May Read and June TBR

Hey

and welcome back. Today is my May's read books and my TBR for June. Were is the time going. 

May Read

The Help Kathryn Stocett

The first book I read this month was The Help, believe me when I say it took me 3 other times to try and read The Help over the years and I finally did it. It was ok, not one of my favorite books. I did a review on it which is my previous post or you can see it HERE 

David Beckham My Son Ted Beckham

When moving out of home there are always things that you forget, and this book along with two other David Beckham books (plus alot of other things) were forgotten about. I think they were in some boxes from when we first moved to Canada and never got around to unpacking until recently. David Beckham My Son is written by his dad Ted. Its a pretty quick read and has quite a few pictures in it. It's just his view on his son's career.

Totally Jacqueline Wilson

Totally Jaqueline Wilson is another quick read. It was in a box for ages and ages and then when my dad was clearing out the garage at his old house found a ton of boxes that were mine and I found it again. It includes four new stories, interviews, and various other things that Jacqueline Wilson has done. Its really good and I enjoyed it.

Marshmallows for Breakfast Dorothy Koomson

Dorothy Koomson is one of my favorite authors, and I haven't read any of her books in such a long time, that I had to pick Marshmallows for Breakfast up. It is one of those books that is such a page turner. You laugh and cry through out the whole book. The front cover falls you into thinking its going to be something different and through out the book you think one thing is going to happen yet it completely changes at the end

June TBR

Since You've Been Gone Morgan Mattson

I will at some point read this book. I have gotten one chapter in and have put it down an read other books. 

The Glass Wives Amy Sue Nathan

I started this book and got a chapter in and then changed my mind and started reading Since You've Been Gone

You can see my progress on my good reads page which is HERE

Lauren

xoxo

The Help || Book Review

Hey 

Today's post is going to be a book review on The Help. I try my hardest to be honest with the reviews that I do on any books and this post will be no different.

I have tried to read the book on three separate occasions. This time being the fourth. Each of the other times I have gotten to various points in the book. The furthest being the Benifit

This time I have gotten past the Benifit chapter and again I am having difficulty continueing on with the book.  It's almost as if I'm reading a page at a time but getting no where. It's not as if the book is bad I like the book. It's not one of my favorites but I like it. I kept going and have found my pace reading it when I got to the point where Skeeter finds out about Constantine's daughter who she had put into an orphanage. After 19 days of reaing the book I finally finished it.

The main people -  Aibleen, Minny and Skeeter -  are really well written and are enjoyable to read about. Even the other people - Hilly, Elizabeth, Cecila - are great to read about. I must say though that I liked reading more about Cecila and Elizabeth more then Hilly. I also found that Skeeter was a bit bland in some of her chapters and in others I really felt for her. 

Aiblieen and Minny are just perfect. I like how motherly they are to Mae Mobley (Aibleen) and Cecila (Minny) and the friendship between Aiblieen and Minny is brilliant. They balance each other out. I love The Terrible Aweful Thing that Minny did to Hilly. 

One thing I will say is that the movie was done brilliantly but I wish they had kept the reason Constantine (Skeeter' childhood maid) actually left rather then change it. It was well done in the movie but I think the reason in the book was far better then in the movie. More effective of the racism that was in those days. And while both are very well written and acted I felt more sad for Constantine, Skeeter and her mother who obviously cared for Constantine as Skeeter did. 

At the end of the book there is Discussion questions and I wanted to make some points on one of the questions. If Aibileen had stayed working with Elizabeth that Mae Mobley would have grown up racist like her mother? Do you think racism is inherent or taught? 

Personally I think that racism is taught, especially in a book like this where you see first hand just how racist some people can be towards others. So I think that Mae Mobley would have been racist towards Aibileen because she is seeing her mother and Hilly be racist to Aibileen, Minny and Hilly's new help. If you see a parent do something you tend to follow and think it's right. Only Mae Mobley can decide if she wants to be racist or not wether Aiblieen had stayed or not. You see it with Skeeters mother. She wasn't nessaseraly racist towards Constantine or her daughter but when other people are around its a different story. You pick up on situations and what people are like that you eat lunch with and socialize with and your attitude towards them change. 

I think Elizabeth is also a perfect example of this. She is racist you can't deny that. But if you took Hilly out of the situation I don't think Elizabeth would be as racist. Mae Mobly is learning off her surroundings. 

