Saturday 30 December 2017

The Single Girl's Calendar - Erin Green

Esme’s life checklist is going well except now she’s rapidly approaching 30 she has one massive thing yet to tick off – get married. Thankfully she has a long-term boyfriend, Andrew, so she is sure that marriage is just around the corner for her. Esme plans the perfect weekend and is convinced that this is finally going to be the moment that Andrew proposes to her...except she ends up finding out he cheated on her and she breaks up their relationship instead. Her friend gives her a copy of The Single Girls Calendar which requires her to complete a different task every day for her to get over a broken heart. By taking part in the calendars tasks she finds herself moving into a house share with four male housemates within hours of breaking up with Andrew. Her life has officially changed.

I initially thought this book would just be one of the typical romance novels...you know, girl leaves guy, finds another guy then bam they live happily ever after. Boy was I wrong! This book was so much more than this. I gasped out loud, I laughed, I even cried my eyes out at this book! It was full of unexpected surprises. It was so much more amazing than I initially imagined it was going to be and I basically just absolutely loved this book. 

I loved the idea of The Single Girls Calendar. The idea that Esme completes a different challenge daily is such a great idea and works so well in the novel. I have no idea if such calendar exists but if not it really should as it seems such a fun idea and reading about how Esme completes the tasks and seeing her grow as a character the more she completes makes for a fantastic novel.

I really enjoyed reading about Esme and all her housemates. Even though Esme has just broken up with the person she thought she would spend the rest of her life with, she isn’t annoying about it. Thanks to her calendar she starts getting on with her life but her heightened emotions make for some great reading. Esme’s four new housemates are all very different personalities and what I particularly liked was how much they appear in the story without being overbearing and taking the story away from Esme. I really don’t want to write too much about the housemates as to not give away the story but they’re all very different to how I expected them to be. Again, the surprises in this novel even extend to the characters.

Honestly? I loved this book. The author has another book out which I am now very excited to download onto my kindle and read because after how much I loved The Single Girls Calendar I am sure her other novel is going to be just as good. The Single Girl’s Calendar isn’t the cliché romance novel and offers characters you actually want to read about and a storyline that captures your attention from start to finish. The Single Girl’s Calendar is released on the 1st January so I can only highly recommend that you make this book the first you read in the new year – you will not be disappointed. 

Synopsis –
A task a day to cure a broken heart. 
Esmé Peel is approaching thirty with some trepidation, but hope in her heart. If she can just get her long-term boyfriend Andrew to propose, she will have ticked everything off her 'things to do by the time you're 30' list. She didn't reckon on finding another woman's earring in her bed however, and soon she finds herself single, homeless and in need of a new plan. Her best friend Carys gives her the perfect present – The Single Girl’s Calendar – which has a different cure for heartbreak every day: 


Day 1: Look and feel fabulous with a new hair style. 

Day 2: Step out of your comfort zone and try something new. 

Day 3: Reconnect with friends and enjoy! 
Despite thinking it's a bit of a gimmick, Esmé hasn't got any better ideas, so she puts the plan into action. By the end of week one she has four new male housemates, and despite a broken heart she is determined to show Andrew she can do more than survive, she can thrive. 

Monday 18 December 2017

Wildest Dreams Book Subscription Box


I never really post reviews of products and things like that on my blog. I may mention things that I love every so often but never a full blog post about a certain thing. Today is going to be the exception of that rule because I feel like if you read my blog you’ll love books too and if you love books you need to know about this.

Currently very few book subscription boxes (with books I’d actually want to read) exist in the UK and the ones you can import from the US, just end up costing a lot of money sadly making them not really worth the money. Now, a few months ago I heard about a brand-new UK based book subscription box called Wildest Dreams and box number one arrived the other day. I’m that excited about it, I’m having to write this post! You can’t buy this box anymore but if you have subscribed and are waiting for your box to arrive please be aware that I am going to post spoilers as to what the first box contains from here on in. 

Wildest Dreams box 1’s theme was Best Of YA 2017. I love young adult books so the theme of this book couldn’t have been better for me. I was a little concerned that I may have already read the book but thankfully this isn’t the case. The book in the box is, The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed. To be honest I haven’t actually heard of this book before but I have had a look at reviews on Goodreads and after reading the list of endless good reviews, its safe to say I’m excited to read this book. I’ve added the book to my Christmas reading pile so expect my review of this book on my blog in the very near future. The box also came with a little note from The Nowhere Girls author, Amy Reed, which was exclusive to this box. I felt this was a nice added touch to go with the book.

When I subscribed to the box I knew very little about it other than every month I would get a book and a couple of other little treats. I had very little idea about what these other things would be so I got a very pleasant surprise when opening up this box. The first product that I have to mention and is my favourite was a Sorting Hat Bath Bomb from company, Geeky Clean. I have a slight obsession with bath bombs and I absolutely adore Harry Potter so I have actually been meaning to buy a Sorting Hat Bath Bomb for a long time now. So, I couldn’t have been happier to have opened the box and found one inside. A Sorting Hat Bath Bomb is basically a plain white bath bomb on the outside and then when you put it in your bath it dissolves and turns your bath the colour of your house. After standing at the side of my bath and repeatedly muttering not Slytherin, not Slytherin…I am very happy to reveal that my bath water turned blue and I was sorted into Ravenclaw! The bath bomb itself was great fun, smelt nice and left my skin feeling lovely which is basically everything you want from a bath bomb. I just loved this product!    



