Friday, November 24, 2017

You've Got Mail #2

It is Saturday morning and I am awake before 10!
Actually - now that I think about it, this has been happening more often than not of late as life has actually just been stupidly busy.
I had all of the good intentions to review the Forever series once I was done reading it all but every time I sat down to write it I came up blank.

I've now finished - and I'm still coming up blank. I even went as far to open a word document to write as I got through each book and then post it all at once so I wasn't trying to sit there remembering every detail from all 3 books and the feels I felt while reading it but here I am. Still unable to write anything constructive. 

It has taken me a REALLY long time to get through them and I don't know whether that was a lack of the story grabbing me or whether I just had far too many other things going on in my life.
Maybe I'll do a proper review at some point in the future but for now I'll just say a few words.
The imagery was beautiful; and honestly after the Raven Cycle I expected nothing less from Stiefvater. The twist on the original werewolf legend is super interesting and even though it took an age and then some to get through the books I wish there was more to it. I know it's not really the point of the book but I'm super interested in the werewolf situation and how that can be fixed. I think they're books I can really get behind but maybe just need to be in right state of mind for. 

On the other hand, I started reading A Court of Thorns and Roses on Tuesday and I am almost finished. It is so flipping good. I wish Faeries were real. The most interesting mythical creatures. I feel like the more I read about them the more obsessed I become.
Not sure whether I'll write a review yet but maybe I should. We'll see how life goes in the next couple of weeks with Christmas looming. 

I have many plans to travel these holidays; many road trips planned so maybe keep an eye out for my Travel Diary Blog - which is very much neglected at the moment. But I might take a pause in my first Africa trip (still!) to update some fun trips around New Zealand with Family and Friends. And then hopefully when Canada becomes a thing there'll be more travel things to write about.

Till next time - C xx

Sunday, October 22, 2017

S E E P
The water hit the bottom of the porcelain like a damn breaking free from it's confines. As she watched the water rise higher she felt everything she'd been postponing to feel come slowly to the surface. Every tear hastily wiped away, every sob swallowed, every scream choked. For every dark corner in her heart and mind she turned on lights. It was time to feel before she lost her mind. She stood in the bright white of the bathroom stark naked, feeling the heat of her body bleed out through her pores. She raised her right leg and slowly lowered her foot to the water; big toe entering first, then the second, third, forth and fifth until her entire foot, up till the ankle was submerged. She knew instantly that she'd made it too hot. It was scalding. On reflex her body wanted to whip her foot right back out but she pushed past the prickling sensation. It would soon pass - and besides, it was good to feel something other than numb. She placed her right foot at the bottom of the tub, raised her left leg and placed that foot too, at the bottom of the tub. For a moment she just stood there, reveling in the feeling of the burn. She turned right, bent down to place both hands on either side of the tub and lowered herself slowly into the steaming liquid. For a brief moment her mind flickered to her knowledge of burns and the temperature your skin could handle before it became first, second or even third degree burns, but before the thought even left her mind her skin was acclimatizing to the temperature. She lay back, letting the water raise over her thick thighs, over her well fed belly, envelope her shoulders. She directed her gaze towards the ceiling, watching the tendrils of steam rise. She thought about the boy she should love, and the boy she did and let out a sigh; her breath mixing in with the steam. She thought about the pain she felt and the pain she didn't want to cause. She thought about her selfishness and the choices she would have to make - sooner rather than later. She inhaled, her breath catching in the throat. She exhaled shakily as she felt her heart contract. She waited for the sob to surface but surprisingly she kept on breathing without interruption. She'd left it for far too long - the time to grieve had passed. She could feel the sadness, but tears would not be shed any longer. She knew she'd have to say goodbye. And for the first time in a long time she found that her heart had said the goodbyes before he head had. She knew it was the right thing to do, if felt right. But the little selfish, lonely girl within didn't want to let go yet. She had to learn to grow up, she had to learn to let go. Life wasn't a fairy tale, it wasn't a romantic comedy. You don't get the things you want just by wishing for it. Yes, sometimes the universe gave you what you were hoping for but generally you have to put in the long yards. And sometimes hard work doesn't pay off. So it was time to let it go. Let him go. Sweat it all out, and watch it rise and float out the window with the rest of the steam. She lay in the water for what felt like ages. Waiting for it too get to cool for it to be pleasant anymore. Finally she sat up, blood rushing too her head too quickly making her head stuffy and her vision swim. Pass out, pass out right now she thought with a macabre grunt. Imagine that was how she went. Blood pressure, heat and fast motion was a lethal weapon. With her right hand she groped below the surface of the water and pulled the plug. That was how she sat, legs pulled up to her chest, chin resting on her knees, watching the water lower as it drained out, down the sink taking with it all the things she didn't want to feel - and now no longer had to.  

