[spoiler]REVIEW: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

**not mine, taken from Photobucket, credit to the creator who is linked in the image**

Okay, so this review is an alternative, almost discussion-style post as opposed to my spoiler-free review here, so if you do not wish to be spoiled, please head there!

This book took me an aaaaaage to complete, at least that's what it felt like! But it's a big book, that requires commitment, which I seemingly lacked. 

I absolutely adored the down-to-earth characteristic that Sue displayed, although I did disagree with Sue's lifestyle, but hey-ho, in that time period, needs must right? And I'm certain she wasn't the only one being a fingersmith. I felt that her development through the book allowed us, as readers, to feel like we were living it up with her, in the sense that we felt how she felt, even though we knew what she didnt. One thing I did not like however, was that we knew a lot more of the truth than Sue did, way before she did. That was one thing I felt that let me down, as I could not sympathise as much with Sue whilst she was hating Gentleman and Maud with all her might, yet so desperately clung onto the idea that Sucksby was looking for her, which was, as we all know, is far, far, far from the truth!

Maud. Oh Maud, you seemingly naive, yet cunning girl. Yes, we understand your frustration with your lifestyle, and your Uncle, but you were looked after well, fed, and everyone tried to do the best for you. Hell, even I sympathised with you and I was Team Sue all the way! Well, I sympathised with you until you went, unsupervised, into the library and did the thing. I think, a part of me actually wanted Sue to carry out her hateful thoughts onto you, just for that act. Yes, I understand there was smut in probably every single one of those books, but someone took the time and effort to create the thing and you went ahead and destroyed at least one! You went down in my expectations after that Maud, especially when we discovered you were penning your own in the future. Not good. 

This is just a couple of my initial thoughts on the book, mainly on two of the characters. Is this something that you would like to see more of on my blog? A spoiler-free review, followed by a spoiler/discussion style post as well, where I offload all my thoughts which are free to discuss with you as readers? Let me know in the comments if this seems like a good plan. 

That's it for now, I'll be back in the New Year!

REVIEW: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

***Please note, this review may not remain spoiler free***

Recently, I had the pleasure of picking up Fingersmith. I got it for a pound (£1) in one of my local charity shops, and had heard so much about the author, and with a new release of hers looming, I thought I may as well try her out, to see what her writing is like.

When I first read the back (I know some people refrain from doing so because of spoilers, but ultimately, how would I know if I was interested or not?), I got the impression that Sue Trinder (our lead female) was a sort of female version of Oliver Twist, and that the white gloves on the cover of the book were of some sort of significance to this line of work. Oh how I was not wrong.

The book follows Sue, who lives in London with her mother-esque figure Mrs Sucksby, as well as Mr Ibbs, John and Dainty, with the occasional visit from a man named, well, Gentleman. It is through Gentleman that Sue undertakes the biggest 'pickpocket' task of her life, and leaves her in a rather strange predicament....

I'll leave it there, incase of spoilers!

Basically, this book contains love, lust, greed, jealousy, rage, spit, murder and above all, bravery. I would highly highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good Dickensian novel, with a little bit of a twist thrown in there! If you've read the novel, please let me know down below so we can discuss it further - there will also be a spoiler blog post on this novel coming up, so avoid that like the plague if you wish to remain spoiler free!

See you all soon my lovelies!

R

Why I Love my Kindle.

Okay, so I know that there's probably a billion different blog posts on the Amazon Kindle,  or it's various products including the Kindle Fire, PaperWhite and the original Kindle, so yep, I'm writing another one.


Just about everybody has heard of an Amazon Kindle, or owns one themselves. And if the figures are anything to go by - a staggering 64 million e-book purchases between January and September of 2014 (figures found in this article) - pretty much everyone will have read a book in their format, or know someone who has. If this is in fact true, then why do people seemingly scoff, or scrunch their faces up at me, when I tell them that the Kindle is my tablet of choice?

Kindles run on the Android system, just like the Samsung/Sony/HTC/pretty much anything except Apple products. Yet I know people who swear by Android as they 'cant get away' with using Apple products, but they still own an iPad that they treat like their baby, or an additional limb. So really, what is the issue?

Personally, I believe there are a number of things about it to make you fall in love with a Kindle. For example, it's the device that was created for e-books. Its initial purpose was to support PDF and e-book formats in the best possible way, to allow more people more access to their books on the go, rather than lugging their War and Peace novels around with them (believe me, it's actually pretty hard, speaking from experience). However, the thing I think I love the most about my Kindle (a Kindle Fire), is its versatility. One minute, it's a book, the next a game, or an App, or a different book! But then it becomes a film, or it becomes music. The only thing that my Kindle lacks, is a camera. However, that is because my Kindle is the version before the ones with the cameras installed. But that really doesn't bother me. I'm more than content just flipping between my apps and my books.

I think that's just about it for now. However, I will be posting again in the near future regarding my Kindle! Next time, it wont just be me declaring my love for an e-reader, it will actually be two posts comprising of the books I own on my Kindle, how much I paid for them, and whether I've actually read them yet!

Just a quick last note about those future blog posts - the unread HEAVILY outweighs the read books on my Kindle!

REVIEW: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

***please note, this review may contain spoilers***

Now, this book is a one I finished a while back, but if my memory serves me right, I absolutely loved it.

I bought this book back at the start of the year, wanting to get stuck into what I knew was going to be another trilogy, as I haven't quite gotten over the series blues of The Hunger Games. I had tried to move on via The Maze Runner, but if anything, that sent me into a slump. So when I discovered this book, I thought 'why the hell not?'. After all, I had nothing to lose!

I'm so pleased I picked it up. It drew me in so well, kept me well and truly intrigued, and I finished it within a week, which is practically a record for me!

In this book, we follow Paige, who is part of a criminal gang in London in 2059. Her role in this gang, is to gain information through breaking into other peoples minds. Now, it's all going brilliantly, until one day, on her way home to visit her family, she is attacked, drugged and kidnapped, and taken to Oxford, where she becomes part of the latest "Bone Season".

