This is me with my new Kindle, seconds after taking it out of its box.

I’m busy figuring out how it works, but as soon as I do I’ll be posting up a review.

I am so very chuffed!

.

I am ever so lucky.

The town where I live, Wigtown, is quite small. It’s cute, but small. It’s got one main road with a general store (the Co-Op), a post office, a bank, a library, a couple of pubs and a few more little shops but, what starts to make this town special is the number of bookshops.

There are about twenty bookshops in and around Wigtown. Wow!

And, what makes it even more special is that Wigtown is known as Scotland’s Book Town and we hold a book festival every year. Every year dozens of authors come to give talks about their books. We’ve hosted some great people, you should check it out.

And it gets that little bit better…

There’s a marquee just for the children’s authors and I get to work there every year. This year I’ve been given the job of interviewing the authors after their event. I’m videoing them and I’m going to put them up here for you to see.

Post with the video’s will be up soon, so WATCH THIS SPACE!

Zoë x

As well as my love of books my other main passion is music. I love listening to music, such as Snow Patrol, Coldplay and well, loadsa different stuff, but I also like writing and singing my own songs too.

With a little help from my Dad I’ve got a new blog just for my own music and if you go visit it you can see some videos of me performing live.

I’d love to hear what you think so please check it out and maybe even subscribe to it too.

My Music Blog

Thanks.

Ever finish a book and then can’t decided on what to read next? I certainly do, even when there is a huge pile of books sitting next to me, I don’t seem to be in the mood for any of them…

Well, I have your solution.

Whenever I need a fresh book to start on, I check out the other book blogs. This really helps me get some sort of idea of what I want to read next, even the exact book. So, to help you I have put together a post full of books my book blogging friends recommend to you.

Remember, if you ever need a new book to read, just check here and you might just find the book you are looking for!

Clover from Fluttering Butterflies recommends:

Wood Angel by Erin Bow.

Plain Kate lives in a time afraid of magic. She has a gift for carving ‘lucky’ wooden-charms. Known as Witch-Blade, her unusual gift attracts dangerous attention in a place where witches are burned. When her village falls on bad times, suspicion falls on Kate. Scared for her life, she seeks the help of a mysterious stranger. In exchange for her shadow, the stranger will assist her, but Kate becomes part of a terrifying plan, darker than she ever dreamed.

Read Clover’s review by clicking here.

Buy the Book by clicking here.

Kirsty from The Overflowing Library highly recommends:

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepety.

One night fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother and young brother are hauled from their home by Soviet guards, thrown into cattle cars and sent away. They are being deported to Siberia. An unimaginable and harrowing journey has begun. Lina doesn’t know if she’ll ever see her father or her friends again. But she refuses to give up hope. Lina hopes for her family. For her country. For her future. For love – first love, with the boy she barely knows but knows she does not want to lose . . .

Will hope keep Lina alive?

Set in 1941, Between Shades of Gray is an extraordinary and haunting story based on first-hand family accounts and memories from survivors.

Check out Kirsty’s blog by clicking here.

If you want to pre-order the book, click here.

Emma from ASAMUM BOOKTOPIA recommends:

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

(The eagerly-awaited sequel to Gayle Forman’s international best seller, ‘If I stay’)

If you had a second chance at first love . . . would you take it?

It’s been three years since Adam’s love saved Mia after the accident that annihilated life as she knew it . . . and three years since Mia walked out of Adam’s life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Julliard’s rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia’s home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future—and each other.

Told from Adam’s point of view in the spare, powerful prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance.

Read Emma’s review on here blog by clicking here.

Sound interesting? Buy the book here.

Amber from The Mile Long Bookshelf recommends her fave book:

Sequins Stars and Spotlights by Sophia Bennett

Four girls have four dreams. Crow is on the way to becoming an international fashion designer. Jenny’s been discovered by a Broadway composer. Edie still wants to go to Harvard. Nonie … isn’t really sure, but knows it’s something fashion-related and wonderful. They’re growing up and on the brink of glittering careers. So why are their lives so complicated? Why does success demand sacrifices, and which ones are they willing to make? In this, the final book of the Threads trilogy, Nonie discovers that life is just beginning. The girls have choices to make. Who will wait for fame? Who will emerge an outright star? Who will fall in love? And who will turn her back on all her dreams? This time the answers are in New York. It’s a long way for Nonie to travel, especially with only one teeny-weeny wheelie bag. But for the sake of her friendships, Nonie will do whatever it takes.

