Accidentally In Love – Anna Premoli

Accidentally In Love tells the story of Sara and Ethan. The pair couldn’t be more different. Sara is a very successful lawyer who hasn’t had much luck in love and choses to live near her family in Brooklyn. Ethan on the other hand has been born into privilege. When his father dies he and his brother are left the successful business, however Ethan is too busy partying and drinking all of his money away in Manhattans trendiest spots. When Sara is appointed as Ethan’s financial legal guardian conflict is bound to happen due to the fact that they are completely opposites.

Its no secret that reading this type of storyline is one of my favourite genre types and Accidentally In Love certainly did not disappoint. You know those days when you want to read a romance novel that makes you absolutely laugh out loud? Yep, this is a perfect example of the kind of book. Sara and Ethan are both hilarious. The ways in which they go to try and torment the other made me actually laugh out loud at certain points in the book, particularly Ethan as he’s so desperate to get Sara to resign as his guardian. Truthfully, I started this book when I wasn’t feel 100% and I didn’t think I was going to enjoy it, however when I picked my kindle up a few nights later I found myself completely and utterly addicted.

Yes, the story may have been predictable but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I thoroughly enjoyed the build up in the story. Again, the same applies with Sara and Ethan. Ethan is particular is such the stereotypical, rich bad boy character but he worked so wonderfully in this story. Sara and Ethan’s hate relationship makes such a great read and I think if they hadn’t had stereotypical traits the story probably wouldn’t have been so enjoyable. However, Sara is absolutely hilarious. The ways she reacts to Ethan made me laugh. She tries so hard to remain calm and the one in control as she’s his guardian which makes for a great read.

This is the 2^nd one of Anna Premoli’s novels that I’ve read and really enjoyed reading. They’re always a great romantic story with so many funny moments doted thorough. I think if you’re in between books at the moment and are looking for a reasonable fast read this is the book for you.

Synopsis –

A funny romantic comedy about how opposites definitely do attract... 

Sara Di Giovanni is a successful lawyer in New York City: she is the star of her profession, an excellent role model to her very vivacious little sister, but has so far been unlucky in love... 

Ethan Phelps is the rich playboy trouble-maker whose only talent in life is spending money and dating women... That is until Ethan's father dies with no will to his name, leaving his two sons the legal heirs to his billion-dollar company. 

Sara is forced to become the court-appointed guardian to handle Ethan's share of the fortune, as his family do not trust him to manage it himself. Sara thinks it should be easy, but it's not so simple when Ethan is determined to get rid of her by whatever means necessary... 

What ensues is a dramatic and hilarious power-play between Sara and Ethan... but what will happen when feelings start to get in the way?

Love To Hate You – Jo Watson

Sera normally does everything right, she works hard to support herself and her family and she truly tries to be a good girl all the time. Then after one night of poor judgement she finds herself having a one-night stand…in the back of a stranger’s car no less! However, little does Sera know it wasn’t going to be a one night stand she could just forget about as mystery man. Ben, turns out to be her new boss.

I read Love To Hate You in one day. You know those books that are a nice easy read but addictive so you can’t put them down then you look at the clock and its 2am but you only have a few pages left so you figure you might as well finish the book? This was 100% that kind of book for me. It was just that addictive.

The relationship between Sera and Ben is a ridiculously slow build up despite how quickly they initially get together in the back of his car. To be honest, normally I get bored with storylines like this, I just end up practically screaming at my kindle for them to either get together or just call it a day – no need to leave us, the readers, in limbo. However, I don’t know why but the fact that it is slow works so well in this book and I surprisingly its what I enjoyed most about the story.

The characters were great to read about even if completely stereotypical, especially Ben. He was just the standard arrogant male love interest especially when he ends up being her boss. Again, this normally is something I dislike in books but it just worked in this story. Sera on the other hand couldn’t be more different. She’s so independent and confident in her decisions and just tries to just be a genuinely nice person to everyone and I loved this about her.

Overall, I found the story great. I thought certain aspects were thrown in just to add more to the story, like the problems Sera has with her family particularly towards the end but generally I enjoyed the story. I mean I didn’t stay up until the early hours of the money reading it so you can safety say I enjoyed this book.

If you’re looking for an easy to read, fun romance novel this is your book!

Synopsis –

An unmissable sexy rom-com from the author of ALMOST A BRIDE. Perfect for fans of Joanna Bolouri, Cate Woods and Sally Thorne's THE HATING GAME.

Sera is usually a good girl. (Except for one wild night in the backseat of a stranger's car!) But what happens when that bad boy turns out to be her new boss? And what happens when he wants more than one night...and he can be very persuasive...

