet for a book mark I found this and I love it. I love the idea of this book bed sheet. It's like going to sleep in a hue book!

5) I have a few tattoos and when I looking for a new design a few weeks ago I saw this picture and thought it was nice. Obviously it's not an item but to have a tattoo for your passion for books is a really good idea. I know people even get quotes from the books tattooed onto themselves.



6) I am not even sure if you can buy one of these, but since reading the Harry Potter books I have always wanted a snitch.

7) I really like this do not disturb sign. As my fiancé likes to watch TV so I go into our bedroom and read, but he gets bored and always disturbs me so if I had this sign maybe he would leave me to read in peace haha.



8) This phone case is super cool. I want one right now.

9) A bookshelf Shower Curtain. Is a cool idea. You should be able to personalise them yourselves and have your favourite books on display or even quotes from your favourite books.

10) A book chair. This is my favourite out of all the ones i have picked for this list. This chair has shelf storage for your books/tbr and then a place for food or a drink. This would be even better if it reclined so you could fully relax in the chair and unwind with a great book.







Well I really enjoyed doing this post. It opened my eyes a little wider to see how book the book world actually is. Sometimes you feel on your own reading books, but this post helped me see it's not just me. I will be honest I had a hard time finding two or three things for this list, but I found some really interesting things from doing this post.
I hope you will join me in this weeks top ten list.
Laura xx

The Innocent by David Baldacci.

Hey Guys,

Product Details:
Publisher: Grand Central 2012.
Paperback. 422 Pages.
Source: Borrowed this book from my mother.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Synopsis/Blurb: America has enemies--ruthless people that the police, the FBI, even the military can't stop. That's when the U.S. government calls on Will Robie, a stone cold hitman who never questions orders and always nails his target. But Will Robie may have just made the first--and last--mistake of his career . . .
THE INNOCENT
It begins with a hit gone wrong. Robie is dispatched to eliminate a target unusually close to home in Washington, D.C. But something about this mission doesn't seem right to Robie, and he does the unthinkable. He refuses to kill. Now, Robie becomes a target himself and must escape from his own people.Fleeing the scene, Robie crosses paths with a wayward teenage girl, a fourteen-year-old runaway from a foster home. But she isn't an ordinary runaway-her parents were murdered, and her own life is in danger. Against all of his professional habits, Robie rescues her and finds he can't walk away. He needs to help her. Even worse, the more Robie learns about the girl, the more he's convinced she is at the center of a vast cover-up, one that may explain her parents' deaths and stretch to unimaginable levels of power. Now, Robie may have to step out of the shadows in order to save this girl's life . . . and perhaps his own

The beginning of this book was brilliant, straight away it turned into a great page turner with many twists. Will Robie is a hitman and when a job goes wrong and someone else from the sidelines kill the guy he was supposed to kill, whilst Will Robie is in the room everything goes horribly wrong. Will Robie then has to stay away from the people who did actually kill the guy at the same time as trying to stay alive. To make matters even worse for Will Robie is then has to uncover who killed that innocent human and why. There are many characters within this book and to be honest I was reading this book when I first moved into my new home and didn't get into the story as much as I have liked, so I will probably me re-reading and seeing if I will like it with a fair chance. I can't say as much as I usually would about this book as even though it was really good I didn't give it my full attention as I was busy moving house, but if/when I do re-read I will happily re-review or update this blog post.
This book was written in 3rd person and was the first in the Will Robie series. I have read many good reviews on this series and other of David Baldacci's books.
Have you read any that were good? If so leave a comment below.
Laura xx

The Haunting of James Hastings by Christopher Ransom.

Hey Guys,

Product Details:
Publisher: Ransom 2010.
Paperback. 438 Pages.
Source: Bought myself.
Rating: 1 out of 5.
Synopsis/Blurb: James Hastings' wife is dead - her life snuffed out in a horrific accident that leaves her husband shattered. Dizzy with grief and guilt, James withdraws into his sprawling mansion, losing himself in liquor ...and memories of Stacey. Until the day two women enter his life. One is Annette, a gorgeous stranger with a dark past. The other is not a stranger, and her past is all too familiar. First her voice echoes through the phone lines, and from behind the ballroom doors ...Then her shoes reappear, streaked with mud and grime, as though unearthed from the grave ...And soon Annette begins saying things only Stacey could know, enveloping James in a spiral of terror and violence that threatens to destroy his home, his sanity, and his soul. For death is only the beginning of his nightmare. And the haunting of James Hastings might just be the end of him...