Click here to read Amber’s blog.

If you’re interested buy the book here.

Kelsey from The Book Scout is loving:

Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott

Abby accepted that she can’t measure up to her beautiful, magnetic sister Tess a long time ago, and knows exactly what she is: Second best. Invisible.

Until the accident.

Now Tess is in a coma, and Abby’s life is on hold. It may have been hard living with Tess, but it’s nothing compared to living without her.

She’s got a plan to bring Tess back though, involving the gorgeous and mysterious Eli, but then Abby learns something about Tess, something that was always there, but that she’d never seen.

Abby is about to find out that truth isn’t always what you think it is, and that life holds more than she ever thought it could…

Check out Kelsey’s blog here.

To pre-order the book click here. (Out may)

~

There you have it, Five brill books recommended by Five brill Book Bloggers. Thanks guys!

It’s Monday, so according to my book-blogging friends, Monday means it’s ‘What Are You Reading’ day.

So, with that in mind, I shall tell you what book is sitting on my bedside table…

‘Della says: OMG’ by Keris Stainton

Dan finally likes Della. How is that possible? It’s like a dream come true. After years of Della hoping and wishing, Dan actually likes her.

But Newton’s third law is always right  – For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Basically what goes up, must come down. The same with Della.

Her Diary is missing!

Normally, if this ever happend to me, I wouldn’t be the slightest bit bothered for I haven’t written the deepest and darkest secrets down in my diary.  Della has. If these secrets were ever revealed to the world, poor Della would probably die…of shame and deepest embarassment.

But when a page of her diary appears on the interent, Della knows someone has taken it and is out there posting to the world. So who has taken Della’s diary, Dan? But he is so sweet why would he ever do that to her. Maddy? Della’s best friend, but she has her own problems to deal with. Or is it Gemima? Dan’s best friend who always seems to be envious of Della.

Whoever it is, Della has to find out quick before the rest of her diary appears and ruins her life.

~

Absolutely Fantasic – Maybe because I can imagine this happening is why I like it so much. Or maybe it’s because I desperately want to find out who has taken Della’s diary. I just like the whole book. It’s been a good laugh and I’m only on chapter 14. (and counting)

So, as it says on the back,

WANT <3 AND LOL?

Then read this.

It’ll make you

True.

…On what I’m doing at the moment. Okay, well this post won’t be on books – Since my header is Blog ‘n’ stuff, I thought I’d do something more along the lines of the ‘stuff.’ So this is what I have been playing/doing basically.

I have decided to go a bit game-y. Which means I am now going to review some games. Now don’t get all blurgh at me, I am not going to be reviewing war or shooting or whatever games, (because I am the type of person to just press any buttons and hope for the best) I am going to tell you today about my most played iPod touch app/games. Although I use facebook and twitter alot on my iPod, they aren’t the most exciting and most played apps I use. (And they would be would be incredibly boring to review) So to start off I shall tell you about Doodlejump.

Dooblejump ~ Not the most appealing name to someone my age, but it is incredibly addictive. The object of the game, by using the alien dude, is to get as high as you can by jumping on certain platforms. You must avoid the monsters, broken platforms, UFO’s and black holes and use the trampoline, spring, rocket, spring shoes and blaster to help you get higher. The higher you go the more points. It’s the first game my friends go on when I let them play on my iPod, which I believe means my friends give it the thumbs up too! My highest score is 35,718 and my friend got 44,350, which I haven’t been able to beat yet. I think the graphics in the game are brilliant and it’s really easy to start playing. I love how the stats show you how many games you’ve played and how long you have spent playing in total. (I have played it 217 times and in total played it for 2 hours 21 minutes 35 seconds) You can connect it to facebook and twitter to upload scores too. It’s a great game for children and adults and will keep you glued to the little alien dude for quite some time.

