With YALC and the UKYA Blogging Awards just around the corner, I teamed up with fellow UKYA bloggers to create a buzzfeed-style quiz so that you can find out which UKYA character you are!
Continue reading
Category: imi talks
FEATURE | Browsing bloggers’ bookshelves with Lauren @ Northern Plunder
Browsing bloggers’ bookshelves is a series of posts that my good friend Lauren has started where we swap pictures of our bookshelves and comment on what they have, what they’ve read and what we would recommend. You can find her post looking at my shelves here!
Continue reading
ONE CHAPTER CHALLENGE | The Ultimate Unhaul
Stressed. I am so incredibly stressed about what to read, having enough time to read, setting deadlines for reading and falling into slumps. This is absolutely not okay. Reading is my passion, my relaxation, something that helps my mental health. If I’m getting this worked up about reading then it isn’t helping me in the ways it normally does.
Continue reading
WORLD BOOK DAY BLOG HOP | Top 5 childhood reads
A group of UKYA bloggers have come together to celebrate World Book Day with a mini blog tour, releasing throughout the day, of our favourite childhood reads! I’ve thought long and hard about how I was going to lay out this post, and I’ve decided to share with you some of my favourite books from different stages of my childhood.
Continue reading
2019 READING GOALS | Reading outside my comfort zone & smashing my TBR
HAPPY NEW YEAR ONE AND ALL! Now that 2019 is upon us, it’s time to find out what my reading resolutions are for the year! I’m sure you’ve already been inundated with posts about 2019 reading and blogging goals but hopefully you aren’t too bored of them just yet because here’s mine.
Thanks to my ridiculous book buying habits, subscription boxes and the lovely publishers who send me review copies, my TBR is once again overrun. But this is it. This is the year when I reduce my 174 unread physical books (I counted yesterday, ouch) down. I am smashing my TBR in 2019.
Continue reading
IMI RECOMMENDS | Socially important millennial fiction
We always hear about the books that shaped history, the classics which were ahead of their time, leading social change. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Orwell’s 1984, Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and so many more. But what about the books of our generation, which are shaping our lives and socially important now? Well, here’s my list!
Continue reading
IMI TALKS | Time Management: Reviews vs. Writing and how Anna Day inspired me!
For an incredibly organised person, I am the worst at time management when it comes to my own projects. In terms of “real world jobs” I tend to work within administration as a receptionist/office assistant where my life is basically just being uber organised and such. Yet, when it comes to balancing my time between reading, writing and reviewing, I am honestly horrendous. If I was my own boss and had to give myself a reference, it would not be glowing.
…but for some reason, if I’m doing work for someone else I’m mega organised again. What is it with me?? Basically, I’m not writing and I wanted to get my first draft finished by my birthday (July) because I’ve been working on this book for so long but I haven’t been committed enough on a regular basis. I am the worst at telling myself I should write!
Continue reading
IMI TALKS | The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven
Welcome to the post where Imi gushes about one of her favourite reads of 2017 which releases in NINE DAYS. Now, if you’re new here you may not have heard but there’s this book by the lovely Laura Steven coming out on 8th March with Electric Monkey Books. I was lucky enough to snag an ARC at YALC last summer and absolutely devoured it in a day. Izzy O’Neill has one of the best narrative voices I have ever heard. She’s relatable, hilarious and I wish she was my best friend. For more on this, see my review.
Continue reading
2018 READING GOALS
2018 is well and truly upon us and so with it comes the wave of book blogger and bookstagrammer reading goals. Sometimes it makes me feel disheartened to see people aiming to read 150-200+ because I know I’ll never read that much, but I have to keep reminding myself that I’m doing this for me and everyone is different. With any luck, this year will be better than the last and that’s all that matters.
G O A L S
- Read 80 books.
- Read at least half of the unread books on my shelf (see below!)
- Don’t buy any new books (except pre-orders and Fairyloot)
- Catch up and keep up to date on my reviews, trying to post at least once a week!
- Write.
READ 80 BOOKS | So my first goal is pretty self-explanatory. I feel like this is a pretty realistic goal for me, but also some effort needs to be put in to succeed. In 2017, I read 73 but in 2016, I managed 82. I’m hoping that now I’ve left university and get into a rhythm with work, I will be able to average out with five or so books a month, and I will undoubtedly read more over summer. I’m also hoping to read more new to me authors and LGBT+ books.
UNREAD BOOKSHELF TBR | Last month I counted all of the unread books on my shelf and due to Christmas, it has since grown. My number is now somewhere around 100, so if I achieve both of my first two goals, we’re looking at at least 50 of my 80 being ones I already own. I can’t even begin to list these books right now, but here is my January TBR:
- The Bear and the Nightingale – Katherine Arden
- The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas
- Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2) – Cassandra Clare
- Truly, Devious (ARC) – Maureen Johnson
BOOK BUYING BAN | My boyfriend pointed out to me that I’ll still get about five books a month even while on the ban, but it doesn’t stop it from being difficult. I had the hardest time with this the other day when I walked into Waterstones for the first time since I banned myself, especially with all the January sales. I didn’t buy anything though and I’m quite proud of myself. We’ll just see how long it lasts…
CATCH UP ON REVIEWS | I’m currently really far behind, but if I ever manage to catch up, I will probably have enough to post twice a week for a month so let’s see how that goes! Reviews due are:
- Illuminae (Illuminae Files #1) – Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
- Assassins Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy #1) – Robin Hobb
- Stalking Jack the Ripper (Stalking Jack the Ripper #1) – Kerri Maniscalco
- The Language of Thorns – Leigh Bardugo
- The Wizards of Once – Cressida Cowell
- Let it Snow – Maureen Johnson, John Green & Lauren Myracle
WRITE | Fairly self-explanatory. I haven’t written since NaNoWriMo in December and it’s frustrating me but time just keeps getting away with me and I have so much to do. I’m really hoping to finish my novel by my birthday (in July), but that might be a hard task.
What are your goals for 2018? Bookish or otherwise!
IMI TALKS… Reading Slumps
We’ve all experienced them and we all know the truth… reading slumps are the worst. I’m not sure when it happened but I fell pretty heavily into mine over the last week or two. First I was just busy job hunting, then the book I was reading stopped being as interesting to me, I reread three books from one of my favourite comfort series and then I fell headfirst back into the wonderful world of Jily fanfiction and now for some reason beyond me, I can’t concentrate on books.
I keep feeling like I need to find a way out of it, I have so many books due to review and my TBR pile just gets longer and longer but nothing is giving me the motivation to read. What are your best tips or go-to reads when you’re in a slump?
I complain, but there is one thing that has come out of this slump – I’ve got back on the trail for writing my novel! I’ve been planning and writing bits and pieces for the last two years but I really struggle to concentrate on more than one thing at once so I’ll either read a ridiculous number of books in record time, or write 11,000 words in a day (I did it one time and now I just keep wishing I could replicate it). It seems reading slumps are a good thing for my writing, but I do miss reading and I’m trying to find something that will get me back on track.
Below are a selection of books on my TBR, I would love if you could comment on the book you think will help bring me out of my slump!
Comment below with the book you think will get me out of my slump!
Follow me elsewhere: TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | GOODREADS | BLOGLOVIN’
Imi Reviews Books 