January Favourites

I want to take a mini break from all the book theme posts. So for today I thought I might discuss my favourite / most used items during January.

Favourite Book: So lets start of with the basic; Books. I got so many books for Christmas! I had my nose stuck in a book all the way from Christmas, to New Year, to the start of school, so it's going to be difficult choosing a favourite... However, a book which pretty much blew the hats off for me was Inferno by Jo MacAuley. I'm pretty sure I had a grip on the book all the way through 'till the end. It's just such an exciting and very well written novel.

Favourite Food: I'm sure everyone starts craving or loving a particular food during the month. Mine isn't really a sweet sugary food, but more of a 'this food is perfect for a cold rainy day that warms you through to the bones' type of food. I've recently been loving meals when I have these goats cheese and spinach pastries. They actually sound sort of yuck since I hate spinach on it's own, but this is truly delicious!

Favourite TV series: This is sort of a weird one since it's quite a quirky TV show (that I'm sure a 7 year old loves watching), but I've been completely obsessed with watching a show called Mew Mew Power, or the Japanese version, Tokyo Mew Mew. It's an anime but a really good one. It's actually originally a Japanese series which half of the episodes were dubbed to English, however, they stopped dubbing it so I ended up watching 26 episodes in Japanese with English subtitles. I sort of well... preferred the Japanese version, is that weird?

Favourite Music: I don't really listen to music much, and when I do it's usually in the car with my MP3 player, which hasn't had it's music updated since the July 2014. So basically I'm going to base my favourite music off the song I most play in the car. This month I've been listening a lot to A Great Big World (which is the group, not the song). My favourite song of theirs is Rock star. 

Favourite Make-up Item: In January I haven't really been wearing too much make-up at all, which is a good thing, right? I mostly just wear make-up for the fun of it, or to have fun with different looks. For Christmas I got the naked 1 palette which I was super excited about. My favourite eye-shadow combo from that palette would be Sin, Naked, Smog and Dark horse. 

What's been your favourite 'stand-out' item for January?

How I Organise Myself

If you have your own blog, I'm sure you must know just how important it is to organise yourself. I for one have a few tips on making sure you won't end up under a pile of papers.

1. Why not buy a small planner? This way, you can write all your future posts. If you don't want to buy one, you could just use Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. I find this super helpful, when I need to, I just open up my planner, have a look at what upcoming posts I have planned, for what date, then write them. I then tick them off when they're done.

2. I have to use Google Sheets, however for this tip, you could just use Microsoft Excel. Have separate sheets for separate stuff. Why not have a sheet for all the publishing contacts (this would mostly apply to book bloggers), you could write out all the books you want to review, or the books that you want to read. The options are endless!

3. In my laptop, I have a folder which I've named The Ombré Diaries. In this folder I basically store headers, pictures and previously used designs ect... I also have a folder with the same Google sheets files so that if I need to copy them onto something else, should be easy enough!

4. This tip mostly applies to help with the reading other peoples blogs. I sometimes find it annoying when I have lots of different favourite blogs, but I have to go on a different website each time. Not only that, but sometimes there isn't even a new post on their blog. So that's why I use bloglovin'. I'm pretty sure most bloggers use this site, you follow all your favourite blogs and it groups all the new posts and feed together for you. Isn't that just great?

That's all the tips I've got for you today. Those are the things I pretty much follow by.

Have you followed any of these tips? How have they worked out for you? :)

Books I Wish Were Made Into Films

Yes, yes I know. Books are mean't to be better than films, right? Well yes, for me they are. I would definitely say I read more books than I watch films. However, sometimes I read a book and then I think of what an incredible film it could be! Here are some books I wish were made into films and why...

Firelight by Sophie Jordan

You may have read my previous post which was a review on this book. Whatever the case, this book really rocks and I would so watch the film about 20 times if it ever came out.

Smuggler's Kiss by Marie-Louise Jensen

The cover! One - well two words...the cover! When I look at the cover I feel all warm and fuzzy inside (not really but I just really like the cover. Okay?). There are some scenes in this books where I am like 'oh that would make an amazing film...' and then I get all excited, but then realise it's probably never going to happen. I'm still keeping my hopes up though.

Hetty Feather by Jacqueline Wilson

To be quite honest, this book wasn't incredible and amazing like you see on the other two books mentioned. It's not my most favourite book but it was still a good read. However, this isn't about which books were good reads now, is it? It's about books - good or not, and which ones would make great films. This book has got to be one of them!

I decided I would stick with my top 3. Not because I couldn't think of many, because trust me, I could come up with another batch of these. 

Do YOU have a book you want to be a film?

