7 Dec
The winner is …
Congratulations! I have sent you an email. Thanks to everyone who entered. Please check out the ‘Giveaways’ link at the top of the page for lots more chances to win as part of my Countdown to Christmas.
3 Dec
Today I’m giving away a copy of possibly my favourite book of the year (I say possibly because there are still a few weeks of the year left and you never know!) I read this book way back in January and loved it straight away. You can read my review here.
I’ve been lucky enough to end up with two copies of the book so I’m offering one lucky reader the chance to win a copy of the paperback edition which was released at the end of September. A Discovery of Witches was a Sunday Times bestseller and Warner Bros has acquired the film rights. The sequel Shadow of the Night will be out in July 2012 so enter now to find out what all the fuss is about!
It begins with absence and desire. It begins with blood and fear. It begins with a discovery of witches.
When historian Diana Bishop opens an alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, it’s an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordered life. Though Diana is a witch of impeccable lineage, the violent death of her parents while she was still a child convinced her that human fear is more potent than any witchcraft. Now Diana has unwittingly exposed herself to a world she’s kept at bay for years; one of powerful witches, creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires. Sensing the significance of Diana’s discovery, the creatures gather in Oxford, among them the enigmatic Matthew Clairmont, a vampire genticist. Diana is inexplicably drawn to Matthew and, in a shadowy world of half-truths and old enmities, ties herself to him without fully understanding the ancient line they are crossing. As they begin to unlock the secrets of the manuscript and their feelings for each other deepen, so the fragile balance of peace unravels…
To enter just leave a ‘pick me’ comment in the box below and I’ll draw a winner using random.org after the closing date.
UK entries only please. Entries will close at midnight on Monday 5th December. Good luck!
4 Nov
October – another quick month and another six books read. Interestingly, I’m reading a lot more on my Kindle these days as I find it much easier to hold the Kindle than a book at the same time as holding baby! Four of the books I read were new releases for October.
The books I read were:
October book of the month
An Autumn Crush by Milly Johnson
The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks
Trade Winds by Christina Courtenay
Renovation, Renovation, Renovation by Nell Dixon
Wrapped up in You by Carole Matthews
Highland Storms by Christina Courtenay
My book of the month for October is An Autumn Crush by Milly Johnson because Autumn is my favourite season and I loved the emphasis on family. I found it to be a really emotional and enjoyable read perfect for this time of year.
The three most popular posts in October were:
My review of The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks; Carole Matthews’ guest post on researching her new book and my review of Netherwood by Jane Sanderson.
Searches bringing most people to the blog were:
1. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
2. The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks
3. Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes by Sue Watson
In other October news, I took part in my first blog tour for Carole Matthews lovely Christmas book Wrapped up in You; gave my thoughts on my favourite books from the World Book Night 2012 list, hosted a fab Nicholas Sparks giveaway and made it to 900 followers on Twitter 
I also began planning for my Countdown to Christmas in detail in October and am excited to say that I have some fantastic guest posts, guest reviews and giveaways lined up for December! Countdown to Christmas is my book blogger version of an advent calendar with a Christmas-themed post every day from December 1st to 24th. I did the countdown last year and it was great fun but I’m making it bigger and better this year! There is still time to take part so if you are an author, publisher or fellow blogger and you’d like to contribute a post; be interviewed about Christmassy things, do a guest review or a giveaway or have another fab Christmassy idea, drop me an email at: onemorepageamanda@gmail.com
Coming up in November I’ve got a fab pile of wintry chick lit books lined up with reviews of Maria Duffy’s debut Any Dream Will Do, Miranda Dickinson’s It Started With a Kiss and One Minute to Midnight by Amy Silver. I’m taking part in Ali McNamara’s blog tour to celebrate the release of Breakfast at Darcy’s and I’m also looking forward to reviewing the first in a new paranormal series; Avenger’s Angel by Heather Killough-Walden.
Happy November reading!
29 Oct
The 25 titles for World Book Night 2012 were announced on Monday and there are some brilliant reads amongst them. The full list is below but I thought I’d highlight five of my favourites (synopses taken from Amazon)
Pride and Prejudice
My favourite Jane Austen novel – you can’t beat Elizabeth and Darcy as the ultimate romantic couple. One of the few books I’ve read more than once and I love it every time!
When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever. In the sparkling comedy of manners that follows, Jane Austen shows the folly of judging by first impressions and superbly evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life.
The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
I’m really pleased to see a chick lit novel on the list! I confessed that I’d never read a Sophie Kinsella novel last year but made up for it by running a Shopaholic challenge on the blog and have now read the entire series so far. Becky Bloomwood is such a fun character and the Shopaholic novels great escapist reads – needless to say, I’m a fan! You can read my review here.