I dont want to give too much away (I feel like this is all I have been saying lately), but I really think going in blind for things like this is the best way to go about it! I'll leave a link to the Goodreads page for this book here, should you wish to find out more and read more reviews on this book. 

Have you read this book? Let me know down below so we can have a chat about it!

REVIEW: Zoo by James Patterson

***please note, this review may not be completely spoiler free, and all views are my own***

Hello world! How are we all? Hope everyone is well! Today, I am bringing you a review of my most recently read novel, Zoo, by James Patterson. Released initially in 2012 (I believe), it has seemed to slip under many people's radars, particularly those unfamiliar to Patterson or the genres he writes within. That is, until Sky released the information that they were to create a series of the same name, based upon the books. Naturally, after seeing the first trailer (or advert for us Brits), curiosity got the better of me, and I ended up purchasing the book online via Amazon, and upon its arrival a few days later, I picked it up.

Zoo follows our main character, Jackson Oz, who has a pet chimp, Atilla. Now, for those of you who have seen the series Zoo, you may be wondering who Atilla is, as apparently the poor thing has been left out of it. When a string of strange animal attacks on humans begin occurring more and more frequently, this leads Oz, and a number of other individuals, to take note of such behaviour and monitor it, looking for anything out of the ordinary or obscure to such an animals typical pattern. For example, lions, when in a pack and hunting, tend to only have one male lion as the 'lead' so to speak, and the rest of the pack tend to be females. However, in the book, one of the noticeable changes or strange goings-on is that a lion pack is actually hunting in an all-male formation, highly out of character for such a predator. When Oz gets asked if he would like to see strange animal behaviour patterns in Africa, he leaves his girlfriend behind in the US, and asks her to look after Atilla. And this is where it really starts to go downhill for our main character.

Whilst on the way to Africa, he recieves an email from his girlfriend Natalie, who is trying to tell him she wishes for them to break up, as she feels almost like a third wheel in her own relationship with Oz and his dedication to his work. He reluctantly agrees (what else can he do from the other side of the world) and throws himself into what Africa has to offer in terms of animal behavioural patterns. Several events follow this (which i do not wish to disclose in fer of spoilers for you all), but in these events there are attacks, deaths, new friendships and potential love interests, and Oz has only been there 24 hours!

From Africa, Oz returns to the US with his new love interest in tow, as he believes he has nothing to lose now that Natalie has seemingly cut all ties. However, he notices when he arrives at his apartment that things are not all they are cracked up to be, and this discovery aids him greatly in his research.

This book kept me gripped. At times, I really didn't want to pick it up in fear of what might happen next, but then again, it did such a good job of drawing me in again and again I couldn't resist! Some of the characters were incredibly well developed, although I feel that some deserved more time to shine in their roles (such as Oz's guide in Africa for example).

Overall, I rated this book a 4/5 stars on Goodreads, as I felt the story was lacking in reality in parts, although it did enough to keep me hooked. A must read for those who are wanting to be introduced to Patterson's writing style!

BOOK REVIEW | The Bees by Laline Paull

***please note, this review may contain spoilers***

I took this to read on my recent holiday to Turkey, as it is one of the shorter books I own. I found the concept of it interesting, and when I was further recommended to read it and push it up my TBR, I felt this was an appropriate way to do so.

In this book we follow Flora 717, a sanitation worker bee, as she goes through her day to day life in the Hive she is born into.

I can't really give too much away, as anything I say will probably severely spoil the book for you! All you need to know is that Flora 717 is not like the others. She doesn't seem to fit as a sanitation worker bee, and grabs every opportunity given to her with open arms. At points, I sympathised with her, rooted for her, cried with her, laughed with her, wanted to sting another bee with her. I went on this rollercoaster ride of emotions, with a bee. Not even a real bee! Once I'd completed the book, I took a step back and asked myself what kept me so interested and wrapped up in Flora 717's story. And the truth is? I have no idea. I guess it just fascinated me to imagine life as a bee, whilst having the trials and tribulations of a human, all under a semi-dictatorship (if not a complete one)of a Queen or Loving Mother.

I guess what I'm trying to say, is that I would highly highly recommend you read this book. Even if it is just for the idea that it is about bees! That's what intrigued me initially, and when asked what it was about, that's all I could say. I promise you, once you begin to read it, you will be completely and totally sucked in!

Easily a five out of five stars, adding to this years list of 5*'ers, and making that decision of my favourite book of 2015 just that little bit harder.

REVIEW | The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith.

***please note this review may contain spoilers.***

I took this book on my travels this year (as I'm writing we have only just returned from Turkey, beautiful country), as I had already owned The Silkworm for quite some time, until I was informed that this came first. Naturally, as a first time reader of Robert Galbraith, I was dubious about taking both books, so left The Silkworm at home. 

I regret that decision. 

Beginning this in the departures lounge at the airport, I found I only had about twenty minutes reading time before our departure gate opened after looking around the shops and having food. So of course, I challenged myself to read a certain amount of pages. And failed. What little I did read however, I absolutely loved and found myself wanting more.

Initially, I found the plot to be running a little slow. But that is completely understandable for the first in what I truly do hope is a substantial series length. 

For those of you who dont know, Robert Galbraith is not actually a man. Nor is he real actually. He's actually a certain wonderful author who is perhaps one of the most famous (if not the most famous) of the past 20 years. Who, I hear you ask? J.K. Rowling.

I KNOW RIGHT. The Harry Potter lady wrote something not Harry Potter and it is fantastic.

The first book in the Cormoran Strike follows, well, Cormoran Strike, a private detective, who when we meet him, is a little down on his luck. His business is failing, he's recently single, and lives in his office. Sounds like a hoot to work for doesn't he? 