For more laugh-out-loud, swoon-worthy hijinks, don't miss Jo's other rom-coms, BURNING MOON, ALMOST A BRIDE and FINDING YOU.

The Extinction Trails - S.M. Wilson

Fact – everyone loves dinosaurs. No matter how old you are I think you’ll always have a part of you that likes dinosaurs so when I received The Extinction Trials by S.M. Wilson in my latest Wildest Dreams book club box its safe to say I was excited to read it.

The Extinction Trails takes you to a land with dinosaurs. The human race is rapidly expanding so needs more space to expand so they host a series of trials to find willing people to go to the continent of the dinosaurs to collect eggs in order to try cause their extinction to make more space for humans. The book follows the story from two contestants point of view, Stormchaser and Lincoln. They both have their own reasons for taking part in the trails. Little do they know what will be ahead of them when they take part in the trials.

The book itself is being advertised as The Hungers Games meets Jurassic Park which is a pretty big statement in itself. However, now I’ve read the book I can honestly say this is the perfect way to describe this book. It’s a gripping story from start to finish – and did I mention it features dinosaurs?! The group of trialists are from a variety of backgrounds and I thoroughly enjoyed reading how they worked together as a team in order to collect the dinosaur eggs. However, like the Hunger Games it does feature multiple deaths so it may not be too suitable for younger readers.

Chapters are told from the point of view of Stormchaser and Lincoln. Now, normally I’m not a huge fan of chapters from multiple perspectives as I find it makes stories a little confusing and difficult to follow. However, this is the same story and it absolutely flows from two perspectives. To be honest, this is one of the few books that I thoroughly enjoyed being told from multiple perspectives and I felt that it really benefitted from it as you could read about what is going on in both of their heads. Aside from that they’re both very different characters but both equally as enjoyable to read about, normally with dual perspectives I majorly favour one of the characters but in this book, I really did enjoy reading about both.

As the synopsis suggests the book is full of danger where characters are willing to stab each other in the back in order to win. The story truly was addictive, I read this within a couple of days despite it not being a particularly short book. It was full of twist and turns and chapters that made you just continue reading as you just had to know what happened next. The continent the dinosaurs live on is so vividly described to the extent I kept checking out of my window every time I heard a noise just in case a T-Rex was lurking outside my window! I was transported to the world and as I read I found myself becoming more absorbed in this world.

The Extinction Trials is going to be a series but the book has a good enough ending that it works as a standalone. However, it still left me wanting more so I’m already eagerly waiting the next instalment in this book series! To be honest, if I saw this book on a shelf I admit I probably wouldn’t have picked it up, I received it in my Wildest Dreams subscription box and I’m so thrilled that I did because this book is brilliant. If you liked The Hunger Games (and dinosaurs!) you will 100% love this book and I can only recommend that you make it your next must read book.

Synopsis –

Betrayal. Sacrifice. Survival.

Welcome to the Extinction Trials.

In Stormchaser and Lincoln's ruined world, the only way to survive is to risk everything. To face a contest more dangerous than anyone can imagine. And they will do anything to win.

But in a land full of monsters - human and reptilian - they can't afford to trust anyone. Perhaps not even each other...

Talk Of Shame – Alex Everwood

Talk Of Shame tells the story of three students in the first year at Somerville University. They’ve all got to the university in different ways and they all have very different ideas of what to get out of the university / sorority experience. The story follows them around as they start the university.

I so badly wanted to love this book. From the synopsis it sounded like such a good book however it just wasn’t overly my cup of tea. Yes, I enjoyed it but personally it isn’t going to be my favourite book. The story is told in multiple perspectives and I don’t really enjoy this in a book. For me, sadly this is what I didn’t even this about this book as I found I just couldn’t get into the story as quickly as I’d have liked. However, I did enjoy the story and I did find myself invested in the characters as the book went on, but it did take me a long time to get into the story and to figure out which character was which.

I actually did enjoy all three of the characters. It was interesting to read about how different every individuals university life can be. What I enjoyed too is that Katie, Jill and Beatrice or not two-dimensional characters. They all don’t seem to be what you initially think about them.

To be perfectly honest, this is probably one of the hardest reviews of a book that I’ve ever had to write. I really don’t want to say that it’s a bad book because it isn’t, its just that for me I didn’t really enjoy each chapter being told from a different person’s perspective. I think if you do enjoy books split like this and you read the synopsis and it sounds like a book you’d like I reckon you probably would. I mean, I enjoyed reading the story and I did feel completely engrossed in the campus life and the characters are likeable. I just didn’t enjoy the different perspectives.

