RCC Challenge #4: Mysterious Meetup

Hello everyone! Here's my own entry for the fourth Review Copy Cleanup challenge. So, the task this week was to tell you about my favourite book character - in other words, I had to pick a fictional character who I'd like to meet and tell you why and what I'd ask him/her.

This is actually pretty easy for me, although I'm not sure I can narrow it down to one person only. *cough* Celine *cough* is this cheating? I hope not. Ahem. Anyway, I'm having a hard time here because there are so many characters I love that it's just impossible to choose. What I'll do instead is show you my top 3 list. Sounds okay? Let's see.

#1: Hercule Poirot (from Agatha Christie's novels)

Okay, here's the thing. When I started reading Christie's books about 6-7 years ago, I didn't really like him and I kept saying how arrogant he was and that I preferred Miss Marple. Then, something happened and I started to enjoy the Poirot stories more and more and now I'd pick him over Marple any time, he's brilliant. And what would I ask him about? I'd ask him to take me on as his mentee and teach me how to exercise my "little grey cells". (And maybe beg him to take me to his next investigation - that would be fantastic!) *dreamy look* Can you tell I'm a tiny bit obsessed with Agatha Christie? Ahahaha :)

#2 Severus Snape (from J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter series)

Here's another funny story. When I first picked up book #1 in the HP series, Snape instantly became my favourite character. I don't know why, maybe it was his mysteriousness or the fact that he didn't seem to like Harry (I wasn't the biggest Harry fan myself), I don't know. But the funniest thing was that when the film came out, I realized that Snape was played by one of my all time favourite actors, Alan Rickman. Coincidence? So anyway, I adore both Snape as a character and of course Alan - he's flipping brilliant. And his voice is just gorgeous. I don't even care that he's almost 70... So if I met him, I would probably have a hard time concentrating... let alone ask him anything. Ha! (: I would probably ask him to talk to me so that I could listen to his voice all day long. *fangirl rant over*

#3 Mark Darcy (from Bridget Jones's Diary)

Bridget Jones's Diary is STILL one of my all time favourite books - I adore almost everyone in that book but Mark Darcy is definitely my favourite. If you've read the book (or seen the film - mind you, they are totally different), you know how gorgeous he is so I won't go into details. (: If I met him, I'd ask him to forget Bridget and marry me. :D If he said no, I'd ask him - and Bridget too, because I like both of them - to be my friend. They'd be the coolest friends ever.


Who would you guys like to meet? :) Feel free to leave me a link to your own posts so that I can visit you and check out your pick!

Introducing a new feature: Blogging Know-How

Hello bookaholics! As some of you might have already noticed, I've had a poll set up on my blog for about a week now and I've been collecting your votes on what you'd like to see more of on my blog ever since. Many of you said that you'd like to see more giveaways, but what surprised me the most was that almost 20 people voted for 'blogging tips'. In addition to this, some of you have emailed me in the past few weeks asking for advice on social networking, blogging, and book reviews. So I thought about it and decided to start a new feature on my blog, namely Blogging Know-How. If you guys support me and this whole idea then I might make it a weekly feature on Books, Biscuits, and Tea - because... well, why not? :)

How it's going to work? Each week (or every two weeks, it depends on you) I will try to answer some of your blogging/reading/reviewing/social networking related questions here on my blog. If there's anything you've been wondering about, you can't figure out or just want me to help you out with, you can send it to me via email or the little contact form I'll post at the end of these posts. You can stay anonymous if you want to, of course. Easy peasy, right? :) If you'd like me to keep this up then I'll post my Blogging Know-How answers on Thursdays.

Waiting on Wednesday (12)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine, which spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. 

My pick for this week:

Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard
ISBN: 9780385739375
Format: Hardcover
Length: 352 pages
Publication date: March 13th, 2012
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Add it to your Goodreads wishlist

Are you a Global Vagabond?

No, but 18-year-old Bria wants to be. In a quest for independence, her neglected art, and no-strings-attached hookups, she signs up for a tour of Central America—the wrong one. Middle-aged tourists are hardly the key to self-rediscovery.

