The Rasputin Theory

Life can proceed, school has finished for the holidays...... party! Well no not really, have a substantial amount of work to get through and revise for! Ach well as long as schools over! School's not great at the moment, I'm not going down well with the populars... ie the bitchy populars who run the school (sadly the pupil mind in secondary is not very open minded at this point, and the populars are popular despite the fact they're really not the sort of people everyone should 'like'). But what can you do, I stand out, they don't like it, end of story. Smile and Wave just Smile and Wave.

So tonight a boy Told Me He Loved Me. Capital letters for the significance of the event. It was at a dance this evening, this would have been absolutely awesome if, the boy in question, had not been 7 and on a chocolate high. Humph... I don't think we'll count that one. On the plus side I did get to dance with some guys more my type and a little closer to my age, and pretty cute. However do remember the Rasputin Theory messes with my fit radar at times.... but they were still quite cute!

Oh my god. I just realised I haven't told you about the Rasputin Theory. (just trawled through my blog to try and check I wasn't repeating myself. This is pretty darn epic. Are you holding on tight? This is going to be a bumpy ride.

Right, The Rasputin Theory. (Capital Letters for Significance, remember)

Basically you need a girl half crazed by being surrounded by unfit boys that are immature and that she has known all her life and still doesn't like like despite the fact they've grown a little - really they're just not fit and a poor sample of the male specimens she knows are out there but just aren't around her in her reach. Preferably a small village/town works well for this, actually stay with village because at least in a town you have more than 200 inhabitants which makes it a little more likely they might produce at least one decent specimen..... if not there are probably more frequent buses in order for said crazed girl to get out of horrible ugly mean small town. unlike in the village where she is stuck for months on end.

Anyway said girl becomes desperate for males who are just slightly good looking or at the most extreme just not the boys from her village/town. This desperation means that guys who in normal circumstances and settlements would be considered not extremely fit or desirable become jackpots and gold in said girls' mind. To sum up less fit boys become extremely fit to crazed girls because she has been surrounded by nincompoop boys for her whole life *please note nincompoop boys may be very nice but they are not droolworthy or dateworthy in most occasions*

Russian Man

Rasputin

This is The Rasputin Theory because Rasputin was a Russian monk who all the Russian lady courtiers loved and swooned over. This could be because
a) the majority of men were either way hairier than Rasputin or had not got as fine beards (who knew whether hair did or did not rock the womens boats back in those days!)
b) he had the world's largest nob, I would include a photo but it is really grotesque, and the girls liked that
c) he wore robes (Dresses) easy access ;)

Anyway what I'm trying to say is Rasputin really isn't that good looking but the ladies loved him so the others must have been worse, they didn't have Rasputins smooth talking and bushy beard......

Hope you like the Rasputin theory! I do!

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The Blessed

The Blessed by Tonya Hurling was absolutely bizarre. As one reader on Goodreads summed it up as either 'pure brilliance or sheer insanity'. It really was the mother of all What the Flip is Happening books. However one good feature of this book was Hurling's vivid writing style. Although many of the scenes were abstract and crazy I could envision most of them....

It definitely took me at least half of the 400 pages of Gothic thriller seductiveness to start to understand and get involved in the plot. Once I did get sucked in I was well and truly wrapped in its sticky black tentacles of plot with sin and sinners becoming entangled in a crazy, little sexy, but mostly crazy plot.

Basically The Blessed follows three girls, Lucy the popular self centered saint of the blind, Cecilia the struggling musician saint of the musicians and Agnes the loving naive innocent saint of girls, and Sebastian the compelling mysterious boy who tries to convince them of their 'true callings' and show them that they are similar in more ways than they could imagine.


This book was a definite love/hate relationship....sometimes I just couldn't be bothered with it but then a minute later I would be dying to know what happened next. It's one of those series you need to keep reading in case something unexpected happens as you guess it will. It was relieving to find a YA novel that actually kept you guessing, I can honestly admit I never knew what was going to happen. It'll stretch your mind as you try and keep up with the ever evolving twisting thread.

