Friday 10 July 2020

Cover Reveal for The Wrong Family by Tarryn Fisher


Blurb:

Have you ever been wrong about someone?

Juno was wrong about Winnie Crouch.

Before moving in with the Crouch family, Juno thought Winnie and her husband, Nigel, had the perfect marriage, the perfect son—the perfect life. Only now that she’s living in their beautiful house, she sees the cracks in the crumbling facade are too deep to ignore.

Still, she isn’t one to judge. After her grim diagnosis, the retired therapist simply wants a place to live out the rest of her days in peace. But that peace is shattered the day Juno overhears a chilling conversation between Winnie and Nigel…

She shouldn’t get involved.

She really shouldn’t.

But this could be her chance to make a few things right.

Because if you thought Juno didn’t have a secret of her own, then you were wrong about her, too.

From the wickedly dark mind of bestselling author Tarryn Fisher, The Wrong Family is a taut new thriller that’s riddled with twists in all the right places.

Links to Buy:

Wednesday 15 April 2020

Struggling but Better?

Hey lovelies.

The world is well pretty much crap right now and its been more difficult than usual to be online.

Just before this whole pandemic started, I was just about coping with work. But the Pondathon had put me in such a good headspace! I was finally feeling ready to get back into blogging and instagram and the whole thing, and then... well you know.

When this thing started off, I was feeling pretty okay, being cautious and taking all the precautions that I could. But then one of the days I got on one of the social media platforms, I honestly cannot remember which one, I got on just to distract myself and not get more anxious and my feed was FILLED with all these insane things. The worst, the absolute worst was the Challenge Video. Lovely, I can remember my stomach just dropping. Pandemic or not the challenge was NOT OKAY. It made me feel sick and no matter how many cute dog photos I saw or how many Disney movies I watched, I couldn't get it out of my head. It made me anxious to use bathrooms when I went to the office. It and other cruel things that I would see would randomly pop into my head and my brain would just shut off. I noticed this when I was in a discussion going through a document, and noticed that we had moved a couple paragraphs ahead without me even remembering reading or listening it. I hadn't fainted, I was still looking at the screen but it was like my brain had checked out. That was when I decided that it wasn't worth it. A few minutes of distraction was not worth my brain just going BRB Rebooting!

So I stopped looking at all of it - Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, even Google to some extent.
I turned on notifications for a few feel good accounts (Thoughts of Dog HIGHLY RECOMMEND)
Only viewed stories of a couple people I absolutely loved
Opened multiple tabs on my phone's browser for sites I visited regularly to limit seeing those suggested articles
Changed preferences
And
I
Did
Not
Scroll

Then there was the whole lockdown and that brought on a whole another thing. Suddenly, people were working from home. I am very lucky to have the opportunity to do so and I'm so, so grateful; but at the same time dealing with people who don't usually work from home was a huge pain. People were expecting just because they were home I would work all day every day even on days off. I had calls after 7 when I was running errands, out for groceries or some other essential thing, ask me - Oh are you roaming about?

Why yes Karen, I'm at Disneyland having the time of my life. I'm trying to keep my family safe by limiting when one has to go out, dealing with this constant anxiety about this shitstorm that we are in, stressed to the point where my hair is falling out, but yes I'm roaming about like nothing is wrong in this world. New people who are now working from home, please for the love of all that is good - respect the other person's time!

Lovely, I for the first time since college had to turn on Do Not Disturb feature on my phone. And on my day off I turned it on again for the whole day. Honestly that helped so much!

There was another side to this whole thing, my friends situation. I haven't really had the best luck with friendships, but since my birthday its felt especially worse. And now when most people aren't really doing much socializing, there isn't really an excuse to why someone won't reach out or text back or just call and check in you know? That makes me feel something awful. I know it is the most stupid thing, but my brain just gets stuck on the one little negative thing and keeps harping on it. I just want kindness and reciprocity. I do so much for everyone but there's rarely anything coming back my way. And now I've realised that I don't do much at all now. That is where I'm at. I respond when someone asks me a question, I cannot even bring myself to text someone anymore. My first thought comes as - What's the point? I know I need to work on that but I'm just so tired. My brain needs rest, my heart needs love and I just want... something more. I wan't to feel less of this brokenness that I find myself feeling.

Wow that was a lot, I have half a mind to delete all this mush because my brain is telling me no one cares, no one wants to read all this crap. A lot of negativity but I am trying to push past.

If by some luck you've made it this far in my word vomit of a post, here's some positives that have helped me to feel that I can sort of semi function again.