Meet Rebecca Bloomwood. She’s a journalist. She spends her working life telling others how to manage their money.
She spends her leisure time … shopping. Retail therapy is the answer to all her problems. She knows she should stop, but she can’t. She tries Cutting Back, she tries Making More Money. But neither seems to work. The stories she concocts become more and more fantastic as she tries to untangle her increasingly dire financial difficulties. Her only comfort is to buy herself something – just a little something… Can Becky ever escape from this dream world, find true love, and regain the use of her Switch card? The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic … the perfect pick me up for when it’s all hanging in the (bank) balance.
Small Island by Andrea Levy
I’ve read all of Levy’s books but this is still my favourite and also one of my favourite historical fiction novels of recent years.
It is 1948, and England is recovering from a war. But at 21 Nevern Street, London, the conflict has only just begun. Queenie Bligh’s neighbours do not approve when she agrees to take in Jamaican lodgers, but Queenie doesn’t know when her husband will return, or if he will come back at all. What else can she do? Gilbert Joseph was one of the several thousand Jamaican men who joined the RAF to fight against Hitler. Returning to England as a civilian he finds himself treated very differently. It’s desperation that makes him remember a wartime friendship with Queenie and knock at her door. Gilbert’s wife Hortense, too, had longed to leave Jamaica and start a better life in England. But when she joins him she is shocked to find London shabby, decrepit, and far from the golden city of her dreams. Even Gilbert is not the man she thought he was.
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 
I loved this time-travelling paranormal romance. A beautiful and heartbreaking story that stays with you long after you’ve finished reading it.
This is the extraordinary love story of Clare and Henry who met when Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry thirty. Impossible but true, because Henry suffers from a rare condition where his genetic clock periodically resets and he finds himself pulled suddenly into his past or future. In the face of this force they can neither prevent nor control, Henry and Clare’s struggle to lead normal lives is both intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell
Another of my favourite authors. A really gripping and haunting tale of past and present colliding mixing historical fiction with modern day mystery and drama.
Esme was a woman edited out of her family’s history, and when, sixty years later, she is released from care, a young woman, Iris, discovers the great aunt she never knew she had. The mystery that unfolds is the heartbreaking tale of two sisters in colonial India and 1930s Edinburgh – of the loneliness that binds them together and the rivalries that drive them apart, and lead one of them to a shocking betrayal - but above all it is the story of Esme, a fiercely intelligent, unconventional young woman, and of the terrible price she is made to pay for her family’s unhappiness …
The full list is below and there are a lot of books that I haven’t read so I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the selection. Will you be applying to be a ‘giver’ this year? Are your favourites on the list?
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Vintage)
The Player of Games by Iain M Banks (Little, Brown)
Sleepyhead by Mark Billingham (Little, Brown)
Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson (Transworld)
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (Harper Collins)
The Take by Martina Cole (Headline)
Harlequin by Bernard Cornwell (Harper Collins)
Someone Like You by Roald Dahl (Penguin)
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (Penguin)
Room by Emma Donoghue (Pan Macmillan)
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (Little, Brown)
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (Faber)
Misery by Stephen King (Hodder)
The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella (Transworld)
Small Island by Andrea Levy (Headline)
Let the Right One In by John Ajvde Lindqvist (Quercus)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Pan Macmillan)
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Vintage)
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell (Headline)
The Damned Utd by David Peace (Faber)
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman (Transworld)
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (Penguin)
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson (Vintage)
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (Vintage)
The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak (Transworld)
26 Oct
I loved the cover for Amy Plum’s debut Die for Me and I like this one even better (sapphire blue is my favourite colour!).
Until I Die is released on 3rd May 2012. The synopsis hasn’t been released yet but check out Amy’s gorgeous blog for news as it is released: http://www.amyplumbooks.com/
5 Oct
September has to be the quickest month to pass of the year so far. It was all a bit of a blur of sleepless nights and nappy changes for me but I did find time to read six books and post the odd review I also took part in Talli Roland’s If I Could Be Anyone, I’d Be…’ online launch party! and ran three giveaways!
The books I read were:
Book of the Month September
Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes by Sue Watson
Watching Willow Watts by Talli Roland
(Un)like A Virgin by Lucy-Anne Holmes
Persuade Me by Juliet Archer
My book of the month for September is (Un)like a Virgin by Lucy-Anne Holmes because I absolutely loved lead character Gracie Flowers and her story left me with a big smile on my face!
The three most popular reviews in September were:
(Un)like A Virgin by Lucy-Anne Holmes, Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes by Sue Watson, Watching Willow Watts by Talli Roland
Searches bringing most people to One More Page were for Bad Sisters by Rebecca Chance, From Notting Hill With Love …Actually by Ali McNamara and A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness which came out in paperback this month.