Friday, August 4, 2017

You've Got Mail - Update #1

Open homes are still ruling my life at the moment and the past few weeks have been so hectic it's been difficult to find the time to actually read. I've been trying to put aside even half an hour of my night before I go to sleep to read - but even then, sleep is slightly more important.

I've just finished reading 'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck. It was in my pile of books that I could take to work to read. It's a classic - one of those books I knew I had to read and I enjoyed it. It gave me hope of being an author one day as it isn't very big. So even if I start out small, it might just end up being a classic one day!







I am still trudging along through my first book in my Stephen King pile, 'Needful Things'. So far it's everything I was expecting from a King novel. If I ever get the chance one day I would love to just sit down and have a conversation with him - see how his mind works. As I've mentioned before I think everything King does is genius. I love his play with sci-fi and the supernatural. And how all of his stories are based in the real world. In places that actually exist. And even though he is writing about aliens or a 'demon' of some kind he writes it in such a way that it is believable. He writes the antagonists as if they could be real people in your life. It almost makes you look a little closer at the people around you - and pay more attention to those strange feelings you get. I think I love his writing under is pseudonym way more! I love they way he takes our thoughts and best intentions and twists it. I feel like he sits down and goes - right, what is the worst a human could do if they were given the opportunity and goes a bit further than the worst. I love how dark his writing, topics and themes are. I love how he can find horror in the everyday mundane.





Next on my list are the above two series. And I am SO excited to jump back into other worlds. I've been needing a break from reality so bad and as much as I love stand alone novels, nothing brings me more joy than a series - and I've heard great things about both. Obviously I got the above from my lovely Bestfriend (honestly, I feel sorry for everyone else because they aren't best friends with her, she is the greatest), who is always reading amazing new books and letting me borrow said books when she is done. It's like she is my own personal library. She loves both series and I trust her judgment above all. We're generally quite different as best friends go but when it comes to books our tastes become one.

Friday, July 14, 2017

What's Next...

This right here is my new current to be ready pile, it is literally what is on my bedside table right now. I was going to post about all the books my best friend gave me but we're currently in the middle of open homes and it was far too much effort to take them all out of the box. I sorted through the NOW, LATER and MAYBE piles. All of the Classics (Austin, Dickens, Twain etc.) went into the later pile. They're books I NEED to read but I'm not really in the mood for right now. The now pile as you can see consists of Stephen King, Irvine Walsh and a few others that I've been meaning to get around to reading but never have.

Because basically everything King does is brilliant I'm not going to be reviewing anything. I know I'm going to enjoy every book so we'll just keep it at that.
The majority of my maybe pile also made it to the now pile - it's a bunch of small books that I can easily fit into my bag for work to read. It'll definitely help me get through me TBR pile faster. Especially since Canada is looming and I don't have that much time left to get through all the books I want to read.
 Also I'm going to need to start packing away everything I have already read to go into storage because I'll be moving into my new place in a couple of weeks and I need to seriously downsize. So you probably won't see much of me for the next couple of weeks - unless my BFFL gives me something new I need to read.

Monday, July 10, 2017

PERFECT - By Cecelia Ahern

"When we embrace all our flaws, that's when we can finally become perfect."

If any of you happened to read my review of the prequal to this book then you'll know that I could not put it down. I read it from start to finish in about 2 days and I loved the majority of it - considering I really don't share much love with dystopian novels anyhow.  However, I have currently been staring at this page for the better half of 10 minutes and I have no idea where to begin.

