A Very Typical Book Haul

Over the past few weeks I have noticed myself picking up one too many books, as if I needed more. The rate at which I am purchasing books is too quick for me too read them all! So I thought it would be appropriate to do a book haul for you all.

The Walled City by Ryan Graudin
So after my speechless reaction to Wolf by Wolf and how impatient I am for the sequel to come out in October I decided to pick up more of Ryan's books to compress my impatience. From the very little this book gives away on the back, it sounds amazing. It is very much along the same lines of Wolf by Wolf, it appears to be action filled and the kind of book I will love.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
Yes, I am yet to read this series and no I cannot believe it either! This is a high fantasy novel that follows an assassin in a corrupted kingdom. High fantasy, assassins, corrupted kingdoms, shall I say anymore? This book sounds page turning and I have heard so many good things about this book from so many different people.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
As the true Harry Potter fan I am, I have made it my mission to collect all of the first edition hard covers. Like the mad fan I am, I have now completed my collection with the edition of this book and I couldn't be more happy about it.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
This is the first novel in the Grisha series and it is a fantasy-adventure novel. This book is based on a teenage orphan living in the Land of Ravka before her life changes after realising she has gained a power she never knew she had before in order to save her friend. This is another book I have heard a lot of people say good things about and many love this series, so I am really looking forward to reading it.

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
I have to say I am the most excited about this book. It sounds just the kind of book I would read and the storyline seems amazing! It's set in an ancient fantasy world where a girl is fighting to save her brother from imprisonment, and a soldier battles to free himself from a tyrannical regime. How can I pass up any book set in an ancient world with a mission behind it?

Carry On by Rainbow Rowel
The only contemporary novel in this little haul and a new addition to the very few I have in my book collection. I have previously read Fangirl and Eleanor and Park by Rowel and quite enjoyed the storylines even though I'm not the biggest contemporary reader unless it's a John Green book, so I thought I would give this one a try. It is set in a magic world mixed with monsters and a love story? What? I know, intriguing to say the least.

I hope you enjoyed this little book haul of mine and that you can share my excitement to read these books. Maybe you could get your hands on some of these books and we could read them together!

Becoming Pescartarian

After a long time spent contemplating with myself I finally decided to bite the bullet and become pescatarian. This is something I have been pondering over for a while now as I have never really enjoyed eating meat over the past few years because I'm against the morals, but I was always scared to give up something that was such a big part of my diet. As I have gotten older I have become more accustomed to what I am putting into my body and think before I buy something in the shop, whether it be food or a beauty product and that is what pushed me to go pescartarian. For anyone who is considering giving up meat, taking the first step is often the hardest but when you get going you really just get used to it. I didn't eat meat a great deal in the past year, so taking the first step didn't have the greatest effect on me. I just have to be more careful when picking things on a menu but I often went for the veggie options even before becoming pescatarian.

After I had given up meat I felt a lot more comfortable in my morals and what I stand for as a person, as I know feel like I stand true to my beliefs, not contradicting them. My diet hasn't really changed a great deal, I am just switching out meat for veggie alternatives or fish. Many people say pescartarian's will lack in iron or protein, but I make sure I get that by eating a lot of greens and beans, nuts and pulses along with fish. Along as you don't cut out food groups you'll be fine. But what I can say is that on a whole I feel a lot better in myself and I am happy with the choices I have made. Since making the switch I have noticed an improvement in my skin. I used to get a lot more spots around my chin and forehead area and although it may be coincidental I am putting it down to me cutting out meat.

This is one small step I have taken to sticking to my morals and I hope to take more in the near future to better myself as a person. I think that the most important thing is to respect anyone's choices they make and choose to stick by and not force upon opinions onto them. So, after around a month of being meat-free I hope you will enjoy following me along this journey of mine!

 

Wolf by Wolf | Review

 

 

Well it's another day, another book review for you all. I think it's safe to say that I have found a new favourite book of mine. I picked up Wolf by Wolf written by Ryan Graudin after hearing lots of positive reviews on BookTube, it seemed nothing like a book I had previously read. It's a historical fiction novel set in an alternate time where Hitler wins the war and controls the majority of Europe.

