Dizzy chat

I have noticed over the last few weeks that I am so busy I have not been taking part in meme's (except for BBAW which was one reason I was so busy) and so the blog has just been reviews, and guest posts and hardly any chat.

My partner was the one who first called me Dizzy and the name stuck. 
I often start a conversation in my head and then suddenly carry the conversation on with whoever is within earshot, expecting them to pick up on the conversation thread.   


My partner has a look when this happens, as if to say "you are doing it again, I missed the first part of the conversation in your head!"


This morning he got "so, how do they know they can assign a particular ISBN number and how many combinations are available with a 13 digit ISBN?"  


I still have to find the answers to the above questions.  :)

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For those of you who do like to keep up with my blog, thank you, I now have a facebook page.  This will have links to all posts here but also little snippets of book related info, competitions, and news I find on my travels in cyberspace.  


If you have Facebook, (what is FB on at the moment, too many food additives or something, it is very hyperactive at the moment), please follow the link below and 'like'

Facebook page

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I have several exciting guest author spots coming up over the next couple of months.  There is a It's a date section on the left hand side bar.

Guest authors including Eloisa James, Trisha Ashley, Eleanor Moran, Shari Low, Carole Matthews and Mandy Baggot.  I will be getting a reputation as a name dropper!

Real life is making me very Dizzy at the moment.  I have the eldest C at 6th Form College and comes in and out at strange times of the day.  

M has started his GCSE courses, so still in full time ed and I know where he is during the week.

AJ has increased his time a playschool.  Well, this morning I forgot his drink. Not a problem because I left his drink bottle at school last week, so I begged some squash from playschool.  Out of one problem came the solution to the next.   Tuesday was his full day at playschool.  I had to ring to find out the time for end of the day!

So, these days, I am not sure which day I am on, where my children are, who is in for dinner, who is in to sleep, and they wonder why I am Dizzy!

So, how is your week going?

DizzyC

Review - The Froobles

The Froobles - Top That! Publishing

The Froobles. The brand will launch with 12 printed titles that will be published in September.
The vocal talents of Johnny Vaughan, Denise van Outen, Edith Bowman and Reggie Yates will appear within the animated story sections of the iPhone, iPad and Android Apps, bringing the antics of The Froobles to life.


The Froobles are unique characters that have been brought to life by the magic of children's imaginations. Scenes created by playgroup children provide The Froobles with an ever-changing world in which they have fun adventures while learning valuable lessons along the way.

They have their own interactive website with games to play too.

There are 12 books in the series. Each story has an exciting adventure to share with your child.
The stories are 32 pages long, which is ideal for bedtime, in language appropriate for young children whilst teaching them valuable life lessons.

In Cory Cucumber and the farmyard muddle, Cory learns how to admit his mistakes and get help.

In Ozzy Onion and the noisy dinosaurs, Ozzy and the dinosaurs learn how to play together nicely.

I loved the full page pictures which are a mixture of illustrations and photographs.

There is a page of stickers at the end of each book to make your own scene. Kids love stickers.

Small enough to slip into a rucksack or your handbag, these would be great to keep little ones occupied whilst out and about.
Great stocking filler idea!

5 out of 5 for us!

Thank you TopThat! Publishing for sending me a couple of review copies.

A Missy & Blog Update

Last week, I was hoping that I'd be back to blogging full-time this week... but that doesn't seem to be working out too well. It's nothing bad, really - just trying to catch up with life. If you follow me on Facebook, then you'll know that I was told at my one week appointment that I'm cancer-free. This still has me over the moon because, when you come from a family decimated by cancer, cancer-free isn't something you're used to hearing. Fortunately for me, I caught it super early and there's still a very high chance that I can still have babies - although if I can't, then I'm not too hurt by the idea of being a crazy chihuahua lady my whole life either. ;)

I'm still recovering, which kind of varies from day to day. Some days I'm super awesome and other days I end up thinking I'm super awesome... until I overdo it and have to start all over again. Pacing myself seems to be my biggest challenge right now. So, that's what I'm trying. I have a cousin getting married this weekend which means I'll be going out of town for that. Out of town trips (especially when I drive) really put me out for a while. On top of this, I have a ton of reviews that I have to write for places other than this blog as well as having to catch up with authors and publishers for this blog. It's a lot to do, so I'm starting with the priority of the other reviews as well as e-mails in response to requests and such for this blog. It's not saying I think that's more important than this blog because it's not, but it is an obligation that I need to be responsible for.

As far as my Epic Followers Giveaway, I haven't finished tallying up all of the points for that. You guys were AMAZING with promoting, so I want to be sure that I'm as equally amazing at making sure every single entry is accounted for to get the prizes to the right people. So, don't give up! I should have that done soon.

I'm also tweaking a few things on the blog that you may or may not notice. One of the things I'll be doing very soon is the Blog Roll page. If you want your book blog to be linked, then feel free to leave your link on this post.. or post it on my Facebook page. I'll be checking both while I'm working on it.

Thanks for everything, guys! I'll see you all very soon!!

It's Monday, what are u reading? 19 /9

Hosted by Sheila at Book Journey

This weekend

Unfortunately, a busy weekend just houseworking etc and so not much reading achieved.
Last week was a slow reading week as I took part in the very busy BBAW.  It was lots of fun and I picked up some great tips.  I posted each day and you can find the blog posts in my older posts. 

Almost finished

Persuade Me - Juliet Archer  

I reviewed (Un)Like a Virgin by Lucy-Anne Holmes and interviewed Lucy here

There is a chance to win one of five copies of the novel here  UK only giveaway. Ends 23.9.11

In my postbox

A Winter Bride by Isla Dewar Review copy, thank you Ebury Publishing.