Almost exactly a year after reading Flawed I finally manged to jump into Perfect, and I was excited. My best friend had lent me her copy and I couldn't wait to get stuck in. I said as much as we sat outside in the last disappearing rays of the Saturday afternoon sun discussing the pile of books she'd just given me to borrow. She took a drag of her smoke, and upon exhale with a grimace she said all in one breath something along the lines of, "I kinda didn't like it, but that's just my opinion". I'm not the type of person to let others sway my opinion so I didn't take it heart, she is my best friend but she is the chalk to my cheese - we can't be expected to agree on everything. 

So finally, after finishing Carry On I picked up Perfect. I was excited to be back with Celestine as she hid out at her Grandfathers; After managing to evade her Whistleblower - Mary May. I was excited to finally find out what happened to the Mysterious Hottie, Carrick, who said he'd "find her". I wanted to see what her plan would be for Crevan and the entire Guild that put her in this situation in the first place and I wanted to find out if Celestine had finally figured out the footage of her sixth branding was in the bloody snow globe all along (something I figured out the moment Tina, the guard from Highland Castle, had given it to her in the first book). I was about 7 chapters in when my heart sunk. I hadn't felt this since I picked up The Hunger Games for the first time and I realised, Perfect was going to be struggle. 

Ahern is a wonderful writer when it comes to romance and I give her mad props for trying, but in my opinion she falls short on teen dystopian.
Events unfolded out of nowhere; almost as if she thought of them as she was writing and went "that's a good idea! I'll put it in now and then just come up with an explainer chapter after". Nothing made sense, there was no build up and when there was a chapter explaining how Celestine and her comrades had gotten to that particular situation the explaination had no depth, no grasp, nothing to make me believe something like that could really happen. I rolled my eyes more times than I could count at the things Celestine said or did. She infurated me so much that sometimes I found myself just wanting to close the book and never pick it up again because how could someone be so stupid and naive, how does one change their decision so quickly on a whim. And maybe that was the point, maybe that was her being true to her character, a naive, scared teenage girl but none of it felt believable enough for me. 

Even Celestine's love for Carrick and his supposed feelings towards her didn't feel believable. Their first kiss and  'love' scene glossed over so quickly I'm not even sure it happened. There was far too much emphasis placed on describing setting and unnecessary surface features without any further explaination into it rather than focusing on the characters and their development in the story.
Part Four of the novel was were all the action happened and was the only time I found myself wanting to turn the next page to find out "what will happen next". But again I found myself rolling my eyes because the events that unfolded just didn't seem real. The characters decisions didn't make sense; they rose to leadership too easily or crumbled under authority too easily. There were far too many extra characters that didn't need to be in the spotlight as much as they were and I think that's why the central characters' developments were so lacking. 

The last few chapters felt rushed, almost as if Ahern had lost interest in the book herself and needed the fastest way to just get on with it. The idea of the story is actually really good and holds so much potential to be so much more but I was just left feeling disappoint and unfulfilled. 4/10. 

Friday, June 16, 2017


CARRY ON - by Rainbow Rowell


“And one will come to end us / and one will bring his fall, / let the greatest power of powers reign, /may it save us all”


Simon Snow is The Chosen One. The Greatest Mage of all time. His magic has more power than anyone has ever seen. He is prophesied to defeat the Insidious Humdrum and save the World of Mages. There is just one problem; he cannot control his magic or his power. 

To really be able to sink your teeth into Carry On I think you first need to understand its multidimesionality. First and foremost I see it as a spin off (and the Lord above knows I much I LOVE a good spin off) of the previous book I reviewed by Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl. 
Secondly, I see it is a full, novel length Fan Fic (which, being someone who used to read fan fics back in my day I find absolutely crazy insane amazing). 
And last, but definitely not least, it is a fans depiction of the last installment of a FICTIONAL book series, 'Simon Snow' (A book series within a novel! Bookception if there ever was such a thing), which anyone who hasn't basically been living under a rock since 1997 would notice is so very loosely based on Harry Potter you cannot help but smile. 

It is a world, within a world, within a world. Rowell is a fictional genius to be able to fit all of that into only 517 pages. This book exceeded all my expectations. 

I love the use of first person p.o.v. to tell the narrative. It allows you to get a massive insight into each character in such a short space of time. You get into their heads and understand their motives and I loved every second of it. Simultaneously there are parts where you'll find out information before the rest of the characters do, or Rowell will leave you hanging coming to the end of one characters chapter and then throw a twist you never saw coming as your begin the read a new one.

