Some Books I Recommend

With time on our hands right now I thought I would share some of my recent favourite books that I highly recommend. Most of these books are part of a series so this list shall keep you busy for the foreseeable future.

1. Wolf by Wolf

This is a book I read many years ago, and still I hold it near the top of my favourite books. Based in the year 1956 under the rule of the Third Riech and Imperial Japan Rule. A victorious Hitler and Emperor Hirohito created an Axis tour, a motorcycle race across the continents. It follows the story of Yael, a former death camp prisoner and part of the resistance, a character I grow to love. She possess five wolf tattoos representative of people she has lost. She is given the task to win the Axis Tour and murder Hitler. Yael is no ordinary girl, she has the ability to skin shift, a side effect of her tortures, giving her the ability to complete her task impersonating last years Axis tour champion, Adele Wolf. People of Adeles past present challenges for Yael as she grows ever closer to her fellow competitors. This book follows her journey in her assassination attempt of Hitler and her struggle to decide what is right for her.

2. Throne of Glass

This series is truly encapsulating and I have a love for Sarah J. Maas' work. It follows the life of a former prisoner in Endovier, 18 year old assassin Celaena Sardonthien. She is offered release by the Prince Dorian, on the condition she is to be his champion, in a contest to find the new royal assassin. Should she win, she will be granted freedom after 4 years service as assassin for the crown. One by one rounds of the contest are completed and one by one contestants end up dead. This book follows Celaena dealing with life outside Endovier and her life in court, amongst deadly situations she finds herself in. This is the first book in a mesmerising series.

3. A Darker Shade of Magic 

Kell is a traveller and the last of his kind, he serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, though behind closed doors he is a smuggler moving between Red London and dull Grey London. His luck runs out as a transaction goes awry, he escapes Grey London running into Delilah Bard, a cunning thief. She robs him only to them save his life from a known enemy, in return she wants adventure. Little do the two know, darkness is around the corner as magic is on treacherous grounds.

4. An Ember in the Ashes 

Inspired by Ancient Rome in the Martial Empire, defiance leads to death. Those who do not give themselves to the empire face blood and death. Laia a slave girl, lives in this world, her and her family do not challenge the empire. Though one day her brother is arrested and so things change. In promise of saving her brother Laia promises to spy on the court within the military academy for the rebels. There she meets Elias, a talented, secretly unwilling soldier. He longs to be free just like Laia and so it appears there destinies become intertwined, as they both question the Empires rule.

5. Travellers in the Third Riech

A bit of a different read for me, though I still couldn't put it down. This book describes the history of the rise of the Nazi's to power from first hand accounts of all types of people. These accounts help you relive a three dimensional German world. This book gave me a sense of despair for the people involved as they tell their accounts of what their lives were like in a time so tragic.

Feeling Low in Lockdown?

Around this weird time it is normal to feel low. Having to be forced to stay inside and away from your friends and family is a tough situation. Feeling down in times like this is okay, just know that you are not alone. Yes, it may feel like no one understands because no one is there to listen, but trust me in saying, everyone across the whole world is feeling somewhat the same as you right now.

This is a tricky time, especially for those suffering with mental health issues. Do not let yourself fall into a rut doing nothing and getting stuck in your own thoughts. Keep yourself busy, learn a new hobby. Who knows what you will become a pro at during this lockdown? You have the time to do that thing you have always wanted to do, keep your mind busy. During this time I have retaken up reading and trust me in saying I have plenty of books to keep my mind busy. Reading helps my mind wander from the harsh realities of what is going on around us and it takes my mind off missing my friends. Now, I have taken up writing again, 100th time lucky? maybe I will actually stick to it this time for longer than a few weeks. I do these things because I know if I do not keep busy, I will most likely go insane stuck inside, and this is coming from a naturally introverted person.

Some calming hobbies

• Reading 
• Painting 
• Colouring
• Embroidery 
• Working out
• Go for a walk
• Learning new things 

You will get through this sad time, just remember you are not in it alone. There are things you can get out of this weird situation we are living.

Hi, It's Me Again

Oh look she disappeared again. Hi, I am back for now I guess. With everything that has been going on around the world lately, I wanted to come back to my safe space to take my mind of everything, because let us be honest, right now, nothing feels real. The world is in a crazy place right now and for some that can be quite hard to cope with. Lockdown is tough when you rely on your friends to keep your sprits up during tough times, it can feel lonely, but everyone is with you in this. 

So yes I left for awhile, again. University got hard and frustrating. All our assignments were given to us in the same month, just before the whole world went up in flames. If I am honest, 2020 has been a little bit crap if you ask me and I have been struggling to remain positive. But after making a rather fast departure from my university home, I am now bored of staying inside, though I know it is for a good reason, and so here I am. Life will soon go back to 'somewhat normality' and this will all be in the past, but for now we all have to stay home and stay safe.

There are positives to come out of this though. Have you seen the latest pollution levels around the world? significantly down, and yes this is probably just temporary but it is still a good thing. Dolphins swimming in the canals of Venice? beautiful. Everywhere animals roaming around the bare streets, it is rather amusing to say the least. All it took was a global pandemic for the world to start healing again. Take a walk outside and take in the silence, the fresher air. I am not going to talk much about the whole looming virus, as quite frankly I am sick of hearing about it and cannot wait for the day that this is over. 

