Book Review: The Sisters - Claire Douglas

Book Review: The Sisters - Claire Douglas

Monday 23 November 2015

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It’s been a while since I’ve done a book review- uni has stopped me from reading for pleasure as I constantly have French literature to devour for my classes, but I thought I’d treat myself to some “me” time this weekend and managed to crack through a psychological thriller.

I bought “The Sisters” by Claire Douglas about a month back as part of my October book haul as part of the amazon 3 for £10 deal. The book definitely stood out to me, principally because it was a psychological thriller and I’m seriously into those at the moment, but also because the plot sounded ridiculously exciting and something I could really get my teeth into. 

The book introduces us to Abi, one-half of a set of twins. We learn that her twin sister Lucy has passed away in a car crash and that since then, Abi has moved away from London to Bath, presumably to escape the history associated with her sister's death. She meets Bea, a beautiful charismatic and energetic character who bears an uncanny resemblance to her deceased sister. The girls become instant friends, and it isn’t long before Bea is introducing Abi to her twin brother, Ben. As to be expected in a psychological thriller, things start to get mysteriously unsettling and Abi finds herself doubting herself, Bea and Ben before everything starts to spiral out of control. 

I found myself really connecting with Abi’s character and I had nothing but absolute sympathy for her throughout the entire novel. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like to lose a sibling, let alone a twin, and this was depicted in a beautiful and thoughtful way. Ben’s character irked me from the word go for some reason and I found myself hating him even when I didn’t want to. I also loved Nia and her strong support network.I found certain parts of the book were incredibly tense and I got through the book ridiculously quickly, considering I only had the time to read during the evenings. It was, to use the cliché, unputdownable and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good old psychological thriller. I guessed towards the end what was going on and why but that definitely didn’t make it any less of a good read. 

I’m very much looking forward to seeing what else Claire Douglas has to offer in the future. 

4/5. 

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Travel: 10 places in 10 years.

Travel: 10 places in 10 years.

Wednesday 18 November 2015

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My boyfriend and I have been talking about the future quite a bit recently and while it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen in our relationship in the coming years, I’d like to think we’re going to be together. He asked me to think of the ten things in the world that I wanted to see the most - whether they be places, monuments or just things in general- so I thought I’d upload my 10 places as a blog post so that we have a record of it and we can go back and tick it off once we’ve done it. We’re going to attempt to do one of the things every year. I thought it was a very lovely, thoughtful and romantic idea so I’ve obviously put a lot of thought into it but at the same time I’ve kept it as realistic as I can! 

• Take my boyfriend to the Blue Lagoon to swim and snorkel like I did when I was a child.

• Visit the Trevi Fountain and make a wish.

• Take cute selfies up the Eiffel Tower.

• Go to the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam.

• Visit Ypres in Flanders to see the War Memorials.

• Visit New York City and climb a skyscraper.

• Holiday in Santorini, Greece.

• Interrail across Germany.

• Visit the Giant’s causeway, Northern Ireland.

• Swim with turtles in the Caribbean

Where do you want to go on your future travels? Let me know in the comments! 

Review: WHEN Travelmate Face Mask

Review: WHEN Travelmate Face Mask

Saturday 7 November 2015

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One of the items in my October birchbox that I’ve just gotten around to using was the When Travelmate facial mask, which is apparently a mask you would use to refresh your skin after hours of travelling around in the sun and wind. I’ve had a particularly long day today and my skin is worn out and tired looking so while it doesn’t exactly match up to what they recommend, I thought it was about time I gave it a go and that it wouldn’t do me any harm. SO, here are my thoughts on it.

First of all, the packaging is blooming adorable! It’s really simplistic but that definitely adds to the appeal. I love the bright pink colour of the packaging and how there’s both written and visual instructions on it. The mask itself was a little fiddly to get on but nothing too major, although since I have such a small head it definitely didn’t fit where it was supposed to! It felt incredibly wet against the skin which is obviously because of the aloe vera gel and serum but I wouldn’t say it was particularly uncomfortable. I could almost feel the moisture soaking into my skin which is definitely a good sign. It smells lovely and fresh which again gives the impression that the ingredients are natural and good for your skin. You’re supposed to leave it on for around 30 minutes and massage any product left on your face into the skin and into your neck to fully take advantage of the moisturising qualities. 

When I got around to taking the mask off, my face felt incredibly hydrated and fresh, which surprised me really because I’m quite skeptical where face masks are concerned but this one really does seem to work. I will say that my face was a little bit red but whether that’s normal or not, I don’t know. I’ll come back and edit this if anything more serious happens to my skin but it doesn’t feel like I’m having a reaction to it. All this said, I definitely think I’ll be treating myself to a few more of them at some point. They are a bit pricey at £25 for a pack of 4 but as a treat or for a special occasion I don’t think it’s too bad. 

Have you tried this brand or any of their products before? What did you think! Let me know! 

Collaboration: A Scandal in Fashion

Collaboration: A Scandal in Fashion

Friday 6 November 2015

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I recently collaborated on a fashion blog post with http://www.roman-blinds-direct.co.uk/ and whilst I’m a bit slow off the mark to post about it, I thought I’d do a little blog post about the brand and what they do and what my contribution was all about. I absolutely jumped on the opportunity to be able to contribute something fashion related to the blog of an incredibly well known brand in the world of interior design, so while this post does seem a little bit out of place it allowed me to discuss fashion in a historical sense and express myself creatively on a new platform. Roman Blinds Direct is one of the leading UK providers of home furnishing products- an amazing brand to get on the good side of if you’re someone like me who’s looking to move into their own house within the next year or so. I was asked by their head of Social Media to contribute a little something to their blog concerning an event that happened 50 years ago to the day last week, the unravelling of a fashion scandal which had Australia up in arms! 

Special thanks to Roman Blinds Direct for asking me to collaborate with them, you can find their twitter at @InteriorGoods. You can find the original post here.

Leading on from this, my next post will most likely be a fashion based one where I’ll be sporting a very luscious white two-piece so I definitely think that this post has fallen perfectly in line with where I’m heading! 

How much do you know about the Jean Shrimpton affair? How has this fashion scandal led to fashion development? Let me know down below!!