I'm listening to the audiobooks for The Raven Cycle Series. I love this series so much #Ravenous. I cannot tell you what an incredible source of comfort this has been for me. Work had been stressing me out, so I started listening to the audiobooks while I was working and slowly but surely the Stiefvater magic worked and I'm feeling a lot better. My brain is too tired to read non-fiction right now but I can see some hope. I'll get there.

I'm binge watching old favourites, TV Shows, Movies - ALL OF IT!

I'm trying watercolour? Trying being the operative word here. I don't quite get the hang of it yet, but its been fun to try.

I'm doodling when I feel anxious and that has been very helpful.

I'm still not checking social media all that much except for YouTube. YouTube has brought me so much joy.

Video calls with my niece, that has been the thing that has kept me going.

And now having written this makes me feel a bit better.

Oof! That was a lot. This is probably the longest post on my blog. Yikes.

I hope you all are staying safe, social distancing and washing your dam hands! I hope your mind isn't being too hard on you.

Video call your friends and family. Check in on your extrovert friends they are probably going crazy. Let me know if any of this helps? Do you want some more coping strategies? How are you doing? Let's talk soon ♥ Stay Home, Stay Safe. 

Thursday 6 February 2020

Cover Reveal for Pursuing Madness by Stacey Rourke

Pursuing Madness by Stacey Rourke

Blurb:
The hands of the clock,They tick and they tock.
Telling stories of a man known as the cat,
Yet our story gets far more curious than that.

Sterling lost his mind long ago. Hopping from realm to realm, it slipped from his grasp somewhere along the way. Now, in an odd turn of events, lives suddenly depend on him... if he can stay focused long enough to remember.

A glassed-in tomb. A watery room. A long lost sister. A queen furious with her mister. All are counting on the little man with the mad grin remembering where exactly he’s been.

Journey down the rabbit hole in the most curious tale ever told, and discover if happily ever after is possible for those unfortunate souls.

Available NOW for Preorder:https://preview.tinyurl.com/wm4n4g9


I'm so excited and sad at the same time! I have adored this series and am so excited for this new addition but at the same time, I'm sad to see it end. 

Get caught up with books one and two in series:
Rise of the Sea Witch- https://tinyurl.com/rnmezv7
Entombed in Glass- https://tinyurl.com/weceuua

Find Stacey Rourke at:
www.staceyrourke.com
Twitter @rourkewrites
Instagram @rourkewrites

Thursday 23 January 2020

I'm joining the #Pondathon !



Pondathon: The Quiet Pond's story-driven readathon. Image: Two swords with vines wrapped around it frame the words 'Pondathon', with three little forest sprites sitting on top. One forest sprite has a leaf on its head, the middle has twigs for horns, and the right has a mushroom on its head.

What is the Pondathon?

The Pondathon is a co-operative and story-driven readathon hosted and run by CW from The Quiet Pond. The aim of the Pondathon is to read books and collect points to protect the friends over at The Quiet Pond from the encroaching malevolent forces that threaten our friends in the forest. Have fun participating in the Pondathon readathon by joining one of five teams, each with a unique way to collect points and signing up! You can also follow the story of the Pondathon as it unfolds, and participants can also complete 'side quests' during the readathon to collect extra points. The readathon takes place from January 24th 2020 to March 7th 2020. More information about the readathon can be found here.

Information about Joining the Pondathon

  1. To join the Pondathon, simply sign up anytime between January 18th 2020 to March 5th 2020.
  2. Choose a team, create your own animal character for the Pondathon and create a character card!
  3. Create a blog post, bookstagram post, booktube video, Twitter thread, or whatever medium you wish, with '#Pondathon' in the title or your tweet. Share the character you have created and your character card!
  4. Link back to this post so that others can find this readathon and join in.
Share your updates on your blog/bookstagram/booktube and social media. You are more than welcome to tag @thequietpond or @artfromafriend on Twitter or Instagram in all your updates! We'd love to see all of the beautiful and awesome characters that you create!

My Pond Character


Thanks to CW for organizing the readathon and the graphics! I had so much fun designing the character, I made some minor additions to make it look like a Husky (does it look like one? I can't tell anymore :P ) I wish I was better at the naming part, but hey this is the best my exhausted brain could do. I'm so excited to see everyone's characters and see the story progress. I will try to share my TBR updates and hopefully a tracker on my Instagram feed. I need to figure out how to match this with my #StartOnYourShelfathon TBR as well.