I like how Celia the lady who Minny is a Maid for keeps trying and trying to become friends with Hilly and Elizabeth and the other ladies at the bridge club even though they don't like her, I would have liked to have seen Skeeter and Celia become friends after Skeeter and Hilly and Elizabeth are no longer friends

I also wanted to make a point about Hilly and Elizabeth's friendship. Elizabeth is really dependant on Hilly's friendship, She would treat Aibileen with some respect but would always take Hilly's advice on things such as the toilet for the Help outside, or making her believe that Aibileen stole things when in actual fact she hadn't. Just because things had happened with her maid it wouldn't have happened to anyone else or  their maid.

After Skeeters book was released though I must say that Hilly was doing a lot of damage control. But I don't think that Hilly was as scared in her whole life as she was when the book was released, because she knew people would start to look at her differently and she has to always be in control of things. 

Lauren

xoxo

TBR Books and Re Reads

Hey

And welcome to my TBR pile and Re Read post. I am putting them together because most of my re reads are the first book in the series of books that I read a while ago and forgot what happened. 

Twilight Saga Stephanie Meyer

I have read Twilight and that's it, I have to re read Twilight to even understand whats going on in the other books. 

Just One Day and Just One Year Gayle Forman

Just one day will be a re read so that I can read Just One Year right after and not be so confused,

Fan Girl Rainbow Rowell

This will be another re read. I got it when everyone was talking about how good it was and  it disappointed me to the max. It wasn't as good as everyone said it was. Plus the word 'fan girl' was so over used

The Last Song Nicholas Sparks

This is on my TBR list. I have read only one other Nicholas Sparks books and it was good. I got the book when the movie came out and haven't read or seen the movie. 

To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird has been on my TBR list for ages but just havent gotten around to reading it yet

Six Months Later Natalie D Richards

I am in two minds about picking this book up. It looks really good but I have no desire to pick it up right now.

Since You've Been Gone Morgan Mattson

I try and not by to many books that are popular, and if they are a popular book or popular author I tend to wait a while, until the hype of the book has gone down, or the price, and thats what I did with this book. I havent read it yet, though I have tried.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson John Green & David Levithan

Will Grayson, Will Grayson has been on my TBR for so long. I keep forgetting that I have the book, but I will read it at some point.

Just Listen Sarah Dessen

Another book that I have started and couldn't finish right away.

The Glass Wives Amy Sue Nathan

The glass wives is a new book that I recently picked up. The synopsis looked really good

Life of Pi Yann Martel

I have seen the movie before but haven't read the book. I picked the book up for $4 at my local goodwill store. 

Lauren

xoxo

Book recommendation # 2 || My Best Friends Girl by Dorothy Koomson

Hey

and welcome back. Today is another book recommendation. My last one was on Hate List by Jennifer Brown which you can check out HERE  

Best friend and your fiance sleep toegther and have a child! Check

You dont find out for three years! Check

After two years away your best friend contacts you with the news she is dying and wants you to look after and adopt her child! Check

My Best Friend's Girl is about 32 year old marketing manager Kamryn, who on her 32nd birthday receives a card from her best friend saying that she is dying. When Kamryn visit's Adele she finds out how bad she is and that Adele wants Kamryn to adopt her daughter Tegan.

Through out the rest of the book it shows the struggles that Kamryn face's. Little things such as shampoo, to much larger things such as seeing how much abuse that Tegan has suffered at the hands of her grandpaents and the fact that she is a black woman raising a white child. Finding love again after heartbreak and having your ex fiance come back into your life

My Best Friend's Girl really pulls at the heart strings. It deals so well with relationships breaking down, lost friendships, illness, abuse, friendship and relationships rekindle, and race. 

I like how Dorothy Koomson has captured how hard it is for one person to go through all of that. She didn't shy away from the heartache that Kamryn went through. 

I also like that Kamryn had all of this happen to her yet finds a way to try and make it ok. I like how Kamryn is so forgiving and how she knows it's the right thing to do to look after Teagan because it can't be easy. 

The book is so beautifully written. It's a page turner that you don't want to put down. It makes you think What would I do in that situation. I don't know if I could be as forgiving as Kamryn is

Lauren 

xoxo

Book Haul #2

Hey

and welcome back to another book haul, if you haven't checked out my first book haul CHECK HERE this one is completely different, the first is more young adult and this is more random. Two books are from the  Goodwill bookstore and the other is from chapters bookstore.

The Glass Wives by Amy Sue Nathan. $5.99. 