Tap Tap Revenge 3 ~ This is a must have app when you buy an iPod Touch or iPhone. It is the smaller ‘tap’ version of guitar hero minus the guitar. With really up to date music it is a brilliant game and is an app worth having. It can also conect to the internet to upload scores, but you can chat to other players and even play against players online from across the world. It is extremely fun and never ending. I especially love how there is a two player mode, so you can play against your friend on the same device. Brill game, endless fun!

Pocket Frogs ~ My ultimate favourite game at the moment. It’s an never ending frog breeding game where you can breed different frogs to create a whole new frog then sell them, race them, breed them, gift them and send them to friends. It is very addictive and so much more interesting than it sounds lol. At the moment I have 38 frogs – Which is quite a few. I especially love how you can create really cool frogs. My favourite are the ‘glass’ frogs, which are see through ~ A bit odd yes but awesome. It’s another must have game if you like addictive never ending sort of games. Definitely worth getting.

So there you have it, the latest on almost everything I have been up to.

I noticed this on a friends blog (Love Reading X) and thought I’d have a go at ‘making’ my own virtual book.

What you have to do:

1. Go to ‘Fake Name Generator‘ The name that appears is your author name.

2. Go to ‘Random Word Generator‘ The word listed under ‘Random Verb’ is your title.

3. Go to ‘FlickrCC‘ Type your title into the search box. The first photo that contains a person is your cover.

4. Use Picnik or something similar to put it all together. Be sure to crop and/or zoom in.

5. Write a short synopsis to go along with it.

Here is my ‘book’

(Pictures with help from snazzy computer dad)

Run by Keira B. Barlette

Avalible in Paperback or Hardback…lol

The gunshot rang through my ears. I stood there, a bead of sweat trickled down my forehead. I fell against the wall behind me, too shocked to move. I watched as the limp body fell to the ground. A lump formed in my throat, making it even harder to breath. My brain felt like it was scattered into a millions pieces. What should I do? Where should I go?  I pulled in a gasp of air. I knew one thing. That this was it. I was the only one left and they knew where I was hiding. All I could do was what I do best, what I was known for, the way I escaped out of everything and anything that life threw at me…

Run.

What do you think? Would you pick this up and want to read it in real life? Tell me in comments.

…finally, YEY!

My summer holidays have just started and already I am reading non-stop. Since I have about eight weeks off, I am going to pick eight books to read. It might be tricky but I will try and pick ones that are not as big Host by Stephanie Meyer. (Which, a while ago, I said I would review once I have finished it – I still am not finished!) So I will be reading eight books each week and hopefully you will get a review for each one and by the end of the summer I will have made my own Top Eight Summer Reads.

Right I’m off with my cup of tea to find a comfy seat to start reading!

TTFN

A bookish meme created by MizB from Should be Reading.

I am supporting this great idea and doing it myself. So here is my teaser of the book I’m re-reading, The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch  (Not his real name!)

“Chapter One and a Half

Apologia*

*An apologia, if you’re wondering, is not a variety of insect. Neither is it a type of tropical disease. It’s an Apology. In other words, its not worth the paper it’s written on.”

Okay I understand that isn’t exactly a teaser, it’s a start of the chapter, but then it is almost a teaser of some sort…

Anyway. This is me re-reading this book, which I read about a year ago and really enjoyed. It’s all about Mystery and Adventure and is one of those books that gets you thinking about it even when you aren’t reading it.

A brilliant one to get if your into that kind of stuff – but be warned, you might need to re-read certain parts to understand, it can get kind of confusing.

A review will be coming soon.

Zoë xoxo

…Well they do!

And if your BFF’s rock as well just enter in the most coolest comp run by Cathy Cassidy for all best friends in the UK and Eire. All you need to do is take just one piece of A4 paper, tell them why your best friend rocks. Using photos, or pictures, or words, or a mixture of all of them and send it in. (All details for competition click here) and you could win yourself:

• The sleepover of your dreams for you and your friend including music, clothes, make-up, books, magazines, food and much much more!
• Free tickets to Cathy Cassidy’s event at the Edinburgh Festival
• The chance to meet Cathy and Girls Can’t Catch at the amazing award ceremony
• A signed copy of Cathy’s new book Cherry Crush as soon as it’s out
• Your entry published in Mizz
• A very special and rare My Best Friend Rocks trophy!

Quite a competition huh?!

More details on Cathy’s Website by clicking here.

Zoë xoxo