I can't decide whether to give The Blessed a 2 or a 4 so I'm settling with a 3 out of 5. It's published by Hodder Children's Books an imprint of Hachette Children's Books and can be purchased at Amazon.co.uk for £6.99.

magandang Basahin

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Catasnowphic

Bloggggers! Oh wow I have missed you....... I am extremely sorry not to have been on for so long! We have been snowed in..... I know..... it's March..... I live near the sea.... WE DO NOT USUALLY GET SNOW!! But apparently the weather gods have gone a little crazy, too much Thunder and Lighting Tonics obviously and have decided to treat my area to a little snowstorm......... And it was really just my area, we were just blanketed in the snow.....

Electric pylons fell down
Cars in traffic jams became covered in snow,
Roads were blocked.....

It was HORRIFIC.... I have had no power and no signal for 4 days now, If this was a movie I'd have a technological beard growing from lack of touch with technological objects....
I spent my weekend playing Guess Who with my brother, well after he resurfaced from his bedroom after 3 of the days had gone past (it took him that long to figure out he wasn't going to get signal, food, or electricity by staying in his room) No Shit Sherlock... We have mastered the game - even invented our own version (we now have two people that the other person has to guess - it's actually pretty fricking awesome!)

Anyway I survived by listening to Radio 1. Thanks you guys you saved a poor Scottish lass drowning in snow that by the second day only existed on the blocked road and the pylons - it had melted from her lawn!! Ironically annoyingly unfair I know.... A snow weekend without any immediate snow outside her door by the second day! Also quick note either Radio 4 or Radio Scotland you killed me a little inside each time you came on..... I do not care for the second day in a row about NHS failures in hospital I already know, It's dreadful, and I do not care that David Cameron is changing immigration laws particularly instead I would like to know that the rest of Britain knows we are slowly freezing to death in Scotland and you are at least thinking of us........!

I also didn't get to go to London to see UCL (university college of London) which I'm a little miffed about cos I would really have liked to go! Ach well I'll just have to choose my university choices without seeing it! I probably wouldn't be able to afford London anyway!

OK Guys lots of love,
I'm off to jubilantly run around my house shouting because I have POWER! And it feels extremely good...... before I leave I would like to thank the good old fashioned telephone for still functioning without electricity and keeping me relatively intouch with the outside world.... Amen to the telephone.

Byeeeeeeee (I'll be back on soon with lots and lots of scrumilicous book reviews.... uh huh I went there Tabby made a sexy new word! I think..)
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Google Reader

So apparently Google Reader is going!!! :O that handy little thing at the start of your google page that lets you see what this brilliant funny scottish girl's been up to. OH NO you say? It's okay the RSS subscriber is here to save you, as is the e-mail subscriber and the member join here button! I've got all your options covered.... there is no escape!! Mwa Ha Ha Ha!!

Love y'all!
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MIA

Hey guys, Sorry I've been a bit MIA...... I've been bogged down in exams, and guess what?!?!?! I passed my theory test :D immediately after the test I came down in ill so I've been spending my weekend watching cartoons which mostly involved Austin & Ally... I know it's for kids but I like it!!
Anyway so sorry for my lack of blogging. I have a hell of a lot of reviews to catch up on as well as a lot of homework. Deary deary me!
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Finding Cherokee Brown

Finding Cherokee Brown by Siobhan Curham is a heartwarming story following Cherokee Brown, or Claire Weeks, as she struggles to find herself.

Curham deals with the emotional theme of bullying something that has most likely affected everyone, it's certainly affected me at one point. Curham manages to craft a young character who is inspiring and easy to relate to. She has managed to weave a story that deals with this difficult issue in a quirky cool way that makes it accessible to all ages.

I really enjoyed watching Cherokee develop as a character and whenever she stood up to her bullies I was silently cheering her on. It was such a sweet story involving Cherokee's reunion with her dad, a little bit of a love interest, a  handful of bullies, a stressed inefficient teacher and a misunderstanding with her mum and stepdad.

Basically Curham has managed to combine the events of teenager life into one small book, to tie it together to end in a nice finish and give us a really nice sweet story.

Despite being perhaps more aimed towards the age group of 10-14 I as a 17 year old really enjoyed it, It was a easy, interesting cute book that I read non-stop in an afternoon. Curham manages to portray the vivid feelings Cherokee experiences throughout the novel and you really feel there.

