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Book Review: Finding Audrey - Sophie Kinsella

Sunday 30 August 2015


I am a massive fan of any and all books by Sophie Kinsella so when I heard she was writing a book for young adults I was hoping it was going to be ordered into our library. It was and as soon as it arrived I took it before it was even catalogued and have finished it within a day.
The story focuses on the main character Audrey she suffers with generalised anxiety disorder she can't leave the house and wears dark sunglasses all the time to avoid eye contact. She then meets her brothers friend Linus who sends her funny notes and slowly draws her out of her comfort zone to leave the house to go to Starbucks.
Linus is charming, funny and sweet and makes getting better seem achievable.
I feel that Kinsella perfectly captures the feelings that are attributed with anxiety and while I found the main character to be slightly irritating at times with the constant stating of being ill it is very true to the disorder- that it causes a person to focus solely on themselves and how they're feeling opposed to others so the characterisation was spot on.

The relationship between Audrey and Linus is ever so sweet and it keeps you routing for her to recover. As part of her recovery Audrey is told to keep a video diary of her family and of herself interviewing them. For this parts of the book were written in script form which I felt was a clever idea that showed things from an unbiased perspective.

I found the majority of the other characters to be hilarious especially the conversations between Audrey's mother Anne and her brother Frank. Anne being a daily mail addict constantly trying to do what she thinks is best for her children with some rather hilarious results including throwing her sons computer out of a window.
While Frank is the gaming addict who manages to have a clever response to practically every question.
I found the conversations between these two add some much needed humour to balance out the serious side of the book.

Overall I found this book to be a good read (I read it in a day after all) and i think that this will definitely be a good read for teenagers who may be suffering with anxiety. It's a subject that isn't fully understood or talked about often and this book characterises the feelings relating to it perfectly! A definite must read!


Classic Fiction Challenge

Tuesday 11 August 2015

Hi All,

For those of you that don't know I work in a library this means that the majority of the conversations between staff are about books, books and more books.

Being an avid reader this does not bother me in the slightest - however the other day we were discussing Harper Lee's new book Go Set a Watchmen which is in effect the sequel to the well known classic To Kill a Mockingbird (even though it was written beforehand).

It occurred to me as this conversation was going on that I have never read To Kill a Mockingbird - I vaguely remembered watching the film once in school but have never read it cover to cover.

I then went on to think well what stories that are considered classics have I read?

I could count the number of these on one hand! Two! Pride and Prejudice and Frankenstein.

How is it that I have grown up being an avid reader and yet I've read hardly any classic literature!?

So I have set myself a challenge the next lot of books I read will only be classic books and once I have read them I will post a review of each on this blog.

My list to read is:
1. To Kill a Mockingbird (this is downloaded and waiting on my Kindle)
2. 1984
3. The Hobbit
4. Jane Eyre
5. Great Expectations
6. Tess of the D'ubervilles
7. Lolita (Not pictured need to buy this)
8. Sense and Sensibility (also need to get this one)
 
How many of the classics have you read?? Which ones would you recommend??


Book Review - Her by Harriet Lane

Sunday 26 July 2015

I've had a lot of spare time on my hands recently and have been using it to catch up on the books I 've had sat on the side waiting to be read.

In this pile was Her by Harriet Lane:
I have to say I am a massive fan of thriller/mystery type books so this one was just up my street.
The book centres on two characters Emma and Nina.
Emma is a young mother of two children and her life revolves around them she gave up her career for the children and her husband goes out to work leaving her to do most things.

Nina is the same age as Emma she has a 17 year old daughter who is independent and seems to be the perfect child, she's dating a much older man and is a very successful artist.

From the beginning of the book it becomes clear that Nina remembers Emma from long ago and that something happened that Nina can not forgive.

The book is shown from both of the women's different perspectives and shows how Nina slowly works her way back into Emma's life and befriends her.

This leaves you in suspense till the very end What did Emma do that was so bad? How did they know each other? What is Nina going to do once she is back in Emma's life?

So many questions I simply couldn't put it down. The book was well laid out you got a real sense of the characters and I felt there was almost a role reversal between the two where one was confident and pretty while young the other was awkward and didn't have many friends. It was interesting to see the roles switch as the two got older.