October is already flying by and I have a brilliant pile of books lined up to be read and reviewed including the latest and penultimate installment in the Blue Bloods series, Lost in Time by Melissa de la Cruz; the highly anticipated new novel from Jeffrey Eugenides The Marriage Plot and two gorgeous Christmas stories; The Night Before Christmas by debut author Scarlett Bailey and Wrapped up in You by Carole Matthews. I’m really excited to be taking part in the blog tour for Wrapped Up In You at the end of the month so look out for that!
Though it’s only October, I’m also starting to plan posts for my Countdown to Christmas which is my book blogger version of an advent calendar with a Christmas-themed post every day from December 1st to 24th. I did the countdown last year and it was great fun but I’m hoping to make it bigger and better this year. As well as reviews of Christmassy books I’ll have book-inspired gift suggestions, Christmas-themed interviews, giveaways and guest posts. I’m looking for contributors so if you are an author, publisher or fellow blogger and you’d like to take part, drop me an email at: onemorepageamanda@gmail.com
Happy autumn reading!
19 Sep
I’m a big fan of Alma Katsu’s debut novel The Taker which came out earlier this year and have been eagerly awaiting news of the second part of the trilogy so I was very excited to find that the cover has been released for The Reckoning. I have it on good authority that the cover will be silver and embossed like that of the UK Taker cover. I’m so pleased that the covers will match! Having loved the black page edges of The Taker I wonder if The Reckoning will have coloured page edges too?
There isn’t a synopsis available yet but The Reckoning will be released early in 2012 and I can’t wait!
2 Aug
July was a busy month in terms of reading and the huge number of fab releases that came out. I managed to pack in nine books which is my monthly record for this year! My ‘to read’ pile is still huge but I’m steadily and happily working my way through it!
The nine books I read were:
July book of the month
The Raising by Lauren Kasischke
All For You by Sheila O’Flanagan
From London With Love by Jemma Forte
Lessons in Laughing Out Loud by Rowan Coleman
Sometimes it Happens by Pauline Barclay
All but one of these were paperbacks with just one Kindle book … I need to spend more time with my Kindle! Six of these were new releases for July. I’ve found it really difficult to choose a book of the month for July; I rated four of the books I read with my top 5/5 rating and I’ve been in a total dilemma trying to pick a favourite but I’ve finally chosen From London with Love because I think it’s such a lovely summer read and it made me laugh out loud!
As well as reading lots I was lucky to be invited by the lovely Headline team to interview Sheila O’Flanagan on Twitter which was great fun and I also interviewed Nicola May on the blog.
July's most popular review!
The top three most popular reviews on the site for July were:
Baby Be Mine by Paige Toon
About Last Night by Adele Parks
To the Moon and Back by Jill Mansell
‘Paige Toon’ was top search closely followed by Adele Parks. This month I thought I’d take a look at the more unusual search terms that brought people to the site. My favourites are: “book black page edges”, “female antique appraiser discovers secret”, “book about a girl who loses her job and moves to Brighton” and “prom queen dies in car crash” – extra kudos to readers who correctly identify the books from those 
August is going to be an interesting month for me as my baby is due at the end of the month so I might have to take a little blogging break at any time … or I could still be waiting to meet the little man in September! I’ll keep you posted but look out for reviews of Bad Girls by Rebecca Chance, A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James and What You Don’t Know by Lizzie Enfield. I’ll also be interviewing the lovely Keris Stainton very soon!
Happy Reading!
28 Jul
‘This is where all stories start, on the edge of a dark wood…’
Dr. Callie McFay’s travels to the small college town of Fairwick in New York State for a job interview. Despite it being her second choice she finds herself talked into accepting a job offer from the Folklore Department to teach a class on demons and vampires. She also finds herself drawn to an old house in the woods where Gothic novelist Dahlia LaMotte used to live and buys it on a whim, despite the seeming reluctance of the estate agent to sell it to her.
But on the night of her job interview, she had a very vivid erotic dream about a man made out of shadows and moonlight, and this dream becomes a regular occurrence when she moves into her new home. Callie starts to feel like a heroine in one of the gothic novels she teaches as slowly it dawns on her that things at the college – and in her home – are not what they seem. She learns that her house is supposed to be haunted by LaMotte’s former lover and her new – and rather strange – colleagues tell her an unfamiliar fairy tale about an incubus-demon with a human past who was enchanted by a fairy queen…
It’s been a while since I read a paranormal novel so I was very excited to recieve a copy of the first book in Carol Goodman’s new series The Fairwick Chronicles. Incubus tells the story of college teacher Callie McFay as she takes up a job in the small town of Fairwick near New York. Callie is a student of folklore and has built her career on the study of Gothic novels, legends and fairytales.