And that's where we meet Robin. Robin is hired through a temp agency to be Strike's secretary, and the two seem to feign interest in one another at first, but without really caring. Until they realise, on seperate occasions, just how much the other person is helping them. For Robin, Strike is providing her with the opportunity to work in a position she's always dreamed of, and for Strike, Robin is providing that little bit of structure and support he really does need in the form of both employee and friend. The development of their characters over the course of the book makes for a great read, as we see Robin coming out of her shell more in the sense of investigating for the case.

The case. The case which Robin is involved in working on with Strike is that of the death of Lula Landry, a famous model (I'm thinking along the lines of Cara Delevigne here {if thats how her name is spelt}). Initial reports from the police, coroner and newspapers all believe and decide it to be suicide, but her brother John Bristow, approaches Strike begging for his help, as he believes it wasnt suicide, it was murder. Surely, if the police believe her death to be unsuspicious, and the coroner ruling the same, there's no need for Strike to intervene? Naturally, he intervenes and begins his investigation into the models death.

We follow Strike and Robin as the case develops, and without a doubt there are a few twists and turns along the way. Although you do feel as though you're on a little bit of a wild goose chase at times, it's worth it in the end. I had my suspicions for the culprit (if there ever was one), but sadly I was proven wrong. It didn't stop me loving following the story though, and I finished the majority of the book in one day whilst lounging around the pool. 

Overall, I would most likely rate this 4.5/5 stars to 5/5 stars. I am currently undecided on which to choose, as for all it is very very worthy of five stars, I felt that perhaps there was something missing. That and I didnt like Robins fiance all too much.

See you all soon with another review!

***

Have you read this book? What did you think? I'd love it if we could start a discussion below in the comments!

What if I don't like the book I'm reading?

DNF'ing books.

For those who do not know, DNF means 'did not finish', therefore, if you were to DNF a book, you would not be finishing it for whatever reason.

So what happens when you get this feeling? Simple. DO IT. You are not someone who can be controlled by the thoughts and opinions of others. If you pick up a book on the recommendation of others, be it through Google, Goodreads, YouTube, the newspaper, the shop, a friend or family member etc., and it turns out that really, you aren't enjoying it, then that is completely fine.

-

When I first joined the blogging and BookTubing worlds, I never expected to dislike a book. Before I joined, I read tried and tested authors who had either written something else that I had previously read, or were so similar to another franchise I liked, that they couldn't go wrong (I'm looking at, and blaming you, Twilight). But then I joined YouTube and began a BookTube channel and this blog (which is now a year old - yikes!), and realised that there are so many authors out there, who write so many different things, and in different styles, and that I wouldn't mind trying them all out.

Well that was a bad idea.

I found authors I didn't like, topics I thought were very very wrong (I'm looking at you Stolen, and Gone Girl), and to be perfectly honest, BookTubers who only seemed to be in it for the money. That wasn't what I wanted. So I began properly researching.

I looked first of all for BookTubers who were based in the UK. Why? Because that is where I am from. No, I'm not being culturally picky here, I couldn't care less where you come from, particularly if you're a wonderful person (and I'm sure you are). The reason I chose the UK to start my search was because if I found book recommendations from UK BookTubers, I knew I was guaranteed to find books they were talking about. Which was also a weakness. It opened my eyes to the various ways I could access books in the UK, and I bought pretty much every recommended book going that I thought I would enjoy. And in all honesty, I really didnt enjoy a lot of them. Some I found were juvenile, other just weren't to my taste.

And do you know what?

That's okay.

If you do not like a book, for whatever reason, you are not required to read it. This isn't school or college or university, you will NOT get an exam in it. It's almost guaranteed that if you force yourself to read a book, you will decrease your chances of ever enjoying it, and pretty much end up in a reading slump - another place you do not want to be headed too.

I don't really know where I was going with this, I just wanted to blog some thoughts that have been going around in my head the past few days. I hope you're all well, and do you ever DNF books? Or have you ever wanted to, but didn't grab the opportunity? Let me know in the comments!


Goodbye for now!

#FAIRYTALEATHON pre-announcement post

Thanks Google for the image, can be found here

Hello world! Today I come at you with an exciting post about a readthon.

Myself and Madeline, from Mad Novels (who's Youtube channel can be found here) are hosting our very own readathon! It takes place from midnight in your own time of 14th September, running right through to the 20th September. Exciting stuff hmm?

So, what is the focus of our readathon, I hear you all pretending to ask?

Well, we are focusing this readathon around fairytale retellings! So that means books such as The Lunar Chronicle, ACOTAR etc. We will be doing challenges (which we are releasing at a later date ;) ), and using the '#' #fairytaleathon across the social media platforms we use, including Twitter and Instagram, in order to promote our readathon idea in the hopes that people would like to join in! 

Why are you doing a readathon? And why a fairytale retelling focus?

Basically, Madeline contacted me via YouTube (apparently thats a a thing!), and asked if I had a certain series of books, as she was interested in doing a readathon. Sadly, I lacked those books in my possession, so we settled for a different option in fairytale retellings, as we both have those on our TBRs!

Personally, I like that it's a fairytale retelling focused readathon, as it allows for the more unfamiliar books on our TBRs to be recognised, not just the popular ones I've mentioned before. We are able to discuss a generic theme of a book, but give eachother different options and ideas of where to head next within the theme, as it's such a diverse one. 


If anyone has any questions regarding the readathon, or would like to participate, let me know in the comments down below!  I was going to post a video for this, but my camera currently hates me! :(


See you all soon with hopefully another blog post, if not a video!


Rebecca x

BOOK REVIEW: Stolen by Lucy Christopher

***please note, this review may not be completely spoiler free. If you wish to remain unspoiled about this book, please avoid the blue areas. Some areas may contain spoilers without realising due to my frustration with this book. My apologies in advance***

Okay, so maybe calling this a 'sad excuse of a book' on my Instagram was a little bit harsh.

I was frustrated, okay?