Review: Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Book Title: Firelight
Author: Sophie Jordan
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Nº of pages: 323
Date Published: 7th September, 2010
Rating:

A hidden truth.
Mortal enemies.
Doomed love.
With her rare ability to breathe fire, Jacinda is special even among the draki—the descendants of dragons who can shift between human and dragon forms. But when Jacinda’s rebelliousness forces her family to flee into the human world, she struggles to adapt, even as her draki spirit fades. The one thing that revives it is the gorgeous, elusive Will, whose family hunts her kind. Jacinda can’t resist getting closer to him, even though she knows she’s risking not only her life but the draki’s most closely guarded secret.
Mythical powers and breathtaking romance ignite in this story of a girl who defies all expectations and whose love crosses an ancient divide.

My Thoughts

This is the first of a three book series, it kept me captivated 'till the end! The characters are very well done. They just go so well together, Will and Jacinda. Although I thought sometimes Jacinda acted fairly childish for a 16 year old. The writing was incredible, when she turned into a dragon it felt really easy to imagine what transforming looked like - not so much what she looked like when a fully transformed dragon...

Each book pretty much leaves you with a steep cliff-hanger. Which mean't after I read the paperback book, I quickly headed to the kindle store and bought the other two! My only proper criticism is that I really wish the author would write more of their adventures together. There is another book based around the same stuff on Jacinda's best friend Azure, called Breathless so I might check it out. Even this isn't much for proper criticism!

“A hunter in love with his prey.”

 I honestly think that this quote describes the book best. Will is a hunter and Jacinda is the hunted. What better thing to say than "opposites attract".

I would really, definitely recommend this novel to anyone who is looking for a fantasy, romance mixed with contemporary novel. This book literally had me blabbing about it for days, the cover also. I know people always say "never judge a book by it's cover" however, I always find that it's more often the cover which attracts the reader to the story or the summary as well.

Would You Rather: Book Edition

Since I'm new to the blogging life, my mind was fresh with ideas. Along with all the other previously posted posts (I wish there was another word for 'posts'), I came up with the Would You Rather: Book Edition. I'm not entirely sure whether others have done this (I'm sure they have), but lets get on with the questions!


Would You Rather...

...Only ever read books that you didn't like at all, but read as many as you want. Or only be able to read your favourite book over and over again?

Well, this may be a tricky one. You could say that even if you didn't read your favourite books, they last longer because you don't want to read them - so it means you get to read less of them. However, if you read a book that you enjoyed, you're left with memories and dreams from that book. *Huffs* I'm going to be all 'Hazel Grace' and only ever read my favourite book - and yes in my case my favourite book would be the equivalent Hazel's 'Imperial Affliction'.

Would You Rather...

...Burn all your favourite books, or get strapped in a chair while spiders climb all over you?

What?! How am I meant to answer that? Well I suppose the spiders is a one off (even if you're left with the horrible memory), who knows, I could end up loving spiders. Although I have come to the conclusion that, instead of going through the experience that would only ever happen in a horror film, I would burn all my favourite books, memorise which ones they are, and just go and buy myself all the ones I lost. I know right...very thoughtful.

Would You Rather...

...Save one of your favourite books or save all the books you didn't like during a zombie apocalypse?

Hmm...I would probably go with saving one of my favourite books. I mean, it's not as if you have a lot of time to read during a zombie apocalypse?

Would You Rather...

Be allowed to use the internet but never read books. Or only read books and never go on the internet?

This could either go down to which one I use the most - which would be internet. I was going to say I could find books on the internet, but that would be cheating the question. I'm going to go with not going on the internet. I'm pretty sure I couldn't last a week without reading something!

Would You Rather...

Read books or watch films?

This is quite the classic would you rather question. As much as I want to say films, I'm going to say books. With films, they can be pretty amazing, but so can books, and with books you can imagine the scene exactly how you want it.


That's it for this post. I was going to keep it short, it did take me a while to come up with the questions. I really hope you liked it!

Would you rather read books from one of your favourite genres? Or Read books from all genres except your favourite?

10 Things I Would Like to Accomplish with My Book Blog

Aloha!

I felt like this was a much needed post, as I need to set my goals and things I wish to achieve. I thought I'd start with 10 goals, I might do an updated post about this later on, once I've achieved the following...

Nº1 - I really want to reach at least 50 followers on this blog. Who knows? Maybe I'll reach 50 just before the year ends, or I might have even more than that.

Nº2 - At the end of the year, I would like to have made a review for every book I've read during the year. This will just help me, and you, know the sort of books I like, or you find that you like.

Nº3 - I'm going to reply to every single comment I get, unless I don't have an answer or feel like the comment is rude.

Nº4 - I want to learn how to use the html and how to make a good blog design. Otherwise I'm depending on my friends to do it, that's not very fair on them, and also it will just be a good skill for future stuff I may need it for.