The first part of the novel follows Callie as she attends her interview at the college and is drawn to an old Gothic house at the edge of a forest. I enjoyed seeing the town of Fairwick through Callie’s eyes and the first chapters of the book set the scene well for what is to come with Callie being mysteriously drawn to the old house; having a strange experience as she goes for a run in the woods and the return of Callie’s dreams about a lover made out of shadows. On the surface, all of these occurrences are explainable and Fairwick seems to be a fairly ‘normal’ college town but there is of course much more to Fairwick and it’s residents than an initial glance might reveal.
On accepting the job offer and deciding to buy the house by the woods, Callie discovers that the house belonged to Gothic novelist Dahlia LaMotte. As Callie settles into her new life she finds a treasure trove of Dahlia’s original manuscripts, complete with erotic scenes that were edited out before publication. As Callie ponders Dahlia’s prolific writing and the inspiration for it, her own dreams become more regular, vivid and strikingly similar to Dahlia’s written encounters.
As Callie gets to know her new colleagues better and they reveal the local legends surrounding the gate to Faerie, she begins to question whether her dreams and the shadow man who occupies them could actually be real. Potential readers should note that the dream/sex scenes are quite a feature at the beginning but become less so as the book progresses and although there is what would be described as ‘Adult’ content in the book, I think it would be suitable for the majority of young adult readers too.
The book changes pace dramatically when three of Callie’s colleagues realise that she is under the infulence of an Incubus and stage an intervention. The story really takes off once Callie is accepted into the magical community and begins to learn the truth about the town’s residents, her own heritage and role. At some points I felt that Incubus read like an adult version of Harry Potter with a fascinating cast of magical beings to get to know including witches, fairies, succubi, vampires and more! The characters in Incubus provide great variety and each has a strong depth with plenty of scope for expansion in future novels; Goodman has created a whole new magical and sometimes dangerous world for her characters to inhabit and her readers to enjoy.
Paranormal romance fans will certainly get their fix as Callie tries to work out her feelings for boyfriend Paul, the Incubus who haunts her and new tutor on campus, Liam. There are numerous references to the recent obsession with vampires and the paranormal and I enjoyed the way this book looks at the trend through the eyes of an outsider, acknowledging the great Gothic novels whilst not taking itself too seriously. Incubus feels very different in style to Goodman’s recent collaboration with her husband, Black Swan Rising and although I enjoyed both, Incubus definitely has the edge for me.
As the book ends, several new threads open up leaving plenty of scope for further novels in the series. After a slow start, this book pulled me in and wouldn’t let go. I’m pleased to have found another paranormal series to get myself hooked on and am already looking forward to the next installment of The Fairwick Chronicles. I haven’t found any information on the release of book two yet so if anyone knows, please shout! There is a fab interview with Carol at the back of the book and if you liked A Discovery of Witches this might just be the next book for you – a paranormal series with lots of potential!
4/5
Incubus is out now and I’d like to thank Emma at Ebury for sending me a copy to review.
You can find out more about Carol Goodman and her books at: http://www.carolgoodman.com/
27 Jul
Some sequel news for this week’s book news:
f Witches – the movie and the sequel!I loved A Discovery of Witches when I read it earlier this year and have been eagerly awaiting news on the second book in the series which should be out next year. On Thursday Deborah Harkness made two big announcements on her Facebook page; the first, that the sequel will be called Shadow of Night and the second that Warner Brothers has acquired the rights to develop A Discovery of Witches as a series of films. You can find out the full details of the possible films on Deborah’s Facebook Page. The casting stage is still a long way off but feel free to leave your thoughts on who should play Diana and Matthew on the big screen in the comments box below!
For those of you who haven’t read A Discovery of Witches yet, the paperback is out in September with this lovely cover showing some of my favourite Oxford buildings.
… Vegas! I’m so excited about this one – the next novel in Lindsey Kelk’s ‘I Heart…’ series will be I Heart Vegas and the book will be out just in time for Christmas with a release date of December 8th. I can’t wait to find out what happens to Angela next and I love the fact that the book will be set at Christmas too!
Angela Clark loves her life in New York. She loves her job, her friends and her gorgeous musician boyfriend, Alex, who is finally ready to move in with her and start planning their future together. Everything is perfect.
But, after Angela loses her job, her world starts to crumble around her – her visa is revoked and she’s given the disastrous news that she must leave New York and her life behind and go back to London.
Confused, heartbroken and desperate to stay, the last thing Angela needs is a girls’ trip to Vegas just before Christmas – especially when Manhattan at Christmas is so perfect that she never wants to go home…
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