I'm so excited for this readathon. It already has an incredible story going on and as of the time I'm posting this, it has already started!

Thanks again to CW for organizing this, creating the graphics and creating such a positive and happy place for us readers ♥

Lets go save the Pond!

Saturday 28 September 2019

Review for Paradise Towers by Shweta Bachchan-Nanda


Paradise Towers by Shweta Bachchan-Nanda
Blurb:
Welcome to Paradise Towers, an apartment building in central Mumbai. Everyone here has a story to tell. Or maybe they have stories to hide. Shweta Bachchan-Nanda's quirky, intimate debut explores the intertwined lives in this building - a forbidden romance, an elopement, the undercurrents of tension in corridor interactions and an explosive Diwali celebration. Bachchan-Nanda's is a dazzling voice that will draw you into the intoxicating, crazy world that is Paradise Towers.

Review:
I went into this book with zero expectations. Because well, I’ve had let’s say less than stellar experiences with books by Indian Authors lately, so I wanted to give the book a fair shot by not setting my expectations up. And I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this book.
Charming is the first word that comes to mind when I think of Paradise Towers. I really enjoyed all the little details put into the book. Also, I need to say this, the chapter numbers looked like number plates on the door, and I thought that was a really cute detail to include.
I adored the descriptive writing style. To me, it has this old world charm to it that I really liked. For me it was a good balance of it being descriptive without going too overboard. It creates a clear picture of the building and provides a perfectly innocent backdrop for a mundane life in Mumbai. But, everything is rarely as it seems.
Paradise Towers was a charming mesh that to me represented Mumbai, with a mixture of all the people from all walks of life.  In some places it did feel like the writer tried to include too many topics in one book, but in the end I felt like it kind of reflected to the chaotic nature of the book and the chaos that is Mumbai sometimes. The book had a realistic description of the intersecting and intertwining lives of the residents at Paradise Towers, which was fun to read about. I think the interpersonal relations in the book is what made the book stand out to me.
Overall, a breezy and fun book, it would make for a perfect break.

Thursday 29 August 2019


**Cover Reveal**


19 Marigold Lane

"In the end, I was just a walking dead girl with a broken wing and a propensity for bad luck."

The long awaited sequel to the quirky oddity 17 Marigold Lane is coming October 19th
Meanwhile, back in Flintlock…
Prudence, recovering from surgery, refuses to let one busted wing stop her from exposing Sheriff Floyd, falling in love with her odd boy, and finding out who the hell moved in down the street.
I, Prudence Penderhaus, rescued a boy, uncovered a murder, and opened a can of conspiracy worms that downright refused to go back.
19 ML Promo

Add 19 Marigold Lane to your TBR!
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BookBub
Visit R.M. Gilmore for more information
RM Gilmore Website

Friday 19 July 2019

Update?

Hey lovelies! Hope you all have been doing well.

Somehow my break always gets extended. It's been just one thing after another and cutting out blogging and social media was the one thing I could do to help my anxiety and lessen my load.

We recently moved into a new place and that's been a whole thing in itself. Then there's the work related stress. My mental and physical health haven't been the greatest since December 2018 I think. And I just keep thinking it will get better. I'll get back into the swing of things eventually. But.I.Don't. (More on this later I hope)

I just keep putting things off. Prioritizing unpacking or just taking a break or just catching up on sleep. Even today I wouldn't have posted anything but I'm forcing myself to post this. (Posting from my phone and hopefully I'll edit it later 😋)

Speaking of doing things, I'm participating in the #24in48 Readathon again this weekend! Hopefully I'll finish 24 hours again this year as well. I've also slowly started getting back into learning languages as well. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it! Also art and music. Gods  I hadn't even realized that I had stopped enjoying those too. Sometimes we just get caught on a loop in our heads and it becomes difficult to break out and get back to where we actually want to be.

I figured, the only way I will end up actually posting here and getting back into the rhythm of things will be if I force myself. And the only way I'll get better is by keeping at it right? I'm trying to get ahead of my anxiety and my brain by making myself do these things. And I hope this pays off and I can get back to where I want to be. So here's hoping for a new start and hopefully getting back to things I love.

Thanks for reading through all this. Most of it sounds half baked I know but I'm going to try really hard to get better at this. Thank you to everyone that continues to stick around and for all the new people hope I can help in some way.

To new beginnings and such.
oxox
TJ

Cover Reveal for The Wrong Family by Tarryn Fisher

Blurb: Have you ever been wrong about someone? Juno was wrong about Winnie Crouch. Before moving in with the Crouch family, Jun...