Published by Electric Monkey, Egmont, it can be purchased from Amazon.co.uk for £5.24, much suggested to buy, even if it's a present for your little cousin that you happen to break in first ;)! I'm going give Finding Cherokee Brown a 4 out of 5 because although I really enjoyed it and it had some real depth it was a little easy and quick to end. I'd re-read it on a rainy day though!

En Bon Lu!
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After the Happily Ever After. Disney Parody

This is really very funny! and very very cleverly done!

Buzzing

Yupp I am so utterly buzzing I feel like a bumble bee whose found the pollen jackpot, or fallen into a pot of glue and got high pretty quick!


I GOT AN UNCONDITIONAL OFFER FROM EDINBURGH :D :D :D :D which means this offer joins my 3 conditionals..... which means I can put it as my insurance offer which means no matter if I flunk my exams I can go to UNIVERSITY....... YAY YAY YAY (london tipton resurfaces)

Okay well I'm going to go, I'm bouncing off the walls!

Lots of Love, oh it's a beautiful day!
TABBY :D :D X

A Face Like Glass

In Caverna, lies are an art - and everyone's an artist.. 

Ever read one of those books, that from the first sentence you know you'll be gripped, entranced, in love with the book, the story, the characters? Well this is one of those books!

A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge and I loved it. It was a relief and a refreshing breath to read a book that has a proper story, has a huge amount of little stories, a great setting, an amazing set of characters, Hardinge gives it all. About half way through this book I was thinking about how to review it and I've decided one of the best ways to tell you how good it is, is to tell you what books it's similar to. If you loved the Inkheart trilogy, this book is for you, Harry Potter, this book is for you, His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass, The Amber Spyglass etc), this book is for you, The Chronicles of Narnia, again this book is for you. A Face Like Glass has that quality of writing that should make it a childrens, young adult, adult classic. It's set in a beautiful dangerous, strange and magical. A magic, multi-layered, elegant rich novel that anyone would enjoy slowly savouring and exploring.

The Bookbag summed it up perfectly 'This is the kind of book which makes you slow down as you reach the final pages because you don't want it to end'.

Hardinge's characters are complex and her setting even more so. Caverna is a underground city full of magic craftsmen, who make wine that makes you forget, cheeses that show you the future, and perfumes that convince you to trust the wearer, even while they slit your throat. Caverna's politics with these masterful craftsmen is full of intrigue, assassinations, back stabbing and uneasy alliances, and into this unruly unpredictable mix falls a orphaned girl, Neverfell who wears her emotions on her face. This is a fearful sight for the people of Caverna who are born with blank faces and who have to learn expressions, meaning they can lie smoothly to your face while they wear a understanding truthful Face. In a place where it is impossible to tell who is lying Neverfell provides an innocent naive pawn that can be shuffled back and forth in chess moves of a great complex scale.

It draws you in.  You twist your mind into new shapes.  You start to understand Caverna…and you fall in love with her.  Imagine the most beautiful woman in the world, but with tunnels as her long, tangled, snake-like hair.  Her skin is dappled in trap-lantern gold and velvety black, like a tropical frog.  Her eyes are cavern lagoons, bottomless and full of hunger.  When she smiles, she has diamonds and sapphires for teeth, thousands of them, needle-thin.’

‘But that sounds like a monster!’

‘She is.  Caverna is terrifying.  This is love, not liking.  You fear her, but she is all you can think about.’”

I read a few reviews on A Face Like Glass and one reviewer summed it up amazingly well: 

The whole book is a masterpiece, in my opinion, but what really blew my mind was the epilogue (and not just because it felt right and necessary).  In a stroke of pure genius, Frances Hardinge suddenly switches the perspective to that of an outsider for the final pages.  Reading from his point of view, it suddenly came crashing down on me just how far down this particular rabbit hole I had really gone.  I had fallen for Caverna and in doing so, I had gone a bit mad. (http://www.thereadventurer.com/1/post/2012/07/ya-review-a-face-like-glass-by-frances-hardinge.html)

It is a book ridiculously hard to review due it's multi-layered elegant enthralling story which weaves such a beautiful entrancing magical story that I won't forget it in a long time, nor would I want to. For me it would be hard to peel each layer apart individually to dissect it for you as I think it would ruin the amazing flow that I associate with this novel as well as ruining the story for you guys, if you want a more in-depth review read the review I got that sum up, but if you're happy to go on my word, do, and BUY IT!