Synopsis –

Goodbye, high school. Hello, Alpha Chi! 

Somerville University. For freshmen Katie Brown, Jill Everson, and Beatrice Fritch, their approach to college-and relationships-couldn't be more different. They kick off freshman year with high hopes, but life doesn't always go as planned. One thing is for sure: no one wants to get caught on the Talk of Shame Instagram feed, the university's unofficial gossip site. One unsavory pic, and your reputation is shot. Unfortunately, that's a lesson learned the hard way... 

Katie's earned admission into the private university through her hard work in high school. Her aunt is paying her tuition on one condition: Katie must join a sorority, specifically Kappa Kappa Theta (KKT.) There's just one problem. Katie was kicked out of the "cool clique" in high school. Now she's independent and afraid of losing herself if forced to become a sorority girl. But is she using independence to protect herself from forming relationships? Especially if it's with the gorgeous editor of Somerville University's student newspaper? 

Jill chose Somerville for one reason: Alpha Chi Alpha (Chi Alpha), the most beautiful sorority house on campus, boasting the prettiest girls on campus. Jill has always been the southern belle who can "wear her weight well." Her confidence and humorous personality have won her lots of friends-and quite a few hook-ups. But she has yet to have a steady boyfriend. But that'll happen automatically once becoming a Chi Alpha. Right? 

And then there's Beatrice. College wouldn't be complete without a frenemy: something that comes easy to the young, coed. A member of Chicago's wealthy elite, she wears only the best labels, drives only the hottest cars, and enrolls at Somerville-the most prestigious private university around. But her status comes at a price: lasting friendship. Beatrice has learned to manipulate others in order to protect herself, and her childhood friendship with Katie was the first one to suffer. Will Somerville give her the chance to reconcile and find her true self? 

Katie, Jill, and Beatrice champion and struggle with the ins-and-outs of Greek Row, a life filled with hook-ups, heartbreak, backstabbing, and cheating. Both in and out of the classroom. 

For fans of Bright Side by Kim Holden, Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan, and the TV Series Gossip Girl.

Loserville Musical

Back in 2012, I became obsessed with the musical Loserville. I mean, the musical is co written by one of my favourite band members, James Bourne and it is jam packed full of songs from his band, Son Of Dork. Top that off with the fact that the play starred Chris Hardman (Lil Chris) who I’m pretty sure everyone loved when he released his ridiculously catching song, Checkin’ It Out. Let’s face it, I was always going to love this musical. A few months later however the show shut and it hasn’t been on a West End stage since.

Flash forward six years and Loserville came back to the Garrick Theatre on London’s West End last weekend with most of the original cast for a one night only special event. Very sadly the show was brought back in memory of Lil Chris who unfortunately suffered with severe depressing which ultimately led to him committing suicide a few years ago. Loserville was the perfect was to remember him and also to raise money for Maytree, a charity focussing on trying to help people with suicidal thoughts. Loserville was also raising money for the Youth Music Theatre UK, a company encouraging young people into performing arts.

Honestly the evening was just wonderful. I had a drinks reception with some of the members of the cast and people involved in the show and the sheer enthusiasm of every single person in that room was off the chart. You could literally feel the real buzz in the room. Everyone was so excited that Loserville was back and that really was projected onto the stage later in the evening.

The show was advertised as a concert and it really was. The audience were encouraged to sing along and we were even invited to get our phones out and light up the theatre with the torches on them at one point in the show. However, it wasn’t just a case of the cast singing the songs. It was every single line of the original West End show that was performed and it worked just as wonderfully on stage as the original show did. You could just see on stage how much every single person on that stage was absolutely loving this song being back even if due to the sad circumstances of it being performed once more.

Its sad that the show was only for one night but Loserville is such a fantastic show and it truly would be a real shame for it not to be revived for a longer period of time in the future.  

Important Links –

Maytree - http://www.maytree.org.uk/

Youth Music Theatre - http://www.youthmusictheatreuk.org/

Obviously, the show was brought back to raise money for both Maytree and Youth Music Theatre UK. If you want to donate all you have to do is text – YMTR33 and £1 £2 £5 or £10 to 70070 

The Wedding That Changed Everything – Jennifer Joyce

The Wedding That Changed Everything tells the story of Emily. She has her heart broken by men and even her own mother…so it’s safe to say she’s completely and utterly done with the idea of love. However, her best friend Alice couldn’t be more opposite. Alice is a hopeless romantic who completely believes in finding Prince Charming. Alice has her love life sorted so she has taken it upon herself to find Emily her very own Prince Charming. When a spare place comes available at Alice’s sister’s wedding, Emily finds herself invited. Alice see’s the wedding as the perfect opportunity to find Emily her own perfect match.