I was looking for another book and couldn't find it but I kept coming back to this book. It was on sale which is always a good thing in my opinion. A lot of the books I try and buy are on sale.  

When Richard Glass dies in a tragic car accident it also upends the life's of Evie, Nicole and their children. There is no love lost between the widow and the ex. Evie see's it as a chance to get rid of Nicole. But Evie wasn't counting on the fact that her children would bond with their baby half brother. Strapped for cash Evie agrees to share living expenses and her home with Nicole and the baby but Evie suspect that Nicole is determined to rearrange more then her kitchen. Evie must decide who can she trust and more then that she must ask what makes a family?

It's Amy Sue Nathan's debut novel. 

Life of Pi. Yann Martel. $4.00

After the sinking of a cargo ship one life boat remains in the Pacific Ocean. The only survivors are 16 year old Pi, a hyena, a zebra with a broken leg, a female orangutan and a 450 pound bengal tigar. 

I've seen the movie and loved it and when I found the book in the goodwill bookstore I picked it up. $4 for a har back is a bargain 

All I Know Now. Carrie Hope Fletcher $4.00

I was in Goodwill bookstore and saw it sitting there. Although I have the book I couldn't leave it there. I think it's a really good book anyways and I wish I had something like this when I was a teen. 

Lauren

xoxo

Hastings

Hey

and welcome back, today's post is on one of my favorite places in England a town called Hastings.

From the ages of 14-19 I lived in the town over called Bexhill-on-sea. For the first few years I'd never really go to Hastings. I had been on holiday there years before I lived in Bexhill and had visited friends who lived there. And once a week for about 18 months I would go to police cadets in Hastings but that was about it. 

When I was 17 I went to Hastings college. Where I met my best friend. 

It's been a while since I have been to Hastings but it's still one of my favorite places

In my Police Cadet Uniform
2004

2007/2008

With my best friend Zoe
2007

With Jo
2007

If you get the chance to go Hastings then I say go for it. The fish and chips are amazing. They have just reopened the pier. The Old Town is beautiful and has some great old pubs

Lauren
xoxo

Mother's Day!

You could say it's great to celebrate Mother's Day twice a year and it is. 

Like everyone out there I can't thank my mum enough for all she has done for me. 

I mean my mum would have to come in to one of my schools at least 2 or 3 times a week because of my behaviour but would sit at the kitchen table with me crying that I couldn't do my homework because it was to hard hour after hour and not give up until it was done. 

She would pick me up at the train station after I had a college trip to London or pick me up when I had a bit to much to drink even though she had done a full days work. 

She would make sure that I was ok even though I was in a mood with her the day before and had screamed at her that I hated her.  

She put up with me always going out, or getting in trouble at school. 

She did her best and I never really understood how much she did for me when I was growing up. 

When I was 18 we started getting closer and I started letting go of the negative feelings I had towards her. I realized she was only trying to help. She wasn't giving up on me even though it seemed most people had. 

She knew that if I wanted to go out that trying to stop me wasn't the answer. If I wanted to go out with my friends and wanted a lift to the town they lived and she worked in I would get one at 6am but have to work for a few hours before I went to meet them. 

If I had gotten the bus or train to see my friends she would occasionally pick me up but I would have to take the bus or train home. 

She would give my friends lifts home if I asked. She let them stay over with out a second thought. 

My mum truly is someone to look up to. Someone who would help others when they really needed it. And I am truly happy and grateful that I have a mum like her and I wouldn't trade her in for anything. 

The thing is I would trade everything to have her back. Because while I am lucky enough to celebrate 2 Mother's Day and to remember how great my mum is I have to deal with the fact my Mother's Day I don't get to give my mum a cheesy card, or to give her a pressant. I don't get to cook her breakfast in bed, or give her a massive hug or the biggest bunch of flowers. 

I don't get the chance to hear her voice everyday. And I don't get to tell her how much I love her. Or how sorry I am go all that I did. 

Because my Mother's Day every year now is spent placing flowers on a grave.

I miss my mum everyday. And while I'm lucky enough to celebrate Mother's Day twice a year. I am even luckier to have a mum that wasn't only a great mum. But a great person in general. Someone who cared about other, and others cared about her. 

Happy (Canadian) Mother's Day mum. 

Lauren

Xoxo

The Power of Hair and Makeup

Doing my makeup is second nature. I don't go crazy. I stay with what I know. I have my favorite products and stick with them. 

