On My Wishlist #4

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by the lovely Carolyn over at Book Chick City. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.

Archangel's Kiss

Nalini Singh

Published: February 2010 by Berkley
Format: Paperback
ISBN-10: 0425233367
ISBN-13: 978-0425233368

This is the 2nd book in the Guildhunter series. I loved Nalini's Angel's Blood and also enjoyed Angel's Judgement in the Must Love Hellhounds anthology, so I shall have to track down a copy of Archangel's Kiss to read more about Elena and the gorgeously sexy Raphael.

Summary:
Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux wakes from a year-long coma to find herself changed—an angel with wings the colors of midnight and dawn—but her fragile body needs time to heal before she can take flight. Her lover, the stunningly dangerous archangel Raphael, is used to being in control—even when it comes to the woman he considers his own. But Elena has never done well with authority…

They’ve barely begun to understand each other when Raphael receives an invitation to a ball from the archangel Lijuan. To refuse would be a sign of fatal weakness, so Raphael must ready Elena for the flight to Beijing—and to the nightmare that awaits them there. Ancient and without conscience, Lijuan holds a power that lies with the dead. And she has organized the most perfect and most vicious of welcomes for Elena...
(Goodreads)

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So that's my wishlist for this week. I'd love to hear what's on yours.

On My Wishlist #3

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by the lovely Carolyn over at Book Chick City. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.

Before I Fall
Lauren Oliver

Published: 2010 by Hodder Paperbacks
Format: Paperback
ISBN-10: 0340980907
ISBN-13: 978-0340980903

I heard about this book on Twitter and I just HAVE to read it.

Summary:
What if you had only one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?

Samantha Kingston has it all—looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12th should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it’s her last. The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. In fact, she re-lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she had ever imagined.
(Goodreads)

Fallen
Lauren Kate

Published: July 2010 by Corgi Childrens (first published November 2009)
Format: Paperback
ISBN-10: 0552561738
ISBN-13: 978-0552561730

Am I the only person on the planet who hasn't read this yet?

Summary:
There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price’s attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He’s the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce–and goes out of his way to make that very clear–she can’t let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.
(Goodreads)

The Devil's Acre
Matthew Plampin

Published: 2010 by Harper
Format: Paperback
ISBN-10: 0007273975
ISBN-13: 978-0007273973

I saw this book reviewed on this week's Channel 4's TV Book Club and it sounded so good I had to add it to my wishlist straight away.

Summary:
Spring, 1853. After a triumphant display at the Great Exhibition in London, the legendary American entrepreneur and inventor Colonel Samuel Colt expands his gun-making business into England.

The young, ambitious Edward Lowry is hired by Colt to act as his London secretary. Although initially impressed by the Colonel’s dynamic approach to his trade, Edward comes to suspect that the American’s intentions in the Metropolis are not all they appear.

The secretary becomes romantically involved with Caroline Knox, a headstrong woman from the machine floor – who he discovers is caught up in a plot to steal revolvers from the factory’s stores. Among the workforce Colt has gathered from the seething mass of London’s poor are a gang of desperate Irish immigrants, embittered refugees from the potato famine, who intend to use these stolen six-shooters for a political assassination in the name of revenge. As pistols start to go missing, divided loyalties and hidden agendas make the gun-maker’s factory the setting for a tense story of intrigue, betrayal and murder.
(Amazon)

Any mention of Samuel Colt makes me think of Supernatural and those gorgeous Winchester boys. So...just because I can...

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So those are just a few of the books on my wish list - I'd love to hear what you've got on yours.

The Crazy Bookworm's Blog of the Week Award

And the Award goes to...*Drumroll* Mad About Romance!

Huge thanks to The Crazy Bookworm for giving Mad About Romance its first ever blog award.

This blog is very new and I have some exciting features planned. I will also have my first book reviews up shortly. If there are any post topics or features you'd like to see, please leave me a comment and I'll see what I can do.

Once again, thanks to The Crazy Bookworm for this prestigious award; please drop by her blog and take a look around. Also, thanks to my fellow bloggers for the support you've given me so far.

*Clears throat for acceptance speech* Unaccustomed as I am...

On My Wishlist #2

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by the lovely Carolyn over at Book Chick City. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.

Sophia's Secret
(published as The Winter Sea in the US)
Susanna Kearsley

Published: 22 September 2008 by Allison & Busby (first published 24 March 2008)
Format: Paperback
ISBN-10: 0749080787
ISBN-13: 978-0749080785

I heard on Twitter that this book is a great read, so it's at the top of my wishlist for this week.