Nº5 - I will try to have at least 50% of my own photos on my blog, not to use too many from the web, unless they have a decent explanation for it. This will enhance my photograph skill (not that I have any) and will also improve the quality of my posts, meaning it will be pretty much all my own content.

Nº6 - Leaning further towards goals for the content of my blog, I'm going to have at least: 1 book review, 1 book discussion, 1 random / my own ideas post, and then any extras. Please do not think that this will be a routine, as I will also make it so you have different posts every week.

Nº7 - I really love to write - sometimes I don't know what to write, but other time the ideas just come to me and I end up writing a very long story. In the future, I intend (and very much hope), that I will be able to release my stories each week in small parts.

Nº8 - Speaking of writing, I need to improve my writing skills! Sometimes I write so quickly, I end up writing sentences that make no sense whatsoever. I would also like to learn new punctuation to make my sentences more interesting, and increase my range of vocabulary. At the moment I often use a thesaurus, but it would be great to know them at the top of my head!

Nº9 - Get more interactive with other fellow book bloggers. I've decided I'm going to take part in the Top 10 Tuesday, for those who have no clue what this is, check out the host's page to read more about it: The Broke and the Bookish's Top 10 Tuesday (host).

Nº10 - Finally number 10! I want to remember / remind myself each day that blogging should be something I do for fun, and if it gets a chore then I should take a little break and refresh my mind for more ideas. I hope you understand with this one, especially if you're a blogger yourself!

Those were the things I want to try and accomplish for 2015 on my book blog!

What about you? What are some of your blogging goals for 2015?

The Get to Know Me Tag

Hi there!

If you read my first proper post: 'Review: Girl Online by Zoe Sugg' then I do hope you enjoyed it. I certainly had fun writing it. I was searching around on different blogs and discovered 'Get To Know Me Tag'. I figured this would be a great way for you to get to know me a little better.

The: 'To Get to Know me Tag' was originally created by She Loves to Read.

 What are 5 Facts About You?

1. I love cheesecake, especially with black cherry pie filling on top.
2. My bedroom theme is currently lime green and pink (looks better than it sounds!).
3. My top 3 favourite authors (in no particular order) are: Marie-Louise Jensen, Jo MacAuley and Mary Hooper.
4. I spend most of my time reading, and now I spend lots of time on my blog. 
5. I go to an online school. 

When is Your Birthday?

My birthday is the 12 of July, I actually share a birthday with my little sister. I don't really remember what I did last year, however, I always end up getting LOTS of books from my family.

What is Your Favourite Colour?

I used to say pink, but I think I've grown out of it *looks around pink room and sees everything covered with pink...* My favourite colour now, would probably be a nice baby blue.

What is Your Favourite Memory?

Ooh...tough question! I don't really have a favourite memory, I think I'm going to say the Yr7 camping trip. I didn't exactly have many friends on that trip, but that didn't stop me from having a great time.

Describe a Day in You Life.

Well, it usually starts with me waking up at about 9:30-10 am. Since I go to an online school I get to start at 10:30. I use the little time before to grab some breakfast which is either cereal or toast. During break I usually have a shower and get dressed. After the lesson I do some homework and talk to my friends on Skype. For lunch it's either pasta or sandwich usually. For the rest of the afternoon, I do some blog work, reading, watching some videos and doing my homework. We have dinner and then I read until around 10:50 and then go to sleep. Zzzzzzzzz

Name Five of Your Favourite Songs.

Although I don't listen to it often, I really do like music! Here are my top 5:

1. Burn - Ellie Goulding
2. Rockstar - A Great Big World
3. Girls on TV - The Vamps
4. Be My Forever - Christina Perri (ft Ed Sheeran)
5. Blank Space - Taylor Swift

If You Could Eat One Thing for The Rest of Your Life, What Would it Be?

Well as far as I know, this situation would only come up if all the other food was eaten and your favourite happened to be the only one left. Or it's possible that they made robot chefs who were stuck on only making one thing...

I would probably go for a goats cheese salad. What can I say, I do like a good goat's cheese salad. But if all the goats cheese went bad, then my next 2nd choice would be sweet and sour pork. Yum!

Summer or Winter?

Summer. I used to say winter because it's so cold and I love the cold. However, at the same time you can do a lot more things in summer, like swimming, sports, and at the same time you can still sit and read a book, just as long as it's not too hot!

If You Could Live Anywhere in The World, Where Would You Live and Why?

Is it just me, or are these questions getting harder? I'm going to say that I'd like to live in Italy. Preferably when I'm grown up. Even though I've never been there, it looks like it came out of a fairytale book, with all the cobble streets and all the famous structures (like the leaning tower of Pisa).