I may not look any different. But putting makeup on my skin. Is like panting a picture on a blank canvas. 

I feel as if I can conquer the world even if I am going no where. 

Lauren

xoxo

A Boy. A Secret. A Choice || Review on My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Hey

And welcome back this post is a review on My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick. If you haven't read My Life Next Door and want to be warned that there is spoilers in this post. If you want to keep reading then go ahead. Back in Febuary I brought three books CLICK HERE to see the other books I got. I also did a review on To All The Boys I Loved Before CLICK HERE

Oh Huntley, Huntley, Huntley what have you done to me. 

My Life Next Door is simply brilliant. I'm not the fastest reader in the world but I didn't want to put the book down. 

It's a perfect mixture of friendship, family and love. 

Friendship in this book was done so well. It's different then the other kinds of friendships. The blend between Samantha and Nan was brilliant and when there friendship ends I like how a friendship forms between people who I didn't think would have a friendship. 

Family in this book is touched on a lot. Samantha's family is really small. A single working mom with two teenage girls while The Garret's next door are a large family 8 kids and both parents one of which owns a hardware store it shows the difference between the two families really well. I like how the book shows that just because you are a part of a large family you can still have dreams and still work hard and be a family. Also you can be a single mom and have high expectations for your children but be so nïeve. I found Samantha's mom really snobby because of her job and because Samantha fell for a boy from a large family. What I would have liked to see is how Samantha and her sister reacted to their father come in to the picture. Samantha's mom has a relationship throughout the book but no one apart from her really likes the guy. I love how close the Garret's are to each other. They look out for each other, they don't sugar coat anything and are supportive of each other. They are so much more accepting of Samantha then Samantha's mother is towards Jase. 

Love in the book is so refreshing. Samantha and Jase are one of my OTP's is that even a thing anymore. I love how much they are in to each other and how much Jase will help out Samantha and how guilty she feels when it's her own mom that puts her boyfriends dad in the hospital. I love how the relationship isn't perfect but they are perfect for each other. On the other hand you have the relationship between Grace Samantha's mom and Clay. Clay I found is really controlling. He wants to control the relationship between himself and Grace, between Samantha and Jase and between mother and daughter and when he doesn't get his way gets bratty about it and leaves. When he does leave I couldn't be any more happier. What I also liked about the love aspect of the book is that Jase is from such a large family yet the love is still there between the parents. The siblings love each other and care for each other so much that they feel comfortable to talk open and honestly with each other 

Drama kept me on the edge of my seat and not wanting to put the book down. While dealing with so much in her life, her best friend who cheats all the time and only realizing in the SAT's, to her love life, to her mothers crazy and controlling boyfriend, her jobs, her friendships, living two lives the one she has always know to the one next door I think Samantha holds it together really well. 

Overall this book is a great book. It really teaches you a lot on how much you can deal with in your life and that your life is yours and just because you grew up in a single parent household or with 7 brothers and sisters only you can decided how you want to live it. It show you that you can forgive someone for what ever they may have done and you can talk openly and honestly about topics that may affect someones life.

In books you want to picture the charters off the pages and if they were right in front of you moving around acting out right in front of you and this book does that for me. I could picture each person as if they were in the room with me.

Its a great spring/summer book. I highly recommend it.

Lauren

xoxo

April Read May TBR

Hey

and welcome to April's Read and May TBR post. In April I read three books, in May I plan to read at least 2 of the 3 books maybe all three

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

I have finished the Harry Potter series. No matter how many times I read the books I fall in love every time. I can imagine in a couple of years I will be re read the series again with no shame

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

I wouldn't say that I hate the book but it's not one of my favorites. Way to many chapters and some of them are really short. Sometimes only a page. I did a full review which you can READ HERE 

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

This book was brilliant. I loved it. I am writing a post on the book, so keep your eye out for that post. It is one to read.

To Be Read in May

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson 

I probley leave this one until nearer the end of the month, three books that are so similar so close together will just do my head in. I've heard a lot of good things about it and the author so I am looking forward to reading it

The Help by Kathryn  Stockett

I started reading this book ages ago and put it down, its been so long that I am starting from page one again to refresh my memory

Love Anthony by Lisa Genova

I picked this book up over 2 years ago and still haven't read it, oops my bad. Hopefully this month I will get around to reading it. I read up about the book and it looks really good but haven't opened it to see if it good.

Lauren

xoxo