 

This book follows a girl who has been subject to Hitler's true horrors and has suffered the losses of many of those closest to her. Although the majority of people at this time have bowed down to Hitler, there is some resistance. The resistance is set out to kill Hitler. Yael is part of that resistance. After the war there has been a celebration of a motorbike competition that in renowned as the most torturous course there is, a course where no one is safe and every one wants to win. The winner attends the Victors Ball where they meet Hitler in celebration. Yael wants Hitler dead. When Yael was little she was taken captive in a concentration camp with her mother, she was tested on and obtained a special gift as a result. She can shape shift. The German authorities are unaware of her special talent and so she and the resistance use this to their advantage. Yael enters the race with plans to win, attend the victors ball and assassinate Hitler, all with the world watching. But it isn't not as simple as that.

 

I loved the story line of Wolf by Wolf so much and I fled through it. I found the writing style amazing and portrayed the story perfectly. The elements of excitement, tension and terror were written as if to make them feel real to you. Ryan Graudin is a truly talented writer who has the knack for describing different settings in detail without being too wordy. I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed this book and watching the storyline of Yael develop. There were so many turns as the race went on and the book ended on a cliff hanger as to what is going to happen next. Well the answer to that will be in the sequel coming this year called Blood for Blood. Ryan has also written a sort of prequel of this book written in the race before this, called Iron to Iron, which I also cannot wait to get my hands out. I was blown away by the storyline of this book and all the little detail in between. I look forward to seeing how this story develops further and read more of Ryan's work.



Flaws Are What Make Us Beautiful

We grow up in a society obsessed with cultural appearances, on the sizes of our bodies, the ways we dress and our facial features. Our world is so engrossed in these beliefs of a 'true' beauty they have lost hope of what that actual beauty is, everyone. Not a certain shape defining all retrospect's, but each individual being on this earth is true beauty.

Our flaws that's others may see as imperfect our in fact those that make us unique and our own type of beauty. There was once a time no one was judged for there appearance and people ceased to care. What happened of that time? How could that lead to a time where media scrutinizes every shape and look other than those of idealistic views.

If times before changed the views of beauty, they can be changed back. Not should one ego be idled for beauty, but those from all ends of the scale.

Palmers Body Lotion | Review Revisited

Hello everyone! I have previously talked about Palmers over on my blog. But I thought I would revisit the topic of body lotion after using this particular product for almost a year now. I was head over heels in love with this lotion in my previous post and I will say that this has not changed, if anything my love for this lotion has grown even more and now I can safely say that it is my favourite body lotion I have tried.

I would say I have have quite sensitive skin and I usually cannot wear scented products as they leave me with red spots on my skin. When looking for body products I tend to turn to natural products as that is what works best with my skin. This body lotion contains pure cocoa butter and vitamin e extracts which are known to be great nourishing agents. I did try the fragrance free version out first as initially the scent of this product is quite strong and I thought it would react with my skin. However, after trying the normal version I had no problems with it! I have tried a lot of moisturizers and none of them have managed to keep my skin feeling nourished all day. In the winter time I have problems with dry skin around my hands and elbows and amazingly this moisturizer seems to combat these issues. When I apply it, I slather it all over my body, let me say I don't do it half halfheartedly. If you are not the type of person who likes the scent of chocolate in your moisturizer then I would recommend you give this one a miss. I end up smelling like a glorious chocolate factory and my pajamas smell exactly the same the next morning. I apply it after I get out of the bath or shower when my skin feels tight, immediately after applying this product my skin feels instantly moisturized and it sinks into your skin straight away, even though it is a very thick, heavy duty moisturizer so you know it is doing its job.

Palmers products claim to help with scarring and stretch marks and they definitely do help. I have had scars on my legs from when I was a toddler and after using this moisturizer and nothing else for the past year I have noticed the scars are less noticeable. If you suffer with scarring or stretch marks I recommend you try Palmers out. It is a great fix for the quality and affordability.

Okay, I think I have justified my love for this moisturizer. I think it is one of the best affordable body lotion out there, so if it sounds like it might appeal to you I recommend you pick it up.