From only a few chapters in I knew I would absolutely love this book. You know those books that you start reading then before you know it, its 3am and you’ve finished the book - this is absolutely one of those books! Everything about it just makes it a good book, I loved the story, I loved the setting of the castle, I loved the characters...I could go on!

The story is set in the most wonderfully, magic location of Alice’s family castle, Durban Castle. The descriptions of the castle and its grounds are fantastic and I found myself fully transported there whilst reading the book. I also really liked the actual storyline. I thoroughly enjoyed Alice’s attempts at trying to find a potential suitor for Emily and Emily’s attempts at trying to not get involved in any of it at all. I found myself actually laughing out loud at some of the moments in the book. However, its absolutely a romance novel and this book certainly isn’t lacking those either! Ok yes, some moments are a little farfetched but overall the story is believable and you can truly imagine yourself being in this situation.

All of the main characters are wonderful to read about. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the characters but Emily is a down to earth normal character which only added to my enjoyment of the book. She is funny, prone to getting lost and always up for all the pre-wedding games.

This book is everything you want from a romance novel. It’s a book you can get fully absorbed in quickly and the only bad thing about it is that it ends too soon. I’d very much like a sequel or at least something a little more as I’m just not ready to stop ready to stop reading about these characters. As you can tell, I really enjoyed reading this book and if you like the blurb then you will certainly love this book.

Synopsis –

Love happens when you least expect it… 

Emily Atkinson stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago! She’s fed up of dating frogs in order to track down her very own Prince Charming, despite the best efforts of her matchmaking best friend…

But now she’s been invited to the wedding of the year at the enchanting Durban Castle, and perhaps bumping into a knight in shining armour isn’t as far away as she thought!

Will Emily survive the wedding and walk away an unscathed singleton – or finally find her own happily-ever-after? 

New Years Resolution Failure

Today is the 14^th January. 13 years ago today my favourite band, Busted announced they were splitting and literally broke little 12 years heart. This is completely irrelevant to today’s blog post but I couldn’t post today and not post about it!

As rubbish as my attempt at Blogtober was, it at least got me writing about other things than what books I’m reading which is perfect as I have nothing new to talk about this week. I’ve just reread a book this week so it seems ridiculous to write a review about a novel that I’ve already wrote about previously! So instead I thought I’d do a little post about new years resolutions.

As it’s the 14^th it means we are two whole weeks into January – where on earth did that time go? Which also means we’ve had two whole weeks to make a good start at our new years resolutions. I wrote abit about my resolutions and well, I have failed absolutely miserably already. I wanted to finish writing a book and yes as the 1^st January rolled in, I really concentrated and started write, yet 2 weeks later I’ve been struck with a case of writing block and probably haven’t wrote anything for a week. I wanted to lose weight and yes, I am cutting back and trying to eat healthier, except yesterday I went out and ate a 3-course meal without any consideration towards choosing a healthy option and I wanted to quit Facebook. Believe it or not this has been the only one that I’ve relatively stuck to. I deleted the app off my phone and now I only check it on my PC when I get the email to say someone has tagged me in a post. Downside to less Facebook? I’m still not spending my time productively, I’m just spending a lot of time on Taylor Swift’s app, The Swift Life. However, for my mental sanity seeing photos people post of Taylor Swift is a lot happier on my brain then seeing all the people I know posting about their fake perfect lives.

Am I a failure? Potentially. I mean I haven’t given up on my goals, but the January 1^st, New Year New Me euphoria has certainly gone out of the window. Perhaps just settling down on the 1^st and saying yep I’m going to stop doing this, or start doing this and instantly do it isn’t the way to go as you’re going to give it up. So, I’m going to continue doing a little towards achieving things, after all a little is better than none at all. Hopefully your goals are going better than mine!

A little bit of a rubbish blog posts this week but January is that month of doom and gloom where nothing really happens. Hopefully soon I’ll be posting more interesting posts to read about.

Miss Match – Crystal Cestari

Amber lives in the world of the supernatural. Mingled in her local community are vampires, sirens, werewolf’s…top that off with the fact her mum is a witch, oh and Amber herself is a matchmaker. All Amber need a do is look into someone’s eyes and she can see someone’s soul mate, the only downside to this power? She can’t see her own happily ever after. It’s a great skill to have until she finds herself falling her classmate Charlie. He replicates her feeling but sadly Amber can she that she is not his happily ever after.

I absolutely loved the idea of this book. I think its such an interesting concept that Amber can see people’s soul mates but then goes hurdling full speed ahead towards someone who she knows isn’t supposed to be with her. 

