blog Archives - FictionTea

July 12, 2020 Leave a Comment

Memories from YALC, the UK’s biggest YA book convention

YALC (Young Adult Literature Convention) is the UK’s first young adult book festival. You could say it’s the UK’s equivalent of BookCon and BookExpo. Every year book lovers from all over the UK gather in London at the end of July for a weekend of bookish fun. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, 2020 will be a year without YALC and as expected, it’s left a lot of us disappointed.

UKYABA’s are still going ahead this year and they have encouraged book bloggers and shortlistees to spread some YALC love through their blog posts this month. Realising that YALC isn’t taking place this year has made me reminiscent of the years past, so I thought it’d be a grand idea to create a post of my personal favourite memories.

Incoming soppy-ness! This year I was nominated for UKYABA’s most Inspirational award and I’d like to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who took the time to click on my name and press that ‘vote’ button. I’ve been on the book community for 6 years now and it’s the best thing I’ve truly ever been a part of, and for my blog and bookstagram to be acknowledged like this has meant the absolute world to me.

Now, let’s reminisce about YALC together, shall we?

Reuniting with friends

This is by far my favourite part about YALC! Being in the online book community, you will have a lot of friends that you only get to see once a year at YALC. The excitement of knowing you’ll be seeing your friends for three days straight in and out of the convention is just a feeling that I don’t get tired of.

And it’s guaranteed that you’ll probably leave YALC with even more friends, because you’re constantly meeting new people with one massive shared interest; books!

April 27, 2020 Leave a Comment

Blog Tour | Q&A with Holly Jackson

Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to interview best-selling author Holly Jackson, author of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. She’s now the author of Good Girl, Bad Blood which is the sequel to AGGGTM and will be publishing later this week.

To celebrate the publication of Good Girl, Bad Blood, I’m kickstarting the blog tour by sharing my Q&A with Holly Jackson below. Enjoy!

Thank you so much Holly for taking the time to answer some questions!

And thank you very much for taking the time to ask them!

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder was recommended to me by a friend after I’d been eyeing it in Waterstones for a few months. I truly kicked myself for waiting for so long! What would you say to someone to entice them to start reading your series now that Good Girl, Bad Blood is about to be released?

I would say that if you have ever day-dreamed about solving a murder, or have ever attempted to solve any kind of mystery on social media (aka less murder – more
investigating friends’ potentially cheating boyfriends) then these are the books for you! A chance to truly step into your detective shoes and see if you can work out what really happened to Andie Bell, before Pip does.

April 7, 2020 Comments : 3

Books to look out for during the Aries season

We’re halfway through Aries season (March 21st – April 20th) and we still have some exciting book releases happening right now! Last year I created the Five books being released during the Virgo season post and I thought I’d continue it with the rest of the star signs this year! Aries is technically the “first” star sign and so we’ll be starting with it today.

The next post will be books releasing within the Taurus season, but for now, let’s focus on four exciting books releasing within the Aries season, most of which are releasing today!

‘Imagine Me’ by Tahereh Mafi

31st March 2020

The final book in the best-selling Shatter Me series is finally here. I personally wasn’t fond of the continuation of the series, but I still do love the characters dearly so I hope to continue it sometime in the future when my TBR is – hopefully – smaller!

March 5, 2020 Comments : 6

World Book Day Celebration | The books that shaped my childhood years

It’s World Book Day!

Which means, it’s basically Christmas for all bookworms out there.

To celebrate today, myself and some of my favourite UK book bloggers are participating in a World Book Day blog hop. Each of us will be posting throughout the day about books that shaped our childhoods and why!

You can read my 2019 World Book Day post here, where I discussed my top 5 childhood reads which was such a wild trip down memory lane for me and everyone who participated.

January 12, 2020 Comments : 3

Book releases to look out for in 2020

There are a lot of exciting books releasing in 2020 across a variety of different genre. We’re getting positively spoiled with books, and I’ve chosen a few that I’m most excited about to share with you…
(In no particular order)

‘Kingdom of the Wicked’ by Kerri Maniscalco

Expected September 15th 2020

Emilia and her twin sister Victoria are strega – witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Victoria misses dinner service at the family’s renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin…desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to discover who did this, and to seek vengeance at any cost—even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden.

Then Emilia meets Wrath, the outlier among the seven demon brethren, always choosing duty over pleasure. He’s been tasked by his master with investigating a series of women’s murders on the island. When Emilia and Wrath’s fates collide, it’s clear this disturbing mystery will take a bewitching turn…

‘Blood & Honey’ by Shelby Mahurin

Expected September 1st 2020

Synopsis to come!

‘A Heart so Fierce and Broken’ by Brigid Kemmerer

Published January 7th 2020

The curse is finally broken, but Prince Rhen of Emberfall faces darker troubles still. Rumors circulate that he is not the true heir and that forbidden magic has been unleashed in Emberfall. Although Rhen has Harper by his side, his guardsman Grey is missing, leaving more questions than answers.