Stolen follows a girl named Gemma, who is writing a letter to her former captor. Within this letter, there are details regarding her disappearance, how it was carried out, and how she managed to survive a month in the middle of the desert. And that's it. 

Yup.,

So, this book had me frustrated. It's 300 pages of poorly thought out storylines and scenarios, in which we are meant to sympathise with both Gemma and her captor, Ty, simultaneously, whilst also hating Ty for taking her in the first place. And just how are we meant to do that? I found myself hating Gemma moreso than Ty, even though I really didn't want too. 

The ending. Well, that just made everything worse! The fact that she openly admitted there were two options available, explained both of them, and then decided on a third, which merged the two, just angered me more. If it wasnt for the snake bite, I actually dont think she would have went back at all!

Overall, I gave this book a two star rating on Goodreads, where I have also left a mini review summing up my thoughts.

Have you read this book? Let me know in the comments if you have, and how you feel about it, as I seem to be on a lonely train of distaste for this book!

Thanks for reading, hopefully I'll be back with another review soon!

BOOK REVIEW: The Girl with All The Gifts by M. R. Carey

Click here to see my thoughts via video

Book: The Girl With All the Gifts
Author: M. R. Carey
Released: 2014

This book is a one that I picked up and read quite quickly, it took me about a week overall, which I am really impressed with. Whilst the book is classed as a Thriller, I found the writing to be slightly juvenile, and would categorize this as a YA/NA Thriller, rather than an adult thriller.

This book follows Melanie, who has a strain of the Hungries gene. But she is not alone. Each and every day she is kept in a prison cell, and goes to class, gets fed, and showers, all whilst tied to her chair and she doesn't know why she is restrained. People approach her with caution, and she has no idea why. When she gets strapped into her chair each day, guns are pointed at her, and she jokingly states 'no need for guns, I wont bite' - to which nobody laughs. 

The book follows Melanie's journey to finding out what she really is, and how she copes with this information. When the army base where she is kept imprisoned gets invaded by a mix of Hungires and Junkers (the 'normal' people who chose to live in the wild when the Hungries took over), Melanie must flee with the surviving humans, including her teacher, a scientist who wants to kill her, and the Seargant who points a gun to her head everyday.

I absolutely loved this book, and filmed a video review, which you will be taken to by clicking the image of the book cover at the top of this post.

The characters are really easy to love, or hate, and I found myself sympathising more and more with Melanie, who reminds me a little bit of Nick Frost's character in Shaun of the Dead at the end, which for me made her more relatable. The story is also set in the UK, not to far from London, so it also made a pleasant change to read a book set in my home country.

DISCUSSION: I cant afford to buy books, should I quit blogging/YouTube...the digital edition

Hello World! I'm back again with part two of my discussion regarding affording books, and what to do if you cant.

Today, I'm looking at the digital options. In todays society, pretty much everyone has either a tablet/Kindle/iPad, or a smartphone that can download apps, such as Apple or Android phones. Personally, I own a Kindle and an iPhone, and therefore, I also have the relevant digital reading options. On my Kindle I have way too many unread books (I'll explain how I got them later), all of which come to a total of maybe £10.00, and on my iPhone I have the Kindle app in sync with my Kindle, as well as iBooks, which comes with the phone, and I have about 5 or 6 books on there.

So, how do I manage to have so many UNREAD books on my Kindle, at a teeny tiny cost? I'll explain!

There are a number of options for digital books that cost very little, or are even free! So here's a couple of tips and tricks I use myself in order to drastically grow my TBR pile!

1. Overdrive app -  this app is a gem I've heard about on booktube (the part of YouTube where
people go mental over books, it's great, and if you haven't tried it yet you should). As long as your library is signed up, you can borrow digital copies of books and e-books, without having to leave the comfort of my pyjamas or bed. It's pretty straight forward to set up, and can be downloaded on both Apple and Android devices for free!
How to get it: http://app.overdrive.com/ 

2. Netgalley - This is a place the majority of people who review books already know about. Netgalley is a free site where you can request titles to read and review, usually before their release date. On some occasions, they also have the first book in a series available to request should a sequel be being released. The more you request, read and review, the more likely you are to be accepted for titles to read. I currrently have five or six books to read from Netgalley, but I have read and reviewed a few so far and really enjoyed them.
Where? https://www.netgalley.com/


3. Bookbub -  THIS SITE. My god. this site is brilliant. Basically, you sign up to their site, and they e-mail you daily with a bunch of exclusive deals to their site. All books are kindle books, and if you choose a book, it goes straight to the Amazon page where you can download it to the relevant device. They do a lot of free deals, but they also have a lot of bargain deals, such as £5.99 down to £0.99 for example.
Where? https://www.bookbub.com/home/

4. Kindle daily deals - If, like me, you have a Kindle, you will get emails daily about Kindle daily deals on books, and whilst the deals are not free deals, they are recent releases at a fraction of the price. In one instance, I got A Court Of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas for £1.99 instead of the retail price. For all I am yet to read it, it also means I wont be urged to buy the hardback or paperback versions instead!

5. Amazon (or iBooks) - Yes, I am well aware that this is where you get all of your books for the relevant e-reader, BUT each of these platforms have free books. Yes, I said FREE. One of my all time favourite books was a one that I found on my Kindle, for free. I downloaded it on a whim expected chick-lit mush, and it really wasn't!  For all there are quite a lot of books available for free on each domain, it is worth raking through some of them just to find a book you may fancy. You may also see that Classics are available on both platforms, completely free of charge, and there is nothing wrong with a good classic.

---

Okay, I think that's it for now. I know it's quite wordy and things,  but ultimately it's my way of trying to advise you in finding bargains in e-books. If you read more e-books, and you feel unworthy of YouTube, DO NOT. Many many people film reviews for e-books or post blog reviews for e-books, and nobody judges them or looks at them any differently. I apologise if this post isn't relevant to you, but if you manage to get your hands on an e-reader, I'd definitely recommend checking out all of the options above.