Honestly, this book wasn’t what I was expecting. Is that a bad thing? Definitely not! I went into this novel expecting a cheesy romance novel between Amber and Charlie but this certainly isn’t what this book is – and I absolutely loved that! You’re thrown into a world of supernatural creatures and it was fascinating to read all about the weird and wonderful people living near Amber. The book really revolves around the kidnapping of Charlie’s potential step mum to be and how Charlie enlists Ambers help to find her, the romance just sort of builds up on the side. If you like me, you enjoy reading about a fantasy world where you’re living amount wizards/vampires and other ghoulies then you will really enjoy this book, the romance element is just a nice added bonus. 

Amber is a great character. She does everything she can to help people and she stands up for herself and others she cares about and for me that makes her a joy to read about. Ok, she makes she daft decisions but the way she bumbles through just adds to her character really. Charlie is wonderful too. His heart is so clearly in the right place and just like Amber he seems to do anything to help those that he cares about.

To be completely honest this book wasn’t an instant love. It did take me a few chapters to get into the story. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s a relatively slow burner but I did have to persevere a little until I got hooked. However, once I did get hooked, I found myself reading this book until far too late to be up reading books on a work night! Then once I found myself completely hooked, the book ended and I pretty much threw my kindle down with sheer frustration with how it ended! Thankfully, I have now discovered book number two so I’ll be eagerly downloaded.

If you enjoy fantasy books with a romantic element I think that you will love this book. Once you get gripped to this book, I can guarantee you will love it!

Synopsis – 

Fans of Geek Girl and Girl Online will love this magically messed-up romance.

Amber Sand has a gift. Five seconds of eye contact, and she can see your soul mate. 

She's seen it all, every kind of happy ending there is. Except for one - her own. So when Charlie Blitzman, the most-desired boy in school, enlists Amber's help, she finds herself falling for him. Problem is, her pesky gift doesn't agree - Charlie and Amber are just not meant to be, or are they?

How can Amber, an honest peddler of true love, pursue a boy she knows is not the one for her?

Goodbye 2017...Hello 2018

2017 has flown by in a blink of an eye. It seems to have been a matter of hours since last Christmas and I genuinely can’t believe I’m settling down to write a somewhat reflective blog. 

2017 didn’t start off well. I was thrown into training countless newbys at work who all left within days, some of whom had never even used a computer before and I had to sit and show them how to switch on the PC. Family illnesses happened. I had money worries. I even got very ill myself. Mentally I was completely and utterly destroyed. I couldn’t do anything, leaving the house to go to work became an effort, I picked up my Kindle only to throw it straight back down as I was never in the mood to read, I went straight to bed only for my brain to not shut up so I couldn’t sleep, I didn’t even write anything on this blog for months! I can honestly say that I’m so happy this period of my life is over.

I can’t complain about 2017 too much. I saw Daniel Radcliffe in theatre and got to meet him after. I saw the most amazingly Christmassy show, The Christmasaurus, and if that wasn’t enough I met Tom, Carrie and Giovanna Fletcher and Matt Willis before the show. I met Busted and got my favourite photo with them I’ve ever had taken which was so worth while even if Charlie did drop my brand new camera. I got to skype James Bourne…yeah 2017 was weird. 

After a god knows how many years wait I finally saw the breathtakingly amazing Harry Potter & The Cursed Child Play. Giovanna Fletcher released a new book and I laughed my way through the book event I attended – she is one funny lady! I saw dodie in concert after watching her ukulele covers since my university days. I saw Carrie Hope Fletcher on countless occasions in theatre both in The Addams Family (how brilliant is that play though!) and The Christmasaurus and every time left amazed at how much an incredible performer she is. I even braved a mystery holiday where I didn’t know where I would be going / staying until I scratched a scratch card at the airport. I ended up going on a lovely little break to Porto in Portugal and if you’re looking for abit of spontaneity in your live check out the company I went with, srprs.me, they were superb and planned a great holiday for me.

I don’t want to do any of the new year, new me business as you never know what is just around the corner. Plus every year I sit here on January 1^st telling myself I’m going to get a new job and coming up 5 years later I’m still at the same job so I’m well aware of how pointless new years resolutions are. So instead I’m going to do things that I’d maybe like to achieve if possible. I’d like to lose a little bit of weight, I don’t want to say I want to lose x amount, I just want to become a little healthier. I’d also like to finally finish my novel. I have no intention of ever trying to get it published but I’ve been writing it since 2014 and I keep deciding I need to rewrite it so in the space 3 years I’ve wrote about 6 novels worth of stories and never finished one. I would like to read 20 books. I normally easily do this (and often well over double this amount) yet sadly this year I didn’t manage it, so I want to be back on reading form again. Finally (and this is the biggy!) I’m going on a social media detox. I spend my life scrolling through facebook, twitter, Instagram…no lie I spend hours just mindlessly scrolling. I’m going to start off with binning off Facebook, I feel like that is the most toxic of the lot. I look at people I once knew and haven’t seen for ages and see them posting about their fake perfect lives and it bothers me that my life isn’t perfect too. So this morning the app was deleted off my phone, let’s hope I last the week! 