The box also contained a loose tea from Rosie Lea Tea. The tea itself was chocolate orange flavour and I have to say it was absolutely delicious. I may be a little bias as I am probably the biggest chocolate orange fanatic but oh my goodness this tea was the best tea I’ve ever had. I’m not normally a fan of flavoured teas but I can highly recommend this one so for me it was the perfect addition to the box. After all, who doesn’t love sitting down with a freshly made cup of tea and start reading a new book. Sadly, the minute I saw this in the box I instantly made the tea so I didn't take a photograph of it. 
The final addition to the box was a signed bookmark from author Michelle Kenney, whose wrote the book, Book of Fire. To be honest I’ve not heard of the book but it is being advertised as Percy Jackson meets The Bone Season, two books that I absolutely adore so I’m very interested in reading this now. It’s certainly been added to my books to purchase list.
As I said at the beginning I never do posts like this but I thought this box was great. I’ve just renewed by subscription and I am already excited for next months box which is themed, Into The Jungle. I’ll put the link for further information below but for £18.00 a box I personally am very impressed with box number one and I can only imagine its just going to get better and better the more boxes are made.
Wildest Dreams Subscription Box Link – 
Some of the contents in the Wildest Dreams Box!

Saturday 16 December 2017

It Started With A Tweet - Anna Bell



Daisy is obsessed with being online. Daisy spends all of her spare time tweeting or uploading photos of her life onto Instagram and of course trying to sort out her love life on Tinder. However, on the way to one of her many Tinder dates she tweets something meant for her personal account onto her works account by mistake. Of course this tweet is way too inappropriate for a work Twitter account and instantly goes viral causing her to get fired from her job. Top this off with her best friend wants to kick her out of the flat she lives at, its safe to say Daisy's life isn't going so well. Daisy's sister, Rosie thinks she has the perfect plan to help Daisy - a digital detox, and drags her to a remote village with no phone signal to help her renovate her new house.

I loved this book! I think the reason that I enjoyed it so much because I saw a lot of Daisy in myself. I'm quite ashamed to admit this but I am that person whose surgically attached to their mobile phone. I tweet way too much, spend too many hours browsing Instagram, I google things quicker than you can suggest doing it, I'd never use a real map I'd just go straight to my phone to do it...you get the idea. I was absolutely laughing my head of at certain points in this book, for example when Daisy (the most unsporty person in the world) goes hiking up a mountain just to try and get phone signal...well I have definitely done similar things before so I found it so funny to read about. Honestly, if you're even slightly obsessed with your phone you'll be able to relate with this book and find yourself in absolute hysterics at many moments of the story.

The characters are so easy to read about and are just instantly likable from the start. I was somewhat worried that the story would just be about Daisy moaning that she hasn't got her phone but it isn't like that in the slightest. Daisy is funny and likable which makes her a great lead character. I also like the fact that she does go on a journey as a character, she ends the book as a completely different person than she starts in the novel. Her sister, Rosie is equally as enjoyable to read about. I really enjoyed reading about the attempts they make at renovating the house and how they try to fit into the local community. I absolutely loved reading about how they both cope on a digital detox. The potential love interests in the form of French exchange help, Alexis and Jack, a local who lives next door. They're both so different but both really add to the story. To top it all off the resisdents of the village are brilliant. I live in a rural village and some of the characters (particularly the lady’s gossiping in the post office!) are so similar to people in my village which only added to my enjoyment.

I've read other novels of Anna Bell's and loved them so its no surprise that I enjoyed this book too. Its been along time since a book made me completely laugh out loud so much and this book certainly did. Its been one of the best books I've read of the year and I can highly recommend you buy this book as your next one to read.

Synopsis -

Can Daisy Hobson log off for love...?

Could you survive a digital detox? This hilarious new romantic comedy from the author of The Bucket List to Mend a Broken Heart is perfect for fans of Lucy Diamond and Sophie Kinsella.

Daisy Hobson lives her whole life online. A marketing manager by day, she tweets her friends, instagrams every meal and arranges (frankly, appalling) dates on Tinder. But when her social media obsession causes her to make a catastrophic mistake at work, Daisy finds her life going into free-fall ...

Her sister Rosie thinks she has the answer to all of Daisy's problems - a digital detox in a remote cottage in Cumbria, that she just happens to need help doing up. Soon, too, Daisy finds herself with two welcome distractions: sexy French exchange-help Alexis, and Jack, the brusque and rugged man-next-door, who keeps accidentally rescuing her.

But can Daisy, a London girl, ever really settle into life in a tiny, isolated village? And, more importantly, can she survive without her phone?