Win the crown, save the kingdom.

Rumored to be the heir, Grey has been on the run since he destroyed Lilith. He has no desire to challenge Rhen–until Karis Luran once again threatens to take Emberfall by force. Her own daughter Lia Mara sees the flaws in her mother’s violent plan, but can she convince Grey to stand against Rhen, even for the good of Emberfall?

The heart-pounding, compulsively readable saga continues as loyalties are tested and new love blooms in a kingdom on the brink of war.

‘Crescent City’ Sarah J Maas

Expected March 3rd 2020

Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life—working hard all day and partying all night—until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.

Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose—to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.

As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion—one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.

With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom—and the power of love.

December 30, 2019 Comments : 2

My Favourite Books of 2019

It’s almost the end of 2019, you know what that means! It’s time to list my top 10 reads of the year.

I didn’t read as much as I hoped I would, but enjoyed everything I read and I consider that a hard win!

I highly recommend you checking out any of these books below if you haven’t read them yet. Each one successfully absorbed me into the story (even the graphic novels and the audiobook) and some of them have even made it to my favourite books of all time list.

Without further ado and in no particular order, here are my favourite books of 2019…

December 16, 2019 Comments : 2

5 ways to add some fun to your Christmas wrapping

It’s just over one week till Christmas which means it’s time to wrap your gifts! (If you haven’t already)

I’ve put together a short list of 5 ways you can add a little bit of fun into your gift wrapping and make the gifts stand out under your friend’s or family’s tree.

I personally do these with a lot of my friend’s gifts and it’s very fun to see their reactions!

December 2, 2019 Leave a Comment

Make your own fictional Christmas squad | Book Tag

You can’t deny that it’d be cool to have a group of fictional characters around to help you to prepare for the fast approaching Christmas holidays.

Now this is your chance to create your own Christmas squad out of your favourite fictional characters. You can tell us who you think would be the perfect gift giver, tree decorator, Santa impersonator, etc.

Be sure to check out the rules, and my own answers below!

Rules

Thank the person who tagged you and link back to their post!

Link to both creators’ blogs (booksnest.co.uk & fictiontea.co.uk) in your post.

ENJOY THE TAG AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Questions

The Gift Giver
The Scrooge
The Tree Decorator
The Excitable Christmas Enthusiast
The Games Master
The One Who’s Been in their Pyjamas All Day
The One Who Dressed up as Santa

October 15, 2019 Leave a Comment

Cursebreaker’s Breakfast: An event with Brigid Kemmerer

On Tuesday 9th October, I travelled from Glasgow down to London for my first exclusive blogger event. The Cursebreaker’s breakfast with Brigid Kemmerer and Bloomsbury YA.

It’s very unlike me to do something so “spontaneous” but after reading and loving ‘A Curse so Dark and Lonely’ earlier this year and the ‘A Heart so Fierce and Broken’ proof during Summer I knew I had to go when I received the invite.

I was accompanied by Beth from BooksNest. You may know her; she really likes yellow, sunflowers and nutella.

We attended the event first thing in the morning on October 9th and were immediately greeted with the most incredible room that looked like it was taken straight from the pages of Alice and Wonderland with it’s forest-y walls, mismatched and brightly coloured furniture and beautiful bar. It’s whimsical aesthetic completely transported you to a magical land. I was calling it an elegant rendition of the Mad Hatter’s tea party!

September 19, 2019 Comments : 10

5 Tips from 5 years on Bookstagram

I’ve officially been part of the bookstagram community for 5 years. In that time I’ve made wonderful friends, got a job that I love, and gained a following of over 65,000 followers.

I’ve compiled a short list of 5 tips from 5 years on Bookstagram that will hopefully help you grow your account or help you start one!

You don’t need a DSLR

Believe it or not, having a pricey camera is not essential in order to start a bookstagram. Quality is important, and yeah, having a DSLR will give you really lovely, crisp photos. But so do cameras on your smartphone. These days, phone cameras are so advanced they take photos that are just as nice as ones a DSLR would produce.

I personally started using a DSLR right from the get go on my account, but sometimes the thought of pulling it and it’s accompanying lenses out is exhausting and I will use my phone instead knowing I will get a similar quality. Your phone is absolutely capable of producing stunning pictures for your account, so don’t feel like you need a fancy camera to get more followers. I can promise you won’t see much of a difference in follower count because at the end of the day they are following you for your style of photos, and to hear about the books you’ve read.

Tip: If you take a picture on your phone and you’re not sure about it, edit it first before trashing it. Don’t forget, a simple filter can change the feel of your picture completely.

Themes are great, but they’re not everything

This one may shock you, but themes aren’t everything. Themes will absolutely make your account look cohesive and beautiful, and it will definitely bring you followers. But do not limit yourself. If you restrict yourself to a theme you will lose your excitement quickly, so don’t be afraid to change things up if you’re in a rut.