Real Techniques Expert Face Brush | Review

 

I'm not the type of girl to usually use face brushes when applying my concealer or bb bream, when  it ones to makeup I am much more low maintenance. It's for that reason I have never really experimented with any other face brushes other than my powder and contour brush, I just used to use my hands when it came to the liquid products. However I was browsing my local TKMaxx in the beauty section and saw that they were stocking Real Techniques makeup brushes. Okay, granted the price difference wasn't great, but for my past experiences of Real Techniques brushes and the comparison in price to other makeup brushes I thought it was worth the £7.99. So, after hearing so many people talk of the expert face brush I thought I would pick it up after loving the eye brushes.

I have always had a problem when it comes to base makeup, it always seems to grip to the dry patches on my skin or where I have tiny hairs. I felt that it didn't make my makeup look that great and I found that it always went patchy throughout the day. So after many months, I decided to loose my face brush virginity and give it a try. I firstly placed my bb cream onto my face and then went from there. I blended it in using the face brush in circular motions and noticed a difference immediately. My bb cream went on so much smoother and more evenly, it blended into my skin so much quicker than previously. I was quite sceptical of using a face brush as I expected it to leave my base looking streaky, but was I wrong. My face makeup had never looked better, it was so much more even and didn't grip onto the dry patches. I also noticed that my makeup lasted a lot longer before it started going downhill which is always a plus.

I think it is safe to say that I am converted to using face brushes. Once again I was not disappointed by the affordability and quality of the Real Techniques brushes. What are your views on face brushes? Do you love them or loathe them?

5th Wave Book and Flim Review

Hello everyone! For today's post I thought I would review The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey. With the release of the movie, this book it quite high up in the film world lately so I thought it would be worth looking at. I did read the book before seeing the film, so I went into the book pretty blind. I knew the outline and it seemed like the kind of book I would like to read. It is on similar lines with books like Maze Runner and Divergent, however it is more on the Sci-Fi aspect of book genres.

I was intrigued by the storyline of this book. It follows a girl called Cassie in her fight through a world devastated by the waves of an alien invasion. These Waves have already significantly hindered the human population and As Cassie is one of the last survivors and she learns to live in a world to trust no one, where trust can quite literally cost you your life. It follows Cassie trying to save her brother, Sam in an attempt to keep her last promise to him. As she is trekking to get to Sam at a training camp, Wright Patterson setup to fight back against 'The Others 'she is shot and saved by a lumberjack named Evan. Evan works on a farm and too is alone, Cassie falls for Evan but there is so much she doesn't know. Meanwhile at Wright Patterson Sam runs into Ben Parish, Cassie's high school crush. Ben, also alone possesses knowledge that could change everything after learning everything he knows or thought is a lie. Little does Cassie know that when she too learns the secret her and Ben's paths may cross again as the world around them collapses.

I loved the aspect of this book. It was fast paced and kept me wanting to read on. It is from two peoples perspectives of Cassie and Ben and I have heard that a lot of people didn't like that part to the book. Personally, I enjoyed this aspect as I feel that it gave the book more of an interest and felt that it connected the characters through the words. Had it been from one perspective I don't think the book would have made much sense. Although I will say that at times I did find it hard to understand who was who when reading. I loved the story line of this book and cannot wait to read the next two books in the trilogy after leaving this book on a cliff hanger as to what a happens next. I thought the writing style of this book was beautiful, the descriptions of the world and the waves truly blew my mind and I could really picture what was going on at every stage. For me this book was a definite page turner and I couldn't put the book down.

Now let's talk about the film for a second. Yes, it was a great film. However, when compared to the book it just didn't have that same amount of detail that really made the book great. I understand that you cannot fit everything in a book into a two hour film but there were references in the movie that wouldn't make sense unless you had read the book. I felt that they didn't describe the characters at Wright Patterson well enough and therefore I don't feel that that part of the film was done justice and was a little rushed in the scheme of things. Although, I did love the film, just in the back of my mind the book sits there screaming at me. Kind of like the Scorch Trials film, do I love it or hate it? I don't know.

Have you read The 5th Wave or seen the movie? If you haven't, I definitely think that you should and share your thoughts with me? Did you feel the same way about the film?