Luke Harkness, Author at Luke’s Blog

09Jan 2022 by Luke Harkness No Comments

New Year’s Book Tag

Hi everyone and welcome to 2022! I know we're over a week in now and the New Year and Christmas were nearly two and three weeks ago, but I saw this Tag and really liked the look of it so thought I'd join in. Pin me to Pinterest! Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means if you choose to purchase any of the books listed in this article, I'll received a small commission at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of the product. I saw this tag over on Books Are 42's blog whom I follow on Twitter. This is in fact my second book tag, you can read my first here. As you could probably guess, this Book…

06Jan 2022 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Book review of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Book reviews, Fantasy

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the second book in the Harry Potter series and is the first to really delve deeper into Lord Voldemort’s background, increasing the magical world we found ourselves enveloped in the first book. Pin me to Pinterest! Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means if you choose to purchase The Chamber of Secrets via one of these links, I'll receive a small commission to support the blog at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of the product. As I read the penultimate book in the Harry Potter series, Half-Blood Prince, I thought I’d carry on my reviews of the previous books in the series which I’ve read over the past year. The…

04Jan 2022 by Luke Harkness

Book Review of Sweetpea by C.J. Skuse

Book reviews, Contemporary Fiction, Crime, Thriller

As I start many book reviews, I’d seen quite a lot of good things about Sweet Pea on my Bookstagram before I picked it up with some even stating it’s their favourite book series. Therefore when it came on offer on Kindle and was a cheap Audible buy, I had to pick it up! [caption id="attachment_1573" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Sweet Pea by C.J. Skuse is a book about a psychopath who lives a normal life alongside her murderous other life. We follow Rhiannon as she goes about her everyday duties via the entries of her diary. Plot – 3.5/5 Rhiannon seems like a very regular person to most people - she may be a little odd, but no more so than everybody these days. However, little does…

02Jan 2022 by Luke Harkness No Comments

The Four Fantastic Books I Read in December 2021

Features, Monthly Round Ups

Rounding off the final month of 2021, I managed to finish four books in December. Not the most I've read in a month, but a month that contained the longest Harry Potter book so I think I can let myself off. Also, it was a month where for a solid week I did no reading as I was eating, with family or drinking! However, I did read a couple of great books in December and some not-so-great books too. Keep swiping scrolling to see which is which and whether you agree with my final verdicts and whether you've read any of these books either. [caption id="attachment_1562" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means that if you choose to purchase any products…

31Dec 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

My Most Successful Articles from 2021

Features

Today marks the last day of 2021, the first year in which I decided to start a blog all about books and blogging. It's been a fascinating year and one that ai've enjoyed a lot! There's a lot that I've learned about what works and what doesn't work with blogging and in 2022 I hope to optimise this workflow even further. I decided I wanted to find out what my best-performing articles from 2021 were. This is to not only gauge which posts I should focus on, but also give any budding bloggers some ideas on posts they could copy on their very own blogs. Therefore, below, counting down from the fifth most viewed to the most viewed post on my blog throughout the year. A few of these went…

28Dec 2021 by Luke Harkness 2 Comments

Book Review: Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Book reviews, Fantasy

I picked up Graceling by Kristin Cashore because it was, what I thought, a relatively short fantasy novel to dig my teeth into before the festive period started. However, it ended up being a bit more of a slog than I would have hoped. [caption id="attachment_1548" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Please note that this review contains affiliate links. This means if you decide to purchase Graceling via any of the links in this article, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you from Amazon which supports the blog. These affiliate links do not influence my final opinion of the product. Graceling focuses on the story of Katsa who has learned from a young age that she has something called a “Grace” which means she…

23Dec 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

The Best Books I Read This Year – Ranked (2021)

Features

As we are getting closer to Christmas, this means we are getting closer to the end of the year. I think we all know once Christmas fever hits, we don't really re-emerge until the following year. [caption id="attachment_1542" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Therefore, I thought I'd get in my "Best Books of the year" list now as I will likely spend the period after Christmas eating, drinking and with family and friends! I've read some absolute banging books this year, for sure. It makes me wonder if next year will bring any books along that are any better than those that I read this year. However, this is what I love about reading: you're always finding a new favourite that you're utterly obsessed with. Below are the eight…

20Dec 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Book Review: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte

Book reviews, Nonfiction

If you didn’t know - like the big kid I am - I absolutely adore all things Dinosaurs. Admittedly my interest hasn’t spread out into much more than simply reading up about them and watching films/documentaries about them. But either way - I love these enormous, dangerous creatures that lived millions of years ago. [caption id="attachment_1524" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] That’s why, when I saw The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte on sale on Amazon, I just had to pick it up. In all honesty, I wasn’t 100% sure what I was purchasing, I’d just seen it was a celebrated book and had quite an appealing front cover. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is actually a non-fictional telling of the… well… the…

18Dec 2021 by Luke Harkness

Blogger Spotlight: The Only Way Is Books

Blogger Spotlights, Features

In today's Blogger Spotlight, we're highlighting The Only Way is Books run by Debbie which focuses on reviewing and all things books. It offers up a clean and easy-to-use design that allows you to get to the book reviews quickly and enjoy Debbie's bookish content. [caption id="attachment_1518" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] What made you get into blogging? Through a sheer love of books. I’m a massive bookworm. People would ask me for book recommendations or my opinion on a book and I decided to reach a wider audience by making a book blog where I write reviews! What's your most successful post? On my book blog, the most successful book review I have with the most views is Zoo. What's been your biggest uphill battle with blogging? Getting…

15Dec 2021 by Luke Harkness 1 Comment

Blogger Spotlight: Brave Daddy

Blogger Spotlights, Features

In today's Blogger Spotlight, we're highlighting Brave Daddy - a blog run by Greg, offering parents tips and stories from the point of view of a parent who admits that no parent really knows what they're doing. Greg writes interesting stories that turn everyday parenting moments into almost fictional stories. [caption id="attachment_1512" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] What made you get into blogging? Well, a lot of things. First, I got things on my mind, but the wife and kids don’t listen. I think that’s a common thing with husbands and fathers who are intellectual giants. It’s tough, but we find a way to make it through the day. Another thing that made me want to do it was hanging out with people and sharing our daily tribulations. Being…

Author: Luke Harkness