Find me elsewhere:
Twitter: www. twitter.com/craftsandreads
Instagram: www.instagram.com/craftsandreads
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6gNsTH21OANbS8mgoYfc4A

DISCUSSION: I can't afford books, should I keep blogging/ using YouTube?

Hello world! Today I'm coming at you with a response/reply to a certain video I watched this morning on YouTube, regarding the issues surrounding being able to afford books, and whether or not you should cease to blog or film if such money problems occur. 

The video in question:

The creator of the discussion is a man named Richard Denney (https://twitter.com/richarddenneyyy), who explains pretty much straight off that he's an author. He's an avid reader, booktuber and tweeter, and within this video he gets personal. As in he explains how he can 'afford' to keep Booktube going. How? It's simple.

You dont.

There are means and methods around having to 'afford' books. A lot of the time, as a Booktuber and blogger, you go through an introductory impulse buy when you join either community. I've been blogging and posting videos since September 2014 (it's now July 2015), and I still find myself impulse buying through recommendations of others. You bad influences you ;)        
However, this phase does need reigning in for myself personally, but if you can afford brand new books every single month, well done you! It is important to note though, that not everyone can afford this, and that's OKAY. There are other means to reading the newest books, or even older books that you want to read.

The methods:

SO, I've compiled a couple of things together to show different methods of being able to stay active on social media, whilst still being able to read new or newish books. Some of these Richard mentioned in his video, and some of them I have thought of on my own. 

1. Get a library card - if you live in the UK, you have the opportunity to get a library card from your local council, which doesn't tie you down to just one library, it opens you up to accessing several different libraries in your area, and some may have better options suited to your reading taste than others. You may need to pay a fee to get such a library card, but even if you pay £5.00 for that little bit of plastic (which is the most expensive I've seen), it is worth it in the long run, especially if you want to keep reading or prefer reading to deadlines in order to get another book out.

2. Bargain hunting - even if you begin in the big book stores, the majority now have SALE sections. That's right people of the UK, Waterstones have a sale section. Now, curb your excitement for a moment okay? Often, these books have been slightly damaged, or have been used for display purposes and may have nothing wrong with them at all. They're books at a fraction of their actual cost, and if it's something you really really want, maybe that slightly torn edge will be worth it?

3. Use popular books to your advantage - okay so this one may seem a little confusing. Basically, many UK supermarkets (and possible US walmarts, I'm really not too sure), get a wide selection of best sellers to sell in their stores. For example, the beautiful covers of the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series by George R.R Martin are available in at least two of the popular UK supermarkets, on deals of two for £7.00, which I have no shame in admitting is where I got my copies of the first two books. Considering they retail at £8.99 individually, there really is no harm in using your generic supermarkets.

4 Shop around - Yes, this is basically the same as number 2, but at the same time it's different. In the UK, there are a chain of shops called 'The Works', and pretty much every single city or town will have one. In this shop, they have a wide variety of stock available at a fraction of the price, such as a George R.R. Martin boxset for £30.00 instead of it's retailed price of £65.00. They also often have a sale on, with the majority of the books included being reduced to £1.00 each.

Within this 'Shop around' section, I am also going to mention car boot sales and charity shops. Quite a lot of my books in my hauls are all second hand, and I may buy one or two new books every three months or so depending on how desperately I want a book. Sometimes, those urges for new books take over, and that is OKAY, I just don't make a habit of it, as I already overspend on books! 

Quite a lot of the time, I manage to find books in spectacular condition in charity shops, their spines still like new, and the majority barely touched bar the odd knock here and there from storage. Plus, the most I have every paid for a second hand book is (from what I can remember) is £2.50, which is a third of the price of a usual brand new book. 

5. Ask Santa! (or your birthday fairy or the Easter bunny) - when I was younger, I always used to ask the Easter bunny for a book, as the newer Harry Potters were released around that date. As it was an alternative to chocolate, and slightly more expensive than an egg, it was often more favoured, as parents and family knew I would get more joy out of a book that I could read over and over, rather than egg shaped chocolate that would barely last an hour!

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Now, I am aware that we are in a digital age, and therefore, a lot of people have smartphones and tablets with Apps on them that allow them to read. As this post is mainly focusing on my responses to being able to afford physical books, I shall post a separate post regarding digital books.

---

You've seen my examples so what now? Do you still have doubts about posting reviews or using YouTube? All I can do is offer advice, and it is up to you to take it. However, I will say a couple of more things before you're free!

It is YOUR decision. Just because a bunch of people who have more popular channels than you with all the books you want and they havent had to pay for them, should not put you off. As I've previously stated, the library is a good source of newly released books, so you can always pick up a copy to get you through a new book hype, return it when finished, and purchase it after if you really really want too. 

If you have issues with buying second hand, I completely understand that. However, their is an unspoken rule in second hand shops in the UK, which is that no book should be sold on if it smells. Sometimes, books smell. Usually of smoke, and often the smell is not always prominent until you actually flick through the book. I found this out the hard way at a car boot sale on day, brought the book home and it absolutely reeked of smoke and made me despise reading the book. My advice to you is this. Smell the books.

I know it sounds crazy, but trust me. Smell the books. It is easily the best thing I've started doing at car boot sales, and usually if you point out it smells a tad funky, theyll knock a little bit off the price too!

Okay, I think that's it for now! Thank you all for reading the post, I know it's a long one, but if it's made someone think, even just a little bit, then it has done it's purpose. Many thanks also to Richard, for posting such a thought provoking topic discussion on YouTube!

*Thank you Google, for providing such wonderful imagery that i can use in my posts, such as this one.

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BOOK REVIEW: All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

***please note, any spoilers will be in a different colour to my usual black text, and unless there is a block of spoilers, may occur without warning. I apologise in advance if this review spoils the book for you in any way, although you have been warned! ;)***


I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED THIS BOOK.

