Luke Harkness, Author at Luke’s Blog

16Oct 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Why I Love Reading and Reviewing Books

Features

I read around four or five books a month, sometimes more. Last year I read just over 50 books and this year I'm well on my way to marching that, it not overtaking last year's reading goal. When I was young, I thoroughly enjoyed reading and was ahead of my class in the books I was picking up and the amount of joy I got out it picking up the latest releases. Throughout my teens, I stopped reading so much as I went through all the other activities teenagers go through: socialising, partying, girls, drinking, social media-ing, video gaming etc. However, around 5 years ago I picked up The Girl On the Train when I was in-between jobs and this spurred on my love for reading again that has since…

15Oct 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Book Review: The Fellowship of The Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

Book reviews, Classics, Fantasy

Hands up if you've never heard of The Lord of the Rings. OK, anybody who put their hands up, keep reading as you're in for a treat. Anybody who didn't put their hands up, also keep reading as you're the only normal people here!! The Fellowship of The Ring is the first in the three The Lord of the Ring books and it starts off strongly. [caption id="attachment_1267" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means if you choose to purchase The Fellowship of the RIng via one of these links, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you to support the blog. These links do not affect my final opinion of the product. An introduction to The…

12Oct 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

How I Decide my Book Review Ratings

Features, Tips and Tricks

I’ve written over 60 book reviews at the time of writing this article. I’ve covered romance, fantasy, science-fiction, contemporary fiction, mystery, thriller and more. But how exactly do I work out what to review my books out of five? [caption id="attachment_1264" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Why maximum five stars for a book review? First off, I’ll discuss why I chose the five-star rating alongside the text-aids you see at the bottom of each of my book reviews. The main reason is that it takes away from the number of ratings I can give. If it was out of 10, I’d have to choose from ten numbers and this could leave me considering for far too long. The other reason is that I feel far more comfortable giving a…

12Oct 2021 by Luke Harkness 2 Comments

Book Review: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

Book reviews, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Romance

The premise behind The Invisible Life Of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab had me hooked. A woman makes a deal with an evil god to essentially live forever. But one day a man comes along and changes the three hundred years of life she's lived forever. [caption id="attachment_1254" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means if you choose to purchase The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue via one of these links, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you to support the blog. These links do not affect my final opinion of the product. You can't tell me that the premise behind The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue doesn't intrigue you. It instantly made me think of…

11Oct 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

New Author Book Haul Giveaway – 11 October 2021

Features

Hello and welcome to my blog! if you're a regular visitor here, welcome back, if you're not WELCOME! You're here because you've clicked a link to find out more about the books you've seen pictures of and want to know a little bit more about what you're getting yourself in for. A few weeks ago I hit 2,000 Followers on Instagram and have since also hit over 1,000 followers on Twitter. I decided I wanted to do a giveaway to say thank you to everybody who has chosen to follow me. After a little think - I realised most of my audience follow me for the book-related content that I post. I quickly decided I wanted to do a physical book giveaway. HOWEVER, I had no idea what sort of…

09Oct 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Luke’s Book Quiz Round 4

Features, Quizzes

Here we are with a fourth book quiz! That means if you've taken part in the previous three book quizzes already, by the end of this one, you'll have answered 48 questions on books. I wonder how many out of 48 you get right. Do let me know! This book quiz is written under the same idea as the previous three: I've put questions and answers to either books I've read, answers I'd know the answers to or questions I think would be accessible for a large audience. I don't want these quizzes to make you feel dumb, they're simply here to test your knowledge. Right, let's get underway. Don't forget to read the rules below. [caption id="attachment_1227" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Please note, this article contains affiliate…

08Oct 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

How to Drive FREE Engagement to your Blog

Features, How to, Tips and Tricks

It doesn't matter how many social media followers you have or how great your articles are, if you're not managing to find a way to drive people to your blog then none of it really matters. [caption id="attachment_1223" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] I've realised over the past few months of blogging that keeping people on your site and keeping them coming back is absolutely crucial to making sure your content is being seen. If you want your time on your blog to feel worth it, then having people return, visit, comment and appreciate your content is the best way to do this. I've been blogging for a few months now so by no means am I the most experienced at this. However, I have a few years in…

07Oct 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Book Review: Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Book reviews, Contemporary Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

Lisa Jewell is a bug author among the online bookish community and Then She Was Gone is considered one of her bigger stories so I felt it was a must for me to pick it up. I'm impressed and very ready to tell you why. [caption id="attachment_1218" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means if you choose to purchase The Song of Achilles via one of these links, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you to support the blog. These links do not affect my final opinion of the product. Then She Was Gone is a story by Lisa Jewell, arguably her first big hit, that features the story around a mother whose daughter goes missing…

05Oct 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

My 5 Most Successful Blog Posts from September

Features, Monthly Round Ups

September has been a great month for my blog setting the second-highest amount of views in a month I've had (the first was July when the Goodreads vs StoryGraph article went a little viral). This is good news as it inevitably means the blog is growing slowly but surely. Here's to October being the biggest month I ever have! [caption id="attachment_1211" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest[/caption] Do note, the list below are the articles that have been most successful for me that I posted in September. Oddly, The SIlent Patient review got the most amount of views this month, though based on the large number of spammy comments it gets, I feel this is because it may have fallen onto some spam radar, unfortunately. Please note that this article contains…

03Oct 2021 by Luke Harkness 2 Comments

Blogger Spotlight: Felix Felicitated

Blogger Spotlights, Features

In today's Blogger Spotlight, we're looking at Felix Felicitated run by Esha. Her blog features a wide array of different content, focusing on lifestyle content and book reviews. With a huge push on self-improvement, Felix Felicitated's blog features articles that talk honestly about her experiences. What is your blog about? I blog about a variety of things that interest me. For instance, I look at books and review them every month. I also talk about lifestyle content and mental clarity. I am big on self-improvement and try to find ways to develop my life for the better. What do you think makes your blog stand out from others? I have mentioned this many times in my blog that I am not someone who has her life put together. The reason…

Author: Luke Harkness