For the time being however, I am sticking to keeping myself busy, learning, reading and now writing it seems. I do not want to promise I will continue writing but it is something I am going to do for now, for the few people who read this and for myself. 

Everyone stay safe and inside, this will all blow over soon.

The Past Decade

I was once a girl who dressed in bright clothes and odd headbands. 10 years later, I am still that girl.

What has this past decade taught me? Well I started the 2010’s as a bright eyed, energetic 10 year old. I was a classic tom boy who loved climbing and swimming but also loved reading. Fast forward 10 years I’m now a less more energetic 20 year old who along the way has fought some battles, met some beautiful people and the most terrifying part is I became an adult.

The thing they do not teach you growing up is how to deal with emotions and changes going on with your body and life. From the age of 10 to 20 my body has gone through a lot of changes. I’ve been from primary school, to secondary school, to sixth form and now to uni. I made friends, I lost friends. I learnt a whole lot and not just to do with the academic side of things.

At the start of the decade I was faced with the excitement and nerves that came with starting secondary school. I loved learning and knew I was going to a new school with some of my best friends. A new beginning was what I wanted.

When I turned 12 I struggled with the changes that was happening in my life and in order to deal with it I turned to controlling behaviours surrounding food. For me this part of the decade was one of my toughest. I was blindsided as to what I was doing to my body and was hurting the people around me. I was consumed in my thoughts and do not really remember a whole lot from this time as I mentally blocked it out. 2012-2013 was rather tough on me mentally but I got through it and learnt a lot about myself in doing so, I used to not like what I saw in the mirror and now almost 8 years later I have learned to love and accept my figure.

2013 was the year I started this blog. I wanted somewhere to create, somewhere I could write about the things I was passionate about. Yes, overtime my passions have changed and I have taken many breaks from this site. But looking back I am glad I did this, I am proud of what I write about even if not many people see it and I think I will always come back to writing as a way to express myself.

2014, year 9, not a whole lot to say, not a lot happened, a walk in the park compared to all the other years if you ask me

2015, the start of GCSE’s, the start of the stress. The perfectionist I am I tried my hardest these years, I revised my butt off and stressed maybe a little too much. Now I know those results do not mean a whole lot to anyone, they probably weren’t worth the stress I put myself under, but I got the results I wanted and results I am proud of. I also began my veganism journey and expanded my knowledge on the harsh realities of animal cruelty, this year was when I started to want to make a difference to help.

2016 marked the start of sixth form. Moving schools again was a daunting prospect to a girl who is now more reserved and quiet when compared to her 10 year old self. I liked to stay out of gossip and not draw attention to myself, I liked fitting in. Sixth form was the biggest jump for me. We were thrown into a group of people who already knew each other, all had their own groups and a completely new environment. I was nervous but quickly found my feet in my new lessons and settled into a group of friends who welcomed the new kids with open arms

2017, where I loved sixth form and got into the swing of the new school fully. I had experienced so many new things, had relationships, learnt the stresses of the A-level workload and been to a few parties. All of this was new to the quiet now 17 year old me, but here was where I came out of my shell and developed more as a person to who I am today and I am thankful for the experiences I had in sixth form. I was comfortable in my body, I started the gym and no longer wanted to just ‘fit in’.

2018 was the final year before I was set free to move away to uni. This year I continued to grow as a person, I found myself and became a girl I am proud to be. I learnt to never be ashamed of what happens in your past because it makes you who you are today. This year impacted my mental health, something I hadn’t really thought of since 2013. Stress got the better of me and I found myself struggling with my A-levels, no matter how hard I revised. This year again was tough but I got through it with the help of friends and family and managed to get into my chosen university that was Bangor.

Moving away from home was daunting. I have always been a home body who didn’t enjoy being away, but I had to give it a try. I moved into Bangor initially not knowing anyone, I was alone for the first time in a while. I had always loved the sea and so I plunged into choosing a marine vertebrae zoology course which I still to this day love. Within the first few days I met two amazing girls and over our time at university we have become extremely close and share a whole lot with each other, they made the whole living alone situation a lot easier and I am proud to now call them my housemates. This year I also met a very special person to me. I wasn’t even really looking for him but he found me and I could not have asked for a better companion to go throw the crazy life that is university with me. With him I feel I can truly be myself and he accepts every part of me without judgement. I fell in love with the gym more than ever and I also restarted my blog wanting to write about things that I have battled with and things that I believed in.

2019 brought more university life and some crazy experiences. My course has been so insightful and interesting, something I truly do love to learn about. My friends are beautiful humans and I have met even more lovely people along the way. Yes this year may have been one of the toughest for me mentally towards the end of this year, but I have had a solid unit of friends around me to keep me going through the stress of second year and I couldn’t ask for better people to be moving into 2020 with.

So yes this past decade I have had my struggles. I have changed a whole lot. I had had up’s and downs. But this past decade I have found myself as a person and I have grown into someone I am proud to be. I learned to start to love myself and that I continue to try and do, so that I can properly love the people around me.