The ending was almost a cliffhanger leaving what happens open to observation from the reader. You think you know but it isn't confirmed.

If you are interested in Thrillers this is definitely a book to add to your too read list. Interesting characters, quick paced and so many questions that you want answers to that once you start it you won't stop until you have finished.




Update Time

Thursday 9 April 2015

Hey all,

Sorry its been so long!! I have seriously been lacking on the blog front recently.

I'd say it's because I have been busy which I have but at the same time I have also been incredibly lazy!
A lot has been going on in the last week I had my birthday now 22 (getting old!), a mini break which involved me getting lost and having a scenic drive through Leek and even a few nights out.

This for me is busy as my weekends normally consist of watching TV series back to back.

I had a lovely day on my birthday went to Birmingham haven't been shopping there in ages!!! Spent rather a lot ended up with a lovely body mist from Victoria's Secret it's called Eau So Sexy! and it smells amazing!! I'm using it as a perfume and it lasts for agessss!

Went to Derbyshire for the mini break which mainly consisted of me sitting in reading but I knocked a couple of books off my Reading list. These were:

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green - Not my favourite of his books but I still enjoyed it had all the same wit and charm that his novels usually have.
The Selection by Kiera Cass - I really enjoyed this book it was girly but not over the top lovey dovey and again had a lot of charm. The main characters were all likeable and I practically read it in a day.

 
Finally I began reading Shopaholic to the Stars by Sophie Kinsella - I already know I am going to like this book I own every book Sophie Kinsella has written and they are all just as funny as the last.

So here is my long overdue update. I also see my blog has been getting loads of views from Russia I find it amazing and appreciate it so much that so many people from all over the world are reading my random rambling posts. I promise to start posting more again.

Bye for now :)
 

My Week In Photos

Tuesday 24 February 2015

Thought I would share with you guys some of the photos I took from last week. I saw the idea for this on another blog and felt like giving it a go:






As you can see there has been a lot of cake baking this week. You could say I was inspired by watching the comic relief bake off. The top cakes are starfish cakes (as some people at my work could not tell what they were supposed to be!) Then underneath are ones I baked with my friends on our girly evening on these we just went for random icing and made loads of different shapes.
I always find a girly evening is such a good way to relax and catch up with good friends. We spent the rest of the evening after baking watching Supernatural and have a good ole chinwag.
 Unfortunately for my bank account I also went up town this weekend and the picture above shows my haul. As it is not the most clear photo I brought:

- Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water and I brought the one for Combination/Sensitive Skin.

- Botanics All Bright Cleansing Wash

- Some Vitamin E Wipes (These are so refreshing on the skin! Don't think I will be able to return to normal wipes after these!)

- A choker with a flower pendant from Topshop.

- A small pink bag from Dorothy Perkins (I'm in love with this and there was even a discount of 20%) 


Overall I probably spent about 30 pound which I thought wasn't too bad considering what I got for that amount.


 I then had Sunday evening to myself and that means one thing - a little indulgence! Thus the urge to buy myself fancy hot chocolate and biscuits, to light a candle and to spend the rest of my evening watching Desperate Housewives (My Current TV addiction).

Finally above shows my reading for the week. It took me awhile to get into this book to be honest but after this I was hooked and it took me about 2 days to read. Such a good story here's the synopsis so you can get a feel for it:
It is the future. There is no war, no hunger, no pain. No one in the community wants for anything. Everything needed is provided. And at twelve years old, each member of the community has their profession carefully chosen for them by the Committee of Elders.
Twelve-year old Jonas has never thought there was anything wrong with his world. But from the moment he is selected as the Receiver of Memory, Jonas discovers that their community is not as perfect as it seems.
It is only with the help of the Giver, that Jonas can find what has been lost. And it is only through his personal courage that Jonas finds the strength to do what is right…

The book is surprisingly short but very well written.

Finally I want to share with you my music obsession of the week. The band is 'PVRIS' and the album is 'White Noise'. A friend introduced me to these and I am now hooked. Each song has a melodic sound to it and the lyrics are hauntingly beautiful. I'm a big fan of good lyrics and I definitely recommend that if you are reading this you should check this band out!

So that was my week last week in pictures. If any of you want to leave a comment could be with or without a picture describing your week I would be interested in reading it!

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