Anyone who follows me on Instagram or Twitter (linked at the bottom of this post), will know how long it has taken me to get through this book.
7 months,

SEVEN LONG MONTHS.

Saying that, the book isn't all that bad.

It's a historical war fiction novel, set in WW2, and follows the stories of two characters who are actually destined to cross paths at somepoint, we just don't know when until it actually happens (but when it happened, all I could say was IT'S ABOUT BLOODY TIME, followed by IS THAT IT?!). The two main characters, Marie-Laure and Werner, could not be more different if they tried. One is a blind girl living with her father in Paris, the other a German orphan living with his sister under the care of the orphanage, until one day, he is enlisted in the army.

Werner likes radios. A lot. He enjoys watching how they work, and pulling them apart to fix them back up again. This is a skill that comes in handy throughout this book, as he becomes one of the only people who has the ability to receive radio transmissions unbeknown to the original transmitter.

Marie-Laure is blind, lives with her father in Paris, and has a miniature of the city in her room. Her father created this miniature of the city for her, so she is able to get her bearings of the city before being allowed to go out alone. In the throes of war, they are made to leave Paris, thus leaving the familiarity behind, rendering Marie-Laure helpless. Until they arrive at her Great-Uncle Etienne's home, where she is then cared for by her father, as well as her Great-Uncle and Madame Manec, her great-uncles help.

From then on, chaos ensues, for both Marie-Laure and Werner. Their paths do cross eventually, but it does take a while.

***

I struggled to complete this. In all honesty, it was a very well written piece, although lengthly, and in my opinion, often unnecessary. Why? This is because I picked it up and put it down again several times over the 7 months, as I found it difficult to read in big spurts. Some of the scenes for me, were unnecessary, as they focused on a lot of side characters, although personally, I believe they were the wrong side characters. I would have liked to have heard more not just about Jutta (Werners sister), but also Marie-Laure's father.


Overall, I gave this book 4 stars on goodreads, but it falls closer to 3.5 stars for me. I will be posting a full review on Youtube, and you can find the link to my channel on the blog home page.

Thanks for reading, and hopefully see you soon with another review!

REVIEW: Outage by Ellisa Barr

Thank you Google for this image! :)

*I got this book on a read to review basis via a well known e-book ARC site, all views are my own and are in no way influenced by said site*

Hello everyone! Long time no blog, and I do feel terrible for this, so I have a few reviews in the works for you all to enjoy! Today's post is focusing on the book Outage, by Ellisa Barr, and I will link the appropriate site and goodreads below for this book.

This book follows Dee (or Maddie), who is staying with her grandfather on his farm whilst her parents go away on a cruise for a week. However, not long after they leave, there is a complete power outage, so the nearby town is enveloped in darkness and chaos ensues there. Her grandfather, who has a pacemaker (unknown to Dee at the time), falls ill and Dee must go to the town to gather supplies for herself and her grandfather, before people click on that this is something that may last longer than overnight. As she does, she bumps in to several characters who, as a reader, you grow to love, and one or two you grow to hate. 

This book really highlights the idea of going from being so reliant upon technology (I'm blogging this right now, for the internet world to see for goodness sake), to being reliant upon the land with no technology to aid you. The closest you get to technology after the outage is probably the gas cooker (stove). I found this fascinating and it really made me step back and think how I would cope if this actually happened, and as it turns out, I don't think I could!

Have you read this book? What do you think? I haven't done my usually of posting an in-depth review with spoilers as I don't know anyone else who has read this, and would like to read more in the series before going more in depth with spoiler-style reviews. However, I have mentioned this in a recent upload I have done on Youtube, which can be found here.

REVIEW | Whiter Than Snow by Matthew Eldridge

****this book was sent to me by the author on a read to review basis, although it is available in both Kindle and Paperback edition, and those links will be left at the end of the blog post****

Title: Whiter Than Snow

Author: Matthew Eldridge

Available on: Kindle, Paperback

About this book:

Whiter Than Snow was sold to me as a fairytale re-telling of the infamous Snow White. You remember her, right? Disney princess, lives in a cottage with seven dwarves who each have their own personality and nickname that defines who they are? The woman who eats the apple and basically temporarily dies? Yeah? Thought that would bring back the memory!

**Please be aware that this may not remain spoiler free, however, it will remain as spoiler free as possible**

In this fairy tale re-telling, we follow the main character, Princess Margarete as she embarks on life. However, there is already a cruel twist of fate at this part. Why? She doesn't know she's a princess! She was rescued from the evil clutches of a witch at birth, after the witch convinced her parents that the infant was in fact dead. So as the King tended to his dying wife, the witch fled with the 'dead' infant. She does get rescued however, and is secretly sent to live with a former help of the Queen, Lucinda. This is where Margarete learns all there is to know about cooking, cleaning and general upkeeping of houses, which pays off massively later in the book. 

And all of that just happened in the Prologue!

We then hear the beginnings of the story of Prince Phillip. Throughout the book, the story jumps from one area to another, and although this may sound confusing at first, the author makes it work really well to suit the narrative and links everything together quite nicely, and rarely are you left confused.

Throw in a couple of love interests, a new horrid Queen, a teenage girl and her emotions and some  historical movements - nothing too difficult to follow, although they add to the story quite well, and this makes for a pretty good read!

-I did actually start keeping notes when I first began reading this, however, I got so engrossed I kind of forgot to keep up with note taking!-

**THIS NEXT SECTION WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS, PLEASE SCROLL TO THE END OF THIS SECTION IF YOU WISH TO REMAIN SPOILER FREE**

Okay, so where do I begin?

First of all, I fell in love with the relationship of Jack and Margarete from the beginning. He seemed so sweet and genuine, and it broke my heart that she was so uncertain of her emotions throughout the book. I understood her feelings towards both Jack and Phillip, although I did envisage her spending the rest of her life as a Queen married to Phillip with Jack on the side. Until that event which kind of killed that image!