I will be honest I was naughty as I didn't read the blurb or even notice this book was written by Christopher Ransom until I got home as the cover made me want to buy this book. I think the cover is great, it ties in perfectly with the story too. Once I did notice this book was written by Christopher Ransom, I was a little annoyed with myself, but I decided to give Christopher a second chance for me to love his writing.
The first few pages sucks you in. James the main character looses his wife in a accident/hit & run. The wife/widow of the person who killed James' wife, Annette, comes to make peace with James and they drawn to each other and become a couple, which to me was a bit daft as they won't find peace in each others underwear. Annette Slowly starts to turn into Stacey, James' dead wife. She wears same clothes, dyes her hair and stuff, it's actually spooks James a few times.
It's a spine chilling read that unlike The Birthing House , which I have reviewed here, is believable...Until the last hundred or so pages and to me the story was once again was ruined for me. The book just got confusing as one minute you think everything is solved and then it's not. Best way to describe how the ending of this book is with no spoilers is, when something happens to you and someone says "sorry it was me" and then goes "haha only joking it wasn't really", and then says " HA Na seriously it was me" and it goes on and on. The book just once again got very confusing and I couldn't make sense of any of it, to the point I got so mad I actually through the book up the wall. The book is written in both 1st and 3rd person which is confusing as I was unsure of what to make of the writing. Just as everything comes together the plot changes over & over & over. I had to re-read some parts just to make sense of it and that didn't help. I will not be re-reading this book and I won't be reading any more Christopher Ransom books, if any of you actually enjoy his books then great, but for me the twists are too much.
Sorry this wasn't a, I loved this book type of review, but you gotta take the good with the bad.

Laura xx

The Favored Queen by Carolly Erickson.

Hey Guys,

Product Details:
Publisher: St Martins Press.
Paperback. 295 Pages.
Source: Bought myself.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Synopsis/Blurb: Born into an ambitious noble family, young Jane Seymour is sent to Court as a Maid of Honor to Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s aging queen. She is devoted to her mistress and watches with empathy as the calculating Anne Boleyn contrives to supplant her as queen. Anne’s single-minded intriguing threatens all who stand in her way; she does not hesitate to arrange the murder of a woman who knows a secret so dark that, if revealed, would make it impossible for the king to marry Anne. Once Anne becomes queen, no one at court is safe, and Jane herself becomes the victim of Anne’s venomous rage when she suspects Jane has become the object of the king’s lust. Henry, fearing that Anne’s inability to give him a son is a sign of divine wrath, asks Jane to become his next queen. Deeply reluctant to embark on such a dangerous course, Jane must choose between her heart and her loyalty to the king

I don't usually read historic books as I'm not a fan of learning about the past, but as I am trying to broaden my reading material for this blog, so I thought I would give this a try as I have read many good reviews on this book. This is written in 1st person like a journal from Jane Seymour's point of view, but I wouldn't say this book was about Jane Seymour herself. At the start of this book it's all about Catherine of Aragon, who straight away I really felt for, as even though she knew Anne Boleyn was Henry's lover she still kept her alive. Catherine seemed to love Henry enough to let him be happy with Anne.
The book then changed into being all about Anne, who I didn't like, as she was portrayed as a stuck up cow who loved herself too much. Henry, to me, let the power goes to his head.
Jane, even though the blurb makes you think the book is all about her, you don't really get to know her as much as the others, but she does portray herself as a very nice thoughtful lady, that like everyone, makes a few mistakes.
I won't be reading again as I thought the book was a bit of a let down as it was hardly about Jane Seymour. I have since reading the book read some of the book reviews with spoilers in and they think the same as me that the book wasn't about Jane Seymour all that much and that it was a bit of a let down upon finding this.
Hope you enjoyed.
Laura xx

Killing The Shadows by Val McDermid.

Heys Guys,
Product Details:
Publisher: Harper Collins 2000
Paperback. 606 Pages.
Source: Bought By Myself.
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Synopsis/Blurb: A killer is on the loose, blurring the line between fact and fiction. His prey – the writers of crime novels who have turned psychological profilers into the heroes of the nineties. But this killer is like no other. His bloodlust shatters all the conventional wisdom surrounding the motives and mechanics of how serial killers operate. And for one woman, the desperate hunt to uncover his identity becomes a matter of life and death. Professor Fiona Cameron is an academic psychologist who uses computer technology to help police forces track serial offenders. She used to help the Met, but vowed never to work for them again after they went against her advice and badly screwed up an investigation as a consequence. Still smarting from the experience, she’s working a case in Toledo when her lover, thriller writer Kit Martin, tells her a fellow crime novelist has been murdered. It’s not her case, but Fiona can’t help taking an interest. Which is just as well, because before too long the killer strikes again. And again. And Fiona is caught up in a race against time, not only to save a life, but to bring herself redemption, both personal and professional.
Fiona and Kit are a couple who are very much in love and straight away you know they stick together through thick and thin and will do anything to keep each other together. Fiona is a professor who is a psychologist who uses computer technology to track serial offenders and Kit writes award winning crime novels. Fiona chose her line of work when her sister was murdered and it made her want to help others going through the same thing but finding the killer. When crime novels just like Kit start to get murdered Fiona can't help but be interested and scared at the same time. The Murder recreates parts of the crime writers novel to kill them off. What ties them all together is each write has already received a letter which are death threats.
Within this book there is 3 investigations going on, Murders in spain, Susan Blanchard's murder which is being solved by Steve and his lover Terry and the one where the crime writers are being killed. This book kept me hooked and I literally couldn't put it down and read any time I wasn't cooking, cleaning or working so managed to read in 3 days.
Brilliant ending doesn't end too quick wasn't rushed and I will definitely be re-reading very soon.
See you soon.
Laura xx