So when Bria meets Rowan, devoted backpacker and dive instructor, and his outspoken sister Starling, she seizes the chance to ditch her group and join them off the beaten path. Bria's a good girl trying to go bad. Rowan's a bad boy trying to stay good. As they travel through Mayan villages and remote Belizean islands, they discover they're both seeking to leave behind the old versions of themselves. The secret to escaping the past, Rowan's found, is to keep moving forward. But Bria realizes she can't run forever. At some point, you have to look back.

Why I can't wait: It was love at first sight. I just LOVE travelling so any book that is connected to travelling in some ways is an absolute must-have. I've recently read Juhina's review of this book and she made me want to read it even more. I can't wait to pick this one up. :) Have you guys read it yet?

What are you waiting on this week? Make sure to leave me a link below!

Teaser Tuesday #16 - The Look

Hello everyone! It's Tuesday which means that I'm back with another fab teaser :) Teaser Tuesday is a weekly event, hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. Each week we grab the book we're currently reading, let it fall open to a random page and share two sentences from that page. Sounds easy, right? Of course anyone can participate, just make sure to read the rules by clicking here.

My teaser comes from Sophia Bennett's The Look this week.

"Nightmare Boy sticks his hands in his jeans pockets and looks as though he doesn't want to say anything at all. His face bristles with discomfort behind his glasses. "

I started reading this one a few days ago and even though I'm only 10 pages in, I can already tell that it's going to be a real page-turner. I love the two protagonists already and Bennett's style is great! Has anyone read this one yet? If you have, what did you think?

What are you guys reading this week? C'mon, tease me! x

Review + giveaway: The Long Weekend - Savita Kalhan

Title: The Long Weekend
Author: Savita Kalhan
Publication date: November 11, 2008
Publisher: Andersen Press
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781842708460
Length: 180 pages
Genre:  YA thriller
Source: Author
Add it: Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon US | The Book Depository

Sam knows that he and his friend Lloyd made a colossal mistake when they accepted the ride home. They have ended up in a dark mansion in the middle of nowhere with man who means to harm them. But Sam doesn't know how to get them out. They were trapped, then separated. Now they are alone. Will either of them get out alive?

The Long Weekend is one of those stories that you can easily read in one sitting: partly because it's a relatively short book and partly because the plot is so intriguing that it is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat. Even though I was quite sceptical at first, it did wow me in the end.

The book tells the story of two eleven-year-old boys who get picked up after school by a seemingly rich guy but little do they know that they are heading towards a deserted area in the Hertfordshire countryside, towards a huge, desolate mansion. Their long car ride soon turns into a nightmare when they find themselves locked up, with no escape routes whatsoever.

To be honest, I've heard many people say how creepy and unsettling this book is so I was literally prepared for the worst and scariest things when I picked this book up. But interestingly, I didn't find it as shocking as I thought I would, or at least not to such an extent that it should bother me or put me off. It was scary and I would think twice before I let my teenage children read it but it didn't affect me as much as I thought it would. Having said that, it definitely is a quick read, a real-page turner that you will find hard to put down.

Bloggiesta!

Bloggiesta is a completely new event for me - I have been invited by a fellow blogger on Goodreads and I thought, why not? I love bookish events and getting to know you all so I had to sign up for this. What is Bloggiesta, you ask? In short, it’s a blogging marathon revolving around ticking off those items on your to-do list and improving your blog while in the good company of other awesome bloggers doing the same thing.

I have been extremely busy in the past few weeks/months and even though I haven't completely abandoned my blog, there are things that I'd like to improve and work on during these couple of days. Bloggiesta runs from 30 March to 1 April (next weekend) - and you can still sign up by clicking here if you'd like to join in the fun.

My aims:

• Get to know some fellow bloggers
• Make new friends
• Re-write my review policy
• Reply to my comments 
• Visit as many blogs as I can and comment on other people's reviews
• Take part in challenges
• Schedule some discussions for the following weeks
• Schedule 5 WoW posts for the following weeks

Is anyone planning to take part in this event? Do let me know! :)

Review Copy Cleanup [challenge 3] - Don't Be Such a Tease!