Name 5 of Your Favourite Films.

1. Secret of Moonacre
2. Divergent
3. Thor: The Dark World
4. The Croods
5.  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Favourite Day of the Week?

Thursday. On Thursday I have maths, and I love maths. My weekend practically starts on Thursday!

Favourite Drink?

I really like ginger beer (don't worry it's not alcoholic!) I also really just like water, lemonade or a cup of chai tea.

Favourite Animal?

I'm going to have to say either a dog, cat or horse. They are pretty popular pets, and obviously I don't mean a horse as an indoor pet - now that would just be ridiculous! I love dogs because they love to play and follow you around. I love cats because they can be so calm and don't have gross habits. I love horses because they can be so friendly, and I love to ride them!

I Tag...

All of you! If you want me to check out your 'Get to Know me Tag', just leave it as a comment below and I'll take a look as soon as I can.

What's ONE word that describes you?

Review: Girl Online by Zoe Sugg

Book Title: Girl Online
Author: Zoe Sugg
Genre: Romance Novel, Contemporary, Young Adult, Drama
Nº of pages: 352
Date Published: 25 November, 2014
Where to Buy: The Book Depository | Amazon
Rating:

Penny has a secret.
Under the alias GirlOnline, she blogs about school dramas, boys, her mad, whirlwind family - and the panic attacks she's suffered from lately. When things go from bad to worse, her family whisks her away to New York, where she meets the gorgeous, guitar-strumming Noah. Suddenly Penny is falling in love - and capturing every moment of it on her blog.
But Noah has a secret too. One that threatens to ruin Penny's cover - and her closest friendship - forever.

Considering all the negative reviews about Zoe Sugg's new ghost-written novel, I still decided to take my chances. Even now I do not regret my decision.
All I can say to this book is wow! Half the books I read, halfway through I can tell what could possibly happen, but in this book no way could I have predicted the ending. I won't go into too much detail as I do not wish to spoil the book for those who may want to read it. I loved this book, it's so well written, even if it wasn't actually Sugg's writing, it was still her ideas and I will give her a pat on the back for that!

I find that the beginning of the story plot was sort of average - not the most exciting beginning, but the ending...Never would have imagined it. I feel as though the whole anonymous 'Girl Online' alias is so cool and I love the idea of being able to blog about anything and nobody can personally attack you for it.

“Every time you post something online, you have a choice.You can either make it something that adds to the happiness levels in the world—or you can make it something that takes away.
I tried to add something by starting Girl Online.
And for a while, it really seemed to be working.
So, next time you go to post a comment or an update or share a link, ask yourself: is this going to add to the happiness in the world?
And if the answer is no, then please delete.
There is enough sadness in the world already. You don’t need to add to it.”

I loved this quote from the book. I think it's a message not only to the characters in the book, but to everyone reading it. I agree with Penny, how there is too much negativity in the world, next time you post a mean comment, think about it, it can have a darker effect on someone than you could ever realise.

The reason I gave this a 5 star rating is because, yes, I did find it an amazing read, and yes, I also would recommend it to anyone reading this. A book which isn't very predictable is always a good sign that it was well written, and I think that this book deserves this.

If I had to compare this book to any other book I read, I would probably say Geek Girl. Although the actual storyline's aren't similar, the main characters have both the same sort of personalities and attitude towards a situation.

Overall this book was incredible! I loved to bits, it's definitely going on my list of all time favourite reads. It was unpredictable, and had your eyes glued to the very end.

Welcome to The Ombré Diaries!

Why hello there!

My name is Sophie, and I am the author of the very new blog 'The Ombré Diaries'. You're probably wondering what I'm going to get up to on this blog. I for one, have no idea for the possible potential for this blog. So far, I know for sure that my blog is going to contain plenty of posts about books. To describe myself I would say I am a little shy, can be a weirdo at points in time, can be quite lazy, but kind and generous! In terms of telling you my favourite hobbies, you just need to say the word 'book' and I will get excited. I have a real passion for reading, and it doesn't even stop there. I spend a lot of time on the laptop searching for more and more authors to discover. I also love experimenting with makeup, trying new colours and styles. I also love watching films set in the old times, I just love the way you learn so many facts that you didn't know before.

I will also have a link down below to a page where you can contact me. ☺

I'd also like to thank my best friend Erika who currently has a very successful blog called 'The Red Bookmark'. She has guided me through the whole journey of setting up my blog. Without her helped, I think I would be completely lost.

If you have any questions, feel free to check out my FAQ page. If you'd like me to do a requested book review, head over to my Policies page for more information.

That will be it from me today, and I do hope you enjoy reading my very first post!