I hope everyone reading still reading this had a lovely Christmas and New Year! Bring on 2018!

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 1^st 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. 

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 – 

http://www.wildestdreamsbookbox.com/

Some of the contents in the Wildest Dreams Box!

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?

Trashy Romance Novel - Jacqueline E. Smith

Whenever I get into a conversation with anyone about books they always ask me what genre of books I enjoy reading. Queue my awkward mumble of 'oh I read a lot of young adult books and um...trashy romance novels...'. I love author Jacqueline E. Smith's Boy Band novels so when I heard she was releasing a novel called Trashy Romance Novel its safe to say I got excited about reading it. It sounded exactly like a book that was going to be my cup of tea!

Trashy Romance Novel tells the story of Delaney. Delaney is quite sweet and innocent so from an outsiders point of view she is pretty much the last person on the planet you'd expect to write a trashy romance novel. Yet she has and now her novel is so popular its being turned into a movie starring some very famous actors. Delaney flies to Scotland with her best friend Gemma to go visit the movie set and watch the all star cast, which includes the rebellious Colin Ward, playboy Benjamin Wyndham and Delaney's celebrity crush Matthew Kent, film the movie. Of course in true trashy romance style, when the normal girl meets the irresistible actor - you know her summer is going to be an interesting one!

As I had such big expectations of this book I was worried that I just wouldn't enjoy it, but I'm very happy to say that I absolutely loved this book. I love the idea of writing a book and then suddenly you find yourself watching your celebrity crush who you pictured when writing it actually playing the character you wrote so for me the storyline truly gripped my attention. If you're like me and read a lot of romance novels and I can guarantee that Trashy Romance Novel won't disappoint. 

The characters were great to read about. Delaney is so down to earth and likable which makes the book that much better to read about. Her best friend Gemma is also one of the greatest things about this book. Delaney is reserved whereas Gemma is outgoing and much more forward of situations. The fact that they're both so different really added to my enjoyment of the book as some moments really made me laugh reading about how they both responded to situations. The love interests in this book are the perfect romance novel characters too. Without spoiling the book, if I had to criticise the book, my only slight issue with it, is that I would've liked to read a little more about Matthew Kent particularly as Delaney liked him so much. However, it really didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book at all so it really isn't an issue.

The book itself is wrote quite unusually. Not only does it tell the story of Delaney's Scottish adventures but it also weaves in chapters of Delaney's book in between. To be honest I'm not usually a fan of novels which switch chapters up like this as I find I get engrossed in one story and it then annoys me when it switches to another but in this particular case I felt it worked well. Delaney watches a lot of her book be filmed so its interesting to actually read segments of the story which she's there watching being filmed. I've certainly worded this in the most confusing of ways but I can assure you it works very well in the novel. 

As you can tell I thought Trashy Romance Novel was fantastic. In my opinion if you love your romance novels you have to make Trashy Romance Novel by Jacqueline E Smith the next novel you buy!

Synopsis -

It all started with a crush. 
How cliché is that? I mean, of all the things to motivate a person to do something, how often does it go back to a silly infatuation? More often than most of us would probably care to admit. 
Of course, this wasn’t an ordinary crush on a cute coworker or a charming friend of a friend I hooked up with at a party. No, I’ve never met the guy who inspired my books. 
But I’m about to. 

Delaney Brooks is the author of The Queen’s Surrogate, the “sinfully satisfactory” romance novel that swept readers around the world off their feet and into the fictional embrace of His Majesty, King Malcolm. 

When her book is adapted into an eight-part miniseries, Delaney and her best friend Gemma fly to Scotland for what promises to be two months of lush green mountains, historic castles, and hot celebrity co-workers, including the gorgeous Matthew Kent, British playboy Benjamin Wyndham, and Hollywood’s hottest reformed rebel, Colin Ward.

Blogtober - Day 31

Happy Halloween!!!!! Or more importantly...happy end of Blogtober 2017!!!!! I can now breathe a deep sigh of relief, it’s all over!

