nuggets of niamh

I am so glad to be a part of the book blogging community. I love that it gives me (and everyone else) the freedom to gush about our favourite books without judgement. And that it's full of kind-hearted individuals like yourself who always take the time to read and comment nice things. A subject that is regularly discussed in the book community is highly-anticipated releases. While I like discussing "popular" books as much as the next book blogger, I also really enjoy promoting less well-known novels as well. Those "hidden gems", if you will. Last year, in particular, I read quite a few lesser-known novels that I absolutely loved! And that just so happens to be the topic for this week's Top Ten Tuesday! All of the books on my list have fewer than 1000 ratings on Goodreads (which is ridiculous, because they're amazing!) and apart from the very first book, the rest are all by Australian authors (which on one hand is great because it means I'm r...

Fierce Fragile Hearts by Sara Barnard Published: 12th February 2019 by Macmillan Children's Books Format: Paperback Pages: 384 ISBN: 9781509852888 RRP: $16.99 Trigger warnings: abuse, depression, PTSD, suicide ★ ★ ★ ★ 'This time around, I'm going to be so much better. I'm going to prove to them that it was worth waiting on me.' Fierce Fragile Hearts is the stunning companion novel to Sara Barnard's YA bestseller Beautiful Broken Things . It is about leaving the past behind, the friends who form your future, and learning to find love, in all its forms. Two years after a downward spiral took her as low as you can possibly go, Suzanne is starting again. Again. She's back in Brighton, the only place she felt she belonged, back with her best friends Caddy and Rosie. But they're about to leave for university. When your friends have been your light in the darkness, what happens when you're the one left behind? - - - ...

When it comes to romance in books, I can either take it or leave it. If it's done well, I'll eagerly jump on that 'ship, but if it's not... er, what's the point?! That being said, I'm a sucker for both fun, cutesy relationships and angsty, drama-filled romances alike. In fact, the more extreme the better! This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic is "Favourite Couples in Books", and with Valentine's Day just around the corner, it's the perfect time for some swoon-worthy GIFs! (I had so much fun putting this post together!)  So without further ado (and in no particular order), here are my favourite bookish couples!  Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl , with a new topic to respond to every week.

Today's post is a little bit different... As I mentioned in my January wrap-up , I recently went on a super exciting trip: I joined 40 Girl Guides and six other Leaders on a week-long excursion to Mon Repos to observe nesting marine turtles and their hatchlings and I want to tell you all about it! Mon Repos is a small locality on the east coast of Australia, about 300 kilometres north of Brisbane. Every year between November and March, it is a temporary home to hundreds of endangered loggerhead turtles as nesting mothers lay their eggs and, later, the hatchlings emerge onto the beach.

At the beginning of every year when I begin to compile my list of highly anticipated upcoming releases, I inevitably add way more than I could ever possibly read. This year was no different. I recently shared my  top ten most anticipated 2019 releases , featuring predominantly sequels or new books by authors I'm already familiar with, and my aim is to read most, if not all, of those books at some point this year. Of course, there were many others that didn't make that list, including quite a few debut novels. Some, such as Enchantée  and Descendant of the Crane , narrowly missed out and I will definitely be trying to read them as soon as possible after they are released, but others I'm not so sure about yet...   Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl , with a new topic to respond to every week.

Can you believe that we've finally made it to the end of January?! It honestly feels like it lasted for at least 79 years, not 31 days! Crazy. And it's been an... interesting month. I've had A LOT going on in my life, mostly revolving around job applications and interviews, but I'm happy to report that I was offered and have accepted a full-time position that I will be commencing very shortly! Yay! In other news, my family celebrated my grandmother's 80th birthday at the beach earlier this month and I also went on a week-long trip to a conservation park up north to observe nesting turtles and hatchlings! I'm planning on writing a whole blog post about that experience, but for now, let me just tell you that it was truly amazing!