Book Blogger Archives - Proud Book Reviews

June 30, 2019February 8, 2021

Wrap Up – June 2019

We have officially reached winter. That means lots of teas, hot chocolates (dairy and soy free for me) and fireside nights with lazy mornings in bed on the weekends. In a way I love this weather coz we get to have the fire going and just chill and not do anything.

But then on the other hand my asthma flares up, you lose motivation to exercise and overall just want to hibernate through to warmer weather. I know my hometown of Melbourne doesn’t quite get as cold as some other cities out there. But we’re the second coldest state in Australia and I go around in a ski jacket pretty much from May through to October.

My Fav

I think the Baobab Beach Retreat got a bit of a head start here since it’s coming into winter and I got to read about sunshine, beaches, lovely weather and a relaxing holiday while I’m stuck in weather that’s just getting colder and colder.

Not to mention I’m due for a holiday soon. Like a proper relax on the beach kind of holiday. So this one really took me away from my current cold climate and I loved that.

My Least Fav

I really didn’t need to think about this one. I just really didn’t enjoy The Bastard!

The blurb had such great promise that I requested it off Netgalley. Got approved and then it all just kind of fell apart.

I felt kind of like I’d been lied to and I hated it. All the promise of the suspense, the sexual tension. And then….nothing when I read it….

It just didn’t do it for me, sorry.

Whats coming up

Well I have more Rach Random Resources tours coming in July. I’m HOPING I can finally get the rest of the Circle Universe reviews out for you. Just depends on how productive I am getting those reviews written and artwork created.

I’ve also got a few discussion posts I’m preparing alongside another book series that I’ve read, written reviews for and have artwork ready to go. So you never know. I might give you those before the Circle Universe ones!

My 2019 Goals Update

Thanks to spending the first week of June in bed sick and basically not eating for a week (I promise I wasn’t hungry, I ate whenever I was hungry which just happened to be once a day for breakfast!) I lost 2kgs (YAY!) and even better. I’ve KEPT it off since getting better and eating normally again!

On another note. This one isn’t really a goal but I’m getting some kicks out of it. It turns out I’m following in my dads footsteps and going grey before I hit 30. Now all I gotta do is figure out how to dye my hair grey in a way that doesn’t look weird and gets me through the shitty “I’m trying to go grey but only in random hairs here and there” phase. I’m all for ageing gracefully and I’d be fighting a losing battle with the grey, so I might as well embrace it!

O also, I’m like 15 books ahead of my Goodreads book challenge but woefully behind on my Aussie Author challenge. I really need to pull out some of my Aussie author’s from my TBR pile.

I hope your June has been great and you’ll see me with new reviews over the next two days! That’s right! I’m kicking off the new financial year (yea in Australia our financial year starts July 1st, weird I know) with two reviews in a row!

June 26, 2019June 25, 2019

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – can a stage production live up to my expectations?

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child first started performing like what, five years ago? And I finally got to see it for myself! YYYAAAYYY!!!!

The best part is that I didn’t even need to leave my home city. It started out on the West End in London in 2016 before opening on Broadway in New York a year ago. I can’t believe how lucky I feel that Melbourne, Australia was the latest to open.

I might have actually gone like a month ago, but I’ve finally found time to tell you about it. Man did my time get taken up with my assignments. Now I will #KeeptheSecrets because if any of you are planning to see it, I don’t want to ruin it for you.

What I love about this production is that they worked together with the theatre owner to refurbish the whole place. The little details they included were amazing. The H’s in the carpet, the dragon’s holding the lantern’s as if we’re in Hogwarts. It really made you feel as if you’d stepped into the magical world of Hogwarts.

Even the staff were amazing. Imagine walking in and having them taking your coat to the coat room before you even realise there is one. Kind of helpful like a house elf. When I ordered drinks for mum and I they asked if I wanted to order drinks for intermission so I wouldn’t have to line up. I mean talk about helpful and making sure I got the most out of my experience!

Even the production was great.

I read the screenplay back when it was released but the way they brought it alive was something else entirely. The little details they included, the facial expressions, the tone of voice. Even how they made stage changes between scenes into a performance of their own rather than a surreptitious change and movement of props.

At one point my mum got a fright because of how intricate, realistic and engaging the performance is. My sister’s advice to get seats in the stalls was definitely good advice! Even if the tickets are more expensive, it’s worth it! Seeing this live really did exceed all my expectations.

My advice to you? If you get an opportunity to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child live on stage. See it! I really hope the quality performance I experienced is replicated in every location this is brought to. It was amazing!