It’s been 31 long days but we’ve made it! I actually achieved Blogtober! I know quite a lot of days I copped out and wrote the biggest pile of rubbish but hey I still posted something and I’ve actually blogged something for an entire 31 days! It’s been nice in a way to do more let’s write what I feel like kind of blogs rather than just doing book reviews. I definitely won’t be stopped my little reviews on books but I didn’t think I’d ever had the confidence to write more personal things so Blogtober has help me achieve that. I now know I can post anything I want on here.

It’s been exhausting, an effort at times but on the other days some days I’ve absolutely loved writing. Honestly I knew from day 1 that deciding to do Blogtober very last minute with no planning at all, would be difficult and boy was I not wrong. I wish I’d planned ahead and had a lot of posts planned in advance so when I was ill / out and forgot to blog / generally not in a writing mood I had something ready to post without feeling pressured to write something. I completely and utterly winged the entire 31 days and somehow I’ve made it to the end - hurrah!

Would I do Blogtober again....? If you asked me a week ago it would’ve been a 100% no, however maybe with a bit of planing I maybe would do it again. I’m definitely having a break off daily blogging for a little while at least!!! 

Blogtober - Day 30

Well somehow I’ve made it to the penultimate day of Blogtober! It is also the day before Halloween! 

I’ve been to Salem in October, pretty much the home of Halloween, and sadly since then Halloween seems a little disappointing. America celebrated Halloween like you see in movies! Massive pumpkin fayres, with racks and racks and racks of pumpkins towered high, houses decorated as much as we decorate for Christmas, people in costumes etc etc. Halloween just seems just more fun over in America, it’s literally like a scene from Hocus Pocus! 

Which leads me on nicely to my own Halloween traditions. I’m British so sadly we don’t really care about Halloween. Ok, the supermarkets may sell pumpkins and various buckets of sweets to give out to potential trick or treaters but generally we don’t make that much of a big deal out of it. As I’ve got older I literally do nothing for Halloween. I just don’t care for it. Plus after being in America for Halloween, ours just isn’t the same anymore. All I do for Halloween now is hope that Hocus Pocus, The Addams Family and Casper is on tv and I’m very happy! Sadly it’s now the night before Halloween and I’ve currently only seen Hocus Pocus this year.

Sadly I don’t have much to say today. I’ve had a long day and I’m feeling exhausted. However, inevitably I won’t be blogging until late tomorrow too so I’m going to take this opportunity to wish anyone who reads this a happy Halloween!!!

dodie - You Tour

Last night I was at Stylus in Leeds seeing dodie on her You tour. You may know dodie better as her YouTube username doddleoddle. I’ve been a fan of dodie for a number of years now but both of her headlining tours sold out incredibly fast so you have to be very lucky to bag yourself a ticket to see her - thankfully this tour I did just that!

I arrived early at the venue but it was quickly apparent that dodies fans are extremely dedicated with the queue going right around the building. Many of the queue looked like they’d been there for a good part of the day too! Definitely need to mention the crowd at this point, as despite the insanely hot temperatures in the venue I don’t think I’ve been in such a nice audience. Instead of pushing straight into your space, people were leaving it free for you whilst you went to grab water and when people went to the bar they were bringing back extra water for people stood near them etc. 

dodie came on stage to the biggest cheers / screams / applaud / chant I think I’ve ever heard at a concert ever. That noise did not falter once throughout the set with the crowd singing a lot louder than you could hear dodie a lot of the time! 

I found her set to be brilliant and she certainly didn’t disappoint. dodie preformed songs from both of her EP’s as well as a couple of songs she hadn’t physically released including fan favourite, She. dodie has a real innocent charm whilst on stage which I think comes across so well. She also manages to connect with the crowd like very few artists do. Many people stood around me were sobbing throughout many of dodie’s songs. Her realism and openness about sexuality and mental health clearly strikes a chord with so much of her audience. 

I had a great time and would see dodie live again tomorrow if I could. My personal favourites from the set were When, 6 / 10, Absolutely Smitten and In The Middle which even saw dodie playing drums! She has such a wonderful stage presence and her songs live (complete with her talented band) come across so beautifully live and I truly don’t think I’ll see dodie in such a small venue again. She’ll be for sure headlining much bigger things in the future. 

Blogtober - Day 28

And the award to worst Blogtober writer goes to....drum roll please....me!!! Yes I know it’s only 5pm but I’ve forgotten to blog and I’m currently waiting to go into concert so once again I’m doing a pathetic arghhh I’ve forgotten to blog post.