It's definitely one of those books that I'll keep 

a) for a rainy day

b) for my mum and my family and anyone I can persuade to read it

c) for my future children

d) for a rainy rainy day

e) for a normal day

f) I hope you get the picture, it's a book I think I'll read again and again and hopefully again.

As you might have guessed A Face Like Glass will receive the esteemed Skinny rating ( 6 out of 5 ) and I really recommend you dig a little deep in your pockets and buy it, it's all for the greater good of stretching your imagination to cope with the wonderful worlds authors like Hardinge can offer you. Blow your mind, you might as well! It's published by Pan MacMillan and can be purchased, a late Mothers Day Present (for you to read first of course), from Amazon.co.uk for £5.56.

dobré čtení (Czech)

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The Double Shadow

The Double Shadow by Sally Gardner is a epic-ally brilliant book. It's as good as her other three, I Coriander, The Red Necklace and the Silver Blade (which I'm staring at as I write this!). A mish mash of detective, romance and thriller this book is beautifully written. Gardner's details and descriptions are gripping and vivid. It was a real joy to read. I was honestly enthralled by the first chapter.

It's set before and during the Second World War, but don't worry it's not really about the war, so no guns on the Front. It basically follows Amaryllis Ruben and her friend Ezra. Ruben's father has invented a memory machine that freezes people's good memories (as well as their bad) and stores them in a sort of parallel universe; the theory being you can then replay them whenever you want. However he has also invented this machine as a way to shelter Amaryllis from the outside world and the depressing and mysterious, as well as complicated, circumstances around her mother's death.

Boiled down this story can be interpreted as the effort of a caring father to protect and keep his 'little' girl safe from the dangerous war torn world. Amaryllis's story  can be related to by the modern teenager as nearly all of them will have a father who wishes to protect, and really preserve, them as a little girl, as well as making sure they're always happy. Stress the happy, happy memories plays a big part in this novel as you would find out if you read it (which, of course, you should!!).

It's not all plain sailing though, Amaryllis doesn't want to enter the memory machine and once in it, all alone besides a past she can't and possibly doesn't want to remember, she's stuck. However Ezra loves Amaryllis and hasn't forgotten about her despite the fact she, her father and several other people, in various convoluted sub plots, have disappeared. He's determined to find her and the British Secret Service are just the people to help him do it! (It's a very clever story drawing on many things from the time it's set in!)

The book follows Amaryllis through her discovery of her past as well as several events that prove key to things that happen later in the novel. After about half of the novel it also follows Ezra on his quest to find the peculiar, slightly snotty, charming girl he has somehow found himself falling in love with. It is a very bittersweet love story that involved much intrigue, murder and mystery.

You might have noticed, that for once, my words are failing me and my review is coming out in a bit of a jumble.... I'll sum it up quickly then before I throw you off the scent of this delicious book.... It's a brilliant intriguing read that is extremely busy and keeps you entertained and enthralled from the word 'go'.

It receives a distinguished mark, the Skinny rating, 6 out of 5, and can be purchased from Amazon.co.uk for around £6.99 (or cheaper if you go to a different seller) and is worth the read, especially if you enjoyed any of her other books. It's also of a similar calibre to Code name Verity (Elizabeth Wein) (a review will be forthcoming at some point) and the Nostradamus Prophecy (Theresa Breslin). It's published by Indigo an division of Orion.

En Bon Lu!
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Dance Pony Dance

I'm sure y'all have seen this already but I can't not pay tribute to what must be the greatest ad ever containing a horse (well very small Shetland pony!)!!

Immortal City

Immortal City by Scott Speer is a great, original idea that follows Maddy and Jacks as their worlds collide in a explosion of sparks. Cheesy sum up I know but that's how it feels when you're reading this book, everything's on fire, you can feel your toes twiddling, stomach twisting, it's a love story of the century.