Hello everyone and welcome to our third Review Copy Cleanup Challenge! As of today, the sign up for the Review Copy Cleanup are closed.

Last week's winners have been chosen by Random.org and are announced here. If you're on the list but we haven't contacted you yet, don't worry, we will!

The Don't Be Such a Tease challenge is all about being the biggest tease possible. We are all reading books that aren't published yet, and what is more fun than showing other readers how awesome your current read is! The challenge is to share a few sentences from the RCC book you are reading right now, so we can all get a little taste. And once again, we have some books to give away to those of you who complete the challenge. Here's what's up for grabs:

1x ebook copy of Promise Cove by Vickie McKeehan

1x ebook copy of  Just Evil by Vickie McKeehan

1x ebook copy of Vampires Rule by K.C. Blake
1x paperback copy of Thank You for the Flowers by Scott Nicholson
1x ebook copy of Paradox - Special Edition: The Angels Are Here / Progeny Of Innocence by Patti Roberts + postcards

Five lucky winners will get to choose from the five prizes listed above. It's first come, first serve - which means that the first winner will get to choose first, the second winner chooses next, and so on.

Review: Mice - Gordon Reece

Title: Mice
Author: Gordon Reece
Publication date: February 28, 2011
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780230751880
Length: 329 pages
Genre:  Suspense thriller
Source: Publisher
Add it: Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon US | The Book Depository | Barnes & Noble

Sixteen year old Shelley and her mother move to Honeysuckle cottage in the middle of the countryside, fleeing their fears and anxieties and hoping to put behind them years of suffering at the hands of others. Shelley has endured terrible bullying from the girls who used to be her best friends, and her mother has been left reeling following a divorce from her selfish, demanding husband. For Shelley and her mother are 'mice' timid, nervous and obliging. And for a while, in their cottage-haven, the women flourish. But one night, their fragile peace is shattered when Shelley wakes to hear a creak on the stairs. Someone has broken into the house ...

In the shocking, chilling events that follow, Shelley's world is turned on its head, as the women find themselves tested as never before. And as their lives spiral out of control, the tension reaches fever pitch, and Shelley begins to wonder: if she and her mother are not mice after all, then what are they?

Having received a review copy of this book, I was really excited about picking it up and reading it because it sounded really promising.  As those of you who follow my reviews might know, I absolutely love murder mysteries - I have some kind of an obsession with crime fiction, in fact. Even though Mice is actually a thriller - a genre I haven't actually read before - it was right up my street. It's one of those books that you're simply unable to put down, something that makes you stay up at odd hours in order to find out what happens next. It draws you in to such an extent that you literally can't move until you've finished reading it - only when the story reached a conclusion did I feel like I could breathe again.

What really struck me literally two pages in the story was Reece's writing style. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of authors whose style simply blew me away but Reece is definitely one of them. His story is so clever and is written in such a sophisticated, such an eloquent way that you cannot help being completely drawn into his world and "listen" to every word he says, or in this case every word the narrator (and protagonist), the sixteen-year-old Shelley says. If I had to choose two aspects of the book that I loved the most then the author's style would be one of them, followed by its unique storyline.

It's very difficult to talk about the plot without giving anything away so I won't go into details. The book, among many other things, deals with a situation where a mother and her daughter know they need to stay calm and not to panic but they've repressed their emotions for such a long time that something just snaps. They do something they'd never have done before and their momentary outburst causes several difficulties. Even though Mice is a thriller, the first incident that basically starts the ball rolling wasn't terrifying in itself, at least for me. The way Reece gives us an insight into what goes on in their mind and how he describes the situation and the consequences was more haunting and effective for me.

All in all, I think Mice would fit into the category of psychological thriller perfectly, where the main emphasis is on characters and the consequences of their actions - or in other words, what they do when reality sinks in.  I wasn't familiar with Reece's work right until now but he quickly became one of my favourite writers and after reading this book, I'll make sure to keep an eye on his upcoming books. He's just brilliant. I can't praise him enough.

Rating:

* Thank you to Pan Macmillan for sending me a copy of this book for review *