Tonight I’m seeing dodie in concert. Her concert tickets sell out in minutes so I’m so thrilled to finally be able to see her live. She’s known on YouTube as doddleoddle and she frequent posts ukulele covers and original songs. I’ve bumped into her randomly in a train station many years ago and I’ve been watching her YouTube videos for the last five or so years but tonight is the first time I’ve actually been able to see her live which I’m very looking forward to. Dodie is actually part of the reason I started learning to play the ukulele as she’s one of the only person that I’ve heard so songs on the ukulele and they sound like actual songs! Except I swiftly realised she makes playing it look insanely easy and when I try it sounds more like plinkerty plink plink. 

Now I’m in the queue waiting to go in and I’m feeling old. I appreciate I’m getting far too old to be watching YouTube videos, it’s definitely one of those things my niece is more into than someone in their mid twenties! That is certainly reflected in the crowd waiting to go in tonight! Despite that I’m very much looking forward to seeing dodie. I love her albums and from what I’ve seen of her performances I’m certainly in for a good evening.

So tomorrow’s blog is likely to be a little write up on tonight’s concert but sadly for today this is all I’ve got. Definitely should’ve planned Blogtober so much better than this! 

Blogtober - Day 27

Day 27 and I’m officially stumped and rapidly running out of ideas so today I thought I’d do a little short post of why I originally started my blog. 

When I was younger I used to write a lot. I watched a ridiculous amount of Gilmore Girls / Sabrina The Teenage Witch so I completely blame those for my interest in writing and my obsession with wanting to go to Harvard - but that’s a whole different blog post! Then as I got older I just didn’t bother anymore. Maybe it’s because I had to write a lot throughout my education but recreational writing / reading went down to a minimum. 

When I graduated university I quickly released I had to make more use of my spare time so began reading a lot more again. My reading a lot more is insane, I’ve always had a quick reading speed and I was reading them faster than I could afford to buy more! So I thought I’d start up my writing again and blog my reviews on books. I figured if anyone read it and bought a book based on my recommendation then job well done. Since then I’ve been fortunate enough to receive many review copies of books which I’m so thankful to have received.  

Around the same time I started this blog my interest in writing also came back. I really credit this down to one of my favourite authors, Giovanna Fletcher. She made a YouTube video on how to write a novel and really it gave me the kick up the backside I needed to start writing my own novel. I know I’ll never get published or anything but it’s so nice to be able to feel like I can write again.

Really though as much as I’m enjoying writing my blog, I know my writing is rubbish and that I’ll never be able to make a career out of it, but at least I’m well aware my writing ability is minimal. However, I enjoy writing and reading once again (more than I have in years) so I’m glad to have my blog in my life at the moment. After Blogtober though it is safe to say I’ll be going back to weekly blogging and not daily...

The Addams Family Musical

It’s been over a month now since I went to see The Addams Family Musical and yet somehow I’m yet to talk about it on my blog, which is unbelievable considering I’ve had the US tour soundtrack cd played on loop since I’ve seen the show. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this addicted to a musical. 

The Addams Family Musical features all your favourite Addams Family members except the big difference now is that it’s set a few years in the future. The Addams are just as kooky as ever apart from perhaps Wednesday Addams who has fallen in love...with a boy from a normal family! The show tells the story of the night that the Addams Family meets Wednesdays boyfriends normal family. 

To be perfect honest I went into the show without looking at the storyline and when the show started I was abit like really? Am I actually seeing a show about Wednesday falling in love? It just didn’t seem very Addams Family to me but I was proved completely wrong! The storyline was perfectly Addams. It didn’t revolve entire around Wednesday either giving each member of the Addams Family clan chance to shine. The catchy songs along with addictive storyline meant the show went unbelievably quickly. I was even practically in tears laughing at some of the parts! 

Whoever did the casting for this musical deserves a promotion. I have never been to see a show where every single person in it was perfect for the role to the extent that I can’t even write about stand out stand out members of the cast. It truly does seem unfair to actually mention people at this pointes the entire cast was unbelievable. However, Cameron Blakely as Gomez, Carrie Hope Fletcher as Wednesday and understudy Scott Paige as Fester were particularly wonderful. Scott Paige in particular deserves that mention as when the tannoy announced Les Dennis wasn’t in the show at the start the audience I was in did do a collective groan, however Scott Paige was a incredible understudy who I think should’ve been cast as Fester anyway! Like I say though the entire cast were absolutely fantastic, from the whole Addams Family, to the Ancesters to the Beineke Family, I cannot express how great they all were. 

Sadly, The Addams Family Musical only has a couple more stops left in the UK. If it is coming near you though and you love the Addams Family films you have to go and see this musical! An all round fantastic cast, catchy songs and a great storyline - what more do you want from the musical!