Don’t Tell The Groom - Anna Bell

I’ve had this review saved as a daft for a couple of years and I have absolutely no idea why I never posted it. As it’s 9:30pm and I’ve completely forgot about today’s Blogtober I figured I would post this!

Review - 

I'll be the first to admit that the two reasons that I chose to read this book is because it has a stunning cover and because I love the television show Don't Tell The Bride. Don't Tell The Groom is somewhat loosely based on the television show.

Mark and Penny have been in a relationship together for a very long time and have been saving for their wedding day long before Mark had even asked Penny to be his wife. The idea was that when it was time to get married they'd be able to have the wedding of Penny's dreams - complete with a Vera Wang wedding dress and Jimmy Choo shoes. In an attempt to boost the wedding fund more, Penny plays online bingo. Once Mark pops the question it is quickly discovered that Penny has gambled away £10,000 worth of the wedding fund leaving just £5000 worth of money to plan Penny's dream wedding that would rival Kim Kardashian's. In an attempt to keep her gambling hidden away Penny adopts a Don't Tell The Groom style strategy and plans the entire wedding herself cheaply so her accountant fiancé doesn't find out about her gambling. 

I absolutely love the idea behind this book. I find the storyline a great idea and I wished I’d thought of writing this book myself! 

I find it very difficult to relate to Penny in this book which is my only real problem with it. Despite this I did find it enjoyable to read and it made me chuckle at some of Penny's slightly desperate attempts at trying to plan her wedding cheap. Penny even goes to the extent of taking a flower arranging course to arrange her own flowers for the wedding in order to save money! I finished this book very quickly so if you're looking for a book that's a reasonably quick read I would recommend it. 

Synopsis -

Penny has big dreams for her wedding day. She wants an unforgettable celebration, perfect down to the last detail, and has been saving for ages to make her dream a reality. When Mark finally pops the question, it's the best moment of her life. Until Penny checks her wedding fund and is horrified to discover that something has gone terribly wrong. There's far less money there than she'd thought, and it's all her fault. She can't tell Mark the truth about what she's done . . . her only choice is to get married on a drastically smaller budget. 

Working under the pretence of surprising Mark with her plans on their big day, operation 'Don't Tell the Groom' rolls into action, with surprising, hilarious and moving results. Will Penny be able to keep her secret long enough to say 'I do'?

Blogtober - Day 10

I was having a discussion with someone earlier about music guilty pleasures. I’d never really thought about having a guilty pleasure as let’s be honest my music taste is pretty dire anyway so nothing ever comes as a surprise to anyone that I like them. I’ll openingly admit to loving Hannah Montana day, Miley Cyrus or first album Justin Bieber - you know peoples stereotypical guilty pleasure artists.

I mean, really is anything wrong with having a ‘guilty pleasure’. If you like it then what does it matter? My favourite bands are Busted and McFly but it takes me forever to admit to people just how much of a fan I actually am. I find myself slowly slipping in bits here and there until they eventually find out how much I love them. Does this make them a guilty pleasure even if they’re my favourite band? I think in this case I’m just more not wanting to admit to people straight off how much of a fan girl I actually am. Believe me when you go straight to screaming in front of people when Busted tweet you for example, they look at you if you’ve flown straight out of crazy land. 

It’s strange as I was only talking about guilty pleasures today and I was adamant that I didn’t have any as such. However, when I came home and checked my emails, I had one saying that a certain artist was going on tour and I instantly got excited. I am very much obsessed with this persons solo music right now but it is certainly an artist I couldn’t admit to liking to a lot of people / definitely (sadly....) could not go to a tour! This person is completely and utterly aimed at a teenage audience and it 100% wasn’t at all cool to like the music when they were in a band! I’m not ashamed to mention who it is as like I say I love their solo music but for the purpose of a guilty pleasure blog it’s going to remain anonymous! It doesn’t take much guessing who it is though I don’t think!

Why isn’t it acceptable to like some artists though? Is it when they have a following that isn’t age appropriate for yourself or is it just because the music is shameful to like if that’s even possible? Who knows? One things for sure, if you like the music then why be ashamed? Embrace the guilty pleasure! Heck, I might even embrace mine and buy a tour ticket tomorrow....

Girl Online Going Solo - Zoe Sugg

Girl Online Going Solo is book number three in the Girl Online series by YouTuber, Zoe Sugg aka Zoella. This book starts the new year with Penny being alone. Noah has gone and no one, not even Penny or his family knows where. So when Penny gets an invitation from old school friend, Megan, to go visit her at her new school she jumps at the opportunity. Seems like a good opportunity for her to make new friends but can Penny really ever move on from Noah?

I’ve never been the biggest fan of this series of books yet I still keep on reading the sequels. I think that I just like the idea of them more than the actual book. I picked this book up to take as holiday reading and to be honest it was pretty good for that. It’s a light hearted quick read which is exactly what I want from a book I take on holiday with me. However, once again I sadly just didn’t enjoy it.