The Queen (new, not old) was the perfect "bad guy", and I did wonder what it would be like for her and Queen Mary to team up, rather than hate eachother. I also liked the concept of the Queen taking a bite out of an apple too, as I saw it as a sort of comeuppance.

THE ENDING.
Oh my god the ending. It drove me bonkers! It was a little too familiar to Romeo and Juilet for my liking, and although Phillip didn't kill himself, I kind of expected him to do so. I really did feel sorry for the King at this point though. He had lost his second wife, AND his 'new' daughter, all in 24 hours? He had everything he could have wanted and then had it all so brutally taken away, I kind of wished I could have climbed through my Kindle and given him a massive hug!

**SPOILERS ENDED**

So, overall, I really did enjoy this book, and for that reason I am giving it a 3.5/5 stars. Why not five?

I didn't really enjoy the ending, in my view fairytales are supposed to be all happily ever after, although I do realise that this is a re-telling and people interpret things differently. However, this does mean that this cannot be open to a sequel, which I am pretty pleased about, as many books are created as standalones before suddenly being transformed into series' or trilogies. 

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fairy tale re-tellings, or someone who loves to indulge in YA every now and again without having to feel bogged down at the thought of attaching themselves to another series!

I read this one pretty quickly for me, it took me 12 days to read from start to finish, and at roughly 360 pages long, you'll fly through it too!

Thanks for reading, if you wish to purchase the book the links are below. But for now, I shall leave you with the following:

"In one small journey the world between royalty and peasant collided, erasing social class momentarily"

Kindle Edition: http://amzn.to/1DramKs

Paperback Edition: http://amzn.to/1DrasSf

BOOK REVIEW: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Hello everyone! Today I finished Gone Girl, and whilst the book is still fresh in my mind, I thought I would share my review of the book!

Now, for anyone who doesn't know about Gone Girl, where exactly have you been?! The book was turned into a film that was shown in the U.K over the summer last year, and has been a hit pretty much worldwide. However, me being the type of person that I am, I found myself seeing the previews and wanting to read the book! So I picked up the book from my local supermarket for £3.50, instead of its RRP of £6.99, and it has sat on my shelf ever since, until a couple of weeks ago when I picked it up on a whim after getting bored of my last read!

So what is Gone Girl about?

Gone Girl centres on a couple, Nick Dunne and Amy Dunne (who also goes by her maiden name Amy Elliott, as well as Amy Elliott-Dunne), and is set in a diary format, almost. Each chapter is an entry of theirs, although it doesnt have the usual 'dear diary'. Each chapter title contains their name, and how many days after a certain event takes place that the entry has been made. What event I hear you ask? Basically, Amy disappears, and everyone blames Nick. Cue a book centred on him finding his wife, and proving his innocence. Although things are not all they seem!

***This next section of the review will not be guaranteed spoiler free - if you have NOT read the book, please skip ahead!***

Now, I really do have some issues with this book, which are not exactly spoiler free (another warning!).

I really dislike Amy's character. I mean, she has always been a bit odd (according to her previous entries) in the sense that as soon as she has someone on her team, that actually likes her for her, she starts to push them away at the first sign of them knowing her "too much". Personally, I do believe that this is because she's seemingly under the impression that she knows there is always someone else who can replace the "friend" in question, which is wrong on so many levels.
And then she grows up.
And she is just as bad, if not worse!
I disliked how she basically plotted for a whole year to pull off the disappearance, and the fact that everyone is on her side and believes her because 'why wouldn't you believe this beautiful woman?' is actually an option also disgusts me. The more I read Amy's chapters, the more I wanted to kill her myself.

AND...faking a pregnancy? Killing a  man? Faking your own death? If you dont love your husband anymore, just leave, don't go batshit crazy to make sure he never leaves you out of spite or even pity.

Nick on the other hand...

Well, Nick Dunne. You beauty of a man. I had already seen the trailers so could mainly picture Ben Affleck when reading Nick's chapters but hey, every cloud! The more I read Nick's chapters, the more I supported him. Probably because I was reading Amy's chapters in between and I genuinely felt sorry for the poor bloke, I mean wouldn't you? Regardless of him being a cheat (which goes back on ALL I've said in the past), for someone who supposedly loves you forever to then turn around and fake her own disappearance/death just to make sure you're arrested so you never get the chance to move on from her? Nah, step too far.

***Spoilers end here (or will try too)***

Now, I've vented my thoughts on the characters whilst stating spoilers so lets cut to the chase.
Amy is a character I really dislike.
Nick I feel sorry for.
Go is great!

One other gripe I had with this book is its format. Not in the diary sense, I do believe that is a good idea. Although I think perhaps doing Nick's sections first up to the turning point in the book would be great, followed by Amy's story from the start up until that point. From there, I would probably alternate as already done by Flynn. This way I do believe would allow us to connect to Nick better in the sense of blaming him and then feeling extremely guilty and upset at that turning point.

Overall, I give the book THREE out of FIVE stars. I felt it could have been reorganised to suit the story better, and ultimately, I want to kill Amy myself.

Have you read the book or seen the film adaptation? Or perhaps both? Please let me know in the comments what you thought of the book, I'd love to hear from you!

VISIT: White Scar Caves

So, I know this isn't a usual 'look at this book i read' kind of post. Today, I am going to talk to you about White Scar Caves, as I recently visited there with my other half (i.e the driver since he drives and I dont) and had a wonderful time!

White Scar Cave is classed as being in North Yorkshire (Ingleton to be precise), however, do not let this deceive you! North Yorkshire goes quite a distance across the country from the East to the West! It takes roughly two hours to get there from the North East depending on traffic, so it isn't really too bad, and can be done in a day! We left at about 10.30am (later than we have done for day trips that way in the past) arrived there for half twelve, and had the tour at one.

This was after we left, as I forgot to take a picture before we went in!

