Goodreads: August Wrap Up!

Goodreads: August Wrap Up!

Wednesday 31 August 2016

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I swear to God; I only wrote one of these posts about a week ago! How time flies when you’re having fun! Once again the end of the month is upon us and it’s time to take a look back over the books that I’ve managed to read this month. I’d say that August has been a pretty decent month, reading-wise, all things considered and I got through a lot more than I thought I would.

Like the vast majority of the general public, in the month of August I picked up a copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, another (much needed) contribution to the much beloved Harry Potter series. I’m still unsure as to whether or not I’ll be reviewing this one, as I have a fair few opinions that I’d like to share with everyone but it’s still pretty new so I don’t want to spoil anything for unsuspecting readers. Spoiler free is an option, of course, but that obviously limits the detail I can go into and stops me from referencing particular scenes. All in all, I enjoyed the story but it didn’t give me the same thrilling feeling that the novels did. A shame, but not entirely unexpected.

A book I have already reviewed on the blog is Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty. My full review will obviously be a lot more informative but to summarise, I enjoyed the story but didn’t get the wow factor that I was expecting from Moriarty’s work. I’ve read books by her before and been absolutely blown away by them, but unfortunately with this one that wasn’t the case.

One of my work colleagues is a bit of a book lover just like me, which makes for interesting discussions when we’re on shift together. She recommended the book To Kill For by A.J. Carella to me- it was a free book on the kindle store so I downloaded it quickly and finally got around to reading it this month. I definitely enjoyed the read although the style of writing was a little outside what I normally enjoy. Regardless, it was a short and easy read and I loved talking about it afterwards with my colleague.

Sticking to my psychological thriller/ARC trend, the next book I got stuck into was Saving Sophie by Sam Carrington. I reviewed it here if you want to have a looksee, but long story short- this book was absolutely bloody amazing and I would recommend everyone have a go at it. After reading the A.J. Carella novel, I reciprocated and recommended this one to my colleague, as I mentioned in my review. She finished it and also loved it, passing the recommendation on to some of her friends as well! An absolute belter from start to finish.

My final completed book in August was A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness – trust me to end things on a heartbreaker! I have SO many things to say about this book so I’d suggest you read my review here. This book is unlike anything I’ve ever read before, in all the right ways but I think you need to read it yourself to truly appreciate it.

I’m also currently a couple of hundred pages of the way through Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, a book which is quickly becoming my favourite classic! I can’t wait to see where things go with it and how it ends!

In the month of August, I read a grand total of 1459 pages, again, a feat I’m pretty impressed with considering how I’ve been working full-time and managing a household alongside everything! I’m excited to see what September has to bring, book-wise now!

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Book Review: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Book Review: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Monday 29 August 2016

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“YOU DO NOT WRITE YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS...YOU WRITE IT WITH ACTIONS. WHAT YOU THINK IS NOT IMPORTANT. IT IS ONLY IMPORTANT WHAT YOU DO.”

― PATRICK NESS, A MONSTER CALLS

I love a good sob, whether it be through watching a sad movie or reading a sad book. A few weeks back, I was watching television nonchalantly, minding my own business. Suddenly, a film trailer started on the screen. 2 minutes later, I was in floods of tears. That film trailer was for the book to movie adaptation of A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.

I, like the majority of book lovers, prefer to read the book before going to the cinema to watch a film. I initially added the book to my ever growing reading list for a later date, but then saw that Sanne (booksandquills on youtube and twitter) had recommended it as a must read so I grabbed it straight away and got stuck right in. The book’s won countless awards and obviously, that must have been for a reason. Needless to say, I was right. I was informed by a number of my friends who had already read the book that I was set to sob my little heart out and I scoffed at them: yes, I cry at everything but this one is BLATANTLY OBVIOUSLY SAD. If I already know it’s sad, I can mentally prepare myself from the offset, right? Wrong.

I’m going to be pretty open with this review: I cried within about 2 pages of starting the book and then held it together right until the very end. I’ll get to the point straight away: I absolutely loved it. Everyone knows I love Young Adult fiction. I bleat on about this at every given opportunity. I’m not sure whether A Monster Calls falls directly into the YA genre or whether it’s aimed at younger readers, but either way it’s definitely one of the better books I’ve read in the last few months. There were certain scenes which were poignant and left me speechless- the scenes with Conor commenting on how the other children (and teachers!) changed in their treatment towards him after they found out about his mother were particularly sad, especially in his referencing being invisible. I found that these scenes choked me up before the actual sad things even happened.

The entire plot and the way it progressed was outstanding. I honestly feel like there’s nothing that I can say here that’ll truly give justice to this outstandingly beautiful story, but I also feel like I have to write SOMETHING, ANYTHING, to voice my thoughts and share this amazing tale. Ness’ language use is beyond amazing and I honestly can’t think of an author in the same genre that uses language as well as he does – his use of short sentences captures exactly the required mood and say so much more than their intended message. I was doing really well at holding myself together until pretty close to the end, before the letter from Lily arrives and finally, the absolute tear-jerker line:

“YOU BE AS ANGRY AS YOU NEED TO BE,” SHE SAID. “DON’T LET ANYONE TELL YOU OTHERWISE. NOT YOUR GRANDMA, NOT YOUR DAD, NO ONE. AND IF YOU NEED TO BREAK THINGS, THEN BY GOD, YOU BREAK THEM GOOD AND HARD.”

Beautifully written, poignant and heartbreaking in all the right ways. An absolute literary classic.

I absolutely cannot wait to see how this book is portrayed on the big screen. I hope to God that they’ve done it justice because it’d be absolutely heart-breaking if others didn’t get to enjoy this amazing gift to literature the way that I have.