I just can’t gel with the characters. Penny however, does make some character progression in this book which actually is great. It’s wonderful to see her finally standing on her own two feet and getting on with things without depending on Noah. She has truly developed as a character and I loved the fact she’s started getting on with her life. I also really liked how much she helped out other characters in the novel too. Yet despite this I still just can’t get enough of an attachment to her to care about her story. Noah, however is a horrible character. I liked him in book one, despised him in book two and in this book he just seemed neither here nor there. I get that he had to stay out of Penny’s way in order for her to develop but he just didn’t feature enough in this book.

I’ve said in previous reviews of this series that I think it’s great that a person with such influence over a young audience writes about anxiety etc and this book is no exception. A character in this novel has severe stage fright and of course Penny suffers from anxiety. The inclusion of this is such a brilliant thing as I feel many people suffer with mental issues and if it helps even one person feel a little better about what they’re going through then I can’t really knock these books. 

I should just realise now that these books just aren’t for me.  If you loved the previous Girl Online novels however you’ll still love Girl Online Going Solo. It provides the same elements as in previous books that lovers of the others will absolutely enjoy.

Synopsis –

As Penny starts the school year she's ready to face the world - alone. Noah has gone off the radar after ending his world tour early and no one, including Penny, knows where he is. So when she accepts Megan's invitation to visit her performing arts school it seems like an opportunity to make some new friends.

Helping everyone else seems to be the right remedy - Elliot needs her friendship more than ever, and she meets Posey, who she can really help with her stage fright. But is charming Scottish boy Callum the right kind of distraction? And can Penny truly move on when Noah's shadow seems to haunt her round every corner?

Book three in the number-one bestselling Girl Online series.

Blogtober - Day 8

I’m sure I’ve mentioned my Kindle alot on this blog because now a days that is where I do 99% of my reading. I still absolutely love physical books though so today’s post is going to be my thoughts on kindle vs physical book.

It took me a long time to convert to a kindle – and I mean a long time! I was very anti kindle. I was that person who couldn’t understand why anyone would ever read a book on a kindle verses buying a real book. It just didn’t make sense to me why you would sacrifice the great things about a physical book in exchange for reading it on a screen. Yet a few years later I have turned into the person who is 100% a kindle addict. I have a kindle paperwhite and honestly its one of the best things I own. It’s worth mentioning here that I’ve never tried any other of the e-readers that are available but I’m sure they’re all as good as the kindle!

For me practicality of a kindle just wins a physical book for me. It just got to the stage where I couldn’t fit any more books in my house anymore. I had books under my bed, in my wardrobe; in storage boxes...you name the place it had books it in. I’m pretty sure I could’ve given Waterstones a run for its money with the amount I had. Sadly I had a real big clear out and donated most of my books to my local community library which is being run by a family friend whose trying to keep it open so as much as I hated parting with a lot of my books at least it’s good to know others will be getting enjoyment from them. I don’t have this problem with a kindle, I can download as many books as I like and wherever I take my kindle all the books that are on it are just sat on it too which is frankly just the most amazing thing.  

Another reason that I love my kindle is the price of books. I read insanely quickly and I sadly I don’t earn enough money to cover new books at the speed that I read. Amazon’s Kindle store has a ton of free books and most that aren’t only cost a couple of pounds anyway which is amazing for someone like me.

I used to always travel with a book. Every time I went on a train I had a paperback thrown into my bag. Then I used to get annoyed that said book used to get quite battered from me quickly putting it back in my bag when I realised I’d reached my stop or when the train pulled into the platform. My kindle is the perfect travelling companion in this respect. It  also saves me a lot of weight in my suitcase when I’m going abroad! 

All this being said, I still absolutely love physical books. Nothing beats the smell of a brand new book and actually turning real pages. A physical book you can flip through, look at the covers and they look a million times nicer on a bookshelf! If I had the money and space, my house would pretty much look like a bookshop. However, I don’t so for me my kindle is just the best thing I own and now I sadly would chose to download a book on their rather than pick up a physical book.

Blogtober - Day 7

Its Bookshop Day today so it only seems appropriate that todays Blogtober post is book themed. I know its past shop opening times today but it is Bookshop Day so perhaps tomorrow is the perfect excuse to go out and buy that new book you've been wanting to purchase.

As if I don't do a lot of reading on a normal week, when I'm on holiday I become obsessed. It's got that out of hand on my most recent holidays that I've finished reading a book before I've ever boarded the airplane - its definitely a time I spend catching up on my to read list.

Whilst on holiday last week I became in a bit of a book rut. I always download new books onto my kindle / buy a couple of physical books to take with me. For this holiday I wanted one of those novels that just made my heart tingly because of the absolute romantic adorableness of the book. Unbelievably after spending an extensive time (I'm not even kidding, I was there for hours...) browsing in Waterstones and even asking the sales assistant for a super cheesy romantic novel recommendation I couldn’t find anything that fit that description that I’d not already read. So I found myself browsing through my kindle and rereading books that I'd read within the past couple of years that I absolutely loved but just haven’t really had the time to read again for a long time. I’d forgotten how much I adore the two books I’m going to tell you about so I absolutely loved rereading them!

