S.T.A.G.S is a very... interesting novel. Marketed as "A thriller that twists and turns right to the end", I was very excited to pick this up. A mysterious invite, prestigious school, and privileged, high society types - what's not to love?! 

I started this blog just to give me somewhere I could share my love of books with people who want to read it. This blog will always be my little internet home. It will always be where I go to to document the books I read, buy, want to read, etc. 

I never thought it would ever be anything more. However, since having the blog, I have been given a number of bookish opportunities both on and off the internet. I've been sent ARC's, taken part in blog tours, and was even asked to chair an in-store event. I never expected any of this back in March - I don't even think my wildest dreams saw anything of the sort happening; especially with such a new blog.

​I've been incredibly lucky with what I have been able to do so far and it has inspired me to set myself goals so I can focus on blogging regularly and to help motivate me.

My birthday came and went with a fizzle more than a bang. I spent a good chunk of my day tidying and hoovering etc... yup.. adulthood.

As I am such a pernickety person people tend to leave me to buy my own books but my mum (having been given an extensive and very detailed list from myself) gave me four books for my birthday! Thus, today I have a small book haul for you but I'm excited none-the-less.

Happy birthday to me! Woo! 
I'm 21 today so I guess that means I am well and truly, officially an adult. No pretending I'm still a teenager. Adult. Nope. Not ready. 

It feels strange to me that I'm not still 14 and in the middle of high school. I mean, I still can't believe I'm allowed to drive, let alone have held a license for 3 years. But, setting aside all my fears about growing up and having to be responsible* (ha!), I've decided that I want to set myself a goal for this year of my life to read 21 books that I've put off for far too long - be them classics, modern classics or just any old YA/middle grade book that I've had on my shelf for way too many years being overlooked. 

*the main thing I wanted for my birthday this year was for my mum to help me gut my bedroom. Yup. Adult.

I am well aware it's now the second week of October but here I am with my September Wrap-Up. This was a pretty decent month for me, with 8 books read and with four 5 star reads, and two 3 and 4 star reads. I'm actually surprised I got through as many books as I did considering I was stuck on one book early on in the month that I kept wanting to DNF but, stupidly, forced my way through (and yes, I still gave it 3 stars. We'll get to it soon enough).

Often, when I write a blog post, I feel the need to write a warning about me rambling on, apologising for not being consistent or for the lack of bookish content when I want to discuss something else (such as a theatre review etc.) but recently I had an epiphany... it's my blog.
 
I know that seems like such an obvious thing but it really took me this long to say to myself ‘hang on a minute’. I pay for this domain, I created this site with its layout and logo and all the content. So why am I saying sorry for being myself?

Last week I went on holiday with my mum and gran to their favourite place (seriously, they NEVER go anywhere else now): Fuengirola, Spain.

This was my second time here, the first being in June 2014 which was the first for mum and gran also. I couldn't tell you how many times my mum has been. She's got friends over their now and with such cheap flights she goes over at least three times a year - if not more! (She's actually going again in about three weeks time...) Anyway, this is not a post about Spain, but rather a post about the ridiculous amount of books I took with me. 

To start of, I'll warn you all that I am currently choked with the cold and it's 11pm so I just want to go to sleep, but first of all, I feel awful for abandoning the blog this last week and I just want to quickly update you all on where I've been and what's going on with my lack of organisation.

This last week I was AWOL as I was on holiday in Spain. I had planned to give a warning and share the books I was taking with me but, as you can tell, I never got around to posting... or writing it.

I'm not going to lie, life has been hectic and a bit of a mess for me right now - more so than usual - and I was in the midst of composing a discussion post where I talk about my health and whatnot and why I've thus struggled to stick to a schedule and not been able to produce regular, decent content but obviously I never finished it... because of the reasons I was writing about. Catch-22. 

Once I get over this cold (hopefully in the next day or two at most) I plan to work on the aforementioned discussion post and get it up sometime before my birthday on the 11th so I can start my 21st year nice and fresh without hiding things. Booklycat might be a book blog first and foremost, but it's also my blog and I want to share things that I feel like sharing.

As I said, my head/life is all a bit messy right now and trying to figure things out is tough, but I'll get there, and I will share what's going on when I'm ready and able to because I want to talk about it. But for now I'm just trying to get lost in books and then hopefully along the way, find the strength and mojo to pour out my passion for the stories I read on here.