What I am reading next

This week I really don't know yet.  I have a few chapters of my latest read and then I have so many lovely books on my TBR shelf, I don't know what to read next.

Coming up at DizzyCLBB

• Don't forget the Giveaway in the top left sidebar
• Eloisa James is guest author on Friday 23rd Sept
• Reviews to come for The Froobles children's books and Persuade Me by Juliet Archer

My dear blog friend Sharon at Jera's Jamboree is having a 50 follower giveaway for a Choc Lit novel.  (UK only)  

What does your week look like?

DizzyC

(Un)Like a Virgin - UK only giveaway

The lovely folks at Little, Brown have offered me 5 copies of (Un)like a Virgin by Lucy-Anne Holmes to giveaway.  UK addresses only.

Please leave a comment below to enter the giveaway.

I will contact the winners via email.  Please ONLY leave your email (spaced out to avoid spam) if I would not be able to contact you via your blog/twitter/or google feed.

Closing date 23/9/11

UK addresses only.

Please read giveaway policy

Guest Author - Lucy-Anne Holmes

Today I have the honour and pleasure of introducing Lucy-Anne Holmes, Author of (Un)like a Virgin.  This is a cracking 5 star read!

1.    Lucy, thank you for joining me today and answering my questions. I look forward to your next novel whatever the final title will be. :)

P      
     Please tell us a little about yourself.

Oo where to start? Well, key facts would be that I am 35, newly single and currently back living with my parents. So, where, on the inside page of my new book, it states ‘Lucy-Anne Holmes is an actress living in London’, which sounds rather glamorous, it should say ‘Lucy-Anne Holmes is an actress living in Eastbourne with her parents, but hoping to buy a camper van in the near future.’

I trained as an actress, and have been doing plays and commercials and the odd bit of telly for years, but the writing began after I started an online blog, which charted my dating disasters. It garnered some interest from agents and publishers and led me to write a novel.

2.    Gracie is a super character with lots of energy and drive, where did she come from?

Oh, thank you! I love her too! Sadly I don’t know where she came from. It’s a lovely question though, because, where do ideas come from? Sometimes you see something and it triggers an idea but sometimes they just appear in your head like magic. Gracie was like that. I’ve never met anyone like her. Physically she’s an amalgamation of two women I know, but as for her personality, she’s not based on anyone in particular. I remember getting the idea of the story though, I was sitting in my old flat in Camden and I’d just tidied the lounge, and suddenly this story started to be daydreamed into being in my head. The story got fleshier and fleshier and I literally sat there for hours thinking about it and then I called my dad and told him the bones of it.

3.    What songs would be on the karaoke machine for you to sing?

I can’t sing a note!! When I was at Drama school my singing teacher told me that if tune was London I was in Birmingham! I would love to be able to belt out some Adele, but for the good of society I will never do that. I adore music though, which I’m sure was why I enjoyed writing the music storyline in Unlike A Virgin so much.

4.    What are you working on next?

A new novel, as yet untitled, well, I want to call it Smiling Fanny, but my publishers go very pale at the thought. It’s about a girl named Jenny Taylor, but her friends call her Fanny, she’s lovely, she had a bit of a hard time of it growing up, and her best friend wrote her The Smiling Fanny Manifesto to perk her up. It’s a list of things she should do every day to stay cheerful. She’s been doing this list religiously for years and it’s led her to meet loads of people and have lots of adventures. We meet her on a day when 3 things happen to threaten this happiness she’s been trying so hard to keep.

5.    What book is on your bedside table?

I’m having a bit of a dark reading spell because I have to hand a book in to my publishers, like, today! GAHHHHHHH!! And I have to try to limit things, ie, getting into a good novel, which will distract me from achieving this. Hence, on my bedside table is Haruki Murakami’s book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, which is not a novel so is therefore currently ‘allowed’. I have newly got into running and am doing a half marathon in 2 weeks. I’m really enjoying the passion with which he writes about running and writing and it’s managing to encourage both my writing and my running..marvellous! 

Little, Brown Publisher is running an AMAZING competition http://www.littlebrownbooks.net/britainsings/ to win a Play Station 3 and Singstar package, so that you can sing your heart out like Gracie Flowers in the book! 
Little, Brown say we’ve set up our own Singing Contest, Britain Sings http://www.facebook.com/pages/Britain-Sings/162133383864884?sk=wall, to rival the X-Factor so do upload your own audition. 




You can find out more about Lucy here

Party time - woo hoo! Where's my lipstick?

I am attending the on-line party to launch Carol’s debut novel Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines.

    

 It should prove to be a fabulous opportunity to meet new bloggers and friends; a huge cyber gathering, so come on and join me. I can invite as many guests as I want and you only need to bring a sense of fun with you. You will be able to mix and meet a variety of people from Blogland.

There is a ‘Mini Skirt’ competition with a few surprises. Come and vote for a winner!


There is also a ‘Laughter Line’ contest where you can vote for your favourite joke – an event which should bring a smile to your face.  I wonder if my joke made the judging.


In various ‘rooms’ you will be able to mingle and ‘chat’ to other bloggers and ‘A’ list celebrities. There are even some Guests of Honour. There will be virtual dancing and of course, as it is a book launch party, the opportunity to read some of Carol’s very entertaining novel and even win a copy.


Have you read the book already? Then come over and leave a comment – it could win you a prize. Are you on Facebook? Then ‘like’ Carol E Wyer’s page and answer the question ‘What film/book or television series makes you laugh most?’It could win you a copy of the book.   

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Have you never heard of Carol? Well, come and join her, me and all of us. The party starts at 0:00 am UK time Friday 16^th 2011 and will go on all day. 


Directions??? Oh, yes just follow the link Facing50withhumour Party

DizzyC