Basically the Angels have given up helping for the sake of helping, now they're making a profit out of saving their Protections, who are generally rich and famous. Of course being stunning, and with wings, helps your position in the world and the Angels are basically the elite, the famous, and the powerful. With their publicists able to justify all the Angels motives and actions they just can't put a foot wrong. It doesn't matter that they'll save one person from a car crash, their Protection, but allow the other three people to die, the Angels are too amazing to be held responsible for this. Really it's like the world today except the Angels are Rihanna and Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp.

However what if one saves for love, defies the rules of the Guardians, and saves someone who isn't his Protection. Well this is what Immortal City's all about!

Maddy
A down to earth, human girl who doesn't get what all the hype is about the Angels. In her eyes they're selfish bast*rds that believe themselves too good for the normal humans. Maddy just wants to get away from Immortal City, and try and find somewhere she feels normal. She's prone to visions of nasty things that are about to happen, take her biology teacher blowing up for example (she stops this but as a result of her premonition) and she can't understand why she has them. Needless to say her uncle Kevin, whose looked after her and sheltered her since her parents were both killed when she was a baby, doesn't have much to say on the issue, not that Maddy ever asks him about it! She was an interesting character to follow as you can completely understand her inner turmoils about whether Jacks really does like her, whether she's pretty/special/good enough for him, and the fact she's pretty astute and brave doesn't hurt her! She develops throughout the book and you, well I couldn't anyway, can't help rooting for her, and for her relationship with Jacks to work out!

Jacks (Jackson)
The hot, holy, worshiped, famous Angel whose about to become a Guardian, the youngest Guardian in history, may we hasten to add! He's used to the luxurious privileged life the Angels lead, as well as girls fawning over him and knowing everything about him through stalking the various Angel Blogs, which there are a number of, (the Angels certainly know how to handle and exploit publicity!) When he meets Maddy, a girl who a) doesn't recognize him to begin with b) isn't interested in his apologies and his attempts to make up to her and c) who sees Jacks for the real Jacks, of course he's intrigued, fascinated and blown away. (Where would the story be if he wasn't!) He's a really scrummy character and I enjoyed learning about the Angel Politics and attempting to understand why Jacks was struggling to make decisions that would go against everything he's learnt.

I've read a few reviews on Immortal City and a lot of people would have rather there was less focus on the investigation into the Angel murders and more focus on Jacks and Maddy but personally I felt there was just enough on J & M that it wasn't overwhelming and the Angel murders and the Angel politics background story (and later on J & M are involved in the murders of course) really add to the story by giving it some depth. It helps to set the book up for a series which I think it's aiming to be (the second's out in April I believe) and I want to know what happens to everyone in this book not just J & M which is really important to me as it means Speers has managed to create characters I care about.

You can get Immortal City from Amazon.co.uk for £5.24 and it's published by Scholastic. I would suggest getting hold of this book as it's great fun, it's not overly fluffy, and the characters are really well developed as is the background stories.
 My Verdict: 3 out of 5. I honestly really enjoyed it and like I've said I read it in a day.... I even made myself read it on the bus just so I could find out what happened..... and I get car sick on a bus. It would have been a 5 but if I'm honestly true to myself it was a very fluffy read!!

Good Reading!
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What's Up?

So What's Up in the delightful candy filled, bunny filled, fluffy world of Tabby, to be honest not much.....

It's filled off roundabouts, and pelican crossings, cyclist and headlights, a bit of Adolf Hitler, more cars, more trains, more trams, more signs. Yupp that's right, driving and theory tests have taken over my brain, apart from the little section still dedicated to my History course!

My theory test's booked for March the 16th and I kinda need to pass, to be honest I don't have the £31 I'll have to dish out to my parents if I fail! I'm hoping I'll pass, I seem to be doing OK in the practise ones at the moment, speaking of which I better go and practise!!! Keep your fingers crossed for me on the 16th, I won't be able to show my face on this blog for a while if I do fail!