After you pay your entrance fee (£9.50 per adult), you then move on to get your hard hat - which is a necessity! The people who work there make sure its fit on your head properly, then once it is, you're off! Each group gets a tour guide, who walks you to the first stopping point and talks you through health and safety before telling you about the tour path and the story behind the caves.

The first stopping point. This is a dummy dont worry, and was used as an example of just how tight a squeeze it was at the beginning of the initial discovery!

As you head through the caves (roughly a mile long trip there and back, so not too long really) there are points of interest where you stop for a couple of minutes with your guide who talks you through everything regarding that focus area, as well as some low points. These low points mean you do have to bend a little here and there, but nothing too strenuous nor for too long.

There is also a 'tight squeeze' area. I say area, I really mean just one corner. Named so because there isnt enough room for you to walk straight on through that and the other wall, you just have to twist and duck a little. Again, no cause for concern!

Throughout the tour, there are little focus points, where the stalagtites have had droplets falling and forming new formations underneath, including a very convincing withces hat and a questionable judges head!

After you see all there is to see below, you then head up some metal stairs to the grand finale, a beautiful cave of long thin stalagtites. It really is something that makes you think and admire the beauty of the world we live in. Unfortunately, due to the unstable nature of the formations, flash photography was not advised, so this was the best I could do...

As we made our way back along the caves to leave, we also spotted some lovely fossils woven into the formations, which was something I wasn't expecting at all really!

Upon entering the real world again, we returned our helmet and it was surprisingly misty. It took me a mere second or two to click on that actually - IT WAS SNOWING! This made me so happy, so I went a bit camera crazy on the journey home too!

 
 

Overall, White Scar Caves is a place I would defintely recommend you to go to. It is not claustrophobic in the slightest (I'm not particularly fond of tight spaces and I was fine!), and if you feel uneasy your guide will support you! For more information, please visit www.whitescarcave.co.uk.

To wrap up this wonderful little blog piece nicely, I thought I'd leave you with the following beauty I took on the way home! Ciao!

All photos in this blog have been taken by myself, and are subject to copyright.

2015 so far..

Hello everyone! Today I thought I would post an update on just what exactly I've been up to since 1st January rolled around. Some of these are just a statement, and others will be in more detail, and some may even get their own blog posts in the near future! So, lets see what I've been up to.

1. I enrolled at college. Again.

Technically not again, as I went to a sixth form (basically the UK's version of high school. where you stay until you're 18) when I left comprehensive school at sixteen, followed by university, so college is kind of a new experience for me!

2. I started a placement in order to support number 1.

Self explanatory really, other than the 5.30am starts, I cant really complain much, other than tiredness!

3. I have currently completed two books for the year, as well as put one down and I am in the middle of three!

I dont know how it happened, but all of a sudden I'm going from reading Starter for Ten, to reading Starter for Ten + Endgame, to those + Gone Girl! At least my vow to be more productive and loving towards my TBR pile is staying true!

4. I've used the days off from work that me and my boyfriend have off at the same time to do a bit of travelling nearby. From Washington (near Newcastle) to places such as Richmond and Keswick, I've enjoyed these proper date days so much, they really do help you to understand just how much you love that person and why they make you happy.

5. I've been to the UK's largest open cave! Side note - I'm not sure if that is what it is classed as, but that's what I was told!

hint.... I'll be blogging about that too!

6. Inbetween all of this, I've been working and doing coursework, so my crafting has had to take a side step...

7. Because of 6, I am going to post about my stitching in the next few weeks, as I have a few ideas planned and would like to share them all with you!


So, there you go! It seems pretty boring because there's no images, but my planned posts, as suggested above, will contain plenty to make up for the lack here!!

What have you been up to in 2015? Have you got any places you would recommend visiting in the North/North East UK? Please do let me know in the comments below and I'll get back to you!

BOOK REVIEW: The Enchanted Orchards by Kristin Maddock

Hello everyone! Sorry for the lack of blog (roughly 5 weeks, oopsy) activity, I've been busy getting myself settled into my new course and placement, it's going well! Plus, I have a journey of roughly 40 minutes each day on my own, perfect time for those little 'sessions' of reading!

Today, I bring you a review of The Enchanted Orchards by Kristin Maddock. I got this book for free on my Kindle, and after picking it up and putting it down again and again, I finally managed to finish it at the start of the month.

The basic gist of this story is that the main character has lost her sister. Not lost as in the middle of Asda and not being able to find her, but lost as in died. For the majority of the story we don't know why or how, we just know she has died, coming up to a year ago, and the family are still really struggling to come to terms with it. Our main character, Fern, throws herself into her work at the local diner, whilst also trying to find some sort of faith other than her current one, as she is struggling to come to terms with grieving for her sister through her religion. Her mother sits and prays all day in the home, and has gone from being a woman who bakes, laughs and smiles, to a woman who shuts herself off from the world, praying or pretending to clean. Her father attempts to make effort with his daughter, but we find him becoming more and more withdrawn, only talking to his wife during arguments and practically ignoring his daughter in the process.

So we spend quite a bit of this book witnessing this family's derailment from 'normality'. Until Rocky Lee shows up. Rocky Lee is a farm boy from the town who moved to the 'big city' to study. When he returns, it causes a stir in the town, and Fern. This is where the book goes from depressing to cheesy.

We witness Fern falling in love with Rocky, but in all the stereotypical ways. From avoiding him, to almost kissing him a billion times, I found it go from being sad, to being very tiresome. I found myself only wanting to finish this book because I'd started it and I hate to leave books unfinished, so to see that I was nearing the end I was quite pleased.

Overall, this book rates 1/5 stars. If you're into very cheesy, stereotypical books about teen love then by all means, read it and let me know, you may find it very different to me. Yes, the book deals with difficult issues (which you will find out when you read), and I can honestly understand and sympathise with that. But I found the book to be quit negative in the rest of the aspects, which is not what I was wanting from this book.

Have you read it? What did you think? Please feel free to comment below with your views!