The emphasis of using "magic words" because words carry so much power to cast spells is also BRILLIANT! How many times as a kid were you asked to "use the magic words please" when asking for something. Imagine being able to cast spells just by saying a turn of phrase, I think this was one of the aspects I loved most about the book because I love reading and words so much, so this idea of words having power was just awesome. 


SIMON AND BAZ! I couldn't have loved this pairing more, nor could I be more in love with Baz myself. Not just because I have definitely been in his position before (and that sounds super narcissistic of me, but whatever!) but also because who wouldn't want a super dapper, super rich, Vampire Magician boyfriend!? To have them be so hopelessly obsessed with each other and think it's because they're "mortal enemies" was just too easy - you couldn't come out the other end of that and NOT have them fall in love. To be fair, Baz was always in love but to read along as Simon realizes that yes, He does actually love Baz gave me the warm fuzzies.

Carry On is jam packed with everything I love. Teen Drama. Romance. Mystery. Magic. Shady characters. Adventure. An unstoppable evil. And a happy ending. This book gets a 10/10!   

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

 F A N G I R L - by Rainbow Rowell
Fantasy. Mystery. Thriller. Horror. Epic Novels that exist in worlds very distant from our own. These are the worlds I LOVE to lose myself in, it's the genres I tend to stray towards when I'm looking for a new book to read. But we can't always exist in these worlds - and after reading a full series set in these worlds I find I need to give myself a break. I'd just finished reading the first installment in 'The Dark Artificies' series; Lady Midnight (which I plan on doing a review on in the near future once I've read the whole series), and I have yet to procure my copy of the next installment Lord of Shadows. 

As I've mentioned before, having a best friend who is as into reading as I am is great because she's always giving me books to borrow and just a week before finishing Lady Midnight she'd given me Fangirl to read as a sort of 'palate cleanser' if you will. 
It's a classic teen, kinda-coming-of-age story about Cath, who's just started college with her twin sister Wren. Cath and Wren are about as different as twins can be which has never been a problem because they were always joined at the hip (as twins are); until College that is. 

I could easily read this book over and over, it is super easy to read and I know that if I plopped myself down in front of the fire or heater with a cup of steaming coffee, or took it down to the beach while I tanned, I could finish it quite easily in one sitting. I saw a lot of myself if both Cath and Wren. Wren is the social butterfly, parties, new friends, booze; the College Experience. That was definitely a bit of me when I was in University. But at the same time a see a lot of myself in Cath. Social anxiety, introverted. Writes Fan Fiction (about a character called Simon Snow who is so very loosely based off Harry Potter which makes me love the book even more), lives in her head a lot. A home body.
Fangirl made me feel like I was 17 again. Getting excited for Cath when new boys immerge on the scene. Laughing at Reagan, Cath's roommate, who is the sassy, take-no-shit friend we all wish we had. Falling in love with Levi, the love interest, who is exactly the kind of unintentionally cool but secretly dorky guy who would steal my heart. I loved everything about it - the only critique I could give is that I wished there was a little bit more. 


I'd give it an 8/10.

Sunday, June 11, 2017

B I B L I O P H I L E

If you are someone who knows me well, then you know that I love books. I am obsessed with books. I love everything about books. I love reading books. I love the look of books stacked up on the floor. I love how books look all neatly arranged in shelves. I like the feel of books (both hard cover and paperback). I love the crisp feel of the pages. I love the sound the pages make when you flip through a brand new book as well the smell. I equally love the dusty, musty smell of an old book. The translucent pages, the tiny writing. The old font. Everything. So it's safe to assume that I collect a lot of books (probably more like hoard). Anyway, my best friend is the greatest because she helps fuel this obsession (she thankfully loves books just as much as I do) and this weekend she just added to my ever growing pile of TO BE READ. So with that being said - I've decided to set myself a challenge; which is to essentially chow through my TO BE READ pile as soon as possible and read EVERYTHING before I head over to Canada. I am going to try and write about the books I read as well. The challenge has started. The the next few books on my list are:
Carry One - Rainbow Rowell
Wonder - R.J Palacio
Perfect - Cecelia Ahern