So watching a bit of Supersize vs Superskinny, it really is one of the most vile programs ever, I feel so sorry for the people on it, I mean I'm no skinny but I'm no really fat either. I mean it's great when you see them lose weight and gain weight but it feels really intrusive to be watching them on it :/

Anyways I'm going to quickly type up a review on Immortal City, a sexy book about Angels that I finished in one day (today to be exact, a definite 5, I was drooling!)

Speak to y'all later!!!

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Scarred for life

Yupp, I'm scarred.

Totally.

Utterly.

Never to be erased.

I am a porn star (kids under 14,(actually I'm going to change that to 12/13 thinking of kids nowadays) these are people who make money in very inventive ways, some may call it initiative, go to university first as the likelihood is you wouldn't want to use that kind of initiative.) Not that I have anything against porn stars.

Type my name in Google and apparently instead of being a sweet innocent teenage blogger I like old men.
Yupp I'm disturbed and on top of that I'm now petrified that the creepy old man whose been stalking my blog thinks that this is an invitation by my mentioning sex on this blog. ITS NOT!!!

Anyway so if in fact you're looking for Tabitha James the porn star, this isn't her, this Tabitha James is a super cool, book mad, boy mad, sometimes funny, mostly just a pro at embarrassing herself, scottish teenage girl.

So there you go, I'm mentally scarred, on the inside, though I do have plenty on the outside as well, but they were inflicted by solid objects, except the ones that appeared when I was in bed one night (one night I woke up covered in scratches I'm convinced one of our cats must have somehow broken into my room through my closed door scratched me up and then ran away).......

Hope you guys don't end up mentally scarred by searching your names on Google which I guarantee 67% of you will do now.

Love,

NON OLD MAN OBSESSED, LASS
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Midwinterblood

Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick is a gothic horror YA novel. Having read Sedgwick's novels before I was expecting a beautifully written, thought provoking novel and I wasn't disappointed. The convoluted but simple story was bitter sweet and addictive.

It would appeal to readers who want something other than the generic YA novel and it is interesting to read a horror novel that is less gore and more spooky goth. It is wonderfully odd and beautifully crafted. (I realise that I keep using beautiful as an adjective but it is just that - Sedgwick has an amazing technique that brings the images he is writing about vividly to mind.)

-They link their fingers, intertwine them as they twist, already half-crazed by the music, half-crazed by their fear. Emotions streak across their faces; terror and ecstasy mingle on their lips, shine wildly in their eyes-

To be brutally honest I didn't think the book had an overall plot line, other than Eric and Merle were bound by a everlasting love that would be reborn seven times, however when I think about it in terms of enjoyment and author's skill it really didn't matter. The seven individual love stories are beautifully (again!) written, each reincarnation of Eric and Merle strikingly original but still similar. I loved how Sedgwick teased the meaning of love, the seven stories featured different kinds of love, from the love of a brother and sister, to the love of forbidden lovers. To give away any more details on the seven stories would ruin the pleasure readers will gain from discovering and reading them themselves. I am certain that Midwinterblood is a novel in which each reader would take something different from, a favourite story or a favourite description. I am also convinced that it would be mightily difficult for any reader to not appreciate and fall in love with Sedgwick's lyrical simple writing style as well as his breathtaking love story. I read a review on Midwinterblood where the reviewer described reading this novel in 'a single feverish sitting, late one evening, and drifted to sleep haunted by its vision of love and fate and history'(Guardian). I think the use of feverish describes how I read this book, I was desperate to read each different love story, as I've said discerning which type of love Sedgwick was portraying in each story was part of what I loved about it.

The seven stories go back in time and the first story which is finished in the epilogue resembles the sacrificial story of the Wicker Man, and is told in the same passionate bizarre manner.

Midwinterblood is one of those novels you are left feeling slightly shell shocked after; you feel that in order to be able to really describe the novel you would need to re-read and re-read it. And as I feel I am going to have to do the same (re-read and re-read) I will give Midwinterblood a 4 out of 5. It is a credit to Sedgwicks already amazing collection of books and is published by Indigo, a division of Orion House.

You can purchase Midwinterblood from Amazon.co.uk for £5.24 and if you want your literary senses blown I strongly suggest investing in it!

Viel Spaß beim Lesen (hopefully that's German for Good Reading!)

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