Not In The Script - Amy Finnegan

Click here for my original review of this book. 

 

Boy Band - Jacqueline E Smith

Click here for my original review of this book.  

For me these 2 books are some of the best romantic / young adult novels that I've ever read. Even though I'd read them both before and knew exactly what happened in the books they both gave me that same tingly feeling from cute romance over load. Plus I've read a lot of books in this genre and both contain characters that I still wish were real! These are definitely some of my favourite books so if you're looking for this kind of genre of book you have to buy these two!

Blogtober - Day 6

Today’s been a really productive day at work - I was introduced to the world of Tinder. It sort of fascinated me so I figured it would be a perfect post for today’s Blogtober post.

I have absolutely no interest what so ever in joining tinder (or any other dating site for that matter) as I’m happy in my personal life but it was interesting to see how it worked.

From the very little I’ve seen of Tinder, it seems to be about judging someone instantly based on very little information. You decide on an age and location range then simply swipe left or right depending on if you like the look of them or not. I actually sat there and dismissed a guy for my colleague just because he was called Harvey as I decided it was too much of a dogs name to swipe yes. It was the most ridiculous reason but so many photos come up you find yourself nit picking people over the littlest things.

The messages my colleague had received on tinder were something else. Men were messaging her with just the most cringeworthy chat up lines, think of the worst chat up line you could imagine and times it by 100 and you’re at the tinder levels of messages! Then some messages she received, the man asked her out on a date within the first message then when she didn’t reply asap they unliked her. Another colleague went on a date with a guy she met through tinder and he refused to take her home, locked his car doors and drove her to his house for after date fun...needless to say she binned him off rather sharpish! So many horror stories! Call me old fashioned but this isn’t the way I’d want to start a relationship! 

The whole thing just seems false. Photos people chose to put up are the most posy photos you’ve ever seen. From topless guys who know they look good to those with pouts to those who are clearly trying too hard to look cool. I know it’s like Facebook etc where you wouldn’t put a photo up where you look rough but to me it just all seems false! 

I know I have old fashioned, hopeless romantic views on relationships but I just don’t think tinder is for me. I’d want to have more romance and less cheesy chat up lines. I completely get why people do it. I mean you could be sat watching The Chase at 8pm on a Friday evening but at the same time sat swiping through hundreds of potential love interests. In a world where social media dominates it does seem a great way to meet people but I would be interested to know if anyone has actually found the one this way.

I’d love to know others peoples experiences on tinder, as from what I’ve heard so far they’ve not all been that great! 

The Song Rising - Samantha Shannon

The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon is book number 3 in the bone series of books. This book continues as Paige Mahoney has just stepped into her role as Underqueen. However, that position has now brought her a whole host of new enemies who want rid of the clairvoyant community. Paige quickly discovers that a Senshield has been created in order to detect those with clairvoyant powers and sets off on a mission to destroy them. 

I've read all of the books in the series and I actually reread the series of books before reading The Song Rising. The worlds and the story that the author writes about is that detailed and complex that I think you need to get back into the story again to be able to fully appreciate the new books story. Things and the characters that are mentioned throughout this book are things which have been described in previous books so it is now just accepted that you know about these things. It is for this reason that I think that if you're planning on reading this book, you must read the others in the series first. I love this book series and know the world that is wrote about quite well but I think would’ve been struggling to follow without rereading first! 

Personally, I enjoyed this book a lot more than the last book in the series and that is saying something because I adore this book series. I really enjoy the fact that this book see's Paige out and about in other areas of the UK. I feel that this is the book that Paige really develops as a character and despite the fact that she's now Underqueen, she is still absolutely fearless and will do anything to help out when she can. If I had to complain about one thing in this book, its the lack of Warden that appears in the story but again that's only a little thing and more about my story preference than how good the book is. 

Paige in particular develops a lot a a character in this novel. The stakes are higher than ever now she’s the underqueen and her character adapts to this role wonderfully. The pressures of the role clearly show but I really like the actions she takes in this novel. 

This book series has such an incredible way of dragging you into the book. The descriptions are just unbelievable. It’s one of those books that you spend your day worrying about things that are happening in the book. They definitely aren’t happening in your life but you find yourself spending your day worrying about being caught by a Sensheild?! That’s how you know a book is good.

If you’ve loved the book series so far you will absolutely love The Song Rising. If you haven’t yet started reading these books you have to! They’re one of my favourite book series and I’m sure if you’re reading this you’ll love these books too!

Synopsis - 

The hotly anticipated third book in the bestselling Bone Season series – a ground-breaking, dystopian fantasy of extraordinary imagination Following a bloody battle against foes on every side, Paige Mahoney has risen to the dangerous position of Underqueen, ruling over London's criminal population.   But, having turned her back on Jaxon Hall and with vengeful enemies still at large, the task of stabilising the fractured underworld has never seemed so challenging. Little does Paige know that her reign may be cut short by the introduction of Senshield, a deadly technology that spells doom for the clairvoyant community and the world as they know it…