May 31, 2019June 25, 2019

Wrap Up – May 2019

May has absolutely FLOWN by and I feel like I’ve achieved pretty much nothing. I’ve only read 5 books (although Outlander was a mammoth sized book and I’m halfway through another pretty big one…) and have barely made a dent in my assignments while fighting off a bad cold.

Pretty sure my body is rebelling and is forcing me to sleep and rest tomorrow but I’ll have to wait and see.

My Fav

I feel like I’ve gone on about this series a fair bit. But I’m just loving it! And I’m LOVING the fact that I’m getting spoiled with free copies in exchange for an honest review!

What more could a history, fantasy, romance loving bookworm want?

But seriously, go check out my review of Son of the Moon and the rest of the series!

FYI – the rest of the series includes The Road to Alexander and Legends of Persia (in reading order).

My Least Fav

Tuscan Enchantment is only the third book I can truly say I didn’t enjoy that Rach Random Resources offered on tour. Which was such a shame because I really do love historical sites, reading them described in different ways and learning something new about somewhere I want to go.

And the worst part is, if this book was set historically I think it could’ve been great because it sounded like the author’s natural writing style is best suited to that genre.

What’s coming up

The next few months are pretty much entirely tours. And since Rach Random Resources is my main source of tours, you’re going to be seeing a lot more of her stuff coming up!

She almost always picks great books and authors to promote though so I’m sure you’ll love the ones we have coming up!

I’m also going to need to spend probably the first half of June smashing out two assignments (well I guess it’s three but the third one is a reflection so doesn’t take quite as much effort) before getting a couple of weeks to chill out before the next unit starts. And I have already found a cool looking new wine bar that I reckon my partner and I could enjoy.

It even has craft beer and ribs for him. I mean, how else was I going to convince a beer lover to come to a swanky looking wine bar with me? O and coz it’s not too far from a bus stop we wont’t even need to compete for parking in an area that is awful to find parking in! Even for my parking goddess skills.

No joke, I can ALWAYS find a park, even when it’s Christmas mad shopping times. It’s weird but I love my super power!

My 2019 Goals Update

Short answer. There is none other than I’m now up to 38 books read for the year.

Also, I keep coming up with ideas for great discussion posts or series posts but then have no time to write them!! I promise one day I’l l get there!

And that’s a wrap for another month! I’ll see you on Monday for my first review for June!

April 2, 2019September 28, 2019

1 Year Celebration!

I’m going to start off with thanking everyone for the birthday wishes (belatedly, coz when am I ever on time for stuff like this?) and all the support over the past 12 months. I feel like this blog has really taken off in the past few months when I discovered the book blogging community.

Thanks to this community I’ve been nominated for a Blogger Recognition Award by Gunjan Maheshwari so I will be passing on the love to a few other bloggers out there a well.

Don’t forget to check out the other amazing bloggers I tag!

Blogger Recognition Award Rules

Thank the blogger for nominating you and give the link to their blog
Write a blog post on your website showing the award
Describe the story of why you started your blog
Write two pieces of advice you have for new bloggers
Nominate 15 more bloggers
Notify each of your nominees that you have nominated them

Why I started blogging

I found myself reading heaps of new books thanks to my discovery of BookBub and being able to get new books for free. Yes I’m a cheapskate sometimes. I was pretty broke back then and desperate for new reads so this was a dream come true for me.

Anyway, I realised pretty quickly I wasn’t going to be able to keep track of all the books I was reading, what I thought of them etc to ever be able to find a particular book ever again. After a bit of research and thinking I decided to take the plunge even if my partner and family thought I was an idiot for wasting my money on a website.

And so Proud Book Reviews was born a year ago on April 1 right after being away camping for Easter with my partner. Writing my first 3 reviews in the serenity of the countryside overlooking the river was an amazing way to start this blog.

Advice for new Bloggers

Start somewhere. Pick a topic you’re passionate about and write up a few posts. If it comes easily to you and you can think of a bunch more stuff to write on that topic you’ll find stuff to keep writing about.
Connect, promote yourself and don’t be afraid to try new things on your blog. Sure, not everyone is going to love everything but I personally think if it’s a hobby it doesn’t matter what anyone other than you thinks. So who cares?

My nominations!

So I’m a pretty lousy blog hopper (sorry guys!) so I might struggle to get to 15. If I do I’m gonna pick people that I’ve seen writing about some interesting stuff that I’ve meant to come back to and either forgotten about or couldn’t find again.

Well it turns out I didn’t need to stress about reaching 15. Turns out I’m just really shit at consistently following people and reading all their posts!

Anyway I have read and enjoyed all of these blogs at least once so please try and make some time to check out their sites!