5/5

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Life: My University Experience

Life: My University Experience

Sunday 28 August 2016

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I recently graduated from university (woohoo!) after 4 incredibly long years of studying, emotional breakdowns and hangover-filled lectures. Most people are aware that I studied a languages degree, with my language being French. When I was at college, I was dead-set on doing a pharmacy degree. I took A levels in Chemistry, Biology, English Literature and French so I had the options there to get me onto this degree path- the week before our personal statement was due, I had a sudden change of heart and instead applied for French and German Studies.  

I’m not going to sit here and bang on about how amazing my degree was, because in actual reality, I lost all of the passion that I had for French about a year and a half into it. That isn’t to say that I hated every minute of it; the contrary. There were certain classes and certain lecturers that made the experience incredibly worthwhile but as a whole, French wasn’t really for me and I think I would have been better off doing something a little bit more creative. In the future I intend on doing a masters in Comparative Literature and I definitely think that is more up my street than French was.

I was incredibly lucky with the friends I made on my course; the entire course was made up of people who were likeminded and friendly and the vast majority of them I’d love to stay friends with. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule but none so drastic that it made the university experience difficult. My living arrangements throughout were slightly more complex: in first year, I lived in a flat of 10 people, some of whom I got on with and others I didn’t. I lived with the same people in second year and a little divide formed a few months in. I can honestly say that the people I remained friends with out of my original “fresher’s” house are amazing and I’m grateful for them. While we don’t see a lot of each other anymore, which is a shame but I know that they’re there if I need a chat and a catch-up. I also met my boyfriend in the first class I ever took at university- he was (and I believe I was for him!) the first person on my course that I spoke to at university. He was a fast worker as well, getting my phone number and a coffee date within about 40 minutes of sitting next to me!!

I had a compulsory year abroad included in my degree, which was definitely a life-changing opportunity for me. I chose to teach English in a small town close to Strasbourg and it was honestly the best decision that I made over the course of those four years. The city of Strasbourg is beautiful beyond words and comprehension and if I had the opportunity to live there, with all of my friends and family, then I probably would jump on it in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, I’m very much a home girl and rely too heavily on those around me so I wouldn’t be brave enough to make the leap and move out there by myself. Maybe one day, eh.

In my final year of university, I lived with course mates and it was definitely a much more structured and peaceful experience. We all had similar classes and timetables, which made the balance between socialising and work much easier to navigate. We’ve all gone off to do our own things now – one of the girls even moved back to France after graduation – but I’m hoping that these lovely girls will be friends for life now.

In all, my experience at university was a positive one. I just wish I’d studied something I was more passionate about as I definitely think I’d have achieved more. I came out of my degree with a 2:1, which I was very happy with, all things considered. I’m excited to see what the future holds for me and how I’ll put my degree to use in the coming months and years.

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Blogging: #LivHelps Blogging Event

Blogging: #LivHelps Blogging Event

Tuesday 23 August 2016

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This Saturday just passed, I was lucky enough to spend my afternoon with a bunch of fabulous bloggers at the #LivHelps blogging event. The event was hosted by the AMAZING Sammy at the equally fabulous Dough Bar just around the corner from Lime Street in Liverpool city centre. I’d never been to the venue before the event but I can say for sure that I’ll be dragging the other half there at some point soon as it was a lovely place with amazing food. But more on that later…

When I got to the event, I was a tad nervous as I wasn’t sure there’d be anyone there that I knew. Needless to say, I had absolutely no worries in sitting down and chatting to some of my fellow bloggers. I sat down at a table with Marie, Katie and Kayleigh and I am seriously glad I did because they’re absolutely lovely girls and it was an absolute pleasure to meet them. When we got there, Sammy handed out white envelopes- I opened mine up to discover that I’d won a little Clinique gift-set and was naturally over the moon there. We ordered drinks and food (I got loaded cheese fries with pulled pork which was absolutely AMAZING) and spent the vast majority of the afternoon chatting with the girls and getting to know one another. It was really nice to go to an event and have so much in common with people I’d never met before.

Sammy put on a little raffle which was full of the MOST AMAZING prizes (including a happiness planner that Sarah from Saloca in Wonderland was lucky enough to run away with!!). In typical Hollie fashion, I was blissfully unaware that I’d won a prize until Katie, stood next to me, let me know and I chose some vouchers for a little bar and restaurant on Liverpool waterfront. I’m looking forward to using them to have a much-needed little date night with my Other Half in the coming weeks!

The goodie bags that Sammy put together were ON ANOTHER LEVEL. They had all sorts of amazing goodies inside them, including (but not limited to!) a Diva Cup (which I found myself getting way too excited about), an amazing moisturiser from Alphah which everyone seemed  to go wild over but I’ve never heard of! I’ve used it and it makes my face feel amazing so I guess it’s definitely a winner! They also included a Love With Food subscription box, full to brim with gluten free goodies! I don’t follow a gluten free diet myself but a lot of gluten free products are also dairy free, for the sake of making things easier for everyone. I DO follow an (almost) dairy free diet so the box was a perfect way for me to try out some yummy snacks. Sammy let me know that the brand who provided us bloggers with the boxes also donated 50 boxes to Food Banks on our behalf, so that’s obviously an amazing thing!

We also got to choose a pair of sunglasses from Peridot, which was great for me as I have a habit of losing my sunnies every time I go away on holiday. Guess who just got back from Spain, sunglasses-less… The ones I chose are super cute and I’m looking forward to taking them away with me (and DEFINITELY coming home with them this time, I promise!)

Thank you SO much to Sammy for arranging such an amazing event- it was really obvious that you put a lot of time and effort into organising everything and getting such amazing brands on board. It was much appreciated, and I’m already looking forward to the next event!

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