Summary:
When bestselling author Carrie McClelland visits the windswept ruins of Slains Castle, she is enchanted by the stark and beautiful Scottish landscape. The area is strangely familiar to her but she puts aside her faint sense of unease to begin her new novel, using the castle as her setting, and one of her own ancestors, Sophia, as her heroine. Then Carrie realises her writing is taking on a life of its own and the lines between fact and fiction become increasingly blurred.

As Sophia's memories draw Carrie more deeply into the intrigue of 1708, she discovers a captivating love story lost in time. After three hundred years, Sophia's Secret must be told.
(Goodreads)

Hush, Hush
Becca Fitzpatrick

Published: 27 May 2010 by Simon & Schuster Childrens Books
Format: Paperback
ISBN-10: 1847386962
ISBN-13: 978-1847386960

This is a book I've been wanting to get for ages. I'm always interested to read debut novels.

Summary:
For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her...until Patch comes along.

With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment, but after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure whom to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is far more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.

For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life.
(Goodreads)

The Girl with Glass Feet
Ali Shaw

Published: 1 Jan 2010 by Atlantic Books
Format: Paperback
ISBN-10: 1843549204
ISBN-13: 978-1843549208

Another debut novel. I'm curious about this one as I've been reading mixed reviews about it. Readers seem to either love it or hate it.

Summary:
Strange things are happening on the remote and snowbound archipelago of St Hauda's Land. Unusual winged creatures flit around icy bogland; albino animals hide themselves in the snow-glazed woods; jellyfish glow in the ocean's depths… and Ida MacLaird is slowly turning into glass.

A mysterious and frightening metamorphosis has befallen Ida – she is slowly turning into glass, from the feet up. She returns to St Hauda's Land, where she believes the glass first took hold, in search of a cure.

Midas Crook is a young loner, who has lived on the islands his entire life. When he meets Ida, something about her sad, defiant spirit pierces his emotional defences. As Midas helps Ida come to terms with her affliction, she gradually unpicks the knots of his heart, and they begin to fall in love…

What they need most is time – and time is slipping away fast. Will they find a way to stave off the spread of the glass? The Girl with Glass Feet is a dazzlingly imaginative and gripping first novel, a love story to treasure.
(Goodreads)

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So those are just a few of the books on my wish list - I'd love to hear what you've got on yours.

I Should be Writing

Woke up nice and early today and thought I'd get on with some writing before breakfast.

First though I had to check my emails... then just a quick look at Twitter... while I'm at it I'd best check to see if there are any comments on the blog. Oh look, it's mid-morning already and not even had breakfast yet. Getting a bit stressed now as I've wasted half the morning.

Breakfast eaten and several cups of coffee drunk so it's time to get back to start writing. But first I need to do a quick bit of online research. Oh it's lunchtime and now I'm really stressing, that's half the day gone and zero words written. I'll have lunch and then start all fresh and raring to go this afternoon.

The laptop's fired up after an extended lunch break and I'm good to go. I do a few neck rolls in preparation to do battle with the wip. But it's a bit difficult to concentrate with all that washing up sitting there from lunchtime. Perhaps I'd better do that first then I can write without being distracted...

And so the day goes on with one excuse for not writing after another.

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating just a teeny tiny bit, but does any of this sound familiar? Why do we spend hours carrying out displacement activities to avoid doing the one thing that we really enjoy?

Is it fear? Either fear of failing and having your baby rejected by all those agents and publishers. Or fear of success and having your baby out in the big wide world without you there to protect it? Or are you looking for perfection and don't think anything you write will ever be good enough?

By the way, it's funny how a deadline can stop you procrastinating. The fear of what will happen if you don't deliver your manuscript or article on time is pretty damned scary!

Brian Clark looks at the different types of fear and procrastination in The Nasty Four-Letter Word That Keeps You From Writing and below are a few of his tips:

• Realise that every time you fail, you’ve become a better writer.
• Recognize that each failure brings you one step closer to success.
• Remember, you’ll never please everyone. You only have to find and please your audience.
• No one will ever be perfect, so let it go.
• Action beats inaction every time.
• Accomplishing anything feels better than accomplishing nothing.
• What’s the worse that could happen? Often, it’s not really all that bad.

So, how about you? Do you find yourself procrastinating when you should be writing and do you have any tips to cope with it?